Chapter 12: The Shanghai Debut of the Huckster Emperor

  The Bund is lined with rows of tall buildings, the roads are wide and spacious, and the foreign-style houses on Zhongshan Road, with their eclectic mix of Chinese and Western architectural styles, stand shoulder to shoulder. At this time, Shanghai has already begun to show signs of prosperity.

  Xiao Dao will occupy the county seat of Shanghai, and Ji Erhang'a, the acting Jiangsu Provincial Governor, will gather his elite troops in the suburbs to defend against him. With the addition of the local militia, there are nearly 20,000 people, truly a sight to behold with camps and flags stretching as far as the eye can see.

  Meanwhile, the US, UK and France organized a foreign gun team to guard the concession area. As soon as Ye Zhao and others disembarked, several foreigners with real guns came over to inspect them. When Rui Si told them haughtily that this was an imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty, they didn't understand, but seeing Ye Zhao's entourage wearing armor, they drove their guns to chase them away.

  "Clang", several Goshha steel knives were drawn and faced off against foreign soldiers.

  Following the foreigners, a middle-aged Chinese man ran back and forth, apparently a Chinese employee serving the concession road wharf committee, wearing a hard-collared swallowtail suit, but with a braid on the back of his head. He was facing Qi Si Dao with an air of superiority: "The foreigner said that no matter what your identity is, you are not allowed to enter the concession. We treat the Qing Dynasty and the rebels equally and remain neutral! Are you imperial envoys? Then take a detour to the south gate to your big camp in the suburbs!"

  Ye Zhaohui let out a soft sigh, nowadays most Chinese people have gotten used to the queue on their heads, even if they look down on their own country after coming into contact with Westerners, it has nothing to do with the queue or Manchus.

  With a crisp "crack", the man in Western attire stumbled backward, covering his face with his queue, staring at Rui Si in shock.

  He slapped him hard on the ear, but Rui Si still wouldn't let up, cursing loudly: "You little turtle egg, blind to your own eyes! You don't even bother to ask who I am, courting death!" Having lived in the capital for a long time, how could a few barbarians like you be taken seriously by Master Rui?

  Rui Si was again chased by that "Qing Jian" and was stopped by foreigners, who were unable to communicate effectively and were about to fight. However, Rui Si didn't care about the firearms pointed at his chest, thinking that even with the help of a few foreigners, they wouldn't dare to be rude to the attendants of the Qing Dynasty's imperial prince.

  Ye Zhaowei was at a loss, hastily took a few steps forward and loudly said to the foreigners in English: "Gentlemen, I am an official of the Qing Dynasty. I also understand the neutral attitude of various countries. This time, I have come to negotiate with the envoys of England, France and the United States. Please inform them for me, thank you!"

  The foreign soldiers stared blankly at Ye Zhao, while Rui Si and Lao Fu Zi also looked at him in surprise. No one expected that the young master would suddenly speak a barbarian language.

  A few foreign soldiers chattered and consulted for a while, one of them went to report the news, and the rest still held their rifles and vigilantly looked at this group of arrogant Chinese people.

  Ten minutes later, a luxurious carriage came galloping up, and from it jumped down a tall, fat white man in his forties with grey-brown eyes that seemed to be born with a hint of cunning.

  He looked at Ye Zhao and his party with a hint of suspicion, walked over in big strides, took off his hat and bowed, saying stiffly in Chinese: "Hello, I am Alain, the Consul of the Great Britain Kingdom. May I ask where you all come from?"

  It was said that there were self-proclaimed Qing officials who could speak English, which shocked this consul.

  Ye Zhaoming smiled and walked two steps forward, saying in English: "Consul, nice to meet you. I am Aixinjueluo Jingxiang, the official sent by Beijing to handle customs affairs." It had been a long time since he last spoke English, and at first, it sounded stiff, but soon became fluent.

  A Li Guo stared at Ye Zhaowen in surprise, he had never met a Qing official who could speak English before. In fact, there were only a handful of people in the entire Qing Dynasty who could speak a few sentences of English, mostly compradors active in commercial ports and students from church schools, and they inevitably carried local accents. How could someone pronounce words so clearly? At first, he thought it was an exaggeration when he heard others talk about it.

  "Consul, I plan to set up my headquarters in the concession area. This does not violate your country's principle of strict neutrality, does it? Because I am not a military officer, but a diplomatic envoy who has come to negotiate customs affairs with your country. Moreover, according to the Treaty of Nanjing, the Five Ports Commercial Charter and the Supplementary Treaty of the Five Ports, the concession is land leased by my country to your country for use, and your country has no right to expel officials who have taken refuge in the concession. Your actions a few days ago have already violated the spirit of the treaty and damaged its legitimacy. The Qing Empire will formally lodge a protest with your country."

