The issue of the use of several ports such as Shanghai and Dalian Bay by the British and French expeditionary forces has been under negotiation since the beginning of the year, and unlike in history, the British and French forces seized several ports and temporary anchorages such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Dalian Bay in another time and space as the advance bases of the expeditionary force, but now they are all in the hands of the Taiping Army, so the British and French forces must first negotiate on the use of these ports if they want to use these ports.

When the Taiping army marched into Guangzhou for a landing battle, the friction with the British army was not just a simple conflict, Xiao Yungui knew that it was the British and French who were putting pressure on him, but fortunately, the Taiping army withstood the pressure later, and at the same time, Xiao Yungui was also glad that he launched a campaign against Guangzhou first, otherwise it would be very troublesome to be captured by the British and French.

With the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's current size of more than 200,000 field troops and 500,000 or 600,000 township corps reserve troops, the Anglo-French forces had long since extinguished the idea of seizing these ports by force, and it was very unwise to go to war with the Manchus and the Taiping army at the same time, unlike the Crimean War, and the Far East was still too far away from the British and French mainland.

"Your Excellency the King of the West, you are blackmailing! We can also use Keelung Port and Nagasaki Port! Sir Elgin was very dissatisfied with the cost of one tael of silver per day for each of the military personnel, and he said angrily.

Admiral Feltwood of the British Squadron. Pei Luo also said angrily: "Your Excellency King Xi, please understand the current situation, if our British and French forces make peace with the Manchus alone, and then join forces with the Qing army to deal with the Taiping army, then our fleet will block all the ports of the Taiping army, I believe Your Excellency the King of the West will not be happy." ”

Xiao Yungui didn't laugh angrily. Sure enough, political and diplomatic negotiations were a kind of game of using their own strength, and a compromise of interests was reached in blackmail and anti-blackmail, and Britain and France could indeed make peace with the Manchus alone. But it seems that the loss of profit is not just the cost of landing. Now the situation is that Xiao Yungui has taken a good deck of cards, and the hole cards of Britain and France are not very good, so they can only bluff, but Xiao Yungui is also a little worried that Britain and France will end up ignoring a qiē stud, and gamble all his net worth with him.

But on this occasion. There can be no half-point concession, Xiao Yungui coughed and said lightly: "The enemy of the enemy is a friend, this sentence is also applicable to our Taiping Army!" With that, he brushed his sleeves and left. The envoys of Britain and France were left stunned.

Mai Huatuo said in disbelief: "Could it be that the Taiping army will unite with the Manchus to fight against us?" ”

American Minister Levie stood up and flicked his top hat, then put it on elegantly, put the civilized staff on the ground heavily, coughed lightly and said, "Gentlemen." I hope you will carefully consider where we are going. It is definitely not a good idea to get involved in a civil war in China at this time, this is not Crimea, and China is not Russia. After speaking, Lie Weilian bowed slightly and apologized and left.

A few days later, after repeated consultations and disputes, the Anglo-French forces, under the mediation of the United States, reached a series of provisional agreements with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to station in ports and transfer a large number of troops, and the Anglo-French expeditionary force could use Shanghai, Dalian Bay and other ports under the control of the Taiping army, which was different from the later sale of port concessions. This time, the British and French forces used the port on a per head, per day basis. Although the billing method is different, Xiao Yungui feels that he has betrayed the country's sovereignty. But there is no way to do this, the final bottom limit of Britain and France is here, beyond this bottom limit, they will ignore a qiē stud, and Xiao Yungui bet on the entire net worth of the Far East, and now Xiao Yungui can't afford to gamble for the time being, that's all.

On the banks of the Huangpu River on the Bund in the Anglo-American Public Concession, a Victorian Baroque building stands out, which is the first foreigner-run hotel in Shanghai, the Richard Hotel. The Hotel was founded in 1846, only three years after the opening of Shanghai. British businessman Astohoff? Between the British Concession and the county seat of Shanghai, Richard built a hotel named after him, called the Richa Hotel, which was the earliest modern hotel in Shanghai.

After the occupation of Shanghai by the Taiping Army, the concession remained the same, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy and Political Department vigorously developed Shanghai's business and trade, and the Licha Hotel not only did not decline, but became more and more prosperous. Today's Licha Hotel was expanded last year, with 156 guest rooms, in addition to bars, dance halls, poker rooms and other entertainment facilities, and there are often operas and dance performances in the downstairs hall, so the hotel is full of guests and has become one of the preferred places for Chinese and foreign luxury businessmen to live in Shanghai.

The day after the signing of the provisional agreement between Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the use of Shanghai and other ports, several Chinese guests in Chinese costumes came to the lobby of the Licha Hotel, and the hotel lobby manager was an Englishman named Smith, and he did not look like they were staying in the hotel.

