The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 251 The Great Wall will never fall! (Please subscribe and vote)

"Mr. Minister, our concession has been taken back by the Chinese."

When Consul Aliguo said this, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and in his heart he was cursing all the ancestors of Vice Consul Wade beside him!
"Fuck you!" Wenxian was furious on the spot, staring at Alcock and Wade and shouting: "How dare they? Why don't you kill all the Chinese soldiers standing outside the dock? You should and must do this, instead of handing over the British Empire's territory at the mouth of the Yangtze River to them!"

"Mr. Ambassador, things are a little different from what you think."

"The Chinese soldiers standing on the Bund now are not the Chinese soldiers who attacked the concessions. In fact, it was they who saved all the foreigners in the British and French concessions."

Alcock and Wade-Giles talked back and forth, and finally told Minister Bowring the whole process of the "fall" of the British and French Concessions in Shanghai.

When the two men finished speaking, their boss was dumbfounded and could not speak for a long time. After a long while, he stammered, "How can you agree to abolish the Shanghai Land Regulations? Don't you know how important this port city is to the interests of the British Empire in the Far East?

Compared with Shanghai, Hong Kong Island is nothing. If I had a choice, I would rather be the Governor of Shanghai than the Governor of Hong Kong! "

In fact, Hong Kong was not what the British wanted most. What they wanted at first was Dinghai, which was closer to the Yangtze River estuary. However, Shanghai, which is located at the Yangtze River estuary, has the Huangpu River, an inland deep-water port, and can also connect to the Jiangnan water network, is obviously more advantageous than Dinghai!
To this day, the British are still suffering from heavy losses in Hong Kong. After taking office as Governor, Bonham has been trying every means to cut spending. In four years, the government spending of more than 60,000 pounds a year was reduced to more than 30,000 pounds, almost halved. All infrastructure construction was stopped, and the salaries of the garrison and civil servants were also greatly reduced. However, due to the collective boycott of British merchants by Guangzhou merchants, the financial revenue of the Hong Kong British authorities has deteriorated. There is no hope for development at all.

In contrast, Shanghai has been thriving for ten years since its opening as a port. Its concessions have been expanding again and again, and its trade volume has been rising steadily. If we only look at the total import and export trade volume, Shanghai has now surpassed the old port of Guangzhou.

But such a "chicken that lays golden eggs" was actually lost by two idiots, Alcock and Wade!
"Mr. Minister, if you are against the abolition of the Shanghai Land Regulations, you can completely reject the Abolition of the Shanghai Land Lease Regulations and Related Post-Agreement."

"Mr. Minister, I am the only one who signed this agreement, and I am only a vice-consul. My signature is completely insignificant."

Seeing that Minister Bonham was angry, Alcock and Wade had to find a way to cheat.

But their suggestion attracted a vicious look from Wen Xian: "The problem now is not whether this damn agreement is valid, but a fait accompli. Now there are 2,000 fully armed Chinese soldiers stationed in the concession. The barricades in the western part of the concession have not been removed. Many tall buildings are still under their control. Outside the concession, there are another 4,000 equally elite Chinese soldiers who can enter the concession at any time!
We and the French have less than 500 soldiers in total! On average, one white soldier has to deal with twelve Chinese soldiers with almost the same equipment and training. I don't see any chance of winning. If our people could win, we wouldn't be invaded by a mere 1,000 Taiping soldiers and build barricades in the concession! "

Aliguo whispered: "That was an accident. Our people were attacking the Chinese customs office at that time."

"You idiot!" Bonham waved his fist and cursed, "Attack the customs of a sovereign country! How did you come up with this? Did the House of Commons pass the declaration of war? Did Her Majesty the Queen sign the decree of war? If you dare to do this in Europe, you will definitely be hanged!"

In fact, if what Aliguo did was successful as it happened in history, then there would be plenty of reasons for everything, such as customs corruption and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom not recognizing the Qing Dynasty customs in the territories it occupied. You can always find the reasons if you look for them.

But if we can’t take it down, then the nature of the situation is completely different!

If they can conquer it, then it is imperialism that represents human civilization and progress! If they cannot conquer it, then it is a loser! Imperialism can be bad, but it cannot be loser!

