Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 165: War is war, but it cannot prevent capitalists from making money, right?
Soon, the envoy sent by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was brought before Li Yi.

The envoy was named Yang Yiqing, a cousin of Yang Xiuqing and one of the national leaders of the East Hall. He was highly regarded by Yang Xiuqing and was regarded as a close confidant.

The fact that Yang Xiuqing sent Yang Yiqing on a diplomatic mission to the Tang Dynasty also shows how much importance he attached to this matter.

Yang Yiqing stood in the big tent and bowed respectfully.

"Heavenly Envoy Yang Yiqing pays homage to His Majesty the King of Tang!"

Li Yi laughed, then asked Yang Yiqing to stand up.

"Haha, Brother Yang, please stand up quickly. No need to be so polite."

As he spoke, he asked Yang Yiqing to sit down and ordered someone to serve tea.

Li Yi raised his hand to signal Yang Yiqing to drink tea and spoke.

"It's been a while since we last met. Brother Yang, how are you?"

Li Yi and Yang Yiqing had met each other in the Jintian Regiment Camp.

Since Feng Yunshan and Yang Xiuqing, the two bosses, had a good relationship at the time, the two younger brothers had also drunk together at the same table and their relationship was pretty good.

In addition, although Li Yi had left the Heavenly Kingdom and even refused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's offer of being crowned king and recruited, he never completely broke off relations with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Therefore, Li Yi was very enthusiastic when facing the messenger from heaven.

Yang Yiqing picked up the teacup and took a sip, then spoke as he looked at Li Yi in front of him.

"His Royal Highness the Tang King is even more elegant than ever before!"

Li Yi is a handsome young man with bright eyes. He is wearing a straight military uniform and looks very dignified.

His demeanor makes people feel that he is extraordinary at just one glance.

Yang Yiqing sighed in his heart, it was obvious that when he was in Jintian Village, Li Yi was just an ordinary officer.

If Feng Yunshan didn't value me, I wouldn't even be qualified to drink with him.

Unexpectedly, such a short period of time has passed and Li Yi has changed so much.

Speaking of the strength at hand now, the strength that Li Yi possesses is probably a bit stronger than that of the Kingdom of Heaven as a whole.

After all, the Heavenly Kingdom is now only trapped in Tianjing, while Li Yi actually controls several provinces.

There is still a big gap between the two.

And Yang Yiqing is even more incomparable.

Li Yi continued to ask.

"I wonder why the Heavenly King and the Eastern King sent Brother Yang to come here?"

Li Yi had no intention of beating around the bush with Yang Yiqing and after a brief greeting, he asked directly about his purpose of coming.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing spoke.

"In reply to King Tang, I came here to bring you greetings from the King of Heaven and the King of the East."

"The second is to discuss with you the matter of the Tang Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven forming an alliance to jointly fight against the Qing demons."

Hearing this, Li Yi frowned and began to think.

The first thing Yang Yiqing said was just nonsense, false courtesy, and had no nutritional value.

What he really cared about was what Yang Yiqing said about the two sides forming an alliance to fight against the Qing demons together.

Li Yi knew well the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's attitude towards him.

Ever since Li Yi declared himself emperor, Hong Xiuquan has regarded Li Yi as a rebel, and he has been displeased with him for a long time.

But now, Hong Xiuquan, who had always thought highly of himself, humbled himself and took the initiative to seek an alliance with Li Yi, whom he considered a rebel.

It can be seen how dangerous the situation the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was currently facing was.

After frowning and thinking for a while, Li Yi spoke.

"Alliance is good, whether it is the Tang Dynasty or the Heavenly Kingdom, their goal is to fight against the Qing Dynasty."

"That is to say, Qing Yao is our common enemy!"

"If we can form an alliance, we can better fight against the Qing demons, overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty as soon as possible, and save the people of the world from hanging. This is a good thing."

Li Yi didn't know the specific purpose of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanting to form an alliance with him.

But in Li Yi's opinion, if the current Tang Dynasty formed an alliance with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it would be a win-win situation with no harm.

Now the territories of the Tang Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom do not border each other. Instead, both sides border the Qing Dynasty. It is definitely correct to make friends with distant countries and attack nearby ones.

"But if the two sides form an alliance, what can I gain?"

"Now my Tang Dynasty is occupying Guangdong and Guangxi and advancing into Hunan. Our army is invincible and victorious in every battle. Soon, the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan will all be under my rule."

"But what about the Heavenly Kingdom? The Northern Expedition failed, and the main force is trapped in Jiangning. It is in danger of being destroyed at any time."

"No matter how you look at it, after the two sides form an alliance, the Tang Dynasty will be able to provide greater assistance to the Heavenly Kingdom, while the Heavenly Kingdom will not be able to provide any help to the Tang Dynasty."

"If that's the case, why would I want to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Heaven?"

