On the coast of Le Havre, on a high ground opposite the mouth of the Seine, there is a small manor, which is said to have belonged to the private property of a certain nobleman, who, when he was bored, often watched the various sailing ships that came and went in and out of the Seine, so he named the manor "Manor of Wangfan".

During the Revolution, the great nobles naturally fled abroad, and his estates were confiscated by the revolutionary government. The manor was not actually produced, it was just a place for the nobility to relax, but it was well located as an observation post to monitor the area around the mouth of the Seine, so it became an outpost for the French army. Later, when the situation stabilized, it became the country house of the new upstart of the Republic, Foreign Minister Talleyrand.

Early this morning, several carriages came to the manor, and stopped at the door of the main building, and an old man in his sixties, and a group of young men got out of the carriage, and saw that the owner of the manor, Minister Talleyrand, had come out of the door.

"Simeone, welcome to my villa." Talleyrand, who was also gray, walked over with a smile on his face, and extended a hand to the old man in a friendly way.

The two hands were clasped together, and both of them had smiles on their faces, as if they really were good friends.

The two of them held hands, like young couples, and walked in with a smile.

Talleyrand himself led them into the small drawing-room, where they sat down on the sofa and a waiter brought in tea.

Generally speaking, the French people of this era used more coffee when serving guests, but this time the waiter served black tea.

Tea drinking used to be popular in France, but since the Seven Years' War and the loss of a series of colonies in the Far East, the tea trade has been largely monopolized by the British, while the French colonies in Africa and Haiti are rich in coffee, so French consumption habits have shifted to coffee. Before that, Talleyrand had also entertained them, but they were also invited to drink coffee, and this time black tea was suddenly put out, which of course can be said to be the French showing the courtesy of the host, but is there something else, more meaning?

Simone, the representative of the United Kingdom, took a cup of tea and took a sip gently. This is a black tea from Darjeeling, India, with a unique grape aroma. Since Britain fell into a lockdown situation, even the British aristocracy has found it difficult to drink such authentic Darjeeling black tea.

"Alas, the war has been so long that I haven't had such a good Darjeeling black tea for a while." Simeone put down his glass and sighed, "My friend, I think it's time to end this senseless war." ”

"I agree that war is not a happy thing for both of us, and it has affected a lot of business. And the war is too costly. You see, we have entrusted the Bank of Rome with the issuance of war bonds for the third time. If this continues, sooner or later we will run a deficit in government spending. Perhaps we have to suspend the annual increase in allowances given to veterans. In addition, plans such as the Palace of Culture and the Art Gallery have also been affected, which directly affects people's satisfaction with life and reduces their smiling faces. It's just terrible. Talleyrand said with a frown.

To Simeone's ears, Talleyrand was showing off nakedly, and Britain didn't know how many times it had issued a third war bond. And the phrase "sooner or later our government will run a deficit" is even more show-off, which means that the French government has not yet run a fiscal deficit! Such a financial advantage is tantamount to demonstrating to the British in Hongguoguo.

And what "annual increase in veterans' allowance", and what "palace of culture" and "gallery of art", this is not all to show off, for the British, the war that exhausted the national strength had a limited impact on the French, and even on their lives.

However, no matter how much the French show off, this is the right of the victors, and at least, they agree on the important point that everyone needs peace.

"I don't know what kind of thinking your country has about peace." Simeone asked.

"The last time we met, I provided you with a memorandum on behalf of my country, but at that time you had some opinions, or misunderstandings, about our memorandum." "So much so that it caused some conflicts that we didn't want to see later." So, we carefully studied the memo we sent to you last time, and we found that there are indeed many inappropriate things in it, and it is no wonder that it will lead to misunderstandings among you. So, we've revised the last memo a bit. You can take a look and then see if we can use this new memo as a basis to bring peace to our time. ”

And one of Talleyrand's young aides handed a document to Simone.

Simeone's face was not very good, and in his opinion, the "modification" that Talelan said must have added more and more demanding content. Although before he came, both the crown prince and the prime minister asked him to hold back, to achieve peace as much as possible, and to "measure the material resources of Britain and the favor of France". Moreover, the Prime Minister also said that the French have always been greedy, and nowadays, the conditions they put forward may be even more unacceptable, but no matter what the other side asks, do not refuse immediately, and hold back, knowing that the kingdom is close to collapse and can no longer continue the war.

So, he reached for the memo anyway.

"It's a bit too much, it's a little complicated." Talleyrand smiled, "You can take your time, you can discuss it with other people, or you can even send someone back to discuss it with the country." However, His Excellency the First Consul hopes that we will be able to conclude the negotiations within a week, ideally. ”

"In such a hurry?" Simone's face became more and more bad, "Both of our countries have the sincerity of peace, and peace is already inevitable, why are you in such a hurry?" ”

"Because peace has not yet come, the dividends of peace have not yet come - how can you not be in a hurry?" "And, as far as we know, if we don't reach a peace agreement sooner, there could be some turmoil in your country. And we are worried that such turmoil will bring trouble to peace. ”

Simeone flipped through the thick memo and looked at it, then said, "We need to take a closer look at this document, can you give us a separate room?" ”

"It's easy, ah, Baussion, and you take my friends to my little study." Talleyrand turned his head and said to his assistant.

