Paris, France. Santa Cloud Palace.

Opposite Emperor Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Minister of State Alexander Valewski did not care to salute, so he said directly and excitedly: "Your Majesty, there is important news!" ”

Louis suddenly perked up and said, "Is it about the Chinese Empire?" Or the UK? Russia? ”

Valevsky replied: "Tsarist Russia, the Tsarist army has been defeated like a mountain, and now it is a mess of rebellious ministers. Half a month ago, didn't Tsarist Russia completely even the Crimean Peninsula be jointly captured by the Western Expeditionary Army of the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Army? Now, the entire northern shore of the Black Sea is also occupied by the Ottoman army, and those Ottoman troops still do not heed our warnings and continue to attack the lower Dnieper River in the north.

However, today's news is about the relationship between Britain and the Chinese Empire, according to the news transmitted from London, a while ago Britain sent an envoy named Bao Ling, arrived in Shengjing, the capital of the Chinese Empire, and signed an armistice memorandum with the foreign secretary of the Chinese Empire, and the two sides agreed on some conditions, and said that Guo Songtao, the special envoy of the Chinese Empire to Europe, would sign a formal peace treaty with the British Prime Minister. In addition......"

"Wait, Valewski, what is the content of the armistice memorandum with the Chinese Empire, or what is the price to pay?" Louis immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

"Your Majesty is wise! It's all because the subordinates are too excited to make it clear. Nabao Ling signed an armistice memorandum with the Chinese Empire, and Guo Songtao, the special envoy to Europe, was to sign a formal armistice peace treaty in London. However, the conditions agreed to by the package order can be said to not only make Britain lose face, but also suffer heavy losses, which is not much different from cutting off the flesh of the heart. Not only did they promise not to allow warships to enter the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but they also ceded all of their overseas colonies to the Chinese Empire. In other words, all the gains of Britain's hard work in the Eastern world for one or two hundred years were painfully ceded to the Eastern empire.

In addition, the Chinese Empire also believed that former British Prime Minister Russell was the main culprit in provoking the war, and demanded that the British government hand over Russell and the British naval officers and soldiers who attacked the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire to them for trial.

Finally, Britain should lift all trade tariffs and embargoes against the Chinese Empire and fully open the British trade market. ”

As soon as Valewski finished saying the first news, Louis exclaimed: "This, such a condition, Britain actually agreed?" Could it be that the package was bought by the Chinese Empire and betrayed Britain before agreeing, such a condition, it is impossible for the high-spirited Victorian girl to agree, but the prime minister Gladstone, who is as docile as a sheep, is likely to agree. ”

"Your Majesty has a point, it is likely that Prime Minister Gladstone agreed, and then persuaded Queen Victoria to acquiesce." Walewski said with some schadenfreude: "The reason actually comes from the second news, my subordinates haven't had time to say it just now to let Your Majesty know: the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire is the powerful Eastern Fleet that defeated the British Second Expeditionary Fleet, and many of its warships were originally purchased from our French Empire, and this fleet, under the leadership of one of its crazy commanders, pursued some of the warships of the British Expeditionary Fleet all the way, and actually crossed the Indian Ocean from Calcutta and chased past the Cape of Good Hope!"

They conquered Muscat, the ports of Aden, and then bypassed the island of Madagascar and went directly to southern Africa, specifically capturing the British colonial strongholds in southern Africa, and important strongholds such as East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Town were all captured by that fierce eastern fleet. Although the local British garrison resisted, their strength was outnumbered, and not only did they fail to hold it, but they also suffered nearly 1,000 casualties.

It may be because of this news that the Queen of England and the Prime Minister swallowed this bitter wine and were forced to agree to the conditions of signing an armistice memorandum between Bao Ling and the Chinese Empire. ”

Louis nodded and sighed: "Victoria, who has always been extremely arrogant, has now become a laughing stock for her stubbornness. The queen of the empire on which the sun never sets, who was invincible at the beginning, is now so downtrodden, begging for mercy from the eastern countries that could be defeated by any fleet, and also ceding the land and begging for peace, it is really sighing in such a low voice! ”

"Yes! However, Your Majesty, we must not think that Britain will suffer too much loss from this armistice memorandum, if the Chinese Empire declares an armistice, no longer pursues the British fleet, and releases those captured British soldiers, the British side will not suffer much loss, at most some loss of face, and in fact, maybe it will be a good thing for them. Wallewski's analysis surprised Louis, and he hurriedly asked, "What do you say about this?" ”

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten that Gladstone, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, what did he do before? O Chancellor of the Exchequer! He was born to be calculating, and he was a very successful pragmatist! The reason why Bao Ling agreed to the conditions of the Chinese Empire in full must have been Gladstone's instructions. Moreover, this person was able to convince the Queen of England precisely because ceding those overseas colonies would reduce the financial burden and burden on Britain on the contrary, and it would be a great thing for Britain's declining fiscal and tax revenues.

Your Majesty doesn't know if you've heard of it, but a few years ago, when Gladstone was still Chancellor of the Exchequer, he proposed that they Britain wanted to advocate free trade, and their overseas colonies, except for the raw material origins and markets necessary for trade, such as India, and the key transit terminals on trade routes, such as the port of Aden, Singapore and Hong Kong, the rest of the overseas colonies could basically be abandoned.

These free-trade MPs believed that the colonies were a huge burden for Britain and that it was not cost-effective to occupy many colonies. They even encouraged the colonies to secede from Britain, saying that the liberation of the colonies and secession from Britain was a good thing that was happy, inevitable and beneficial to Britain and the world.

Even at the end of 1858, Queen Victoria's edict stated her reluctance to expand existing territories, and many MPs wrote letters to the Cabinet and the Prime Minister demanding the renunciation of all colonies except India and the Mediterranean. Therefore, in this way, there was already such an idea of abandoning overseas colonies in Britain, and all the conditions agreed to were not unacceptable to them, except for the ugly face.

What's more, there is no other way for the UK. Now it seems that the British army will not be able to organize hundreds of thousands of British troops to confront the army field soldiers of the Chinese Empire in the short term! In terms of the navy, although it can defeat the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire, it is difficult to completely eliminate it, and the navy of the Chinese Empire has not only this fleet, but also several fleets, and it is still growing and growing. In a word, Britain could not defeat the Chinese Empire at all, and he could only accept it. ”

Louis came back to his senses at this time: "I see, thanks to the seemingly proper Gladstone's calculations, I thought that Victoria would resolutely oppose it!" ”