Chapter 48: The Lion Opens Its Mouth

  Whether Ma Hui guessed the result or not, continuing to ponder is useless.

  Ai Tang and Ali Guo left the main tent, exited the campsite, and headed towards the Qing army's large camp. Just as they had walked halfway, the gloomy sky suddenly started drizzling with fine rain. Before long, the patter of small raindrops turned into a heavy downpour, with pea-sized raindrops pattering against the ground, quickly soaking the road.

  A Li Guo walked on the muddy road with one foot deep and one foot shallow, his face gloomy and disheartened.

  Now there is no village ahead and no store behind, and there is nowhere to hide from the rain.

  The heavy rain soaked A Lǐ Guó's clothes, making him look like a bereaved dog. His thick hair was disheveled and scattered all over his head, with rainwater constantly dripping down from the strands of hair.

  At this time, Ali's mood was terrible.

  "Ouch!"

  Suddenly, Ali's foot slipped and his body fell forward, his sturdy physique thudded to the ground with a loud crash.

  "Wow!"

  Mud splattered everywhere, Ariya fell to the ground in a dog-eating-shit posture, her mouth full of mud, and her body also covered with muddy mud, completely becoming a mud man picked up from the mud pit.

  "Shitty weather, shitty weather!"

  Ariku drank without stopping, his face twisted in anger.

  With the support of the guards, Ariya carefully got up, but his face was tense with fear of falling again. Aitong looked at Ariya's disheveled appearance and suddenly felt an urge to burst out laughing, but thinking about how she herself had been drenched in the rain like a drowned rat, her smile disappeared completely, replaced by a strong sense of loss.

  Ai Tang shook her head and sighed, but didn't say a word.

  A line of people walked silently forward, one foot deep and one foot shallow, very slowly.

  Upon arrival at the Qing army's campsite, the heavy rain stopped and the sky cleared up.

  The golden sunlight pierced through the clouds, sprinkling down on the earth, and under the reflection of the accumulated water on the ground, a dazzling piece of gold entered his eyes, filled with vigorous vitality. But Ali Guo couldn't get excited, this ghostly weather seemed to be specifically targeting him. After leaving the camp, it started raining halfway, but when he arrived at the Qing army's barracks, it stopped raining and cleared up.

  At this moment, Ali Guli's face was covered with mud, and the pieces of mud on his body were still dripping with water, forming a strong contrast with the clean and refreshing soldiers inside the Qing army barracks.

  "Achoo!"

  Ari couldn't help but let out a sneeze, feeling dizzy and as if she had caught a chill.

  Ai Tang shook his head and sighed, secretly saying that today was indeed a unlucky day for Ali Guo. When Ali Guo and Ai Tang stood at the entrance of the camp, the soldiers on guard burst into laughter, even laughing so hard they were doubled over. This laughter entered Ali Guo's ears, extremely piercing. He furrowed his brow wanting to scold them, but thinking of their current disheveled state, he simply didn't speak.

  A soldier quickly went to report, and soon Li Zhen came out with Huang Shi Hai and Yang Ban Hou.

  At the same time, Adams also followed out.

  Adams gazed at the wretched and dejected appearance of Ari, stood there for a moment in stunned silence, before suddenly exclaiming: "My God, dear old friend, how did you come to this pass?"

  Adams pondered in his heart and guessed that Ali Guo was doing this on purpose to win Li Zhen's sympathy.

  Yang Nengge and Lan Weiwang were also shocked, Adams just lost the battle, why did Ali have to torture himself like this? Yang Banhou and Huang Shihai burst out laughing, Li Zhen immediately shouted: "What are you laughing at, shut up!"

  At this moment, the two of them obediently closed their mouths and didn't dare make another sound.

  A Li Guo saw Li Zhen stop his subordinates from teasing him, and a hint of gratitude rose in his heart. Immediately, A Li Guo said pitifully: "Respected General Li, I and Ai Tang have become drenched chickens, and I even fell into the mud and am feeling uncomfortable all over. May I take a bath in the camp and change into some clean and refreshing clothes?"

