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As the plenipotentiary envoy of the British Empire to Japan, Ali Guo relied on the British Empire's claim to be the world's largest national power behind him, and he was always on top of everything, at least in Asia.

In the past, Ali Guo's demeanor was elegant, his demeanor was indifferent, and he would not be angry if he was light, because there was nothing worthy of his anger here, on the contrary, elegant manners could highlight his upbringing. In the past, Ali Guo did not threaten people, but his threats were always issued in an understatement, but since the Chinese came, he found that his mood was getting worse and worse, so that at this moment he began to burst out, throwing away the past elegance at once.

It's a pity that Ali Guo's roar and anger have no effect on Li Hongzhang, because Li Hongzhang also has a powerful empire behind him, and it is a new huge empire, so he is naturally not afraid of Ali Guo's roar.

Fortunately, Ali Guo has been a diplomat for many years after all, and after being impulsive, his sanity quickly returned, and after finding out that Li Hongzhang didn't eat his set at all, he quickly calmed down.

"Let's make it clear." "Since the past has happened, I won't say much, but since we have cooperated with China and Britain first, then the benefits that your country has gained in Japan, my British Empire will also have a piece of the pie, at least, the benefits you have obtained in Japan, our British Empire must also be treated equally." ”

After listening to the translator's words, Li Hongzhang nodded: "What do you mean by equal treatment?" ”

"If we don't have more, we don't want it." "We only need two conditions. First, we want you to abide by the previous agreement and cede the Zhou Defense State of the Choshu Domain to our British Empire as a concession; Second, during the period of the previous shogun, the treaty of reconciliation between Japan and Britain that we signed with Japan must be recognized by the new Japanese government and guaranteed to remain in force without any changes. ”

The so-called Japan-Britain Treaty of Reconciliation and Trade in the mouth of the Arrikoku is actually the "Agreement of Reconciliation and Trade between Japan and Great Britain" in the Ansei Five-Power Treaty, which was followed by the United States. One of a series of unequal treaties signed between Britain and Naobuki Ii, an important minister of the previous general.

In this treaty, Britain obtained the right to free trade in Japan, consular jurisdiction, one-sided most-favored-nation status, and the right to open ports, and obtained a series of privileges for Britain, which, at least on the surface, were a little harsher than the Edo Treaty that Li Hongzhang had just signed with Katsu Haizhou.

But so. Unlike in China, although during the previous shogun's reign, Naobu Ii signed the Ansei Five Powers Treaty with the Five Powers on behalf of the shogunate, Japan was not a country under the full control of the shogunate. In addition, the shogunate's ability to control was very limited, so these treaties were not strictly adhered to in practice.

For example, in the case of consular jurisdiction, although it stipulates that foreigners are not bound by Japanese law. However, many people in Japan are attacking foreigners in private, and the shogunate basically turns a blind eye to this kind of attack on foreigners, and incidents of Japanese attacks on foreigners occur frequently. Many Japanese people are even proud that they have attacked a foreigner, even if the attacked foreigner did nothing wrong.

攘攘攘攘, naturally means to resist the Yi people, and when it comes to specific expressions, it is basically based on attack.

In another time and space history, the reason why the Sa-British War and the War of Shikoku against the Choshu Domain took place was mainly because the two feudal lords attacked foreigners so brazenly that the Great Powers could not bear it, and it was not until these two wars were fought that the Japanese felt the strength of the Great Powers, and this semi-openly encouraged attack was restrained.

In short, during the period of the former shogun Tokugawa Ieshige, although the Ansei Five-Power Treaty was signed with Britain, the United States, the Netherlands and other countries, it was not strictly forbidden in terms of implementation, at most it did a good job in opening up free trade, but that was mainly because the Japanese government could not prevent it.

Now, Alikoku's demand that Japan's new shogunate continue to recognize the previous unequal treaties is just a proper meaning, and to put it bluntly, this is actually a test to test the strength of China's control over Japan, to see if China is willing to give up Japan's interests.

You know, since the Chinese signed the "Edo Treaty" with Japan, especially the Greater East Asia Alliance, it is actually equivalent to turning Japan into a protectorate of China, but they have not said it explicitly, but as long as their brains are not stupid, they can basically see what the meaning is.

Therefore, Ali Guo's demand that Japan continue to recognize the previous unequal treaties is clearly a demand on Japan, but in fact it is a demand on China, asking China to let go of some of Japan's powers and let everyone's interests be equalized, otherwise, Ali Guo would not have said this to Li Hongzhang, but should have said this to Sheng Haizhou and others.

