One post after another, the post ride is like a stream of stars. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Since the British fleet traced the invasion of Jiangxi, the post station between Jiangning and Jingshi was in a high degree of operation at any time, and there were 500 li expedited every three or five miles, 600 li expedited, and even 800 li expedited, although Jiangning was more than 2,300 li away from Jingshi, but the agreement initialed by the Qing and British sides in Jinghai Temple was delivered to Beijing in less than four days.

Jingshi, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace, Xinuan Pavilion.

Cao Jinxi, the eunuch who was close to him, tiptoed to the door and reported softly: "Your Majesty, Pan Shien is handing over a sign outside to ask to see." ”

Daoguang, who was reviewing the recitals, paused his pen and casually ordered, "Let him in." After speaking, he quickly finished reading the fold, then put down the pen, rubbed his hands with a towel, picked up the teacup and took a shallow sip of herbal tea, during this time, the Jiangning war was smooth, the recovery of the household bank treasury deficit case and the repair of the Yellow River embankment in Henan are progressing quite smoothly, the only thing that worries is silver!

Since the outbreak of the Hubu Bank Treasury Deficit Case, Jiangnan has used troops, Henan has blocked the embankments, and asked for money everywhere, and all of them are large expenditures, and the state treasury has already shaken off all the money, but the large-scale collection of fines and compensation for the Hubu Bank Treasury case has had little effect, and he can be said to be anxious.

Recently, he has issued two clear edicts to the cabinet: First, except for Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the officers and men of the Eight Banners Green Battalion in other provinces should be thrifty in all their needs, and even frugal and thrifty, and if the soldiers' salaries cannot be paid according to the amount, they will definitely be repaid according to the amount in the future.

Second, the officials of the Zongren Mansion, the Household Department, the Ministry of Industry, the Internal Affairs Office, the Three Courtyards, the Three Mountains, the Taichang Temple, the Yamen under the command of the infantry army, and the Shuntian Mansion were required to cut off all the large and small projects and the payment of funds.

After Pan Shien came in to greet him, he bowed down and presented a fold, and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers of the Imperial Mission, Lin Zexu, Yishan, Counselor Seng Greenqin, Yang Fang, Yi Zhicontent, etc., negotiated peace with Yingyi's plenipotentiary envoys Pu Dingcha and Yilu in Jiangjinghai Temple, and initialed a contract ...... ”

Daoguang was extremely concerned about the situation in Jiangning, and after taking the excerpt, he lowered his head and looked at the "Jiangning Treaty" first, repaying the accumulated annual business debts totaling 3 million yuan (in fact, compensating for the price of cigarettes). Second, following the example of Portugal leasing Macao, it was used as a place of residence for British businessmen. Third, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai will be added as treaty ports.

Fourth, in treaty ports, outsiders have the freedom to reside and move, and to bring their families, the safety of their lives should be properly protected, and their private property is sacrosanct.

Fifth, foreigners have freedom of religious belief at treaty ports, and are allowed to build churches and preach at ports.

Sixth, the Qing State must publicly announce clear customs tariff rules.

Seventh, the officials of the two countries are equal, and Britain can send consuls to China to stay in treaty ports for a long time.

Eighth, outsiders can open banks, factories, schools, and newspapers at ports.

9. Set up foreign-related courts at treaty ports to hear foreign-related cases.

This "Jiangning Treaty" is basically no different from the "Macao Treaty" signed last year, except that the military indemnity is abolished, and Hong Kong is changed from cedion to lend-lease, and it is stated that it follows the Macao example. As for the compensation for cigarette prices, it is just a different name.

However, this small change is very in line with Daoguang's intentions, at least there is no such glaring words as land reparations, and he does not need to worry about not having the qualifications to make meritorious monuments after death, you know, the Qing emperors of the past dynasties, but those who lost their territory, are not qualified to make meritorious monuments, but the lease is different, not to mention the example of Portugal's lease of Macao.

After reading the "Jiangning Treaty", Daoguang found that there were actually two annexes behind it, one, as war compensation, England built a railway from Shanghai to Baoshan for the Qing State free of charge. Second, Anglia is responsible for the construction of the two railways from Shanghai to Jiangning and Hangzhou to Beijing.

After reading these two by-laws, Daoguang's face was a little ugly, when did the imperial court decide to build the two railways from Shanghai to Jiangning and Hangzhou to Jingshi? The officials of Jiangning are using the truce as an excuse to force the imperial court to build these two railways!