The reason why Li Yi said this was not because he did not want to form an alliance. If he had no idea about the alliance, he would not have mentioned it at all, but would have directly refused.

To put it bluntly, this is just a negotiation technique.

Li Yi just wanted to bargain by belittling the Kingdom of Heaven so that he could gain more benefits from the alliance.

Yang Yiqing looked unhappy when he heard this, but he had no way to refute it.

Because what Li Yi said is true!
The Kingdom of Heaven is indeed in trouble now.

But he spoke anyway.

"King Tang knows a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is still too one-sided."

"When I left Tianjing, the Northern King had already led the Northern Expedition Army back, and the Eastern King had already begun preparing to launch an offensive against the Qing demons' Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps."

"As long as the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps are breached, the Qing demons' blockade of the Heavenly Kingdom will also be broken. At that time, the Heavenly Kingdom will be able to let the tiger return to the forest and the dragon leap over the shallows."

"If the Tang Dynasty forms an alliance with the Heavenly Kingdom, the two sides can support each other from the east and the west, cut off the Yangtze River, and completely drive the Qing demons to the north of the river..."

The Tang army has now captured Changsha. Further north are Xiangyin and Yuezhou, and they can directly enter the Yangtze River from Dongting Lake.

Not to mention the Taiping Army, the city of Jiangning is right on the Yangtze River.

If the two sides work together, it is not impossible to cut off the Yangtze River and make the Qing Dynasty completely lose control of the area south of the Yangtze River.

Hearing this, Li Yi frowned and thought again. After a moment, he spoke again.

"That's right. As long as we can cut off the Qing monster's control over the area south of the Yangtze River, it will be a good thing for both the Tang Dynasty and the Heavenly Kingdom."

"Tell me, what conditions is the Kingdom of Heaven willing to pay in exchange for my agreement to form an alliance?"

In this alliance, the Tang Dynasty was clearly the stronger party.

In this case, if Li Yiruo cannot extract enough benefits from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he will not easily agree to form an alliance.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing spoke.

"When the Tang King got married, the Heavenly Kingdom didn't have time to send any gifts."

"This time I came here, the Heavenly King and the Eastern King ordered me to bring 100,000 taels of silver as a gift to show my appreciation."

Yang Yiqing’s meaning was very clear. Benefits could be given, but the Heavenly Kingdom had to save face and could not directly say that this was protection money given by the Heavenly Kingdom in order to form an alliance.

You have to change the name.

For example, a wedding gift is a good name.

Although it has been more than a year since Li Yi got married, it doesn’t matter. As long as there is a reason to explain it, it’s fine.

No one will investigate further!
Li Yi frowned upon hearing this. "One hundred thousand taels?"

Obviously, he thinks it is too little.

Yang Yiqing's mouth twitched when he heard this, but he still spoke.

"This is just the first one, there will be more to come."

"But the two sides must form an alliance first, and then the Tang Dynasty will send troops to help the Heavenly Kingdom fight, and then the subsequent gifts can be delivered."

Li Yi's expression improved slightly after hearing this, and he continued to ask.

"I wonder how the Heavenly Kingdom wants the Tang Dynasty to help it fight?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing told the Heavenly Kingdom the strategy that had already been discussed.

"After our Heavenly Kingdom breaks the siege of the Qing demon camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River, we will send troops from Tianjing to the west and march from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches."

"At that time, I hope that the Tang Dynasty can launch an expedition to the east from Hunan at the same time, and use troops from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the lower reaches."

"Then, the two sides will meet in Jiangxi and fight against the Qing monsters together."

Yang Xiuqing planned to launch a westward expedition to expand the Heavenly Kingdom's sphere of influence and living space after breaking the blockade of Tianjing by the Qing army's Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps.

However, they were also worried that the Heavenly Kingdom was not strong enough to deal with the Qing army's counterattack on Tianjing City while defeating the Qing army in Anhui, Jiangxi and other places.

Therefore, after Hong Xiuquan proposed the idea of ​​forming an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, Yang Xiuqing sent his confidant Yang Yiqing to come to Hunan to discuss the alliance between the two sides with Li Yi.

Upon hearing this, Li Yi fell into deep thought.

Originally, he was still struggling with which direction the Tang Dynasty should deploy its troops after the war in Hunan was over.

The three options currently before Li Yi are to march north to Hubei, march east to Jiangxi, or take the sea route to capture Fujian.

He was originally a little undecided, but now it seems that he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

If we form an alliance with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it would be the best option for both sides to attack Jiangxi from the east and the west.

After pondering for a long time, Li Yi continued to ask.

"It's easy to form an alliance, and it's also easy to send troops to attack Jiangxi together with the Heavenly Kingdom."

"But after the war, how should the territory be divided?"

"Since we are forming an alliance, it is better to discuss some things in advance, so as to avoid any conflicts in the future and affect the alliance plan."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing knew that Li Yi was moved, and immediately spoke.

