Wen Han, Bulbron and others took a small boat to Nanjing under the guidance of the Han army's navy. Along the way, Wen Han kept accusing the Han army of "irrespectful behavior" and threatening to complain in front of Li Yunzhong.

Tang Zhengcai hurried to Shangshu and reported in front of Li Yunzhong: "This morning, foreign warships suddenly entered the cordon on the river. The defenders repeatedly whispered flags and signaled them to retreat. The foreigners ignored it. The defenders of the fort had no choice but to order the artillery to fire."

When Li Yunzhong heard that the defenders were shelling foreign ships, he was shocked. He didn't expect that there would be such a kind of person in the Han army. Compared with Li Xiucheng, Li Chunfa and others, they won more than one advantage!

When the First Army was threatened by foreigners, they did not dare to attack Shanghai. The commander of the fort actually ordered the firing of artillery, and the foreigners did not dare to fight back!

"What's the name of the Fort Commander?" Li Yunzhong became interested in this bold regiment commander.

Tang Zhengcai sighed inwardly, thinking that the emperor was going to ask for the crime, and argued: "This man's name is Xiong Siyuan. He even robbed the arms purchased by the Hunan Army a few months ago, making a contribution to the Han Dynasty. The empress asked the emperor to spare his life."

Looking at Tang Zhengcai's fearful look, Li Yunzhong was a little funny: "Who said I want to kill him? It's really rare that a general who can fire fire at foreigners at this time. I still have to use such a person, how can I kill him?"

Tang Zhengcai was surprised and excited for his subordinates to escape the disaster. He thanked him: "The emperor is wise and Xiong Siyuan is blessed in disguise and is appreciated by the emperor. It is his blessing."

The attendant came in to report: "Report to the emperor, several Western ministers asked for a visit."

"Xuan" Li Yunzhong said to Tang Zhengcai: "You go down first and comfort the brothers below."

Wen Han was indignant and felt that the Han army fired his gun and made him lose face in front of the pen. As soon as he came in, he started to question the crime and shouted: "Your Majesty, your soldiers are so rude that they fired at our warships. For this reason, we lost three brave sailors. One gunboat was hit by the railing. You must give us an explanation, otherwise our countries will not give up."

Li Yunzhong looked at the aggressive foreigner and asked, "How do you want me to explain to you?"

Wen Han thought Li Yunzhong was giving in and replied proudly: "Kill the fireman, compensate 1 million silver dollars, open all cities in Han Dynasty, allow Britain, France and the United States to explore minerals and build railways."

Seeing the foreign lion speaking loudly, Li Yunzhong interrupted, "No need to say anything, I will not agree. As far as I know, you ignore the guard's flag words and continue to move forward. I have not asked you what you intend, but you have been beaten by you. Do you think I am Daoguang and Xianfeng? You must apologize to my great man, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless."

Bulbron was not confident enough and asked in a trembling voice: "Dear Emperor, your Majesty, aren't you afraid that our country will know about this? It's not something we can control when it triggers a war."

Li Yunzhong was full of confidence and replied: "I forgot to tell you that I have been paying attention to the situation in Europe and I know no less than you. Do you think that a country will send troops to the Far East."

Mailian replied: "You are injured by the US ship."

Li Yunzhong smiled and said, "The United States is not peaceful either. The south is sharpening its knife. I have also read the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin". It is indeed touching. Do you America still have the skills to worry about the Far East?"

Perry stepped forward and bowed to Li Yunzhong, and said warmly: "Dear Your Majesty, this time it was a complete misunderstanding. We did not see the flag words on the fort, so the defenders fired artillery and our army did not fight back, so they made both sides forget this unpleasant experience. I came to Far East this time on the order of the President."

Li Yunzhong smiled and said, "That's right. It's okay for you Westerners to not understand the flag language of the East. I won't care. Why did your American president send you to the Far East?"

Seeing the atmosphere and leisure, Perry introduced himself: "My name is Matthew Perry, the commander of the American East India Fleet. He came to sign a commercial contract with His Majesty at the President's order. This is a handwritten letter from the President. Please check it out."

The attendant took the letter paper and presented it to Li Yunzhong.

Li Yunzhong read it roughly and replied: "I will discuss these treaties carefully with the ministers, and I will give you an answer tomorrow."

Perry bowed and said, "Since that's the case, please allow me to say goodbye."

Seeing Li Yunzhong smile and nodding, Perry left the palace with embarrassing Wen Han and others and returned to the consulate in Nanjing.

Wenyuan Pavilion

Lieutenant General Lie Yun's purpose of the Americans' trip was roughly stated: "Britain and France competed for spheres of influence in the Han Dynasty and other plundering activities, which put the interests of the United States of America in China under direct threat. Once the Han Dynasty was divided up and became colonies for dumping goods from various countries, the United States of America's trade with China would inevitably be excluded, not to mention that they wanted to further develop."

Meng Xing looked at the treaty brought by Perry and asked, "Dare you ask the emperor, what is the opening door mentioned above? Does America want to compete with Britain for interests?"

