Paris!

Paris at the beginning of 1863 had become a sea of jubilation, and the whole of Paris, all of France, was cheering for the progress they had made in the Americas, in Africa, and in Asia, where the French army had occupied most of Mexico, including its silver mines, had already been occupied by the French army, and in Africa, the "protection" of Madagascar was almost equivalent to occupation, and as for Asia, the southern part of India had opened its doors to them. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Now the whole of France is jubilant, and the French capitalist circles are rejoicing in their victory, for whom the expansion of the colonies will bring untold wealth - abundant raw materials and huge markets, which were lacking in the French capitalist circles in the past, but now everything has changed!

"France is on its way to becoming stronger than ever!"

"Under the command of His Majesty Napoleon III, France is surpassing the achievements of His Majesty I!"

Amid the cheers of the capital circles, so was the cheers of the public opinion circles, especially two months ago, after the French army appeared and occupied Alexandria with the French declaration of war on Turkey, the Egyptian governor Ismail Pasha surrendered after the failure of resistance, and the French achieved the occupation of Egypt.

Although a few years earlier Ismail Pasha had hoped to turn Egypt into a modern empire with a loan from France, and to rebuild Cairo on the model of Napoleon III's Paris, Paris provided the standard paradise model for wealthy rulers such as the Doge of Egypt.

Now, Paris has indeed become a paradise in Egypt...... Above heaven dwells the rulers.

Unlike the military occupation of India, Mexico, and Madagascar, which did not bear immediate results, almost immediately after the surrender of the Egyptian governor, Egyptian wheat and cotton poured into the port of Marseille, which even led directly to the price of grain in France. Egypt became one of the most important environments in the French colonial empire, and because of its rich agricultural resources and strategic importance, it was destined to become the most important environment in the colonial empire. The first step of colonial rule was to turn its original economy into an agricultural export economy, providing France with wheat for the people to make bread and cotton for textile mills, especially cotton. The outbreak of the American Civil War made cotton in demand throughout Europe, and Egypt's cotton exports soared.

While the whole of France was reeling in the benefits of the occupation of Egypt, no one seemed to be worried about the future, after all, the defeat of Britain was only a matter of time.

"We will resist the invasion of the Chinese at sea and on land!"

While Palmerston, who had fallen into a political crisis because of the defeat in Dublin, was there shouting that Britain would resist to the end, a large number of French troops and a large number of French warships had gathered in Caen and other places, and the French shipyards had opened their doors to Chinese warships, and Chinese warships could be repaired in French ports, and French arsenals would provide the Chinese army with all kinds of supplies they needed.

In short, now the French do not doubt that Britain will soon be defeated, and the shame of Waterloo will be completely washed away this year, and at the latest next year!

France is on its way to new glory under the leadership of His Majesty Napoleon III!

Who would doubt that? Even the foolish peasants who chose Louis as president and emperor just because of the name Napoleon do not doubt that they actually believe that the present Third Majesty is the emperor chosen by God to France.

As for some of the republicans, even if they were unwilling, they had to face the reality that France was far stronger than it had ever been in the past, and that even those who accused the government of neglecting the people's livelihood could not ignore the fact that the lives of the French were improving with the arrival of supplies in the colonies.

All thanks to His Majesty Napoleon III, to this war and, of course, to His Majesty's foresight, which enabled France to reap the rewards of this feast. So much so that His Majesty the Third received unprecedented praise.

And in this piece of praise, people seem to ignore some problems - he supported his cronies in the army through war, three years ago, Napoleon III, as emperor, even had to deliberately curry favor with the army, because the army ensured the survival of all dynasties, if Paris would come to the barricades every few years, if the army suppressed it, the dynasty could survive, if the army did not suppress it, then the dynasty would collapse immediately, so for Napoleon III, who was unstable, currying favor with the army was an essential act. It is only when he wags war again and again, and then uses victory to intoxicate himself to buy off the high-ranking officers who want to be prosperous and rich, and these officers will support him and help him maintain his rule.

If he wins again and again, then the army will always support him, and his country will be very stable, but if he experiences one defeat, then his dynasty will lose the support of the military and collapse.

But war also has another consequence, and those high-ranking officers who want glory and wealth can get the glory and wealth they want in war. But they also can't stop Louis, who is a powerful man, from installing his cronies in the army, improving the position of his cronies through war, and then mastering the army step by step.

Three years ago, Louis had no roots in the army, but now, through military operations in Mexico, Madagascar, India, Egypt, etc., he managed to master a part of the army.

And this was exactly what Napoleon III longed for—to gain control over all of France through the mastery of the army, rather than to try to curry favor with all sides, so as to secure the throne, for an emperor who had ascended to the throne on the basis of his uncle's past, personal power and fortune, which was rare in history.

His charisma and talent were not as outstanding as those of his uncle, and he never received unreserved admiration in the army, but relied on cooperation with senior officers in the army to maintain his power.

But now everything is changing, military victories have won him the admiration of the people and the army, and the rich profits of the colonies have bought off the capitalists and high-ranking generals in the country, so to speak, it is not until 1863 that Louis really became the emperor of the French Empire.

However, Louis knew very well that his position was not solid, and that these cults in front of him were far from being compared with the unreserved worship of his uncle, and that he needed more victories, more victories to make France mad, and to make the French people and soldiers fall into the mad worship of him because of the victory.

