February 1889

After successive defeats in the war, Peruvian President Mariano Ignacio Prado stepped down amid a surging domestic opposition, and opposition leader Petrola came to power and regrouped his forces to resist Chile.

President Petrola faced a very serious situation, as the alliance between Peru and Poland lost Antofagasta, Tarapaca, Arica, Tacna, etc., which are the main producing areas of saltpeter and guano.

The Peruvian navy has almost run out of arms, while its ally Bolivia has also been battered and bruised, and is now cowering at home licking its wounds, barely able to fight again.

The pressure was all on Peru, and under the hypocritical mediation of Britain, Chile also made harsh terms for peace talks.

Chile demanded

Peru, the defeated country, ceded the provinces of Antofagasta and Tarapaca to Chile, and handed over the provinces of Arica and Tacna to Chile for 10 years as a strategic buffer zone.

Bolivia's losses were even greater, as Chile demanded that the entire occupied Pacific coast be ceded to Chile.

Prior to this, Bolivia had a large coastline.

If all these coastlines are lost, Bolivia will become a landlocked country, and Peru and Bolivia will be severely weakened by the cession of large tracts of land.

With the choice between life and death in front of us, how to deal with it?

At this time

President Petrola thought of the Tang Empire and finally had a backbone, so he secretly traveled north by train in early February and arrived at the imperial capital Chang'an one day in March.

Inside the Daming Palace

"What...... Isn't this nonsense? Hearing that Peruvian President Petrola actually knelt outside the Danfengmen Palace with several cabinet dignitaries, Emperor Richard's expression at this moment could be described as shocked and angry, and he couldn't help but reprimand.

Zheng Yuan, the head of the royal secretariat who came early in the morning, had a bitter face, and had to bite the bullet and say;

"Your Majesty, it happened too suddenly.

President Petrola and his entourage arrived in Chang'an City, the imperial capital, yesterday evening, and were arranged to stay at the Longshouyuan State Guesthouse.

As soon as it was dawn early this morning, President Petrola announced that he had urgent business and would immediately go to Cheongundae. Three vehicles were urgently transferred for its use, as well as two guard cars, one in front and one in the rear.

As soon as the motorcade reached Danfengmen, President Petrola forcibly asked to stop and opened the door, and the driver had to stop in a desperate situation to avoid causing an accident.

President Petrola and his entourage immediately ran in the direction of the palace gate, and after being stopped by our royal guards, they knelt directly outside the palace gate......"

"Hmph, a bunch of rice buckets." Emperor Richard couldn't help but curse, and after walking two steps with his hands behind his back, he suddenly stopped and asked; "Check it out for me immediately, who did President Petrola and his entourage see and say before and after they arrived in the imperial capital Chang'an yesterday? Did anyone give him a bad idea? Did anyone deliberately approach the Peruvian delegation? Go check it out for me. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Director Zheng Yuan didn't dare to slack off, took two steps back and then stopped, and asked with a little hesitation; "Your Majesty, the President of Peru and his entourage ......"

"What else is there to hesitate about, is it nice for the president of a country to kneel outside the palace gate? Immediately summoned into the palace, the news must be blocked from the outside world, and the news must not be leaked within at least half a month, otherwise the law of the country will be ruthless. ”

"Wechen obeys the holy order." Director Zheng Yuan was taken aback by His Majesty the Emperor's sternness, and immediately trotted to convey the holy decree.

Watching Director Zheng Yuan leave, Emperor Richard's anger calmed down a little.

You don't have to think about it to know that President Petrola of Peru is indeed a ruthless person if he can do this.

This person knew that this trip to Chang'an would not go well, and that the imperial government probably had no right to change its policy of neutrality in the Pacific War in South America.

The one who really has the right to speak has to be His Majesty the Emperor.

If His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Empire is unwilling to intervene, he will hesitate for a month or two in Chang'an, the imperial capital, and there may be no chance to enter the palace to meet him, and nothing can be solved.

What annoyed Emperor Richard was;

Did someone point out the trick or lead Petrola to knock at the door of the palace?

The nature of this matter is too bad, and it has been 43 years since the founding of the Tang Empire, and there has never been a palace door knocking incident. Moreover, it is a foreign president who leads political dignitaries to force the palace, and if it is not done well, it will become a major international incident.

Now the history of the whole of America has gone astray, and there is no historical experience to follow, so we can only take one step at a time.

He thought for a moment, and then walked to the side hall.

