"Mr. Minister, our concession was taken back by the Chinese...
When Consul Aliguo said this, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and in his heart he had scolded the eighteen generations of Vice Consul Wetoma next to him!
"Fakeyou!" Wen Xian was furious on the spot and stared at Aliguo. Weituma shouted: "How dare they? Why don't you kill all the Chinese soldiers standing outside the dock? You should and must do this. Do it instead of handing over the British Empire’s territories out to sea from the Yangtze River to them!”
"Mr. Minister, things are a little different from what you think...
"The Chinese soldiers standing on the road on the Bund are not the Chinese soldiers who attacked the concession. In fact, it was them who saved all the foreigners in the British Concession and the French Concession.
Aliguo and Weitoma kept talking to each other, and finally told Minister Wenxian the whole process of the "fall" of the British Concession and the French Concession in Shanghai.
When the two men finished speaking, their immediate superiors were dumbfounded and speechless for a while. After a while, they stammered: "How can you agree to abrogate the Shanghai Land Charter?" 》?Don’t you know how important this port city is to the interests of the British Empire in the Far East?
Compared with Shanghai, Hong Kong Island is nothing to mention.\nIf I could choose, I would rather be the Governor of Shanghai than the Governor of Hong Kong!
In fact, Hong Kong is not what the British want most. What they originally wanted was Dinghai, which is closer to the Yangtze River estuary. Shanghai, which is located at the Yangtze River estuary, has the Huangpu River, an inland deep-water port, and can also connect to the Jiangnan water network. The location is obviously better than Dinghai!
To this day, the British are still suffering heavy losses in Hong Kong. After Bonham took office as governor, he has been trying his best to reduce expenditures. In four years, the annual government expenditure of more than 60,000 pounds was reduced to more than 30,000 pounds, which was almost half. .All infrastructure construction has been stopped, and the salaries of garrison and civil servants have also been significantly reduced. However, due to the collective boycott of British businessmen by the business people of Guangzhou, the financial revenue of the British Hong Kong authorities has been deteriorating. There is no hope of development at all.
On the other hand, Shanghai has been prospering for ten years since its opening as a port. With the expansion of the concession, the trade volume has been rising steadily. If you look at the total import and export trade alone, Shanghai has already surpassed the old port of Guangzhou. But it is such a " The "chicken that lays golden eggs" was actually lost by these two idiots, Aliguo and Weitoma!
"Mr. Minister, if you oppose the abolition of the "Shanghai Land Charter", you can completely reject the "Abolition of the Shanghai Land Charter and Related Follow-up Agreements."
"Mr. Minister, I am the only one who signs this agreement, and I am just a vice-consul... My signature does not count at all."
Seeing that Minister Wenxian was angry, Aliguo and Weituma had no choice but to think of ways to cheat. But their suggestions attracted Wenxian's fierce eyes: "The problem now is
It's not whether this damn agreement is a deal, it's a fait accompli... Now there are two heavily armed Chinese soldiers stationed in the concession. The barricades in the western part of the concession have not yet been demolished, and many tall buildings are still under their control. Below. Outside the concession, there are another 4,000 equally elite Chinese soldiers who can march into the concession at any time!
And we and the French have less than 500 soldiers in total! On average, a white soldier has to deal with twelve pieces of equipment, and the Chinese soldiers are trained almost exactly the same. I don't see a chance of winning... If our people can win,
Then a mere thousand Taiping soldiers wouldn’t have invaded the concession and built barricades!”
Ali Guo whispered: "Well, that was an accident. At that time, our people were attacking the Chinese customs office.
"You idiot!" Wen Xian raised his fist and yelled, "attack the customs of a sovereign country! How did you come up with it? Has the House of Commons passed the declaration of war? Has Her Majesty the Queen signed the decree declaring war? Do you dare?
If you do that in Europe, you will definitely be hanged!"
In fact, if the matter of Ali Kingdom is done as it happened in history, then what?
There is no reason why the customs is corrupt, or the territory occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom does not recognize the Qing Customs. You can always find it if you look for it.
But if you can’t beat it down, its nature will be completely different!
It's been defeated. It's imperialism that represents human civilization and progress! It can't be defeated.
Come on, that’s food! Imperialism can be bad, but it can’t be food!
