Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 292 Concession Dispute
Wu Quanmei smiled and put away the purse in her hand.

Of course, he was not greedy for such a small amount of money, but wanted to comfort Chen Zhaoan.

Chen Zhaoan had just returned and was feeling very nervous.

Bribery is just for peace of mind.

Only if Wu Quanmei accepts the money will Chen Zhaoan feel at ease.

If Wu Quanmei refused to accept the bribe, Chen Zhaoan would probably have to wonder if he had offended someone.

Wu Quanmei helped Chen Zhaoan up and spoke.

"Admiral Chen, please stop being so polite!"

"It is a blessing for the Tang Dynasty and the world that the admiral can lead his troops to surrender the city and return."

"What's the crime?"

"Admiral, please follow me. I will take you to meet the commander of the Tang Navy!"

After saying this, Wu Quanmei took Chen Zhaoan on board to visit Fang Haiyang.

Fang Haiyang was also very kind to Chen Zhaoan, with a smile on his face.

Because Chen Zhaoan's surrender to the Tang Dynasty was not an empty surrender, but a token of his allegiance.

This token of surrender is the city of Fuzhou and even more so the Eight Banners of Fuzhou.

After the Three Feudatories Rebellion, the Eight Banners of Fuzhou entered the city of Fuzhou.

For nearly two hundred years, the Eight Banners of Fuzhou did their utmost to plunder Fujian and amassed countless wealth.

If the Tang army can capture all the Eight Banners of Fuzhou this time, it will be a great benefit to the finances of the Tang Dynasty.

Well, Fang Haiyang, who was in charge of the confiscation of property, will benefit from it to some extent.

Moreover, since the Fujian war had just ended, it would not be a taboo for the other side to take some advantage of the situation.

In the words of the ancients, this is called self-pollution.

With the cooperation of Chen Zhaoan, Datang successfully took over Fuzhou.

Afterwards, Fang Haiyang sent a manifesto to all prefectures in Fujian from Fuzhou city, demanding their surrender.

Fujian is a place known as "eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland". It is covered with hills and has a rugged terrain, making it a place that military strategists do not fight for.

After Fuzhou surrendered, there was basically no need to use military force in the entire Fujian province.

As more manifestos were issued and time passed, the local prefectures in Fujian rushed to surrender in response to the Tang Dynasty's call for surrender.

Letters of allegiance were sent to Fuzhou!

By the way, the Tang army also began to gradually take over the defense of the entire Fujian Province.

At this point, the situation in Fujian has been stabilized!
Fang Haiyang immediately sent a report of victory to Guangzhou and requested credit for the meritorious officers and soldiers in this battle.

……

Guangzhou, Tang Palace!

After receiving good news from Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Fujian, Li Yi ordered a meeting of the top leaders of the Tang Dynasty to discuss the matter.

The people who came this time were mainly senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the General Staff.

Ye Zhisheng, Zhao Ke, Fan Xiyuan, Wu Xingbang, Guo Songtao, Zuo Zongtang and others received the order and gathered in Li Yi's study.

After everyone arrived, he first asked everyone to take a seat, and then Li Yi began to speak.

"Good news has been reported from Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and Fujian."

"Among them, the war situation in Jiangxi and Fujian has been largely settled. Jiangxi Governor Zhang Fei and Fujian Admiral Chen Zhaoan have all led their troops to surrender, and each prefecture has issued an edict to settle the matter."

"In Jiangsu, our army also successfully captured Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang and other places, all of which are located south of the Yangtze River."

"Today, I summoned all of you to discuss the governance of Jiangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu and other places."

When everyone heard this, they all bowed and said they would obey your orders.

Li Yi nodded slightly and continued.

"The first is the issue of official appointments and dismissals. This year's special examination will be held soon. After the war in Jiangnan, there will surely be many vacancies. The Organization Department should do a good job in coordinating the work."

"We need to strike a good balance between the new scholars and the old bureaucrats who have surrendered, and avoid any chaos."

Li Yi's meaning was very clear. The new scholars must be taken care of and official positions must be arranged for them as soon as possible in order to win over the hearts of the people.

However, the surrendered officials cannot be treated unfairly. After all, they surrendered voluntarily and should not be left feeling disappointed.

This matter is difficult to handle, but whether it is difficult or not is not within Li Yi's consideration.

All he has to do is issue tasks, and then reward them if they are done well and punish them if they are not, that's all.

This is the mentality that a superior should have!
Unless things have reached a point where the subordinates are unable to resolve the issue, Li Yi will not easily intervene.

Upon hearing this, Liu Quan, Director of the Organization Department, immediately clasped his fists in agreement.

Li Yi continued.

