"What? He really said that? He is indeed a devil!"
"He actually dares to oppose free trade and even wants to take back the concession... It's really abominable!"
"We are really overestimating our capabilities. We must defend the concession. I suggest recruiting militia immediately and setting up defenses everywhere in the concession!"
In the French consulate, after hearing Wade's report, British Consul Aliguo, French Consul Attang, and American Consul Ma Hui all jumped up.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was overestimating its capabilities. Not only did it not want the compassionate help of the British Empire, it also did not want the free trade granted by imperialism. It even tried to take back the concession! Compared with them, even the Qing Dynasty looked so good-looking.
After the American Consul Ma Hui proposed to organize a militia to defend the concession, the French Consul Aitang's brows suddenly knitted together. Seeing the sudden change in his face, the American red-necked Consul Ma Hui thought the French wanted to surrender to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so he immediately He stared at the French consul and asked: "Mr. Aitang, I think the proud French people would rather die than compromise with the devil, right?"
"Of course! We French people are all staunch Catholics!" French Consul Aitang first expressed the French people's attitude towards God with a resolute face, and then said helplessly, "But we in the French Concession once served in the army and have Most of the expatriates with fighting spirit and strong body were hired by Luo Xueyan, and even some veterans from the embassy guard followed Captain Pierre to help Luo Xueyan train the new army."
France's overseas trade is not at the same level as that of Britain, and France's main colonial target is North Africa. It does not invest much in East Asia, and its focus is on missionary work. Therefore, the number of French expatriates in Shanghai is not large, and a considerable part of them are clergy. Personnel. Consul Aitang can't recruit a group of French priests to carry rifles and fight the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, right?
If Napoleon III, who was fighting fiercely with the church forces, knew this, what future would he have?
Hearing what Aitang said, Major Ma Hui also frowned and said: "There are not many American expatriates in Shanghai, and... I have no reason to recruit them. After all, there is no legal American concession in Shanghai!"
Now there are only British Concession and French Concession in Shanghai, but no American Concession. The land north of Suzhou River and south of Hongjiang River was just bought by the American Consulate, and it is not a concession. And that land is separated from the British Concession and French Concession. There is a Suzhou River, which makes it inconvenient to travel around. It is still deserted there, and no American expatriates are willing to risk their lives to defend it.
The consul of Aliguo was speechless when he saw these two pig teammates. The idea of ​​"the great powers are united and share the interests" was clearly the Americans. The French took the British for a ride and didn't pay for the ride.
But having said that, the British Empire's military power and commercial interests in the Far East are indeed far greater than those of the United States and France.
The so-called "great powers unite and share interests" is not so much that Britain wanted to bring the United States and France to colonize the Qing Dynasty, but rather that it was to prevent France and the United States from providing too much assistance to local Chinese forces that opposed Britain's expansion of its colonial interests.
"Boom boom!"
Two loud noises suddenly came, startling A Liguo, Weitoma, Aitang, and Ma Hui who were talking in the room.
The four people quickly walked to the balcony and looked in the direction of the loud noise. They saw two 12-pound cannons placed side by side in an open space less than 1,500 yards from the Beiguan Yamen of Jianghaiguan. A British artilleryman wearing a red military uniform was using these two cannons to fire at the Jiangguan Government Office!
The two British people from Aliguo and Weitoma showed some proud smiles when Major Ma Hui, the American consul on the side, suddenly exclaimed: "No, shelling..."
Before he could finish his exclamation, Alley and Weitoma heard a roar, and then the roof of a foreign bank warehouse less than a hundred yards away from the French Consulate in the French Concession collapsed, and broken tiles fell everywhere. It flew randomly and hit the heads of the melon-eating people in the concession below who were watching the excitement, causing a burst of chaos and noise.
"Damn it!" French Consul Aitang exclaimed, "The Qing troops in the customs office are firing at us... This is a counterattack caused by the artillery fire launched by that idiot Smith!"
