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In the city of Guangzhou, the British army was in a gloomy mood. The heroic British army actually took the initiative to retreat in front of the Chinese army. After handing over the control of the battlefield to the Liberation Army, which had a huge military advantage, the troops boarded the ship and retreated all the way back to Guangzhou. This dealt a heavy blow to the self-confidence of the British army.
This was not just a mental blow. The British army actually lost about 1,200 soldiers. When they retreated, they were very organized and brought back about 400 lightly wounded soldiers. With the injuries of the wounded soldiers, most of them could survive.
The British army's command level in the battle was very high. In the post-war summary, the British found that the number of artillery used by the Liberation Army in this land battle was twice that of the British infantry accompanied by artillery. Moreover, the British army not only almost destroyed the second regiment of the Liberation Army in the frontal battle, but also killed a large number of troops in the face of the flank attack. Especially when the British army retreated, they cleverly lured a part of the Liberation Army troops into the range of the fleet's artillery, and used the fierce artillery fire to give the Liberation Army a great blow. In terms of the number of losses, the Liberation Army was much more than the British army. The Liberation Army's original tactical goal of encircling and annihilating the British army also failed. The British army calmly carried out a retreat. But such a "victory" could not make the British army feel that they were the victorious side.
More than one-fifth of the 6,000 troops were lost. If the British commander had not chosen to retreat at that time, the final loss would have been more than doubled. With the tenacious fighting power displayed by the second regiment of the Liberation Army and the superiority of the Liberation Army in terms of military strength. This Chinese army had the strength and strength to encircle and annihilate 4,000 British troops in the field. The bloody facts proved one thing: the British army's strategic goal was also completely ruined.
Before the real battle, the British could boast all they wanted. Now the British civil and military officials no longer had any excuse to deceive themselves. The Liberation Army now had about 100,000 troops, and they firmly controlled the area of Guangdong. If the British army wanted to break into the interior of Guangdong with its current strength, as long as they were completely out of the protection of the naval guns, the Liberation Army would be able to surround and annihilate the British army. What the British army needed to consider now was no longer how to deal a heavy blow to the Liberation Army and make the Restored Viceroy's Office willingly kneel in front of the British. What they needed to consider now was whether the British would be able to defend Hong Kong if the 100,000 Liberation Army launched a full-scale attack on the British army.
Hong Kong relied heavily on Guangdong for its food and other supplies. It was impossible for Hong Kong to produce enough supplies to feed thousands of British soldiers. If they were to rely on sea transportation from other places, the cost would be far beyond what the British could afford. Even if the Liberation Army only attacked the concession and blocked the supply of supplies, the British troops in Hong Kong would have to bear the consequences. The situation had changed so drastically that the British were completely dumbfounded.
The generals had to think about war, while the civil officials had to think about politics and economics. In the small meeting of the civil officials, everyone pessimistically admitted that unless Vézé went crazy and made a huge concession, the British tobacco business in Guangdong would be completely ruined. The reason why the British agreed to the war was that Hong Kong believed that the tobacco business could be restored through the war. With the war in such a state, the tobacco business could not be restored no matter what. If the tobacco business could not be restored, wouldn't the businessmen in China eat the people who started the war alive? Not even in China, the tobacco merchants in Hong Kong had paid a large sum of money for the military expenses of this war. So far, the money they provided had been completely wasted.
As for the British government, they had to face another challenge. The British government's reputation had been damaged in this war. A local rebel force in Guangdong in China had beaten the British government to the point that they did not dare to enter the interior of Guangdong. If this news spread to Europe, wouldn't the European countries laugh their teeth off? How could the government officials believe such a ridiculous thing?
The civil officials of the British Empire were indeed trained by the civil service system. Since the generals were unreliable, the first thing the civil officials thought of was to negotiate with Vézé. They used to laugh at Vézé, a Chinese, for learning from Europe and doing European things. Now they only hoped that Vézé was really as "rational" as the Europeans. If they could negotiate with Vézé and restore the situation to at least the situation before the war, then they could "continue to negotiate with Vézé on the tobacco trade" to deal with the domestic situation.
