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If you think this is beyond your bottom line, we will have no way to retreat. "Zuo Zhidan said tiredly. The negotiations between China and France were not going well. France was still using the European bandit logic. If you can't overwhelm me with your navy, I have to ask for a sky-high price.
The negotiations between China and France were not going well. France was still using the logic of a European bandit. If you can't overwhelm me with your navy, I'll have to ask for a sky-high price. The negotiations between China and France were not going well. France was still using the European bandit logic. If you can't use your navy to overwhelm me, I have to ask for a sky-high price.
"Since you're providing weapons to Vietnam, it means that you don't have the attitude to coexist peacefully with us." The French representative continued to bite the bullet. They insisted that China recognize France's expansion in Vietnam and agree with France's expansion in Vietnam.
After arguing about these issues too many times, Zuo Zhidan didn't even feel angry. He said like a repeater, "You sold weapons to the Manchu Qing side. Is that your attitude that you are willing to live in peace with us?"
"The Qing Dynasty is the official government of China. Is there a problem with us doing business with the official government?" The French representative persistently maintained France's attitude.
After half a day of meaningless arguments, Zuo Zhidan said they would talk tomorrow. The French representative seemed to be exhausted. The two sides had been arguing for the past few days and finally reached a bottom line. The Liberation Army asked to open the trade line with Siam without any interference, while the French side asked the Liberation Army not to support the Vietnamese government and clearly supported the French side in cutting Vietnam.
The task of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was to get the French to publicly agree not to use their fleet to attack the maritime trade line from Guangdong to Siam. In the previous negotiations, Vézé had made it clear that the Liberation Army could turn a blind eye to the military conflict between France and Vietnam, and would not send troops to intervene in the war between France and Vietnam. The French did not expect the Liberation Army to openly support the French strategy of invading Vietnam, nor did they expect the Liberation Army to appreciate or even help the French to carry out the invasion of Vietnam.
Hong Ren? They still held the idea of diplomacy first and tried to find a way to persuade the French during the meeting. Zuo Zhidan, on the other hand, suggested a completely different idea. "Mute mosquitoes bite people to death. The French are buzzing so loudly that I'm afraid they're afraid too. I think we should stop here. We should send warships to escort the merchant fleet to Siam to discuss the rice trade. If the French dare to attack our fleet, we will have something to talk about! "
When Hong Ren heard the suggestion of using concrete actions to test the French's bottom line, he was shocked. "How much money does it cost to build a ship? If the French really attack us, the loss will be too great."
Now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs really didn't know the attitude of the French. Even Zuo Zhidan didn't dare to make a decision on her own. Fortunately, the Recovered Governor's Office had moved back to Guangzhou. After talking to the French, they could go back and report. If the headquarters of the Recovered Governor's Office was still in Foshan, there would be a lot of trouble in the middle.
After receiving the report, Vézé wanted to bring the topic to the General Staff for discussion, but after thinking about it, he decided to go to the Standing Committee to discuss the matter first.
In the past few days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had repeatedly reported the contents of the negotiations to the Standing Committee. After listening to the same report as a few days ago, the Standing Committee, which was extremely angry with the arrogance of the French, was too lazy to be angry again. Li Yuchang, the Minister of Finance, said, "Commander-in-Chief, even if we can't open the route to Siam, our days will not be worse than now. Why should we be afraid of them? And the recent military budget has almost been spent. If there is another war, I'm afraid our budget will be in the red! "
At this time, it was already September 1860. In three months, the 1861 budget meeting would be held. By March, the Spring Festival had passed, and the 1860 fiscal year was officially over. At such a juncture, the Minister of Finance's reaction was naturally to temporarily suppress the problem. The trade route to purchase tea from Hunan and Guangxi had not been completely determined. The budget could not include the money for the purchase of tea in 1861, so the Ministry of Finance was very cautious about any suggestions.
"Now, even if there is a conflict with the French, we don't have to immediately go to war with them. If there is no military conflict with the French, we can open up the rice business to Siam this year. This time, we are going to Guangxi to fight with rice and coal from Vietnam. If we can open up a new source of rice this year, we can rest assured in Guangxi next year. "The person who spoke was Lin Asheng of the Political and Legal Committee. This veteran, who had always been calm, was in favor of taking action first.
Li Yuchang, the Minister of Finance, immediately objected, "If there is a war, I'm afraid we will immediately lose ships. Nowadays, most of the ships that travel by sea are steam ships. The loss will not be a small amount! "
"If there is no war, how can Vietnam be willing to do business with us?" Lin Asheng was still concise. After he finished speaking, he looked at the other Standing Committee members. "But I don't know if everyone accepts this fact?"
