"We must see that the Chinese are expanding around the world, even in North Africa, we see the Chinese, and now France must act, otherwise, one day, when we wake up, we will be surprised to see that the savage Tatars have come before us, they are like the Mongols who invaded Eastern Europe a few years ago, the Huns who invaded the Roman Empire more than a thousand years ago, bringing devastating damage to European civilization, if the white people cannot join hands against the threat from the East, Then in the near future, they will completely destroy the entire European civilization! ”

In Paris, in the past period, almost all the Parisian newspapers, nay, maybe all the newspapers in the whole of France, wrote similar articles in a similar tone. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 One of the core of these articles is to tell the Europeans, especially the French, that the Chinese threat has befallen them and that they cannot stay out of this "war".

Among these articles, there are articles written by French people who are genuinely worried about China's threat to France, but more often are "advertisements" published on the initiative of French newspapers that take advantage of the huge "advertising money" of the British government. In order to win the support of French public opinion, the British government invested more than 200,000 pounds in "advertising money" in Paris to get French public opinion to support a war against China.

As an old empire, Britain has already had a set of strategies to deal with crises, in the past, it was through public opinion first, Britain turned former enemies into allies, at least temporary allies, and then dealt with threats with them, and this is the proficiency of Britain as an empire, they are always good at using all their power to help them achieve their goals.

And this is also something that other countries do not have, so to speak, other countries are not good at, and even some countries are not good at agitating their own citizens, let alone inciting foreign nationals to support their own wars?

After Britain declared war on China, the British did not immediately send their huge Royal Navy to launch an expedition, but mobilized all their diplomatic forces to move around Europe to win support from European countries, and the British were very simple.

"Defend European civilization!"

This is precisely the reason and excuse of Britain, and it is also the one that is most demagogic. Their actions were successful, and they succeeded in setting off a wave of confronting the Chinese threat in France.

However, compared with the boiling of public opinion, the upper echelons of France, especially the third emperor of France, have shown extreme calmness, after experiencing the Crimean War, this emperor His Majesty is no longer as easily satisfied by the hollow rice balls promised by the British as in the past.

The Crimean War had almost nothing to gain for France, and of course, apart from "avenging" his uncle, who had defeated Russia, France "suffered" in that war. Many promises made by the British before the war came to naught after the war, and with this experience, Napoleon III, as the emperor, naturally would not be easily involved in this war because of the demagogy of the British.

In fact, Napoleon III was one of the few powerful sorcerers in Europe, the orthodox heir to Machiavelli's pragmatism.

The best illustration of his skill is that Napoleon III has not lost a single referendum or referendum until now (albeit by a reluctance at times), and has always been able to back up the will of the people with just the right amount of his own.

Now, of course, public opinion has naturally become Napoleon III's bargaining chip and backing, and the reason why it has become his backing is because he is now facing precisely the Chinese ambassador to France.

"You must note, Mr. Ambassador, that the whole of Europe is now showing fear of your country's expansion everywhere!"

After a deliberate pause, Napoleon III deliberately glanced at the diplomat in front of him,

Because of similar encounters, he has always admired the emperor of China. After all, they all "lost their empires", and back in the 30s, he tried several failed mutinies, and the last time even put him in a prison cell.

The years in prison gave him plenty of time to study, learned a lot, and most importantly made him understand the reason for his defeat - because there were so few Bonapartist elements, he had to win over more people.

After his release from prison, he became more and more politically skilled, constantly compromising with his old enemies and pulling them to his side, knowing that most elites and officials only cared about whether their power and wealth could be protected, and did not care who the master was.

Nine years ago, as elected emperor, he appointed 24 of the 40 counselors to the Council of State, who were former magnates of the July Dynasty. In the same year, in addition to the ex-officio members of the royal family and aristocracy, there were about 20 former members of the House of Representatives and 12 members of the former House of Lords, and most of those who held the post of provincial governor also began their political careers in the July Dynasty.

Many people could not understand this, especially those who were Bonapartistes, but Louis? Bonaparte was well aware that the officials did not care who their masters were, and that his view may not have been understood by others in France, but in distant China, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, who had won the rebuilding of the dynasty through war, had a close relationship with him—his government was also filled with a large number of officials from the old Manchu era, and it was for this reason that the Chinese Empire swept through China and established his rule in China in just a few months.

Those who are truly proficient in power tricks are often good at grasping the big and letting go of the small, uniting people and concentrating power on themselves and their cronies. And this is exactly Louie? What Bonaparte was good at.

However, as the emperor, Louis did not know that in the archives of the Chinese Intelligence Bureau, a complete analysis of him had already been established, and now, as a diplomat, what Li Mucheng needed was to do what he liked, that is, to introduce it step by step into his purpose based on his understanding.

"Your Majesty, China is not expanding, but fighting for the living space that belongs to China, and I think that in this regard, China and France have common interests......

As ambassador to France, Li Mucheng knew very well that Louis's foreign policy was destined to be improvised, mainly reactive actions, and there was no way to carry out long-term planning. He sometimes became friends with a certain country, sometimes suddenly went to war, and sometimes became good friends after the war, and the whole foreign policy did not have a definite pivot, but was aimed at currying favor with the various forces in the country, especially the army.

