Chapter 228

These news reached Europe and the United States almost at the same time, not because their news was lagging behind, but because Hong Tian kept it secret.

The British expeditionary force had already been destroyed by Zuo Zongtang, but the news of the destruction of this expeditionary force was suppressed by Hong Tian, and he acted quickly.

He ordered the Taiping Navy to receive the undamaged British fleet from the expeditionary force as quickly as possible, and make it available to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Under his instructions, after taking control of this fleet, Peng Yulin quickly moved south, divided into two routes with Yang Yuebin's troops, and agreed to launch a surprise attack on the British fleet in Hong Kong and Singapore at the same time.

The raid was successful, there is no doubt about it, because Hong Tian used the old method again, which was to use the captured British ships, pretend that the British fleet was returning, and launch a sneak attack on the British Pacific Fleet.

Originally, this captured fleet gathered the elite of the British Pacific Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet, and its strength was above the remaining British Pacific Fleet.

As in the last naval battle between Hong Kong and Singapore, the Taiping Navy won easily, and it was a great victory, and the British ships of the Pacific Fleet stationed in Hong Kong and Singapore were either sunk or captured, which was not at all like a war between a backward country against a modern country.

It's just that unlike last time, Hong Tian couldn't block the news of these two wars, because Hong Kong and Singapore both had telegraphs connecting Europe and the United States, because they wanted to attack the British Navy and didn't want to startle the snake, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy did not cut the telegraph line.

Moreover, unlike during the Battle of Shanghai, Shanghai was under siege by the Taiping Army at that time, and the merchant ships had basically been evacuated, so there were not many foreign merchant ships that knew the situation of the Taiping Navy and the British Navy at that time, and the Taiping Navy could easily control it, but this did not work in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Although the British and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were at war, the British had no fear that China would attack Hong Kong and Singapore.

The vigilance of the British army in Hong Kong is relatively high, but because Liu Kunyi has not yet announced his attachment to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the vigilance of the British army in Hong Kong is also limited, and this is still the British army in Kowloon, and the British army on Hong Kong Island is not worried at all.

As for Singapore, it is even more needless to say, in their hearts, unless the Chinese know magic, it is impossible to attack here.

The British are confident, there is no doubt about it, because they are there with strength, and even the countries of the world think so.

Therefore, the commerce of Hong Kong and Singapore is still prosperous, especially Singapore, which is located on the side of the Strait of Malacca, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and there are many merchant ships coming and going, and the fierce battle between the Taiping Navy and the British Navy cannot be concealed.

Because of this, the war between Hong Kong and Singapore quickly spread and the world was shaken.

What shocking news that the Taiping Army had taken control of the warships of the British Expeditionary Force and defeated the British Pacific Fleet stationed in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The fleet of the British Expeditionary Force against China fell into the hands of the Taiping Army, so the British Expeditionary Force was naturally destroyed, and the British Pacific Fleet in Hong Kong and Singapore also followed, so that the British naval power in the Pacific Ocean was almost wiped out.

Although there is still a British fleet in Oceania, Singapore's main forces in the Pacific have been defeated, how can they defy the sky!

However, because most of the British Indian Ocean Fleet was transferred to the expeditionary force to invade China, its strength was weaker than that of the Taiping Navy, and under such circumstances, it is estimated that it would not start a war with the Taiping Navy, otherwise if the Indian Ocean Fleet was also defeated, then Britain would be really dangerous.

In order to reverse the inferiority of the navy, Britain had to draw warships from the Atlantic Fleet.

Lose face!

What a shame!

The British war can be said to be a shame and a loss of home, originally a menacing invasion of the Heavenly Balance Heaven, but it was hit by such a blow, not to mention the destruction of the expeditionary force, and even Hong Kong and Malaya were attacked.

After this defeat, Britain was shocked and angry at the same time, and the navy warships were frequently mobilized, as if they were going to wage a larger war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

This war also shocked the world, originally no country was optimistic about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because China's weakness was seen by them, although the new ruler Hong Tian, it seems to be a young Ming monarch, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is also thriving, but this war with the world's first power, Britain, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has no chance of winning at all.

As a result, all the country's eyes fell to the ground, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom won, and it was a complete victory!

The British expeditionary force against China was destroyed, Hong Kong and Malaya were attacked by the Taiping Navy, the British navy stationed in these places was destroyed, and Singapore was stationed in the main force of the British Pacific Navy.

