The extension of the term "empire on which the sun never sets" to these countries coincides with the concept of "global empire", that is, as long as the global empire meets the conditions of "the sun never sets over the territory", it can be called "empire on which the sun never sets" The term "empire on which the sun never sets" was first used to describe the Spanish Empire in the 16th century, and it comes from a statement by King Carlos I of Spain: "In my territory, the sun never sets"

In the 19th century, the term was commonly used as another name for the British Empire, especially in the Victorian era, when the 24 time zones on the earth had the territory of the British Empire, and the international order under the leadership of the British hegemony was called "Peace under Britain".

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the world was basically divided up by the great powers, Britain obtained the largest share before the outbreak of the European War, in 1914, Britain's colonial area had reached 3,350 square kilometers, governing 394 million people, accounting for 14 of the world's population, which is equivalent to 137 times that of Britain itself, more than 8 times the population of its own country, known as the "empire on which the sun never sets" The British Empire in the formation process, both the suppression of the local indigenous people, as well as the competition with other colonial powers, this process has a negative impact on the development of British society, In the 19th century, Britain accounted for 60% of the world's coal production and 50% of the world's iron production, and it was a veritable "world factory", when more than 13 merchant ships sailing in the oceans flew the rice flag, and even the entire 19th century can be called the "British century" to some extent

However, the "peace under the rule of Britain" faced challenges from all sides at the end of the "British century", first the Boer War in South Africa, which gave Britain its first taste of the economic decline brought about by the war, the rise of Germany and its challenges on the sea, which directly threatened Britain's huge "world interests", and finally, in order to protect the interests of Britain's colonies, Britain chose to meet Germany

It was also from that day that once upon a time, the rice flag that shone on the whole world and was raised all over the world began to lose its influence little by little, and the so-called "peace under Britain" became a "joke" in this war

When the British century had come to an end and a full-scale war raged in Europe, some Britons were so worried that despite this, for the vast majority of Britons, they had never had such a sense that the "empire on which the sun never sets" was still the "empire on which the sun never sets", perhaps as the 19th-century statesman Lord Salsebury said in 1861...... merely nourished a whole bunch of military garrisons and a kind of complacency of the "empire on which the sun never sets"

In the world, the rice-shaped flag, as high as in the past, if the complacent mood of the "empire on which the sun never sets" still lingers in the sky of this small planet, only a very few people can realize that Britain is no longer the "empire on which the sun never sets" yesterday, for example, the staff of embassies abroad can be fully aware of this

On Monday morning, as in any embassy, as in any embassy, the British Embassy in Nanjing's Embassy Block was filled with the pace of work in the sprawling institution as everyone began to work in their offices to deal with the weekend's backlog

Sometimes, the change of a country's status can be seen from these embassies, when the powerful country begins to pay attention to the country, the embassy officials of the powerful country in this country will increase rapidly, and the business will become extremely busy, in the past three years, the staff of the British Embassy in China has increased from the initial only more than 40 people, to the current more than 600 people, and even in the Xiaguan District, it has also set up the British Navy Attaché Office in China, and in the Purple Mountains, the Army Attache Office in China, for Britain, China is now more important than ever...,

Early in the morning, because Ambassador Jurdian had given Kohl the task in advance, he naturally squeezed out the time he had had for his usual leisurely wandering between the various offices, but he still came, for the purpose of reading the material on Monday, he did not want to pretend that he could be a prophet, but he trusted his instincts better than the baskets of top-secret reports, and although he was the Counsellor of the Embassy, in fact, he took on the vast majority of the ambassador's professional work, because the Minister Jurdian tended to spend more time dealing with Chinese officials. Instead of dealing with embassy matters

This morning, he hurried around the administrative office, one of the six branches of the embassy, which is the department that keeps the embassy running, handling finance, transportation, personnel, security and communications, and his original head, Johnson, usually works here, but recently Johnson has been admitted to the Royal Hospital with a severe cold

He didn't go to the Public Relations Office this morning, and the staff here will be busy cutting out valuable articles from a large number of newspapers and magazines over the weekend, the department is working with the Chinese news media, setting up educational exchange programs, sponsoring academic presentations and important conferences, and there is a large collection of reference books for those who study British policy and current affairs, and in a way, the British Embassy will set up this department, a department that draws on the experience of China's successful overseas public relations, It has only been in existence for two years, and in the past, Britain could have disregarded China's ideas, but now Britain has to think about how to tilt the country towards the United Kingdom

Recently, for example, the Public Relations Department has been spreading a "news" throughout China's news media, or to be precise, a "public relations" -- how to convince the Chinese that British interests and China's interests are aligned, and eventually lead to China passing resolutions such as providing loans to Britain and buying British bonds, but of course, what they want is China to send tens of millions of their troops to Europe

"As long as they are willing to send two hundred divisions, the war in Europe can be over in a year......"

