Mid-April 1868 peak

After the repair, the shogunate army rushed violently to the territories of the powerful feudal domains in the southwest, intending to pull out Satsuma, Choshu, Hizen, and Tosa in one fell swoop, and wipe out the base camp of the anti-shogunate.

The powerful feudal clans in the southwest were not soft persimmons, and they mobilized the whole people in the face of the opportunity of life and death, and vowed to fight the shogunate army to the end with the weapons and equipment of the British emergency support, and the unprecedented and tragic tug-of-war stage of the Fuso Civil War began......

During the South American War

From June to August 1868, the coalition forces mainly drove the subordinate servant troops to confront the Imperial Brazilian Army, supplemented by sharp artillery fire, patiently depleting the strength of the Brazilian Empire.

In addition to the garrisons in Paraguay and Uruguay, of the total strength of the 77,000 troops on the coalition side, 48,000 are the servant troops alone, which is the absolute main force.

In addition to more than 26,000 Chinese volunteer militia divisions and Uruguay, Paraguay and Paraguay have a total of more than 4,230 troops, relying on such military strength, to launch this year's winter operation.

The Andean Viceroyalty had long been well prepared for the war against the Brazilian Empire, and it did not pursue a quick victory on the battlefield, and it was unlikely that the Brazilian Empire would be so large in size and population. Top

The Andean Viceroyalty responded with the "onion peeling strategy";

That is, to deplete the strength of the Brazilian Empire through continuous military strikes, to undermine the prestige of the López II dynasty, to provoke the sharp contradictions that already existed in Brazil, and to strip away the power of the Portuguese upper class and white manor lords who maintained its rule layer by layer, and win the final victory.

The Andean Viceroyalty had long been aware of the large war loans borrowed by the Brazilian Empire in Europe, especially in France. This move is tantamount to quenching thirst by drinking a donkey, and will inevitably exacerbate its domestic contradictions.

The more you borrow, the greater the risk of accumulation.

For a country whose economic base is entirely agrarian, borrowing money is cool for a while, but repayment is far away.

France's loan sharks are not a good match, and even if Brazil is able to survive the current difficulties, the accumulated debt repayment pressure after the war is likely to lead to the collapse of the Brazilian Empire.

On the battlefield

After several months of attrition, the number of troops on the coalition side increased rather than decreased, and by August it was close to 100,000, mainly from captured Brazilians.

As the winter wheat harvest approached, the coalition forces withdrew again.

The coalition forces abandoned the province of Mato Grosso do Sul, which had been occupied for half a year, and withdrew most of their forces to the fortified defense of the province of Paraná, which is located in the east of Paraguay, north of Uruguay, close to the Atlantic Ocean, and has a good supply capacity in Port Cedio, which is most important to the coalition side.

A large number of grains and agricultural and animal husbandry products from the southern livestock production areas of the Andean Governor's Palace can easily arrive at the port of Cedio by sea, and supplement the grain and grass needed by the expeditionary army nearby, which greatly saves manpower and material resources and is conducive to long-term perseverance.

After several months of bloody attrition, the 340,000 troops of the Brazilian Empire were sharply reduced by nearly one-third, and its weak logistics force could not support a large-scale counteroffensive.

This stage

The Royal Army did not send additional troops to South America, but the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire performed more brilliantly, based on the port of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, the steam ironclad fleet composed of the "Storm", "Mountain Wind", "Storm", and "Cold Wind" ironclad cruisers frequently attacked, destroying and capturing 63 Brazilian combat ships and more than 110 cargo ships. Top

Through effective warfare, the remaining naval forces of the Brazilian Empire in the Paraná River, the Paraguay River and the inland lake area were basically cleared, and the inland trade routes were opened and controlled.

Besides

The Royal Navy formed a steam ironclad battle formation to actively seek out ports along the coast of Brazil, and Brazilian warships and sail merchant ships attacked them, blocking the sea transportation of their important cities.

The fleet traveled north to the waters around Rio de Janeiro and shelled the port of Rio de Janeiro, causing unprecedented panic in the South American metropolis.

With the strength of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, bullying the Brazilian Empire is really a three-fingered snail...... Steadfast.

Early September

With the "Tempest", "Vicious Wind", "Bitter Wind", and "Tempest", more than 10 1,400-ton steam-armored frigates arrived at Port Cedio, further strengthening the strangulation of the imperial Brazilian sea transport lines. It is entirely foreseeable that Brazilians will have an even more stretched hard time. Top

End of 1868

The international event that shocked the whole world was the opening of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1868, after more than ten years of painstaking construction, and this major project that can go down in history cost 18.6 million pounds, more than double the original budget.

Since then

The long voyage from Europe to Asia has been shortened by more than 10,000 kilometers, and the official opening of the Suez Canal will greatly promote trade and economic ties between Eurasia, and will also facilitate the colonization of the Indian subcontinent and the Indochina Peninsula by European powers.

The British were unprofitable, and after the opening of the Suez Canal, London quickly realized the strategic importance of this sea choke point, and began to fight for control of the canal.

Britain had originally planned to build a railway, but the plan was stillborn.

