When Cumming arrived at the Secrecy the next day, his head still hurt, and although he remembered that he hadn't drunk last night, he was eventually sent home by Alfred.

"It's uncomfortable!" Cumming sat in a leather chair in his office, rubbing his brows, and now he couldn't remember the last thing he had said to Alfred.

The female secretary with a poker face walked in at this time and said, "Sir, the Prime Minister has summoned you. ”

"Summoning me?" Cumming frowned, then remembered that it was Thursday, and said, "Got it, Lady Grace, let's get the carriage ready outside." I'll be there right away. ”

"Yes, sir."

The meeting place was different from the last time, this time it was at the Prime Minister's House on Arlington Street, and there were more people who came, such as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of State for Overseas Colonial Affairs, the Secretary of State for Naval Affairs, etc., and of course Alfred and him, the top British intelligence officer in the years when there was no MI5 or 6.

On the way here, Cumming sat in the carriage and considered the main topic of today's meeting, and after thinking about it, it was estimated that it was more likely that the specific affairs of declaring war with the Northeast would be more likely.

Now Queen Victoria is in charge, and the power is basically handed over to the prime minister, and the cabinet members are mostly members of the House of Commons, and there are also a few members of the House of Lords. However, it has since evolved into a member of the House of Commons.

"The day before yesterday, I listened to the report of Field Marshal Alfred and Director Cumming on the threat of the Northeast Autonomous Region to our policy of opening up Africa to Africa, and I think you all know the specific situation of what is happening in Southern Africa. The Northeast first signed mining and territorial rights with King Ndebele of Zimbabwe, and then our Minister of Finance in the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes, led a local private group to forcibly attack the Ndebele royal family in order to protect the interests of the empire, and forced the other party to tear up the contract with the Northeast, and then signed the relevant contract with our country. However, later in the process of expelling the Northeast to invest in Zimbabwe, Cecil Rhodes's men killed three businessmen from the Northeast Merchant Group. After learning the news, the other side immediately reacted strongly, and the troops stationed in Mozambique began to be dispatched, and under the leadership of the air force airship, except for a few people such as Cecil Rhodes, the remaining armed personnel were all killed or captured by the Northeast Insurance Team. After occupying most of Zimbabwe's territory, the governor of the northeastern province of Mozambique, Chen Xing'an, has declared Zimbabwe a protectorate of the northeast, and anyone who dares to attack Zimbabwe is declaring war on the northeast. ”

After saying so much, the Marquis of Salisbury paused, glanced at everyone in the room, and said, "Now everyone can express their opinions on this incident and the relationship between the empire and the northeast." ”

There was a sudden cold scene in the conference room, everyone, you look at me, I look at you, no one wants to express their position at this time.

Seeing this, the Marquis of Salisbury had no choice but to name him: "Marshal Alfred, you can speak first." ”

……

When Cumming returned to the Secrecy Bureau in the carriage, his mind was still filled with surprise, he did not expect that compared with two days ago, the Marquis of Salisbury's tough attitude suddenly changed one hundred and eighty degrees. Cumming, who originally thought that he would hear the declaration of war, did not expect that the final outcome would be such an understatement of diplomacy.

The Prime Minister's words still seem to be echoing in his ears, "We will send a special envoy to the Northeast to express our attitude, and we will also strengthen our military presence in the Cape Colony and various parts of Africa, while also trying to avoid military conflict with the Northeast in Africa, and hopefully establish an effective bilateral crisis resolution mechanism......

How did it come to this?

Cumming really couldn't understand the specific reason for the change in the attitude of the Marquis of Salisbury, but that way, it was good that the kind of medicine that his father needed from the northeast would not be interrupted by the war.

The prime minister also had a brief conversation with him at the end, or rather assigned specific tasks. That is, to extensively develop espionage personnel in the Northeast, and at the same time to intensify the collection of military and scientific and technological intelligence secrets in the Northeast, especially in the fields of medicine and medicine...... The only feeling Cumming has now is, well, a very ridiculous idea, is it possible...... Is anyone in the Prime Minister's family sick?

Two days later, Wang Yi received a message from the Northeast Intelligence Bureau, confirming that Britain would send a special envoy to Northeast China to discuss the distribution of colonies in southern Africa. In the course of the previous deployment of airships to Mozambique in the northeast, the two sides had already made contact to demarcate the border near Malawi. This time it was a border further south, and Wang Yi felt that with the current situation, it should not be too much of a problem to take most of Zimbabwe. However, if there is a move, I am afraid that it will really turn against Britain in Africa, which is a situation that neither side wants to see.

After Wang Yi's airship left Hainan, its next destination was Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, which has become the most important center of heavy industry in the five Southeast Asian provinces. However, when he arrived in Hanoi, he didn't see Shen Yazhi, and later learned that the girl had arrived in South Vietnam at this time, and there was a flood there, and Hongxin would rush to disaster relief.

