"In general, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom religion is a fake revelation. It is based on the Old Testament, but it has incorporated superstition and fallacy." At this moment, at the dinner on the Shanghai warship, British Minister Sir Wenhan came to this conclusion for his trip to the Pingtian Kingdom.

"Sir Wenhan, can you explain what your learned missionary and translator Maidus said in some ways that the Taiping Army looks 'better' than the Europeans? I admire your country's preemptive and courageous visit to the Taiping Army, but why do you have such differences with the knowledgeable Mr. Maidus?" American Minister Masha used a napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth and asked Wenhan.

To be honest, although he did not like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom disrupting trade, he was very jealous of the British's preemptive visit to Nanjing among the great powers. It can also be said that another great power showed dissatisfaction and vague concern about the British's diplomatic reaction so quickly.

"You should know that Mr. Madhusi did not go to Nanjing. His above remarks were based on the study of more than a dozen religious pamphlets of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that we brought back from Nanjing." Speaking of this, Sir Wenhan looked at the minister Mashali and smiled: "As a scholar, he has the right to study and express personal opinions, but as the minister of the queen, I have received many different or even opposite research and opinions, but I am the one who makes the decision."

"It seems that the group of Chinese without braids did not leave a good impression on you. I wonder how Mr. Boulbron viewed Nanjing's 'new emperor's bandit leader?'" Masali smiled at French ambassador Boulbron.

The French, who also occupied a considerable territory in Shanghai, were extremely eager to follow the British's feats and visit Tianjing with their own political tendencies. Shortly after the British returned, the French minister, Lord Bourbron, followed the British's pace and took the French steam warship "Gasini", known as the "Ship of God", to go up the river and visit Tianjing.

Upon hearing the inquiry from the American ambassador, Boulbron turned his head, smiled and pondered for a moment, converted French thinking to English, and said with a smile: "The new emperor of the bandit leader? Oh, that baby won a lot of money for me last week. Of course, I also have to face the angry doubts of Qing officials. They asked to change the name of the baby. This is really a tricky diplomatic matter."

This joke aroused the laughter of the foreigners present, "The New Emperor of Bandits" is famous in Shanghai.

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which claimed to believe in God, occupied a large area of ​​Jiangnan, it naturally became a hot topic in Shanghai, adjacent to Nanjing. Foreign newspapers introduced it in succession, speculating on the relationship between the Taiping Army and the Qing Dynasty, and whether there would be new rulers in this land.

As a result, a Frenchman changed his horse racing to "The New Emperor of Bandits" and won the championship on the racecourse!

This naturally became the headline again. The Qing officials were naturally extremely unhappy and asked the horse owner to change his name, which became a famous joke among the foreigners in Shanghai.

After everyone finished laughing, Burbron said: "Maybe we are not as high as Sir Wenhan's expectations before leaving. France's goal is just to expand France's protection of Catholics to Tianjing. So, in my personal sense, I feel that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not as bad as Sir Wenhan said."

These words immediately calmed the lively dining table. Everyone was waiting to listen to what the French minister, who had different opinions from Sir Wenhan, thought: Did the French make new discoveries?

In fact, the French's diplomatic journey was much smoother than the British.

Perhaps because of the initial understanding of the British, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom received a lot of better reception from the French ministers this time, and there was no scene of asking the British that "the sky is a shrimp."

After the river broke down outside Nanjing, on the Garcini, the French Jesuit missionary Gerbida, who served as an additional translator, conveyed the French's wish to meet with the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom spent a whole day making a decision and sent a positive reply before dusk.

This is already very efficient.

Then unlike everything that the British encountered, the French minister and his party successfully landed and entered Nanjing City. There was also Taiping military cavalry guarding the flag, and there was also the sound of opening gongs along the way in front of them.

The French became the first foreign official mission to enter the city of Nanjing occupied by the Taiping Army.

The first feeling is that the streets of Nanjing are very depressed, because there are still houses burned during the war that were not too late to clean up, and the shops were closed. In short, compared to the previous bustling city, the overall atmosphere of depression is exuding.

But some other things also left a deep impression on French observers:

There are some wooden cages hanging on the city walls, inside which are the heads of the opium-drawns; the first five volumes of the Bible and the Gospel of Matthew are constantly printed, and women and others can apply and receive clothes and other items in Saint Curry; the king of heaven, Hong Xiuquan, prays twice a day, and whenever at this time, cannons fire together 10 times; other believers also show sincerity when praying and worshiping.

When these Frenchmen arrived at the reception hall to meet the officials, they were immediately stunned by the strong contrast between the luxury inside and the desolate situation on the depressed street outside.

