"Zhao Wow-Ki, are you crazy?"

British Minister Wenhan gives people the feeling that he is not afraid of Wu Yan at all, and he really does not need to be afraid. In addition to the reason that he is a British Minister, it is also directly related to his current identity as an envoy.

The two countries' wars and unsuccessful envoys are not only the rules that have been passed down from ancient times in China, but also similar ideas in civilized society.

Killing the envoy means completely breaking the trust.

Of course, Wu Yan didn't want to break his trust, after all, he wanted to be the emperor, so in the face of insults, he laughed and said, "I won't kill you today, but you'd better leave the land of China within three days."

I didn't kill the envoy on the spot, so I wouldn't lose my credibility.

This sentence made the atmosphere in the camp tense. Wen Han, who was not afraid of Wu Yan, couldn't help but take a step back and looked at Wu Yan in horror.

He knew how powerful the man named Zao Wow-ki in front of him was, and he was simply unhuman. He was as mysterious and extraordinary as the knights, witches, and magicians in the British legend.

Unfortunately, those extraordinary existences in Britain are just legends, while the martial arts of China are real.

"You can't do this." Wenhan decided to reason and said, "We captured your Qing court before and released them."

Wu Yan chuckled twice and said, "Yes, so there are all kinds of unequal terms with the concession of Songjiang Prefecture."

Wen Han and others couldn't help but think secretly, doubting that Zhao Wuji's current attitude might have a direct relationship with Emperor Xianfeng's attitude. Could it be that Emperor Xianfeng felt that the Qing court was doing it again, so he wanted to use war to terminate the various previous treaties?

When this idea came up, Wen Han and others not only did not worry about the possible war, but were excited.

War means resources.

As for losing, they never considered it.

Wu Yan took all the performances of these people, put away the expression on his face and said, "Everyone is an adult. You should know who has a big fist. Whatever he says is the truth. You can do not have the corpses of those people, or those prisoners. You can gather all the soldiers you can gather to hit me. As long as you beat me to death, you can treat what I say as fart, but if you can't beat me to death..."

As he said that, Wu Yan's voice slightly increased, and his body sat upright on the chair, looking at the ministers and consuls from various countries with oppressive eyes, saying, "Then give the money and be obedient."

Wen Han couldn't bear the pressure from Wu Yan to him and said, "Zhao Wuji, you will pay the price for your arrogance, and the Qing court will pay the price for your arrogance."

After saying this, Wen Han turned around and left.

But others stayed.

American Minister Mashali said: "General Zhao, although there has always been a saying to ask for ransom on the battlefield, the price you offer is too high, and it is impossible for us in the United States to accept it."

Wu Yan glanced at Mashali, knowing that this man had been writing to the US State Department, asking to intervene in the battle between the Qing court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to gain more benefits, so he endured the urge to kill him with a shot and said, "First, these people are not your American officers and soldiers, but those merchants' mercenaries, so it is not your American one who paid the ransom. Second, what if they are really your American officers and soldiers? Should I lead my troops across the Pacific Ocean and then help you slave owners in the United States?"

Hearing this sentence, Mashali and others were really shocked.

The shock was no less than when their coalition forces were defeated by the top scholars before.

Because no matter what perspective it looks at, the Qing court could not know the current situation in the United States.

Before they could come back to their senses, Wu Yan said again: "There are three of you, why? Tsarist Russia sent troops to capture the territory of the Ottoman Empire. You two didn't help Ottoman to fight Tsarist Russia, but they were still colluding with him here. Do I want me to pass on a letter to the Ottoman Empire, saying that Tsarist Russia and you two colluded with you?"

The three people refer to this sentence are representatives of Tsarist Russia, Britain and France. The Ottoman Empire was later Turkey. Tsarist Russia refused to return it after occupying Turkey's land in July 1853, and Turkey would declare war on Tsarist Russia in October.

In view of the reason for the coldness of lips and teeth, Britain and France will declare war on Tsarist Russia in March next year.

"Why do you know this?"

It was just beginning of October, and representatives of these three countries had already arrived in China, so they had only received the news that happened three months ago.

This is also a feature of this era, and communication of information is very inconvenient.

For example, the American Minister Mashali wanted to write a letter to communicate with the United States. It would take more than two months to travel back and forth for a letter at the fastest, because it would take about one month to drive from China to the United States.

