Three days later, in the early morning, outside Wusongkou, the sun had just risen, and winter fog shrouded the surface of the Yangtze River.

The battleship "Hong Kong" on which Feng Yunshan was riding slowed down and prepared to dock at Wusongkou Wharf. Suddenly, the fog in front of him faded, and on the river, several warships as majestic and mighty as the "Hong Kong" appeared.

The deck of the "Hong Kong" suddenly became lively, and Liu Shengbang came to report: "Your Majesty, the Wusongkou Wharf has arrived. Guo Songtao, special envoy to Europe and vice minister of foreign affairs, Liu Kunyi, prefect of Songjiang, and Huang Wei, commander of the 14th Infantry Division, have already led a group of officials to greet His Majesty at the dock. Lord Guo also bought back a large number of warships from the West and waited for His Majesty to review them. ”

Regarding Guo Songtao's return to China, Feng Yunshan had heard about it as early as Fuzhou, but he didn't know that Guo Songtao himself had already arrived. By the time the "Hong Kong" convoy passed through Dinghai, the messenger had already come to report that Guo Songtao, the special envoy to Europe, had returned from Europe and had brought back Wu Jianzhang, the former Manchu Su Song Taidao Daoist and Shanghai Customs Supervisor, and was waiting to see him at Wusongkou in Shanghai.

Feng Yunshan knew that Guo Songtao must have reported to him in person, and he happened to want to know the situation in Europe, so he ordered to dock at Wusongkou and summon Guo Songtao and his party.

"After landing, I will announce that Guo Aiqing and Wu Jianzhang and others will come to see me." Feng Yunshan already knew that this Wu Jianzhang seemed to have met Guo Songtao when he was in London, and it may have been that the Manchu Qing sent him to Europe to ask for help or buy some arms and weapons, because the Manchu Qing Dynasty had fallen and returned to Guo Songtao, and Guo Songtao had already mentioned it in the letter last time. This person was quite good at dealing with foreigners at the beginning, but now he is returning to the imperial court, which is still somewhat effective.

Feng Yunshan's principle is that the gun must be grasped in his own hands. As long as there is an army, nothing else is afraid.

Not long after, the group was led by the Imperial Forest Army to the "Hong Kong" to meet the emperor Feng Yunshan.

As soon as Feng Yunshan got out of the cabin, dozens of people knelt on the ground in the dark, and the mountain shouted long live. Feng Yunshan waved his hand, signaling everyone to be even, and he didn't bother to reiterate that he was not allowed to bow down in the future, because he knew that it was useless to say it, and it was already ingrained.

The people who came were Guo Songtao, who has now been appointed by Feng Yunshan as the special envoy of the Chinese Empire to Europe and vice minister of foreign affairs, Wu Jianzhang, Liu Kunyi, the prefect of Songjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the magistrate of Shanghai County, Huang Wei, the commander of the 14th Infantry Division, and a large group of officials such as Baoshan, Jiading, Chuansha, and Huating under Songjiang Prefecture, deputy county magistrates, and deputy division commanders under the 14th Division.

After Liu Shengbang and other officials visited the emperor, they directly asked everyone to wait on the deck, and as the emperor entered the cabin, Guo Songtao, Wu Jianzhang, Huang Wei, Liu Kunyi, and Zhang Zhidong were led into the cabin to accept the emperor's close summons.

Feng Yunshan looked at Guo Songtao, who was the leader, and saw that his face was dark and his skin was much rougher, but he looked much healthier than the original scholar, and it seemed that he had suffered a lot from this trip to the West. And Wu Jianzhang on the side is already old, and there are longevity spots on his face, but Huang Wei, Liu Kunyi, and Zhang Zhidong are good-looking and energetic.

"Guo Aiqing, I have gained a lot from going to Europe this time, not only have I completed all the tasks I have given you, but also exceeded them, which is very good! I didn't misread Aiqing! Feng Yunshan directly praised that he basically had mastered what Guo Songtao was doing in Europe, but he still wanted to ask about the specifics.

Guo Songtao carefully recounted his experience in Europe: He established embassies or consulates in the capitals and important cities of the five major countries in Europe: Britain, France, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, and Austria, and established a system of diplomatic personnel stationed in Europe under the orders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire. However, in Russia, Guo Songtao did not see the new tsar, and finally had no choice but to build a consulate in St. Petersburg, and sent a director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be stationed there, and slowly inquired about the news, however, when he was about to return to China, Guo Songtao heard a news, saying that Tsarist Russia had sent nearly 10,000 troops to Siberia, which was likely to be unfavorable to the Northeast.

In addition, Guo Songtao said that the Crimean War had a great impact on the whole of Europe, especially the various means used in the war, such as the first appearance of steam ships, blasting shells, Miner rifles, telegraphs, weather forecasts, field hospitals, railway supplies and other industrialized military equipment and means, which shocked Western countries one after another, and they all successively researched and developed in this area.

In terms of the situation, although the number one power, Britain, won the victory from the Crimean War, but suffered a lot of losses, especially the huge military expenditure and the compensation expenses of the war casualties, which made the British finances a little strained, and the continuation of the Indian rebellion led to the collapse of the Indian economy, and the entire British domestic economy had to deteriorate somewhat, especially the pillar industry of the United Kingdom, the textile industry, began to decline, and a large number of textile workers lost their jobs, making London, Manchester and other big cities in the United Kingdom boiling and turbulent.

