"Help France?" Wade's eyes flashed slightly, "We have always been willing to help any country that is willing to be friends with Britain, of course, including France, we have almost become a paramilitary alliance in Europe, and Germany has protested more than once about this, they believe that the relationship between Britain and France has affected Princess Mary as the crown princess in Germany, such a long-standing Anglo-German relationship." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

You will only help those countries that do not pose any threat to Britain, the consul of Tianjin secretly slandered, if it were not for the Napoleon Emperor who was defeated by the anti-French alliance with hatred, the glory of France was covered with dust, and now France has to attach itself to the feet of your Britain, but it must not be represented, the French have forgotten who was the mastermind of the anti-French alliance back then, who blocked in front of the French, so that France could not become the hegemon of Europe, of course, now is not the time to care about this, "This is not my personal request, Mr. Ambassador," The consul in Tianjin said weakly, his attitude was very humble, "Our cabinet, of course, the cabinet has stepped down, and no new cabinet members have been elected yet, but the last thing the foreign minister did before stepping down and resigning was to send a note to your foreign ministry, hoping that your country can provide a helping hand to help the French through this difficult time." ”

"We have already provided help, without our mediation, your country still does not know how to negotiate with the Chinese," Wade said tactfully, "This is a great help, but your country did not grasp it, but was ambushed by the Chinese NATO fleet." ”

"The Chinese are not really negotiating at all," the Tianjin consul shook his head, "their empress dowager went south to supervise the war, the sequence of events in this series shows that the prime minister Yamen in Shanghai and our French contact negotiations is just a pretext, while negotiating, the Chinese warships have already gone south to prepare for battle, although I am only a low-level official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the center of power in Paris has not been contacted, but at this time, the entire national level will definitely not easily agree to negotiations with the Chinese, which is almost no different from selling the country, Prime Minister Henry has stepped down, and the successor must still be a radical, otherwise he would not have won the support of Parliament. ”

"And what does Mr. Consul want me to do?" Wade took a sip of his coffee and said thoughtfully, "I can't do anything without a government order." ”

"Of course, of course, I just came to tell Mr. Ambassador in advance, this is a respect for the greatest diplomat in the Far East, so that you can be prepared," Tianjin Consul stood up and bowed, "I must explain that France has already suffered a bitter fruit because of the miscalculation of the strength of the Chinese, in the Far East, the current situation, the Chinese are indeed superior, and I think that it will affect the effective jurisdiction and rule of Britain here, and the Chinese have already gone out for Vietnam, regardless of any consequences, Vietnam is only a vassal country of the Chinese, and your country made the Qing country cede Hong Kong Island, this is a real territory, I believe that even if the Chinese are now respectful to your country, but obviously, this must be a superficial effort, and inside, they will inevitably unscrupulously want to regain what they originally lost in your country, you know, the Qing people boast that they are the central country, the heavenly kingdom, this fairy tale is crushed by your country, such a huge blow, the Chinese cannot be indifferent. ”

Wade also seemed indifferent to the provocative words of the French consul in Tianjin, "Respect between countries needs to be guaranteed by strong military strength, and if Britain's military power cannot suppress China, then of course China can disrespect Britain." This is a very normal thing. "The subtext is that you French have been defeated by the Chinese, so it is normal for the Chinese to despise you.

The consul in Tianjin had no time to care about the subtext and hints here, and before he turned to leave, he said one last thing, "If France's power in Vietnam has been severely reduced, then in Asia, France cannot become a powerful assistant to British domination of South Asia, then France must return to the European continent, so that the struggle with Germany will inevitably intensify, and France will certainly accelerate its expansion in Africa, which is an inevitable reason, and I hope you can seriously consider how to help France." ”

The Tianjin consul is gone, he can't stay in Beijing for a long time, because now that diplomatic relations have been severed, even if the Chinese are just expelling the French diplomats in Beijing and retaining the consulate at the treaty port, but it is by no means to say that the French diplomats are allowed to enter and leave Beijing at will, so the Tianjin consul had to leave quickly, pretending to come in a hurry and leave in a hurry, Wade did not need to keep the guests, just sat on the sofa and subconsciously stirred the silver spoon, thinking about something, the counselor arrived in a while, "The Frenchman went to a restaurant to meet the Japanese ambassador Taiichi Tanabe. ”

"The Japanese ambassador?" Wade recounted suspiciously, "They're not dead yet? After receiving such a big blow as the Galaxy Maru, are you still ready to go against the Chinese? You know," Wade shook his head, "China and Japan are not at the same level at all, so even if the Chinese explain it with such a clumsy excuse as misshooting, the Japanese have to swallow their breath and pinch their noses to accept it, are they still ready to deal with China with the French?" Incredible. ”

"Japan's geography has determined that it is either a vassal state of China or an enemy of China, and there is no way to do so," the counselor said. ”

"The Japanese are not going to help them in a positive way," Wade said firmly, "and go straight to war?" The Japanese are a little impulsive, but they are very shrewd, it is impossible for a French and a Vietnamese, to take such a big gamble, they will only interfere with China on the side, this way," Wade shook his head again, "I doubt how much it can play, but if it is done properly, when the French army in China wants to deal with Vietnam and has no time to take care of Japan, the Japanese can sneak attack a little benefit, this interest can help the Japanese, but for the French, I am afraid it will not be of much help." ”

"Do we need to help the French?" The Counsellor was somewhat dissatisfied with the French, "who had been dictating to us in Suez affairs, and now came to ask for help from the British government." ”

The Counsellor's words are very pertinent, the French Republic, as the former hegemon on the European continent for hundreds of years, no matter how it knelt and licked Britain inside, but as the pride of France, it was decided that it would not be willing to be the hunting dog of the British in any affairs, in the Suez Canal and Egyptian affairs, Britain and France were confrontational, the British wanted to use France to contain Germany, but France and even Germany were powerful, the two countries bordered, and it was by no means so easy for Britain overseas, and the French were not ready to offend the Germans, At this stage, the British have always complained that the French take money and do nothing, as for the Balkans and Turkey, it is a place for all parties to fight, the two countries are fundamentally on opposite sides, the French want to have good relations with Russia to contain Austria-Hungary and confront China, but the British do not want the relationship between the two big countries in Eastern and Western Europe to be too close, as for Africa, the two countries try to cross the African continent in the north and west of the colonial plan, it is a very serious conflict.

