Wen Han got out of the carriage and walked quickly into the chamber of the British Consulate, where he took off his tweed coat and handed it to the Indian waiter who was waiting beside him, and turned to sit down on a Victorian lion's claw sofa. He took out a box of cigars from his pocket, handed one to Ali Guo, one to Midile, one to Colonel Hober, and picked up the other one himself.

"What do you think of today's events?" Wen Han rubbed his temples lightly and said with some bitterness: "Do we really want to give in to those rebels?" ”

Colonel Ho Bo shook his thick sea lion beard and said loudly: "Your Excellency, it is time to teach those arrogant yellow-skinned monkeys a lesson, they are wantonly trampling on the dignity of our British Empire!" Seven warships in Shanghai are enough to send all their so-called naval forces to the bottom of the sea, and we can fight all the way to their capital, Tianjing! ”

Midile did not like the arrogant and arrogant traditional British officer style of Uncle Ho, and sneered: "Colonel Bo, do you have the strength to defend the concession in Shanghai?" All your warships have gone to fight the Taipings, who will conquer the Petropavlov military port of the Russians? ”

Wen Han was also disgusted by Uncle He's unconstructive words, and said lightly: "Colonel Uncle He, your task now is to form a joint fleet with the French Expeditionary Fleet, and prepare to attack the Russian Petropavlov military port, not to reopen a battlefield. What do you think? ”

Midile said softly: "Your Excellency, the interests of the British Empire are different from the war ten years ago, when the crisis was mainly due to the Manchu Qing wanton destruction of trade in the Far East and the expulsion of all legitimate British merchants, opium was only a pretext in that war, and we needed that war to open the door to commerce and trade in this ancient country. Now the situation is different. The Taiping army occupied Shanghai, and they did not disrupt any trade activities, but on the contrary they tried to restore the order of trade. I can see that His Excellency Xiwang very much wants to build Shanghai into the largest trading port in the Far East, whether it is the right to build roads or mining rights, it is the interest we need, and opium will slowly become a thing of the past. ”

Medile had always sympathized with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Wen Han was not surprised by his remarks, and asked with a pestle on his chin with one hand, "What do the East India Company, Jardine Matheson, and other foreign companies say?" ”

Midile shook his head and said, "There is no need to explain anything, Your Excellency, the two partners of Jardine Matheson in the early years did start their lives in the opium trade. But opium is no longer the main trade commodity of Jardine Matheson, and I believe they are more interested in railways and mining, as are other foreign companies. When the Battle of Shanghai was in full swing, didn't all the major foreign companies trade with the Taiping Army? And the East India Company? Your Excellency, do you think the East India Company will last long in India? Isn't it the Prime Minister's desire to use the Taiping Army's opium policy to further crack down on the East India Company? ”

Wen Han understood a little. The East India Company was founded in 1600 as an institution established in the 17th century by the British, French, and Dutch colonial powers that were emerging in the 17th century after the colonial expansion of Portugal and Spain. Initially. The British mainly used the East India Company for business, which later became a tool for the British colonizers to invade India. A steady stream of Indian grain and industrial raw materials was brought back to Britain, from which it was profitable. The British government granted the East India Company various powers, such as the right to monopolize trade, the right to train troops, the right to declare war, and the right to set up courts to try the inhabitants of the country or colonies, etc., and the East India Company effectively became an agent of the British government in its invasion of India. Another of the East India Company's plundering tactics in India was its monopoly on the opium, salt, and tobacco trade. Thereinto. Opium revenues account for about one-seventh of the company's total revenue. Bangladeshi farmers were forced to grow opium and smuggle it to China for sale, making huge profits.

From the 60s of the 18th century, the East India Company began to decline. The power of the company's employees led to corruption, and at the same time, the company's expropriation of the Indian people led to the continuous uprising of the Indian people. And for the company to suppress the uprising, it would have to spend a lot of money. This creates a vicious circle that traps the company in a series of crises. The British government had already begun to take action against the East India Company, and by 1813 the East India Company's trade monopoly on India had been abolished, and in the same year, the British government had abolished its trade monopoly on China. After the East India Company's trade privileges with China were revoked, the British merchants who came to trade in Guangzhou changed from being organized by the East India Company to individual merchants, and the British government officials negotiated commercial matters with the Chinese government, so that the original negotiations between merchants and merchants became intergovernmental negotiations, thus sowing the seeds of the fuse of the conflict between China and Britain. After the abolition of all powers, the East India Company went bankrupt. Historically, in 1858, the East India Company was kicked out of the way after exhausting his life's energy to amass enough wealth for the British, and the East India Company was officially abolished by the British government, which began to rule India directly until 1947.

