In the military tent of the Taiping Army, Yan Matai listened to Xiao Yungui's categorical words, and his heart burst out, it seems that the West King in front of him is a hardliner, and he has heard more or less about the record of the West King when he came, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Guangxi started the army, this West King has been serving as the former army commander, and every battle is to charge ahead, at this moment, it seems that this West King is very consistent with the rumored image, and he prefers to use violence to solve problems.

Weng Yige on the side interjected after listening to the translation: "Your Excellency King Xi, please be calm, please believe in our sincerity, our missionaries from France, Britain and the United States have been entrusted by the consuls of their respective countries to do Zuihou's diplomatic efforts, and the consuls of the three countries have already negotiated with Wu Jianzhang, the official government of Shanghai, Wu Daotai hopes that your army will not attack Shanghai, as long as your army can retreat, he is willing to pay your army a military fee to compensate for the loss of your army." And the consuls of our three countries hope that both your army and the government army will maintain the existing occupied areas, achieve a ceasefire, and then your army will open up trade and allow all kinds of goods and goods to enter and leave the port of Shanghai. ”

Xiao Yungui sneered, it seems that these missionaries were indeed entrusted by the consulates of various countries in Shanghai to negotiate, and the demands and tones made were diplomats, and there was no trace of missionaries at all. In fact, after the Shanghai uprising of the Little Knife Society in history, these missionaries in Shanghai spared no effort to help the consuls of various countries to persuade the Little Knife Society to surrender, and after Wu Jianzhang was caught by the Little Knife Society, he also ran away through the efforts of Yan Matai, and as a result, after Wu Jianzhang got out of danger, he carried out crazy killing and revenge on the Little Knife Society, in order to show loyalty to his Manchu master.

After Xiao Yungui sneered, he said with a cold face: "Father Weng Yige, I think your conditions are too whimsical, who is Wu Jianzhang?" He's just a four-rank Daotai, why should he negotiate with us? The Manchu government would not agree to his negotiations with the rebels, so his words were not to be taken lightly. I think he asked you to negotiate. Just to delay time, so that the government can mobilize reinforcements to Shanghai City. As for the consuls of France, Britain, the United States, and other countries wanting to open up trade, our army fully agrees, but only after our army completely occupies Shanghai. ”

After finishing speaking, Yan Mattei, Weng Yige, Maddos, Luo Weilin and others all looked depressed, but Yan Matthew still did Zuihou's efforts, he stood up, put his left hand on his chest and said: "Your Excellency King Xi, the sincerity and credibility of Wu Daotai can be guaranteed by several of us and the consuls of various countries, please ......"

Xiao Yungui understood these words. He didn't wait for Hong Yun'er to translate, he immediately raised his hand to interrupt Yan Matai's words, and then said: "I can't believe Wu Jianzhang's credibility, and I can't believe the credibility of the Manchu government, when the government destroyed the small knife society in the city before. He also promised not to kill accomplices, and also promised to surrender and avoid death. But you go to the north gate and have a look. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed there, many of them innocent. Please come back with a message, and say that I, the king of the West, Xiao Chaogui, will definitely seek justice for those who died, let him wash his neck and wait. ”

Several missionaries looked at each other when they heard this, and they had heard about the suppression of the Knife Society against the thieves a few days before. But they didn't know the details, they only heard Wu Jianzhang say that the Shanghai government executed many bandits and robbers, and those people were all thugs who did all kinds of evil, and they were innocent. But now I heard the king of the west repeatedly mention this matter. Moreover, it shows that Wu Jianzhang also used despicable lies to persuade these people to surrender and then kill them, and many of them are innocent civilians, if this is the case, then this Wu Jianzhang really can't believe it.

Mrs. Yan is an American, Wu Jianzhang has always cooperated with Americans in business, and is friends with many Americans, after listening to Xiao Yungui's words, he couldn't help but say: "Your Excellency King Xi, Wu is not that kind of person, he is an honest and trustworthy businessman who will not lie." ”

Xiao Yungui laughed angrily, holding his stomach and laughing so much that tears came out, and after a while, the laughter gradually stopped, and he looked at Yan Ma Tai Senran and said: "Early tomorrow morning, our army can take you to the place where the corpses are buried in the official mansion outside the north gate, and you can also go back and ask those soldiers who participated in the mercenaries, let them swear to the cross of God, and then tell the truth!" I'm sure that not all of them are fighting for money, but there must be some of them who have a conscience and let them tell you what the government army is actually doing! Wu Jianzhang may be an honest and trustworthy person as a businessman, but as a Taoist and a politician, he dares to tell any lies and do anything shameless! ”

Yan Matai nodded and said: "We will definitely ask about this matter when we go back, if it is really like what you said in the West King, then I don't think we will ask for anything for Wu Jianzhang again, we will not run for the liar." After Yan Matai finished speaking, several missionaries nodded their heads.

