Talking with the British, this is not a whimsical idea, Feng Yunshan also had this idea, if the Taiping army wants to establish a country in this part of Bengal, it must be in the gap between the two behemoths of the Qing State and the British, and if they can make friends with the two countries, the Taiping army will have a chance to breathe.

But with Kolkata being the political, economic, and military center of the British in India, and Bangladesh being a transportation corridor connecting India and Burma, would the British agree to be occupied by the Taipings? This is simply impossible, and the fact that Kolkata has become the center of the British in India is enough to show how much the British value this place!

Seeing Hong Xiuquan, he made up his mind to contact the British, Feng Yunshan hurriedly considered and said: "Your Majesty, the British will not give up Calcutta and Bengal easily, if we contact the British, we may have a bad relationship with Yuan Qi and end up in a ......situation where we are enemies on both sides." ”

"Yuan Qi is a wolf who eats people and doesn't spit out bones!" Hong Xiuquan's voice was low, faintly mixed with a sense of grief and indignation, "Yuan Qi has cut off arms supplies, and we only need to fight two slightly larger battles with the British, and we will run out of ammunition and food, and let others slaughter them."

Moreover, if we want to establish a country in Bangladesh, we must also be left and right, if we fight with the British, our strength is exhausted, and we will make a wedding dress for Yuanqi! ”

Feng Yunshan looked up at him and said, "Yuan Qi still has nearly 30,000 troops in Sikkim and Bhutan, and he will not sit idly by and ..... side. ”

"When we lose with the British, they will come to help?" Hong Xiuquan laughed and said: "Yi Zhifen has been constantly using us from beginning to end!" He never had any good intentions! ”

Hearing this, Feng Yunshan was quite unimpressed, yes, Yuan Qi has indeed been using the Taiping Army, and he is using the Taiping Army as a gunman, but it is also Yuan Qi who let the Taiping Army live, and also provided the Taiping Army with a large number of firearms and ammunition, food and medicine, otherwise the Taiping Army would have suffered casualties a long time ago.

He didn't dare to say this explicitly, and only after a little hesitation did he speak: "The British army has come to the aid in a big way, and I am afraid that they will not agree to the ...... peace talks." ”

"Try to make contact in general, and the British army is not willing to fight with us to lose both." Hong Xiuquan sighed secretly as he spoke, and said in a slow tone: "We can't always be used as a gun by Yuan Qi, if we can get the support of the British, it may be a turning point." ”

After a pause, he continued: "We can withdraw from Calcutta and garrison Dhaka, but the British must help us build railroads, open telegraphs, and set up factories........ ”

On the sea near the mouth of the Ganges, a fleet of twenty warships and numerous supply merchant ships was quietly moored on the sea, the rice flag hanging from the mast fluttering in the wind, and on the nearby shore, a long white military tent was hidden in the greenery.

When the sun was setting in the west, five clippers with yellow and black edges quickly approached the British fleet, and Feng Yunshan, the king of the South, stood on the deck and looked at the British fleet moored on the sea with great interest, his mood was very complicated, he didn't know whether taking this step was a good thing or a bad thing for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

When they tentatively sent a telegram to Colombo, revealing their willingness for peace talks, the British Commander-in-Chief in India, Inspectors Canning, quickly responded, agreeing to the peace talks and agreeing on a place for the peace talks.

This made Hong Xiuquan, who originally had the attitude of giving it a try, very excited, and in order to show his attention, he sent Feng Yunshan, the king of the south, to negotiate in person.

In the military camp on the shore, in front of the big tent, Charles Canning glanced at Ergin with a smug face, "Even if there is no progress in this peace negotiation, it can ...... estrangement between the Taiping Army and Yuan Qi." ”

Erjin nodded, "The Taiping Army's intentions are obvious, they want to preserve their strength!" When negotiating, you might as well take a tough stance. ”

The negotiations took place the following morning, and Charles Canning did not follow the usual practice of negotiating on a battleship, but arranged the place for the negotiations in a military tent on the shore.

After the two sides introduced the ceremony, he said straightforwardly: "After the Taiping army was defeated in Hunan, it was driven all the way to Burma through Guizhou and Yunnan, and then from Burma to Calcutta.

