The moon and stars are scarce, and the Nanyuan camp at night does not feel cold, but it is still a hot scene, although it is already midnight at the moment, but the Taiping soldiers in the camp are still busy.

Among the groups of Taiping soldiers who came and went, Rong Lu, who was standing not far in front of the tent of the allied envoys, was particularly abrupt, and his bald forehead with long braids was really a bit unusual against the background of the torches. When the Taiping soldiers who came and went saw him, they all cast contemptuous glances, and even spit a few mouthfuls of thick phlegm in front of him, cursing a few words such as dogs, demons, traitors, etc.

Rong Lu smiled and said nothing, but it was not easy for his old classmate to brainwash his personal will and instill it so thoroughly into the low-level officers and soldiers, but he still didn't have the slightest regret, what about the people's aspirations? Not the cult of personality? Compared to the actual benefits you can get, it is nothing.

The allied envoys were confined to a few tents and could not move around at will, Rong Lu could not move around, he walked alone to the very edge of this area, planning to take a good look at the camps and fortifications built by the Taiping army, since he was transferred back to the capital, he had not directly fought with the Taiping army for two years, and the last time he fought with Lin Fengxiang's Taiping army in Huaishang.

When he was looking at it, a rough voice floated from behind him: "In the face of the world's scolding, you can still keep smiling, such a spittling effort, this king is really ashamed." ”

Looking back, Rong Lu saw Xiao Yungui, Xiao Yungui waved his hand and signaled the guards who followed him to step back a little, so he smiled and said, "Spit on your own face?" You're exalting me too much. I don't have such a good self-cultivation kung fu, I'm a very grudgeful person. ”

Xiao Yungui walked over to him and stood still. He bowed his head slightly: "Yes, you are a person who will repay you." You can even betray Qingyun, what else can't you do? ”

Rong Lu sneered: "She was the one who had to deal with me first, so she can't blame me." At this point he paused and continued, "You don't have to be complacent, for if you were to change places with me, you would do the same to me." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted coldly and said, "Haven't you always liked Qingyun?" And now do this to her? ”

Rong Lu put away his smile, looked at Xiao Yungui with some surprise, and finally laughed out loud and said: "I didn't expect you to say such childish words, like to like, career to career." She blocked my career, so naturally she wanted to move away. And I thought about it, as long as my plan can succeed, after Qingyun steps down, I can also take good care of her, what's wrong with that? ”

Xiao Yungui heaved and said: "It's that I think it's simple, you don't just spit on yourself, but you are also quite skilled in the study of thick black." ”

Rong Lu smiled: "Each other, didn't you say that you didn't want to talk to me, a traitor, during the day." Haven't you been talking to me for so long? Xiao Yungui, Xiao Yungui, when it comes to the study of thick black, where am I your opponent? ”

Xiao Yungui was not annoyed, but just said, "Lu Sixuan." Now is the time to seize the opportunity of the entire country and nation's history, and if we grasp it well, the history of the rest will be completely rewritten. There will be no more than 150 years of suffering after that. Now that we are in this historical period, we are already an inseparable factor in the history of this time and space. We all have a historical responsibility on us. I advise you to abandon your plans, and you know the situation now. Even if you old-fashioned Manchu and Mongolian nobles can overthrow Qingyun? Can you hold back the army of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? ”

Rong Lu's smile was a little stiff, and finally disappeared, and he said in a deep voice: "Xiao Yungui, what kind of righteous name do you use to suppress me, do the ones you said have anything to do with me?" Historical responsibility? I'm not a great man, and I don't want to be a great man, I'll still die in a few decades, and I don't care about any historical responsibility after I die? ”

Then Rong Lu sneered, and then said: "You came to persuade me at this time, just to give another blow to the British and French during the negotiations tomorrow, if I give up the plan and persuade Mianyu and the others to give up the plan to overthrow Qingyun, the British and French will have no reason to continue to attack Beijing, isn't it?" ”

Xiao Yungui glared at him coldly and said, "I'm giving you one last chance!" ”

Rong Lu sneered at each other: "I don't need it! ”

Then the two of them were relatively speechless for a long time, glaring at each other, the atmosphere in the air suddenly froze, and both tried to overwhelm each other in momentum, see through each other's hearts, and make each other succumb to their own coercion, but in the end both gave up.

