Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

When his subordinates brought the news of Minister Hua Ruohan's visit, Liu Ye was chatting with Prince Gong in his mansion.

When Prince Gong heard the news that American Minister John Warren had arrived, he was stunned and looked at Liu Ye suspiciously.

Liu Ye smiled faintly and replied, "Your Highness, look, my backup plan has arrived. These are our reinforcements. Haha, whether it will succeed or not depends entirely on them."

Prince Gong was overjoyed upon hearing this and exclaimed, "Haha, Liu Ye, when did you actually establish such a deep friendship with the American minister? From now on, all diplomatic affairs with the Americans will fall on your shoulders!"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "Okay, Your Majesty, now is not the time to talk about this. Let's welcome the people in first."

The two of them welcomed Hua Ruohan and Colt in together.

Hua Ruohan laughed and said, "Dear Liu, this time I am really relieved for you!"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "What's wrong, Mr. Hua Ruohan?"

When Liu Ye spoke standard English, it immediately aroused Colt's strong interest. It was surprising that this young Oriental man could speak fluent English! In the conservative and closed ancient China, this was very rare!

Hua Ruohan replied, "You know, just before I came to you, I had already gone directly to Elgin and Gross and lodged a solemn protest with them. You are our most valued friend as Americans. They want to murder you. That's wishful thinking. As friends, we Americans will never agree to that!"

Prince Gong Yixin, standing by, was shocked. Ever since the note came out, he had been with Liu Ye almost constantly, never apart. This meant that Hua Ruohan hadn't even gotten Liu Ye's request, yet he'd just gone straight to him! It was clear what a high position Liu Ye held in their hearts!

Liu Ye, however, didn't care at all and said with a smile, "Haha, then I have to thank Mr. Hua Ruohan for his kindness. So, they didn't cause you any trouble, did they?"

Hua Ruohan replied, "Of course they wouldn't accept my protest and rejected me outright. However, when I revealed my trump card, they immediately lost their temper. Seeing the overlords of two worlds suffer at my hands really excites me! Hahaha..."

Yi Xin quickly asked, "Hand card, what hand card?"

Hua Ruohan smiled mysteriously and replied, "I told them that if they insisted on killing Liu Ye, then they should sell him American-made rifles and artillery. As long as Liu Ye had a large amount of arms, it would be easy to deal with their coalition of over ten thousand men. I know very well that in the Tong County area, Liu Ye only led an army of over a thousand men equipped with firearms, plus some traditional cavalry, and he defeated the British and French forces!"

Yi Xin was overjoyed and shouted, "Excellent! Excellent! Mr. Hua Ruohan, you are truly a good friend of the Qing Dynasty. Thank you very much. When can you provide these weapons to our court?"

Hua Ruohan smiled awkwardly and said unnaturally, "Your Highness, this question is not easy to answer right now. I only resorted to this desperate measure to protect Liu Ye. Our government has been under tremendous diplomatic pressure from Britain and France. That is, until the war is completely over, our arms cannot be delivered to your country again. I hope you can forgive me for this..."

Prince Gong's face turned dark. Damn it, this guy is actually making fun of me!

Liu Ye, who was standing by, saw that things were not going well and quickly said with a smile, "Your Highness, we can put this matter aside for now. What's most important to us now is to get the British and French troops to withdraw. As for the arms issue, we can discuss it later. We will get them eventually!"

Yi Xin's face turned a little ugly. He hummed and replied, "Liu Ye, in that case, I will not interrupt your conversation. Please entertain the ambassador well on my behalf."

Liu Ye quickly said, "Okay, then I'll see the prince off!"

After seeing Yi Xin off and Liu Ye coming back, Hua Ruohan finally opened up. After all, with Prince Gong, an outsider, around, it was not convenient to discuss some in-depth cooperation.

Hua Ruohan said anxiously, "Liu Ye, come here, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Colt, the most famous arms dealer in America and a renowned ordnance expert! Mr. Colt, this is the General Liu Ye I mentioned to you!"

Liu Ye extended his hand and shook Colt's, smiling and saying, "Dear Mr. Colt, welcome to China after traveling thousands of miles. I've heard a lot about the Colt pistol you developed, haha!"

Colt was shocked. The Colt pistol was his masterpiece and the product he was most proud of in his life. It brought him both fame and fortune. He never expected that this Chinese general also knew about the Colt pistol!

Colt asked hurriedly: "Hello, General Liu Ye, do you also know my Colt revolver?"

Liu Ye laughed heartily and said, "Mr. Colt, do you know why I was promoted from a soldier to a general in just one year?"

Colt shook his head in confusion, and even Hua Ruohan looked over, wanting to know what was going on.

At this time, Nie Sheng, standing nearby, proudly said, "Because at Dagukou, our general saw the Colt pistol of then-Zhili Admiral Shi Rongchun. He instantly disassembled the pistol, repaired the fault inside, and finally quickly reassembled it. With one shot, he severed our clothesline nearly a hundred steps away. The general's performance was so impressive that he was recognized and promoted by Lord Shi and the Monk Prince."

Colt blinked hard, shook his head, and replied, "If someone in America could quickly disassemble and reassemble a Colt pistol, I'd still believe it. But in China, it's simply impossible. This type of gun has never been sold publicly in China. There are no more than fifty Colt pistols in the entire country! You were just a soldier at the time, how could you possibly be so familiar with Colt pistols?"

Liu Ye laughed and said, "Why, Mr. Colt, you don't believe me? I wonder if you have your Colt pistol with you now?"

Colt hesitated for a moment, took out a revolver from his pocket, and said, "This is my latest improved Colt revolver..."

Liu Ye took it and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the revolver you improved in 1855. Well, this pistol should be unavailable on the market. I guess the US National Guard doesn't have it on a large scale..."

As he said this, Liu Ye's hands started moving. In the blink of an eye, almost in the blink of an eye, a new Colt pistol had become a pile of parts!

Liu Ye laughed and said, "Haha, Mr. Colt is indeed an expert in pistols. This gun has been well maintained, which saved me a lot of effort when I disassembled it..."