Zhao Liewen held a telegram in his hand and hurriedly walked into the office of Pan Zuyin, the left minister of the cabinet. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info Since this period of time, he and Pan Zuyin are probably the hardest people in the entire Ming Dynasty. Pan Zuyin was mainly responsible for organizing the wartime cabinet and formulating wartime economic control measures, while he was fully responsible for the coordination of diplomacy. Zhu Jishi's foreign policy has been consistent for 30 years - the Ming Empire must have strong allies in Europe and avoid using the power of one country to single-handedly pick up the entire white world.

It may sound a little unconfident, but the US imperialists of later generations actually did the same, pulling a British-stirring stick in Europe, and never allowing Western Europe to integrate; Pulling a bunch of small countries in Asia to encircle China will definitely not unite the entire yellow civilization; In the former Soviet Union, it is indispensable to pull some allies to block Russia; Even in the MSL world, it is certainly not going to allow the Green Cult countries to come together. This principle of dividing opponents works everywhere. Therefore, the diplomats under Zhao Liewen were bargaining with all sides in Europe during this time, discussing various treaties and agreements. Thanks to the assassination of Alexander II, the first to make a breakthrough was actually Russia, an old enemy! The newly appointed Nicholas II changed his father's principle of neutrality and used the pretext of "avenging his father" to expand the national policy of the Russian Empire to the west and establish the pan-Slavic Eastern Roman Empire. And Russia's westward expansion naturally meant that they had to reconcile with China in the East.

Pan Zuyin was looking at a report from the General Department of Finance, which was about wartime finances. Since the implementation of the "Huayuan Reform", because it has partially got rid of the restrictions of the gold and silver standard, deflation is no longer a problem that restricts the economic expansion of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, the size of Daming's economy has experienced rapid expansion in the past 10 years. Tax revenues are also growing rapidly. 1874 year. Does not include vassal states. Daming's total fiscal revenue has exceeded 3 billion Chinese yuan (including 1.6 billion yuan of central fiscal revenue)! If calculated according to the price of Huayuan and silver in the market, it is equivalent to 2 billion taels of Kuping silver in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Compared with the income of Daoguang, it has increased by 50 times! However, most of the annual income of 3 billion has gone and cannot be used to pay for the war. Therefore, the wartime finances still need to be maintained with public bonds, and the Ministry of Finance believes that at least 20 billion yuan of treasury bonds must be issued to meet the needs of the war......

Just when Pan Dazuo was looking at the report intently, he heard Zhao Liewen's loud voice shouting at the door: "Bo Yin, talk to the Russians!" Pan Zuyin put down the report, his face also showed joy, and as soon as he looked up, he saw Zhao Liewen walking in the door.

"Zeng Jiegang has made a great contribution this time. An alliance treaty was negotiated with the Russians, and we will assist Russia against Germany and Austria...... If Britain and Germany and Austria ally together, Russia would also declare war on Britain. ”

Pan Zuyin took the telegram in Zhao Liewen's hand, glanced at it slightly, nodded and said: "This is very good, although Russia's industry is not good, but its country has a military tradition, and there are more than 70 million people. As long as we supply Russia with arms, they will always be able to hold on. With them at bay Germany and Austria, France would be undefeated on the European continent. So that the French could not have been co-opted by the British. Our chances of winning are a few points bigger. ”

For such a result, Zhao Liewen actually has some regrets. It would obviously be more desirable to win over Germany and Austria to carve up Russia. But it's a pity. Jang Zhidong's diplomatic activities in Germany and Austria did not make progress...... This was not a dereliction of diplomatic work on the part of Zhang Zhidong, but rather an exorbitant offer by Zhu Jishi, who demanded that not east of the Urals but east of the Volga, and at the same time occupy the rest of Russia with Germany and Austria. In fact, it is the division of the three kingdoms. But neither Germany nor Austria wants China to become part of Europe. Moreover, they did not want to carve up Russia, they only wanted the lands of western and southern Russia.

