At the end of May 1859, Takehiro Enomoto, the Grand Commander of the Ezo Republic, who had purged his opponents, promulgated the "Outline for the Establishment of the Ezo Republic", establishing the first republic in the history of Japan. China then officially recognized the Republic of Ezo and signed a mutual assistance agreement with the Republic of Ezo.

As soon as the agreement reached Edo, the foreign minister of the Meiji government protested at the Chinese embassy. The Chinese embassy's answer was that "it is not Japan's turn to interfere in China's internal affairs by deciding whether to recognize the Republic of Ezo as China's internal affair." ”

After the puffed Japanese foreign minister left, in addition to reporting to the Meiji government of Japan, he also told the people around him. In this era of tenjutsu, the news of the naval battle in the Tsugaru Strait was known to the Meiji government for a long time, and through some diplomatic channels, the Meiji government finally judged that it was Chinese warships that fought the battle. New hatred and old hatred accumulated, and immediately a bomb was thrown at the Chinese embassy.

On June 3, the Chinese Embassy personnel were dispatched. After informing the Meiji government of Japan about the temporary return of the Chinese ambassador to Japan, China actually withdrew its ambassador. It can be regarded as the beginning of the enlightenment of Japan's Meiji government, which was in a hurry. But the Chinese ambassador had already boarded the ship at this time, and the Japanese did not dare to intercept the Chinese warship under any circumstances. They could only watch as the Chinese ambassador "left in a bad mood".

The news soon spread throughout the diplomatic circles of the embassies in Japan, and the ambassador of the British Embassy smiled happily at the afternoon tea party to the counselor: "This step is finally complete." ”

At this time, the British civil service system was quite well built, and the counselor was also the ambassador's assistant and "apprentice" in a sense, and the counselor could not fully understand the joy of the ambassador.

The British ambassador smiled and told the story of the operation behind the scenes of Britain as a whole.

At the instigation of the British minister, the ministers of various countries in Japan recognized the existence of the Republic of Ezo. This was a big deal, and as soon as the Republic of Ezo was recognized, the war between the Meiji government and the Republic of Ezo would become a war between two equal forces. At this time, the great powers can intervene in this war in a bright and open manner.

The Meiji government immediately sent a foreign minister to protest fiercely to the foreign powers, and the United States was the first to shrink, temporarily acknowledging that it was a civil war and selling the Kotetsu to the Meiji government. Britain and France, on the other hand, adopted delaying tactics, saying as much ambiguity as possible and not saying anything to the Meiji government in Japan. At the same time, he vigorously encouraged China to intervene in the war between the Meiji government and the Ezo Republic.

As a-stirring stick, the British actually played a lot of role in this matter. The British Empire first forced New China to recognize Britain's privileges over Japan, and then used the "return of the Spanish fleet to Asia" and the Dutch East Indies as bargaining chips to further weaken China's intervention in Japan.

At the heart of Japan's Meiji government were the Choshu and Satsuma domains, both of which had suffered under the Liberation Army, and both of them rejoiced when the British expelled China's ability to intervene in Japan. They even tried to offer the help of the British to abolish the border treaty signed between the Tokugawa shogunate and China. The Satsuma clan was particularly enthusiastic about this, completely forgetting how they begged the shogunate to help them solve the blockade of Kyushu by the Kosushi Navy.

Now, at the instigation of the British, China has unequivocally supported the Ezo Republic. Hokkaido, a deserted island, was not important to the British, and China did not dare to dominate Hakodate, and Hakodate's status as an international port has not changed.

China intervened to split Japan, and Japan would be firmly tied to the British station and become a bridgehead for Britain against China. As for China's control of the Ezo Republic, what can it do? It was just that the Meiji government of Japan felt the heavy pressure of war, and Japan, which had the pressure of war and began to arm itself, would be Britain's best assistant in the Far East. From the point of view of Britain, the more hostile the Japanese Meiji government is to China, the more Britain will be able to control the Japanese Meiji government. Even if it was 10,000 steps back, China killed Japan and conquered Japan. The subjugation of tens of millions of hostile Japanese would mean that China would consume terrible internal resources, and the weakening of China would in itself benefit Britain.

The counselor knows part of these things, and he doesn't know part of it. After all the content behind the bright side was penetrated, the counselor was very impressed by this technique. "Your Excellency, this is so subtle."

The ambassador looked at his "apprentice", who even unknowingly did well in many diplomatic talks. It's also time to tell him something more central. It is also the responsibility of the predecessor to raise a successor.

So the Counsellor quickly learned something new from the Ambassador.

Even if the Sino-Japanese conflict reached the point of full-scale war, Britain would not have to evacuate Japan. As long as they unite with the powers with interests in Japan to exert pressure on China, it will be possible to further divide Japan at that time, so that Britain can control Japan more effectively.

As long as it does not infringe on the interests of the great powers in a new region, any country that further opens up the new region and forces the local government to make greater concessions will be optimistic that the other powers will succeed and will even help. This is the basic principle of the unanimity of the great powers.

