Chapter Eleven: Night Banquet

  Li Mingfang had Bai Gui send people to collect money everywhere, and he himself ran to Elgin to take credit. It is necessary to know that the surrender of a Qing governor was a great political victory for the Allied forces. In the future, it would be best to have a governor who was familiar with local administrative operations and still very obedient to manage local security.

  As for Guangzhou General Mukden, in the hearts of the British, he was just a general, or rather an incompetent and cowardly general who did not understand military affairs. Given his high rank, his surrender could help the Allied forces' occupation, so he was reluctantly allowed to keep his family's lives and property intact, as well as retain a nominal title.

  January 8, 1858, Elgin and the French commander Gros met with Pai-kuei, naturally with Li Ming-feng acting as interpreter. Elgin and Gros were much pleased with Pai-kuei's humble attitude, and Pai-kuei was also comforted by the foreigners' 'friendliness', always smiling and casting grateful glances at our interpreter, which made Li Ming-feng's hair stand on end, suspecting that he had some ulterior motives.

  On January 9, 1858, the Allied Command ordered that the rights of Guangzhou be handed over to Governor-General Pahkwi. At the same time, the Guangdong Provincial Government also announced that a joint military committee consisting of British nationals Parkes and Harlow and Frenchman Auguste Léopold Protet would be responsible for maintaining law and order in Guangzhou.

  What surprised Li Mingfeng the most was that Bai Gui had already gone to the imperial court as soon as the Allied forces broke into Guangzhou City, directly criticizing Ye Mingchen for handling foreign affairs poorly. He could have resolved the dispute, but instead he was tough and hostile towards the foreigners. When the foreigners issued their final ultimatum, Ye Mingchen did not fight back, only seeking to ask the gods for guidance, and in the end, Guangzhou was breached.

  Li Mingfeng admired Bai Gui with all his heart, if he only knew how to frame and harm others, then he could only be considered a low-ranking villain. The top-notch villain is the kind of person who harms but does not frame others. What Bai Gui said in his memorial was all true, so even if Ye Mingxuan confronted him, he would have nothing to say.

  The most outrageous thing is that after taking office as this puppet governor, Ba Gui actually went to Xianfeng and said: "This humble body is not worth mentioning, but the overall situation is crucial, and I have no choice but to endure and compromise."

  The Xianfeng Emperor really believed in Bai Gui, and issued an edict to remove Ye Mingchen from his position as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and appointed Bai Gui as "Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Commander-in-Chief of Military Affairs, and Concurrently Acting Governor".

  Xianfeng also wanted to use the "good" relationship between Ba Gui and the foreigners to negotiate with them. In the imperial edict, it was written: "Order Ba Gui and others to borrow the power of the gentry and drive out the barbarians, then follow up and guide them, showing kindness."

  Li Mingfeng originally thought that with his knowledge of history, he could make a name for himself in the Qing dynasty. But after seeing Bai Gui's methods this time, he gradually calmed down. With Bai Gui's methods, he can only look up to him, let alone those historical figures known for their cunning and schemes. It seems that in the Qing dynasty, it's better to be low-key, if you're too showy, you don't know when you'll be secretly killed.

  These days, Li Mingfeng often ran to Bo Gui's mansion. Although he had a very close relationship with Bo Gui, even brothers had to settle accounts clearly. This Bo Gui was indeed a master of making money, and in just half a month, he handed over 400,000 taels worth of gold and silver to Li Mingfeng, including 100,000 taels of silver notes and 300,000 taels of real gold and silver.

  Li Mingfeng knew that everything he had came from his relationship with foreigners, and this time he took the opportunity to use the silver ticket for himself, and the gold and silver ingots were used to bribe Elgin and Gros. Although these two foreigners had been fighting in the south and north for many years, their income from those colonies and other spoils of war was not as much as this.

  Erlkin and Gruzenfeld automatically ranked Li Mingfang among the "most friendly and capable Qing nationals".

  As the weather gets colder, China's traditional Spring Festival is also approaching.

  It was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the eve of the Lunar New Year. Li Mingfeng had been invited by Bo Gui to have dinner at his residence. This wasn't the first time; over the past month, Li Mingfeng had often dined with Bo Gui, usually in the company of some local officials and gentry.

  Li Mingfeng, although extremely disgusted with the nonsense of these people, every time after dinner, he would find an extra few thousand or tens of thousands of silver coins in his pocket. No choice, who can resist money? He had to endure and continue attending this nutrition-less dinner party.

  Here is the translation:

  Today was like this again, originally the invitation said it was just a family dinner, but when I arrived, there were already over a hundred old men of all kinds waiting for me. Sighing silently, he recited the countless times-repeated polite phrases once more. This was also why his profession in modern times was being a tour guide; if someone from another industry had to do this, they would probably have gone mad from repeating the same words over and over again.

  After drinking for three rounds, and having more than five flavors of dishes, even the extra silver notes were stuffed into his pocket. Dazed and confused, Li Mingfeng suddenly heard someone shouting loudly: "Kill that dog thief Bai Gui, avenge our brothers!" This shout was enough to shock Li Mingfeng awake.

  As he took a closer look, countless black-clad men suddenly rushed in, slashing at anyone they saw. It was the eve of the Lunar New Year, and there were only a few dozen guards on duty at the governor's mansion. They were quickly slaughtered by the black-clad men after just a few knife blows. Just as Li Mingfeng was about to flee, he heard someone shout "The traitor is over there!" followed by an uncountable number of dark shadows rushing towards him with knives drawn.

  "I've only been a fake foreigner for a few days and I'm going to get killed? Although I've been eating free meals recently, I haven't even gone to the city to eat at a restaurant without paying, let alone eaten watermelon from ordinary people without paying. In this critical moment, Li Mingfeng suddenly thought of the fat translator who translated for the Japanese in 'Little Soldier Zhang Ga', and regretted not having had a good meal, unable to swagger around."

  "Kill Baogui, avenge our brothers!" The man in black shouted again, and this sentence made Li Mingfeng slightly relieved. It turned out that they were seeking revenge against that old fox, which had nothing to do with him, so it was better to stand further away.

  Thinking of standing far away, but the pace under his feet was not that action. Li Mingfeng flew to the back door of the patrol gate and ran away. Most of the officials were visiting the back garden of the patrol gate for the first time, and they didn't know the path as well as Li Mingfeng did, so even if they ran, they would go straight to the front door.

  As he ran further back, there were fewer people and the cries of "kill" grew fainter. Li Mingfeng's heart also became more at peace. The so-called back door was actually a gate that the servants who often came to deliver vegetables and rice used, and nearby were the living quarters of the family's attendants and maids. Normally, those big shots wouldn't deign to come near here. Li Mingfeng had only been here once before, when he went to the kitchen to instruct the chef on how to make his favorite northern-style stew. He hadn't expected that this unintentional visit would save his life today - it was truly fate! Li Mingfeng secretly felt pleased with himself in his heart.

  He lifted the door latch and had just opened the door when he saw five or six men in black standing outside, holding steel knives and staring at him with cold eyes.

  Li Mingfeng's current mood can only be described as wanting to cry but having no tears. If he had just lain down and pretended to be dead, after a few minutes the British soldiers on duty in front of the patrol gate would have come in and killed him, and he would still have been alive. But instead, he had thought himself clever and run to this back door, facing five or six men in black alone.

  Just as I was about to say "Brothers, I'm a traitor, I've come to open the back door for you, let's rush in and kill them" I saw a middle-aged man in his 40s on the opposite side wave his hand and say with great authority: "Knock him out, take him away".

  Then Li Mingfeng felt a blackness in front of his eyes and lost consciousness.