Wu Chaoyue once expected foreign friends to visit him, but Father Martin and Luo Weilin and other foreigners with great relationship with Wu Chaoyue never appeared. The reason was not that Martin and Luo Weilin and others were unfaithful. In fact, early the morning after the arrest of the Wu family's grandparents and grandchildren, Luo Weilin and Maidusi and others had already gathered more than 20 foreign priests to visit Wu Chaoyue, and agreed to make a big fuss in front of the customs office like last time, forcing Weng Xincun to release the Wu family's grandparents and grandchildren. However, it was very regrettable that these foreign priests could not even enter the city gate, and were stopped outside the city by the city gate guards of Shanghai County, saying that they would not allow them to enter the city.

The reason why Yuan Zuqi did this was of course because of the persecution of the imperial envoy, and he was afraid that foreigners would go to the city to cause trouble like last time, making things difficult for them to deal with. However, Yuan Zuqi did this, but it was definitely not an abuse of power. On the contrary, there were quite sufficient reasons.

As mentioned earlier, Xu Guangjin, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Ye Mingchen, Governor of Guangdong, did this in Guangzhou three years ago, organizing the people to guard the city gates and resolutely not allow British people to enter Guangzhou City. The excuse was to take advantage of the loopholes in the Treaty of Nanjing. The treaty stipulated that foreigners could go to and from five ports including Guangzhou and Shanghai to do business, but did not stipulate whether foreigners could enter and exit the cities of these five cities. Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen seized this point and made a big fuss, resolutely rejected the British's request for entry into the city, and organized rural soldiers to defend Guangzhou City and prevent foreigners from stepping into Guangzhou City.

After the incident, when the British ambassador requested negotiations with Xu and Ye, Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen pretended that the court required them to act in accordance with the treaty, but still refused flatly. In the end, the British ambassador gave in because of domestic orders and voluntarily gave up the demand for entering the city. Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen were also strongly rewarded by Daoguang and regarded as anti-foreign heroes by the Qing dynasty and the people of the Qing dynasty. But only Guangzhou did this. The xenophobic sentiment of the remaining four trading ports in Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen was not as strong as Guangzhou, and local officials did not have the courage of Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen. They all turned a blind eye to the foreigners' entry into the city, and had never had any disputes with foreigners because of this matter.

The words were too far-reaching and back to the point. Even if he didn't have the courage to offend foreigners, in order to please the imperial envoy and to gain time to kill the grandchildren of the Wu family, Yuan Zuqiu still gritted the bullet and ordered the foreigners to be banned from entering the city - at least to prohibit foreigners from entering the city before Weng Xincun left Shanghai. At the same time, in order not to make a big deal, Yuan Zuqiu asked the defenders to explain to the foreigners that this was the order of the imperial envoy Weng Xincun, and explained that there was no provision in the treaty to let foreigners enter the city, so they were not allowed to enter the city, and asked foreigners to be calm and wait until Yuan Zuqiu explained clearly to the top and obtained the consent of the top, then opened Shanghai to the foreigners again.

Shanghai City, which was usually free to enter and exit, suddenly issued a ban on foreigners like Guangzhou. Foreign priests such as Luo Weilin and Maidusi were of course both angry and puzzled, and repeatedly protested. However, the city gate guards were not allowed to enter the city except for nodding and constantly explaining. The foreign priests had no armed forces to break in, and were forced to do so, Luo Weilin and others had to hurriedly return to the consulates of various countries to negotiate with them, and asked their country's consulates to help solve the problem.

Not to mention the consuls of other countries, just talk about Luo Weilin and Maidusi and several British priests who found the consul of his country in Shanghai, Aliguo, who explained the situation of his rejection of entering the city. Although Aliguo was also very angry at the sudden ban on the citizens of his country from entering the city, he was very helpless. He spread his hands to Luo Weilin and others and said, "Dear priests, I am very sorry. I believe you also know that Guangzhou, China, did the same. At that time, in order not to affect trade with China, the parliament of our British Empire ordered our country's ministers to give in to the Chinese court, so I cannot help you in this matter. And strictly speaking, because of our negligence when signing the Treaty of Nanjing, local officials in China do have the power to prohibit us from entering the city."

"Of course." Aliguo quickly added: "I will report this situation to Mr. Wen Han, the plenipotentiary ambassador to my country, and ask him to decide how to deal with it, whether to negotiate with the Chinese court, or let our parliament decide whether to take necessary measures to force the Chinese court to revise the treaty."

"When will it be delayed?" Maidusi complained at the hearing and said, "Mr. Aliguo, can you immediately dispatch several warships to the Yangtze River like last time and force the Chinese government to make concessions?"

"Dear Father Maidus, last time it was because the Chinese injured you and Luo Weilin." A Liguo smiled and said, "In order to protect your personal safety, I sent warships to enter the Yangtze River to put pressure on the Chinese government. There are sufficient reasons. Our country's parliament and minister did not blame me. But this time the situation is different. Your personal safety is not threatened. There is also the previous example of Guangzhou. I sent warships to enter the Yangtze River without authorization, so I couldn't explain to the minister and parliament."