Soon, the negotiators went to the Foshan area. The British civil officials were not stupid. Their ostensible reason was not to negotiate with Vézé as soon as possible, but to "exchange the captives and the bodies of the dead on both sides." Although the British did not have the captives of the Liberation Army, the Liberation Army did have the British captives and the bodies of the dead. This also had to be taken back.
The British representatives did not resist the rough treatment of the Liberation Army, they did not even formally protest. Hong Ren? When they appeared in front of the British representatives, the eyes of the British representatives lit up. The two sides quickly reached an agreement and the talks could be held. But first, the British had to withdraw from Guangzhou and return to Hong Kong. The two sides could only negotiate under the armistice.
If they were soldiers, they might think that after the British withdrew from Guangzhou, the Liberation Army could take the opportunity to attack Hong Kong. But in the field of diplomacy, Hong Ren? There was a deep meaning in his words. The "armistice" meant that the Liberation Army had the will to stop fighting. This was indeed the situation that the British civil officials longed for.
The British generals were also unwilling to stay in Guangzhou. In addition to facing the problem of supplies, the British side could not get any benefits in Guangzhou, and they did not dare to leave Guangzhou. Guangzhou was no longer the British army's spoils of war, but the British army's burden.
On December 30th, the British army withdrew from Guangzhou. The Liberation Army had already appeared outside Guangzhou. The withdrawal and takeover were carried out almost at the same time. On January 2nd, 1857, in Guangzhou, which was recaptured by the Liberation Army, the Restored Governor's Office and the British Governor of Hong Kong held a discussion.
Hong Ren? From the very beginning, he said frankly, "I'm under the orders of Governor Wei Ze to tell you one thing. If you want to fight with us and win, you have to do so. If you want to fight with us and win, it is not impossible. "
The British representative listened with a gloomy face. At this time, they did not want to discuss this issue. As for Hong Ren? He continued in a frank tone, "As long as the British send 200,000 British soldiers to Guangdong, they may be able to defeat us."
After hearing this, the British representative's face could not help but twitch. Two hundred thousand British soldiers were genuine lobster soldiers. Of course, such an army could defeat the Liberation Army. Not to mention the Liberation Army, if the British could maintain such a force, it would not be strange to defeat the independent British colony of the United States.
In a sense, the statement of the Restored Governor's Office was a statement of recognition of the British ability. It was also a very tough statement. It was impossible for the British to send 200,000 lobster soldiers to Guangdong. Since the British could not do it, the Restored Governor's Office would not give in to the British threat of war.
Very quickly, the British representative and Hong Ren? The cornerstone of the negotiations was "assumed" that the British could not transport 200,000 troops to Guangdong, and the two sides conducted "sincere" and "frank" negotiations on this basis.
The British's proposal to restore the tobacco trade was mercilessly rejected, but Hong Ren? He took out a list. The Englishman had probably seen this list before. Was this Hong Ren before the battle? Once upon a time, he took out a list. At the time, the English did not take it seriously at all. As long as the tobacco trade was restored, the British would naturally be able to earn more than ten times the amount on the list. By then, the trade quota would be nothing. However, times had changed, and the British representative was now very interested in the data on the trade list. Especially Hong Ren? In particular, he pointed out some products that were not currently produced by the Viceroy Manor, including steam engines, gauze, cotton cloth, and other products.
"For these products, we can now reduce the tariff to 5%. After two years, we will set the tariff on these products again, "Hong Ren Guofeng said. He said solemnly.
The Englishman looked at Hong Ren in surprise. He tried to read something from the expressionless face of the Orientals. But the Englishman was disappointed. Hong Ren had a serious face, without any expression at all.
In this negotiation, Vézé bore great pressure. If the British had not shown superb combat effectiveness, and the Liberation Army had seen the power of the British naval guns, they would have been quite afraid. Those vengeful officers would have strongly demanded that Vézé agree to send troops to attack Hong Kong.
