Wang Yide's staff member is surnamed Wang Ziyu, a native of Zhejiang, born in Xiucai, with a solid family, and he has tried many times after that. When Wang Yide was appointed as an envoy in Zhejiang, he had the support of Wang Ziyu's family, and he had the same surname, so he was hired as a staff member by Wang Yide. Wang Ziyu has been following Wang Yide for five years, coinciding with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to raise troops, Wang Ziyu thought that the Qing court was about to run out, and soon the world would be in chaos, it was a good time to get out of the world, and now follow Wang Yide, as long as Wang Yide's troops are not strong, he will be able to show his strengths.

After getting Wang Yide's warrant, Wang Ziyu took several companions and immediately rushed to Xiamen. After arriving in Xiamen one day, I saw Li Tingyu stationed heavy troops on all major roads along the way, strictly checking the people who came and going, and surrounded Xiamen.

Wang Ziyu was able to seal the letter with the official document unimpeded, and when he arrived at Li Tingyu's camp outside Xiamen, he was personally received by Li Tingyu.

Wang Ziyu arrived in the tent, and after paying homage according to the number of rituals, he presented Wang Yide's official document, which Li Tingyu immediately opened and read. Li Tingyu is over sixty years old, his braided hair is already gray, even the beard under his chin is half a hundred colors, his face is thin and full of wrinkles, and after reading the official document, the wrinkles on his face are even more crowded together.

Li Tingyu put down the official document and said: "Jun Shengyuan came to do an errand to deliver the official document, so don't you have any other words?" ”

Junsheng is Wang Ziyu's character, he is a staff member under Wang Yide, and Li Tingyu has also dealt with several times, and Wang Ziyu has accompanied him several times to supervise the transportation of money and grain to Xiamen, so Li Tingyu recognizes Wang Ziyu.

Li Tingyu is an old man in the officialdom, and he also knows that a staff member will not be a messenger who will not be a messenger for sending official documents for no other reason, Wang Ziyu bowed his hand slightly and said: "The military is old and strong, and he is more thoughtful, but he has other things to say when he comes down." ”

Li Tingyu sighed, raised his hand and motioned for him to continue. Wang Ziyu looked at several staff members and books in the account, and his face was embarrassed. Li Tingyu understood and ordered others to leave the tent, leaving only himself and Wang Ziyu in the tent.

Wang Ziyu took a few steps forward and said in a low voice: "Have you ever noticed in the war report that before the war in Mawei, there were foreigners who came to negotiate?" ”

Li Tingyu nodded and said: "The old man also thinks it is strange, how could the foreigners come out to negotiate with the long-haired thief, but the official document is vague and suspicious." ”

Wang Ziyu slowly said the details of what Wei Tuma came to negotiate that day. After Li Tingyu heard this, his brows furrowed even more, and he pondered for a moment and said, "What do you mean by Lord Zongxian asking you to say this?" Do you want the old man to be this Yicheng person? ”

Wang Ziyu is quite clever, and he also knows that people like Li Tingyu who have been in officialdom for a long time know the key as soon as he hears the whole thing. At the moment, he calmly admitted: "Yes, that's exactly what Lord Tsunaken meant. ”

Li Tingyu got up and paced back and forth with his hands in his hands for a few steps before standing up and said, "This matter is too dangerous. It's hard to be found out. is a crime of colluding with thieves without permission, and the old man can't afford it, so he asks Junsheng to go back. ”

Wang Ziyu said unhurriedly: "Don't be in a hurry to refuse, you can sit down and listen carefully to the analysis." Xiamen is the hometown of the military gate, the family clan is trapped in the city, and the military gate besieges it for more than 70 days with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. also failed to go down to the city, in fact, there have long been criticisms outside, saying that the military gate is afraid of the lives of the family. ”

Li Tingyu said angrily: "Nonsense, this is shameless slander!" My Li family is loyal to the country. Even if they are all martyred, there is nothing to say, what is the old man afraid of? Li Tingyu spoke Hokkien dialect very sharply, showing that he was extremely angry.