Wen Han understood what Midile meant, and he was not guilty of giving up the greater interests for the benefit of those opium merchants, but he still said with some reluctance: "But we may lose the power to negotiate tariffs, and it will be extremely unfavorable to us in the future." ”

Midile smiled and said: "Your Excellency, there are no eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests, and at present, the interests of us and the Taiping Army are the same, and we should work together to safeguard common interests. Future? At this point, Midile shrugged and said, "Who can say for sure what will come?" ”

Ali Guo nodded and said, "Your Excellency, Midile's words are right, but in the face of the tariff rules of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we can decently maintain the privileges we had before, such as the right of consular approval for foreign ships entering and leaving Chinese ports, which should be retained." ”

Wen Han pondered for a moment and said slowly, "Haode, let's try to fight for what we can." ”

At this moment, there was a knock on the door of the conference room, and an Indian waiter came in and said, "Sir, Alexander of Jardine Matheson. Mr. Madison arrived. ”

Wen Han sighed, got up and said, "Please let him in." ”

Midile smiled and said, "This Scotsman is really strange, he did not attend this important invitation today, and only sent a representative over, and he himself came here at this time. ”

Ali Guo said with some concern: "Midile. He didn't come here for the opium trade. ”

Midile frowned, "No way, Alexander is not the kind of person who has no vision. ”

As he was talking, a man wearing a top hat and a black tuxedo walked in, his face was shaved and he wore a single eye patch on his left eye, and when he came in, he took off his top hat and bowed, "Good afternoon, gentlemen, I heard that you have encountered setbacks in the Taiping Army?" ”

As a traditional Englishman, Wenham looked down on the Scotsman. Both founders of Jardine Matheson are Scottish. One is William, a graduate of the Edinburgh Medical School in England. Jardine's, the other is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. Madison. The two cooperated to start the Maniac Company to engage in opium smuggling, and the business grew bigger and bigger. The two not only sold opium in the Canton area, but also hired German missionaries to smuggle and sell drugs along the coast north to Bohai Bay. A lot of wealth and capital have been accumulated. On July 1, 1832, the day after the collapse of the Jardine's and Medison Company in Maniac. Jardine Matheson & Co. was founded in Guangzhou. Alexander. Madison is James. Madison's nephew. He is now one of the majority shareholders of Jardine Matheson.

Hearing Alexander's sarcastic words, Wen Han's face was a little ugly, and Midile smiled slightly: "Alexander, do you want this?" ”

Alexander took off the mask of his left eye, smiled and said: "Politicians always have to think about a lot of things, but we businessmen are simpler. Lord Wenhan, we just need benefits. At this point he paused and said, "May I sit down and say?" ”

Wen Han came back to his senses and beckoned Alexander to sit down, and the Indian waiter brought Alexander a cup of hot tea. Alexander took a sip and said: "What a sweet tea, I believe that one day Britain will have no Chinese tea, it will be a disaster." Gentlemen, I am here to say that we at Jardine Matheson are happy to support the introduction of the new tariff policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and we have no dissatisfaction. ”

Ah Liguo sneered: "Has Jardine Matheson been generous enough to give up the opium business?" ”

Alexander shook his head and said, "No, no, no matter how the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controls the import of opium, we will continue our opium trade, and this is not a conflict." We are always engaged in opium smuggling, whether it is in the Manchu Qing Dynasty or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we can smuggle it, we have twelve flying shear cargo ships, I don't believe that the old sailors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can catch up with us, and even if they do, the armament on our ships can scare them off. So gentlemen, this initiative of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not a problem at all for capable merchants. Even if the worst happens, if we go to the Manchu land to smuggle opium, we will not have anything to lose. I am concerned about the next step of investment, I heard that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom god of war wants to build a railway in Shanghai, we Jardine Matheson very much hope to be able to get this business, I hope that Mr. Minister can come forward, in the future we will give Mr. Minister, Mr. Consul and Mr. Midile, each of them 3% of the railway equity as a reward. ”

Wen Han and the others were moved in their hearts when they heard this, Alexander was right, the opium trade of Jardine Matheson Matheson did not need them to worry about it at all, as Alexander said, if the capable foreign company wanted to continue the opium trade, this was not a problem at all, the key was the next step of cooperation with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Wen Han nodded and said: "In this matter, we also hope that our British company will get the right to build the road, and I and the King of the West are also old acquaintances, we will work this matter, I hope your Jihua book will be better." ”

Alexander smiled slightly: "Please rest assured, as long as the king of the west wants, we can build the railway to Nanjing." At this point, Alexander paused, and then said, "I have come today with one more matter that I need the help of Mr. Minister. ”

Wen Han asked, "What is it?" ”

Alexander said with some embarrassment: "There is an important person in the Rothschild family who followed the medical team of the missionary Luo Weilin to Suzhou, and today there is news that this important person and the medical team have acted separately, and our people over there have lost their traces of him, we need to find him and continue to protect his safety!" (To be continued......)