  Ye Zhaoyi's face was stern, but Ali Guo's mind was a bit confused. He had an extremely bad impression of the high-ranking officials in this corrupt empire. They were all so arrogant and self-important, never following the rules.

  Let's just say that the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ye Mingchen, completely ignored foreign envoys. For example, French Consul Bourboulon was appointed as the Consul in Guangzhou last year and waited for over a dozen months in Macau, repeatedly requesting an audience but still didn't know which door to enter at the Governor's mansion; another example is American Chargé d'Affaires Brown, who did not receive an audience during his two terms of four years. When American Minister Ward arrived in Guangzhou last year and requested a meeting with Ye Mingchen, the Governor replied that he was busy with many matters and would select a auspicious day to meet after he had some leisure time. Over a year has passed, but it seems that there is still no auspicious day in the Governor's calendar.

  To the imperial officials' attitude, foreign envoys were both helpless and depressed. In private conversations, they all gritted their teeth with hatred. However, Ari had never thought that a young official from the imperial capital would take the initiative to contact him, and could even speak relatively fluent English. Moreover, his diplomatic rhetoric was so novel and surprising to Ari that he began to suspect the authenticity of this young official's identity.

  How is this possible? In the Qing Empire's ignorant and backward bureaucratic group, how can there be such a young man?

  It is well known that the Qing government has long since treated the treaty signed ten years ago as a scrap of paper. Local officials are completely unaware of the contents of the treaties signed between the central government and various countries. The emperor of the Qing dynasty was the first to break his promise, and it goes without saying that lower-ranking officials followed suit. Take Guangzhou, for example, this commercial port has been closed off to foreign merchants for ten years now. Occasionally, when foreigners manage to sneak into the city, they are almost always met with insults and even violence from Qing citizens, their lives completely unprotected.

  Suddenly, a young official emerged and unexpectedly brought up several treaties signed many years ago, using these treaties to refute himself. If his imperial envoy identity was genuine, although it might have added a powerful opponent in diplomatic negotiations with the Qing dynasty, it would undoubtedly be a good thing, because at least there was finally an official from the Qing dynasty who was no longer so unreasonable as a communication object, you know that before, even if you wanted to negotiate, there was nobody to talk to!

  It's just that this young official's identity is somewhat suspicious!

  Suspicion begets suspicion. Ah Li Guo's actions were indeed old-fashioned. Smiling and nodding, he said: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency Jing Xiang, I will do my best to assist you in arranging the affairs of the Imperial Envoy." First, let's monitor him, and after confirming his identity, we'll come up with a countermeasure.

  ……

  Thus, a garden-like foreign-style villa on Zhongwang Road became the headquarters of the Imperial Commissioner.

  After everyone had settled down, Ye Zhao ordered a geshha to take the imperial edict with the great seal out of the city and go to the Nanmen military camp to issue an order, asking Su Songtao, the Daoist official, and Wu Jianzhang, the supervisor of Jianghai Customs, to come to the headquarters for a conversation.

  It was also ordered that, before meeting with the Daotai, all Western envoys would be kept at a distance. If someone came to visit, they were told to wait until the Imperial Commissioner and local officials had met, after which they could meet with the consuls of various countries.

  Glass cover, kerosene lamp, arrived at the concession area Ye Zhao also followed suit, using Western gadgets, in a small building on the second floor set up a study room, Ye Zhao was dazed and distracted, tea had long been cold, he didn't even notice.

  The Xianfeng Emperor spoke lightly, but Ye Zhao knew that this matter from start to finish was an impossible task. The Western powers had finally obtained the opportunity to take control of tariff rights, how could they let it go easily?

  It's laughable to think about it, but according to historical records of later generations, when the committee composed of England, France and the United States took control of Shanghai Customs affairs, the taxes collected were actually much higher than during the period when Qing officials were in charge. This was because Qing officials were not familiar with economics and were corrupt, which led to this embarrassing situation that made historians feel awkward.

  Because foreigners controlled the customs after collecting silver money, it actually increased day by day. Later, when the two governors of Jiangsu and Jiangxi, Yiliang and Wu Jianchang, secretly sold out the interests of the customs, they could be vague in their reports. The Qing government didn't have many people who truly understood such matters. If they followed international conventions, it would be "humiliating to the national dignity". The Xianfeng Emperor did not investigate further. In this way, the right to control the customs was taken away from China in a muddled manner. Later, when there were more enlightened people, the Qing government had already been bullied and was in a sorry state. Wanting to take back the right to control the customs? That would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

  The ball was now kicked into his own hands, and Ye Zha couldn't help but sigh. This matter was difficult to handle.

  It's unlikely to maintain the status quo of the small knife incident before the customs, and we can only try our best to maximize our interests. We've done what we can as humans; if the people become enlightened and the country becomes powerful, these problems will no longer be issues.

