Xiao Yungui knew how much of a secret letter to Xingzhen could do, although this move was also his conspiracy to kill two birds with one stone, but in his heart he really hoped that a miracle would happen, the Qing court would agree to a partial truce and then send troops and horses north to fight against the British and French coalition forces, he did not want the British and French coalition forces to conquer Beijing and burn the Old Summer Palace as in history, it was not the pain of the Qing court but the shame of the entire nation.

In the Huanghuai region, the Qing army from several provinces in Jiangbei was concentrated, and the regular army of the Qing court, such as the New Army and the Green Battalion, had no less than 200,000 troops, and there were still many local regiments training soldiers and horses, such as the Qing army of Miao Peilin in Haozhou, which trained as many as 30,000 horses. In the Jiangbei region, the total strength of the Qing army reached more than 800,000. Although the Qing army in Jiangbei had a large number of troops, fortunately, the place where these soldiers and horses had to be guarded was very long, extending from the southern part of Shandong, the northern part of Anhui, and the southern part of Henan to the land of Jingxiang. From a military point of view, it was advantageous to facilitate the northward transfer of the Qing army and reduce the total number of enemy troops in front of him.

But if the Qing court is unwilling to have a partial truce, then Xiao Yungui can also pass this matter to let the Han people in the world see the true face of the Qing court. After Peng Yulin and others left, some newspapers representing the official Taiping Heavenly Kingdom acted as mouthpieces and began to focus on the war between the Qing court and Britain and France.

In the past dynasties, no matter what situation they face, the Chinese people still have one advantage, that is, no matter how fierce they fight internally, they can always sympathize with and support each other in the face of external invasion.

After the official newspapers of the country began to report on the invasion of the British and French forces to the north, most of the military and civilians under the rule of Heaven still commented on the matter with a sympathetic attitude towards the northerners, and the Guangzhou Cotton Chamber of Commerce made a bet of 50,000 taels on the defeat of the British and French forces is an example. The same yellow-skinned people are always happy to see their compatriots defeat the high-spirited Caucasian foreigners, so much so that they forget to support their former foreign brothers.

Subsequent reports began to tendentious, with some misdeeds following the occupation of the seaports in Shantung by the Anglo-French forces. From the seizure of more than 30 civilian merchant ships by the British army, to the recent burning, killing and looting of the British and French forces after landing in Beitang, the official newspapers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom appeared to accuse the British and French forces of unfriendliness.

For this reason, the British consul Ali Guo and the French consul Gu Si, who remained in Tianjing, successively sent protest notes to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, demanding that the Heavenly Kingdom withdraw this negative report on the coalition forces. But the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Ministry of Rites replied forcefully that the newspaper only reported the facts, and the military and civilians of the Heavenly Kingdom had the right to know the truth of the matter!

Ali Guo and Gu Si were extremely angry, but what puzzled them was this. How did these newspapers in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom know what was happening thousands of miles away? You must know that those unsightly things are blocked from the news. The mystery was not revealed until after the war, and it turned out that many of the officers of the British and French forces had borrowed huge debts during their time in Shanghai, although the creditors were all private merchants. But they all have the shadow of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom behind them, and as a condition for forgiving their debts, these officers provide the latest news or news of the coalition. In order to relieve their debts, these officers had to sell some information, even though it did not involve military secrets. But it was a great disgrace to the Anglo-French forces. These officers sent the news back to the south through the Bai Zetang branch in the north of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As a result, the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the south knew about the French army's arrest of chickens and ducks in the streets and alleys of Beitang to satisfy their hunger.

With the guidance of official tendencies and national sentiments, soon the Kingdom of Heaven formed an atmosphere of sympathy for the common people in the north, and after the gambling game of the Guangzhou Cotton Chamber of Commerce, more and more non-governmental organizations began to sympathize with and support the northerners, but because they were still at war with the Qing court, all they could do was to gamble in this form of solidarity.

On the very day when the French army launched a land attack on the Dagukou Fort, the Russian Minister Plenipotentiary Yevfimi? Vasilyevich? Putiyatin arrived in Shanghai by boat and handed over a note. Request to meet the King of the West of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

On the same day, the news of Putiatine's arrival reached Tianjing through the telegraph line between Guò Tianjing and Shanghai, and Xiao Yungui was not surprised by Putiatine's arrival. With the expansive temper of the Russians, it is strange that they did not come out to get some advantage when the British and French invaded the north. And the arrival of Putiyating can also illustrate a problem, that is, Russia did not get benefits from the Qing court, and it seems that Song Qingyun still maintained his due national integrity, and did not throw himself into the arms of the Russians because of internal and external compulsion.

From this moment on, Xiao Yungui couldn't help but be in awe of his nominal fiancée, it was really not easy for a woman to withstand such pressure, and he also faintly began to feel that he had gone too far? But then this idea was dispelled by him, the opposition of different positions cannot be diluted through guò emotion, sympathy is sympathy, and what should be done should also be done, maybe this is part of the dirty government. From this, Xiao Yungui also thought of the fact that in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the United States shouted sympathy for China while continuously exporting strategic materials to Japan, and immediately relieved.

