Monday, March 7, 1853.
British Consulate in Shanghai.
In the office of Consul Aliguo, the four leading figures of the British Empire in Shanghai, Consul Aliguo, Vice Consul Wetoma, Chief Executive Matheson of Jardine Matheson Company, and Chief Executive Officer Webb of Baoshun Company, have all taken their seats, enjoying coffee and milk tea. The strong fragrance floats in this small office.
Consul Aliguo was not in a hurry to start today's meeting. Instead, he was sipping the freshly brewed coffee while reading three text messages. These three letters were received early this morning from the French Consulate, the American Consulate, and the Bishop of Dongjiadu. The Commissioner's Office sent people to send them separately. The contents of the letters all have the same meaning, which is to express support for Luo Xueyan's "Xue Shuai"1
French Consul Aitang, American Consul Ma Hui, and Roman Catholic Bishop of Nanjing Diocese Zhao Fangji all agreed that: in view of the current severe situation, and comprehensive consideration of the decadence and rigidity of the Qing Dynasty, as well as the extreme policies and heretical beliefs pursued by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, from Hunan The warlord Luo Xueyan may be the only collaborator who can ensure the interests of the great powers in southeast China. It is hoped that the British Consulate in Shanghai can also regard Luo Xueyan as the most trustworthy Chinese official.
"Gentlemen," Consul Aliguo had already read these three short but very important letters. He put down the letter and then looked at Waitoma, Matheson, and Webb in front of him and said, "It seems that Luo Xueyan did not waste his Saturday. He used the precious time on Sunday and Sunday to convince the American consul, the French consul and Bishop Zhao Fangji. And according to the principle of unity among the powers... we had better regard Luo Xueyan as the most trustworthy Chinese official!"
Matheson from Jardine Matheson was the first to agree: "Mr. Consul, we don't seem to have a better choice besides him. Although Wu Jianzhang is easy to talk to, he has no other advantages."
Yihexing's biggest competitor, Taipan Weber of Baoshunxing, an opium dealer in his forties with bronzed skin and sharp features took a sip of sweet milk tea and said with a smile: "Mr. Consul, Since there is no good choice at the moment, let's support him first to deal with the emergency.
And we can also negotiate terms with Yiliang, the governor of Jiangsu in Suzhou at the same time... On the condition that he supports Luo Xueyan to help him resist the Taiping Army, we can ask him to help promote the treaty amendment!"
Baoshun Foreign Company, also known as Biandi Foreign Company, is the property of John Biandi, the big drug lord who vigorously promoted the Opium War. And opium is still the most profitable business of Baoshun Foreign Company - after making money from selling opium, what other business is there? Is it something that Poshun Mathematics can do with calmness and concentration?
Therefore, the biggest appeal of Baoshun Foreign Company is to promote the "revision of the treaty" and ask the Qing court to further open up and allow goods, including opium, to be imported into China freely and at low taxes!
"This is a good idea. It has been difficult to communicate with those officials of the Tatar Dynasty before. I hope they can be more reasonable this time!" Aliguo nodded, "Thomas, why don't you go to Suzhou to meet Yiliang in person? ..You can also call Wu Jianzhang and ask him to go with you and tell Yiliang personally that we have reached cooperation with the Hunan warlords headed by Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan in the Qing Dynasty!"
"Yes, Mr. Consul." Witoma smiled, "I believe Yiliang will seriously consider our request!"
Ali Guo thought for a while and said to Weitoma: "Thomas, please tell Master Yiliang again that we can support one Luo Xueyan, and then we can support the second and third Luo Xueyan, as long as he can cooperate with us sincerely. He paused and said: "Although this Luo Xueyan seems to be someone who can deal with, we must also be careful of him becoming China's Ali Pasha. So we should use him as an example to support a few more Chinese warlords... so that They check each other and maintain balance." Wetoma, Weber and Matheson all nodded heavily...
"It's done! It's done! Shanghai... will soon be my, Luo Xueyan's, world!"
In the living room of Tongshun Building, a two-story small foreign-style building, Luo Yaoguo's surprised shout suddenly rang out.
Jiao Hong, Xu Yuegui, Zhang Sanxiang, Wang Kuiyi, Wu Ruxiao, Wang Dalong, Feng Zicai, Cheng Fupei and others who had been waiting there immediately stood up and shouted in unison: "Congratulations, sir!" Luo Yaoguo walked to the main seat. After sitting down, he asked the group of subordinates who had come with him to "break into the beach" to sit down.