According to the official record, in the late Qing Dynasty in 1872, four batches of "children studying in the United States" were sent. If you want to learn the advanced aspects of the United States, the first batch set off on August 11 and arrived on September 15.

"You guess?"

Wu Yan laughed and said, "So, stop threatening to send troops to attack me. Isn't I looking down on you? Just unite and can you call for a hundred thousand regular troops? You are all out, will your country still want?"

Wu Yan, who only has 40,000 people under his command, certainly could not be as confident that he could use these 40,000 people to fight against the whole world, including the Qing court.

But in fact, the current world situation is actually very complicated, and it is very normal for countries to fight undeclaredly. The only better United States does not need to worry about invasions from other countries due to its geographical location, but they are about to start the Civil War.

In this case, they really couldn't call out many regular troops.

In the original historical process, in the Second Opium War, which began three years later, Britain and France dispatched a total of less than 20,000 regular troops. Although there were 173 warships, the range of warships and artillery in this era was actually very short. Apart from bombarding port terminals, they could only carry troops.

The eight-nation coalition incident, which is related to world missions, has only 50,000 real regular troops of the eight-nation country.

Among them, Japan sent the most troops, while Italy had at least 80.

Therefore, this is also the best time for Wu Yan to rebellion.

A few simple words brought more shock to representatives of various countries than the previous battle.

Because all Wu Yan said is true.

If the Qing court could truly find out the situation in the world from those foreign businessmen at this time, maybe they would not be so afraid when facing the great powers.

However, it is useless to be afraid. The Qing court has completely corrupted. The regular army exceeds one million, and the brave camp led by the Hunan Army has a total of one million, but it was still defeated by tens of thousands of people from the great powers to the capital.

"Give you three days. After three days, if there is no lijin in the account, I will confiscate all the goods in the warehouse and sell them. Compared to you giving me lijin, I think the goods in the warehouse will definitely be sold for more money." Wu Yan said: "Similarly, if there is no ransom in three days, the mercenaries invited by the merchants you represent will be sent to me for road construction and mining."

Mashali and others had to bargain again, but were interrupted by Wu Yan without hesitation.

"see a visitor out."

With the order, Mashali and others had to leave, and then found Wenhan and representatives of businessmen from various countries to discuss.

"You can't give Lijin. Although the goods in the warehouse are of high value, Lijin collects not only the goods in the warehouse area, but also all our goods, and even the goods transported there in the future. Once this kind of thing starts, they taste the sweetness, maybe the Qing court wants to ask us to collect Lijin in the future."

“It makes sense.”

"I think we can give Lijin. Except for the warehouse area they occupied, they have checked the goods in detail, and they don't know how many other goods are. Even if we want to cooperate with them to investigate, we can delay time and put pressure on the Qing court to revoke Zhao Wuji's position. By then, everything will be restored to normal."

"The key now is not Lijin, but the captives." A businessman said: "I have 200 people who have been captured. If I cannot save them, I will be finished. Don't forget that this matter is well known. In the future, there will be news from the country. If they know that we will not save them, then what will the families of these people cause trouble for us? Who will be willing to follow us to do business in the future?"

Being a multinational businessman in this era is really high-risk. There is no sufficient force guarantee. Not to mention encountering pirates at sea, local snakes in every place will also regard them as fat sheep.

So it is normal for them to gather an army of nearly 5,000 people, but it is only limited to this.

"We can buy the prisoners back, and then join forces with the regular army and grab the ransom." A merchant asked after a suggestion: "Minister Wenhan, when will our British regular army arrive in Shanghai from Guangdong?"

Wen Han frowned and said, "The news should not have arrived yet. The fastest thing is to be ten days later."

"We can't wait for ten days. Zhao Wuji killed people, and he won't support our people for ten days." Someone said, "I decided, I want to give a ransom."

Other merchants also responded. For them, although the ransom was too expensive, their losses would be greater if they did not give the ransom.

"Let's give it to Lijin, temporarily calm Zhao Wuji, we will continue to put pressure on the Qing court and see the reaction of the Qing court." Mashali said: "Based on my understanding of the Qing court, they will not allow Zhao Wuji to do this, and they will definitely hold Zhao Wuji accountable. With the current military strength and prestige that Zhao Wuji has, he will inevitably choose to rebel, just like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At that time, we can send troops openly to attack the regime he established and ask the Qing court for benefits and compensation. We can all get the losses this time."

