The root of the troubles in Europe! Yi Zhengxing stared at the Balkans on the map for a long time, and he knew very well that these words were specially told to him, because the outbreak of the Great War in Europe would be at least thirty years later.

"No wonder the big shopkeeper did not intervene in this Russian-Turkish war, and did not even do the arms business, because he did not want to disturb the situation in Europe." Zhao Liewen said slowly: "However, if my country wants to expand in the northern part of the Persian Gulf, it will inevitably ....... against Turkey. ”

"Huifu wants to take advantage of the Russian-Turkish war to take advantage of the fire and loot and carry out military expansion in the northern part of the Persian Gulf?" Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "At this time, my country is taking advantage of the fire to rob, which may stimulate European powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, and it can't be done!"

The expansion of the northern part of the Persian Gulf can wait until the war enters the negotiation stage before proposing to Turkey, and I am not in favor of armed aggression, after the war, Turkey will inevitably be greatly damaged, in internal and external difficulties, and financially exhausted, we can adopt the way of purchase, expand by moderate means, and if Turkey does not agree, then take the means of force to solve the problem. ”

Zhao Liewen glanced at him and said: "Big shopkeeper, the residents of the Persian Gulf all believe in *** religion, and the students secretly think that if they want to do it once and for all, they should still use force." ”

"The use of force is easy to be criticized by others, and it will leave future troubles." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "The territory purchased is different, there will be no aftermath, and there is no shortage of gold left and right." After the purchase, it is an internal affair, and other countries have no right to interfere, as for religious contradictions, there are many ways to solve them, and famine and plague are not inferior to war. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen couldn't help but think of the man-made famine and plague created by Yuan Qi in the Wa Kingdom, the effect was far worse than the killing of the war, the climate on the coast of the Persian Gulf was harsh, not suitable for farming, and the living conditions were harsh, so it was easier to artificially create a great famine and cause the plague! He said sincerely: "It's still the big shopkeeper's thoughtfulness." ”

Yi Zhengxing's heart tightened, he glanced at the two of them, and quickly looked away, Yi Zhishu saw his reaction in his eyes, and muttered before he said in a deep voice: "Ci is not in charge of soldiers, and good is not an official." Those who are in power must focus on the overall situation and the fundamental interests of the country! The root cause of the Russian-Turkish war was the ethnic and religious contradictions in the Balkans, and internal and external troubles would eventually lead to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

The situation in our country is very similar to that of the Ottoman Empire, with many nationalities and mixed beliefs, and when the country is strong, the contradictions between the various parties may not be prominent and sharp, and once there is a slight decline, all kinds of contradictions will inevitably emerge one after another.

The Ottomans have the Balkans, and our country also has them, if you don't want to follow in the footsteps of the Ottomans, you must consolidate the roots and eliminate future troubles from the roots! ”

Yi Zhengxing was stunned when he listened, "What does my father mean, this Persian Gulf is the source of the chaos in my Qing Dynasty?" ”

"Yes!" Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "The value of the Persian Gulf is far from being comparable to that of South African gold mines, and if you don't exploit oil, once it is exploited, it will inevitably become the focus of competition among the world powers!" This is also the reason why Yuanqi has been slow to exploit oil in the Persian Gulf. ”

Zhao Liewen deliberately stabbed, "The big shopkeeper is fighting hard..... It's actually a hot potato? ”

"Hot potato?" Yi Zhizu glanced at the two of them, "For weak countries, this is indeed a hot potato, but for strong countries, this is a treasure trove - the world's oil treasure house, as long as you can firmly control the Persian Gulf, you can control the economic lifeline of most countries in the world!" will be able to establish our country's status as the world hegemon! ”

Yi Zhengxing looked incredulous, "Is oil really so important?" ”

"China's oil exploitation, refining started a little late, but the research on oil is the largest, the largest investment, it can be said that China's oil exploration, exploitation, refining and petrochemical and other aspects are in the leading position in the world."

"With the popularization and promotion of the internal combustion engine, oil will replace coal as the most important fuel, and future aircraft, automobiles, ships, and agricultural machinery will use diesel and gasoline refined from petroleum as fuels," Yi Zhizu said.

