The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 246 Why is your British Empire so weak? You can't even beat the Qing monsters! (Please subscribe, please vote)

Wade, with a white flag, led by Chen Ji, a "big coolie" from the Jardine Matheson dock, climbed the North Gate Tower of Shanghai County where "Angel Luo" was located without much trouble. He also saw the legendary "devil" - Luo Yaoguo on this tower!
This "devil" can really be recognized at a glance!
He had a big forehead, a tile-shaped face, a wide chin, a big nose, a pair of ox eyes, a big beard, and was tall and burly. He sat on a throne with a menacing look on his face, flipping through a book in his hands. He was surrounded by a group of Taiping Army male and female soldiers in red clothes and red scarves.

He did not even look at Wade, but glanced at the pale, skinny tall man from the corner of his eye, and then spoke in his rich voice with a heavy accent in Mandarin: "Why is your British Empire so weak? You can't even beat the Qing monsters!"

These words made Wade lose the confidence to be an imperialist!
If they can't even defeat the Qing dynasty, what qualifications do they have to be imperialists? They should be expelled from the imperial family!

"Are you really His Royal Highness Prince Wu, the Holy Angel of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" Wade swallowed his breath and did not bother with the "devil" in front of him. Instead, he confirmed the other party's identity first.

This "devil" was certainly not Luo Yaoguo, but Zhu Ba, a general under Luo Yaoguo. In this Taiping Army's Eastern Expedition, as a division commander under the Upper Army, he served as the vanguard of the entire army and participated in a series of operations such as landing at Caishiji, storming Dangtu City, seizing Yuhuatai, raiding Xiaolingwei, and rushing to Dantu City. After Luo Yaoguo was crowned king, he was promoted to the commander of the "Upper Four Armies" based on his merits.

However, the commander of the "Upper Fourth Army" was a nominal position for the time being, because Luo Yaoguo only had the Upper First and Upper Second Armies under his command. These "armies" had more than 12,000 people when fully staffed, which was roughly equivalent to a larger division of the European New Army.

At present, the First and Second Armies are not yet fully staffed. Luo Yaoguo and Su Sanniang will certainly not blindly expand the Third and Fourth Armies.

In fact, according to Luo Yaoguo's thoughts, after taking over Songjiang Prefecture and most of Taicang Prefecture, he would reorganize the army under his command, fully adopt the new military system, and organize four divisions of about 10,000 people. Only then would Zhu Ba become the "leader of ten thousand men."

Before that, Zhu Ba, who had no soldiers to lead, was transferred to Shanghai by a secret order from Luo Yaoguo to pretend to be a "devil" and fool the foreigners.

"It is this king!" Zhu Ba said calmly.

Wade took out a copy of the "Great Book of Prophecies" and showed it to Zhu Ba, and asked respectfully, "Your Highness, King Wu, did you write this "Great Book of Prophecies"? "

After the prophecy in the "Great Book of Prophecy" about the wedding of Napoleon III and Eugenie came true, Alcock and Wade did not take it seriously on the surface, but secretly sent an express letter to Minister Bonham in Hong Kong, asking him to come to Shanghai as soon as possible to deal with matters related to the "Great Book of Prophecy".

After all, the prophecies in this "Great Book of Prophecies" about Her Majesty the Queen herself and the prophecy of war between Britain and the Russian Empire are both very important!

In comparison, whether Shanghai Customs can be taken is not important at all. The glory of the British Empire was never created by the army. In fact, the British Army often lost battles! It was the Royal Navy that truly created the supreme glory of the empire. As long as the Royal Navy was invincible, the British Army could afford to lose.

"The Great Book of Prophecy?" Zhu Ba seemed stunned for a moment, then waved to a tall female general in red beside him. The latter immediately stepped forward, took the "Great Book of Prophecy" from Wade's hand, and then held it in front of Zhu Ba.

Zhu Ba put away the book in his hand, then stretched out a hand to take the "Great Book of Prophecies" and began to read it. After reading it for a while, he said, "I didn't write the book, but the prophecies in the book were indeed made by me. Is there any problem?"

