Chapter 295 Prince Gong’s betrayal of the country Xianfeng Reform (please order, please vote)
Shanghai Beach, Tongshun Building.
The British Minister Bonham brought with him a missionary from the London Missionary Society named James Legge, who was in his thirties, slightly fat, bald, and had a big nose, and a fat Chinese man in his early thirties. Young man, the day after Prince Gong Yi? arrived in Shanghai, he came to visit the Qing prince who came to inspect Westernization.
Wu Jianzhang, Wu Chaoyue and his grandsons came here with Wenxian, James Legge and the fat young man.
Today's meeting was relatively formal. Not only were Wu Jianzhang and Legge serving as translators for both parties, but Wu Chaoyue and the fat young man were responsible for recording in Chinese and English.
"What about Ali Country? Why didn't he come?"
Prince Gong Yi? Looking at the three people brought by Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue, he remembered the British consul who once visited him in Yangzhou.
"Replying to your lord, Gao Sheng, the consul of Ali State, has gone to Suzhou to become the consul general."
Wu Jianzhang replied respectfully.
"Going to Suzhou?" Guiliang raised an eyebrow, "Isn't Suzhou occupied by Changmao?"
Wu Jianzhang said: "Changmao also has a Westernization Yamen, and they have signed treaties with foreigners, and are preparing to send people to the Straits Settlements to serve as consul general. Beyond."
When Wu Chaoyue heard his grandfather call him, he immediately took out an envelope and handed it over with both hands.
Jin Aduo quickly stepped forward to take the envelope and handed it to Prince Gong.
Prince Gong took out the letter paper inside, took a look at it, and said calmly: "The treaty signed by the foreigners and Changmao is much more favorable than the treaty signed with the Qing Dynasty. Ask Minister Wen, who are their friends?"
Before Wu Jianzhang could speak, the foreigner named James Legge had already translated Prince Gong's words into English, and then Wen Xian spoke a lot of British words.
"Your Highness, Mr. Minister, please pay attention to the fact that it was not the Taiping Rebellion that was defeated by Britain ten years ago."
Legge said calmly.
Prince Gong's face darkened, and he was about to say a few tough words.
Legge added: "Moreover, it is not the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that is in danger of survival now, but the Qing Dynasty! If the British Empire, the French Empire, and the United States of America completely stay out of this war in China, then at present Judging from the situation, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be the final winner!"
Prince Gong immediately sensed something fishy in the words translated by James Legge.
He looked at Minister Wenxian and said, "Does Minister Wen mean that the British Empire will not completely stay out of the matter?"
This time it was Wu Jianzhang who translated Prince Gong's words into English.
Wenxian did not answer directly, but smiled slightly: "Your Highness, in fact, in other parts of the world, there are some countries that were once powerful and experienced a situation similar to the Qing Dynasty. They became weak because they were greedy for comfort and did not want to make progress. , after weakening, it encountered a strong challenger.
For example, the Mughal Dynasty in India, the Ottoman Dynasty in Turks, and the Russian Empire in the north of the Qing Dynasty were once weak because of their conservatism and isolation. However, the different policies adopted by the rulers of these three countries when encountering severe challenges made their countries Now they have a completely different look. Your Highness, do you understand the current situation of these three countries?"
His words were translated into fluent Mandarin Chinese by James Legge.
Prince Gong Yi? had long opened his eyes to see the world. He nodded: "Russia is now one of the great powers in the world. Although the Turkic Ottoman State is suppressed by Russia, it is still a powerful country. As for the Mughals in India, Erchao seems to be dying!"
Wu Jianzhang translated Prince Gong's words into English.
Wen Xian smiled and said: "His Royal Highness came to Shanghai from Yangzhou. It seems that the Qing Dynasty is willing to learn from Europe and implement the New Deal like the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. So I have reason to believe that the Qing Dynasty will not end up like India in any case. Just like the Mughals!"
These words were translated into Chinese by James Legge.
Prince Gong nodded his head heavily: "Mr. Minister, you are right, I came here precisely to implement the new policy in the Qing Dynasty and train the new army!" He looked at Wenxian expectantly, "Now the Qing Dynasty needs a lot of troops. Foreign guns, foreign cannons, foreign generals and foreign soldiers. The Qing Dynasty has a lot of money. Is Britain willing to provide it to us?"
Wu Jianzhang immediately translated the words into English.
