Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

In front of so many court officials, Sushun's disrespect for his elder brother made Duanhua feel a little embarrassed. He cried out, "Why don't I understand? It's just Liu Ye. Without him, the sun of the Qing Dynasty will still rise from the east. But if we protect him, those foreigners will really attack Rehe. Our Manchu country or Liu Ye, which is more important? Can't you figure it out?"

Sushun was so angry that his teeth were itching. What a bastard! He actually didn't listen to me at this time!

Prince Yi Zaiyuan also stood up and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I believe that for the sake of the country and the people, please execute Liu Ye to appease the foreigners!"

Both princes stood up, and more people stood up behind them. It was rare for Sushun to be unable to control the court. This was really beyond his expectations. These people were only concerned about their own face and their own position. They really didn't want to kill Liu Ye. Would the position be secure? If it could be secure, I would kill Liu Ye the first chance I got!

Just when Sushun was feeling extremely aggrieved, someone finally stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely not allowed!"

Sushun turned his head and saw that it was the Grand Secretary Weiren. Although Weiren and Liu Ye were not on good terms, it was only because of their different political views. The old man was a master of Neo-Confucianism, honest and simple, and worthy of being a master of his generation.

Woren said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, Liu Ye is a loyal minister and a good general. If we succumb to the tyranny of foreigners and destroy the pillars of our country, where will the prestige of the Celestial Empire be lost, and where will the dignity of the court be? The sages said that might cannot be bent. Even if we cannot compare to the sages of the past, we must never do such a shameful thing!"

The entire court was in chaos. The debate lasted from noon to night, but no solution was reached. Xianfeng was in a dilemma and didn't know what to do.

Seeing that it was almost time to light the lamps, Concubine Lan suddenly whispered in Xianfeng's ear, "Your Majesty, I wonder why you don't just leave this matter to Liu Ye to handle? Why bother with it in the court? Perhaps Liu Ye has already thought of a countermeasure in the capital. We should just wait and see what happens. Don't you agree?"

Xianfeng was shocked. Yes, the court officials were just entangled in the dilemma of whether to kill or not, but they couldn't get out of it. Why did they make a decision so quickly? Why would they delay it for ten days or eight months? Perhaps Liu Ye and Prince Gong had already come up with a solution. Why should I bother with it?

Xianfeng said in a deep voice, "That's good. Stop arguing and let it go for now. Liu Ye in the capital is no pushover. He'll fight back if the enemy comes, and he might even block the water with earth. He might have a plan to repel the enemy. Why rush now? You should all retreat first, and the Grand Council can discuss this further."

The court officials retreated one after another, but all of this had already been recorded by someone with ulterior motives.

The court disputes in Rehe have temporarily calmed down, but the city of Beijing has become bustling.

Overnight, Prince Gong mobilized a large number of people to copy the note into thousands of copies, which were posted in every corner of Beijing. Suddenly, the entire city was in an uproar. They had finally produced a hero, and now Britain and France were going to execute him! This was intolerable!

One after another, young people stood up and began to support Liu Ye. Some young scholars even started writing memorials and submitting them to the people!

The people of Britain and France had not expected that a note would cause such a big trouble, and the news would spread so quickly! They wanted to force it, but it would not be so easy!

However, this is just the beginning, far from the end, and it has not reached its climax.

As evening approached, reinforcements finally arrived!

While Elgin and Gros were discussing countermeasures, the guard came in to report that the American Minister John Warren was visiting.

Elgin and Gro were stunned. Hua Ruohan? What was Hua Ruohan doing here at this time? Did he want a piece of the pie? What a joke! We spent so much effort and lost thousands of soldiers to capture Beijing. How could we just give this benefit to you for nothing?

"Invite him in!"

Elgin ordered.

Not long after, Hua Ruohan walked in with a frighteningly gloomy face!

"Mr. Elgin, Mr. Gross! I express my strong indignation at your actions!"

Elgin and Gro's faces darkened. This fellow actually came right up and charged us with accusations. How unreasonable! Don't you even consider your tiny stature? And you still want to challenge us?

Elgin said unhappily, "Mr. John Warren, what we have done has not harmed the interests of the United States, has it? Where does this strong indignation come from?"

Hua Ruohan angrily threw the copied note on the table in front of Elgin and shouted, "Mr. Elgin, I strongly disagree with your strong demand that the Qing government execute Liu Ye. The British and French allied forces suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, and they should receive some compensation, but were the Qing casualties less than yours? If you are going to execute Liu Ye for this, then who will compensate for the lives of tens of thousands of Qing soldiers?"

Elgin's face changed drastically, and Gro beside him also stood up. What a joke!

Gro shouted, "Mr. Hua Ruohan, this has nothing to do with you, right? The victors are kings and the losers are bandits. We are the victors and they are the losers. The soldiers of Britain and France are worth gold and silver, and we must compensate for any losses. As for the Qing people, they can die as many as they want. After all, they are the losers. If they have the guts, they can drive us out of the Qing Dynasty! This is a problem between us and the Qing Dynasty, and it is not your turn to dictate our decisions!"

Hua Ruohan stared at Groh fiercely and answered word by word, "Now, it has something to do with the United States of America! We have a significant cooperative relationship with General Liu Ye. General Liu Ye is our honored guest of the United States of America. We have already reached cooperation in many fields such as technology, weapons, and economy. If you execute Liu Ye, who the hell can I talk to about cooperation? Let me tell you, this involves millions of dollars, or even tens of millions of dollars. If something goes wrong, you can't afford to pay!"

Elgin and Gro were stunned. What? A multi-million dollar collaboration!

When did Liu Ye and Hua Ruohan start wearing the same pants?

Of course. Two days ago, Hua Ruohan was still waiting for Liu Ye in Tianjin. Who would have thought that there was a rumor in the capital area that Liu Ye had died in the war. Just when Hua Ruohan was feeling very sorry, Dong Haichuan found him with a letter from Liu Ye.

When Hua Ruohan saw that it was Liu Ye's handwritten letter, he was immediately overjoyed. Now the representatives of the American military-industrial group have arrived in Tianjin. Because they have not been able to meet Liu Ye for a long time, they have expressed their dissatisfaction to him several times. Now with Liu Ye's letter inviting them to Beijing, all problems are solved!