At this time, the British Prime Minister was Robert Peel of the Conservative Party, but the ruler of Zhengfu was actually Wellington. The Duke of Wellington was a famous military strategist and statesman in the early nineteenth century, known to the British as the "conqueror of the conquerors of the world". In 1815, during Napoleon's Hundred Dynasties, he decisively defeated the French army under Napoleon's command at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1834, William IV dissolved the Whig Party of Viscount Melbourne in a coup d'état and summoned Wellington to form a cabinet; However, the 65-year-old Duke replied that Robert Peel should be appointed Prime Minister. For a politician, this kind of gesture is the rarest and has been praised by some. But Peel was in Italy at the time, so for three weeks from November to December 1834 Wellington was interim prime minister and interim minister for most of the other departments. He effectively combined the Ministers of Finance, the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the War Department, and became a veritable ducai. When Peel arrived in England on December 9, he handed over all his posts except for the Foreign Secretary.

The current Prime Minister, Robert Peele, and Foreign Minister Aberdeen, who have no minister, the Duke of Wellington, sat around and discussed a solution.

The year 1835 was a bitter year for Peel's political career. Originally, due to Peel's creation of Xing, after the introduction of income tax, the British fiscal revenue soared, and the tariffs on 1,200 goods were reduced or abolished, paving a smooth road for the journey of British goods in overseas markets.

But, during the year, the "Monster Conference" organized by Daniel Glaze Cornell, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Duli, Ireland, to oppose the United Act established at the beginning of the century, and the anti-chao he stirred, really made Peel feel on pins and needles. Although the House of Lords eventually arrested Glaze Cornell for conspiracy, the aftermath of the turmoil is still stirring and could hurt people at any time.

Robert Peele, the famous British prime minister of the 19th century, who was known for his trade doctrine and financial management, was far less capable of dealing with foreign affairs and wars than he was at dealing with economic and domestic problems, so Peel found his best political allies - the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, and the Duke of Aberdeen, the current foreign minister who dealt with foreign affairs.

"Duke of Aberdeen, you, as Foreign Minister, would like to hear your opinion on China in the Far East." Peel said, lighting a cigar.

"Anyone who is familiar with geography knows that China is an Asian country that takes almost two months to get there. Moreover, China did not prevent British goods from entering their land after you introduced ziyou trade, but they have recently been coordinating tariffs to encourage the circulation of goods, and although there is room for fluctuations, on the whole, it is set on a benchmark that is satisfactory to both of us. And not even to set up such stupid tariffs as the German Customs Union? Recently, however, the Chinese ambassador sent a note asking for a concrete and clear demarcation between our Indian colony and China. As for the border proposed by China, our side basically agreed after discussion. ”

After hearing this, Wellington did not express his position, and said in a deep voice: "Britain's core interests are in Europe, and the main foreign policy is continental balance, focusing on the feud France, the Netherlands, and Spain, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests." China is now an emerging country, and its conflict with us is limited to trade and retaliation. It's not worth it if we try our best to get it back. And even if they open up their market. ”

"But lately the Dutch have been very unhappy with the actions of the Chinese colonies in Southeast Asia, and have begun to ask us for help!" Peel stood up and poured wine for the two of them, and said.

Wellington bowed his head and said, "That's right. But there is no danger to us from a Chinese colonial invasion, and although they have occupied the whole of Kalimantan and even brought our Brunei under their protection, this loss can be compensated for in terms of trade. We have a population of about 40 million in Britain proper, and the population of the other colonies combined is probably less than 100 million. China has a population of about 400 million people, and the southern region is denser than the northern region, with about 300 million people. A country with an area more than ten times our area and twice the population that we plus the colonies cannot fully control, it is said that there are nearly a hundred military factories in this country that only manufacture guns, and the shipyards that manufacture warships have never stopped work since they were built, and I even heard that they also served the problem of paddle wheels to build steam warships that are not now available to the European powers (they don't know about ironclads yet), although they don't know the specific data and strength. But what does it matter? After all, they are so far away from us. The most important thing is that our Indian colonies are closer to China than we are, and if we provoke them, with the strength of China that we now know, they are entirely likely to attack India, and what are we going to do when the time comes, for a Dutch to go to conflict with a country that can threaten us at any time, and most importantly, he is very friendly to us now. ”

"But," Peel said, "the profit we have gained here is limited, and the merchants are not satisfied with the present state of affairs. ”

Wellington asked rhetorically: "When will we be able to reap the benefits of countries like France and Spain?" ”

"Not ever." Pierdau.