In addition, petrochemical industry will also become an important part of the industry, and in the near future, oil will become an indispensable raw material for the industry and economy of all countries in the world! It will also become an energy resource that countries around the world compete for! ”

The importance of oil, Yi Zhengxing, Zhao Liewen is not the first time to hear, in the northwest, involved in the Persian Gulf, Yi Zhifen mentioned the important value of oil, when discussing the implementation of monetary hegemony, Yi Zhifen also clearly mentioned the important value of oil, and said to use oil to promote Huayuan to become the world's currency!

In addition, in recent years, Yuanqi has also acquired a large number of oil refineries in the United States, and the Los Angeles Basin, which was purchased with huge sums of money in the early days, has also explored for oil.

All indications show that Yi Zhixiang attaches great importance to oil and is extremely optimistic about the future of oil, although the current value of oil is not large, but both believe that Yi Zhifen's judgment will not be wrong.

Yi Zhengxing's heart was very excited, originally in his opinion, it was out of reach to compete with Western countries for world hegemony, but he didn't expect that it would be so simple, as long as he firmly controlled the coastal zone around the Persian Gulf, he could achieve the great cause of world hegemony!

He quickly realized that this is not only the fundamental interest of the country, but also an unimaginably huge wealth, for which even if it is risked by the world's condemnation, he will not hesitate to do so! The aborigines of the Persian Gulf region must be expelled or exterminated by any means, and a large number of immigrants from the country must be brought in, only in this way can the Persian Gulf be completely controlled for a long time.

————

150,000 Tsarist and Romanian troops surrounded Pleven for more than two months, and the 30,000 Turkish troops in the city, who ran out of ammunition and food, finally chose Kaesong to surrender. The Battle of Plevin not only inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army, but also shattered Russia's plan for a quick victory, but it could not change the fate of Turkey's defeat.

With the fall of Plevin, the balance of war was completely tilted in favor of Russia, and the Russian army, which had achieved a huge advantage in terms of strength and weapons, immediately braved the bitter cold to launch an attack south of the Balkan Mountains, and carried out multiple assaults on a frontal front 150 kilometers wide.

The Turkish army was defeated, and the Russian offensive gained momentum, and the troops were directed at Constantinople, the capital of Ottoman Turkey. The occupation took a turn for the worse, and the British and Austro-Hungarian Empires, which had deep interests in the Balkans, could no longer stand idly by, and Britain ordered its Mediterranean fleet to sail through the Bosphorus to the Sea of Marmara in order to prevent Russia from capturing Constantinople. Austria-Hungary moved troops to the Russian border.

On January 30, 1878, the Russian army, under the command of Skobelev, descended on the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In view of the fierce reaction of England and Austria-Hungary, the Russian army finally did not dare to capture Constantinople, and on the 31st, the warring parties signed an armistice, and the 10th Russo-Turkish War came to an end.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhengxing put down the battle report, glanced at Yi Zhicontent, and said, "Ying Ji finally sent troops to interfere...... ”

"That's because Russia is too greedy to take it when it sees good." Yi Zhi said disapprovingly: "Once Russia captures Constantinople, Russia's territory will expand to the eastern Balkans and the northern part of the Asia Minor Peninsula, and the Black Sea Fleet will have free access to the Mediterranean, which is unacceptable to all European powers. ”

Zhao Liewen continued: "Austria-Hungary is one of the Three Emperors' Alliance, and it has already declared its neutrality, why should it send troops to the Russian border? ”

Yi Zhizhi sneered: "No matter what alliance, in the face of the fundamental interests of the country, vital interests are not worth mentioning, the reason why Austria-Hungary declared neutrality is not because of an alliance with Russia, but because Russia sacrificed the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in exchange for Austria-Hungary's declaration of neutrality through the Treaty of Budapest."

Austria-Hungary bordered the Ottomans, and if Russia expanded into the eastern Balkans and the northern part of Asia Minor, it would pose a direct and serious threat to Austria-Hungary, and how could Austria-Hungary agree? Compared with such a direct and serious threat, the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina are really not worth mentioning, so they will send troops to pressure the border to force Russia to withdraw its troops. ”

Speaking of this, he smiled and said: "Russia has learned the lesson of the defeat in the last Crimea, and launched a series of diplomatic offensives before launching the war this time, gaining the support of Germany in exchange for the neutrality of Austria-Hungary, and playing the banner of "saving the Christians under the oppression of the Ottoman Turkish Empire" and "protecting the Slavic brothers", which can be called remarkable, if you can see the good, this battle can be called perfect. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Diplomacy is an important part of foreign wars, and you must keep in mind that you must be good at analyzing the world situation and using hostile forces to win over targets and isolate them. ”

"Yes, my son understands." Yi Zhengxing nodded hurriedly.