History is not wonderful or pure, the elements that make up history are people and things, and the selfish nature of human beings determines that everything that is done will not be bright and fair, so many real histories are dark and outrageous, so there is a religious Virgin, and only a Virgin Mary who comforts people's sinful hearts.

Xiao Yungui also knew what Putiyating had come to Tianjing for, and Tan Shaoguang had repeatedly defeated the counterattacks of the Russian army in places such as Sakhalin Island and Temple Street Fortress. Due to the loss of the Miaojie fortress at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and the loss of Petropaplovsk, a military port on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, Russia lost its naval dominance in the Far East, and even its influence and invasion of Japan were interrupted one after another.

Although Putiyatin's note said that he came for peace in the Far East, Xiao Yungui knew that the Russians actually wanted to unite with the Taiping Army to send troops to the northeast and carve up the Manchu land in the northeast, and there would be no other purpose.

Although he knew the purpose of the Russians, Xiao Yungui did not refuse to meet with Putiatin, although the two sides were at war, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Russia did not declare war on each other, Xiao Yungui also needed to know where the bottom limit of Russia was, and he also wanted to know if the rumored news that Russia would send the Baltic Fleet across most of the world to the Far East was true.

Soon Putiyatin's note was replied to, and that night Putiyatin and his entourage of Russians boarded a special train from Shanghai to Tianjing, and arrived in Tianjing early the next morning.

After breakfast, Putiyatin and his party entered the West King's Mansion to wait for the West King's reception, and after waiting for a morning, the West King sent someone to bring Putiyating to meet him, and the rest of the people were not allowed to attend the meeting, and Putiyatin only brought a Russian interpreter to the meeting.

King Xi received Putiyating in the Catholic Church in the West Palace, I don't know if it was because he had too much contact with the dirty government, Xiao Yungui had to take time to come here every day to pray, perhaps to ask God to forgive him for his sins.

Putiyating has been amazed by the prosperity of this ancient city since he came to Tianjing, the West Palace, is one of the masterpieces of the Jiangnan Garden of Tianjing, more beautiful, now in the Catholic Church of the West Palace, suddenly there is a sense of time and space, Putiyating feels that he is in the Sith Cathedral rather than in distant China, although the Catholic Church of the West Palace, which is not too big, but it cleverly uses some architectural space skills, so the senses make people feel that the hall is very large.

King Xi sat quietly on the first row of prayer seats, above which a Chinese nun was leading a group of Chinese children to sing hymns, the singing was melodious, and people could not help but forget their sorrows and troubles, and people's hearts could be completely quieted.

Putiyating walked to the front row under the guidance of the guards, the king of the West did not look back at him, but pointed to the empty seat on the side, Putiyating bowed slightly and sat down, the interpreter sat behind the two, and the guards retreated.

After singing a melodious and light chant of the Father, the King of the West stood up and shook hands with Putiyating and said, "Let's go out and talk as we walk, I don't want the evil of the outside world to affect the children here." ”

After that, the king of the West walked out first, and Putiyating and the interpreter followed him, and Putiyating noticed that the robe of the king of the west was embroidered with silk precision, which looked simple but noble, and the slightly rude face of the king of the west had a majesty that people did not dare to look up to, and Putiyating wondered how this oriental legend perfectly combined the simplicity of a commoner with the dignity of a nobleman.

After leaving the Catholic Church, they wandered around the gardens of the Western Palace, and while Putiyatin was still thinking about how to speak, the Western King was the first to speak: "What do the Russians want?" ”

Putiyatin was slightly stunned after listening to the translation, he didn't expect the king of the west to be so straightforward, and immediately responded: "Russia needs peace. ”

The king of the West seemed to be dismissive of this false politeness, "Won't it be peace for you to return to Siberia?" ”

Putiyatin didn't know how to answer at the moment, the king of the west said the essence of the problem, Russia will have peace if it does not expand eastward. After being slightly stunned, Putiyatin bowed politely: "But we in Russia still need a larger living space and a Far Eastern outlet to the sea. ”

Only then did the king of the West become satisfied: "This is the truth." Tell me your reasons for knowing that peace is contrary to living space. ”

Putiyatin admired the straightforwardness of the King of the West, without the hypocrisy of the Qing officials, and said directly: "Russia and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have a common enemy, the Qing government!" And our conflict of interests in the Far East can be resolved through the division of the territory to the north of the Qing Dynasty. ”

After pondering for a moment, the King of the West asked, "How to divide it?" "The land east of the Ussuri River and north of the Trans-Khingan Mountains was assigned to Russia, and the east of the Heilongjiang River, including Sakhalin Island and Miaojie, belonged to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and at the same time, Russia recognized the legitimacy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's rule over China, and the two countries formed an alliance. ”

After listening, King Xi suddenly began to laugh, and then laughed louder and louder, and finally laughed so much that tears came out...... (To be continued......)