Ps. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I wish readers and friends a prosperous Year of the Dog, and I wish everyone a New Year.

As a well-known figure of the Zhiyang faction in the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Jize, the eldest son of Zeng Guofan, at the beginning of his tenure as British and French ministers in the fourth year of Guangxu (1878), he always pinned the ideal of the Qing Dynasty to seek wealth and change on Britain and France.

In less than one year after taking office as minister of Britain and France, he carefully compared the political systems of Britain and France in the recitals to the imperial court one after another, "France is a democratic country, the business people are powerful and the government is light, and England is a country with limited monarchy. He further proposed, "Although the states are not democratic, the government is presided over by the parliament." The power of the affairs of the state shall be vested in the House of Lords and Lords. ”

In the end, the song was full of emotion, saying that the Qing court should also follow the example of Britain and France, set up a house of commons as soon as possible, and let the Qing Dynasty enrich the country and strengthen the army as soon as possible.

Zeng Jize's heart was full of envy for the political system of the Taixi countries, especially Britain and France, but at the same time, he also deeply felt the arrogance of Britain and France as the world's great powers, and their undisguised disdain for the Qing Dynasty.

As a talented man with a family history and a full reading of poetry and books, he learned English and French at the age of thirty-five, and wanted to rely on his full stomach and enthusiasm for European civilization to be recognized by foreigners, but the reality was ruthless.

As "the most successful diplomat sent to the West in modern Chinese history" and a heroic man, Master Zeng Jize, who was a hero of Lao Tzu, could never accept this attitude of the West, and immediately used patriotic enthusiasm and sharp brushstrokes to use the British and French newspapers as a battlefield to mercilessly counterattack the voices of any reactionary forces that dared to hostile, despise, and slander the Qing Dynasty, and became one of the favorite contributors to current affairs in the mainstream media in Britain and France.

As the first person in the Qing diplomatic circles to put forward the idea of "balance of power diplomacy", before 1879, the three most important and most deeply injured enemies of the Qing Dynasty, Britain, France, and Russia studied the most.

When Zeng Jize received the news from the Prime Minister Yamen that Germany and the Qing Kingdom were about to start cooperation, he was still skeptical, and it was hard to believe that a European power, a France that defeated the city of Beijing and burned the garden of the Qing Emperor, and a Germany that stood on France, a European giant, was willing to put down its arrogant figure and bow its head to the Qing court on behalf of Europe.

This news really made Lord Zeng Jize feel like a dream.

After urgently contacting the domestic Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen and the Governor of Zhili, as he learned more about the Deqing Contract, Zeng Jize was even more surprised to find that unlike the British and French governments, which often accused the Qing Dynasty of corruption, depravity and incompetence, Germany not only apologized to the Qing Dynasty, but was also willing to interact with the Qing Dynasty on an equal footing, and only talked about business and cooperation on the premise of respecting the Qing Dynasty as the only legitimate government of the Qing Dynasty.

After establishing contact with the German Foreign Ministry through Minister Li Fengbao, Minister Zeng Jize immediately received an invitation letter from Prime Minister Bismarck and Secretary of State Count Brow, full of enthusiasm and rhetoric, inviting Minister Zeng Jize to visit Germany whenever he felt convenient.

Even on the Protestant religious festival in June, Zeng Jize received greeting cards and flowers sent by the German royal family.

For the first time, there is a Western country where the royal family and government respect Lord Zeng Jize so much.

The friendship of gentlemen, its form is also light, and its affection is also deep, from this moment on, Lord Zeng Jize regards the German royal family and the government who have never met as friends.

Therefore, when the French media blew a crooked wind attacking Germany, especially attacking the diplomatic relations between Germany and Qingqing, before Joey could fight back, the cannon at the tip of Zeng Jize's pen began to roar.

Didn't the French ultra-left spray the Germans for apologizing and taking too small steps? Zeng asked angrily directly in Le Figaro, where are the French? Where is the French Prime Minister? Where is the President of France? The Germans have apologized, and as one of the murderers of the burning of the Old Summer Palace, where is the apology of the French?

As for the remarks of some ultra-left public opinion that the Qing court could not represent the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Daren angrily denounced that the Qing Emperor and the imperial court were the choice of the Qing people and the correct choice that had been tested by history for a long time.

The French ultra-left was speechless.

