Today's Britain has become difficult to ride a tiger. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The situation in both the Near and Far East has become very serious, should Britain abandon its traditional policy of "checks and balances" and enter into two wars?

No! No! Disraeli let out a cry in his heart.

But now that Britain has shown that it is going to use force against China, which Wittoma has emphasized in several negotiations, will it not cause Russia and Austria to think of contempt for Britain if they change their attitude towards China now?

However, today, the Chinese minister Guo Songtao has already said in front of Queen Victoria that if Britain is determined to use war to force China, China will announce Britain's breach of trust to the whole world, which will cause Britain's prestige in the world to plummet, and the terrible consequences will be unimaginable!

If this happens, not only will Queen Victoria be the first to spare him, but the spittle of Parliament will drown him!

Thinking of the way the Queen looked at her today and the impeachment she might have been subjected to in Parliament, Disraeli couldn't help but shudder.

Disraeli sat there wearily, thinking back to what Queen Victoria had said to him today.

Having realized that Queen Victoria would have to protect her reputation for keeping her promises even if she gave up all claims to China, Disraeli made up her mind.

The matter was handled badly by Weituma, and he has now become the object of bitter hatred by the Chinese, so let him take responsibility!

Thinking of this, Disraeli suddenly felt an indescribable relaxation.

Tonight, he can finally get a good night's sleep!

And Disraeli would not have imagined what kind of earth-shaking changes would happen to the situation he faced when he woke up the next day.

The next day, the Chinese Legation.

Guo Songtao, who got up early, had eaten the breakfast prepared for him by his wife Liang, and was about to go to the British Foreign Office to continue negotiations on the Dian case and the murder of Liu Xihong, but he saw Counselor Zhang Deyi holding a roll of foreign newspapers and walking quickly towards Guo Songtao.

"What's going on? Junfeng? Guo Songtao noticed a trace of indescribable excitement on Zhang Deyi's face, and immediately asked.

"My lord, the details of the conspiracy between Wittuma and Hiro Brown have all been published in the headlines of this London newsprint today, and Wittoma's cunning has been revealed, and everyone knows about it!" Zhang Deyi said excitedly pointing to the newspaper. "France, Germany, Russia, and the United States have all protested and shown goodwill to our country!"

"Oh? Hurry up, hurry up! Translate it to me! When Guo Songtao heard this, he was also very happy.

Zhang Deyi immediately began to translate for Guo Songtao: "...... This newspaper reprinted reliable information disclosed to the French "Paris Times" by an insider, that in order to achieve his goal of forcing China to open its treaty ports under the pretext of the Margaret incident, Mr. Wittoma secretly met with Colonel Brown and his subordinates in Shanghai, colluded in advance about the circumstances of Margaret's death, and on this basis, put forward all kinds of harsh conditions to the Chinese Government. …… Although Mr. Wittoma's motive was in the interests of the British, such blatant perjury was by no means the ...... of an upright and disinterested British official."

"The French Government issued a public statement condemning the actions of Wittoma as unthinkable that a minister should do so much to amend the treaty. …… In addition, the French Government expressed concern about the concentration of the British fleet at the mouth of Dagu, and the French minister had already informed Britain that France would not sit idly by if Britain went to war with China and harmed France's interests in China. …… The German government issued a similar statement......

After Zhang Deyi finished explaining, Guo Songtao immediately understood that the development of the situation had turned to the side that was extremely beneficial to China!

"This Lin Kunyu is simply true! How did he know that this would be the case in France and Germany? Guo Songtao remembered the predictions about the development of the Dian case written by Lin Yizhe in the wooden box of "Trouble is Happening", and couldn't help but sigh.

Guo Songtao didn't know that after Li Hongzhang informed Wei Tuma that he would not take him as a negotiation partner, Wei Tuma was still unwilling. On the pretext that he had not received an order from the government to appoint and dismiss him, he continued to go to Li Hongzhang as the chief negotiator, and in order to strengthen his own words, he also brought two commanders of the British naval detachment, Rydell and Lambert, to show that he still had influence over the British fleet, and to show the Chinese that he would still be backed by force if necessary. But what he didn't expect was that Li Hongzhang didn't buy it at all, but just met with them in the form of a private meeting, and Li Hongzhang didn't say a word about the negotiations.

