As the sun rose, Wen Desi stood on the stern of the spy boat, with his hands behind his hands. A layer of golden sun shrouded his body, emitting a dazzling light. [Read the latest chapter] All the indigenous navy officers and soldiers stood beside him, all of them were respectful and did not say a word. I saw Mr. Wen looking out at Guangzhou with the feeling of "looking at Wu Gou and photographing all the corridors, but no one would understand and come here."
"We're back to the place where we fought again." Wen Desi whispered. Thinking about the time when I, Wang and Xiao went back and forth from the wormhole to raise funds, I couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions. A few years ago, they were rescued by Ran Yao and others on the White Goose Pond with several small-caliber rifles and shotguns. The group was in a panic. And the past of escaping is still fresh in my mind.
At this moment, he led the fleet here. The lives and property of the officials and people in the city depended on his thoughts, and he was filled with satisfaction.
"I think back then, my team had just opened. There were only a dozen people in total and seven or eight guns..." Wen Desi suddenly hummed this Peking Opera that he was not familiar with - there is nothing more powerful than this phrase at the moment. expressed his feelings.
Chen Haiyang was originally downstairs at the rear stern. In order not to disturb Mr. Wen's elegance, he never stepped forward. Different from Wen Desi's emotion, he was thinking about the next step.
At this point, the war has exceeded the military scope and has become a political war - the task force attacked Guangzhou all the way not to capture this East Asian city, but to force the other side to make peace with supply and demand. How to apply a certain amount of pressure to achieve one's own goals without causing the other party to simply come to a death blow, one must be very precise.
"Mr. Wen," Chen Haiyang greeted when he saw that Wen Desi's energy in reminiscing about the past was gradually fading, "What do you think we should do next?"
The Senate has no intention of occupying Guangzhou. They must reopen trade and continue to receive manpower, material resources and markets from Guangdong. For this reason, they cannot scare away the wealthy businessmen in Guangzhou - according to reports from the Intelligence Bureau, many wealthy businessmen have already fled from Guangzhou. If Guangzhou is really captured, the entire Pearl River Delta will become a "war zone" and businessmen will not dare to After all, there is no point in occupying this city.
Wen Desi and Chen Haiyang racked their brains along the way, thinking of how to make it a big deal without causing the Guangdong government to completely close the door to negotiations.
Now that the warships have arrived at Baietan, the peace talks must begin as soon as possible. Although the Pearl River Estuary Expedition has achieved great results, if it fails to achieve the effect of peace talks, it will be a complete strategic failure.
Chen Haiyang proposed: Should he immediately send people into Guangzhou to submit a note and ask the officials in the city to go out for negotiations.
"No, we can't have a note on this matter - isn't this the 'two countries theory'? Li Fengjie wouldn't dare to accept this note even if he was beaten to death." Wen Desi shook his head repeatedly, "How can an official handle this if he can only convey information through private contacts? They have their own methods from above, we have to find a communication channel as soon as possible."
The Foreign Intelligence Service has Lin Baiguang and others lurking in Guangzhou, so the task force can receive telegrams from Lingao Headquarters every day about the situation in Guangzhou.
"Li Fengjie tried to contact Gao Ju several times, but Gao Ju always refused. I think now we can ask someone from the Intelligence Bureau to contact Gao Ju and let him act as a middleman." Wen Desi said, "Gao Ju has always been an agent for Australian goods. This He can’t take off the layers of skin, so it’s reasonable for him to come forward.”
"Let's fire a few empty cannons first to scare them," Chen Haiyang said. "I don't believe that the officials in the city can pretend to be deaf and dumb."
The guests were thanked behind closed doors, and everyone in the city said "not at home" no matter who came to see them. This is not to show off - it is actually because of his awkward position and difficulty in dealing with all parties.
After Guo Yi and others escaped and the Zi family's properties were sealed off one after another, Gao Ji felt that he had lost a lot of face. For this reason, he wrote a letter very unhappy and reported what happened to Eunuch Yang. Of course, Eunuch Yang can't say much in the palace now, but he is still a centipede with a broad path. As long as he catches any opportunity, he might be able to give the Tian family a hard eyedrop.
