Ask for collections, ask for recommendations, ask for Sanjiang tickets, and there are two more today.

Buckingham Palace, London.

Today is a rare sunny day in the foggy capital of London, and the rice flag flutters in the wind on the tall flagpole in the imperial garden outside Buckingham Palace. There was already a long carriage parked in the royal garden of the royal palace. It seems that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert have arrived here, and these carriages belong to the big people who came to see them. And among these carriages, there is a small and somewhat old black carriage, which belongs to the Prime Minister of the British Empire. Sir Peel's.

The conversation between the British Prime Minister and the Queen and the Princess, of course, is about national affairs. In the audience hall, there were only a few people who could participate in the conversation, including the Duke of Wellington, who was regarded by Queen Bixia as an old minister and commander-in-chief of the army. Today, however, the main issue under discussion is related to China and Zhu Jishi!

First of all, it is not the royal identity of Zhu Jishi of the Ming Dynasty that has just been exposed, whether it is the British Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, or the queen and his wife, their thinking is all European nation-state. No one thinks that a dynasty that has been dead for 200 years has any chance of a resurgence - not even Victoria of Hanover would see certain people related to the Stuart dynasty as a thorn in the side. Of course, Zhu Jishi's status as a Ming dynasty royalty is indeed a problem, and the British government should reconsider its support for him to open a university in Hong Kong......

That's not the primary concern, though. For just yesterday afternoon the latest report of the British Minister to China and Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Pottingham, had arrived in London - very bad news.

The Governor of Liangguang of the Qing Dynasty and the Minister of Trade and Commerce, Aixin Jueluo. Qi Ying once again refused to fulfill the obligations of the "Five Ports of Commerce Treaty" that had just been signed on the opening of Guangzhou, and refused to allow British officials and merchants to enter Guangzhou, so Pu Ding Cha, the British minister to China, was never able to enter the city of Guangzhou to start diplomatic negotiations with Qi Ying. In addition, the British refused to discuss with the British the legalization of the opium trade - which meant that opium, the only commodity that would allow Britain to have a surplus in Sino-British trade, could still only be imported into China in the form of illegal smuggling!

This not only disgraces the international image of the British Empire, but also means that this money-making business, which brings in at least a few million pounds of revenue to the British Empire every year, will be legally banned by the Chinese at any time...... This was not difficult for the British government in London to do, as long as the Manchu government was truly determined to strictly prohibit opium smoking and trading in the country.

What worries the British government even more is that France's foreign policy toward China seems to have undergone a major change! According to the report of the British Embassy in Paris, French Foreign Minister Guizot has decided to abandon his intention to force China to sign an unequal treaty, and the Laenny mission, which left for China a few months ago, will carry out exchanges with China on an equal footing on the basis of the diplomatic achievements of the Zhenshengyi mission!

In Robert. Peel and the Duke of Wellington understood this to mean that France would likely provide China with military and scientific jishu to help the Chinese build a European-style army – a country that is inherently well-suited for "line up to shoot" tactics, given China's large population base. The Duke of Wellington, who was old and talked a lot, couldn't help but complain at the thought that in the next "Opium War", the British Army, which lined up in three horizontal formations, would exchange shots with smoothbore guns with the same tactics and good organization.

"The last war was a mistake, a huge mistake...... We have woken up a large country with a population of 40,000! God, Britain has a population of less than 20 million! How can we go to war with an enemy twenty times as outnumbered? Even if you can win a temporary victory, what will you do next time? No matter how brave our fighters are, it is impossible to defeat twenty times the enemy in a platoon of gun fire, this is impossible! In the next war, we will be the losers...... Wouldn't it be good to let them continue to sleep? ”

For the last Opium War, the British Parliament was extremely divided, and the anti-war faction, led by the Duke of Wellington, even had a majority. However, Queen Victoria, who had just inherited the British throne, in order to show her iron fist, made a speech in the lower house of parliament in support of the war, which led to the reluctance of the lower house of parliament to pass a resolution to go to war. Although the war was won, it now seems that there will be endless troubles.

