Chapter 235 If I don’t fight the devil, you will have to fight the devil! (Please subscribe, please vote)
When Luo Yaoguo and Wu Jianzhang appeared on the third floor of the Old Dexi Restaurant, the principle of unity among the great powers had been restored. The representatives of the United States of America and the French Empire had restored their traditional friendship, and stood at the stairs with the representatives of the British Empire with a smile to welcome the “devil” who came to do business with them.
“This is Captain Charles Jean Pierre, who has agreed to join the Shanghai New Army.” Consul Aitong pointed at the old man, who looked to be in his sixties, had a lame leg, and a scary scar on his face, but his military posture was still upright, and introduced him in a respectful tone, “He is a hero who fought under the great emperor, a professional soldier who fought in the French Army for more than forty years.”

The “great emperor” that Consul Aitong referred to was of course Napoleon I!

Old Pierre said proudly, “That was forty years ago. At that time, I was a cavalryman and followed Marshal Murat on the expedition to Russia. I also participated in the Battle of Leipzig. After the Emperor’s restoration, I also participated in the Emperor’s last battle as a member of the Grenadiers of the Guards!”

He is indeed an experienced veteran, but he is a bit of a nuisance to his master!

“Captain, on behalf of the Shanghai New Army, I welcome you to join us!”

Luo Yaoguo still smiled and stretched out his right hand to shake hands with the old French man, but was pinched hard by the other party with a powerful and calloused hand. At the same time, he also detected a trace of contempt in the eyes of the old French man.

Even though they were reduced to being mercenaries in Shanghai, they were still so proud! Luo Yaoguo thought to himself: “Is this the pride of the citizens of the imperialist powers in the 19th century? Even a homeless person could easily become a superior person in places outside of Europe and America? But China today is different from before.”

Thinking of this, Luo Yaoguo said solemnly: “Captain, I hope you can come to my army as soon as possible to take charge of artillery training, because we will soon encounter unprecedented enemies!”

“An unprecedented enemy?” Captain Pierre said in heavily accented English. “What kind of enemy? Is it stronger than the Russians in 1812?”

Luo Yaoguo did not give a direct answer, but smiled and asked the French Consul Aitong: “Mr. Consul, is there any news about the marriage between the French Emperor and Baroness Eugenie?”

The gentle and elegant smile on Consul Aitong’s face suddenly disappeared without a trace: “I just received news today that His Majesty the Emperor and Lady Eugenie held two grand weddings in Paris – the time and place are exactly the same as what was said in the Great Prophecy!”

Luo Yaoguo turned his head again and said to Captain Pierre: “Captain, according to reliable intelligence, all the prophecies in the “Great Book of Prophecy” came from the mouth of Luo Yaoguo, the King of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the chief lecturer of the God Worshipping Society, and the Holy Angel. Now he is leading an army of 20,000 to the east, and his target is Shanghai!”

“What?” Captain Pierre was surprised.

“The devil is coming to Shanghai?” Consul Aitong said while making the sign of the cross on his chest.

The American shrugged and said, “It could be an angel!”

Consul Aitang immediately forgot the principle of “unity among all powers” and said seriously: “Major Ma Hui, please be careful with your words. You may have offended God!”

Major Ma Hui once again emphasized: “I come from a free United States! And I firmly believe in God!”

“Cough cough.”

Aliguo, who found that the Americans and the French were about to start a religious war, coughed twice and changed the subject: “Let’s not block the stairs. Let’s find a place to sit down and enjoy the milk tea and coffee here while discussing the joint defense of Shanghai and the reception of Lord Su’s delegation!”

After a small “US-France religious struggle”, Luo Yaoguo, Wu Jianzhang, Aliguo, Ma Hui, Aitong, Pierre, and Wade finally sat down in a spacious and bright private room. Soon, several Guangdong waiters with braids, white short coats and tube pants came in with fragrant coffee, milk tea and freshly baked bread, and placed the coffee, milk tea and bread in front of the guests.

Today’s dinner at the Old Desi Restaurant was arranged by the British Consulate. It was a formal dinner that was served slowly so that the guests could chat while eating. After everyone had a piece of bread to fill their stomachs, Consul Aliguo did not say anything else (he was afraid that the French and Americans would get upset and start fighting), and got straight to the point.