Wang Ziyu smiled and said: "The military gate doesn't have to be angry, it's normal for people to worry about their small family." Last month, the military gate came to report that a large amount of grain was damaged by the typhoon and heavy rain, and it had already reported the loss to the general constitution, but when Xiao Ke later sent money and grain to deliver, he accidentally looked through the accounts of the granary and found that this batch of grain was taken out. ”

Li Tingyu's face changed slightly, and he said coldly: "You came to check on the old man on the order of Lord Zongxian?" ”

Wang Ziyu shook his head and said: "The military gate is different, the military gate was originally idle at home, it was the general constitution that played the role of the lord to protect the mountain, the military gate and the general constitution can be described as a common prosperity, one loss and one loss, how to visit and say?" Xiao Ke was ordered by the General Constitution to help the military. That account book has been destroyed, and the military gate can rest assured, but when ordering people to do things in the future, they should still pay more attention. ”

Li Tingyu heard this, his face was a little softened, in fact, he had lived in Xiamen for a long time, was familiar with the hyacinth, and checked the changes in the flowers, trees, fish and insects in the world to know that there would be a typhoon, and he properly collected the money and grain and other important materials early, and there was no such thing as a large amount of rice grain being flooded, and the rice grain was actually traded with the knife club in the city, and his ninety-year-old mother and youngest grandson were ransomed.

Li Tingyu does have some staboo weapons at the moment, in fact, with his troops and his tactics of war, will it take more than 70 days to besiege a small Xiamen? Obviously not, Li Tingyu is worried that under the strong attack, the knife will harm his family and make a move to burn the city, after all, Xiamen is his hometown. In fact, the officials appointed by the previous dynasties are mostly officials from their own place of origin who cannot be registered as officials, but Li Tingyu is a special case, Fujian has the highest prestige on the sea, and he also knows the most soldiers, Xianfeng's generals who can fight well are scarce, and he has to take the order of his commander of Fujian soldiers and horses, but the Qing court did not expect that there would be a situation where Xiamen was attacked and occupied.

Wang Ziyu saw through Li Tingyu's actions as a qualified enemy early on, but Wang Yide thought that Li Tingyu was recommended by him, so he asked Wang Ziyu to press the matter, otherwise Wang Yide, who recommended Li Tingyu, would also have a bad time.

Li Tingyu groaned: "What does Junsheng mean, please tell me quickly." ”

Wang Ziyu said with a smile: "Actually, this matter is easy, although the land military gate surrounded Xiamen, but I believe that the military gate also opened the sea route before letting these thieves leave, but unfortunately this gang of thieves just doesn't leave, Xiamen can't be recovered unharmed, right?" ”

Li Tingyu sighed lightly: "You also know about this? ”

Wang Ziyu said: "The British consul in Xiamen, Pa Xiali, had sent a note to the General Constitution before, saying that he could arrange for a sea ship to send away the rebels in Xiamen, and Xiamen would be able to return to the hands of the officials and soldiers safely. In fact, people with a discerning eye can see that there is something strange at a glance, Xiamen is surrounded by officials and soldiers, and the British consulate is outside the city, how did the British contact the thieves in the city? In this way, it is clear that there is a shadow of the military gate behind it. The military gate also wants to send away the thieves and recover Xiamen safe and sound as soon as possible. ”

Li Tingyu nodded and stopped talking, Wang Ziyu continued: "It's just that the thieves in the city refuse to take the foreigner's ship to Nanyang, and some of them have returned from overseas, and they also know that the foreigners are not well-intentioned, but they are selling themselves to go to Nanyang to do coolies, so they will not leave in Xiamen, and let the painstaking arrangements of the military gate be put into practice." ”

Li Tingyu still didn't speak with a gloomy face, and Wang Ziyu said again: "But right now, the long-haired thief himself has sent a sea ship to pick up people, isn't it just to solve the problem of the military gate?" The military gate can be pushed along the river. Let them take it away. In this way, it not only avoids the destruction of Xiamen by the fire, but also protects the sailors under the adult, which can be said to be counted in one fell swoop. Try to keep things clean. ”

Li Tingyu breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It's still Lord Zongxian's thoughtfulness, so what should Junsheng do?" ”

