Shanghai, Su Song Taishang Preparation Office.

Since the new governor of Liangjiang Yiliang and Jiangsu Governor Jierhanga came to Shanghai, one occupied Li Weiguo's military preparation yamen, and the other occupied Li Weiguo's Songjiang Prefecture yamen.

Li Weiguo simply took sick leave and stayed in Yuyuan all day, giving outsiders the feeling that he "realized his foreign affairs in the palace and wanted to get out of bed sheets". In fact, in secret, Li Weiguo had already made a decision to imitate Xiao Yang's approach to dealing with Li Weiguo in Chongming County. However, Li Weiguo learned from Xiao Yang's experience and lessons and did it more precisely and without any leakage.

As Li Weiguo took the initiative to "get off the field", Yiliang and Jierhanga were happy for two days, but soon they realized that without Li Weiguo's suppression, they could not play any longer.

First, the yamen in Shanghai were closed. Yiliang and Jierhanga couldn't find anyone to ask about the yamen. Even the ones who served tea and water were allowed to do it themselves.

Immediately afterwards, the Chamber of Commerce announced that it would not accept the order of Jillhanga forcibly forcing donations, and the merchants then stopped the market.

At the same time, the Shanghai army stationed in Shanghai also mutinized and refused to implement Yiliang's orders and asked Yiliang to pay them military pay.

Anyone with discerning eyes knew that Li Weiguo must be instructing him, but Yiliang and Jierhanga could not find any evidence to accuse Li Weiguo. Since Li Weiguo implemented policies in his territory were light labor and light taxes, not only was the normal tax of the imperial court lower than other places, but even Li Weiguo did not strictly implement the additional lijin requested by the court. This benefited all the scholars, farmers, industrial and commercial classes in Li Weiguo's territory. They supported Li Weiguo's policies. When Yiliang and Jierhanga came to plunder the people's wealth, they would naturally be unanimously opposed by all walks of life.

Su Song was in charge of the road yamen, and Jiangsu Governor Jierhanga came to see Yiliang angrily.

"Governor, you have to make the decision for the officials!"

Jirhanga cried as soon as he saw Yiliang, which made Yiliang, who was also extremely troubled, deeply disgusted.

"Sir Ji, you are also a governor of a province at least. Can you not be so mournful?"

Seeing that Yiliang's face was not good, Jierhanga stopped crying and said, "Governor General, it's not that the officials are crying in front of you. It's really these unruly people who disrespect the imperial orders. Now they have even stopped the market, closed their shops, and refused to pay liquors. It's really hateful."

Yiliang frowned and said, "The merchants' strike is just because these profit-oriented merchants think you want too much and feel sorry for your own money bag. Your method of forcing donations is too extreme. You should know that although this place is nominally under the jurisdiction of your Jiangsu Governor, it is actually Li Weiguo's territory."

Jierhanga snorted coldly and said, "So what about Li Weiguo's territory? Unless he dares to rebel openly, he has to endure us stooling on his head."

Yiliang shook his head and said, "I thought so at the beginning, but now I find that if Li Weiguo is forced to rebel, we will be dead."

Jierhanga was startled, but soon calmed down. He asked, "Why, sir, think Li Weiguo really dares to rebel?"

Yiliang nodded and said with a serious expression: "The Shanghai army stationed in Shanghai County not only rejected my orders, but also took care of me asking for military pay!"

Gilhanga suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's it! This is not a rebellion, it's just a small trick played by Li Weiguo, deliberately embarrassing the adults."

Yiliang snorted coldly: "What do you know? Do you think I am as superficial as you look at problems, but only know how to look at the surface?"

Jierhanga's face paused. He was scolded and felt superficial. It was just that Yiliang was the governor, but he was just a governor, and he had to smile when he was scolded. He did not dare to show his anger.

I heard Yiliang continue, "Do you know how much it costs to raise a Shanghai soldier in a day?"

Jierhanga thought for a while and said, "I remember each of the Eight Banners soldiers stationed in the Huaihe River costs four taels of silver per month."

Yiliang snorted coldly, saying, "The expenses of the Eight Banners soldiers are already the highest standard of the Qing Dynasty. It would be good if ordinary green camp soldiers can get one tael of silver a month. But yesterday, the Shanghai Army barracks mutiny and clamored to ask me for military pay. When I asked, I was shocked. Li Weiguo gave the Shanghai Army soldiers a standard of five taels of silver a month. The 40,000 Shanghai Army soldiers a month of 300,000 taels of silver a month, plus weapons and equipment, various military expenses, and it takes 500,000 taels of silver a month to maintain it. It is six million taels a year. All of these are paid out of Li Weiguo's own pocket. Now that I want to take over the Li family army, I have to pay off the silver first."

