For hundreds of years, in the British Empire, it was London that made laws for others to follow. In March 1899, London, the capital of Great Britain, received for the first time a decision from the Imperial Parliament in Victoria.

Some of these laws have been controversial, such as the fact that religious schools are no longer allowed to receive government subsidies, and only public schools and some private schools can be subsidized. In addition to this, there is the Environmental Protection Law, which is an edict that almost copied the environmental law of the Republic of China. Greening should be carried out in mountainous areas, on both sides of rivers, and in water sources, so as to maintain water and soil. These decrees undoubtedly touched the traditional powers of the aristocracy, landlords, capitalists, churches, etc., and were passed through fierce parliamentary struggles.

The Labor Protection Act and the National Pension Act have received a lot of recognition. Both laws are also known as plagiarism, and the labor protection law provides for an eight-hour workday. The National Pension Act provides for individuals and businesses to contribute to workers' pensions, to pay pensions to British subjects at the age of 70, and to receive food stamps after the age of 55 for British subjects who participate in pension schemes.

"According to this method, won't we become a communist party in the future?" The bureaucracy of Great Britain was extremely unhappy to criticize these laws, and many of them agreed with this criticism, and most of those who were silent were those who supported them.

Criticism is criticism, and the British civil service has no courage to deliberately fail to implement it. As soon as the meeting started, it was a day, and when the meeting was over, the civil servants would meet to go out for dinner and drink. Outside, it was drizzling, and officials took their umbrellas to the subway station and then hopped on the latest electric vehicles and headed to different destinations. Depending on the destination, the goal is to provide a hotel with a lot of character.

The British Parliament moved to Victoria, but the capital of the United Kingdom was still London. However, everyone knows what is going on, and the official level of the embassy in London of the Republic of China is actually the personnel of the consulate. 'Ambassador' Hu Zhiqiang was in a car to a newly opened restaurant, where a deputy secretary of the British Foreign Office asked him to dinner.

When he first arrived in England, Hu Zhiqiang felt that London was the urban-rural junction of Nanjing. Over the years, he feels that there have been a number of positive changes in London. In recent years, for example, slums have been demolished and six-storey apartments have been built. Although the efficiency of building houses by the British seemed to be outrageously slow in the eyes of the people of the Republic of China. However, these houses have been sold, and they are selling quite well. There are plans and demolitions in the urban area, and the original sheep intestine road has not been built into a ten-lane main road like the Republic of China, but has finally become a six-lane road. London can be upgraded from a rural-urban area to a common residential area.

The newly built houses also have the concept of street houses, and a large number of newly opened stores are engaged in the food and beverage business. When I arrived at the agreed shop, not long after I sat down, the waiter came in with a large tray. Looking at the food on the tray, Hu Zhiqiang felt like he was back in college. At that time, various universities in Nanjing spontaneously formed catering gathering places with students as the target of their pockets, and Hu Zhiqiang became popular when he was in school. There is a theory that this food was proposed by Governor Wezedu. There are so many such gimmicks that college students don't believe it. Limited to the shriveling of the pockets, what everyone wants is to satisfy their cravings with good quality and low price.

And what appears in front of me is undoubtedly such a thing, but the British chef divides the bones more finely, and does not need to break the bones by hand like Hu Zhiqiang when he was a poor student. Picking up a ribbed backbone, Hu Zhiqiang took a bite full of nostalgia. Then he froze, the smell really evoked memories of his slumber. The meat was stewed badly, and the sauce was brushed on the outside and then roasted over low heat. This taste is the same as the taste of the 'beard' family in the dozen or so big pelvic bones next to the school back then, with this skill, the owner of the 'beard' family is just three yuan more than others for a large pelvis.

"I think the food here is very special." This was stated by the deputy minister of the British Foreign Office.

Hu Zhiqiang nodded in agreement, the British Yankee's meals have really improved a little in recent years. The first is because of the large influx of food from the Republic of China into Britain, and the second is that the price of British meat has dropped significantly. With a lot of serious meat, less and less of those strange foods are being taken out. The British's imitation ability is not bad, the fried sweet potato fries from the Republic of China, the British can also achieve the crispy skin on the outside and the soft and sweet on the inside.