Foreigners in this era attach great importance to credibility, they call it the spirit of contract, in short, it is to keep promises in life and work, in history, when Li Hongzhang and Gordon, the general of the foreign gun team, lured Gao Yongkuan and others in Suzhou, Gordon, the British, tried his best to ensure the safety of Gao Yongkuan's lives, but Gao Yongkuan and others killed Tan Shaoguang and surrendered, Li Hongzhang set up a banquet to ambush Gao Yongkuan and others who surrendered, which made Gordon extremely angry, the British general who participated in the burning of the Old Summer Palace carried a saber everywhere to find Li Hongzhang to settle accounts, was so frightened that Li Hongzhang hid everywhere, and Li Hongzhang paid a large amount of silver to bury a few people and compensate the families of Gao Yongkuan and others, and Gordon was counted as a stop. But Gordon continued to blame the incident as a stain on his life, until he was killed by the rebels in Sudan. It can be seen that whether it is the British, the French or the Americans, they attach great importance to credibility, that is, to respect the spirit of the contract, if Wu Jianzhang really did something untrustworthy, then the consuls of various countries will be very unhappy, and these missionaries are also devout believers, in their opinion, lying is unacceptable.

When Xiao Yungui heard this, he knew that a few people must not know the truth, and said with a slight relief on his face: "Then please ask a few people to eat something here, rest for one night, and go to the north gate with our army tomorrow morning to have a look." ”

A few missionaries had no opinion, they also wanted to stay and see the Taiping Army, to see what their faith was, Weng Yige said: "Thank you Your Excellency King Xi for your hospitality, we want to see the religious status of the soldiers here in the barracks, and want to communicate with the faithful here, is it okay?" ”

Xiao Yungui squinted his eyes and laughed, as early as after the capture of Nanjing, Xiao Yungui discussed with Hong Yun'er, wanting to dilute the influence of the Hong sect leader on the teachings of the army, the most haode way is to introduce some orthodox Christian books, in Nanjing they harvested a lot of Christian books, Hong Yun'er made some revisions, together with the "Yangzhou Ten Days" These books let the edict be printed and sent to the military officers, and read to the whole army when praying every day, which is more orthodox than the crooked poems written by the Hong sect master. But Hong Yun'er has not changed one thing, that is, God is a god that existed in ancient China, and Hong Yun'er feels that there is no need to change it, only in this way can the Chinese people more easily accept this doctrine.

"Of course you can do this, but there are many places in the barracks that belong to the secrets of our army, and some places you can't go." Xiao Yungui said this, looked at Hong Yun'er and said with a smile: "I'll let my wife take you around later, with her as your guide, you won't break in and cause unnecessary trouble." ”

Weng Yige thanked him and then said: "Your Excellency King Xi, I still have a request, please do not attack our Catholic Church outside the city, and at the same time, please promise to ensure the safety of the lives and property of our disciples in the Shanghai area, for the sake of the fact that we all believe in God, please agree to my request." ”

Xiao Yungui touched his nose and smiled slightly: "Father Weng Yige, as far as I know, there are more than 100 mercenaries in the Catholic Church in front, I don't know if they are hostile to us, as a general, I will not allow the threat in front of me to appear, I can promise you not to attack the church, but the soldiers inside must lay down their weapons or retreat to the city, otherwise our army will definitely take action to ensure the safety of my soldiers." As for guaranteeing the safety of the lives and property of the Catholics, I can only say that as far as I know, Britain and France seem to be preparing for war with Russia, can you ask the British and French soldiers to guarantee the safety of the lives and property of the Russians? ”

Weng Yige was speechless, and Xiao Yungui continued: "I can only say that for the civilians who are not a threat to our army, my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will guarantee the safety of their lives and property, but if it is a person who threatens us, even if he is a missionary, I will not hesitate to eliminate him." ”

Weng Yige still didn't give up, in order to let the church have a minimum of security protection, he had to bite the bullet and said: "I understand, but Your Excellency King Xi, the soldiers in the church are guarding inside because they are worried about the safety of the church, they are not mercenaries, they are completely to protect the church, please let them continue to stay in the church." ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said, "They must retreat, I don't want to have an army behind me to threaten my rear when I attack Shanghai." Please rest assured, I, the king of the West, am a man of his word, and I swear in the name of God that I will do it if I promise not to attack the church. Otherwise, Father Weng Yige, do you think those hundred or so people will be able to withstand the attack of thousands of my soldiers here? ”

Faced with Xiao Yungui's naked threat of force, Weng Yige had no choice but to say: "I can only go back and try to persuade those young men to leave as soon as possible, please Your Excellency King Xi for God's sake, save the church and those buildings." ”

Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er glanced at each other and laughed, Xujiahui Church not only has a church, but also a library and some church schools, these are all things that can be used after the occupation of Shanghai, and both of them know their value, so they will not be willing to damage it.

After Xiao Yungui swore in the name of God again, a few missionaries were relieved, and followed Hong Yun'er to lead a few missionaries away and wander around the camp. After Xiao Yungui and a few others left, they immediately sent an order for Lin Qirong, Zhou Lichun and other generals to come in, and since the reinforcements had arrived, they had to rearrange their troops and strive to encircle and annihilate the Qing army in the city. (To be continued.) )