A month and a half later, it was already the end of the fourth year of Taisheng. The northern land of the Chinese Empire is already covered with snow everywhere, but at this moment, outside the Pearl River estuary at the southern end of the empire, Hong Kong Island is still full of birds and flowers, full of green trees and flowers, as warm as spring.

However, Sir John Pouling, the fourth minister of the British Empire to China and the Governor of Hong Kong, was in a gloomy mood and depressed. The oldest and most proficient governor of Hong Kong, the Governor of Hong Kong, became the last. Because, starting tomorrow, in accordance with the Treaty of Singapore signed in Singapore more than two months ago, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland will return Hong Kong Island, which had been occupied by the Qing Dynasty for 15 years, to the current Chinese Empire.

As a result, he, the minister to China and the governor of Hong Kong, was removed from the post of governor of Hong Kong, and only the title of minister to China remained. Moreover, it is difficult to say whether this title can be kept. After all, the annual salary of 4,000 pounds a year, and it can rise to 6,000 pounds a year, is gone, and the minister in China only has 2,000 pounds, which is a big loss. The most important thing is that the loss of Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, Bao Ling can't help but worry, and I don't know if his knighthood will be taken off along with it.

He stood in the courtyard of the Governor's Palace, quietly looking at the western-style building of the Governor's Palace, and the taste was indescribable. It's just that, it's going to be handed over tomorrow, and if you can't bear it, what can you do?

......

At the same time, on the island of Macao, across the sea from Hong Kong, in a place called Mong-Ha Village, the French minister Bourblon and the Spanish governor in Luzon, Fernando, stood in front of a somewhat dilapidated village house, looking at the sea outside the pier with some anxiety, and tacitly smiled.

Fernando couldn't hold his breath and asked, "Mr. Minister, didn't you say that you would arrive today?" Why is it almost afternoon, and I haven't arrived on Macau Island yet? ”

Bourblon replied, "Don't worry, now that the most powerful man in the Eastern world has become noble, they have an old saying, called Chrysostom, horses are hard to chase, and those who speak are counted, will definitely see us." Maybe something is delaying. ”

Fernando could only shake his head and laugh at himself, "I hope it is." As you know, Mr. Minister, our country first suffered from the Emperor of your country..... and thus fell into civil strife, coupled with two successive 'Carlos rebellions', the national strength was greatly damaged. Now that the rise of this eastern power is inevitable, the Philippine Islands occupied by the Kingdom of Spain will also be targeted by it, so I specially came to meet the lord of the East on the order of Queen Isabella II to discuss it. ”

With a look of sympathy and understanding on his face, Bourblon comforted: "I'm sorry, I regret the damage that the French emperor did to your country. I believe that the lord of the East will have a reasonable arrangement. If the other side really has territorial claims to the Philippine islands, I, France, will definitely help your country and stop the other party. ”

However, this is only a façade of Bourblon, in fact, he is secretly proud of his Napoleon the Great. Losers don't deserve sympathy. The Armada that once dominated the world has now disappeared, and the colonial empire with several continents, especially the Americas, has also collapsed, and the Kingdom of Spain has indeed declined. However, its own French Empire is thriving, and now what it needs to do is to develop more colonies and surpass Britain. Of course, this is what Bourblon thinks in his heart, and he will not say it on his lips.

Bourblon can be said to have witnessed the growth of this Eastern empire, which gradually began with a local rebel army, overthrew the Manchu dynasty, followed the example of Western Europe and gave rise to industry, and now became an eastern power and began to expand abroad, which he can say he knows best. It is precisely because of this that he wanted to promote friendship between France and the Eastern Empire, whether from the perspective of the French Empire or from his personal interests.

