Kowloon wins

Chapter 844 The Uninvited Guest

On April [-]th of the first year of Chengde, Emperor Chengde issued three edicts in succession, and the situation in the capital, which was already in turmoil, suddenly boiled over. Amidst the divergent opinions, various forces began a new round of competition and shuffling. Whether it is the Ministry of Punishment or the Ministry of War, or the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Officials, or even the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy, they have all been involved. The whole court is full of smog, and rumors of various versions are flooding everywhere, and no one can see clearly. Where will this dynasty develop? The pattern of chaos is beginning to emerge.

On the first day of May in the first year of Chengde, General Heda of Xi'an was ordered to return to Beijing to take charge of the Fengtai camp. Prince Yong Yunxiang and Prince Ren Hongqing also appeared to cleanse Heda. The matter of reorganizing the army was handed over to Heda, but Heda refused to accept it, saying that he should know nothing about the new army and dare not presume, but he is willing to assist the two princes in handling various details, People waited to part ways.

On May 27th of the first year of Chengde, the fleet of the "Eight Banners Merchant" sailing to Nanyang once again returned with a full load. Escorted by a "Zhen"-class giant ship and four "Wei"-class medium-sized warships, 46 large merchant ships stopped. In Guangzhou Port, according to the accounting of Guangzhou Customs, the total gross profit was more than 870 million taels. After deducting various costs, the net profit was more than 680 million taels, which was a slight increase compared with the same period last year. The range is not large, and there is obviously a risk of lack of follow-up. However, this is not the key to attracting attention to the return of the fleet. What really made the court slightly disturbed was the arrival of the British envoy with the ship.

Since the Kingdom of Great Britain defeated the Spanish Armada in the British-Spanish sea battle, it has become the current maritime overlord. As early as the end of Ming Dynasty, it sent a merchant fleet to Guangzhou to start trade with China. The Qing Dynasty moved the borders to ban the sea, so the trade with China had to be ended, and because the main business direction of the Kingdom of Great Britain was in North America, it only managed India with all its strength in the Far East, and had not yet cooperated with Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, etc. The veteran Far East colonists had direct conflicts, but as the trade volume between the Qing Dynasty's ocean-going fleet and Spain and other countries continued to grow, Spain and other countries certainly made a lot of money, but the British East India Company was greatly affected. The harm is nothing else. The tea, silk, and porcelain in the main business items of the British East India Company are all received from Spain and other countries. Not to mention the high price, the current silver is always in a state of pure outflow. After more than ten years , despite the blood transfusion of India, a huge colony, the silver is already a little bit unsustainable.

It is not that the British East India Company does not want to trade directly with the Qing fleet. In fact, as early as when the Qing fleet first arrived in Nanyang, the company sent commissioners to approach the Qing fleet in an attempt to get a share of the profit. Being rejected mercilessly by the Qing fleet, it was not because the person in charge of the fleet was rich and did not know how to make money, but because this secret order came from Hongqing, the actual helm of the "Eight Banners Firm", and no one dared to violate it Yes, ever since, the British East India Company could only watch helplessly as Spain and other countries made a lot of money. Looking back, they also tentatively sent a small-scale fleet to Guangzhou to try again. The establishment of a commercial base in Guangzhou was sternly rejected by the Guangdong side. Needless to say, this secret order came from Hongqing.

After so many tosses, although the British East India Company will not operate at a loss, its annual profit is shrinking year by year. In order to open up such a huge market as the Qing Dynasty, the company had to lobby the Imperial Parliament with all its strength. After spending a huge price , finally won the full support of the parliament and the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Great Britain, Robert Walpole, and sent a mission to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of last year, intending to start negotiations with the Qing Dynasty on commercial issues. After drifting at sea for more than half a year, I just arrived in India, and wasted nearly half a year because of the monsoon, before I finally arrived in Nanyang and took the Qing Dynasty ocean fleet to Guangzhou. He set foot on the land of the Qing Dynasty without any danger.

Although the envoys of the Kingdom of Great Britain were still on their way to Beijing from Guangzhou, the copies of their credentials were urgently sent from Guangzhou to the capital in accordance with the practice of international diplomacy. The copy of the letter of credence was translated into Chinese, but Lang Erheng, the Minister of the Lifan Academy, had no experience in dealing with relevant negotiations, and he did not dare to make random comments. He just submitted the copy together with the translation to the imperial court. After seeing it, Emperor Chengde didn't know how to deal with it. There is nothing else, in the mainstream thinking of the Qing Dynasty, merchants are still the ones who are still inferior. Even though the industry and commerce in the Qing Dynasty have flourished over the years, and the status of merchants has improved slightly, but it is still Confucianism that occupies the mainstream, and the status of merchants is natural. It is difficult to make any substantive changes. There are very few civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty who understand the way of business. Moreover, the situation of the British envoys traveling thousands of miles just to discuss trade matters is really the situation since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. In the first case, a group of ministers of military aircraft did not know who to send to contact them. After discussions, they still had no clue. In the end, Emperor Chengde became impatient and directly decided to let Prince Ren Hongqing go. Take care of it.