"Let's start with your second condition. You also said that it was talked to you during the reign of the previous general, the so-called once a son of heaven and a courtier, and now that the new general has ascended the throne, the previous conditions cannot be counted. So, I think you should continue to talk to the new government, not with me, and if the new government in Japan agrees to continue with the agreement that was negotiated with you, then I have no problem with that, but if you don't agree, then there is nothing I can do.

What I want to say here is that whether the new Japanese government agrees or disagrees to continue to maintain the agreement that was previously negotiated with you, it is Japan's internal affair, and no matter what decision they make, we, the Chinese Empire, will respect the decision of the Japanese government.

However, no matter what the Japanese Government did in the past, you must understand that Japan is now a member of the Greater East Asia Allied Powers and is our ally, and if you want to rely on force to force the Japanese Government to bow down to you, then we will absolutely not allow it.

In other words, you can negotiate with the Japanese government, and as long as you don't use force, you have the final say in everything, and we respect your decision. But if you want to play the bandit game and use force if you can't talk about it, then dispel this idea as soon as possible, and our Chinese Empire will not allow the allies to be bullied. ”

"You, you're completely unreasonable!" After listening to the translation, Ali Guo said angrily, "What are you? Do you really think of Japan as your own meal? Do whatever you want? ”

"How can I be unreasonable? Am I not clear enough? Ali Guo smiled, "Look. The Edo Treaty that we signed with Japan was a completely fair treaty, a treaty of mutual reciprocity, and it was completely different from what you signed with them before.

In addition, as I said earlier, you can talk to the Japanese government, and if the Japanese government agrees to continue to recognize the previous unequal treaties, it is a matter for the Japanese, and we will not interfere, but if the Japanese government does not agree to recognize it. If you still want to use force and coercion, then it will not work, we must come forward, after all, Japan is now our ally, and we have the obligation to protect the interests of the allies from being violated. ”

"You ......," Ali Guo suddenly sank his face, "Good, good, well-said." I hope you don't regret it. ”

"Regrets? Rest assured, I have absolutely no regrets. Li Hongzhang shook his head with a smile, "Let's talk about the first condition you mentioned."

You said that you wanted to cede Zhou Fangguo to you as a British concession, but I didn't say it. You're a bit of a strong man, aren't you?

As far as I know, you Britain have no grievances with Japan, so why did you want to cut off Zhou Fangguo as a concession? Isn't this a clear bully? That's just the past. Japan is now an ally with our Chinese Empire, and to put it bluntly, Japan is now our little brother in China. You are so blatantly bullying our little brother, and you still expect us to agree? Isn't that a joke? ”

"You can't say that." "Mr. Li, don't forget, I agreed before, I wanted us British and Americans to work together to assist you in attacking the Choshu Domain, and also said that we would fight each other, and when the Choshu Domain was defeated, the Changmen Kingdom would belong to you, and the Zhou Defense Kingdom would belong to us, how long has it been, you won't forget it so soon, right?" ”

"Well, I'll admit, there was such a thing before." Li Hongzhang nodded, "But this time and that time." At that time, I was not a plenipotentiary envoy representing our Chinese Empire, but a specially appointed business negotiator of the Eastern Bloc. In other words, at that time, I represented the Eastern Bloc, to be precise, the expeditionary force, and at that time, the expeditionary force did have the intention of attacking the Choshu domain, so in line with the intention of making a fortune, I approached you and the Americans.

Now that the Eastern Bloc expeditionary force has been transferred out of Japan, and I have been dismissed by the Eastern Bloc and re-elected as the representative of the Chinese Empire, that is to say, the main body of the negotiations has changed, so the promises I made to you in the past have automatically disappeared, and I can't blame me, right?

You see, if you had started fighting earlier and had formally negotiated with Japan in our Chinese Empire, then I wouldn't have said anything, because that was a fait accompli, but now that you have not used force against the Choshu Domain, the situation would be different.

Let me put it this way, today's Choshu Domain is still nominally under the rule of the shogunate, and the shogunate has signed an alliance treaty with our Chinese imperial government, so if you use force against the Choshu Domain at this time, it will be against the Japanese government, and if you use force against the Japanese government, it will be a declaration of war against Japan, so continue to extend, according to the Greater East Asia Alliance Treaty, a declaration of war against Japan is a declaration of war against the Chinese Empire, have you really considered the consequences of this? ”

Li Hongzhang's words were a bit tongue-twisting, which made Ali Guo's translator roll his eyes when he heard it, but there was no way, in this case, he had to accurately express the other party's meaning clearly, so he had to divide the words into paragraphs and paragraphs, and then repeatedly said them to Ali Guo.