Wen Xian took a few deep breaths and said to the two people in front of him: "I can neither refute it now"
We can't ratify this agreement, so let's shelve it for now... By the way, we can't take action now. If we fail again, we will lose the prestige established in the last war. Fortunately, our concession in Shanghai is actually
There is no legal basis for this. The Shanghai Concession has never been a place for women.
"His Majesty's territory is only a land lease agreement reached between the consulate and the Shanghai authorities." "Mr. Minister, in fact, the land lease agreement is still valid." Wetoma quickly added, "I believe that we will change from the land lease agreement under Luo Xueyan's rule."
New Shanghai will gain greater economic benefits than ever before!"
Aliguo also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Lord Luo Xueyan is a leader who is truly familiar with Western civilization and has the ability to change this country! Under his governance, Shanghai will definitely become the leading metropolis in the Far East."
"But that's not our metropolis!" Wen Xian said coldly, "There are many such leaders in Europe and many in the United States... They can make their country make great progress. In the process, Britain
Businessmen can also gain benefits. However, this benefit will not last long. Once their country develops, they will seek regional hegemony and exclude the influence and benefits of the British Empire.
Considering China's size and the country's traditional influence in East and Southeast Asia, once they become stronger, we will lose a lot.
"Then what should we do now?" Aliguo asked, "Can we still cooperate with Luo Xueyan?"
Wen Xian sighed: "Let's cooperate first... By the way, is Jiangning Mansion currently under the rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"
"Yes, Jiangning has been completely controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. "Ali National Road.
Wen Xian nodded: "Then I have to go to Jiangning in person... Please make arrangements for me. I want to go to Jiangning as soon as possible, and it is best to meet the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."
"Yes, Mr. Minister!" ++++
"After sleeping for a hundred years, the people of our country have woken up. Open your eyes quietly and look carefully. Who would like to be regarded as a captive? Because of cowardice and tolerance, people's arrogance is growing day by day...
Shanghai, the Bund, with the melodious song "God Save the Queen", go to the factory
The Shanghai New Army officers and soldiers with Eastern nationality sang the Shanghai New Army's military song "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" together in Cantonese. In the presence of Wen Xian, the Governor of Hong Kong and the British Minister, and Su Shun, the first-class imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty, the Great Wall Singing in front of the Qing Dynasty's assistant, Jiangsu Military Affairs Minister Shengbao and other foreign colonists and the feudal bureaucrats of the Qing Dynasty.
And amidst the singing of "The Great Wall Will Never Fall Down", a military flag embroidered with the seven characters "The Great Wall Will Never Fall Down" slowly rose, and together with a Union Jack flag, fluttered in the wind.
While paying attention to the slowly rising flag, Bonham, the Governor of Hong Kong and the British Minister, felt strange - it had been so many days since he had seen the Qing Dynasty, why was there a "national anthem"?
The tune of this national anthem sounds quite exciting, but I don’t know what the lyrics are? I’ll ask Witoma to translate it later.
Just as surprised as Wen Gan were Sushun, Shengbao, Yuanbao, Bai Siwen, Li Hongzhang and others. Of course they couldn't understand Cantonese either. What's more, they couldn't understand why they had to sing opera to welcome the foreign envoy? They also sang Cantonese opera.
Of course, there are some who can understand. Wu Jianzhang and his grandson Wu Chaoyue, who were released when the Taiping Army evacuated Shanghai, are both Cantonese. Of course, they can understand what a bunch of Guangdong fellows are singing.
As a result, both of their faces turned pale.
What does "sleeping for a hundred years" mean? A hundred years ago, it was the eighteenth year of Qianlong! It was a prosperous age! Why did you fall asleep?
What does "the Chinese people are gradually waking up" mean? What are they waking up to? To fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, or to unify the country through peace and tranquility? Oh, by the way, Luo Xueyan's family had a republic! This is to imitate Washington in carrying out a republican revolution!
What else is there about "The Great Wall will never fall down"? The current Great Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty! Doesn't the entry of the Qing Dynasty mean that the Great Wall fell down? If you want it to never fall down...\n. Or you have to do the opposite!
And that "bandits have always killed themselves if they tried to invade"... Is this bandit British or Manchurian?
If this song had been placed in the Qianlong period, it would have been in a literary prison, and the person who sang it would have died!
Chapter completed!