Wu Jianzhang wanted to take revenge and wanted to do something before the court quelled the rebellion and atone for his sins. After sending his family to Baoshun Foreign Company, he accompanied Han Xiufeng to meet the consuls of the United States, Britain and France. As a result, he went in and Han Xiufeng was turned away.

When the translation of the message returned the famous post, it said that according to the rules, the consular officer, the consular officer, the same class as the Taoist rank of the Qing Dynasty; the deputy consular officer, the deputy consular officer, the translator and the governor were of the same class as the prefect, the official duties were required, the meetings of the yamen office and the meetings were all used. In other words, you are a fifth-rank officer, not only not enough to have a rank in Jiang Customs Supervision, but also not even a yamen. Not to mention meeting consuls, you do not even have the qualifications to meet the translator!

Han Xiufeng was turned away after three bowls in a row and had to go home.

After Wu Jianzhang negotiated with the consuls of the Three Kingdoms, he returned to the mansion behind Qichang Foreign Service in the middle of the night. Seeing that the light in the study was still on, he hurriedly asked Zhang Guangsheng, who was guarding outside the study, to report.

"Brother Han, I didn't expect them to be so inhumane. It's not my business. I really didn't think about threatening to respect others..." Wu Jianzhang defended anxiously as soon as he entered the door.

Han Xiufeng was unhappy and was unhappy, but he never thought of taking his anger on Wu Jianchang. He smiled as if nothing had happened: "Brother Wu was worried too much. How could Xiufeng not know that it was difficult to deal with foreigners? If they were reasonable, they would not be foreigners."

"Brother Han, you are reasonable and know that foreigners are not easy to deal with, and others don't know!"

"Brother Wu, don't worry, I will help explain to Lord Xu and Lord Jierhanga. With me here, they will not misunderstand you. The most urgent task is customs, taxes!"

"I know, I understand, but this matter is really difficult and not easy to deal with." Wu Jianzhang sat down helplessly, even the voice of his speech was weak.

"What do the consuls of the United States, Britain and France say?" Han Xiufeng sat down and asked.

"The Consul Citimate gave me some thinness and promised to let the Citimate merchants settle the tax according to the old rules. The more than 10,000 taels of taxes I owed before will be paid in the past few days. The Consuls of Britain and France are not easy to talk to. They said they should strictly adhere to neutrality. They said that if the merchants of the two countries were asked to pay taxes for us according to the old rules, it would be a rebellion and would not be neutral."

"They collect on their behalf, but the taxes are not handed over to us?"

"I didn't say I didn't give it to us, I just said that I would give birth to them and exist in them first."

"The court is pointing at taxes to pay, foreigners can drag them, but we can't wait." Han Xiufeng reminded.

How could Wu Jianzhang not knowing that the court was waiting for the rice to be put into the pot, and said with a bitter face: "Brother Han, I can't help but not let go of the British and French consuls. It doesn't make sense, so they just stubbornly want to be neutral."

"What should I do?" Han Xiufeng stared at him and asked, just saying that if the errand cannot be done well, you will not be able to pass the court's obstacle.

Han Xiufeng was anxious, Wu Jianzhang was even more anxious. After thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "The British and French merchants do not pay taxes to us, so we will go to their boat to collect it!"

"How to collect it?"

"Brother Han, I not only negotiated with them about how to collect taxes, but also negotiated with them about the restoration of the Supervision Office. The Supervision Office now lives dozens of British soldiers, saying that they are to prevent the rebels from smashing and looting again, but in fact they don't want to return it to us. If they don't come back for a while, fortunately, we still have foreign ships. I will negotiate tomorrow morning. If they don't return the Supervision Office to us, we will go to the ship to handle customs and collect taxes according to the old rules!"

"We have foreign ships?" Han Xiufeng was a little surprised.

