"Now let's talk about the current situation." In a manor house outside London, Bismarck, who had just arrived in London two days earlier, looked at Palmerston in front of him, the British prime minister, and his tone was a little heavy. "What's going on now?" Palmerston, who sat across from Bismarck, asked rhetorically with some pretense of ease, while he took a puff on his cigar, seemingly unaffected by the current situation. Looking at Palmerston's pretended relaxed appearance, Bismarck said with a smile:

"Mr. Prime Minister, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, your concept of geography should be above that of ordinary people – you should know very well what the next goal will be after the Chinese occupy Ireland." Palmerston frowned, he certainly knew exactly what their goal would be.

"And, at a time when France has entered the war, and His Majesty the Emperor has begun to have ambitions for London, I think you are well aware of the present situation, Your Excellency."

"We all know very well, so now Britain is preparing for the next battle - what does this have to do with Prussia?" Palmerston did not see what this had to do with Prussia, for whom the most important thing now was to defend England. "Prussia hopes that England, the most important ally, will continue to play its due role in the future of Europe, and not sink into this war......" Bismarck's flowery rhetoric apparently did not impress Palmerston, who sneered:

"It is worthy of Mr. Bismarck, and it is a beautiful thing to say, but with all due respect, we are well aware of the current situation, for Britain, we will either defeat China and France, or we will sink there, and we have no other choice......" "I don't think Your Excellency will not fail to understand how serious the consequences will be if this war continues." Bismarck emphasized with a slight accent.

The reason why he accepted the proposal of the Chinese ambassador to Prussia and secretly went to England was because he knew better than anyone that without Britain's constraints, France's threat to Prussia would be catastrophic, and it might even block the pace of Prussian unification, which was by no means what Bismarck wanted to see, so he came here, hoping to persuade Britain, mediate it, and then save Britain from the brink of defeat when Britain lost to the last pants. Palmerston, however, remained unmoved:

"No matter how serious the consequences, Britain could not admit defeat - now we are well aware of the situation, the Russians, the French occupied almost all of India, but the heroic British soldiers and colonial troops were still resisting their invasion, as for the Chinese...... They occupied almost all of Asia, as well as Africa, and even their armies occupied Australia and Canada, and since most of the world was already in the hands of the Chinese, what was left of them for Britain? They didn't leave anything for Britain, the glory of Britain was trampled under their feet, Britain lost almost all of its overseas possessions, and if I accepted all this, then what awaits Britain?? Bismarck looked at Palmerston, he could feel the pain in Palmerston's heart, the overseas colonial empire that Britain had accumulated over hundreds of years had been completely destroyed by China in less than three years, and Britain had lost its glory and market...... It's a disaster.

"Without colonies, will Britain still be Britain?"

Palmerston looked at Bismarck and asked rhetorically, he had no idea how important the colonies were to Britain.

"Are we going to accept all of this now? Shall we throw in the towel? Acknowledging their occupation of the colonies? We can't do that, because sooner or later we're going to have to go back to Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Singapore, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Peiping, and, of course, Paris, St. Peters......burg," Palmerston's eyes were filled with longing for the future.

"Is it really difficult to defeat the Chinese? Is China really more powerful than Britain? No, their industrial power is not at all comparable to that of the British, and the British still have the strength to fight! ”

"But you can't do anything until you defeat China, and if you can't hold on to it in the process of defeating China, then you're likely to lose everything, including Britain." Bismarck's frown added to the melancholy, which he feared, fearing that the English would stubbornly hold on for the sake of the so-called glory of Britain. It was clear to everyone what the final outcome of the war would be, a catastrophe for England and an unacceptable catastrophe for Prussia, for by that time there would be no more restraint on France in all of Europe.

"Losing Britain? When Britain lost its colonies, it made no difference, and it didn't matter. Palmerston said with something to say, and at the same time he looked at the Prussian prime minister in front of him, he did not expect that it would be him as the representative of the mediation. If I'm not mistaken, you must have brought a deal. "As Palmerston, who knows the laws of diplomacy, knows very well that Bismarck will never come here empty-handed, and he must have carried the conditions set by the Chinese.

Looking at Palmerston, Bismarck did not speak, and he casually handed Palmerston a cut cigar. After Palmerston took the cigar, he continued.

"Not a deal, but a suggestion." Bismarck looked at Palmerston and said.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister should be very clear about the current situation, and if the fighting continues, Britain will lose more than just colonies." "I said that Britain would fight, and it was impossible for Britain to surrender!" Palmerston said earnestly that Britain had suffered its worst defeat in history, but that Britain still had the strength to fight, or at least he convinced the British. Palmerston's answer caused Bismarck to reflexively straighten his neck:

"So what? Do you want to make Britain history? Palmerston said, looking at Bismarck.

"Having lost the colonies, is there any hope for tens of millions of British? Is there any hope for the UK's economy? When it comes to the British economy, Palmerston's mind flies away from the castle, and he thinks of the United Kingdom now, and now in the United Kingdom, a large number of factories are on the verge of shutting down, especially those textile mills, because there are no raw materials, there is no market and forced to shut down. Is Britain still Britain without the textile industry?