This proposal was recognized by many people, and they were not much shocked by Mashali's saying that Zao Wow-Ki would rebel.

Because at this time, anyone with a discerning eye could see what Zhao Wuji wanted to do. As a court official, he completely ignored the laws of the court. He had killed Manchus of Qishan before and was good at fighting with the great powers. He didn't want to rebel, was he really crazy?

Otherwise, Liu Lichuan from Xiaodao Society would not come to the door to "send people's heads".

After all the agreement, the merchants went out to prepare money, leaving only the ministers and consuls of Britain, France and the United States, etc., representing the three countries. Tsarist Russia actually didn't have many merchants in China at this time, and this time there was no loss. They just came to watch the fun, so they left after watching the fun.

Wen Han frowned and said, "Although I also want to fight Zao Wow-Ki and the Qing court, the problem is that we cannot draw more troops now, because we may go to war with Tsarist Russia in the Crimea region at any time."

Masali asked in confusion: "Why? Tsarist Russia has a bad relationship with you, right?"

Wen Han looked at Mashali with an idiot expression and said, "Do you know the Black Sea and the Mediterranean? Without the Ottomans, the Tsarist Russian fleet could easily reach the Sea of ​​Love from the Black Sea and then enter the Mediterranean, so it's not just us, but most of Europe will fight Tsarist Russia this time."

Masali then realized it, and laughed awkwardly and said, "In fact, fighting Zao Wow-Ki and the Qing court does not require too many regular troops. Just like the last time you, Britain and France, you will join forces to fight the Qing court. 20,000 regular troops will allow the Qing court to surrender and pay compensation and sign various agreements."

This is about the First Opium War.

The Second Opium War, which only took place three years later, was also after the end of the Crimean War. Britain and France joined forces with other European countries to defeat Tsarist Russia, so they were able to free up some troops to come to China.

After Tsarist Russia was defeated by the Europeans, it could only adjust its strategic center to the direction of China, hoping to make up for the losses.

Therefore, the second Opium War was launched by the United States and Tsarist Russia behind the backing of the support of the British and French coalition forces against the Qing court.

In short, Britain and France cannot mobilize more troops to China now, and the same is true for Tsarist Russia. Their focus is still in Europe, at their respective doors.

Wen Han said: "We can mobilize up to 10,000 troops. Including mercenaries, there should be 15,000 people. Now it seems that Zhao Wuji's top scholar army... can't be defeated with only 15,000 people. Moreover, if you want to get the order to officially start the war, you have to wait at least one and a half months later."

None of the ministers, consuls and others had the right to start a war without authorization. At this time, the Qing Dynasty accounted for one-third of the world's total population. If it wanted to start a war, Britain would have to hold a meeting for many days.

Mashali laughed and said, "Actually, we don't have to fight Zao Woo-ki. We just need to call 15,000 people to Shanghai, and then contact the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and let the Qing court know that we are contacting the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, preparing to support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and even selling some arms to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At that time..."

Wen Han's eyes lit up and he said, "At that time, the Qing court will naturally help us solve Zhao Wuji, just like the one before... Lin Zexu."

Masali added: "We can also help the Qing court solve Zhao Wow-ki and select elite gunmen. Even if he is really invulnerable to swords and guns, can't he kill him with hundreds of guns?"

After the discussion was completed, the foreigners decided to temporarily tolerate it, and should give the ransom and lijin.

When their regular army arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, Senggelinqin also brought his men to Songjiang Prefecture.

The two sides hit it off and prepared to kill Wu Yan.

But at this time, Wu Yan, who had already received the ransom and part of the liquor, totaling 720,000 taels of silver and equivalents, had already led his troops away from Songjiang Prefecture, leaving only Qian Jiang and some soldiers behind, and continued to seek foreign businessmen to collect liquor towards the goal of 1 million taels of gold.

To kill Wu Yan, you have to go to the garrison of the top scholar army.

Senggelinqin dared not go, even though he had a dismissal of Zhao Wuji, the offenders would be executed. So he arranged for foreign businessmen to capture Qianjiang and join hands with elite foreign gunmen to ambush Zhao Wuji who came to help.
Chapter completed!