After looking away, Xiao Yungui said lightly: "Okay, that's all for it, you can't help it if you don't listen, don't blame me for being ruthless in the future." ”

Rong Lu pondered for a moment and said: "Xiao Yungui, you know, this matter is not something that I can change alone, Mianyu and Fuheng represent a class of people, what's the use of me not wanting to do it alone?" ”

Xiao Yungui looked at him coldly and said, "You planned it!" Otherwise, would Mianyu and these people think of cooperating with the British and French? Without you and Gong Cheng threading the needle in the middle, would things have gotten to this point? What's the use of you saying such things now? ”

Rong Lu smiled faintly and said: "I can't help myself, I just hope you remember our agreement a few years ago, once one party is defeated, the other party will save the other party's life, you still remember." ”

Xiao Yungui secretly sneered in his heart, at this time, this person was still planning for his own future, he also saw that the Taiping army was powerful, and his plan might not be successful, but he still didn't want to let go of this opportunity, but he was also afraid that he would lose his life after being defeated in the future, so now he said his so-called involuntary difficulties, and shamelessly hoped that Xiao Yungui could abide by the previous agreement, and once he failed, he would save his life.

At that moment, Xiao Yungui snorted coldly and said: "This king is not an untrustworthy villain like you, what he said will naturally count!" I'll save your life! ”

Rong Lu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "Then thank you, it's not early, I'll go back to rest." With that, he bowed his hand slightly and walked away.

Xiao Yungui looked at Rong Lu's back and sneered to himself: "It was you who gave up the last chance, don't blame me for being ruthless." It's easy to save your life, but don't you know what life is better than death? Hahaha......"

The next day's negotiations were as difficult as ever, and although the British and French ministers threw out a concession plan, they returned to the plan of a joint northern expedition that had been proposed in Shanghai, hoping to occupy Beijing jointly with the Taiping army, and asking the Taiping army to agree to hand over the Manchu royal family members and officials to the Allied forces.

Xiao Yungui did not think about it, and directly refused, just as Sir Ergin feared, the political goal of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was to completely eliminate the Manchu government, and it was impossible to agree to such a ridiculous proposal.

On the contrary, today the Chinese negotiating team proposed to ask the coalition forces to withdraw their troops from Tongzhou, Tianjin, Dagu and other places as much as possible, and to hand over these places to the Taiping army, because those were also Chinese lands, and in compensation, the Taiping army promised to give a large sum of money as compensation for the military expenses of the coalition army.

Sir Elgin was utterly furious, and he now realized that the Taiping army had intended to occupy Beijing alone from the beginning, and had not given the allied forces any chance at all, and that the negotiations might have been just to buy more time to set up defenses. Last night, when the soldiers of the Taiping Army rested all night to repair the fortifications, they should have seen it, but it was a pity that they were busy discussing countermeasures.

That morning, the angry Sir Ergin left the Nanyuan camp with the envoys, as if war was inevitable, Wu Shili was deeply worried about this, but the backbone and blood of the soldiers still cheered him up, and prepared to go back to make an attack plan according to the deployment of the Taiping army he had seen in the past two days and one night. It's a pity that he couldn't see the Gaobei Village camp not far from Tongzhou, and at this time Wu Shili somewhat understood why the Taiping Army chose the Nanyuan camp instead of the nearby Gaobei Village, just because they were worried that they would see the military deployment of the camp over there.

After returning to Tongzhou, the coalition forces held a plenary meeting, at which the atmosphere was dull and depressing, and Wu Shili and several other officers reported on the military strength and deployment of the Taiping army they had seen at the Nanyuan camp, which was used to infer the deployment of the Gaobei village camp.

After a thorough analysis, several staff officers found that the situation was not optimistic, especially Major Compnon's assessment, the reconnaissance cavalry squad he had led before had fought with the cavalry of the Taiping Army, and he was very impressed by the Taiping Army's kind of continuous guns, and he believed that if the Taiping Army was equipped with a large number of this new type of weapon, it would be a great disaster for the allied soldiers who adopted offensive tactics in terms of individual firepower.

There is a more worried person is Grant, he has a deeper relationship with the Taiping Army, and he knows more about how strong the Taiping Army's combat effectiveness is.

Finally, Grant said in a deep voice: "Gentlemen, since we are considering declaring war, then we should not choose to fight the enemy here, I will retreat to the south, and choose the weak defense of the Taiping army in the south to attack, so that the backyard of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be on fire." As long as they can beat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they will be able to succumb. ”

General Montauban was somewhat disdainful of Grant's thoughts, "Retreat south? General Grant, are you retreating to Hong Kong or India? We, the French, will not retreat! ”

Grant was not annoyed, the strength of the French fleet was not strong, but their strong army was their greatest hope, and most of the French who had seen the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army had returned to China, and Montauban did not know much about the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army, so it was not surprising to have such an idea.

But Grant patiently explained: "We don't need to retreat far south, we must first withdraw to Shanghai, Ningbo and other places, and then divide our forces to defend the five treaty ports to ensure the safety of our concession, and then send a fleet to attack Shanghai, and even break into the Yangtze River, directly threatening Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so that we can be invincible......" (To be continued......