"The torch illuminated the entire hall, and with the light of the fire, we saw many bystanders standing on both sides of the hall. At the top of the hall, facing the two ministers who were about to meet us.

They wore blue satin robes, with gorgeous patterns embroidered on their chests, which looked gorgeous in color. They wore big red brocade boots and gold crowns on their heads, with a serious and noble expression.

Behind them, the brigade of servants lined up in a row, and in short, all these formations made the meeting look grand."

It must be because of the interaction with the British. This time I met with the French minister, and the atmosphere of the talks was very harmonious. Two officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom talked about their beliefs, the King of Heaven's mission to eliminate idol worship, and called the French "friend" or "brother".

He also promised that Burbron could not only meet with the highest officials, but also meet the King of Heaven if they were indeed sincere.

But when they began to meet with the first-class figures of the Taiping Heavenly King, the French began to have bad luck.

The first person to see them was Qin Rigang. He sat on the only chair on the high platform and ordered the French minister to sit on the lower row of chairs. After being shocked, Bourbron flatly refused to sit down. He thought this was obvious resentment and asked to sit on the platform as high as Qin Rigang for a meeting.

But there is always only one seat on the table, right?

Fortunately, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not as stupid as last time when they met the British brothers. They talked about a compromise method, and Qin Rigang, Boulbron and both of them went to the side room to hold talks.

There, Boulbron asked in detail about the religious beliefs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, seeking a promise of kindness to the Chinese Catholics in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ruled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and reminded Qin Rigang that France remained neutral in the current conflict, and that the treaty previously concluded between France and the Qing court still took effect on Emperor Xianfeng. Of course, he did not propose to conclude a new treaty with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

But at heart, which great power does not want to seek exchanges in China with a force that is not xenophobic and has corresponding diplomatic capabilities?

The French are very concerned about religion. Of course they want to influence the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but the problem is that Bourbron has not yet tested or has time to carry out the new treaty topic, and Qin Rigang on the other side has turned his back!

"What did you say clearly about the demon leader just now?" pointed at Bulbron's nose, Qin Rigang roared. Seeing that all the foreigners were petrified, Qin Rigang stood up and pointed at the translator's nose, blushed and shouted: "What did he (Bulbron) just now call the demon leader? Do you know whether the emperor is our special name for God!"

"The beast Xianfeng is also worthy of being called the emperor, I bah!" Qin Rigang spat hard on the ground.

It is conceivable how shocked the French were. They were just smiling, and suddenly they gritted their teeth and shouted.

Bullbron and the translator Ge Bida talked in French for a moment with a pale face. Ge Bida raised his face, looked at Qin Rigang who was furious, swallowed and said, "Mr. Qin Rigang, you must understand that our France and the Qing Dynasty are normal diplomatic relations. As the official representative of France, we must call "Xianfeng" the "Emperor of Qing Dynasty". Please understand."

Qin Rigang, who was furious, immediately turned around and left, and soon called Ge Bida away.

The French, who were not even sitting in the room, could only listen to a string of Chinese that they could not understand, mixed with Ge Bida's frightened Chinese. Although they couldn't understand, anyone could guess that the language that roared in this tone could not be a good word in any country.

Just because of the title of "Emperor", this diplomatic effort soon became a nightmare for the French.

The princes of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had no idea what the diplomacy between the country was. Their logic was very simple:

If you respect Xianfeng so much, then you must be Qing Yao’s friends; since you are Qing Yao’s friends, you must be our enemies!

Then you guys come to me to do something? We must be here to reconnaissance and exploring our truth and inform Qing Yao.

He is completely the most typical petty citizen in China. The old farmer's mentality is either black or white, or enemies or friends: "I fight with his two families. When you come to my house, you still say that my enemy is good? If you don't help me scold the street, I will roll your eyes. You still respect him? Your mother is sick! Come to my house to find a suck!"

A few days later, the mission on the Garcini received a handwritten letter from King Wei Changhui of the Northern King: ordering the French mission to visit him immediately and accept his "oral training".

"By bye, you!" Bullbron was so savoring, and he heard the taste. When he saw the tone and format of the letter, he immediately admitted that his mission had failed, ordered him to return to Shanghai, and left with a cool and elegant look.

But Boulborn, who has French romance and a history of the Revolution, suffered significantly less frustration than English Wenhan. He believed that although he did not achieve the religious and diplomatic achievements he had expected, he collected new information to make up for these setbacks, saying:

"For me, the most important thing is that I saw the power of this revolutionary movement. The declaration it understood was to carry out a radical change in religious, social and political integration in a huge empire shrouded with traditional customs and inertia. No matter what doubts exist about its ultimate success, no matter what the indifference of the people and the power of the Qing Dynasty would set up obstacles to the victory of this rebellion, I am very clear that the unrest has solid characteristics and scale. Its leaders may be a bit fanatical or ambitious, but they firmly believe that their career will succeed. They are not only brave, but also have a firm belief, strong organizational ability, and proficient in strategy. In short, they have a moral power that overwhelms their opponents."