Yi Zhizhi instructed: "Also, summarize the gains and losses of the warring parties in this war, write it and hand it over." ”

Seeing that the words were cracked, Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "Now that the war is over, can we seize the opportunity to propose to the Ottomans to buy the territory in the northern part of the Persian Gulf?" ”

"There's no hurry." Yi Zhi said confidently: "Wait until Russia and Turkey sign a contract." ”

In March, the Ottoman Turks signed the Peace of San Stefano with Russia. The irretrievable independence of Romania, Serbia and Negoro in the former Ottoman Empire, the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the establishment of Great Bulgaria and the presence of Russian troops, became de facto Russian spheres of influence, and more importantly, the Russian fleet had free access to the Black Sea.

The Treaty of San Stefano not not only endangered the interests of England and Austria-Hungary, but also caused serious dissatisfaction among Germany, which, as the largest army power on the European continent, naturally would not sit idly by and watch Russia expand rapidly and surpass or even become Germany's biggest competitor.

In order to curb the expansion of Russian power, Britain, France, Germany and Austria united in a rare way, unanimously demanding that the "Treaty of Santo Stefano" could only enter into force after discussions with other European powers.

At the same time that the European powers were negotiating around the Treaty of Sanstéfano, the Qing envoys had already entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal to Constantinople, and at the same time, in London, the British minister Guo Songtao took the initiative to visit the Ottoman Turkish minister to the British Mura and proposed to buy the territory south of Basra in the northern part of the Persian Gulf.

The defeat of the Ottomans was not only a cede to the territory, but also a huge war reparation of up to 300 million rubles.

For the Ottomans, the territory around the Persian Gulf has long been beyond the reach of the whip, long before the Qing Empire, England had included the Persian Gulf along the British sphere of influence, Basra, Kuwait are under the direct control of the British, those territories are in name only for the Ottomans.

Now that the Qing people who have expelled the British and taken over the Persian Gulf coast are willing to spend money to buy this land, it can be described as a surprise for the Ottomans, not to mention that the Ottomans are now facing huge war reparations.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"Big treasurer, Basra is more than 200 miles south of the Persian Gulf, located at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and is the shipping hub connecting the Persian Gulf to the inland rivers, and it is also the Ottoman outlet to the Persian Gulf......." Zhao Liewen said worriedly: "Even if the Ottoman can't reach the Basla, I'm afraid he won't sell it openly." ”

"Huifu is too worried." Yi Zhizhi smiled disapprovingly: "Russia invaded from the northwest, the Ottomans can still count on Britain, France, Austria and Hungary to intervene, our Qing Empire invaded Basra, who can the Ottomans count on?" Briton? The British have been driven out of the Persian Gulf by us!

But if Abdul Hamid II had a little sense, he would readily agree to sell, in short, the Ottomans had to sell if they were sold, and they had to be sold if they didn't! ”

Before the words fell, Li Hongzhang hurriedly walked in with a telegram and said: "Big shopkeeper, Dunlun called, Osman agreed to sell, but there are conditions to ......." ”

The Ottoman conditions were not harsh, the territory south of Basra was offered 50 million roubles, 250 million roubles were borrowed at low interest, normal diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, and envoys were exchanged between the two countries.

Transferring the telegram to Zhao Liewen, Yi Zhizhi said: "The war reparations of 300 million rubles, the Ottomans actually want to transfer all of them to our ........" ”

"It's a lion's mouth." Zhao Liewen said in a deep voice: "50 million rubles are worth more than 28 million silver, and the purchase of Alaska and Kamchatka was only 20 million, and the purchase of Mozambique was only 20 million. ”

"The other party is asking for a price, let's pay it back on the ground." Yi Zhishu smiled and said: "Counteroffer of five million rubles, as for low-interest loans, provide thirty million rubles." ”