A hundred years after this time and space, the Chinese and British historians are still debating the cause of the war that occurred in the Far East a hundred years ago, the British believe that the war was provoked by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Chinese believe that the war was caused by the British intervention in the Chinese civil war, but no matter how the war was fought, the final outcome of the war cannot be changed by historians on both sides.

Xiao Yungui was not surprised at all that the British and French would propose such an outrageous peace treaty after the defeat, not even angry, he just felt a little funny. In particular, the British actually threatened the Chinese side to compromise under the pretext of blockading the Far East, and it seems that the British, for the sake of their own face, really forgot the ultimate purpose of their war. The British launched the Far East Expedition for the purpose of the Far East, which was to expand the opening of the Far East market, and they initially hoped to support a Qing government controlled by the new Westernists in the north, and then force the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to divide the river with this government. Needless to say, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a lot of trade, industrial and commercial cooperation with Britain and France, but one bad thing was that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cracked down on the opium trade. Although the Qing court in the north did not suppress the opium trade, it was far less open than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the south. Therefore, the British ultimately hoped that the North and the open South would exist in the Far East at the same time, and in order to achieve this goal, they did not hesitate to start wars, and their fundamental political purpose was the opium trade and the further opening of the Far East market.

But now, to their surprise, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was outstanding, not only blocking the first British and French expedition, but also starting a war under the pretext of British and French intervention in the civil war. Then annihilated the expeditionary force, and at the same time brought the Manchus to their knees in a very short time. As a result, the object that Britain and France wanted to support no longer existed. In other words, in any case, Britain and France would lose the largest opium trade partner in the Far East. Since the first goal is no longer achievable. Then the second goal is to further open up the Far East market, but the British are saying that they want to blockade the Far East, isn't that hurting others and not benefiting themselves? Can Britain afford to lose markets in the Far East? The answer is clearly no.

Britain is now known as the world's factory, most of the products they produce need to be exported for trade, and the Far East, a market of more than 400 million people, has an irreplaceable role. The crisis had already erupted around 1846, when Britain had won the First Opium War. Everyone in the country thought of doing business with 400 million people, so the British industrial machine was in full swing, but the goods they trafficked met with strong resistance from China's traditional small-scale peasant economy, and as a result, many goods could not be sold, which eventually led to an economic crisis.

Therefore, when Xiao Yungui heard the mediation news brought by the American minister Pu Anchen, he first scoffed at this blockade threat from Britain and France, and said to Pu Anchen: "Are the British crazy? ”

Anson also felt that the British were a little incomprehensible this time, but this time the Americans would not be on the side of the British, first of all, the American tradition is to hate the British. Secondly, the relationship between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the United States was relatively good, and he said at the moment: "Your Majesty, Dear Emperor of China, I think the British may not have fully woken up, but one thing is certain. That is, they don't want to let the war go on anymore. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded with a smile, turned back to Zuo Zongtang on the side and said, "Zuo Xiang, what do you think we should do?" ”

Zuo Zongtang also said with a smile: "The British came from thousands of miles away. What they want is trade, and they don't really want to blockade our country. This is obviously completely contrary to their original intention of coming from afar, and I think it is more of a threat. But since the British want peace talks. Then we can also put forward conditions to test it, if they have the intention to make peace, then even if our conditions are a little outrageous, then they will still try to sit down with us to negotiate. But if they still reply strongly, then I think we will continue the people's war. ”

Pu Anchen was slightly disappointed, and he asked, "Your Excellency, what kind of conditions will you put forward?" ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "Our conditions are generally three, the first is to abolish all the unequal treaties signed with Britain and France, and renegotiate the commercial and trade treaties between the two sides. The second is the return of Hong Kong Island and other islands occupied by Britain and France. The third was a war reparation of 30 million pounds, and the cost of redeeming British and French prisoners of war was calculated separately. ”

Pu Anchen only felt unbelievable when he heard this, it seems that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is threatening to defeat the majesty of the lion and opening his mouth. Although Anson Pu is not British, he feels that the bottom limit that the British can accept will definitely not be like this, but as a mediator, he still reminded kindly: "Your Majesty the Emperor and Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the British will not agree to these three conditions, and the abolition of the previous treaty means the return of British interests in China, and all the rights enjoyed by the British, such as concessions, ports, most-favored-nation treatment, consular jurisdiction, etc., will be lost, and Hong Kong Island will be returned, and a huge amount of war reparations will be compensated, which are unacceptable to the British." ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said, "Minister Pu Anchen, these are the conditions of our country, as the victorious side, doesn't it have the right to put forward any conditions to the defeated side?" Although we take back all the privileges of Britain and France, the trade treaties can be renegotiated, there can be more ports, and the concessions must be abolished, but British and French businessmen who come to our country to invest in factories or live in China can lease land, but we do not allow the appearance of concessions in groups, you know, in the concessions we lost sovereignty, but these places were originally our territory. MFN status and consular jurisdiction must be withdrawn. War reparations are mandatory, but the exact amount is negotiable. As for the ransom of the prisoners of war, do we not have to pay for the support of these prisoners of war for more than a year? ”