After Chengmai's defeat, some gentry officials secretly worked in the hope that he would come forward to negotiate peace. On the one hand, they were angry that the government had caused him to lose face and credibility in the Zi family's industry. On the other hand, they did not know the depth of the situation behind this matter and did not dare to You can come forward and agree casually, or simply "not be at home" and hide in the house to watch the changes.
He didn't leave home, but he was very well-informed about the news outside. He knew all the "deeds" along the way after the task force entered the Pearl River, which surprised and delighted him. I was shocked that the Australians were so powerful. Not only did they defeat the invading officers and soldiers, they also pursued them all the way to the Pearl River. The troops were pointing directly at Guangzhou - if the two sides fought under the city walls, Guangzhou, the "promised land" for businessmen, would be destroyed. I was happy that I finally did not stand in this "wringer" test. The wrong team, whether it is the government or the Australians, can cope with it reasonably - when the Australians make a comeback, the Gao family can continue to make money from Australian goods.
The Australians were getting closer and closer to Guangzhou, and their momentum was getting louder and louder. He fully understood what the Australians were thinking - they wanted to "force peace with war."
Since we want "harmony", we must have channels of contact. Gao Ju believes that there is no one in Guangdong who is more suitable to serve as this channel than him. Whether it's the government or the Australians, if they want to make peace, they have to find him as the middle man.
So in the past month, he has returned to his normal "at home" situation, although he rarely sees visitors and doesn't talk much when he does. It is just "waiting for price" and preparing to ruthlessly kill the government and the local gentry - and if possible, kill the Australians.
Gao Zhang paid close attention to every move outside. As the Australian fleet pressed closer, the city became increasingly noisy, and the wealthy families began to flee for their lives, he remained unmoved - he had a hunch that the Australians would not attack Guangzhou. At most, they were just showing off outside the city.
He had already made up his mind. He would not come forward until someone from the government came to ask him to negotiate. Of course, you must first agree to his series of conditions. Not only does he have to earn back face for himself, he also has to earn back face for Australians - of course, he also has to vent his anger. When he thought of Tian Da's rude and arrogant appearance in front of him, Mr. Gao couldn't bear this tone.
He had just gotten up that day and had breakfast alone. When he went to the yard where he was working, he first entertained the birds - Gao Ji liked raising birds very much. Unlike the northern style of raising birds, which emphasized "sound", he wanted the birds to look beautiful first. , the feathers are colorful. Therefore, many rare birds that are not seen in China were collected from all over the West. Each one is colorful and looks really good hanging under the eaves of the corridor.
While the people and birds were enjoying each other in a harmonious scene, suddenly the rumbling sound of cannons was heard outside. Several little birds were immediately frightened and bumped around in the cage. He raised his eyebrows and frowned, looking towards the direction of Baietan.
In Baietan, there are only flower boats and restaurants. Where can we get cannons? Could it be that the Australians have arrived at Baietan? While Gao Ji was wondering, a domestic slave hurried in and told him, "The Australian fleet has arrived at Baietan and is firing cannons."
"Just let them go." Gao Zhan said with an indifferent expression - this was just knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger.
"Master." The family member said hesitantly, "Master Tian is here to pay his respects..."
"Which Mr. Tian?"
"It's Tian Da——"
Gao Zhang snorted: "Not at home." He didn't want to see this despicable and shameless thing.
"He refused to go and insisted on seeing you." The family immediately accepted the order and left as usual, but continued, "He said that he has a great wealth to give to the master."
"No," Gao Ju said calmly. Then he looked at his family with a mocking look, "How much money did you get from him?"
"The little one didn't..." The family members were shocked and quickly defended themselves.
"Go to the accounting room and tell me what I said. I'll reward you with eight taels of silver. Throw Tian Da's four taels of silver back to me," Gao Zhang said expressionlessly.
"The villain doesn't dare, the villain doesn't dare." The family members were so frightened that they quickly knelt down and kowtowed, "The villain realizes his mistake..."
"Go ahead."
