At dawn the next day, the northbound detachment set out from camp, and under the watchful eyes of the officials and the people who had not closed their eyes all night in the city, and the Zhuangban militia group, they went around the city and headed north.

The troops crossed the Dongjiang River at Machong Town, which is also the only river in Dongguan without bridges, and nearly 300 men and horses could only rely on the large boats they collected to ferry back and forth. Seeing that a boat could only carry half a platoon of personnel and equipment, and it would take forty minutes to go back and forth, Yang Bo could only shake his head and smile bitterly, and said to Chen Weifu who was standing beside him: "There are hundreds of tributaries of the Pearl River system, and now there is not such a developed road and bridge system as before. ”

"Isn't it okay to set up a boat bridge unit?" Chen Weifu proposed another plan.

"We don't have the expertise to do this, and if so many rivers rely on pontoon bridges, it will not only be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also affect the navigation of these rivers." Yang Bo had apparently given this issue a lot of thought, and immediately pointed out the infeasibility of Chen Weifu's plan. "And I'm essentially an otaku who rarely goes out, and I want to stay in the back as much as possible. Also, I had a work injury on the face of my right foot, which is not conducive to long marching on foot, so I won't come out next time I don't have a car. ”

"I'll give you my horse." Chen Weifu looked at Yang Bo's feet and couldn't see anything wrong.

"It's a dark wound, and you can't see it on the surface." Yang Bo saw the latter's doubts, "Leave the horse to you to ride!" I don't want to be a lap in the future. ”

Skipping the topic of horses, Chen Weifu came up with a more fanciful idea, "If the Type 63 amphibious tank is driven to the sea, it is not similar to North Korea's tank guns on patrol boats, and the wooden ships of the British Navy are completely destroyed in the coastal waters." Ha-ha——! How about the idea? ”

Yang Bo imagined such a scene in his mind, and unconsciously laughed along.

Soon after crossing the Dongjiang River, the northbound detachment entered the territory of Nanhai County, and advanced all the way to the vicinity of Huangpu, where the troops stopped again, and relied on the topography of the water source to build a stronger camp not far from the Pearl River. It is believed that the British will react soon.

The British were indeed quick to react. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that a team of British troops under the leadership of the Nanhai County Officials came to the door.

Hearing that the leader was a lieutenant, Chen Weifu didn't bother to come forward, and directly asked the instructor of the fourth company to meet the guests.

After the two sides exchanged names, the British lieutenant immediately protested, accusing the northbound detachment of violating the cease-fire agreement and invading Guangzhou for no reason.

"Lieutenant, may I think that you Englishmen have a strong sense of humor?" After listening to the roar of the British, the instructor asked rhetorically in a playful tone.

"What do you mean?" The British lieutenant for a while had a hard time understanding the Chinese's cold jokes.

"I mean, don't you Brits like to tell jokes?" Explain the jokes to the audience so that the instructor finds them boring.

"You take our army's protest as a joke?" Feeling teased, the British lieutenant immediately became angry.

"Isn't it?" The instructor was not affected by the change in mood of the other side in the slightest, "What we reached was a ceasefire agreement, not an armistice agreement, let alone a peace agreement. That is, our two sides are still at war. Moreover, the ceasefire agreement has expired, and our actions are not in violation of the agreement. Besides, our army has not entered the area under your control, and we are operating on our own territory, so do we still need your permission? Looking at the other party's sad face, the instructor had to remind the other party a few words, "We are here to let your commissioners and ministers recognize the facts, and only peace can lead to a way out." ”

The junior officers of the British Army, who generally did not have a high degree of education, were the opponents of the educated, eloquent, and undisciplined young men of the 21 st century, who immediately became speechless, and finally had no choice but to demand that the northbound detachment not cross the line of Maogang, Zhugaoling, Dachungang, and Dalingang.

And Chen Wei's task was to come and say hello to the British in Guangzhou, and now that the purpose had been achieved, the rest of the time was to be handed over to the diplomats to perform.

The British lieutenant brought the words of the instructor of the fourth company back to Canton, and Ergin and Bao Ling quickly determined that this was a threat, a threat to build momentum for negotiations, but they had no better way to deal with it. Who knows when this sword of Damocles will fall, and when the time comes, will he retreat to the Straits Settlements with his men? It turned out that the two were going to use delaying tactics. If you want to wait for the latest instructions in China, it is an option to transfer troops from India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and it is also an option to unite with the Qing government to suppress the Liberation Army, but these plans cannot be achieved in a short period of time, and it will take time. And the Liberation Army obviously didn't want to give them that time. While this small force is here as an indication of attitude, it could also turn into an offensive outpost at any time. The two instructed Pa Xiali to agree in principle to give Yu Guangfu some compensation, after all, there were still so many prisoners to be ransomed, and it was impossible not to pay a penny. But not in the name of reparations, and the Pashali was required to seek the best possible benefit for the United Kingdom.

