The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 452: The Qing Dynasty's Asan Banner and the Huguang and Anhui Crusaders! (Requesting subscription and votes)

The British Governor's House on Hong Kong Island.

The room was full of British diplomats and colonial officers, all of them sitting upright as if under a spell, staring blankly at the dream-like briefing in their hands.

That's right, it was a briefing that was like a dream! According to the report of Li Taiguo and Hurd, the ones who occupied Macau were not the Taiping Army in theory, but the Crusaders of the Catholic Church! Wow, it felt like traveling back to the Middle Ages overnight. It made people wonder whether Queen Victoria was in charge of the UK now, or whether King Charles the Lionheart had resurrected?

However, no matter how outrageous it seems, this thing seems to be true. The Pope now has a division of crusaders! But these crusaders can neither speak English, German, nor French, nor are they blond and blue-eyed Westerners. Instead, they are a group of Oriental faces speaking Chinese dialects such as Hunan, Hubei, and Anhui. Moreover, they don’t shout "God bless, Amen", but "Heavenly Father God bless"... Hey, I don’t know if their "Heavenly Father God" and the Pope’s God are the same "Emperor"?

Although the style of this crusader is a bit strange, it has been certified by Cardinal Paul de Doria of the Nanjing Province of the Catholic Church. If you dare to question it, the cardinal will be furious with you: "You Anglican heretics, what do you know about the Crusade? I know much more than you! I am the cardinal of the old Roman Cross!"

Besides, Macau used to belong to Portugal illegally, but now it has been legally leased by the Vatican and has become the territory of the Pope. The red flag with a white cross, which symbolizes the cardinal's divine power, is flying everywhere in Macau. If the British dare to attack Macau, it would be equivalent to declaring war on Catholics all over the world, and the drama of the religious war would return immediately! What's more terrible is that Macau really has a division of troops of the Pope. If a war breaks out, it will be difficult to deal with!

At this time, Bao Ling, "Mr. Bao", just folded his arms, facing everyone, his brows furrowed like a knot, and did not move at all.

Outside the window is Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. The sun is so bright, and white sails are dotted on the blue sea. But when the sun shines into the conference room, it becomes dim and mysterious in this magical atmosphere.

Bao Ling remained silent, and the atmosphere in the conference room became increasingly strange. The British Consul in Guangzhou, Parkes, who had just returned from Guangzhou in a hurry this morning by steamship, had a bad temper and was a complete imperialist. He had long disliked Luo Yaoguo, the "prophet villain" who pretended to be a god. Even if this guy really had some ability to predict, in his eyes, the British Empire should not indulge him again and again. Back then, when Luo Yaoguo took over the Shanghai Concession in the name of Luo Xueyan, Britain should have immediately sent an expeditionary force to give him a good beating, and it would have been better to knock him down directly. Otherwise, his strength would not have grown like a balloon, and it would have been almost impossible to deal with him now.

Parkes became angrier and angrier as he thought about it. He could not help but snorted in a rough voice: "Mr. Minister, we can't indulge Luo Yaoguo anymore... This will only make his ambitions grow bigger and make him think that our British Empire is weak and can be bullied!"

As he spoke, he stood up with a bang, knocking the tables and chairs with a loud bang. He also waved his fists in the air twice and shouted at the top of his voice: "Sir! Please quickly send the Empire's army and navy stationed in Hong Kong to help the Portuguese restore order in Macau... If you think the number of British troops stationed in Hong Kong is not enough, we can still borrow troops from the Qing army in Guangzhou. The Qing army in Guangzhou has just won a great victory in Sanyuanli, and now its morale is high. Moreover, Shi Dakai's troops who entered Guangdong from Jiangxi are still in Jiaying Prefecture and are unlikely to reach Guangzhou City within a month. We can just seize this time window to solve the Macau issue once and for all!"

Bao Ling finally raised his head, looked at Parkes, frowned and said, "But... Luo Yaoguo agreed to open Guangzhou City!"

When Parkes heard this, he almost fell to the ground in anger. What the hell was going on? Why was this person so obsessed with entering Guangzhou? How could such a broken Guangzhou city be easy to enter?

Moreover, in Guangzhou City at that time, opium could enter, but foreigners could not. When Luo Yaoguo occupied Guangzhou, foreigners could enter, but opium could not.

If opium was not allowed to be sold, what were the foreigners going to do in China? To worship the God of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?

Although Bao Ling's style of doing things is a bit "neurotic", he is Parkes' immediate superior and the British Empire's Minister Plenipotentiary to China!