  "Alright, I'll arrange it for you right away."

  Li Zhen ordered Huang Shi Hai to have the soldiers boil water for Ali Guo and his party to bathe, then prepared clean clothes.

  Next would be the negotiations between the two sides, and Li Zhen didn't want to talk to the dirty Ali Guo either, so he gave him a convenient excuse. Half an hour later, Ali Guo, Ai Tang, and their entourage of soldiers came out after washing up, wearing clean and refreshing clothes. However, there were no Western-style shirts in the Qing army camp, so they could only wear the clothes of the soldiers in the army.

  In the main tent, Li Zhen, Ali Gou and Ai Tang took their seats.

  Yang Nengge and Lan Weihua were absent, and Li Zhen was taken away by the police.

  "General Li, I offer my sincerest apologies for the rash attack on your garrison by Mr. Adams. I mourn the loss of life and would like to request that he be returned to me so that I may take him back with me."

  Li Zhen asked back: "Mr. Ali Guo, do you think it's possible?"

  A Lai Guo sighed in his heart, knowing that a big loss was inevitable.

  Especially the person in front of him was arrogant and belonged to the hardline faction, not threatened at all. Ali Guo fell silent for a moment, then asked: "General Li, if you want to redeem Ali Guo and others, what are the conditions?"

  Li Zhen smiled and said: "It's easy to redeem all the British prisoners of war, a flat price, 100,000 taels of silver, 10,000 breech-loading rifles, and 2 million rounds of ammunition. As long as these three conditions are met, I will release the captured British soldiers. However, this is for the captured British soldiers, Adams must be calculated separately."

  Ah Li frowned and secretly scolded Li Zhen for being too outspoken.

  Li Zhen continued: "Adams is the commander of the British fleet and the commander-in-chief of this Anglo-French coalition army. To redeem him, it's definitely not possible to use the standard for ordinary soldiers. For Adams alone, 400,000 taels of silver are needed. That means you need to pay 500,000 taels of silver, 1,000 breech-loading rifles, and 200,000 rounds of ammunition."

  "Five hundred thousand taels of white silver??"

  A Li Guo exclaimed loudly: "With so much silver, why don't you just rob it?"

  Li Zhenxiang said: "Is 500,000 taels a lot? I think it's still very little. For Consul Mr., 500,000 taels of silver is just a small amount, easily payable. Mr. Ali Khan, this is a very fair price. If you are not willing, please go back and think about it, and then come to discuss the price again."

  Ai Tang noticed that Li Zhen had only mentioned British prisoners of war and knew he was also going to suffer heavy casualties.

  Ai Tang felt a bit nervous, but still asked: "Respected General, you mentioned redeeming British soldiers, do I also need to redeem French soldiers separately?"

  "Brilliant!"

  Li Zhen nodded and said, "There is no big shot like Adams among the French prisoners of war, so the price will be lower. I've thought about it carefully, Your Excellency pays 300,000 taels of silver, 1,000 breech-loading rifles with decorations, plus 200,000 rounds of ammunition, and I'll release the detained French soldiers in the camp. Ai Tang, this is already a very fair price, I believe you will agree."

  Ai Tang frowned and said: "General, we don't have a commander-in-chief, why do you need so much money?"

  Li Zhen smiled and explained, "The reason is simple. Among the French prisoners of war, there are no commanders like Adams, but many grassroots officers. These officers are the future of the French army, and they will become the commanders and marshals of France in the future. Such promising officers shouldn't be worth a higher price? You get what you pay for, they're worth it."

  Ai Tang's mouth twitched, her heart bleeding incessantly, thinking that Li Zhenzhen looked up to the French soldiers.

  This time, it's really going to be a big loss of blood.

  PS: 2nd watch of the night;