Although the French Empire re-emerged under the leadership of Napoleon III, there are still many hidden worries, one is that the British suppression of France has always existed, especially France is a traditional European continental power, close to Austria and Prussia, two enemies, far away Tsarist Russia, Ottoman two empires eyeing the tiger, to expand, it is too difficult. However, after the disastrous defeat of Napoleon the Great a few decades ago, the overseas colonies were almost divided by Britain and other powers, and now if you want to expand, you can only start from overseas, which requires allies. And this newly rising Eastern Empire may be a good choice. Of course, before it defeated the Dutch East Indies, Bourblon did not treat it as an equal, but now, not only did he occupy most of the Dutch East Indies, but also defeated the combined British fleet in the East Indies and China for a time, which had to impress Bourblon, and he even quickly sent the news back to Paris, suggesting that the Eastern Empire should be regarded as the most powerful empire on an equal footing, and that it should be included in the ranks of the French cooperative and competing countries.

From a personal point of view, he Bourblon has served as a minister to China for many years, has gone through the Qing Dynasty and the current Chinese Empire, and is also very familiar with the Emperor Feng Yunshan, knows him very well, and even can be regarded as a friend, which is his greatest personal advantage and dependence. With this relationship, the stronger the Chinese Empire, the more important he was as Minister to China, and the more his position was consolidated.

However, as the Minister of the French Empire to China, Bourblon could not focus solely on his own personal interests, he had to take care of the overall situation. That is, from the perspective of France as a whole and even Europe, it is not in the overall interests of France that the power of this Eastern empire can no longer be allowed to increase too quickly. Unless the empire can pay enough conditions to satisfy France, that's of course another story.

Thus, after witnessing the Treaty of Singapore, the Emperor of France sent him an order to try to meet the Emperor of the East, and Napoleon III was shocked when he heard of the Emperor's proposal to cooperate with France in matters concerning Mexico. On the one hand, he was very puzzled that the emperor of the East knew his thoughts, on the other hand, he was very interested, but not a little suspicious, after all, the Eastern countries have always left the impression of backwardness and weakness, in addition to the large number of soldiers, it is difficult to believe how much combat power there is, just barely able to protect himself, what qualifications are there to cooperate with France.

Therefore, when he learned from Wu Ruxiao that Feng Yunshan, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, would go to Hong Kong in person via Macao to participate in the ceremony of the British handover of Hong Kong Island, Bourblon asked Wu Ruxiao to help arrange an audience with Feng Yunshan. Wu Ruxiao promised to rush back to Guangzhou to meet the emperor's holy driver, and he and the Spanish governor in the Philippines waited here.

"Look, it's coming!" Fernando suddenly shouted.

Burbulon looked in the direction of the dock, a fleet, led by a warship that looked not small, with billowing smoke, a few red flags fluttering on the high deck, the speed of the ship slowly slowed down, and it didn't take long to reach the offshore surface less than three miles away from the dock, and at this time, Burblon was a little shocked: this warship turned out to be a battleship, and in his eyes, he could roughly estimate the displacement of more than 5,000 tons.

The Chinese Empire actually has such a warship? Bourblon naturally knew that with the current level of technology in this eastern country, it was not possible to build such a warship, but even if the other party spent money to buy it, it would be a huge amount of money. You must know that such a battleship, even in the United Kingdom, which is the most developed in terms of ship manufacturing, will cost at least nearly 300,000 pounds, not to mention this eastern country, and it is unlikely that Britain will sell such a battleship with key combat readiness.

Burbulon couldn't help but sigh at the huge wealth of this country, and at the same time admired Feng Yunshan's determination to develop the navy.

When he got closer, Bourblon found that the fleet consisted of a total of 5 warships, and in addition to the battleship at the head, the other four were cruisers, with tall hulls and no small tonnage. Bourblon couldn't help but wonder, did the emperor of the East, knowing the purpose of his and Fernando's coming, start to show off his strength? Although such a fleet, for France, is nothing at all, but that is in Europe. In this far Far East, there is such a fleet, I am afraid that it can really cross the East. Thinking like this, Bourblon turned his head to look at Fernando next to him, only to see that his face was ugly and unnatural.