C2048 The barbarian king? (1/2)

Duke of Newcastle had a very bad impression of the Qing Dynasty. It was not only because of the seal, backwardness and the two battles, but more importantly, it was because of the barbarity of the Qing Dynasty.

The good impression that the British had of China's inheritance and of Marco Polo's travels vanished in the brutality that they witnessed over and over again.

In fact, the Duke of Newcastle did not want to accept this mission at all. In his mind, those barbarians were not worthy of such a high standard.

But at the same time, he knew that this diplomatic convention was destined to go down in history. In order to give the Queen this glory, he had to muster up his spirit to complete the mission.

So from the very beginning the Duke had come with a perfunctory attitude, and even he was opposed to the Queen using the Victory as a national treasure. However, when the two ships crossed paths with the Zhiyuan Warship, the Chinese salute still had 21 cannons, which made Duke of Newcastle very pleased, as he had gained a lot more points in one go.

Initially, the Duke did not want to get on the Zhiyuan Warship. He only wanted to accompany the guests on the Victory into the Thames River and casually walk around for a bit. Actually, according to the earliest practice arrangements, he should have gotten on the Zhiyuan Warship to accompany them throughout the journey.

If the guest was polite, the master would of course show some respect, and the old impression would disappear a lot. The Duke was extremely curious and felt that he should meet the little emperor and the head of the Chinese clan.

This time, it was indeed extraordinary. The little emperor was not as arrogant as the Eastern Emperor was rumored to be. On the contrary, he was unusually amiable and did not put on any airs.

Xiao Letian's entire body was releasing the aura of a scholar, his smile shining brightly.

”My God! Could it be that all the information that the Expeditionary forces brought back was wrong? ”Didn't they say that the politicians of the East are all fat pigs, greedy and stupid idiots, and that they are wild and conceited …”

”However, the Emperor and the Head of State in front of me didn't have any of those characteristics. Could it be that I've received a fake Emperor? And the false prime minister? ”

It was no wonder the Duke of Newcastle had such doubts in his heart, because the information that the Expeditionary forces had given him back in the past was not good at all. The details of how the Qing Dynasty tortured and killed envoys especially shocked the upper echelons of Europe.

At that time, the British and French combined forces had already captured the Da Gu Kou, but the allied forces still did not have any plans to attack the Beijing.

The other reason was that there was no need, the English and French did not want a military occupation of China, they did not have that much appetite, they only wanted the right to preach and the right to diplomacy, plus the three conditions of expanding the business circle.

It was just these three conditions.

That was why the allied army had sent Bashari with 39 envoys to Beijing to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, it was because of the issue of kowtowing that caused such a ruckus.

Not only did Ba Xia Li not see Emperor Xian Feng, but due to the arguments of him kneeling down, Qing Dynasty became furious and directly seized the envoy.

During the process of detention, Ba Xia Li and the rest were treated inhumanly. Seng Gelinqin sent his soldiers to kowtow towards Ba Xia Li until their foreheads started to bleed profusely.

On one side, Seng Gelinqin was forcing him to order his troops to retreat, but in the end, she could only helplessly reply that she was a special envoy, and didn't get the authority to order him to retreat.

The furious Seng Gelinqin allowed him to kowtow, and in the end, the Special Envoy who had his head smashed into pieces was thrown into the Ministry of Justice prison, where he continued to be tortured.