The British think too much, things are really not that complicated, it is really a matter of a few words.

Zhou Chenggong's visit to the Manchu Empire was not invited by China to do so, he just felt that he had an opportunity.

Zhou Chenggong always regarded the Manchus as his most important ally, because the two countries had a common enemy, the Ottoman Empire.

He came to lobby Daoguang, although he had the consideration of fighting for the interests of his homeland, but mainly for him, for Greece.

He is Greece, Greece is him, and he has successfully established a political identity.

If the Manchus joined the British side and started the war against China, Zhou Chenggong believed that it would be a trouble for China, but a disaster for the Manchus. There was a risk that the Manchu Empire would fall apart as a result, and Greece would lose an important ally.

Therefore, after learning from the Greek diplomatic department that the signs of the Manchu Qing's participation in the attack on China began to become clear, he decided to visit the Manchus.

He landed on the Black Sea coast because the Manchus built the railway from Batumi to Shiraz, which was built by a European company, and because of this railway, Batumi developed from a military fortress to the largest port city in the Black Sea.

Like all cities on the Black Sea coast, it was home to a large number of Greek merchants. Thanks to the good relations between the two countries, the Greek fleet undertook the largest transport operations in Batumi.

Through the railway, Zhou Chenggong was able to feel the complex attitude of the Manchus towards China. They were not very positive about railways, but they did build a number of railway lines, all of which were built with the help of Chinese companies. From Shiraz there is a railway to Baghdad and a railway to Afghanistan, but there is no railway to the Chinese border. They also never accepted the extension of the Kazakh railway line to their homeland. Apparently the Manchus were worried about a rapid Chinese attack on the Manchus by rail.

In Zhou Chenggong's view, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was a country with a backward economy, but it was not barren. Not to mention the agricultural development of the two river basins, the output of wool and cattle and sheep leather in Central Asia is also very huge, and only commerce is lagging behind. Although after the occupation of Persia, they abandoned the past practice of state control of commerce, and a large number of merchants began to divide in the Eight Banners of Han and Persia, but in a short period of time, there was no developed commercial culture, no mature commercial groups, and a large number of small and medium-sized merchants could not compete with large foreign commercial groups. The Manchu business was heavily controlled by foreign commercial forces, the most powerful of which was the Chinese commercial power, European companies and African companies all had a large number of privileges in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the British commercial power was the second, Greece was already ranked third, and the fourth was the Russian merchant group.

The Manchu merchant group was only a vassal of these big commercial powers, they were retailers, they collected the relatively rich products of the Manchu Qing and then wholesaled them to these foreign commercial powers, or wholesaled goods from foreign commercial powers, and then retailed them in their own countries. They do not have the ability to build a network of channels that transcend national borders, and can only cede the most profitable part of foreign trade to foreign powers.

In terms of industry, it is even more backward, except for the military industrial system built with complete sets of Western-style equipment, the civilian industry is almost zero. Such a state form was more advanced than the local nomadic groups in the past, but backward from other surrounding countries, and even the industries of the Ottoman Empire and the Ali Dynasty of Egypt were more basic than those of the Manchus.

Their military strength is very strong, and the government inherits the idea of agricultural management, attaches importance to agricultural production, at least they themselves believe that they do not rely on foreign trade, and trade brings them only gold and silver. However, Zhou Chenggong believes that such a country is actually very fragile, and when their trade is blocked, their economy can easily go bankrupt, all kinds of social problems arise, and finally the regime collapses.

So he had an open and honest conversation with Daoguang.

Zhou Chenggong's lobbying based on economic principles did not impress Daoguang, because the current Daoguang, although different from the historical Daoguang, has been exposed to some Western statecraft, but it is mainly the traditional Chinese philosophy of governance, and he does not think that his country will have problems because of trade.

But after Zhou successfully talked to Daoguang in the way of Chinese political philosophy, Daoguang began to hesitate.

Zhou Chenggong first showed his strength to Daoguang: "Your Majesty, you should know that China's Dingkou is far better than the sum of Russia, the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom. You also know that Da Zhou vigorously implements the ten card laws and protects the armor strictly. Although there were only 300,000 soldiers, the auxiliary soldiers were far more than one million. Under mobilization, even if it is necessary to form an army of five million, it will not be difficult. But how many soldiers can be used in the Qing Dynasty? Even if it is a million, the Russian soldiers will send a million, and the British have never been good at land warfare, and it is absolutely impossible to mobilize a million troops from a distance of thousands of miles. With two million against five million, there is no chance of winning! ”

Daoguang objected: "I have more than a million soldiers available in the Qing Dynasty. I have four million people in the Qing Dynasty, and they can all fight! Moreover, there are more than one million Russian soldiers. Although Yingyi is not good at land warfare, water warfare is quite strong, and this is enough! ”

Although Zhou Chenggong knew that Daoguang was bluffing, he didn't break it, and began to talk to him about the ethereal truth.

