"Why didn't you say it earlier? However, it is not too late now, with such conditions, it is only necessary to apologize to Britain, and at most pay a symbolic amount of silver, and the peace agreement should be easily reached. As soon as Tang Shaoyi's words came out, the naval representatives who were already shocked by Li Hui's words looked at each other angrily, and even Li Hui frowned and snorted coldly, but Tang Shaoyi looked ignorant, and didn't understand what he said wrong.

"This Tang Shaoyi is still a little timid among Manchu diplomats, and he can't imagine that he is also cowardly in the face of foreigners, probably because he has groveled for too long, and he has forgotten that he can still be hard", Li Hui took a deep breath, controlled his emotions, and asked Tang Shaoyi in a calmest tone as much as possible, "Why don't you ask about our conditions?" ”

"Our conditions? Isn't it a request and? Tang Shaoyi hadn't turned the corner yet, but when he saw Li Hui's face, he still realized that he had probably said the wrong thing, and he suddenly became nervous.

Li Hui stared at Tang Shaoyi seriously until he lowered his head, and then replied in a deep voice, "If a peace truce is negotiated now, then my request is probably this, Britain must apologize for its crimes since the Opium War and abandon the Singapore naval base, and no further naval base shall be built in the Nanyang region without the consent of our country." In addition, any British warship of more than 5,000 tons entering the waters of the South Seas must inform our country in advance to avoid misunderstandings."

"It can't be! How could the British Empire accept such conditions? Tang Shaoyi broke out in a cold sweat when she heard this, and screamed unconsciously.

Li Hui sneered, "If they refuse to agree, then we will use force to knock down all the British colonies in Asia, and when the British cry and sue for peace, we will not only offer the current conditions."

"Didn't you just say you were going to make peace with the British? This is obviously going to continue fighting! Tang Shaoyi is now completely Spartan, and even began to wonder if Li Hui deliberately dug a pit to test himself, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

Tang Shaoyi's usual courage is actually not small, but just like Qin Wuyang, who can kill people at the age of thirteen, his face changed color after seeing Qin Wang Yingzheng, thinking of the tens of thousands of Manchu magnates who were collectively shot, it was really difficult for him to muster much courage in front of Li Hui.

"I really want to negotiate peace, that's why I want to promote peace." , Li Hui saw that Tang Shaoyi still didn't understand, and couldn't help but secretly shake his head, but he could only explain patiently, "Shaochuan, you have to get out of the thinking mode of weak country diplomacy in the past, we are now a world power, yes, although our country is still very poor, and even the country is not unified, but we are indeed a great power, in the East Asia and South Seas regions where the geography is favorable to us, even if it is the world hegemon of the United Kingdom, it is not our opponent." ”

"Are we a great power? Great Power Diplomacy? Tang Shaoyi chewed these two words repeatedly, and unconsciously remembered the hot blood of his youth, and for a while he seemed to be stupid, and he didn't speak for a while.

Li Hui thought that Tang Shaoyi did not understand what to do, and gave an example to illustrate: "In the diplomacy of weak countries, due to their own lack of strength, they can only hope to hug the thigh of a strong country and use the contradictions between the great powers to seek self-protection. But either way, the foothold is not oneself, it is a passive way of diplomacy, and therefore very unreliable. If it is a small country with congenital deficiencies, it can only take this route, then it is enough, and it is really a shame that a big country like China actually takes this route! ”

"Powerful diplomacy, on the other hand, is based on its own strong national strength, forcing other countries to submit to obtain more benefits than blindly using force; However, no matter how strong a country is, it is difficult to resist the alliance of many countries, so it is necessary to try every means to divide and disintegrate the enemy country and avoid confrontation with multiple countries at the same time, which is the "Lianheng" of the Warring States Period. The diplomacy of a great power is based on its own strong strength, so it is easier to succeed, and even if it is not successful, there will generally be no big losses, just try it again in another way, and in history the "Lianheng" has always been able to defeat the "Hezhong", which is the reason. Li Hui said this, showing a smile with a hint of sarcasm, "If you don't know what to do, just substitute the diplomacy of the former powers against the Manchus, just swap the positions of the two, and you will understand"

"We are the Great Powers, and we see Britain as the Manchus?" , Tang Shaoyi imagined the scene, her eyes immediately moistened, and she wanted to speak, but found that her throat was already choked and it was difficult to speak, "Can China really have such a day?" ”

Li Hui didn't hide it from him, and said frankly, "Okay, I admit that China's national strength is not to mention that it is compared with Britain, even the slightly weaker France and Russia are much stronger than us, but in the Nanyang region, our geographical advantage is too great, Europe is too far away from here, and we have also seized the opportunity to upgrade naval science and technology, and the advantage can be maintained for at least a few years, almost invincible." ”

Tang Shaoyi was happy at first after hearing this, but soon thought of a question, and his face was difficult to look at, "Party leader, your idea is very good, but I thought of a question just now, as a previous weakling, I know that China has become a strong party, the mentality is so difficult to turn around, the British have always been high, it must be more difficult to accept the reality, if you have always insisted on a tough position, I am afraid that this war will last much longer than you expected, if our country can only occupy the advantage in the next few years, I'm afraid that if it really lasts for a few years, not to mention anything else, will the country be able to afford this financial consumption? ”

"The few years I am talking about is the time when the technological advantage can be maintained, and it will take more than half a year for Britain to design a new warship that surpasses the Haitian-class for patrolling, and with the ability of the British shipyard, it will take two or three years to complete the construction of such a giant warship, plus the time required for crew training to form combat effectiveness, how can it add up to four or five years, I mean this by a few years, and in a few years we will definitely have more advanced and powerful warships than the Haitian, in fact, this time will only be longer." Li Hui couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and explained, "And what you are talking about is the time when we can confront Britain for a long time, well, Britain can fight as long as it wants, and we can fight with it for as long as it wants!" (To be continued.) )