Li Xiucheng's case was quickly concluded, and in the face of the fact that Bai Zetang and the Intelligence Department already had a large amount of evidence, the trial and verdict of the Criminal Department were much faster. Li Xiucheng didn't cover up anything, he made everything he knew clear, and then went to the king of the West to ask for responsibility.

Of the 27 people involved in this case, five people, including Li Mingcheng and Song Yongqi, were sentenced to lighting sky lanterns, while the remaining 11 were sentenced to beheading, eight were sentenced to hanging, and three were sentenced to 50 years in prison. Li Mingcheng, Song Yongqi, and 27 others embezzled more than 1 million taels of public funds in Ningbo, embezzled more than 1.5 million taels, and stole more than 800,000 mu of other people's lawful farms and houses, killed more than 300 people in order to cover up their crimes, and even smuggled more than 30,000 boxes of opium tobacco in Li Mingcheng, Song Yongqi, and others. Most of these illegal gains were recovered, some of them were repaid to the bitter owners involved in the case, the fields were also returned to their owners, and the rest were confiscated into the Sufu Provincial Treasury.

Although Li Xiucheng and others were not involved in the case, but were involved in ineffective supervision and dereliction of duty, a large number of Ningbo county officials were dismissed, investigated, investigated, and demoted, in short, almost two-thirds of the people in Ningbo's officialdom were replaced. Even Liu Lichuan of the Ningbo Military and Political Department was implicated in the case and was convicted of ineffective supervision and reduced to retention. Li Xiucheng was removed from all official positions and transferred to study at the Shanghai Martial Arts School.

All of a sudden, the Li Xiucheng family, which had infinite scenery in Ningbo, declined, and after the West Hall held a public trial meeting in Ningbo, a cadre of people was sentenced in front of the victim's mausoleum. On the day of the public trial, tens of thousands of people in Ningbo were empty, vying to watch, seeing that the Taiping Army was so serious about the rule of officials, and the people all applauded.

The major newspapers in Sufu Province also reported the incident in detail, as the first major case involving high-ranking generals of the Taiping Army after the Sufu New Deal, the newspapers not only reported the process, but also played a role in warning the officials.

After Li Xiucheng's case was over, Li Kaifang went to work with the title of secretary of the military department and general of the soldiers and horses of Ningbo County, and began to attack Fujian. Machines from the rear-loading rifled rifle production line were also shipped to Suzhou. Xiao Yungui asked Zuo Zongtang, Xu Shou and others to continue to run the affairs of the Suzhou Firearms Bureau, and he himself returned to Shanghai to prepare to meet with the British Minister Bao Ling and the French Minister Blomble to discuss the matter of sending troops to the Russian Far Northeast Military Port.

On this day, Xiao Yungui arrived in Shanghai and immediately made an appointment with the British and French envoys at the Yamen of the Shanghai Military and Political Department. With the closer cooperation between the Taiping Army and the foreigners, it was common for foreign envoys to enter and leave the Yamen of the Military and Political Division, and the attitude of the great powers towards the more enlightened government of the Taiping Army in Xidian was also changing day by day.

Bao Ling and Blombur took the carriage to the Yamen of the Navy and Political Department, and were led to the study of the King of the West. It was not the first time that Bao Ling and Blombull had met Xiao Yungui, and the two sides were very familiar with each other, and they didn't waste time in getting to the point.

"Your Excellency King Xi, we are very surprised and regretful that your army tried our British and French friends in Ningbo." Bao Ling didn't give Xiao Yungui any face. Directly expressed his feelings: "General Li Mingcheng and General Song Yongqi have cooperative relations with many of our foreign firms, and His Excellency King Xi actually treated them with such brutal methods, and Mr. Blomble and I are very worried. ”

Xiao Yungui is very accustomed to the straightforward character of foreigners, unlike Chinese people who always like to go around in circles when talking, and said with a faint smile at the moment: "Mr. Bao Ling." You should remember the agreement with us not to interfere in our internal affairs. ”

Bao Ling nodded. The sea lion's whiskers on his lips quivered. He said very seriously: "Your Excellency the King of the West, we hope that the Taiping army can become civilized and stop using that kind of cruel punishment. ”

Xiao Yungui picked up the teacup and said with a smile: "Punishment is also an internal affair of our country. ”

Bao Ling was a little annoyed, he straightened the bow on his neckline and said, "Your Excellency the King of the West, as an advocate of Western civilization, we hope that the Taiping Army will become civilized rather than barbaric and ignorant. In this way, you will finally be accepted by the Western Shijie, and I am a friend to warn you that if your barbaric behavior is not changed, your previous efforts may be in vain. Several Times reporters recorded in detail the brutal torture of Generals Lee Myung Sung and Song Yongqi. It's been sent back to China, do you know what that means? ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "I know that when those Times reporters visited Ningbo, I also sent soldiers to protect them. I don't mind their coverage because I always think I'm doing the right thing. ”

Bao Ling's attitude today is a little strange, Li Mingcheng, Song Yongqi and others do have a good relationship with the foreigners in Ningbo, and there are even secret acts of smuggling opium in it, and it is normal for Bao Ling to make remarks about their grievances. However, the meaning of Bao Ling's later words was a little different, he seemed to be very concerned about the Times reporter's report on the incident, and he was more worried that this report would make the Western public have a bad association with the Taiping Army.