The other Standing Committee members spoke one by one, and everyone was more supportive of Lin Asheng's opinion. The year 1860 was very ordinary. The government's income was just enough to feed the local army and workers. The Liberation Army dispatched two armies, a total of 100,000 troops, to launch a military operation to capture Guangxi. In order to not have too much conflict with the local people, the army's logistics relied on Vietnamese rice transported by water. Relying on coal and rice from Vietnam, such a large military operation did not have any impact on Guangdong's food prices.
The Vietnamese were so willing to exchange rice for rifles because the French kept attacking the Nguyen Dynasty. The Liberation Army controlled the Sino-Vietnamese border as agreed. In order to resist the French's attack, the Nguyen Dynasty cried and begged the Liberation Army to sell weapons and ammunition.
Opening up the rice trade route with Siam could ensure that more rice entered the Guangdong and Guangxi markets. Ten years of continuous war had destroyed Guangxi. An adequate supply of rice could not only maintain the local military operations, but it could also stabilize the soaring food prices in Guangxi.
The Minister of Commerce, Levis, was a soldier. Although he was the nephew of Li Yuchang, the Minister of Finance, Levis openly opposed Li Yuchang's idea. He said, "If we want to take down Guangxi and restore order in Guangxi, we need more food and materials to be transported in. We need to buy Guangxi's tea. I think Siam rice is very important here. "
Seeing that his nephew openly opposed him, Li Yuchang's expression was ugly, but he had no intention of giving up. "I still think we should be more cautious. If by next year, as long as we don't continue to fight, we can prepare a budget for the war in the South. Our shipyard is now at full capacity. After the gas lamps were used, we worked 24 hours a day in four shifts. Even so, we still don't have enough ships. If there was a war, how long would it take to build the ships we lost? "
Vézé listened quietly. Although the majority of the committee members were soldiers. But Vézé was the real representative of the army. As the leader of the Recovery Society, Vézé's opinion could often represent the opinion of the Recovery Society. Seeing that the majority of the committee members were in favor of taking exploratory action, Vézé spoke. "I personally support Comrade Zuo Zhidan's opinion. A mute mosquito bites a person to death. The French calling us that means they recognize that we are a major power in this region. In this case, as long as there are warships escorting us, the French may not really dare to attack our civilian ships. After all, these civilian ships are not going to intervene in the war between France and Vietnam. If they really intervene, we can only prove that we are a major power that has the ability to decide the fate of Vietnam. The status of a major power is never negotiated, but fought. "
The members of the committee agreed with Vézé's idea, but when the suggestion to take exploratory measures was about to be passed, Li Yuchang still stubbornly expressed his opposition. "Governor, the status of a major power is fought, but money is not fought. We have made a lot of money through trade in the past few years. France is not a small country, and the British are clearly leaning towards France's position. The British have already told us individually that if there is a war between China and France, Britain can only maintain its independence. In other words, the British will stop trading with us. At that time, our losses will not be this small. "
Although Li Yuchang said this to Vézé, Lin Asheng took over. "Why did you bring up the British? If we really fight, we are no longer afraid of the British. "
Li Yuchang immediately retorted: "We are not afraid of the British, but that doesn't mean we can destroy them. Governor also said that the British have ports all over the world. We can use military means to resist the British attack, but we can't use military means to force the British to do business with us. If we really want to use military means to completely solve this problem, we can at least drag it out for a few years. When our navy is strong, even if the British want to obstruct us, our navy can just kick the British out of this sea. It is only a few years, why are we in such a hurry? "
Seeing that Li Yuchang had decided to resist to the end, Levis half helped and half asked: "We can send people to try to open up sea routes, it is not necessary to fight. What if the French will not fight us at all? Even if there is a conflict, we don't have to use military force immediately. "
"If we can't use military force immediately, the French will be more aggressive after attacking our fleet. If we help the French for no reason, why should we come? "Li Yuchang unexpectedly showed a very insightful attitude.
Vézé originally only wanted to discuss this issue at the standing committee to see what everyone's attitude was. Everyone's attitude was as Vézé thought, but Li Yuchang's knowledge and views on political warfare far exceeded Vézé's previous opinion of Li Yuchang. Vézé was very puzzled about this question. Was Vézé wrong about Li Yuchang in the past, or was there some other reason? Vézé was very interested in this matter. His preliminary judgment was that Li Yuchang might have recruited a new great advisor. After thinking about it, Vézé couldn't think of who it could be.
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