We are not willing to go to war with your army, and we cannot give up this place, and if your army wants to recover Calcutta, we will not hesitate to fight to the last soldier. ”

Listening to the translator, Charles Canning was amused, "Your Excellency is here to declare war?" Or peace talks? If war is to be declared, there is no need for it, and if it is peace talks, please show the sincerity of peace talks, even if it is a little sincerity. ”

After a slight hesitation, Feng Yunshan said, "It is impossible for your country to station tens of thousands of troops in Calcutta for a long time, right?" ”

Charles Canning said without hesitation: "Fighting in Bangladesh, your army is isolated and cannot get the logistics supply in time, and it will not last long. ”

"The reason why Yuan Qi agreed to us to establish a country in Bangladesh is to contain your army to the greatest extent." Feng Yunshan said-for-tat: "Once the war starts, Yuan Qi will inevitably vigorously support and carry out logistics supply from Tibet and Burma by land. What Yuan Qi is most happy to see is that our two sides are defeated in Calcutta and Bengal, so that your army is powerless to invade the east! ”

Erjin glanced at the other party, judging from the fact that the Qing army captured Calcutta, and then took the initiative to give up the occupation of the Taiping army, it was obviously the idea of fighting, and if he really wanted to start a war with the Taiping army in Benga, he fell for the Qing army!

Without waiting for Charles Canning to speak, he said directly: "Kolkata is the political, economic, and military center of our country in India, and we must recover it, and there is no room for negotiation on this point." ”

Hearing this, Feng Yunshan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the other party's request was not too much, the other party had a huge fleet, and the Taiping army had no water division, so it was impossible to hold Calcutta, and he deliberately groaned before he said: "We can withdraw from Calcutta...... However, we need your country's support to build a railway, open a telegraph, and set up a factory in Dhaka. ”

Withdraw from Kolkata? Ergin and Charles Canning glanced at each other, both of them were secretly happy, neither of them expected that the Taiping army would hand over Calcutta so easily, for the British, Calcutta is the capital of British India, even if it costs a lot, it must be recovered, otherwise, it is enough to shake the British rule in India!

Charles Canning reacted faster, he immediately realized that the Taiping army gave up Calcutta, Yuan Qi would inevitably turn against the Taiping army, and with a little provocation and co-optation, maybe he could turn the Taiping army into his own use, the Taiping army could become a sharp knife in the hands of Yuan Qi, why couldn't it become a sharp knife in the hands of their British? It is also possible to use the Taiping army to retake Burma or attack Tibet.

As for the construction of railways, the opening of telegraphs, the establishment of factories in Dhaka, Charles Canning didn't care at all, and promised with a mouthful, he knew very well that the purpose of the Taiping Army was to learn from Yuanqi, but without the backing of strong funds, it was tantamount to a pipe dream.

After a slight sigh, he spoke: "If the Taiping army wants to establish a country in Bangladesh and develop industry, it must have enough funds, and the tea plantations of Assam have formed a scale, and if your army can capture Assam, there is no need to worry about funds." ”

Assam was occupied by Yuanqi's new army in the northwest and Tibetan troops, this was to instigate the Taiping army to go to war against Yuanqi? Feng Yunshan secretly scolded himself, and then said, "We will carefully consider Your Excellency's suggestion." ”

Kolkata, South King's House.

Returning to the mansion from the Heavenly King's Mansion, Feng Yunshan didn't have time to take a bath and change clothes, when he heard that the Wing King Shi Dakai came to visit, he naturally knew Shi Dakai's intention, and he groaned slightly, and then he ordered: "Please wait in the study in front of the Wing King, and this king will go later." ”

After taking a bath, he rushed to the study, and as soon as he saw him come in, Shi Dakai got up and asked directly: "Did the king of the south go to the mouth of the Ganges River to negotiate with the British?" ”

Feng Yunshan nodded, "If we want to protect ourselves, we must make peace with the British." ”

"If we want to establish a country in Bangladesh, we can only rely on Yuanqi, not the British!" Shi Dakai said quickly and urgently, "Why did Yuan Qi let us establish a country in Bangladesh? It is so that we can prevent the expansion of British power into Burma, and it is impossible for the British to give up Burma at all. ”

"Sit, sit down." Feng Yunshan stretched out his hand to give up his seat with a warm face, and after sitting down, he said unhurriedly: "Talking with the British is just a measure of rights and interests, in order to preserve strength. If our forces are exhausted with the British army, they will lose the value of use, and Yuan Qi will inevitably abandon us. Besides, Yi Guocheng also called, asking us to give up the ...... Calcutta when we are invincible. ”

