Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

It can be said that in this era...

The British Empire and the Gallic Empire were undoubtedly the two greatest robbers in the world.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to plunder so much wealth from around the world, nor control so many colonies.

When faced with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Gauls also displayed their bandit nature to the fullest extent.

Unfortunately, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not the Qing Dynasty. Its backbone was not broken. Therefore, the Gauls' blackmail or threats of war had no effect whatsoever.

"Your Excellency, if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is willing to apologize to us, immediately and unconditionally release our consuls and diplomatic personnel, and at the same time compensate both us and the British Empire with 20 million taels of silver, then we can forgive the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

In addition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also had to agree to open cities along the Yangtze River as trading ports and allow us to set up an embassy in Jiangning City, etc.

In this way, war can be avoided.

Otherwise, our powerful fleet and army will directly destroy your country!

Gu Si, the Gallic envoy to the Qing Empire, wore a proud expression.

Despite having hundreds of thousands of troops, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once inflicted heavy losses on the Qing Empire on the battlefield.

But in Gu Si's eyes, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still just a backward country.

Such a nation and army had already defeated countless enemies when Gaul plundered the world.

"Your Excellency, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot accept your conditions. On the contrary, the Kingdom of Heaven believes that your consul's formation of an army and attack on the Kingdom of Heaven's army constitutes war against the Kingdom of Heaven."

Both the Gallo Empire and the British Empire had to give an explanation to the Heavenly Kingdom and compensate it for its losses.

Otherwise, Heaven will absolutely not let this go!

Li Hongzhang said with a cold face.

Since these foreign devils were so arrogant and even wanted to rob the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Li Hongzhang naturally wouldn't be polite to them.

Ambassador Gu was dumbfounded. He seemed not to have expected such a response from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

As one of the most powerful nations in the world, or rather, one of the two most powerful robbers in the world, they have always been the ones robbing other countries.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom actually turned around and demanded compensation from them; they were simply out of their minds!

"Your Excellency, are you serious? Do you intend to wage war against the Empire? And challenge both the Empire and the British Empire simultaneously? Do you have some misunderstanding about the strength of the Empire and the British Empire?" Minister Gu asked with great surprise.

It's important to understand that the British Empire was a global superpower, and the Gallic Empire was also one of the world's top superpowers.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was merely a rebellious regime within the Qing Empire.

However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not take the Gallic Empire and the British Empire seriously at all.

This was completely unexpected by Minister Gu Si.

At that time, no country in the world would have dared to challenge both the British Empire and the Gallic Empire at the same time!

"Your Excellency, Heavenly Kingdom does not wish to be your enemy. However, you have now dared to bully Heavenly Kingdom. Heavenly Kingdom has nowhere left to retreat. Since you wish to wage war against Heavenly Kingdom, then Heavenly Kingdom will grant you that war!" Li Hongzhang said with a serious expression.

The foreign devils thought that by threatening war, they could force the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to back down and beg for mercy. They were really delusional.

"Your Excellency, you have absolutely no chance of winning against the Empire and the British Empire. You will definitely lose the war. You should think this through!" Minister Gu Si reminded him.

Minister Gu Si's intentions were not benevolent; rather, he sought to win without a fight if possible.

Or rather, they get everything they want through extortion.

War is merely a last resort after blackmail fails.

"No, Your Excellency. If the Gallic Empire and the British Empire were to wage war against the Heavenly Kingdom, then you would surely be the ones to lose!" Li Hongzhang said confidently.

Minister Gu Si found it difficult to understand Li Hongzhang's actions; he could only conclude that Li Hongzhang, or rather the high-ranking officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, had gone mad.

It is utterly impossible to believe that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could defeat the Gallic Empire and the British Empire.

"Very well, Your Excellency. Since you want war, then we'll give you war. However, I hope you won't regret it later. If you are defeated on the battlefield, then you will pay an even greater price!" Minister Gu said viciously.

"Your Excellency, this also applies to you." Li Hongzhang was not intimidated.

This meeting was destined to end unhappily.

Minister Gu Si did not stay in Tianjing City for long.

After concluding his meeting with Li Hongzhang, he immediately set off back to Hong Kong.

Since the extortion attempt against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom failed...

Therefore, the only remaining option was to force the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to submit through war.

They must have a good discussion and strive to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in one fell swoop in the upcoming war.

After concluding his meeting with Minister Gu Si, Li Hongzhang immediately went to the Heavenly King's Palace to report the situation to Hong Tian.

"Your Majesty, as we expected, the foreign devils are indeed extremely arrogant and greedy. They have not only threatened us with war, but also demanded that we compensate them for a total loss of 40 million taels of silver. Furthermore, they have demanded that we open more ports for trade and allow them to set up embassies and consulates, etc." Li Hongzhang was very angry.

This was his first time dealing with foreigners, and he was naturally shocked by their arrogance and greed.

"That's how foreign devils are; they prioritize profit above all else. Or rather, they're insatiable. They're like robbers, trying to rob us. If we're defeated by them in a war, they'll enslave our people and our descendants."

Faced with such bandits, we had no other choice but to defeat them through war.

Only in this way can we make them clearly realize that we are not easy to bully, nor are we objects they can humiliate at will.

Hong Tian had long since seen through the true nature of the foreign devils.

Li Hongzhang nodded repeatedly, confirming his own conviction on this point.

"Let's leave it at that regarding the foreign devils. For now, all we can do is deal with them as they come. Once we defeat them on the battlefield, that will be the time for these foreign devils to pay the price."

We'll see how arrogant and cocky they can be then!

Hong Tian said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Hongzhang nodded repeatedly.

It's pointless to say anything more now.

Ultimately, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom needed to defeat the foreign devils on the battlefield before they could force the foreign devils to lower their noble heads.

Otherwise, with their arrogance and hubris, the foreign devils would naturally not have taken the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom seriously.

After leaving Nanjing, Gu Si, the Gallic envoy to the Qing Empire, went directly to Hong Kong and met with Count Elgin, the British envoy to the Qing Empire.

Minister Gu Si informed Count Elgin of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's tough stance.

This greatly angered Count Elgin.

If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be forced to compromise and back down through extortion, thus achieving their goals, that would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

But the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not intimidated.

This undoubtedly made their plan a failure.

With no other option, Count Elgin and Minister Gu Si decided to first eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the upcoming military campaign.

Originally, they planned to use force against the Qing Empire and plunder it.

But now, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has emerged first. So, they have no choice but to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first.

At the same time, military action against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom served to deter the Qing Empire.

Perhaps, we can even win without a fight and force the Qing Empire to submit.

In that case, they have achieved their goal.