Chapter 35 Ten compromises

"Lao Zhongtang, French Minister Luo Shuya and British Minister Wade have jointly sent a note." That afternoon, Chong Hou came to the Confucian Temple in a luxuriously decorated buggy with a huge envelope.These days, Chonghou must come once a day, and every time he talks about how foreigners are secretly dispatching troops and preparing for revenge, which makes Zeng Guofan disgusted and worried, and feels like sitting on pins and needles all day long.Zeng Guofan opened the large envelope, and a piece of thick and shiny Bai Daolin paper floated down.Picking it up, he was dumbfounded: lines of foreign language suddenly appeared in front of his weak eyes.He has read Chinese poetry and books, but he doesn't know a single foreign alphabet.It is precisely because of this pain that he hired an Englishman who understands Chinese a few years ago to teach Ji Ze and Ji Hong how to read English and French. Fortunately, both sons are very good at learning, especially Ji Hong is more talented and is now fluent. talked with foreigners.Unfortunately, they did not come to Tianjin.

"Old Zhongtang, my junior has asked someone to translate it in Chinese." Chonghou took out a piece of paper from the leaf of his boot, and Zeng Guofan saw that it read: Luo Shuya, Minister of the French Empire, and Witoma, Minister of the British Empire, to Zeng, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty and Governor of Zhili: For the note.Last month, the scumbags in Tianjin in your country caused a bloody riot due to rumors of kidnapping people, gouging eyes and dissecting hearts. Our French Empire and the British Empire suffered heavy losses. The whole country was outraged. If you don't take revenge, you will not be a soldier.The French Empire's Haixiong, Cavalier, and Bawang gunboats had already assembled in Dagu, and those who did not advance to Tianjin are expected to wait.Today, more than a month has passed, and the scholars of your university have been in Tianjin for 20 days. What your country has done makes us extremely regretful.Minister Luo Shuya, on behalf of the French Empire, raised four requests, but none of them received a definite answer.For this reason, we are ordered by the Emperor and His Majesty the Queen to solemnly propose to your academician: Your country must compensate for the loss of 500,000 taels of silver, and all murderers will be brought to justice immediately.Tianjin Taoist Zhou Jiaxun, prefect Zhang Guangzao, and county magistrate Liu Jie are the main messengers of the riots and are the chief culprits. Not killing them is not enough to calm the anger of the people in France, Britain, and the souls of innocent priests and virgins who died.For this reason, I would like to urge you to show your sincerity by beheading the heads of the three members within ten days.In addition, Chen Guorui, the commander-in-chief of your country, is also the leader who directs the scoundrels to rebel, and Chen Guorui should fight with his life.

The Third Fleet of the French Empire has now sailed into the Red Sea, equipped with the best guns in the world, and the Fifth Fleet of the British Empire in Calcutta has also set sail.The two fleets will meet at Dagu ten days later.If you don't follow suit, the fleets of the two empires will flatten Tianjin and knock down the Forbidden City.All the consequences will be borne by the honorable scholar, so it is unpredictable!I hereby warn you. "How unreasonable!" Zeng Guofan angrily threw the note on the ground.This kind of shameless intimidation without any concealment, this kind of command tone like a master's commanding servant, this kind of outrageous and unreasonable demands deeply stimulated his personality, ruthlessly insulted his dignity, and suddenly aroused his competitive spirit .At the same time, as the foreman of Han University scholars and the Chinese representative who was ordered to handle the Tianjin case, he also felt that the dignity of the country and the dignity of the empress dowager had been insulted.

"Chongshilang, please go and tell Luo Shuya and Wade Ma that this note is unacceptable, especially the fact that local officials in Tianjin and Chen Guorui have come to their lives. The empress dowager and the emperor deal with it, they have no right to make such a high-handed request, not to mention that the local officials are only guilty of dereliction of duty, and they are definitely not guilty of refusal. You go to convey it orally, and within two days, the scholars of this university will reply with a formal letter." Zeng Guofan's sudden tough attitude took Chonghou by surprise.Didn't he say a long time ago that the Tianjin case is handled with the purpose of making compromises?What's the matter with the old man today? He's so angry?Chonghou picked up the French-English note thrown to the ground by Zeng Guofan, and hurriedly browsed through it again.The tone was a bit blunt, but the conditions were not unacceptable.

