On February 10th, Dong Shuheng, who had not warmed up to the Presidential Palace in Yangzhou, boarded the fast boat to Shanghai again.
The Nanyang Prime Minister's Office for Foreign Affairs, referred to as the "Prime Minister's Office", is about to be opened. He, the newly appointed Prime Minister of Nanyang, will always go there. Although the team of this office is the original Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Huai Haijun, Liu Qingbei will mainly work here in the future.
Shanghai is still changing so fast. Especially outside the original city wall of Shanghai County, surrounding the customs, a new business district has been formed, which is right next to the concession, making it convenient for business transactions.
In addition, Huaihai Construction invested in the construction of a villa area on the bank of the Suzhou River. This villa area is provided with security services by Yangtze Security. The architectural style is very unique.
There are even real estate services that are beyond this era. This villa area was sold out as soon as it came out, and many foreigners from Shanghai joined the rush to buy.
The company had to urgently add a second phase project. This may be the earliest real estate project in Shanghai.
In any case, the emergence of these new buildings has at least increased the vitality of Shanghai in terms of appearance. It has given Shanghai a prosperous scene.
After the Spring Festival, Wu Jianzhang was transferred to Guangdong through connections. He was promoted and became the chief envoy of Guangdong.
However, he completely gave up everything in Shanghai. It was probably because of his previous plot against Huai Haijun that he felt guilty.
The former Shanghai County Magistrate Yuan Zude took over Wu Jianzhang's position, which was considered an exceptional promotion. According to the tacit understanding reached with the court, the court generally would not reject officials nominated by the Liangjiang Governor's Office within Liangjiang.
Yuan Zude was one of the old officials who had completely defected to the Huai Navy and was also the most determined. This exceptional promotion was also a reward for him.
Dong Shuheng likes to use this person very much. Yuan Zude is very efficient, decisive, and good at figuring out Dong Shuheng's thoughts. He also has some research on Huai Haijun's model.
After taking office, he actively assisted in promoting the construction of the military government in Suzhou and Songjiang areas, and even took action to resolve the backlash of some local forces. Many unsighted local wealthy families had their homes confiscated by Yuan Zude, giving him the title of "Yuan Zude"
.
It was Yuan Zude's decisiveness in dealing with local forces that made Dong Shuheng decide to reuse him in the future. In addition to this title, Yuan Zude also served as the director of Shanghai Customs and the actual duties of the chief of the local military government in Shanghai.
Now the Huai Navy is very strong in the two rivers, and it can be said that it is unparalleled. Especially its victory in this game with the imperial court has made the major forces in Jiangsu, especially southern Jiangsu, think clearly about how to stand in line.
Guangdong businessmen have been excluded from Shanghai's economic circle because they were in the wrong team.
The shopping mall is like a battlefield. If the defeated party is not completely swallowed up, the opponent is particularly merciful.
Now in Shanghai, Huaihai Company is definitely the big brother, followed by Zhejiang and Jiangsu businessmen as the younger brothers. It presents an unprecedented situation of unity.
Under the leadership of the Huaihai Company, businessmen from all over Shanghai established the Chinese Business Association. This was a purely commercial guild organization, but it effectively brought businessmen from all over the country together and was consistent with the outside world.
Everyone has tasted the benefits of the last trade war and seen the power of unity. It turns out that when Chinese businessmen unite, even foreigners have to bow their heads.
After Dong Shuheng arrived in Shanghai, the Shanghai Chinese Business Association organized a grand reception at the Huaxia Hotel. The current Huaxia Hotel built a huge Western-style building near the concession.
This building has five floors in total. There is a large ballroom on the first floor. Dining tables are placed around the ballroom. Guests can eat buffets on the surrounding tables.
This method is very novel, but many Chinese people don't like it. These gentlemen are used to being waited on.
So there was a scene like this. The big shots were chatting on the spot, and the servants were wandering around with plates. After taking the food, they gave it to their masters.
The meeting was attended by top businessmen from Shanghai, as well as businessmen from the West, and even ministers from Britain and France came.
The new British Minister Bao Ling has arrived in Shanghai, and Dong Shuheng has not yet met him. The French Minister has not changed yet, and is still Bourblon.
These two people are the only ones here who are qualified to greet Dong Shuheng on their own initiative.
Dong Shuheng was accompanied by Gao Gao and Li Cunxun, as well as the new Shanghai Customs Director and the Shanghai Regional Military Government Chief Yuan Zude.
Gao Gao is now Dong Shuheng's life secretary. When it comes to serving people, Gao Gao who came from the palace is really good at it. It's not that he is good at what he does, it's mainly because he has a strong sense of consciousness.
Dong Shuheng didn't need to say it out every time, he could guess what he needed happily. It really made things a lot easier for Dong Shuheng, who had always been carefree in life. The little eunuch trained in the palace was just different.
So Dong Shuheng is always happy wherever he goes. He is only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he is very delicate and looks like a little book boy.
Of course, the Ministry of Intelligence and Internal Security would not put a person with hidden dangers next to Dong Shuheng. Gao Gao's identity has been carefully verified and there is no problem. The Qing government does not have the ability to put a spy waiting for Dong Shuheng in the Old Summer Palace.
Take the bait.
"Dear Governor, congratulations on your promotion again." Bulbulon, who is familiar with Dong Shuheng, was the first to say hello.
It seems that they are all paying attention to Dong Shuheng. Of course, this is nonsense. How can it be done without paying attention? Dong Shuheng has proven through actions that he can dominate trade with the West. Moreover, he now has official diplomatic power and can legitimately deal with the West.
In fact, these Western countries have always hoped to establish effective and stable communication channels with the Qing court.
Don't think that Britain and France really want to obtain benefits with guns and guns. In fact, they prefer to obtain the benefits they want at the negotiation table rather than using force.