Even though Parkes had doubts in his heart, he could only stroke his "hair" carefully. Then Parkes said patiently, "Mr. Minister, think about it, if Luo Yaoguo occupies Macau, the Qing army in Guangzhou will be in trouble. They will be attacked from both sides. If Shi Dakai attacks from Jiaying Prefecture again and successfully joins forces with Luo Yaoguo under the city of Guangzhou, Guangzhou will surely fall. If Ye Mingchen still wants to keep Guangzhou, he can only drive Luo Yaoguo away from Macau with our support before Shi Dakai gets close to Guangzhou. And in order to get our support, he has to agree to open Guangzhou. Now he can only make a choice between opening Guangzhou and losing Guangzhou!" Parkes' suggestion sounded reasonable, but Bao Ling's brows were twisted like a knot, and he said with a tangled face, "But Macau is now the territory of the Holy See. If we attack Macau together with the Qing army, it would be equivalent to declaring war on the Catholic Church. We can't do this rashly!"

Upon hearing what Bao Ling said, Parkes secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but still had a smile on his face. He said slowly: "Mr. Minister, since Luo Yaoguo's Taiping Army can wear the clothes of the Crusaders and easily capture Macau under the banner of the Archbishop of Nanjing Province of the Catholic Church, then why can't we send the British troops stationed in Hong Kong, put on the clothes of the Qing army, and attack Macau together with the Qing army in Guangzhou?"

Bao Ling's brows were still furrowed, and he said with disgust, "Harry, you actually want our white officers and soldiers to take off the uniforms that symbolize the honor of the British Army and put on the ridiculous Qing Army uniforms? Is this reasonable?"

Parkes wondered in his heart: "How did this guy become an envoy? What honor can the British Army have? Those officers may be from the middle and upper classes, but the soldiers are all drunkards, social scum and tramps. What honor can they have? Besides, most of the British soldiers stationed in Hong Kong are Indians!"

But after all, Bao Ling was his superior, so Parkes had to coax him patiently: "Mr. Minister, can we let the soldiers change into the uniforms of the Eight Banners? Think about it, the Eight Banners are all nobles, how can they be compared with those ridiculous Green Camp and Tuan Lian. Moreover, most of the people in our army are originally from India, and they have no sense of honor at all."

Bao Ling was finally convinced and waved his hand: "Okay, Harry, you and Horace go to Guangzhou together, and you must get Ye Mingchen's letter of guarantee that he agrees to open Guangzhou City!"

"Yes, sir!" Parkes answered promptly.

It is said that outside Guangzhou, beside Litchi Bay, there is a Haishan Xian Pavilion. This place is like a fairyland. There is a pavilion beside a pond filled with lotus leaves. In this pavilion, sits Ye Mingchen, the most "crazy" person in Guangzhou. He is an old enemy of Minister Bowring and is obsessed with not letting foreigners enter the city. At this moment, he is frowning and looking at the two foreigners sitting in front of him - Parkes and Li Taiguo - with an impatient look on his face.

To be honest, Ye Mingchen had no interest in meeting these two foreigners. Because every time these foreigners met him, they would definitely bring up the matter of entering Guangzhou City, which was annoying. So under normal circumstances, it was not easy for foreigners to meet him. But today was different. He heard that the British Consul in Guangzhou wanted to meet him, and he actually made an appointment at Haishan Xianguan without saying a word.

Why was he so easy to talk to? For one reason, he had just received a report from several big businessmen who had fled back to Guangzhou from Macau: Macau had changed hands! Macau, originally controlled by the Portuguese, was captured effortlessly by the archbishop of the Nanjing Province of the Catholic Church, who led a division of crusaders.

It is said that this division of Crusaders is extremely powerful, and is said to be the elite from the Western Roman Empire. The infantry is called "Crusaders", and everyone is equipped with bayonets and foreign rifles. The cavalry is called the Knights, and everyone is like the "foreign eight banners white armor elite", skilled in archery and horse riding. Moreover, this division of Crusaders has as many as 10,000 people!

What’s even more frightening is that I heard that these Crusaders were sent by the Pope of Rome, the boss of the Catholic Church, to help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fight!

Ye Mingchen was completely unable to sit still and was in a panic. When he first heard that the Guangdong bandits could get help by worshipping God, he thought it was nonsense and thought that the Western God would never give them foreign aid. But he didn't expect that it really happened! The Pope in Rome really sent 10,000 "foreign brothers" to help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fight.

Ye Mingchen thought, he could stop Bao Ling, his old enemy, but could he stop Hong Xiuquan's 10,000 foreign brothers who were armed with guns and live ammunition? There was no way, the situation was stronger than the people! Thinking of this, Ye Mingchen had to sigh helplessly and said to the two foreigners in front of him: "Okay, I agree with your request, Mr. Bao, and Guangzhou City can be opened, but not now. We have to wait until our coalition forces defeat the Crusaders sent by Rome before opening it! I will definitely do what I say, and I will write the letter of guarantee that Mr. Bao wants right away."

(End of this chapter)