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Winter in London is cold, fog envelops London all day long, in the fog, people and cars are like ghosts, only the tinkling of trams and the clatter of horse-drawn carriages, at this time, it is the most common time for traffic accidents, and because of this, passers-by always walk as close to the street as possible, and on the side of the street, newspaper sellers with bags are there shouting.

"Look at the newspapers, read the newspapers, the latest German-Austrian forces occupied Minsk, and the Ukrainian independence movement suffered heavy losses......"

"Read the newspaper, China and Russia are secretly negotiating in Berlin......"

The shouts of newspaper sellers pierced through the fog and echoed in the air, and some concerned passers-by bought newspapers, waited for the tram at the platform of the public tram, looked at the newspaper, and some commentators in the newspaper accused China of turning its back on Britain, which aroused the same feeling among some people, and while they were cursing the Chinese, the tram came, and people quickly boarded the tram, apparently forgetting that the tram was produced in China.

In fact, in the past many years, industrial goods from the Northeast have entered Britain and Europe under the free trade advocated by the British Empire, not only cheap toys, clothing, electric lights, pencils and tweeds, but also modern industrial products such as trams and subways.

However, all this did not attract the attention of the outside world, for many Britons, China is still that ignorant, backward, and even barbaric Oriental country, as for those Chinese goods, they are only cheap, they don't even care where the goods come from, compared to their place of origin, for the British middle and lower class commoners, they are more concerned about the price.

Civilians can not care about China, but politicians can not ignore China, to be precise, changes in China, changes in China are affecting the strategic deployment of Britain in Asia, in recent times, diplomats from various countries have noticed that there is more and more news about China in Downing Street, including some so-called gossip, and sometimes, some gossip is actually what politicians leak out, hoping to let the other side hear. In international diplomacy, this kind of "gossip" can be said to be common, and many times, some major events are precisely influenced by these gossip.

And for Chamberlain, who was the colonial minister, a piece of gossip that was circulating in London's diplomatic circles was now haunting him, or rather Britain.

“…… Chinese At the reception banquet at the Chinese Embassy, their ambassador privately asked if they could learn from our officials from the Straits Settlements on the experience of colonial governance, and he vaguely revealed that now, His Majesty the Emperor has begun to select the Governor of the Philippines......"

On the issue of the Philippines, the British attitude has always been very clear, they want the Philippines to be independent or managed by many countries, which is obviously against China's interests, but Chamberlain and London have confidently thought that the Chinese will agree, at least the Chinese will agree to the independence of the Philippines, not the annexation of the Philippines, but to their surprise, China not only did not agree to Britain's seemingly "reasonable" demand, but used the excuse that "the Philippines is a Russian colony" as an excuse "not to seek a change in the status quo." ”。

In other words, Japan, which is part of Russia, will be annexed to China as a national territory, and the Philippines, which is a Russian colony, will naturally become a Chinese colony.

This also means that on the Philippine issue, the Chinese did not take into account the British position at all, for the British, what they need is the balance of the Far East, they do not need China to get too involved in Southeast Asia, originally for the Chinese control of Borneo, many people have a lot of complaints, but at that time the greater threat was Russia, and now, the Russians are gone, but the Chinese have taken over everything for the Russians - more deadly, China is closer to Southeast Asia. And their influence on Southeast Asia is also incomparable to that of the Russians and even the British.

"Can we stop them?"

"Unless we decide to send troops to the Philippines now, but Your Excellency, the Philippines is still a Russian colony, although we do not want to admit it, but we must admit that this time the Chinese have been deliberately preparing to annex the Philippines from the beginning, rather than giving them independence, if they occupy the Philippines at the beginning of the war, then we will inevitably negotiate with them on the Philippine issue, and then China needs to rely on us, they need our help, maybe they will refuse, But in the end, they still had to agree that the Philippines would be independent or under a multinational mandate, so they did not send troops to the Philippines, they did not occupy it, so that the Philippines remained a Russian colony, and if we sent troops, we would have to face the reality that Russia was in a state of war with Russia, and perhaps Russia was now weakened, and even its authority was lost due to internal rebellion, but Your Excellency, this would not only lead to dissatisfaction with China, but also provoke hostility from Germany and other countries towards our country. And this will inevitably lead to the complete fall of Russia to Germany! ”

If Tang Haoran heard Chamberlain's comments at this time, he would definitely say that Chamberlain knew me, because the reason why he did not send troops to the Philippines was precisely because Britain tried to intervene in the Philippines and try to get China to agree to the "independence" of the Philippines, so this is absolutely unacceptable, but without the help of Britain, and can not refuse their demands, so the best way is to maintain the status quo, and it is precisely because of this that he will put the issue of sending troops to the Philippines on hold!

The reason why the plan to send troops to Japan and the Philippines was shelved was, to a certain extent, because of Britain's "arrogance" or his balanced diplomacy. But the British apparently forgot that China had shed so much blood and spent so much money that it would never have declared an armistice without any return, let alone let Japan and the Philippines, which were already regarded as fat on the plate, fly out of China's plate.

Cooked ducks can't fly!

