Chapter 91 Strategic Master of the Ming Dynasty 【Seeking Monthly Pass】
"Is there such a good thing?" At this moment, William was almost crazy with joy.
However, his face was calm, and he still said with a gloomy expression: "It's not enough. If you want my British Empire fleet to take action, you must pay more."
"We request that the treaty be revised in advance and add various clauses in the previously signed Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing."
"Your Excellency, please speak...!" Li Hongzhang said.
First: Add an additional minister to be permanently stationed in Beijing.
Third: Missionaries can freely preach in the mainland.
Fourth: Chinese merchants and tourists can travel to the mainland and do business.
Fifth: Our country’s merchant ships can travel between ports on the Yangtze River.
Sixth: Provide five million taels of silver as our country’s military expenses for this expedition.
Li Hongzhang couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.
Just when William felt that he was too greedy, Li Hongzhang said: "If I fully agree to the above terms on behalf of the emperor of our country, will Great Britain agree to send troops immediately?"
"This is natural!" William nodded.
At the same time, he couldn't help but start to vomit in his heart: "At this moment, our British Empire fleet has already passed through the Strait of Malacca, so we can't do it without sending troops!"
"Okay, I agree!" Li Hongzhang nodded.
In fact, these were what he expected, because the UK has proposed amending the treaty many times in recent years, and these terms have been proposed many times.
But Emperor Xianfeng had always disagreed.
This time, Emperor Xianfeng was really frightened by the puppet Ming Zhu Hongwu of Guangdong, so he relented.
These terms were one of the conditions Li Hongzhang had obtained from Emperor Xianfeng before he came.
In fact, he still has more conditions in hand.
But now it seems that it is obviously no longer needed.
"Haha, this British ghost is a fool. He let go so easily, but he saved himself a lot of trouble." Li Hongzhang sneered in his heart.
"Hehe, this yellow-skinned idiot actually gave me such a big gift. It seems that my title will be raised even higher this time." A trace of contempt flashed in William's eyes.
The two shook hands in a "friendly" manner, and Li Hongzhang added: "Governor William, I have one more request. This time I will go with the Qing Dynasty Navy to fight against the puppet Ming Dynasty. The emperor of our country told me that I must witness it with my own eyes."
The city of Guangzhou has been breached, and I must personally cut off Zhu Hongwu’s head.”
"Of course you can!"
"We are friendly countries!" William smiled with a smile on his face.
On March 19th of the third year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army, led by the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing, captured Nanjing and wiped out half of the Qing court in one fell swoop. The Qing court was shaken and the whole country was in an uproar.
In June of the same year, the British Royal Navy fleet, with a total of 18,000 men, sailed into the Strait of Malacca, marched north, and entered Canton Bay.
In August, when the fleet entered the South China Sea, Zhu Yuanzhang received the news and urgently summoned the main generals to discuss the matter.
"Let us all tell you how to fight this battle!" Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the main seat and looked at the generals below and spoke in a deep voice.
This is his old tradition. There must be such a closed-door meeting of senior generals before a war.
It not only listens to the opinions of all parties, but also explains strategies and tactics.
"I think we still have to focus on defense!"
"Although the British army is small in number, it is well-equipped and has fierce firepower. If we fight them on the sea now, we will probably suffer heavy losses!" Chang Yuchun was the first to speak.
Although he claims to be invincible, he is not truly invincible.
Even though he has now advanced to the innate level, after coming to this world and seeing the power of large-caliber artillery, he understood that from now on, the era of cavalry and infantry charging directly into battle will probably be gone forever. No one can defeat the enemy under the influence of artillery.
Charge into the enemy's position under threat.
Not even a group of innates can do it.
What's more, this is a naval battle. It has been half a year since he took over as the marshal of the navy. He has been training and studying on the ship almost every day for the past six months. He understands the difference between naval battles and infantry battles. Naval battles further test the maneuverability and artillery firepower of warships.
