Xiao Yungui stood at the gate of the Taiping Army camp, watching the neatly arranged British and French troops passing in front of him, and in a trance he felt that his madness had a fight with the real Cixi in later history, that Cixi was a cattle man who declared war with all countries in the world, and he was now declaring war at the same time as the three most powerful countries in the world, oh, there is also a Manchu Qing Dynasty, which is also a big country in the world, he is a big country in the world, and he seems to be a cattle man.

According to Xiao Yungui's understanding of the history of the British and French parliaments, he is almost certain that when the news reaches back to the two countries, it will inevitably lead to the fall of the prime ministers of the two countries, the dissolution of the cabinets, and then a new round of fierce debate on whether to fight or peace. But judging from the habitual imperialist behaviour of Britain and France, it is highly likely that they will organize an expeditionary force again, this time on a larger scale, and then a more severe test.

Although the form will become severe, but fortunately, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not completely tied up, he Xiao Yungui still has a chance, this opportunity is that Britain and France are too far away from China, and when Britain and France complete the political turmoil, complete the debate in parliament and decide to send troops, to organize an expeditionary force, to the arrival of a new expeditionary force in Britain and France, there will be at least a year. In this year's time, Xiao Yungui needed to quickly complete the unification of the whole country, and in the northeast region, the Taiping army needed to send troops to threaten Russia's Nebuchu and other places, forcing Russia to sign a peace treaty with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to end the war. Then, the Taiping army was able to concentrate on dealing with the pressure from Britain and France.

At the same time, Xiao Yungui is not ready to solve the current dilemma from the military side alone. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can also start from both diplomatic and political aspects. In terms of diplomacy, before Xiao Yungui went north. He had already met with the Prussian diplomatic mission, which was headed by a celebrity. Bismarck, one of the Prussian Triumvirate.

Bismarck, who served as Prussian minister to Russia in 1857, heard repeatedly during his time in Russia that Russia's expansion in the Far East had been frustrated, and that the Russian Governor-General of the Far East, Muravyov, had returned to Russia in 1858 to report on his duties, during which Bismarck had visited the legendary governor. Bismarck and Muravyov talked about the situation in the Far East, and Bismarck was surprised that the expansion of the old power Russia in the Far East would be subject to a rising East Asian rebel army, and Bismarck's impression that the Qing state in East Asia was as backward as ignorant as India, and sooner or later the country would be colonized and annexed by the foreign powers. But now a rebel army has sprung up to teach the Russians a lesson.

Muravyov has a great deal of suffering, Russia's control in the Far East has never been strong, the reason is still the old problem, the distance is too far, the Far East has always been a place for Russian exile of criminals, Muravyov can only gather a group of outlaws to deal with the rebels in the Far East. After the loss of Sakhalin Island and the Heilongjiang estuary, the two sides fought many years of skirmishes around the Russian settlements along the Heilongjiang River, and the rebel army called the Taiping Army was always able to easily defeat the Russian army in the Far East, and they fought stronger and stronger. One by one, the Russians' settlements and outposts along the Heilongjiang River were pulled out, and Muravyov had to shrink his forces and retreat to the place of departure - Nebuchu.

One of the main reasons for Muravyov's return was that he wanted Alexander II to agree to send more reinforcements eastward, otherwise he might not be able to hold even Nebuchu in the Far East. But unfortunately, Russia was in a period of weakness at this time. Alexander II succeeded to the throne with a mess as he had to deal with the consequences of his defeat in the Crimean War and the problems exposed by the defeat at home. 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, and Alexander II had to reform serfdom if he wanted to reform the country. In 1857 he established the "General Council of Peasant Affairs". Preparations for reforms to abolish serfdom began. 1858 was the first year of the attempt at reform, and strong force was needed to ensure that the reform was carried forward. As a result, Alexander II was unable to give Muravyov more support, so only a new batch of exiled convicts was given to Muravyov, and the rest was pitifully scarce.

Bismarck heard an important message from Muravyov's complaints, that a powerful power was rising in the Far East, and that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a new state, might soon replace the Manchus in China, and that this might be an opportunity for Prussia, which wanted to revive the German Empire and needed friends in the Far East to support it.

After Bismarck explained the situation to China, the regent Wilhelm I generously sent Bismarck to China to make contact with this mysterious emerging eastern power, and Bismarck followed in the footsteps of Muravyov and the Russian minister Putiyatin to the Far East. Although Muravyov did not receive any assistance on his return trip, Alexander II sent Putiyatin and Muravyov to the Far East, and if necessary, they had a good talk with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it was best to stabilize the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first, and then turn around and return to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after the internal situation on the Russian side was straightened out. So Putiyatin sent an envoy to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on behalf of Russia, but unfortunately the plan of the Russians was seen through by the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom declared war on Russia.

