Wang Minyun's negotiations did not go well, Britain and France were angry about some of the Far Eastern interests they had lost last time, and Bao Ling and Blombühl were very demanding, they demanded the opening of all cities under the rule of the Taipings, the revision of the current tariff rules, the expansion of the concession area, and so on.

When Xiao Yungui saw the conditions proposed by Britain and France, he kicked over his desk with a pale face, and roaring angry shouts resounded through the wide study of King Xi. Not to mention that the West Hall did not gain control of all the cities under the rule of the Taiping Army, most of the territory of the Taiping Army was still under the rule of several princes of Tianjing, even if Xiao Yungui was now able to be the master of the house, he did not dare to agree to this condition.

However, among these conditions, Britain and France did not mention the legalization of opium, with the development of foreign trade in Sufu Province and other places, the large volume of foreign cloth, steel, and arms trade began to gradually replace the opium trade, coupled with the control of the Taiping Army of Sufu Province over opium smoking and opium trafficking, the demand for opium in Sufu Province decreased sharply, and at the same time Britain began to take action against the East India Company, so the British government did not support the legalization of the opium trade, and even some British merchants thought that doing so would reduce the purchasing power of other goods in Sufu Province.

Although there was no legalization of the opium trade, the other conditions were still harsh, and all these conditions were in exchange for the British and French agreeing to maintain neutrality and not interfere with the military operations of the Taiping army in southern China, which was not the principle of equivalent exchange at all, so Xiao Yungui was very angry.

Hong Yun'er waited silently for him to vent his angry roar on the side, then stepped forward and said with a faint smile: "If you can make Britain and France change the conditions by kicking all the tables, I don't mind if you kick a few more times." ”

Xiao Yungui slowly calmed down, he rubbed his temples by himself, and said in a deep voice: "These foreign devils are too deceitful!" Are we really bullies? ”

Hong Yun'er then poured a basin of cold water: "It is indeed easy to bully, a large feudal agricultural country with a literacy rate of less than one percent is indeed very easy to bully for a country that has completed the industrial revolution." ”

Xiao Yungui was speechless. Hong Yun'er continued: "Maybe we should think in a different direction. ”

Xiao Yungui frowned and said, "Change direction?" ”

Hong Yun'er said slightly: "Yes, change directions." Britain and France can use the Qing army to put pressure on us, and we can in turn use the Qing army to influence British and French policy towards us. ”

Xiao Yungui pondered for a moment, and Hong Yun'er's words made his eyes light up: "Do you mean to sow discord between Britain and France and the Qing army, and let them fight each other, and Britain and France will change their strategy of suppressing us?" ”

Hong Yun'er smiled so movingly: "Yes, do you remember the causes of the Second Opium War, the Ma Shenfu incident and the Yarrow incident?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "Remember, but now that history has been changed beyond recognition by the butterfly effect we have brought, these two events may not happen." ”

Hong Yun'er said slowly: "In fact, the fundamental cause of the Second Opium War was not these two events. In the final analysis, the war was the result of irreconcilable contradictions, and although Britain and France began to sell weapons to the Qing army, the contradictions between them were not resolved. The Qing court still despised and defended Britain and France, who were not satisfied with the results of the Opium War and wanted to continue to expand their trade and colonization of China. Therefore, there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the two families. ”

Xiao Yungui touched his chin and said with a wicked smile: "You mean that the cooperation between the two families is only temporary, as long as there is a little spark, it will make the two families turn against each other?" ”

Hong Yun'er nodded and said, "Not bad." The local governors of the Qing court were under the same pressure as we did. On the one hand, they had to deal with the unreasonable demands of Britain and France, and on the other hand, they had to rely on Britain and France. Speaking of this, Hong Yun'er paused, and then said coldly: "If we arrange for Bai Zetang's dead soldiers to do a few cases to blame the Qing court, do you think Britain and France will turn the spearhead against the Manchus?" ”

Xiao Yungui also thought of this method in his mind, he quickly weighed the pros and cons, Zuihou shook his head and said: "This is likely to provoke a war between Britain and France and the Manchu Qing." I fear that the British and French expeditionary forces will disrupt the balance of force in the Far East. In other words, Britain and France were no better than the Manchus, and they were likely to lure wolves into the house, and I don't want to see the city of Beijing suffer the same calamities as it did in history. I want a complete city of Beijing, not a city that has been ravaged by foreigners. ”

Hong Yun'er frowned and said: "There must be a war between Britain and France and the Manchu Qing, this is inevitable, do you really think that if we don't provoke, we can avoid this war?" ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said, "I know that war is inevitable, but I think it may be possible to change the outcome of the war." Now the domestic situation is too complicated, we need time to integrate the Taiping army first, and then the Northern Expedition, at that time, whether we go to war with Britain and France or Britain and France and the Manchus, we have the ability to change the outcome of the war. But now we can't change the outcome of the war, so it's better not to provoke a war between Britain and France, no matter whether the Anglo-French expedition is to fight the Manchus or us, the result after the war is too much for us to bear. ”

Hong Yuner still can't understand: "What is the matter with us in the Manchurian customs clearance?" ”