As a result of Wittoma's insistence, Britain was in an unprecedented position of diplomatic isolation. At the very beginning, when the news of the Tianjin peace talks came out, it attracted the attention of other countries. During the meeting, the envoys of Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Spain to China gathered in Tianjin under the pretext of "summer vacation" to closely follow the progress of the Sino-British talks. Over the past few months, Wittoma has developed estrangement and discord with other countries on the issue of coercion against China, and the more he stresses that he will not allow other countries to interfere in his affairs, the more he shows that he has concerns about overt or covert interference by other countries. As a matter of fact, at this time, US Minister Xihua had repeatedly expressed his willingness to mediate with China, and the ministers of Germany, Russia, Austria, and other countries had made similar expressions. Although they did not offer any active means of mediation, this expression itself provided Li Hongzhang with an opportunity to "liaise with the envoys and make a mockery of the party in the meantime," and Wittoma knew that if an agreement was not reached quickly, there was no interest in himself and for Britain. In addition, another event in Sino-foreign relations at that time also played an unexpected role in stimulating the negotiations, that is, the Sino-German treaty amendment. As early as 1873, the newly formed German Reich made a request to revise the 1861 treaty, but Germany did not take further action at that time. In May 1875, when Wittoma's coercion against China was at its peak, the German Minister to China, von Brandt, put forward a specific request for a revision of the treaty in 16 paragraphs, with emphasis on the opening of additional ports and the expansion of other trade rights. During the Sino-British negotiations in Tianjin, Barand took the opportunity to tell Li Hongzhang: "Trade and trade are all things to do,...... If it can be agreed (with Britain) in the future, Germany will revise the treaty as soon as it does, and there is no need to start anew," which is tantamount to supporting Britain in exerting joint pressure on China on the issue of opening additional ports. At the same time, Li Hongzhang was tough on Britain, but he also took into account that in the future, Germany would "revise the treaty and add words, and it would certainly be handled in accordance with the British agreement," and he believed that if he could reject the extortion of the British, it would be "a plan to kill two birds with one stone" and to strengthen his attitude toward Britain. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Germans also learned that the British did not intend to share the rights and interests they had obtained from China with other countries in the Margaret incident, and in fact the process of Sino-British negotiations led by Wittoma had clearly exposed Britain's estrangement from other powers on the issue of aggression against China, so the Tianjin negotiations this time became a sign of the end of the so-called "cooperation policy" of the great powers in China. Russia, the United States, France, Germany, and other countries took for granted that China might grant Britain new rights and interests that it should be "all in one," and they were disgusted by Wittoma's practice of setting aside them and acting arbitrarily in negotiations with China. The envoys of these countries treated the Qing government's note to Wittoma with a cold and wait-and-see attitude not to regard him as a negotiating opponent, and when Wittoma issued a threat of war to China, the French government was the first to express its "concern," and Russia, the United States, and Germany were naturally not willing to be lonely and issued similar statements. In fact, they have begun to consider uniting against Britain in exchange for China's goodwill and the expansion of their business rights in China. It is precisely because of this that there are those statements that Guo Songtao and Zhang Deyi saw in the newspaper today.

Of course, Guo Songtao and Zhang Deyi would not have thought that it was who revealed the news of the conspiracy between Wei Tuma and Bai Lang in Shanghai to many foreign newspapers.

"My lord, the carriage is ready." At this time, Guo Bin walked and said. He had already received Guo Songtao's orders and prepared a carriage to go to the British Foreign Office.

"Yes, today, let's not go to the British Foreign Office!" Guo Songtao said excitedly.

"So where are you going?" Guo Bin was stunned for a moment and asked.

"Go to the House! I guess it's going to be a good show today! Guo Songtao said with confidence.

Reichstag building, House of Commons.

The Houses of Parliament on the River Thames is the political centre of the United Kingdom. Not only is it majestic on the outside and ornate on the inside, but its architecture and interior design reflect the world's oldest constitutional monarchy. When the British Parliament is in session, the King sits on the King's throne in the House of Lords, but the Prime Minister and MPs are required to enter their seats from the House of Commons, and ordinary citizens can also watch the proceedings from the gallery. Located on the banks of the River Thames in central London, it is the most important Gothic building in Britain in the mid-19th century. The building is built on a nearly trapezoidal lot on the banks of the River Thames, facing the River Thames. The various parts are connected to each other in sections, forming many inner courtyards, and the main hall of the building is in the middle of the building. The Victoria Tower, the tallest of the buildings in the southwest corner, stands at 103 meters, and the 97-meter-high clock tower with the famous "Big Ben" is also eye-catching. The site of the edifice was originally a royal palace, which was built in 1060 and has been added to since then. Until Henry VIII moved out in 1512, it was the royal palace. The Houses of Parliament is one of the largest Gothic buildings in the world and a masterpiece of British Romantic architecture. Covering an area of 30,000 square meters, it stands on the bank of the Tamos River, with majestic momentum and elegant appearance. The 1,000-room Houses of Parliament has been the seat of the English Parliament since the 13th century and also doubles as the King's Palace. Westminster Abbey Hall was built in 1097 and is the only remaining part of the old building, divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons. After the middle of the 16th century, it became the seat of parliament. In 1834, a fire destroyed the palace building, which was later rebuilt. The central hall in the building is the transportation hub of the entire building, the central hall has an octagonal plan, the upper part is a vault, 23 meters high, from which it is possible to access the upper and lower courtyards. In addition, there are many famous rooms and corridors in the building, which are the offices of the various committees of Parliament, as well as the libraries of the upper and lower houses.

