25 Baker Street in London is a baroque mansion, but in recent days, the gentleman and lady have been in and out of the mansion, and the mansion seems to have lost its original vitality, except for the occasional chirping of birds on the statue of a snow-white maiden in the garden.

Mr. Sherlock was the owner of the mansion, but now he was worried that in the far east, his son and a boatload full of crows were detained by the Chinese, and even the great businessman, who had experienced countless storms, was helpless at this time.

Before the fireplace, Mr. Sherlock was discussing with his close confidant, lawyer Smith, that the Guangzhou Maritime Court in China had found that the ship had violated the South China Sea Maritime Law, which was signed by the Southeast States, and was now considering whether to prosecute Sherlock Jr. for illegal acts.

For Mr. Sherlock, the ship and cargo can be dispensed without, for fear that his son will be found guilty by a Chinese court, and it will be difficult to save him from returning to China.

Lawyer Smith is a well-known barrister in London, but at this time he frowned, and he looked helpless.

Sherlock looked at the telephone that never seemed to ring, and shook his head helplessly, he was not without friends in the cabinet, but outside the country, in the East, for the first time he felt the weakness of the British Empire, and for the first time he felt the pressure of foreign powers.

"Can't you use the high seas to exonerate Tom?" Sherlock struggled to recall the books he had read these days on sea power and maritime law, and if a month ago, Sherlock had only a partial understanding of the concepts of the high seas, territorial waters, etc., but now he is more familiar with them.

Hundreds of years ago, when Portugal dominated the sea, the Portuguese dominated the entire sea, claiming to be the protector of the sea, and the Portuguese had the right to interfere in any maritime affairs, until the rise of the Spaniards, the two sides were coordinated by Pope Alexander VI to promulgate the decree, the global ocean was governed by Portugal and Spain, and designated the place west and south of the Atlantic Ocean through the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, and drew a meridian as the dividing line between Spain and Portugal to exercise rights, The two countries have control over their respective areas, and ships of other countries are not allowed to sail or trade in these areas without the permission of the controlling powers.

In order to break the old pattern, the British put forward the concept of the high seas and territorial seas, advocating that the world's oceans should be divided into "territorial waters" that belong to the sovereignty of coastal states, and "high seas" that do not belong to the sovereignty of any country and can be freely navigated by all countries.

After this theory was proposed, it was gradually accepted by European countries, and the scope of the territorial sea was limited to the range of land weapons at that time, that is, the range of artillery, which was 3 nautical miles.

Sherlock's eyes were full of hope at this time, and he said: "Yes, Tom was on the high seas at that time, and the Chinese had no reason to arrest him at all." ”

Lawyer Smith sighed and said, "Sir, these reasons have been put forward by our legal team in court, but although Mr. Sherlock was located on the high seas at that time, the merchant ship flew the Chinese flag, the ship was registered in Pontianak, and according to the navigation laws of the southeastern countries, the Chinese have jurisdiction over it and the shipowner." ”

The hope in Sherlock's eyes was disillusioned, and he scratched his hair in annoyance, he never imagined that one day he would get into a lawsuit in the East, and he would have to hire a local Chinese lawyer team to fight a lawsuit for his son, he had been to China decades ago, and he had the impression that the hard-working but lifeless nation was not civilized at all, and what kind of law and lawyers were he talking about?

Lawyer Smith sighed: "Sir, you don't need to worry, Tom's case is not something we can solve, the Chinese are not against Sherlock, what they want is not as simple as a crow ship, nor is it to convict a British citizen." ”…,

Mr. Sherlock nodded, he also knew that the fire at the city gate affected the pond fish, the two empires of the East and the West were in the game, and his son became a victim, but it was really difficult to predict how the matter would end.

"This Tom, who does business in the East, why doesn't he know the laws of the East well, doesn't he know about such a big thing as the ban on smoking?" Sherlock complained about his son, and he knew it immediately, but he couldn't complain about the soup either

According to British law, as long as it is a British merchant ship, wherever it sails, it is considered British territory, and it is under the jurisdiction of the Empire, which also makes British seamen overseas

With all kinds of privileges, there is usually an illusion of superiority, and this arrogant character is the main culprit that led Tom to fall into the predicament.

It's just that the sun never sets on the empire, this time it has encountered an extremely powerful opponent in the East, and it seems that it is also the most powerful opponent it has encountered in hundreds of years, although it is extremely far away, it seems to be more dangerous than the Napoleonic Empire across the sea at the beginning.

The contest between countries is not only about force and financial power, but also about the opponents, through Tom's lawsuit, Mr. Sherlock, found that the structure of the other party's society seems to be more civilized than that of the British Empire

When encountering a civilization more advanced than him, he instinctively felt awe, and Mr. Sherlock felt that way. With a deep sigh, Mr. Sherlock picked up the microphone, and anyway, he was going to give his only son, Ann

Take it all back to London.

