Even after the heavy losses of the Crimean War, Tsarist Russia no longer has the prestige of the European gendarmes, but millions of gray cattle still make Russia one of Britain's biggest enemies! Especially after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the collapse of the Third Reich and the rise of the Second German Reich, Germany and France became the biggest enemies of Western Europe. Therefore, the containment of Russia, the containment of the Russian Empire after the political reform, has become the most important problem for the British!

The current British Prime Minister Disraeli is a hawk on the Near East, focusing on maintaining Britain's traditional Near East policy, supporting Turkey's rule over the Balkans, preventing the expansion of Russian power and breaking the fragile balance of power, and advocating "Roman-style diplomacy" to ensure the "prestige and influence" of the British Empire.

Therefore, when the Russo-Turkish war was raging, when the Russians had no time to take care of it, he launched an invasion war against Afghanistan, and when Turkey was in decline and defeat was assured, he set out to find a powerful ally in the far east.

Britain will certainly continue to support Turkey, so Austria-Hungary in Europe, Turkey in the Near East, Afghanistan in Central Asia, and China in East Asia are like four iron nails, nailing the behemoth of Russia from beginning to end.

Of course, the British will not personally start a war with Russia to deal with such a huge land power as Russia, and with the urine of the British, they will never go into battle naked and naked without bringing a group of army powers like France and Germany.

Therefore, in order to ensure the power of the second half of the 'nail', in the case that the 'dagger' of Afghanistan only has a certain sense of deterrence. Far away in the East, that nail must have real strength. It was the British Empire's victor or loser in containing Russia - the two countries went to war, and Britain replenished the blood of its allies. Maximize the consumption of Russia's combat power and national strength!

If you look at the entire Far East, there is no second suitable country except for China, which has such strength and conflicts with the Russians.

……

Golde recently got the news that, according to his friends in Whitehall, Britain's diplomatic hierarchy in China was about to be reassigned to the ambassadorial level. In other words, the weight of China's foreign affairs will be greatly increased in the British political map, but some people above do not seem to be very happy with his work in China.

Gord was very irritable inside, and he had the urge to scold. I saw that China was going to raise the level. It's going to drive him away, it's too insulting, it's too much.

But although Gord was born in the traditional land administration family, the family strength is too small, and there is no strong backer behind him, and he will not be able to find a solution to the problem for a while. So for the few people here now, he is so cautiously serving. He really didn't want to transfer back home. How wonderful is life in China? There is no need to do anything, someone takes the initiative to send the money to him, and he has already fallen in love with the luxurious life in Shanghai. I don't want to go back to the days of London that were a bit ordinary.

Right now, there are two people sitting on the floor in the living room. One is the dusty minister to China, and the other is a special envoy sent by the foreign secretary, although the British Empire at this time is the so-called special envoy of the prime minister, the special envoy of the foreign secretary. The envoys of the colonial ministers are flying all over the sky to confirm the strength of the British Empire, otherwise why would there be so much responsibility? But in case the envoy was not satisfied with the appearance of God's work. God's head won't be able to eat and go around!

Wittoma relaxed on the couch with a little tiredness. He was sixty-two years old, after all, he was an old man. The British gentlemanly reserved him did not have to be with the envoy of the Foreign Secretary. It is said that the young man of the Marquis of Salisbury's family exchanged too many words, but there he slowly drank a glass of white wine.

From his personal point of view. It was inclined to the Qing Empire. Diplomats had no personal position, and Wittoma felt this way not because he had dealt more with the Manchus and had some friendship, but because the rotten and weak Manchus were more conducive to Britain to extract more benefits in this rich land than the tough and powerful Xin Qin.

Moreover, the Manchu Qing did a good job, and after many years of Westernization, China's military strength has developed greatly. The Russians were limited by transportation and distance, and did not necessarily fight the Qing Empire in the Far East.

With regard to East Asia, Wittoma agrees with the guidelines of the British Empire's Foreign Office – the status quo has always been maintained. Maintain the vested interests of the great powers. But the rise of Liu Xian disrupted such a pattern. Even he, an old diplomat, found it troublesome. If the gun is hard, the waist will be hard. In the face of a guy who beat the French, stepped on the Russians, and slapped the Dutch, Wittoma had a headache!

If possible, he would rather Liu Xian not appear in this world, let the East Asian continent move smoothly on the existing track, and he can retire honorably at that time. He was sixty-two years old!

But no!!