Although no country is still optimistic about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom won too much luck, and won this war in a despicable way, if it were not for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to control the warships of the British Expeditionary Force of Aggression against China, and carried out an unprecedented deception (at this time, of course, the countries of the world did not know that the Sino-British naval battle in Shanghai had this precedent), this war is definitely a different situation.

However, this is enough to shock the world, a country that was originally backward and weak in their eyes, actually defeated the British expeditionary force, which has to be said to be a miracle.

Turning over the historical picture scroll they knew, they were even more shocked, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was revived too quickly! That His Majesty Hong Tian of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had also risen too amazingly.

In June 1864, the Taiping army won the Battle of Tianjing, defeating the main force of the Hunan Army, the most powerful army in China at the time, and has been out of control ever since.

In the Battle of Jiangning, the Taiping army defeated the remnants of the Hunan army, Bao Chao, and some other troops, obtained the entire Jiangning Prefecture, and successfully gained the safe territory of Gongwei Tianjing.

Subsequently, the Taiping army advanced into southern Jiangsu and defeated the emerging Huai army group, which was favored by the foreign powers, and expanded its territory several times.

After that, I don't know what's going on, I heard that it was because of the surrender of my younger brother, that the commander of the Hunan army, Zeng Guofan, surrendered, and along with central and southern Anhui, as well as the whole province of Jiangxi, were controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Then there was Hubei and Hunan, which were seized by the Taiping army by the Taiping army.

After that, there was the Central Plains of China, where it is rumored that a very famous Manchu general in China, a descendant of Genghis Khan's family who had conquered Europe, was defeated and killed by the Taiping army, leaving Henan Province in the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

What happened later was even more amazing, the Manchu Qing was suddenly destroyed by the rebels, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom became the only orthodoxy in China, and all parts of China were annexed, and it seemed that they were about to truly become the masters of the whole of China.

And now, the newly revitalized Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after creating one miracle after another, has created an even more shocking miracle, that is, defeating the British expeditionary force invading China.

And behind these miracles is the sixteen-year-old monarch of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and because of this series of miracles, he was hailed as the miracle emperor of China by the media of various countries!

Such a great achievement at such a young age is unique in the history of all countries, and this is just the beginning, and all countries know that his achievements will probably be even more amazing in the future.

Because China has no one to resist the advance of this majesty, China seems to be destined to be unified by this majesty.

Even if in the next war, defeat the navy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and recapture Malaya and Hong Kong, but it seems very difficult to get more victories, and the 20,000 army troops that Britain rarely transferred are nowhere to be found at this time, and it seems that it is not easy to draw enough army troops to defeat hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from the already weak army.

It can be said that Britain is at most just saving face, and it is probably impossible to really destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and looking at His Majesty Hongtian, he is not like a person who will give in at all, if Britain sends an army to fight ashore, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses.

The emperor of miracles will continue to create miracles, and people of insight from all over the world are clearly aware of this, which is the most shocking thing in the world.

And the main lord Hong Tian does not know what the countries evaluate him, but his actions are developing in this direction.

The Taiping army continued to go towards the annexed provinces, quickly reorganized all the local armed forces that took the initiative to surrender, defeated the Taiping army that refused to surrender, and forcibly conquered and reorganized, everything was so smooth, the Taiping army was like an unrivaled torrent, advancing in all directions.

The troops went to Taiwan, southeast to Singapore, southwest to Yunnan, Sichuan, northwest to Shaanxi, northeast to Fengtian, all under the direct control of Hongtian, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once again reached a peak, although Hongtian has ordered that the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army will be eliminated, but the total strength still exceeds one million, becoming the country with the largest number of troops in the world today.

And this did not stop there, although the Taiping army did not have any large-scale military operations except for overseas conquests of Singapore and a few British points in the Malay Peninsula, but the territory continued to increase.

The two northern armies were still outside the direct jurisdiction of Hongtian, and Liu Changyou's troops broke into Jilin from Mukden and marched towards Changchun, according to the news, their march was quite smooth, continuing the myth of Liu Changyou's troops, but the distance was far away, and Hongtian did not receive exact news for the time being.

The Central Plains Han Army also entered Inner Mongolia from Shanxi, swept through the Inner Mongolia tribes, and killed the Inner Mongolia tribes that were originally attached to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Hong Tian no longer paid much attention to China's internal conquests, and it was impossible for the million-strong army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to find an opponent, and his main thing was to consolidate his current territory.