In just a few days after Ye Zhao's merchant ship sailed from Dayaki to Pontianak, the Guangzhou Maritime Court of the Imperial Kingdom had already tried the case of Sherlock and the "Bavaria", which was extremely efficient, and this move also greatly annoyed the British, and the consul in Beijing repeatedly raised protests with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the civil and criminal liability of Sherlock Jr., the British exerted more pressure and tried their best to prevent the maritime department of China from prosecuting Sherlock Jr.

It's just that no one knows that at this time, Li Hongzhang, the prime minister of the Emperor of the Emperor's Kingdom, has secretly arrived in Pontianak to welcome Ye Zhao's return to Beijing, Ye Zhao smiled when he saw Li Hongzhang and said: "The prime minister and the king sneakily ran overseas together, which is also a strange story for the ages." ”

Seeing Ye Zhao's smile, Li Hongzhang was slightly relieved, knowing that there was no major mistake in the administration of the past year, and he had still obtained the emperor's approval.

In the flower hall of the Pontianak Governor's Palace, Li Hongzhang had a rare opportunity to meet the emperor alone, before Ye Zhao left Beijing, Li Hongzhang had not seen Ye Zhao for a long time, and the monarch and ministers had not talked together for a year.

Li Hongzhang, who was extremely cautious, reported on the political affairs of Jingcheng in the past year, the passage and implementation of some bills, and some personnel changes with a keen sense of urgency, although he knew that Ye Zhao must have known these news, but he could say it from his mouth so as not to let the emperor listen to it and believe it.

For example, in the current parliament, there is a great rift between the Minsheng Party led by him and the "Loyal and Righteous Protector Society" led by Zhang Youcun, and this is the possibility that the ruling political alliance may part ways at any time, Li Hongzhang naturally wants to talk about it in front of Ye Zhao, because he knows that there are many veteran officers among the bigwigs of the Loyal and Righteous Protector Society, including many veteran generals from the Pingyuan Army era.

Most of the members of the "Loyal and Righteous Society for the Protection of the Country" are strong and hard-sided members of the "Society for the Protection of the Country" for external expansion, and internally they demand that the ideological control of the people be strengthened, which often clashes with the political program pursued by Li Hongzhang for the development of industry and commerce, but sometimes they can unite and cooperate, such as the "Abolition Law" that was passed two months ago, without the support of the members of the Society for the Protection of the Country, it is difficult for the Minsheng Party to push for a majority of the parliament. …,

The "Abolition of Slavery Law" made the emperor for the first time include slaves and maids in the list of public servants, so that they (she) enjoyed all kinds of rights and interests of the public people, and would no longer be sold around, and all the slaves and maids of large families had to sign a contract with the master to hire a maid, which was protected by the "Labor Act", otherwise the master would be punished by the law.

This law can be said to have completely broken the tradition of the old society, because the high-ranking families, have the habit of keeping slaves, the introduction of the bill encountered resistance can be imagined, taking the port of Xiangyao, for example, was ruled by the British colonialism for many years, the British mainland has been abolished in the thirties, and its colonies should have followed the local regulations, but because of the resistance system of the Hong Kong Chinese Society, the bill could not be gazetted in the Hong Kong for a long time, and it was not until the thirties of the twentieth century that it was formally implemented, and the resistance can be seen.

However, Ye Zhao took over the world by force, and it was much easier to change the law than to change the law, especially at the beginning of winning the world, the new law was the easiest to implement, and when the structure of the social society was completely stable, it would be difficult to implement some innovations that fundamentally changed the hierarchical structure of the society.

Listening to Li Hongzhang's report on various political affairs, Ye Zhao suddenly raised his hand, and Li Hongzhang's words came to an abrupt end.

"How is Shaoquan preparing for the war?" Ye Zhao asked quietly.

Li Hongzhang was stunned and muttered, "Preparing for war? ”

Ye Zhao said: "Yes, prepare for war, fight with Britain."

Li Hongzhang's brain buzzed, he really didn't think that there would be a war with Britain, now is the era of great navigation and trade, the ocean is full of merchant ships, if the two empires with the world's most powerful naval force start a war, it will be an extremely heavy blow to the trade of the whole world, this kind of blow, Li Hongzhang wants to avoid, think of the British also think so.

He didn't say this, but Ye Zhao knew, and sighed: "Shaoquan, although the country is big, the belligerent will die, although the world is safe, forgetting the war will be dangerous!" This sentence is a good saying, no matter whether there will be a war with the British or not, you and I must also be prepared for war. ”

At the beginning of several global wars, the economic powers thought that global trade had avoided the possibility of war, but in the end war was inevitable, not to mention the fragile trade links between countries.

"Be more attentive to this." Ye Zhao's tone was extremely calm.

Li Hongzhang said in his heart, could it be that which big man of the Protectorate Society blew the wind in front of the emperor and criticized himself for not being very enthusiastic about military appropriation? Thinking so in his heart, he repeatedly said yes in his mouth.

But thinking of starting a war with the Emperor of the Sun that dominates the universe, Li Hongzhang's heart beat uncontrollably fast, and he asked himself, if there is really a shocking collision with the English Emperor, what are the chances of winning in the country? (To be continued [the words of this article are provided by Fan Leti]. If you like this work, you are welcome to come and vote for the recommendation and monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. ）