What Xiao Yungui said had already made Wen Han, Mashali and others understand that the seemingly rude rebel leader in front of him had already done everything. Shanghai City had changed hands, and businessmen and officials who represented the old forces in Shanghai like Wu Jianzhang must be eliminated. These people supported the Qing Dynasty, or these people dared not rely on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, the rebel leader would mercilessly clear the old forces in Shanghai, build up forces loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then stabilize the rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Shanghai.

Joining forces to control Shanghai's trade and economy is just one of the steps. Since Shanghai opened its port, many Guangdong merchants have come to Shanghai to start foreign businesses. They want to continue the glory of Guangdong Thirteen Tours and turn Shanghai into the second Guangdong Thirteen Tours.

Foreign companies actually appeared as early as the Qianlong period. At that time, in Guangzhou, as the only trading port, the merchants who opened foreign companies in Guangdong monopolized the entire country's foreign trade. The huge and generous profits generated can be imagined, so the Wu family, a rich man in the world, was born. After the Opium War, the Wu ports opened ports one after another, and this monopoly was broken. At the same time, as the contradiction between the monopoly operation of foreign companies and the free market trade pattern advocated by capitalist countries became increasingly deep, the great powers also saw the prospect of changing their business model.

As Shanghai's trade gradually expanded, the great powers found that even if the foreign companies they operated had Chinese compradors, it was still difficult to compete with some local Chinese merchants in Shanghai and other places, because local Chinese merchants were familiar with the mainland market and trade, and they controlled the input and output of mainland goods. For example, the Wuchang Three Towns under the control of the Baoqing Chamber of Commerce, which is a piece of fat in the Yangtze River trade area that the great powers were very jealous of, from there, they could sell goods from various countries to the mainland. Many goods from the mainland could also be transported from there to overseas.

So foreign merchants began to try to change, let Chinese merchants invest in foreign banks, let Chinese merchants change their thinking when operating, and regard foreign banks as their own companies to increase their participation and sense of belonging to them. So an example of Wu Jianzhang investing in Qichang Foreign Bank appeared.

For Xiao Yungui's proposal to let the chamber of commerce in the mainland of the Yangtze River and business groups join the Shanghai market, Wen Han, Mashali and others are of course very welcome and supportive. They also want to break the old monopoly. For commercial trade, if many merchants join, they will enrich the shipment and provide more sources of goods, which can allow merchants from various countries to purchase cheap goods, and at the same time omit the commissions collected by foreign companies or Chinese foreign companies in purchasing mainland sources of goods.

After hearing this, Wen Han immediately stood up and said, "His Excellency Xiwang, your suggestions are very admirable. Shanghai is a place of free trade. Of course, we welcome many merchants to come to Shanghai to operate. Our British Empire is very happy to cooperate with Chinese merchants in the mainland."

Masali also said: "We in the United States also appreciate the courage of His Excellency the King of West and believe that this move will further stimulate China's huge mainland market, which is a good thing for both of us." Blombul also said the same thing.

Foreigners are so cute and straightforward. They were quarreling all the time before, and when the right interests appeared, they would support you again. Without the smiley faces of Chinese people, their love and hate are all written on their faces, so there is no need to hide anything.

After receiving the recognition from the ministers of various countries, Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "After the war to clear away the remaining enemies around Shanghai is over, I will convene representatives of foreign companies from various countries in Shanghai, local foreign companies and business representatives from other places to hold a trade meeting. The meeting is mainly to determine the free development of Shanghai's commercial activities and the promulgation of some commercial activities policies. At the same time, please pay attention to the ministers of various countries. In this process, some of our chambers of commerce or merchants who support the Qing Dynasty. As long as we verify that these merchants were run by officials from the Qing Dynasty, they are not included in the invitation of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

Xiao Yungui's statement is very subtle. Wen Han and others understand that Xiao Yungui will eliminate those merchants who support the Qing Dynasty. Many people in Shanghai have backgrounds with Qing Dynasty officials. China is a very strange country. Merchants have low status. Rich businessmen will want to donate an official job, but even if you donate an official job, you will be looked down upon by your orthodox colleagues. Instead, like abroad, merchants have a high status. If you have money, you can even affect the decisions of the parliament and parliament.

Before, Wen Han and others were worried that Xiao Yungui would crack down on Shanghai's trade after removing merchants like Wu Jianzhang, but after Xiao Yungui made it clear that there would be many merchants who joined the Shanghai market, this worry disappeared. Moreover, Xiao Yungui would actually convene merchants to hold a meeting to discuss trade activities in the Shanghai area. This was imagined during the Qing Dynasty. It seems that this wise King of Westerners saw through the fundamentals of Shanghai. If you want to control Shanghai, you must first control Shanghai's trade and economy.

After discussing some details, the ministers from various countries asked to send liaison officers to establish contact with the Taiping Army. The UK sent Midile, the China Communications, the United States sent Jin Nengheng, the representative of Qichang Foreign Company, and France sent Aitang, the successor of the first French consul, to serve as the liaison officer.

