Edward continued to eat bread quietly, "The Chinese should not collude with the French now, after all, their disputes, in the interests of Vietnam, and ours in India, this is absolutely irreconcilable, the Chinese may ally with the Germans, or collude with Vienna, but now there should be no peace talks with the French, minister, are you wrong?" ”

"Before, it wouldn't, but the Chinese must have thought about it, and that's why they came together with the French!" Bazali said angrily, "My informant at the French embassy has received information that China and French Ambassador Albert have been quietly contacted. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"What do you do with contact?" Edward's expression became solemn, and he put down the bone china teacup, since the foreign secretary is so solemn, it must not be a simple matter.

"There was a conversation about the stake in the Suez Canal, and the Chinese seemed to prefer to sell their stake to the French." Bazali saw Edward's face change drastically, "Yes, Your Highness, they probably want to sell the shares to the French, in this case, our stake in the Suez Canal will not be enough." ”

。。。

"I know," Guo Songtao said to French Ambassador Albert very sincerely, "There have been some small contradictions and disputes between our two countries these days, and of course these small turmoil is not worth mentioning for the friendly relations between our two countries. ”

"I have reservations about this," Albert crossed his fingers and put it on the table, "although you condescended to come to the French Embassy in person, Lord Guo, I still don't think this is a gesture of goodwill," Albert said sharply to Guo Songtao, "We still have to affirm that our interests in Vietnam need us to protect and confirm them in the form ......of a treaty."

Albert said what he had been saying non-stop in the Prime Minister's Yamen again, Guo Songtao listened patiently and smiled for a while, and had to stretch out his hand to interrupt Albert's words, "I'm sorry, Mr. Ambassador, I'm sorry, I'm not here today to argue, about the controversy, I believe we can't get any unanimous opinion, or want to solve the problem, about the matter of Vietnam, we can't convince each other, of course, under the current conditions, so we want to show our sincerity," Guo Songtao put on his glasses and said to Ambassador Albert, "We are willing to make concessions elsewhere to maintain Vietnam's status as a vassal of China." ”

"It is impossible for Vietnam to continue to accept the rule of China's suzerainty!" Ambassador Albert said fiercely.

Guo Songtao's face turned cold, "There is an old saying in Chinese, which roughly means in French, that is, at least wait until you have eaten all the dishes served by the host, and then decide whether to criticize the quality of the dishes, if it is said that we are not sincere enough, as a polite French gentleman, you should also listen to our menu before protesting." Mr. Ambassador, I heard that your country's stake in the Suez Canal in Egypt has been decreasing? ”

"Yes, why are you bringing up this topic?" Albert suddenly became vigilant, these Chinese are still preparing to do something in the Suez Canal? What a tough yellow-skinned monkey......

Guo Songtao's words immediately made Albert's face show a surprised expression, "Your country's stake in the Suez Canal Company has now shrunk to 47 percent, of course, this stake is not small, but it is not your country's controlling stake, we are really worried that France has worked so hard to dig out the canal, and as a result, your country can only continue to make a small fuss on economic benefits, but lose the opportunity to grab political interests on this golden waterway, which is really sad and lamentable." ”

Albert had a straight face, this is also a helpless thing, before the British wanted to buy the shares in the hands of Egypt, the French government simply did not have the money to pay for the shares, the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War, not only ceded Alsace and Lorraine, but also made France pay astronomical reparations, and wanted to take the shares in the hands of Egypt again, it was really powerless, so I could only watch the British take the controlling stake, "What do you mean by this?" Do you have a way to get France to increase its stake? Without offending the British. ”

"Of course there is," Guo Songtao smiled proudly, it was not easy, and it was finally his turn to be arrogant again, "Of the forty-nine percent of the shares in Egypt that the British bought, we China have one-tenth of the shares," he saw with satisfaction Albert's eyes widened, "that is to say," Albert quickly answered, "your country has a total of 4.9 percent of the shares!" ”

"That's right, Mr. Ambassador finally figured it out?" Guo Songtao spread out the booklet in his hand, and he said impatiently and reservedly, "Next, let our French Lord Yangbing and the ambassador explain our conditions." ”

。。。

"China: They took a stake in the Suez Canal and traded with the French as a condition for the French to withdraw from Vietnam?" Edward muttered, "Is this a certainty?" ”

"My spy only knew that the two countries were discussing the stake in the Suez Canal, and after analysis, I believed that the French would only be able to get the stake in the Suez Canal if they conceded in Vietnam, and the Chinese could only spit out the stake in the Suez Canal if they had the integrity of Vietnam, because only China could value political interests over economic interests," Bazali said. ”

"I want to ask a question, can the Chinese transfer his shares?"

"If China is the current Egyptian government, I can guarantee that within half a month, the rulers who have different intentions for our British Empire will die in the pyramid, but they are China, legally we can breach the contract, the contract still exists, and we cannot deny the relevant documents...... Especially if the French want these shares, they will certainly help the Chinese to obtain and confirm these shares. ”

What Bazali means is that China is not easy to provoke, it cannot be in breach of contract, and the French are not easy to mess with, and they cannot do things that are eaten and wiped out without admitting their accounts, "I can think that this is the reason why the Foreign Office is involved in the affairs of Vietnam?" Edward slowly stood up and looked directly at Bazali, who was indifferent to Edward's reproachful eyes, "This is just an inducement, I think, because of China's counterattack on our attempt to solve Bangladesh." ”

Counterattack? Edward shook his head in annoyance, turned around, and left the table and fountain, "I want to see the Empress Dowager!" (To be continued.) )