On November 5, 1605, some Catholic extremists tried to blow up the Parliament building with 36 barrels (about 2.5 tons) of gunpowder, but were unsuccessful, and November 5 of each year is the "Gunpowder Conspiracy Day" (here I recommend an excellent movie "V Commando", interested friends can watch it). In 1834, a large number of government documents were burned in the stove of the Houses of Parliament, causing a fire, and the Houses of Parliament were razed to the ground, which was later rebuilt. The reconstructed lower house of parliament is still decorated in the Gothic style, but it is relatively simpler. The lower courtyard is slightly smaller than the upper courtyard, 23 meters long, 14 meters wide and 12.5 meters high, with 346 seats in the middle of the hall and 91 seats in the side corridor.

Early this morning, Lionel? Nathan? Rothchild was accompanied by his daughter Sara and sat in the gallery of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons is located in the Houses of Parliament and is open to the public during normal business hours, making it a blessing for visitors from all over the world to have the opportunity to visit the site. Nathan and Sara regularly sit in on debates in the House of Commons chambers.

It's a weekday, and people know when they pass by the Houses of Parliament that there must be something important inside, because there aren't many policemen standing guard outside the door, and many of them are still holding rifles, as if they are facing a big enemy. It's no wonder that, since the death of China's deputy envoy Liu Xihong, Britain's national security services have recently warned that the next target of the rioters is likely to be Parliament.

Those who want to come to visit need to ask permission from the staff outside the door, and they have to go through a total of four checkpoints to enter the council. The first is the security check, which can be said to be very strict, more than the government department, in addition to checking the belongings carried with them, they also have to touch people from head to toe, and then put a mark on each person's chest; In order to check female visitors, female security screeners are also specially arranged. The second way is to enter the lobby, where the staff asks everyone to wait in line for the last group of visitors to come out before they can enter. The third is the corridor to enter the council hall, where staff ask everyone to fill out a registration form before they are allowed to enter. The fourth is the foyer into the council chamber, where the staff receives the registration form and asks visitors to hand over their belongings to them for storage before they are allowed to enter.

Nathan looked at the people who entered the hall one after another, and he knew that there was going to be a heated debate here today, and the topic of the debate was the government's China policy.

Today, Conservative and Liberal MPs will be debating face-to-face, so today's gallery is full.

The seating in the House of Commons is well designed. The more than 600 seats are distributed on the left and right, forming a two-sided layout, with MPs from the ruling party on one side and opposition MPs on the other, seemingly designed to encourage political confrontation between the parties in the lower house. Arranged in a long and narrow rectangle. One of the open spaces is flanked by rows of benches, with the back rows rising step by step. Like a shrunken and squashed indoor basketball court. The high-backed chair at the end is the Speaker's seat. The benches of the parliamentarians on both sides have no armrests, and the parliamentarians sit quite compactly, and it is not possible to cross their legs comfortably. There was not even a small table in front of the bench for documents, and on the carpet in the middle of the council chamber, there were still two red lines, and the distance between the two red lines was about the length of two swords connected, and it is said that this was because the members of the House of Commons wore swords when they came to the council chamber in the first place, and the distance between the two swords in the middle of the council hall was to prevent the parliamentary debate from getting too hot and hostile parliamentarians might meet each other with swords.

British Prime Minister Disraeli did not participate in today's debate, and he is said to be preparing to be questioned by Parliament.

"Dad, look, Mr. Guo is here too." Sara whispered to her father.

Nathan looked up, and sure enough, he saw a small group of Chinese wearing splendid official uniforms and Chinese-style warm hats walking in under the guidance of the staff, and took seats in the auditorium on the other side, and one of them was a fat and amiable old man - he was Guo Songtao.

Seeing that Guo Songtao also came to observe, some members of the British House of Commons who were friendly to China got up one after another to greet Guo Songtao, Guo Songtao smiled and waved his hands one by one, while some members of the House of Commons who were hostile to China sat there and whispered and whispered, and from time to time cast vigilant glances at Guo Songtao and others.

When Guo Songtao finally sat down, he immediately saw Nathan and Sara father and daughter sitting in the audience on the opposite side, so he smiled and waved his hand, Nathan smiled and raised his hat, and Sara owed in the seat to express his salute.

After everyone was seated, and the time for the meeting to begin, a tall, broad-eared, gray-haired man stood on the Liberal Party seat.

"Look, Dad, Uncle Gladstone was the first to speak." Sara whispered to her father, "Looks like he's ready." ”

"Of course he's ready." Nathan smiled and nodded, "For him, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to knock out his opponent, and of course he has to take it well." ”

"I enjoyed his speeches, always full of passion and eloquent power." Sara smiled and nodded.

Born on 29 December 1809 in Liverpool to a wealthy merchant family, Gladstone studied with a priest as a child, entered Eton College at the age of 13, Oxford University at the age of 17, and completed his studies at the age of 21 in October 1831. At Oxford University, Gladstone used his spare time to participate in various seminars of the Oxford Society, serving as its president and secretary consecutively, and was known as the "first eloquent" at that time.