The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 248: Lord Wei, what is a concession? (Please subscribe and vote)

"Stand at attention. Guns at shoulders. Salute!"

Following a shout from Wang Dalong, commander of the 1st Regiment of the Shanghai New Army, two thousand Shanghai New Army infantrymen lined up outside Kunshan County shouldered their brown bass muskets with bayonets, and saluted the dignitaries in Qing Dynasty official uniforms who had just emerged from several carriages in front of them.

Those who got off the carriage were mainly the leaders of the "Qing Dynasty's Envoys to Pray the Gods". Sushun, Yuanbao, Bai Siwen, and Li Hongzhang were all there. There was also Shengbao, the Assistant Minister of Military Affairs of Jiangsu. He came to see Sushun, Yuanbao, Bai Siwen and others off, and by the way, he also wanted to go to Shanghai to invite foreign soldiers and buy foreign guns.

As soon as they got off the carriage, they saw the two thousand new officers and soldiers lined up to welcome them!
Everyone was in high spirits, with their guns on their shoulders! The guns were equipped with shiny bayonets, which gleamed in the sunlight!
"Good soldiers! Really good soldiers! If my Eight Banners Army had such elite troops, why would we worry about injustice in the world?"

As soon as Sushun got off the carriage, he was surprised by a group of Shanghai New Army infantrymen forming three horizontal rows on one side of the official road, and he expressed his heartfelt admiration.

Shengbao, Yuanbao and Bai Siwen on the side had all led troops before. They were amazed to see the two thousand new soldiers from Shanghai. The "Demon-Suppressing Battalion" they had led before was really a world of difference compared to them!

However, these people may not know that, in fact, the "Snow Marshal Luo Xueyan" was not very satisfied with the thousands of Shanghai new troops under his command.

These new soldiers were hastily recruited by Jiao Hong, Zhang Sanxiang and Cheng Fupei through the connections between the Hongmen and the gentry in Songjiang and Taicang. Their only requirements were that they were young, healthy and did not smoke opium.

Considering that the economy in Shanghai was developing rapidly due to the opening of the port, the people had more opportunities to make a living than in other places, and the Qing Dynasty had a tradition of "good iron is not used to make nails, and good men are not used to serve in the army". It was not easy to recruit people in a short time according to the three requirements of "young, healthy, and not smoking opium", and the quality of other aspects was naturally not very good.

Moreover, these new recruits had not received any education from military instructors, nor had they experienced "land distribution". Of course, they did not believe that "Marshal Xue" was the "Eighth Master" of God's family. They just shouted "eat Marshal Xue's food and wear Marshal Xue's clothes" because of the relatively generous food and salary.

Fortunately, with the hard training of several hundred veterans from the teaching brigade and the dark hall brought by Wang Dalong and Feng Zicai, they finally looked somewhat capable after about a month. However, compared with the Guangxi and Hunan people in the first and second armies, these new recruits from Shanghai were indeed much inferior.

The former is "I want to practice", while the latter is attracted by the military pay and forced to practice well by the sticks and whips of officers and veterans.

There were already quite a few differences during training, and the difference would probably be even greater when the real fighting started.

Therefore, in Luo Yaoguo's plan, the new army in Shanghai was just a showpiece, and the officers and veterans from the teaching brigade and the dark hall were asked to learn how to train the European-style new army. When Shanghai was settled, the old brothers from Guangxi and Hunan were transferred to reorganize the first and second armies.

If the Upper First and Upper Second Armies could be reorganized into two or three European-style infantry divisions, then Luo Yaoguo's "Dongwu" territory would be truly secure.

Of course, the signboard of Shanghai New Army must continue to be held high!

Only with the Shanghai New Army could there be the Shanghai Special Economic Zone! Only with the Shanghai Special Economic Zone could the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom "reform and open up" and have the opportunity to embark on the path of industrialization.
The current path of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, whether it is the "Hong Yang Line" or the "Luo Feng Line", is unlikely to attract local private capital to develop industry and commerce. Not only will it fail to attract private capital, but it will force private capital to flee.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's policies and business environment were probably not very attractive to foreign capital, foreign traders and foreign talents.

A "special zone" with a superior geographical location and the ability to implement special policies different from those of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty should be very attractive to domestic and foreign capital and talents.

In addition, it is only the 1850s, the Second Industrial Revolution has not yet occurred, and human history is still at the end of the First Industrial Revolution. In this era, the labor force that can be absorbed by industrialization is also limited. Britain and France have only 20 to 30 million people, while the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will soon control 200 million people!

With such a large population and a very high birth rate, it was impossible to absorb the surplus population by relying on industrialization in the mid-19th century. Not only could cities and factories not absorb the excess population, but rural areas with sharp population-land contradictions could not provide food for the excessive urban population.

Therefore, population export is imperative!

In order to achieve a certain scale of population export when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could not obtain sea power, it was necessary to have a "Shanghai Special Zone". After all, it would be unseemly to export population without the "imperial status" of imperialism.
Therefore, Luo Yaoguo had no choice but to put on his fourth-rank official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, and walked towards Sushun, Shengbao, Yuanbao, Li Hongzhang and others with Wang Kuiyi and Cheng Fupei, smiling.