"The King of the East said that after conquering Jiangxi, the Tang Kingdom and the Heavenly Kingdom can use Jiujiang as the boundary. The east of Jiujiang belongs to the Heavenly Kingdom, and the west belongs to the Tang Kingdom."

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s attitude was very clear; they wanted to divide Jiangxi equally.

But this was a little unacceptable to Li Yi. If Jiangxi needed to be divided equally, then he would have to form a useless alliance with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
I have done it myself!
You know, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom urgently needs an ally to share the pressure with them.

However, the Tang Dynasty was not actually in a hurry to form an alliance.

The kind where you can form an alliance or not!
Li Yi said with a somewhat dissatisfied tone.

"That won't work. In my opinion, we should use Madang Town as the boundary."

"The east of Ma Dang belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven, and the west belongs to the Tang Dynasty."

Madang is located at the junction of Jiangxi and Anhui.

Li Yi's meaning was very clear, he wanted to take over the entire Jiangxi.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing had a conflicted expression on his face and was hesitant to agree to Li Yi's request rashly.

Because when he set out from Tianjing, the condition given by Yang Xiuqing was to use Jiujiang as the boundary.

If he gave up half of Jiangxi without Yang Xiuqing's consent, when he returned to Heaven, even if he was Yang Xiuqing's cousin and confidant, he would probably have to wear a red robe.

Yang Yiqing took a deep breath and then said.

"This is a matter of great importance. I dare not take the initiative. I need to report back to Tianjing and ask the Heavenly King and the Eastern King to make the decision."

Li Yi nodded slightly.

"No rush. The alliance is a matter of great importance. We can discuss it slowly."

Li Yi’s attitude is very clear. If you want to form an alliance, you have to agree to my conditions. If you don’t agree, then the alliance will be delayed.

Yang Yiqing nodded helplessly.

"Don't worry, King Tang. I understand."

After that, he continued.

"In addition to the alliance, Heavenly Kingdom needs the help of Tang Kingdom on another matter."

Li Yi heard this and nodded.

"Brother Yang, why are you so reserved? Just tell me!"

Yang Yiqing spoke up.

"The Heavenly Kingdom wants to purchase a batch of foreign guns and cannons from the Tang Dynasty to equip the Heavenly Soldiers to defend Tianjing. I hope the King of Tang will grant us permission."

Li Yi thought for a while, then nodded in agreement.

"Sure. I'll send someone to discuss the details with Brother Yang later. It's just foreign guns and cannons, no problem."

Li Yi only needs to nod for such a small matter.

He would not be like a vegetable seller, arguing and bargaining with Yang Yiqing over the prices of foreign guns and cannons. He would leave such matters to his subordinates.

It would be embarrassing for him to come in person!
Although the Tang army still lacks weapons and equipment, what they lack is new breech-loading guns and artillery.

As for muzzle-loading guns, there is actually no shortage of them.

On the one hand, the current production capacity of Foshan Arsenal is quite considerable. While mass-producing breech-loading rifles, the production capacity of muzzle-loading artillery is also very good, which is almost enough to meet the needs of the troops.

Another reason is that while the Tang Dynasty produced its own arms, it also did not give up purchasing them from abroad.

During this period, the Tang Dynasty purchased at least tens of thousands of foreign guns from foreigners who came to China to equip the troops.

As a result, the price of foreign guns in East Asia has almost doubled.

There are not only foreign guns made in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries.

There were even British Brown Bess flintlocks and Burke flintlocks sent from India.

Although the Tang Dynasty and Britain are still at war, and it will continue in the foreseeable future.

However, you can fight a war, but you can’t prevent the capitalists from making money, right?
The price of a British-made Burke flintlock rifle shipped from India to Guangzhou can increase three to five times, or even more.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty is now purchasing large quantities of arms. As for foreign guns and cannons, as long as the quality is qualified, they will take as many as possible. The profit here is huge.

Which capitalist could refuse?

What should we do if the Tang Dynasty does not allow British merchants to come to China to trade?
This problem is actually very easy to solve. Just change the flag before docking.

Nowadays, for maritime merchants, who doesn’t have several national flags on their ship?
In addition, people in the Tang Dynasty generally have face blindness towards Westerners, so it is not difficult to get away with it.

The Tang Dynasty actually turned a blind eye to such things.

If you bring opium to buy, that's definitely not allowed. Not to mention the British, even if you're a Chinese businessman from Southeast Asia who comes to sell it, you'll be beheaded if you're caught, no discussion.

But if you come to do business with a ship full of foreign guns and cannons, or mechanical equipment and other goods that the Tang Dynasty urgently needs, then the Tang Dynasty will certainly welcome you.

Therefore, the Tang Dynasty is not short of muzzle-loading guns and cannons now.

Since the Taiping Army now wants to buy foreign guns, Li Yi doesn't mind being a middleman.

(End of this chapter)