Queen Victoria looked at Prince Albert and said, "If only I had married my dear Albert earlier, he would have stopped himself from doing stupid things...... Alas, the old parliamentarians and uncles are not good, weishenme should be influenced by the nonsense of a young and ignorant little girl? ”

"Your Excellency the Duke, as far as I know, the Qing Kingdom will not carry out a radical reform......" Robert Brown. As soon as Prime Minister Peel's words came out, he was interrupted by the somewhat emotional Duke of Wellington.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Prime Minister, your words are good, there will be no radical reform, but to what extent do you think the reform of the Qing Kingdom will go? Similar to Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, the Sikh Empire, or the Kingdom of Mysore? ”

"Probably the equivalent of the Ottoman Empire, right? However, considering the population and wealth of the Qing and their distance from the British, even if the Qing army had half the combat strength of the Ottoman army, it was an enemy we could not help but do. Prince Albert frowned and interjected, "That's why we have to actively participate in the reform of the Qing State and support the pro-British Shili ...... in the Qing government."

Speaking of this, His Royal Highness the Prince sighed softly, it was obvious that this plan would be frustrated if it didn't work well, because Zhu Jishi's identity was indeed a problem.

"Queen Bixia, Her Royal Highness the Prince," said Robert. Seeing Albert's solemn face, Peel groaned, "Actually, we are not familiar with the inside affairs of the Qing Kingdom, I think we need to listen to the opinions of politicians who are really familiar with the Qing Kingdom, and then we can make the right decision." ”

"A politician who is really familiar with the Qing Kingdom?" The Duke of Wellington snorted coldly, "Prime Minister, you mean William. Jardine, that smuggler, right? ”

"Duke, he's a member of the House of Commons, and he's in the waiting room right now."

Victoria looked at Albert again, and when she saw that the other party nodded slightly, she said in a deep voice, "Please William. Come in, Mr. Jardine. ”

……

William. Jardine sat down in a high-backed armchair prepared in advance, and joined the Queen, Prince Albert, the Duke of Wellington, and Robert Anderson. Prime Minister Peel was far away, because with the creation and development of "Bacteriology", the mode of transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis had been revealed (of course, it was still the scientific work of Zhu Jishi), so Jardine, who was suffering from tuberculosis, could not get too close to the Venerable Queen Bixia.

"Bixia, I think the core issue of the future Sino-British relationship is not China's reform, but the opium trade ......"

"Was our empire originally for a group of opium dealers?" The Duke of Wellington interjected dismissively.

William. Jardine replied, "It is we opium dealers who are removing one of the greatest dangers for the Empire. The corners of his mouth hooked slightly, revealing a smug smile, "In fact, the strict anti-smoking policy adopted by the Chinese emperor before speaks for itself!" Opium had threatened China's domestic stability and the rule of the Chinese imperial court, which was why the Chinese emperor decided to ban smoking. ”

"Can opium do that?" Prince Albert asked.

William. Jardine raised his eyebrows triumphantly. "Of course, the opium trade has dealt a bigger blow to the Qing than anyone here in London imagined! Because the opium trade is destroying the ruling base of the Qing government and the economy of the Qing country!

The first is the annual outflow of more than 6 million taels of silver, which was the basic currency of the Qing State, and the currency used for the Qing Dynasty's taxes and the salaries of officials and troops was silver. Due to the continuous outflow of silver, a serious silver shortage has occurred in the Qing Dynasty, resulting in a sharp drop in the prices of grain and handicrafts relative to silver. In this way, the burden of taxes and rents to be paid by the peasants and handicraftsmen in the Qing Dynasty was greatly increased, the people's livelihood was difficult, and social instability intensified.

The second is that the abuse of opium can cause serious mental and physical damage, which is not the main thing, after all, the number of long-term opium users in China is only a few million, which is not a high proportion of the population. But most of these millions of addicts are bureaucrats, gentlemen and so-called bannermen of the Qing Dynasty! And these people were the basis of the rule of the Manchu dynasty! ”