Chapter 56 third quarter

Daoguang sent an imperial envoy to Guangdong to handle military affairs. Although Lin Zexu was dismissed, there was still time to use it. Although Qishan was ordered to investigate Lin Zexu's failure to ban smoking, the fact was that he was not asked to do so. Just look, the main thing is to let Qishan handle military affairs.Qishan also sent someone to consult Lin Zexu's ideas, but Qishan disappointed him and even signed a treaty with the British in private. This made Lin Zexu angry and annoyed, and called him a traitor. More than a month ago, Yang Fang, the admiral of Hunan, came to Guangzhou again. Every time before the war, Yang Fang would come to the academy to meet and talk with him for days.However, at the most critical moment, Yang Fang did not adopt his idea, but instead listened to the wizard's demonic words, and was defeated in the end. She had no choice but to negotiate an armistice agreement with Elliott.

Since then, Lin Zexu never wanted to see Yang Fang again, and Yang Fang seemed to know it well, and never came to Yuehua Academy again. Now Yang Fang sent someone to invite him again, obviously asking him to be a counselor again, but Lin Zexu had lost confidence in Yang Fang, although Lin Zexu knew in his heart that it was not Yang Fang who wanted to ask him for advice this time, but someone else. "What kind of person is Yishan?" Lin Zexu couldn't help wondering in his heart. Yishan has lived in the capital for a long time, although Lin Zexu has been to Beijing several times, but the days of his stay are not many, he has never interacted with Yishan, and during those days in the capital, he mostly stayed at the Xuannan Poetry Society to talk poetry and practice calligraphy with some old friends, He also knew nothing about Yishan.

"This time Yang Fang suddenly kindly invited me to go. It was obviously sent by the so-called Jingni General Yishan. Should I go or not? The servant is still waiting outside." Although Lin Zexu was dressed neatly at this time, he couldn't make up his mind for a while, and walked back and forth in the small study room hesitantly. "Go, if Yishan is like Qi Shan and Yang Fang who are ignorant and seek peace after a fight, wouldn't you be even more disappointed? It may not be as bad as I imagined." When Lin Zexu was in panic, Lin Sheng walked in again. "Master, that man is still waiting outside, do you think you should send him away first?"

Lin Zexu thought for a moment: "Yes! Yishan and the others may also be looking forward to my going with yearning expressions, but I am still hesitating here. A man should make a decision, how can he act like a son and daughter." Once he made up his mind, Lin Zexu shouted decisively: "Let's go!" The governor's mansion was brightly lit, and there were lanterns and festoons everywhere. Three days before Yishan and other officials arrived, Yiliang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, had already arranged everything. Yishan was very satisfied seeing this scene, and boasted: "Master Yi, I really didn't expect you to have such a skill. Not bad, really good!"

"Thank you, General Yi, for your compliment. Yi is just expressing the landlord's intentions, as long as the general is satisfied." "Satisfied, of course Yi is satisfied! Once Yi returns to Beijing, he will definitely say a few words of kindness for Lord Yi in front of the emperor, Lord Yi can rest assured." Yishan belongs to the imperial family, when Yiliang heard him say this, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly greeted: "General, please sit down." Yi Shan replied with a smile: "Master Yi, you are welcome, please sit down too." A group of officials sat down and drank freely.Just after drinking for three rounds, a person came up to Yi Shan and said to him, "General, Lin Zexu, Master Lin has arrived."

Although Yishan is not involved in military affairs, he has heard about Lin Zexu's talent for a long time.He hurriedly left the banquet and walked out of the main hall, and saw a man in his fifties who was not tall but slightly rich walked into the backyard in a dignified manner. Without further questioning, Yishan knew that the person must be Lin Zexu, he ran down the steps and went up to meet him. "Master Lin, Yi is being polite here." Lin Zexu had just entered the governor's yamen, and seeing the bright lights inside, people's ears were all confused, he was very unhappy, and was about to turn his head to go back, but saw a person who had already rushed out of the lobby, so he greeted him without saying goodbye He also cupped his hands and said, "This must be General Yi."

