The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 327: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Special Envoy Hong Daquan (Request for subscription, request for votes)
Brown's Hotel, London.

"What? Joining forces with Britain to attack Russia? Shaoquan, do you know how vicious the Russian soldiers are? Do you know how empty our Mongolian and northeastern borders are? Not to mention that there is still the Taiping Rebellion in the south. Even if the world is at peace, we can't defeat Russia!"

When Sushun heard Li Hongzhang talking about the alliance with Britain to attack Russia, he jumped up and looked at Li Hongzhang as if he was a fool.

Li Hongzhang, the "Secretary of the Chinese Emperor", was quite free these days. He either danced with the Queen or slept with the Princess. He was really lucky. But "Prince Sushun" had a lot of headaches!

He had to arrange diplomatic negotiations with the British government.

Sushun came all the way to Europe this time to seek "help in exorcising the devil", but where is there free aid in the world?
The British don't believe in destroying the devil!

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to obtain military assistance from Britain, it would have to pay a sufficient price.

And the British want a lot!
Not only did they demand the opening of more ports, ensuring that British merchants could freely enter and exit open port cities, and allowing British missionaries to preach freely in China, they also demanded joint management of customs and ensuring that British goods could move unimpeded within China after customs clearance and no longer pay any tolls, otherwise the customs duties would have to be refunded!
It was easy to open ports and ensure the free entry and exit of British merchants, but Sushun could never agree to allow British missionaries to preach freely, jointly manage customs and ensure that British goods could flow freely within China after clearing customs.

If we allow free preaching, won’t there be frequent incidents? In fact, incidents are a means of preaching! It’s fine if it’s not allowed, but if it is allowed, won’t there be major incidents every now and then? Then there will be endless trouble.

How could the Qing Dynasty ensure that British goods could flow freely in the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? If Sushun agreed to this, it would be equivalent to agreeing to exempt British goods from tariffs.

If Sushun did not agree to these items, the British would cut off the import of arms to the Qing Dynasty, and they would even call it "neutrality", not to mention sending foreign generals and soldiers to help the Qing Dynasty train new soldiers!

And now, who knows where the war in the Qing Dynasty has ended?
When Sushun thought about this, his head almost exploded.

But Li Hongzhang and Wang Libin wanted to make trouble for Master Su. They went to see the Queen of England several times. I don't know what kind of magic potion they were fed. They were so bold that they wanted to drag the Qing Dynasty to form an alliance with England to fight against Russia.
"Master Su, please don't be impatient. Just listen to me and I will tell you slowly."

Li Hongzhang was confident. On the way back, he had analyzed the situation with Wang Libin and felt that the Queen of England's suggestion was feasible. He said solemnly: "It is not important whether we can defeat Russia or not. What is important is that the two great powers, Britain and France, are going to war with the Russian Empire. Once we help Britain and France deal with Russia, we will be their allies!
We have formed an alliance with Britain and France, so why would the British government hold us back and refuse to sell us arms? Not only do they have to sell us arms, they also have to send foreign generals and soldiers to help us train our new army, and even help us open our own factories to manufacture foreign guns and cannons! "

Wang Libin echoed, "Lord Su, this opportunity cannot be missed! Don't be afraid that Russia is strong. The combined armies of Britain and France are not weaker than the Russian army, and Britain's navy is invincible! As long as Britain can send a fleet to our northeast, we won't be afraid of Russian soldiers moving south. After all, Russia's northeastern coastline is also very long, and I don't know how many troops are needed to defend it."

After hearing what the two said, Sushun felt a little moved, but he did not nod so quickly. Instead, he turned his head and looked at Bai Siwen, the "Russia expert".

Bai Siwen said, "Lord Su, what Lan Qing said is correct. The territory on both sides of the Heilongjiang River is vast and sparsely populated, with dense old forests, and the army has to move by water. And the Heilongjiang River is the main stream of the waterway in that area! In other words, whoever can control the Heilongjiang River can move freely and remain invincible. If the Russians want to invade our territory, they must go through the Heilongjiang River."

"Go through Heilongjiang? How are they going to do that?" Sushun still didn't quite understand.