After listening to it for a long time, Ali Guo understood the meaning of Li Hongzhang's words, which suddenly made Ah Liguo's originally average mood churn again, and he scolded Li Hongzhang shamelessly in his heart.

But isn't it, he was the one who asked them to send troops before, but now that he has tasted the new sweetness, he will not admit it when he turns his head, how can he be like this!

But being angry is angry, but Ali Guo can't continue to be angry, because he knows that it's useless to be angry, and he also knows that if Li Hongzhang is determined to defend Japan, then the British really can't do anything now.

Ali is not a stunned man who does not know anything, he also has his own sources, and knows that the current mainstream opinion of the British royal family is inclined to cooperate with China in order to stabilize the situation in Asia and curb the expansion of the Russians and French.

In particular, the UK is now quite interested in many technologies in China, such as stainless steel technology, such as anti-inflammatory and analgesic special drug technology, such as Meng. Explode. Pharmaceutical technology. Artillery manufacturing technology, etc., are seeking cooperation with China, hoping that China can open up technical barriers and open a series of patents to the UK.

That is to say, it is now Britain who has a request for China, and it is said that China and Britain have a series of secret agreements, although it is not known what they are aimed at, but it is certain that the two countries have a common secret, so at least at this stage, it is impossible for the two countries to have a war. At least because of his small envoy to Japan, the established national policies of the two countries will not be changed.

Since it is the trend of the times, then the blackmail and threats that Ali Guo is used to using cannot be used, and he can only reason with the other party.

But the problem is that Aliguo, who was unreasonable in the past and is now starting to be reasonable, met Li Hongzhang, who is now unreasonable, and suddenly became unreasonable. He really realized what it was like to meet unreasonable people.

He patiently talked a lot, but found that Li Hongzhang didn't make sense anymore, so he didn't say anything. Instead, a farewell was proposed.

After returning to his residence, Ali was very angry, but he was a little helpless, so he already planned to leave Japan from now on. Changing places to be an envoy, he didn't want to stay here anymore anyway, because it wasn't interesting to stay any longer.

The reason is simple. Ali Guo is not a fool, Tong Guò's previous conversation with Li Hongzhang, he has already determined one thing, that is, China has taken Japan as its own forbidden territory, and other countries are not allowed to interfere, but the methods used by China are more ingenious, not as direct as they came from Western powers such as Britain and the United States, but the essence is the same.

For example, the Edo Treaty just signed by the Chinese and the Japanese, on the surface, the content of it is indeed relatively fair, such as the most-favored-nation treatment is mutual, free trade is mutual, and even consular jurisdiction is mutual, and even the concession has created a Japanese special zone as a fig leaf.

However, as a senior diplomat, what is the Tao inside, Ali Guo can see through at a glance, no matter how warm and fair the surface of the Edo Treaty of the Chinese is, it is essentially an invasion, but the method of aggression is more tactful.

Isn't it, China's national conditions are completely different from Japan's, China is already an internationally recognized power, whether it is military, economic or political, it is an overwhelming trend for Japan, especially China's industry, although it is still very immature, but the momentum of development is not to be underestimated, it is a developing country that makes Britain feel terrified.

Such a large empire with a strong military, a strong momentum of industrial development, and a modern political system is completely unequal to Japan, which is still in the old dynasty, and the so-called free trade and mutual most-favored-nation treatment are completely unequal.

Not to mention anything else, China has high-quality industrial products that even Britain envy, and the variety of industrial varieties is becoming more and more complete, such a country, in the face of Japan, which has almost no industry, once the two sides open up free trade, then Japan will inevitably depend on China, and in time, it will become China's cheap raw material production base and industrial product export market, so that the whole of Japan will transfuse blood for China and feed China's industry and commerce.

This situation is like the relationship between India and Britain, the reason why India is called the pearl of the British Empire is because India is the most important source of cheap raw materials and the export market of industrial products for Britain, at least half of Britain's cotton cloth and other industrial products are exported to India, and almost half of Britain's industry is supported by India. Therefore, without India, although I dare not say that there would be no British industry, at least British industry, especially the cotton textile industry, would not develop so fast.

In the same way, Japan has a population of more than 40 million, but with such a large population, Japan has almost no industry, and almost all daily necessities are imported, except for a few exports, even embroidery needles and salt have to be imported.

If this market is completely swallowed up by China, it will be a huge boost for China, and coupled with China's own population base, there is no doubt that China's industry and commerce will inevitably make great strides in the coming days, which is definitely incomparable to India.

In addition, the Chinese are treated like samurai in Japan, which may seem like nothing, but when you think about it, this is a privilege that is more speechless than the consular jurisdiction of the British.

