"Your Excellency, it's been a long time, and the last time I sat and talked to you face-to-face like this was several years ago." The British foreign minister said to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Xin. The two sat in a conference room at the British Embassy in Germany, with only two people. Compared with the noisy meetings of more than a dozen countries in the past few days, this meeting seemed much more deserted and calm.

Li Xin nodded, "It's been a long time. But I believe that as the hostilities between China and the UK gradually ease, there will be more and more such meetings. ”

The British Foreign Minister tasted the meaning of Li Xin's words, and then said in an unhappy tone: "Is this why Your Excellency asks about Britain's relations with European countries everywhere?" ”

Li Xinzhengse replied: "As a diplomat, it is also my duty to collect relations between countries. I'm sure the British side has done something similar, asking European countries what they think of China. I guess you wouldn't be fussed about this kind of thing, would you? ”

The British foreign minister did not make a fuss about this matter, because as the two most powerful countries in the world today, Britain has regarded China as its biggest strategic rival. Now that Britain has this kind of awareness, Britain will not find it inconceivable that China is trying to contain Britain.

"I have invited Your Excellency to come here to talk to you about cooperation in Africa." The British Foreign Minister said very bluntly.

It was originally a habit of the Chinese side to talk about cooperation when they met. Even if there is a war the next day, China will still talk about cooperation, and even if the war has already started, China will never shout, "I will kill you all!" "Instead, they will be very polite to say that after the war is over, we will continue to cooperate.

This time, the British simply copied China's diplomatic rhetoric, which sounded more classy.

"Can you tell us about Britain's aspirations in Africa?" Li Xin raised his own question.

The British foreign minister gave a brief introduction to Britain's idea, and they hoped that China would support Portugal, which Britain supported. European countries have been involved in Africa for hundreds of years, and hundreds of years ago, Europeans in Africa mainly captured blacks and sold them to the Americas as slaves. With the decline of the slave trade, many of Europe's coastal strongholds in Africa were gradually abandoned. European politicians at the beginning of this era repeatedly affirmed their opposition to the acquisition of colonies. Bismarck, for example, declared himself "not a colonialist" and likened the German colony to a blouseless Polish nobleman draped over a vest in a soft sable coat.

China intervened on the continent at a time when the idea of colonizing Africa was in its infancy, and it was King Leopold II of Belgium who acted earlier than China. The sharp confrontation between the Belgian and French expeditionary forces in the lower Congo River. In the midst of the Franco-Belgian conflict, the Portuguese also protested against Stanley's occupation of the mouth of the Congo River, which the Portuguese government claimed had rights to since the 15th century.

Seeing the profitability of the Congo River Valley, Britain took advantage of the Anglo-Portuguese alliance and concluded a treaty with Portugal: Britain recognized Portuguese sovereignty over the Congo River Banks, and Portugal guaranteed Britain the same commercial and shipping rights in the area as its own. The French government protested against the signing of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty, and Germany, which was at odds with Britain, immediately publicly supported France's note of protest. The United States also preferred this rich region to be controlled by a weaker Belgium.

The reason why German Prime Minister Bismarck was able to convene a world conference in Berlin with such a face was that France, Germany, and the United States basically agreed on the Congo issue, which forced Britain to renounce the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty and propose that an international conference should be convened to finally settle the Congo issue.

Now that the Congo question has become a question of how to divide Africa, the fermentation and expansion of the matter has completely exceeded the expectations of the British. When the British foreign minister learned that the Chinese foreign minister asked about the attitude of various countries towards the UK, he felt that the Chinese had ill intentions and wanted to take this opportunity to fan the flames behind the backs of other countries. But the British are British after all, and after hundreds of years of rich international relations, the British Foreign Office has come to a very counterintuitive view. It is not in China's interest to support other countries to quarrel with the British at this time. If China and the British join forces, they will be able to achieve the greatest benefits in this meeting.

The reason is simple: China is encouraging other countries to quarrel with Britain, and all China can achieve is to carve up the little interests of Africa with other countries. If China and Britain stand together, the stakes will be great. In Africa, the Chinese and British fleets can crush any country together. China does not even have to go into battle to threaten any country, as long as China can openly express its support for the British attitude and position, and openly support the Congo River plan proposed by the United Kingdom. France, Germany, and the United States, which are eyeing each other, have to carefully weigh the current situation. As long as Britain tears its face and drives the fleet out, these countries will have to kneel.

Based on this analysis of interests, the British Foreign Office believes that a negotiation with China can be conducted. With Britain's relationship with European countries, and with a history of bullying for hundreds of years, it is obviously impossible for Britain to form a European coalition against China. Even if the European countries agreed, they would only stick a knife in the back when Britain suffered a setback. Compared with European countries, the contradictions and conflicts between Britain and China are the smallest, and more importantly, China has shown sufficient reason and restraint in previous wars.

After saying his request, the British Foreign Minister looked at Li Xin and waited for Li Xin's answer with a little nervousness.