After seeing everyone sit down, he took out a stack of documents from a Western-style leather bag that Wu Chaoyue gave him today, waved it, and said with a smile: "This is the contract that was just signed! Signed with the British. Four thousand guns of brown bass, 150,000 rounds of regular ammunition, eighteen twelve-pounders, two old lock-boats each equipped with twelve six-pounders, a steam tug, and various types of A total of 7,200 rounds of twelve-pound and six-pound artillery shells were spent. A total of 165,600 silver dollars were spent! All of them are in stock. You can go to the warehouses of Yihe Bank and Baoshun Bank to pick up the goods today! In addition, Wu Your Excellency gave us 4,000 brown basses, and purchased 100 Mignes and 1,000 Charleville rifles from the French... and another 1,000 M1841 rifles from Qichang Foreign Trade Co., Ltd. Although we spent more than 300,000 silver dollars this time, we got a total of 10,000 foreign guns, more than 300,000 rounds of various custom-loaded ammunition, 42 cannons, and three ships. , enough equipment for two divisions!
This is not the most gratifying thing. The most gratifying thing is that I bought all the arms stocks of the foreigners in Shanghai! Even if Xianfeng moved a mountain of gold, there would be nothing left for him!"
When Luo Yaoguo reported this series of good news, the group of people below were already smiling, and they all admired Archangel Luo - this angel's method of coaxing people is really brilliant! No, that is not a method, it is a spell. It's a magical power!
Wu Jianzhang and those foreign devils must have been possessed by angels!
Just when these people were about to congratulate Luo Yaoguo for his "great achievement in supernatural power", Luo Tiantian suddenly coughed, and then his tone began to become serious.
Guns and ammunition have been purchased, but to really pull up the team, guns and ammunition alone are not enough, you also need soldiers! Even if you just build a division, you have to recruit seven or eight thousand strong men... you can recruit so many people. ?How long will it take?”
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After saying this, he looked at the people below with burning eyes.
"Sir," Wu Ruxiao hugged Luo Yaoguo, "I have something to say."
"Ruxiao, tell me."
Wu Ruxiao replied: "Sir, I have already asked Wu Jianzhang for advice. There are now more than 200,000 people in Shanghai's counties and concessions, of which more than half are Cantonese, Fujianese, and Ningbo people, and less than half are natives. Half, the typical guest is strong and the host is weak. Moreover, the more than 100,000 Cantonese, Fujianese, and Ningbo people from outside are all strong and strong. Among them, the Cantonese and Fujianese are almost disciples of the Tiandi Hui, and the Xiaodao Hui among the Tiandi Hui has the largest number. Many people from Ningbo join the Caogang gang. As for the local gangs in Shanghai, there are both Tiandihui and Caogang, with Tiandihui being the dominant force."
Luo Yaoguo nodded and said: "It is not convenient for us to divide the land in Shanghai now. If we want to expand the army, we have to recruit soldiers... Ruxiao, have you asked Wu Jianzhang, how much money can we give per month to recruit soldiers? Gain, How much money do we have left in our account now?"
"Sir," Wu Ruxiao said again, "I have inquired with Wu Jianzhang. The prices he offered to Cantonese and Fujianese in Shanghai County were four silver dollars plus forty-five kilograms of rice a month... There are quite a lot of people." "Sir," Cheng Fupei continued, "we originally had 600,000 taels of silver in our account, but not all of them were Kuping silver, and the fineness was different. I have asked Wu Jianzhang to collect it and convert it into silver. Silver dollars, for your sake, he recorded 700,000 silver dollars in Tongshun's account for us. He also promised you 500,000 taels before, so he recorded another 600,000 silver dollars in the account, for a total of one hundred and thirty thousand. One hundred thousand silver dollars. Your Excellency’s expenses in Shanghai, including the purchase of guns, ammunition, ships and gifts, amounted to 420,000, and now there are more than 870,000 left..."
"That's enough!" Luo Yaoguo slapped his thigh, "My offer is the same as Wu Jianzhang's, plus three months' housing allowance... Within fifteen days, I will recruit five thousand strong men!"
"Sir," Wang Kui asked, clasping his fists one by one, "I wonder in whose name you want to recruit troops?"
This is a problem. We definitely cannot recruit troops in the name of Luo Angel of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Luo Yaoguo thought for a while and said, "Let's recruit troops in the name of Luo Xueshuai to aid the Hunan Army!" He looked at his men and asked, "Which of you can take over?"
Wu Ruxiao, Wang Kuiyi, and Cheng Fupei all stood up, clasped their fists, and said in unison: "I am willing to recruit troops for the commander-in-chief!"
These three people are indeed suitable. Wu Ruxiao can fool the Cantonese and Fujianese, Wang Kuiyi can go to the government and Cheng Fujian can deal with the local gentry in Shanghai.
"Okay, I'll leave it to you!" Luo Yaoguo said, "Remember, you must tell the strong men who apply that they eat Luo Xueshuai's food and wear Luo Xueshuai's clothes!"
"yes!"
Chapter completed!