After the news of the fall of Nanjing came out, not only the Qing Dynasty was shocked, but the ancient land of China was shocked, but even the world was shocked.

Emperor Xianfeng was furious and broke through countless jade bowls, but this time he had no object to get angry. Almost all the generals guarding Jiangning from the imperial envoy Lu Jianying were killed. After calming down, Xianfeng had to issue an edict to blame himself. It was less than three months since the loss of Changsha in front of him. Such a rare frequent crime made people feel that Xianfeng was making a show.

The news of Lu Jianying's death reached Beijing. The Qing court believed that he was a "death day" and wanted to give him a big gift. However, the censor said that he directly accused him of seeing him die in the battle of Enchang. He also said that after he fled back to Jinling, he was dissatisfied with the general Xianghou, which led to such a strong city in Nanjing being trapped for twelve days. "He was killed in the Ten Temples of Huangjiatang, but he had escaped but could not escape. Those who had not committed suicide by committing suicide should not be compared with those who died in the city (Xianghou, etc.). "The Qing court believed that it was reasonable and only rewarded the title of governor, which was considered kindness to this mediocre official. Lao Lu was really not a general idea, and was a typical example of a clever official in the Qing court. He only knew that he was good at quoting the favor, and he was ups and downs and downs, and when he was in trouble, he would only deceive the people and deceiving the emperor, and he would definitely not have a good ending.

Facing the Taiping Army occupying Nanjing, Xianfeng wanted to swallow them up in one go, but he resigned that he had to rely on the arrogant soldiers and generals to fight. So Manchu and Chun were re-activated by Xianfeng to serve as admiral of Jiangnan, and were also ready to go back to the battlefield. Following Xianfeng's strict orders to Qishan from Jiangbei and Xiangrong from Jiangnan, they ordered them to advance north and south to suppress the bandits in Jinling City.

At the same time, the name of the Western King appeared one after another in memorials submitted to Xianfeng in various places. Officials from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces unanimously agreed that the Western King was even more ferocious and cunning than the two thieves of Hong and Yang. There were no less than dozens of civil and military officials who died at the hands of this thief, and they were actually the number one rebel of the dynasty. Therefore, the Qing court's reward for the Western King's head was even higher than that of Hong and Yang.

Rebels from all over the country were excited to hear this news. Many anti-Qing gangs began to plot to raise flags and anti-Qing to respond to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Among them were the Tiandihui, Xiaodaohui, Red Moneyhui, etc. They planned to make the Shanghai Uprising that shocked China and foreign countries. They were planning to enter the army to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Xiao Yungui, the Western King of Shanghai, naturally would not let go of this great situation that could be used. Tong Qiangsheng from Bai Zetang brought his men to Songjiang, Qingpu, Shanghai and other places to contact the local Tiandihui, Xiaodaohui and other gangs.

In fact, in addition to the Qing court and the rebel army, there is also a third force that is closely monitoring the Taiping Army's every move. Yes, they are Britain, France and the United States. Since the signing of the Treaty of Jiangning, Shanghai has opened a port. Due to its convenient waterways and abundant nearby products, Shanghai has gradually replaced Guangzhou as China's first foreign trade port. The great powers with concessions in Shanghai were shocked by the Taiping Army's capture of Jinling City. They were worried that the rapid expansion of the Taiping Army would threaten their interests in China, so they paid more attention to this Chinese rebel.

Wen Han, who was the plenipotent representative of the British envoy China and the governor of Hong Kong at that time, immediately sent a report to London to analyze the impact of Nanjing being captured by the Taiping Army on the Qing government: "Now the fall of Nanjing has become a fact, and the Qing government in China will suffer a severe blow that has never been seen since the launch of the independent rebellion. Nanjing is the old capital of China and its historical relationships are very important in the hearts of the Chinese. For the time being, in terms of the terrain of Nanjing, Nanjing is on the bank of the Yangtze River, in the center of the empire, and is close to the canal. If the rebels want, they can easily hinder all traffic and even cut off the waterway for rice and grain to Beijing. Such an important place is now occupied by powerful armed rebels. This incident cannot be neglected in any case. It will definitely affect the interests of Britain in China. I suggest that we quickly engage with the rebels occupying Nanjing so that we can have a more comprehensive and accurate judgment of these rapidly developing rebels."