But after losing the market, even if the war stopped, could the British textile industry still recover? Obviously, it is impossible, without the market, without colonies, everything will end, and then Britain will even be reduced to a third-rate country in Europe...... By that time, all that will be left is just a Britain, a British name! When the time comes, all of Britain will be starving!

"At that time, the British will starve, they will go hungry, the economy will collapse, and for Britain it will be even more terrible than losing the war!"

"But, it's not without a solution......" As soon as he spoke, Bismarck realized that he seemed to be revealing his cards, and hastened to add:

"Perhaps, there are other markets, for example, India is under Russian occupation, and Russian industry will not be able to satisfy the market there, after all, Russia also needs to import cotton cloth from the British! Even now! "It is a fact that Russia's backward industry has forced them to import products such as cotton cloth from Britain through middlemen in countries such as the Netherlands, and Britain has turned a blind eye to this in order to maintain its economy. Palmerston put the cigar cigarette in his hand on the side of the ashtray, then slowly shook his head and said:

"This is only temporary, and eventually Russian products will replace British products. If we believe that this is a long-term solution, we are undoubtedly deceiving ourselves. Without waiting for Bismarck to speak, Palmerston looked at him and said:

"We are well aware of this, including Prussia, and in the future your industrial products will also appear on the world stage."

Of course, no one will object to this, and each of them is well aware of the fact that in the end the industries of each country will rise, and the goods of their own countries will eventually replace imported products.

"Even if it's a colony, eventually they'll build factories, Your Excellency." Bismarck looked at Palmerston and said.

"In India, too, there are modern textile mills, Your Excellency!"

Palmerston, on the other hand, had a look of "no matter".

"That's different, India used to be a British colony, maybe the Indian will build factories, but he needs to pay taxes to Britain, which is also very important for Britain." Bismarck narrowed, he knew that Palmerston was insisting, and what was his insistence for?

Is it to refuse to negotiate?

Of course not, if that were the case, he wouldn't have met with himself, and what is he mentioning this for? Palmerston looked at Bismarck and continued:

"But now, India is occupied by France and Russia...... To the British, there is no future for the UK without India. "Then Your Excellency should be well aware that neither France, nor Russia, nor China will be able to give up the areas they have occupied, especially the first two, they have not gained much compared to what China has gained, and India is too important to them." In fact, each of them knows very well that compared to France and Russia, China only occupies a lot of land, and as for the economic benefits, it is far inferior to the two of them, after all, India is a cow, and China has nothing more than a wild field - Africa, Canada, Australia. "But Britain, need its own colonies!"

Palmerston played the scoundrel.

"We all know that without the colonies, the future of Britain will decline day by day, which is almost irretrievable." "The future African market will also be huge, if I estimate correctly, in the next few decades, the number of Chinese who have migrated to Africa may exceed 80 million, and British products can also be exported there." Bismarck finally played his cards, which were told to him by Chinese diplomats when they had secret contacts with him - China could conditionally open the African market to Britain. "The Chinese agree that Britain will enjoy the same market treatment as China for the next 30 years. Including tariffs and other aspects ......"

Palmerston sneered:

"Want to be treated in the same market? Africa? Thirty years? This is just a guarantee, and besides, the market of 80 million people should be in 30 years, and we all know very well that China's industry will not even be able to satisfy their own market! "It's temporary, it doesn't mean it can't be in the future." Bismarck made up his mind to save Britain. "Now, for the UK, this may be the best option!"

Palmerston couldn't help but snort.

"Really? The best option is to give them all the colonies, the Chinese, the French, the Russians, they will all get all this, get the flesh and blood of the British, and the British will lose everything! Having said this, even Bismarck had to say at this time:

"I must remind Your Excellency that now the combined fleet of China and France, as well as their army, is gathering ......" "Now Britain has no choice at all, and now for Britain there are only two choices, one is to die now, and the other is to die in the future." Palmerston said stubbornly. Finally, in the face of Palmerston's stubbornness, knowing that the other party could not make concessions, Bismarck bowed his head and pondered for a long time, and finally asked:

"So, what's your bottom line? You have to know that Chinese can't return the colonies, and that's a very resolute attitude in China, they need land to settle 400 million Chinese, God knows, that's almost half of the world's population......" "Mr. Prime Minister, do you see the world of the future?" Palmerston asked rhetorically. The world of the future? "Yes!"

Palmerston looked at Bismarck and said.

"The world of the future is that if a country does not have colonies, then it will be reduced to a third-rate small country, and Britain must have its own colonies! This is necessary to be a great power, otherwise Britain would have to look up to France's snort, like other continental European countries! ”

Now, however, ......after a brief look at each other, Bismarck knew that it was impossible for the other side to give up this insistence, and he also knew that England without colonies could not confront France. You know, I can't give you any promises. And the Chinese did not tell me how to fulfill this wish of yours! "They'll know." Palmerston replied in the affirmative:

"The Chinese must know, they must know, how to meet the wishes of the British!"

Countdown to the release of the new book, the new book is at the end of the Ming Dynasty, starting from the thirteenth year of Yongli, if you have any suggestions for the new book or want any tricks, you can join the group to communicate, group number: 150536833, welcome to join! Thank you again for your continued support and love for Speechless, and I hope we can continue to walk all the way! Find this site to search for "Biquge CM" or enter the URL:.