Listening to Daoguang, there was no movement for a long time, and Pan Shien, who was kneeling on the ground, had the courage to sneak a glance, and saw that Daoguang's face was a little uncertain, so he hurriedly said softly: "Lin Zexu also wrote a private letter to Weichen, saying that he had a last resort ...... hardships. ”

A last resort? Daoguang glanced at him and said, "What is the last resort?" ”

"Back to the emperor." Pan Shien said softly: "If the British chief Pu Ding Cha and Yilu are now difficult to ride a tiger, if they can't build the railway, they will inevitably ask for war reparations and cede Hong Kong, otherwise they will not be able to pay to the Queen of England, and they can only carry out the war to the end." The British fleet now has 25 warships and more than 12,000 soldiers in Jiangning. ”

After being silent for a long time, Daoguang said: "Chuan Zaiquan, Mu Zhang'a, Jing Zheng, Qi Junzao, Yucheng, and Xu Naipu will meet you." ”

Not long after, the Zongren Mansion Sect Order, Dingjun Wang Zaiquan, University Scholar and Chief Military Aircraft Minister Mu Zhang'a, University Scholar and Household Department Shangshu Jingzheng, Military Aircraft Minister and Household Department Shangshu Qi Junzao, and the Military Department Manchu Han Shangshu Yucheng and Xu Naipu entered the fish through.

When everyone saluted, Daoguang glanced at Mu Zhang'a, picked up the fold and said: "This is an urgent report sent by Jiangning for eight hundred miles, Mu Zhang'a, you come to read it." ”

Listening to this, Mu Zhang'a was happy in his heart, since the outbreak of the household treasury deficit case, he was unlucky, Dingjun Wang Zaiquan asked to cut off the prince, he was not spared, was Daoguang to the post of Minister of Military Aircraft, and then, Daoguang was afraid of being involved too widely, with 'only the matter has been read for many years, and the official is not a term. The excuse was that he was dismissed and retained, but the holy family has faded a lot, and he has not given him a good face recently.

At this time, in front of all the ministers, Daoguang suddenly asked him to read this urgent report from Jiang Ning, which was obviously a signal that established his status, how could he not be happy, and immediately got up and took the excerpt, and read it aloud.

After Mu Zhang'a finished reading the "Jiangning Treaty", all the ministers knew it and understood that the purpose of Daoguang's summoning of them to discuss this treaty was to focus on the annex to the construction of the railway, but the stakes were so important that no one dared to speak easily.

The ministers who saw it were silent, and Daoguang slowly spoke: "The "Macao Treaty" signed by Qishan and Yingyi in Guangzhou last year is still remembered, right? Yingyi tore up the "Macao Treaty" and now initialed the "Jiangning Treaty", what do you think? ”

The three leading figures of Zaiquan, Mu Zhang'a, and Pan Shien were silent, and Qi Junzao, the minister of the machine and the secretary of the household department, took the lead in speaking: "Now that the treasury is empty and unsustainable, Weichen secretly thinks that the war situation in Jiangning should be based on peace talks, although the British army is in a cage, but the combat power still exists, and it is necessary to prevent the situation of fish dying and the net being broken." ”

The treasury is empty, the Jiangnan war situation and the repair of the Yellow River embankment in Henan require a large amount of investment, the household department is already overwhelmed, and the scholar and household department Man Shangshu Jingzheng also hopes to end the Jiangnan war this morning and save expenses, and then said: "The silver reserve of the household treasury is less than 1.5 million taels, and the Yellow River embankment cannot be abandoned halfway, the imperial court is really unable to support the Jiangnan war, and the slave prays to the emperor to end the Jiangnan war as soon as possible, otherwise the imperial court will be unable to deal with other changes." ”

The military department is full of Shangshu Yucheng but said in a deep voice: "The Jiangnan Eight Banners Green Battalion has been carefully deployed in the Yangtze River for half a year, and now although the British fleet has arrived in Jiangning, it is a great loss of troops. ”

Dingjun Wang Zaiquan knew that Daoguang was inclined to build the railway from Hangzhou to Beijing, and Yishan, who was in Jiangning, also sent him a letter to describe the situation in Jiangning in detail, seeing that what Yucheng said was wrong, he hurriedly said: "The British fleet ships are strong and artillery, there is no naval division warship on the Yangtze River that can be compared, and the British army still has 10,000 water and land troops, if the war continues, Jiangning may be destroyed in the war, even if the British fleet can be completely annihilated in the end, the casualties will be great, and the losses will be unbearable."

Judging from the current war situation, the Qing Dynasty still has a slight victory, and the peace talks at this time are conducive to the Qing Dynasty, and judging from the "Jiangning Treaty" initialed by the two sides, the British side has also made obvious concessions.

In addition, the construction of the railway from Hangzhou to Beijing is conducive to Cao Yun, can greatly alleviate the dependence on the canal, and is conducive to the control of the imperial court over the south of the Yangtze River, and is also conducive to the imperial court to reduce the huge annual expenditure on river engineering. ”

Seeing that Zaiquan strongly agreed, Mu Zhang'a was secretly surprised in his heart, didn't this guy oppose the construction of the railway before? What was the sudden change of attitude? Is it to figure out Daoguang's mind? Or take the opportunity to show favor to Hanchen and unite with Hanchen to suppress him? In the case of the deficit of the bank treasury of the Ministry of Households, this guy is united with Hanchen to fall into the trap against him!