Then Xiao Yungui said again: "Mr. Minister, I understand what you mean, you are worried that the people in China will know that the barbaric acts of our Taiping Army will have an adverse impact on our next cooperation. ”

Bao Ling nodded worriedly and said: "That's right, the Russians' military ports in the Far East are a potential threat, and the Anglo-French forces in the Far East want to strike at targets in the Russian Far East, but our land forces are not enough, and we need new, reliable, and reputable allies to join." His words were new, reliable, and well-known.

After listening to the translation, Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "It seems that Mr. Bao Ling has considered the suggestions I made a few days ago. ”

Bao Ling nodded and said: "That's right, the military academy of the Taiping Army in Shanghai teaches Western military, according to the feedback of personnel in the military academy of various countries, the trained Taiping Army is extremely elite, and there are tens of thousands of people, this is indeed a liliang that we can rely on at present." After all, our Liliang in the Far Eastern Sea can not be afraid of anyone, but the strength of the army is still very insufficient, and there is a great possibility of cooperation between the two sides. ”

Xiao Yungui laughed when he heard this, the British and the French were really still very enthusiastic about wanting the Taiping Army to participate in the war, and the shili of the Russian double-headed eagle in Europe may also be jointly restricted by Britain and France, but there is no liliang in the Far East that can restrict Russia, and Britain and France also need to support a shili who can contain Russia in the Far East from the perspective of long-term interests. In the eyes of Bao Ling and Blombull, the enlightened and powerful Taiping Army was undoubtedly a very good choice.

"I have proposed to cooperate with you in an all-round way, according to the cooperation method of providing warships and ships, and you sending infantry to attack the Russian military stronghold in the Far East, but the negative impact of the Ningbo incident may make the parliament veto my proposal, Your Excellency King Xi, don't you know how big the liliang of the Western Shijie people will be?" The more Bao Ling spoke, the more annoyed he became, and he looked like he hated iron but not steel.

Xiao Yungui shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "Li Mingcheng They killed more than 300 innocent people, according to the criminal law, they should indeed be sentenced to such a cruel punishment. Many of the people in our country are illiterate, and they don't know what the big truth is, but the murderer or the most heinous person must be dealt with with cruelly to calm everyone's anger. Then Xiao Yungui looked at Bao Ling and said word by word: "Your Excellency, what is civilization?" I can talk about civilization to civilized people, but I won't talk about civilization to savage and cruel wicked people, because he doesn't understand at all, understand? ”

Bao Ling was a little discouraged, but Blombull suddenly said: "Your Excellency King Xi, you also believe in God, why can't you treat criminals with a kind and forgiving heart?" ”

Xiao Yungui couldn't help laughing, and then said: "God also needs to fight against the devil Satan, in the world I feel that I am the sword that adheres to the will of God, and I will resolutely eradicate the criminal who does evil in the world in the name of God." Everyone is responsible for what they have done, right? Mr. Blomble. ”

Blombull was also a little speechless when he heard this, Bao Ling frowned and said: "Your Excellency King Xi, forget about this matter, I hope that next time you can think about the impact before making a decision, after all, it is not easy for a person to establish a reputation for haode, but it is easy to become infamous overnight." ”

Xiao Yungui didn't want to dwell on this issue anymore, but he didn't want to abolish those tortures, those tortures were a sharp sword to deter the hearts of the people in the troubled world, not to mention that he also had to use it to deter the Manchus, the Manchus often captured the Taiping army were brutally executed, the Taiping army must fight violence with violence, Xiao Yungui didn't believe that what virtue would be effective for those Manchu birds and beasts.

At that moment, Xiao Yungui responded perfunctorily: "Thank you Mr. Bao Ling for reminding us, and then we can talk about how to send troops to the military base in northern Russia." ”

After Bao Ling and Blombull glanced at each other, Bao Ling said, "Before that, I want to ask His Excellency the King of the West a question. ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and nodded to signal Bao Ling to continue, and Bao Ling asked, "Your Excellency the King of the West will think of sending troops with us to fight the Russians when the Taiping army has not yet achieved a complete victory?" ”

Xiao Yungui smiled slightly, Bao Ling and Blombur are worthy of being scheming diplomats, in their opinion, everything that any country and army does must be profitable, the Taiping Army suddenly proposed to help Britain and France fight Russia, it does have a strong purpose, or the Taiping Army must want to get some benefits by sending troops, so Bao Ling will ask.

And Bao Ling was a little helpless to ask this, since Xiao Yungui proposed that the Taiping Army send troops to Russia, he has been pondering what the Taiping Army is doing this for. If the Taiping army entered the war, once victorious, the Taiping army could occupy the Russian military port. However, the Taiping army did not have a very reliable navy, and the Taiping navy in Ningbo and Shanghai was still very weak and could not support the supply of an army to fight in the ocean, which meant that even if the Taiping army captured the military port north of Russia, it would not be possible to occupy it for a long time. Do you want monetary compensation from the Russians? But Britain and France have already squeezed out Russia's potential, the war has been fought until now, Russia does not have too much financial resources to redeem the military ports occupied by the Taiping army, and the Russians will not easily succumb, once Britain and France make peace with Russia, the Russians will definitely do their best to recapture these military ports, the Russians would rather fill with human lives than pay a ruble to the Taiping army, because the double-headed eagle has never looked down on the Qing people. (To be continued......)