“The second thing is the issue of public security.”

"Jiangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu and other places were recently annexed by the Qing Dynasty, so there are inevitably some stubborn remnants of the Qing Dynasty, entrenched in the local areas, endangering public security and disrupting production."

"The military and political forces of the Tang Dynasty must work together to eliminate these bandits and bullies as soon as possible and restore peace to the area."

"In order to restore local production as soon as possible and reduce the impact of the war on people's livelihood."

Li Yi's subtext was very clear: clean up the place in order to resume production as soon as possible.

Those he wanted to clean out included bandits, robbers, bullies, and even anti-Qing rebels who refused to obey his orders.

Anyone who threatens public order or disrupts production will be eliminated.

As for the charge, it was secretly communicating with the Qing Dynasty!
Upon hearing this, Song Qingde, Director of the Public Security Management Department, responded immediately.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand!"

Li Yi nodded slightly, and then talked about the third thing.

"Third, it is about opening up to the outside world. The coastal cities of Fujian, such as Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, and Songjiang Prefecture in Jiangsu, should all plan and expand their ports as soon as possible, and then open them to promote maritime trade and the development of industry and commerce."

"In addition, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Jiangsu provinces must clearly identify their own advantageous industries, such as porcelain in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, and tea in Fujian. They must make good development plans and transition from bringing in to going global as soon as possible."

"We can't just let foreigners come to our Tang Dynasty for trade and purchase. Our Tang Dynasty merchants must take the initiative to go out and sell our products around the world."

After Li Yi said this, Guo Songtao, Director of the Tang Dynasty's Department of Diplomacy, heard it and asked.

"Your Majesty, there is an urgent letter from Shanghai concerning a diplomatic dispute. I dare not take the initiative and I ask Your Majesty to make the decision."

Li Yi nodded slightly and then asked.

"What happened in Shanghai again?"

Guo Songtao organized his words and then spoke.

"To reply to your Majesty, this is what happened."

"During the Qing dynasty, Britain and France each obtained a concession on the Bund in Shanghai."

"After the Tang Dynasty recaptured Shanghai, the new British and French envoys to China sent a request to the Tang Dynasty, hoping to continue to retain the Shanghai Concession."

Zuo Zongtang, director of the Operations Department of the General Staff, also spoke up.

"Your Majesty, the Jiangnan War Zone has received an urgent telegram from Nanjing, saying that the British and French troops stationed in the concessions are in a standoff with our army."

"Its intention is to resist the Tang Dynasty's recovery of the concession!"

"Your Majesty, please make the decision!"

Zuo Zongtang and Guo Songtao were actually talking about the same thing.

It’s all about the Shanghai Concession!
It's just that the same thing is presented from different angles.

One is the diplomatic level, and the other is the military level.

After hearing this, Li Yi pondered for a moment and said to Zuo Zongtang.

"Mr. Zuo, the General Staff immediately sends a telegram, demanding that the Jiangnan front must reclaim the Shanghai Concession."

"If there is resistance, don't worry, just beat and kill them!" After saying that, he turned to Guo Songtao and said.

"Mr. Guo, go and reply to the British and French ambassadors to China and tell them that their concessions were rented from the Qing Dynasty, not from the Tang Dynasty."

"My Tang Dynasty does not recognize any treaty signed by the Qing Dynasty!"

"However, our Tang Dynasty intends to open a port in Shanghai, similar to what happened in Hong Kong. We can set up the former Shanghai Concession as the Shanghai Economic Development Zone, allowing foreigners to go ashore to trade, buy houses, and invest in factories."

"But all this must be under the management of our Tang Dynasty. The sovereignty of Shanghai is not up for discussion."

Li Yi's case is a typical example of giving a slap in the face and then giving a sweet reward.

Taking back the concession by force was like a slap in the face.

But setting up an economic development zone is a sweet treat.

The reason for this is not because Li Yi has a split personality.

But he understood that foreigners fear power but not virtue.

When dealing with them, you can't just give them a nice face, you also have to give them appropriate warnings.

Otherwise, those foreigners will take advantage of us.

If Li Yi had not used force to take back the Shanghai Concession, but had directly transformed it into an economic development zone, those foreigners would not have been grateful for Li Yi's tolerance, but would have thought he was weak and could be bullied.

I guess he will try to discuss the sovereignty of the concession with Li Yi, and even the issue of stationing troops in the concession.

This gap must not be opened!
Upon hearing this, Zuo Zongtang and Guo Songtao immediately clasped their fists in agreement.

Li Yi nodded slightly, then asked if there was anything else.

Sun Zhonghan, Director of the Construction Department of the Ministry of the Interior, stepped forward to report.