"Oh God, there are worse things!" American Consul Ma Hui then shouted, "The shell fired by that idiot Smith seems to have hit the wall of Shanghai County!
I'm afraid that the Taiping Army in the city will soon launch an attack on the concession... Now we have to fight with the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Rebellion at the same time. What's going on? Do you British people know anything else besides fighting? "
"Boom boom boom..."
Ma Hui's question was answered by three more cannon shots. These were two 12-pound cannons that the British army had just brought from the military camp and a 12-pound cannon that had been captured by the Qing "tax skirmishers" and were firing at each other!
It may be that the British artillery commander in Shanghai is gone, so the accuracy of these three cannons is a bit poor. All the British shells flew over the customs office and hit the city wall of Shanghai County again!
The cannonball fired by a cannon from the "Qing Taxation" was not very accurate and once again landed in the French Concession, hitting the road less than fifty yards away from the French Consulate, causing even greater panic.
Three 12-pounder cannons with no accuracy are firing randomly. Is there anything more troublesome than this?
Now Aliguo, Weitoma, Aitang, and Ma Hui no longer dared to stay in the French consulate, so they had to issue an order to mobilize and prepare for war while moving to the British consulate which was far away from the battlefield.
And just after they were transferred to the safer British Consulate, worse news came one after another.
"devil".
Captain Smith's indiscriminate bombardment seemed to anger the man in Shanghai County.
And the devil's reaction is very fast!
Not long after Ali Guo and others fled the French Consulate, thousands of Taiping soldiers with red scarves on their heads and foreign guns on their shoulders came out of the Old West Gate of Shanghai County, and then rushed directly into the French Concession without any courtesy. west!
Although the British were already shelling the county town of Shanghai, the Taiping Army did not hesitate and immediately moved into the concession, which greatly surprised the French troops in the French Concession.
When thousands of Taiping troops equipped with brown bass rifles swarmed in, the small number of French troops guarding the western part of the French Concession were unable to resist. They had to fire a few symbolic shots and then moved towards the French Consulate.
The Taiping Army who rushed into the French Concession did not touch the French Consulate. Instead, they invaded the British Concession along the western part of the French Concession and advanced to the south bank of the Suzhou River. They seized many taller buildings along the way and also Sandbags were piled up and barricades were built on all east-west roads... This scene really made Europeans who experienced the great storm of 1848 feel warm!
"Rutherford, Thomas, Luo Xueyan's army is now in Suzhou and Taicang. We should send someone to invite him back."
In the British consulate, seeing that the situation was deteriorating rapidly, and that both Ali and Wytoma were helpless, the American consul Robert Ma Hui had no choice but to put forward what he considered the only feasible suggestion.
He analyzed: "Lord Luo Xueyan has 6,000 new troops, which are well-equipped and well-trained. If he returns to Shanghai, it is very possible to expel the Taiping Army entrenched in Shanghai County and save the concession. After all, most of those Taiping Army are A gang member with no fighting ability!"
The French consul immediately echoed: "I agree with Robert's suggestion. As long as Mr. Luo Xueyan comes back, everything will be fine."
Aliguo frowned slightly and thought to himself: "Now that Luo Xueyan is back, will things really get better? Can the British Empire's privileges in China be maintained by a Chinese warlord? Even if it can, at what cost?"
Thinking of this, he turned to look at Wade. The latter frowned and said: "Mr. Consul, Luo Yaoguo is just a vassal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, not their highest king... Maybe the king of Jiangning is more reasonable.
In addition, we can first tell Luo Yaoguo that we will directly negotiate with Tianwang on issues such as the Shanghai Concession and free trade. During the negotiation period, the Shanghai Concession can maintain the status quo.
Moreover, Minister Bonham will arrive in Shanghai soon, along with hundreds of British troops from Hong Kong.
If we can fully mobilize the overseas Chinese, we may be able to gather an army of close to a thousand people. With this army, plus Luo Xueyan's 6,000 new troops, it will not be a problem even to regain the county seat of Shanghai, let alone defend the concession. "
Chapter completed!