1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 536 The Qing Dynasty cannot be relied on, you have to rely on yourself

At the end of July 1857, Britain officially declared war on the Qing Dynasty.

Less than a week after Britain declared war on the Qing Dynasty, France also officially declared war on the Qing Dynasty.

The British and French soon reached an agreement on forming a coalition army to expedition to the Qing Dynasty.

In view of the heavy casualties caused by the Battle of Humen to the British army, British senior officials increased the strength of the first Far East Expeditionary Force from 49 warships of various types and more than 6,400 officers and men to 53 warships of various types and more than 8,400 officers and men.

France also increased the strength of the expeditionary force from 12 warships of various types and more than 1,500 officers and men to 18 warships of various types and more than 1,800 officers and men.

An army of 71 warships and 10,200 people set out from the English Channel and rushed towards the city of Guangzhou with great force.

At the same time, the Manchu princes of the Qing Dynasty were unaware of this matter and were still immersed in the joy of the Battle of Humen.

Emperor Xianfeng even praised Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Bai Gui, the governor of Guangdong.

"The late emperor often regretted and resented the Southeast Campaign during his lifetime. In the more than two hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, we have never suffered such humiliation.

The late emperor often said that after the small setbacks in "Jiangning Tiao", our Qing Dynasty will definitely make great progress. What is Dashen? The battle of Humen was a great victory. Such a great victory was enough to comfort the late emperor and the spirits of our ancestors.

Among the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty who knew the affairs of the barbarians and barbarians, no one could surpass Ye Mingchen. Ye Mingchen has been governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for more than nine years, but he has not allowed the British barbarians to enter the city of Guangzhou. I am very relieved.

Bai Gui also lived up to my high expectations. In the battle of Humen, he personally went to the battlefield and led his troops to kill more than 2,000 British and foreign troops and captured more than 500 enemies. This was an unprecedented victory since the Southeast Campaign in the Gengzi Year (1840). .

Hong Mingxiang, the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy, also deserved a commendation for his meritorious service in reorganizing the Guangdong Navy and repairing the Humen Fort.

Who said that except for Zeng Disheng and Liang Shaoqiong in our Great Purge, there are no people who know anything about military affairs? I think this Bai Gui is good at military affairs. "

At the end, since Bai Gui was a Mongolian bannerman, Emperor Xianfeng did not forget to praise Bai Gui emphatically, and even had the idea of ​​using Bai Gui to exterminate the Hongyang bandits.

The two Han ministers, Zeng Disheng and Liang Shaoqiong, held heavy troops, which was not a good thing for the Qing Dynasty.

"This great victory is due to the protection of our ancestors. The emperor knows people well and appoints them well. God bless our Qing Dynasty."

Seeing Emperor Xianfeng's great joy, Prince Gong Yi quickly seized the opportunity and raised matters related to the establishment of a shipping administration to Xianfeng.

"Shen Baozhen, the prefect of Fuzhou, returned from an inspection trip to the United States and said that the strength of the warships and the power of the artillery of the United States were no less than those of the British. Moreover, the United States has always been quite deferential to the Qing Dynasty, and its subjects also abide by the rules in the Qing Dynasty. Like England, arrogant and unreasonable"

"The foreigners' tricks are nothing more than this. Following the lessons of the Humen battle, as long as governors everywhere are as attentive as Ye Mingchen and Baigui, take more precautions, and prepare their weapons well, it is expected that the foreigners will not dare to invade our Qing territory again.

Foreigners are greedy for profit and have always liked to do business. Since the United States is respectful to our Qing Dynasty, most of the foreign cannons used on the Humen Fort are purchased from the United States. We can purchase some more foreign cannons from the United States as appropriate. Even if our Qing Dynasty Take care of their business.

As for the establishment of a shipping administration, we will discuss it later.

The most important thing at the moment is to clear up Hongyang's chaos as soon as possible. Foreigners are a disease of mustard moss. Hongyang has occupied the tax-rich areas south of the Yangtze River for a long time, which is a serious problem for our Qing Dynasty. "

Emperor Xianfeng interrupted Yi. With the Humen victory ahead, he was no longer interested in setting up a shipping administration.