When he ended his experiences with this comment, the hall was quiet for a moment. British Minister-General Wen Han smiled and took the lead in applauding, and warm applause suddenly filled the cabin of this Western warship.

"I swear," looked at Wen Han and Burbron who nodded frequently to thank him. The US Minister Masali loosened his bow tie with his hands a little bit gritted, and said loudly: "As long as I have a ship with a lighter draft, no matter whether it is a warship or not, as long as it is not stranded Shanghai repeatedly like the 'Squehanna', I will try to go to Nanjing immediately!"

The captain of the "Sesquehana" smiled bitterly: "Mr. Masali, my desire to go to visit Nanjing with your own eyes is as strong as yours, but we Americans are afraid that we can't go to Nanjing recently."

"I heard you are going to Japan not far away, that mysterious island country?" asked Burbron.

Masali smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, Brigadier General Perry has asked all Chinese warships available in the Far East to obey his command. Our country will raid Japan and allow it to open up normal diplomacy and trade. Now the "Sesquehana" has been confirmed as the flagship of Japan's trip. The other two warships, Mississippi and Bowhatton, are already gathering towards Shanghai."

"Japan is also a member of the mysterious East Asian civilization. I think their backwardness and ignorance are not much better than our Qing friends," Sir Wenhan, tasting the wine, nodding to Masali: "If there must be war, our British Empire will be happy to alliance with your country."

Masali glanced at the British man with a vigilant and smiled: "Thank you, Sir. Japan is the closest country to our country in the Pacific. If the Japanese are willing to join the Global National Club, our ships will get a base for supply and coal in the vast Pacific Ocean. This will save countless time and resources than detouring the Atlantic to the Far East. Therefore, Japan has the closest interests to our United States. We will do our best to promote this diplomatic mission. In addition, I do not think that Japan, which is small, will be as unreasonable as the Qing Dynasty in front of our warships."

"The Americans regarded Japan as their belongings, but Japan was just a barbarian island country and would not have such great benefits as the Qing Dynasty." British Wenhan thought to himself, but Masali had already pulled the topic from Japan. He asked: "Sir Wenhan and Mr. Bourbron, how do you think of the Taiping Army branch in Guangdong? That general, a true Protestant, compared with his bandit leader, how do you believe in it?"

Wen Han thought for a while and said, "From the information we have obtained, the belief in this Taiping Army in Guangdong is somewhat different from the belief I saw in Nanjing, but they are the same as those who kill opium and rob the rich. Moreover, their scale is too small compared to his emperor. When they first entered Guangdong, there were only 5,000 people. Most of the army he claims to be a 100,000 are just new farmers and handicraftsmen. Until now, he has only focused on the countryside and rural areas, and has not made any attempt to attack Guangzhou."

"What if he attacks Guangzhou? Guangzhou is a trading port and is adjacent to Macau and Hong Kong. I want to know the opinions of the British Empire." Masali asked.

Wen Han smiled and said, "Given his size and achievements, we cannot compare with his emperor, we are waiting and see about his ultimate achievements. In fact, we hope to take advantage of the instability of Guangdong to urge the Mu Governor Ye Mingchen to fulfill the commitment of our various interests in Guangzhou in the Treaty of Nanjing."

"That is, we can't let him attack Guangzhou, and finally maintain the status quo of the trade port, which is consistent with our country's view." Mashali smiled and said, "It's funny. General Zhao Ziwei was also baptized by Luo Xiaoquan, the pastor of the Baptist Church in my country. Now Luo Xiaoquan has come to Shanghai and has asked me twice. I asked me if I can go to Nanjing. Why can't he go to Nanjing secretly? I can only say that he dares to hang him. You must know that I want him to go to Nanjing to give me first-hand information."

Bulbron interrupted in surprise: "Pastor Luo Xiaoquan has left the Taiping Army in Huizhou? I don't think that a foreign missionary in Nanjing can baptize Hong Xiuquan and his prince and general."

"In fact, the Taiping Army in Huizhou is more like Christianity. Luo Xiaoquan did a lot of work among them, and many leaders and Zhao's confidants joined the Baptist Church. But Pastor Luo Xiaoquan left them and came to Shanghai. It's a pity." Wenhan smiled a little sadly.