But if a few people eat together, it is possible to starve to death, if the cooked duck was really swallowed at that time, maybe the duck is really flying now, because China needs the support of the United Kingdom, and in the case of not laying down the two places, Tang Haoran can always use the sentence "Everything will be discussed after the two places are laid", and at that time, when the British support becomes dispensable, naturally there is no need to consider them.

Now, Chamberlain and others saw Tang Haoran's plan, but they didn't have anything to do, because China hugged another "thigh", or China hooked up with another country there.

"Germany!"

Cecil, the old and decrepit British Prime Minister, muttered the term, his brow furrowed, in the past, Germany and Britain were almost allies, Germany had never tried to challenge Britain at sea, and now, Germany was no longer satisfied with being a pawn of Britain to balance the continent, but after the Industrial Revolution, it began to challenge Britain at sea, and this challenge can even be said to be worldwide. It is for this reason that wariness of Germany has always influenced the decision of the Marquis of Salisbury.

"Now Germany's intervention in the Sino-Russian war has harmed the interests of Britain, Chamberlain, what do you think is the situation between Russia and China after Russia handed over the Nicholas Governorate, the Philippine colonies, and Siberia and even Central Asia to the Chinese, and then paid a billion rubles in reparations?"

Looking at Chamberlain, Cecil spat out two words.

"Hatred!"

Yes, that would be boundless hatred, and for Russia the Berlin Treaty would be a disgrace.

"Every Russian in the future, just by gazing at the map, they will feel boundless shame, because they have lost so much, they have lost the whole of Asia, but more importantly, they have lost their honor, they have lost the honor of Russia, believe me, in this case, the crippled emperor must be in vain, because he can never bridge the enmity between China and Russia, for Germany, between these two countries, they have only one choice......"

Yes, there is only one option. Germany is different from Britain in that it can move between France and Germany through clever diplomacy and geographical location, but Germany cannot, just as Britain can move between France and Germany, but it can never bring two countries to the same table.

"The hatred brought to Germany and France by the Frankfurt Treaty will never be extinguished, and it also means that no matter what efforts Germany makes, China and Russia will be mired in long-term hostility and confrontation over territorial issues, and all we need is ......"

Taking a puff of his cigar, Cecil spat out two words.

"Balance!"

Balance, this is the core of Britain's European policy for hundreds of years, from the Napoleonic era to the present, for Britain, he never wants to see a country on the European continent that affects this balance, as long as this sign appears, Britain will do everything possible to suppress them, once upon a time, Britain by helping Germany, in order to fight France, and then through the confrontation between Germany and France to maintain balance, when France showed weakness, when Germany intended to challenge Britain, he combined with France to fight Germany, balance, All the world is a balance.

"We don't need anything else, Britain is big enough now, we have the largest colonies in the world, we can provide Britain with everything it needs, and at this time, it is undoubtedly not in the interests of Britain to try to upset this balance......

Quietly taking a puff on his cigar, Cecil pondered for a moment.

"The Germans are trying to influence Russia and China through this negotiation, so we have to break this idea of the Germans, and we must not only break this idea of theirs, but also do everything possible to promote the confrontation between China and Russia, well...... Perhaps, we should help the Chinese! ”

As a master of balancing diplomacy, Cecil immediately made adjustments after realizing the danger, especially when the Chinese tried to break free from British control. He no longer sees China as an ally, but as a potential adversary, and since it is an adversary, then it should be used to suppress!

"Help China?"

Chamberlain looked at the prime minister in front of him in surprise, was he really old and confused?

"Of course, we should help China get everything they need, Siberia, Central Asia, the Viceroyalty of Nicholas, the colonies of the Philippines, everything that the Chinese need, we must show their understanding and support, of course, we have to tell them that we have opinions, but, as allies, we still support them!" Of course, all this can only be told to them through private channels! ”

Silently smoking his cigar, after making this decision, Cecil pondered for a while,

"As for Russia, the current Russia is the time when it needs help the most, maybe, we should help him, Europe can no longer bear the risk of a new Napoleon, Germany and Austria-Hungary are right to interfere in Russia, but mere intervention by force will not meet Russia's needs, perhaps, we should get the Bank of England to provide it with a loan to help Russia restore order, well, this can pull the French to do it, if the French don't want to, tell them, Unless they want Russia to fall completely to Germany! Otherwise everyone will have to help Russia together! ”

At this time, whether it is Germany, Russia, or China, they have all become pawns in Cecil's chessboard, and they are developing in a predetermined direction in Cecil's plan, and at the same time, a new world pattern will inevitably develop in favor of Britain.

"Your Excellency, do you want Russia to recover as soon as possible in order to confront China?"

Chamberlain, knowing what Cecil was intent on, would facilitate a confrontation between China and Russia, thereby dismantling Germany's attempt to establish an "Eastern Alliance" unless they excluded China, and at the same time they excluded China, China would have to turn to Britain in exchange for support from Britain.

"No, it's more than that!"

Shaking his head, Cecil looked at Chamberlain in front of him, although he was old, his diplomatic sense was still sharper than that of others, after all, decades of experience had taught him a lot.

"What we need is for the Russians, the Chinese, and the damned Germans to kill each other together, and we just have to watch!" (To be continued.) )