France held 52% of the Suez Canal Company, and the Tang Empire, during Emperor Richard's visit to France, expressed to Napoleon III its willingness to take a stake in the canal company, which was met with a warm response from the French. Top

At that time, the Suez Canal Company was in a huge financial crisis due to serious overspending on the project budget, and the French Parliament was seriously divided on the use of financial funds to subsidize the Suez Canal Company, and the opposition was the majority, and it was urgent to bring in a powerful investor.

The two sides hit it off

Under the guidance of France, the Tang Empire bought a 44% stake in Egypt at a low price of 4.2 million pounds, and then injected 2.8 million pounds into the canal company in the form of loans, which greatly alleviated the financial crisis of the Suez Canal Company and contributed to the successful completion of this century project.

Other words

France and Tang alone held 96 percent of the shares of the Suez Canal Company, and the British had to grab food from these two companies if they wanted to cut a lever into the air.

At the end of 1868, the international diplomatic situation revolved around Britain, France, and Tang Dynasty......

Peak December 21, 1868

The three countries held a closed-door meeting in Paris, and the talks lasted for three days and finally broke up, and the focus of the disagreement was not illegal, and Tang and Tang were unwilling to sell their shares, but Britain wanted to take advantage but was unwilling to pay for it, and once again resorted to the trick of exchanging interests.

France and Tang are both colonial powers in the world, and there are a wide range of geopolitical interests in the world, such as maintaining the basic policy demand of "America is the Americas of the Americans", maintaining the stability of the transatlantic trade route, maintaining the stability of the situation in Northeast Asia, and maintaining the preferential tax access of the Tang Empire to the pound sterling trade circle, etc., all belong to the category of geostrategic interests.

The same was true of the French Empire, at least the colonization of Indochina required the cooperation of the British, and it was inevitable that French merchant ships and warships traveling to and from Eurasia would always have to be supplied in the British colonial ports.

The problem is that the British are too good at calculating, and France and Tang are also tempered as world powers, and they don't accept this at all.

If you want to get the shares of the Suez Canal, there is no problem, France and Tang can sell part of their rights, but they must pay for it with real pounds sterling.

After private communication between France and Tang, a unified position against the British was determined;

That is, based on the project cost of 18.6 million pounds, the premium is not less than 50% of each of the shares transferred, and finally ensure that the French Empire occupies the largest shareholder, and the Tang Empire occupies the position of the second largest shareholder. Top

Let's be honest

Even if the premium of 5 percent is a loss, the French have worked the Suez project for 10 years, and more than 120,000 Egyptian laborers have died.

At this time, Britain has inserted a lever, can France not be aggrieved?

But after thinking about it, both France and Tang had to make concessions.

First, because Britain has occupied Egypt by force and has the ability to send troops to the Suez Canal Zone at any time, it will directly grab it if it can't get something at the negotiating table!

The moral bottom line of the Anglo-Saxons must not be overestimated, and it could not be clearer that the French and the British have been in love with each other for hundreds of years.

The British started as pirates, and when they were inferior in strength, they robbed Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch cargo ships on a large scale, and even shamelessly issued "permits to plunder", openly supporting this piracy that trampled on the bottom line of morality. Top

The seizure of the Suez Canal by force was not a moral burden to Britain at all.

The second and most important point.

That is, if you want to make a profit after the official opening of the Suez Canal, you can't leave the British.

as everyone knows

Nowadays, the world's largest shipping power is the Tang Empire, the main routes are in the transatlantic route and the Pacific route, the fleet dominated by steam freighters occupies almost seventy percent of the Atlantic route, and the regular freighter flights are all over the European countries, which is an out-and-out maritime power.

The second largest shipping country in the world is the British Empire, and its main shipping route is the Eurasian route, that is, from the Mediterranean Sea to the south into the Atlantic, along the African coastline all the way south to Johannesburg, South Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean, and finally to the Indian subcontinent, the British Channel Governor's Office or East Asia.

There are more than a dozen British colonies scattered along this Eurasian route, and the huge number of warships and cargo ships that come and go each year is not one of the largest possible customers of the Suez Canal in the future. Top

The number of cargo ships in the Tang Empire on this route is extremely small and can be completely ignored.

When a British merchant ship or warship passes through the Suez Canal, he does not pay the money, and he is arrogant and uncooperative, what can you do with him?

Because of this

After thinking about it, France and Tang had to pinch their noses and agree to the British's sideways, but it is definitely not possible to exchange interests, and they must buy them with pounds.

The imperial capital is Chang'an

Emperor Richard looked at the minutes of the closed-door meeting of the three countries in Paris a few days ago, and couldn't help but laugh out loud, and then shook his head helplessly and said; "Liu Aiqing, I see that none of the things you have agreed on will work, and the British are the ones who take advantage of it.

Since you have set your sights on the Suez Canal, how can you be willing to be a minority shareholder with little voice? Top

The temper of the British is that even if they occupy 1% of the shares, the tone of their speech must be as strong and arrogant as that of the controlling shareholder, and if they fail to achieve their goal, they will tear up the cooperation agreement and simply turn the table.

As for the premium of 50%, that is an empty talk.

If the British negotiators returned to London with the minutes of the meeting, the British parliamentarians, who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic, would be able to overturn the sky and smoothly pass the resolution to send troops to the Suez Canal, which would be tantamount to asking for trouble.

The hooliganism in London has always been like this, how can the French remember to eat and not remember? ”