Before he came up to Sushun and the others, Li Hongzhang had already seen him and immediately said to the people around him with a smile: "Master Su, Master Sheng, Master Yuan, Master Bai, Marshal Luo Xue is here."

After hearing his shout, several people lost interest in the appearance of the Shanghai New Army and all turned to look in the direction Li Hongzhang pointed.

Sushun, Shengbao, and Bai Siwen were fine, all smiling and bowing to Luo Xueyan - according to the previous official etiquette, Luo Xueyan, a fourth-rank official, had to perform a great ceremony when meeting Sushun and Shengbao, two first- and second-rank officials. But now, with a gun, you can be a king, Luo Xueyan is the "Snow Marshal", Sushun and Shengbao dare not let him perform a great ceremony.

Seeing Luo Xueyan clasping his fists with them, they also clasped their fists and bowed forward. Li Hongzhang was even more respectful, and quickly stepped forward to bow. Only Yuan Bao stood there as if he was under a spell, and raised his hand to point at Luo Xueyan with thick eyebrows and big eyes, looking torn as if he wanted to shout but didn't dare to. Bai Siwen, who was with him, had already discovered something was wrong. While clasping his hands to Luo Xueyan, he whispered, "Keqin, what's wrong with you?"

"He, he is, he is"

Yuan Bao wanted to say "He was transformed from a demon", but when the words were about to come out of his mouth he realized that something was wrong!

This is someone else's territory. There are two thousand elite foreign rifle soldiers standing next to us. If this devil gives the order, this day next year will be the death anniversary of Guaerjia Yuanbao!

He was in a daze when Luo Xueyan had already finished greeting Sushun and Shengbao and walked towards him with a smile: "Brother Keqin, we meet again! It's been more than half a year since we last met in Hunan. Are you doing well?"

Bai Siwen saw that Luo Xueyan and Yuan Bao were old acquaintances, so he asked with envy: "Keqin, have you and Xue Shuai known each other for a long time?"

Yuan Bao also reacted at this time. His expression changed from surprise to affection. He smiled and clasped his fists: "Brother Xueyan, you are so famous now. You have become the 'Snow Marshal'. I am so jealous of you!"

Luo Xueyan laughed, stepped forward and took Yuanbao's hand, then turned to Sushun, Shengbao and Li Hongzhang and said, "Lord Su, Lord Sheng, Brother Shaoquan, Keqin and I have been good friends since Changsha. I didn't expect to meet again in Kunshan today. What a fate! Brother Keqin, we have to have a few drinks today!"

After hearing what Luo Xueyan said, Yuan Bao knew that the other party still wanted to continue "pretending" and would not attack him for the time being. He felt a little relieved and just dealt with it with a smile on his face.

When Luo Xueyan was still thinking about chatting with the "mooncake thief", his "master" Wu Ruxiao suddenly came running from the city gate of Kunshan County, looking panicked and saying in a low voice: "Xue Shuai, it's bad. The long-haired pseudo-angel Wu Wang Luo Yaoguo has attacked Shanghai County, captured Wu Daotai, killed Yuan Zhixian, and defeated the foreigners who sent troops to intervene. He also took the opportunity to attack the concession! The foreigners in the concession can no longer hold on. The British Vice Consul Wade has come to us in person to ask for help. The carriage has just arrived at the Kunshan County Government."

"what?"

"This is happening!"

"What should I do?"

"Snowy."

Sushun, Shengbao, Bai Siwen, and Li Hongzhang were all horrified when they heard Wu Ruxiao's words. Only Yuanbao looked calm, staring at Luo Xueyan, thinking, "You demon are trying to deceive us again!"

Luo Xueyan also looked nervous, and quickly clasped his fists towards Sushun and the others: "My Lords, let's go to the county government office to meet this Wade-Giles and hear what he has to say!"

"Lord Luo, the situation in Shanghai is very critical now. Luo Yaoguo's army has invaded the French Concession and the British Concession. Our army is small and difficult to resist. Half of the concession has fallen. If you don't send troops quickly, the whole of Shanghai will fall."

In the Kunshan County Government Office, the British Vice-Consul Wade, who had rushed over in a dusty manner, was really anxious. Without waiting for Luo Xueyan, Sushun, Shengbao and others to sit down, he stood up and rushed forward, urgently and quickly asking for help in Chinese.

It seems that Zhu Ba, this "fake devil", fought well!

Luo Xueyan praised him in his heart, and then asked in confusion: "Lord Wei, where do you want me to send troops to save?"

"Save the concessions," Wade said, "Save the French Concession and the British Concession in Shanghai. Only your army can save them now!"

"Oh," Luo Xueyan nodded and asked, "Master Wei, what are the French Concession and the British Concession?"

Wade was stunned by Luo Xueyan's question, and after a long while he said: "The concession is the land purchased by our British Consulate and French Consulate in Shanghai in accordance with the Shanghai Land Lease Regulations signed in 1845, which is specially used for foreigners coming to China to live and engage in business."

Luo Xueyan asked again: "Who will be responsible for the judicial, administrative and defense affairs of the concession? Who will have the sovereignty of the concession?"

(End of this chapter)