"Big brother, compared to your contemporary heroes, I feel that I am still very inadequate." Gu Yongyuan sighed. In fact, these men have been hailed as heroes by some and condemned as outlaws by others. But in this day and age, they can play an important role. In contrast, Gu Yongyuan felt a little powerless by their side. A small wound on his body would make him scream in pain.

Boss Lin smiled, and a gentle smile appeared under the bandage on his face. He gently touched the gauze and said, "Western medicine works well." After visiting the lawyer's office, he asked a Western doctor to get new stitches.

Gu Yongyuan nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, Western civilization has its advantages, big brother, stay in Shanghai and be careful in everything." He discussed with the lawyer and introduced Boss Lin to Shenghe Trading and asked him to set up a goods trading company to transport them by steamship. The lawyer was very supportive of this idea, since the first steamship to trade north would undoubtedly bring considerable profits.

Boss Lin smiled and nodded, then looked at Gu Yongyuan and said, "Mr. Gu, I am a straightforward person, I will not beat around the bush." You are ambitious, and I am honored that you think that I, Boss Lin, have any use, and whatever is here, I will do it well for you. ”

Gu Yongyuan chuckled, "What ambition?" Big brother, you think too highly of me, but I do have a few words of advice for you. ”

"Say it." Boss Lin put down the teacup and said.

Gu Yongyuan pondered for a moment and said softly: "I know that you will have a grudge against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Xiaojian, but I hope that you can put aside your old grudges in the future and focus on the development of Shanghai." Let me do it. "Let's put it this way, even if there are Green Banner soldiers chasing after the members of the Wind Sword Society in the streets, you should be a bystander. Sometimes, not intervening in small things is the key to the big picture. ”

Boss Lin nodded slowly and said, "I understand." Then, he added with a smile: "Mr. Gu, I like to hear you call me 'big brother'. "It's Wanxue's blessing to meet you."

Gu Yongyuan was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that Lin Laohui would agree with his feelings for Lin Wanxue. It seems that he has become a brother-in-law in advance.

Boss Lin sighed and said, "Wanxue is a strong-willed girl, but she is not doing well, it's all my fault. She has been wandering since she was a child, and she has been in the wind and rain every day, and she has not had a good life. "Life was peaceful, she was a good girl, but she was surrounded by a group of rough men and lived a dangerous life. I'm not good to her. When I met my mother under the Nine Springs, I didn't even know how to answer if she asked me how I had taken good care of my sister. ”

I didn't expect this seemingly rugged man to have such a sensitive side, Gu Yongyuan patted his hand lightly and said comfortingly: "Brother Lin, don't worry, I will take good care of her and ensure that she is not bullied by anyone." ”

Boss Lin smiled with satisfaction, picked up the teacup, and said, "If you can't drink today, I'll give you a cup of high-bubble tea!" I hope Mr. Ku will live up to my expectations. ”

Gu Yongyuan raised the teacup and clinked glasses with Boss Lin's teacup. Watching Boss Lin drink tea "coo-dong", Gu Yongyuan felt an indescribable sense of firmness rise in his heart.

As he was talking, the sound of silk and bamboo music suddenly sounded in the air. When I turned my head to look, I saw an old man and a child in a nearby teahouse. The old man was dressed in tatters and looked to be in his seventies. While playing the erhu, he sang a song: "Gold powder is spread all over the southeastern provinces, and layers of grievances belong to dignity." The strategy of the gambler who locked the basin, and the talented woman who folded the fan dominated the upstream. Avoid seats, timid. "The persecution of words, the writing of books and the writings of speeches, are all for the sake of livelihood. Where are the 500 people in Tianheng now? Did they all become marquises?

The song is full of vicissitudes and evokes a deep sense of melancholy.

Being able to sing such a song shows that the old man is very knowledgeable, but his old age is far from what he hoped for. The four or five-year-old child next to him, covered in mud, pitifully reached out to ask for a reward. However, the customer simply drove him away with contempt.

Looking at the old man and the young child, Gu Yongyuan sighed softly and said to himself: "Layers of grievances belong to dignity, layers of grievances belong to dignity. Gradually, he fell into deep thought.

Boss Lin threw a few coins to the child, and his expression was silent.

...

In the afternoon, the British Consul, Mr. Alleyne, came to the official residence of the Minister of the Imperial Mission to formally protest against the plundering activities of the Qing army in the concession.

Because the concession had no city walls and was close to the Qing army camp outside, the Qing soldiers frequently infiltrated the concession, and disputes continued. A few days ago, some soldiers stole timber from the dock and clashed with foreign merchants. They wounded a foreign businessman and fled. The night before, more soldiers had a brawl with foreign traders near the pier. After the foreign guns arrived, they wounded several Qing soldiers and killed one, and the Qing soldiers dispersed one after another.

Gu Yongyuan knew that in a few months, due to the deepening contradictions between the two sides, the famous battle of Mud Town would be ignited. The spark is a confrontation between a foreign merchant couple walking in a horse racing pavilion and a Qing soldier. This series of conflicts drove the consuls of Britain, France, and the United States to teach the Qing army a lesson. They organized a joint attack involving more than three hundred sailors and marines from the British and American naval contingents, as well as the Wind Sword Society as allies. Ironically, this small army of 300 foreign musketeers defeated more than 10,000 Qing troops, and even set fire to the main camp of the Qing army.

The Battle of Mud Town further exposed the weakness of the Qing Dynasty vis-à-vis the Western West, prompting them to concentrate on using force to protect the concession. After the war, officials in the Yangtze River region began to have a greater fear of Western countries, and began to cooperate militarily with Western countries to suppress the Fengjian Society and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. However, the hardliners in the capital still stubbornly look down on the Western "barbarians". Of course, these so-called hardliners are not motivated by any national pride, but by national pride. It's more of an inexplicable arrogance. Although they lost the First Opium War, they considered the Westerners to be far away across the ocean, signed several treaties, and they considered themselves generous to the foreign devils. At that time, the conditions proposed by the British were quite harsh, but when the Chinese began to negotiate, they did not expect the Qing Dynasty to readily agree. The British were very happy at the time, but they never expected that the Qing Dynasty would not take this treaty seriously at all.

Now, ten years later, dissatisfaction with the defeat of the war has rekindled in the Qing court, and the former arrogance has resurfaced.

A few years later, in the Second Opium War, the British and French forces even invaded Beijing and burned down the Old Summer Palace. The hardliners, led by Emperor Xianfeng, felt the real sting at this time. Emperor Xianfeng died suddenly, and the strong-willed governor of Liangguang, who disregarded foreign powers, was captured and died in exile in India. The fate of this high-ranking official was enough to make all Qing officials fearful. After these events, the Qing government's attitude towards Western countries underwent a complete change. The self-improvement movement broke out, and the rebellion was suppressed in full cooperation with the West.

Although the Battle of Mud Town is rarely mentioned in domestic history books, its impact was far-reaching. Judging from the current situation, a conflict between the foreigners in the concession and the Qing army is probably inevitable. In response to Alayne's protest, Gu Yongyuan replied that it was not under his jurisdiction, but said that he understood the dissatisfaction and regret of various countries.

That night, Gu Yongyuan suddenly became interested and wanted to see the horse racing pavilion that caused the Battle of Mud Town in history. However, the horse racing pavilion that really played a role in the battle was a racecourse that was about to be built, not where Gu Yongyuan planned to go. He didn't quite understand the difference.