But when the interests of the great powers are damaged, whoever is the world hegemon can use the power in his hands to make the other powers finally obey the best interests of the world hegemon. The subordination of the nations other than the Great Powers and the subordination of the Powers to the Superior Powers is the core of the British version of the principle of unanimity among the Great Powers.

At the end of the speech, the British ambassador said solemnly: "As long as there is a huge fleet, Britain will stand in an invincible position in world diplomacy." Therefore, we must not be afraid in the face of war, let alone get involved in conflicts of no interest because of such power. The British Empire's policy of equilibrium was based on this foundation. ”

This remark made the counselor, who had accumulated considerable experience, feel empowered. As a diplomat, there are some things that don't need to be said so clearly, and being told the theory means that the counselor has been taken seriously, and while being taken seriously, he will naturally take on more diplomatic tasks. Opportunities and risks are double-edged swords. If the Counsellor is not able to excel in the next work, then the Ambassador's favor will become disappointing, and the Counsellor's possible bright future will only come to naught.

Realizing this, the counselor pondered for a while before saying: "I think China's withdrawal from the embassy is quite correct. ”

"Oh?" The meaning of the great use of encouragement responded.

The counselor analyzed a little unconfidently: "China has no intention of competing with the British Empire for Japan. Although the withdrawal at this time broke off diplomatic contact with Japan, even if they got closer to the Japanese Meiji government, it would only allow the Japanese Meiji government to gain more. Instead of this, it is better to evacuate the ambassador and do everything to help the Ezo Republic. If we need them back, they can ask us for more leverage. ”

The ambassador agreed with the Counsellor's analysis that what Britain had to do was to control the fate of Japan. Even concessions in the Dutch East Indies were partly in exchange for China's letting go in Japan. At most, the Dutch East Indies could influence China's province of Lanfang, and if the British coerced too much, China would really be able to fight with the British without knowing whether to live or die. The British government has already assessed this, and Britain will reap the results of the Crimean War at best. The result of the Crimean War was that Russia did not cede land and did not pay reparations, but simply abandoned its claims in the direction of Eastern Europe. For the Dutch East Indies, a ghost place that is far less valuable than Eastern Europe, China and Britain fought out of breath and suffered heavy losses. In addition to spending tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pounds sterling, Britain got China to give up its "unreasonable demands" to the Dutch East Indies. With the outcome of the Crimean War in front, the British Parliament would not accept such an option.

But Japan is different, and just by looking at the map, you can see that if you want to contain China, there is no better helper in the Far East than Japan. In any case, Britain was going to tie Japan to the British station and let Japan be used by the British. After all, Japan is a country with a population of 40 to 50 million, and it would be a shame if it could not be used.

Almost at the same time that the British minister was educating the counselor's apprentice, Wei Ze was also telling Zuo Zhidan about China's attitude towards Japan. "According to the superficial law of mining, there is coal and iron in the control area of the Ryukyu Republic, and I am sure you can understand what this means."

Hokkaido accounts for more than half of Japan's coal reserves and mining capacity, although Wei Ze does not know the scale and reserves of Muroran iron ore, but the shipbuilding industry needs special steel, Wei Ze knows that in the past, part of the special steel was imported from Muroran City, the "iron city" that rose in Japan with a prosperous iron industry. According to the boast of Muroran, they began to rise from 1907 at the latest. Weizer didn't believe that in 1907, Muroran, a ghost place in Hokkaido, could afford to use iron ore imported from abroad. It would be strange if there were no iron ore in the area, or even high-quality iron ore.

Zuo Zhidan can understand the significance of coal-iron complexes, which are now used in several large steel centers in China. Although Guangdong's coal-iron composite center is not a place with good resources now, Weize relied on overseas Hongji coal mines to support this steel center. What Zuo Zhidan didn't understand was the significance of the Ezo Republic having this steel center, so he could only answer according to his own understanding: "Dudu, there are few people in the Ezo Republic, and their per capita steel volume will be relatively high. ”

Now the Chinese leadership understands the meaning of per capita possession, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty had a population of four or five hundred million, and it looks like there are many things produced, but on average, it would be good if the people did not starve to death. This is only the production of grain, as for the per capita ownership of industrial products and the per capita ownership of steel, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was completely incomparable with Britain, and it was not for nothing that they lost to Britain.

"If the Ezo Republic has these, then the Japanese Meiji government will lose these, and as long as we control the Ezo Republic, it will be equivalent to a great decline in Japan's strength." Weese replied.

This answer surprised Zuo Zhidan, everyone is now accustomed to using foresight and a ten-year or even longer-term vision to understand Wei Ze's decision. But if you think about it carefully, in fact, the first criterion for Wei Ze to judge a thing is the present. A Chinese-controlled Ezo republic does have huge interests for China, but judging from the current interests, when the British-controlled Japan loses the opportunity to build a coal-iron complex, it is already a heavy loss for them.

"Between Japan and the Republic of Ezo, I think the Republic of Ezo has greater interests for us in China." Weeser finally came to a conclusion.