XXXVI. Monopoly of the Congo (4)

The ministers looked at each other, the queen mother's appetite was so great, she was not satisfied with the area of the Congo River, could it be that she also took a fancy to other places? You must know that according to the calculation of the area, the land in the Congo River basin is enough to be the size of twenty-three Zhejiang provinces, which is about the same size as Xinjiang Province in this era, which is a very huge area, so big that the ministers of military aircraft think that it is the first major contribution to the expansion of the territory of this dynasty, and they have never been put into military action, and they have occupied such a vast land only in diplomacy and negotiations! Of course, this is not a direct territory, but who guarantees that it will not become a real territory in many years, and many military ministers are already preparing to conceive of a suitable name for this newly acquired land. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Isn't the Queen Mother ready to accept it when she sees it? It's not just the ministers who think so, even Emperor Guangxu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and looked at the Queen Mother in surprise, the Queen Mother ignored everyone's reaction, and just smiled to herself, "Now if you want to make an analogy, it is the big guys competing to carve up Africa together, this thief car, it's not so good, but since we have caught up with the trip, there is no chance to explain, hurry up and get in the car!" ”

The Queen Mother looked around at everyone, "This is a good time, we can't miss it, if we don't take it, we will be blamed." Although the Congo River basin is good, but it is not a place with a strategic role, the British one south and one north, guarding the Suez Canal and Cape Good Luck, which is equivalent to clamping down on the whole of Africa, although I don't want to compete with the British in Africa, but we can also learn from his method, Yunxian, don't you say? ”

Guo Songtao only vaguely knows some things about the ceremonial office, but it is not very clear, and it is not clear, the queen mother is still preparing what other places to occupy, "The Berlin Conference has a consensus on the land of Africa, although the form of the treaty has not been determined, but one thing has been clear, that is, first come, first served, whoever arrives at this place first, then who occupies this land first, the minister thinks, now through Africa, is the best opportunity, but my China has always been a country of etiquette, If it is straightforward to expel the foreigners from other strategic points, I am afraid that it will cause disputes again, and if the disputes involve the land that has been swallowed up in our stomachs in the Congo River Basin, then it will be a bit more than worth the loss. ”

"You can rest assured of this," Empress Dowager Cixi said with a smile, "I never do anything unprepared, Zeng Jize cooperated, and asked the Li Fan Yuan to prepare for the canonization," she said one thing that she thought of before, and everyone's eyes suddenly widened, and Sun Yuwen couldn't help but murmur, "This is really the legacy of the predecessors." ”

"Big guy, just wait to come up with a name!" The Queen Mother was in high spirits, "The emperor is about to get married," she looked at the emperor with a smile, with a look of pride and pity, "I, the queen mother, have nothing to give, so I will give the emperor a little land, this should be the best gift in the world." ”

Berlin.

These days, all countries are not very comfortable, the British naturally do not need to say much, the British are forced to accept China's plan, although on the surface from the good, but inside has been frightened and doubted by many countries, Britain's diplomatic control, is not missing a lot, but the British foreign secretary is a little less at a loss is that to a certain extent, the suspension of the Boer may indeed be the next war spending, of course, in the end, of course, it is impossible to distribute the region so evenly, But now Britain has a precious respite, and in the future it has gathered the strength to continue to annex the Boer gold mines.

Germany is almost in this mood, the Belgian king is the most frustrated, in history he is to take advantage of the contradictions between the powers, and do not allow a strong country to occupy the idea of the Congo River Valley, successfully mediate all parties, and gently and skillfully occupy this place, but in this era, the Great Qing Kingdom was born, and the Congo River Basin that has been in the mouth of the Belgian king was gently and skillfully taken away, and the Belgian king did not go crazy It is already very remarkable, but who cares about the protest of a small country? Several rogue countries, no, no, no, several countries that are the embodiment of fairness and justice, have already decided on the distribution of this place, and no one can shake it or shake the dignity of these countries.

The three Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, under the pressure of Russia, had to admit China, Zeng Jize spent a lot of effort, with gold yuan diplomacy, no, it is a friendly and mutually helpful economic and trade agreement, and the economy has also attracted these three countries, in fact, small countries for Africa can not have a strong and huge territorial desire at all, at most in some small places to occupy some places to trade, the meeting passed a resolution, that is, countries recognize the "Congo River basin to form a free state, The Great Qing State enjoys sovereignty over the Congo River Free State, and the Emperor of the Great Qing State is the head of the Congo River Free State", specifically Zeng Jize signed a recognition treaty on behalf of the Great Qing State and other countries, of course, this recognition treaty is not completely free of any price, basically Zeng Jize and the original countries promised, and then confirmed in the form of words. In this way, the Great Qing Kingdom became the biggest winner of the Berlin Conference, and this winner appeared so late, how successful, and how surprising.

In any era, the international community is the Colosseum between the major powers, so although the meeting was very slow, but the process was not slow, after several discussions, we basically determined that there is a norm on African colonial affairs, this norm is very vague, after all, it is impossible to really negotiate the distribution of interests between countries at the conference table, this criterion is "all the countries participating in the conference in the future to occupy the coastal land of Africa, must notify other countries separately; It is incumbent upon the annexation of the occupied African coastal areas to ensure the establishment of a governing power sufficient to protect the existing rights and interests. ”

This criterion is, of course, vague enough, to be explained in the vernacular: first, if you occupy this place, inform the nations that it is mine; Second, if you want to grab a certain piece of land with others, then you must establish enough ruling power, that is, you must have an absolute advantage over your competitors in this place, rather than in a diplomatic fight, and you can compete with each other's fists, of course, force of fire is not limited to this piece of land in Africa.

This is certainly a less clear guideline, but it is appropriate to use it in Africa now, because there are still 65 per cent of the land in Africa that no one occupies.

Ask for a monthly pass. (To be continued.) )