Twenty years ago, Empress Dowager Cixi's trip to Europe did play a good positive role in promoting China's international image, and when the Chinese government elites who carried more than ten years of foreign affairs visited Europe, Westerners found that in addition to dressing differently from Westerners, their politeness, fluent English (so much so that Westerners still have a wrong view, all Chinese speak English, and there is no problem in communicating with foreigners), and amazing learning, There are also exquisite silks and porcelain, which are better than the Oriental porcelain bought by those black-hearted merchants, especially the Empress Dowager Cixi, who used her personal charm to fascinate Prince Edward and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor upside down...... Ahem, not only brought a lot of exquisite gifts to Europe, but also brought a lot of silver, the Chinese pockets of those sparse and ringing silver, everywhere signed a huge contract to buy machinery and equipment and finished products, not only these practical technologies, she is also very fond of the basic science of natural science, looted some scientists in Berlin and Vienna, and hired Gaoxin back to China. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Her peaceful, noble and solemn generosity swept across Europe, and initially established a modern mechanism for the visit of the head of state, sometimes this kind of popular favor, seems to have no effect, but subtly, the position of politicians will also change because of the attitude of the people.

Therefore, Guo Songtao is extremely confident, and he is not worried at all that anything bad will happen between China and Germany because of Bismarck's departure, "Ambassador to Germany An Lan is quite capable, and he gets along very well with the German aristocratic royal family and Junker officers, and the main content of this Berlin Conference is to carve up Africa." ”

"Partition of Africa?"

"Yes, Africa is an important place for countries to compete for colonies, and it is impossible for the world to find such a large piece of land without countries and strong armed forces, plus Africa is the closest to Europe, and these colonies are set up, which can be said to be a century-old foundation, and there is no worry about any risks for the African natives, as long as they reach an agreement with the great powers, or a compromise, the places they occupy are recognized by all countries, which is foolproof, the Berlin Conference, first, Germany announced that it officially joined the countries that divided the world, The second is to compromise between countries, recognize their own interests, and avoid being like the Boer War," the Empress Dowager Cixi smiled slightly, "A long-term war in Africa is very harmful to the interests of all countries." ”

The two eunuchs carried a wooden map over, it was a map of Africa, Guo Songtao stood to the side, pointing towards the map, "Britain is in North Africa," he pointed downward, "South Africa is his sphere of influence, they are ready to converge between the north and the south, through the north and south African continents, but," he pointed to a little place above, "was stopped by the Boers here, this time the war has been fought intermittently for a long time, the British still can't eliminate the Boers, and the completion of their two-C plan is almost impossible," The two Cs refer to Cape Town to Cairo, both of which start with the English letter C, "France wants to open up Northwest Africa and Southeast Africa, so the plan to cross is now in full swing, and the rest of the countries, except for Russia, have established bases in Africa, sent armed ships or armed forces to patrol and cruise, of course, there are many conflicts, Wechen can be sure that now Africa, if we need to fight for land, then now, is the best time, If, in the future, the great powers have carved up Africa, then there is only one way for us to gain more land in Africa. ”

"War with the Great Powers." Empress Dowager Cixi said.

"Yes, it is only by going to war with the great powers that it is possible to obtain African land from the defeated countries." Guo Songtao said.

The Empress Dowager Cixi pondered slightly, and then asked the emperor, "Emperor, look, can we do this?" ”

"What my father asked, my son thought that it could be done," Emperor Guangxu thought for a while and said, "Guangxu defeated France in ten years, and now that country dares to look down on me in the Qing Dynasty?" Naturally, we can also attack and ask for a share of Africa's land, as Guo Zhongtang said, now is the best opportunity, and the opportunity cannot be missed. Erchen was just a little worried. ”

"You say."

"Do our sailors have the ability to sail the oceans?" Emperor Guangxu asked, "To go to Africa, you have to pass through the Indian Ocean, the Indian Ocean is the territory of the British, if they make things difficult for us, the warships of the naval division must be prepared to deal with difficulties, Africa is close to the European powers, far away from us, such a far place, if it can be divided, but it can't be protected, this is not good." ”

Empress Dowager Cixi nodded approvingly, "The emperor is thinking about things well, on the current international status of our Qing Dynasty, there is no doubt about the division of African colonies, but as you said, when it comes to carving up, whether we have the ability to hold it is a critical time, in the past, Zheng He went to the West, it is true that he went to Africa, but at that time there was no Britain in Asia, this is a problem." ”

"The other is, what are we going to do with the land of Africa?" Empress Dowager Cixi said, "Divide Africa, then you have to conflict with other countries, this is to offend people, I have never been afraid of offending people, but I am afraid of a little, afraid of offending people in vain, but we have no benefit, spend money to Africa, no profit or loss, then isn't it a big loss?" ”

Emperor Guangxu seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the empress dowager's philistine, and couldn't help but twist his body, and the Empress Dowager Cixi saw the emperor's expression, "In foreign affairs, the most important thing is interests, if there are no interests, don't talk about anything, if Africa is here, there are no interests, then naturally, don't do anything in Africa." ”

"From the perspective of the sailors, if a military port can be established in Africa, it must be of excellent use," Guo Songtao said, he is very well aware of the secret sale and purchase of ocean-going naval warships and other technologies between China and France in the past, "If the sailors go to Africa in the future, there is a military port in Africa where they can take a break, and this military use will be extremely great." ”

Probably except for military use, the rest seems to be of little use, raw materials for Africa? Sorry, the cost of shipping to China is higher than that of raw materials in Southeast Asia and China. (To be continued.) )