Wen Xian took a few deep breaths and said to the two people in front of him: "I can neither reject nor approve this agreement now. Let's put it aside for now. By the way, we can't act blindly now. If we fail again, we will lose the prestige established in the last war. Fortunately, our concession in Shanghai actually has no legal basis. The Shanghai Concession has never been the territory of Her Majesty the Queen. It is just a land lease agreement reached between the consulate and the Shanghai authorities."

"Mr. Minister, in fact, the land lease agreement is still valid." Wade quickly added, "I believe that we will gain greater economic benefits from the new Shanghai under Luo Xueyan's rule than ever before!" Aliguo also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Lord Luo Xueyan is a leader who truly understands Western civilization and has the ability to change this country! Under his governance, Shanghai will surely become the leading metropolis in the Far East."

"But that's not our metropolis!" Wen Xian said coldly, "There are many such leaders in Europe and in the United States. They can make their countries make great progress, and British businessmen can also gain benefits in the process. But this benefit will not last long. Once their countries develop, they will seek regional hegemony and exclude the influence and interests of the British Empire.

Considering China's size and its traditional influence in East Asia and Southeast Asia, we will lose a lot if they become strong."

"So what should we do now?" Aliguo asked, "Can we still cooperate with Luo Xueyan?"

Wen Xian sighed: "Let's cooperate first. By the way, is Jiangning Prefecture currently under the rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

"Yes, Jiangning has been completely controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." Aliguo said.

Wen Xian nodded: "Then I must go to Jiangning in person. Please make arrangements for me. I want to go to Jiangning as soon as possible, and it would be best if I could meet the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

"Yes, Mr. Minister!"

"After a century of slumber, the Chinese people are gradually waking up. Open your eyes and look carefully. Who is willing to consider themselves a captive? Because of cowardice and tolerance, their arrogance is growing day by day."

Shanghai, The Bund, as the melodious song "God Save the Queen" ended, thousands of Guangdong-born Shanghai New Army officers and soldiers sang the Shanghai New Army's military song "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" in Cantonese. They sang it in front of foreign colonists and Qing feudal bureaucrats such as the Governor of Hong Kong and British Minister to China John Bowring, the first imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty Su Shun, and the Assistant Minister of Military Affairs of Jiangsu Shengbao.

As the song "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" was sung, a military flag embroidered with the seven big characters "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" slowly rose up, fluttering in the wind along with a Union Jack.

The Governor of Hong Kong and British Minister to China, Sir John Bowring, saluted the slowly rising flag and felt strange - it had only been a few days since he last saw the Qing Dynasty, so how come there was already a "national anthem"?

The tune of this national anthem sounds quite exciting, but I don't know what the lyrics are? I'll ask Wade to translate it later.

Like Wenxian, others were also surprised. Of course, they did not understand Cantonese. They were even more confused about why they had to sing opera to welcome the foreign envoys? They even sang Cantonese opera.
Of course, there were some who could understand it. For example, Wu Jianzhang and his grandson Wu Chaoyue, who were released when the Taiping Army evacuated Shanghai, were both from Guangdong. Of course, they could understand what those Guangdong fellows were singing.

As a result, both of them turned pale.

What does "a hundred years of coma" mean? A hundred years ago, it was the eighteenth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign! That was a prosperous era! How could it be coma?

What does "Chinese people are gradually waking up" mean? What are they waking up for? Overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, or wanting peace and unification? Oh, by the way, Luo Xueyan's family once founded a republic! Is this to emulate Washington and start a republican revolution?
What about "The Great Wall will never fall down"? The current Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty! Didn't the Qing Dynasty's entry into the country mean the fall of the Great Wall? Do you want it to never fall down? Or do you want to rebel?
And there is also the saying "Robbers who have invaded throughout history will eventually lose their lives." Is this robber a British or a Manchu?
If this song had been sung during the Qianlong period, it would have been the subject of literary inquisition, and anyone who sang it would have had to be put to death!
Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue, grandfather and grandson, finally understood that they were already on board a pirate ship!

(End of this chapter)