After the New Year, it is the New Year, and on the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, the Xiao family's mansion in the Tanggu Special Industrial Zone has been lively.

Since the morning, the sound of firecrackers has not stopped, and the maids who came out and went in were busy with their heels not touching the ground. The large kitchen in the front yard opened a running water mat, the aroma of frying and cooking spread in the wind, and the recruits on duty at the door, as well as engineers from Europe and officers of the new army, who were hungry and who came in to eat casually.

All the doors and windows were pasted with couplets, and even the dead trees without leaves were covered with fake flowers woven with silk.

The maids and servants all put on brand-new satin cotton jackets, and the old shopkeeper Fan Yao was big enough, and as long as he did a good job in the first lunar month, everyone would be given three times the monthly silver. At this time, the door of the entire Xiao family's mansion exploded, and in order to let the prime minister have a good year, everyone was busy and crazy.

Where is the little emperor of Tongzhi still half an emperor now, the dragon robe has also taken off and changed into the clothes worn by ordinary people, under the protection of Ermao and several internal guards, he is playing all day long, and the firecrackers and fireworks are endless.

Xiao Lotian seems to want to make up for all the childlike fun that the little emperor has lost for ten years, and let him study for two hours every day, and the rest of the time is to play, as long as there is no danger, then whatever.

And Xiao Letian also strictly ordered everyone not to bow down to the little emperor, he just wanted the emperor to descend from the clouds to the world, only a down-to-earth emperor can truly understand the imperial mental skills that Xiao Letian taught him.

Not only was the Xiao family full of lively people, but Tanggu City, which had lifted the threat of war, was also plunged into a sea of joy at this moment. Under Xiao Letian's efforts, the dead and injured people in Tanggu were all given generous pensions, and the imperial court actually compensated two hundred taels of silver for one life, and even the injured were compensated by different Cheng dù.

This is rare in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty, and it has never been heard of the Eight Banners soldiers having to pay money for killing Han people, and isn't a Han people's life worth a donkey? After the war, it is considered the benevolence of the imperial court to be able to compensate some grain.

The people of Tanggu were already rich under Xiao Letian's rule, and with the compensation from the imperial court being paid quickly, the entire city quickly came out of the pain of the war, and people's faces were filled with laughter.

Fresh goods from all over the world began to be pulled to Tanggu one after another, dried and fresh fruits and low-priced rice from the South Seas, air-dried seafood and sugar brought from the Ryukyus, and countless Western goods brought by foreign merchants filled the entire market.

Not only that, but there were also a lot of businessmen from Japan and North Korea, although they didn't have any good goods, but they brought countless women, and dozens of custom shops opened under the end of the year, which made the lustful men addicted.

Business prosperity drives the prosperity of all industries, Xiao Lotian didn't actually do anything, he just gave businessmen at home and abroad a fair opportunity to do business, and what was returned to Xiao Lotian was a prosperous port city with a population of nearly 100,000.

The whole city is full of cheering people, the sound of firecrackers everywhere, and if you are late at night, you will find that the fireworks will not stop until dark, and it will not be over until 3 o'clock in the morning.

This is Xiao Letian's special zone, this is the concession of Prime Minister Xiao Cheng, and the imperial court can only send officials here symbolically, and it is always the man standing on the ocean who is left and right.

The French frigates Roma and Lyra have been repaired, and now these two battleships are the largest tonnage warships in Xiao Letian's navy, among which the Roma has the lightest damage and the youngest ship, so it has naturally become Xiao Letian's flagship.

At this time, there was already floating ice in the sea off Tanggu, and a large amount of sea ice appeared in the Bohai Inland Sea in winter, which was very dangerous for ships to sail at this time, but Tanggu has now become the largest commercial port in the north, and many merchant ships come here to trade even in winter.

It is not allowed to form a professional sea ice clean-up team in Tanggu, using explosives, iron tongs and other tools to break the ice every day to ensure the smooth passage of the waterway.

Xiao Lotian was in the captain's room of the Roma at this time, with a warm brazier, exquisite dishes, and precious Bordeaux wines...... And a very angry face.

Sitting opposite Xiao Letian was the French minister Goldmi in Dongjiaomin Lane, who dared to come to see Xiao Letian before the New Year, for the sake of those French prisoners in his hands.

When Goldmi had just come to Tanggu, as soon as he heard that Xiao Lotian was going to meet him on the Roma, this Frenchman's big-nosed curly hair was about to stand on end, how could a noble Frenchman accept such a shame.

Just when he was noisily asking Xiao Letian to get off the ship, Xiao Letian on the deck made him completely lose his temper with a word: "Either we will talk secretly on the Roma, or I will invite the ministers of Britain, the United States and Russia to talk together, and you can choose the two yourself!"

Goldmi's order was to negotiate with Xiao Letian secretly, sign a secret agreement without alarming the international community, and quickly solve the problem of prisoners.

Now that Napoleon III's ruling foundation has been somewhat loosened, and the international environment is not as friendly to France as it was in the first few years, Britain, which controls the sea power, has already felt the threat of France, and he is now showing signs of supporting Prussia to contain France.

Napoleon III faced such a predicament and encountered such a defeat in East Asia, he was already in a dilemma both internally and externally, and the confidence of the domestic bourgeoisie in him had been shaken.

