A French colonel and a British lieutenant colonel sat at the main seats of the rectangular conference table. On the left and right sides of the conference table sat British and French generals, including majors, lieutenants, and captains. Almost all the generals in the army were gathered together.
here.
The French colonel first asked: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant Colonel, you were involved in what happened last night. What do you think?"
The lieutenant colonel took a deep breath, with a look of lingering fear on his face.
Recalling what happened last night so vividly in his mind, the Lieutenant Colonel even showed a look of pain. After a long silence, the Lieutenant Colonel said: "Mr. Colonel, the enemies we encountered last night were definitely not pirates, they were definitely regular troops. Looking at the whole of Shanghai, only
Li Zhen has such strength. Looking at the entire Qing Empire, only Li Zhen has such soldiers."
The colonel looked solemn, touched his nose, and asked, "Are you sure?"
The lieutenant colonel said with certainty: "Last night, the people we met were all dressed in black, and bullets were flying everywhere, so we couldn't see their faces clearly. However, the firepower they had and the ambush they had laid could not be seen clearly.
, is enough to determine the identity of the other party. We have fought against officials from the Qing Empire, and they were all mediocre people."
"Qing soldiers used blunderbuss or broadswords, so it was impossible for them to be equipped with advanced weapons."
"However, the enemies we encountered last night were all using the most advanced firearms."
"It was their obstruction that led to the murder of Mr. Aliguo and Mr. Aitang. Although Li Zhen blamed everything on the pirate Lu Shaochuan, the matter was inseparable from Li Zhen. I even suspect that the pirate Lu Shaochuan
Shaochuan is already Li Zhen's man and has been taken under his wing, so what happened last night happened."
The colonel raised his eyebrows and asked, "Lieutenant colonel, how are you sure?"
The lieutenant colonel looked helpless and said seriously: "Mr. Colonel, have you forgotten the merchant ships escorted by the British and French joint forces? There are also three warships that sank into the sea?"
The colonel nodded and said, "This happened years ago, and it does exist."
The lieutenant colonel said: "It is just a pirate at sea. It has insufficient warships, insufficient guns, and insufficient troops. It is just a group of rabble. If they want to win, they must have enough firepower. The only possibility is that Li Zhen subdued the pirates and gave them
Weapons. With guns and cannons, pirates can gain a foothold on the sea."
"Hi! His!"
The colonel took a deep breath and said, "Your analysis does make sense."
The lieutenant colonel said solemnly: "It's not unreasonable, it's true. Li Zhen actually recruited pirates at sea, which means he has the ability to fight at sea. If this man hadn't pushed the pirate Lu Shaochuan out to take the blame, I wouldn't have
I can’t think of anything like pirates.”
The colonel asked: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant Colonel, since we have speculated that Li Zhen did the thing. We cannot stand idly by and watch. The French consul Aitang was killed. The French army cannot ignore it. I think we will lead our troops to attack Li Zhen and kill Li Zhen in revenge."
"
The lieutenant colonel said coldly: "Mr. Colonel, do you know Li Zhen's intention of having a group of soldiers stationed in the concession?"
The colonel suddenly raised his head and said: "Monitor and contain us."
The lieutenant colonel nodded and said: "As long as we make the slightest move, the troops stationed in the concession will take action. Once they take action, Li Zhen's large army will also come to kill us. We have no chance of winning. Let alone Mr. Colonel's thousand
Soldiers, even if we add the more than 200 people I have left here, we can't defeat Li Zhen. Didn't the British and French allied forces also fail when they attacked Li Zhen?"
When the colonel heard this, the two curls of beard on his lips kept swaying, and he was already blowing his beard and staring.
After a pause, the colonel asked: "Since I can't move, what do you think we should do?"
