After a meal, the Manchu clan ministers Prince Gong Yi? , Yiyi; Minister of Military Aircraft Gui Liang, Bao Jun, Wen Xiang, Cao Yuying, Li Tangjie; In Beijing, the important ministers and monks Greenqin, Yiliang, Yuan Jiasan, Li Hongzhang, Peng Yulin, etc., gathered in the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace. Peng Yulin's injury improved slightly, and although he still came in a sedan chair, he was already able to sit up on his own.

Eat and drink enough? After taking a sip of tea, he couldn't wait to explain the changes in his current shape, and finally said: "Zhugong, now that Changmao and foreigners are about to fight, how should we act in order to benefit from it, Zhugong can refer to one or two together." ”

Monk Lingqin was the first to say loudly: "Longhair and foreigners dog-eat-dog are the best, we can just watch from the wall, and when both sides are defeated, we will come out to clean up the mess." ”

Yiliang shook his head and continued: "This is not possible, monk king, you think, that long-haired and foreigners are not easy to get along, and there will be an injury when the two males fight, and at that time, the victorious side will definitely come with the aftermath of a great victory, which is not good for us." I thought it would be best to connect with the foreigners first, make peace with them and then deal with the long-haired side. After all, foreigners come from afar, and what they do is only for the benefit of commerce, and the person who is long-haired is our country. ”

Monk Greenqin, who had fought fiercely with foreigners, naturally stopped doing it, he stood up with a sigh and shouted: "Yiliang little old man, tens of thousands of Jintang soldiers were killed and wounded, and all the four generals under the general died at the hands of foreigners, but now you want to think about making peace with foreigners, so where are we soldiers who fought bloodily on the battlefield?!" ”

Abundant? Knowing the temper of Monk Greenqin, he treated his subordinates very much, and fought in Jintang. The four great generals under the monk king all died at the hands of foreigners, and countless Mongolian soldiers were killed and wounded. This kind of loss was not seen even when the monk Lingqin and the long-haired Lin Fengxiang were in the Jiangbei fierce battle for a long time, because the monk king hated the foreigners very much. And Monk Greenqin is the iron hat king of the Manchu Qing Dynasty who has military power in hand and prestige. His attitude alone represents the attitude of a large number of generals, and if he is unwilling to reconcile with foreigners, then the imperial court will have to consider the opinions of these generals.

Abundant? He coughed and said: "Monk King, this king can understand your feelings, but at the moment, it is a matter of survival for the country, and you can't be rash, everything has to be seen in the long run." Although the foreigners met with me before, the person who was pictured was just a sharp word, and the person who was pictured by the long hair was our country. Which is more important, the monk king should have a plan. ”

Monk Greenqin hummed softly, he has always been with Yi? Friendship, although the words are not listened to, but they will not speak ill of each other, and said sullenly at the moment: "Sixth master, although the words are so, the evil breath of the soldiers is really hard to swallow." Longhair is a thief, our officers and soldiers compete with each other, and foreigners come to our door to bully us, this breath is really hard to swallow! ”

Abundant? Gui Liang, the father-in-law and minister of military aircraft, interjected: "The monk king." We can't swallow this breath, but now that the country is full of smoke, we must first settle down inside, and we should endure the anger for a while. In the future, when the situation in the country improves, it will not be too late to settle accounts with foreigners when the country is rich and strong. ”

Monk Lingqin sat down silently, and at this moment, the person behind the screen said softly: "According to the palace." This long hair and foreigners are not good things, but the sixth master is right. For now, we should prioritize, long hair is the enemy of life and death. Foreigners, on the other hand, are not necessarily always enemies. ”

Hearing the Queen Mother speak, Monk Lingqin and other ministers of the main battle faction were even more afraid to speak. was slightly bowed, relieved, secretly thinking that he was still cranky about the Queen Mother's attitude towards Long Hair, but at this moment he knew that he had misunderstood.

But then the Queen Mother changed her tone and said: "However, now that the long-haired ones are going to fight the foreigners, the foreigners want to compete with the long-haired ones, the foreigners have always been treacherous, and they may be in a hurry to win us over, and we have the upper hand now, so we don't have to rush to get up, we can wait for the foreigners to come to the door, so that we can take the biggest advantage from it." ”

Abundant? Hearing this, his eyes lit up, which coincided with his practice of returning to Beijing first and leaving the foreigners aside, and he immediately echoed his words: "Yes, Queen Mother Mingjian, we used to ask for foreigners, but now we have lost a position and become foreigners to ask us, so we can wait for foreigners to come to the door, and then we can sit on the ground and ask for more benefits from foreigners." ”

The Queen Mother also snorted and continued: "The foreigners want to start negotiations with us again, and the palace feels that we should first agree to a few conditions, one is to hand over a few chaotic ministers and thieves such as Mianyu, Ronglu, and Hengfu, and the second is to show the world that their so-called rebellion is wrong, and the foreigners still support our court as the legitimate government of China, the third is to return the soldiers who were captured before, and the fourth is to return the Jintang and other places that are now occupied, so that the imperial court can send officials to govern these places again, The foreigners could only be stationed in these places temporarily, and the fifth was to promise to compensate us with 5 million silver, which would be used to compensate us for our military expenses, to compensate the dead and wounded soldiers, and to appease the people in the Jintang area who had been poisoned by the war. These conditions are the basis for the resumption of peace talks, and if the foreigners do not agree to these terms, we don't need to pay attention to them! ”