Without superior firepower and maneuverability, a direct naval battle is impossible!
"Why don't we let the enemy in? If our navy doesn't gain the upper hand, we'll have to fight them on foot!" Deng Yu said.
His 30,000 elite infantrymen transferred from the early Ming Dynasty have all been equipped with guns and artillery. This is the time to show off their skills.
"No, if the enemy occupies our coastal defense fort, he will immediately gain an artillery advantage. No matter what, the artillery position in Humen cannot be lost." Xu Da said.
Soon everyone started talking about each other.
These people are all famous generals in the Ming Dynasty. Although they have only been exposed to this world for less than a year, they have quickly grown into qualified modern military generals.
Zhu Yuanzhang sat at the top of the table, quietly listening to the various opinions of the people below, and in his mind the specific battle plan for this battle was being perfected bit by bit.
"alright!"
Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke softly and stopped everyone's conversation.
Everyone who was arguing immediately stopped talking and turned to look at Zhu Yuanzhang.
They knew that it would be Zhu Yuanzhang's performance time next.
When it comes to strategy and tactics, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty can rival Zhu Yuanzhang. He is the greatest strategic master of the Ming Dynasty.
Several important life-and-death battles in the Ming Dynasty were all battle plans formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang against all odds.
Facts have also proved that the opinions of a few people are usually correct.
Zhu Yuanzhang's battle plans could achieve unexpected results every time.
"Let's first talk about the goal of this battle!"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at everyone present: "This time we are not going to repel the British, but to annihilate them all."
"We will prevent the British from invading China again within twenty years."
There was silence below, no one objected, no one expressed surprise, everyone was listening carefully.
Because the time for raising opinions at this time has passed, since Zhu Yuanzhang opened his mouth, it means that he already has a complete battle plan. Anyone who dares to question at this time will basically have grass growing on his grave.
"First of all, we need a critical team that dares to penetrate into the center of the enemy's warships. We require all elites to be familiar with naval warfare..." Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Time passed by, and this closed-door meeting of senior Ming generals lasted for two full hours.
When the meeting was over, everyone went to do things in a hurry.
As this was the first time to attend such an important military meeting, the only three hundred officials at the scene, Zhu Pang, Zhu Fan, and Zhu Di, were very excited.
"Brother, are you really going to join the war this time?" Zhu Fan said worriedly.
"It's about the future of the Ming Dynasty, so of course I'm going to do it!"
"Furthermore, there may be extraordinary beings on the other side's fleet. Master Zhang must stay with his father to protect me at all times. If I encounter the opponent's powerful extraordinary beings who block me, not only will the personal guards suffer heavy casualties, but my father's plan may also be destroyed."
We need to give a big discount." Zhu Biao said.
In fact, there was another reason why he didn't say it. This was the first actual combat of his own military guards. Zhu Biao still wanted to witness the first battle of this special force that he had personally built.
"Brother, don't worry, our brothers who are close to the army and guards are all good. This time, we will definitely beat the opponent's buttocks and pee, and give those veterans in the army a good shock!" Zhu Xi said.
"Let's go, let's get ready!" Zhu Biao nodded, looking forward to it because this was also his first battle.
From the second-floor window at the rear, Zhu Yuanzhang silently withdrew his gaze as he watched Zhu Biao and his three younger brothers disappear from sight.
Next to him, Mao Xiang hesitated for a moment and then said: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is no need for the Crown Prince and His Highnesses to personally take risks. It's not like we don't have anyone else available."
"How can one develop iron-blooded courage without going through the test of blood and fire? Moreover, this is their own choice. As a father, I should believe in my son."
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think of the 276 years of Ming Dynasty history he had seen.
He understood a truth between the lines of those historical words: heroes are made of blood and fire, while hothouses only breed cowards.
He, Zhu Yuanzhang's son, wants everyone to be like a dragon.
This is especially true for Zhu Biao as the prince.