While pleading guilty to the imperial court, Zhao Guozuo also sent people to Shandong. Zhou Peigong, who was eager to recruit Zhejiang's chief envoy, quickly returned to Hangzhou to discuss matters.
This title of chief envoy was awarded to Zhou Peigong by Zhao Guozuo before the last negotiation between Hangzhou and the Sichuan Army. After the matter was successfully resolved, although Governor Zhao did not cross the river and burn bridges, he felt that Zhou Peigong was of little use anymore, so he did not retain him in Hangzhou for more time. He was stunned and did not further win over Zhou's envoy. Now that the matter was imminent, Zhao Guozuo thought of Deng Ming's expert before the battle, and what happened in Shandong was somewhat similar to the problems Governor Zhao was encountering now.
After sending the official document, Zhao Guozuo was also very uneasy, fearing that Zhou Peigong would be resentful and not come to Hangzhou to serve. However, Zhou Peigong's tolerance was far beyond Zhao Guozuo's imagination, and he immediately replied to Hangzhou through Jinan's post system, saying that he was in Jiaodong's recruitment department. If successful, I will immediately leave and rush back to Hangzhou to help the Governor of Zhejiang solve problems.
On May 25, when they learned that Zhou Peigong and several of his entourage were galloping into the gate of Hangzhou, Zhao Guozuo and Songkui were both worried and felt a big stone in their hearts. Just like in Nanjing that year, Governor Zhao ordered the central gate of the Governor's Office to be opened wide, and hundreds of officials from Zhejiang went out to greet the Chief Envoy of Zhou Dynasty. The latter had just been recommended as the Chief Envoy of Shandong by Zu Zepu, the Governor of Shandong, and now he has served as six The title of Provincial Chief Envoy definitely has a status that rivals that of Zhao Guozuo.
Despite this, Zhou Peigong still met the governor with the courtesy of an official, and he was also very polite when facing the Hangzhou general Songkui. The Hangzhou civil and military officials secretly praised Zhou Peigong, thinking that Zhou Peigong was modest and virtuous, and he was an outstanding figure among the young generation of the Qing Dynasty. .
While waiting for the return of Zhou Peigong, there were two official exchanges between Hangzhou and Beijing. At first, the auxiliary minister Obai was obviously furious and threatened to send Zhao Guozuo and Songkui to Northern Xinjiang to eat old corn. He insisted on keeping the Ming History Case We will investigate thoroughly and never compromise with the terrorist group led by Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming who attacked official officials. However, after Zhao Guozuo further reported on the dangerous situation in Zhejiang, the attitude of the auxiliary minister also softened. The second approval sent back the day before yesterday suggested that Zhao Guozuo could adopt a delaying strategy to stabilize the Zhuang Yuncheng Group, and wait for the situation to change before settling the accounts in the autumn¡ª¡ª Just like how Shandong treated the Jiaodong Jin gentry.
"The Assistant Minister agreed that we should equip the Green Camp with some firearms, but they are limited to Tiger Crouching Cannons and Three-Eyed Guns. We are not allowed to provide Bird Guns to the Green Camp." After reading Obai's second instruction to Zhou Peigong, the Governor of Zhejiang said helplessly: " But the three-eyed gun is still a firearm after all, so it¡¯s better than nothing.¡±
As for the Governor-General Biaoying, who also belonged to the Green Camp, Ao Bai did not resolutely ban the use of muskets. In Deng Ming's previous life, before and after the San Francisco Rebellion, the Qing government gradually relaxed the ban on firearms in the Green Camp. However, in this world, in the eyes of Sony and Oboi, these frontier officials are much less reliable. Han armed forces like the Green Camp still pose a great threat to the Qing court, so Beijing has more concerns.
"The key to the problem is not Beijing, but Chengdu." After carefully reading various reports on the Zhejiang Incident, Zhou Peigong pointed out to the point: "The key to whether Zhuang Yuncheng and others can be allowed to accept the recruitment is whether the officers and soldiers can ensure that the weapons and equipment are not backward and the chaos of the party is too high. Many people need to make Zhuang Yuncheng and others realize that if they do not accept the recruitment, they will have to pay a huge price, so that they can be forced to give up the siege of the county and be willing to sit down and negotiate with the government. And if the officers and soldiers are to be able to fight against the rebellious parties, there is nothing more. There are two ways, one is to ask Baoguo Gong to stop selling rifles to the rebels."
Now Beijing may still think that the rebels are using blunderbuss, but Hangzhou has realized that what they have is a more powerful weapon, and the name is clear. It is called a "flintlock rifle". After two to three months of training, Ding was able to kill the mighty generals of the imperial court.
Zhou Peigong's words made Zhao Guozuo and Songkui nod repeatedly. They were indeed experts on Deng Ming's issue. They had only been in the city for an hour, but the countermeasures coincided with the conclusions drawn after a month of research in Hangzhou. However, the governor of Zhejiang and the general of Hangzhou began to shake their heads. It would be simple if things were so easy to handle. The consul sent by Deng Ming had a tough attitude and refused to agree to stop arms sales to the Zhuang Yuncheng Group.
"I'm afraid this road won't work, but what about the other one?" Zhao Guozuo asked. After hearing Zhou Peigong's words, he realized that besides Plan A, which was unlikely to succeed, the other party also had a backup Plan B - Zhou Buzheng The intelligence of the envoy is simply unparalleled in the world.