After Lord Wenhan issued the report, he did not wait, but began to set off from Hong Kong to Nanjing.

In March of the third year of Xianfeng, Qing Dynasty, after the rebels occupied Nanjing for more than 20 days, Lord Wenhan set off from Hong Kong and hurried to Shanghai on the Hermes crack ship (cruiser) of the British Far East Fleet. The "Halmes" is a large ship with double-powered wooden shell and three-masted ship with a length of 76 meters. The ship is made of double-layer oak boards, each layer is as thick as 42 centimeters. To build such a large ship, at least 600 huge thousand-year-old oak trees must be used. Its total sail area is 1,120 square meters, the steam engine is 360 horsepower, the bow has a solid angle and a displacement of 1,300 tons. The ship is equipped with 34 rear-mounted rifled guns and 116 crew members. The "Halmes" hull is black and shiny, and the rice flag flutters in the wind, and it drove into the Huangpu River with its might.

The construction of shopping malls, roads and factories on the Huangpu River has initially formed a "Ten Miles of Western Field". The changes on the Huangpu River are changing with each passing day. Foreigners have bought all the Feng Shui treasure lands on both sides of the Huangpu River. Some large-scale and large docks and cargo warehouses with large quays have not yet been completed, but they have already shown a row of trends: Shuntai Wharf, Yard Wharf, Taikoo Wharf, E-ship Wharf, Gonghexiang Wharf, Detai Wharf, Wanju Wharf, Baoshun Wharf, and Lichuan Wharf one by one. Each wharf can dock across ocean ships with a load of more than thousands of tons. Behind the wharf are rows of neat and large houses, which are sucking thousands of tons of cargo every day.

The Gongyi Wharf, Wangjia Du Wai, Yangjia Du Wai, Dongjia Du Wai, Laobai Wharf, etc. can only dock flat-bottomed boats and ferries carrying hundreds of stones of cargo. Compared with the Yang Wharf, these wharfs are like mounds connected by mountains, small and cold. The Yang Wharf is full of raw silk, white silk, yellow silk, kapok, tea, porcelain, antiques, and bulk cloth, iron, nails, wax, glass, opium, hardware and coal that are about to be sold inland. People can see foreigners with high nose, blue eyes and strange clothes, and Indians, Manila and blacks employed by them everywhere near the docks and warehouses. If it weren't for the same group, group of coolies with braids carrying large items next to the foreign ship, people would inevitably ask if this was Chinese land.

The "Halmis" docked at Shuntai Wharf, and Colonel James Hope, the admiral of the Far East Fleet, accompanied Wen Han to disembark. Shuntai Wharf is not far from the British Consulate in Shanghai, and the Consul Ruther

FordAlcock was waiting on the dock. When Lord Wenhan got off the boat, he respectfully accompanied him on a two-wheeled leather-topped carriage. The carriage was decorated with extremely luxuriously. The black painted brass fender was polished with shiny British flag on the roof. The Indian groom with a big head wrapped around his head was sitting on the high pedestal, "Oh-ah", and the whip was slammed with a "bang", and two white-nose chestnut ocean horses led the carriage and ran quickly, and the rubber wheels made a "bang" rolling sound on the stone path.

Lord Wenhan is forty-seven years old, with a typical Saxon long skull, blonde hair, a high nose and deep eyes, a thick beard on his chin, and a bit of melancholy in his cold eyes. Aliguo wore a big black top hat, with a strand of flax hair under the brim of the hat, his eyes were light gray, and an indescribable smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

A Liguo told Wen Han that after the Chinese rebels captured Jiangning, Zhenjiang and Guazhou fell into the hands of the rebels one after another. Moreover, according to some information provided by the Qing government, the rebels were still gathering forces eastward on a large scale, and the targets were likely to be Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places, and even Shanghai. For this reason, Shanghai gentry and Qing soldiers were panicked and panicked. The British merchants and overseas Chinese families in the concession were uneasy. No one knew when the rebels would attack Shanghai, and even whether the rebels would abide by the Treaty of Jiangning signed by the British Empire and the Qing government. Wen Han was a little surprised. He did not expect the situation to change so quickly and decided to hold a situation analysis meeting as soon as he arrived at the consulate.