In order to curry favor with the army, he chose the route of military hegemony, but he did not have any specific plans, only a dream of "dominating Europe", which is just the dream of all heads of state, and the idea is just a dream.

In this sense, his diplomatic line is basically the same as the old one, which is dominated by the exclusion of Austria and Russia. This is the heart of French diplomacy, an empty diplomacy without any vision.

But this lack of vision is an opportunity for China, and all this means that China has a chance to pull France into its chariot. Because the French army wanted to expand, they did not have a complete plan. And now, all China needs is to give him a plan!

"Common interests?"

Louis looked at the Chinese ambassador in front of him in surprise.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Nodding, Li Mucheng continued.

"France, like China, also needs vast colonies to provide land for France's surplus population, for example, the peasants in France need more land, but what is there in North Africa? There is nothing there except for the desert, which only nomads need. In addition, there is not even enough coal and iron ore in France to develop its industry, and French industry and commerce need industrial raw materials, as well as overseas markets. ”

This is precisely why the French army, as well as industry and commerce, supported military expansion, precisely because of the country's large population and poor resources.

Listening to Li Mucheng's words, Louis was silent, he knew that what the other party said was the truth, although he did not approve of military expansion, but he knew that the peasants of France needed land, not the desert of North Africa, but the real rich land for immigrants, instead of letting hundreds of thousands of beggars live in the slums of Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities, and become a cancer of the city.

"And all this is what the colonies can provide, but we need to note that now, the places suitable for human life have been almost completely occupied by the British, and as for Africa, Your Majesty, I don't think any French would want to go to the tropical rainforests of Africa to be accompanied by all kinds of infectious diseases, and if it were not for the threat of civil war in China because of the population of China, we would have been forced to move our people to places that were not suitable for survival, but even so, the British still tried to stop us, Just as they had interrupted the colonies that France was trying to expand again and again......"

At this time, there is nothing more important than stirring up the hatred of history, the French have never been pro-British, maybe not everyone likes Bonaparte, but every Frenchman certainly does not like England, because England has defeated France again and again.

"Mr. Ambassador, you must understand that the power of Britain is still very strong!"

If Louis learned anything from his uncle's defeat, it was that he was not an enemy of the British, and now the Chinese ambassador was undoubtedly lobbying him to be an enemy of the British.

"The power of Britain is indeed very strong, and he will become stronger and stronger, if no one stops him, then twenty years later, Britain under the nourishment of the world empire will not be something that France, Russia, and China can challenge, and now, the facts tell us, he is not as strong as you think, just like the Royal Navy that they are proud of, the naval battle of Cologne has shown his strength, in fact, it is nothing more than a paper tiger, Your Majesty!"

As a diplomat, Li Mucheng knew very well that the victory in the "Battle of Cologne" was his bargaining chip, and it was his bargaining chip in lobbying the French, after all, Britain's greatest reliance had always been their Royal Navy, and now the empire had cut off one of his most powerful arms.

And this is exactly what Europeans care about, for the real Europeans, they never believe in friendship, they only believe in interests, the premise of alliance is how much benefit they can get, and also, whether the allies are strong enough, the relationship between European countries, just like the relationship between banks and customers, they will always lend money to each other when the customer's business is prosperous, once the customer faces business difficulties, they will recover the loan at the first time, this is European diplomacy.

And now, the defeat of the British Royal Navy and the victory of the Imperial Navy are an opportunity for China, an opportunity to lobby the French to join it.

"Your victory is indeed astonishing, but Mr. Ambassador, your empire does not have the strength to challenge the British, any more than a child can challenge an adult!"

Although he was also surprised by the victory of the Chinese in the naval battle, Louis did not waver in his basic position of "not being an enemy of Britain" because of the other side's words.

"That's why we need the help of France, the help of Russia, and the help of any other nation, and what we must see - in the fall of the Empire, every participant can receive an extremely rich reward, and this reward is unimaginable, Your Majesty!"

In the face of the stubbornness of His Majesty the Emperor, Li Mucheng persuaded him in a seductive tone, and at the same time said to him in a warning tone.

"Now, if we miss this opportunity, then, Your Majesty, in the future, we will have to face another reality, a stronger Britain, that Britain will be a nightmare for other countries, Dear Your Majesty, I believe that now, we are all facing a new choice, this choice is related to the future, so Your Majesty, what will France choose?"

Faced with the question of the Chinese ambassador, Louie? Napoleon was silent, what should France choose? There is no doubt that France will not choose Britain or China, and the only choice France can make is one that is in France's interests!

That's all!

For any country in the world, it is necessary to be cautious in the choice of allies, especially now, when the world's number one power, Britain, is being challenged. Napoleon knew very well that this was an opportunity for France, but he also knew the reason why his uncle had failed.

Now France did not challenge the power of the British, as for Chinese...... Whether the Chinese have the ability to challenge the British, he is not clear, but who can now say for sure who will win?

"Mr. Ambassador, what we have to note is ......"

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