The Nanjing-Shanghai railway is under construction, and the railways in various provinces are being planned, but I really don't know when the construction will be completed, and these are not in a hurry.

As soon as the localities were annexed, Hongtian tried to let them rest and recuperate, and vigorously encouraged industry and commerce, practiced mercantilism, and encouraged private industry.

Hong Tian's slogan was very loud, called to engage in business war with foreigners, and the streets and alleys were plastered with the words "Everyone is responsible for developing industry and commerce!" and "Chinese's money should be earned by themselves, and foreigners should not be allowed to earn it!"

And Hong Tian also announced that he was preparing to set up a local council to allow businessmen to participate in politics, and declared that in the future, in addition to learning and excellence, business and excellence will also join the government.

Although many people in the DPRK and China were opposed, especially those powerful religious forces, all of them were suppressed by Hong Tiandan, and under his terrifying authority, no one could stop his firm will.

All of a sudden, merchants from all over the world were in turmoil, and after Hong Tian abolished the gold system in his ruling area in order to speed up the development of commerce, this situation was even more so, and China's commerce and handicraft industries, which had been suppressed because of the gold system, began to flourish.

The prosperity of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could not be achieved in a day, and Hong Tian knew this very well, and all he could do was to try to remove the obstacles that hindered its development, and use all means to accelerate its development.

For this purpose, Hong Tian was ready to stop the war with the British.

The war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain would never have started so quickly in the original grand plan of the Great Heavens, although Britain was far away from the ocean, it was difficult to invest too many troops, and it would be a fatal danger to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but the British navy was too strong, and it would be a huge disaster for the coastal areas of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

......

In Tianjing City, in the Tianhou Mansion, Hong Tian received a guest, the British Minister to China, Bruce.

The positions of the envoys of various countries in China have been changed from Shanghai to Tianjing, and Hongtian is not a Manchu Qing Dynasty, and there is no resistance to the envoys stationed in Beijing, as long as they do not bring troops.

After the British Expeditionary Force was destroyed and Hong Tian was conceited that Britain was no longer able to pose much threat to China in a short period of time, he announced that he would allow all countries to set up embassies in Tianjing and allow foreign envoys to stay in Beijing.

When the ambassadors of various countries entered Tianjing City in surprise and confusion, they saw a prosperous scene of nature, and it was completely different from the appearance of Tianjing City that they had known before.

After the Battle of Tianjing, Tianjing City was rebuilt by the Taiping Army, which has changed greatly, and more naturally it is the change of the people's landscape.

The people in Tianjing City are all happy and positive, the streets and alleys are lively, and they seem to be extremely prosperous and powerful, and those Taiping troops are neat and tidy, and the standard Taiping-style equipment gives people a visual impact.

In the minds of the great powers, the Taiping army has always been a mixture of weapons, with very few muskets, but a large number of broadswords, bows and arrows, how can it be like a Western army now?

And there is no disgusting pig tail, and the short hair outfit of all colors gives people a mental outlook that the whole nation is up.

In short, when the envoys of various countries entered Tianjing City, it was like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden, which was really an eye-opener.

Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cooperated with some American businessmen, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promised many benefits to the United States, but the United States has never recognized the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom because of British pressure.

And Hong Tian doesn't care at all about the so-called recognition of the legitimacy of the regime, he is already about to unify China, and he doesn't care whether you recognize the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or not.

What if you don't admit it? The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom still exists, and its million-strong army will make the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom continue to exist for a long time.

It was not until the news of Hong Kong and Singapore came that various countries announced their recognition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, asked to see Hong Tian, and demanded the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Of course, they were more anxious to hope that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would promise them a treaty with the Manchus, and these ideas had already begun to appear after the Hongtian attack on Shanghai, and this feeling naturally became more and more urgent when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was at its peak.

If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not recognize their treaty with the Manchus, it would be a great problem for them, and the years of business with the Manchus would be in ruins, so they have been trying to get the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to recognize these terms.

However, Hong Tian would not have been able to agree to these demands even if they refused to admit it, and if it weren't for the American businessmen who provided the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with the funds and some of the technology needed for its development, even the Americans would have ignored it.