“According to the intelligence obtained by the British Consulate, a Taiping Army of about 20,000 people, led by Luo Yaoguo, the King of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, is besieging Dantu, the capital of Zhenjiang Prefecture. In addition, the outer city of Jiangning Prefecture has been confirmed to have been breached by the Taiping Army. Although the whole city is still resisting, it should not be able to hold out for too long. Shanghai is also likely to be attacked by the Taiping Army in a month!”

At this point, Consul Aliguo turned his gloomy eyes to Luo Yaoguo and Wu Jianzhang: “Lord Luo, Lord Wu, how are you going to defend Shanghai?”

Wu Jianzhang glanced at Luo Yaoguo, who was sipping a cup of milk tea. When he heard Aliguo’s question, he put down the milk tea in his hand and frowned, “Mr. Consul, my plan is to build a stronghold and fight a stupid battle, which means to adopt a simple fortress defense war, with the goal of only defending Shanghai County, the concessions, and the ports.”

“Lord Luo, your plan cannot win you victory!” Frenchman Pierre immediately raised an objection, “If you want to win, you have to attack!”

“If we want to attack, we need enough European-style troops!” Luo Yaoguo shook his head and said, “But I only have a few thousand poorly trained recruits, a small number of foreign guns and cannons, and insufficient ammunition. The navy is almost empty. The number and quality of officers are not enough. We are simply not capable of launching a large-scale attack!”

“But your enemies are inferior to you in all other aspects except that they have more people!” Captain Pierre argued.

“But they have this!” Luo Yaoguo had just seen the “Great Book of Prophecy” on the table. “Although he never publicly releases prophecies related to China’s domestic affairs, if he can accurately predict what is happening in Europe and America, then I have reason to believe that he knows about any military deployment I have taken! When I fought him, he had no battlefield fog, and he knew everything about me.”

It’s rare that Luo Yaoguo doesn’t fool people!
Luo Yaoguo knew everything about Luo Xueyan. The difficulty of Luo Xueyan defeating Luo Yaoguo could be said to be hell level!
There was dead silence in the box!
The “Great Book of Prophecy” did come true. A charlatan in the mountainous area of ​​western China, who theoretically should not even know who Napoleon III and Eugenie were, was able to clearly predict several months in advance what kind of wedding they would hold, when and where!
In fact, a few months ago, Aliguo, Wade, Aitong, Pierre, Ma Hui and others didn’t know who Eugenie was?

The prophecies recorded in the “Great Book of Prophecy” are more than just this one! I don’t know if they will be fulfilled one by one in the next few months? I really can’t imagine when that happens!

Seeing that the foreign officials were speechless, Luo Yaoguo said solemnly: “Now I have a defense plan that relies on the outer fortresses of Songjiang and Taicang to consume the Taiping Army, and then use the wooden walls, trenches and fortresses in the west of Shanghai to inflict heavy damage on the Taiping Army, contain them to the west of Shanghai County, and ensure the safety of the county, concessions and ports. It’s just that I still lack the troops, artillery, fortresses, trenches and wooden walls to implement this plan!
If I want to hold on to Shanghai for a long time, I also need to build gun manufacturing and repair factories, cannon foundries, shipyards, gunpowder factories and other Western-style factories in Shanghai that can provide weapons and ammunition for my army. In addition, I also need a military academy that can train army officers!
For this, I need sincere help!”

Lord Luo Xueyan needs a lot of help!

Aitong and Ma Hui both turned their heads to look at Aliguo – although there is the principle of unity among the great powers, the real leader is still the British Empire!
“But what can we get from it?” asked Aliguo.

“First,” Luo Yaoguo said, “If I don’t fight the devil, you will have to fight the devil unless you are willing to give up the market and privileges you have worked so hard to get! And it is definitely better for you to support me in fighting than for you to do it yourself.

Second, as long as I can hold Shanghai, you may have a port of entry into the vast market ruled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Looking at the current situation, it is probably difficult for the Qing court to maintain its rule in southern China. A situation of confrontation between the north and the south is very likely to occur! Don’t you want to enter the wealthy southern Chinese market? Don’t you need a good port under the control of a friend?

Please believe me, your investment in Shanghai and Shanghai New Army will bring you huge returns. This will be the most wonderful deal! “

(End of this chapter)