In the summer of the fourth year of Taisheng, in the afternoon after a thunderstorm.

Wu Chongyao asked to see him, and soon after Feng Yunshan summoned him into the palace, he asked Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guanlan to be invited in one after another.

Wu Chongyao specially accompanied the French minister Bourblon and others from Guangzhou to meet Feng Yunshan.

Speaking of the origin of the incident, not long after the French minister Bourblon set off from Hong Kong Island on a warship, he was surrounded by three warships of the South Ocean Fleet, and did not officially open fire, but threats and frictions were inevitable.

The Nanyang Fleet believed that the foreigners' warships had to unload their cannons to ensure that they would not threaten the safety of the coastal ports before they could be released, otherwise they would go on the merchant ships of the Liangguang Ocean Company.

Bourblon originally wanted to play his prestige and scare the Chinese Empire, but he didn't expect to encounter such a slap in the face just after leaving Hong Kong Island. Naturally he didn't want to do it, in his opinion, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was so invincible, it was not a British ocean-going fleet that was beaten to the ground, and the land was ceded and the reparations were wronged and sued for peace, and since then the Western powers, whether warships or merchant ships, have been unimpeded, and they can go wherever they want, when did they have a concept of territorial waters?

Even if the current Chinese Empire is stronger than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, with a few European warships and more than a hundred ridiculous local warships, so what, he is here on behalf of the French Emperor, so he should naturally go on the warships of the French Navy.

The commander of the Nanyang Fleet, Luo Xuan, led the main force of the Nanyang Fleet on the way from Ryukyu to Guangdong, and a regimental commander of the Nanyang Fleet was in charge at the scene.

Although the two sides are in a lot of trouble, if they want to talk about an exchange of fire, neither side dares to act rashly.

The main force of the Nanyang Fleet did not return with Luo Xuan, and there were no orders from above, so they naturally did not want to start a war easily. Bourblon also didn't want to put himself in danger, after all, his purpose this time was just to intimidate, what he wanted was just to exchange for some practical benefits such as a little more share of the tea trade and the opening of a diocese in the territory of the Chinese Empire, if there was a real war, the total number of French warships in the Far East would only be three, and now the navy of the Chinese Empire was really not comparable to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and there was no need to really go to war.

In this way, it is difficult.

At this time, Wu Chongyao's appearance can be said to have made him step down.

In the absence of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Ruxiao, Wu Chongyao had already shared some things, and Wu Chongyao was in charge of Guangdong, and he also served as the general manager of Nanyang Company, controlling nearly two-thirds of the empire's trade share, so Burbulon naturally wanted to give him face, and Wu Chongyao's words were enough.

Therefore, the French warship on which Bourblon was riding, under the suggestion of Wu Chongyao, "in order to sail faster and arrive at Shengjing as soon as possible", unloaded all the six guns on the warship by the edge of Dapeng Bay, reduced the weight, and rushed to Shengjing with Wu Chongyao and others.

In this way, after Wu Chongyao and the others arrived in Shengjing, he arranged for Burbulon and others to be in the Xiyi Pavilion located on the side of the Xiaguan Wharf outside Shengjing City, and he hurried to report and ask Feng Yunshan for instructions.

"Your Majesty, Weichen brought this French envoy to Shengjing without authorization, and I ask Your Majesty to forgive your sins!" After Wu Chongyao finished talking about the reason for the matter, no matter what, he still confessed first, and then said: "Although the French envoy said fiercely and violently, in fact he was just pretending, and Wei Chen already knew his purpose after a little temptation, which was nothing more than to ask for some cheap and advantage. ”

According to what Wu Chongyao said, Feng Yunshan only then remembered that France had indeed been salivating and planning for a long time in their claim to Indochina, that is, the French colonial influence area composed of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in later generations, and if he had not come to this world to change the course of history, in 1857, that is, this year, he would have made territorial claims to the Nguyen Dynasty, and after being refused, he directly united with the Spaniards to send troops to attack Da Nang and capture Saigon the following year. It was not until a few years later in 1862 that Nguyen Dinh sued for peace with France and Spain, and signed the First Treaty of Saigon, ceding territory, and then gradually encroaching on it, turning it into a French colony.

But now, this arrangement has been destroyed by himself, and it is all in vain.