Chonghou is determined to resolve the Tianjin case peacefully.He believes that as long as there is no war, any conditions are acceptable.It's nothing to pay more money, and don't pay for it yourself!Killing a few more people is nothing, the Chinese people have plenty!It doesn't matter if you kill the Daoist Mansion, Zhili has a long list of officials waiting for vacancies!Once there is a war, he Chonghou will not be able to get rid of the responsibility.First, the three ministers of trade and commerce were originally responsible for Tianjin's ground westernization, and he was the first to bear the blame for this war caused by westernization.Second, Feng Daye first fired the gun in his yamen, and he was the main party in the Tianjin case.Third, before Zeng Guofan arrived in Tianjin, he was the highest official handling the Tianjin case.After calmly going through this storm, he apologized to France and came back, and he can still be his Minister of Commerce; if there is a war and China fails, he will beheaded at worst, or exiled to the army at worst. He has no choice but to persuade this stubborn Hard old man.To persuade people like Zeng Guofan, Chonghou had his own way.

"Old Zhongtang, the note from Luo Shuya and Wade Ma is indeed too much. Even the juniors feel angry when they read it. What are they in front of Lao Zhongtang? Lao Zhongtang is Mount Tai, Kunlun, and the Great Wall. What qualifications do they have to 'report' , What a piece of shit!" When Chonghou said this, he was filled with righteous indignation, and Zeng Guofan's anger began to subside a little.He is not exempt, like all the old people who have made great achievements in their youth, in the past two years, they have become more and more fond of listening to compliments and flattery.

"However, Lao Zhongtang, they have something to rely on!" Chonghou changed into a helpless look. "They rely on gunboats, which are world-class weapons. There are several French and Englishmen in my office, and I asked them secretly.The French said that their Third Fleet had ten warships, all of which were armed with sixty-four-pound guns, and could carry ten bursts at a time. No solid stone city could stop them.Artillery armor is all made of fine steel, which cannot be pierced by ordinary iron, let alone knives and guns.The British guy said that the fleet stationed in Calcutta is the ace fleet of the British Far East. It has conquered more than 30 countries in the world. The commander of the fleet is the number one murderous devil in the UK.They said that as long as these two fleets sail into Tianjin Port and fire their cannons, within an hour, Tianjin will be turned into ruins, half a million people in Tianjin will be reduced to a pile of dead bones, and the capital will be reduced to a battlefield again. They have to hunt north in a hurry. "

Having said this, Chonghou glanced at Zeng Guofan.I saw Yi Yonghou, who was furious just now, fell powerlessly on the chair, his eyes were slightly closed, and countless wrinkles were deeply engraved on his long sallow face, like a patient in a dying state!Knowing that these few words hit the old man's vitals, he turned his body and whispered into Zeng Guofan's ear: "Old Zhongtang, this junior has bad news for you." "What's the matter?" Zeng Guofan opened his left eye and moved his back from the chair. "Russia, Belgium, and the United States have all let out the news that they will fully support the military operations of France and the United Kingdom. They want ships out of ships, guns out of guns, and people out of people. They will never stop until their goals are achieved."

The Sankou Commercial Yamen had always been the most informed about foreigners, but Zeng Guofan himself did not have such a team at all, so he had to rely on and trust the information provided by Chonghou. "It seems that the appeasement of those countries other than France has not worked." Zeng Guofan thought to himself.His left eye was closed again, and he collapsed on the chair again. His lips moved a few times, as if he was about to speak, but finally he did not speak out. Chong Hou stood up, walked behind Zeng Guofan, bent down completely with the humble attitude of a junior, and said softly: "Old Zhongtang, this junior knows that you are an indomitable hero. You would rather bend than bend, and die rather than surrender. But today, Lao Zhongtang belongs to the country. The safety of the country is the safety of tens of millions of people in China, the safety of the empress dowager and the emperor. One's own body can be broken, but the country and the country cannot be broken; The empress dowager and the emperor must not be humiliated. Old Zhongtang, you just have to humiliate and endure the humiliation!"

Chonghou's voice was choked with sobs at this moment, and he almost shed tears.Zeng Guofan's thoughts were extremely chaotic, and his physical strength was extremely weak: "Chong Shilang, you go back first, let me think about it carefully, and you come back at night!" After Chong Hou left, Zeng Guofan walked into the bedroom. According to the habit he had developed over the years, he closed the doors and windows, lit a stick of incense, and began to calmly think back and forth.He used to sit cross-legged on the bed, but now he has no such strength.He slept on a recliner, with an old mandarin jacket covering his abdomen, and the light smoke rising from his stomach made his thoughts gradually quiet.

