Huang Dianyuan dared to ask for firearms, naturally he had confidence, in the past few months, he has been providing a steady stream of information on the British army for Yuanqi's group training, however, Yi Zhixiang did not intend to give it to him, in fact, the British firearms captured in Dinghai, Yuan Qi group training could not be used at all, because the Mini bullet has quite high requirements for the caliber of the barrel, in order to ensure the unity of weapon specifications and minimize the logistical pressure, he directly gave up the plan to convert those muskets into rifled guns.

It can be said that the captured batch of British muskets was prepared for Huang Dianyuan, but Yi Zhizhi did not dare to give it to him now, he was worried that heaven and earth would use these muskets to help the abuse-assist the British army in attacking the coastal port cities, which would make him feel uneasy.

After a slight groan, he spoke: "Brother Rong is well-informed, it should be clear that the capture of Dinghai, Yuan Qi is equal to the Guangdong Naval Division, Yuan Qi regiment trained 10,000 regiments of bravery, and now it is equipped with muskets, but it is only sixty percent, the British army has increased its troops, and it is eyeing Guangzhou, Yuan Qi's idea can all be in Guangzhou, at this juncture, how can there be firearms to be distributed to Brother Rong." ”

Huang Dianyuan knew that what the other party said was the truth, and he originally only mentioned it in passing, but he didn't expect much, and he didn't force it at the moment, so he asked instead: "Yuan Qi's ammunition bureau, can you make flowering bombs?" ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "With Brother Rong inquiring like this, I won't be able to drink this wine tonight." ”

"Okay, don't ask." Huang Dianyuan said with a smile: "When will this banquet be delivered, I have been waiting for contentment for most of the day, but I am really a little hungry." ”

"I'll have people rush it." Yi Zhisuff got up and opened the door as he spoke, and only then went out, he saw Li Wang leading a few maids and servants to sneak into the courtyard with food boxes, and the banquet was laid out, Yi Zhizu instructed Li Wang to go to the gate of the courtyard to guard, and then he entered the banquet, and after three rounds of wine, he pondered and said: "Some words, such as bones in the throat, do not vomit and are unhappy, heaven and earth will oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and there is no opposition to it, but it is very inappropriate to assist the British army to cause trouble in the southeast, so as to weaken the power of the Qing court."

To put it mildly, this is a traitorous act, has Brother Rong thought about it, paper can't contain the fire after all, one day, the matter of heaven and earth will help the British army spread, and it was spurned by the world, how to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty? ”

Huang Dianyuan poured himself a glass of wine, and then said slowly: "What is the difference between assisting the British army to fight the Qing court and pulling the flag and setting off artillery to rebel?" Don't tell me about the invasion of foreign Yi, isn't the Manchu Qing a foreign Yi? ”

"The Manchus are foreigners?" Yi Zhisuff glanced at him and teased: "Isn't the Manchurian person with black hair, yellow skin, and black eyes?" How can the Manchus be compared with the Yingyi? ”

Huang Dianyuan waved his hand and said, "I read every issue of Xiguan Daily, let's not talk about it." As he spoke, he raised his glass and dried the wine in one gulp, and then said: "The situation of the Heaven and Earth Society, contentment is also clear, how can I influence it, if my brother is like contentment, holding tens of thousands of elite soldiers, then he can drink without mentioning anything." ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "If Brother Rong is unhappy in heaven and earth, Yuanqi Tuanlian is wholeheartedly welcome." ”

"Don't-." Huang Dianyuan said simply: "We don't have the same ways, when Yuan Qi erects a flag to rebel, you can consider it as a brother." Saying that, he smiled and said: "Now that the Yuanqi group has been formed, the day when contentment will be forced to rebel by the Qing court is not far off. ”

"If the imperial court really can't tolerate Yuan Qi's group training, I don't mind openly rebelling." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "However, to be honest, I really don't want to do this. ”

Seeing that he wanted to speak and stopped, Huang Dianyuan hurriedly asked: "Contentment is compassion for the people in the world?" ”

"Not exactly." Yi Zhifu sighed and took a sip of wine before he said in a deep voice: "Brother Rong and tell me, what does it mean that English can come to the door?" ”

Huang Dianyuan smiled, "Don't go around in circles, just say it." ”

"Times are different." Yi Zhizhi said: "Before the Ming Dynasty, large-scale navigation, that is, Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, but the farthest reached Africa, now, the European fleet has been able to circle the entire earth, a large number of merchant ships in European countries, including Citigroup in the Americas, can easily travel to and from Guangzhou, merchant ships can come, warships can naturally come, but no one in the Qing Dynasty is aware of this, otherwise coastal defense will not be so bad."

