Chapter 85 6. Foreign brothers come to North Korea

When Hong Xiuquan and his brothers entered Tianjing City and began to build their paradise on earth, there were three foreign ships moored on the Bund of Shanghai—the "Hermes" of the British devils and the "Gassiz" of the French devils. The Cassini and the American Devils' Susquehanna. Faced with various rumors and interference requests from local officials, the foreign devils were at a loss for a while and went their own way. The British gentleman is mature and prudent, and with the convenience of the same language, he quickly reached a self-protection agreement with the Americans, planning to form a joint self-defense force and immediately start building fortifications.The British carried out the agreement to the letter, sent 70 soldiers to land, and found a strong house to garrison them. Every day, they waited for the attack and watched the development of the situation with trepidation.

But while the British were on duty, the American cowboys didn't take the deal seriously.They didn't send a single soldier, and naturally they didn't build fortifications, and they thought that as long as nothing catastrophic happened, the British would be enough.They only sent a band ashore, and played cheerful pieces such as "The Young Soldier" and "The Ugly Color of the Golden Lotus" in the theater. The lazy French, on the other hand, had no interest in meddling, and decided to sleep on board, only sending troops ashore to show their presence when the life of the French consul was threatened.

In late April, the curious British finally couldn't hold back and decided to go up the river and go to Tianjing to do some research.Although the Yankees also wanted to follow up with this feat, their navigation skills were so poor that they ran aground on a rock and failed to do so. The British were going to inform the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of the neutral attitude of the British Empire, and test whether they could get more favorable business policies from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom than the Qing government. Of course, there was also the eternal topic of "struggling for religious freedom".

Religion in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was actually very unfree. The monks and Taoist priests in Tianjing, as pagans who did not worship God, were naturally in bad luck.Many famous temples and Taoist temples that have experienced years of wind and rain were burned down, and Buddha statues and stone carvings were also destroyed along with beliefs. But the flood also washed away the Dragon King Temple.Christians who also believed in God did not end up any better than monks and priests. It is said that more than 30 Christians were burned to death at home or dumped on the street.The Taiping army also destroyed the cross in the church, arrested and tried seventy or eighty believers who were worshiping, and forced them to change their beliefs, pray according to the ritual of worshiping God, or beheaded—this was not a problem. , Don’t everyone believe in God?

It is said that only the relatively large number of Muslims who are relatively grouped together have not been attacked, and most of the mosques are intact. It seems that on religious issues, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is somewhat suspected of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. The British who signed the treaty in Nanjing were familiar with the road after all. Although they were bombarded by the Taiping Army on the road, they did not fight back and arrived at their destination smoothly.But what they waited for was a note from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, titled "In order to understand the system, to inform brothers far away", calling "my lord" Hong Xiuquan "the Allah of all nations in the world", so "the subjects of the world are expected to come to the court" , must strictly abide by the rules of the tribute.This annoyed Sir Wen Han, the leader of the team. According to this rule, he must first declare his name, occupation, and nationality, and he may have to bow down to the officials of the Taiping Army. This is unacceptable to the domineering British devils. ——What is the rice flag flying above my head for?It was a matter of the dignity of the empire, so Sir Wenham had no choice but to excuse the bad weather on the Yangtze River and stay on the boat all the time.

Translator Midi Le and Captain Fei Xu didn't have so many scruples. They went to the city for a while, and were received by Northern King Wei Changhui and Wing King Shi Dakai.But the scene of this interview was quite Chinese and initially hostile.The two foreign devils were ordered to kneel down, took off their swords, and then stood and listened to the training. The Taiping army also beat the mountain to shake the tiger, and beat their guide for an excuse. But once they entered into the communication, the atmosphere calmed down.When Northern King Wei Changhui asked the secret translator if he worshiped God, the foreign devil could finally reply proudly, "We have worshiped for eight or nine hundred years!" The Northern King was a little surprised by this, and then began to question the knowledge of the foreign devil. Do you know our "rule of heaven"?The foreign devil thought for a long time before he realized that it might be the "Ten Commandments", so he began to recite them.Before he finished reciting it, Bei Wang happily jumped off his seat and patted the foreign devil on the shoulder, um, good brother, the same as ours!

