Xuandemen Street, in the palace of Prince Li.

Zai Lian said with a smile while sipping melon seeds: "Look at where there is such a coincidental thing in the world." Li Hongzhang's negotiations broke down here, and Keelung, Taiwan, was recovered? ”

Prince Qing shook his head and said, "The little emperor has long been determined to fight the French to the end." ”

Zai Lian pursed his lips and said, "Look at the newspaper that praised him as if he was reincarnated as a Holy Ancestor, in my opinion, he has a fart ability." The rules of the ancestors have been changed, where is there any reason not to give food and silver to the banner people? Kicked us royalty out of the court. ”

Prince Li Shiduo sighed at this time and said: "We don't care who the emperor wants to use for the time being, but he shouldn't ignore the ancestral family business for the sake of the name, and put aside a good peace discussion, but he wants to fight to the death with the French, and when the French hit the door again, I am afraid that the ancestors will be lost." ”

Yixuan said: "Prince Li, you are the elder of the clan, you have to go to the emperor to talk to him." ”

Shi Duo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty? Will he meet me? I'm a! ”

Yixuan listened, let out a long sigh, and Zai Lian also drank the stuffy wine

Inside the Forbidden City, Guan Xuqing is still studying the map of Vietnam repeatedly. After the failure of the peace talks, the French reinforced 20,000 troops in the Vietnamese area. In addition, the French Indian Ocean Fleet drew 24 ships, including the flagship "Dower" and the ironclad ship "Victory", to advance to the South China Sea. And the "Grace" has long been maintained at the French military port in the South China Sea.

"Door" was the largest cruiser in the world at that time, with a displacement of 5700 tons, slightly lighter than the 6000-ton "Elegance", but since he was not an ironclad, but a cruiser. The speed reached a terrifying 18 knots.

In other words, the fastest "Chaoyong" and "Yang Wei" in the Qing Dynasty can't catch up with him. In addition, the "Doer" was also equipped with 8 main guns, 13 smaller secondary guns, and 38 guns, which was almost twice as large as that of ordinary cruisers.

It is a pity that Germany's "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Jiyuan", and "Weiyuan" could not return to China ahead of schedule, and could only rely on the domestic fleet to deal with him.

"Victory" and "Triumph" are sister ships of the same class, and it goes without saying that "Elegance" has a displacement of 6,000 tons and is simply a giant, and it still persevered despite more than 100 shells. However, due to the large number of bullets, it cannot be repaired in the short term.

Now the comparison between the navies of the two countries is weak, because there are only four ironclad ships in the Nanyang naval division: "Undefeated", "Changsheng", "Triumphant", and "Juyin". The rest are such as "Yang Wei", "Chaoyong", "Nanji", "Nanxiang" four cruisers. A few other mosquito boats of several hundred tons are not worth mentioning at all. The only chance was that the newly formed French Far East Fleet had not yet reached the South China Sea, and if they could eat all the French troops in Vietnam before they arrived, there would be no need for a brutal naval battle.

Just as Guan Xuqing was thinking hard about how to break the enemy, Wang Shang ran in in a panic and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Liu has called and said that Japan has sent troops to the court. The palace has been stormed. ”

Guan Xuqing Huo Ran stood up, didn't he let Liu San garrison Jeju Island. Let him guard against Japan, how can he let them succeed? I just wanted to scold a few words, but all this was not over, and the chamberlain came to report again: "Your Majesty, Tsarist Russia has once again sent troops to invade my Xinjiang." It now occupies the southeastern part of Issyk-Kul Lake. Nie Junmen asked whether to counterattack Tsarist Russia. ”

After Guan Xuqing heard this, his brain buzzed. Before the war in France in the south ended, Japan in the east and Tsarist Russia in the northwest could no longer bear it. wants to get a piece of the pie, but now, the Qing Dynasty is tired enough to deal with a France. How can you free up your hands to deal with Japan and Tsarist Russia?

Guan Xuqing put down the telegram in his hand, turned to Wang Shang and said, "Let Zuo Zongtang return to Beijing immediately without delay." ”

"Wow."

At this time, Prince Gong asked to see him.

"Minister, I respectfully invite the emperor to be sainte." Prince Gong said.

"Uncle Sixth is here, I'm looking for you." Guan Xuqing said excitedly.

