Britain has always believed that war would break out between China and France, but the result surprised the world, and the Chinese Shence Army has not made a move for more than a year, and it has nothing to do with the French army. France also had no intention of going to war with China, and the two sides were at peace in Annam.

However, the actual situation is that France can not hold out for long, in the face of the Annam army, the French army has lost the initial advantage in weapons and the advantage of the combat quality of soldiers, and now the French army does not have an advantage in weapons, because the Annam army has fully realized the Chinese weapons and equipment, and learned to use them.

In terms of troops, the French army reduced a part of its strength every time it fought, and transferred troops and weapons and ammunition supplies from distant Europe to Annam, and the French finances gradually became overwhelmed. On the other hand, the Annam Army has an endless supply of troops, as well as weapons and equipment supplies from China.

The state of war between the two sides is slowly changing, from the state of French initiative at the beginning of the war to the current state of French troops holding on to the main roads of the city, and the two sides have entered a stage of stalemate. The French army was weak and would not have lost the war in a short time.

The clever strategy and tactics of China did not strike directly but were far better than direct attacks, and the Europeans could not help but feel jealousy, even fear, of the Chinese emperor in the Forbidden City.

Britain originally planned to take advantage of the Sino-French war to pull France back into its camp to fight against China, but unfortunately the French Emperor Napoleon II has never forgotten the glorious era of Napoleon in France, and is bent on re-dominating the European world, so he hopes that Britain and China will confront each other, dreaming that one day Britain will completely decline, so that France can rise.

In line with this idea, France has always been very cautious and does not want to get involved in the confrontation between China and Britain, waiting for both China and Britain to lose.

Britain was annoyed, and Benjamin's government ridiculed Napoleon II as a pipe dreamer, who would sooner or later be cheated by China.

Failing to see a full-scale rupture in Sino-French relations, the Benjamin government turned its attention to North America.

At this time, Britain had built a huge blockade network around China. Together with Tsarist Russia, British India, British Malaya, Dutch East Indies, British Australia, Japan, British Hawaii, and British Canada, China was surrounded and a strategic blockade was formed, and once Britain's military forces were integrated, the war against China would be launched again until China was completely defeated and Britain's world hegemony would be ensured.

This is a historical corollary, and at this time in history, Britain's main targets were on emerging countries such as the United States, Russia, and Germany, which would challenge Britain's world hegemony. But now the United States is in a state of division between the north and the south, ignoring it for the time being, Tsarist Russia has lost the Far East and Alaska is no longer in conflict with Britain in the Far East, Germany has just risen and does not pose a mortal threat, and now China is left with a strong rise. And defeating Britain three times in a row naturally became the only goal that Britain must defeat and defeat.

Benjamin was satisfied with his strategic plan and was confident that Britain would win in the next Sino-British conflict, but he was still not satisfied, and his eyes were on the United States again.

In Benjamin's view, the rare cooperation between China and Britain on the issue of the American Civil War showed that the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo had the same long-term vision as the British, and could see the great threat of American unification. Therefore, China and Britain were surprisingly consistent and tacit in their cooperation on the issue of splitting the United States.

But now times have changed, and the country that can challenge Britain's world hegemony is no longer the United States, but the rapid economic growth and rapid expansion of military power. China's industrial output value has increased geometrically, and its comprehensive national strength has been continuously enhanced.

China's sheer population and industrial resources made Benjamin very jealous, especially when the British deliberately ranked China second in the ranking of major industrial countries in 1869 in terms of steel production. In fact, Benjamin was well aware that China had already surpassed Britain in steel production at that time.

Now that the 1879 survey of the world's major industrial countries in terms of steel production capacity is about to be released, Benjamin already has a hunch. In ten years' time, there are faint worries about how far China's steel production capacity will swell and how far it will throw Britain behind.

You must know that at this time in the world of European and American powers, the strength of the national strength and military strength are measured by steel production capacity, how much steel production capacity is in China, in fact, the European and American powers are basically clear in their hearts, one day they will not be able to hide. At that time, if Britain is thrown far away from China, it will inevitably affect Britain's hegemonic position in the hearts of all countries in the world, and they will attach more importance to China, which will be very disadvantageous to Britain.

Therefore, there is not much time left for Benjamin, so Benjamin has to take a gamble, and if he doesn't succeed, he will be a benevolent.

"In order to contain China and reduce the pressure on the British Empire, it is necessary to restore the unity of the United States."

In the Downing Street Congressional Report, Benjamin did not hesitate to put forward his new ideas.

Soon, he was strongly questioned by members of the council.

"Do you know what you're doing to restore the unification of the United States in order to contain China? Could it be that the United States has restored its unification, its huge population and natural resources, and its potentially huge industrial potential, will never be lower than China's, you are playing with fire!"