He didn't know the reason why Tian Da was so pale and insisted on seeing him, but he could probably guess it. This time Tian Da's attempt to annex the Zi family name in Guangzhou was completely failed - first, Dongzhu Guo and others disappeared mysteriously. This was not bad, because Tian Da could at least get the property left behind by the Zi family name, but the government kept dragging his feet. When the news of Chengmai's fiasco came, even outsiders knew that Tian Da had no hope.
It has been almost a year since Tian arrived in Guangzhou. Originally, he boasted that Haikou could help his employer get the Guangzhou Purple Brand, but now he has gotten nothing - if he just goes back to resume his life, he, a servant of the Tian family, will probably not be able to do it. In recent days, he has been searching for all kinds of Australian goods and treasures, probably to have room for prevarication when he returns.
Tian Da was rejected in front of Gaoji's house. The family member at the door who originally took the money from him was all smiles and kept saying "Pack it with me" came back with a cold face, threw the money back to him, said "Not at home", and never looked back. He stopped talking.
Tian Da cursed: "***, everyone is so scared." Guangzhou really can't stay here anymore. This group of officials and Jin gentry really fell out with each other faster than reading a book. Originally, no one would dare to miss him as long as he came to visit, but at the end of the day, they still came out to say hello and gave him dozens of taels of silver to socialize with him. Nowadays, no one with a little background is willing to meet him. Even if he is willing to meet, his words are extremely rude, let alone giving him something as a gift.
There was absolutely no hope for the Zizihao - when the government officials seized the Zizihao after the Australians escaped, Tian Da didn't spend much effort in getting the gatekeeper to let him in for a "visit". As a result, he was disappointed. There were quite a lot of goods left behind to make money, but all the government officials confiscated them. In addition to many common craftsmen's utensils, the Australian industry also has a few Australian machines that are unknown to use, and the exquisite copper and glass parts on them were either stolen by the government officials or damaged by rude government officials during the storage period. , absolutely impossible to repair and use without Australian craftsmen. He had also inquired before that those people left very calmly, leaving no trace of anything behind.
Not to mention that these brands did not fall into his hands at all. Even if they did fall into his hands, they would be of no use unless there was a buyer willing to take over. But who has the ability to revive these brands? Everything they sell is Australian, or at least made according to Australian secret recipes. Not to mention, no one in Guangzhou knows how to make sweet water that makes your mouth numb when you drink it and has bubbles. There are also ice cubes that can be taken out anytime and anywhere in the summer...
"Hold up this damn old fox." Tian Da scolded as he came out. He asked to see Gao Ji because he wanted to extort some rare Australian goods from him so that he could go back and deliver them on business. After all, the capture of Ziming Tower this time was already in trouble. As the Kun thieves pressed closer and closer, Tian Da felt vaguely that something was not good - Bei Hui's idea had long been on his mind.
But he held high the soft and hard, and ignored him at all. He originally wanted to get the Australian oil lamp that could shine brightly and present it to the palace, but he didn't expect that the other party would not even see him now, which made Tian Da feel very embarrassed.
"Go to Liu's house." After getting into the sedan, Tian Da decided to go to Liu's house. This businessman had no power and was doing business in the north. It was said that there were some rare Australian treasures at home. This family has a close relationship with the Australians and is not afraid of their disobedience. After he succeeded, he immediately left Guangzhou. He also heard the sound of the cannons at Baietan. Taking advantage of the fact that the city gate of Guangzhou was still open, he hurriedly fled. If it fell into the hands of the Australians, there would be no good results.
The sedan was being carried on the street. Tian Da was in the sedan thinking about how to blackmail the Liu family. Suddenly someone shouted: "The cow is crazy, run away."
Tian Da was about to stick his head out to take a look, but the sedan fell to the ground with a "ping" sound, causing him to almost be thrown out of the sedan. Tian Da cursed: "You guys can't even lift a sedan chair..."
The bearer had fled. Tian Da just poked his head out of the window and saw a huge buffalo, panting heavily and charging straight towards the sedan with two huge horns.
Tian Da screamed and collapsed in the sedan.
The sound of cracking bones was the last sound Tian Da heard in the human world.