Not far away, what does it mean that many merchant ships from Europe and the Americas came to Guangzhou for trade? It shows that we can no longer be as before, closed in a corner, we are no longer a closed country, but closely linked with the countries of the world, with the continuous and rapid development of navigation technology, we will be more and more closely connected with the countries of the world.

The steamships in the British fleet this time, Brother Rong should have noticed it, that should be the mainstream trend of navigation development in the future, if the large merchant ships in the future no longer need to rely on the wind, but rely on the steam engine as the power, they can sail freely anytime and anywhere, Brother Rong thinks, what will it be? ”

Huang Dianyuan was confused when he heard this, and hesitated: "Contentment This circle is also bigger, what does this have to do with Yuanqi not rebelling?" ”

"Of course it does, and it does." Yi Zhisuff said with a smile, took a sip of tea, and then he said: "Industrial Revolution, Brother Rong has heard of it?" It is to use machines as the power to replace manual work, England took the lead in launching and completing the industrial revolution, so England has become the world's number one military power and can be called the world's hegemon.

The biggest feature of the industrial revolution is to greatly improve production efficiency, but all countries that implement the industrial revolution must embark on the road of foreign expansion and plunder, which is determined by the characteristics of the industrial revolution, and now European countries are successively implementing the industrial revolution, what does this mean?

This means that in one or two decades, this world will be a pattern of competing for hegemony in the world, just like our Spring and Autumn Era, the pattern of seven countries competing for dominance, but this world is no longer our corner of China, but the whole world, countries will fight each other to compete for the world hegemon, the global hegemon! ”

Hearing this, thinking of a series of factories opened by Yuan Qi, Huang Dianyuan had already faintly understood his thoughts, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "We are fighting in the bowl, but contentment is fighting in the pot. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Contentment has the ambition to swallow the world, but in such a court, how can contentment have a chance to show its ambitions?" ”

"Gotta fight for it." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "At this juncture, we can't have civil strife, once there is civil strife, we will have no chance to become a world power. ”

Huang Dianyuan said in astonishment: "Contentment is to help the Qing Dynasty become a world power?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said leisurely: "If you really want to become a world power, the Qing Emperor should also take the initiative to abdicate." ”

"Abdication?" Huang Dianyuan looked at him stunned and said, "How is this possible?" ”

"Controlling more with less is not in line with the emerging ethnic state system." Yi Zhizhi said: "If you have time, Brother Rong might as well ask Yingyi for advice." ”

"England is a constitutional monarchy."

"If it is the Ming Dynasty, there is still the possibility of a constitutional monarchy." Yi Zhizhi said: "The Qing Dynasty is not good, because the Qing Dynasty is to control more with less." As he spoke, he picked up his glass and said, "Come, let's go." ”

Huang Dianyuan still had the heart to drink, took a sip, and said: "Contentment but mature thoughts?" Can you elaborate on that? ”

Elaborate? Say what? Mature idea? Yi Zhishu didn't think about it so long-term, he just said casually, right now, he and Yuan Qi can be said to be dancing on the tip of the knife, whether they can survive or not, how can there be leisure to ponder those distant and marginal things, take a sip of wine, he said: "What are the mature ideas, first get over the current difficulties, at the moment, I only think about how to defend Guangzhou, keep Yuan Qi's idea." ”

Huang Dianyuan finally found out the other party's true thoughts today, how could he stop, and asked again and again, but Yi Zhicontent refused to show a little bit of his tone, and the banquet ended early.

Out of Lei Garden, Huang Dianyuan is still thinking about Yi Zhi's words, obviously, Yi Zhifen is not just talking, Yuan Qi founded Changle Machinery Manufacturing Factory, Changzhou Shipyard, built the Foguang Railway, opened a machine reeling factory, a machine sugar factory, mining Changhua iron ore, and set up Yuan Qi group training, using Western-style military training to train group exercises, I didn't realize it before, but now it is broken, isn't this the implementation of the machine industry, the formation of the new army?

This kid's ambition is really not small, but the question is that the court is tolerant of Yuanqi, is this kid tolerant? I'm afraid it's a bit mysterious, I'm afraid that this war with England won't last long, after all, the British just ask for free trade at the open port, and once the war is over, the imperial court is afraid that it will deal with Yuanqi.