After so many years in Japan, how could Rei not understand the status and significance of samurai in Japan? It was a privileged class that had almost no taboos, and it was not guilty of killing civilians at will. Relatively speaking, although the British have the so-called consular jurisdiction in Japan and are not subject to Japanese law, the British do not dare to kill people at will in Japan, at least not as unscrupulous as the samurai.

And. China is not like Britain, close to Japan is like a neighbor at the doorstep, and the number of Chinese is large, once this law is implemented, let the Chinese in Japan become a privileged class like the samurai, then the Chinese will definitely flock to Japan, using the privilege to do business in Japan, which will inevitably squeeze out the living space of Japanese civilians and samurai, and over time, there will inevitably be turmoil. But the Chinese have the advantage of force.

Ali Guo can think that once the Chinese diaspora in Japan clashes with the Japanese natives, without the help of the Chinese garrison, the Japanese government will help the Chinese suppress the Japanese, and after a long time, when there are more and more Chinese, so many that the number of local Japanese is about the same, or even exceeded, then Japan is still Japan?

Once the Japanese food, clothing, housing and transportation were controlled by the Chinese. Once the Chinese became a privileged class in Japan, once the Japanese found out, when the Chinese had more benefits than the Japanese, it would not take fifty years. The Japanese are slowly becoming Chinese.

This is not impossible, because in the eyes of the Arika country, Japan today is not a nation-state like Britain and France, but an uncivilized and backward country.

The literacy rate of the population in this country is extremely low. Most people don't even have a surname, just a random name; Moreover, most of the Japanese people live in extreme poverty. The biggest luxury is to be well fed and clothed, and I don't have time to care about things like the country and the nation. So as long as there are benefits, as long as they can live a better life, the Japanese don't mind changing their nationality and becoming a person from another country at all.

In other words, most Japanese people do not have a sense of belonging to their own country and nation, and such a country and nation are easy to conquer, but unfortunately, Japan is too far away from Britain to reach the whip, and the power of Britain has been too dispersed, and the cultural differences between the two countries are too far, so it is difficult to conquer Japan like the conquest of India.

However, if Britain can't do it, it doesn't mean that China can't do it, China has more people than Japan, and its national strength is not a little bit stronger than Japan's.

Although he saw this, Ali Guo believes that at least for now, the Chinese have not been able to eat Japan, after all, China has only just begun the pace of change, to swallow Japan, it will take at least twenty or thirty years of development, and after fifty years, China will have enough strength to annex Japan.

Then, before that, what Ali hoped was to do his best to seize the benefits of the British Empire in Japan and transfer wealth to the British Empire during this period, otherwise, it would be very difficult to wait for the Chinese to slow down and then want to be powerful in the eastern land.

Ali Guo can think of this, which shows that Ah Liguo's brain is still very clear, or in other words, his previous anger and chagrin, in fact, are acting, of course, there are also some real feelings, after all, from the original superiority in the face of Chinese, suddenly became equal, it is impossible to say that his heart is not uncomfortable.

In other words, from beginning to end, Alikook's thinking was clear, after all, he was a veteran diplomat, had lived in China before, had been in Japan for a long time, and had taken a lot of national interests for Britain in both China and Japan.

Therefore, the previous noisy anger was just a temptation, or to scare Li Hongzhang with arrogance and anger, after all, according to his previous experience, the Chinese still prefer to calm things down. But it's a pity that he met Li Hongzhang and met Li Hongzhang who had been cultivated by pragmatism. In the face of an unreasonable Li Hongzhang who only talks about practical interests, he has nowhere to use all calculations, at least it is useless to intimidate and be arrogant.

While Ali was still there frustrated and trying to figure out how to gain benefits for the British Empire in other ways, a British soldier suddenly came to report that there was a Japanese outside, asking to see him, saying that he was an old friend of yours.

"The Japanese? Friends? Ali Guo touched his chin and asked the soldier again, "What old friend?" What is your name? ”

It's normal for Ali Guo to ask this question, because Japan is not very peaceful now, and there are assassins everywhere who have bad intentions towards foreigners, especially people like him, who don't see strangers and are afraid of accidents.

"I don't know, he just said, read this letter, you know." After the soldier finished speaking, he quickly took out a letter and handed it to Aliguo.

"Oh?" Ali Guo took the envelope and opened it in public, and there was a blank piece of paper inside, but a unique ship-shaped mark was printed on the white paper.

Seeing this mark, Ali Guo narrowed his eyes and said to the soldier, "Are you outside?" ”

"Yes, just wait outside."

"Please!" After Ah Liguo finished speaking, he instructed again, "Be careful, try not to let outsiders see it!" (My novel "Time and Space Smuggling 1859" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)