"Between countries, there will certainly not be one aspect forever, conflict or cooperation, only two at the same time, now the Sino-French war, but the two countries are still doing business, which is unimaginable in the Middle Ages and is now accustomed to it, and will probably become mainstream in the future." Wade took a sip of his cold coffee, "So we don't need to be surprised at all, as long as our core interests don't conflict with France," he continued, "If the French side collapses quickly because of the Vietnam War, it will definitely not be a good thing for our British Empire, but I doubt the words of the consul in Tianjin," he touched his chin with his hand, "Will the war in Vietnam make France decline?" I don't think so, no war in the colonies can shake the situation at home, just as many years ago, when the Yankees were founded, there was no threat of shaking the British Empire as a whole. Wade said with a flat expression the only defeat of the British in many years, "They just want to drag us into the Far East, but on the Vietnamese side, the Privy Council has already issued an order that we will not intervene, and if the cabinet thinks it is necessary to intervene, we will act again." ”

The personal friendship between Prince Edward and the Empress Dowager Cixi is of course also an issue that Wade must consider, not to mention that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no order to allow himself to mediate or interfere, so why bother? Wade thought.

"And when do you think you need to intervene?"

"That is the need to observe the battle in the northern region of Vietnam," Wade laughed, "and the outcome of the war may be three, one is the victory of the Chinese, and at this time we can act as the savior of the French, and let those Parisian fools kneel at our feet and thank us; One is that the French win, then we can gain the gratitude of the Chinese, and this gratitude usually translates into tangible economic benefits; The third is that the two countries continue to stalemate, and neither can defeat the other, and at this time, the role that we can play as an intermediary is even greater, and I have a hunch that at this stage, it is not yet time to negotiate peace, and the energy of our British Empire has not yet come into play. We don't need to end up, the weakening of either France and the Qing is not a bad thing for Britain. ”

The document came in at this time and explained one thing, "The ambassadors of Italy, Ottoman Turkey, and Spain united to Prime Minister Yamen to affirm one point, recognize and support the Chinese's suzerainty over Vietnam, and strongly condemn the French in Vietnam for violating the international order." ”

"Oh?" Wade raised his eyebrows and said, "It seems that these people know how to seize the opportunity, unlike ordinary countries, other countries shouldn't have reacted yet, right?" ”

"Oh?" The Empress Dowager Cixi, who had just arrived in Changsha, also received a telegram about the surrender of these countries, and she was a little surprised, so she called Guo Songtao to step forward, "Yunxian, what the hell are you doing outside?" These three countries had previously supported the French. ”

"Don't dare to make trouble in front of the West Holy Master," Guo Songtao said with a smile, this is a big diplomatic victory, he couldn't help but be unhappy, he explained, "Turkey is on the edge of the Suez Canal, Egypt was originally under his control, we have equity here in Suez, if we don't agree to pay the Turkish local silver at that time, I'm afraid that their elite army defending the capital will run out of food, not to mention that Russia covets Turkey's territory the most, and we don't need to make a move." As soon as I affirm my full support for Russia's actions in the Balkans, I have only revealed a few words to the Turkish ambassador that he is ready to surrender. ”

"What about Spain?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked Guo Songtao, her face suddenly understood something, "Luzon?" ”

"Shengming is no better than Lafayette," Guo Songtao patted his ass, "I just threatened to help the king of Luzon restore the throne and redefine the vassal relationship with Luzon, Spain naturally did not dare to disobey us, as for Italy, it was a little troublesome, fortunately, before I came to Changsha, I agreed on some things with Hu Xueyan, and then sent out rumors first, to reduce the export price of silk to be cheaper than the silk exported from Italy or even cheaper than the silk exported from Italy, in this case, Italy cannot watch us strangle their young silk industry." In addition, I have put people in contact with the Italian commercial department, and the two countries will join forces to manage the European business of silk, and take them to make money, and they will not refuse. ”

This Hu Xueyan is really a talent, and it seems to be a loss to lower the export price of silk, but after a long time, all the silk merchants in the world will come to buy high-quality and inexpensive Chinese silk in order to reduce costs, and silk from other countries will not be able to export, in the long run, then their silk industry will be severely hit, unable to form a large-scale silk export industry, and so on until China silk monopolizes the entire world trade, then at that time, the price is self-evident.

"In the final analysis, we still won the battle against the French," Guo Songtao said with a sigh, "After so many years, Wechen's diplomacy can be regarded as a pleasure, but it is just a few words of threat and intimidation, and Wechen does not need to issue specific measures, these three countries have to obey our China, issue a statement, and give the French a heavy blow, this taste, thanks to the great victory of coastal defense." ”

"You are right," said the Empress Dowager Cixi, "that the French have changed their cabinets again, because of the disastrous defeat in Vietnam, they have already changed two cabinets, but I don't know what happens to them next, but I am afraid that they will change again." ”

I was discharged from the hospital, and I was roughly healed to rest, but I still had to continue to code words, and I couldn't break the change, and I lived up to everyone's hopes! At the end of the month, ask for a monthly pass. (To be continued.) )