Tian Da's death caused no ripples in the city of Guangzhou - except for those who knew about Tian Da's grudges with the Australians. The people who praised Tian Da's stinky feet in the beginning couldn't help but feel extremely guilty, while those who had suffered from him secretly applauded. Gao Ji just smiled slightly after hearing this.
The drama is going on in full swing in the city, and the task force outside the city is also not idle. The Fubo Army landed in Baietan, requisitioned several restaurants as headquarters and dormitories for senior officers, and built a temporary naval pier on the trestle where the flower boats were originally parked. Many rocket launchers and Hale rockets were unloaded from the ships and set up outside the city. If the officials in the city still lacked a sense of urgency in negotiating peace, Wen Desi was prepared to use rockets to remind them.
In order to facilitate the bombardment of Guangzhou from all directions, all the artillery boats of the artillery boat squadron were temporarily modified. The 28mm mortars were removed and modified with rocket launchers. In this way, the artillery boats could maneuver along Baietan and inland waterways and bombard Guangzhou City from any direction.
The Hale rocket fleet transferred from Hong Kong brought more than 300 rockets. Wen Desi decided to give Li Fengjie three days. If there was no response, he would immediately set off a big fireworks for them.
Some elders suggested using the city's intelligence system to send "guanxi" to Gao Ji to propose peace to Li Fengjie.
"When negotiating for peace, it is better to let the other party propose it first. Besides, if we go to ask for help, he will inevitably become proud. In the future, he will inevitably use this to show his merit and ask for greater benefits from us." Wen Desi said, "We'll wait a few days and see how they react."
In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, Chen Haiyang ordered a mixed battalion of marines and sailors to carry artillery and expel the defenders at Fenghuang Gang, a key point in the west, and Dongsheng Temple, a key point in the east, outside Guangzhou City. It only took less than a day to eliminate the enemy. The two defenders fled one after another without fierce fighting, leaving behind 90 corpses and more than 200 old and miscellaneous artillery pieces. The Fubo army suffered 10 casualties, including 3 killed in action.
The fall of Phoenix Ridge and Dongsheng Temple made Guangzhou's defense situation even more passive. Li Fengjie had no choice but to make up his mind about asking for peace payment.
Li Fengjie thought that the biggest obstacle to the peace talks was Gao Shunqin. If he knew about it, he would definitely face strong opposition - and maybe he would immediately file a memorial to impeach the matter. As the censor, he could "hear the rumors" and accept whatever he heard. As soon as the memorial was released, public opinion in Beijing started to rise, and he would be left with nothing to eat.
After careful consideration, he decided not to come forward as usual and divided the process into two ways: the Guangzhou magistrate Yu Baocun would directly come forward for the matter in Guangzhou - anyway, Yu Baocun was the first to take responsibility for defending the land, so he was not afraid of his refusal.
The other route was conducted by Li Luoyu in Macau. Macau is a Portuguese place, and the two parties can talk openly and honestly. Some things that cannot be said and can only be hinted at in front of Yu Baocun can be clearly stated in front of Li Luoyou.
At the moment, the task is for Yu Baocun and Gao Ju to come forward and persuade the Australians to withdraw their troops as soon as possible, and then negotiate other conditions in Macau. The longer the Australian warship stays here, the harder it will be for him to explain to the court.
Yu Baocun arrived at the governor's Yamen and held a secret discussion for half the night. Early the next morning, he personally drove a sedan chair to see Gao Ji.
"Is this what Fu Jun means?" Gao Ju asked after hearing Yu Baocun's request for him to go out and defeat the "Kun thieves" to discuss peace and retreat.
"You are a wise old man, Mr. Gao. Do you still want me to explain things clearly to your students?" Yu Baocun said with a wry smile, "It is the duty to defend the land, and everyone has no control over it. We have to rely on Mr. Gao for this matter."
"What are you talking about, Mr. Gao Ju?" Gao Ju said indifferently, "Gao is just a businessman. I'm afraid I am beyond my ability to do this."
Yu Baocun secretly scolded this old guy for being pretentious again, and he must be asking for a price that is all over the place. Now that I have something to ask of him, I can only indicate that as long as he is willing to show up, everything can be discussed. v! ~!
