"Therefore, from both points of view, we must not allow a large-scale split or serious civil strife in Tsarist Russia!" Gladstone understood.

"Not bad!" The Earl of Derby simply said it more thoroughly, and in fact Gladstone should have understood this: "For our Kingdom of Great Britain, we have always pursued a policy of balance of power on the European continent.

At the beginning, the French Empire rose to become the first power in Europe because of Napoleon the Great, so we united with other European countries to form an anti-French alliance to defeat the French Empire and contain its strength. And when Tsarist Russia was strong enough to dominate the European continent, we joined forces with France to launch the Crimean War to weaken Tsarist Russia. The balance of power in Europe under the Vienna system is in the best interests of our British Empire.

However, the situation has changed somewhat, and the reason why our Kingdom of Great Britain has been able to implement the policy of balancing power on the European continent is because we were the British Empire, the number one power in the world, and we were able to completely control the situation of the whole world. But now, even if we don't admit it, we know in our hearts that not to mention the Chinese Empire, France alone, as well as Austria or Prussia, which are really ready to rise, have begun to rise. And if our strength is greatly damaged, it is inevitable that we will not be able to control the situation in Europe. Therefore, on the basis of the original policy of equilibrium on the European continent, we should make a slight adjustment and change it to a policy of more emphasis on isolation, a more realistic one, and an 'isolation' without touching the fundamental interests and not interfering in the disputes on the European continent. But now that the situation is critical, even if the Kingdom of Great Britain does not know how to make a move, it must secretly help Tsarist Russia tide over this difficult situation and try to curb the expansion of the Chinese Empire and France. ”

Gladstone asked suspiciously: "But sir, the border between the Chinese Empire and Tsarist Russia is in that distant Siberia, and we are powerless to interfere!" If the civil strife of Tsarist Russia is serious this time, they will not only occupy all of Siberia, but also expand further into the east of the Ural Mountains, Tsarist Russia will definitely suffer a heavy blow, and the Chinese Empire will be greatly strengthened. ”

The Earl of Derby sighed, "Yes! The Tsarist Russian Empire and the Chinese Empire are both superpowers, with vast territories and tens of thousands of miles of borders on both sides, while our Great Britain is isolated from the European continent and difficult to interfere with! Now, the only way to do this is to use the power of Ottoman Turkey, plus the power of Austria and Prussia, to try to help Tsarist Russia stabilize the situation as soon as possible. Then it may be necessary to use the power of Tsarist Russia to resist the expansion of the Chinese Empire. In any case, the Chinese Empire must be confined to the Asian continent, and it must not be allowed to expand and extend its sphere of influence deep into Europe! ”

Gladstone said worriedly: "I'm afraid it's difficult!" This time, the tsar originally promoted the reform of the serfs, offended all the noble landlords and serfs in the country, and if the culprit was the Chinese Empire as Sir said, there must be a back-up move behind it, but I am afraid that it will definitely incite those serfs to riot, and take advantage of the fact that there is no tsar in Tsarist Russia, then it is possible for the Chinese Empire to take the opportunity to lead troops to attack Tsarist Russia.

The point is that the previous ambitions of Tsarist Russia were too great, and in recent years they have successively annexed the territories of many other ethnic groups, such as Finland, Poland, Lithuania, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan and Crimea, and other places, which are likely to rise up and take the opportunity to resist and fight for independence. In this case, it will be difficult for us to defend Tsarist Russia. ”

Earl Derby nodded: "Yes, if these places rise up to fight for independence, after all, they have the justice of national independence, and it is indeed difficult for us to interfere, we can only hope that Tsarist Russia will solve it by itself." ”

Gladstone had a rare smile, anyway, it was good that Earl Derby could tell him so much! At the same time, from the Earl of Derby, he also saw some of his own shortcomings, and he was ready to leave, after all, the new prime minister, the cabinet members have not yet been determined, and now there are so many things, and there are thousands of things waiting for him to solve.

At this moment, his assistant to the prime minister came running in a hurry.

The assistant was originally at the Prime Minister's official residence in Downing Street to help him clean up his office, if it wasn't for something important, he would definitely not have come to report it, and looking at the look on the assistant's face and the caution on his face, it must be very important news.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Earl, the intelligence department of the kingdom has just sent several telegrams, and there are several very important pieces of news that need to be reported to you immediately!" After speaking, the assistant handed over the telegram in his hand directly to Gladstone.

Gladstone hurriedly read the note in his hand, his face gloomy, he handed the note to the Earl of Derby next to him, his face gloomy and uncertain.

The note is not big, but the recorded messages are not simple, and each message is shocking:

The first piece of news was that there were several rebel forces in Tsarist Russia, whether it was Poland or Finland, Chechnya or Chersky in the Caucasus, there was a huge rebellion. The most important thing is that the armies of the two princes fought fiercely in the area of Yaroslavl, with more than 10,000 casualties, and both princes rushed to St. Petersburg, only to be captured by the troops sent by the Tsar's other brother, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, who had been assassinated by his uncle who had rushed back to St. Petersburg early.

Grand Duke Nikolayevich united with another younger brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, taking advantage of their status as army generals in the Tsarist army, probably succeeded in gaining the approval of the Praetorian Guard Corps stationed in St. Petersburg, and this ambitious Grand Duke directly stabilized his younger brother first, and then forced the two captured nephews to sign a document claiming that he was willing to give up his rights and obligations to inherit the Tsar, so that he himself, as the first heir of the late Tsar, was logically in St. Petersburg, The Orthodox leader was invited to the coronation ceremony, officially becoming the new tsar. But coincidentally, the news was written at the end that the third prince, Alexander Alexandrovich, escaped from St. Petersburg with the help of the Oprychniki Guards and re-rushed to Moscow. Obviously, even if Grand Duke Nikolayevich is now the new tsar, even if there is no rebellion and independence from Poland, Finland and Chechnya, the tsarist Russian empire will not be calm just because of the struggle for the throne between the uncle and nephew.

And the second piece of news made Gladstone feel even worse. The Kingdom of Prussia, which had been concentrating on development and growth, after appointing a new prime minister, Bismarck, actually changed its foreign policy, and at the critical juncture of the assassination of the tsar and the turmoil in Tsarist Russia, it even stepped into a horizontal shot, brazenly launched a war of aggression against Denmark, and sent troops to attack Jutland!