The walls here are hung with beautiful large-scale hand-drawn oil paintings of the world map, written by the famous French painter Paul Cézanne, which are about three meters high and occupy almost half of the walls of the side hall.

The huge oil painting, which is more than three meters high and more than six meters long, is about 200 square feet, accurately depicting the geographical overview of the world and the distribution of countries, and the mountains and rivers are all over it.

As a master of the famous European school of modern art, Paul Cézanne wasted no time in adding some artistic elements to the corners and blanks of this painting.

For example, the upper end of the oil painting has more than a dozen angels flying on the left and right sides, and the upper end of the province of Alaska depicts an exquisite imperial coat of arms, carried by three cherubs.

At the location of Grand Falls, Montana, the famous bison image appears, and the cross-shotgun drinking beer mug representing the hunt, which symbolizes the celebratory "bison carnival".

There are many kinds of embellishments like this.

Don't look at Paul Cézanne is a palace-level figure in the current French art school, but he is just one of the ordinary painters in the Tang court, and he has a lot of world-class painters of his level.

Paul Cézanne has been painting the palaces and castles of the Tang Dynasty for more than 13 years, leaving behind countless exquisite paintings that can be called classics.

It was only in recent years that Paul Cézanne returned to Paris, France, with a great deal of wealth, to hold an exhibition, and for a time he became famous, gaining great prestige in high society and in the European art world.

Instead of admiring a writer's painting, Emperor Richard set his eyes on the "Atacama Desert" at its core, contemplating his next move.

It is the border between Peru, Bolivia and Chile, and borders the two northwestern provinces of the empire in South America, with a total area of 181,300 square kilometers.

This vast desert area that does not rain all year round is known as the "dry pole" of the earth, and the moisture content in the air is only 1/6 of that of the Sahara Desert, but it contains the world's only huge natural saltpeter deposit.

Now

After three years of war, Chile basically controlled more than ninety percent of the Atacama desert region, expelling Peruvian and Bolivian powers.

This area was also one of the main battlefields of the Pacific War in South America.

The other main battlefield is in the coastal port area of Peru, where the Chilean fleet now has the upper hand, basically eliminating the main force of the Peruvian navy and blockading the coastline of the region.

Emperor Richard wasn't thinking about who would win and who would lose in the three South American countries? Nor is it a question of how to help Peru turn the tide of the war? Not to mention the guano and natural saltpeter deposits that the three countries fought for.

These precious resources, which allowed the three South American countries to break their heads, were not worth mentioning at all in the eyes of Emperor Richard, and they were not even interesting.

Peru is able to earn a huge amount of 20 million Tang Yuan a year by exporting guano, accounting for more than 60% of the country's total.

Is 20 million Tang Yuan too much?

The first phase of the war loan lent by the Tang Empire to Peru totaled 160 million Tang Yuan, with an agreed interest rate of 7.2% and a loan period of 15 years, in addition to the collateral.

The total principal and interest for 15 years is 262 million Tang Yuan, and the loan principal and interest are repaid 17.47 million Tang Yuan every year for 15 years.

This is equivalent to standing still and earning money, is there anything more profitable, easier, and faster than financial loans?

Especially in this era of no inflation, the Tang Empire has locked in the vast majority of Peru's profits from the sale of guano in the next 15 years, which can be faster than the war money.

In 1888, the GDP of the Tang Empire was as high as 17.96 billion Tang Yuan, with a population of 133 million and an average of 135 Tang Yuan per person.

Given the sheer size of the empire, would it be worth seeing a mere 20 million Tang Yuan per year in guano income?

The answer is no.

Regardless of who won or lost on both sides of the Pacific War in South America, Datang and Britain were the final victors because they both got what they wanted.

Britain succeeded in propping up a pro-British home on the Pacific coast, which was tantamount to digging a nail in the heart of the enemy and perfecting the global layout.

Putting aside whether it is useful or not, at least it will make the Tang Empire uncomfortable for a while.

The financial group to which the Tang Empire belonged, in the Pacific War in South America, issued a total of 360 million Tang Yuan war loans to both sides of the war, with a loan term of about 15~20 years.

It is expected to generate loan interest of 340 million ~ 350 million Tang Yuan, and the total loan principal and interest will exceed 700 million Tang Yuan.

In the next few decades, the three countries of South America will work hard for the Tang Empire to earn profits until the money is paid off.

What should I do if I can't repay the loan?

Quite simply, a large amount of land with a mortgage, or a cede of territory, or use mineral resources to offset the account, anyway, you have to pay back the money if you are tired.