After 20 days in Tianjin, the details of the Tianjin case have been fully clarified.The teaching case in Tianjin is the same as the teaching cases in Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan and other places. It is a great change caused by the long-term anger of the Chinese people against foreigners.Since foreign religions were allowed to spread in the interior, churches have caused trouble everywhere.Whenever a crime is committed in the church, the priest does not care about right and wrong, but protects the people, and the consul does not care about the right and wrong, and protects the priest.When there is a civil-religious struggle, the common people will always submit, and the religious people will always win.The reason why the Tianjin religious case became so big and so many foreigners died was entirely because Feng Daye shot and killed Liu Jie's family first.From these two perspectives, the music lies in the foreigners, and the truth lies in the Chinese.After Zeng Guofan thought about it from this aspect, he thought from another angle. The direct causes of other teaching cases were all due to the unreasonableness of the religious people, and the Chinese took the reason. The situation of the teaching case in Tianjin is complicated.The reason for the siege of the church is that the church has committed crimes of abducting people, gouging eyes and dissecting hearts, but there is no conclusive evidence for this matter after repeated investigations.There is no need for foreigners to do this in terms of emotion and reason. Where is the reason to besiege the church because of believing groundless rumors?It is true that Feng Daye was guilty of shooting someone to death first, but at most he was beaten to death. How could he kill more than 20 people, burn the national flag, the church, and destroy the consulate, nursery hall, and lecture hall?Half of the dead were not French, they were victims.What's even more frustrating is that there are gangsters like Tian Laoer among them.As far as the matter is concerned, is Qu Zai a foreigner, or is Qu Zai a native of China?Thinking of this, Zeng Guofan felt chilled.He left the reclining chair, moved back and forth a few times, and then sat on the rattan chair next to the desk to continue thinking. Even so, foreigners are hateful after all.The Chinese don't welcome them and hate their church, so why do they stay in China with a stern face?Why forcefully spread their teachings in China?What is their intention: to plunder China's wealth, or to confuse the Chinese people's conscience?The Qing discussion is not completely unreasonable. We should take this opportunity to drive all foreigners out of the country. From then on, we will not communicate with them and handle our own affairs behind closed doors. We don't care about your strong ships; we don't need your guns; your binoculars can see far. We haven't had this thing since ancient times. We can still march and fight, and those who use soldiers well can win.After all, Qingyi represents the sentiments, sentiments, and customs of the people in China.If he, Zeng Guofan, was standing in Tianjin right now, and he raised his arms like this, everyone in the world would give him a thumbs up.Praise him as a patriotic hero.But now, under the orders of the Queen Mother and the Emperor, he humbly apologizes to the foreigners on behalf of China, drives the craftsmen to repair the churches that the people burned in anger, bury the murderers who shot and killed the Chinese with grand etiquette, and takes hundreds of thousands of silver to comfort the people The foreigners who hate it to the bone, kill the heads of the Chinese people to get rid of the resentment of the Pacific people.No matter how great his achievements, no matter how high his status is, and no matter how reasonable his reasoning is, Zeng Guofan's actions will still be against the popular will and the people's prestige. , as a traitor and traitor, he will be infamous for thousands of years. Thinking of this, Zeng Guofan trembled all over and couldn't help himself.He sighed that his life was miserable, but he didn't expect to suffer such a catastrophe when he was old.If he was still in Liangjiang at this time, or transferred to any province other than Zhili, such unlucky things would not be his turn.Maybe you can say a few decent words, just like what was written in a letter from home more than 20 years ago, praising Yao Ying for beheading Yingyi as a happy thing, and sending a poem to Jin Zhuqian who went to Fujian to be an official, Encourage him: "The atmosphere in the corner of the sea is evil, look at the long whale you catch." Of course, now you can also quickly write a letter to the Queen Mother and the Emperor, counting the crimes of foreigners, trying to appeal to the people, and declaring war on the foreigners. With your own prestige, maybe the Queen Mother and the Emperor will also adopt it, but what will the consequences be?Ten years ago, the imperial court fought with foreigners, and there were no less than a hundred battles, big and small, but almost none of them had the upper hand. Sometimes it seemed to be a victory, but even greater defeats followed.The war of burning opium thirty years ago deeply stimulated Zeng Guofan, who had just