"That is, we also purchased rifles from Baoguo Gong to equip the Green Camp. Now the court has agreed to our production of Tiger Crouching Cannons. As long as the officers and soldiers are also equipped with rifles and Tiger Crouching Cannons in large numbers, Zhuang Yuncheng's advantage will be gone, and he will have to Sit down and discuss with us the conditions for recruitment." Zhou Peigong said confidently. Seeing that Zhao Guozuo and Songkui both looked embarrassed, Zhou Peigong made it clear: "If you can't recruit Zhuang Yuncheng, or you can't recruit Zhuang Yuncheng and his group on reasonable terms. Son, the Governor-General and the GeneralThe person would have to be punished by the court and exiled to Ninggu Pagoda. Then the court will replace people and come to Zhejiang, but can the new people solve the problem? Can you do better than the Governor and the General? Obviously it still doesn¡¯t work! In the end, their solution must be to buy rifles from Duke Baoguo, and then recruit Zhuang Yuncheng. Sooner or later, the court will agree. To the court, this made no difference at all. Instead, it delayed the resolution of the problem and caused the governor and general to be wronged. "
Of course Zhao Guozuo and Songkui would not think that others would perform better than themselves in the face of this problem. Zhou Peigong's words were very reasonable. If later people also used this method to solve the problem in the end, they would be exiled to Ning. The ancient pagoda was indeed wronged - rather than being unlucky enough to let others betray the country, it would be better to sell it yourself. Selling it as early as possible can save more vitality for the country.
This reason can very well relieve the psychological burden of Songkui as the Taijun of Manchuria and Zhao Guozuo as the godson of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty. However, the court still cannot get around it. If they ignore Obai's prohibition and arm the Green Camp with firearms, they will be successful in recruiting. The Zhuang Yuncheng Group may also have to face the wrath of the imperial court.
Seeing that the two of them were already moved but could not make up their mind, Zhou Peigong asked all the irrelevant staff to go out, and even the guards rushed to the door. Then he lowered his voice and said to the two of them: "Your Majesty Governor, Your Majesty General! If Zhejiang and the imperial court There has been a misunderstanding. Do you think it is possible for Duke Baoguo to remain neutral? Similar to Duke Baoguo's neutrality in the conflict between us and Zhuang Yuncheng?"
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Beijing,
Ao Bai has been in a very bad mood recently. The court recognized the incident in Jiaodong with a pinched nose. Now Zhejiang is in trouble again. The man behind the scenes is undoubtedly the unscrupulous Deng Ming. He blatantly destroyed the unspoken rules of fighting for the world. , in order to prevent the Qing Dynasty from taking over the world, he actually armed the powerful landlords regardless of the consequences. It seems that Zhao Guozuo and Songkui can no longer hold on. They want to arm the Green Camp with firearms. Do they still have basic thinking skills? If the Green Battalion becomes so powerful, how can the deterrent effect of the Manchurian soldiers be maintained?
When a country is about to perish, there must be monsters.
Except for the monsters like Jiaodong and Huzhou, something happened in Liaodong. A few days ago, Liaodong reported that some Westerners had attacked Ningyuan - who knows what the ghosts are thinking in their minds? Since the Qing troops entered the Pass, almost all the Manchus in Liaodong have moved to the colorful world in the Pass. The bitter cold land of Liaodong has been abandoned. Ningyuan, the former important town of the Ming Dynasty, is now just a post station connecting Beijing and Shengjing, with only dozens of He's just a clothed slave. What's there to loot in that damn place?
The strange incident in Ningyuan did not cause any big disturbance in Beijing. If a post station was robbed, it would be robbed. When the Qing government, which did not get the news until much later, sent people to clear the post road, the ghosts and barbarians had already retreated, and the losses seemed to be minimal. Big - it can't be big, there are only some stagecoaches in it. Anyway, the communication with Shengjing is not very important. Now that it has been restored in time, Beijing no longer takes this matter to heart. The most important thing now is the chaos in Zhejiang. As long as it has nothing to do with Zhejiang, the auxiliary ministers will not pay attention to it. That is to say, the Empress Dowager asked a few more questions because she was concerned about Manchuria. From the three auxiliary ministers The minister felt relieved after receiving the assurance that the matter was irrelevant - Gui Yi, who had been to Ningyuan once and saw how poor the place was, probably would not go there a second time.
Oboi discussed with Sony and Suksaha, and believed that if necessary, the weapons restrictions on Green Shadow could be slightly relaxed. After suppressing the powerful Zhuang Yuncheng, it would not be impossible to take back their firearms.
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Huzhou, the banker¡¯s courtyard.
Anlesi, who had disappeared since February, reappeared. Zhuang Yuncheng introduced him to the leaders of the gentry from all over Zhejiang. Also appearing with Anlesi were two British men with high noses who were wanted by the Batavia Parliament. Pirates have a fast ship with excellent performance. The British shipowner and his first mate were chased by the Dutch and had nowhere to hide in the Southeast Asia, so they came to Zhoushan to repair the ship and replenish supplies. As a result, he was recruited by Anles when he was collecting information on Dutch porcelain merchants in Chongming. He was hired to go to Liaodong for two thousand taels of silver.
This trip to Liaodong is a new starting point for Anlesi¡¯s career development, marking his growth from an arms smuggler to a multinational arms tycoon.
"This is the 18-pound red barbarian cannon," Anlesi introduced his latest product to the attending Jin gentry. While Anlesi was speaking, two British gentlemen distributed the performance evaluation report of the product to the audience. Boss An guaranteed that the ten Every time a cannon is sold, they still get dividends: "There are rumors in the world that one cannon can corrode people for dozens of miles. Five thousand taels per cannon, so hurry up if you want to buy one."