Ergin's little trick did not hide from Xiao Yungui, Ergin had the power to declare war on behalf of Britain, because he was the British plenipotentiary minister in the Far East, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not Manchu, Britain and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had many cooperation projects in Jiangnan, and at the same time, the military strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Far East had been fully revealed, so so far, Britain had not declared war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and perhaps Sir Ergin had not had time to issue a declaration of war note.

One of the purposes of Ergin's negotiation was to find out how determined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was to declare war on Britain and France, after all, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain did not seem to have reached the point of irreconcilable contradictions, but there was a premise for this, that is, Britain and France could not intervene in the civil war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchus.

After listening to King Xi's answer, Erjin frowned and said: "Your Excellency King Xi, I hope you can clearly judge the current situation, you have now declared war with the two most powerful countries in the world today, and you are also in a state of war with Russia, which is very unwise. If France and France really declare war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and join forces with Russia, then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will surely suffer defeat in the future. ”

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly, he knew that the trick of negotiation was to make the opponent unsure of his hole cards, he said slowly: "Your Excellency, I also hope that Britain and France understand that the expansion of British and French interests in the Far East has affected the interests of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, especially since you directly sent troops to try to join or influence the civil war between us and the Manchus, and obtain more benefits from it, which is absolutely unacceptable to our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." ”

Sir Ergin was also aware of the reasons for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's declaration of war, and he and Qianjiang had been negotiating in Tongzhou for a long time, and he also knew that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was worried about the military and political objectives of the Anglo-French alliance. In fact, the purpose of this expedition between Britain and France to the Manchus was actually very simple, they were to figure out the military means to force the Manchus to submit first. Then join forces with the Manchus to limit the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the north, maintaining the current division of China. Britain and France would be able to gain the most from this. But Ergin didn't expect that the top decision-makers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could clearly judge the purpose of Britain and France, instead of thinking that the British and French foreign brothers went north to help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom crusade against the Manchus, but in history, after Britain and France defeated the Manchus, the Manchu government quickly succumbed and signed a series of unequal treaties with Britain and France, not only losing power and humiliating the country, but finally the Manchus colluded with Britain, France, the United States and other countries to join forces to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was completely wiped out.

But in this time and space, Xiao Yungui naturally wouldn't let this kind of thing happen, he preemptively attacked the expeditionary force of the British and French forces, caught the other party off guard, and forced Ergin to return to the negotiating table now.

Sir Elgin pondered for a moment and then said: "Your Excellency the King of the West, I understand your words, if Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can reach an agreement, we will give up the use of force to intervene in the internal affairs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can not give up the hostility towards Britain and France. The two parties return to their previous relationship. ”

Xiao Yungui was a little amused, Sir Ergin really wanted to save face at this time, the purpose of his trip was actually Xiao Yungui had already guessed, the remaining troops of the coalition army were surrounded. In a few days, the entire army could be wiped out, and in order to save the coalition army, he delusionally hoped that he would be able to negotiate with Guò to free the besieged coalition army. The promise to renounce armed intervention is insincere. If Britain and France are serious about giving up their intervention, they should commit directly. In the future, it will be necessary to maintain complete neutrality in the Chinese civil war. So Xiao Yungui said unceremoniously: "Your Excellency, in fact, you don't have to say anything more. If I want to negotiate, I want to wait until I have annihilated the coalition forces in Huogezhuang before starting, and at that time, I think the two sides can come to an agreement. ”

Ergin said angrily: "Your Excellency the King of the West, this is the last chance for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, if you give up this opportunity, Britain and France will definitely declare war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely, even if the current army is annihilated, Britain and France will still send a more powerful expeditionary force to come, and at that time, unless Britain and France completely defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they will definitely not withdraw their troops." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly: "I believe this, when the United States became independent, the British emperor also vowed to arrest all those rebels and send them to London for trial." ”

Ergin blushed when he heard this, and said: "Your Excellency King Xi, the independence of the United States is because of the shameless intervention of France, and now you have declared war with Britain, France, and Russia, you must pay attention to this." Speaking of the United States, the Americans may also join the war, but to help us! After hearing Elgin's words, the French Minister Sir Gro was slightly embarrassed, in fact, Britain and France looked good enough to wear a pair of pants on their faces, but there was a lot of dirt behind their backs, and they were not monolithic.

