Derby didn't hear Charles's banter, and replied directly: "Ireland has always been the territory of the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom has undoubted sovereignty over the entire island of Ireland. Anyone who dares to betray and resist the British government and army will pay a heavy price. But our Majesty does not like war, and she does not want to be rude to the Irish people, so she is willing to live in peace with Ireland. But there are a few prerequisites that you need to agree to! ”

Charles made a gesture of listening: "Sir Derby, please!" ”

"I'll tell you what we mean first!" Derby, who was clearly adept at negotiating, threw out the temptation first: "Mr. Gladstone has always been sympathetic to Ireland, and at his suggestion and block, the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain rejected the decision to send troops to attack Ireland on a large scale. instruct Mr. Gladstone and I to come to Dublin to consult with you on the question of Ireland. ”

"The Irish problem?" Charles laughed: "What's wrong with Ireland?" Sir Derby, you better get straight to the point! What conditions do we need to agree to so that we don't send troops to attack us? ”

Derby's face did not change at all, and he also responded with a smile: "The purpose of your formation of the so-called Irish Independence Army is to want Ireland to become independent and re-establish the country. But Ireland has always been the territory of my Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Anglo-Irish Act of Union 60 years ago has the force of law, and since the establishment of the United Kingdom, the Kingdom has treated the Irish not badly, and what you are doing at this time is rebellion! Even if you occupy the whole of Ireland, you will be in rebellion. Moreover, you have to admit that as long as my Kingdom of Great Britain really sends troops ruthlessly, you can't resist it at all, and even if you recruit more Irish to resist as soldiers, you won't be able to support it for long. After all, the island of Ireland is on the edge of Great Britain, and as the most powerful empire in the world, if it really sends troops with all its might, Ireland cannot really resist it. ”

Charles's face changed, and Stephens behind him changed even more, just as he wanted to speak, Charles waved his hand and said with a smile: "Sir Derby, don't you think you're too verbose?" I've been asking you, what conditions? Let's just say that the conditions are! If you don't want to talk, I, the 200,000 soldiers of the Irish Independence Army, have already sharpened their muskets and are waiting for the arrival of your British army! ”

Derby's face has finally changed! He became a little embarrassed.

The reason why it has been emphasized that Great Britain's military strength is enough to sweep through Ireland is only that Her Majesty and the authorities are unwilling to start too much war and pity the Irish people, and if you say something like this, it is to overwhelm these Irish people in front of you in terms of momentum. That Stephens was obviously already a little worried, and he had been driven by his own words, so it would be much more convenient to make his own conditions next. But I didn't expect that this Charles was tendoned, and he just asked for conditions, which disrupted his own arrangement and negotiation rhythm.

Helpless, Derby could only say: "Since the words are open, let's speak up." If the Kingdom of Great Britain wants to send troops to attack Ireland in a big way, first, Ireland cannot declare independence, and it must be recognized as still the territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland! ”

"Wait!" Stephens finally couldn't help it, interrupted Derby's words, and turned to look at Charles, who nodded and asked, "And what is Ireland?" Sir Derby. ”

"Dominions below the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." "Ireland has the right to self-government, self-determination, but is still nominally part of the United Kingdom. In addition to internal self-government, Ireland has its own self-governing constitution, its own trade policy, and its own army. However, the currency must be unified in the United Kingdom's sterling system, diplomatic power must be exercised by the United Kingdom, and the declaration of war and war must also be decided by the United Kingdom. ”

Stephens' face softened, and he sounded good. Charles said, "No, no, no, for Ireland to remain nominally in the United Kingdom as a self-governing territory of the Kingdom is to have full self-determination." The currency of Ireland is at its discretion, and we would not object to the use of the pound sterling if the Irish Fenian Society and the Irish people had chosen the pound sterling. In addition, in terms of foreign affairs, in addition to declaring war on foreign countries, it is also up to us in Ireland to decide for ourselves, and we need to engage in trade with various countries. ”

Derby's face darkened, if that was the case, what difference would Ireland have from independence except for one that nominally belonged to the United Kingdom? He glanced at Gladstone, who immediately understood and said, "Let's not talk about the first one, let's talk about the second condition first!" Since Ireland's annexation to the United Kingdom, Great Britain has issued £230 million in national debt for Ireland and is subject to taxation as a British territory. In view of the suffering of the Irish people, the parliament decided that Ireland would only need to pay £12 million in taxes a year, and provide more than 50% of the food supply in Great Britain. For this condition, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Charles, you have no problem, right? ”