After that, he handed the "Great Prophecy Book" to the female general: "Xiuying, take it back to Vice Consul Wei."

"Yes."

The female general was named Zhou Xiuying, the daughter of Zhou Lichun, the leader of the Luohan Party of the Tiandihui in Shanghai.

Zhu Ba was able to sneak into Shanghai County with the help of Zhou Lichun, and Zhou Xiuying followed her father's order to lead the way for "Tianshi Luo" and entered Shanghai County with "Tianshi Luo" and became a hero of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Now she and "Tianshi Luo" have climbed the city wall of Shanghai County to watch the British suffer a setback. The little girl is so excited and proud that her chest is so proud!
Wade-Giles seemed a little nervous when he received the "Great Prophecy" from Zhou Xiuying. After all, the man sitting in front of him might be the "devil"! He might not have believed in religion before, but when some of the contents in the "Great Prophecy" came true, he had to believe it.
"Your Highness, Prince Wu," Wade carefully considered his words, trying to avoid using the word "deal" as much as possible, "Consul Aliguo hopes to cooperate with you to fight against the Qing army that has occupied the Jianghai Customs Office."

It was not Wade who wanted to cooperate, but Alcock who wanted to cooperate - this must be emphasized! This is called "every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor, let Alcock go to hell,
"Oh, you British people need our help to attack a customs office?" Zhu Ba looked disdainful and began to flip through the book in his hand. "But why did you want to attack a customs office? Do you not want to pay taxes, or do you want to smuggle some contraband? Or is it the silver stored in the customs office that attracted you?"

"We are just for free trade!" Wade argued. "This customs office was established by the Qing court. All goods entering China from Shanghai must pay taxes to it. But the Qing court is no longer able to control the whole of China. Most of the Yangtze River Basin is already the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Why does the Qing court collect this import tax?"

"What's the big deal?" Zhu Bayi smiled, "We in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will just take another one."

"This violates the treaty!" Wade protested. "The tariffs our goods pay when entering the Shanghai port are for the entire Chinese market!"

Zhu Ba snorted, "You can sell it or not! But if your things enter the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, you must pay taxes to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! How much tax should be paid? What can be sold? What can't be sold? Naturally, we have the final say. This is called sovereignty!"

Wade thought: Another one who understands sovereignty! The Qing dynasty understood it, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also understood it. What's wrong with you Chinese? How come you understand everything overnight?

But Wade was still unwilling to give up: "Your Highness, Prince Wu, you should know how powerful our British Empire is. If your Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gets the support of our British Empire, then the destruction of the Qing Dynasty and the unification of China will be just around the corner. And what we in the British Empire want is only free trade, reasonable tariffs, and a seaport where merchants from all countries can trade with peace of mind."

Zhu Bayi smiled: "Like Mumbai, like Kolkata?"

Wade was stunned and thought: "This devil knows everything!" He still argued: "Your Highness, King Wu, you don't know that if our East India Company had not been helping the Indian Empire, the country of India would have fallen apart long ago, and the Mughal Empire that ruled India would have perished long ago!"

"Hahahaha" Zhu Ba laughed.

Wade asked, "Why is your highness the King of Wu laughing?"

Zhu Ba smiled and said, "Everyone knows Victoria's heart!"

Wade looked at the "devil" in confusion, and Zhu Ba smiled coldly: "The Mughal dynasty will not last for many years, and your Victoria wants to take the Mughal crown and add white to her own kingship!"

"That's impossible!" Wade shook his head again and again, "How could the Queen of England wear an Indian crown? That's absolutely impossible!"

"Whether it is possible or not, we will know when the time comes." Zhu Ba said coldly, "But my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will never become the second Mughal Empire in India! You British people want to trade, of course we welcome it, but free trade is impossible! British goods can only enter the territory of Heaven with the permission of Heaven and after paying tariffs according to Heaven's requirements.

As for China's land, our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not give up an inch of it, nor will we allow the existence of concessions that are like a country within a country!

Therefore, my Taiping Army will soon enter the French Concession and the British Concession in Shanghai. Your consulate guards must return to the barracks immediately. I will send people to take the customs controlled by the Qing demons!"

(End of this chapter)