Some people fantasize about this, but Cole, as the counselor of the embassy, knows very well that those Chinese are disgusted with Britain in their bones, "it is stupid to shed even an ounce of blood for the interests of British colonies", not to mention stupidity, and even within the Chinese government, there has always been a voice, that is, China really should not join the British camp, should join the German camp, if then China may be able to get more overseas interests, even if overseas interests are not considered, at least the recovery of Hong Kong will not be like now, Difficulties

Anyway, Cole has always been skeptical about the effect of public relations, but the public relations expenditure of 100,000 pounds a month is inevitable, although Cole knows that China is different from the United Kingdom, different from the United States, public relations may have a certain effect, but in fact everything in China is decided by the emperor in the palace, unless he can be convinced, otherwise everything is in vain Cole, who has been in China for ten years, is too clear about all this, and the reason why he has this idea is very simple, Because he is one of the few people in this embassy who does not look at the problem with "old eyes".

The work of the Political Department and the Economic and Commercial Office is the busiest, involving many very policy-oriented matters, especially when it comes to the economic affairs of China and Britain, which are now extremely important, so outsiders cannot make convenient social visits to the staff here, there is too much work, no one dares to expect to have the occasional leisure to chat casually, the reports they drafted and the plans they drafted are all preliminarily compiled into documents, sent to his desk, Cole just needs to wait for them to send, what he needs to ensure is that the execution of old orders is followed up, to ensure that every day, There is a steady stream of materials shipped to the UK, of course, he also needs to consider how to make the most of the limited credit guarantee, and within that boundary, buy more materials for the UK...,

Next is the Consular Section, which is the department that deals most with China and the diplomatic circles of various countries, and has three sections, which are responsible for issuing passports, registering the births and deaths of British citizens, notarizing documents, and acting on behalf of some government departments If he is a Chinese who intends to travel to the UK, he has to apply for a visa from the Consular Office Under the cover of this huge umbrella, there are also several people sent from London, who act secretively like agents of China's Imperial Intelligence Service, Quietly doing his own business, the consular affairs of this office were all in the care of the counsellor - that is, he was in charge, and anyone who wanted to see him had to go through his secretary in advance, a slender and long, dark-skinned, and long-haired woman named Jane? Jenny, a highly educated lady from London

Cole walked past Jane and smiled at her

"Miss Jenny, please pour me a cup of coffee"

Then he walked into his office, a room at the corner of the hallway, which overlooked the entire British Embassy and looked up to see the Embassy's beautiful garden

Minutes later, Jenny quietly walked into the office Cole knew his secretary had walked in, but he didn't look up until a cup of coffee was on his desk, and then a voice came

"Mr. Cole, Mr. Ambassador asks you to see him as soon as he returns."

Only then did Cole look up at his secretary, Jenny's long jet-black hair, slightly pulled up at the sides, loosely tied up in a bun

"It was a call from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ambassador"

Jenny's words made Cole's brow furrow, and he asked,

"How did you get there so early?"

He muttered melancholy that it was only half past nine, which meant that the ambassador would most likely be at the Foreign Office at about eight o'clock

"Is there something big?"

"There was nothing mentioned in the Ambassador's phone call, and if you count the time, the Ambassador should be back at the embassy within half an hour—"

Noticing Mr. Cole's strange appearance, Jenny quickly told Cole everything she knew

"He left the embassy two hours ago"

Shaking his head slightly, Cole motioned for his secretary not to continue, at least not until he asked other questions, but he asked in a thoughtless manner:

"Do you know who he's going to meet?"

There was so much office politics in the office that he had to think about a lot of things, especially at this time when he wasn't informed at all

"The call is from the Foreign Secretary's Office"

"Oh...... No problem"

As if he understood something, a smile suddenly appeared on Cole's face, and he continued

"Okay, I think we'll have to be busy for a while, maybe we won't have time to eat."

"Huh?"