It seems that they can't understand the professional noun. Li Yunzhong said in plain language: "Our Han Dynasty has been prosperous in business and industrial development in recent years, and the purchasing power of the people has greatly improved. In the past, it was satisfied with ten taels of silver in hand. Now, one hundred taels can be spent. How many people in the Han Dynasty have to buy every day! So foreigners think it is profitable, so they transport their domestic goods to the Han Kingdom, or directly build factories in the Han Kingdom. This is what Britain and France do.

But the problem now is that in order to make more money, French businessmen exclude Americans and do not welcome them. The United States proposed an open door policy to eliminate these problems. What I get, you can enjoy, and what you get, I can also enjoy."

Meng Xing said angrily: "Isn't this treating us great men as fools? Give Britain a benefit and give France and America a lot of advice."

Hu Yihuang and others also understood and made a voice of agreement. Isn’t this just letting the big man be the sucker?

Li Yunzhong smiled with satisfaction: "Today, foreigners are demonstrating outside the city, which is not without intimidation. They did not expect that the Han army defenders really dared to fire fires and would not lose rice if they steal chickens."

The bombardment of foreign gunboats gave Lu Jianying a good impression of Xiong Siyuan, so he wanted to recommend him: "Soldiers like Xiong Siyuan are the role models of the Han army. Will the emperor promote him and let Xiong Siyuan continue to serve the emperor."

"I have already promoted the Ministry of War to his post." Li Yunzhong returned to the topic and continued: "The United States has ulterior motives. Do you think I should agree to them?"

Although Chang Dachun hated foreigners, he had to admit that they had strong ships and powerful guns. Today's great man is not an opponent. He worriedly said: "If we refuse, will foreigners be angry and send warships to attack Nanjing like they did more than ten years ago?"

Li Yunzhong was also unsure. The Great Han Navy was weak and the warships ordered by foreigners were still in production. The most powerful warships of the Navy were just those red sailboats, which could only carry twenty or thirty cannons. Any foreigner's first-class battleship had hundreds of cannons. The Great Han Navy went up and just sent him to death.

Seeing that the emperor was silent, Chang Dachun was in conflict. The emperor quickly came to know the military and was proficient in Western Affairs. Even the emperor was unsure. It seemed that foreigners would really attack Nanjing.

Lu Jianying sighed: "Can't China build warships in such a huge country? How can foreigners be rude in the Han Dynasty at will!"

Li Yunzhong looked down and asked back: "Do you know why I support industry? In fact, I, a big man, can build a foreign warship."

Chang Dachun had heard the emperor's explanation long ago and immediately replied: "The emperor wants to compete with foreigners."

Lu Jianying asked, "Why didn't the emperor build such a warship? If the Han Dynasty had warships that could house hundreds of cannons, how dare the foreigners be presumptuous!"

"You only know one but not the other." Li Yunzhong explained: "In fact, the powerful foreign warships are all in their own country. For example, the Valmé, built four years ago in France, was filled with giant cannons. If one shot goes down, there will be no living people in a radius of three meters." Li Yunzhong didn't know how to describe the power of cannons with a caliber of more than 150mm.

Li Yunzhong remembered the Nanjing City Wall and added: "For example, the Nanjing City Wall will be destroyed in less than half an hour, and Nanjing will become ruins in one day."

Lu Jianying asked in a trembling voice: "How many such warships do foreigners have? Can I build them out?"

Li Yunzhong thought for a while and shook his head bitterly: "Foreigners are divided into hundreds of countries, including Britain and France, the most powerful. Britain can send fifty warships to China to participate in the war, and the construction of ten warships by the Han Dynasty will go bankrupt."

Lu Jianying sat down dejectedly, then he remembered that it was necessary to build a warship and asked unwillingly: "Will you only agree to the terms of foreigners?"

Li Yunzhong picked up the original treaty and replied: "There are some unequal clauses on it, and I will not agree to it. Tomorrow I will organize a delegation consisting of Minister of War Lin Daji, Minister of Revenue Meng Shangsheng and others to participate in negotiations with foreigners. I would rather start a war than sign a treaty that would lose its country and be humiliated!"

"The Emperor is wise"

Mai Lian, who returned to the consulate, lost her scruples and complained to Wen Han: "It's all the bad ideas you came up with. You kept saying that the Han army would not fire. What's the result? If General Perry hadn't issued a timely order to retreat, we might have been in danger of life!"

Wen Han waved his hands and retorted: "The Han army is not very different from the Qing army. I mean officials. I should not treat the Han army and the Qing army together, but you agreed with this decision at that time. How can you blame me all now?"

Perry looked at the quarrels with a headache and shouted: "Hey, gentlemen, you are wrong. It should be me who wants to complain. Can you stop this unnecessary argument?"

"Okay, let me listen to your opinion." Boulbron and others found a seat to sit down.

Wen Han pretended to be unintentionally and asked: "Dear General, do you have any other purpose for your visit to the Far East this time?"
Chapter completed!