A month after the World Cup, the Datang Foreign Ministry invited the British and French ambassadors to meet on the issue of maintaining unimpeded trade in the Middle East. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 As an important hub connecting Europe and Asia, the importance of the Middle East to the world's free trade is self-evident, and the local separatist forces in the Middle East and even the Ottomans themselves can only play a negative role in free trade, so Datang has to take necessary countermeasures against this situation.

Egypt is obviously the most important point in it, this secret meeting called trade protection is actually malicious spoils, Datang does not agree that any British and French countries can enjoy the interests of Egypt alone, so Datang's proposal is to send troops to Egypt to jointly manage, in addition to obtaining completely zero-tariff trade preferences, and at the same time to be able to station a certain number of troops in Egypt, and make investments.

Datang initially decided to invest three divisions, but the main direction of the advance would be the two river valleys, and in Egypt Datang would send an armored regiment to cooperate with the British and French forces.

The British and French ambassadors soon met privately after the meeting, and the British said directly: "Judging by the signs of the Tang people, they are interested in Egypt, but they do not seem to be particularly interested." This time, the Tang people decided to intervene, probably in order to expand their heavenly colonies and expand their power in Iraq. ”

The French ambassador also agreed with this, in fact, Britain and France were only an intentional idea before sending troops to Egypt, but after the Tang Dynasty intervened, they had to do it. Because if you take a slow step, you won't get any benefits. Naturally, the British and the French did not reach a consensus on this issue before, let alone any plan for the partition of Egypt. Datang's voice is relatively heavy, and the idea of monopolizing or carving up Egypt is basically bankrupt. However, being able to garrison troops and form influence on the ground was also very valuable to Britain and France.

"What do you think?" The Frenchman asked.

The British ambassador said: "I have reported the relevant situation to London, and we believe that the way of the Tang Dynasty is not impossible, everyone does not monopolize Egypt, but it can be monopolized in other places, after all, Turkey is very large." ”

The French ambassador looked sharply and asked, "Where have you taken a fancy to you?" ”

British: "Cyprus." ”

I have to say that the British choice is very pragmatic, the status of Cyprus is very important, the British already have a relatively strong presence in the Mediterranean, and Cyprus is equivalent to a tiger with wings. Moreover, Cyprus is close to Turkey proper, which can be used as a node for further penetration and commercial dumping of Turkey. Elsewhere in Turkey, the area may be larger but not necessarily more valuable, and Britain is now fully engaged in South India and Canada, and does not have the special ability to annex a colony of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and millions of people in a year or two. So the British colonial strategy has always been gradual.

The French immediately said: "Then we will have North Africa." ”

This idea coincided with the Tang people, North Africa and Algeria were relatively close to France, and France had always been active in that area, so the difficulty of colonization was relatively low.

However, before Datang officially sent troops to Turkey, Datang took the lead in intervening in the political situation in Morocco. Morocco is a North African country that is effectively independent of Turkey and is currently under tribal secession. Although Datang did not directly establish an overseas territory like Tianfang or Persia, the existence of Datang forces in Morocco is equivalent to telling the world that Datang wants Morocco, and others should not think about it.

As a last resort, the French had to change their original intentions and choose another land, Syria. This region of Syria is a coastal region that includes Lebanon, and is considered a very rich place on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, with a long history and many wars, but also good development prospects.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, and there are still rumors of the plans of the three countries. However, the first to find it was not Russia, but the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. Obviously, after Napoleon I became the monarch of Italy, he not only followed the French Revolution politically, issued a series of revolutionary decrees, but also introduced Tang technology to develop Italian industry. At the same time, Napoleon also wanted to show his military talent and seek more benefits for Italy.

Therefore, when Britain and France respectively set their sights on Cyprus and Syria, Italy also offered to participate in the crusade against Turkey and demanded corresponding benefits in Libya.

Datang is not particularly entangled in Italy's requirements, although Libya's oil reserves are also considerable, Datang has Morocco, Algeria and ****** in North Africa, and the coastal zone of Libya is no different from the Persian Gulf, the environment is far inferior to the above three countries, Datang also sells Italy a face, agrees with Italy's demands.

Immediately afterwards, Tsarist Russia also unsurprisingly intervened. Of all these countries, Tsarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey fought wars for hundreds of years, winning and losing, but on the whole, Tsarist Russia seized a lot of land from Ottoman Turkey and expanded its national power. Only a few years ago, the two countries were still at war, around the dominance of the two principalities of Romania, Tsarist Russia and the Ottomans were constantly in discord, at this time the Tang Dynasty and other countries opened the knife to Turkey with trade issues, Tsarist Russia naturally wanted to participate, if it can beat Turkey to the ground in one breath, then Tsarist Russia is actually the most benefited from all these countries.

Russia said that it could send troops to Romania, but it would not send troops to Egypt, in fact, it is difficult for Russia's troops to leave the Black Sea through the Turkish Strait, and Tsarist Russia does not have the long-range force projection capability of thousands of kilometers like the Tang Dynasty. Russia is also not very interested in Egypt, and they are willing to send troops this time, mainly because Datang and other countries will launch a siege on Turkey in the Middle East, which will inevitably disperse Turkey's forces.

Of course, the most unfortunate scenario will also occur, that is, Turkey tactically abandons North Africa and Egypt, and concentrates its forces on the defense in Romania and other places, then Russia will face a large number of enemy forces as before. Russia was completely annihilated by the Tang Army in the European War, and now after the reorganization, it has purchased British ordnance, and in fact there are only more than 30,000 soldiers to fight. If this situation really occurs, then Russia will gain nothing, and the biggest advantage will be Tang, Britain, France, Italy and other countries. (To be continued.) )