"That's right, this is the front door to drive away the tigers, and the back door to let in the wild wolves, it will not do the British Empire any good!"

Benjamin knew he understood, but he needed to convince all the MPs, even if they knew it might be a thirst quenching.

"Ladies and gentlemen, compared to what you have already guessed in the next ten years of industrial development report, our British Empire may no longer be able to occupy the first position in the world, and our place will be replaced by China, do you know what this means?"

"It means that China will become the world's strongest industrial country, it means that China will have the world's strongest military industrial capacity, it means that China's comprehensive national strength will surpass the British Empire to become the strongest in the world, it means that the British Empire will lose its world hegemony, and it will be difficult for us to defeat a China with strong industry, rich human resources, and huge war potential."

Sure enough, these words stimulated all the parliamentarians present, even if they often dragged their feet, but they did not want Britain to lose its world hegemony.

Benjamin continued: "It is indeed very risky to pull the United States back up, but if we control it properly and use the United States to counter China, so that both China and the United States will lose, then the British Empire will still be the world hegemon, and since we have defeated the United States once, we can defeat it a second time." Turn. If we can't defeat China next time, then we will have to watch China rise to become a world hegemon. Whether to sit back and wait for China to seize the world hegemony, or to take the risk and give it a try, how to choose, please express your position. ”

If we do nothing, we will directly lose our world hegemony and risk winning over the United States to confront China, and there is still a glimmer of hope.

At this time, the British parliamentarians encountered a difficult problem to choose, just like the entanglement when the Empress Gaozong of Tang Dynasty in Tang China, Wang and the concubine Xiao, fought to bring Wu Zetian back to the palace from Ganye Temple.

In the end, the majority of British parliamentarians chose to agree. In fact, they had no choice.

As a result, Benjamin was fully authorized to quickly send a special envoy to New York to hold secret negotiations with President Grant of the North American government.

Born at West Point, Grant was a military president who was committed to the great cause of unifying the United States and vigorously developing North American armaments.

Since the North American governments were ruled by slave owners from the southern plantations, and now that their homeland is occupied by Lincoln's South American government forces, they dream of returning to the south to reclaim their homeland. So I have always been very supportive of Grant's militarized construction.

Since the backstage of the North American government is China, the North American army is equipped with all Chinese-style equipment, and after more than ten years of development, the strength of the North American army is now very strong.

In that year, the North and South of the United States signed an armistice agreement with the intervention of China and Britain. It is bounded by the 38th parallel. China needs the mineral resources of North America and supports the North American government, and Britain needs cotton from the southern estates, so it supports South America.

Now, more than a decade later, North America's industrial economy is recovering quickly. The agricultural economy of South America could not meet the military strength of the Lincoln government army at all, and although it was supported by the British, it was becoming less and less inferior to the North American army as a whole.

After Grant was elected president. More and more they want to take action against the US forces in South Africa, but unfortunately China has been blocking it and does not want the United States to reunify. In addition, the US military in the south had British support, so the Grant government had to hold back.

Now, with the British government's offer to help unify the United States, Grant and the Southern slave owners in North America were very happy, and the two sides soon entered into substantive negotiations.

But all of this was done secretly behind China's back, but S.H.I.E.L.D. had no access to the North American government and quickly sent the news back to the Forbidden City.

When Li Weiguo learned of this, he was surprised and realized that Britain wanted to use the United States to counter China.

A united America is naturally not something Li Weiguo wants to see, it will be a dangerous enemy, far more dangerous than Britain.

As a result, Li Weiguo immediately sent a special envoy to the United States to persuade the Grant government not to fall for the British. At the same time, he sent a telegram to the US embassy in the United States, demanding that all efforts be made to prevent Anglo-American cooperation, and even deliberately leaked the matter to the Lincoln government in South America.

Lincoln was very angry, and when he learned that Britain was secretly negotiating with the North American government, he immediately summoned the British minister to South America to express strong dissatisfaction and warning.

The Benjamin administration was caught off guard by the fact that the news had leaked so quickly, and he hastened negotiations with the Grant administration while making false contenders with the Lincoln administration.

The Grant government was also warned by the Chinese government, but Grant and his top government officials felt that their wings had hardened and they no longer had to look at China's face, so they continued to negotiate with Britain while making false promises with China.

After the bourgeoisie in the north experienced the Civil War, many workers in the north fled to the south with Lincoln's revolution, and the black slaves in the south were liberated, but because of the division between the north and the south, they were blocked south of the 38th parallel, and it was impossible to work in the north, which led to heavy losses for the northern bourgeoisie, and they were fed up with the plundering of the mineral resources of the northern United States by China, hoping to unify the United States as soon as possible, so they also supported the Grant government.

