Victoria was a little moved, but not too shocked. She seemed to be used to receiving and accepting the bad news.

However, it seems that the second news is not bad news, but some "good news", but at the same time, Victoria also deeply felt a nameless insult.

What "respondent demanded a formal peace treaty in London?" ”

Isn't it just a kind of oriental complex? For this, Victoria naturally understood. At the beginning, it was 20 years ago, when he had just ascended the throne not long ago, Great Britain was still the most powerful empire in the world at that time, and directly sent a fleet to defeat the Manchu Qing State in the east, forcing the other side to sign a surrender and peace treaty, at that time it was in the Chinese Empire Nanjing City signed the "Treaty of Nanjing", Great Britain as a victor, signed a treaty on the territory of the other party, that kind of unparalleled pride is intoxicating, and now, everything is reversed, the other side not only defeated the Kingdom of Great Britain, He also forced himself to send a package to Shengjing to negotiate peace, and that's it, he even had to come to London to sign a formal peace treaty. It's a naked humiliation!

Victoria could imagine that when the time came, the whole of Europe, and indeed the whole world, would laugh at the British Empire, on which the sun never set, and now become an insulted defeated country, humiliating to accept defeat in London, and to accept the insults and covenants of the Eastern countries. At that time, the Treaty of London will be a permanent disgrace in the history of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and his own name of Victoria will be nailed to the pillar of shame.

But what can be done? In any case, this is just a name. It is not necessary to ignore the plight of Great Britain for the sake of these false names. What's more, the most pressure is still on the queen and the cabinet, for those captured British soldiers, they must be rescued as soon as possible, so that the evil Eastern Empire can be released and returned as soon as possible. Therefore, in any case, it is necessary to bow your head and accept the humiliating peace of London.

Thinking of this, Victoria pretended not to understand the true meaning of it, and said lightly: "Earl Gladstone, Sir Bao Ling signed a memorandum of armistice with the Chinese Empire, which is a good thing!" How can I say bad news? ”

"Your Majesty, you don't know the conditions that Sir Bao Ling promised him!" Gladstone said with a sad face: "The conditions put forward by the Chinese Empire in the East are very harsh.

First, let Britain admit defeat and announce to the world that it will withdraw from the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and that from now on, our warships will not be allowed to enter the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans without the permission of the other side; second, Great Britain gave up all its overseas colonies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and transferred them all to the Chinese Empire; Third, it is necessary to hand over to the Chinese Empire several of the first offenders who started the war to the Chinese Empire, and all the officers and soldiers involved in the Plymouth Navy who attacked the Xu Hu Kee merchant fleet of the Chinese Empire without authorization will also be handed over to the military courts of a third country for public trial, and the British government will compensate all the losses of the Xu Hu Kee merchant fleet; The fourth is to remove all British trade tariffs and protections on the Chinese Empire, open all markets, and lift the embargo.

Of course, the other party also promised to release the captured British soldiers, but it seems that the cost of living and caring for these days of detention seems to be quite a lot. ”

Queen Victoria's lips trembled slightly, she originally thought that she could forcibly endure the discomfort caused by these harsh conditions, she bit her lips tightly, her hands were clenched, and her whole body seemed to tremble a little, but she still couldn't hold back in the end, and the crutches in her hand fell to the ground with a bang, but she didn't bother to pick it up, and cried and said to Gladstone: "Great Britain has never experienced such humiliation!" Under such conditions, O God, will the whole kingdom of Great Britain never again dare to appear before the world? Isn't he ashamed?

No, no, no, it can't be like this! The Kingdom of Great Britain could not agree to such conditions! We would rather fight with the Eastern International again than defeat again than agree to such a humiliating condition! ”

Gladstone seemed to have known that Queen Victoria would react in this way, and he reassured: "But judging from the face of the Chinese Empire, these conditions can also be imagined. Now these conditions are actually expected by the cabinet. Alas, the original condition for withdrawing from the Indian Ocean could be fought for, but I didn't expect that now even Cape Town has been captured by the other side, what else can I do? Unless we return to the peak of Great Britain and do our best to mobilize the strength of the whole country to fight to the death against the Chinese Empire, but what is the point of such words? On the contrary, it will cheapen the ambitious guys in Europe!

There must be a lot of idiots like Ottoman Turkey! Not to mention anything else, the French Empire must be happy, they are bent on surpassing our Kingdom of Great Britain to become the number one power in the world, and now looking at it like this, I am afraid that it has already been overtaken by the Chinese Empire. But they must have thought that if they trampled on our Great Britain, they would become the number one power in the world. Therefore, they will leave no stone unturned.

Your Majesty, in my opinion, it is better to conclude the peace talks with the Chinese Empire first, and sign a good contract, especially to bring back the tens of thousands of captured British soldiers, according to the terms of Sir Bao Ling's talks. As for these conditions, although they are harsh, if you can get back those tens of thousands of English and Scottish boys, it will be worth it. ”

I have to say that Gladstone's words touched Queen Victoria very much. At the mention of the tens of thousands of captured British soldiers, her anger vanished at once. Yes, the most serious thing is actually here, you know, the Kingdom of Great Britain is now said to be a constitutional monarchy, in fact, it is already very democratic, what else can she say, those overseas colonies, in the eyes of the ordinary people of the Kingdom of Great Britain, are just some vanity and the interests of those noble merchants, what does it have to do with them? But these ordinary people, from the perspective of humanity, have unanimously assembled, complained, and demonstrated, demanding that the parliament and the cabinet save their children, the captured soldiers, at all costs.

Victoria quickly figured it out, and it seemed that it had to be so. It's not that Bao Ling can't negotiate, in fact, whoever goes is the same, all the conditions put forward by the Chinese Empire, on the side of the Kingdom of Great Britain, can only be unconditionally agreed. The situation is pressing, and the Kingdom of Great Britain is eager for a truce, and the other side seems to want to take advantage of this opportunity to continue to mobilize the navy to seize more of the kingdom's overseas colonies.

If these conditions are not agreed, the only way to continue the war is to continue. But now, although Great Britain is considered a world power, Victoria knows that after the Crimean War, the Indian rebellion, the independence of Ireland and the rebellion at home, and the disastrous defeat of the Chinese Empire in two expeditions, the original number one power is now weakened, and it is no longer possible to quickly organize a war of more than 100,000 men in three or four months.

Even if the war was to be organized, it would have to take another year or two, and wait for Great Britain to recruit new recruits and train properly for some time before they could be sent to the battlefield. But now, there are weekly rallies and demonstrations of the military families of the so-called captured soldiers, and the naval fleet of the Chinese Empire has rushed out of the Indian Ocean and into the Atlantic Ocean, and the army has joined forces with the Ottoman Turks to penetrate deep into the Black Sea, Victoria understands that there is no way to delay any longer, even if she goes to negotiate in person, she must accept the other party's conditions.

Therefore, Victoria hung her head and said, "That being the case, then so be it." Earl, the affairs of the kingdom, you don't have to report to me in case of trouble, and you can take care of it yourself in the future and decide for yourself. With that, ignoring Gladstone, with the help of the maid, he staggered to the bedroom, and when others could not see, Victoria coughed violently, wow, a mouthful of crimson blood spurted out of her throat, and then, in the panicked screams of several maids, she slowly fell to the ground.......