Before Stephens could answer, Charles suddenly changed color and said, "This can't be! £12 million! Mr. Gladstone, you are Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and you ought to be well aware of Ireland's fiscal situation. Thanks to the arrangement of the kingdom, there is no industry in the whole of Ireland at all, all of them live on backward agriculture such as planting and a small amount of animal husbandry, and the total value of agriculture in the whole of Ireland is only 36 million pounds, and there are nearly 6 million Irish people to feed, per capita, each person in a year, less than 6 pounds, survival is a problem, where are there tens of millions of taxes to pay? Not to mention providing food rations for more than 50 per cent of Great Britain's population of 31 million. ”

Gladstone sneered, "Mr. Charles, that's not how the accounts are calculated!" You're insulting me! Yes, the total value of agriculture in Ireland is about £36 million, but as far as I know, nearly £25 million of it is paid to landlords, taxes from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and profits from the resale of grain by merchants. There are £10 million in food enough to feed 8 million Irish.

Now the whole of Ireland is occupied by you, and all the land is at your disposal, and at least £25,000,000 a year of this part of the land is yours. It's not too much to pay £12 million in taxes now, but you still make a lot of money! Moreover, 50% of the food of the Kingdom of Great Britain is not provided for free, and we can buy it at 50% of the market price in London. As you know, prices in London are very expensive, and 50% of the market price is high enough. ”

Charles fell into deep thought.

Stephens said, "Mr. Charles, can you go a little lower?" ”

Gladstone was overjoyed when he saw this, smiled at Derby, and said, "Then give Stephens a face, and it will be 1 million pounds less." ”

Stephens didn't know what to do, and was still bargaining: "Just erase that fraction, 2 million pounds less." Food, we can promise you. ”

Charles was helpless, and could only nod.

Gladstone was embarrassed, but he didn't hold back for long before agreeing. Speaking of the third condition: "The last condition is that Ireland shall ensure that at all times it will be able to provide no less than 100,000 soldiers to serve in the Kingdom of Great Britain. ”

Charles shook his head repeatedly: "That's too much. Up to fifty thousand. ”

Gladstone smiled.

The two bargained again, and in the end, Charles didn't think much about it, and reached a consensus with 80,000 soldiers. After all, Europe itself has a tradition of mercenaries, and serving in the British army can not only improve Ireland's military skills and tactics, but also help train a group of soldiers, and when they retire and return to Ireland, they will be a well-trained army. The Irish Independence Army was able to defeat the British troops because of a group of Irish who had returned home from the British army. Moreover, the treatment of soldiers in the British army was not bad, it was better than farming in the Irish countryside.

Back to the first condition, the two sides started countless words, but they did not decide on the same day.

The next day, as if both sides had discussed, both took a step back and finally reached an agreement.

Ireland became a self-governing territory under the Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland was still nominally part of the United Kingdom, Ireland elected a governor on its own, nominally acting as the representative of the Queen of Great Britain, but it was self-governing in internal affairs, had its own constitution, had its own trade policy, and also had its own army, monetary autonomy, and ordinary foreign policy was decided by Ireland, but major foreign policies such as declaring war on foreign countries still needed to be decided by the Kingdom of Great Britain.

However, this was only a temporary verbal negotiation, and the signing of specific official documents was required by a representative of Ireland to London at the request of Parliament.

When Sir Derby and Gladstone returned to London, tens of thousands of aristocrats from Scotland and England and landowners who owned estates in Ireland took to the streets and began to demonstrate, rallying directly at Parliament Square to protest against the decision of the British government. They shouted loudly for troops to be sent to reclaim Ireland and reclaim the lands occupied by the savage Irish rebels.

At the same time, members of Parliament received mysterious gifts from their homes, either cheques in pounds, or dangerous items such as knives and explosives, but they were all mixed with notes asking them to reconvene Parliament and approve the use of force to recover Ireland.

Just when the parliamentarians were rushing to prepare for the reconvening of parliament. Hundreds of people were killed, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were injured by a panicked stampede. At the same time, major industrial cities, especially London, were constantly attacked by heavy explosives in residential areas, Protestant churches, schools, etc., where nobles lived, and dozens of terrorist bombings spread out at the same time, plunging the entire Kingdom of Great Britain into a panic.

Dozens of Irish people who praised themselves as Irish national self-government, and even many retired military personnel, came forward to declare responsibility for the incident and voluntarily went to the police station to surrender, but at the same time declared that if Parliament dared to overturn the original Irish peace resolution and re-enter Ireland, such terrorist bombings would occur frequently.

Suddenly, the parliamentarians were silent, and the indignant aristocrats and landowners began to fall silent, and only then did Ireland's self-government begin to move firmly towards the progress of history.