On the French side, because in the Crimean War actually suffered greater losses than reported, Guo Songtao inquired, in fact, the French emperor Napoleon III was ready to make peace with Russia alone as early as the end of 1855, but later because the situation improved and did not implement, but France after the Crimean War, although it was victorious, but only losses and no practical benefits, and, because of the loss of the interests of the Far East Indochina, even the Near East was preempted by Britain, seeing that Britain in Turkey and other Near East regions greatly increased, Deeply disturbed, France slowly distanced itself from Britain, and at the same time sought other allies, and began to expand on the continent and abroad in an attempt to revive the prestige of the Napoleonic era. Not long ago, the French minister Bourblon had met with him and was ready to cooperate in sending troops to Mexico.

On the Russian side, because of the defeat in the Crimean War, the losses were the greatest. Not only did hundreds of thousands of troops be killed or wounded, but even Nicholas I committed suicide by poisoning, which cost countless funds for the war, resulting in a serious deterioration of Tsarist Russia's finances, with a fiscal deficit of nearly one billion, and the opportunity to expand its power in the Near East. However, because France probably did not want to weaken Tsarist Russia too much, leaving Britain to dominate, and treated the defeated Tsarist Russia leniently, Tsarist Russia did not lose much territory.

However, as a consequence of the Crimean War, Russia's expansion in the Near East was blocked, and there was a tendency to expand its power eastward, beyond Siberia to the Outer Northeast.

On the other hand, Guo Songtao praised Prussia as an ally, believing that Prussia was a country with great potential, and now it was developing rapidly, and it was very likely to unify the German Confederation, and he concluded that in a few years, Prussia would become stronger, and it would definitely embark on the road of expansion, and the surrounding countries, such as Austria, Denmark and even France, would have a war, and it was likely to win. After all, he admired Prussia's military service and training, as well as the use of telegraphs and railways, and the sophistication of its own weapons.

In addition, there was the Kingdom of Sardinia, on the northern shore of the Mediterranean, which turned to France to prepare for the unification of the surrounding parts of Italy. Under the leadership of Napoleon III, France expanded significantly to the east, first, to help the Kingdom of Sardinia provoke Austria in order to become independent, and second, Egypt, which had begun to prepare for a long time, began to build the Suez Canal, preparing to open the Suez Canal.

In fact, Feng Yunshan barely understands these international situations, after all, he has traveled through later generations, and he is more or less clear about the historical situation. However, he was most concerned about the man named Carl.

But maybe Guo Songtao didn't care much about this character, he was just a foreign literati who played with a pen, even if Feng Yunshan specially explained, he didn't care much, so he never mentioned this person, but talked about the large pile of machinery and equipment he bought back this time, the technical drawings collected, and the personnel recruited.

As a last resort, Feng Yunshan interrupted him and asked directly: "Guo Aiqing, by the way, how is the Mr. Karl McCasse in London that I mentioned to you?" ”

Guo Songtao was a little strange, how could the emperor ask the foreigner who made a living by writing articles, maybe he had read his articles and admired him more, Guo Songtao automatically made up for it, and hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, as soon as that Mr. Maccass arrived in London, he found him according to His Majesty's requirements." At that time, his family situation was not very good, the economy was even worse, and his daily expenses were very difficult, but these micro-ministers helped him solve it. Wechen had an Irishman named Howard start a newspaper in London, the Workers' Times, and Mr. Mackhas promised to be editor-in-chief, and to use his articles and appeal to re-establish the trade union and expand its influence. At the same time, through this newspaper and trade union organization, we also used this newspaper and trade union organization as a platform to recruit skilled British workers to serve us in the Chinese Empire at high salaries.

By the way, the New York Daily Tribune, of which he was editor-in-chief, was also funded by Wechen through Nanyang's American business partners, but it was still the leader of the Whig Party, Horace? Greeley was in charge, but he sent Zheng Siqi, a native of Xiangshan County, Guangzhou Prefecture, who lived in New York, as the newspaper liaison. ”

"Excellent! Pay attention to it! Feng Yunshan said with satisfaction, "How are the workers' trade unions on the British side, and are there any regular activities?" ”

"Your Majesty, I don't know much about Weichen. However, there are occasional large gatherings in the square in front of the town hall, but they are not too intense, and there are many foreigners, including Mr. Maccas, who are often monitored by the existing military police under Wechen. Your Majesty, do you want to do something? ”

"It doesn't matter. Aiqing doesn't have to pay attention to it, I'll let someone from the Secret Service Department take over. Feng Yunshan nodded, but he was thinking in his heart that this labor movement must be started, anyway, it is not his own country, and the more fierce the trouble in Britain, the better life will be on his side. Now that the empire is developing, there are funds and people, and the most critical and necessary thing for the rest is time. Send more spies over, and if it's a local spy with a foreign face. Ireland! Feng Yunshan remembered the words of those Irish people at the beginning, and it seemed that he had to cooperate with those Irishmen.