Li Xin's heart was filled with excitement, Wei Ze had used his great prestige to forcibly promote peace with the British, and this practice now seemed to be beginning to pay off. Li Xin once asked Wei Ze what is the most favorable diplomatic situation for China. Weeser's reply was, "Cooperate with the British, and the two sides will not go to war." It would be better to join forces with the British to divide the United States. Then they waited for Europe to come to a big civil war by itself, and Britain, which had done many unrighteous acts, was full of evil, and it itself declined in the war. At that time, China will be able to smoothly take over the position of world hegemon. ”

Recently, in contacts with European countries, Li Xin was basically able to determine one thing. It is very unlikely that Europe will take the initiative to form a European coalition against China, and it is even less likely that it will be a European coalition army under the command of the British. Of course, if the leader of the European coalition is not British, the most likely leader of the coalition is to turn around and bite Britain.

Thinking of this, Li Xin calmed down his emotions, and he said slowly: "In 1855, I went to Guangzhou with my parents who followed His Majesty Wei Ze, and I still remember that not long after I arrived in Guangzhou, I left Guangzhou with my mother and went to Foshan. At that time, it was said everywhere that the British were calling. We were scared for a long time before we realized that our Liberation Army had won the battle in Foshan, and there was no need to be afraid that the British would come to Foshan in the future. It was several more years before I returned to Gwangju. At that time, we still had to worry about the British coming from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. I can say that my youth grew up under the threat of the British......"

Listening to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Xin calmly recounting his memories of Britain, the British Foreign Minister did not know whether he should be happy or uneasy at this time. From Britain's standpoint, China is by far Britain's toughest adversary. Britain sold such a large area of North American land to China, also because the colonies had long ago become economically bankrupt. And China is willing to give out huge amounts of gold. Even so, Britain still felt a little heartache about the sale afterwards.

Listening to the words of the Chinese foreign minister now, the British foreign minister can appreciate the great sense of terror that Britain has created for China. This is indeed something that can greatly satisfy the pride of His Excellency the British Foreign Minister, but now that China has such great power, will China try to return this terror to Britain?

Li Xin still explained China's attitude slowly, "We in China are not opposed to maintaining peace with Britain, but I would like to ask Your Excellency to tell me why we should believe that Britain will try to maintain this peace?" In fact, there are many people in our country who believe that Britain will use the huge amount of money that China has given Britain to build an even larger fleet in order to annihilate our fleet and regain its domination of the Indian Ocean. At that time, not only will we lose our access to the Indian Ocean, but we will also lose all our territory in Africa. ”

The British Foreign Minister waited for Li Xin to finish speaking before calmly replied: "If this is the mainstream attitude of your country, then why is your country willing to pay this gold?" ”

Li Xin did not answer this question directly, the British asked very well, if China was not willing to buy peace money for the British, this peace agreement could not be reached at all.

"Do you know about the Suez Canal?" The British Foreign Minister then asked.

"Do you mean the 5-meter-deep navigation standard of the Suez Canal?" Li Xin replied.

The British Foreign Minister felt a sense of relief in his heart, and it was sometimes very comfortable to communicate with the enemy, especially with a clever enemy, and the more intelligent the enemy, the more he was able to grasp the key points. Since China has already considered the issue of the depth of navigation in Suez, other issues must have been considered. He spoke bluntly about the choices facing Britain.

After several naval battles between Britain and China, especially after the battle of the new battleships of tens of thousands of tons on both sides, Britain encountered a dilemma. The Suez Canal is too shallow for larger-tonnage warships, and China's tens of thousands of Chinese battleships can shell the Indian coast at any time after rushing into the Indian Ocean, blocking the route between India and the British mainland. India, a huge market of hundreds of millions of people, is so important to China that it can't even leave it for a day. Before Britain was able to defeat the Chinese navy, Britain was caught in a dilemma of being stuck by China.

With the wisdom of the British, they could figure out with their toes why China wanted to turn Madagascar into a province of China, that is, to block Britain's access to the Indian Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope. Britain now has only two options, one is to compete with China for Madagascar, and the other is to dig the Suez Canal deeper and wider. Either option is a major disability. and China for Madagascar, Britain does not have enough naval power. Expanding the navigable capacity of the Suez Canal, in addition to the huge cost of money and a few years, has another danger. At this time, China strengthened its fleet, and after the British widened and dug the canal, they drove the British out of the Suez Canal zone in one fell swoop, and the Chinese navy immediately entered the Mediterranean Sea to fight.

Since China did not take this opportunity to seize India, but was content with the current situation, it also shows that China is willing to make peace with Britain. History has long taught the British that real wars are always going on. What should be done in times of peace is what should be done in times of peace, and there are naturally options in times of war in times of war.

The countries that stand in every war have rolled into the garbage heap of the losers. Sweden, Spain, Austria, Ottomans, take one, take three, this is all bloody proof. As a counter-proof, Russia's rise was not due to his initiative in attacking everywhere, but to act as a European gendarme, sending troops at the request of other countries. The British Empire was stronger than Russia, and its diplomatic means were far superior to Russia's. The real kung fu of the British Empire was never shirtless.