Wang Ziyu smiled and said in a low voice: "Among them, you can ask foreigners to deal around." Negotiate with the generals of the long-haired fleet. What we should fight is still a battle, but the small cannon of the sailor ship is blunt, not as sharp as the long-haired gunboat, and the long-haired gunboat broke into the sea and picked up the thieves in the city from the sea. After entering the city, find some hooligans and beggars to kill them and sacrifice them to the head of the thief, so that they can naturally cover up the past. ”

Li Tingyu said happily: "I also asked Junsheng to plan carefully for the old man." Wang Ziyu smiled: "Xiao Ke dare to disobey his fate? ”

At the moment, Wang Ziyu carefully planned for Li Tingyu. Who led the troops, how to deal with them, how to negotiate with foreigners, and how to arrange them were all clearly arranged. Li Tingyu was overjoyed and immediately complied.

On the tenth day, the Taiping army fleet reached the sea off Xiamen and encountered the Fujian Navy Division's patrol ship, and after the two sides fired a few shots, the Fujian Navy Division retreated.

Later, Wei Tuma went to the British Consulate in Gulangyu to discuss with Pa Xiali, then consul in Xiamen, how to resolve the current situation. In 1843, the British set up a consular office in Xiamen, and sent Ji Libu as the first consul in Xiamen, and in 1844, Ali Guo became the second consul in Xiamen, and he built an office building on the top of Lujiao on Gulangyu Island, forming the British consulate in Xiamen. He has been working here ever since.

When he arrived at the consulate, Wei Tuma saw Pashali, and there were two Chinese sitting in his office, one of whom looked very treacherous Chinese got up and introduced himself in Chinese: "In the rain of Wang Ziyu, I came to contact the ...... on the order of the Lord of the Military Gate."

Originally, Wei Tuma thought it was a very tricky matter, but after Wang Ziyu appeared, it suddenly became simpler, Wei Tuma faithfully fulfilled Wen Han's explanation, threaded the needle between the Taiping army and the Qing army, and soon both sides reached a tacit agreement.

The next day, the wind and the sun were beautiful, the sea artillery outside Xiamen rumbled, the Taiping army fleet and the Qing army fleet and the shore fort jointly staged a large-scale military exercise, the two sides used almost all the warships and artillery, the fight was earth-shattering, the sea was full of gunsmoke, Zuihou Qing army fleet did not retreat, the Taiping army fleet smoothly arrived at the southern end of Xiamen to pick up the traitors in the city.

Although the officers and troops fought back violently, but the long-haired thief ships were strong and the artillery was strong, and there were thousands of fresh troops to cover the shore, and the officers and troops fought bloodily for several days, so they could only drive away and rebel, taking advantage of the situation to recover Xiamen.

Although the battle was earth-shattering, almost no one was killed on either side, and there were no losses except for a few Qing and Taiping troops who were wounded by their own artillery. The two sides completed the move of Yicheng in a tacit understanding.

When Liu Lichuan, Huang Demei, He Bin and others withdrew from Xiamen, they were all moved to tears, they thought that this time it would be impossible to escape the fate of destruction, but they didn't expect that King Xi would be so generous and send such a huge fleet to the rescue. At that moment, the generals withdrew the soldiers, and the people, craftsmen, and merchants in the city who were willing to follow the Taiping army all moved on the ship. In total, more than 12,000 rebel soldiers and more than 20,000 people, including ordinary people, soldiers, and their families, were evacuated from Xiamen.

The retreat was carried out under the nose of the Qing army for five days, and then the Taiping army fleet sailed back to the north, the Qing army entered the city of Xiamen, and began to kill the good and brave the merits, and the people who refused to leave completely regretted it.

In Pa Xiali's office on Gulangyu Island, watching the fleet of the Taiping Army sail away through the glass window, Pa Xia Li said with some unwillingness: "Lord Wenhan is too weak, and he has let go of tens of thousands of laborers in vain, and if this group of people is sold to Nanyang, it will be a considerable profit." ”

Wittoma took a sip of wine and smiled slightly: "The lord has done a good job, the construction of the railway in Shanghai is about to begin, and the benefits in the future will be even more considerable." ”

Pa Xia Li shook his head and said, "Sir, I always feel that it is better to support a cowardly Manchu government than to support a strong government, and the Manchus are easier to control. ”

Wei Tuma also shook his head and said word by word: "China is not India!" (To be continued......)