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After entertaining the representatives of the four countries, Hong Ren? He was so tired that he just wanted to rest. Accompanying others to eat and drink also required a lot of energy.
"What are the British planning to do?" He asked Vézé with considerable dissatisfaction. Hong Ren? His original thought was that since the Liberation Army had made a gesture of openness, not only allowing foreign merchants to do business normally in China, but also implementing a policy of balancing imports and exports, the United Kingdom should be satisfied. However, in reality, the British showed no signs of satisfaction. When he suggested private negotiations with the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom actually refused.
Vézé replied with a sneer, "The British want to completely overthrow the status quo and completely dominate China's customs. They can sell whatever they want. "
"Let the British dream!" Hong Ren said. He said angrily. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hong Ren? They hoped to be able to coexist peacefully with foreign countries. They hoped to continue to expand their trade with foreign countries while maintaining their current appearance. After negotiations with the British side, Hong Ren Guofeng finally agreed to the terms of the United Kingdom. He realized that Vézé's explanation of the British's actions was probably the British's original intention. This attitude of wanting to overthrow the status quo was completely beyond Hong Ren's. The bottom line.
Vézé looked at the excited Hong Renxiang. He could not help but laugh. The fact that Vézé was able to infuriate the Foreign Minister, who advocated openness, to such an extent showed that he actually liked Hong Ren. He felt much more at ease. So, Vézé continued to explain, "The British navy is now much stronger than us, so it's not that they can't fight us, but that they have no chance of winning. If the British send troops to land elsewhere, we can attack Hong Kong Island. After taking over the Hong Kong base, the British would no longer have a foothold in China. The other ports are not enough to serve as bases for a full-scale attack on us. "
Hong Ren? Hearing this, he was even more puzzled. "Then why hasn't the British given up?"
Vézé agreed with this view. "If there are no ports, they can seize them. And if they want to destroy us, they don't have to be the British. "
These words were said casually, but Hong Ren? He could hear the murderous intent in it. He quickly asked, "Commander-in-chief, are we still going to war with the British?"
Wei Ze frowned slightly at first, then replied coldly, "The General Staff Headquarters will naturally be in charge of whether to start a war or not. You only need to focus on one thing now, and that is to publicize our foreign policy to Europe and America as much as possible. Let them know that as long as they don't want to fight with us, we welcome foreign businessmen to do business in China. "
Hong Ren? Seeing that Vézé was unwilling to talk to him about the war, he felt a little regretful. If he knew anything about the war, Hong Ren? He also felt more confident during the negotiation.
Hong Ren? The representative of Great Britain felt even more regretful. The statement of the Commander-in-Chief's Office had pushed the diplomatic situation into a very difficult situation. He had clearly expressed the bottom line of restoring the military governor's office. The difference between the positions of the two sides was simply too great. The ever-expanding commercial trade simply could not make up for the huge gap between the wishes of the two sides.
What the UK wanted was to completely open up trade with China and reap unrestricted benefits from China. In the long run, the UK did hope to continue to expand the trade quota. But the long run was always an idea. The UK had a short-term goal that must be implemented. This goal was the policy finalized by the big shots of Downing Street in London, which was "legalizing the tobacco trade, controlling China's customs, allowing the UK to have extraterritorial jurisdiction in China, and allowing the UK to preach freely in China." As the policy of Downing Street, Erjin had to complete these contents no matter what. And in Guangdong and Guangxi under the control of the Commander-in-Chief's Office, these four were precisely impossible to achieve.
The modern civil service system didn't care so many details. If the task couldn't be completed, they would be replaced and a black history would be recorded in their resume. In China, which was thousands of miles away from the UK, Erjin had no chance to defend himself in time. So Hong Ren? No matter how reasonable the attitude expressed was, and how desirable it was from a reasonable point of view, these could not change Erjin's attitude and position. The contradiction between the UK and the Commander-in-Chief's Office was irreconcilable.
"It seems that war is inevitable." This was the consensus among the British emissaries. Although there was such a consensus, the information that should be sent to Erjin still had to be given. The UK sent a ship to Hong Kong overnight and sent back the latest meeting minutes.
However, two days later, the British delegation received an order from Erjin. "Agree to the agreement with the Commander-in-Chief's Office, but this agreement is only within the area controlled by the Commander-in-Chief's Office. And urge the Commander-in-Chief's Office to come up with specific terms for the expansion of trade and a list of imported goods. "
Such a change surprised the British representatives. Did Erjin's plenipotentiary figure out the key points and find a way to report to the country? The British representatives were discussing.
In the afternoon, the British side immediately presented the British side's opinion at the meeting. Hong Ren? He was surprised but also very happy. He immediately negotiated on this. The representatives of France, the United States, and Russia naturally followed. On August 20th, the Commander-in-Chief's Office and the representatives of Britain, France, the United States, and Russia signed the draft "Foshan Treaty". This was not a formal treaty between countries. The Commander-in-Chief's Office appeared in the treaty as a local authority. Even so, this treaty still meant that the British plenipotentiary Erjin recognized the status quo of the Guangdong and Guangxi regions and decided to maintain this status quo.
