Chapter 508 King Wu said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to squeeze onto the New World’s table!

The floating ice in the bay of Vladivostok was smashed by the bow of the steam gunboat, and eight billowing black smoke stirred the iron-gray clouds in the sky. Zuo Zongtang held the sword given by Emperor Xianfeng at his waist, and glanced at the “Great Wall Will Never Fall” flag on the port fort – under the brand new military flag, a regiment of Taiping officers and soldiers under Yu Wanqing had entered the position, and 18 coastal defense cannons imported from England and France were ready for battle!

When Zuo Zongtang launched the Vladivostok Uprising, the British and French fleet, which had a total of 30 ships (8 of which were steamships), did not stay in the northern military port to wait for the northwest wind, but hid in the warm and comfortable Japanese port of Nagasaki, where there were many beautiful girls, to “avoid the cold.” According to the plan, the British and French fleet should arrive at the port in early May of the Gregorian calendar, when the floating ice in the port of Vladivostok completely disappeared. Then they would take part of Zuo Zongtang’s troops to the north to attack the Petropavlovsk Fortress on the Kamchatka Peninsula!

However, this group of “cold-fearing” foreigners ended their vacation in Japan early. On the tenth day after the change of flag in Vladivostok Port, they aggressively entered the port that was already under the complete control of Zuo Zongtang.

“Woo—”

The flagship of the British-French fleet, the Rage, blew the whistle, and twenty side guns turned to the shore defenses. The neatly dressed British Admiral James Stirling leaned on a gold-plated telescope, and the lens reflected the bright yellow flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fluttering in the cold spring wind of Vladivostok.

“Oh my God, what’s going on? Isn’t Vladivostok a port of the Qing Dynasty? How come the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s flag was hung overnight?” Rear Admiral Charles Rieu de Genouy, commander of the French Far East Fleet, walked around anxiously, the deck trembling slightly with the tapping of his leather boots. “I hope the internal strife among the Chinese will not affect our plan to attack the Russians in the north. The war on the Crimean Peninsula is not going well, and London and Paris are in urgent need of encouraging news!”

Admiral James Stirling, the commander-in-chief of the British East India and China Fleet, put down his telescope, exhaled a breath of white air, and said to the French Rear Admiral beside him: “The Chinese have hoisted a signal flag to welcome us to dock. It seems there is still room for negotiation.”

Rear Admiral Genui still seemed a little anxious: “I’m afraid the Russian troops in the Petropavlovsk Fortress on the Kamchatka Peninsula are already on high alert! We originally hoped to attract the main force of the Russian army in the Far East to the Heilongjiang River, but now the Qing Dynasty is in chaos and can no longer exert pressure on the Russian army in the Heilongjiang River direction. Muravyov already has enough troops to strengthen the defense of the Petropavlovsk Fortress.”

“Don’t think too much about it,” the elderly British admiral put away his telescope, looked at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Governor’s procession that had appeared on the dock, and took out a cigar and a pack of yellow phosphorus matches from his pocket. He lit the cigar, took a long puff, and then blew out a puff of smoke, blinding his eyes. “When we get ashore, let’s hear what Zuo Zongtang has planned.”

The cast iron gangway slammed heavily onto the dock. Admiral Sterling, holding a cigar in his mouth and puffing white smoke, strode down his flagship. He suddenly stopped and looked at Zuo Zongtang, who had changed into the court dress of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and was coming to greet him.

“Mr. Zuo, what should I call you?” Sterling spoke in English. Li Taiguo, who had just been transferred from the British Embassy in Shanghai, immediately translated his words into Chinese Mandarin with a Cantonese accent.

Zuo Zongtang clasped his fists and grinned, “I am now the governor of Liaodong, Jilin, Heilongjiang and other places of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and my title is Zuo Tianhou.”

Zuo Zongtang also brought with him a translator hired from Shanghai, and his speech soon became fluent English.

Admiral Sterling shook hands with Zuo Zongtang and said with a smile, “Then I must congratulate you. You are now a marquis of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Are the series of cooperation agreements we reached before still valid?”

Zuo Zongtang smiled bitterly, and said with regret: “Your Excellency, the previous cooperation agreement was signed between the Qing Dynasty, Britain and France. Now I am a minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Of course, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is also a friend of Britain and France, but the conditions for cooperation between the two sides need to be renegotiated.”

“What?” Admiral Stirling’s face darkened. “Your Excellency, what else do you want to talk about? We, Britain and France, have already given you so many benefits. Your greed will make you lose the support of Britain and France!”

Zuo Zongtang waved his hands quickly, with a wry smile on his face: “No, no, it’s not me, it’s His Royal Highness the King of Wu. This is not the place to talk, please come to my camp to talk.”