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The three-day period had long since passed, and Pashali asked for an extension of three more days, citing the inconvenience of communication. After comprehensive consideration, the negotiating team agreed to his request. It was not until the instructions from Guangzhou that the second round of negotiations began.

As soon as he came up, Pasha Li opened the latest conditions. The British agreed to pay a sum of money for the redemption of British prisoners of war, but the total amount did not exceed £10,000.

"Ten thousand pounds? Do you send someone to eat? Lu Buwen was directly angry. Compared with 20 million Yingyang, this figure cannot be accepted by Director Lu, who is half a nationalist.

"Mr. Counselor, you have nearly five thousand captives in our hands. Ten thousand pounds is equivalent to paying only two pounds per person, two pounds? You can't even buy a pig! Yang Hualu was also angry, and his tone became vicious.

The British did not care about this small insult, and Mr. Secretary immediately retorted: "No, no, Mr. Yang, there is a mistake in your calculation. The prisoners of our army should be less than two thousand, and the rest are just mercenaries, who are not among the redeemed. ”

"And what are you going to do with them?" Zhang Haotian asked.

"It's up to you." The secretary spread his hands, "We are only in an employment relationship with them, and we are not responsible for their lives. ”

Although diplomats were thick-skinned people, it was an eye-opener for the survivors to see firsthand the loss of discipline in the nineteenth century. Because it is not clear whether this is in line with international practice, Zhang Haotian can only elaborate from the other side, "10,000 pounds is not enough in any case." I'm not afraid to tell you that the unit cost of our heavy artillery shells is more than a thousand pounds, and 10,000 pounds is not enough for heavy artillery shells. ”

This figure startled several Englishmen, who could not understand how a pile of iron and gunpowder synthesis could be so valuable! However, Pashali had seen the power of this cannonball with his own eyes, so he was not sure whether Zhang Haotian was bragging, so he asked carefully: "How much military expenditure did you consume this time?" ”

Zhang Haotian couldn't tell him the details, and he didn't see the latest detailed accounts, so he could only be vague. "The final result has not yet been counted, but it has exceeded a million pounds."

The British were only startled just now, but now they are completely stunned. The military expenditure has exceeded one million pounds, and the final result may be two million pounds, or even more, plus the dividends of the ransom and the Liberation Army, I believe this will be an astronomical amount. You must know that in the mid-nineteenth century, the British government's annual revenue was only tens of millions of pounds. Pashali instinctively thought that this was blackmail, "No way, whether this figure is true or not, we will not give more than 100,000 pounds." Excited, Mr. Counselor brought out the hole cards.

When discussing the amount of reparations, some people pointed out that it was unrealistic to demand a large amount of indemnities in order to avenge the "Treaty of Nanjing." Although the British army was defeated, they were far away from the mainland, and what they lost was only a small colony, and the Liberation Army could not travel thousands of miles to attack the British mainland, and could not shake the foundation of the United Kingdom. If the First Opium War was not the British army occupying Zhenjiang, it would have been put on a posture to cut off the transportation; If the Second Opium War had not been fought by the British and French forces under the city of Beijing and even the Old Summer Palace had been burned, how could the Manchu government honestly lose money? The chips in the hands of the Liberation Army are actually very limited, and they can't get much money by captives alone. If the war were to be extended, the British might give up the PRD. In fact, their center of gravity has been slowly shifting to the Yangtze River Delta. In the original time and space, before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were originally the sphere of influence of the British. Moreover, the Liberation Army still has the ability to fight in the far sea in a short period of time, and cannot pose a threat to Britain, the hegemon of the sea, so the new guiding ideology in demanding reparations is to accept it when it sees it.

So Zhang Haotian said: "We can discuss the specific amount slowly, and we can provide you with a flexible payment method." ”

"Oh! What is it? Pashali showed some interest.

"We agree that you will pay compensation in the form of physical resources. For example, grain and coal. Zhang Haotian didn't sell it, and directly covered up the mystery.

It's good news that you don't have to take out the cash directly, but Pashali won't give in easily. "I thank you for your kindness! But 100,000 pounds is our bottom line, and it can't be increased. "Diplomatic negotiations are a time-consuming and laborious affair, and the negotiating trio is spilling saliva and Pashali's 100,000 pounds are not moving. Through the surveillance, the negotiating team was clear about the bottom line of the British, and they still insisted on nothing more than scraping more oil. It's just that Pashali gritted his teeth and made it impossible for them to do so. The stalemate lasted until the afternoon, when the negotiating team had to agree on a figure of 100,000 pounds.