After a little pondering, he spoke: "Yingyi has ill intentions, and my plan for the Qing Dynasty is not small, if Yingyi is allowed to build the railway from Hangzhou to Beijing, Yingyi must know the situation along the railway well, how to prevent Yingyi's large-scale attack in the future?" What is particularly serious is that once the railway is completed, it will only take three or four days from Jiangning to Beijing, how to prevent it? This move is really to put the Jingshi in danger, and I implore the emperor to think carefully. ”

For the construction of the railway along the line of the Grand Canal, Daoguang is quite excited, after all, once this railway is completed, it can greatly relieve the financial pressure of the imperial court, but listening to Mu Zhang'a's words, he couldn't help but hesitate, indeed, if England is allowed to build this railway, the disadvantages are too great.

Seeing that Daoguang was silent, Pan Shien slowly spoke: "The person that Yingyi relies on is the navy with strong ships and artillery, not the army, Wusong and Zhenjiang, the British army was defeated by the Yuanqi regiment, and there is no power to fight back, which shows that Yingyi is not good at land warfare." ”

"In the battle of Zhenjiang, 16,000 people of the Eight Banners Green Battalion defended Zhenjiang, but they were captured by the British army in half a day, and more than half of them were lost, how can it be said that the British army is not good at land warfare?" Mu Zhang'a said in a deep voice: "Yuanqi regimental training is good at land warfare, but Yuanqi regimental training is not a division of the imperial court!" It is not controlled by the imperial court! ”

These words are a bit damaging, Pan Shien hurriedly said: "The imperial court has never controlled local group training, and it is not difficult for the imperial court to incorporate Yuanqi group training into the economic system!" ”

"It's easy to say!" Mu Zhang'a said disdainfully: "Yuanqi group training is included in the economic system? Not to mention that the cost of weapons and ammunition for a year's training of the Yuanqi regiment is millions of taels of silver, and the salary and silver of the Yuanqi regiment training alone is two or three times that of the Eight Banners Green Battalion, how does the imperial court balance? ”

When it comes to the military system of the Eight Banners Green Battalion, Pan Shien really doesn't dare to express his stance at will, but Zaiquan, who is a member of the clan, is not afraid, and said bluntly: "In the battle with Yingyi, all kinds of shortcomings of the Eight Banners Green Battalion have been exposed, is it possible that he will continue to spend tens of millions of silver a year to raise those useless wastes?" There are not many soldiers! The imperial court should train elite soldiers! ”

In this war with England, the Eight Banners Green Battalion almost fought a battle and lost a battle, but Yuanqi's regimental training was invincible, invincible, two great victories, brilliant results, but its own casualties were minimal, for this phenomenon, Daoguang's heart was indeed quite touched, however, Yuanqi's regiment trained such elite soldiers, and the imperial court really couldn't afford to raise them, even if the imperial court could come up with fifteen million taels of silver a year, and could it raise tens of thousands of yuan of elite soldiers like that? 100,000 is afraid that it will be a big day, but what can 100,000 troops help with a ******relatively vast territory?

This matter has to be discussed in the long run, and Mu Zhang'a, who saw it, was about to open his mouth to refute it, so he said slowly: "The matter of the military system will be discussed later, Jiang Ning is now anxiously waiting for my ......reply." ”

"Emperor." Mu Zhang'a bowed lightly and said: "The imperial court currently has no plan to build the two railways from Shanghai to Jiangning and Hangzhou to Jingshi, how did Yingyi know about it and propose to build these two railways?" Obviously, it was Yi Zhifen who was instigating Yingyi!

Yi Zhishu has always advocated and agitated the construction of railways, and now he has taken the opportunity of the war between the two countries to openly instigate Yingyi, and his heart can be punished, and he earnestly prays for the emperor's stern reprimand! ”

Daoguang's pupils shrank slightly, he had already thought of this layer, and he was also extremely dissatisfied with Yi Zhicontentment in his heart, although he was inclined to build this railway in his heart, but Yi Zhishan instigated Yingyi to force the imperial court to build this railway, but he couldn't tolerate it!

Pan Shien's heart sank, don't look at Mu Zhang'a just suggested that Daoguang be reprimanded sternly, but these words are tantamount to burying a thorn in Daoguang's heart, when the situation comes, this is definitely a big crime! Now that Wang Ding is not there, he has to come forward to maintain, and after a slight groan, he said: "Proposing to let Yingyi build the railway, Jiangning and the other officials should also be out of helplessness, otherwise, Yingyi will not give up the conditions for land cession and compensation, in order to ensure that Jiangning is not destroyed in the war, in order to avoid the continuation of the war, this is also a last resort." ”

Hearing this, Han Shangshu Yucheng Xu Naipu, who had not spoken for a long time, said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Jiangning is not suitable for another war, although the British army intends to negotiate peace, but the British army is in danger, once the war starts, it will inevitably be ruined." And Jiangning's Eight Banners Green Battalion and Yuanqi Regiment Training also have no intention of fighting again, once the war starts, it is unimaginable. ”

Daoguang glanced at him, did not say a word, Jiangning this battle, he didn't want to fight anymore, neither Yuanqi nor the imperial court had strong financial resources to support this war to continue, he knew very well that if the British army refused to give up, the Qing Dynasty could not afford the consequences, but let England undertake the construction of the railway from Hangzhou to Beijing, he was very resistant in his heart! (To be continued.) )