No need to talk nonsense, after the waiter brought a large glass of beer, the two first ate and drank a large portion of pork backbone to satisfy their hunger, and then ordered a large portion of grilled cod and fried sweet potato fries, and the conversation officially began.

"Germany has already clamored to send troops to fight in Hungary." The British deputy minister said with a large glass full of beer.

"Hmm." Hu Zhiqiang responded. Austrian government forces have been battered in the last two months of war, with war correspondents initially calling the defeat a 'shameful defeat'. Recently, war correspondents have switched words, calling the victory of the Hungarian Red Army an 'incredible victory'. Generally speaking, it means to fall through the glasses. Hu Zhiqiang himself may not have been completely optimistic about the Hungarian Red Army at first, and the result of destroying 100,000 enemies did make people feel that something was wrong.

"Germany has declared that it is going to send troops." The British deputy minister said after taking a sip of beer.

This news was no secret in the diplomatic realm, Austria was so virtuous that the young Wilhelm II felt that he had found an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the German Empire, and had declared that he was ready to reinforce Austria in the fight against banditry. Hu Zhiqiang did not make any response, he wanted to see what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of the British Foreign Minister.

The British vice-minister did not make any fuss, he made a judgment, "Perhaps France, Russia, and Italy will agree on dealing with Hungary, and Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire will have their own choices." ”

Hu Zhiqiang nodded slightly after hearing this, in addition to the Ottoman Empire, the sick man of Europe, who was still considering maintaining neutrality, the two camps of France, Russia, Italy and Germany and Austria have indeed been considering establishing an alliance recently. On the map, the territory of the Ottoman Empire divided Europe into two parts. France, Spain, Italy to the west, and Russia to the east. Although both Russia and Austria were eyeing the Ottoman Empire, the sick man of Europe, on the Balkan issue, the Ottoman Empire's great enemy was Russia, and it was possible to ease the situation with Austria.

Since the British had an explanation, Hu Zhiqiang did not pretend to be profound, and he asked: "France, Russia, Italy, do they have their own ideas about Hungary?" ”

The British Foreign Minister replied: "These three countries have proposed that they will probably support Hungary's independence from Austria-Hungary if they can accede to their terms." ”

Hu Zhiqiang felt unhappy for a while, and the so-called conditions were easy to understand. It's probably cutting the land and joining the so-called bullshit pact. Hungary's geographical position was like a knife in the belly of Austria, and once Hungary joined the French, Russian, and Italian bloc, the territories of these three countries could be connected, and Germany and Austria-Hungary, which divided Europe in two, became enemies on three sides. Thinking of this, Hu Zhiqiang asked in a tone that was not particularly friendly, "You don't think I'm a big man in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, do you?" ”

The British Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs smiled: "No, no, we don't want you to do anything, I just can't help but want to tell you that there is such a thing." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China is unpredictable, and I personally would like to see how the Republic of China will deal with this problem. ”

Everything that needs to be said has been said, and the topic of the two quickly changes to a light-hearted topic. The two sides had a profound exchange of experience in eating meat, and both agreed that the food at the reception was very good, and gnawing meat bones like now is still the most enjoyable and satisfying way. Recalling the days of youth and youth when it seemed that they could never get enough to eat, the two middle-aged people sighed that their appetite was really bad now.

After a few beers, the British Foreign Minister couldn't help but say: "Now that the poor people in Britain have gone to North America, those who stay in Britain can finally eat meat freely." In the past, the empire had taken North America too lightly. ”

Hu Zhiqiang was very unimpressed by this, and the meat eaten by the upper and middle class people who remained in Britain was not obtained by the 'poor' in North America by the hard work of raising livestock. Both the British upper class and the European upper class are the same discipline, and they have never recognized the contribution of the productive forces to the development of society. The vast and sparsely populated North America provided the means of production to the poor in England, and the labor force of these poor people was fully utilized to produce more products. If it weren't for the special circumstances, the upper echelons of Britain probably wouldn't have given these poor people the slightest means of production.

Of course, Hu Zhiqiang knew that these words could not be said to the British upper echelons under any circumstances. It's not that they don't understand, it's that they feel angry from the bottom of their hearts when they hear it.

