Chapter XXVIII. The Historical Process of Nature

The total annihilation of more than 1,000 soldiers was a bit painful for the British government, but it was nothing. As the hegemon of the world, the Empire of the Sun Never Sets is far more casualty than other countries. Winston Churchill once said: The British Empire will never surrender even if it kills the last Indian.

It's just that the power of the empire on which the sun never sets seems to have reached its limit. Britain occupies such a vast territory, from Europe to Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that such a light land needs countless troops to defend it. And now is the critical moment of the Second Boer War. Throughout the South African battlefield, nearly 300,000 British troops were deployed. The military spending every day is like a river of pounds that never stops.

Even if China were to be punished severely, Britain would not be able to send more troops to the Far East. The Cabinet of the Reich on which the sun never sets means that all actions now have to make way for the Boer War. Seeing that the Boers were about to be wiped out, they didn't want any accidents at this time.

Therefore, the affairs of the Far East can be delayed as long as they can. When the empire frees up its hands and sends tens of thousands of people at will, it will crush this Great Qing State. It's as it should be, it's supposed to be, and there's nothing wrong with this script.

If Seymour had not been captured.

This is a lieutenant general of the empire, and such a defeat will not be tolerated by the empire.

The British minister was full of iron, and he had imagined how the newspapers of various countries would laugh at the incompetence of the emperor tomorrow. He glanced at Morison depressedly, and asked in a hoarse and low voice: "I heard that you are very familiar with the Beiyang Minister of the Qing Kingdom, do you think you can rescue General Seymour through him?" ”

Morrisson, the chief correspondent for The Times, has been to China for a long time.

This is a very complex and interesting person, probably with a tendency to believe in universal values. In his original history, Morrison personally experienced and participated in many famous events in modern Chinese history in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China: the Russo-Japanese War in Northeast China, the Wuxu Rebellion, the Boxer Rebellion, the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Xinhai Revolution, the founding of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai's theft of the country, and the Paris Peace Conference...... His feelings about China are very complicated: on the one hand, as a British imperialist colonist, he instinctively thinks and acts from the standpoint of imperialism; On the other hand, as an employee of the Chinese government, he tried to help the Chinese government out of the political and economic crisis. It had an important impact on China's politics and economy at the time, and Beijing's famous Wangfujing Street was once called Morrison Street in the old days.

He was originally an M.D. from the University of Edinburgh, UK. In 1894 he travelled to southern China, and a year later his travelogue An Australian in China was published in England. In 1896 he traveled from Bangkok to Kunming, and then to the three northeastern provinces.

It was because of this book that he was recognized by the British newspaper The Times, hired as a correspondent in China, and in 1897 he went to Beijing and began his 17-year career as a journalist. At that time, China was in the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War, and it was the focus of the world and the target of the conspiracy of the great powers of various countries. Morrisson's scoops from the first time made The Times a well-deserved authority on reporting from China. It can be said that as many readers of the Times as there were at that time, there were as many people as there were people who knew about this "Chinese Morrisson".

In 1912, he was invited by the Chinese government to serve as Yuan Shikai's political adviser. He owned a property on Wangfujing Street in Beijing, which was called "Morrison Street" in diplomatic circles at the time, and his English street name plate hung until 1949. His private library has a collection of more than 20,000 books, magazines, maps and other documents related to China and Asia, and is known as the "Morrison Library".

Morrison's impact on China is at least as follows:

As an eyewitness, he used The Times to report objectively and impartially on the "Boxer Rebellion" in Beijing to the Western world, believing that the disrespect of some Western missionaries for Chinese feelings was an important cause of the whole incident, dispelling the fog of public opinion demonizing China.

He used the pages of the Times to launch a campaign to curb Russian influence, which led to the "Russo-Japanese War", so much so that the international public opinion circles at that time called the "Russo-Japanese War" "Morrison's War".

He cooperated with Duan Na to steal the "21 Articles" diplomatic secrets that Yuan Shikai had secretly signed with Japan to lose power and humiliate the country, and leak them to the outside world, exposing Japan's conspiracy to destroy China.

He strongly urged China to join the "Entente" and participate in World War I, believing that the "Entente" would certainly be victorious, and after victory, China would be able to participate in the "Peace Conference," at which China would demand the abolition of the unequal treaties signed with the defeated countries.

When he was a reporter for The Times, he vigorously touted Yuan Shikai to the Western world, and as Yuan Shikai's political adviser, he resolutely opposed Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor.

At the Paris Peace Conference, he devoted himself to the revision of various official documents prepared by the Chinese delegation and worked hard to argue for the Chinese delegation.

In general, Morrison was a man of international savvy, although he was also an imperialist.

So, after hearing the minister's question, he heard what the minister was talking about. So, he replied immediately: "I can go and talk to Minister Yuan Shikai about this matter, but I can't guarantee the outcome." ”

The minister nodded and said, "Let's just see if we can make things easier, if we can bring back the winning honorable man, then we can put things aside and deal with them." Otherwise, I'm afraid we'll all be in big trouble. ”

Morrison shrugged, it's not us who are in trouble, it's just you. As a reporter for The Times, he naturally wanted to make a big story. At this point, he and the minister who wanted to keep things down were not in the same trench.

But he is still an Englishman after all, and Australians are also British. He was still psychologically inclined to England, so, after thinking about it, he spoke: "Mr. Minister, I don't think this kind of thing can be concealed. In a few days, the entire secretarial world will know what happened in this land, and I am afraid that even if Minister Yuan Shikai has a way to solve our problem, it will be useless. ”

"So what do you say?" The minister asked depressedly, why doesn't he know this truth, and does he need a reporter from you to point this out?

"I think," Morrison said cautiously, "we can negotiate directly with the Chinese who have captured His Excellency the Lieutenant General." The minister's eyes lit up, "How can you have such an idea?" Did you get any message? ”

"Sir, since those Chinese can defeat the army led by Your Excellency, we cannot simply regard them as unorganized mobs. Moreover, the news of the capture of the lieutenant general came so quickly, and the people over there may want to make some deal with us. ”

Trade? The minister's eyes brightened. As long as you can trade, then everything is easy to say.

As the saying goes, "Wherever trade goes, the flag follows." ”

Wasn't the empire working so hard to create the situation in the Far East for the sake of trade and the profits from trade? Perhaps, the affairs of the lieutenant general can perfectly cover up the past, and he can still find an agent in this land.

After that, it was a natural process, as it had been countless times in the past.