  The biggest problem is actually how to fool the Xianfeng Emperor and those hardline ministers in Beijing. If this matter is not handled properly, someone will frame you, put a "traitor" hat on you, and you'll become a traitor. If it were someone else, the crime would be even more exaggerated. If you're tortured to death in Beijing, ordinary people might even applaud and cheer, and who knows, they might even eat your flesh.

  It's just such a helpless era.

  How to start with enlightening the people and how difficult it is?

  Ye Zha couldn't help but let out another sigh.

  The wick suddenly jumped, and Ye Zhaowu saw a slender figure on the window curtain. He let out an "ah" and turned to look, but it was not. A red gauze dress, noble and charming, as if a fairy princess had descended from heaven. Su Hongniang stood in front of the desk, looking lively and pretty.

  "Matchmaker? When did you arrive?" Ye Zhao asked with a smile.

  Su Hongniang had been standing there for a while, but was surprised to find Xiao SeGui frowning and thinking deeply. She stood there for a good while, but Xiao SeGui didn't even notice her. Looking at Xiao SeGui's furrowed brow as he thought seriously, it was as if he had become a different person. But what on earth was he concentrating so hard on?

  But when Ye Zhao called herself "Hong Niang" with a very affectionate tone, Su Hongniang was really helpless. In front of this guy, it seemed that no reason could be explained, and he was shameless to the extreme, but he seemed to have a great reason.

  As for the current relationship between the two, Su Hongniang was also headache, inexplicably entangled by this guy and promised to be engaged with him, but he said he wanted to give his body to him, and it was himself who opened his mouth first, now how could he get out of this situation?

  I should have left Shanghai immediately, but now that I'm saying goodbye, it's as if I owe someone a great favor. After all, after parting ways today, there may not be another chance to meet again.

  "May I know the young master's true name?" Can't even tell what kind of person he is? Although they traveled together, the Tian Di Hui members were cautious and careful, how could they mix with this group of Qing demons?

  Ye Zhao smiled and said: "Ye Zhao is my real name."

  Su Hongniang's starry eyes stared at him for a moment without blinking, but she didn't say anything else.

  Ye Zhaoren adjusted his expression and asked: "Hong Niang, what's your take on the situation in Shanghai?"

  Su Hongniang sighed softly: "It's likely to be more disastrous than auspicious, Shanghai is isolated, surrounded by the Qing army and the heavy siege of the Clear Bandits, how can we expect the Heavenly King to come and rescue us when the Taiping Army is busy defending itself?"

  When it comes to the Xiaodao Hui, Su Hongniang's mood becomes heavy. The Xiaodao Hui, Sanhe Hui, Tiandihui and others are actually all part of the same Hongmen lineage, but due to differences in regional leaders, they have different names. That's why there is a saying that "all Hongmen under heaven are one family". The Xiaodao Hui was mostly composed of members from the Su Ning, Guangdong, and Fujian halls of the Tiandihui, with leader Liu Lichuan originally being a key figure in the Hong Kong hall of the Tiandihui, making him and Su Hongniang fellow disciples.

  Ye Zhaoye pondered for a moment, then spoke in a measured tone: "Alright, let's do this. In a few days, I'll find a way to get someone into Shanghai City. You can write a letter or send someone to meet with Liu Lichuan and persuade him to break through to Tianjing. He's hoping to join forces with the Taiping Army to make a big impact, but he's underestimating the gravity of the situation! Tell him that Shanghai is a crucial location, and if it were to be connected with the bandits' territory, wouldn't the Qing dynasty be in danger? Even if the Qing dynasty were to mobilize all its forces, they would still prioritize attacking Shanghai before turning their attention to the Longhairs."

  Ye Zhao didn't care who won or lost between the two sides, but thinking about how a year later Shanghai County was breached and the Qing army humiliated and slaughtered the Small Swords Society members and female soldiers, he couldn't bear it in his heart.

  Su Hongniang was originally planning to take care of her brother's leg injury for a while, if not she would have gone with her brother to Shanghai County to help Liu Lichuan. However, this was not something that could be said to Ye Zhao, and suddenly leaving would seem like a breach of trust.

  I didn't expect Ye Zhao to say such things, Su Hongniang looked at him in surprise, really didn't know which side this little slippery head was on, and what kind of calculation he had in mind.

  "What's to fear? What's to fear is that the Qing army will besiege the city and it'll be hard for us to fly away?" Su Hongniang furrowed her delicate eyebrows.

  "Don't worry, I have a plan, but we need to wait and see, can't rush it, take it slow, I'll definitely be able to save our family members safely."

  Is she a member of the Su family? Su Hongniang didn't seem to mind, but simply nodded silently, gazing deeply at Ye Zhaowei, her heart becoming increasingly bewildered.