"My brother doesn't know. In order to investigate and arrest smuggling, the Supervision Bureau spent the next year to purchase two foreign ships, one called the "Antelope" and the other called the "Sheep God". "Wu Jianzhang took the tea from Zhang Guangsheng and continued: "In the 29th year of Daoguang, in order to attack and suppress the pirates in Jiang bandits and rescue the disaster, the Merchant Ship Hall joined forces with Shandong, Ningbo and other merchant ship associations to establish a ship donation and robbery bureau, and raised silver to purchase two steamships, "Taiping" and "Tiebo". These four foreign ships are still there and have not been stolen by the rebels."

Han Xiufeng did not expect that there were four foreign ships on the court, and subconsciously asked: "Where are boatmen and sailors? Are boatmen and sailors here?"

"It's all there are not only boatmen and sailors, but also boatmen who can use cannons and fire guns." Speaking of the remaining assets, Wu Jianchang said excitedly: "When Liu Lichuan's group of criminals who killed thousands of kids were in trouble, the "Antelope" was parked on the river in the north of the county town. There were not only cannons and gunpowder on the ship, but also a batch of foreign guns purchased for the training village and Citi Foreign Company. The rebels didn't know at first, but when they knew about it, they wanted to rob, Citi Vice Consul Jin Nengheng had ordered the Marines to drag the ship to the concession. Jin Nengheng said tonight that the guns and gunpowder on the "Antelope" and "Antelope" would be returned to me intact tomorrow morning. There were boats, guns, and cannons. Let's see how we deal with those who killed thousands of kids!"

Han Xiufeng thought that fighting would kill people, and if he could not fight, he would not fight. Besides, I was here to supervise Jiang Customs, not to act as a proxy for Su Song Taibing. Issuing tariffs to raise funds for the army is a matter of internal affairs, and quelling the chaos is another matter. After weighing the pros and consequently, he said calmly: "Brother Wu, your top priority is to collect tariffs. Is it for the court to raise funds. Let's think of ways to complete the tariffs."

"Brother Han, I will send someone to call back the boatman sailors and boat heroes on the four boats tomorrow morning. When everyone is together, I will lead someone to the river to collect taxes!"

"What if the merchants from England and France don't get along?"

"If you don't pay taxes, you won't let them dock, and you won't let them unload the goods!"

"Can you stop it?"

"If you can't stop it, you have to stop it!" Looking at Han Xiufeng's thoughtful look, Wu Jianzhang explained: "Brother, don't worry, I not only recognize those foreign merchants, but also have some friendships. The captains and officers on the military ships are the same. Even if they don't plan to pay taxes, they won't make things too difficult for me."

"Brother Wu is indeed a talented person of Tongyi, Xiufeng admires him!" Han Xiufeng put down the teacup and bowed, "Since Brother Wu is well-behaved, then everything depends on Brother Wu."

"It's not a matter of relying on me, I'm just going to make atonement for my sins."

...

After seeing Wu Jianzhang off, Zhang Guangsheng couldn't help but sigh: "Fourth Master, everyone looked down on this person just now, and even the people in the city dared to criticize him in public. Now, thinking about it, I really underestimated him before. He really has some ability. He can't deal with foreigners without him."

"Yes, Tongyi's talent is not a false reputation." Han Xiufeng walked into the bedroom, looked at the big and soft foreign bed, and pondered: "I guess in the eyes of foreigners, he should be the most reasonable and best-handled official in the court, otherwise he would not have had such deep friendship with him. Thinking about it carefully, Liu Lichuan is a insightful person. He can actually think of winning over him, and even want him to be the governor of Shanghai."

"Second Master, are you saying that the city's rioters want to curry favor with foreigners by trying to win over him?"

"Foreigners have strong ships and cannons, and foreigners are powerful. Even the court dares not offend foreigners, let alone the mobs in the city. Although Wu Jianzhang did not say anything, he did not dare to take foreigners and respect himself, in fact, in the eyes of foreigners, foreigners, especially Citimen, really regard him as friends."

Han Xiufeng turned around, looked at Zhang Guangsheng's desire to speak but stopped, and then said, "Even if we don't protect him, foreigners will protect him. In short, people like him can not be killed, and they cannot be pushed to the side of the rebels."

…………

ps: I have a cold again and I feel dizzy. Today I only have one chapter. Please forgive me, brothers and sisters.
Chapter completed!