If it really defaults on the debt, the Tang Empire has enough excuses to send troops to conquer it, completely destroy it, and justifiably return the territory to the imperial territory.

Seven or eight meters away from the huge oil map, Emperor Richard crossed his hands and stopped on the map for a long time, especially the long yam-like terrain of Chile.

The Tang Empire almost monopolized the entire Pacific coast from south to north, only in this section of South America, Chile occupied more than 2,351 kilometers of coastline, and blocked the 642-kilometer-long Pacific coastline belonging to Peru and Bolivia, totaling 2,993 kilometers.

Peru has 1,544 square kilometers of Pacific coastline (Note; Originally 2,254 kilometers of Pacific coastline, the north ceded to the Tang Empire two provinces to occupy 372 kilometers of coastline, the south was occupied by Chile 338 kilometers of coastline), Bolivia is 1 kilometer away, completely landlocked.

In the current state of war, Bolivia has lost all the coastal provinces, Peru has lost the coastal provinces of Antofagasta and Tarapacá, and Arica and Tacna have lost the desert provinces, all of which are occupied by Chilean troops.

The situation is clear, Chile has an absolute advantage, and a final victory is not far off.

If the Tang Empire does not intervene, Peru and Bolivia will definitely be defeated.

Emperor Richard had already anticipated it;

Peruvian President Petrola came to the Tang Empire for two main purposes, the first purpose was to raise the second phase of additional war loans, gritting his teeth and fighting the Chileans, swearing to the death.

The second purpose is to seek the support of the Tang Empire, and only in this way can Peru have the confidence to fight the Chileans to the end.

If the Tang Empire does not support it, then there is no need to borrow the second phase of the additional war loan, and it is enough to admit defeat directly.

In the case that the Tang Empire does not change its neutrality policy, there are three options;

1st option;

At the request of Peru and Bolivia, one of the parties to the war, the U.S. alliance dispatched peacekeeping troops to isolate the two sides, giving them a chance to regroup their armies and fight again after recovering their blood.

The reason is that these three countries are all members of the U.S. alliance, and to avoid the spread of war and the devastation of human lives, causing a more serious humanitarian catastrophe, will once again activate the regional dispute mechanism.

Other words; Convening of a peace mediation conference in Panama.

2nd option;

Acquiescing to Paraguay's entry into the war, Paraguay, as a landlocked country, had long hoped for an outlet to the sea in the Pacific or Atlantic.

Provided that Peru and Bolivia agree to the transfer of the two coastal provinces belonging to Chile to Paraguay after victory, and to provide Paraguay with easy access to the Pacific Ocean through an appropriate territorial exchange programme.

There is little doubt that Paraguay will definitely go to war.

Paraguay is known as the "Prussia of South America", although the country is not large, but the military ability is very strong, once independently resisted the Brazilian Empire, Argentina and Uruguay three countries of siege, the military power is definitely much stronger than Chile.

Join such a powerful ally, and it is not a problem to reverse the victory.

3rd option;

It is to acquiesce in the large-scale recruitment of Chinese armed cavalry from the former Viceroyalty of Antis in Chile and Bolivia, which have strong combat effectiveness and have a border with Chile that is more than 2,700 kilometers long.

If it were to cross the border, Chile would be in full flames and would almost be a mess.

Without strong logistical support, the outcome of the war is entirely conceivable.

Therefore, the first purpose is closely related to the second purpose, and this is the real intention of President Petrora's willingness to "knock at the palace gate".

Seeing that the country is about to die, what do you want to do with face?

"Your Majesty;

President Petrola of Peru and his entourage are already waiting outside the Palace of Qinzheng and ask Your Majesty to make it clear. ”

"Biography, set up the palace of diligence."

"Set up the palace of diligence, and Weichen will obey the holy decree."

Emperor Richard took one last look at the map of Chile like a yam stick, and he had a plan in mind;

Since it was delivered to the door, if you don't eat it for nothing, you don't eat it, anyway, the yam nourishes the stomach and the skin, which is indeed a good thing.

Chile has the world's most abundant copper resources, accounting for 32% of the world's total copper reserves, and the Tang Empire accounts for 17% of the world's total copper reserves.

Combined, they account for 49% of the world's total copper reserves, which is an astonishing proportion.

In terms of value, it is worth at least 10 trillion Tang Yuan.

Only such a big fat meat, when it is brought to the mouth, is worthy of the empire to take a bite, so as not to blind the good things.

The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty!

(End of chapter)