July is also extremely hot in Beijing, compared to Vietnam, there is no hot and humid in the end, so relatively speaking, it is acceptable. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Because of France's actions in Vietnam, these days, the French embassy is more crowded than it used to be. Regarding Li Weili's encroachment on Thang Long Mansion, Prime Minister Yamen negotiated with the French Embassy several times, and the French Embassy was very arrogant, repeatedly exerting pressure on the issue of Suez Canal shares, and made it clear that if the issue of Suez Canal shares was not resolved, there would never be consultations and communication on the Vietnam issue, and the attitude of French Ambassador Albert could simply be described as bad: he raised his head and white eyes, ignored any conversation, and with his red hair, he was simply a proud red-haired rooster. I heard that Guo Songtao, the co-minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen, was angry with Albert, but he couldn't deal with how to teach Albert a lesson, so he could only order people to kill chickens in the mansion every day to vent his anger.

Albert's recent mood is naturally extremely pleasant, and even happy that he has a feeling, which is definitely not an illusion, but a real social experience: now the French embassy has a better status than Russia, Japan, Austria and other countries in the eyes of the Chinese, and even faintly on a par with Britain. You must know that the Chinese are very snobbish, they are willing to only carry out the closest exchanges and the most generous circulation interests with the strongest countries, the French did not trade much before, warships were not willing to sell the best, the sphere of influence is not near China, the army came to invade in the past, the relationship between these two countries is naturally not very good, why should the Chinese rush to deal with you?

Now it is different, since the French began to coerce Vietnam to annex the country, although the Qing people look aggressive, as if they are about to draw their swords if they disagree, but inside, the respect for the French, and the repeated concessions to the content of the peace talks, are different from the previous state, even if the Chinese side suspended the French missionary mission and the increase in taxes on foreign trade, but in his opinion, these are small interests that are not worth mentioning, for Suez and Vietnam, it is not worth looking at at all.

The weather is hot, Albert did not drink his favorite coffee, only let the servant bring ice cubes and champagne, ready to drink a cup slowly, the temperature is not very high this morning, there is a rare breeze in Dongjiaomin Alley, Obert stretched his waist, decided not to go out this morning, not to eat dust in the western suburbs, although now the cement road of the Chinese is very smooth, but the dust on the official road is also more and more, such a wonderful morning, to bump to the Old Summer Palace and those hateful Chinese officials to negotiate, This is not the behavior of an elegant French gentleman.

He was elegantly holding a glass of champagne under a blue hydrangea, the pale yellow wine had fine bubbles in it, the transparent ice cubes rose and fell in the glass, shook gently, the ice cubes collided with the wall of the glass, making a crisp sound, Albert smelled the taste, this bottle of champagne is still the private collection of Prime Minister Ruferi, in order to celebrate his inauguration as ambassador to China, the then Foreign Minister Ruferi specially sent such a bottle of champagne to celebrate, Romantic French people don't take out their treasured wines to celebrate at an important time, quite casually, and the weather is so good today, Albert is in a very good mood, of course, such a wine should be tasted now.

Albert took a breath of satisfaction, smiled and brought the cup to his mouth, how could anyone be willing to disturb such a leisurely and comfortable atmosphere, in fact, the person who spoiled the atmosphere was always there, a person opened the door forcefully, walked out of the western-style building quickly, and said to Albert, "Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Guo from the Prime Minister's Yamen is here!" ”

Albert put down his wine glass, faintly displeased, "He is China's de facto foreign minister, and his status is far above mine, why is it so rude to suddenly run directly to the embassy without any prior notice." ”

The counselor who came to report the letter was out of breath, "But whether they are polite or not, we still have to go to greet them, Mr. Ambassador, please go and greet them." ”

Greeting a fart, Albert shook his head disdainfully, "There is no scheduled meeting or meeting, according to diplomatic practice, there is no need for diplomatic etiquette, besides, now that China has a request for us, why should I be so polite to the Chinese?" You tell him that I'm drinking in the sun in the back garden, invite him over for a drink, and if he feels humiliated, let him meet again at a time and place next time. ”

The counselor turned around and left, why did the French side not send special diplomats to negotiate the Suez Canal shares and Vietnam issues between China and France, generally speaking, this kind of diplomats at the level of deputy ministers can be the diplomatic representative of the negotiations, how can an ambassador serve as it, it is because Albert and the current French Prime Minister Jouferi have a deep personal relationship, coupled with the long distance between China and France, naturally there is no special negotiator, although Albert said this, but it can't be very excessive, put down the wine glass, stood up, stood under the hydrangea tree, and waited for Guo Songtao's arrival, this glass of wine is too late to taste slowly, so he can only send away the uninvited guests before drinking.

Guo Songtao, who was full of smiles, slowly walked into the garden with his entourage, not showing any displeasure at Albert's faux pas, he laughed and stretched out his right hand to Albert, "Mr. Ambassador seems to be in a good mood." ”

The two shook hands, and hearing Guo Songtao's flattery, Albert smiled arrogantly, "My mood is just like this weather, very sunny." ”

He stretched out his hand to ask Guo Songtao to sit down, and he sat down himself, cocking Erlang's legs, which is a very impolite behavior, Wang Yangbing, the head of the French unit who sat down next to Guo Songtao, frowned slightly, Guo Songtao just smiled, and looked at Albert with a playful expression, Albert continued, "Our invincible French warriors are invincible in the northern part of Vietnam, and I am of course very proud and proud as their compatriots, so I am in a very good mood." Albert picked up the champagne and toasted to Guo Songtao, he was not stingy, and asked Guo Songtao to taste it together, "This is the wine treasured by the Prime Minister of France, you happen to be here today, let us pay tribute to the invincible soldiers of France, right?" ”

"Invincible soldiers?" Albert is a naked slap in the face, asking a foreign minister to celebrate the military actions of a vassal regime aimed at overthrowing his own country's suzerainty is not a provocation, it is a challenge. In the past, Guo Songtao was definitely like thunder, but today Guo Songtao laughed, "Does Mr. Ambassador really think so?" In his opinion, Albert at this time was simply a clown.

"Of course," Albert shook his glass, "or would you have anything else to say, Chancellor?" I believe that the soldiers of France will never fail to win even if they fight against the regular army of your country. ”

Guo Songtao smiled at Wang Yangbing on the side, "It seems that Mr. Ambassador is not well-informed, so take out the report and show it to Mr. Ambassador." ”

Wang Yangbing also knew that it was funny at this time, and said to Guo Songtao in French with an embarrassed face, "My lord, this is a report from Liangguang, it doesn't seem appropriate to give Mr. Ambassador a foreigner, right?" ”

"Nothing out of place." Guo Songtao said, Albert retracted the smile on his face at this time, put the champagne that he had not had time to drink on the table, he had doubts in his heart, Albert looked at the two Chinese with a smile on their faces, and said unhappily, "Please be direct, don't say these words with unknown meaning." ”

"See? Mr. Ambassador is quick to talk, and he likes to be direct," Guo Songtao picked up his glass and sniffed the same smell as Albert, "Let's not hide it like this, anyway, Mr. Ambassador will soon know what happened, ah, this is the best champagne," Guo Songtao took a sip and quickly praised, "I haven't drunk this taste since I left Paris." ”

ps I recommend the sequel to this book, the seamless "Late Qing Dynasty 1909". (To be continued.) )