The center-left believes that the motives of the German royal family and the government are impure, and that the apology is to seek the economic interests of the Qing country, and Zeng Daren sharply retorted, the French are dissatisfied with the way the German Qing established trade, can it be said that there is only one way of trade in this world, that is, the bandit method of the French to kick open the door of other countries with strong ships and cannons? If the French think this method of banditry is legal, then Lord Zeng is going to kick the doors of those French shops on the Champs-Élysées tomorrow and do business with French merchants with a pistol!

The center-left, who represents the French elite, can't pull his face and say yes, so he can only talk about him left and right.

As for the centrists who were denounced by the French as the grass on the wall of the French traitor, Zeng did not care at all.

Those center-right factions who emphasize the law of the jungle are dismissed by Zeng with one sentence: "Since you think that the strong should not apologize to the weak, why did France, the weak in the Franco-Prussian War, always demand that Germany return Alsace and Lorraine all these years?" What face does a weak man have to demand that the strong return the spoils? A weak France actually has the face to question the actions of the strong Germany? It's shameless and shameless......"

This slap directly stunned the French center-right.

"The Germans don't deserve to be white, so where should the Germans get out of the way when they defeat the French whites? Get out of the earth?! This is Zeng's rhetorical question to the ultra-right.

When he received the information that Minister Zeng Jize was angry with various forces on the left, center and right in France, Joey sat in his father's study and laughed undisciplined with his father and the prime minister.

Master Bismarck pointed to the letterhead in his hand and said with a smile, "I didn't expect this Qing man to be so good at writing, I can imagine the stupid embarrassment of the French now." ”

"Yes." Crown Prince Frederick smiled and nodded to the old prime minister, "It seems that we have another good friend in the Qing Kingdom when it comes to dealing with the French." He turned to Joey and smiled, "Jojo, your suggestion is good, I really didn't expect that a letter, a greeting card and a bouquet of flowers could make us such a capable friend." ”

"However, the officials of the Qing Kingdom are really a wonderful place, there are both such talented people, and there are also vulgar and unusable guys." Crown Prince Frederick complained meaningfully.

"Well, for example, the Qing official who went to Russia to negotiate, the information I have shows that this Manchu man is eating and shopping every day and having sex with his entourage, plus looking for Polish and gypsy prostitutes." The old prime minister did not shy away from his intelligence network, and between his words, he looked at Lord Wanyan with contempt, "He actually made a request to the Imperial Foreign Ministry through the capable Minister Li, hoping to place the venue of the Qing-Russian negotiations in Berlin." ”

"Ahem, my lord, I want to negotiate in Berlin, which is beneficial for us to control the progress of the peace talks between Qing and Russia." Joey said softly.

"Of course, Jojo. Our original plan was to move the Qing-Russia negotiations to Berlin. The old prime minister paused, "I have prepared a lot of plans for this, I thought it would be a tricky business, but I didn't expect that all it would take was prostitutes, food, and fun to tie this bastard to Berlin." The old prime minister looked helpless and hit the cotton with a heavy fist.

"My lord, at least this man is now the hottest darling of Berlin's business circles, this guy has spent nearly a million marks in Berlin in just over three weeks, and the information from the bank that this man has brought money seems to be an astronomical amount.....," Joey scratched his head and explained helplessly.

"My dear Highness, for the sake of the title of Prime Minister of your people, and for the well-being of the merchants of Berlin, I think we can only put up with this fool for the time being." Crown Prince Frederick comforted the old prime minister.

After hearing the words "the people's prime minister" that he was most proud of in the mouth of the crown prince, Prime Minister Bismarck's face couldn't help but show pride, and said with a smile, "Your Royal Highness, this is what I should do, just according to my past diplomatic experience." The old prime minister's expression suddenly became serious, "Let this kind of fool do diplomacy, I'm afraid he will only mess things up, we must have a plan B." ”

Crown Prince Frederick and Joy both nodded, the father and son really had no confidence in the performance of the Manchurian in Berlin in the past month, believing that the Manchurian could complete the Germans' plan.

There was an instant silence in the study, and after a few minutes, Crown Prince Frederick broke the silence and said, "Maybe we can just order and contact Sir Barand at once, and ask him to tell Beijing that they have replaced this guy?" "Crown Prince Frederick's idea was straightforward.

