After the Battle of Saint-Malo, the relevant Tang, France, and German countries did not publicize the incident, but remained silent with great tacit understanding, as if it had never happened.

The only change

That is, the German garrison in Saint-Malo has increased to the strength of a regiment, the port guard has also increased to more than 1,000 people, and the local French militia training is organized on a daily basis, which is quite like that.

As for smuggling, ahem...... That's getting rampant!

Now taking advantage of the opportunity of the German garrison, it is clear that there is no need to look ahead and backward since it has been done, and if you miss this time period, you will never have a chance again, and the wealth is moving!

This incident should have been buried deep in history and gradually forgotten by the world.

Who knew that in the "Times" published on June 14, 1871, the Battle of Saint-Malo was reported from beginning to end, and the number of large-scale smuggling and the past and present of several contradictions were attached, and the explanation was very clear in thousands of words.

It's worthy of you, the Brit who is used to stirring up trouble and can make the fish in the fish pond fight!

The imperial capital is Chang'an

Daming Palace

Emperor Richard put down the "World Summary" in his hand with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and his careful thoughts about the British were like a palm in the hand, and he couldn't be clearer.

As long as there is the slightest opportunity, the British will plant thorns in the relationship between Tang and France.

The purpose is not to create a gap between the two countries now, but to lay the groundwork when there is an opportunity to get their hands on each other in the future, which is a very British conspiracy.

It's just that the French are very fond of this and have been fooled repeatedly.

France is located in south-central Europe, bordering Italy, and has a romantic, passionate and unrestrained personality, and its intrigue is obviously no match for the British.

But in front of Datang, this is pediatrics.

The Chinese nation, which has thousands of years of historical heritage, has a profound heritage, and there are too many strategies to see.

Although the Tang Dynasty rose in North America, it did not break the root of cultural inheritance, but inherited the profound cultural accumulation well, and deduced the strategic thinking and international code of conduct that belonged to the Tang Empire.

In the foreign policy of the Tang Empire, there is no such thing as "forbearance is the supremacy", but pursues the principle that "those who openly violate the Tang Empire will be punished even if they are thousands of miles away", and the foreign policy is domineering and domineering, trying to establish the core principle of putting ourselves first and the interests of the empire first.

With regard to the policy of the Americas, which involves core interests, it pursues the policy of "the Americas are the Americas of the Americans, the affairs of the Americas are determined by the Americans, and foreign interference is opposed".

When it comes to overseas policies outside the Americas, the Tang Empire is willing to unite allies with the same interests when it prioritizes its own interests.

This included the strong intervention of Britain, France, and the Netherlands in the Fuso Civil War in East Asia, resulting in the coexistence of the old shogunate forces and the reformists.

Two people who disagree live under the same roof, do they have different dreams in the same bed, do they live like years, do they want to get up and strangle each other? That's not something that the Tang Empire needs to think about.

In short, it looks pretty good, it's quite harmonious, and that's enough.

Picking up the jade cup on the table and taking a sip of tea, Emperor Richard picked up the "Summary of the World Situation" and continued to read it, gradually frowning deeply.

These are more than 10 years

Tsarist Russia's policy of eastward expansion became increasingly obvious, and after successively conquering several nomadic khanates in Central Asia, the greedy Tsarist Lao Maozi unsurprisingly extended his hand into Mongolia, Xinjiang and other regions of the Qing Dynasty, and made substantial armed invasions.

The latest step was the armed occupation of Ili and the surrounding area.

As early as the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), Tsarist Russia reached an informal agreement with the rebellious Agubo regime, agreeing not to interfere in each other's actions, giving each other the right to enter the country to hunt down fugitives, and to cooperate in weapons and materials to form an alliance against the Qing Dynasty.

Shortly thereafter

Tsarist Russia seized the two Karen lands west of the Khorgos River and took control of the Turks River valley in the upper reaches of the Ili River. They also continued to carry out armed provocations, killed and wounded many border residents, and openly robbed cattle, sheep and fields, and were very arrogant.

In July of the ninth year of Tongzhi, hundreds of Tsarist Russian troops occupied Muzart Mountain, choking the throat of Ili leading to southern Xinjiang, laying the foundation for the next invasion.

Tsarist Russia was a habitual offender and was adept at invasion and expansion.

In the genes of the Eastern Slavs, the strong expansion gene of Mongolia is deeply embedded, which is also an important reason why Tsarist Russia has always been unpopular with Europeans, and it is too greedy and excessive.

At the beginning of May of the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871), that is, more than a month ago.

Agubai invaded Xinjiang on a large scale, occupied Urumqi and invaded Turpan to the east, and fought with the Qing garrison one after another, and the situation in Xinjiang suddenly became tense for a while.

Taking advantage of the emptiness of the hinterland of the Agub Khanate, Tsarist Russia sent Golpakovsky to lead his troops to invade Ili under the pretext of stabilizing the border order.

On 17 May, the Russian army captured the nine cities of Ili and its vicinity, and immediately set up a division of officials, resettled and cultivated, and carried out colonial rule in the Ili region, which was tantamount to openly staying here and treating it as the territory of Tsarist Russia.

At the same time, the Russian army sent troops to expand in all directions, controlling the western part of the Junggar Basin, which stretched from Tacheng and Emin River in the north to Jinghe (present-day Jinghe) and Kurkha Lawusu (present-day Wusu) in the south, and infiltrated into other places on a large scale, causing the situation in Xinjiang to become even more chaotic.

"Huh! What should come will come. ”

Covering the scroll and sighing, Emperor Richard had no intention of looking at it anymore, and the more he looked at it, it would only make his mood worse.