Undoubtedly, Wellington's statement is to the point, Britain and China, separated by half a world, do not border, and whoever wants to destroy the other is a dream. Even before, the British only intended to force the Qing to switch trade through the opium trade, but on the other side of the Channel, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and even Prussia, Austria, and the weaker Denmark and Sweden, they all had enough motivation and awareness to deal with their weak neighbors. And historically, they have done the same.

Peel said helplessly: "I see, Arthur, you are right. But it's a difficult decision to make, and we could be under pressure from the Netherlands. ”

Old Wellington shook his finger and said, "Peel, you are an orator and a genius economist. The country you can govern is extremely prosperous and stable, the Netherlands and China are both very important to my British Empire, China has a huge market, and the Netherlands can become our country's ally in Europe, but you have to pay attention to domestic opinions, now domestic businessmen basically sail merchant ships to China, if you want to stand out for the Netherlands, then your political career will come to an end. Those parliamentarians won't allow you to do that. ”

Aberdeen interjected: "In fact, we can gain an advantage over China in business, you must know that all Chinese goods are brought back by our own merchants, the Indian Ocean route and the Cape of Good Hope route are in our hands, and the Chinese are simply on this trade route and have no advantage." Moreover, our import taxes are actually imposed on our own merchants. The only thing that is not satisfied is that our own goods are not selling well in China, which is related to the economic situation of our two countries. It is believed that with the deepening of trade, it will improve. ”

Peel listened to the words of Wellington and the Duke of Aberdeen, became high-spirited, his mind turned quickly, and he said excitedly: "You are right, now that the empire in the Far East has completed the unification, it is a broader market and greater interest for the empire, and there is no need to have a big conflict with China for the Dutch colony. Maybe we should do an in-depth study of China's economic form, so that China's products can be better sold to China.

King Louis Philippe of France was seized to the throne by the bourgeoisie after the July Revolution of 1830. During his reign, he suppressed the republican uprising in Paris, the workers' uprisings of Lyon in 1831 and 1834, and put down the rebellion planned by the remnants of the Bourbon dynasty and Louis Bonaparte.

News from the Far East reached France, and Philippe was interested in information from the East.

The Minister of the Interior and the Minister of National Education, François Guizot, was meeting Louis Philippe at the Palais Bourbon to discuss the Far East.

"The countries of the Far East have been reunified, what should we do in France about this?" The king asked.

"Your Majesty, the interests of France are in Europe, and at present we have only a small colony in India in the East, and although the Netherlands have recently sent us a note asking us to align with them on the matter of their eastern colonies, I think that our country only needs a note that symbolizes Xing to make a hint to China, and now is the best time for us to seize the colonies of North Africa, and we should not put too much effort into the far East."

"Well, do as you say!" ――

Nicholas I Pavlovich hnkoлani Пaвлoвnч (1796-1855) was the current Emperor of the Russian Empire. He is a typical ducai person. From childhood to death, he always loved the army, almost to the point of madness. All his activities, including his daily life, are meticulous and concise. He put a burden on his shoulders that he could barely bear for 30 years. He adopted a purely militaristic and bureaucratic approach to rule. He was surrounded by military personnel, and in the latter part of his reign there were hardly any civilian assistants. Between 1830 and 1831, a patriotic uprising broke out in Poland for the national duli, but the rebels were soon suppressed. After the failure of the uprising, Nicholas I proclaimed the abolition of the autonomous status of the Kingdom of Poland, dissolved the Polish parliament and army, and began to introduce a Russian unit of measurement on the territory of Poland and replace the original Polish currency with rubles. In addition, Poland was administratively re-divided, and Poland was divided into several provinces, all of which were incorporated into Russia. Nicholas I can be said to have achieved little except to consolidate imperial power. But despite this, Russia was still on the rise at that time, and the economy was constantly developing. At a critical moment in history, the Crimean War was carried out, the defeat of the Russian Empire was decided, and Nicholas I was unwilling to be humiliated and passed the throne to his son, and then committed suicide.

Feeling that the unification of China threatened the rule of the Russian Empire in the Far East, Nicholas I consulted with Foreign Minister Smirnov, and the result of the discussion was that Russia would pay for and support the Mongol military campaign as much as possible, and thus take the opportunity to move south. Because of the problems of transportation, the tsar could not send troops to the Far East, so he could only let the Cossacks carry out sao harassment on the Sino-Russian border.