Pu Anchen also knew the usual tough stance of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's high-level leaders, so he had no choice but to say: "Okay, we can only try to coordinate." After a pause, Pu Anchen said: "Your Majesty, Mr. President has also asked me to convey one thing, that is, to thank your country's overseas consortium for its support in our domestic war to quell the rebellion, and your country's consortium's interests in the United States will be protected to the greatest extent. ”

Xiao Yungui laughed and said: "Your country needs a lot of weapons to quell the rebellion, we just did what we could, and the railways we invested in and built in your country can be used free of charge in wartime, these are nothing." Xiao Yungui smiled happily, but what Pu Anchen didn't know was that the overseas consortium of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, under the leadership of Hu Xueyan, was also sending weapons and other supplies to the Southern Army from Mexico and other places.

After the two sides discussed some other matters, Pu Anchen immediately left the capital, and he immediately passed on the results of the negotiations to the south. Three days later, the news arrived in Shanghai, and the telegraph office in Shanghai sent the news to Fujian in just ten minutes, and two days later the American consulate in Hong Kong received the news.

When they learned of the conditions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, both Sir Collington and Sir Elgin fell into a great shock, this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was going to continue the rhythm of war, and the great British Empire would not accept such a humiliating result.

But after calming down, the two knights found that they seemed to have no choice, the other party was not moved by their own threats, but they did not refuse to start the process of peace talks, which shows that the hope of ending the war is still there, but as the victorious side, the conditions proposed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will of course be a little harsh.

Sir Ergin's opinion was to negotiate face-to-face with the other party first, to find the final limit of the other party or to find a compromise solution, he also felt that the domestic demand was a bit outrageous, and it was impossible for any defeated party not to pay war reparations, not to mention that there were more than 30,000 prisoners and hostages in hand, not counting the remaining personnel of the concession who were lost in Shanghai, Ningbo and other places. Perhaps for the sake of face, when the time comes, the ransom for the prisoners will be raised, so that the other side will give up the war reparations, it will be the same, it will also be a loss of money, but under a different name, maybe it will be acceptable at home.

As for the restoration of the pre-war status, before the war, Britain only had five treaty ports in the Far East plus three that were later opened up in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou, and this time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had already occupied the north, and it is believed that with Xiao Yungui's attitude of opening up commerce and trade, Britain may obtain more open ports in the north, and the treaty ports will be increased without saying it. The concession may be abandoned, mainly because the power of the garrison, the power of law and order, and the independent judiciary should be given up within the concession. Now it seems that the garrison is unnecessary, and the garrison of the Shanghai and Ningbo concessions is the best example, for a military power it is impossible to tolerate foreign garrisons on its own territory, and even if a conflict breaks out, the troops of the concession cannot play any role, this war can be seen, except for sending hostages to the enemy, the garrison of the concession has no effect.

As for the power of public security and consular adjudication, because of the darkness and ignorance of the Qing court, Britain and France had to demand these two rights, and now the laws implemented by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are much better than those of the Qing court, and the prisoners can also get a fair trial, and the local police department of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has a very strong security ability, which is not at all the corrupt and dirty dark rule of the Qing court, and it is nothing to hand over these two powers.

According to this charter, there is no such freak as the concession in the last three places such as Nanjing, but foreign businessmen can still rent land to build factories, warehouses and residential houses, but they need to pay a one-time lease fee for 50 years, so there is no need to worry too much about renting land, it is nothing more than a form of concession conversion.

However, the most difficult to negotiate in the conditions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom may be the return of Hong Kong Island, and Britain will not be willing to give up this natural harbor, so what if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom must return Hong Kong?

As for the French, the two knights ignored them, they only followed the British to play soy sauce, and they were more concerned about how the captured French soldiers and generals would return home with dignity.

So the two knights decided to negotiate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first, and since the military action could not succeed, they could only sit back at the negotiating table...... (To be continued......)