Prince Gong said with an iron face: "Your Majesty, the old minister heard that Xinjiang and Chaoxian are in chaos again. I came in a hurry, I don't know how the emperor is going to deal with it? ”

Guan Xuqing sighed and said slowly: "Now that I am at war with the French, Japan and Russia want to come to the fisherman to profit. Sixth uncle, I don't know how you think you should deal with it? ”

"The minister thinks that the treatment of the three should be prioritized clearly, so that he can calmly make a decision."

"What is the Lord? What is the secondary? How should we distinguish between them? ”

"I think that Japan is a small country. Although the Meiji Restoration has developed very rapidly, it is not enough to compete with our Qing Dynasty; Russia has not recovered from the defeat of the Crimea, and has no ability to invade the east, so it only sends small groups of men and horses to harass our frontier; Both countries took the opportunity to send troops because of the war between the Qing Dynasty and the French, wanting to take advantage of it. Therefore, the two countries are secondary, and France is the main one. Concentrate on dealing with France, and as long as the legal person is gone, the two countries must retreat. ”

Guan Xuqing looked at Prince Gong with burning eyes and said, "Then how to repel the legal person?" ”

Prince Gong paused and said: "I see that the emperor has taken the lead everywhere, Annan has sent troops to the south before chaos, the legal person has not attacked Taiwan and has been stationed in advance, and the change of the DPRK's Xian has long been expected, and the first battle in the East China Sea is even more accurate that the legal person will attack the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Bureau." However, the troops were divided in all directions and stationed on all sides, but they could only defend and be beaten, but they could not hurt the enemy. It is better to concentrate forces on entering Vietnam, Xinjiang and North Korea are just a problem of suffocation, and there is no need to pay more attention to it. The five battalions of men and horses are stationed in the DPRK, and with or without these five battalions of men and horses, the Japanese will attack the DPRK's Xian. To let go or not to let go is actually meaningless. ”

After listening to Prince Gong's words, it was really like seeing the sun through the clouds. Yes, the five battalions on the front can only be an ornament, and the Japanese will attack in a big way. What is the use of the five battalions? It's better to ignore the riots in the frontier and let him make trouble. When the matter in the south is settled, drop a group of people and go to Xinjiang. There was no need to fight, and the Russians ran away.

It seems that this sixth uncle is really a rare talent in the Qing Dynasty, looking at people and dealing with things calmly and steadily. Be sure to bring him over and work for yourself!

"Well, that's good. It's a way. Guan Xuqing nodded with satisfaction.

Prince Gong continued: "The minister also thinks that since the legal person, Japan, and Russia have united to attack our Qing Dynasty, it is not impossible for our Qing Dynasty to unite with other countries to destroy the Qing Dynasty. ”

This Guan Xuqing has also considered it, but he has been paying too much attention to internal development for a long time. There is less external development. Didn't Japan rely on the Anglo-Japanese alliance to develop back then? Wasn't the industrial development of the People's Republic of China also aided by the power of the Soviet Union? At a time when the Qing Dynasty is as weak as it is, it really needs to find a long-term and stable ally. But who is it better to look for?

Although Britain is an old power, it has an Anglo-Japanese alliance with Japan, which is not considered; The United States is also powerful, but now it is rampant with isolationist forces at home, and it is developing its own industry with all its might, and it has not yet realized its responsibility for external and international affairs. Russia, France, the north and the south are eyeing the Qing Dynasty, and they are not even considered; The only thing left is Germany, which has also been the fastest-growing country since reunification, leading the world in terms of industry and technology, as well as its army, which is the largest in the world. And after the partition of Poland with Russia, it already borders Russia. The two countries are suspicious of each other and guard against each other. It is even more incompatible with France, but it is a good ally candidate.

"Sixth Uncle, who do you think you should be an ally?" Guan Xuqing asked tentatively.

Prince Gong thought for a moment and said: "Diplomacy is about the strategy of long-distance friendship and close attack, and we need to find a neighbor of my Qing Dynasty's hostile country, but it is far away from my Qing Dynasty. From this point of view, only Germany, which is next to France and Russia and far away from our Qing Dynasty, is the most suitable. ”

Guan Xuqing stood up happily, and I thought of going together.

He hurriedly said: "I am thousands of miles away from Germany, and our two countries complement each other in many ways, and if we can form an alliance, we can win a win-win situation." ”

Prince Gong nodded, "The emperor knows everything." ”