When Bismarck arrived in Shanghai, the largest port in the Far East, the first news he received was a surprise to him: the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had declared war on Russia. Although the two countries had been fighting without a declaration of war before, after all, they still retained a way out, and this declaration of war by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely demonstrated to the great powers their determination to defeat the enemy. The careful Bismarck found that Russia's strength in the Far East was indeed inferior to that of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's declaration of war was actually preparing for forcing Russia to sign a treaty in the future, and they hoped to regain more northern lands. Declaring war, which seemed risky to outsiders, was something to be appreciated in the eyes of the future iron-blooded prime minister. In fact, Prussia is also in this situation, surrounded by many powerful countries, Prussia wants to complete the unification of Germany, and even declares war with more countries, Austria, Denmark, France, etc., maybe Britain and Russia will intervene because of their interests. In Bismarck's eyes, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled the rich regions south of the Yangtze River in China, and its population, grain, minerals, and industrial power far exceeded that of Russia in the Far East combined, and it was logical to declare war.

Bismarck's luck was good, he arrived in Shanghai just when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leader Xi Wang was about to lead his elite troops north, Bismarck reported his name, and was immediately received by the West King, for which the whole fleet was delayed for an hour and a half because Bismarck alone.

Bismarck met the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the flagship of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy, the Dingyuan, a British standard first-class battleship with three gun decks, 108 guns, a crew of 895 people, and a displacement of 3,500 tons, which made Bismarck more firm in his judgment that the Russians would suffer defeat in the Far East. Although Prussia now had good relations with Russia, Bismarck did not mind seeing the Russians deflated in the Far East, and in the eyes of the iron-blooded prime minister, strength stood for a qiē.

In the reception room of the Dingyuan, Bismarck expressed to the king of the West that Prussia was willing to engage in commercial trade and deeper contacts with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After hearing this, the king of the West also expressed his desire to strengthen cooperation with Prussia, and followed him to inquire about the situation in Prussia, and Bismarck also gave a detailed explanation. King Xi listened very carefully, and asked questions from time to time, and the most asked was Prince William's situation.

At the first meeting, Bismarck saw a lean and wise king of the East, who generously expressed his desire to order advanced artillery technology from Prussia, and at the same time Bismarck was also surprised by the audacity of this king, and he keenly felt the unusual nature of the western king's expedition to the north.

Regarding the Western King's northern expedition, Bismarck did not hesitate to point out that the Western King led such a huge military force to the north, but I am afraid that the intention was not to conquer Russia in the north. And the king unabashedly admitted that he expressed his concern about the northward movement of the Anglo-French alliance, and he was worried that after the victory of the Anglo-French alliance over the Manchus, they would really intervene in the war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchus, and the situation would be unimaginable.

Bismarck was a little surprised, and the king of the West generously said that he led his army north this time in the hope of preventing this from happening, even if a direct war broke out with the British and French forces.

Far from laughing at the incompetence of the king of the West, Bismarck praised his boldness, and Prussia would be more than happy to see England and France make a big break in the Far East, especially France.

Then the king of the West mentioned the question of the unification of Germany, and Bismarck very much agreed with the king of the west that if the country is to be truly unified, it must not succumb to the interference of foreign forces, and only iron and blood can completely forge a nation that will not fall.

The more than hour-long talks soon ended, and King Xi invited Bismarck and his entourage to stay in Shanghai for a few more months, waiting for him to return from the north in triumph before discussing in detail other possible cooperation projects. Bismarck was also happy to see what the situation could turn for the king of the West to go north, if he failed, then Prussia would not have to provoke Britain and France for the sake of a failed country, but if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom showed her strong side, Prussia would not let go of a good opportunity.

Although the meeting with Bismarck did not lead to any substantive alliance treaty, Xiao Yungui concluded that when the Anglo-French forces in the north were annihilated, Prussia should have fallen to the side of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, at least they had common enemies on the road to rise, the traditional powers of Europe, Britain and France.

Diplomatically, Xiao Yungui can interact with Prussia and other countries to achieve the goal of containing Europe, and in politics, Xiao Yungui will certainly not give up his efforts to negotiate peace; on the day of the recapture of Dagukou, a US warship was parked there, and the American company Levielian was on board. The Americans wanted to follow Britain and France into Beijing as victors, and then get a share of the fruits of the victory in the war, but what they didn't expect was the sudden appearance of the Taiping army.

Knowing that the Americans were still in Dagukou and did not follow Britain and France to leave, Xiao Yungui understood that the Americans believed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had not declared war on the United States, and was not in a hurry to leave, and that the American minister was waiting for the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, so Xiao Yungui asked the troops at Dagukou to send a message to Lie Weilian, hoping to meet with Lie Weilian in Tianjin to discuss the war between Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as a mediator between the United States and the United States...... (To be continued......)