Feng Yunshan's face was a little smiling: he sent troops to directly occupy all of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, turning them into two provinces, Cochin and Ninan, and also obtained the southernmost Tanah sarin area from Burma, and sent Li Kaifang to lead tens of thousands of soldiers to enter the dense forests of the Malay Peninsula and slowly occupy the entire Malay Peninsula from the land. This is not only cutting off the beard, but also cutting off the roots!

With control of the Malay Peninsula, the British-occupied colonies of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore were in jeopardy. Without the protection and logistical sustenance of these three colonial posts, it would have been difficult for the merchant ships of the Western European powers to move in and out of the Strait of Malacca and sail between the Indian and Pacific Oceans as easily as they do now.

Although it is said that Britain has suffered the most in this way, France has always been close to Britain, and naturally there will be great losses. No one wants to lose trade with the most populous country.

However, France may indeed be very short of troops, and it is unable to use force in Asia. Otherwise, it would not have invaded a small country like the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam next year, and it would have to be carried out in conjunction with Spain, and more than 20 years later, when the heir of the Nguyen Dynasty died, and the Nguyen Dynasty had internal strife, it took advantage of the situation to invade Hue, the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, and completely occupy Vietnam.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan showed a smile even more, and smiled at Wu Chongyao: "It's okay, what is Wu Aiqing's crime?" Wu Aiqing, together with Zuo Aiqing, went to the Foreign Affairs Hall to meet with the legal envoy and negotiate with him on my behalf! ”

Today's Feng Yunshan is more confident. Just a few days ago, an urgent message from the Secret Service Department arrived at him from the Ryukyus: Wu Ruxiao, vice minister of foreign affairs in the United States, had returned home with more than 10 warships. If it goes well, it should be a few days, and you will arrive in Shengjing.

With these large warships, the overall strength of the Imperial Navy will almost double.

Naburblon was only a French minister, and Feng Yunshan was now the emperor of the Chinese Empire, although he did not maintain his identity, but he would not personally negotiate with foreigners like he used to be the holy king of the Taiping Holy Kingdom.

However, he said that Burbulon was in the Xiyi Pavilion on the side of the dock in Shimonoseki, and he was a little depressed in the room with his assistant Gu Si and Father Ge Bida, so he thought about leaving the hall and walked away, and said to the deacon in the hall, and the other party only agreed to let them move within two or three miles of the pier. Bourblon wanted to protest, but he didn't dare to go far, and who knew if any barbarians would suddenly rush out, so he had to agree, and the three of them went out together.

It was not long after I went out that I met a large group of idle people mixed with three people, who originally wanted to walk around the woods, and came to the Shimonoseki wharf after being swept by the crowd. Someone in the crowd kept shouting: "Lord Wu has returned from the distant rice country, and I heard that he has bought more than ten Western warships, each of which is the size of a hill, and it can't even fit the Qinhuai River, which is really amazing!" ”

"Yes, listen to the boss of that ship, Lao He, the warship brought back by Lord Wu has the combat power of dozens of ships, and the cannons on that ship are like thunder in the sky, and they can fight several miles away."

Bourblon and Gu Si glanced at each other, followed the flow of people, sat on the dock, and waited patiently while chatting in French about the mission of this visit to China.

"I'm afraid that the mission sent by Paris this time will be difficult to complete!" Bourblon sighed helplessly, passing through the Dapeng Bay incident, all the way through Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu provinces coastal ports, although did not stop, but along the way encountered no less than ten warships, other local warships are no less than hundred, and like Xiamen, Dinghai, Wusongkou three dangerous places, faintly thousands of people are active, combined with the faint cannon on the cargo ship passing through the Wusongkou wharf, Burbulon can speculate that it is building a large fort.

It is true that this nascent country is not the Manchu Qing Dynasty it used to be.

Thinking of the fact that when the other side attacked Shanghai, it defeated Britain, France, the United States and other countries in the concession, and captured several warships, it seems that the strength of this country was not small at that time. Now listening to the rumors of those people, it seems that an official surnamed Wu has returned from Europe with more than ten large warships, and more than ten warships are indeed a lot of maritime power. Of course, this is on the premise that Britain and its own France do not send fleets.

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