Since the Humen Fort can block foreigners, can't the stronger Dagukou Fort block foreigners?

In Xianfeng's view, treaties such as the "Jiangning Treaty" were nothing more than important alliances under the city. They were expedient measures at the time. They should not be trusted, let alone followed.

Now that the great victory in Humen has restored the face lost in the Battle of Southeast and the loss of territory, this matter is over.

The Qing Dynasty was a kingdom of heaven, so how could it compete with these small Western countries?

Seeing that his decision was made, Yi knew the character of his fourth elder brother, so he wisely said nothing more.

It's just that Yi is still worried. He is not very clear about Ye Mingchen's personality, but he has been in contact with Bai Gui, and he still knows a little about Bai Gui's personality.

Baigui manages the internal affairs well, but he is timid and cowardly by nature and is not a general.

Zou Jie's memorial said that Bai Gui personally came to the front line to command and supervise the battle, but Yi was skeptical.

If the memorandum of the servants below can be believed, the Hongyang Rebellion would have been over long ago, and there would be no such chaos as today.

After the court meeting, Yi met Shen Baozhen at the palace. He wanted to know the truth about the Battle of Humen.

Shen Baozhen is the fourth-rank magistrate. He is not worth mentioning as he is the first-rank and second-rank official in the capital. Not to mention entering the palace to attend court, he is not even qualified to stand at the entrance of the main hall.

Until the end of the court meeting, Shen Baozhen didn't know much about the content of the court meeting. He only knew that it was rare for the emperor to be overjoyed.

Long Yan Dayue, is it just a matter of handling the shipping administration? All Shen Baozhen could think about now was the shipping administration.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he met Yi, he received a blow.

"The Emperor has spoken: The establishment of a shipping administration will be discussed later."

Hearing the news, Shen Baozhen was caught off guard and did not recover for a long time. He did not expect that after working for a long time, this would be the result.

This shipping administration will not do it if it says it won’t be done? If foreigners come again, they will drive northward directly into the Bohai Sea. What should I do if I clamor to go to Beijing?

"Youdan, get up and speak. Let me ask you, is it true that in the battle of Humen, more than 2,000 Yingyi people were killed and more than 500 enemy prisoners were captured?" Yi motioned to Shen Baozhen to get up and speak.

Shen Baozhen was startled when he heard this. He knew that Ye Mingchen was good at flattering his superiors, but he never imagined that Ye Mingchen was so bold.

"Your Majesty, forgive me!"

Shen Baozhen had just gotten up, and was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down.

Although Shen Baozhen has just entered the officialdom, he is not a fool. At present, Ye Mingchen's royal family is prosperous and the emperor is also in high spirits. Now he has rashly told the truth, slapped the emperor in the face, and wiped out the emperor's prosperity. The consequences will not be a small one for him. The prefect can afford it.

Yi Ping stepped back, helped Shen Baozhen up personally, and gave Shen Baozhen a reassurance: "I want to know the truth. What you said today is only known by heaven and earth. You know it and I know it."

Shen Baozhen had much support from Prince Gong, and he knew very well what Prince Gong was like. After taking this reassurance, he softly told the truth.

It is true that the Qing Dynasty won the battle at Humen, but this was not the credit of Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui, but the credit of the Navy Admiral Hong Mingxiang. Moreover, it was not a great victory, but a tragic victory. The Guangdong Navy lost nearly half of its troops in this battle. The current situation in Guangzhou City is precarious, and the British don't know when they will make a comeback.

Yi was furious when he heard this, and even more disgusted when he thought of what Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui had done.

"You Ye Mingchen, you dare to make fun of the Qing Dynasty. This is the crime of bullying the emperor!" Yi gritted his teeth.

Qi returned to Qi, but Yi had nothing to do with Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui at this time.

"Prince Gong, calm down!" Shen Baozhen advised.