"Your Majesty, the American ambassador to China, Marshall, sent someone to negotiate with me earlier. The technicians and construction team sent by their American railway company have arrived."

"Ask me when the Tang Dynasty will allocate funds to start building the Guangshao Railway!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yi spoke immediately.

"Oh, have they arrived yet?"

"Then let's pick an auspicious day as soon as possible and start work."

"By the way, is there any problem with the Finance Department?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Xingbang agreed immediately.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. At present, the financial situation of our Tang Dynasty is still sufficient to support the construction of the Guangzhou-Shaoyang Railway."

Li Yi nodded and said.

"The Construction Department should pay more attention to the railway construction."

"Treat the relevant technical personnel and construction teams from the United States well. Don't deprive them of living allowance and wages. See if you can poach some talent."

"In addition, we need to select students from railway majors in various technical schools to participate in the construction and learn from foreign advanced experience..."

Li Yi’s purpose is very clear, to poach people and learn from them.

The reason why Tang Dynasty outsourced railway construction to Americans was not because it had money and had nowhere to spend it.

Instead, they aim to learn from others, poach talents, and accumulate experience at the same time.

If I can't steal their skills or poach their talents, then wouldn't the money be wasted?

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhonghan immediately nodded to show that he understood.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I promise to complete the task!"

……

Songjiang Prefecture, Shanghai County!
Concession!

Eric, the garrison commander of the British Concession, sat in a small pavilion, holding up the cup of coffee in his hand and sipping it one sip after another.

Opposite Eric was the French Concession garrison commander Brian, who was smoking a cigar.

Not far from the pavilion is a low wall.

It is this low wall that divides the concession and Shanghai County.

The background of the construction of this low wall was that the Small Knife Society raised the flag to resist the Qing Dynasty in Shanghai, and the British and French colonists built it in order to prevent the Small Knife Society from invading the concession.

After the low wall was built, the Small Knife Society attempted to attack the concession several times, but was repelled each time by the colonial concession garrisons.

Eric put down the coffee cup in his hand, stretched and said.

"Those Chinese are still guarding outside the concession. They are really stubborn."

"You don't want to fight, and you don't want to retreat. Isn't this just tormenting me?"

"God bless, let those Chinese retreat! I really miss the big bed in the camp."

Brian also crushed the cigar in his hand and asked with a serious expression.

"Eric, do you think those Chinese will attack the concession?"

Eric shook his head and spoke very frankly.

"I have no idea!"

"But I am sure that if those Chinese dare to invade the concession, I will lead the boys to kick their butts hard."

When Eric said this, there was some resentment in his tone.

He had heard about the Allied Forces' defeat in Guangzhou, but in his opinion, the Allied Forces' defeat in Guangzhou was due to the despicable Chinese occupying and defending the fortress.

If the coalition forces want to attack, the fortress will be the biggest obstacle.

But this time it was different. This time it was their home court. In order to defend against the invasion of the Small Knife Society, Britain and France built a circle of fortifications outside the concession.

Although the Tang army had an absolute advantage in military strength, Eric was not arrogant enough to think that he could defend the concession.

But he was confident that if the Tang army attacked, he would definitely teach them a good lesson.

Let the Tang army see clearly what the hell is called the great powers!

Brian couldn't help but speak.

“I hope the war won’t break out!”

But at this moment, a riot broke out in the direction of the low wall of the concession.

Accompanied by the rapid sound of bagpipe warnings, Eric and Brian hurriedly led their men towards the low wall.

When they arrived in front of an iron gate, they looked up and saw that a group of people had gathered there.

Inside and outside the iron gate, Tang soldiers and British and French soldiers were confronting each other.

"Mother Gan Lin!"

"Mother Prey!"

"Sour radish bichi!"

"..."

The two sides were shouting and cursing at each other across the iron gate. Although they did not fight, it was only because of the iron gate that they were separated.

Otherwise, a fight would have broken out long ago!
Eric and Brian came to the iron gate and dispersed the crowd. Eric widened his eyes and spoke to the Tang army officer opposite him in a tone that was almost questioning.

"What do you mean by bringing people here? Do you want to start a war?"

However, he had miscalculated. Using this method of threat might scare the Qing army, but it was completely ineffective against the Tang army.

Go to war?
Let’s start the war. My Tang Dynasty is not the Qing Dynasty. Am I afraid of you?

Upon hearing this, the Tang army officer on the other side of the iron gate said firmly without showing any fear in his eyes.

"This morning, two soldiers from our army went missing. I suspect that these two soldiers entered the concession."

"For the safety of our soldiers, I need to bring people into the concession to search. Please give me some convenience..."

(End of this chapter)