When the imperial decree was issued, Hong Qing was busy with the reorganization of the army in the Fengtai Camp, and when she received the imperial edict to be in charge of negotiating matters with the British envoys, although Hong Qing had expected it, she was still extremely upset , nothing else, don't look at Emperor Chengde's imperial edict, which is full of hype, as if no one can handle this negotiation except Hong Qing, but in fact, it is to create a new breakthrough for Heda The opportunity to reorganize the army, I didn't see that it was written very clearly in the imperial edict-everything should be based on national affairs, and a safe solution must be discussed with the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the prestige of my Qing Dynasty must not be compromised. As for the matter of reorganizing the army, it can be handed over It may be suitable for Heda to handle it.

Compatible?The two are compatible, nothing more than asking Heda to seize the opportunity to stuff people into the new army, and poach Hongqing's corner along the way. The implication is too obvious, nothing else, the British Mission They have just set off from Guangzhou, no matter how hard they rush, it will take more than a month to arrive in Beijing, Hongqing is required to hand over the power of the entire army so early, even a fool can see the strangeness inside, let alone Hongqing This is someone who is so shrewd to the extreme.

"Go, invite Admiral He here."

No matter how upset you are, Emperor Chengde's imperial edict has arrived, but Hong Qing can't be troubled and procrastinated. After sending away Li Dequan who came to deliver the edict, Hong Qing's voice was weak as soon as he returned to the office. Handi gave an order.

"twitter!"

Ding Song is the eldest son of "Thousand-handed Avalokitesvara" Ding Yan. He grew up in Xiaochuanzi Hutong since he was a child. I have followed Hong Qing for ten years, even though he has just been promoted to the commander of the guards, he has a good understanding of Hong Qing's character. With a groan, he left the office in a hurry, and didn't mention it since he went to summon Heda.

"The last general kowtows to the prince!"

Heda came very quickly, but he was in a mess, nothing else, because Heda had never worked in the yamen in the past month since he took office, and he went out with ordinary soldiers every day. , a training session, whether it is shooting or groping, Heda can put down the admiral's airs and treat himself like an ordinary soldier. Today is no exception. The soldiers of the first regiment of the division were performing tactical maneuvers. Hearing Hong Qing's summons, they didn't even have time to change their clothes. How do you tell people to look at it, why don't you pinch it.

"Isn't Lao He not bad? After such a whole process, he really became a big soldier."

Ever since Heda arrived at Fengtai Daying, Hong Qing really had never had much conversation with him, nor had she tested Heda's true thoughts, so she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with Heda in her heart, but Hong Qing didn't He wouldn't show it, no, when he joked about Heda, he was as casual as before.

"My lord laughed at me. I am really terrified of being treated so favorably by Your Majesty. The poor general is old and old, and it's okay to play hand-to-hand combat. But the general will lead this new army, which is really beyond the ranks of the last general." In addition to the general's ability, look, my lord, the last general didn't even become a good soldier, but today, he was underestimated by all the young men, it's really pitiful."

Heda was obviously not aware of the edict issued by Emperor Chengde, and thought that Hongqing was trying to test his experience in participating in the performance, so he laughed at himself.

"Heh, old He can suffer so much. After a few months, he must be able to master the essentials of new army training. The so-called sweating more in peacetime and bleeding less in wartime is such a rationale. Regarding your old He's ability, this king can't help it. Trustworthy, that’s all, let’s not talk about it, I just received the edict from Huang Ama, and I have to go back to the city to preside over the negotiations with the envoys of the Kingdom of Great Britain. According to His Majesty’s will, the reorganization of the new army will be taken care of by you, old He, for the time being. , if you don’t understand anything, you can ask Prince Yong for advice, or you can discuss with the generals, and if anyone dares to make trouble, you can just come and find me, and I will be the master for you!”

Hong Qing smiled and praised Heda a few words, and then turned to the topic, with a serious face, she had clearly explained the intention of calling Heda to come, and what she said seemed to be casual, but inside But there is another mystery. As for whether Heda can understand it, it depends on whether Heda has that kind of thought.

"This..., Wang Ye Mingjian, the last general has not yet become a soldier, how can he have the ability to organize an army, if it goes wrong, the consequences will be easy to play, wrong, big wrong, the last general I have resigned, and I ask Your Majesty to appoint another wise person, whether it is Tashan or Zhang Miao, they are infinitely better than the last general."

Heda obviously didn't expect that what Hong Qing asked him to come here to talk about was such a thing, he couldn't help being taken aback, and then hurriedly resigned in a high-profile way.

"It doesn't matter, since Huang Ama entrusted the mission to you, Lao He, he believes that you will be able to make a difference, so there is no need to discuss this matter again, and it is fine if it is settled like this. I will hand over the general matters to you first."

When it comes to the ability to observe facial expressions, there are not many people in the world who can compare with Hong Qing. No matter how well Heda conceals it, he can't hide it from Hong Qing's piercing eyes, so he can see that Heda is already strong. Those who wanted to follow Emperor Chengde felt their heart sank, but it didn't bring it to their face, they just smiled indifferently, waved their hands, and gave the order in an unquestionable tone.

(End of this chapter)