entered his official career, and he still remembers it clearly to this day.At that time, Emperor Daoguang sent Lin Zexu to Guangdong to ban smoking, and he agreed to use force to fight back against the British armed aggression. However, after the battle was defeated, Emperor Daoguang put all the responsibility on Lin Zexu and dismissed him as a soldier.Emperor Daoguang is known as a sage, and he really wants to make a difference, but he is so contradictory.The empress dowager is a woman, and the emperor is a child who is underage, let alone expect them to bear the huge risk after starting a war.In the end, I will become the chief culprit who pushed the country into disaster, and the country must also suffer hundreds of times and thousands of times of losses in human and financial resources. "My lord, the commander-in-chief of the Dagukou Navy has sent an urgent report, and the foreigners have brought in six more gunboats, including the last three. There are nine ships in total, all loaded with live ammunition." Zhao Liewen pushed the door in anxiously. "Which country?" "French." Zeng Guofan was taken aback.The note stated that the French gunboats were still in the Red Sea. Where did these six warships come from?These despicable foreigners are vicious and cunning! "You write a note for me, tell the navy officer Lu Zhen, tell him not to panic, and prepare for war. I am mobilizing the army to Dagukou to help." "Okay, I'll write." "You also wrote a letter to Shengsan on my behalf, telling him to leave Zhang Qiu immediately and come to Tianjin to obey orders!" "yes." Chief Zeng Guofan let out a sigh, and said, "I should have written this letter myself, but I'm too busy today to be distracted. Explain it in your letter, and I'll sign it when it's finished." Zhao Liewen turned around and went out, then gently closed the door. This unexpected military situation forced Zeng Guofan to immediately turn his thoughts to the note on Luo Shuya and Wade. "Bingduan must not be opened by himself!" This decision, which had been made on the eve of going to Tianjin, was now more firm, so the only way left is to compromise! "People have to bow their heads under the low eaves!" The humiliating choice made Zeng Guofan inexplicably painful!Restoring the church and punishing the murderer are all easy to handle. Although half a million silver is a bit too much, I reluctantly took it out. Although the funeral of Feng Daye was reluctant, I endured it and passed. Accepted, this not only greatly damages the dignity of the court, but also is inconsistent with the national law.Just disagreeing with this point probably won't break the tie. In the evening, as soon as Chonghou entered the Confucian Temple, he told Zeng Guofan that the six new French warships at Dagukou had been added as a big news, and once again persuaded him to accept all the notes from France and Britain. "Chongshilang, you will reply to Luo Shuya and Wade on my behalf tomorrow, and say that you will accept all the other items except the one about the death of an official." "Old Zhongtang, why worry about these people breaking the peace?" Chonghou said with a look of embarrassment. "Chongshilang, you have been an important official of the court for many years, you should know how to maintain the dignity of our Qing Empire." Zeng Guofan said with a straight face, "These four officials must not resist their orders, and would rather risk the disgrace of starting a war. I won’t give in either. If a foreigner insists on insisting, you can tell him that my Nine Thousand Ming Army is approaching Tianjin, and Li Zhongtang’s Pinghui Huai Army has also been transferred to Zhili. Yili's fate is not hesitant." Facing Zeng Guofan's non-negotiable attitude, Chong Hou had no choice but to soften.He immediately changed into a charming smile, and said, "The younger generation admires Lao Zhongtang's integrity, but I was ordered by Lao Zhongtang to negotiate with foreigners, and I also ask Lao Zhongtang to give me a room for change." "How to turn around?" Zeng Guofan frowned. "I think, for Zhou Dao, Chen Zhen and others, the old Zhongtang insisted on only dismissing them, and the foreigners insisted on resisting their lives. Both sides held their own side, and the matter froze. At this time, a compromise solution was needed to solve it. Chonghou put on the posture of a seasoned diplomat. "The younger generation has had good relations with France and the UK for a long time, and is also suitable to act as a mediator. Then the younger generation will propose such a plan, that is, to hand over Zhou Dao and others to the Ministry of Criminal Justice on the grounds of serious dereliction of duty and causing heavy losses to the country. Strict discussion. What do you think of the old Zhongtang?" "It's not suitable, it's too heavy." Zeng Guofan shook his head. "Old Zhongtang!" Chonghou became anxious. "It seems that we have made a concession to the foreigners, but in fact it is just for show. No matter how severe the punishment for Zhou Dao and others is, they will only serve in the military. In our own country, is this not easy to say? The situation calmed down, and after the foreigners let out their breath, Lao Zhongtang gave another guarantee. Didn’t they come back again? They continued