Early the next morning, Yi Zhizhi rushed into the city to the governor's palace, and reported to Lin Zexu that Yilu had asked to meet and discuss, since he had set the place of the meeting in Macao, and let the Portuguese act as intermediaries, it was impossible to hide this matter, so he naturally had to ventilate Lin Zexu first, otherwise he would inevitably be suspected of unwarranted suspicion afterwards.

Yilu made an appointment to meet Yi Zhizhi in private, Lin Zexu didn't care too much, and didn't think much about it, the imperial court has rules, local officials are not allowed to meet foreigners in private, the governor of Liangguang, and the governor of Guangdong have not refused to see Yingyi.

Yilu met with Yi Zhizhi this time, needless to say, it must have been for the thousands of British prisoners of war, for that batch of prisoners of war, Lin Zexu was actually quite entangled in his heart, at the beginning he issued a reward order - "Reward for the capture of the head of Yingyi" notice, captured a British ship with a reward of 100,000 silver, destroyed a reward of 30,000 silver, captured Bai Yi 500, captured Heiyi 300.

If the more than 4,000 prisoners of war in Yi Yuanqi's regimental training hands received a reward with him, it would be a reward of more than 2 million silver, and even if he emptied the treasury, he would not be able to take out so much silver.

But the minister Qi Shan will go to Guangzhou tomorrow, he doesn't want Yi Zhisuff to fall out with Qi Shan because of the prisoners of war, and he groaned slightly, before he said: "The minister Qi Shan will arrive in Guangzhou tomorrow, and the more than 4,000 British prisoners of war must be verified one by one, and half of the military exploits of the Yuan Qi regiment are derived from those prisoners of war."

In addition, since the Lord Qincha came to Guangzhou this time, it was mainly to negotiate with Yingyi, and this group of prisoners of war should be content and cautious, and easily do not agree to Yingyi, and in addition, since the talks, it is best to take the opportunity to find out Yingyi's true thoughts. ”

"I understand below." Yi Zhizhi was content, paused, and continued: "There is another matter to report to the minister, the British army is increasing troops in Guangzhou. ”

Surge? Lin Zexu raised his eyebrows and said, "Is the news true?" How many troops? ”

The intelligence is naturally not wrong, but Yi Zhishu is not easy to explain, when even said slowly: "Yingyi's increase in troops is a reasonable matter, Yingyi is actually very clear, the imperial court will not easily agree to their unreasonable demands, the so-called negotiation, is just a delaying strategy, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, the war may be further expanded, as for the scale of the increase in troops, it is estimated that it should exceed 10,000." ”

Hearing this, Lin Zexu's heart couldn't help sinking, Yingyi has stirred up the southeast coast unrest this month, he is already deeply uneasy, the Daqingshui Division can't go out to sea to fight at all, for the British fleet, can only sigh with admiration, there is no way at all, if it goes on like this, the imperial court will not be able to bear it sooner or later, if the war is further expanded, not to mention the erosion of the southeast, his situation is very bad.

After being silent for a long time, he said in a muffled voice: "Qi Shan is resolutely appeased, and the emperor sent him to Guangzhou, obviously he is also inclined to puff, if the two parties reach an agreement." ”

Reaching an agreement is not a piece of waste paper, Yi Zhixiang glanced at him, and said in a deep voice: "Yingyi is capricious, Lord Mintang is deeply aware of this, if the brigade reinforcements arrive, there will inevitably be another incident, but the Yingyi reinforcements arrive in Guangzhou, at least next year." ”

With a slight groan, Lin Zexu said: "The meaning of contentment is based on fighting, so that the imperial court can make arrangements as soon as possible?" ”

"It's not that we want to fight, but Yingyi wants to fight." Yi Zhishu said in a deep voice: "If the defeat is too miserable, Yingyi will definitely gain an inch, and other Western powers will also spy on the Qing Dynasty." After all, Yingyi came from afar, and the supply of grain, grass, equipment and ammunition was inconvenient, and it was impossible to fight for a long time, although we could not win, but if we could insist on fighting, it would be difficult for the British army to continue, and it would be possible to exchange for one or two decades of peace. ”

After a pause, he continued: "It is best for the lord of the ministry to go up and pray that the emperor will go south, sit in the south of the Yangtze River, and devote the strength of the whole country to fight this battle, which is a battle related to the national fortune of the Qing Dynasty in the past century." ”

"Is it about the 100-year national fortune of the Qing Dynasty?" Lin Zexu muttered softly, and said puzzledly: "What do you mean by being content?" Yingyi's provocation of the war this time is nothing more than for trade, how can it be related to the national fortune of the Qing Dynasty for a hundred years? (To be continued.) )