Britain claims to be the empire on which the sun never sets, and like the Romans, the British army has fought against a variety of enemies, and they have been defeated by various enemies, including Americans, Russians, French, Native Americans, and Africans. Now after the complete defeat of the navy and army, the British have been humiliated by the yellow-skinned monkey in their eyes.

More than 9,000 were captured and more than 5,000 surrendered, the British in the Jintang area, the vast majority of whom were British, and the defeat surpassed the defeat in the 1777 Battle of Saratoga in which 7,000 British troops surrendered to the Continental Army, which was still a militia at the time. That defeat completely deprived the British army of hope of retaking the North American continent, and the United States was born.

However, the defeat of the navy was rare, and Ergin selectively forgot the example of the navy being defeated by the Manchus in the first two battles of Dagukou, and he said to the dejected British in the cabin room: "The enemy has been carefully prepared, so we will suffer defeat, but it is not terrible!" We lose every battle, only the decisive battle wins! ”

Ergin finally said a famous English proverb, it is true that Britain has fought many defeats whether it is challenging powerful countries such as Spain and the Netherlands, or conquering North America and the African continent, but it is always the British who have the last laugh, otherwise the British would not be able to become the current empire on which the sun never sets.

After being encouraged by Ergin's proverb, the British naval officers present barely cheered up some spirits, but Massimogli still said with a sad face: "After we have lost twenty warships, there are only 54 warships available now, and you must know that a large part of these warships come from the Indian Ocean Fleet, if we continue to fight, we will lose more warships and crews." Maybe we can't even guarantee control in the Indian Ocean. Therefore, I built yì to return to Hong Kong with the whole army. Departing from the mode of inland river warfare, they attacked some important ports of the Taiping Army in the mode of small fleets. and intercept the merchant ships and other ships of the Taiping Army on the sea route. At the same time, send people back to the mainland to report the situation of the battle in detail to the parliament and the prime minister, if we want to have a complete decisive battle, we need more reinforcements, and now we don't have more land forces, and we can't completely defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! ”

The French present were silent, they had fewer warships, and it was undesirable to be able to get out of the battle. And the British naval officers with their heads held high had to admit the reality that they wanted revenge but were powerless. In addition to the fourteen French warships, the British warships remained forty, plus the naval ships stationed in Hong Kong and other places, which were only in their fifties, and for the first time they found that their maritime power was weak, and that most of these ships came from the Indian Ocean, and these ships could no longer afford to lose unless the British were happy to see another great uprising in India, known as the Queen's Crown.

The British naval officers did not object, and fighting out of the river was indeed a way to promote their strengths. They did not think that even if they were divided into small fleets, the weak navy of the Taiping Army would be able to threaten themselves and use their accustomed combat methods to attack the enemy, which was what the navy should do.

Ergin saw that no objections were raised. For the first time, he agreed with the soldier's opinion, and did not influence the strategy from a political perspective, he stood up and waved his fist and said, "Okay then." We withdrew to Hong Kong, and then the naval fleet divided into several fleets to attack the important ports of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Sink all the Taiping ships you come across! ”

It was rare for Ergin to readily agree with the soldiers' opinions, but Wei Tuma said inappropriately: "What about the people in the concession?" ”

Suddenly, there was silence in the conference room. Yes, what about the military, civilian and businessmen who are still in the concession? They were all citizens of the British Empire, and they couldn't afford to watch them die.

Ergin's mouth opened wide, he breathed a few hard, and wanted to spit out the words but it was so difficult, but fortunately, Wittoma continued: "We have retreated, it is impossible for the concession to hold on for a long time, at least not until waiting for reinforcements from the country, maybe we should give them the authority to surrender to the enemy at the right time?" ”

This is exactly what Ergin wanted to say, but the word surrender seemed so harsh to him, fortunately, Wei Tuma said it for him, so Ergin immediately nodded, and then sighed and said: "Maybe that's the only way, but we can't contact the concession, we need to send personnel to negotiate with the Taiping Army first, to see if we can get some old and weak women and children out with humanitarianism, so that we may be able to contact Midile in the concession." ”

After pondering for a moment, Wei Tuoma said: "It should be possible, the Taiping army is not an unreasonable barbarian like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they still abide by some rules. ”

So, after the end of the meeting that day, Wei Tuoma and several entourages came to Wusongkou on a merchant ship with a white flag, and after the Taiping troops stationed in the local area inquired about the intentions of the arrival, they sent people to board the ship and follow them to the Yamen of the Shanghai Navy Political Department, where Wei Tuoma met Tao Enpei, the deputy director of the Shanghai Navy Political Department.