In the end, King Bei concluded the informal meeting and believed that the two sides could not only live in harmony, but should also become close friends. Captain Fei took the time to give the Taiping Army around him several copies of the Illustrated London News and the Chinese and English versions of the Bible, and the other party liked the illustrated magazine very much.In addition, he invited some Taiping Army officials to visit his warships.To be honest, the shipbuilding technology of the British devils was quite advanced at that time. Even this second-rate warship exiled to the East left the visitors stunned.Officials of the Taiping Army did not show embarrassment like Niu Jian, the former governor of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty. When Mr. Niu first saw the British ship, he "suspected that it was a cow." They visited the steam boiler and engine, and praised the telescope. Also climbed up the rigging.At least one daredevil took off Sir Wenham's top hat to see if he had the same haircut as the others.

The two sides also made some small transactions. The Taiping Army used jade and silver to buy the foreign devil's double-edged sword and wanted to buy a music box. Although the two sides established a good personal relationship, the official attitude of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made the British devils quite annoying.Regarding the visit of the British, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was very careless, and repeatedly misunderstood that "Your overseas British people came from thousands of miles away to submit to our dynasty", and "I deeply hope that you can follow us to serve the king of heaven and repay the gods with meritorious deeds." Yep".The British devils concluded that this was "inappropriate tone" and "absurd wording". Finally, Mr. Wenhan couldn't bear it anymore and ordered to set sail and return.The British devils were quite hurt in their hearts, and they were eager to return home. They drove at full speed and returned to Shanghai in only 33 hours.On the way, they were again inexplicably bombarded by the Taiping Army. Wen Han, who had had enough, finally found someone to vent his anger on, and immediately ordered to fire back.

From then on, the British Empire defined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as a cult organization, and the Qing officials who misunderstood the rumor and thought that Wen Han and the Taiping Army had dinner together breathed a sigh of relief. Not to be outdone, the French devils conspired to make a similar visit after the British gentlemen returned to Shanghai. The patrol task of "Gassini" is very heavy. This warship has to protect the Catholic communities along the coast of Shanghai and Ningbo Bay, and often goes to Hong Kong and Macau for patrols or repairs.The French were able to make this expeditionary visit only six months after the British returned to Shanghai.

On November 30, 1853, the French set off for Tianjing on the "Gassini".Their luck was very bad. They encountered heavy fog as soon as they set off, and were forced to stop sailing and break down. Then, because they were not familiar with the waterway, they crawled slowly like snails. After walking for six days, they did not climb to Tianjing until December 6th. The French bluntly expressed their willingness to communicate with the Taiping officials who came to receive them. They did not entangle with etiquette like the British (probably forgetting this)-but even so, the other party still spent a lot of time. Make decisions all day.But in the end the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom agreed to meet them, which made the French quite happy.

