If Zhu Erdian, the British Empire's minister to China, was still in Beijing to give Yuan Shikai face and handed over a memorandum, then his consul general in Chengdu, Pan Lena, handed over an ultimatum to Xiao Mubai. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoA small local power in the Far East really didn't really take much into the eyes of the British Empire, even though it was larger than the British Empire itself.

In the meeting room of the Chengdu Autonomous Regional Government, Pan Lena came here early in the morning, and he submitted a "proposal" to the southwest on behalf of the British government.

"Your Excellency, the British Empire has great interests in Tibet, and I hope that you will order your army to halt its march to Lhasa with immediate effect. Of course, if you are insane, then in order to protect the interests of the British Empire, the Imperial Government will resort to all means, including war. Looking at Xiao Mubai, who had just walked in the door, Pan Lena spoke first with the usual arrogance of the British.

Hearing such naked threatening words, not only Xiao Mubai, but even Zhao Mingchuan, Wang Chonghui and others around him were furious. With such bandit logic, it can still be said to be so high-sounding, but this is the ugly face of a strong country and the infinite sorrow of a weak country in this era.

Xiao Mubai raised his eyebrows, although he was already extremely annoyed in his heart, but this was obviously not the time to get angry: "Mr. Consul, our government sent troops to quell the rebellion on our own territory, and this is our internal affair. As a world power, your government has repeatedly criticized and interfered in China's internal affairs, and this act of your country has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, which makes our side feel very dissatisfied and indignant! ”

Xiao Mubai's unceremonious accusation obviously surprised Pan Lena, although there were more diplomatic words, Pan Lena's face quickly became ugly. He really couldn't imagine that such a local power character, who was not even a bedbug in the eyes of the British Empire, would say such a thing.

"Your Excellency, please note that in front of you is a diplomat of the British Empire, please pay attention to your words!" Although surprised, Pan Lena spoke quickly, and he had to remind the young man who he was talking to at this time.

Xiao Mubai sneered and said sarcastically: "Your Excellency also knows that you are a diplomat of the British Empire, not an administrative official of the Republic of China. Please note that this is China. ”

Pan Lena frowned, even if he was stupid, at this time he understood that this young man named Xiao Mubai didn't seem to sell the face of the British Empire very much. What's more, Pan Lena is not a stupid person either.

"Can I regard your remarks as a provocation to the British Empire?" Henry said with a deep breath.

Xiao Mubai chuckled, and his face suddenly turned cold: "If Mr. Consul thinks so, then I can't help it." ”

At this moment, Pan Lena has a feeling that it is difficult to ride a tiger, it felt quite simple beforehand, but now it has become like this. He also found that the young man in front of him could not make sense in words at all. In this case, it would be impossible to force them to regress through blackmail. Pan Lena couldn't understand where this young man got the confidence to dare to argue with the British Empire.

Don't look at the front of Pan Lena shouting about war, but is the war really fought? That is just a usual blackmail method used in diplomatic occasions, and at most it is just a warship to show off its might at the mouth of the Yangtze River. As a diplomat, Pan Lener can't say that he knows all about his family's affairs, but he still knows some of them. He has been in Chengdu for more than a year, and naturally knows the difference between the army in the southwest and the army of the Qing Dynasty, although it is not as good as the army of the empire, but after all, it is also modernized! At least better than the Boers who fought two Boer wars with the Empire in South Africa, right? Is it really necessary to let the imperial government wage another war in the Far East for the sake of such a thing in Tibet? This is obviously impossible. You know, the Boer War hurt the vitality of the British Empire, and at this time, in the face of Chinese who are more equipped than the Boers and better equipped than the Boers, it is really difficult to say what will happen to the war.

More importantly, the situation in Europe at this time did not allow the British Empire to take care of other things. You must know that since the second Moroccan crisis, the mutual hostility between the two camps that have signed military treaties has become increasingly serious, although everyone does not know when the war will come, but they all know that it will break out sooner or later, and the imperial government, which is busy preparing for war, has no extra energy to take care of other things. Moreover, the outbreak of war in the Balkans in March was more nerve-wracking to the British Empire than in the Far East.

It is true that China is a weak country, but the situation is not in favor of Britain, but at this time in China, few people see through this. And the unfortunate Pan Lena just ran into Xiao Mubai, who saw this clearly.

"No, no, no, Your Excellency, I didn't mean that. I'm here today to work with you to quell the events in Tibet, no one likes war for no reason, and I don't think your compatriots will either, right? After carefully organizing his language, Pan Lena already understood some of the mistakes he had made before, and now he needed to try to make up for the mistakes he had just made.

Maybe Pan Lena didn't realize it himself, his attitude has softened, but Wang Chonghui is keenly aware of this, which makes him surprised him who was worried about Pan Lena's aggressive attitude, when did the British also have such a side?

"Your Excellency the Consul said that our people do not like war, and I think the same is true of your people." Wang Chonghui smiled slightly and said politely: "There was a rebellion in Tibet, and our government ordered our troops to enter Tibet to quell the rebellion, which was originally our country's internal affairs, but your government ordered our troops to stop marching into Lhasa, so naked interference in China's internal affairs, and even did not hesitate to threaten with force. Such an outcome is unacceptable to us. ”

Although like most Chinese in this era, Wang Chonghui is also very afraid of the British in his heart, but at this moment on such an occasion, he is not good at retreating, according to Chairman Xiao's words, it is a matter of national sovereignty and national dignity, which is a matter of principle.

At this moment, the arrogant Pan Lena's face began to be a little unbearable, as a diplomat of the British Empire, he has always walked sideways in this world, and he has been refuted three times and twice like today. The British had already gotten too deep into the Tibetan issue, and the Indian governor Harding took a tough stance and said that he would send troops to Tibet to carry out armed intervention. To this day, the Chinese are still confronting the Imperial Army at Jiangxinpo on the border of Yunnan and Burma, and there is no guarantee that they will launch an all-out attack on the imperial Burma colony.

After a while, Pan Lena, who had been holding back his anger, spoke: "Your Excellency, regarding the Tibet issue, President Yuan Shikai of your government has promised the British Empire that he will withdraw his troops.

Xiao Mubai snorted coldly but did not speak, he naturally knew Yuan Shikai's assurance, he had received several soft telegrams from Beijing before, the content was nothing more than asking him to accept it when he saw it, not to overstimulate the British and so on. Although Xiao Mubai understood the meaning, he would not give up his proposition, what he wanted was to fix the west forever.

"Your Excellency, the attitude adopted by your government on the Tibet issue makes us feel very sorry. As for your remarks about the relevant directives issued by the Beijing government, please forgive us for not receiving such an order. Wang Chonghui didn't mean to lie to Pan Lena. Although Yuan Shikai sent a few vague telegrams, he did not have any written orders issued to the southwest, how could a veteran like Yuan Shikai, who had been in the officialdom for decades, do such a thing as giving people authority. If this kind of thing spreads, it will be infamous through the ages.

Xiao Mubai's eyes narrowed, and he only listened to his gentle voice and said slowly: "Your Excellency, in my opinion, the Tibet issue will be resolved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country and your minister!" My people have always been peace-loving and do not want to be enemies of others, and I hope that my Government will be able to reach a consensus with your country. Of course, I also hope that this incident has not affected the long-standing friendly relations between China and the UK. ”

At this time, Pan Lena really doesn't know how to curse in his heart, there are still friendly relations between China and the UK? Still for a long time? After nodding expressionlessly, Pan Lena had no choice but to leave.