The enthronement ceremony of Edward VII was huge, and dignitaries and monarchs from all over the world witnessed the enthronement of the new monarch of the British Empire. However, after the excitement passed, it gradually subsided.

Of course, there are two main areas of concern at the moment, one is South Africa and the other is the Far East.

In South Africa, although the British Empire declared the war over. However, it is clear that they certainly did not ask the opinion of the Boers, the other side of the war.

After the President of the Transvaal Republic, Kruger, went to Europe for help, the Boers did not obediently lay down their arms. These free-spirited cowboys continued to find trouble for the British in South Africa, and they continued to harass the British Empire in the form of guerrilla warfare.

The Boer guerrillas, under the leadership of De Witt, De La Rey, Botha, Jan Smortz, and James Herzog, used their strength in field cavalry to attack the British lines of communication, plunder the British army's supplies, and annihilate small British troops.

The more than 40,000 British troops stationed in the two newly seized territories were very troubled by these guerrillas, which were basically composed of locals.

They are like fleas, and they can't catch these guerrillas at all. The British army, which was furious by these guerrillas, was not without any means. The British army, a veteran bandit, ruthlessly adopted the means of the next attack. Since I can't catch the guerrillas, then catch the local Boers. As long as these Boers are caught, these guerrillas will become rootless.

As a result, the local Boers fell into blood mold, and in the face of the capture of the British soldiers, the local Boers also suffered a bloody disaster, and all the captured Boers were put into the concentration camp for management. These Boers, who were left with only old and weak women and children, also suffered great losses when their livestock were looted and kept in a centralized manner. According to later statistics, the Boers who were imprisoned in the camps had a 47% chance of surviving, and what could the Boers do if they lacked medical care and food?

And the British Empire's persecution policy towards the Boers was soon reported. Hundreds of thousands of people in the two Boer republics, it is simply impossible to cover up. The atrocities committed by the British against the Boers soon attracted condemnation from the people of various European countries. Many media outlets referred to the British Empire's treatment of the Boers as acts of genocide.

And the condemnation of the people in various European countries put the British Empire under very great pressure.

Of course, if it was only the condemnation of the people of various European countries, the British Empire would still be able to withstand it. Since the British Empire became an empire on which the sun never sets, the discontent of various countries has not been experienced, and it is good to get used to it.

It's just that in addition to the condemnation of the people of various countries, those Boers who fight guerrillas with weapons will not only denounce.

From December 1900 to April 1901, the Boer partisans fought deep into the British Cape colony under the command of Botha and Deweit. They launched a number of sneak attacks and repeatedly succeeded, capturing large quantities of arms, provisions, and artillery.

In response to the state of fire in the rear, the British troops, in addition to continuing to gather troops from the colonies, also recalled parts of the British troops stationed on Boer land in an attempt to eliminate them there.

After seeing the return of a large number of British troops, these Boer partisans returned to the lands of the former two republics and continued to launch various attacks.

It is obvious that the Boer guerrillas are scurrying around the British colonies, fighting in the east and west, so that the British army, which has an absolute superiority in numbers, is tired of coping.

The tragic appearance of the British army has led to ridicule from various countries, and of course, in addition to ridicule, the military of various countries is also considering countermeasures for this kind of modern guerrilla warfare.

But in any case, this does not affect the truth of the jokes of the British Empire.

Of course, in addition to watching the jokes of the British, everyone also talked about the Far East.

First of all, regarding the Xinchou Treaty of the peace outline, the empress dowager who wanted to return to Beijing as soon as possible, and also to appease the anger of the countries, agreed to the conditions unanimously put forward by all countries.

Whoever sends someone to Germany and Japan to apologize, and sends a prince envoy to send a prince's envoy. The conditions of stationing troops to guard embassies and demarcating embassy areas, leveling the Dagu Fort, and leaving troops from various countries to garrison the Beijing division to the seashore were all agreed.

And after agreeing to these conditions, the next step is the most important issue of compensation. 450 million taels of silver is the total amount, which is unanimously decided by various countries. However, in addition to this total amount, the competition for a share of the reparations is equally fierce.

Maozi, who was rude and ugly, took the lead in proposing to ask for compensation of 130 million taels of silver. Immediately afterwards, Germany, which suffered the most damage this time, also demanded compensation of 400 million marks. Then there was France, which also demanded more than 70 million taels in reparations. Moreover, the three countries also demanded that the reparations be paid in cash in a lump sum, which was immediately unanimously opposed by other countries.

Because other countries have a lot of interests in China, they do not want to see this kind of move of drying up and fishing.

Therefore, in response to the practice of the lions of the three countries opening their mouths, all countries jointly put pressure. After some ridiculous discussions, they finally reached a consensus on the issue of compensation.

First of all, Russia, which had the largest share of indemnities, had to take into account the withdrawal of Russian troops in the northeast, and after the Russians agreed to withdraw their troops, its indemnity of 130 million taels of silver was not reduced.

In addition to Russia, Germany, which suffered the most this time (after all, a minister died), received a share of 90 million taels of silver. (275 million marks) followed by the French demand, and under the unanimous pressure of the countries, 60 million taels of silver were obtained. The British Empire, which had worked hard, received a compensation of 50 million taels of silver. Then there were the hard-working Japanese, who also received 30 million taels of silver. As for the United States, which is far away in North America, it received 14 million taels of silver. Then there are Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and other countries, a total of about 20 million taels.

As for Italy, it also received 56 million taels from the indemnity.

However, the compensation of 450 million taels of silver, it is impossible for the Manchu Qing Dynasty to come up with it in one go. Therefore, for this compensation, it can only be paid in installments. The countries unanimously decided that the indemnity should be repaid over a period of 35 years, at the rate of 4.5% per annum, and that the settlement would be based on the exchange rate of the currencies of each country. The repayment of principal and interest is scheduled to be handled in Shanghai, and the total principal and interest of the compensation is 1.02 billion taels.

Looking at the indemnity list in his hand, Carlo couldn't calm down for a long time. This is a realistic example of backwardness and beating, because in order to pay reparations, the Qing government can only increase taxes. As a result, the field endowment, Ding Cao, grain donation, deed tax, pawn tax, salt price increase, customs duty, centi, unified tax and various harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes continue to increase. This, coupled with the fact that the repayment of the reparation, also led to a drop in the price of silver, which exacerbated its expenses. And this indemnity, which in essence hastened the demise of the Qing State.

That being the case, there are some things that need to be prepared in advance.

"Bakona, ready to make a statement that our country is ready to spend half of the annual reparations on education in the Far East. We are going to build a modern school in the Far East, and the remainder will be used as a fund for keeping an eye on learning. ”

That's right, Carlo is going to learn from the advanced experience of the United States, and give priority to cultivating a group of attentive students. These aspiring young people who come to Italy to study will be full of feelings for Italy. It may not be visible in the past year or two, but what about a long time?

At that time, Italy will still be able to guarantee its influence in the Far East.