The priests Luo Weilin and Maidusi were all disappointed, and Aliguo comforted him again: "Several respected priests, please bear with me a little. Anyway, you don't have any property in the city, so it doesn't matter whether you enter the city or not."

"But if we don't go into the city, our friend surpassed Wu will be taken to Beijing by stupid Chinese officials and handed over to the even more stupid Chinese court."

Maidusi said distressedly, but it was fine if Maidusi didn't say this. Before he finished speaking, Aliguo stood up and said in surprise: "Chaoyue Wu is going to be taken to Beijing by Chinese officials? Why?"

Mai Dusi was stunned when he heard this, then he remembered that he had not told A Liguo that Wu Chaoyue had been arrested. He was busy telling A Liguo what he saw and heard in Shanghai yesterday, truthfully, which explained that Wu Chaoyue was arrested for helping the West preach and building a factory with Westerners. He also told the story of Wu Jianzhang being arrested. A Liguo's face became more and more ugly as he heard it. Finally, he punched the table hard and roared: "Bastard! These Chinese officials of the bastard are simply a group of bastards!"

"Mr. Aliguo, what happened?" Luo Weilin asked in confusion: "Why are you so angry?"

"Because they do this, we British businessmen will suffer huge commercial losses!"

Aliguo roared again. After listening to Aliguo's introduction, Luo Weilin and Maidusi and other priests also understood why Aliguo suddenly became angry. It turned out that after Wu Chaoyue signed a joint venture with British businessman Billy to establish a textile factory, Aliguo not only reported this matter as his major political achievements to the country, but also helped Billy purchase machinery and equipment from the country and hire skilled technicians. He also hoped to take this matter as an opportunity to open up the vast and infinite mainland Chinese market. As a result, now it is good. The purchasing equipment and hiring skilled technicians have been sent out for a while. The partner Wu Chaoyue was suddenly arrested by the Qing court. The high profits and proud political achievements of the sale of industrial equipment were shattered. Not to mention the British businessman Billy, who was responsible for advance payment and purchasing equipment, had to suffer huge losses. Aliguo, as the British expatriate Shanghai protector, naturally became furious.

By the way, Aliguo actually has a large investment in the Baoshun Foreign Company run by Billy. Wu Chaoyue and Billy are preparing to establish a textile factory, so Wu Chaoyue is unlucky, and in fact he will suffer economic losses!

After hearing A Liguo's introduction, Maidusi and Luo Weilin and other priests stopped talking - they were very clear about the economic virtues of their consuls. As they expected, after several circles in the office, A Liguo first asked Luo Weilin and others to go back and wait for news first, and then immediately sent someone to call Billy, the boss of Baoshun Foreign Company, and told him about Wu Chaoyue. As a result, Billy immediately screamed, "God! Then we are not losing a lot? Mr. A Liguo, you must not fail to come forward for this matter. Wu didn't even hand over the deposit to me. The manager who purchased equipment and hired workers had been gone for so long. No matter what, he didn't have time to notify him to stop purchasing. Even if the equipment he bought could be returned, it would have to be discounted!"

"Why didn't you even call Wu Jiao?" A Liguo asked in a furious manner.

"Mr. Aliguo, have you forgotten that you said you didn't use it?" Billy retorted: "At that time, I reported to you that Wu asked for cash on delivery. You said that in order to encourage Wu to cooperate with us, he could give him special preferential treatment. He also said that Wu's grandfather has always had good credit and can fully afford this investment in terms of economy. As long as he signed a formal contract, he did not have to worry that Wu would pay back the debt, so I didn't even have to collect the deposit and first advance the funds to purchase industrial equipment to show our sincerity in cooperation with him."

Aliguo was speechless - the old Wu family did not mean to be silly. Wu Chaoyue had even bought the land in advance for building the factory. But what Aliguo never expected was that the Qing court would give him such a move. In a frustration, Aliguo couldn't help but think about the old tricks of the past, but he was worried that the country had no plans to go to war with China again for the time being, and he was reluctant to make up this idea.

While hesitating, priests such as Luo Weilin and Maidusi, who had already left before, rushed in quickly and before entering the door, they shouted in panic: "Mr. A Liguo, no, Wu is in danger, and his life is in danger!"

When Aliguo and Billy, who were worried about not receiving the payment for Wu Chaoyue, were shocked when they heard this, they quickly asked Luo Weilin and others about the reason. Luo Weilin and others immediately handed a handkerchief with blood words to Aliguo, saying that it was a Chinese woman who claimed to be Wu Chaoyue's friend. When Aliguo and Billy quickly read the content of the blood book, they saw that the blood book written in English was their business partner Wu Chaoyue, which was asking the priests of the foreign country to go to the capital to help complain, and also help escort the grandchildren of the Wu family into Beijing, so as not to assassinate them on the road.