And after the news of Hong Kong and Singapore spread all over the world, the ambassadors of various countries finally began to panic.

They are actually very angry that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has not replied, but their own domestic strength and situation do not allow them to take retaliatory actions, especially after seeing that the British have come out, they have no intention of sending troops to sanction the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and they will pin their hopes of subduing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the British.

The world's number one power made a move, and all countries thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would be captured, and they would soon succumb after suffering all the hardships.

As a result, the unexpected British expeditionary force of aggression against China was destroyed, even the British Pacific Fleet in Hong Kong and Singapore was destroyed, and Hong Kong, Singapore, Malacca, Malacca and other British territories on the Malay Peninsula fell into the hands of the Taiping Army.

After this fiasco, although all countries believed that Britain could save face in the subsequent war, no country thought that Britain could subdue the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Because of this crushing defeat of the British, its weak army was further weakened, and it may be difficult to raise enough land forces in the Far East to resist the million-strong army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

That is to say, Britain can achieve victory at sea, but it will never be able to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on land, this is the consensus reached by the ambassadors of various countries, especially after the ambassadors of various countries saw the heroic appearance of the Taiping Army in Tianjing.

It has to be said that Hongtian's demonstration was quite successful.

However, Hong Tian was not enthusiastic about the competing demands for the establishment of diplomatic relations between various countries, and their demands were quite rude, and he refused to sign any of the Manchu traitorous treaties.

Of course, the situation is stronger than people, and Hong Tian finally made a compromise, similar to the cooperation of the Americans, he conditionally recognized the original interests of various countries in China, of course, this must be the premise that all countries must give the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sufficient technical and financial support.

For a time, the cooperation between Hongtian and other countries was surging.

And all this has nothing to do with Britain, Britain is the only belligerent country of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, not to mention cooperation with Britain, even the merchant ships flying the British flag will be shelled by the coastal batteries of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the British trade with China during this period has been dealt a heavy blow.

And Bruce was anxious about this, while constantly reporting to London, while constantly asking to see Hong Tian, but he had been rejected by Hong Tian before, and at this time Hong Tian finally agreed.

In the reception room, Hong Tian and Bruce sat opposite each other, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not kneel and worship, and Hong Tian never asked his subordinates to stand when meeting him, although he was criticized by some defenders, but in the newspapers in Hong Tian's control, it was widely publicized that Hong Tian was sympathetic to the officials and the people, and received a good response.

And Bruce is a guest, so naturally don't kneel, or stand.

"Mr. Bruce, Benhou has heard of your name a long time ago, and it is a great honor to see you today. Hong Tian's opening remarks were full of Chinese characteristics and were expressed quite friendly, which obviously gave Bruce enough face as His Majesty of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

However, Bruce's idea is completely opposite, although he has lived in China for a long time, and has been dealing with Chinese, is quite proficient in Chinese culture, and knows these etiquette habits of Chinese, but at this time Hong Tian's words seem so harsh in his ears, and he has turned himself away dozens or hundreds of times.

Therefore, Bruce's unhappy mood was even worse because of the unfavorable war, and even his face looked extremely ugly, of course, he had to restrain his anger and said as calmly as possible: "It is also a great honor to meet Your Majesty." ”

"I hope that Your Majesty will seriously consider whether to continue the war with my British Empire, although your country is lucky to win for a while, but under the army of our Empire, it will only be defeated in the end. Bruce said.

Hong Tian smiled, sneering: "Yes, sir, I am afraid that you don't know yet, Sir, that Benhou is already preparing to send troops into Tibet, and then our Taiping army may have to meet with your garrison in India." ”

Bruce's expression changed suddenly, and he stared at Hong Tiandao: "Your Majesty, please be cautious in your words, I, the India of the British Empire, will never tolerate any violation." ”

India, which has always been taboo in the British Empire, is the most important colony of the British and has a pivotal position in the British economy.

Rich in resources, vast territory and large population, India is the most important importer of raw materials and commodity exporters for the United Kingdom, and is known as the jewel in the crown of the British Queen.

In order to ensure the security of India, Britain and Russia engaged in a great game, and engaged in an extremely brutal struggle from the Far East to the Near East, which can be said to be an extremely important part of British diplomacy.

Now His Majesty the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom actually said that he was going to threaten British India, which made Bruce extremely angry, of course, there was also an element of fear, the Taiping army entered India, can the British garrison in India resist?