The lieutenant colonel said slowly: "The main armies of Britain and France are all hoarding in Guangzhou. The British commander, Sir Adams, and the French commander, Sir Russell are also in Guangzhou. What we have to do is to report the news here to them. Commander, ask them to ask the British and French ministers in China to make corresponding countermeasures. At the same time, I suggest the two commanders to send a fleet north to destroy Lu Shaochuan's warships at sea and cut off one of Li Zhen's arms. "
"good!"
The colonel suddenly stood up, slapped his hand on the desk, and said: "Li Zhen killed two consuls, and I will bear this grudge. We will tolerate it for the time being and wait for Lu Shaochuan to be wiped out."
The two reached an agreement and merged the two armies together to avoid being attacked.
…
Beijing, Bauhinia City.
Xianfeng often lived in Yuanmingyuan, and rarely went back to Qianqing Palace.
In the palace, Xianfeng was dealing with the memorial.
Compared with the previous emperors, Xianfeng's life was obviously not easy. There were internal and external troubles, the Taiping Rebellion, which was as powerful as a tiger, and foreigners who were eyeing it outside. Whether it was bandits or foreigners, Xianfeng was restless. Xianfeng watched Han Laiyu, who was standing nearby, asked: "Tell me, what has Li Zhen done recently?"
Han Laiyu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you and Li Zhen really have a good understanding."
"Oh, what do you mean?" Xianfeng asked.
Han Laiyu said: "If you care about Li Zhen's affairs, he will give you a break."
"Take it and see!"
Xianfeng became interested and asked Han Laiyu to present the memorial.
After receiving the memorial, Xianfeng quickly browsed it. The contents of the memorial were completely different from what happened. The general content was that Li Zhen learned through his spy that the pirate Lu Shaochuan was preparing to attack the British Consulate, but secretly concealed the information and waited for Lu Shaochuan to kill the British consulate. , French consul Li Zhen led troops to stabilize the situation the next morning, and took the opportunity to enter the concession and regain the interests seized by the British.
After Xianfeng read it, a bright smile appeared on his face, and he said with a smile: "Li Zhen is really cunning. This time he made Yingyi suffer a loss, and he is worthy of being the one I selected. It's a pity that Lu Shaochuan ran away Already."
Han Laiyu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, do you think Li Zhen might have done this on purpose?"
Xianfeng's eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "Do you mean that Li Zhen deliberately raised bandits and wanted to rebel?" Xianfeng was very sensitive to bandits and immediately became vigilant after hearing Han Laiyu's words.
The corners of Han Laiyu's mouth twitched, wanting to slap himself.
During the Chinese New Year, Li Zhen sent someone to give him a gift of money and asked him to say a kind word. Now that something bad has happened, wouldn't it offend Li Zhen? Han Laiyu rolled his eyes and said: "Your Majesty, you personally promoted Li Zhen , loyal and loyal, it is impossible to rebel. Moreover, Li Zhen also likes the eighth lady of Guiliang's family, so it is impossible to rebel. The slave thinks that Li Zhen deliberately let Lu Shaochuan leave Shanghai in order to let Lu Shaochuan and the foreigners continue to fight. , and then the fisherman will profit."
"Well, after you said it, it is indeed the truth."
Xianfeng's mood turned gloomy and suddenly became better again. Suddenly, Xianfeng said again: "Han Laiyu, what you just said reminded me. Since we want to control Li Zhen, someone must restrain Li Zhen. You go Go and tell Guiliang's daughter that Li Zhen has settled down in Shanghai and let her go to Shanghai."
Han Laiyu gave a thumbs up and praised: "Your Majesty, this is a wonderful chess move. Even if you tie Li Zhen up, you can also act like a moon old man."
"Hahaha……"
Xianfeng was in a good mood and felt extremely happy. He smiled and said: "Han Laiyu, Han Laiyu, you really have a clever mouth. Okay, hurry up and make arrangements. It will be completed earlier and you will feel at ease earlier."
Han Laiyu nodded in agreement, bowed and exited the Qianqing Palace.
