Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State Republic, President J.H. Bird looked at this Chinese standing in front of him and felt very angry and helpless, the Chinese Empire did not have many demands, only two, one is to hand over the murderer, there are Chinese laws to sanction; the other is that the Orange Free State Republic will declare itself a vassal state of China, and the Chinese Empire will guarantee Orange's economic and cultural ** and militarily guarantee that Orange will not be threatened by the British. If you don't accept it, the result is obvious. Bird was well aware of the faces of these powers, and knew what would happen to his refusal. The British held a conference to divide Africa, originally thought that the Chinese would be in a hurry to participate in the meeting, and the conflict with Orange would also end hastily, who knows that now the Chinese are making their own decisions.

The parliament and members of Orange hoped that the British would help the Boers, but they did not know that the British were even harsher than the Chinese! "If you find it difficult to choose, Mr. President, I can help you." Zeng Guobao looked at Bird, who had been silent, and said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Bird asked, a little scared.

"You'll know soon!" After speaking, Zeng Guobao left after speaking.

"My lord, the South African embassy has forwarded a message from the Governor of Orange (Tsang Kwok-pao's position in the southwest is the administrative officer, equivalent to the governor's charge of colonial affairs and diplomacy), and the political officer has asked us to send a foreign legion to the border of Orange to put military pressure on them. to help the administrative officer in the next negotiations. ”

"Which Foreign Legion is near Orange, send it?" Zeng Guoquan said as he looked out the window with a cigar in his mouth.

"Okay, my lord, that's the code of battle."

"There are no guidelines!"

"Yes, sir." ――

"Mr. President! Mr. President! ”

"What's going on? Charles! Bird looked at the secretary who rushed into the conference room and asked sternly, Bird was holding a final discussion with the councillors, in fact, all the members of the entire Orange Parliament were just these few people in front of them.

Looking at the people present, Charles said stiffly: "Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, the Chinese in the north sent a foreign legion of their foreign army into our northern territory, which has destroyed three colonial villages, and the personnel of the colonial villages have not returned. In addition, the Chinese army received news that we should immediately give up resistance, otherwise we would completely destroy Orange. ”

What the? The lawmakers in the audience shouted loudly, and Bird knew that China was making decisions for itself.

"Tell the British, ask the British for help, and we will fight to the death with the Chinese!" One of the lawmakers stood up and said.

"Shut up, Roman!" Bird stood up and said, "The British are no better than the Chinese, and the total population of Dewasland is less than one-tenth of the population of the Chinese in the southwest, and the war will only bring us destruction." ”

"What then? Yield to the Chinese? Roman still said unwillingly.

"At least the Chinese will give us autonomy, what about the British? Maybe the British simply don't want us to exist. Another MP sat in his seat and looked at Roman and said.

"It seems that we can only give in to China." Bird said weakly as he spread out in his chair.

On January 2, 1871, the Empire of China and the Republic of the Boer Autonomous State of Orange signed the Treaty of Bloemfontein, which consisted of only two articles, the meaning of which was very clear: first, the Republic of Orange was a vassal state of the Chinese Empire, and second, the Chinese Empire would guarantee the security of Orange. As for the responsibility for killing the expedition, since Orange is already a dependent country, the application of Chinese law is no longer an international conflict, and the murderer will be dealt with by the judicial department in accordance with the law. As for whether the empire annexed Orange or not, there was no need at all, the land of the Southwest Territory was large enough, and the retention of Orange could be used as a buffer zone with the British colonies in South Africa.

In this way, China quickly dealt with the contradictions with the Boers, and prepared to deal with the upcoming Egyptian conference with all its might, and when the news reached England, Gladstone scolded Orange in the Prime Minister's Office.

On February 2, 1871, Zeng Guofan led a delegation to Port Said under the escort of the Egyptian fleet of the Chinese Empire. "Hello Mr. Zeng! I am Zhang Zhidong, the imperial ambassador to Egypt, welcome to your arrival, let's go back to the concession and talk in detail! ”

"Xiaoda, I have often heard your majesty mention your name, this is the first time I have set foot on the land of Egypt! Let's go and see what good things this landlord has prepared for us! Zeng Guofan smiled and patted Zhang Zhidong on the shoulder, laughing and said to the mission officials behind him

"Congratulations, teacher, you will soon be the next Prime Minister of the Cabinet." No one knows that Zeng Guofan has been studying by the emperor's side before, and at the same time, famous historical figures such as Zhang Zhidong have also been recruited to his side and taught by Zeng Guofan (in fact, Lin Honglazy), so Zhang Zhidong also regarded Zeng Guofan as a teacher.

"Thanks to Your Majesty's grace, if it weren't for Your Majesty's guidance, maybe I would still be a poor scholar who would only bury his head in hard study." Zeng Guofan recalls the time when the emperor himself taught him the art of arithmetic philosophy, and that period was arguably his most important time, transforming a person who received a Confucian education from a young age into a politician with modern academic ideas, which was a difficult transition.

"The teacher is humble, and His Majesty is also well-intentioned!"

"By the way, what do you think of this move by the British?"

"Teacher, is this taking the school exam! In my opinion, the so-called partition conference was caused by our conflict with the Boers, and in fact the British used it to curb the expansion of the empire and France in Africa. In Africa, only Portugal could side with the British, and countries such as Egypt and Morocco were not at all worried, and the students thought that if we could pull in the French, together with our traditional allies Italy and Germany, the British would be at ease with themselves. ”

"Although the French have good diplomatic relations with us, now that Germany has been established, France has a relatively cold attitude towards us!" In the Franco-Prussian War, China played a great role in the rapid victory, in the early years the empire helped Prussia to establish a basic industrial technology tree, a large number of Chinese merchants opened various factories in Prussia, and major consortia built railways in Prussia, although the reason was to open up the Central European market, but to a certain extent, accelerated the industrialization and urbanization of Prussia.

"Xiaoda, the condition that the cabinet and the emperor gave me when they came was the land of the Congo River Valley, do you think that giving this land can be exchanged for the friendship of the French?" Zeng Guofan felt that Zhang Zhidong, as the ambassador to Egypt, was more aware of the affairs of the European continent in Africa, so he still felt that it was more appropriate to ask him.

"Congo River Basin?" Zhang Zhidong felt unbelievable about giving up such a large piece of territory, but after thinking about it, he also had no control over where although it was an imperial territory, and now he had no ability to develop it, it was better to throw it to the French, I believe the French would be happy, "I think we can communicate with the French, after all, the French also covet this land." Teacher, I'll arrange it. ”

"Okay, then you go and prepare immediately, and we will leave for Cairo the day after tomorrow, and I hope the French will have an answer tomorrow."