After meeting, Wei Toma couldn't wait to put forward their idea, Tao Enpei did not refuse, but said with a smile: "Mr. Consul, we will consider your request, after all, the old and weak women and children are innocent, we can consider agreeing to your request." ”

"But I need to meet with Mr. Midile in the concession first to find out what is going on in the concession. ”

Tao Enpei laughed: "Mr. Wei Tuoma, this is a drunkard, not in wine, you just made it clear that you want to contact the people in the concession, why bother around the bend?" ”

Wei Toma was exposed on the spot, but he smiled without changing his face, and Tao Enpei continued: "What a coincidence, Mr. Midile sent someone to ask for a meeting and negotiation in the morning, and he said that more food, clothing, and medicine are needed in the concession, and I can let you meet, just make an appointment tomorrow." ”

Wei Tuma was pleasantly surprised, he didn't expect things to go so smoothly, but he always felt that there must be something hidden behind things going smoothly. In fact, there is no big secret, as a representative of the pro-China faction, Midile's detailed report is extremely important, he can represent the voice of some merchants who want to trade peacefully, justly, and fairly in the Far East, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not afraid of the next British and French retaliation, but it still needs the efforts of these people to avoid a full-scale expansion of the war. Therefore, it is very necessary for Wittoma and Midile to meet. As for whether Midile would leak the deployment of the Taiping Army, Tao Enpei and the others were not worried. Gordon's foreign guns also did a few reconnaissance operations, but the Taiping army was quite tightly encircled by the concession. They didn't get much intelligence at all.

After a night of silence, Wei Tuoma stayed in the Military Administration Department for one night, and the Taiping army did not embarrass them. The next morning, Wittoma and Midile met, and Tao Enpei did not mean to send someone to observe, but arranged a room for the two to meet alone.

After the meeting, Midile concisely explained the situation in the concession, especially explaining that the Taiping army did not cut off the supply of food and other materials in the concession, but the purchase price was a little expensive. Everyone in the concession has money and can still support it. It's just that Gordon's foreign guns and the troops stationed in the concession are very short of ammunition, and it is difficult to withstand even a large-scale attack by the Taiping army.

After saying this, Midile took the petitions of the merchants of the various factions in the rental world, some in favor of the war, some in the hope that the British government would negotiate an end to the war in its entirety, and some in the hope that the navy would come and take them, in short, it was very chaotic, but they all represented their respective interests.

After reading some of the letters in a hurry. The most intriguing letters are those of Alexander and Clifford, the youngest son of the Rothschilds, who spoke of his desire not to want the war to expand, believing that it would not serve the interests of Britain and the Rothschilds in the Far East, but rather the arrogance of the British. Alexander also felt that the government should end the war with dignity, which meant that even after winning a battle, it would immediately negotiate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As long as both sides are acceptable, it would be better to follow the example of Paris and its concessions to the Russians. Clifford's letter, on the other hand, firmly stated that the war must be extended. Send more expeditionary forces to the Far East and conquer the Far East once and for all.

After reading it. Wittoma asked curiously, "Didn't Alexander and Clifford both represent the Rothschilds?" How can there be such a difference in opinion? ”

Midile smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know, but I find that Clifford's hatred of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom seems to be a little paranoid, even Gordon, the staunchest rebel in the concession, does not think that we can conquer the Far East, this is pure nonsense, China is not India!" ”

After a moment's silence, Wittoma asked, "What is your opinion, Mr. Midile?" ”

Midile smiled bitterly and said: "I have always disagreed with the vacillation of government policy, we British have industrial and technological strength and economic advantages, why do we have to use force to ensure the interests of the Far East?" I would rather gradually penetrate and control the country with economic and technological superiority, so that it is more in our interests, and when one day our capital can dominate the Far East market, our technology becomes indispensable to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and our culture can influence them, we will see a pro-British government in the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Many areas of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have just started, and we can influence them, take the customs as an example, you didn't see Li Tai and the others did a very good job, they made the customs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom different from the customs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the past, we can influence them. But now that the change in policy toward China has led to the outbreak of war, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not change its position on unifying the whole country, and I hope that those people in China will give up their unrealistic ideas and stop trying to establish a force in the north to compete with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so that we and the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not be able to reach peace. ”

Midile sighed and continued: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom now controls all the provinces in Jiangnan except Hunan, and the north will soon be conquered by them, and the population they control is 20,000, which is close to 30,000!" And the mobilization ability of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is very terrible, if there is a full-scale war, they will be able to arm a million village soldiers at once, unless we send all our forces to the Far East, it is possible to achieve victory, but that will not be unless His Excellency Palmerston and all the councillors are crazy. You must know that it is not in the interest of many people to expand the war, and if the war goes on for too long, the United States and other countries may protest, and I am even afraid that the French may make peace with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom alone! ”

Midile's words made Wei Tuma fall into deep thought, and finally after Midile finished impassionedly, he concluded: "I don't want to send a large number of troops to the Far East, and the navy adopts raiding tactics to restrict the activities of the Taiping army at sea, and it is best to annihilate their navy, and then take advantage of this victory to seek peace talks with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and end the war with dignity, so that it is in our best interests!" (To be continued......)