"I think the consul of Guangzhou in our country is a bit exaggerated. He actually reported that he thought Zhao had a guy who could have equal diplomatic potential, but his emperor and superiors could not even meet with two ministers normally. How could a small bandit general? The freedom of free trade missionary he proposed was tempting, but he was a rebel after all. How could we know that he was reliable? Instead of having two birds in hand, one bird was in the forest. I still hope to end the rebellion in Guangdong and Nanjing as soon as possible and restore normal trade order." Mashali curled his lips.

"Maybe it was because General Zhao wanted to betray his emperor Hong Xiuquan and occupy Guangdong to become the emperor himself." Wen Han smiled mysteriously.

"Where did you hear this information?" Mashali and Bourbron were shocked at the same time.

Looking at the two surprised expressions, Wen Han himself was stunned: "Has your consul not reported to you? This general had hinted and attacked in front of many of us, the absurdity of his emperor and the Nanjing friendly beliefs."

"The Chinese style." Masali snorted coldly with disdain.

"According to my information and your statement, then your pastor Luo Xiaoquan has only served the Guangdong Taiping Army for two months?" asked Bulbron.

"Yes. What can I do in 2 months? So I think the gap between the Taiping Army in Guangdong and Nanjing in terms of belief is not too big. If Guangzhou is besieged, I suggest that our Three Kingdoms give Ye Mingchen indirect assistance of self-defense to help him maintain the ownership of the Qing Dynasty at the trade port, although I hate that wooden braided official very much."

"I need more information and domestic instructions. Moreover, Guangzhou has not been besieged yet, right?" Wen Han smiled cunningly and hid away.

"Gentlemen, I found a question. Regarding the belief in Nanjing, Zhao did not lie from what I saw in Nanjing." said Francoisdeplas, the captain of the "Garcini", who was the first to be aware of the situation.

[In the previous chapter, I made a mistake because of the chaos of notes. Plath was the captain of France's Garcinia, not the American Squehanna boat]

"Mr. Plath has successfully turned my Puritan wife into Catholicism on our way to Nanjing." Burbron released the news with respect, which immediately brought a voice of awe.

In fact, even the French trip to Nanjing was not caused by the French minister, like the American Marshali, because he was jealous of the British's powerful diplomatic actions, but because of the existence of the "Ship of God" in Shanghai, the "Garcini".

The captain of the "Gasini" Francois de Plas is an experienced French professional soldier. He has a very eagerness for missionary mission because he has just converted to Catholicism.

He used his reputation to successfully request the French government to allocate a ship to him so that he could take a boat to visit "the devout priest who spreads the gospel of God with all his heart in the corners of the world."

In 1851, Deputras slowly gathered a group of like-minded officers and naval cadets in France, and went to Rome in person to receive the Pope's blessing for his career.

The Garcini is a 200-horsepower engine-powered twin-wheel paddle boat equipped with 6 guns, 120 crew members, and a specially made chapel. In Deputras's view, this is a real ship of God.

Because the French have always claimed to be the protector of Catholic missionaries in China, after hearing the horrific news that the Taiping Army abused and massacred Chinese believers who converted to Catholicism in Nanjing and other cities, Deputras in Shanghai rushed to Tianjin to see if he could obtain a more effective formal diplomatic agreement and commitment in religious tolerance than Wenhan.

After the result was approved, what surprised him was that it was not the consul or a low-level diplomat who traveled to Tianjing with him, but the French minister Bourbron himself, who decided to go there himself, and he also brought his Protestant British wife.

France does not have the hegemony of Britain and its large economic interests in China, so why does Boulbron attach so much importance to this visit?

It is entirely because of the political trend in France.

By 1850, the French regime fell into the hands of Louis Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.

This man was a speculator and adventurer who repeatedly launched rebellions in France and was sentenced afterwards, and he fled to Britain.

In 1848, the February Revolution in France opposed the July dynasty, and the Second French Republic was established. Faced with a god-given opportunity, Louis Bonaparte immediately returned to France and was determined to show his skills in the chaos. As a result, countless French people who were full of nostalgia for the era of Napoleon I voted for him in the election. In December of the same year, Louis Bonaparte was elected president of the Second French Republic. Next, he began to march towards the throne of the emperor.

On December 2, 1851, Louis Bonaparte mobilized his army to launch a coup and forcibly disbanded the parliament. In November 1852, under his control, France announced the restoration of the imperial system. On December 2, the day when Napoleon I held its coronation 48 years ago, the Second French Empire was officially established, and Louis Bonaparte's name also changed to Louis Bonaparte, and was revered as "Napoleon III" by the Senate. From then on, Napoleon III, who came to power by political speculation, actually took charge of the Second Empire regime for 19 years.
To be continued...