Abundant? Slightly stunned, before he could speak, Li Hongzhang had already gotten up and echoed: "What the Queen Mother said is very true, foreigners and traitors came under the banner of Jingnan, and foreigners want to negotiate peace with the imperial court, first of all, they must cut off contact with the rebels and hand over those traitor leaders to the imperial court, in order to show sincerity." At the same time, the recognition of the legitimacy of the imperial court and the return of captured officers and men of our army are also the basis for the resumption of peace talks. The return of the place occupied by the foreigners, and the compensation of the silver tael can be regarded as a bad breath, of course, it can be proposed. ”

Abundant? But he said: "Sister-in-law, the first three are also returned, but I am afraid that the foreigners will not agree to return the occupied places and compensate the silver." ”

The person behind the screen snorted coldly: "The land is ours, the return of the land is only to restore the pre-war state, and compensation for war losses is also a sign of sincerity. ”

Abundant? When I was about to say more, Xingzhen actually walked out from behind the screen slowly, looked at the important ministers present and said word by word: "What the monk just said is very right, this tone is not unique to all of you here, the military and the people, especially the military and civilians in the Jintang area, have been deeply affected by the foreigners this time, we must give them an explanation, give the world an explanation!" This is the basis of negotiations, if the foreigners do not agree, this palace is determined to fight to the last man rather than give in! What do you think?! ”

Abundant? frowned, Li Hongzhang, Peng Yulin and others immediately got up and bowed in agreement, Monk Lingqin even got up and applauded, and the rest of the people had to reluctantly get up to express their approval, and finally the tone of the Manchu reopening negotiations was set by Xingzhen like a word.

After discussing some details, the important ministers dispersed. But he stayed, and after he frowned and waved away Li Lianying and the others, he looked at Xingzhen and asked, "You know that foreigners will not agree to such harsh conditions, why do you still say that there is no room for turnaround?" ”

Xingzhen didn't look at him, walked to the soft couch and sat down, rubbed her head and said, "Don't worry, the foreigners will agree, as long as they are hurt by the long hair, they will definitely agree." ”

Abundant? He heaved heavily and said, "Can long hair definitely beat foreigners?" ”

Xingzhen tidied up her clothes and said, "Long Mao has fought with us for many years, have you ever seen them fight a battle that they are not sure of?" Since Longhair dares to declare war with the foreigners this time, there will definitely be a follow-up move, we only need to wait for the foreigners to be beaten the worst before making a move, and we will definitely be able to reap the greatest benefits. ”

Abundant? Snorted and said, "It's best that what the imperial sister-in-law said is right, otherwise we will lose the best opportunity!" ”

Xingzhen smiled charmingly and said, "If I say something wrong, will you eat me?" ”

Abundant? was slightly hot by her charming smile, and hurriedly turned her head and said: "Imperial sister-in-law, this matter is not a child's play, this king will keep an eye on it, if things change, this king will not sit idly by!" It's late at night, so let's rest. With that, he hurriedly retreated.

Xingzhen covered her mouth and chuckled, and muttered: "The brave man, as in history, is really the same as in history, although he has ambitions, he was still eaten to death by Cixi in the end. ”

Abundant? Not long after leaving, Li Lianying whispered outside: "Queen Mother, Miss Cheng is here." Xingzhen snorted, then the curtain was lifted, and Cheng Lingxiu walked in with the medicine box.

After Cheng Lingxiu saw the salute, Xingzhen smiled and said, "You came just in time, and the head of this palace is starting to hurt again." Cheng Lingxiu snorted, stepped forward and opened the needle bag and said, "Then let Lingxiu give the needle to the Queen Mother." ”

After a while, Cheng Lingxiu finished administering the needle to Xingzhen, Xingzhen felt that the headache was relieved a lot, and Cheng Lingxiu said in a low voice: "Queen Mother, your headache needs to rest and think less, and you need to rest more." ”

Xingzhen smiled bitterly and shook her head without speaking, Cheng Lingxiu also persuaded her a lot, and when she saw that she didn't speak, she stopped persuading, and then took out a secret letter from her arms and said in a low voice: "It's a letter sent by Bai Zetang of the Taiping Army outside the palace, saying that he would hand it over to the Queen Mother." ”

Xingzhen nodded and took the letter, and then Cheng Lingxiu obediently retreated, and Xingzhen opened the letter under the lamp to read it. The above is still a secret letter written in Chinese pinyin, written by Xiao Yungui to her, and only a short paragraph is written on it: "I have declared war with Britain and France, although the main forces have been transferred to deal with the British and French forces, but the large camp outside the capital is still firmly defended, and you must not think of taking this opportunity to attack, otherwise you will regret it." ”

After reading it, Xingzhen smiled dumbly, and muttered: "You are obviously intimidating me, and you are also jealous of the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, in fact, I have done my best to help you, whether the Taiping Army can make a difference during this time to break the deadlock depends on yourself......" (to be continued......)