Of course, neither Pan Zuyin nor Zhao Liewen knew. Zhu Jishi never thought about carving up Russia with Germany and Austria. His wishful thinking was that Russia would have a revolution after a few years of hard fighting, just like the February Revolution and the October Revolution in history. Then China would establish a Russian kingdom east of the Ural Mountains and let "Soviet Russia" occupy the region west of the Urals. Or, simply take some more territory in Siberia and Kazakhstan, and at the same time support "Soviet Russia" to act as a-stirring stick in Europe...... As long as there is a-stirring stick that prevents Europe from uniting, who cares if it is "Soviet Russia" or "White Russia"?

Zhao Liewen sat on the chair, poured himself a cup of tea, and took a sip. He had just met with the German ambassador to China, and before he had time to drink a sip of water, he received a telegram and came in a hurry. At this time, he raised his head and was just about to say something, when he heard the voice of the secretary from outside Zuo Xiang's office: "Xiangye, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived......"

As soon as the words fell, before the two of them had time to stand up and greet each other, they watched Zhu Guoxiong walk in with a solemn face. The politics of the Ming Dynasty are completely different from those of previous dynasties. The Western-style cabinet system of responsibility is implemented, and the emperor and crown prince are not very busy with their work, and at the same time they are not constrained by bureaucracy - don't think that the traditional Chinese emperor has unlimited authority and can do whatever he wants. In fact, they are also bound by a huge bureaucratic system with all kinds of "ancestral family laws". Emperor Lao Tzu's daily itinerary and who he sees and who he doesn't see are all governed by rules. On the contrary, the current Ming Emperor and the crown prince are relatively free...... The responsible cabinet is actually the result of the parliamentary election and the appointment of the emperor, and most of the responsibility for running the country is also theirs, and it doesn't matter whether the king is diligent or not, so there are not many rules to govern. Emperor Zhu didn't have to worry too much about his son (between him and Juan was actually China's defense of Donghua, not Lao Tzu's defense of his son), so the crown prince could go to the cabinet office to talk to the prime minister.

Pan Zuyin and Zhao Liewen glanced at each other, quickly stood up and bowed, and Zhu Guoxiong returned the salute lightly: "Huifu, you are also here, everyone happens to discuss ...... together."

Pan Zuyin asked cautiously, "Your Highness, what are you discussing?" Is it about an alliance with Russia? He glanced at Zhao Liewen, "Just now Huifu happened to bring the matter of reaching a preliminary alliance with Russia, you must already know about it, prince, right?" ”

Zhu Guoxiong knows, of course, that the "initial alliance intention" between China and Russia is not the work of Zeng Jize alone, but is the result of a game between several European powers. France did not want Russia to be beaten by Germany and Austria, and Germany and Austria did not want to completely turn their faces with France and the Ming Dynasty, they did not even want to destroy Russia, but just wanted to occupy some Russian territory. Britain, on the other hand, wanted France to remain neutral...... Until Germany and Austria defeated Russia, and then reconciled Russia and Germany and Austria. In short, the result of the repeated contests on all sides was the Sino-Russian alliance, the Anglo-German-Austrian alliance, and the neutrality of France. And Zhu Juan has always kept in touch with Zhu Jishi throughout the process of coordinating the negotiations.

Zhu Guoxiong found a chair and sat down, beckoned to Pan Zuyin and Zhao Liewen to sit down: "My father and I already know. The situation has changed so quickly that former sworn enemies are now in an alliance...... The parliament won't pass it, will it? ”

"No, it won't." Pan Zuyin said with a smile, "The members of the Jishi Youth Party can account for sixty percent of the lower house, and the Donglin Party will not oppose it." ”

Zhu Guoxiong nodded, "If you don't object this time, it doesn't mean that you won't object next time...... The current responsible cabinet is very good in peacetime, with the ruling party in charge and the opposition party finding faults. But in wartime, we should still be united, otherwise the two parties will pull each other back, what is the matter? Therefore, the emperor hopes that a coalition government can be formed, and everyone will unite to lead this war together. ”

He paused slightly, and then said, "Moreover, the emperor also wants to merge the Generalissimo's Mansion and the cabinet to form a wartime cabinet with partial commanding power. (To be continued......)