"Come from the Arctic Ocean, from the Temple Street entrance, and go upstream." Bai Siwen said, "As long as the British can send a fleet into the Heilongjiang River, we have nothing to fear. As for the Russians' strong military, as long as they can't transport troops from the sea, they can't keep a large number of troops in the Heilongjiang River basin. As long as we have thousands of new troops trained by the British, we can ensure that no inch of land in the Northeast is lost, and we can even drive out the Russian troops on Sakhalin Island!"

Although Sakhalin was still the territory of the Qing Dynasty according to the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the Russians had landed on Sakhalin as early as the Qianlong period and occupied most of the territory on Sakhalin. The remaining part was not in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, but was occupied by the Japanese.

In addition, the plan for the Tsarist Russian armed invasion of Heilongjiang had actually been prepared long ago!
Muravyov, the Governor-General of East Siberia of Russia, had long ago submitted to the Tsar a plan to lead an armed fleet from Miaojie into the Heilongjiang River basin for an armed cruise and to establish a Cossack settlement in the area around the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

If nothing unexpected happens, this plan will be implemented in the spring of 1854. And establishing a stronghold at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River is just the beginning. Muravyov's goal is to establish a stronghold along the Heilongjiang River, deploy a fleet, and eventually annex the entire northern bank of the Heilongjiang River, and even want to eat up part of the territory on the southern bank of the Heilongjiang River that is close to the sea.

"Lord Su, this is a good thing that will kill two birds with one stone!" Li Hongzhang didn't know much about the situation in the Northeast, but after listening to Bai Siwen's introduction, he immediately became excited. "It seems that the queen has good intentions. We can't offend her, otherwise this mission might fail."

Sushun frowned and said, "But we still have the Taiping Rebellion to suppress in our country, where can we spare the energy?"

Yuan Bao reminded: "Master Su, if our Qing Dynasty becomes an ally of Britain and France, then wouldn't the long-haired Taiping Heavenly Kingdom be an enemy of Britain and France?"

"Yes!" Sushun's eyes lit up, "As long as we form an alliance with Britain and France, the Taiping rebels are the enemies of Britain and France. This alliance must be formed! Yuanbao, Siwen, Shaoquan, Lanqing, let's discuss it carefully and see how to negotiate an alliance with the British."

Huangpu River, Yangshupu Wharf.

A wooden steam paddle steamer with a displacement of only 600-700 tons was quietly moored at a corner of the dock, surrounded by armed Shanghai New Army soldiers, guarding the ship in three layers. Under the command of two New Army officers, dock workers carried packages of goods onto the small armed merchant ship.

This wooden-hulled steam armed merchant ship originally belonged to an American trading company called Thomas Hunt Company. It had just come to Shanghai to engage in trade not long ago. Somehow it got in touch with the Wu Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and was bought by King Wu Luo. Captain James Gough and more than 20 sailors from Southeast Asia and the Philippines were all hired by the Wu Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Now this wooden steamship has become the "main ship" of the Wuwangfu Navy and is named "Holy Angel".

However, the "Holy Angel" moored at the Yangshupu Wharf in Shanghai at this time did not fly the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but instead hung a listless American Flag.

Luo Yaoguo was walking on the dock next to the "Holy Angel" with Jiao Liang and Xu Yuegui, while explaining something.

"Daquan, I originally wanted to get a 32-2-ton ship to send you to Nagasaki, Japan, so as to strengthen the reputation of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, such a large paddle-wheeled gunboat cannot be bought with money. This 'Holy Angel' is already the largest paddle-wheeled armed merchant ship I can buy. There is only one 12-pound cannon and two -pound secondary guns on the ship. It can't move violently after entering Nagasaki Port!"

Jiao Liang smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. This steam gunboat is enough to show off. When I was trapped in the Qing demon prison, I was able to get out just by being strong. Now I have a gunboat, a guard, and a letter from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even the small Japanese dare not treat me with courtesy."

Luo Yaoguo nodded: "Okay! Then I wish you smooth sailing!"

Jiao Liang clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, King Wu, for living five thousand years!"

It turns out that this "Hong Daquan" went to Japan to handle diplomacy as a special envoy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Luo Yaoguo originally planned to send him to Southeast Asia to serve as Luo Dagang's deputy, but now the situation has changed. Luo Xueyan has already negotiated with the envoys of Britain, France and the United States for the four countries to jointly visit Japan.

Since the four-nation coalition of Britain, France, the United States and Qing Dynasty was going to bully Japan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would of course be kind enough to help the Japanese devils respect their king and expel the barbarians.

(End of this chapter)