The small courtyard fell into a deathly silence. Gordon's forehead was sweating. He had met his real opponent!
Cheng Beile's visit in the evening can only be said to have frightened Gordon a little. But now that Li Hongzhang comes, it's time to see Zhenzhang!
The ins and outs of both parties were clear. Gordon had some dark information about Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang also had a lot of secrets about Gordon!
But now Li Hongzhang has understood what he said. Everything I did was secretly approved by the imperial court, including the massacre of prisoners in Suzhou, the drowning of Bai Qiwen, the disbandment of the Ever Victorious Army... and so on!
As for the crimes of robbing people's property, taking corruption and accepting bribes, they are nothing compared to the crimes of massacring cities and killing prisoners!
If Gordon really had a showdown with Li Hongzhang, the secrets in his hands would probably be of no use at all, and he would never even think about tripping up this handsome and self-respecting commander!
But the secret Li Hongzhang holds is enough to ruin Gordon's reputation!
Needless to say, neither party is a fool. Li Hongzhang can be the first to use the huge wealth collected by Gordon to cause trouble for you!
After committing plunder and corruption, and accepting bribes, Li Hongzhang didn't let Li Hongzhang make up how much money he had in the end. If he said one million, it would be one million, and if he said you had two million, it would be two million!
Anyway, there are no clear accounts for things like robbery during a war!
You must know that many veterans of the Ever Victorious Army are serving in the Huai Army. They have been assigned to Li Hongzhang for many years. Why don't they get whatever confessions they ask for?
right! You, Gordon, are not afraid of the Qing Dynasty's royal laws. Anyway, the British Embassy will protect you when the time comes! Of course you don’t have to worry about UK laws!
After all, you did not rob the property of British citizens, nor did you accept bribes from within the UK!
But do you want fame? After your property is exposed, will you encounter other politicians coveting it? It is a crime for an ordinary man to carry a jade without any guilt! If those ruthless people in British politics knew that Gordon had two million taels of black money in his hands, would they come to trouble you?
You have to have half when you meet, right? But you obviously only plundered 800,000! Let Li Hongzhang advertise the price to two to three million, and the difference would be enough to give Gordon a headache!
Don’t be reduced to selling off your property to make peace with things!
Money is only the first step of Li Hongzhang's threat. The second threat is to expose your secret of killing Bai Qiwen!
You, Gordon, are an accomplice. Don’t think you are an honorable man!
You could have warned Bai Qiwen, but you didn't. You even deliberately lured Bai Qiwen into the trap!
In order to seize the command of the Ever Victorious Army, it can be said that you cooperated with Li Hongzhang to kill Bai Qiwen!
"Gordon, Gordon! Do you think I didn't interrogate Bai Qiwen before killing him? He was obviously sent to Japan by the US embassy, why couldn't he bear it anymore and still went to Fujian?"
"That's weird! Who gave Bai Qiwen the idea to run to Fujian? That was 1865 in your Western calendar! Li Shixian, the false king of Fujian, was already a candle in the wind. Zuo Jigao and I were fighting fast Jumped into the sea!"
"Why does Bai Qiwen have to rush into this losing battle? Is he a stupid dog? Or is someone tricking him into fooling him?"
"Haha, Gordon, in order to embezzle Wall and Bai Qiwen's money, you did not hesitate to borrow a knife to kill someone... Use my knife to kill the creditor for you, you are so cruel!"
"You..." Gordon's body shook with anger. "You are slandering! You are slandering..."
"Forget it, forget it! I'm too lazy to argue with you about these things. It doesn't matter if I help you get rid of a stupid dog. Anyway, this Bai Qiwen is just an ignorant boy!"
"It's a pity that he didn't even live to be thirty, so he was killed by us old foxes!"
"I don't care about you making money. I, Li Hongzhang, am not that stingy... To be honest, I asked you to take away so much money because I also want to leave a good relationship so that we can meet again in the future!"
"I have found out who the envoy you sent to Japan to meet with Bai Qiwen is. Bai Qiwen gave me a confession long before he died!"
"Do you want me to show it to the American embassy? Let the Americans know how Gordon killed their citizens!"
"You..." Gordon's face looked as ugly as a ghost. Today he had experienced the power of Li Hongzhang!
"Li Hongzhang... you are very powerful, very powerful. As expected, you are not an ordinary powerful person who can pull together a team to become a prince in today's Qing Dynasty!"
"But do you really think you can threaten me like this? Even if you make these things public, can you trip me up?"
"To tell you the truth, if you publish these secrets, except for the damage to my reputation and the infamy, I will not be punished in any way!"
"The British government will still protect me, even if the Americans come to trouble me, it doesn't matter!"
"Do you know why? Because everything I do is the same as you, and there is a government behind it!"
"Hahaha... your expression changed. Did you not expect that?"
"The existence of the Ever-Victorious Army involves the interests of many parties. I think you can guess that it is not in the interest of the British Empire for Americans Wall and Bai Qiwen to control this army!"
"Everything I do is to safeguard the interests of the British Empire! We are also in a competitive relationship with the United States!"
"So, don't expect to use Bai Qiwen's death to blackmail me, I'm not afraid!"
Li Hongzhang didn't expect that Gordon would continue to fight back at this point. Even though it was a losing battle, he still wanted to give it a try!
"Not bad! As expected, he is a child of a military family and never gives up! Very good, very good...but didn't you succumb to me in the end?"
"After taking my 190,000 taels of silver, didn't you disband the Ever Victorious Army? You won't be scolded by London any less!"
Gordon looked at Li Hongzhang stubbornly, "The decision to disband the Ever Victorious Army did make some eagles in London very angry, but many moderates agreed with my move!"
"Not all congressmen are war mad! Making money peacefully is the way to go!"
Hahaha... Li Hongzhang laughed. "It's interesting. It's interesting to talk about it this way. Even if the conversation is thorough... Since you have revealed your trump card, why are you arguing?"
"Let's make it clear! Although Long live the Lord wants you to take charge of the army, most officials in the Qing Dynasty are opposed to you touching the army!"
"How about we reach an agreement today? You promise never to get involved in military power, and we have no objection to you doing other jobs!"
"In the final analysis, you are just going to accompany His Majesty to build factories, engage in foreign affairs, coordinate overseas relations, etc... We will never interfere with these. How about we go our separate ways?"
For this reason, what else could Gordon do? He sighed, "Master Li! Are you doing this worthy of His Majesty? He is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty!"
Li Hongzhang's face also turned bitter. He drank the remaining wine in his glass silently and sighed, "Oriental politics is very complicated, and you still don't understand it well..."
"Come on, let's drink this, we will still be good colleagues from now on!"
Note: The third update is here, please give me red envelopes, subscriptions, and recommendation votes!
