The USS Minnesota is a steam-sail hybrid battleship with three gun decks, 96 guns, and a crew of 748 people. This battleship was extremely deterrent in the Far East, except for the main battleships of the British and French Navy, only the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy's Dingyuan first-class battleship could be compared to her in the entire Far East. The ship later participated in the American Civil War and was part of the Northern Army, but was stranded in the naval battle by the Southern Army's wooden ironclad ship Merrimack, because her armor was not thick enough, because she was still only a wooden battleship.

After coming to the American warship, Ergin, Gro and others breathed a sigh of relief, recalling the nightmarish days of the past few days, and their group was still in a dream. Levellian was very kind and generous, and he and the other Americans on board provided some personal belongings to Ergin and the others, poor British and French, who lost all their personal belongings, in fact, most of them were stolen by their Nanyang coolies.

After bathing, eating, and tidying up his personal image, Sir Elgin changed into a dry tuxedo and finally regained a trace of decency, and then they gathered in Levie's parlor to discuss what to do next.

Before the meeting began, Ergin and others thanked Lev for his help, and Lev said that as a white Westerner, it was not worth mentioning. At the official beginning of the meeting, Lev spoke first, in which he clarified the position of the United States: "Gentlemen, in view of the present situation in the Far East, we should do everything possible to put an end to the chaotic situation of the war and restore the trade order in the Far East, in which the United States will continue to remain neutral in the war. ”

The position of the Americans disappointed both the British and French ministers. At the same time, it is not surprising that Americans have received a lot of funding from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Moreover, the total annihilation of the Anglo-French landing force this time also made the Americans see the strength of the Taiping Army. It is a matter of course that Americans remain neutral.

Ergin pondered for a moment and then said: "Your Excellency, we understand the position of the United States, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's shameless declaration of war and subsequent sneak attacks cannot be tolerated by our two countries, and the British Empire will definitely retaliate." Gro also nodded and said: "The French Empire will also use war to regain its dignity, and we must let the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom know the consequences of declaring war on us." ”

It is not surprising why the defeated still has such a strong background, because Britain and France have strong industrial capabilities, and their navies can dominate the seas. Wei Lian also nodded and said, "I know that the two countries will not give up. But I just want to remind you that the ultimate goal of the war is profit, and the war with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cannot bring any benefit to Britain and France. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not a Manchu government, and I believe they were capable of resisting the ensuing retaliation of the British and French, and if the war continued to expand or prolonged, the interests of every merchant who traded or invested in the Far East would be harmed. ”

Erjin shook his head and said, "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has not yet completed the unification of the whole country. Our fleet in the Far East will teach them a lesson next. Mr. Lie Weilian, you are right, we need to restore order as much as possible, but this is after we have defeated the Taiping army. Peace can only come after they admit defeat and take the initiative to sue for peace. ”

Levian knew that Sir Elgin was a great power, just as he was at the time of American independence more than 80 years ago. The British arrogantly declared that they would take all the traitors back to Britain and hang them. And what about the French? They were also immersed in Napoleon's imperial authority, and they were convinced that the French Army was the first in Europe and the world.

Thereupon. Lie Weilian didn't waste any more time, he pondered for a moment and said: "The five treaty ports and the ports of Zhenjiang and Tianjing, which were later added by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, cannot be blocked. This is our request, and I think it is also the request of merchants from other countries, including those from England and France. War is war, and commercial interests cannot be harmed. ”

Ergin secretly scolded the Americans for being hillbillies who fell in the eyes of money, but said politely on his face: "Mr. Minister, we can't guarantee it, it depends on military needs." ”

Lie Weilian said unceremoniously: "Sir Ergin, since the Taiping Army dares to take the initiative to declare war, do you think you can still keep the safety of the southern treaty port and concession?" I had an exchange of views with His Excellency Xiwang in Tientsin, and He promised that if the British and French navies did not take the initiative to attack the treaty ports, he would guarantee the safety of the concession. ”

Erjin and Gro's faces changed, they didn't expect that the king of the West would use the concession as a bargaining chip, but after thinking about it, it was their choice, rather than spending troops to invade the concession and loot, and then capture a large number of foreign civilians in the concession, it is not beneficial, it is better to surround them, trap them in the concession, and become a hostage bargaining chip in their hands, so that Britain and France can be a mouse trap when attacking the treaty port.

