Before Zhu Erdian received the telegram from his assistant Wilson going south, he guessed that Xiao Zhenlei might not be easy to deal with, but he didn't know that Xiao Zhenlei gave him a dismount as soon as he met. ≧ the top of the novel, he is the British minister to China, he has been in China for a long time, and he has dealt with all kinds of Chinese officials, but he has never seen an official like Xiao Zhenlei treat a foreign minister with such an attitude.

Although Zhu Erdian was very angry, he was also an old diplomat, he suppressed the anger in his heart, and said: "Okay, Deputy Minister Xiao, let's not dwell on this trivial matter, today I have come to express the position and construction of our British Empire in the capacity of British Minister to China on the relationship between your Provisional Government and the Dutch authorities, I hope that Deputy Minister Xiao will seriously consider it, and not be hot-headed and reckless and bring unnecessary disasters to your own country!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei couldn't help sneering when he heard this, he was nosy, this kind of person didn't come out and stumble a few times as if others didn't know his existence, I wanted to see what this old man's ugly face looked like, so he said: "Oh, I don't know what Mr. Minister is talking about?" ”

Speaking of business, Zhu Erdian looked stern and said solemnly: "Vice Minister Xiao, as the British Minister to China, on behalf of the British Empire, I express my firm opposition to the Nanjing Provisional Government's order for troops to go to Guangdong to coerce Macao, and I hope that the Nanjing Provisional Government will do its best to order the army and naval fleet to stop advancing!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei laughed when he heard this, and then said sternly: "Mr. Zhu Erdian, I think you have made a mistake, you are only the British Minister to China, not the president of our provisional government, and the transfer of troops is the matter of our provisional government. You, the British minister to China, asked me to order the army to stop advancing, and you were too lenient, right? Besides. This is a matter between our country and the Dutch authorities, and it is caused by the Surabaya tragedy carried out by the Dutch East India authorities. Forget it, why am I talking to you, the British minister, about this, you are not a Dutch authority, you can't be the master, you better go back and forth from where to cool down! ”

"Poof-" Zhang Xiaozhun, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but laugh when he heard Xiao Zhenlei's words, and the sip of tea in his mouth almost squirted out just now.

"You" Zhu Erdian was so angry that his face turned the color of pig liver, and he stretched out his trembling finger and pointed at Xiao Zhenlei and said, "Xiao Cichang, you, you deceive people too much." You are insulting me, you are insulting the Empire."

Xiao Zhenlei stretched out his hand and brushed his fingers away, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhu Erdian, why bother, don't you think it's thankless to be nosy?" You are only the British minister to China, not the Dutch minister to China, you are so stumbling out to speak for the Dutch, the Dutch may not understand your affection, and the time is not early, you better go back to lunch. I don't have your lunch here! ”

Zhu Erdian gasped and said coldly when he heard this: "Deputy Chief Xiao, that's enough, let me remind you that we are having normal diplomatic talks. I hope you don't mess around. The British Empire has its own interests in the Far East, and we will not allow the Far East, especially China, to launch a war that will affect our interests in China. The Nanjing Provisional Government mobilized troops to Guangdong, with the intention of attacking Macao. In the event of a war between the armies under the Nanking Provisional Government and the Dutch East Indies, the shipping routes of the British Empire to the Far East would be blocked. This would be a huge loss to the British Empire, which would never allow such a thing to happen. ”

Xiao Zhenlei said coldly: "Mr. Zhu Erdian, I don't like to hear what you say, this matter is caused by the Dutch authorities, since you don't want the interests of Britain to be damaged, why don't you communicate with the Dutch authorities, whether it is threats or temptations, don't you let them agree to the four conditions proposed by our provisional government?" But you came to me to make us compromise, do you think that we are easy to bully in China? I sue you, Mr. Zhu Erdian, that the current China is no longer the Manchu Dynasty of the past, and it is not that you can bully and squeeze if you want! ”