"It's right down." "I don't know why General Yi invited Lin Zexu?" Lin Zexu glanced at the officials in the lobby, pretending not to understand and asking. Yi Shan glanced at Lin Zexu's eyes, knowing that he was dissatisfied with the situation in front of him, he was about to get angry at first, but when he thought of Daoguang's warning, he hurriedly said with a smile: "Master Lin must have misunderstood, Yimou is here for the first time. It’s an expensive place, so Mrs. Yi specially took care of Mr. Yi, but Mr. Yi invited Mr. here for business, and I hope you will forgive me, and we can talk about it in detail after the cleaning is over, please take a seat, Mr. Lin.”

Saying that, Yi Shan raised his hand as a gesture of invitation, with an extremely respectful attitude. However, in Yi Shan's mind, he had a plan: "It seems that Lin Zexu is not what I imagined, he is just an idiot who doesn't know the current affairs. But since the emperor wants me to treat him well, I have to put on a show in front of everyone." Lin Zexu didn't know what Yishan was thinking, seeing his respectful attitude and seeming to be a man of promise, he didn't want to push back too much, and he sat with Yishan among the officials with great reluctance. Most of the officials were Lin Zexu's subordinates, and they were very happy to see Lin Zexu sitting among them, and they raised their glasses to show respect to him.Lin Zexu thought that he had been dismissed, but his former subordinates were still so enthusiastic, and he was greatly moved.He stood up, his eyes were already wet, he slowly picked up the wine glass, and said: "Mr. Lin understands the wishes of the adults. I won't say much here. I only hope that you can help General Yi and work together for the sake of the future." Fuqing Paiwai drank this cup."

After speaking, Lin Zexu drank it down.Listening to Lin Zexu's words, all the officials were already in tears, drinking the wine in their cups together. Seeing this made one person unhappy, but he still smiled. Early the next morning, Lin Zexu excitedly went to the governor's office. As soon as he entered, he saw Yiliang, Yishan and others waiting. At this time, more than 8,000 generals were transferred to Guangdong from various provinces, but Yishan had not made a unified battle deployment, let alone a specific battle plan. Although he was unhappy, he was still overjoyed to see Lin Zexu.

"This time when I came to Guangdong from the south, Yi was assisted by Master Lin, General Yang and others. How can there be any reason for this battle to be invincible?" Yang Fang was dismissed by Daoguang because of her defeat last time. She felt ashamed, so she could only smile wryly. "Lin believes that as long as we work together, we will be able to repel the British army. With morale, even if the enemy ships have more powerful guns, what is there to fear?" Lin Zexu found that someone admired him, and immediately refreshed. "This time, Mr. Lin has made up his mind?"