Jierhanga was shocked again. He knew that the Qing Dynasty's annual military expenditure was nearly 40 million yuan, which seemed to be quite large, and could be allocated to the two million troops in the country, and each person had an average of less than twenty taels of silver per year. The Shanghai army averaged 150 taels of silver per year, which was more than seven times higher, which sounded really scary.

"The Shanghai Army has been established for several years. How could Li Weiguo have so much money?" Jierhanga asked quickly.

Yiliang shook his head, he didn't know that he just wanted one question now, that is, if he couldn't get the money to supply the daily expenses of the Shanghai army within three days, the Shanghai army would mutiny.

This is not a joke. Xianfeng just asked him to supervise Li Weiguo and investigate the secret collusion between Li Weiguo and the Taiping Army, but he did not make the Shanghai army mutiny. If this mutiny delays the major event of Xianfeng's extermination of the Taiping Army, Yiliang would not have enough brains to cut off.

Before leaving the capital, Sushun ordered Yiliang to harm Li Weiguo as much as possible. Now Yiliang not only seems to be unable to harm Li Weiguo, but if the problem of the Shanghai army is not handled properly, he may be harmed by Li Weiguo in turn.

Thinking of this, Yiliang immediately said: "The plan cannot keep up with the changes. We cannot do what Lord Sushun told me. We have to compromise with Li Weiguo for the time being, otherwise we may fall into this Shanghai."

After discussion, Yiliang and Jierhanga decided to temporarily compromise with Li Weiguo. After finding out Li Weiguo's background, they gained a firm foothold in Shanghai, and then began to deal with Li Weiguo.

However, at this moment, an urgent report came, and the two of them were so scared that they were scattered.

"Report—"

"Two masters know that the American navy was fired by the Wusongkou defenders at Wusongkou. The two sides are currently fighting fiercely!"

"puff--"

Yiliang sprayed out a sip of tea, then coughed violently, and thought to himself that he was really afraid of anything he was going to.

When he came to Shanghai, Yiliang knew that Shanghai was next to foreigners. Foreign issues have always been a taboo in the court, so Yiliang was afraid of dealing with foreigners. Now when he heard that the Wusongkou defenders fought with foreigners, he, the governor of Liangjiang, suddenly had three rounds of heads.

Jierhanga also felt something was wrong. But he asked in confusion: "How could the Wusongkou defenders fight with foreigners?"

The person who reported the matter was not very clear, and only knew a rough idea. So he said, "I heard that the American navy had a total of seven warships going to enter the Huangpu River through Wusongkou. The Wusongkou guard refused to enter the Huangpu River on the grounds that the treaty expired, so the two sides could not reach an agreement and started."

Gilhanga suddenly said furiously: "Nonsense, how big can a mere seven warships do? So what if they let them in? Who is the guard? This official immediately dismissed him!"

The person who reported the matter replied: "The guard general is named Lin Yao, who is a ten thousand men in the Shanghai Army! If the lord wants to dismiss him, he will probably have to say hello to the commander of the Shanghai Army, Li Weiguo and Li!"

Jierhanga had just reached an agreement with Yiliang and was about to temporarily compromise with Li Weiguo. Now that he heard that the other party was Li Weiguo's Shanghai general, he immediately shut up and looked at Yiliang and asked him to decide.

Yiliang didn't listen to the two of them. He was cunning and realized something was wrong and blurted out: "No, this must have been intentional by Li Weiguo!"

Jierhanga asked in confusion: "Sir, the lord doesn't understand!"

"You are stupid!" Yiliang immediately cursed and continued, "Li Weiguo just came home after he was sick. Before he left, he handed over all the military and political power to you and me. Now the Wusongkou defenders are fighting with foreigners. No matter what the result is, who will bear the charge of starting a war? It's not you and me!"

Gilhanga suddenly understood, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. He hurriedly took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat and asked, "This - what should we do? Before we left, the emperor repeatedly told him that when we go to Shanghai, we must have a good relationship with foreigners. Now that we are done, we will fight with foreigners. No matter whether we win or lose, we will be in trouble!"

"Li Weiguo! You are so shameless!" Yiliang knew very well that this matter was probably secretly instructed by Li Weiguo. He was going to punish him and Jierhang to death.

Jillhanga asked in fear: "Sir, what should we do now?"

"What else can I do?" Yiliang calmed down and said immediately: "For the sake of this, we will immediately return the military and political power to Li Weiguo. At the same time, we will report to the court immediately. You and I need to insist that Li Weiguo condoned his subordinates to start the war without authorization!"

Jierhanga's mind was blank, and he could only nod his head submissively.

In Yuyuan, Li Weiguo was talking about military affairs with Su Sanniang. After receiving an urgent report from Wusongkou, he was stunned for a while.

Yiliang and Jierhanga really wronged Li Weiguo because Li Weiguo had no idea that the Americans would bring a fleet to Shanghai at this time.

