The team searching for relatives in South America is far away in a foreign country, and it is destined to not be smooth sailing.
At this time, the situation in the country was also treacherous.
First, on September 29, the Taiping Army defeated the Qing army of the imperial envoy Naer via the Ebu at Linguan. Taking advantage of the victory, they marched northward and even descended to Shahe, Ren County, Longping, Baixiang, Zhaozhou, Luancheng, and Gaocheng.
Jinzhou, occupied Shenzhou City on October 13.
The commander of the Taiping Army drove out Zhili, and Beijing was shaken. Emperor Xianfeng appointed Genner as the imperial envoy, and ordered Shengbao to be the imperial minister, Prince Hui Mianyu to be the general, and Gelinqin, the king of Horqin County, to be the counselor. He led 4,500 horse infantry troops to join forces.
Intercepted. Beijing set up a patrol station and declared martial law.
…
In Beijing, in a study room of Prince Zheng's Mansion, Prince Zheng Duanhua, Prince Yi Zaiyuan and Duanhua's younger brother Sushun were standing out.
Duan Hua is now serving as the imperial minister and the prime minister's minister of business affairs, and Zaiyuan is also the imperial minister.
They are all Xianfeng's close associates. Although these people are not currently in the military ranks, the status of Duanhua's small group in the court is indeed something that no one dares to underestimate.
There were many cronies following them in the court and in the local areas. It can be seen from the fact that these people later became the eighth ministers of Xianfeng.
"Lao Liu, you are the most clever. You run around outside every day to help third brother talk about this Huai Haijun. Why did he suddenly appear and take over the Shanghai Customs, cutting off the brothers' financial path?" Duan Hua asked.
His sixth brother Sushun said.
This time they gathered because of the Shanghai Customs matter. According to the confidential documents handed over by Wu Jianzhang, the customs authority had been taken away by Huai Haijun.
"Third brother, second brother, at the beginning of the year, this Huaihai navy was a team training organization organized by a salt merchant in Yangzhou. I heard that it got the support of the Yangzhou local government and businessmen. Later, it won several big victories one after another, and got the support of the imperial court.
Reward."
"My two brothers know that at the beginning of the year, the imperial army was defeated one after another, so the emperor gave Huai Haijun a very heavy reward. The general of Huai Haijun directly gave it to an admiral, which is unprecedented."
Duan Hua and Zai Yuan nodded, they could understand that the emperor was doing this for other armies to see.
"Later, this man joined Qi Shan's family and received Qi Shan's recommendation. He even led his army to regain Yangzhou in one fell swoop, pushing the Beida camp to the north of the Yangtze River and confronting the Taiping Army across the river."
"Since then, the imperial court has relied more heavily on Qi Shan. The reason is that Qi Shan has a Huai navy who is capable of fighting."
"In fact, there was also a censor who impeached Huai Haijun for exercising power before. This Huai Haijun set up a private government office in Jiangbei, bypassed the government, directly collected taxes from the people, and directly recruited soldiers to form civilian warriors."
"This is suspected of treason, but the court doesn't care?" Duan Hua asked, Huai Haijun seemed to have become a local warlord.
"Your Majesty is aware of this matter, but with the current situation, Changmao has reached Tianjin. The landlord regiments in various places are not warlords. How can they possibly touch these warlords now? Besides, there is Qi Shanzuo on top of the Huaihai Navy.
After all, Bao Qishan is also a veteran of the imperial court, so the emperor still trusts him."
"This...it seems that Dong Shuheng from the Huai Navy is quite ambitious!" Zai Yuan said.
"Not only that, the salt merchant who founded the Huaihai Navy is said to be proficient in Western learning and is highly regarded by Wei Yuan, the current governor of Jiangsu. This man is not only good at running the army, he is also a good hand at business. The Huaihai Trading Company that is now popular in Beijing is him
Industry. Of course, the Huaihai Trading Company in Beijing has found a backer, Prince Chunjun’s Mansion."
As he spoke, Sushun took out a silver-cased lighter and flicked it: "Look, this is sold by Huaihai Commercial Bank. There is no one among the men in Beijing now."
"Third brother, do you want to touch Dong Shuheng?" Sushun asked.
"It turned out that I was going to attack him directly, and he was just a salt merchant. Now that I hear what you say, I have to be more cautious. Looking at this person's methods, I don't think Qi Shan can subjugate this person. I understand Qi Shan
Shan is a person who is timid and afraid of getting into trouble and cannot achieve anything, but he is good at protecting himself wisely."
"I'm afraid that Qishan is also under the control of Dong Shuheng now. It would be terrible if this were the case. Now Changmao has threatened the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. If we brothers continue to cause trouble, we may have to pay for ourselves in the end.
.”
"What the third child said is that it's nothing more than a little money. There's no need to risk everything." Zaiyuan said, he didn't have any independent opinions and just listened to Duanhua's arrangements in everything.
"The two brothers don't know that Dong Shuheng has a lot of industries. It is said that there are two companies, and there are many factories in Jiangbei. These factories all use foreign machines, which are money trees. I don't think we can
Let's forget it. At least test it out and let him know that the brothers are unhappy. If he understands, he should find a way to make up for us what we lost."
"Sixth, don't be so pretentious. If you have any ideas, just tell me."
"Oh, don't worry, two brothers. I have two strategies here. One is to find some obedient censors in the capital to impeach Dong Shuheng for his self-respect for the army, usurping local power without authorization, setting up a private government, and plotting against evil. There is also this person's fornication.
Foreigners and private factories compete with the people for profit. Another point is to infringe on the interests of customs and tamper with the court system."