Everyone also looked at Lin Zexu one after another. Under the gaze of everyone, Lin Zexu smiled sadly, thinking that this time his long-awaited plan could be realized. "Are you confident? Lin doesn't dare to say, but Lin has analyzed the reasons for the failures in the past few battles one by one. It is not that our army is not as strong as the British army, but because our army is not prepared enough." Seeing that the people around him were listening carefully, Lin Zexu continued: "At present, we have reached an agreement with the British army for a temporary armistice, which will give us sufficient time to prepare." "Then based on Lord Lin's idea, how should our army prepare properly?" "In Lin's opinion, first the British attack and we defend, so our army will inevitably be passive. Therefore, if we want to win, we must change from passive to active, take the initiative to attack the British army, catch them by surprise, and then pursue them with all their might. Lin thought In this way, the British army can be defeated!" Yishan doesn't understand military affairs, but when he heard what Lin Zexu said, he seemed to feel reasonable, and repeatedly claimed it was wonderful.But Yang Fang was born as a military commander, so she could hear the subtleties, so she asked puzzledly: "Master Lin is right. But if I attack rashly, I'm afraid..." Yang Fang felt ashamed and stopped talking at this point. "Active attack is only part of it, and of course you must be fully prepared for active attack. Lin has a few suggestions for your reference. The first is to understand the enemy's situation and find out how many British ships are on the ocean, so as to know yourself and your enemy. , so that we can fight a hundred battles without danger; second, before preparing for battle, the artillery positions of various places must be checked and tested before they can be used, so that when facing the enemy, there will be no mistakes; Ships for later use; fourth, the British army came from thousands of miles to our dynasty, relying on nothing more than ships. The ships are so powerful that they cannot be matched by our wooden ships, so we can avoid disputes with them. Block the main waterway , and set up a heavy force, in this way, the British ships will naturally be useless, so our army can make use of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses to annihilate them together..." At this moment, Lin Zexu was thinking like a fountain, and he talked eloquently. Everyone was fascinated and admired secretly. As soon as Lin Zexu finished speaking, everyone applauded impatiently. At this moment, Yishan was convinced, and looked at Lin Zexu with admiration. "Lord Lin is indeed well-deserved of his reputation. With his lord here, why should Yimou worry about the failure of the war? Once the time is right, Yimou will immediately send troops to annihilate the British army." On May 10, the 21st year of Daoguang, the Qing army was ready for everything. During this period, the moon was dark and the tide was smooth, Yishan and others did not dare to miss this opportunity, so they decided to strike first.Among the soldiers in Sichuan and Hunan, he selected more than 1,700 soldiers who were familiar with water, led by the governor Hu Fengshen, the garrison Sun Yingzhao, the general manager Yang Ze, the foreign commissioner Chen Chaoyang, Feng Chengchuan, etc., and divided the troops into three groups: On the middle road, Zhang Bilu, the admiral of the Navy, led 700 water bravely to go out from the West Fort. On the right, Yang Fang led five hundred waters out of Nicheng. On the left, Lu Wen led five hundred water braves out from the car fort. After the third watch, the soldiers went out of the city. The soldiers secretly carried rockets, fire bombs, spray guns, and hook sickles, and approached the enemy ship in an inch boat. British ships in the Etan area. The British army was defeated and fled in a hurry. Elliott was in a particularly irritable mood today, and he had felt this way since he woke up in the morning.He couldn't tell what was wrong, and he didn't understand the reason for his irritability until noon. Elliot was having lunch at noon when a servant brought in a letter from Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary.If you don't look at it, it's enough. When you see Yilu, you are startled, and you are shocked. In the letter, Palmerston not only severely criticized him, but also told him the astonishing news that the Queen of England expressed dissatisfaction with his behavior again, and proposed to replace Elliot, the British plenipotentiary representative to China.Moreover, the British Prime Minister has agreed to the Queen's suggestion and ordered Palmerston to handle the matter.At the same time, Palmerston also told him that the new representative, Pudingcha, would arrive in Canton in three months to take his place.And Palmerston also expressed his apology in the letter. Seeing such a letter, Elliot cursed angrily at that time: "Liar! Liar! A group of big liars. Just one word from them wiped out all my achievements, and just one letter wiped out my dream. It was smashed, it is really abominable!" Colonel Birratt