"These two people made mistakes in all major shipping matters! You Dan, please tell me in detail what you saw and heard in America this time." Yi said after calming down.

Shen Baozhen took out the records he made during his visits to various parts of the United States and the photos taken by commissioned people and explained it to Yi in detail.

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Lionel, the British branch of the Rothschild family, secretly revealed to Liang Yao the news that Britain and France had formed an expeditionary force to send troops.

Deng Wenqi, the vice president of Umbrella who is based in Borneo for Liang Yao, has also been complaining to Liang Yao recently. The French people in Sarawak have become more dishonest recently, frequently crossing the border to enclose territory and attacking the natives who are pro-Umbrella.

Martin, the president of Umbrella Company, reported an important piece of intelligence to Liang Yao. The top brass of the British East India Company reported that they would recommend that the British and French forces land at Xiangshan and then capture Guangzhou City. And it has been included in the agenda to coerce the Qing government to cede Xiangshan after the war.

In addition, Liang Yao also received a strange order from the Qing Dynasty. The Central Committee of the Qing Dynasty ordered 200 cannons and a certain amount of ammunition from him at one time. This batch of cannons and ammunition were transported by merchant ships from Yihe Bank and Tongfu Bank. Dagukou.

As for the joint shipping administration between the Qing Dynasty and the United States that was discussed with Shen Baozhen earlier, not a word was mentioned.

The Anglo-French coalition force consisting of 71 warships and 10,200 men made Liang Yao feel nervous.

What was the concept of the British-French allied forces in the mid-19th century?

Equivalent to the Sino-US coalition forces in the 2020s

A British and French coalition of this size would be more than enough to take down the United States, not to mention the Qing Dynasty.

If the target of the British and French coalition forces was only the Qing Dynasty, Liang Yaoda could stay out of this so-called trade war.

Whether it was Britain and France attacking Guangzhou or the capital, he could stay out of it.

However, according to various intelligence, the purpose of this expedition by the British and French coalition forces is not only the Qing Dynasty.

It seems that the British and French forces are interested in his Xiangshan and Borneo.

If the British and French allied forces move to Xiangshan and Borneo, it will touch upon Liang Yao's core interests, and he cannot help but be a bystander in this war.

It seems that the rise of the West Coast of the United States and the huge benefits gained in the Far East have aroused the jealousy and fear of Britain and France.

The great power that benefited most from the opening of the five ports was the United States, and the interest group that benefited most from America's trade with China was the West Coast consortium headed by California.

Liang Yao himself and the West Coast Consortium are the interest groups that most hope that the distribution of benefits in the Far East will maintain the status quo. However, Britain and France are determined to break the status quo in the Far East this time.

Liang Yao convened the first meeting of California’s top executives at Weixiuju in Sacramento.

When they heard that the British and French forces were very interested in Borneo and Xiangshan, everyone became uneasy.

The interests of these California executives and Liang Yao are deeply bound. They all have plantations in Borneo.

As the most important trading base for West Coast American merchants in China, Xiangshan has complete port facilities. Many West Coast merchants have purchased properties in Xiangshan.

Including Liang Yao himself, he spent a lot of manpower, financial and material resources over the past seven years to build Xiangshan into a modern trading port, capable of berthing large ships of more than 5,000 tons.

"We can put pressure on the federal government and ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with Britain and France to protect our interests in the Far East." Someone suggested.

"It's useless." Fremont shook his head and said.

"The United States is a weak country, and Britain and France are strong countries. They will not care about our voice, and our diplomatic notes will not have a very good effect on Britain and France."

"Then we can't just sit back and watch Britain and France erode our interests in the Far East!" Sartre said angrily.

"In Xiangshan Port, we have invested more than millions of dollars to make it what it is today. There is also North Borneo. Although the rubber plantations are still some time away from rubber production, the rubber plantations in North Borneo will be ready by the end of this year. Kerosene can be refined on a large scale.

Britain and France now want to deprive us of the fruits of our labor and seize what is ready! I, Sartre, was the first to refuse!