He asked, "What if the British, Russian, and Qing forces win?" Does Your Majesty really think that you can break into the Central Plains? ”

Daoguang sighed: "It's hard to break into the Central Plains!" But it is easy to take the place outside the Great Zhou Pass. ”

Zhou Chenggong sneered: "Even if the Qing Dynasty occupies the Yumen Pass, what will happen?" ”

Daoguang wondered: "How?" Expand the land for a thousand miles! ”

Zhou Chenggong shook his head: "This is not a meritorious deed, it is really a disaster." ”

Daoguang was puzzled: "Where does this start?" ”

Zhou Chenggong said: "If the Qing Dynasty occupies the outside of the Yumen Pass, there will be no peace with the Great Zhou." Today, with the help of Britain and Russia, he will have to fight the enemy alone. Dare to ask whether the national strength of the Qing Dynasty can permanently resist the Great Zhou? ”

Daoguang began to ponder, he knew a little bit about the situation in European countries, these countries were divided and merged too often, today you are allied with me, tomorrow I am allied with him, and the alliance is too frequent, there are no permanent enemies, and there are no permanent friends. In a word, Yiren has no faith, and everything is mercenary. Such an ally is simply unreliable. If you really cooperate with them and attack Da Zhou together, you can indeed benefit for a while, but it will be difficult to say in the future.

Daoguang also knew that in the past few decades, the Great Zhou Dynasty implemented the policy of real border in Yili, and the population of Ili has reached as many as five or six million, of which eighty percent are Han people, who have reclaimed more than 10 million mu of fertile land, as well as 200 million mu of pasture, and raised millions of cattle and sheep, which is really a piece of fat.

But everyone wants this fat, and the fertile fields and pastures that Da Zhou has developed with great effort will be easily handed over? When the timing changes, I am afraid that the war between the two countries will start again, and whether the Qing Dynasty will still be able to get help from Britain and Russia at that time, the Russians occupied Kazakhstan at that time, and it is difficult to say whether they will stab them in the back.

People who have no long-term worries must have near-term worries, and this long-term concern made Daoguang hesitate.

Zhou Chenggong continued: "Your Majesty, it is easy to rob while the fire is hot, and it is difficult to take chestnuts from the fire. Unless Britain and Russia have the determination to attack all the way to Nanjing, cross the Hexi Corridor, cross the Tongguan, cross the Yellow River, cross the Yangtze River, and destroy the Great Zhou in one attempt. Otherwise, when the Qing Dynasty enters the customs, it will be a rafter that comes out. ”

Daoguang hesitated even more, the easiest way to destroy the country in ancient times was that the Eight Banners entered the customs, Li Zicheng destroyed the Ming Dynasty, and it took decades for the Qing army to destroy the remnants of the Southern Ming Dynasty. It is almost impossible to destroy the Central Plains Dynasty in history, through the situation of a war. The Hexi Corridor, Tongguan, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River, which of these dangers is not a place that can only be won after years of struggle. Do Britain and Russia have the patience?

He discussed with the British consul that the British had no idea of destroying the Great Zhou, and their strategy was that the British Royal Navy would destroy the Great Zhou naval division, and the British, Russian, and Qing allied forces would march into Ili, and then force the Great Zhou to cede Ili to the Qing Dynasty and Kazakh to Russia.

In this way, the Great Zhou is far away from Europe, but the distance between the Great Zhou and the Qing Dynasty is even closer. The Qing Dynasty occupied Ili, for the Great Zhou, it was equivalent to the Jungger to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty in the Kangyongqian Dynasty, constantly aimed at the Jungger brave soldiers, the Qianlong Dynasty alone launched three major wars, and finally exterminated the Jungger Department, when he thought of the tragedy of Qianlong's destruction of Zhunger, Daoguang shuddered.

But Yili is indeed a piece of fat, and Daoguang, who is deeply influenced by Han culture, has indeed not lost his ambition to chase the Central Plains in his heart, and this is really a godsend.

He was unwilling to say: "If the Great Zhou is defeated, it will inevitably be greatly damaged." Or like Tang Zhiheng Ross, there is no power to look west! ”

Zhou Chenggong smiled bitterly.

Daoguang asked what he meant.

Zhou Chenggong sighed: "Your Majesty has heard of the death of the second generation, have you ever heard of the allusion of the decline of the first generation?" ”

Daoguang thought about it and shook his head, the orthodox Central Plains Dynasty really didn't seem to have a story of the first generation of monarchs defeating the country, the second Qin Dynasty died, and the Sui Dynasty II died, which is a lesson for later dynasties. In Daoguang's view, the actions of the Great Zhou Emperor Zhou Lang are not inferior to those of the founding monarchs of previous dynasties. It is even an exaggeration to say that it has surpassed the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties, and the vast land of the Great Zhou Dynasty is vast and the present is vast and ancient and modern. The prosperity of the people is far better than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The monarch is the Ming army, the country is prosperous, it is unimaginable that such a country will die in the second generation, and it is almost impossible to expect the first generation to decline.

Daoguang was a little disappointed, he thought it was a good opportunity, but he didn't dare to start. Jiaqing Ye took them to the Western Regions, but Daoguang knew very well that Jiaqing had never given up the heart knot of counterattacking the Central Plains, according to the Manchu tradition, he had read the living notes of the kings of the past dynasties, Jiaqing in daily life, from time to time to sigh about the past of the Central Plains, he kept it in mind.

Seeing Daoguang's expression, Zhou Chenggong sighed: "Your Majesty, don't lose a big one because of a small one. This time is by no means an opportunity but a danger, my father has not yet died. Your Majesty must think twice! ”

Daoguang sighed, yes, the root of everything is that Zhou Lang, the emperor who has opened the emperor, is not dead, and if he is not dead, China cannot be insulted.

Thinking of this, Daoguang sighed to Zhou Chenggong: "You are a successful lobbyist. ”

Zhou Chenggong disagreed: "Your Majesty, I am by no means a lobbyist in China. Rather, he came for His Majesty's sake. I have three strategies, would Your Majesty like to hear them? ”

Daoguang arched his hand and said, "Listen up!" ”