hurried over at this time, and Elliot asked angrily, "Major Birratt, what's the matter?" Borat hurriedly said: "Mr. Elliott, the Qing army attacked our warship just now." "Oh?" Elliot stood up and asked again, "What's the result?" "As a result, they succeeded in sneak attack. Our army's speedboat 'Louisa' and sailboat 'Dawn' were almost destroyed, and more than a dozen of our soldiers were killed." "How did this happen? Those Qing soldiers who were always greedy for life and fear of death now dare to take the initiative to attack our army?" Elliot was a little puzzled, and then gave another order. "Major Berratt, please call Mr. Boehme, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy." "Yes, sir." After a while, Bo Mai came in hurriedly. "Mr. Boehmer, look at your foolishness, how will you explain to me today!" As Elliot said, he hummed heavily again. "Mr. Yilu, you can't blame me for this matter..." "If you don't blame you, who do you blame? Aren't you the commander-in-chief of the navy?" Elliot interrupted him. "It can only be blamed on Lin Zexu for being a hindrance." Bomei knew that Yilu admired and hated Lin Zexu after the smoking ban, so he mentioned Lin Zexu. Upon hearing this, Yilu asked in surprise, "Isn't Lin Zexu dismissed from his post? How could he have contact with him?" "Bianshan sent troops to attack our army this time. I have verified that it was Lin Zexu who planned it behind the scenes." "No wonder those Qing soldiers were able to sneak attack successfully." Only then did Yilu suddenly realize. Seeing that Yilu's expression didn't show any sign of anger, Bomei stepped up and suggested: "Mr. Yilu, you see that our army has already been replenished, should we also send troops to besiege the Qing army?" Elliot pondered for a moment, thought for a while and said: "Of course we must launch an attack, but it's not now. I guess those Qing troops will not let down their vigilance after attacking us, but will only strengthen their defenses. If they attack us now We have been prepared, but the weather is getting late, which is not good for the attack. If the sneak attack fails, we will lose our troops. Let’s do this! We will proceed according to the original plan, and now that the reinforcements have arrived, we will attack Guangzhou in ten moves tomorrow morning. , but this time we must succeed in one fell swoop, until the Qing army is powerless to fight back, and then force them to sign a treaty." "Mr. Elliott, this plan seems to have sped up the pace again, but why?" Looking at Bomei's puzzled eyes, Elliot didn't say much. "Mr. Boehmer, you don't need to ask why you did this, but this time you are only allowed to win, not to retreat. Otherwise, you should deal with it by military law. Go!" "Of course, I will handle the matter, so you can rest assured, sir." Boehmer said proudly, performed a standard military salute, and then left the hall. Elliot looked at Bomei's leaving back and smiled. Of course he will not let him know the reason, at this time he is thinking about one thing: "Through the upcoming battle of Canton and the benefits that will be obtained, I will demonstrate to the British Empire, and I will let them understand that their choice is wrong .On this piece of land in China, only I, Charlie Elliot, am the plenipotentiary representative of the British invasion of China!" On May 26, Yishan sent Yu Baochun, the prefect of Guangzhou, out of the city to negotiate a peace. On May 27th, Yishan accepted the five physical conditions proposed by Elliott: First, the "redemption fee" is limited to 6 million yuan within one week, and 1 million yuan must be paid before sunset on that day. Second, Yishan, Longwen, Yangfang and the troops from other provinces to Guangdong were allowed to retreat 60 miles away from Guangzhou within six days, while the British troops remained in place. Third, all the compensation was paid and the British army withdrew from Humen.No more armaments shall be set up at each strategic pass.If the compensation exceeds the limit and is not cleared, one million yuan will be added, two million yuan will be added on the 14th day, and 3 million yuan will be added on the 20th day. Fourth, compensation for the loss of 300,000 yuan for the British Chamber of Commerce and the loss of the Spanish mast ship "Bilbie" should be paid within one week. Fifth, this treaty was affixed by Guangzhou prefect Yu Baochun and three imperial envoys, Yishan, Longwen, and Yang Fang. On May 31, the "Canton Treaty" came into effect, and the British army began to withdraw from the Sifang Fort and return to the ship. On June 7th, Yishan and Longwen withdrew from Guangzhou City and stationed troops in Jinshan, 65 miles northwest of Guangzhou City. Yang Fang and Qi Gong remained in the city to deal with the aftermath.Soon, Longwen died of illness in Jinshan. After waiting for a while, Elliot saw a group of people walking towards the hall under the leadership of Secretary Morrison.The leader was a fat, bald man who looked discordant in his military uniform, and his hairless head looked shiny under the August sun. "Did he put shoe polish on his head?" "Mr. Pudingcha, please come in, this is our Mr. Elliot."