Although Hongqing's attitude could be said to be extremely tough, the British envoys obviously did not want to give up their plan to set up a commercial port on the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and as soon as they left the Summer Palace, they immediately sent a diplomatic note to the accompanying officials of the Imperial Court, requesting two things: first, to postpone the second round of negotiations for a few more days; The second is to ask for permission to hold a drinking party in accordance with Western practice in order to communicate with officials and big businessmen in Beijing. In this regard, the officials of the Imperial Court did not dare to be arbitrary, so they changed hands and reported to Hongqing.

The drinking party is such a thing, in Western diplomatic etiquette, it can be called a common practice, this point, Hongqing is very clear, of course, Hongqing knows better - these guys insist on holding a drinking party The intention is quite insidious, this is to take the opportunity to find the opposition in the Jingshi, to see if he can overthrow him Hongqing by dark means, and to achieve his sinister goal of surrendering the army without a fight, although Hongqing is well aware of this, but he did not strongly refuse, Rather, he readily granted the request of the British legations.

The efficiency of the British envoys was quite high, and it was only a day of preparation, and a large number of invitations were sent out, inviting guests from all sides to participate in the reception at the Li Fan Yuan Post House on July 17, but did not mention the Western practice of bringing family members.

As the prince who presided over the negotiations, Hongqing naturally received an invitation letter from the British envoys, but Hongqing did not plan to go to the banquet, but politely and resolutely declined, as for the princes in the capital, they also did not want to attend such a messy reception, but a large group of businessmen and some middle-level officials in Beijing were very curious about this reception, and they were really happy to go to the banquet to see the strangeness, although Hongqing had never witnessed it with his own eyes, but he had his own eyeliner to report it, saying that the banquet was very prosperous, Several of the elder brother's disciples were in attendance, and they had a good conversation with the Britons and others, and seemed to have a plan.

What are you trying to do? It's very simple, arch Hongqing, what else can there be, is the reason, it's very simple, a group of people from the British envoys are eager to move Hongqing away, and those brothers who sent their henchmen to the banquet also want to find an opportunity to hit Hongqing, no, the throne is too tempting, but as long as the prince who thinks he is good, no one wants to fight for it, even if Hongqing is famous, all the brothers don't want to give up, not to mention that there are obvious signs of discord between Hongqing and Emperor Chengde. The brothers were happy to pour a handful of oil on the fire.

The shape shì is obviously not good, but if you want to say that you are afraid, it is not possible, in fact, Hongqing is very welcome to a group of younger brothers to come forward in the negotiation, there is nothing else, these months, Hongqing has been very unhappy, is worried about the resentment and has no place to vent it, who dares to make a random move in this matter, sorry, it is necessary to shoot the first bird, just to put out the fire, and by the way, give the uneasy Emperor Chengde a little color to see.

"Emperor Ama of Qi, the sons and daughters have something like a bone choking, but they don't know whether to talk about it or not."

There is really no shortage of fools with courage in this world, no, early this morning, a group of elder brothers entered the palace to ask Emperor Chengde for peace according to the old practice, and as soon as the ceremony was over, I saw that the third elder brother Hongxi had flashed out from the side, and he said a sentence in a high-spirited manner.

"Xi'er has something to say and just say it, I listen."

Emperor Chengde was obviously a little surprised by the words of the third elder brother, but he did not hesitate and agreed to his request very kindly.

"So that the emperor Ama learned that there is a servant under the son of Daho, the current head of the Ministry of Rites, the night before yesterday had gone to participate in the British envoy to participate in the reception of the British envoys, according to his words, during the banquet had a conversation with the British envoys, etc., it is reported that the country's envoys have admired my Qing Dynasty for a long time, and prayed to be able to tie the friendship with my Qing Dynasty forever, this time not far away, it is for this reason, its heart is also pious, its deeds are also sincere, and it is more willing to come to our Qing Dynasty at a high price to purchase goods, so as to avoid the suffering of my fleet traveling across the ocean, and this good person is also, But I don't want anyone to do it for their own selfish interests, so that I ignore the interests of the Qing Dynasty, and make things difficult in every way, so that I have a grudge against my friends, and his actions are inevitably contemptible, and my sons dare not sit idly by, so I specially asked the emperor Ama to preside over justice. ”

Hongxi obviously came prepared, such a complaint can really be described as a three-point lawsuit, and under the words, it really seems to be like that.

"Is there such a thing? I don't know, Qing'er! ”

Emperor Chengde was worried that he would not be able to seize the opportunity to suppress Hongqing, and this seemed to be extremely reasonable when he heard what Hongxi said, and he suddenly came to his senses, but when he saw that his face suddenly turned solemn, he unceremoniously named Hongqing's name.

