Britain helped the Confederate States of America to fight the civil war in preparation for uniting the United States to counterbalance the "Chinese Empire" (the light of harmony shines here, the same below, and will not be explained separately).

In response to this, Li Weiguo, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, decided to take Hawaii, a strategic point in the Pacific, and reject the United States in the east before the reunification of the United States, becoming the forefront of the Chinese Empire's defense against the United States in the Pacific.

However, Hawaii was a British sphere of influence, which made a territorial claim to it in 1843, and even France declared its occupation six years later.

In fact, both Britain and France were unilateral and were not recognized by the true owner of Hawaii, the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Britain and France were at odds over the ownership of Hawaii, which was also an obstacle to the Anglo-French alliance.

At this time, the king of Hawaii was called Cameha II, and he practiced a monarchy modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The de facto power was in the hands of British, French, and American merchants, because Hawaii was rich in sugar and was the second largest sugar production base in the world after Cuba, so that British, French, and American businessmen who were chasing huge profits were grouped together in Hawaii and refused to allow any country to occupy Hawaii.

This is because whether Hawaii is occupied by the British or the French, merchants have to pay a 100% tax on the transaction of luxury goods to either the British or the French. Throughout the 19th century, sugar products were considered a luxury, and only the aristocracy consumed them, and ordinary families were only willing to buy a piece of candy for their children to eat on New Year's Day or festivals. It is precisely because it is a luxury item that governments impose a luxury goods transaction tax. For example, the most typical is Japan, in order to raise funds for building ships, an additional 200% luxury goods transaction tax on tobacco, alcohol and sugar. For example, during the war, countries even banned the production and consumption of tobacco, alcohol and sugar, which shows the control of luxury goods such as tobacco, alcohol and sugar.

The British, French, and American merchants in Hawaii did not allow Hawaii to fall into the hands of any one country. It was because of them that the Kingdom of Hawaii was never actually occupied by the British or French. Historically, the United States took advantage of the aftermath of the Spanish-American War to take advantage of the fact that neither Britain nor France wanted to offend the United States, so that it seized Hawaii as it wished.

Now the Chinese Empire is also targeting Hawaii, partly because the Second Five-Year Plan of the Chinese Imperial Navy is to expand the naval sphere of influence to the eastern and eastern Pacific, that is, to control the entire North Pacific (covering the eastern and western Pacific). Completely drive the British Navy out of the North Pacific.

On the other hand, Britain colluded with the United States and nurtured the re-emergence of the United States, which was tantamount to creating a huge potential enemy for the Chinese Empire. Therefore, the Chinese Empire had to be laid out in advance, and Hawaii was the best strategic bridgehead for the Chinese Empire to blockade and defend against the United States.

The third aspect is Hawaii's strategic location and economic value. Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it is a transit point in Asia and the Americas, and the future Pacific shipping center. The economic value is the cane sugar that is abundant in Hawaii.

Based on these three conditions, Li Weiguo decided to take action against Hawaii.

However, the Chinese Empire, which is now mindful of its international image, cannot afford blatant aggression. So there must be a fair excuse for the seizure of Hawaii. Historically, the United States also used merchants in Hawaii to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii, which shows that reputation is very important. Since ancient times, the Chinese Empire has had the practice of being famous to fight, and the people attach great importance to whether they are famous or not, and with the increasing intelligence and cultural level of the citizens of the Chinese Empire, the degree of attention is increasing day by day, so the Chinese Empire has to pay special attention to reputation.

So, Li Weiguo sent a special envoy to Hawaii to meet the king of macadamia nuts. Request marriage directly to the macadamia nut king. It was intended that a prince of the Chinese Empire would marry a Hawaiian princess.

There is only one princess in the Hawaiian Kingdom, the little princess Kai Ulani, who is known as the pearl of Hawaii (please refer to the movie "Hawaiian Princess" to make up for yourself).

It's just that this little princess is only 10 years old this year. Li Weiguo also planned to choose a prince of the same age from among his sons. Of course, this prince can never be the eldest prince, because the eldest prince will be the crown prince of the empire in the future, and the crown princess can only be Chinese, and she can never be a native Hawaiian, even if this Hawaiian indigenous princess Kaiwulani is beautiful and cute.

The macadamia nut king has only one child. It is this little princess Keulani, and in the future, Keulani will inherit the rights of the Hawaiian fruit king and become the queen of Hawaii.

In the past, the macadamia nut king would not have dealt with the Chinese Empire at all, because the Chinese Empire at that time was still the Qing Dynasty. backward and beaten, even the macadamia nut king looked down on the Qing Dynasty.