Zhu Erdian was holding back his anger in his heart, but his mind was very clear, he knew that he couldn't speak angrily now, although he thought that China was naturally easier to bully than the Netherlands, but he couldn't say that, he said: "Of course, I will also communicate with the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch authorities, so that they can exercise restraint as much as possible, but your Nanjing Provisional Government must first order the army to stop, and the approach of your army to Macao will greatly stimulate the Dutch authorities!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei shook his head and said: "The fault of this matter is not our Nanjing Provisional Government, nor is it our overseas Chinese in Surabaya, it is the criminal act of violence committed by the Dutch East India authorities against our overseas Chinese for no reason, unless the Dutch authorities first accept our four conditions, otherwise I will not order the army to stop advancing, if Mr. Zhu Erdian thinks that he is an international policeman, and nosy is your profession, then you can settle the Dutch authorities first, as long as the Dutch authorities agree to our conditions, this matter will be over, in fact, it is very simple, It's useless for you to come to me and threaten me, I won't eat you! ”

Zhu Erdian's face darkened when he heard this, and after saying it for a long time, not only did it not work, but he was ridiculed by Xiao Zhenlei everywhere, and he finally couldn't help but say angrily: "Deputy Chief Xiao, do you know what kind of consequences you will bring if you insist on going your own way? ”

Xiao Zhenlei turned his head to look at Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Xiaozhun, and then smiled at Zhu Erdian: "Sir, I want to tell you a word, I will never bow to any threat, of course I have considered this situation, it is nothing more than you British troops to interfere and fight, we Chinese have never been afraid, thousands of years, we China has been from the war to the present, as far as I know, now the situation in Europe is complicated, the Germans have been impatient to break through the blockade of Britain and France, if Britain sends troops to the Far East at this time, ha, I'm sure the Germans will snicker, Mr. Jurdian, do you think you can threaten us with war? As far as I know, although the British won the Boer War, they did not take advantage of it, but fell into the quagmire during those three years, spending huge military spending. How many of us are in China? Our China has a vast strategic depth, with a population greater than the sum of Europe, and only a decadent and declining dynasty like the Qing Dynasty will wag its tail and beg for mercy everywhere under your coercion. Threat. Hmph, only people who are lustful and introverted will threaten others! ”

The biggest enemy of war is to enter the attrition phase. Once a war of attrition is fought, even a superpower cannot afford to fight. Just like the Soviet Union fought Afghanistan in later generations, when the Soviet Union was a superpower on a par with the United States, the Soviet Union was attacking Afghanistan, a small and poor country, and was dragged down by the economy, and finally even disintegrated.

Compared with the Soviet Union in later generations, the current Britain is undoubtedly a lot worse in terms of national strength, and the current British are not fools, knowing that China is different from India, and can only treat China slowly, like boiling frogs in warm water. But if you directly launch a war and create a situation of endless death, it is likely to be dragged into the bottomless abyss, China is too big, the population is too large, and the current China is not a Chinese with money for more than ten or twenty years, wisdom has been opened, and it is not advisable to fight China like before.

However, Zhu Erdian knew that he couldn't weaken his momentum, and he couldn't tell whether Xiao Zhenlei was really pretending to be forced or fake strong. Although he had already lost in momentum, he didn't leave like a gray one, he got up and said, "Second Chief Xiao, you don't have to threaten me. Our British Empire has never been afraid of threats, and if you insist on going your own way, our British Empire will definitely not stand idly by! ”

Xiao Zhenlei sneered and stretched out his hand. "Then please take it, I'll wait and see!"

"Humph!" Zhu Erdian brushed his sleeves away.

Soon. Zhu Erdian, who returned to the hotel, scolded in the room and broke many things in the room. The room was in shambles, and it wasn't until I smashed everything I could.

The assistant Wilson has been beside him, sending things that can be smashed to him one by one, until there is nothing to smash anymore, and after seeing Zhu Erdian's anger disappear a little, he said: "Sir, we can't just compromise like this, we promised that the empire should have enough say in the Far East, and let these yellow people know that offending our British Empire will not have a good result!" ”

Zhu Erdian took out a cigar and sat on the sofa with it in his mouth, "What good can you do?" ”

Wilson hurriedly took out a lighter and lit a cigar for Zhu Erdian, and said: "Actually, we can do something to scare the Nanjing Provisional Government, such as letting warships fire a few shots at the Chinese community on the Huangpu River, I don't believe that the Nanjing Provisional Government is not afraid!" ”