"This is not just a matter of money," Wen Xian smiled slightly, "Does His Royal Highness really want to keep importing British weapons and equipment through Shanghai? After the Taiping Army won the great victory in Jiangbei, General Luo Xueyan of Shanghai wanted to keep his territory. Maybe he has reached some agreement with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Perhaps, he is not only a minister of the Qing Emperor, but also a minister of King Hong Tian of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"
This sentence was translated into Chinese again.
Prince Gong raised his eyebrows slightly: "Mr. Wen, what exactly do you want to say?"
Wu Jianzhang said this again in English.
Bonham said: "Your Highness, the Qing Dynasty should open several northern port cities, including Tianjin, as treaty ports, allowing British consulates and merchants to directly enter northern China. This way, our foreign guns and cannons do not need to go to Shanghai first. , and then moved to the north."
When Legge translated Wenxian's suggestion into Chinese, Prince Gong took a deep breath and nodded without hesitation: "Okay! No problem!"
When Wenxian saw Prince Gong nodding, he knew that the other party had agreed to his proposal, and then he added without waiting for Wu Jianzhang to translate: "Your Highness, I have a few more suggestions:
First, foreign guns and artillery alone without a European-style army are not enough to exert its power. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty should imitate the Shanghai New Army and hire British officers to help train the European-style new army.
Second, the United Kingdom needs to lease land at the Tianjin Port and open up concessions for the use of merchants and embassies from various countries. The land lease and management system of the concessions all refer to the "Shanghai Land Leases Regulations".
Third, the United Kingdom hopes that Tianjin’s customs can follow the example of Shanghai’s Jiangguan Customs to achieve efficiency, transparency, and integrity, which will be beneficial to businessmen from all countries and the Qing court. As far as I know, starting two months ago, Shanghai Jiangguan’s revenue ratio
Before the reform, it increased by one to two times! If your Qing court doesn’t know how to manage customs well, Britain can provide consultants.
The above three articles plus the opening of several ports in the north, including Tianjin, as treaty ports and allowing the British embassy and consulates to enter Tianjin, make a total of four articles, which we hope can be used as a supplement to the "Jiangning Treaty."
Wenxian's words were translated into Chinese word for word by James Legge.
Prince Gong was here to sell China and save the Qing Dynasty. Of course he would not care about opening the northern ports, opening up concessions in Tianjin and co-managing customs.
If the Qing Dynasty cannot establish a new army quickly, I am afraid it will be over soon!
By then the whole of China would belong to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Qing Dynasty would not be able to sell it if they wanted to.
"Okay! I agree to all the minister's requests. I have only one request!" Prince Gong said, "Now our Qing court is training a new army in Wanping outside Beijing. This new army is in urgent need of foreign guns, foreign artillery, and foreign generals!
If the British Empire can provide 30,000 foreign guns, dozens of foreign cannons and dozens of foreign generals as soon as possible, then after I get the foreign guns, cannons and generals, I will sign a treaty with Mr. Wen immediately!"
After Wen Xian listened to Wu Jianzhang's translation, the joy on his face could no longer be concealed.
This is a major diplomatic breakthrough!
However, he still did not immediately agree to Prince Gong's only condition. Instead, he looked at the young Chinese prince seriously: "Your Majesty, your Royal Highness, you are not the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty after all. Will the conditions I just proposed be used by the Qing Dynasty?"
The emperor rejected it?"
As usual, this statement was translated by James Legge.
"No, absolutely not!" Prince Gong said categorically, "I will immediately request an order from the Emperor and trouble Minister Wen to send a steamer to send my memorial and the courier to Tianjin. I can guarantee that the Emperor will do it."
I agreed to sign the contract immediately!"
When Wu Jianzhang translated these words, the worry on his old face could no longer hide the fact that Prince Gong had betrayed his country too simply. Can Mr. Luo's five ministers of trade still be able to serve as ministers?
"Okay! Great!" Wenxian was relieved now. The foreign devil laughed and said, "Your Highness, I believe that in the near future, a brand new Qing Empire will stand on the land of the Far East!
"
When he said this, his eyes glanced at the fat Chinese young man who had followed Legge from Hong Kong and was sitting aside and taking notes. If Legge was not mistaken, his name was Hong Rengan.
, he is the brother of Hong Xiuquan, the Taiping Heavenly King!
He should be able to meet the King of Heaven soon, and then King Hong Tian will have to think carefully about how to get more support from the British Empire than the Qing Dynasty!
Trait can also be a game!
Chapter completed!