But now the attitude of the macadamia nut king has changed, first of all, the unprecedented strength of the Chinese Empire, with an area of 15.76 million square kilometers, is the largest country in the world. The total economic volume and industrial capacity are also the largest in the world, and the military strength has repeatedly defeated the European and American powers such as Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Spain, and the Netherlands, and is a veritable world power.

Now that the power of the Hawaiian Kingdom is usurped by British, French, and American merchants, they control the parliament and refuse to increase taxes, so that the Hawaiian fruit king cannot build a strong Hawaiian national army. When the constitutional monarchy was introduced, the Hawaiian fruit king was also forced to do something helpless, in order to win over British, French, and American businessmen, let British, French, and American businessmen enter the parliament, and use them to prevent the military occupation and annexation of Hawaii by Britain and France.

Therefore, the macadamia nut king was very unwilling, he wanted to use the power of the United States to drive away the British and French powers, but now there is no hope for the civil war between the north and the south of the United States, but the Chinese empire suddenly proposed a marriage that made his eyes shine, thinking that the opportunity to turn over has come.

It's just that the macadamia nut king Kameha is not a fool, he knows very well that the emperor of the Chinese Empire, Li Weiguo, has dozens of princes, but there is only one prince who can really inherit the throne of the Chinese Empire, that is, the eldest prince born to the Empress Zhenggong, and he will be crowned the crown prince after the age of eighteen and inherit the throne in the future. As for the other princes, they can only live as a rich man for the rest of their lives in the future.

Kameha knew very well that his daughter would be the king of macadamia nuts in the future, so he could not marry a prince of the Chinese empire who had no real power, which was not in line with the core national interests of the Hawaiian kingdom.

So Kameha proposed to marry the eldest son of the emperor of the Chinese Empire, but the result was naturally not agreed. The envoy of the Chinese Empire proposed that he could be the future crown prince of the Chinese Empire as a side concubine, but Kameha disagreed even more.

In Cameha's opinion, it is not to be a side concubine to the crown prince. It is better to be a concubine for the current emperor of the Chinese Empire, because the emperor of the Chinese Empire, Li Weiguo, is still very young, and will rule the Chinese Empire for at least fifty or sixty years or even longer in the future, and the crown prince will have to wait for his gray hair to be estimated before he can succeed to the throne. If you also give your daughter to the crown prince as a side concubine. That's really SB home.

Kameiha is naturally not SB, so he re-proposed, planning to marry the little princess Kai Wulani to Li Weiguo, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, hoping to have a resounding title, according to the principle of the rank of the Chinese Empire's harem, the status must not be lower than the second grade, that is, it must be one of the eight concubines.

Li Weiguo was also drunk after learning about the conditions of the macadamia nut king, although he had already had the experience of destroying a 15-year-old flower girl, but let him marry a ten-year-old little Lori. It's still a bit psychologically difficult.

However, Li Weiguo, as the emperor, has his responsibilities, there is no problem in marrying a ten-year-old Lori, it's not too late to destroy the little Lori when she grows up in a few years. But the problem is that the conditions of the macadamia nut king must not be lower than the second grade, the position of the eight concubines in the harem has long been full, and even the positions of concubines and Jieyu are full, but there are still a lot of Jieyu positions in the fifth grade, but the key is that the old fox of Kameha does not do it.

But how smart Li Weiguo is. Soon he issued a holy decree to adjust the titles and grades of the harem concubines. Say it's an adjustment. In fact, it only added one to the number of concubines, from the existing eight second-rank concubines of Duan, Jing, Shu, De, Xian, Jing, Hui, and Kang, and added a position of Concubine Ning, which was given to the Hawaiian princess.

Li Weiguo's flexibility made the civil and military officials give a thumbs up, but Kameha, who was far away in Hawaii, naturally didn't know the twists and turns, he only knew about the harem of the Chinese Empire. A concubine with a title has a status, and if she gives birth to a prince in the future, she can get a fief and become a king.

But if Kameha knew that after his death, his grandson would be crowned King of Hawaii, and he would have changed the name of the Hawaiian Kingdom to Lee. If it is incorporated into the territory of the Chinese Empire, it is estimated that it will be so angry that it will immediately crawl out of the grave.

However, at this moment, Kameiha was very happy, he felt that Li Weiguo attached great importance to him, not only directly canonized the Hawaiian princess as Concubine Ning, but also gave Kameha a large dowry, including 10,000 taels of gold, 10,000 taels of silver, 10,000 yuan coins, 10,000 pieces of silk, 10,000 catties of Chinese specialties, 10,000 pigs, cattle and sheep, 10,000 rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 10,000 grenades, etc., and promised to help Kameha train the Hawaiian army.