Jenny was stunned, and seemed to be a little incomprehensible to Mr. Cole's words

Her confusion made Cole smile slightly

"This means that there is a good chance that China will make concessions, which is good news, Jenny"

"Raised by a wolf"

Ten minutes later, in the ambassador's office on the second floor, Zhu Erdian scolded angrily, at this time, he didn't even take off his coat, his face was angry, but there was a lot of dissatisfaction

"This decision is impossible for London to accept"

Cole's cold voice rang out in the office

"If Chinese insist......"

Without waiting for him to finish, Zhu Erdian, who had drunk a glass of whiskey, said

"The Chinese told me that the French agreed to hand over Guangzhou Bay, so they wanted us to hand over Hong Kong"

"Even if the French make concessions, London will not be able to accept this demand"...,

Cole reminded the ambassador in front of him that it was important to note that, despite his carte blanche from London, there were some issues that London insisted on

"It didn't work"

Rubbing his cheeks lightly with his fingers, Zhu Erdian was trying to relax himself

"I have tried a lot of words to persuade the Chinese that they should consider making contributions first and wait until the end of the war to discuss the ownership of Hong Kong with the British, but now it seems that the Chinese still adhere to the conditions they put forward three years ago, and few people have made them change the concessions of the French now, so that they see hope, three years ago, the French proposed that they would only hand over Guangzhou Bay if Britain handed over Hong Kong, and now, the French have taken the initiative to hand over Guangzhou Bay."

"When did this happen? Why don't we have any news? ”

Looking up at the ambassador, Cole's tone was full of displeasure

"Britain sacrificed so much for France, but at the last moment, the French still betrayed British interests"

"There is no room for the French to hold on, the war has been going on for three years, France has long been exhausted, and now it is only supported by the last breath"

At this time, there was a hint of bitterness in Zhu Erdian's voice

"These monkey cubs are very good, they want to exchange Guangzhou Bay for France, as well as Alsace and Lorraine, you know, Guangzhou Bay is just a concession"

"But Hong Kong was ceded to Britain by treaty, and France could get Alsace and Lorraine, but what could Britain get?"

With a long sigh, Cole let out a long-hidden resentment

"What did Britain gain besides the blood shed?"

"Britain only got the glory of the "empire on which the sun never sets", to be precise, the glory of the "empire on which the sun never sets"

The ambassador's words made Cole smile coldly

"The people of London can bask in the complacency of Britain, but we can't"

As he spoke, he looked at the ambassador again

"How the Chinese Expressed Their Position"

"As long as we return Hong Kong, Kowloon, and Jie to them in the same way, they agree to send no less than a hundred divisions to Europe, and a hundred elite divisions."

That's why Zhu Erdian called Cole's secretary in a hurry at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and he needed to make a decision with him on whether or not to approve of China's proposal, and if the two of them agreed, then they could truthfully convey China's decision to London, and at the same time, convey their views to London

"What else?"

In Cole's view, the Chinese could not have made only one military proposal, and they might have other proposals

"They are also willing to provide long-term loans to the UK with a debt maturity of less than 20 years, with a total loan amount of not less than 3 billion Chinese dollars, and at very favorable interest rates......

"It's like an emergency measure for us to turn around and order goods from the United States, and they are just taking concessions that should have been made in exchange for Hong Kong, which London is not willing to hand over."

"Isn't it?"

Jurdian said unabashedly, but he continued

"But for now, perhaps, this is the best that Britain can get, at least London thinks"

"Damn son of a bitch"

Cole scolded, he finally understood why Zhu Erdian scolded this sentence, the Chinese made a suitable concession at the right time, and this concession was enough to put London in a dilemma, whether to return the colonies to China, or refuse their conditions, and refuse the loan of a hundred elite divisions and billions of Chinese dollars

Whatever decision London makes, it will be a good deal for China

"If that happens, London will most likely accept their terms, but they will take into account the embassy's proposal"

Jurdian tried to soften his tone, and then he looked at Cole and said

"So, Mr. Cole, I want you to tell me, what is your choice?"

In a word, Jurdian kicked the problem to Cole, and no matter what, they always had to make a choice

"Damn old slippery head"

Jurdian's words only made Cole mumble in his heart, he knew what Jurdian meant, and maybe decades later, the ambassador would be recorded in Jurdian's memoirs

“…… At the suggestion of Counselor Cole, I made ...... Decide ......" (To be continued)