On September 1st, the British representative finally returned to Hong Kong with the agreement. In any case, this was an encouraging good news. The door of ancient China was opened to the British, and the object of the agreement was a very Western government.
But Erjin's plenipotentiary didn't have a very optimistic idea about this. He just casually flipped through and put the manuscript of "Foshan Treaty" on the table. After a few days, Erjin looked a lot gloomier, as if he had a lot of things on his mind.
"Your Excellency, this document needs your signature." The British representative reminded with some uneasiness.
"Wait a little longer." Erjin replied with a tired voice. After the man left the office, Erjin stood up and stood by the office window. The office faced south and back to the north. There was a window in the north and south direction. Standing under the north window, Erjin couldn't see the Commander-in-Chief's Office because the direction was not right. But Erjin's mind was thinking about the recovery of the Commander-in-Chief's Office. This opponent destroyed Erjin's plan to fight all the way from Guangdong, Fujian, and Shanghai, so Erjin had to adopt a more risky strategy. If possible, Erjin wanted to strangle Vézé with his own hands.
At the same time, Wei Ze said at a meeting of the General Staff Headquarters, "The war has left us for the time being, but the war is bound to turn into settling accounts after the autumn. When it breaks out, the intensity will be several times greater than it is now. One year … two years at most, we will face a decisive war with the British. At that time, we must use the navy to fight with the British. Only when the British admit that they are on the coast of China, and the British may not keep their word, then the war will really end! "
Hu Chenghe frowned and asked, "Commander-in-Chief, what do you mean by making the British admit that they are on the coast of China?"
Vézé wanted to say that the navy of the Liberation Army could defeat the British along the coast of China. But he immediately found that this idea was too presumptuous. If they wanted to defeat the British navy along the coast of China, they must have warships that could match the British. There was no need to consider the steel-armored warships now. Even if Vézé could produce the design, the Liberation Army didn't have the ability to build them. It would take at least 15 years to build such warships. Even if they used warships with iron and wood hulls to fight with the British, it would take five or six years.
So Vézé had to say vaguely, "That is to say … We have to make the British navy not have an absolute chance of winning. Now we are using the land force to threaten the British so that they don't dare to land on a large scale. "
"Oh!" Hu Chenghe nodded, showing a very approving expression.
Vézé tried to maintain an expression of victory on his face, but he also felt very embarrassed in his heart. It was not a good sign for him to start talking nonsense in a flustered and exasperated state.
"Commander-in-chief, could the British be deceiving us? They signed a contract with us first and waited for us to relax before suddenly launching an attack on us? "Wei Changrong, on the other hand, was very tense.
It was a good thing to have such a comrade. Vézé smiled and said, "Then what do you have in mind?"
Wei Changrong said seriously, "Let's build a fort on the coast of Kowloon! The coast is only two li away from the old port of Hong Kong. We can casually build a fort and directly bombard the port. Even if we can't really bombard it, we can at least scare the British. "
This suggestion sounded a little too aggressive. Before Vézé could say anything, Hu Chenghe objected, "The British will definitely not agree with you doing this."
Wei Changrong replied with a regretful expression, "If the British really don't want to fight with us now, they will definitely oppose it. If the British still have the determination to fight with us, they may not oppose it. "
Hu Chenghe did not understand such a dialectical point of view for a moment. However, the new commander of the Fourth Army, Lei Hu, could not help but cheer. "That's right. If the British insist that we dismantle the fort, it means that they don't want to fight with us. If their attitude is not so firm, it naturally means that they have ulterior motives and think that we have seen through their thoughts. At that time, it will only force them to attack immediately. There is still our line of defense behind the Kowloon Coast. Even if we fight now, it will not be a bad thing. We can definitely use the army to show the British how powerful we are. Even if we take a step back and ask whether we have real cannons or fake cannons in the fort, as long as we can fire a shell from the fort, the British will not be able to figure it out at all. We don't even need to transport the real Longsong Cannons to the fort. "
With this explanation, everyone in the General Staff Headquarters began to understand a little. The British could use their navy to threaten the Liberation Army, and the Liberation Army could also use the army to threaten the British.
Hu Chenghe nodded repeatedly and exclaimed in admiration, "This is what the commander-in-chief said, to make the British admit that they are on the coast of China. The British may not necessarily mean what they say!"
Vézé wanted to immediately say that this had nothing to do with his own imagination. However, he was unable to explain it at that moment. At that moment, Vézé changed the topic. "So, does anyone have any other opinions on this?"
The internal military democracy within the General Staff Headquarters was pretty good. In the end, this extremely provocative action was determined to be "only provocative at the initial stage" and was approved.
However, the next day, the Kowloon Military Division sent an urgent message. "The warships of the four countries have begun to leave the port on a large scale. The direction is unknown." Two hours later, the Humen Military Division also sent an urgent message. "The British Fleet has begun to move north in large scale!"
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