Zhu Erdian frowned when he heard this, thinking about the possibility and possible consequences of doing this, after all, it is difficult to control this kind of thing if he wants to use warships, once Xiao Zhenlei is provoked into anger, and friction turns into war, this matter will be troublesome.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Erdian still decided to take the risk and give it a try, he felt that Xiao Zhenlei was too hateful, and he didn't respect him at all, the British minister to China, he felt that he needed to give Xiao Zhenlei a little bit of power, so he said to Wilson: "Go and order a train ticket to Shanghai immediately, we will go to Shanghai today!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The two of them were lucky, there was a train to Shanghai in the afternoon, the two immediately checked out and went to the train station to take the train to Shanghai, lunch was solved on the train, and the train arrived in Shanghai in the evening.

The British Consul General in Shanghai, Faleis, was surprised by Zhu Erdian's arrival, after all, the two did not greet each other before they came, but no matter what, since the people came, Faleishi could not help but entertain him, knowing that Zhu Erdian was his immediate boss.

After a comfortable dinner at the consulate, Zhu Erdian immediately went to work, and he asked Fa Lei Shi to call Keitel, the captain of the "Linnet" warship anchored in the waters near Wusongkou, and Fa Lei Shi immediately agreed to turn around and leave.

Soon after, Farres came with Keitel, a bearded man dressed in the uniform of a British naval officer, who saluted Jurdes and said, "Mr. Minister, Keitel has come to report!" ”

Zhu Erdian turned his head to Fa Leishi and said: "It's none of your business here, I'll call you again if you have something!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Farex departed immediately.

Then Zhu Erdian shook hands with Keitel and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Keitel, thank you for your hard work, please sit here!" ”

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Minister!"

Wilson poured a cup of coffee for the two of them and went out, and after the two sat down, Zhu Erdian said, "Lieutenant Colonel Keitel, I came to you this time because I wanted you to do something."

Keitel said, "Sir, please speak!" ”

"After the Surabaya incident, the Nanjing Provisional Government issued an ultimatum to the Dutch authorities and put forward four conditions, but after the stipulated time passed, the Dutch authorities did not respond, and now the Nanjing Provisional Government has ordered two divisions of troops to go to Guangdong, if they fight, this will inevitably affect China's interests in China, and the shipping route from India to the Far East will also be affected, today I went to Nanjing to meet Xiao Zhenlei, deputy director of the War Department of the Nanjing Provisional Government, who was in charge of this matter, and this person did not accept jump mediation at all, I think this Mr. Xiao is young and vigorous, and he has not yet learned the military might of our British Empire, so I will give him a little color, and I will call you over this time, just to let you drive the warship into Wusongkou and fire a few cannons at the Chinese border, so as to scare the Deputy Minister Xiao of the Nanjing Provisional Government."

Although Keitel is a bearded man, he is not the kind of fool bearded, he hesitated: "Mr. Minister, will there be a problem with this, and what if the opponent's shore defense artillery returns fire?" I can't do that many shore defense batteries with one warship, and this could easily lead to war! ”

Zhu Erdian waved his hand and said: "You can rest assured about this, I guess they definitely don't have the courage to fight back, you pay attention when you shoot artillery, try to hit a place with fewer people, as long as you don't die, it's no problem, and you have to control a little, in case the other party fights back, you must evacuate as much as possible, don't really fight with the other party."

Keitel finally agreed, and he immediately rushed back to prepare.

In the middle of the night, under the command of Keitel, the British ** ship "Linnet" broke into Wusongkou and fired four consecutive cannons at the Chinese border, which could make the defenders of Wusong Fort startled, and Ma Liren, the commander of the defenders of Wusong Fort, quickly ordered all batteries to enter combat readiness, and he also called Ma Hanlong, Minister of Military Affairs of the Shanghai Navy Government, to report the situation and ask for instructions.

After Ma Hanlong received the telegram, he immediately sent a telegram to Xiao Zhenlei for instructions, and on the other hand, he informed Chen Qimei of the situation, in fact, there was no need to report, Chen Qimei and other military government officials heard the rumbling cannonball, which frightened Chen Qimei and others a lot, Chen Qimei asked Ma Hanlong to give an order to Wusong Fort on the phone not to act rashly, and to make a plan after figuring out the situation. (To be continued......) R527