At the British Governor's Palace in Hong Kong, a group of leading British figures in the Far East are holding a meeting. Although Britain's most important position in the Western Pacific was the Malay Governor of Singapore, the Malay Governor also sent people to Hong Kong to attend the conference.

A group of British civilians and generals in charge of Far Eastern affairs discussed Wei Ze, the governor of the Guangfu Prefecture, who occupied Guangdong, and the Guangfu army led by Wei Ze.

"Did Wei Ze study in the United States?" That was a question posed by the participants. The British accent is the first half of the mouth, which is very different from the tone of the second half of the mouth in American English.

"Maybe he knows the American missionaries?" Other points were made.

Weeser has made it clear that he is an atheist himself, and that he wants to build an atheistic state. So he did not accept any missionaries to preach freely in China. A British naval officer said in a rather sarcastic tone.

The answer elicited a burst of laughter. In the absence of an extended discussion of the question by the British, it seemed to these British that it was in the eyes of these British Yankees that a rebel from a backward country would pretend to reject foreign missionaries in the face of the British Empire, which had conquered the whole world with his atheist position.

For more than half a century, wherever the British flag went, any enemy had nothing but defeat. Napoleon in France failed, and the rebel army in the United States attacked Canada, too. The British lobster soldiers not only entered Washington and burned down the U.S. office, but also pursued the U.S. ** team all the way to Utah.

The southern states of the United States were now firmly tied to the economic chariot of Britain. Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon I of France, who had fought with Britain, was now diplomatically turning to the arms of Britain. Together with Britain at this time, they fought Russia in the Crimea. Now in the news coming back from Europe, Russia can no longer withstand it, and the victory of the Anglo-French forces is almost certain.

The victory of this war meant that Ottoman Turkey, which had been the great enemy of Europe for hundreds of years, also completely bowed its head to Britain and kneeled and licked. In the Indian Ocean, there is already quite reliable information from the East India Company that the East India Company is preparing to depose the Mughal Emperor Bahadur? The title of Emperor of the Sand. This title of Indian emperor was of course taken over by the honorable Queen Victoria of England. It won't be long before the Queen of England will be Her Majesty.

Global expansion in the UK is in full swing now. In a place in the far east, Wei Ze, the leader of the rebel army, was unashamed to oppose the British takeover of the Canton Customs on the grounds that China's sovereignty was inviolable. British civil and military officials thought such actions were ridiculous.

"If we aim to raid Guangzhou and defeat the Guangfu army, how many troops will we need?" The British Governor of Hong Kong set out a very realistic goal.

The Liberation Army had considerable combat effectiveness, which the British did not deny. As a country capable of dominating the world, British civilians and military generals may be arrogant, but they are not stupid at all. When the Crimean War was in full swing, the British relied on more than 3,000 troops to fight against the Liberation Army in Weese's hands, and the British did not think that they could completely defeat the Liberation Army.

Even if the war is not lost, as long as the British army suffers heavy losses, the life of these civilian and military generals who started the war will not be easy. So there's no better thing to do than to hold off Weezer first. And Weeser was at least in business, not too annoying to the British.

"Since the Crimean War is coming to an end, 20,000 Anglo-French troops should be able to wipe out the Liberation Army. At the very least, we can get that Weeser to sign whatever agreement we want him to sign. "The commander of the Far Eastern Fleet made his point of view.

The Governor of Hong Kong was more sympathetic to the 20,000 Anglo-French troops, and he admired the use of the coalition forces. Unlike his uncle Napoleon I, Napoleon III of France, who became president of France through the Peasants' Party and was crowned Emperor of France in 1852, he was completely on his knees diplomatically and trying to keep up with Britain. The Crimean War was, in a sense, a nominee to Britain. He would certainly be very happy if the French emperor was given the opportunity to meddle in Asian affairs. At the same time, Britain could also get France to send troops and kill fewer British soldiers. So the governor said: "Your Excellency, if we blockade the coastal areas of Guangdong at this stage, we should be able to do it, right?" ”

"There is no problem!" The commander of the Far Eastern Fleet replied confidently.

"Then let's get the news out of the country." The Governor of Hong Kong said.

The group of people attending the meeting also nodded in agreement. The reason why they agreed with the Governor of Hong Kong was not that the Governor of Hong Kong had any special influence in the British Empire. But now that Britain has controlled Europe, suppressed the Americas, and mastered India, the area that Britain can still conquer is naturally China. If they can become the initiators of this war operation, they will naturally get their own benefits.

"Then the next thing we're going to talk to the Governor of Weeser is to let him completely open up the tobacco trade." The Governor of Hong Kong said with strong malice. This mention drew the laughter of the British Far Eastern military generals.

It has been more than ten years since the end of the First Rapian War, and Britain once thought that its own industrial products could completely open up the Chinese market. Reality taught them a lesson, China is fundamentally different from what the British once thought of as a situation. Ordinary Chinese people have no interest in British industrial products, and the only thing that can make a lot of money in China is the big cigarette.

Of course, the British side is very aware of the poison of this commodity to ordinary people, and they also know that the reason why the Chinese government banned the big tobacco may not really be that they must have trouble with the British. Even British officials admit that the big smoke is not only poisoning the ** of the Chinese, but also the soul of the Chinese. It's even a moral issue.

However, this realization will not make the British side stop this kind of trade, and the huge profits make the British from domestic policymakers to policy executors in the Far East have only one attitude, which is related to Britain's export profits, that is, to comprehensively expand Britain's big tobacco trade with China. As for the life and death of the Chinese, what does it have to do with the British?

When the Manchu rule in Canton was overthrown by Weese, the British believed that the Great Tobacco Trade, which had been strongly resisted by the Manchu government, would finally be loosened. Unexpectedly, Wei Ze's Governor's Governorate was far more powerful than the Manchu government in terms of administrative capacity and social control. Weeser did not touch the British, but carried out a bloody suppression of the guys who were engaged in the big tobacco trade in Guangdong. The smugglers were caught and executed. The Chinese businessman who opened the tobacco house was arrested and the tobacco house was sealed. The smokers were sent to the concentration camps for forced labor.

At the same time, Wei Ze's Guangfu Governor's Office vigorously publicized the dangers of smoking big cigarettes in the Guangdong areas they controlled, and also locked a group of heavy smokers in cages and organized the local people to watch their skinny appearance and the ugliness of their addiction to smoking. There are also various case propaganda on how the big tobacco addicts ruined their own lives and how they ruined their families.

Under such a severe crackdown, although British merchants were able to hoard large cigarettes in Guangdong, sales plummeted. The big tobacco merchants have long been clamoring for the British government to come forward to "reverse" the lawlessness of the Governor's Palace. It was this problem that the British military generals in the Far East had to solve.

Of course, the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet still had some doubts, "I see that Wei Ze's attitude is very firm, and he agrees to buy a certain amount of large cigarettes from a medicinal point of view." He took this attitude, and this thing is not easy to do. ”

The Governor of Hong Kong said with a smile: "Then let's ask Wei Ze to withdraw the discriminatory propaganda against Big Tobacco!" ”

As soon as such subtle words came out, the British military generals in the Far East burst into laughter again.

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