The situation in the United States as a whole has become more and more delicate, and the situation of the 46th and 48th towns of the overseas theater of the Chinese Shence Army stationed in North America has become more dangerous.

The 46th and 48th Towns of the Chinese Shence Army were supposed to be stationed in Annam and Siam in the constitution, but because these two countries were slow to express whether they accepted the fact of China's vassal states, they were never able to enter Annam and Siam, so the War Department and the War Department transferred the troops of these two towns to North America and stationed them near the 38th parallel, maintaining the situation of the division between the north and the south of the United States.

As the war in Annam progressed, the Ministry of War recently issued an order to the 46th town to prepare to return to China, intervene in the war in Annam at any time, and achieve the ultimate goal of stationing in Annam.

In this way, there is only 48th Town left in the United States, and now that Britain and the United States are hooking up, there are doubts about the safety of 48th Town.

In response to this situation, Li Weiguo convened a pre-imperial meeting, suspended the return of the 46 towns, and stayed in the United States with the 48 towns to take care of each other.

"Your Majesty, if Britain and the United States come to an agreement, should we turn to support the Lincoln government in the South?" Wu Yong, the secretary of the military department, asked.

Li Weiguo felt that this matter was very tricky, and if it was not handled well, it might fall short in the US strategy, and even take the lives of 50,000 officers and men in the 46 and 48 towns, and he had to make a careful decision.

Cheng Kun, director of the China S.H.I.E.L.D., said: "Intelligence shows that the agreement between Britain and the Grant government will be reached in the near future, and Grant is ready to launch a military attack on the South American regime." The information we have received from the Lincoln government army in South America also shows that Lincoln's Confederate army is poorly equipped and the black army has poor combat quality, and it cannot defeat Grant's northern army at all, as long as Britain does not help Lincoln, the reunification of the United States is already a sure thing. ”

Fu Xuexian, the head of the household, said at this time: "The British are jumping off the wall in a hurry, but even if the United States is unified, can it threaten the empire?" I don't think the United States is so powerful! ”

Li Weiguo was stunned for a moment, yes, the United States is powerful in the 21st century, and the current United States is a second-rate country economically and a third-rate country militarily, why should I be so jealous of the United States?

It's all psychological!

As long as the United States is not allowed to take advantage of the two world wars, the United States will never be able to become a climate.

Thinking of this, the American heart disease that had always entangled Li Weiguo was suddenly cured.

At this time, Chen Jingnan, the secretary of the ministry, interjected: "Judging from the next strategic development trend of the empire, driving the British Navy out of the eastern Pacific will inevitably pose a threat to the west coast of the United States, and whether the United States is friendly with us or not, there will be hostility at that time. ”

Obviously, these civil and military officials do not take the United States seriously, and Li Weiguo has always been psychologically troubled and has become jealous of the United States.

In the end, Li Weiguo made a decision.

"Let the 46th and 48th towns be evacuated from the vicinity of the 38th parallel and transferred to Rhode Island in the northeast of the United States in the name of relocation, and the ambassador to the United States will go to negotiate with the Grant government to lease Rhode Island and its surrounding Prudence and other islands for a period of 99 years on the condition that we will not interfere, and Rhode Island will become a nail planted by the empire in the United States, nailing the Americans to the death."

Wu Yong immediately agreed: "Your Majesty's trick is clever, and the British also used Hong Kong Island as a springboard to control the Qing Dynasty. Rhode Island is a very important shipbuilding industrial base and naval base in the northern United States, with all kinds of infrastructure, and the empire can only be transformed into its own military force in a short time. ”

Although Chen Jingnan is no longer in the military, he still likes to fight with Wu Yong, and he immediately said not to be outdone: "Your Majesty can also use the same means to negotiate with the Lincoln government in the south, on the condition of not interfering or secretly providing weapons to the Lincoln Army, to take the Sugarloaf Islands in Florida in the south of the United States, where there is a place called Key West, which is also an important naval base of the American Southern Army, guarding the Caribbean Sea, once something happens in the future, the Imperial Navy can threaten the backyard of the United States to the north, and attack the Caribbean countries to the south, The Spanish Cuba there produces cane sugar, which is an important source of wealth for Spain, and it is a big fat meat, and it is a pity not to eat it. ”

Li Weiguo's music, whether it is Rhode Island or Sugarlof Island, has the same effect, and has become a bridgehead for the Chinese Shence Army in North America.

"It is very good that the Imperial Court immediately ordered the ambassador to the United States to take full responsibility for this matter, and there must be no mistake." (To be continued.) )