It was the first time to meet the Frenchman, Lai Hanying, brother-in-law of Tian Wang, and Huang Yukun, father-in-law of Shi Dakai, and they exchanged some polite words casually.On December 10, the French Minister Bourblon was allowed to meet with the great Taiping Emperor Qin Rigang, but General Qin sat on the only chair on the high platform and beckoned the French delegation to sit on the row of chairs below him. This made the French furious. Looking at the world today, who else dares to look down on the people of our Emperor Napoleon except the British (this Frenchman has to admit it)?Minister Bu refused to take a seat and insisted that the other party provide him with a chair of the same height. The two sides almost turned their faces on the spot.Fortunately, the Chinese are known to be quick-witted, and they proposed a compromise solution: everyone stays in a room, sits however they like, and let the translator run errands to pass on the message.The French accepted it, and since General Qin's dignity was intact, it was no problem. During this informal meeting, Minister Bu caused trouble as soon as he opened his mouth-he dared to call the leader of the Qing demon "Emperor Xianfeng".Is it tolerable, which is unbearable?The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom didn't have the nerve to be rough on the envoy, but they pulled out the envoy's interpreter, the priest Gepida, and scolded him severely.The two parties broke up unhappy. The matter was not over yet. A few days later, the French received another letter from the Northern King, ordering them to go to the royal mansion to receive a lecture, but Minister Bu refused.At this point, the French had to slip away in their boats. Although full of displeasure, Minister Bu spoke highly of the Taiping's moral strength and organizational ability, but was not optimistic about its prospects. The captain of the "Gassini" said in a letter to his mother: "Only God knows what China will look like in the future, and what will happen to the Catholics living in this country." American cowboys have also been planning a trip to Tianjing. In fact, their plan started earlier than the French, but because of poor technology, they ran aground on a sandbar in the Yangtze River. "Sesquehana" was a steam paddle wheel frigate launched in 1850, with a displacement of 2,450 tons, nine guns, and a crew of three hundred.Compared with the French gunboat "Gassini" with six guns and a crew of 120 people, it is indeed a bulky big guy. Mr. Marshall, the American Minister, summed up his lessons and vowed to find a boat with a shallower draft to realize the trip to Tianjing.But before this wish could be realized, it was disturbed by Commodore Perry, the commander of the East India Fleet-this incident was very famous, and it was known as the "Black Ship Incident" in history. Here's the thing: It is said that in the Middle Ages, Marco Polo, a Venetian barbarian, traveled far to the east and came to my country.The barbarian heard the rumors on the road, echoed what others said, and after returning to his country, he praised Japan as the country of gold, which made all the western barbarian countries admire and admire him, and they were quite yearning for it. In the more than half a century before the "Black Ship Incident", the barbarians in the west rose up, and they repeatedly asked Japan to open customs and trade, as many as 50 times - but they were all rejected by the evil Tokugawa shogunate up. Meiyi, Admiral Perry of the East India Navy, has always envied the customs and customs of Yamato, and a few years ago he was called by his "governor" Fillmore (according to Hong Ren, the former prime minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the leader of the American barbarians) Known as the "President of the State", and the term of office is "five years"-yes, the king Qian said five years) as the ambassador to Japan, he deeply felt that he had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and he had to be loyal to the country and work hard all day long. In 1853, Admiral Perry convened four American warships from the Far East for the sake of "Denmu" friendship, and visited Yamato with the "Sesquehana" as the flagship.The Meiyi navy moored in the water of Uraga, Sangzhou, Edo Bay, and fired a salute as a sign of harmony.The Japanese people on the shore panicked, and the warriors sharpened their knives to prepare for battle, while the monks prayed to the gods for the "Kamikaze" to come down again, so as to destroy the "black ships" and wipe out the barbarians.However, the "Kamikaze" did not come, and the shogun in charge, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, was so frightened that he died of anxiety. The "Black Ship Incident" greatly interfered with Minister Ma's travel plans to Tianjing, and he did not make the trip until he resigned in 1854.The new minister, Mai Lian, carefully learned the experience and lessons of the British and French devils, set off on May 22, 1854, and arrived in Tianjing on the 27th.Minister Mai was no luckier than the British guy. He was also bombarded with warnings on the road. After contacting him, the other party claimed that he had never seen or recognized the American flag. He also said that he would go to Tianjing to file a complaint.Finally, I sent a copy of the American flag pattern for identification. After the Americans arrived in Tianjing, Minister Mai requested to "communicate with His Excellency Yang Xiuqing", but was rejected on the grounds that he used the note without authorization and did not follow the etiquette to "kneel and report".The Americans' request to go ashore to visit and play is also ignored, because there are no guys among them who can speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and know the etiquette of the kingdom of heaven. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also gave a reply, which said: "If you can respect the Lord of Heaven, our Heavenly Dynasty regards the world as one family, uniting all nations, and we must remember your sincerity. You are allowed to pay tribute every year. Only then can one be a subject of the kingdom of heaven and enjoy the grace of the kingdom of heaven forever." But to be honest, such wording is completely unacceptable to Americans. The American cowboys at that time were almost the same as they are now. They were not afraid of anything.There were eight stupid boys who sneaked to the shore to play, but the guards at all the city gates drove them out.Seeing that they had no hope of entering the city, they had to circle the city wall and visit the glazed pagoda of Baoen Temple by themselves. Some criminals actually tried to steal the golden ball on the top of the pagoda.The eight people were detained by the Taiping Army on duty, interrogated until midnight, and finally sent back to the ship. The Taiping Army also notified the leaders of their units.The American devils lost all face and were quite frustrated by this blow, and retreated in despair the next day. Compared with the Japanese who were ravaged by the "black ship", the Chinese people at that time were quite bullish.