"This Lin Yao is really. How can we fight with the Americans at this time? Isn't this causing trouble for Weiguo? If one is not handled well, it is equivalent to roasting Weiguo on the fire!" Su Sanniang said unhappily.

Li Weiguo thought about it and suddenly laughed: "Okay, well done!"

Su Sanniang was stunned and stretched out her white hand to touch Li Weiguo's forehead. She thought he was sick and actually said something silly.

Li Weiguo immediately grabbed Su Sanniang as a jade hand and said with a smile: "Sister, you don't know. I am worried about not having an excuse to regain military and political power from Yiliang and Jierhanga. Now the Americans have suddenly sent a fleet. Lin Yao fought well. His fight is a jump in foreign disputes. Not only can I regain military and political power, but I may also kill Yiliang and Jierhanga in one fell swoop."

Su Sanniang was a little confused, but seeing Li Weiguo holding her hand, she blushed and hurriedly pulled back, asking, "Wouldn't it be bad for you to fight with foreigners?"

Li Weiguo smiled and said, "No! If I was not wrong, the Americans would have wanted to ask for an explanation for the US soldiers I shot and killed last year, but were afraid that they would not be able to beat me, so they brought a fleet over and wanted to force me to submit!"

Su Sanniang asked worriedly: "Then are you sure?"

"Don't worry, sister!" Li Weiguo said confidently: "Although I can't do anything to this American fleet at sea, I can't do anything to just seven American warships."

Su Sanniang said: "I heard that foreign warships are very powerful. They cannot only bring warships here. There should be infantry accompanying you. Although your Li family army is powerful, don't forget that your opponent has always been a cold weapon and a small knife that will be with the elderly, weak, sick and disabled in the Taiping Army. If you go to war with foreigners, the other party will also have foreign guns and cannons. The training time will be much longer than that of your Li family army."

Li Weiguo was very happy to see Su Sanniang's military affairs so transparent, so he comforted her and said, "Actually, even if I don't take the initiative to cause trouble for foreigners, foreigners will soon come to me. Naturally, I will not compromise, and neither side or the other can avoid this battle. If I choose the Americans as the first opponent, it will be just my wish."

Li Weiguo was right. Even if he didn't ask for trouble from foreigners, foreigners would ask for trouble from Li Weiguo. Because when the Northern Expedition Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reached Tianjin, the great powers of all countries believed that the Qing court would not be long-term. In order to expand their interests in China, this was an excellent time for them to force the Qing government to make concessions.

Even if Li Weiguo did not shoot the US soldiers last year, the US government will send people to propose to the Qing government to amend the treaty to expand the interests of invading China this year. Moreover, Britain and France will soon join the United States to force the Qing government to amend the treaty and expand its interests in China. However, the Qing government in history was still very tough at this time, so naturally it did not agree. Therefore, Britain, France and the United States would form a coalition force to scare the Qing government by force. Unfortunately, the Russians were restless and sent a fleet to invade Heilongjiang. As a result, Britain and France, which were going to war with Russia, finally transferred the fleet to Heilongjiang and fought a war with the Russians, but they did not win. In order to restrain the Russians, Britain and France had to compromise with the Qing government, making the United States alone and finally gave up its force to start a war against China.

Li Weiguo now occupied Shanghai, so he could not make concessions to Britain, France and the United States. Therefore, once Britain, France and the United States gathered their troops, the two sides would inevitably fight.

Li Weiguo knew that the combat effectiveness of the British and French troops was very strong. After all, the training time of the Li family army was still short. As Su Sanniang said, the Li family army had dealt with the small knife that used cold weapons and would not test the true combat effectiveness of the Li family army. It is still unknown whether it could compete with the elite British and French troops.

This battle is probably inevitable, but Li Weiguo is not afraid. His Li family army had just been established, and Li Weiguo chose to deal with Xiaodao first and then against the Taiping army, so that the Li family army could adapt to the process of an opponent from weak to strong. Now it is the same. Li Weiguo wants to attack the US army first. After all, the combat effectiveness of the US army at this time was much worse than that of the British and French troops. It would be nice to have a clear idea to fight the US army first.

"If you are fighting a foreigner, let me go to the battlefield!"

Su Sanniang suddenly said that she had been idle for half a year and liked to fight, so she made a request to Li Weiguo.

How could Li Weiguo be willing to let Su Sanniang go to the battlefield? He could train Su Sanniang to become the future female secretary of the office.

"No hurry, wait until Wusongkou has a result! The most urgent thing now is the attitude of Britain and France. Let's go to the concession to explore their tone first!"

Li Weiguo did not fight an unprepared war. He wanted to touch the bottom of Britain and France and test their attitudes. Even if he could not stop them from asking the Qing government to revise the contract, at least stabilize them first, concentrate on cleaning up the Americans first, and then dealing with Britain and France would be easier. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!