Xiao Yungui was a little stunned. There were almost no diplomatic talents in the Taiping Army. Hong Yuner was far away in Suzhou. Li Shanlan was just a scholar and was not suitable for diplomatic affairs. Wang Libin was still in Suzhou. For the time being, Xiao Yungui could only serve as the responsibility of liaison with the great powers.

Before the ministers of various countries left, Xiao Yungui presented some seized jewelry as gifts, and the ministers of various countries gave some clocks, telescopes and other items as gifts. After this quarrel-like meeting, Xiao Yungui and the great powers found a delicate balance point. Driven by common interests, both sides reached a temporary peace and friendship.

However, Xiao Yungui knew that this situation would not last long. Once the Crimean War ended, Britain and France would return to the Far East. At that time, the great powers were not so easy to talk to. They would ask for more things. Their logic was very simple. The axiom was only within the range of the cannon. Therefore, there would not be too much time left for Xiao Yungui and the Taiping Army. He had to develop his strength in the shortest possible time and turn Wu Sangui's treasures and the money seized along the way into war powers, so that he could not be bullied when dealing with the great powers in the future. Always have strength. The bottom line is!

After sending off these headache-inducing foreigners, Zhou Lichun came back to report that Mu Guandao, Xie Yinglong and others had enough food and drink and were resting. Later, Zhou Lichun would bring the purchased cattle and sheep to comfort the gang congregations that came out of Shanghai City.

Xiao Yungui had some headaches for these gangs. They controlled the underworld in Shanghai. Shanghai would need more dock workers, coolies, etc. in the future. These people were all making a living. Xiao Yungui wanted to restore Shanghai's commerce in the shortest time, and it was impossible for them to help them, but he also hoped to eliminate these old forces. Moreover, these gangs were fence-bearers, so it was difficult to control them.

Xiao Yungui was a little undecided and had to ask Zhou Lichun to comfort the gang members first and stabilize the people's hearts for the time being. Now that suddenly eliminating these gang members will make people's hearts cold and make those who want to surrender later discourage. Xiao Yungui can only take one step first.

After finally sending away two groups of people with headaches, Xiao Yungui returned to the tent and was so hungry that he was roaring. However, he saw Li Xuanji bringing in a bowl of hot noodles at some point, "Xi Wang, let's have something to eat first."

Xiao Yungui laughed and looked at the big bowl of noodles in front of him, with two poached eggs on it. The fragrance overflowed, Xiao Yungui started to eat it in a mess, and asked in a vague way: "Xuan Ji, did you make it?"

Li Xuanji smiled slightly, nodded and said, "I made it, how about it? Is it delicious?"

Xiao Yungui's mood suddenly became comfortable. It would be nice to have a woman by his side. He would be concerned about his well-being and care whether he was hungry. Moreover, Li Xuanji cooked by himself, which seemed to be higher than Hong Yuner. Although the four-eyed girl who can't cook always cares about her fullness and warmth, she always let others cook. If she could also take Li Xuanji as her own wife, she would be able to eat delicious food in the future. Sometimes a man's idea is really simple, that is, when he is the most tired, he will feel very happy with the hot food made by a woman.

While eating, a personal guard outside the tent reported that the patrolman caught the spy who was sneaking and peeking at the camp. However, after the spy was captured, he said that he was a fellow villager of the King of Western Republic and wanted to see His Highness the King of Western Republic. The patrolman was unsure of his mind, so he had to bring the man to see the King of Western Republic.

Xiao Yungui frowned and said, "My hometown? What is his name?"

The personal guard replied, "The man claimed to be Qianjiang."

Xiao Yungui said oh, touched his chin and said to himself, "Qian Jiang? Qian Jiang? This name is so familiar." After a moment, Xiao Yungui said ah, stood up and said, "Can it be him? Please come in immediately!"

The personal guard immediately left the tent, and Li Xuanjiqi said, "West King, is this Qianjiang very famous?"

Xiao Yungui had already remembered that Qian Jiang was amazing. When Xiao Yungui wrote the paper "The Rise and Death of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", he had searched for Qian Jiang's information. It was precisely because of the strategy of lijin offered by this person that he saved the Qing Dynasty's finances that were about to collapse, and gave life-saving money and food for the training of various provinces and groups, thus slowly reversing the unfavorable situation for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom war. Therefore, this person is definitely a talent.

Qian Jiang was named Qiuping, a native of Changxing. He was born in a family of officials and was the sixth generation descendant of Shandong Governor Qian Yu. When he was in Guangdong in his early years, he actively fought against Britain with He Dageng, Bian Jiangyin and others from Guangdong. After the Opium War, he led Guangzhou Society to fight against the British people into the city. At that time, Yilibu, the Qing imperial envoy who was in charge of foreign affairs in Guangzhou, took Qian Jiange to supervise his students and exile his army. According to historical records, he should have surrendered to Qi Shan, an imperial envoy in the Qing Dynasty in Jiangbei, and served as a staff member under Lei Yishu.

Why did he come to me? As for the circulating Qian Jiang who later defected to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and presented "Xing Wang Ce" to Hong Xiuquan, it seems unlikely to Xiao Yungui, but at this time Qian Jiang appeared in his camp, Xiao Yungui still had a glimmer of hope, hoping that this person could use it for himself. To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (. voting for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m.. to read.)
Chapter completed!