Where had Kameha seen so many good things, especially weapons, which were too important to the Hawaiian Kingdom, and he couldn't wait to go to the Forbidden City immediately to kiss his good son-in-law to express his gratitude, so he happily agreed to the marriage and sold his daughter directly.

But this was only the beginning, and Kameha achieved his goal, uniting the Chinese Empire and receiving all kinds of support from the Chinese Empire. But for the Chinese Empire, it was only the first step that was achieved, that is, to marry the Kingdom of Hawaii and have an excuse to intervene in Hawaii.

According to Li Weiguo's plan, the second step would be to use both public opinion and military means to uproot or drive out the power of Britain, France, and the United States in Hawaii, and then realize the final and complete control of Hawaii by the Chinese Empire.

The news that Kameha married the Hawaiian princess to the Chinese Empire soon came out, which immediately attracted the attention of Britain, France and the United States, and the military strategists of the European and American countries immediately felt blush, because they realized that all their previous guesses were wrong, and the next strategic goal of the Chinese Empire was clearly Hawaii.

It's just that no military strategist is willing to stand up and say that he is wrong, they all want to be embarrassed, and they will have to mix in this circle in the future, how can they slap themselves in the face, so they fell silent and did not express any opinion on this matter.

Of course, some military experts jumped out at this time, pointing out that the next step of the Chinese Empire is to take Hawaii and control the Eastern Pacific, and the conflict flashpoint of the next Sino-British war is likely to be detonated in Hawaii.

This is deliberately talking nonsense to make money, but the British government is nervous, and even Benjamin did not expect that Li Weiguo will target Hawaii.

The current Hawaii is obviously a chicken rib for the UK, so the British government has not invested much energy in Hawaiian affairs. However, for the Chinese Empire, it is a vital strategic location, which can not only control the eastern Pacific Ocean and thus pose a direct threat to the American continent, but also serve as a node in the strategic defense circle of the Chinese Empire, protecting the core interests of the Chinese Empire and keeping Britain and the United States out.

After realizing this problem, Benjamin immediately became anxious, and on the one hand, he sent an envoy to Hawaii to persuade the Hawaiian fruit king to retract his order and cancel the marriage with the Chinese Empire. On the other hand, Benjamin also prepared for the worst, that is, once it could not be stopped, he was ready to seize Hawaii by force, and control Hawaii before the Chinese Empire reacted, and never allow the Chinese Empire to get Hawaii as an important strategic support point.

On the one hand, because the Chinese Empire was secretly helping the United States of America in the south, the American Civil War could not end in a short period of time, and the American Confederate States in the north suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, Hawaii is next to the United States, so it can be said that it is a neighbor of the United States, and if it is captured by the Chinese Empire, the United States and Britain will pose a serious threat to the United States mainland in the future.

France also did not want Hawaii to fall into the hands of the Chinese Empire, so Britain, France, and the United States immediately formed a joint intervention group to put pressure on the Hawaii King to abandon the marriage.

The situation in Hawaii suddenly became tense, because of the little Hawaiian princess, a contest between the great powers quietly began.

The British, French, and American governments not only sent a note to the King of Macadamia to express their objections, but also to the Imperial Chinese Ambassadors to Britain, France, and the United States, and through the British, French, and American Ambassadors to China, lodged protests and objections to the Imperial Court of China.

As for the protest of the British government, this is expected in Li Weiguo's prediction. But the reaction of France and the United States was slightly surprised.

Li Weiguo finally understood that the government of the Confederate States of America in the north had hardened its wings and did not intend to listen to the Chinese Empire anymore. France, on the other hand, may have been bogged down in the Annam War and was ready to use Hawaii as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Chinese Empire.

Li Weiguo was ready, but the macadamia nut king did not realize the danger of the storm, he accepted the dowry of the Chinese Empire, and naturally had to marry his daughter, and the ten-year-old girl was basically an adult for the natives of Hawaii Island. Li Weiguo also hoped to take Hawaiian Lori to China as soon as possible to prevent her from being in danger and affecting his plans, so the two sides quickly agreed on a time.

In order to marry the Hawaiian princess, the Chinese Empire quickly sent a fleet to Hawaii.

But at the same time, the British Royal Navy also set off from Canada and Australia, and their targets were also Hawaii, and even with ulterior special missions. (To be continued.) )