For the emperor, the top priority is to immediately reach a reconciliation with Xiao Letian, immediately quell the impact of this failed expedition, and first devote his energy to the country and stabilize the foundation of his own rule is the most important thing.

Now Xiao Lotian has a lot of bargaining chips in his hands to negotiate with France, the envoy Molière counts one, the captain of the Lyra, Kraft, the captain of the Roma, and Molde are also locked up in Xiao Letian's cell.

Not only that, Xiao Letian also had more than 4,000 French soldiers and hundreds of grassroots officers in his hands, all of whom were his prisoners.

France could not afford to leave these soldiers behind, the French who had experienced the Revolution were naturally fond of rebelling against the imperial power, and if Napoleon III had not cared about the lives of more than 4,000 people, then it was foreseeable that there would be strict demonstrations in France.

Xiao Lotian just ate the weakness of Napoleon III, so that he could put pressure on Minister Goldmie at will, and negotiating on the Roma was just an appetizer, and there were more conditions that the French could not bear.

"Your Excellency, as a master of Western studies, I think you should understand that negotiating on such a warship is an insult to us French, aren't you afraid that our Emperor will send an expeditionary force in a fit of rage?"

"The Roma is our French frigate, you must return it to us, and those soldiers, you must release them unconditionally!"

Xiao Letian looked at the idiot-like Goldmie and smiled coldly: "Your Excellency, it seems that you have no sincerity in negotiating at all? Or do you think I am as easy to deceive as the Manchu royal family? Or do you think that the French army can scare me?"

"Of course I'm afraid of the powerful French army, but I have some doubts, how many troops can France send now, the warships in the Indian Ocean and South Asia have mobilized Molière, where else can you mobilize troops besides the Mediterranean and Atlantic fleets?"

"I also admire the French army very much, after all, I have fought with them, but how do you move them? How can you put troops into Asia without a navy?"

Goldmie roared angrily, "The fleet brought by Molière is only a small part of the powerful French navy, as long as our invincible Mediterranean Fleet and Atlantic Fleet set sail, your Ryukyu is just a rotten egg......"

Xiao Letian was not angry at all, waved his hand and smiled: "I understand, I understand, of course I understand! But I wondered, you have transferred most of the European forces to deal with me, what does Prussia think? What do the Russians think? What do the British think? Can you still hold your back door?"

"Far from it, there is already a little land force left in French India, right? If the British fleet blocks your ports in the name of suppressing bandits, will you French interests in India still be saved?"

"You!" the French minister was speechless, he didn't expect Xiao Lotian to understand the situation in Europe so clearly.

After a long silence, the French minister spoke, "Tell me your conditions, we don't need to quarrel!"

"Very good, happy ......" Xiao Letian drank a glass of red wine and said excitedly, "There are not many conditions, if you want these captives to live, you must first compensate me 50 million gold francs......"

"Secondly, you can't ask for our capture in the war, and in the end you must transfer Tahiti to the Ryukyus!"

Hiss...... The minister gasped, the first two conditions were okay, but he was really stunned by the last condition.

Tahiti, the French Polynesian Islands, is a group of 118 islands located northeast of New Zealand and south of Hawaii.

If this archipelago were in Xiao Letian's hands, he would be able to build a large naval base, which could influence South America to the east, and New Zealand and Australia to the west.

In Xiao Letian's plan, the rich resources of South America can be transferred here, and as long as the naval guns are under the control of the future navy, South America will definitely surrender.

Gold, silver, copper ...... These precious metals are the most lacking in China, and if such an economic lifeline can be opened, Xiao Letian's central bank plan can be carried out smoothly.

What's more, New Zealand and Australia are still British colonies, and they are absolutely barren land, and European criminals are exiled here.

After the Polynesian Islands and parts of Australia became Xiao Lotian's territory, he could go north to Hawaii, Saipan, Guam and the Marshall Islands, and as long as he had a strong fleet in hand, the Pacific Ocean was Xiao Lotian's inland sea.

This is not an impossible task, the United States has just ended the civil war and is in a period of recovery, and Hawaii was not annexed by the United States until 1898, and it is only 1866 now.

"My dear minister, The islands of Tahiti produce nothing more than pearls, corals, and tropical fruits, and are of no use to France except to supply the fleet a little...... It's just a piece of chicken ribs, don't be reluctant!"

Note: Yesterday there was an explosion in Tanggu, Xinjing was very surprised, the explosion site is more than 40 kilometers away from Xinjing's home, many people in the world have heard the explosion, it is really terrifying.

Such a disaster was never expected, but I hope that the deceased rest in peace, and that the state can dig deep into those responsible and give an explanation to the dead and the living.

The Great Qing Hidden Dragon has opened a new chapter, didn't you go to Xiao Letian first to take Tahiti, right? Polynesian Islands, the beautiful scenery is bubbling, hehe...... It's a pity that Xinjing has never been there, so I can only look at the photos and drool.

Seizing a base in the South Pacific, even if it has no military value, it is a good choice to leave a vacation ground for us in China, Xiao Lotian is about to start scourging the world, book friends, do you have any plans for the scourge?

Join the readership and write your plan for the scourge 116253076!