When he returned to the embassy, Hu Zhiqiang sent a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the latest news, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly compiled the news it had recently received from various sources. Judging by the overall intelligence, the Foreign Office felt that the British had provided only a small part of the information. France, Russia, and Italy may have plans to unite, but they have not yet decided on plans to form a military alliance. Once a military alliance is formed, it means that war between the two sides is completely inevitable. At least at this stage, Germany is the only European power that has completed the actual exercise of general mobilization.

The contradictions of various countries are listed in the analysis room, and no matter what interests these countries use to arrange and combine, it is really impossible to find a reasonable logical chain that can make what the British say self-consistent. In this case, the analysis room made adjustments to the parameters, and when the condition of 'the British are also lying' was added to the whole system, several logical chains appeared.

By now, the most plausible logical chain was that France, Russia, and Italy all hoped that Hungary would defeat Germany, preferably inflicting heavy losses on Germany. The three coalitions could then join forces to put pressure on Hungary, which had also been battered. The dominant Triple Alliance faced Germany, Austria and Hungary, which suffered great attrition internally, and this was the most reasonable choice. If the basis of the strategy of the three countries is that the Republic of China will support Hungary at any cost, this idea is the most likely to be realized.

The analysis department of the Republic of China was trying to calculate, and the intelligence department of the German staff was also nervously judging the future situation. Because of the large number of observers sent, the German Army almost saw with its own eyes how the Hungarian Red Army defeated the Austrian government forces.

When the old and rotten and rigid use of the Austrian government army against the Hungarian Red Army's mobile and nimble small-scale movement warfare, the Austrian government army was like a mud cow into the sea, melting little by little under waves of attacks from all directions. Realizing that something was wrong, the Austrian army began to adopt the mode of holding the key points with large forces, and as a result, the railway was continuously sabotaged by the Hungarian troops, and the troops were not allowed to move in brigades. At this time, the strength advantage of the Austrian government army was greatly weakened, and even a small Hungarian army could lead the Austrian government army several times its size.

Such maneuverable tactics were not just used for harassment, and when the Austrian government forces were physically and mentally exhausted, the small Hungarian troops suddenly gathered several times the strength of the local Austrian army on the local battlefield and surrounded them. When the Austrian army began to carry out a centripetal assault on the besieged troops, the Hungarian troops surprisingly adopted the tactics of encircling the point to send reinforcements, annihilating the main force of the Austrian army that came to the rescue in the field with superior forces, and then marched away.

The Austrians looked down on the Hungarians, and the Germans looked down on the Austrians. The Wehrmacht still ridiculed the Hungarians, but in their hearts they regarded them as formidable opponents. At the time of its establishment, the German General Staff was the most 'trendy' military organization in the whole of Europe. Even after 40 years, the organization has not reached the point of ossification. Therefore, after analyzing the tactics of the Hungarians, the General Staff believed that if it was the first time that Germany engaged this Hungarian army, it would probably be more than lucky.

The German General Staff did have a desire to fight the Hungarians, but the Austrian government showed signs of reluctance at this time. The war lasted only two months, and if they wanted to continue the war, they had to borrow money. What's worse is that the 100,000 troops that were annihilated were not killed, the Hungarians released the Austrian soldiers after some brainwashing and education, but the middle and senior officers, as well as the junior officers of noble background, were taken away by the Hungarian rebels. These officers were the real core of the Austrian army, and the loss of these men was something that the Austrian government could not afford.

Moreover, the German General Staff also had to consider the attitude of France, what if France suddenly launched a surprise attack on Germany when the German forces were trapped in Hungary. This is something that the two wolves are afraid of. On second thought, Germany found that the only way to solve the problem was to make diplomatic efforts, in addition to mobilization.

This opinion was sent to Austria and was lost without a response. The German General Staff could only be depressed, although they boasted of being the first in Europe, they were not arrogant enough to point fingers at the Austrian Emperor.

This strange state of affairs continued, and in the two months from March to May, apart from the Austrian government troops who had to withdraw from Hungary, the only news that Slovakia had declared its independence from Austria-Hungary and formed a federation with Hungary probably occurred.