"As far as I know, incompetence and arrogance do not seem to be a crime in the Qing State, even if we put pressure on Beijing to change people, the Qing State agreed, and sent another special envoy." The Prime Minister tapped his finger on the table a few times, "It takes time to discuss new candidates within the Qing Kingdom, and it will take at least two months to take a ship from Beijing to Berlin, and I estimate that it will not take 5 months, which means that in the whole of 1879, it is very likely that we will not see the new Qing envoy." ”

"Moreover, I am also very skeptical about whether the new envoy's ability is higher than that of this Manchurian adult." The old prime minister shook his head helplessly.

Crown Prince Frederick nodded slightly, expressing his approval of the old chancellor's view.

Hearing this, Joey suddenly raised the information about Lord Zeng Jize in his hand, and asked with some hope, "Father, my lord, what do you think of this Minister Zeng?" ”

"Qiaoqiao, do you want to replace that Manchu with this Zeng minister?" Crown Prince Frederick asked.

"Father, at least in the matter of France, we have all seen the talent of Minister Zeng, which is enough to undertake the heavy task of negotiating between Qing and Russia. In addition, judging from the background investigation of Minister Zeng, he came from a famous aristocratic family in the Qing Kingdom, and his deceased father was extremely famous and influential in the Qing Kingdom. ”

"Moreover, it seems that he is an enlightened person who likes Western civilization, and in the Qing Kingdom, we need such friends." Joy added.

"Qiaoqiao, in the negotiations between Qing and Russia, there are our huge interests, this matter is very important, we do not know the actual attitude of this minister to Germany, although he spoke for us in France, but we still need a Qing man who really supports Germany, we need to carefully understand him as a person, if you are not sure, it is better not to do it." The old prime minister reminded beside him.

"Yes, sir." Joey nodded, "I'm just proposing that Minister Zeng be included in our Plan B candidates, at least if he's in England or France, it's our quick choice." ”

"How's Minister Li doing?" Crown Prince Frederick interjected, "I like this Minister Lee very much, and I can see that he also likes Germany, and he is either in Berlin or Vienna, he is more quickly." ”

The Lord Li mentioned by Crown Prince Frederick was Li Fengbao, the Qing minister to Germany and Austria.

"Lord Li's background is too ordinary, Qing is a country that pays attention to his origin, to put it simply, Lord Li's background determines that he cannot be selected by Beijing to hold such an important position." Chancellor Bismarck shook his head and rejected Crown Prince Frederick's idea.

"In other words, among the ambassadors of the Qing Kingdom in the entire Europe, only this Zeng is talented and has enough background." After receiving affirmative confirmation from the old prime minister, Crown Prince Frederick suggested to the old prime minister, "My dear Royal Highness, do you want us to contact this Zeng envoy and tell him about the misdeeds of the Manchu lord in Berlin, and ask him if there is any way for the Qing Kingdom to replace a special envoy?" ”

"Your Highness, I think it's okay." The old prime minister rolled his eyes and continued with a serious face, "According to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the Qing Dynasty, I think it is better for Minister Li to convey this matter to Minister Zeng. ”

Seeing Crown Prince Frederick nodding in agreement with a smile, Joey was speechless for a while.

"The French attack us through public opinion, and although I agree with freedom of opinion, we must still take revenge on the French for their rudeness." Crown Prince Frederick changed the conversation and turned the conversation to the French.

"It is necessary to take revenge on the rudeness of the French, and I can bear to be poured dirty water as the head of the government, but it is absolutely unacceptable for the French to attack the German Imperial Family, to attack His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelf, and this is a matter of dignity for the German Empire, and I will ask the Reich Foreign Office to lodge the strongest protest against the French and recall the ambassador to France." The old chancellor looked at Crown Prince Frederick and continued, "If necessary, I will close the border between Germany and France and announce additional troops to Alsace and Lorraine. ”

"In the event of a second Franco-Prussian war, will Britain and Russia support us?" Crown Prince Frederick asked.

"Your Highness, frankly, I am not sure to convince the British and Russians." The old chancellor was frank, "but we need to make it clear that the German imperial family is the representative of the German Reich, and there is no doubt that any attack on the German imperial family will be regarded as an act of war." ”

Crown Prince Frederick nodded in agreement, then looked at Joey and asked, "Jojo, does Allensbach have any other suggestions here?" ”

"Yes, since there is a minister who has confronted the French head-on, the geniuses of Allensbach are carrying out a new counterattack, and our counterattack is to vigorously promote the chancellor's social security program and bring the French into an expensive money game."