The consulate is a three-story Victorian-style building with large granite base and large stone strips of the wall. A red-bottomed blue-shaped flag floats on the semicircular dome. Through the bright south window of the conference hall, you can overlook the Huangpu River. The large and small oceanic ships and Chinese civilian ships pass by the river like shuttles. From time to time, you can hear the sound of boat bells on the river surface and the sound of dull and uniform trumpets on the river. Through the right window, you can see the winding Suzhou River. The simple and dirty black-sailed boats squeezed on both sides like small reptiles, leaving only a narrow waterway in the center. Fishermen, who are called "boat owners" by the Chinese government, have been ate and lived on the black-sailed boats for generations. The sewage and garbage in the river flow downstream and flow into the Huangpu River, drifting into the sea with the rise and fall of the tide.

On the other side of the Suzhou River is the county town of Shanghai, which was built in the 32nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1553). It has been a full three hundred years since then. From a distance, the mottled Lu Li looks at it. There are clusters of weeds on the city walls that have been eroded by wind and rain. There are dozens of bulky Qing army iron cannons behind the pheasant saucer.

Wenhan got out of the carriage and entered the consulate conference hall. He took off his black cloak and handed it to the Indian waiter who was waiting beside him. He turned around and sat on a Victorian lion claw sofa. He took out a box of cigars from his pocket and handed it to Aliguo, and picked up another one, and Aliguo lit it for him.

Wen Han took a deep breath and said slowly: "I received your report. Wu Jianzhang wanted to hire our troops to help defend the Yangtze River and prevent the rebels from attacking Shanghai. However, before we understand the foundation of the rebels, the Royal Navy cannot intervene in the Chinese civil war." Wu Jianzhang's official title is Su Song Tai Road, which controls the three prefectures and eleven counties of Suzhou, Songjiang and Taicang. Shanghai is a county under the jurisdiction of Songjiang Prefecture. However, the British people think that "Su Song Tai Road" is difficult to talk about and always call him "Shanghai Road".

Colonel He snorted: "Having our troops to assist in defense of Shanghai should be sent by the Chinese emperor to negotiate with the minister. How can a small Shanghai road platform come forward? This is diplomatic contempt for the British Empire and it cannot be tolerated." Bo He is in his thirties, medium-sized and thick sea lion beard, and he is wearing a straight blue twill navy uniform. He is hung with a short sword on the left side of the belt, and a gravelly emerald embedded in the hilt, which is a typical British naval style.

Aliguo couldn't help laughing and said, "Col. He Bo, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty has not yet learned how to interact with civilized countries. He always let local officials deal with the so-called "foreign foreigners". Wu Jianzhang often evasively when dealing with me. Sometimes I can't figure out who he represents, whether he represents the court or the local government, or only his personal."

Wen Han pondered for a moment and asked, "Mr. Aliguo, how much do you know about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

"Mr., this large-scale civil war in China lasted for two years, and the Qing government never released any official news. I still don't know who was the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But what's interesting is that from the list of rewards released by the Qing government, their leader seemed to be a man named Xiao Chaogui, because his reward was the highest, which was higher than Wei Zheng, Yang Xiuqing, and Hong Xiu. The rest of the information was reported in Hong Kong's "Friends of China" (The Friends of China)

The articles are all written based on Chinese businessmen, fleeing people's rumors and letters from missionaries in China. They are heard about, translated by hand, and spread rumors, which is unbelievable. Some say that the Taiping Army is a robber who kills and sets fire, some say that it is a rebel who converts to Christianity, and some say that it is a powerful civil gang. In short, everything is said. The Qing government did not allow us to go deep into the mainland. All the staff of the consulate and I stayed in Shanghai all the time. We could only watch flowers in the fog, and could not evaluate the sudden rise of this rebel."
Chapter completed!