Seeing a Chinese man in Chinese costume sitting down on the sofa in the lobby of the hotel, and several other men in Chinese costume standing next to him, Smith was accustomed to seeing guests coming and going, and when he saw this person's bearing and posture, he was either rich or noble, so Smith came forward very politely to greet him: "Gentlemen, do you need something?" ”

Smith used to dislike the Qing people with braids and a servile face, but he liked the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom people who cut their braids, they were straightforward, sincere and believed in God, and after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Shanghai, it brought a lot of business opportunities, so that the hotel's business is getting better and better, and now half of the rooms in the Licha Hotel are occupied by Chinese businessmen and high rollers, who are Smith's guests. Since last year, that is, in 1856, after the construction of the Sino-foreign joint venture Wells Bridge on the Suzhou Creek, the owner of the hotel looked at a piece of land by the river on the north side of the Wells Bridge, and wanted to negotiate with the Shanghai Navy Political Department to buy land for a new hotel, and then move the Licha Hotel to it. So there's no racial discrimination here at Smith, on the contrary, it's very welcoming to the Chinese business community.

The man in the Chinese costume sitting on the sofa nodded gently, he had a Chinese face, and there were a lot of scars on the horizontal flesh on his face, although his face was vicious, but there was a hint of a smile, a popular Hanfu winter robe in Shanghai was woven with the fabric of the upper number, Smith recognized that the embroidery pattern on it was the famous Suzhou embroidery handiwork, there would not be too many people who could wear this kind of clothes, and it was rumored that the finished product of Suzhou embroidery handmade zuò was exclusively for the use of the high-level of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

"We're here to find someone, is Ms. Li Xuanji here?" The man in the fancy suit asked in fluent English, which surprised Smith a little, because he had just asked in Chinese.

Ms. Li Xuanji is another distinguished guest of the Recha Hotel, although she is an Oriental, but she is noble, generous, beautiful, her husband is the youngest son of the famous Rothschild family in Britain, Clifford, this time to Shanghai is said to have come with her husband to inspect the investment project of the Guangdong Railway.

"Oh, you mean Mrs. Rothschild, she went out with a couple of ladies." When Mrs. Rothschild said it in Smith's mouth, she did so with great respect that she did not dare to blaspheme in the slightest. It is no wonder that as a financial giant in the 19th century, the word Rothschild is a kind of glory in the Western world, and even in later generations in nature, there are as many as 153 species of insects, 58 species of birds, 18 species of mammals, 14 species of plants, 3 species of fish, 3 species of spiders and two reptiles bearing the name "Rothschild", and in Antarctica, there is even an island called "Rothschild".

When the man in Chinese clothes heard Mrs. Rothschild's words, his expression stiffened obviously, and the corners of his mouth twitched a few times before he still spit out a few English words with difficulty: "Okay, I'll wait for her here." ”

Smith didn't dare to snub these men in fancy clothes, the one who came to Li Xuanji must be related to the Rothschild family, this time the Cliffords came to Shanghai few people knew, and what they could know must have a lot to do with it, maybe it was a Chinese wealthy businessman who talked about big business, so Smith made the best Fujian Da Hong Pao tea for a few guests, and then Smith went to busy his own business.

An hour later, Smith came back from his room tour, and saw that the man in fancy clothes was still sitting there, the tea in front of him had not moved, and the few entourages behind him had not moved.

At this moment, the hearty laughter of several ladies came from the revolving door of the hotel, and Smith followed his eyes and saw Mrs. Rothschild and several of her female companions returning, he immediately greeted him and bowed slightly: "Madam, there are several gentlemen looking for you, they are waiting over there." ”

Mrs. Rothschild wore a fine wool fabric gown with a yellow velvet collar, but the pleated skirt did not use skirt supports, but looked more fashionable, the tight waist of the dress highlighted Madame's slender waist, and the purple round-brimmed top hat on her head made Madame look more noble and generous.

"Thanks, I'm going to see them, who are they?" Madame's English accent was soft and soft, and Smith took some Chinese folk crafts purchased by Madame today and said, "They are all Chinese, you should know Madame." I'll deliver these things to Madame's room myself. ”

Madame's gentle smile was charming: "Thank you, Mr. Smith. Smith bowed slightly, then turned around to send things into the house, only to reach the staircase but heard a surprise exclamation from Mrs., Smith immediately looked back, only to see Mrs. standing next to the sofa in the lobby, her hands covering her own cherry mouth, her delicate body trembling because of excitement, as if Mrs. tears flowed. Smith shrugged his shoulders and wondered if those people were Madame's relatives. Thinking of this, he still walked over and asked, "Madam, are you okay?" ”

"It's all right, Mr. Smith, I'm so excited to meet an old friend, I need a separate reception room." Madame was crying.

Smith immediately agreed, and was about to leave, when the man suddenly said: "Mr. Smith, this big red robe tea leaves need to be washed for the first time, otherwise there will be impurities ......" (to be continued......)