The mixed forces of the European company quickly crushed the Ottoman army that brutally suppressed the Greeks on the island of Crete, and the company soon gained the support of the local people on the island, and the Ottoman rule here was really unpopular, with murder, plunder, heavy taxes, arson and enslavement, all kinds of cruelty, making resistance a way of life. But every time there was resistance, it was ushered in a more brutal revenge.

Locals were slaughtered, captured and sold into slavery, and rape was widespread.

Although the black uncles of the European companies are not very good in this regard, under the constraints of high salaries, their officers have been trying to maintain military discipline, killing many soldiers who violate military discipline, which brings different senses to the locals, one is intentional restraint, the other is reckless, which not only shows the difference between civilization and barbarism, but also respects the locality.

So the local middle class and the top brass quickly approached European companies, hoping to get their support to form an independent government. The European corporations agreed, but with many demands, which combined with allowing the natives to govern themselves, but leaving diplomacy and the economy to the European corporations, which was equivalent to treating Crete as a protectorate of the corporations.

The local forces were not in a position to refuse, let alone a reason to refuse, and immediately signed an agreement, and an independent Cretan government formed by a middle-class elite was formed.

The occupation of Crete by European companies immediately provoked strong protests from Britain and France, who demanded that European companies withdraw from Crete and sent a fleet to threaten them, and a military conflict between the two sides was on the verge of breaking out.

European companies in Europe, can represent the Chinese government, which makes Britain and France very entangled, if China is involved, this is a huge disaster, they have been fighting for more than four years, if China joins in, even if it is another four years of fighting, there is no possibility of the end, they think that they should directly negotiate with the Chinese government, protest against the behavior of European companies.

Before they could lodge a protest with China, the Chinese government's mediation efforts had already been conveyed to various countries.

After receiving the mediation request of the Russians, Zhou Lang was quite pleased, in the past few years of the Crimean War, although he was focused on domestic affairs, completed major reforms such as the imperial examination, and promoted the development of railways, he was also very concerned about the war in Europe.

This war, which suddenly developed into a melee between the great powers, allowed China to enjoy the external conditions for more than four years of safe expansion, and North America and Australia, which Zhou Lang attached the most importance to, were firmly controlled in his hands, and even Zhou Guan used Australia as a base to expand everywhere, New Zealand piggybacked on it, and some tropical islands in the north also established bases, but they were not able to open up for the time being.

The British have completely lost the opportunity to make a comeback in North America and Australia, and in this world competition, China has established an advantage, and at this time it is time to consider breaking into the British reserve and going to Europe to find trouble with the British Empire.

Originally, it was very difficult to expand in Europe, even if there was the Suez Canal, Europe was too far away from China, although because the European economy was more developed than other places, and the commercial interests of European companies expanded rapidly, but it was difficult to penetrate politically, and the political form here was much stronger than the rest of the world, and the Napoleonic wars successfully shaped a nation-state, and the cohesion of the nation-state was not comparable to that of feudal countries and empires. During the Warring States Period, the mobilization ability of any of the Zhuxia countries in China was beyond imagination, not to mention the powerful countries of Qin and Zhao, the weakest Yan State could launch a large-scale war against the grassland peoples and seize land.

At present, Europe is basically composed of such nation-states, and it is very difficult to break into such a form of country politically.

Therefore, Zhou Lang's appeal for this Crimean War is to let them fight for a few more years, and then let China develop for a few years. But now, no matter how much China supports it, Russia can't hold on, and this is a general collapse, not a financial problem.

Since they can't fight, they should be allowed to end the war, if it weren't for Russia's request for China's mediation, Zhou Lang would not have a suitable excuse to intervene in Europe, even if a conflict broke out between European companies and Britain, France and other countries on Crete, China could only enter the negotiations as a stakeholder at most, but with Russia's request, China could intervene in European affairs as a mediator in a bright and open manner.

Intervening in this capacity is much more advantageous than being an ordinary member of the negotiations as a stakeholder, and to put it mildly, it is tantamount to giving China a chance to adjudicate European affairs.

Therefore, Zhou Lang immediately responded to the request of the Russians and immediately sent people to contact various countries, hoping to mediate the war in Europe.

Originally, the countries were invited to come to China for negotiations, and a proposal was made that they would be asked to temporarily cease fire.

However, Britain and France, which had the advantage, did not accept it, and the Austrian Empire had even invaded Ukraine in Russia. Britain and Austria simultaneously put pressure on Poland, promising Poland to expand its territory to the Desna River and allowing Poland to annex the principalities of Livonia and Estonia. Seeing that Russia was weak, the Poles formed an army to invade Russia. Britain co-opted Prussia and Sweden, and whoever was willing to provide 100,000 troops promised to give Russian-ruled Finland to whom it would belong after the war, and Prussia was ready to move.

Britain and France did not reject China's mediation, first, because they did not want to offend China at this critical time, and second, they also hoped for peace talks, and if the Russians were willing to give up a large number of interests, it was not that they could not negotiate with Russia to solve the problem.

But they were unwilling to leave the European question entirely to China, arguing that China was too far away from Europe and that if the Chinese were willing to mediate, they would come to Europe. The British wanted to put it in London, the French wanted to put it in Paris, Austria also believed that the Austrian army was the main force in this war and should be placed in Vienna, and finally the European countries agreed to put it in Switzerland.

Zhou Lang did not insist, what he wanted was to break through and create a tradition of Chinese intervention in European affairs. In addition, the Russians may not last long, and the hungry wolves of Poland and Prussia have bitten up, and there is a great momentum to carve up Russia, and the Russians may retreat under pressure.

So immediately agreed to put it in Switzerland.

After explaining the policy in detail, he asked Lindi, who had returned to China and was in charge of the domain, to personally lead a capable diplomatic team to Switzerland.

In order to prevent an early collapse of Russia, Lindy was asked to express a tough attitude to the European countries, telling them that during the peace talks, there must be a ceasefire, otherwise China will intervene.

Militarily, the garrisons in the northwest were mobilized, the Central Asian region was entered by train, and the Kazakh border area was assembled to make a posture of crossing the border. This already has the flavor of Metternich's self-respect and armed mediation between Napoleon and other countries. I don't know how Metternich will feel when he receives these messages.