to be their Taoist priests and general soldiers. The younger generation can also tell them in private that there is no way for Lao Zhongtang to do this. For the sake of the country, Lao Zhongtang begs for everything, so I ask them to be wronged for the country for the time being." The words of the eloquent Chonghou finally moved Zeng Guofan, and he authorized Chonghou to make such a compromise. A few days later, Ma Shengwu, the newly appointed prefect of Tianjin, sent a wonderful idea to help Zeng Guofan get out of another predicament, in order to thank Zeng Guofan for his kindness. A fight broke out.The Lu surname suffered a loss, and six people died. They reported to the county magistrate, and the county government sent troops to arrest the seven murderers surnamed Wu. The case was reported to the magistrate's Yamen.An old scribe whispered to Ma Zhifu: "The queen mother wants Zeng Zhongtang to kill more murderers. Zeng Zhongtang is worried about the lack of evidence. The seven murderers in Qing County are dead anyway. It is better to count them as murderers of foreigners. Didn't you help Zeng Zhongtang a lot?" Ma Shengwu was overjoyed when he heard this, and repeatedly praised the clerk for his cleverness.He was worried that he had nothing to repay Zeng Guofan, this is really a great gift!However, after he thought about it again, he felt that something was wrong: "These criminals have to declare their crimes against them and ask them to sign and pledge. Will they agree? Besides, if the surname Lu wants to use this to avenge his hatred, they will not agree." .” "Oh, my good master, you leave this matter to me, and you give me one thousand taels of silver, and I promise to handle it well!" The old scribe paid out one thousand taels of silver, kept two hundred taels for himself, and then divided the eight hundred taels into two halves, and the surname Lu was four hundred taels.Wu's surname is four hundred taels.For the seven murderer families surnamed Wu, each family received forty taels, and the brigade commander also shared forty taels, leaving eighty taels, and the whole family shared more than two taels.The same is true for the Lu surname. They have a small family, and each household has a share of more than three taels.Everyone is happy now.The patriarch surnamed Wu and his family members came to persuade the murderers, telling them to put the country's overall interests first, sign and pledge on the cases of burning churches and killing foreigners, and promised to bury them with high-quality coffins and build high-quality tombs after death. public sacrifice.The patriarch surnamed Lu came to persuade the family members of the deceased, telling them to take care of the overall situation and not to sue again, the enemy has already been killed, no matter what the cause of his death, not to mention that every household has received a pension! "Prefect Ma, you are so smart and capable!" Zeng Guofan admired and was grateful from the bottom of his heart.This idea is really great. It can not only explain to the court, but also block the mouths of foreigners, and my conscience will not be condemned. "Old Zhongtang, if the imperial court thinks there are too few, you can kill a few more in this way." Ma Shengwu said proudly, "There are seven or eight death-row prisoners in the cell, and they are all dead anyway. Give them some money when the time comes. They just make a bet." There are people in the world who are so good at changing positions!Zeng Guofan really felt that his brain was too stupid.He told the Queen Mother and the Emperor that night that there were seven more murderers in the Fa-rectification. If there are too few, the Prime Minister's Office can inquire about the attitude of the French Minister. Chong Hou also came to report excitedly, saying that Luo Shuya and Wade Ma agreed to a compromise, and proposed to release Wu Lanzhen and Wang San. In order to realize the peace as soon as possible, he also agreed on behalf of Zeng Guofan.Luo Shuya and Wade Ma expressed their satisfaction and went back to Beijing overnight.Neither Zeng Guofan nor Chonghou knew that French Minister Luo Shuya accepted this compromise and hurried back to Beijing because his country was facing a serious situation.It turned out that the French Emperor Napoleon III was planning to fight with its neighbor Prussia. He wanted to use all his strength in Europe, and the troubles in the Far East had to end as soon as possible.Within days, France declared war on Prussia.More than a month later, the French army was defeated by the Prussian army, and Napoleon III announced his surrender.At that time, as long as the Qing court and Zeng Guofan and Luo Shuya were in a stalemate for a short period of time, things would change drastically. However, they were too ignorant of the general trend of the world to know anything about it.Zeng Guofan listened to Chonghou's report, although he thought he was acting arbitrarily, but now he had to admit it. Just when Zeng Guofan rejoiced that the country and the people were spared a serious disaster, he himself fell into the abyss of humiliation in his life, which not only made him too regretful during his lifetime, but even today, more than a hundred years later, he cannot be forgiven by history.