vrcanaries Chapter 110 The Prince of Two Rods
Chapter 110 The Prince of Two Rods
Just as Liu Ye was engaged in a series of fierce battles with the Russian army, another earth-shaking event occurred in Beijing, two thousand miles away!
Back in Beijing, the British and French envoys had arrived in Shanghai some time ago, and then went north along the coastline and arrived in Tianjin. Senggelinqin, as the highest official in Tianjin, accepted the request of the British and French envoys to enter Tianjin and passed the news back to Beijing.
After receiving the news from Emperor Xianfeng in Beijing, in order to show his sincerity, he sent Zaiyuan, the Minister of the Zongli Yamen, and Mu Meng, the Minister of War, to Tianjin to welcome the envoys of the two countries and discuss the exchange of treaties.
The two men welcomed the envoys of the two countries and headed towards Beijing.
As a result, an accident happened just as the diplomatic mission arrived in Tongzhou.
Zaiyuan and Mu Meng had a fierce dispute with two ministers of the diplomatic corps, Parkes and Gros - the two sides had a serious conflict over the etiquette of meeting Emperor Xianfeng!
Zaiyuan believed that when Parkes and Gross came to meet the emperor, they must perform the ritual of three bows and nine kowtows. This was related to the dignity of the Celestial Empire and must be accepted. Parkes and Gross were both Catholics. Kneeling down to anything except God would be a crime and would also greatly damage the dignity of the two ministers. He firmly refused!
The conflict between the two sides became more intense.
Zaiyuan argued with Parkes and Gro for two days, but still failed to resolve the matter.
Zaiyuan was really anxious. As an imperial commissioner, he was entrusted with important tasks by Sushun and Duanhua. Last time, Gong Laoliu handled the diplomatic affairs perfectly and won great honors. If he failed to handle it well this time, Sushun and his party would lose all face!
In the end, Zaiyuan had to use his trump card and sent out his trusted firearms battalion to surround the diplomatic corps in one fell swoop. If the diplomatic corps still did not agree, he would not be polite to them.
Parkes and Gross were arrogant and proud, and they relied on being the envoys of a powerful European country. They never took other countries seriously. Today, the Qing officials actually threatened them in such a way, which was intolerable. The two men were furious, and even Fouche's swear words came out. They scolded the Qing officials for being unruly and ignoring the internationally recognized laws. It was extremely rude. If they dared to be rude, Britain and France would send troops again. This time, not only would they take Tianjin, but also Beijing and burn down the Forbidden City!
Zaiyuan was furious. These people were too arrogant. Mu Meng, who was standing by, was also filled with anger when he heard the two people talking nonsense, and glared at them.
"Order, Firearms Battalion, take action immediately and capture them all!"
Zai Yuan issued the most absurd order. The commanders of the Firearms Battalion looked at each other in bewilderment. "Kill the envoys of the two countries? They were at war, and they didn't even execute the envoys! If they killed them like this, what would happen next?"
Zai Yuan saw that the captains of the various units hadn't taken any action, and he became even more furious. He roared, "Are you all freaking deaf? Yan Chunyu, Zhang Song, are you all stupid? Come on! Anyone who disobeys military orders will be executed without mercy!"
Yan Chunyu and Zhang Song smiled bitterly in their hearts. Come on, if they don't take action now, Zaiyuan might even deal with them. Now his brother Zaidun is the chief officer of the firearm battalion. Dealing with them is what Zaidun has always dreamed of. He is just worried that he won't get the chance!
The Firearms Battalion rushed forward and surrounded the diplomatic corps, disarming all of the dozens of people in it. Not only that, in order to force the two ministers to surrender, Zaiyuan ordered the use of torture on the members of the diplomatic corps. After two days of torture, only about twenty of the more than forty people in the diplomatic corps were still alive, and the rest were killed!
Zaiyuan finally came to his senses at this time. If no one had died, the problem would have been easy to solve. But now that people are dead, how could there not be a big mess?
Even more unfortunate was that one of the diplomatic corps' personal guards escaped from prison while the guards were not paying attention, and ran back to Tianjin, met with Elgin, and passed on the intelligence!
Elgin was furious and immediately met with Senggelinqin, demanding to know what was going on. "Didn't I come to see your emperor and exchange the credential agreement? Damn it! Before we even reached Beijing, my diplomatic corps was already attacked by your men, killing over twenty people! I protest, a serious protest! I'm immediately mobilizing warships and declaring war on the Qing!"
Senggelinqin was dumbfounded when he heard this. He had just reached an agreement with the two countries with great difficulty. Damn it, damn Zaiyuan, don’t you know that the imperial court is now making every effort to suppress the Taiping and Nian bandits? How could it have the energy to go to war with Britain and France?
Senggelinqin tried his best to appease the people, but to no avail, so he had to send a messenger to report to the capital!
The entire capital was in an uproar, Britain and France were about to declare war again!
When Emperor Xianfeng heard the news, he was almost furious. Damn Zaiyuan for causing such a big trouble for himself!
Xianfeng immediately issued an edict to remove Zaiyuan and Mu Meng from their posts as imperial envoys, and appointed Prince Gong Yixin and Wenxiang to go to Tongzhou to mediate again.
As a result, before Yi Xin and Wen Xiang arrived in Tongzhou, Zaiyuan, who was out of his mind, released all the people without reaching any agreement with Parkes and Gross. Parkes and Gross returned to Tianjin overnight, letting the tiger go back to the mountain. Zaiyuan had really screwed Xianfeng to death!
When Yi Xin and Wen Xiang arrived in Tongzhou and met Zai Yuan and Mu Meng, they learned that Parkes and others had all escaped.
Yi? Zai Yuan was so angry that he vomited blood. What a beast! There is such a loser in the Aisin Gioro family! You killed more than twenty of their people, and you actually let them escape without reaching any consensus. How will things develop next? It's completely out of control. Can Britain and France give up so easily?
"Zaiyuan, you good-for-nothing, you're a fucking pig, dumber than a pig. Who told you to attack the diplomatic corps? Who told you to kill people? Who told you to kill people, and then release all those people? If Britain and France send troops to start a war, you'll have to go to Dagukou and confront them!"
Yi? was cursing in frustration, Zaiyuan and Mu Meng's faces turned red and they were completely silent. This was such a stupid thing to do!
However, it was useless for Yi? to be angry. The person had already run away. What else could he do?
Yi Yi pointed at the two people with trembling fingers and sighed, "You two, go back to the capital and apologize to the emperor. There is no point in staying here. Go back to the capital first..."
The group returned to the capital dejectedly and reported to Emperor Xianfeng, discussing how to deal with the attacks from Britain and France. These two countries were worried about finding an excuse, and now Zaiyuan had directly handed the tail to them. How could they let it go?