Chapter 199: The Problem of Popularizing the Law
It was another meeting on the subject of the indemnity payment, and although the participants did not show impatience, most of them had lost interest in speaking.
France's stubbornness is beyond imagination, and because of their procrastination, the South German question has not yet been discussed.
The whole venue was silent, and only the deputies of the legal popularization meeting quarreled from time to time.
Russian delegate Gorchakov looked at the lifeless chamber with no expression on his face.
The tsar's order was to try to maintain the balance in Europe on the premise of giving priority to the interests of Russia.
As long as the general direction is good, it is beneficial and harmless to delay it for a while.
After all, it is not Russia that continues to bleed, and it is rare to see good things that weaken several neighboring countries at the same time.
Russia can sit still, someone can't.
At the end of Prussia's speech, the British representative, Granville, took a deep breath and tapped on the document in his hand.
At this time, there were not many people sitting in the conference hall, and they were very close to each other.
The principle of the meeting is to speak freely, as long as you don't interrupt others.
Therefore, the slightest change in Granville immediately attracted the attention of the entire venue.
Britain had spoken a lot in the previous week, and on the whole had played the role of a peacemaker.
After the failure to urge Franco-Prussian to make an unconditional peace, the British turned to support Prussia's demands, but the attitude was not too tough to make the French less flattering them.
This time, however, Granville looked serious and made their position clear:
"France has lost and deserves to pay reparations to Prussia, and 400 million francs is not excessive.
If the Franco-Prussian War dragged on, Britain might send troops to ensure that the war was carried out under control in order to avoid innocent casualties. ”
After saying this, Granville looked around, and no one dared to refute it.
Apparently, Britain has lost patience.
The continuation of the war had only two outcomes: the birth of a continental European hegemon among the belligerents, and the severe weakening of all sides, thus losing the ability to stop Russia's westward advance.
Neither is what Britain wants to see.
Britain had more than 200,000 troops on the British mainland, and a landing would be enough to upset the balance of power in Prussia.
And it was not a matter of much effort to lift the French blockade of Prussia as long as Britain wanted to.
The representative of France opened his mouth several times, but no sound was raised.
The words are light, and they appear weak; Speaking of which, what if Britain really makes a move?
Seeing the silence in the room, Gorchakov knew that it was time for him to speak, he paused and decided to push the boat down the river and kick France again.
"Russia supports the Prussian proposal, 400 million francs is not much."
Gorchakov made no threats, but this was the first time that Russia had made such a clearly biased view.
There was no way, the Russians had no ill feelings towards France, but they were mediating the war by joining the Prussian side, and they could not backstab their potential allies.
With the two great powers of Britain and Russia on the side, France was once again pushed to the edge of the precipice......
……
At this time, Robert and others had already arrived in Seville by train under the arrangement of the government.
It was their first time on the train, and everyone seemed a little excited.
Upon arriving at the location, Robert learned that the 2000 colonists would not be on a single ship, but would set off on seven transport ships three days apart.
They themselves are in the fourth batch.
Here, the colonists finally received the loans and settling-in money they had been waiting for.
After some discussion, the vast majority of the 2000 colonists did not choose to send the money home, after all, this is life-saving money, and one more bullet is a little more chance of survival.
The same is true of Robert, who and his family were separated during the Neapolitan Civil War, and could not send it if they wanted to.
Although Kasapa and the others had the intention to send some money back, they saw that their teammates did not do so, and they were worried that they were dragging down the team, so they simply gritted their teeth and replaced them all.
Everyone's money was given to Robert for unified use, and a huge sum of 3,800 pesetas was raised.
However, military supplies were quite expensive, and this money was only exchanged for 250 rounds of ammunition and 8 scimitars.
In addition, a shot of morphine analgesics, a military watch, and a compass were purchased on the recommendation of the salesperson.
"It's too dark, I was going to buy some canned food," Ricardo complained as he walked out ......of the exchange.
"It's already cheap......," Robert sighed, he had inquired beforehand, and it was not an exaggeration to say that the price was half sold and half given.
However, dry food is indeed indispensable, and he also resisted to change 10 rounds less, saving 90 pesetas.
"I still have some money on me, and I can't eat canned food, but I can still buy some pastry."
While waiting to board the ship, Robert discovers that the colonists are not the only ones leaving the port.
A group of well-dressed young men who looked like nobles were boarding from the berth next to them, followed by a large number of retinues.
"This is ...... point in time," Robert thought.
After inquiring, the news he received confirmed his thoughts, those people were the officials of the Colonial Department, and this time they would go with them to St. Isabel!
Robert felt that a big stone had fallen to the ground in his heart, since so many dignitaries would go, it must not be a Longtan tiger's den.
……
On the other hand, Alfonso was in a good mood.
Judging by the performance of this time, the Spanish people still maintained their enthusiasm for colonization.
In less than five days, more than 2,200 people were recruited.
More than 1,500 of them are men and more than 700 are women.
As long as they can guarantee a rifle to each person, there is no force in Central Africa that can oppose them.
The only thing left in front of the colonizers was the plague of the interior of Africa.
To this end, in addition to sending 50 medical staff, Alfonso also had 80 bottles of quinine water, 30 injections of morphine, some ether and sterilized gauze delivered on board...... At the same time, the use of phlebotomy was strictly prohibited.
There is only so much he can do, there are too many plagues and mosquitoes in Africa, and it is impossible to prevent them all, so he can only do his best.
As for the negotiations in St. Petersburg, Alfonso received information four days ago.
The stalemate in the popularization of law was expected by him, and Spain also said a few words for France, but unfortunately it did not have any effect on people's small words.
In addition to the St. Petersburg negotiations, if there is anything else worth paying attention to in the international community, that is, the Japanese delegation has concluded its visit to Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and is currently stationed in Switzerland.
According to this route, they should then proceed in the order of Opdanri (canon) Russia, and possibly the Piedmontese kingdom in between.
But Iwakura had recently sent a letter saying that they would not go to Piedmont or Austria-Hungary on their next trip, but to Rome, and invited Alfonso to send someone to meet them.
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