The empire on which the sun never sets has a global responsibility, because there are Anglo-Saxon interests all over the world! Every corner of the world is concerned about the interests of the empire on which the sun never sets. Not to mention that the Asian continent is now involved in the big gamble of Anglo-Russian confrontation! The situation in East Asia is now changing so dramatically, and a new regional power is about to be born, how can Britain not deal with it!

Britain has so many interests in the world that it can use very little power in the Pacific direction. Now the center of gravity is entirely within the triangle of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, and is plundering the vast expanse of Africa with all its might! Britain's power has not yet reached its limits, just like the ironclad ships that are rapidly being replaced. But the British, who have the big fat meat of Africa, don't need to go to Asia to grab bones with others now in full gear, right?

Therefore, in the East Asian context, Britain needs to use the strength of its own 'allies' to achieve its own goals.

After the end of the Russo-Turkish War, regardless of whether the victory of the Russians was brilliant or bleak, with the British Empire and Austria-Hungary, the expansion of Russian power in the West came to an end.

And a great war of hundreds of thousands of people, which lasted for two years, would also squeeze the national strength of the Russian Empire dry. The Russians will no longer have the possibility and strength to use force against the Western world, but the Russians' appetite for land will never be satisfied, and the West will not be able to do it, and they will definitely turn around and come to the East.

"China will plunge Russia into another all-over war!"

Of course, the reason why Whitehall has such a calculation is also because Liu Xian has always had a super tough attitude towards Russia. As well as his great determination to 'revive China', and the super combat effectiveness of the Qin army.

The Russians took advantage of the danger to seize more than one million square kilometers of land in China, and the British Empire supported the Chinese in regaining their legitimate territory. And after China accepted the will of the British, they were also tied to the British Empire. The British Empire's 'privileged interests' in China may shrink somewhat, but the interests of other areas will definitely increase greatly. And if East Asia remains stable, China will be able to become a long-term containment force against Russia and a top priority in the British Empire's political map.

Wei Tuma closed his eyes slightly, he had been in China for decades, and he thought that he would retire in the name of minister, and he didn't want to be promoted to ambassador in his sixties. Moreover, the status of the political ambassador has risen sharply, and the importance of the ambassador to China has fallen only behind the six countries in France, Germany, Russia, the United States, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. What an unexpected bonus!

The great change in the situation of the war in Turkey has made the attitude towards China much better in China, and the attitude of the foreign minister seems to be more anxious than that of his minister. Robert came this time, and the conversation will not only involve the alliance, but also Hong Kong, the British concession and other issues. In particular, Whitehall attaches great importance to the transformation of Hong Kong into a free port.

Britain's interests in Hong Kong are far from being as good as those in Singapore, and if it becomes a free port, Liu Xian also promised to allow the British to intervene in the management, and this interest will be no smaller than that of Hong Kong now, and in the long run, it will be much greater.

And more importantly, the Chinese have strength, and if China and Britain really form an alliance, it will be a relatively equal alliance, not the kind of relationship between Britain and Turkey.

The Robert envoy in front of Wittoma was only in his thirties, but he was very experienced. Wittoma wanted to find out to him what was going on in the country about this matter, and what this guy had to say was all some conclusions on the surface, and Wittoma could collect them by sending a telegram to London. And the real thoughts of those big people, such as the thoughts of the new foreign secretary, do not reveal a word.

Tomorrow afternoon at the latest, Robert will leave for Nanjing, Robert put down the white wine glass in his hand: "Mr. Wei Tuma, do you know the finances of the Xinqin government?" ”

More than a year ago, the Qin army had only about 100,000 men, but now it has swelled to more than 300,000 regular troops and more than 100,000 affiliated armies, with the exception of the latter, whose weapons and equipment are still very advanced, at least not worse than those of the European armies. How much does this cost?

Is the New Qin government really that rich?

Moreover, colleagues in the expansion of the army, what else did the new Qin government engage in the construction corps, and now it has been assigned to the third corps. There were more than 200,000 people in each of them......

The Qin army used them to build roads, canals, and railways, and it cost an astronomical amount of money!

How could a nascent military regime in Xinqin have such powerful financial resources?

Robert didn't want to ask Wittoma, but he was curious. Before coming to the East, his most direct impression of Xinqin was that the army was strong. But as he learned more and more about Xinqin, he became more and more interested in Xinqin's finances.

How could a nascent regime have such great financial resources? (To be continued......) R1292