Wen Han and the others left Nanjing after staying for three days, and on the dock of Xiaguan Port, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er took the generals of the West Hall to bid farewell to these "foreign brothers". Looking out at the morning mist, the Hamils staggered its massive body and headed in the direction of the golden light in the east, and finally disappeared at the end of the river harbor.

Hong Yun'er stood with her hands in her hands, looked at the Hamils in the distance, and suddenly asked in a low voice: "You paid three times the price to get these guns and gunpowder, do you think it's worth it?" ”

Xiao Yungui snorted on the side and said: "This is just a stepping stone, I want to make that illusory promise look more real, I hope there will be no changes in Wenhan, the great powers must remain neutral and not get involved." ”

Hong Yun'er touched her sharp chin and smiled slightly: "It seems that your plan has succeeded." ”

Who knows that Xiao Yungui shook his head slowly, and said with a gloomy face: "Maybe, but I have a feeling of dissatisfaction, I think Wen Han's principle is too easy to dissipate, if the neutrality principle given to him by the British Parliament is very strong, I think he will not dare to sell us the guns on a cruiser even if it is ten times the price." ”

Hong Yun'er nodded thoughtfully and said, "Yes, if he really does that, he may be convicted of treason." ”

Xiao Yungui said in a deep voice: "I suspect that he agreed so simply, because he wanted to be a favor, give us this batch of arms, and want to borrow our knife to kill people!" ”

Hong Yun'er said strangely: "Kill whom?" ”

Xiao Yungui said with a very ugly face: "Of course it's the disobedient Manchu Qing in the north, the British may want to borrow our hands to teach the Manchu Emperor a lesson, so that after we beat him very painfully, the Manchus will be soft on the British, and even sell more interests in exchange for British support, the British are very despicable, they want to reap the benefits of both ends." ”

Hong Yun'er exclaimed, "Will they really do this? ”

Xiao Yungui sighed lightly and said: "I also just figured it out, if it were me, I would do the same, both sides sell arms, of course, it is Britain who makes a fortune, as long as we and the Manchu Qing can ensure smooth trade, the longer China's civil war is fought, the greater the advantage Britain will take, anyway, it is the Chinese who die, and the British will not care half a point." ”

Hong Yun'er was speechless for a while, and after a moment she asked in a trembling voice, "Then what should we do?" ”

Xiao Yungui took a deep breath and said: "We can only do our best to overthrow the Manchu Qing as soon as possible and end this civil war, otherwise this endless civil war will drag China into the abyss......"

On the deck of the Hamils, Lord Wenhan watched the Shimonoseki dock disappear into the mist, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Very interesting couple, I understand a little bit that the Manchu army Weishenme will not be able to defeat them. ”

Midile said on the side: "Since they can defeat the Manchu army on their own, we still have to trade arms with them?" ”

Wen Han put his finger under the tip of his nose and sneered softly: "In the words of the Chinese, this is called icing on the cake, we should let the Manchu government understand that if our British Empire turns to support the rebels, then what awaits them is only annihilation, the strong army of the rebels plus the excellent weapons of our British Empire, the Manchus will be wiped out in a few years, so they can only compromise with us comprehensively, instead of sending a Shanghai Dao Wu Jianzhang to ask for any help in defending Shanghai, nor do they turn a deaf ear to our request to enter the city of Guangzhou, More importantly, we will soon make a request with the Manchus to revise the "Jiangning Treaty," and we must take the lead. Rather than force the Manchus into submission, we might as well sell some arms and let the rebels do it for us. ”

Midile frowned and said, "What if the Manchu government still refuses to cooperate with us?" ”

Wen Han smiled slightly: "Then we will support the enlightened king of the West to overthrow the Manchu Qing and take the power of the whole country, I believe that this regime will be a pro-British regime in the future." ”

Midile suddenly realized, and then asked, "Then if the Manchu Qing agree to cooperate with us, what will happen to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" ”

Wen Han smiled gloomily: "Do we have any promises to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" The secret treaty was signed by the Consulate in Shanghai, and the British Empire could deny it at any time, and that suggestion of yours, Mr. Midile, is very good, and I would not know how to make a treaty with them if it weren't for you. ”

Midile felt a little sorry for the Taiping Army in his heart, frowned and said, "Your Excellency, if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gets our arms and becomes very powerful, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty asks us to help suppress it, what should we do at that time?" ”

Wen Han looked at him strangely and said, "Do you think that our British Empire's army can't even deal with a group of rebels in the countryside?" At that time, I hoped that the British Empire would send troops to intervene in the war, so that the benefits we would obtain would not be so simple, and even that we would be able to occupy a port as good as Hong Kong on the coast, or a large area of land, and expand our territory in the East. ”

Midile gasped, "Your Excellency, I hope your judgment is correct. ”

Lord Wenhan smiled confidently: "As the British Minister Plenipotentiary, of course my judgment is right, Mr. Midile, let's wait and see the show." ”

After the Hamils returned to Shanghai, Lord Wenham sent a report of more than ten pages to England, in which he analyzed the situation in China and wrote down all his recommendations, hoping that the instructions given to him by the domestic parliament and the prime minister would be authorized to do so.

