Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Calamity of an Old Acquaintance

  After several hours, these British soldiers woke up one after another. When they saw Li Mingfeng, they were all extremely excited and tearfully told him why they had lost their composure.

  The fleet received news yesterday that two months ago, the Indian mutineers had entered Gwalior and slaughtered all foreigners there in their usual manner. Andrew and Parland were among those who had been transferred from India to Elgin's staff, while their families remained in Gwalior.

  According to the information obtained, due to the sudden attack by Indians, the British army was completely unprepared and all the defenders in Gwalior and all the British people were killed.

  Andrew's entire regiment was from Gujerat, and most of the soldiers in the regiment had lost their families at the same time, so the heartbroken soldiers were drowning their sorrows. But then they heard French soldiers mocking the British army for being incompetent, saying that even Indian sepoys couldn't beat them, but instead those barbarians left them helpless.

  Andrew, Palando and Adams, who were just feeling angry and had nowhere to vent, heard this and burst into flames, rushing forward to fight with these French people. After that, Li Mingfeng also knew what happened.

  After hearing these stories, Li Mingfeng was also unable to offer any words of comfort. His entire family had been killed; what words could possibly alleviate such pain?

  These British soldiers cried for a long time and gradually calmed down. They asked about Li Mingfeng's recent situation, and Li Mingfeng told them the truth. Everyone sighed again.

  Before long, it was getting late, and Gong's steward came to summon everyone to dinner.

  Kong Tang had Westerners' legs in his arms, and there were often foreigners coming to his home, so he also prepared Western-style dishes and Western tableware. Since this time it was the British who came, Kong Tang did not let his concubine come out, only seven British soldiers and his two interpreters ate together.

  Seven big soldiers sat around the table praying, Gong Cheng asked Li Mingfeng in a low voice: "Li brother, how do you plan to deal with these foreign soldiers?"

  Li Mingfeng replied without hesitation, "I've known these people for a long time, they're old friends. Now that their family is broken and scattered, I'll do what I can to help. Let's see what they need, I'll just fulfill my duty as a friend."

  Gong Cheng quietly looked at Li Mingfeng, who didn't say a word, with an expression that seemed to be smiling but not quite. Li Mingfeng's psychological hair stood on end, and he turned sideways to ask: "Brother Gong, was what I just said wrong?"

  At this time, the seven soldiers had finished their prayers. Gong Cheng was the host, so he gestured for everyone to eat, and then they no longer stood on ceremony.

  Gong Cheng forked a piece of cooked beef, cutting it with his knife as he slowly said: "Now that there are no outsiders here, the slaves are all outside, and these seven fools can't understand Chinese. You don't need to hide it from me; I already know about you sending several tens of thousands of taels of silver notes and the imperial edict for the militia to Guangdong through someone a few days ago."

  Gui Lianghe and Hua Shana arrived in Shanghai and handed over the batch document to Li Mingfeng. Li Mingfeng immediately entrusted someone to take the batch document and almost all the silver tickets in his hand to Guangdong to deliver to Zhang Qin and others. Gong Cheng, this person, Li Mingfeng still couldn't figure out, so he deliberately concealed it from him, but unexpectedly, this guy also got the news, and it's unknown who leaked it.

  Before Li Mingfeng could think of which link was flawed, Gong Cheng continued to say: "You, a small foreigner who followed the army as an interpreter, have neither family property to guard nor hope for official position, why did you organize the militia?"

  Li Mingfeng sighed and explained: "Gong didn't know, half a year ago I was once kidnapped by the Tian Di Hui rebels of Da Cheng country. That experience made my heart skip a beat. From then on, I thought that in this chaotic world, I couldn't fall into danger again, to protect myself, I must have a team to protect me."

  Gong Cheng sneered, "You really think that your ragtag army of a few tens of thousands of silver coins can achieve anything? If so, there are many wealthy merchants who are ten times richer than you, why don't they organize their own militia for self-protection?"

  Li Mingfeng also knew that his silver was a bit short, but he considered building the team first, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would only last until 1864. If they built too late and the local righteous armies were wiped out by the imperial court, then the militia would not have the opportunity to expand. However, these words could not be said to Gong Cheng.

  Seeing Li Mingfeng silent and speechless, Gong Cheng thought he had finally realized his own childishness.

  After finishing the beef on his plate, seeing Li Mingfeng still not making a sound, Gong Cheng asked with a pleased tone: "Little guy, why don't you ask me what clever plan I have to resolve this matter?"

  Li Mingfeng was taken aback, then asked weakly: "Gong brother, do you mean to say that there's still a way to use those tens of thousands of taels of silver to organize a large army?"

  Gong Banlun waved his pitchfork in mid-air with his left hand: "No, no, no! I want to organize a team, who needs to spend one or two silver coins themselves."

  Li Mingfeng immediately showed a surprised expression and asked urgently: "What's the trick, please teach me, Brother Gong"

  Gong Banlun was very satisfied with Li Mingfeng's performance, smiling and saying: "As for who can afford to maintain an army, apart from the imperial court, who else can? Even Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army is fed by the imperial court's silver. If you want to maintain an army, you still have to think about it in terms of the imperial court."

  "The Xiang Army is already a regular army, and now that we're fighting the Taiping Rebellion, it's relying on Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army and the Monk King's Iron Cavalry. How can the imperial court not allocate silver to support them? However, local militias are only responsible for defending their local areas, and the imperial edict also said that they would be supported by local gentry, with the central government not allocating a single silver coin." Li Mingfeng said dejectedly.

  "Who said you need to organize a team?" Gong Cheng pointed at the seven British soldiers who were eating politely and said, "Can't we fight with just them?"

  The Ever Victorious Army was a military force created by the American adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward in 1860, and officially recognized as a Chinese military unit by the Qing dynasty government.

  This team is very special, with high-ranking officers being Westerners and soldiers all being Chinese. The entire team is fully armed with advanced Western weapons and trained in Western tactics, making their combat effectiveness extremely strong. It's not an exaggeration to say that they can take on ten times their number.

  What's more interesting is that since most of the commanders were foreigners, the powers regarded this army as their own and provided it with military supplies. Britain, France and the United States all supplied arms to this army. However, the commander-in-chief of the Ever Victorious Army, Frederick Townsend Ward, had entered the service of China and was given a Chinese title and decorations by the Imperial Court. Another reason is that the Ever Victorious Army really did fight against the Taiping rebels on behalf of the Qing government and achieved great success, so the Qing government allocated large sums of money to the army and local officials also cooperated fully, providing men and supplies as needed.

  In fact, the Ever Victorious Army belonged neither to the Western powers nor to the Qing government. However, due to their respective needs, both the Qing government and the foreign powers always liked to regard the Ever Victorious Army as their own army. As a result, Ward was able to gain benefits from all sides.

  Seeing Li Mingfeng's seemingly enlightened appearance, Gong Cheng was shocked beyond measure. For some reason, Gong Cheng had spent a long time thinking before coming up with this move, but he didn't expect Li Mingfeng to suddenly understand it with just a slight hint. Was he really that clever?