After reading Wu Chaoyue's blood letter, Aliguo and Billy naturally looked even more ugly. When Aliguo's heart was even more shaken, someone suddenly came to report outside the door, saying that it was the French minister-elf-in-charge in China, Bourblon, who was seeking a meeting. He also directly stated that it was because of Wu Chaoyue's arrest that he came to Aliguo to discuss. After hearing this, Aliguo was overjoyed and hurriedly greeted him in person, invited Bourblon to sit in the room, and immediately handed the blood letter he had just received to Bourblon to watch.

After reading Wu Chaoyue's blood letter of help without hesitation, Bulbron said to Aliguo directly: "Dear Mr. Aliguo, what do you think you should do? As far as I know, Baoshun Company, which jointly established a textile factory with Wu, also has many of your shares, and this matter also concerns your vital interests."

Aliguo hesitated for a moment before telling the truth, saying: "My foreign minister once gave an order to Minister Wenhan that unless the personal and property safety of our citizens endangered, there would be no forceful conflict with the Chinese court, so I want to try to negotiate."

"The negotiations are useless." Burbron said frankly: "With your British intelligence capabilities, I must have known the reason why I came to Shanghai. I have repeatedly asked to meet with Xu Guangjin, the Minister of Commerce of China in charge of diplomatic affairs, to discuss further business cooperation. However, Xu Guangjin did not respond to my request every time. I had no choice but to come to Shanghai and asked Wu Chaoyue's grandfather Wu Jianzhang to help me pass a diplomatic note to the Governor of Liangjiang of China." (Historical facts, and Burbron stayed until the end of the second year before leaving Shanghai.)

"But although Wu Jianzhang handed over a diplomatic note for me, the Governor of Liangjiang of China has not given me any reply yet. Wu Jianzhang, the only one who can communicate with us normally, has been arrested by the Chinese court. If you still want to use diplomatic means to recover the losses, you may not even be able to find the Chinese officials who submitted the diplomatic note."

A Liguo nodded with a gloomy face, and Boulbron said again: "Also, after Guangzhou, Shanghai has also ordered a ban on us Westerners from entering the city today. If we do not react, the remaining three port cities of Xiamen, Fuzhou and Ningbo are likely to follow suit. The British government did not support this domino in Guangzhou. If you do not support this second domino in Shanghai, what chain reaction will there be in the future? Isn't it worth your worrying?"

A Liguo nodded again and said with a gloomy face: "I originally advocated resolving the dispute by force in Guangzhou, but the weak members of the Congress refused to agree. If they used the Qingpu lesson plan like me, the stupid Chinese court would have given up long ago."

"Mr. Aliguo, I think you should take urgent measures." Burbron smiled and said, "I can help you. I am the solemn minister and have the power to mobilize all French warships and armed merchant ships traveling on the seas of Asia."

"Dear Mr. Boulbron, are you willing to help me like this?" A Liguo was overjoyed when he heard this, and asked worriedly: "Why? Wu chose a business partner this time, isn't you France?"

"The reason why Wu chose you British businessmen to cooperate is because your intelligence work is excellent and our French businessmen are too stupid!" Boulbron said frankly: "In fact, I once suggested that French businessmen in Shanghai strive for the opportunity to cooperate with Wu, but they hesitated and could not believe that there would be enlightened Chinese like Wu in Shanghai, which would be cheaper for you, but now they regret that they want to jump into the Huangpu River, and they have repeatedly asked me to negotiate with the Chinese court and allow them to establish factories and banks in China."

"Dear Mr. Aliguo, you and I are very clear that negotiating with the stupid and ignorant Chinese court has no effect." Burbron smiled and said, "So I think we should seize this opportunity and use the Wu incident as an excuse to force the stupid Chinese court to allow us to legally establish factories and banks in the East, and to force them to open more trade ports, and to force them to establish a fast and efficient diplomatic liaison channel, so that we should not wait for a few months for a small matter, and we will eventually find nothing."

Ali Guo was very moved, but hesitated a little, and said, "But without the support of his own government, the fleet that you and I can mobilize alone may be somewhat insufficient."

"It doesn't matter, we can bring in the consulates of other countries." Burbron said relaxedly: "Opening ports and allowing Westerners to establish factories and banks in China also has great benefits for them. They can't just take advantage of the situation without exerting their efforts, right? Also, China's civil war is expanding, and the army called the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has already reached the Hunan Province of China. The Chinese court must be extremely afraid of fighting on both sides. We only need to use a very small force to get rich returns."

Hearing Bourbron's words, Aliguo finally made up his mind and asked, "Then dear Mr. Bourbron, is it up to invite consulates from other countries to convene a meeting? Or is it up to me?"

"Of course it is best for you and me to join forces to invite you." Boulbron replied with a smile: "Britain, the first in the navy, and France, the first in the army, jointly invite them to do things that are beneficial to all countries, and are you afraid that they will not come immediately?"
Chapter completed!