After waiting for three days, Wen Han got the news that the Taiping army began to launch an offensive against Changzhou and Huzhou, it seems that the rebels are moving quickly, behind Changzhou is Wuxi and Suzhou, and behind Huzhou is Hangzhou, once Suzhou and Hangzhou are conquered by the rebels, then only some peripheral towns in Shanghai are still in the hands of the Qing army.

On the same day that they received the news, French Minister Blombull and American Minister Marshali both came to the British Consulate to meet with Wenham to discuss the current situation.

In the reception room of the consulate, Wen Han did not reveal anything about his contract with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but Marshali and Blombur seemed to know something, and as soon as they opened their mouths, they asked for details about the rebels.

Wen Han knew that they must have received the news from Wu Jianzhang of Shanghai Dao, and he went to Nanjing by boat, but he did not intend to share anything with the French and Americans, but just said as usual: "The rebels in Nanjing are very powerful, and they are numerous, but they are as arrogant as the Manchus, you must know that their leader calls himself the King of Heaven, and he is a very arrogant fellow, and they even think that we are going to pay tribute. ”

Wen Han added fuel to the description, without mentioning the series of secret agreements he had reached with the King of the West, repeatedly emphasizing that there was no point in cooperating with the rebels.

The American minister, Marshali, frowned at his pipe and said, "Lord Wenham, is the British prepared for the upcoming offensive of the rebels?" Once the Suzhou-Hangzhou region falls into the hands of the rebels, they will definitely attack Shanghai, what will happen to our trade? ”

Blombull said: "I heard that those rebels are also Christian, and our emperor Bixia hopes to make the rebels win, and he asks the Holy See that he can even send a clergy to China to help them, Lord Wenhan, what is the British going to do?" "Emperor Napoleon III of France has just been crowned Emperor of the Second French Empire with the support of the Holy See, and Napoleon III has great respect for the authority of the Holy See and the spread of Christianity throughout the world, so France will have the idea of supporting the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Lord Wenhan smiled faintly and said, "I have reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I am also waiting for domestic orders, but the interests of the British Empire are inviolable. As for the faith of the rebels, I have nothing to say, I have not prayed with them, I have no idea what doctrine they believe, and the Holy See wants to send someone? I guess Chinese don't like people interfering with their beliefs. ”

Marshali and Blombble scolded Wen Han for his cunning in their hearts, and both of them thought that if the arrogant Englishman really ate in Nanjing, Wen Han would not have been able to talk so calmly and leisurely, and Wen Han, the old fox, must have hidden something.

Marshali waved his fist and said, "Lord Wenhan, we should form a volunteer team to aid the Qing army, defend Shanghai, and defend our concession. ”

Blombur frowned and said, "Lord Wenhan, if the rebels are really as you said, I think we should really make some preparations, and the warships and soldiers of our countries combined should be able to change some of the situation of the war." ”

Lord Wenhan shrugged and said, "As early as March, I suggested to the country that I should intervene in this civil war with arms, but the order given to me by the country was to remain neutral, and there was nothing I could do about it. However, I think we can prepare for the proposal of forming a volunteer team to defend the concession, after all, in times of war, no one knows what will happen, and I think we can still do it to protect our people and the concession. Then Wen Han smiled and said: "As for the Manchu government, I would be happy to see them taught a lesson by the rebels, Minister Marshali, I heard that your request for the United States to hand over the credentials has just been refused?" ”

Mashalian raised his head and said, "The new governor of Liangjiang, Yiliang, has refused our request to hand over the credentials, these damned yellow-skinned monkeys, God knows where their arrogance comes from. Perhaps my lord, you are right, when the Manchus were wounded by the rebels, they came to us for help. Then Mashali said angrily: "I, like you, also suggested that the country should intervene in this civil war, but the country also gave me a neutral order, which is really a pity." ”

Lord Wen Han smiled and said, "Since we are all neutral in the country, then we can only do this and wait and see how the situation changes." I have already entrusted the matter of the establishment of the Volunteer Corps to Colonel Hober, and I believe that the warships and soldiers of our Britain, the United States, France, and other countries will be able to defend the concession. ”

Both Marshali and Blombur nodded, but each was planning how to make contact with the rebels first, and the damn Englishman in front of him was extremely untrustworthy.

At this moment, the guards outside the door came in and reported: "Your Excellency, there are several Qing officials outside the consulate who have asked to see them, and one of them who calls himself Rong Lu can speak English, and they say that there is an urgent matter to discuss. ”