You must know that Britain and France are very far away from China, the cost of using force is very huge, and the risks are also very high.
Therefore, when Dong Shuheng went to Shanghai to establish the Prime Minister's Office, countries such as Britain and France paid more attention to it. They all wanted to have a good relationship with Dong Shuheng so as to gain more benefits for their country.
After the American Minister Marsali returned to China, the new Minister Malian has not arrived in Shanghai yet. According to the information Marsali gave, Malian should have arrived in Shanghai long ago.
Through last year's cooperation, Britain, France and other countries still hope to deal with Dong Shuheng. Although he was behind a trade war that increased the price of China's export products. But Dong Shuheng was much more enlightened than those in the Qing court.
Will take the initiative to buy British and French products and know how to balance the transaction difference.
They, the envoys, get results by winning orders from domestic factories. Only by allowing those domestic factory owners to get orders can the country continue to collect taxes from them.
After dealing with the Qing Dynasty for so long, only Dong Shuheng would deliver the order to them.
"This young man makes it easy for people to ignore his age when getting along with him. But in fact, he is smarter than those cunning Jews when it comes to doing business." This is what Bao Ling's predecessor Wen Han said.
Singapore’s evaluation of Dong Shuheng when handing over work to Bao Ling.
Wenhan also told Bao Ling that he must not look at Dong Shuheng in the same way as ordinary Qing people. He had risen too fast and was like a mystery.
His understanding of the West surpassed any other Qing people. Sometimes Wen Han even felt that Dong Shuheng understood the Western world better than he did.
For a powerful figure in the Qing Dynasty like Dong Shuheng, it is best to be friends and partners with him. If he is an enemy, it is best to eliminate him physically first, otherwise he will become everyone's nightmare.
Dong Shuheng saw that the two of them had a very interesting chat, so he arranged for a luxurious box.
He actually had very important matters to discuss with the two ministers. If it hadn't been for today's banquet, Dong Shuheng would have specially arranged time to meet with the two ministers.
Inside the box.
"Two ministers, I have heard about the actions of the Russians in Ottoman Turkey. They are simply outrageous. This country claims to be a member of the civilized world, but it has committed all kinds of barbaric actions. It is really disgusting."
"Yes, what your Governor-General said is great. People in the civilized world all over the world should unanimously condemn Russia and their barbaric monarch Nicholas I." Although I don't know why Dong Shuheng mentioned this matter, France has always
He wanted to provoke a war against Russia, so Bulbulon immediately agreed.
Bao Ling on the side looked at Dong Shuheng thoughtfully.
"Master Governor, the relationship between the Russians and China is not very good, right?" Bao Ling asked. Last year, the Nanyang Navy went north to fight the Russians in the Sea of Okhotsk, destroying the Russian fleet in the Far East.
Bao Ling knew about the killing in one fell swoop. After all, there were so many British instructors on the ship, so this matter could not be hidden.
So when Dong Shuheng mentioned this topic just now, Bao Ling roughly guessed what Dong Shuheng meant, and continued the topic with his words.
"Yes, Mr. Minister, the Russians are brutally killing our residents in the Far East and blatantly occupying our territory. It is impossible for us not to fight back against such behavior."
At this time, Britain and France had indeed sent their warships to the Black Sea, and the war was imminent.
Napoleon III of France did not have the courage of his uncle, but he was not afraid of a war with Russia. Russia and France were separated by Prussia and Austria. As long as Prussia and Austria remained neutral, the possibility of a full-scale war was zero.
If it fights in the Balkans or the Black Sea, France has technological advantages, the battlefield and the scale of the war are very limited. And France will be the winner no matter whether it wins or loses on the battlefield, the Holy Alliance will be dismantled, and the "Four-Power Alliance Treaty" will be completely obsolete. France will get rid of isolation.
situation.
The British were also worried that the Russian invasion of the south would affect British interests in the Middle East and even India.
Dong Shuheng said this, indicating that the Qing Dynasty or himself was interested in fighting Russia.
"Your Excellency, Governor, when you say this, do I understand that China will declare war on Russia?" Bulbulon was obviously a little anxious. He very much hoped that Dong Shuheng could tell the answer himself.
"Declare war? Oh, no, the border between our Qing Dynasty and Russia is too long. If it is an all-out war, it will be very detrimental to us." Dong Shuheng obviously did not want to be taken advantage of, and it was not okay to declare war with the Russians.
But it depends on the situation. He doesn't want to be a free agent for others.
"Sir, if both of our countries declare war on Russia, are you willing to sign an agreement with us to send troops from the east to contain Russia's forces east of the Ural Mountains?" Finally, Bao Ling said.
It’s an idea that all three parties want to express.
Both Bao Ling and Bulbulon knew in their hearts that if they could draw the Qing Dynasty into an alliance against Russia, they would definitely receive domestic awards.
Although the Qing Dynasty is not a powerful country, it is an old empire with a profound foundation. It is not much worse than the Turkish Empire no matter what.
"Two gentlemen, if it is true what you two said, then I can guarantee here that we will attract more than 100,000 Russian troops in the Far East and Siberia."
"If that's the case, that would be great. I believe the cooperation between us will be very pleasant." Bulbulon said happily.
Dong Shuheng did not know that it was his decision that caused Britain to suspend the Nanjing Treaty exchange activities.
Just recently, the British Prime Minister was preparing to order Bao Ling to preside over the renewal of the Treaty of Nanjing because the treaty has been 12 years old.
The content is still the clichés of comprehensive opening up, legalization of the opium trade, expansion of Shanghai concession rights, etc.
But now Dong Shuheng's plan to cooperate in attacking Russia has made the British and French leaders more interested. This means that they will face much fewer Russian troops, and the war may end earlier.