Simeone and the others followed Baussion to the small study, where they gathered to study the new memorandum proposed by the French. In order to save as much time as possible, each of them is responsible for a chapter. Moreover, this memorandum is very similar in structure to the previous one, which is convenient for everyone to cross-read.

Soon several people finished their assigned part.

"Your Excellency, what I have seen is not much different from the last memo." A young man spoke first.

This sentence made Simone feel a lot more relaxed.

"It's just a difference in some of the wording. Well, the current memorandum is worded to emphasize the reciprocity of responsibilities and obligations of both parties, and it seems that it is more ...... than before It's a little more egalitarian, but the substance hasn't changed much. The young man added.

"Show me?" Simeone hurried.

Everyone knows that this time, apart from the negotiations, what will be signed is a traitorous treaty that will lose power and humiliate the country. Anyone who signs this treaty will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history. Therefore, the original foreign minister suddenly resigned due to physical reasons, and Simeone, a special envoy who was originally only engaged in some secret contacts, was suddenly promoted to foreign minister by leapfrogging, in fact, he just needed to be put on the blame.

This is just like in later generations, Chang Kaishen sent Foreign Minister Song Ziwen to talk to Mao Xiong about the Red Army's dispatch of troops to the Northeast, and handed over all conditions, including the right to the Manchurian Railway, including the lease of Luda to Mao Xiong for 50 years, including allowing Outer Mongolia to become independent through "democratic means" or something, and when it was time to sign, Song Ziwen fell ill, and then replaced Wang Shijie as foreign minister, and immediately went to Moscow to replace Song Ziwen, and signed the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance" that betrayed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. And now, Simone's role is the role of the later Wang Shijie.

Although Simeone had no choice but to sign a traitorous treaty, it would be nice if it could really look much better in words.

"Bring it to me?" Simeone said quickly.

So the young man handed over the chapter he had read, as well as the chapter from the previous memo.

Simeone quickly watched.

It is true that the text of the article is much more "equal" in terms of words. This article, for example, deals with the full opening of the domestic market by the British to the French. In the last memorandum, it was described as follows: "Britain must unconditionally open its domestic market to France and its allies, and that individuals, businesses and their products must be accorded a fully equal and non-discriminatory status in the economic activities of France and its allies with the British people and British business." France and its allies will form a committee to monitor the implementation of this article and to submit an assessment report thereon to the governments of France and its allies. ”

You see, this is a clause that requires Britain to unilaterally open its market, so that Britain will become a colony of France, and destroy Britain.

But now, this clause has become something like this:

"Both the French Republic and the United Kingdom are aware that equal economic interaction is the surest guarantee of world peace. In order to ensure world peace and promote the well-being of the two peoples, the two governments have made the following commitments on trade issues: The governments of the two countries and the governments participating in the peace agreement in the future promise each other to completely open their markets to each other, and neither side will restrict the sale of each other's goods in their own markets by discriminatory means, including tariffs and quotas, and both will promise to give the citizens and enterprises of the other side complete non-discriminatory national treatment.

In order to ensure the implementation of this clause, the two sides will form a joint free trade commission on an equal footing to mediate and arbitrate any contradictions arising from the implementation of this clause, and both governments undertake to respect the mediation and arbitration of this commission. In the future, when other countries join, they will also join the Committee and will also fulfill their obligations and enjoy their rights. ”

Looking at the second statement, is it much more equal than the first? Much less of that smell of loss of power and humiliation of the country? However, in many cases, equality in the text itself is the greatest inequality.

As Joseph said after the publication of the Napoleonic Code: "The law, with its solemn equality, forbids the poor to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal bread." "If you don't take into account the power and status of the two parties, the so-called "equality" clause is nothing more than a winner-takes-all fig leaf.

Imagine that now that the British economy has collapsed, and a large number of companies have closed down or are on the verge of bankruptcy because of losses, how can they compete with French companies on an "equal footing"? Letting them "compete on an equal footing" is as ridiculous as having the men's heavyweight and women's featherweight fighters "play fair" on the same stage. "Fair competition" will only bring "everything that has it, and double it to him so that he will be superfluous; and if he does not, he shall take all that he has."

So there is no real difference between this kind of equal mutual opening of the market and the unilateral opening of the market by the United Kingdom.

In the history of later generations, Chang Kaishen and Ah Mei once signed a treaty called the "Condor Treaty of Friendship and Commerce", which is quite "equal" in terms of terms. However, it is not without reason that this treaty was criticized by people of insight at the time as "an unprecedented traitorous treaty in the history of the country of flowers". After the signing of the treaty, the insignificant national industry of the flower country was rapidly destroyed, so that the "decent people" such as the national capitalists were forced to stand on the other side of Chang Kaishen.

Of course, there is also a problem with such treaties, that is, if the balance of power changes, the benefits and disadvantages will also change. For example, if today, Ah Mei, you see which Grand Commander dares to sign a "Rabbit Eagle Friendly Trade and Navigation Treaty" with the Red Rabbit Country and the "Condor Friendly Trade and Navigation Treaty", then there will definitely be a story of "Dan Ri is mentally ill, in order to kill the Grand Commander".

For the UK, this clause is no different from the clause in the previous memorandum. Today, however, such a clause is almost a lifesaver for Simeone.