"We need to defeat France's old enemy!"

Louis looked at the Chinese ambassador in front of him, and there was no hint of negotiation in his tone, but in a tone that could not be questioned, which was almost commanding.

"Britain! Only by defeating Britain will this war be possible! ”

In the face of Zheng Zaoru, Louie bluntly expressed his thoughts, sometimes the problem is very simple, defeating the British is the way to end the war, and it is also the only way for Louis to gain the unreserved admiration of the people and the army.

Since the era of the "Sun King", Britain has made France hate again and again, and failed again and again, making one ambitious king after another sad, and the entire history of France is full of such regrets.

But now, Louis knew very well that now was the best time for him to defeat Britain - the Chinese had taken control of Ireland, won a decisive victory there, and even threw an unknown "poison gas" on the battlefield, in Dublin they used poison gas to kill tens of thousands of British, which simply changed the way of war, and now the whole world is trying to figure out what kind of poison gas the Chinese used.

Although he knew that poison gas was important, Louis did not open his mouth or make a test to China, he believed that French scientists would soon solve these problems, and now the most important thing for France was to launch a final attack on Britain when British politics was in turmoil because of the defeat in the war, and the whole of Britain was worried about the defense of its homeland!

Just beat the British!

He will establish a higher prestige than his uncle, and all will worship and trust him, and the generals in the army who once despised him will bow their heads and confess that he is the emperor of France, and France will become strong under his rule! Become the center of Europe!

"And in order to defeat the British, we must defeat the British fleet at sea, and only then will we be able to open the road to the British! Mr. Ambassador! Therefore, our two countries should now coordinate and assemble the fleets of our two countries for a decisive battle with the British at sea, and believe me, as long as we can defeat their navy, then the British will definitely surrender! ”

In the face of Napoleon III's request and this sworn assurance, Zheng Zaoru did not respond immediately, but was silent for a moment before replying.

"Your Majesty, now, our fleet, all along, the scale is relatively limited, although after the outbreak of the war, our fleet has been expanded many times, but there are too many new recruits in the fleet, Your Majesty, maybe we can provide the Navy with a hundred armored ships, but we can't provide tens of thousands of naval officers and soldiers and thousands of officers in a short period of time......"

This answer is not to shirk the fact that the rapid expansion of the navy has made it impossible for the navy to provide officers and men of sufficient quality, which is unavoidable in the expansion of the navy of any country, and even in the past two years, one of the fundamental reasons why the Chinese navy has not made a major operation is because there are too many new officers and men in the navy. Of course, this was when the war had just broken out, and in the past two years, the navy had also trained a large number of officers and men, and now the problem of insufficient personnel has been solved.

As a diplomat, Zheng Zaoru will emphasize this reason for another purpose - to obtain a good reward by highlighting his own difficulties.

This kind of diplomacy was no stranger to Louis, and it can even be said that he was extremely familiar with it, and before France became involved in the war, France had repeatedly used similar methods in exchange for concessions from Russia and China on certain issues, and just a few months ago, he had used similar methods to force China to give up its share of India, and the princely states of Hyderabad would be controlled by China under the Tri-Nation Treaty. However, although the Chinese gave up Hyderabad in return, they received commercial privileges throughout French India, commercial privileges consistent with those of French merchants, and equal rights of other French expatriates. And this is also the reason why French India is full of Chinese, in fact, whether it is Russian India or French India, the Chinese pursue commercial interests. But they eventually gave up a rich colony.

But now, everything has changed, France has been involved in this war, and it is no longer possible to vacillate in the war in exchange for concessions from others, as in the past, and even because of the special needs of Louis himself, as emperor, he had to accept the "blackmail" of others.

"Of course!"

Louis did not feel any annoyance at the other party's diplomatic rhetoric, but said with great understanding.

"This is a problem that we all need to face, but Mr. Ambassador, I believe that this issue will be resolved by the Chinese Navy, well, I think we can reach some consensus on other issues if necessary!"

Clearly knowing that Louis now needs to use interests to persuade China, he almost did not hesitate to express his thoughts,

"Perhaps, in Mexico, as well as in Madagascar and Egypt, we can follow the current French Indian approach, and Chinese merchants can enjoy the same treatment as French merchants, including your goods!"

In the face of such a temptation, if it was before France entered the war, as an ambassador, it was very clear that the country would not hesitate to eat, the domestic attitude towards the colonies was very clear, the need for sparsely populated colonies for immigration, as for the populous areas, it was just an export of goods, and even this did not matter at all, because China has the largest market in the world.

But now Zheng Zaoru hesitated, he understood that this is not what China wants, at least in the eyes, China does not need those markets!

What does China need? For China, which has the largest market in the world, whether there is a French colonial market or not does not have much impact, and even now with China's industrial capacity, it cannot meet its own needs, and even in order to maintain the Nanyang market, it has to squeeze out materials from the domestic shortage to supply the needs of the Nanyang market. In this case, the overseas market is naturally not as important as imagined.

What does China need?

Louis is also thinking about this question, he needs to use some appropriate "bribe" to persuade the Chinese to accept his proposal, but what does China need? What kind of things will make the other person happy?

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