Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Your Majesty, it is a great pleasure to meet you. In the world today, you are definitely the youngest emperor."

Henry Benson, the British Consul General in Songjiang Prefecture, exclaimed.

An emperor who is not even seven years old is absolutely impossible to have on the European continent.

Moreover, he was an emperor who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, making him even more rare.

"Your Excellency, hello!" Hong Tian replied.

"Your Majesty, the Empire has always supported the trade between you and Mr. Edward. Furthermore, the Empire hopes to further expand trade with your country."

Furthermore, we can cooperate in many areas.

Consul General Henry Benson said.

Henry Benson also had his own revenge; he was currently the acting consul general. However, he hoped to drop the "acting" title and become the official consul general.

Ideally, he would go even further and become the British Empire's envoy to the Qing Empire.

Therefore, he must achieve even more.

"Your Excellency, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is willing to engage in more trade with the British Empire. However, I hope that our future trade can be more fair. Prices cannot be as high as before!" Hong Tian said.

Previously, they had been buying steam engines, steel, copper ingots, and saltpeter from Edward at high prices.

If transactions continued at such prices, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would be at a great disadvantage.

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom took over Daye, they still needed to build a steel plant and so on, and a lot of equipment needed to be imported from abroad.

At that time, we may be able to break free from our dependence on foreign steel suppliers.

However, saltpeter still needs to be imported in large quantities.

The province with the richest saltpeter reserves in China is Sichuan, followed by Shanxi, which has abundant saltpeter resources, and Shandong, which has abundant raw saltpeter resources. Other provinces also have some saltpeter resources, but mining and refining them are relatively complicated.

As the Taiping army acquired more and more muskets and cannons, their consumption of gunpowder also increased.

This further stimulated the consumption of resources such as saltpeter.

"Your Majesty, of course, no problem. In addition to selling you the machinery and supplies you need, we also hope to import tea, silk, porcelain, and other unique products of the East from you!" Edward said.

Previously, Hong Tian and Edward's transactions involved directly purchasing supplies with gold and silver.

Now that Hong Tian has become the Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he can naturally expand trade.

"No problem!" Hong Tian replied.

The area currently controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom already produced large quantities of tea, silk, and porcelain.

These goods remain highly sought after in the Western world.

If they can be shipped back, the profits can at least double.

"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, you are at a disadvantage in the war with the Qing Empire. If you need it, the Empire may be able to provide you with some assistance."

For example, the weapons and equipment you need.

Alternatively, it's not impossible for them to directly send troops to help you.

Consul Henry Benson said.

"Your Excellency, I know there's no such thing as a free lunch. So, what do we need to give in return?" Hong Tian asked.

He knew very well that these foreign devils would never help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for no reason.

In another timeline, the foreigners claimed to remain neutral between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchus. However, in reality, they caused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom considerable trouble. Besides selling large quantities of weapons and equipment to the Manchus, they also specifically formed a foreign-equipped corps to oppose the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Now, the foreign devils are offering to help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but this is nothing more than them wanting to seize more benefits and interests.

"Your Majesty, if Your Majesty agrees, after defeating the Qing Empire, open more treaty ports to us. Furthermore, allow us to establish concessions in these treaty ports. At the same time, further reduce customs duties."

It would be best if your country's customs could be managed by us. After all, you are quite backward in this area. Our people are more professional. This would be much more beneficial to your country!

Consul Henry Benson made the request.

The British Empire hoped to further expand trade with the East and earn more profits through trade.

Although the Tartars have opened some ports for trade, the volume of trade is still far from sufficient for the British.

At the same time, the self-sufficient small-scale farming economy in China makes it difficult for the goods of the British Empire to find a market.

As a result, they have consistently been in a trade deficit.

Large amounts of silver flowed continuously from abroad into the East.

In an effort to reverse the trade deficit, the British Empire resorted to large-scale opium smuggling.

They even launched a war over it.

Hong Tian shook his head: "Your Excellency, after we overthrow the Manchu rule, we can further expand trade with the British Empire. However, I hope it will be normal and fair trade. As for unequal treaties, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not agree to them!"

Consul Henry Benson raised an eyebrow.

"Your Majesty, shouldn't you reconsider? Your country and army are at a disadvantage in the war against the Qing Empire. If you are defeated, your country will be destroyed."

Given the brutality of the Qing Dynasty's rulers, your fate is predictable.

Consul Henry Benson's words carried a strong sense of threat.

"Your Excellency, I believe in my generals and soldiers. We will definitely defeat the Tartars!" Hong Tian's attitude was resolute.

Seeing this, Consul Henry Benson had no choice but to say nothing more.

He knew that his plan had failed this time.

However, he will not give up easily.

He believed that when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was driven to the brink of collapse, it would surely request the help of the British Empire. At that time, it might be able to propose even more demanding conditions.

Even though Hong Tian and Consul Henry Benson were unable to reach an agreement.

However, Hong Tian and Edward eventually reached an agreement on trade.

Edward will sell twenty steam engines to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at a relatively favorable price. In addition, there will be large quantities of steel, copper ingots, and saltpeter, among other things.

The price is half the price of before.

However, because Hongtian's purchasing volume was large enough, Edward still made a lot of money.

At the same time, Hongtian also ordered equipment from Edward for a shipyard and a steel mill.

The shipyard will be located in Tianjing City and used to build warships, transport ships, and so on.

As for the steel plant, the plan was to locate it in Daye to ensure that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be self-sufficient in steel.

Upon his departure, Consul Henry Benson stated that the door to cooperation from the British Empire remained open to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He added that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could contact him at any time if needed.

However, the conditions will definitely be completely different then.

Clearly, Consul Henry Benson had a very low opinion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and did not believe they could win the war against the Manchus.

"These foreign devils, they're still determined to destroy us! They clearly want to turn the whole country into their colony!" Hong Tian exclaimed.

Hong Tian felt greatly threatened by the British Empire's ambitions.

It's just that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still relatively weak and unable to compete with the British Empire.

Therefore, Hong Tian did not dare to break off relations with the Sunless People right now.

In addition, there is a large amount of machinery, equipment and supplies that need to be imported from the British.

There's nothing we can do but pretend to be friendly with people who don't fall on the same day for now.

Ultimately, it is essential for the entire nation to become strong. Only then will it have the strength to contend with the world's greatest power, and only then will it have the opportunity to retaliate against the world's greatest power and wipe away past humiliations.

Until then, all we could do was endure it.

Hong Tian believed that as long as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could defeat the Tartars in the upcoming war and unify the entire country, it would be a great victory.

At the same time, we vigorously developed industry and carried out large-scale infrastructure construction such as railways and highways to stimulate the economic development of the entire country.

Soon, this ancient nation will be able to shake off its decline, rise again, and become strong. No country will be able to bully this ancient nation and its people again!