Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

Elgin and Gros were left at the mansion, staring at each other, their tempers completely drained. Still going to push on? Hua Ruohan had already made it clear: tens of thousands of guns and nearly a hundred cannons could be readily provided to the Qing government and handed directly to Liu Ye. If Liu Ye obtained tens of thousands of guns and nearly a hundred cannons, he would definitely become the most formidable opponent of the Anglo-French coalition. No one knew how much of a headache this guy would become. At the very least, neither Grant nor Yaman was sure they could defeat Liu Ye. If he made a mistake, it would be a disaster!

But if they gave up like this, those two people would be suffocated to death. They were being strangled by someone. When had the British Empire and the French Empire been forced to this point in hundreds of years? If the two countries joined forces, they would be invincible in the world!

Soon, Grant and Yaman were invited over by Elgin. This matter still needed the opinions of the two military generals.

When the two men knew the whole story, they were so angry that they started cursing. However, the situation was clear now. The Americans had to protect Liu Ye and they could ignore other things, but Liu Ye must not be touched. Anyone who touched him would be killed!

Grant said angrily, "Damn it! How on earth does our dealing with Liu Ye have to do with the Americans? Why would we use them to get in the way?"

Elgin smiled bitterly and said, "Grant, Minister Warren Buffett has said that the Americans are working with Liu Ye on a project worth no less than tens of millions of dollars. Tens of millions of dollars! You have to remember that the United States only spent eight million dollars to purchase Alaska! How could the Americans, who value money so much, let such a huge fortune die halfway?"

Grant was shocked and asked, "Mr. Elgin, what kind of cooperation is this? It's worth so much! Tens of millions of dollars! Even the largest companies in the United States today have assets of only tens of millions of dollars, right? This is an astronomical figure!"

Elgin shook his head and replied, "I don't know. Anyway, since Hua Ruohan refused to reveal anything, I guess it involves state secrets."

Grant said grimly, "No, if they don't let us kill Liu Ye, then we won't let them complete the cooperation. Who knows what this cooperation is? If it changes the strength of the Qing Dynasty, then we can't let them succeed. You know, the reason why we suffered such heavy casualties in this battle with the Qing army is that Liu Ye is really powerful, and the other is that their army is equipped with firearms provided by the Americans. The number this time is small, but if we go to war with the Qing people next time, who knows how much arms the Americans will buy for the Qing government? By then, we will be even more passive!"

Elgin was shocked and looked at Gro. Gro frowned and nodded to Elgin, meaning that what Grant said made sense.

Elgin smiled bitterly and said, "But if we want to terminate their cooperation, we must have a reason. We don't even know the content of their cooperation yet. Even if we want to put pressure on the US government, we don't know where to start..."

Several people were stunned. How could you pressure the US government if you didn't even know the details of the cooperation, or even the specific topics? You were going to ask the US government to sever all ties with the Qing? That was pure wishful thinking!

The four of them were silent for a moment. Yaman, who was standing aside, laughed sinisterly and said, "Hey, since our overt tactics don't work, let's use our covert tactics on them!"

Ge Luo asked inquiringly, "Yaman? What does that mean?"

Yaman sneered, "Why don't we just send out assassins, hide them in the dark, and wait for an opportunity to kill Liu Ye? It's easy to dodge an open spear, but it's hard to guard against an arrow from the dark. I don't believe that no matter how powerful Liu Ye is, he can escape our repeated assassinations!"

Grant slapped his thigh and shouted, "Yes, General Yaman is right. It must be assassinated. He must be assassinated. Without Liu Ye, the Qing government will be at our mercy. If we tell them to go east, they won't dare to go west!"

Elgin hesitated for a moment and replied, "Isn't this a bit too much? You have to know that Liu Ye is an official of the Qing Dynasty. If we assassinate him, once the news spreads, it will be even more difficult for us to move forward in the Qing Dynasty, and we will also be under international pressure..."

Yaman sneered, "Excessive? What's excessive about it? As long as the assassination is successful, we can just say it's a personal grudge, and then the government will come forward and make some symbolic compensation to the Qing government. Well, one pound is a bit too little, so giving them ten pounds should be enough to get rid of them, right? Since the person is dead, I don't believe that the Qing government will continue to pester us, Britain and France, over a dead person. That would mean they are really tired of living!"

Grant laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Yes, that's the truth. A personal grudge. One of our soldiers avenged his brother. Haha, let's kill him. Even the Americans can't do anything about it. This has nothing to do with the government. It makes the Americans mad, and they can only watch helplessly!"

Elgin was still a little hesitant, but Gro said, "Okay, Mr. Elgin, let's do this. Liu Ye alone is worth doing this once. As long as we get rid of him, the entire Qing government will have no one to compete with us. Think about it, the countless wealth of the entire Qing Dynasty will flow into England and France through various channels. Such wealth will definitely make the empire even more powerful!"

After hearing what Gro said, Elgin finally made up his mind and said, "Okay, let's do it!"

Elgin asked, "Grant, Yaman, do you have any suitable candidates? We must send the most astute and capable people, and we will hit the target with one strike!"

Grant said in a deep voice: "Don't worry about this, I will make careful arrangements with Yaman. There is no need to rush. We should fully advance our negotiations. Using the negotiations as a cover, we can suddenly launch a surprise attack. The easiest way is just now!"

The four people finally finalized the plan. Liu Ye really didn't expect that Britain and France would use such despicable means to deal with him. A conspiracy was secretly unfolding in Beijing.

After leaving the mansion, Hua Ruohan took Colt and headed straight for Liu Ye's apartment. On the way, Hua Ruohan laughed arrogantly: "Haha, Colt, I've never been so happy. Haha, I just knocked the two ministers unconscious with a word. Damn, if they do anything bad to our country again, tit for tat!"