Shi Dakai glanced at him and said coldly: "Why does the King of the South pretend to be confused? Yi Guocheng asked us to abandon Calcutta, so that we can preserve our strength, even if we abandon Calcutta, it will pose a great threat to the British army, and the British army will not dare not garrison Calcutta with heavy troops. ”

Speaking of this, he sneered, "Poor Yi Guocheng thinks about us everywhere, but we stabbed him in the back." As he spoke, he stared at Feng Yunshan and said, "What kind of temperament is Yi Guocheng, King Nan should know better than me, we have to pay the price for this knife!" ”

Hearing this, Feng Yunshan sighed secretly and said, "As long as our strength still exists and there is still use value, Yuan Qi will not give up on us." After a pause, he said softly: "The meaning of the King of Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot blindly rely on Yuanqi for a long time, nor can it only rely on Yuanqi, not only in Bangladesh, sandwiched between Yuanqi and the United Kingdom, it must be left and right, so that there can be a chance to breathe...... It's also about taking a long-term view. ”

Think long-term? Shi Dakai is no longer in the mood to argue, with such a large territory, it is still under the mixture of the two ambitious forces of Britain and the Qing Dynasty, what long-term can it have? If it is really out of long-term consideration, it should be decisively thrown into Yuanqi.

Although Yuan Qi has used the Taiping Army in every way over the years, fighting and pulling and defending, he has always left room for things, and has never done things absolutely, in fact, he has been waiting for the Taiping Army to take the initiative to surrender, if you really think about it in the long run, for the sake of the brothers who have been reluctant to give up and follow loyally, you should give up the unrealistic plan to establish a country, and if it goes on like this, sooner or later the brothers will be brought to a dead end!

Shanghai, Zhenhai Mansion, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizhi signed the word 'read' on the telegram sent from Calcutta without saying a word, then put the telegram on the coffee table, took out the jade cigarette holder and lit a cigarette.

Wei Yuan and Zhao Wenlie looked at each other and didn't dare to say anything, and they didn't expect that the Taiping Army would actually negotiate peace with the British Army and take the initiative to evacuate Calcutta.

"Calcutta has such good conditions, the Taiping army actually gave up without a fight, Hong Xiuquan really can't support the wall with mud!" Yi Zhi's tone was both indignant and mixed with a little regret and helplessness, and as he spoke, he looked up at Cao Gensheng, "Telegraph to Groba, Manila, Guangzhou, seize the time, strengthen combat preparedness, and be fully prepared before winter!" ”

After Cao Gensheng left, Zhao Wenlie pondered and said: "Even if the Taiping army talks with the British army and returns Calcutta to the British army, the large-scale uprising in India will not be able to be quelled in a while and a half, right?" ”

"Don't overestimate the Indians, and don't underestimate India's influence on the British." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "There are more than 700 princely states in India, large and small, which have never been unified, coupled with the large number of ethnic groups, complex composition, religious confusion, and mixed cultures, which can be called the most typical plate of scattered sand, and we can't expect too much from them.

As India's most important overseas colony, the British will never allow India to be in turmoil for a long time, and besides, this time it will invade the east on a large scale, so the troops transferred to India to quell the chaos are definitely beyond imagination, and it will not take too much time at all. ”

Wei Yuan reminded: "Will the Taiping Army be used by the British army and fight back?" ”

"Not really." Yi Zhishu also thought about this problem, and immediately shook his head and said: "The Taiping Army just wants to preserve its strength and turn against Yuan Qi, it shouldn't have the guts, and Hong Xiuquan shouldn't be so stupid." ”

Wei Yuan glanced at him and said: "Since the lord said that Bangladesh is a strategic place, the British will naturally not easily tolerate the occupation of the Taiping army, the territory of Bengal is not large, and the Taiping army may not be satisfied, and the strength of the British is beyond doubt, if greater benefits are promised, the Taiping army may not be tempted, such as Burma, Tibet, ......." ”

Yi Zhi's heart moved, he could drive the Taiping army into Burma to get involved in Southeast Asia, wouldn't the British do that? There is also Tibet, but the British have always coveted Tibet, and if the Taiping army is expelled into Tibet, it will be a big trouble! Is it time to consider abandoning the Taiping Army?

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