Seeing the change in the faces of Ergin and Gro, Lie Weilian continued: "Of course, His Excellency the King of the West also said that other military targets are not protected, and the British and French forces can attack, after all, the two sides have declared war, but commerce and trade cannot be affected. At the same time, King Xi could also promise to release journalists, missionaries, and other non-combatants as a matter of good faith. ”

Journalists and missionaries? Those people were of little use, and their release only increased the burden on Ergin, who was worried that the reporters would be talking nonsense.

But Ergin couldn't make up his mind, and in the end he only said: "Your Excellency, we need to go back to Shanghai in the south first, and I will meet with our merchants and military representatives to reassess the situation before we can decide whether to agree to the conditions of the King of the West." After that, I will write a detailed report to report to the country based on the attitudes of all parties and changes in the situation. Gro agrees with the plan.

Lie Weilian seemed to have known that they would make such a request, he said slowly: "I understand this, before I came back, His Excellency the King of the West also expected that the two of you would do this, so he asked me to tell the two, if the two agreed to the request, they would stay and continue to negotiate, if they wanted to go back to the south first, then it was okay, anyway, when the time comes, the two of you want to negotiate, please take a boat to the north, or come to Tianjin to talk." ”

Erjin and Gro looked at each other, they didn't expect the King of the West to guess so accurately, as if his every move was calculated by him. But Ergin thought deeper, his return to the south and the so-called assessment of the situation was actually just a pretense, he went back mainly to concentrate the navy and the remaining army forces in the south, and first tentatively attack the Taiping army's strongholds along the coast or along the river, first, to let the Taiping army also taste the power of the British and French armies, and take revenge; Second, they wanted to test the combat readiness of the Taiping army in the south, if they were vulnerable, Britain and France could rest assured that they would increase their troops and ships until they turned the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom into a client state, and if the war situation was still unfavorable, it would mean that the war could not be expanded.

But if the king of the west could guess that they would propose to go back to the south first, it was impossible not to guess the purpose of their return, since he could guess, why did he let them go so generously? Did he set up some trap for them in the south?

Ergin couldn't figure it out, and Lieweilian's words interrupted his thoughts: "Your Excellency, since you plan to go back to the south first, our US Navy will escort you back first, but there is one point, please two ideas, we in the United States are neutral, all ships flying the American flag in and out of the ports of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are protected by the United States, please British and French troops do not attack, otherwise we will regard it as an act of war." ”

Ergin and Gro widened their eyes, the Americans were so tough on protecting their trade? But then I also figured out that the United States has just experienced a steel economic crisis, and most of them have gradually come out of the economic trough by relying on cooperation with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in recent years.

Ergin and Gro glanced at each other, and they had already made one thing clear from each other's eyes, they could not add to the chaos at this time, the Americans could not be offended for the time being, although the Americans only had eight warships in the Far East, they were also a force to be reckoned with, and at the same time, if the Americans were involved in the melee, the situation would be even more chaotic and out of control.

So Ergin and Gro happily agreed to Levilian's request, and the two sides initialed a treaty, the "Far East Wartime Commercial Treaty" signed by Britain, France and the United States, which bound the military behavior of the three countries in wartime and promised each other to protect each other's commercial and trade interests, but only in force in the Far East.

Levillum was satisfied, he preserved the interests of the United States in the Far East at the minimum cost, and the losses could be minimized in the war, Britain and France gave him promises, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also gave him promises, so Levile felt that he was the biggest winner.

Ergin and Gro were also satisfied, after all, the Americans had only been given the right to continue trading in the war, and the scope of their interests had not expanded, and they were able to return to the south, as long as they could go back, they would be able to fight a battle to regain their lost dignity and a qiē.

Xiao Yungui, who was far away in Tianjin, was satisfied, he defeated the British and French coalition forces as he wished, and his diplomatic strategy began to ferment, he was not afraid of Ergin returning to the south to begin to organize retaliation, as early as before the decision to declare war, everyone agreed that Britain and France would definitely retaliate, no matter what, they would retaliate, so Xiao Yungui prepared a more huge surprise for the British and French coalition forces in the south. He believed that it would not be long before Britain and France would come north to Jintang again to negotiate with him.

The next day, the representative of the mediator state, Lev Weilian, informed the king of the news of the British and French envoys, and Xiao Yungui naturally welcomed them back to the south, and at the same time returned some of the personal belongings of the allied forces that the Taiping army had pursued back from the Nanyang coolies, including some family letters from Sir Elgin. At the same time, King Xi released all the captured allied reporters and missionaries and told them to follow Ergin and others back to the south. But unexpectedly, two British reporters asked to stay and continue to follow the Taiping army, they boldly wanted to report the course of the war from another angle, and the king of the West actually agreed...... (To be continued......)