The copper brazier in the meeting room of the naval port was crackling. Zuo Zongtang lifted the lid of the Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain bowl, letting the bitter aroma of Wuyi rock tea dilute the cigar smell in the room. Across the long sandalwood table, Admiral Stirling and Rear Admiral Genouy just kept smoking cigars. Zuo Zongtang picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of the boiling hot tea. He smiled and said to the two slightly irritated British and French naval generals: “Lord Stirling, Lord Genouy, His Royal Highness the King of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has only made one request, that is, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom must squeeze onto the poker table of the New World!”

“Your Excellency the Marquis should know this.” Sterling spoke in English, his fingertips running across Alaska on the map, “Russia’s territory in the New World is just a barren land covered with ice and snow and is not of much value! If you want it, you can bring it up at the peace conference after the victory of the war!”

Rear Admiral Genouy’s French was full of sarcasm: “His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is really ambitious.” He deliberately emphasized the word “ambition”, “But he forgot one thing, only by winning the war can you sit at the table and eat!”

Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly: “We, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, cannot compare with you, Britain and France. You are the great powers, but we are not qualified to be called the great powers. When we defeat Russia, there may not be a seat for King Wu at the celebration banquet. So King Wu wants to get the most important thing first!” He shook out a yellow silk decree from his sleeve, “King Wu’s decree clearly states that as long as you can send our soldiers to the Aleutian Islands and the Alexander Archipelago, we will send troops to help you capture the Petropavlov Fortress!”

His eyes slid across the faces of the British admiral and the French rear admiral. “Time is running out. There is no need to report to London or Paris. Let’s act immediately. In the name of attacking the Aleutian Islands and the Alexander Archipelago to divide the Russian forces, how about sending a battalion to land in each of them? Just one battalion!”

Admiral Stirling and Rear Admiral Genouy looked at each other.

Luo Yaoguo and Zuo Zongtang had a really good time! If they wanted to inform Paris and London, they would not be able to capture the Petropavlovsk Fortress this year! If they wanted to capture the fortress as scheduled, they would have to send two battalions of the Taiping Army to the Aleutian Islands and the Alexander Archipelago.

The Russian garrisons on the two islands can be ignored. The two battalions of the Taiping Army will surely succeed. What do you call this? It’s a fait accompli!
And the Anglo-French coalition certainly could not get them out of the Aleutians and the Alexander Archipelago before the war with the Russians was over. When the war was over, I don’t know whether it was 1856 or 1857, or even 1858!

By that time, the Taiping Army in the Aleutian Islands and the Alexander Archipelago would have already built fortresses and stockpiled food. If we wanted to drive them away, it would probably take several months to slowly besiege London and Paris, which had just finished a long war. Would they have the time to do that?

Seeing that the two foreigners were silent, Zuo Zongtang smiled and said, “Don’t think too much, you two. If you think too much, you won’t be able to accomplish anything! The most important thing now is to defeat the Russians. Your two countries have tried their best. The only one who can help is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. And the King of Wu doesn’t want much now, just two archipelagos, no, two islands, one is Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Islands, and the other is Chigchaf Island in the Alexander Archipelago. As long as you help me send the people up, you don’t have to worry about anything else!”

He patted his chest and said, “As for that Petropavlovsk Fortress, leave it to me. I will send out 10,000 troops right away. Even if it means a sea of ​​blood and corpses, I will help you take it down. Once you take it down, I will leave it to you!”

Zuo Zongtang particularly emphasized “leave it to you”, which not only reassured the two foreign devils, but also reflected Luo Yaoguo’s true intention. The leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not want the Petropavlovsk Fortress now. It would be best to leave this hot potato to Britain and France to guard!
As dusk fell, two troop transport ships spewed black smoke into the naval port. Zuo Zongtang stood at the observation post on the top of Signal Hill, watching the two battalions of Yu Wanqing’s “combined battalion” that had been ready long ago line up to board the ships.

“General, the British and French are very efficient this time. They reached an agreement in the morning and sent out troops in the evening.” Han Yulin, the commander of his personal guards, came up to him and said with a smile, “If the King of Wu knew about this, he would definitely praise you for your ability to get things done!”

Zuo Zongtang exhaled white air, rubbed his palms and said: “That will come at a price. My troops will have to go to that damn place in Kamchatka Peninsula to help them gnaw at the Russian fortress. Even if we can take it, it will cost the lives of one or two thousand brothers!”

“It’s worth it!” Han Yulin’s eyes glowed with enthusiasm. “I heard from the brothers from the Japanese diocese that now several thousand people leave Shanghai every month and go to the west coast of the New World via Japan. There will be even more in the future. In less than ten years, there will be three million Taiping Heavenly Kingdom people on the west coast!”

By this time, the boarding was over. The two steam troop transports on the dock sounded their departure whistles. Zuo Zongtang turned around and said loudly to the soldiers behind him: “The left and right brigades will have extra meals tonight, and they will follow me to Kamchatka tomorrow!”

(End of this chapter)