Dog thing, really dare to jump out and look for death!

Hongqing had long expected that someone would find trouble in the negotiation matter, and also judged that the person who was most likely to cause trouble was the third elder brother Hongxi, and when he saw that he really came out, he secretly sneered in his heart, but he didn't bring it to his face, even in the face of Emperor Chengde's gloomy face, Hongqing didn't care at all, his expression flashed out indifferently, bowed, and replied respectfully: "The son is here." ”

"Tell me what's going on, huh?"

Emperor Chengde thought that he had seized a great opportunity to suppress Hongqing, and when he asked, he was not very polite, and the chill between his words was really intense.

"Emperor Ama Mingjian, Erchen thinks that the third brother can care about current affairs, which is a good thing, however, I don't know why, I don't know why, but it is not advisable, so Erchen can not care about it, but I am afraid that it will spread out and hurt the face of my heavenly family."

Rao is Emperor Chengde's tone was cold, but Hongqing was unmoved, not only did he not admit his mistakes, but he severely derogated Hongxi, pointing out that he didn't know how to pretend to understand.

"Huh?"

Although Emperor Chengde has the intention to suppress Hongqing, but Hongqing's ability is quite jealous, this listening to Hongqing's words, he really doesn't dare to question it, there is no other, Emperor Chengde is worried that once the suppression is not successful, but will be cut by Hongqing, it will be too unworthy, this frowned, noncommittally whispered, and then put a full of inquiring eyes on Hongxi's body, which means that Hongxi came out to compete with Hongqing.

"Emperor Ama Mingjian, the sons think that the eldest brother is lying and quibbling, and he is really suspected of bullying the king!"

Hongxi is a smart person among the sons of Emperor Chengde, and his attainments in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are not low, which is cool Emperor Chengde, but if you want to talk about economic ability, it is seven tricks and six tricks - no clue! However, he doesn't understand, he has someone who understands, in order to be able to hit Hongqing in this negotiation matter, Hongxi has worked hard, not only discussed several times with his henchmen, but also consulted the opinions of the eight masters on this matter, through the collective discussion of a group of big businessmen affiliated to the eight masters, has come to a "reliable" conclusion, it is according to this conclusion that Hongxi dared to openly challenge Hongqing, at this time when he saw Emperor Chengde's gaze swept over, Hongxi immediately unambiguously put on a posture of fighting with Hongqing to the end.

"Does Qing'er have any explanation for that, huh?"

Seeing that Hongxi said so impassionedly, Emperor Chengde was obviously relieved, but in the end, he was very jealous of Hongqing, and he didn't dare to make trouble about it, but made a fair statement to Hongqing's army, there is no doubt that if Hongqing can't give a reasonable explanation, Emperor Chengde will no longer be very polite, and he will definitely clean up Hongqing.

"Emperor Ama Mingjian, the retainers think that the third brother's impeachment is very serious, if it is not true, he must sit back!"

Hongqing had a lot of music in her heart, and she didn't plan to rush to fight back, nor did she rush to distinguish, but unceremoniously made it clear that she wanted to bet against Hongxi for the last time.

"This ......"

Emperor Chengde and Hongqing have been working together for many years, how can they not know Hongqing's ruthlessness and sophistication, when they heard Hongqing's words, they immediately retreated, but they were not very willing, so they pretended to groan, and at the same time turned their attention to Hongxi's body again.

"Huang Ama Mingjian, the sons think that the reason is not clear, the things are not clear, the eldest brother is not wrong, the sons are willing to accompany the eldest brother to argue, if the sons are wrong, they should be at the disposal of the emperor Ama."

Hongxi thought that the victory was in his hands, coupled with the partiality of Emperor Chengde, he was not afraid of Hongqing's provocation, and as soon as he raised his head, he had already issued an impassioned declaration of battle.

"Well, do you have any thoughts on this?"

Since Hongxi expressed his stance so resolutely, Emperor Chengde was happy to give him a stage to perform, but he himself did not intend to meddle in it, but was ready to be an eccentric referee.

"Emperor Ama Mingjian, it is not surprising that the third brother thinks that the third brother has this idea, presumably the ministers of the court and the central government also have a lot of views on this matter, the sons wanted to find a time to explain the reason, but they were worried that the British envoys would give birth to the moths next to them, so they were not in a hurry to do this, and now, the third brother has impeached the sons, it is better to take advantage of the convenience, and the ministers will be invited from the first rank and above in Beijing, and the sons should explain the reasons one by one, this reluctant invitation also, but also ask the emperor to allow."

Since Hongxi was going to be sent to the door to be beaten, Hongqing didn't plan to be polite anymore, so he bowed to Emperor Chengde, and after explaining indifferently, the words suddenly changed, and he already said in a cold voice.