So in this negotiation, Vézé made it clear to Hong Ren. "For the products that we can't produce now, we can adopt low tariffs. We can introduce them as soon as possible. For the products that we can produce ourselves, we will use high tariffs to protect our national industries. Of course, all this is based on our ability to make the British not dare to easily use war against us. So, don't worry about it. "
Hong Ren? He felt that he understood Vézé's idea. The so-called "talk with confidence" was actually to quickly come up with the results of the negotiations. As long as the trade relations between the two sides were restored as soon as possible, the Viceroy's Office could benefit from it, and the belligerent voices would naturally calm down.
The British representative finally couldn't help but ask, "How are you going to pay for the purchase of these goods?"
Hong Ren? He replied, "We don't have that much silver in our hands, so we still advocate the establishment of a bank to serve the customs to solve this problem. We have talked about it before, so we can continue now. "
The British representative was stunned. Although they had hoped that Vézé was a Westernized politician, they had never expected that Vézé could be Westernized to such an extent. In terms of establishing a new system, Vézé's attitude towards the West had not changed at all.
Just when the British representative's expression was uncertain, Hong Ren suddenly asked a question. "By the way, I don't know if you have a need for medical morphine in such a large area?"
"Medical morphine?" The British representative was even more surprised. This was a material from the Great Smoky Mountains. Ever since its birth, it had been used as an anesthetic for labor pains, and it had been widely used. The British representative asked, "Minister Hong, what do you mean?"
"The medical morphine we produce is of high quality and at a favorable price. If you buy, we can multiply the price of your purchase by 1.5 and use it to buy tobacco. "Hong Ren Xuan threw out Wei Ze's bottom line in the tobacco trade.
Vézé was a firm anti-smoking party, but this did not mean that he had any prejudice against the pharmaceutical industry. Tobacco and morphine were very effective drugs. Tobacco was used to treat acute diarrhea, and morphine hydrochloride was used as an anesthetic for surgery. Although the Liberation Army started a war with the British to ban the tobacco trade, these two drugs cured a large number of Liberation Army soldiers and even saved the lives of many Liberation Army soldiers. In fact, white flour was also a good medicine when it was developed.
Of course, more importantly, Vézé himself wanted to save some face for the British. If they completely shed all pretense of cordiality, the British might impose a comprehensive trade embargo on the Viceroy's Office. This was a situation that Vézé did not want to see.
Besides, Vézé also had some fantasies. Based on the deep contradictions between the North and the South, the war between the North and the South was basically inevitable. Once the war started, the demand for products such as medical morphine might skyrocket. If they could make a name for themselves through the medical morphine trade at this time, they might be able to open up a business route in the future. Vézé knew very well that strong drugs such as morphine were indispensable on board.
Once sailors were hit in the wind and rain, they were often seriously injured. There was no place at sea for comprehensive medical treatment and recuperation. Morphine may have a terrible impact on the future of the injured, but it could relieve pain in a short period of time, so that the injured would not die in severe pain. This product was not unfamiliar to the United Kingdom, which was founded on the sea.
The British representatives didn't expect Vézé to make such a strange request, but they also keenly sensed that Vézé didn't intend to fight to the death with the British. At the very least, Vézé was willing to maintain the relationship between the two sides as long as the conflict between the two sides had not escalated to the point of no return.
The British civil officials did not really intend to completely bury the grudges accumulated in this war. If they had the chance, they would definitely try to take revenge. However, the most important thing now was to protect their positions, so the two sides quickly reached an agreement on cooperation.
When it comes to diplomatic issues, Hong Ren? He proposed that the Restored Viceroy's Office would not recognize any treaty concluded between the British and the Manchurian Qing, especially any treaty concluded after January 1, 1857. The Restored Viceroy's Office would not recognize any treaty. Also, in the future conflict between the Viceroy's Office and the Manchu Qing, the British side must remain neutral. The British basically agreed to these demands.
Most importantly, the two sides reached an agreement to stop the military conflict. If peace did not come, there would be no point in talking about it.
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