56_56295Antwerp is located on the banks of the Scheldt River in northwest Belgium, and is currently the largest port and important industrial city in Belgium, covering an area of 140 square kilometers. With a population of 270,000 inhabitants who mostly speak the local Dutch dialect, Antwerp is a famous cultural center in Europe, the birthplace of the famous artists Robbins and von Dick, and a world-famous tourist city. Of course, now the tourism industry is mainly concentrated in China.

After much deliberation, Leopold II decided to make a request for river passage to the Congolese colonies of China or France, because his colonies had no access to the sea, and he did not dare to provoke China and France too much, so he could only propose the so-called "Congo River Passage".

January 11, 1881, Middle? South? The major powers of the world, including the Sea, Downing Street and the Élysée Palace, received invitations to colonial affairs from Brussels. This is accompanied by Belgian requirements for recognition of the inner Congolese territory and river passage requirements for the southern part of the Central Congo (the estuary section of the main stream of the Congo River) and the southern part of the French Congo (the middle section of the main stream of the Congo River).

"What does it mean to be French? The sixteenth has just issued a diplomatic statement condemning Belgium's 'despicable acts', and now it gives us such an opinion. Shi Dakai, who has been promoted to defense minister, concentrates on military affairs and still doesn't know much about diplomacy.

"Don't be in a hurry, Yada (Shi Dakai doesn't have a table word and temporarily take the trumpet as a word) diplomacy is like this, and the attitude of the French is actually not difficult to understand." Zuo Zongtang, who was already the prime minister of the empire, smiled and said.

"Are you telling me that France is a fool? Obviously, my colony was robbed by a small Belgian country, and instead of snatching it back, I don't understand that this means that it will be handed over to Belgium to manage. ”

"Let Hyoda (Zhang Zhidong as Foreign Minister) talk to you about this!"

Zhang Zhidong, who was sitting on the left hand side of the prime minister, took a sip of tea and sorted out his thoughts and said: "The diplomatic rhetoric of the French is actually to deal with the domestic people, and it has no practical meaning. As for their real purpose, it is very simple, just raising pigs. ”

Pig? Shi Dakai was stunned and seemed to understand. Zhang Zhidong continued: "The Congo is too big, and the protection treaty signed between Dr. Wang Zhongqiang and the Congo Dynasty only includes the scope of the Congo Dynasty, in fact, the Northeast and Southeast Congo are not within this scope, and the colonization methods of the European powers are different from ours, and we will choose to immigrate a large number of immigrants to achieve actual control over the colony, which is related to the national nature and traditions of our country. But France is different, they don't have the same huge population resources as we do. Can't we do everything, even if we in East Africa are always rebelling? Speaking of this, Zhang Zhidong looked at Shi Dakai, who was the Minister of National Defense, although the colony was not under his control, but the colonial armed forces were controlled by the Ministry of Defense, not the Governor.

"Ahem! You continue. Shi Dakai smiled awkwardly and asked him to continue.

"The current colonial power of France is mainly concentrated in North Africa and West Africa, where the population and resources are relatively rich, when the Congo was transferred to France, the French only sent a governor and a regiment of foreign legion armed, in fact, these people went to Kinshasa on our gunboats, they can control the Congo Dynasty at present, they are already very satisfied, there is no more power to develop the Congo."

Slowing his throat, Zhang Zhidong continued: "As for the advice given to us by the French this time, they hope that Belgium can have the right of passage of the Congo River, that is to say, the French have actually decided to hand over the East Congo to Belgium, and hope that we will give it convenience. The second is to use Belgium to develop the East Congo region, anyway, the East Congo is sandwiched between us and the French colony, and the cooked duck can't fly, so the French are relieved to boldly give up the Belgian development colony. In general, Belgium is a small country, and it is just north of France, and if Belgium had any other ideas, the French Army of the North would be under Brussels in a few hours. [Note: Although the Congo was traded to France, the right of passage of the Congo River was still in the hands of the Empire, and the French also had to pay protection fees on the Congo River.] 】

"But the development of the East Congo cannot bypass us, and the Belgians' door to Central Africa has been firmly grasped by the Empire, so the French want us to let it go." After Zhang Zhidong finished speaking, he quickly took two sips of tea.

"So the purpose of our meeting today is to discuss whether or not to give Belgium a way out." Zuo Zongtang summarized it in a general way at this time.

