In the nineteenth century, Britain became the head of Western capitalism, and after the industrial revolution of the mid-eighteenth century, Britain rapidly developed into a powerful capitalist industrial country. The big bourgeoisie of England fanatically demanded the expansion of its colonies, and in the competition to open up the colonies, the British shili gradually surpassed the aging Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, and France, which was rapidly developing capitalism at the same time. Britain began to take the lead in trade with China. In the 29th year of Qianlong, Britain accounted for 63 percent of the total value of China's imports from Western European countries, or 1.2 million taels; Britain accounted for 47 percent of the total value of Western Europe's exports from China, or 1.7 million taels. The East India Company had a monopoly on British trade with China until 1833. In the 28th year of the Kangxi reign, France began to have merchant ships to China, and in the early 18th century, Austria, Belgium, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden also began to trade with China. In the 49th year of Qianlong, the year after Britain recognized its independence, the United States had merchant ships come to China. In the early nineteenth century, it was second only to Great Britain in terms of trade with China, although its absolute figures were much smaller than those of Great Britain.

Under the situation of Britain's dominance, Austria, Belgium, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden did not have foreign companies in Shanghai, and only some retail merchants from these countries traded in Guangzhou, and because these countries did not sign a treaty with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the four treaty ports such as Shanghai were not open to these countries, and although the Taiping Army occupied Shanghai, they basically had no contact with these countries. Only a small number of sailors, mercenaries or employees of these countries are present in the major foreign banks in Shanghai. Before the Battle of Shanghai, these countries wanted to trade in Shanghai only through the relations of foreign banks and the British flag. After the war in Shanghai, except for Britain, France, and the United States, merchant ships from other countries returned to Guangzhou to take refuge. Therefore, Xiao Yungui hopes to get in touch with these countries through Midile's relationship.

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly and said, "It's always haode to make a few more friends, don't worry." As for the railway, the king will definitely let Jardine Matheson build it. ”

Although Midile didn't know that the king of the west would be interested in other countries, he thought that the king of the west was more open-minded, unlike the Manchu officials, who were as fearful as tigers, and must be foreigners who could hide. After receiving the promise of the right to build the railway, Midile nodded with some joy and said, "Well, my Excellency the King of the West, I hope that this railway will strengthen the friendship between our two sides. ”

Then Midil said, "And the amount of arms traded by your army is very large. No firm can complete it independently, and large arms exports in Britain, France and the United States must be approved by Parliament, Congress or the Emperor, and we in Britain cannot provide so many weapons at this stage, and Lord Wenham needs to ask the Prime Minister for instructions. Your Excellency King Xi, the Manchu government has sent several notes to the consulate in Guangzhou. We want us to cut off our arms trade with you, and you know that. We're about to go to war with the Russians. Arms should be given priority to themselves, so I am afraid that the parliament will not approve this arms deal. ”

Xiao Yungui sighed in his heart, during the war in Shanghai before, the Taiping Army and many foreign companies traded arms, but the quantity was not huge, and the Taiping Army basically bought out the arms stock and inventory that each foreign company had. Even many merchants have contacted their own navy and resold some naval arms to the Taiping Army, but this is already the limit.

This time, Xiao Yungui listed a list of arms purchases worth 1.6 million taels, and 50,000 breech smoothbore muskets alone were purchased. There were also 20,000 rifled guns, as well as various types of artillery, shells, bullets, gunpowder and various accessories, the number was indeed too much, to put it mildly, only the British army in India in the Far East had such a large number of firearms, and Wen Han's energy was indeed not enough to get so many munitions.

U.S. Minister Marshali also said earlier that they could barely scrape together 10,000 breech smoothbore guns, 30 six-pounder guns, 60 eight-pounder guns, 500 barrels of gunpowder, and 20,000 catties of lead bullet, but they were far from meeting the requirements of Xiao Yungui's list. The French side was even worse, with less than half the amount of arms that could be traded and even less than the artillery. It is no wonder that Britain and France are preparing for war, and maybe the weapons in stock have been turned out to arm their own soldiers, and there are not too many surplus weapons to trade with the Taiping Army, and I don't know how the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is viewed in Britain, once the British Parliament orders to cut off the arms deal, it is very bad.

Xiao Yungui was worried that Wen Han and these British would not be very fun if they really broke off the arms deal as soon as the parliament discussed, remembering that the tragic experience of the Taiping Army in history was that the great powers did not sell weapons to the Taiping Army, and the Taiping Army could only smuggle expensive arms from the black market for use, and the quality could not be guaranteed, the models could not be unified, and the status was very embarrassing.

At present, after Xiao Yungui arrived, there was no incident of the King of Heaven and the King of the East sending an edict to the British in the name of the Lord of the Heavenly Dynasty, and Xiao Yungui's open-mindedness and pragmatism cooperated well with foreigners from all countries, and the most important thing was that Xiao Yungui promised to protect the vested interests of all countries, which basically straightened out the diplomatic relations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but Xiao Yungui was still worried that those arrogant and arrogant British would turn their faces.