Wang Yi was naturally slandered, and originally planned to go to South Vietnam directly by airship, but Han Shuqi, the governor of North Vietnam, stopped him and said, "Chairman, you better wait and go to North Vietnam again." There's another person on my side who wants to meet you. ”

Looking at Han Shuqi, this old man himself is Vietnamese, and he went to the Northeast to do business in his early years, and he has made some achievements. In general, he has a close relationship with the Zhang family, and he has a good relationship with Wang Yi, especially during the war with the French in the Northeast, this Han Shuqi took the lead in donating, and his donation was enough to buy a famous Thorn-class destroyer from Dashang. For this reason, Wang Yi also reciprocated the favor, and among the 21 members of the Political Council, he gave the Han family a place, and Han Shuqi also became the first governor of North Vietnam. In the entire northeast, the Han family can also be regarded as one of the upper families.

It is impossible to eradicate such a thing as the family in any country, whether it was in the past or now, even if later generations claim to be like the so-called cooking like the United States, there are still the so-called Kennedy family, the Bush family. This is true in politics, and it is also true in business. Bill Gates relied on his nepotism on IBM's board of directors to add DOS to IBM's computers and bundled them for free. And Warren Buffett will not publicize that his father was once a member of Congress.

Wang Yi never thought of erasing the family from the political and economic life of the state, which is impossible, because the family relationship is more reliable than the relationship between the members of the state. All he had to do in the Northeast was to minimize the influence of the family on the political and economic life of the state, suppress the privileges among them, and at the same time give hope to ordinary and poor families, protect their upward pathways, and prevent class segregation.

"See me? Who wants to see me? Wang Yi was puzzled, he knew that there was no such thing in the arrangement.

Han Shuqi walked beside him and said in a low voice: "It's Yungui who is here." ”

"The Cen family?"

Han Shuqi nodded. "Cen Yuying."

"He's here in person?" Cen Yuying is now the incumbent governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and among the feudal officials of the Qing court, the one most closely related to the northeast is Yang Changjun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, that is, the subordinate of the northeast. followed by Cen Yuying and Zeng Guoquan. Li Hongzhang is in a lukewarm state. As for Zhang Zhidong, the current governor of Liangguang, who used to work against the northeast, he has also changed his attitude of non-cooperation. Although the relationship between the two families is not yet close, it is indeed much better than before.

"How did he know I was coming to North Vietnam?" Wang Yi was puzzled.

"I heard that the news came from Taiwan, but as for the specific situation, I don't know very well." Han Shuqi hesitated. In the Northeast Wang Yi's safety line ahead of Prime Minister Yang Qiusheng, if something happens to him in North Vietnam, he Han Shuqi will also be unlucky.

Wang Yi didn't embarrass Han Shuqi, after all, he was a middleman, turned to Chu Yuan and said, "Send someone to find out about this matter." ”

"Yes!" Chu Yuan paused slightly at this time and ordered one of the intelligence officers around him.

"Where is Cen Yuying now?" Wang Yi asked at this time.

"In ...... Hanoi First Hospital. ”

This answer was very unexpected by Wang Yi, he knew that Cen Yuying was overworked and not in good health because of his participation in the Qing-French War, but he didn't expect that he would now go directly to the hospital and become a sick person.

"How's it going?" Wang Yi was mainly worried that Cen Yuying would die in North Vietnam, and the impact would be immeasurable. Originally, there was nothing to do, but after it was spread, the Qing court or others could make up a bunch of things.

"It's no big deal, when I went to see him yesterday, the doctor said that the blood pressure was a little high, and now it has come down. His big fat body is all rich and noble. Han Shuqi said with a smile.

Wang Yi also smiled, nodded, and said, "Then who is in charge of Yungui now?" ”

"His brother Cen Yubao, and his son Cen Chunxuan."

"Okay, since everyone else is here, I'll go and meet him."

In the process of going from the airship terminal to the city of Hanoi, Wang Yi, who was sitting in the carriage, looked out the window, and next to him were Lin Taixi and Han Xiujing, Han Shuqi sat opposite, talking to the two girls, completely amiable elders. Wang Yi looked out the window, North Vietnam had been fighting in the past few years, between the Qing and the French, and then the rebels or bandits, and the French and Qing people were fighting the same, and the bandits were even more non-stop.

"Although after two or three years of construction, people's livelihood has been greatly improved, but ......" Han Shuqi sighed when he saw the ruins and broken walls and lonely graves that still remained outside the carriage.

"Why are all these lands desolate?" Lin Taixi showed his natural nature, and whispered to Han Xiujing, who was separated from Wang Yi. But her whisper estimated that the coachmen outside could hear it, Han Shuqi smiled helplessly, and said: "After the war, the population of North Vietnam has decreased sharply. In recent years, we in North Vietnam have focused on industrial development, so the young and strong laborers in the countryside have begun to leave the villages and towns to develop in Hanoi and some surrounding big cities. Originally, there were few people on land, and in addition to the departure of the main laborers, a lot of farmland near Hanoi is now in a state of abandonment and no one cares for it. ”