"The opinion of the Ministry of Commerce is that there is no problem with the right of passage and use of the Congo River, and that Belgium's development of the Congo in East Africa not only stimulates the development of shipping in the Congo but also promotes the economic development of Zambia in the Central Africa region of the Empire, and the proposal of the French is feasible, but it is recommended to pay attention to the encroachment activities of the Belgians on the territories of the Central Africa of the Empire, whether economic or military." The Secretary of State for Commerce spoke first.

"The opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also believes that the French proposal can be considered, and agreeing to the French proposal can promote good diplomatic relations with France, and anyway, we have nothing to lose but can collect commercial taxes on the Congo River."

"There is only one opinion of the Ministry of Defense, which is to send three additional regiments of armed forces and a small fleet to the imperial Congo to ensure the security of the imperial Congo." Shi Dakai gave his opinion.

"The opinion of the colonial ministry indicated that it could agree with the French proposal, but hoped that it would be possible to add that in the future, the Belgian Chinese merchant explorers should have a series of advantages such as most-favored-nation treatment and powers, as well as extraterritoriality. In other words, in the future, the Belgian Congolese Empire merchants could trade freely, and trade would be protected by the laws of the country. The young Yuan Shikai, the colonial minister, made an important point......

"Okay, everyone gather your opinions, and I will hand them over to Your Majesty." ――

10 Downing Street.

William Gladstone was the Prime Minister of the British Empire at the time, and this is his third term. William Woolt Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom four times as a Liberal (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, and 1892-1894). Gladstone had a good reputation, and in 1847 Gladstone was elected to the Council of Oxford, but did not participate in Russell's Whig cabinet (1846-1852). Although he was still ostensibly a member of the Tory Party, his thinking changed dramatically. From the winter of 1850 to the spring of 1851, he traveled to Italy, visiting the prison of Naples, the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. There, he saw the brutal barbarism of the 1848-1849 national liberation struggle by King Ferdinando II, who considered this crime to be contrary to justice and fairness and an insult to European civilization. After returning home, he published "Two Letters to the Count of Aberdeen on the Matter of Neapolitan State Criminals", exposing and denouncing the atrocities of Naples in abusing political prisoners, so that he won praise in the country, and people called him "the William of the people". Historically, in 1840, he stood on the side of the opposition party and opposed Palmerston's foreign policy of waging a war of aggression against China.

"What does Benjamin Belgian mean? And what kind of neurosis the French are having again! Gladstone almost shouted at the previous prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, the current foreign secretary, "You should know that the French are not only doing this for no reason, but fundamentally destroying the colonial system that we have been preserving." "The biggest loser of Cairo now seems to be the biggest beneficiary.

The Cairo Conference was a conference to divide up the colonies, but the British valued more in the treaty the treaty guarantee for Britain's world colonial system after the treaty was signed, even though Britain benefited less in Africa, but in fact established Britain's colonial status in the world.

In doing so, the French are clearly ignoring the Cairo Agreement and the spirit of the Cairo Agreement (which seems to be quite lofty). Even if the French were giving away their colonies, it was hard to guarantee that more countries would think like this when this was the case.

Compared with Britain's attitude, the United States actively supported Belgium's acquisition of the East Congo, and after the Cairo Conference, the United States not only gained nothing, but lost Liberia, which became a shame for American diplomacy. This time, the Americans were so active because they wanted to promote their set of open doors in East Congo (the Americans hoped to use Belgium as a breakthrough to gradually break down the colonial barriers of various countries)-

April 1, 1881, April Fool's Day.

The Antwerp Conference was successfully held, and as expected, the French did not react violently to the occupation of East Congo by Belgium, but the British helped their sworn enemy at that time (the reason why it is said to be a sworn enemy is because Germany did not pursue the colonies as much as it did in history, nor did it threaten Britain's sea power or anything, but as Britain's assistant to France, the British tried their best to co-opt) to oppose Belgium's actions.

Zhang Zhidong attended the congress as a representative of the Chinese Empire. Of course, the result is obvious, even the French themselves don't mind, and the British are useless even if they say more. Of course, the Reich allowed Belgium to use the Congo waterways, but in addition to paying high tolls, it also had the power to collect transit taxes and the power to inspect and most of the domestic proposals. Although the desired extraterritoriality was not received (Belgium believed that even the colonies would not surrender extraterritoriality), but received personal assurances from the Belgian king to protect the merchants of the empire.

Not surprisingly, the Belgians acquired large colonies in eastern Congo, albeit at great expense. British Prime Minister Gladstone said after receiving the minutes of the meeting: "The French have ruined themselves, and they will drag the British Empire to bury her." ”

The Americans, on the other hand, were ecstatic that the first step had finally been taken in his open-door policy, and they were looking forward to selling their goods to every great power's colony.

Are the French really