"Lao Liu, none of these articles seem to be able to cure Dong Shuheng's crime. The local area is in a mess now. Team training is happening everywhere, and the court has not provided any money for the team training. There are endless ways to make money for team training in various places. So the court
I won’t delve into this matter, otherwise it will involve too much.”
"As for the customs, as long as Dong Shuheng can hand over all the money that should be handed over by then, the emperor will not pursue him. Besides, the court's eyes are now fixed on the long-haired people who have gone deep into Zhili. How many times have such discounts gone up?
No one will pay attention anymore."
"This younger brother knows that. Third Brother, I mean to give Dong Shuheng a shock. I gave this information to Dong Shuheng. The purpose is to tell him that someone has been eyeing him."
"Come on, I think Lao Liu's first strategy is feasible. Anyway, we haven't lost anything." Zaiyuan said.
"As for the second plan, I heard that Zhang Guodong from the Jiangnan Camp sent someone to give you a gift, brother. I think we should simply give him an admiral and let him hinder Dong Shuheng in southern Jiangsu."
"The main power of the Huaihai Navy is now in Jiangbei, but they must be eyeing Jiangnan when they cause trouble in Shanghai this time. Jiangnan is much richer than Jiangbei. Huaihaijun wants it, so how can Xiangrong not be greedy? We just need to find someone.
Talk to Xiang Rong and ask him to release Zhang Guodong and capture Su Chang first. Then no matter how Huai Haijun handles it, it will be of no benefit to them."
"If they take action, their ambitions will be exposed, and people in the government will naturally keep an eye on them. If they give in, they will lose the opportunity to expand."
"Pa bang bang..." Duan Hua and Zai Yuan both clapped their hands.
"Liuzi, I think no one else can do this. You have to go to Jiangnan yourself." Duan Hua said.
Sushun really wanted to slap himself for being too talkative. Now Jiangnan is growing hair, which is very dangerous. With such a small body, I might end up there.
However, I couldn't show my timidity in front of my two brothers.
…
In Shanghai, Dong Shuheng fought a beautiful trade war and made a lot of money. As the saying goes, extreme joy brings sorrow. He was not happy for long, and soon he got into trouble.
Prime Minister Zeng Xianfeng sent someone to call Dong Shuheng to return to Yangzhou as soon as possible because something went wrong in the negotiations between Huai Haijun and Changzhou and Suzhou.
For some reason, Xiang Rong of the Jiangnan Camp suddenly no longer wanted to be a coward and actually wanted to divide his troops to garrison Changzhou and Suzhou.
When the officials and gentry in Changzhou saw that the officers and soldiers from the Jiangnan camp were willing to garrison the city, why did you need a place for the Huaihai Navy to train your regiment?
Moreover, it is difficult for them to accept Huai Haijun's conditions. Who is willing to ask local officials to give up their power?
As a result, the negotiations were put on hold. The Second Division, which had been preparing to enter Changzhou, could only stay in the Guazhou Fortress south of Yangzhou.
On October 25, Dong Shuheng returned to Yangzhou and immediately held a military and political meeting.
"Mr. Ji, why was there no warning at all about this operation in Jiangnan Camp? When did Xiang Rong, this turtle bastard, change his temper?"
"I'm sorry, President, it was our dereliction of duty. We analyzed it afterwards and found that this incident was not accidental. Just a few days ago, a wave of impeachment cases against Huai Haijun broke out in Beijing. The contents were basically commonplace. The court
I was busy encircling and suppressing the Taiping Army that was attacking Tianjin, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Therefore, my subordinates only covered this matter in the briefing and did not pay too much attention to it."
Dong Shuheng thought about it and saw this information in the briefing.
"However, the customs matter was mentioned in this impeachment. This matter has not happened before. But it is normal. This just happened after all. But we tracked down the strangers who entered the Jiangnan camp and found that there was a stranger five days ago.
Officials from the capital entered Xiangrong's camp."
"According to the news from inside sources, this person's name is Sushun, and he is the younger brother of Prince Zheng Duanhua. Wu Jianzhang, Su Songtai Dao, has always had a close relationship with Prince Zheng. It has been confirmed by people at the Beijing Station that Wu Jianzhang used to work for
Prince Zheng Duanhua."
"In addition, news came from Guangdong that the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangdong suddenly sent more than 40 Guangdong red single ships to support the Jiangnan camp."
"It seems that these people from the thirteenth industry are not convinced by their defeat, and they even made so many little tricks."
"What is this red single boat?" Dong Shuheng felt that this name was strange and asked.
Replying to the President: "During the Qianlong period, private exchanges between Chinese and foreign people were strictly prohibited, and sails were not allowed to go into the sea, otherwise it was a death penalty. Guangzhou was the only foreign trading port, trade was very developed, and merchant ships were active. In order to facilitate the control of trade, merchants must report to the government when building ships.
In exchange for a "red slip" to prepare for government inspection. Therefore, the transport ship built by the government and merchants is called a red slip ship."
"Red single ships are generally used for ocean trade. They are tall ships. In addition to transporting goods, they can normally carry more than 60 people, and sometimes more than 100 people. In addition, the people on red single ships are almost all fathers and sons, brothers, family members, and relatives.
, friends, the internal cohesion is very strong.”
"The person leading the fleet this time is Admiral Wu Quanmei of the Guangdong Navy, and the training of the sailors is by Guangzhou martial artist Huang Feihong."
"Huang Feihong? Is it Huang Feihong, the Guangzhou martial arts master? This name is very familiar!"
"Oh, President, this Huang Feihong is not a master of Guangzhou, but he is still somewhat capable, so the combat effectiveness of the red single-ship sailors is pretty good."