Xiao Yungui touched the thick beard on his chin and asked, "Mr. Midile, do you have any good suggestions?" ”

Midile smiled and said: "The Rothschilds have a huge influence in Britain, Mr. Clifford is in Suzhou, and the King of the West can have a good relationship with him, and influence the decisions of the parliament through him and the Rothschild family behind him, I think this is better than me and Minister Wenhan writing a hundred letters of report back to China." ”

Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, patted Midile's arm and said: "Midile, you are really a good friend of this king, I want to hire you as the general counsel of the China Merchants Bureau, responsible for consulting and planning various investment projects of our China Merchants Bureau, how about it?" Don't worry, I'll give you a monthly salary of three hundred taels of silver. ”

Midile is also happy to do this position, Xiao Yungui gave this position is a fat difference, a general consultant's words have a huge impact on the winning bid of an investment project, and the salary is also very rich, much higher than his salary in the consulate, Midile bowed at the moment and said: "I am willing to serve His Excellency the King of the West, and I also hope to further promote cooperation and exchanges between China and the West." However, Your Excellency Xiwang, my ability to do so alone is limited, and I hope it would be more appropriate to recruit a few more people to form an advisory group. After all, the scope of investment promotion under the China Merchants Administration covers many aspects, and I need professionals to help me. ”

Xiao Yungui immediately said: "No problem, you can recruit as many people as you want, I will give each person a monthly salary of two hundred taels, I believe in your vision." Midil, if you wish, I can give you the official position of the kingdom of heaven. ”

Midile smiled slightly and said, "I'm glad, but it's not the right time for Your Excellency the King of the West, and it will be a more suitable time to wait until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain officially establish diplomatic relations." Xiao Yungui was in a good mood. Haha laughed.

Hong Yun'er was still a little uneasy at first, and she had been translating for the two of them by the side, and gradually the conversation between the two made her forget what had just happened, and suddenly said: "Mr. Midile, how is the matter with our dispatch of foreign students?" ”

The railroad and telegraph projects were all tendered by the British and American comptoirs. The arms business was also considered, and shipyards and other factory equipment were also undertaken by firms. The recruitment of shipyard workers was also undertaken by Jardine Matheson and Arune. The only thing is that there are no eyebrows about international students.

Midile sighed and said, "This matter is very simple, in fact, it only needs to be an additional condition for the bidding of the railway and telegraph projects, so that Britain and the United States can each bear the share of sixty students, and the king of the West can promise to pay for the tuition and living expenses." ”

Xiao Yungui laughed: "Mr. Midile is really a competent consultant, Xuanjiao, just do it." Go back and let Wang Minyun add the additional conditions, and the foreign bank that won the bid will finish the study abroad, and we will select these 120 international students. ”

Hong Yun'er nodded and said, "I'll do it when I go back, the international students have already been selected." All were eleven or two-year-old orphans, all literate in ninety-eight males and twenty-two in girls. They were selected from the more than 5,000 orphans we took in along the way, and they have nothing but gratitude and loyalty to the kingdom of heaven, and they are infallible. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded with satisfaction, and then invited Midile to dinner, but Midile declined, saying that he would go back to the consulate to report Clifford's news to Wenhan.

After sending Midile away, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er returned to the backyard wing of the customs yamen for dinner.

It was already dark during the meal, and Xiao Yungui was eating absentmindedly under the candlelight, his eyes were always rolling on Hong Yun'er's pretty face, and Hong Yun'er looked ashamed, turning his back to not look at him.

After eating, Hong Yun'er ran to the next room to take a bath, and sent female soldiers to guard the door, so that Xiao Yungui couldn't peep. Zuihou Xiao Yungui was bored, returned to his room to bathe, after washing, he took out a set of swallow-tailed gifts he had bought privately and put them on, looked in the mirror, and saw that the rough man in the mirror seemed to have become a bit of a civilized person. followed Xiao Yungui humming a small song, touching the thick beard under his chin and muttering to himself: "I'm going to open meat today, I'm afraid that this beard will get in the way, and it's not good to sting Yun'er when I kiss later, so let's shave it off." ”

After speaking, Xiao Yungui found the razor, shaved the beard of his face three times and divided five by two, and when Zuihou looked in the mirror, he found that this reckless man was still a little handsome.

When he was secretly proud, he only heard Hong Yun'er shouting outside the house: "You guys go down." The female guards responded and left the backyard as ordered, and Xiao Yungui's male soldiers had already been sent away by him.

After a while, I only heard the door squeak open, and when Xiao Yungui looked back, he saw Hong Yun'er wearing a white Western wedding dress, and a pair of jade hands walked in quickly with a skirt, and then whispered: "Close the door quickly, don't let people see it." ”

Xiao Yungui hurriedly closed the door, too, the Xiwang couple were wearing Western clothes, if they were seen, they might cause some trouble.

After closing the door, Xiao Yungui looked back and saw Hong Yun'er's face flushed, the snow-white skin in front of her chest was exposed, the charming career line was exposed, the excited gasps were repeated, and her chest was undulating, which was dazzling.

Xiao Yungui couldn't hold back any longer, and quickly stepped forward and hugged Hong Yun'er into his arms, and the two kissed passionately. After a while, his lips parted, Xiao Yungui picked up Hong Yun'er and walked to the gum, and while walking, he heard Hong Yun'er's shy voice and whispered: "Agui, I will never see my parents again, you are the dearest person in the world, I will definitely be good to you, but you can't bully me, if you treat me badly in the future, I will definitely not spare you." ”

Xiao Yungui was on the brain at this time, and he promised everything, and the two were entangled in the house like dry wood and fire, and the spirit and flesh were finally merged together, and they could no longer be separated. (To be continued......)