Let Britain and France be strong! We are not easy to mess with either! If Britain and France insist on touching Borneo and Xiangshan, I will fight them to the death! "

Sutter is not only one of the shareholders of Xiangshan Port, but also spent huge sums of money to build an oil refinery in North Borneo. He is waiting for the production line of the North Borneo refinery to be set up, and then directly transport kerosene to Xiangshan for sale on a large scale.

Now Britain and France want to move both Borneo and Xiangshan. This is something Sartre cannot bear. Sartre was therefore very emotional.

"Then we will support the Qing Dynasty in fighting against the British and French!" Wu Yuanhua was also filled with indignation.

But there were very few responders. The Qing Dynasty must be able to resist the British and France, and defeat the two major powers at the same time, so that sows can climb trees.

Maybe other American consortiums don't know the virtues of the Qing Dynasty, but the members of the West Coast Consortium have more or less some business in the Qing Dynasty. It's not like they don't know the virtues of the Qing Dynasty's army.

The Eight Banners Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty, to say they are public security police is to praise them, but they cannot be called a professional army at all.

The Qing Dynasty claimed to have an army of one million. In fact, the only troops in the Qing Dynasty that could truly be called professional armies were the elites of the Guangdong Army and the Hunan Army.

Not to mention that Guangdong Yong was fighting against the Taiping Army in the Jiangnan area and had difficulty getting away.

Even if the Qing Dynasty could bite the bullet and mobilize the Yue Yong to fight against the British and French forces, the Yue Yong not only lacked enough heavy artillery cover, but also lacked sufficient sea power to project troops. What's even worse is that the British and French forces dispatched tens of thousands of people this time. army! The Yue Yong also had no numerical advantage over the British and French forces.

Therefore, the Guangdong Yong's confrontation with the British and French coalition forces was in everyone's opinion, and the odds were against them, with little chance of victory.

"I will personally negotiate with Britain and France. If Britain and France turn a deaf ear, we will only have one option left: supporting the Qing Dynasty." Liang Yao looked grim.

"But we cannot place our hopes on the Qing Dynasty. To defend our interests in the Far East, we must ultimately rely on ourselves."

"Yes! The Qing Dynasty can't be counted on, and neither can the gang of turtles in the federal government. In this case, we will organize our own armed forces to defend Xiangshan Port and Borneo." Sartre was very active.

"Just like when we attacked the Dutch East India Company, we spent our own money and sent troops!"

As one of the founding fathers of California, Sutter was a wealthy man in Sacramento. He also personally owned an armed force of up to 300 people. If necessary, Sutter's financial resources could hire a considerable number of troops. He is not bragging, but he really has this ability.

Among the tycoons on the west coast, there are only three people who are armed with a professional army. The first is undoubtedly Liang Yao, who controls the most powerful armed force in the western region.

The second is Fremont, who comes from a military family.

The third is Sutter, the powerful local man who was born as the Lord of Fort Sacramento.

As for others such as Robinson, Wu Yuanhua, Pan Zhengwei and others, there are also a certain number of armed forces responsible for the company's security work and colonization in inland areas. But the quality of their armed forces is not very high.

Liang Yao looked around at the crowd, wanting to see other people's attitudes. The Chinese businessman only followed Liang Yao's lead, so there was no need to elaborate.

After hesitating for a moment, Fremont agreed. But Fremont made a request.

That is, there cannot be direct military conflict with Britain and France in the name of the United States. The interests in the Far East and Borneo must be defended, but at the same time, Fremont does not want the war to spread to the mainland.

Liang Yao's ideas coincided with Fremont's, and he did not want the war to spread to the mainland.

As long as the war does not spread to the mainland, no matter how bad the war overseas is, the worst outcome will be the loss of some overseas interests.

California and the West Coast are his base. As long as California is not bad and the West Coast is not bad, the status of himself and the West Coast consortium in the United States will not be shaken.

Liang Yao's idea was also to defend his interests in Borneo and Xiangshan Port in the name of Umbrella's mercenary force.