Xiao Yungui touched his nose and smiled and said, "Americans? They are about to elect a president, and I have heard that the states of the United States are at odds because of the contradictions of abolition, and the economic crisis in the United States has just passed, and they have to think about the losses before they join the war. As for Russia, the Emperor Alexander II heard that he was going to reinvigorate himself, he needed time to reform the country's political situation, and he also wanted to liberate some of the serfs in the country, so he needed a strong military force to ensure the stability of the country, and he may not have enough strength in the Far East. As for the French Empire, he had a good neighbor, who had heard of Frevice of Prussia. Emperor Wilhelm IV had been suffering from a severe mental illness since the year before, and his brother Wilhelm had been the regent, this regent was not a mediocre prince, his ambition was to unify Germany, perhaps in the near future Prussia would begin his unification steps, by that time the precious French troops would be sent to support Austria, Denmark, or to the Far East? As for you British Empire? Although the great uprising in India failed, but you have drawn too many troops in India, are you not afraid of another uprising in India? And if Prussia rises, will it affect British interests in Europe? ”

Ergin and Gro looked at each other, and they were secretly surprised in their hearts, although they were far away from the ocean, the king of the West still knew the shape of the European countries well, and indeed as he said, all the European countries had their own internal problems. Alexander II of Russia had just succeeded to the throne, and the country was in ruins, and he needed to digest the bitter fruits of the defeat in Crimea, and he was indeed unable to deal with the Taiping army in the Far East. Although the rise of Prussia will take a few years, some of the actions of the William regent have already aroused the vigilance of Britain and France, especially France, which is very worried about the unification of Prussia. On the British side, this expedition they drew a lot of troops from India, although the Indian uprising has been suppressed, but the hatred has not been resolved, if the British and French expedition in the Far East fails, it may trigger a chain reaction, compared to the British more concerned about India, the jewel in the queen's crown.

Xiao Yungui then said slowly: "If the two of you came to negotiate today if you want to find a way out for the besieged coalition soldiers, this king has a way to go here, that is, let Grant and General Montauban order the soldiers to stop making senseless resistance, lay down their weapons, and surrender unconditionally." ”

Elgin and Gro both blushed, and Sir Elgin waved his arms angrily and said, "The army of the British Empire will never surrender!" Gro also said: "Neither will the soldiers of the French Empire!" ”

Xiao Yungui waved his hand to signal the two of them to be calm, at this time, a personal guard hurriedly came in and handed Xiao Yungui a note, Xiao Yungui glanced at it, and then put it into his arms, without any fluctuations on his face, just smiled and continued: "There are less than 6,000 soldiers left in the coalition army now, surrounded by tens of thousands of our Taiping Legions, there is a shortage of medical treatment, food and ammunition, and there is no foreign aid, and the destruction is only overnight, do you watch those British and French soldiers die in this foreign land?" Also, you have lost all your heavy weapons, the British Armstrong artillery is indeed very advanced, and this king is also interested in letting the artillerymen fire shells every day to bombard Huogezhuang, you have hoarded a lot of ammunition in Tianjin, and this king can squander it with confidence. ”

Sir Ergin was annoyed and angry, and said loudly: "Your Excellency the King of the West, don't forget jì, there are still hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops in the capital, and they will definitely take the opportunity to attack you!" ”

Xiao Yungui was not angry, and continued his words: "It is true that they will attack us, but that is after this king annihilates you. I forgot to tell you, now in the city of Beijing, the representative of the Westernization faction, His Excellency Prince Gong, has been confined to the home of the Empress Dowager of the West, and now the military power is the monk Grinqin who is extremely hostile to foreigners, so please ask for more blessings. By the way, don't go back, stay here first and think clearly, it's dangerous to go back, this king has ordered the artillery to carry out several artillery salves to Huogezhuang every hour starting today, if you go back, I'm afraid that you will be injured by mistake, as diplomats, it's better for you to stay. ”

After finishing speaking, Xiao Yungui ordered the guards to take the depressed Erjin and Ge Luo down to rest, and then he urgently ordered Qian Jiang and others to enter the account to discuss the matter, it turned out that the note handed to Xiao Yungui by the guards just now was Qian Jiang's handwritten note, which read: "This morning, the Qing Demon dispatched more than 30,000 people from the capital to tentatively attack the Nanyuan camp!" ”

Qian Jiang and others came in, and Xiao Yungui asked, "How is the battle situation in the Nanyuan camp?" Just now, when he was negotiating with Erjin and Gro, he knew the news that the Manchu Qing had sent troops, but he remained silent and continued to intimidate the two, and the two had already left at this time, so he couldn't wait to ask about the battle. It must be known that Xiao Yungui's biggest concern now is that the Manchu Qing sent troops to attack his rear battalion, which may make the operation to annihilate the coalition army fail.

Qian Jiang hurriedly said: "The more than 1,000 people left behind are still fighting hard, and the news I received said that they have repelled the Qing Demon three attacks, but there are too many enemies, and the ammunition is starting to run low. At this time, I don't know what the latest situation is. ”

Xiao Yungui kept pacing in the tent with a gloomy face, and said with a secret hatred in his heart: "Song Qingyun, Song Qingyun, you said you supported me, but in the end, you still stabbed you in the back, do you really want to completely turn your face with me?" (To be continued......)