Xiao Yungui sighed and said: "There are three reasons, first, Britain and France and the Manchus went to war, the Manchus will be defeated, and after the Manchus are defeated, they will fully fall to the foreigners, and then the foreigners and the Manchus will come together to exterminate us." Second, after the defeat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they will sell out a lot of interests, and even lose a lot of territory in the north, and Russia will definitely take advantage of the fire to loot, and even if we win, the territory in the north will have to be recovered through a long war. Thirdly, once Britain and France organized an expeditionary force to the Far East, we would have one more robber in our inner courtyard with swords and guns, and they would have Liliang who could intervene in our civil war at any time. ”

Hong Yun'er was silent for a long time and said, "Are you afraid of war with Britain and France?" ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid of a war with Britain and France, but I'm afraid of fighting an unprepared war." ”

Hong Yun'er lowered her head and thought for a while: "I think we should still give it a try, I remember that in history, after the Ma Shenfu incident and the Yarrow incident in 1856, Britain and France went to war against China, after two Dagukou battles, it took three or four years to send an expeditionary force to arrive, maybe we have time to prepare." ”

Hong Yun'er is right, the Second Opium War from the Ma Shenfu Incident and the Yarrow Incident to the Anglo-French invasion of Beijing in 1860, it took three or four years, and three or four years was indeed enough for him Xiao Yungui to get rid of several princes and integrate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It's just that Xiao Yungui is very worried that the current historical process has deviated, at least there is no incident in history that the combined fleet led by Grant will not leave Shanghai, and he is not sure whether the British and French attitudes towards the war are resolute.

Seeing that Xiao Yungui was a little difficult to decide, Hong Yun'er said, "Why don't we ask Zuo Xiang's opinion?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "Yes, you still have to ask Zuo Xiang if you don't decide on foreign affairs, but you can't tell him anything about the Second Opium War in history." ”

Hong Yun'er smiled and said, "That's nature, you are stupid to me." Then Hong Yuner went to the telegraph room to send a report to Suzhou. With the telegraph line between Jiangsu and Shanghai, the connection between Suzhou and Shanghai was more convenient, so Xiao Yungui was able to stay in Shanghai for a long time.

Zuo Zongtang's return came soon, Zuo Zongtang just listened to Hong Yun'er's suggestion and gave a clear reply: "People have no long-term worries, they must have near-term worries, Your Highness is worried about the people of Yi to start a war against China, and the people of Yi are not worried about defeat after the war?" If the battle between China and the West cannot be avoided in the future, the future battle will be, how do you know that our side will be defeated? Yu Guan foreigners act, although most of them are threatened by ships, but they are still not prepared for a big war, and the strategy of the West Wang Niang Yu thinks it is feasible! ”

After Xiao Yungui read Zuo Zongtang's reply, he was not ready to go to war with Britain and France, and Britain and France were not prepared for this either? Otherwise, Britain and France would have directly found an excuse to start a war in the previous Temple Street and Sakhalin incidents, so why bother to compromise? The Crimean War had just ended, and Britain and France needed time to digest the aftermath of the war.

Besides, provoking the Manchus and Britain and France to fight each other is a hundred benefits and no harm to the Taiping army at the moment, and their immediate worries have not been resolved, where can they take care of the long-term affairs in the future?

Zuihou Hong Yun'er smiled sinister and said: "Don't forget that there are still our old classmates over there in the Manchu Dynasty, don't you make some trouble for him?" He beat Changsha, and his hands were stained with the blood of our brothers, so it was time for him to be unhappy. ”

Xiao Yungui finally nodded and said, "Okay, let's let Bai Zetang start acting, but we must do it cleanly, so that the British, French or Manchu Qing can't find out that we are doing something in it." ”

Hong Yun'er smiled: "Where do you think it's better to start?" ”

Xiao Yungui didn't want to think about it: "Naturally, it's still Guangzhou, where it's a powder keg, where Chinese and foreign people live together, Britain and France are angry with Ye Mingchen, the governor, and the British consul in Guangzhou is the Pasha Li who is famous for causing trouble." ”

The couple looked at each other and smiled, and then they made up their minds, and the butterfly's wings began to flap again.

In the afternoon, the couple had lunch and were about to break up their respective office affairs, but Qian Jiang and Tong Qiangsheng came to see each other, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yuner immediately summoned the two in the study, and the two giants of the Intelligence Department and Bai Zetang came to see at the same time, which shows that this matter is extremely important. Tong Qiangsheng returned to Shanghai after the Guangdong Rebels transferred to Fujian, and handed over the affairs of Guangdong to the people of Bai Zetang's Guangdong branch to take over. After returning to Shanghai, Tong Qiangsheng has been working with Qianjiang to appease the interior, and at the same time strengthen the surveillance and intelligence analysis of Tianjing.

After the two of them entered, they all hurriedly saluted, and the first thing Qian Jiang said after getting up was: "Your Highness, judging from the analysis of all kinds of intelligence transmitted back from Tianjing, the East King wants to make a move on the North Hall and the Wing Hall in the near future!" (To be continued......)