He stood up, walked to the window on one side of the hall with his hands behind his back, and looked out;

At this time, it is the sunny summer of June, the flowers are in full bloom outside the window, the lush tall trees are like a cover, and the palaces with heavy eaves and arches are stacked on top of each other and cannot be seen at a glance, showing the royal magnificence.

Regarding the current situation in Xinjiang, the Tang Empire had arranged a backhand a few years ago.

Zuo Zongtang, who is now the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, has a strong army equipped with more than 160 Napoleonic field cannons.

Now, Zuo Zongtang is suppressing the rebellion, and he is still the usual ruthless "left shaved head" style, which has won the trust of the imperial court.

During the five-year suppression of the rebellion, Zuo Zongtang, then the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, always believed that "the Hui people are chaotic, and the sex is different from the people", and they must be "painfully cleansed", so his army often washed the Hui settlements with blood, "slaughtered countless people", and won the nickname of "Zuo Shaved Head".

Zuo Zongtang was also an important member of the "main battle faction" of the Qing court, and he disagreed with Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, who believed that "it is difficult to take care of the strength" and advocated "giving up the defense of the fortress and using the salary of the suspension and withdrawal as the salary of coastal defense." ”

Zuo Zongtang, on the other hand, vigorously rejected public opinion, pointing out that the northwest "withdraws the fence, then I will retreat an inch and advance a foot", and the imperial court's repeated weakness will lead to large-scale infiltration by Britain, Russia and other powers.

With such a humerus minister supporting the overall situation, Xinjiang is worry-free!

Stand by the window

Richard exhaled a long breath of turbidity, even in this dark period of the Chinese nation's century-old decline, there are still many pillars of talent who have stepped forward to safeguard the interests of the nation and the pattern of the great unification of China's territory, which is enough to gratify.

As a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang made considerable contributions to stabilizing the pattern of the late Qing Dynasty. But in the eyes of Emperor Richard, it is far from being able to be compared with Zuo Zongtang, because this person is more selfish and will ignore the national righteousness.

Li Hongzhang held that Xinjiang was not important, that the most important places in the Qing Dynasty were the Central Plains and the coastal areas, and that sending troops to recover the border areas would cost money, and that the gains in both war and defense would outweigh the losses, and that it was better to strengthen coastal defense.

One of the most important reasons is that the Beiyang Naval Division controlled by the Huai Army also needs huge capital investment.

It cannot be said that it is completely unreasonable, because in history, Zuo Zongtang spent 58 million taels of silver to recover Xinjiang in six years, of which more than 30 million were used in the hard battle to defeat the Agubai rebels. 28,000,000 taels of silver were used for military expenses to oust Tsarist Russia and defend Xinjiang.

The Beiyang Naval Division spent a total of more than 2,500 taels of silver before and after, and a Xinjiang Counter-Chaos War cost more than two Beiyang Naval Divisions.

If this money is used to build the navy, then the First Sino-Japanese Naval War ......

There are no ifs

The First Sino-Japanese Naval War was not lost in the armament of the ships, but in the ideology of the upper echelons of "avoiding war and protecting the ships".

Is there no money in the Great Qing Kingdom?

After Li Hongzhang died, his inheritance was more than 30 million taels of silver, and there were countless houses and fields, and the confiscation of his family property was enough to build two Beiyang sailors.

Empress Dowager Cixi's favored eunuch Li Lianying amassed three million taels of silver, how can she say that she has no money?

These big and small greed have made the big Qing Dynasty full of holes, the treasury is empty, all of them have fattened the private eunuchs, and they can't even take out the military expenses to recover the country, this is the real sadness!

Richard thought about it

I think I should fund a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty like Zuo Zongtang who advocated recovering the lost territory, and the method is also very simple.

It can export profits through multinational oil giants that export to the Qing Dynasty, and charter Zuo Zongtang's white-glove Hu Xueyan to act as an agent for the exclusive supply of kerosene in several provinces, including Shaanxi, Gansu, Hunan, and Hubei, and if necessary, add the two regions.

In this way, the income can be increased by about 2 million taels of silver per year.

This is a large amount of money accumulated over the past few years, which can greatly ease the tension in military spending and help the recovery of Xinjiang.

Don't worry about Zuo Zongtang's pattern, just a few million taels of silver will not make him lose his nature, it can be seen from the matter of "carrying the coffin into Xinjiang";

In order to recover Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang didn't even want his life, what did he want to do with all the money?

The right to the kerosene franchise is a sweet treat, and everyone knows that they can make a lot of money if they can get their hands on it, provided that they can keep it.

With the weight of the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu where Zuo Zongtang held the military power, and the prestige of "shaving his head left", there were not many people in the Qing Dynasty who could fight his idea.

According to the Compendium of the World Situation, prepared by the Royal Secretariat;

Tsarist Russia captured Ili and further intended to "recover" Urumqi on its behalf, which caused the Qing court to be highly vigilant, "ordered Jing Lian, Cheng Lu and other generals to lead the army to try to recover Urumqi and other places as soon as possible", "ordered Liu Mingchuan to lead the Huai army out of the pass", and also ordered Zuo Zongtang to "take care of everything".

Judging from the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu

Zuo Zongtang originally planned to pacify Hehuangma, Zhanao and other departments first, and then "single-mindedly point to the west", but the emergency situation in Ili and Urumqi made him determined to open up the road into Xinjiang ahead of schedule.

Now is the time to act in time, and it is best to take precautions.

The empire has a gentle push from behind when it can, and perhaps history is completely different.

Why did you let go of the large piece of land in the west of Alashankou and throw it to Lao Maozi?

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