"Pan Shilang, will our Qi Kingdom wipe out the Kingdom of England?"

On a southbound train, Qi Zexuan stood by the window, looking at the villages, fields, and meadows that were speeding by, and was silent for a long time, then suddenly turned his head and asked.

"Of course not." Pan Weixue, the left attendant of the Foreign Affairs Department, replied with a smile: "If the Kingdom of England is weakened too hard, it is not in line with our European strategic plan. ”

"Is it to prevent the Kingdom of France from taking advantage of the situation?"

"Your Highness's eyes are as wise as a torch!" Pan Weixue praised: "The European countries are in dispute with each other, and the attacks are continuous, and the strength is equal, which is conducive to our Qi country to divide and conquer in it. ”

"So after this battle, will the Kingdom of England be willing to cooperate with our Qi Kingdom to remotely control the European continent? …… Will it unite with the countries of the European continent and conspire with our country? ”

Qi Zexuan was a little skeptical that the strategic plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was wishful thinking, although the European continent countries were divided from each other, there were disputes, differences, and continuous wars, just like the Spring and Autumn Warring States.

But after all, European countries all have similar civilizations and the same religion, and it is said that the royal families of many countries are also married to each other, and they are all a bunch of relatives.

In the face of the Qi State, an outsider, I am afraid that they will share the same hatred and hatred, unite with the outside world, and jointly expel the forces of the Qi State.

Otherwise, when the Kingdom of England was exhausted, why did their former sworn enemy, the Kingdom of France, intervene in mediation, and the Dutch, who had fought with England several times, were willing to come forward to make peace, not to mention the Kingdom of Genoa, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania, which could not be beaten by eight poles, also came forward to call for the early end of the Qi-British War.

Although I have not read the classic words of "brothers are on the wall, and the outside is insulted" in the "Book of Songs, Xiaoya, Tangtang", but I also know the truth that "if you are not of my race, your heart will be different", and it will definitely not let my Qi country show its power in Europe and expand its influence wantonly.

"Your Highness is too worried." Pan Weixue said: "The contradictions between the European continent countries are far greater than the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Between each other, they are constantly suspicious, wary of each other, and hate to weaken all opponents, so as to strengthen their own strength. The Kingdom of England, for example, established its maritime superiority on the European continent after the War of the Spanish Succession, thus further securing its homeland. However, as an island nation, it is inherently vigilant against the rise and invasion of the mainland, and it is constantly checking and dividing the entire European continent. ”

More than ten years ago (1713), in the terms of the Peace of Utrecht, England insisted that the Kingdom of France permanently dismantle the military port of Dunkirk and prohibit France from establishing a naval base on the English Channel side, so as not to threaten England itself. Although the base of the French fleet was not in the English Channel, but in Brest and Toulon on the Mediterranean coast beyond the southern tip of the English Channel. Although the French navy was unable to engage the English fleet in a decisive naval battle in the English Channel, it was able to avoid the English fleet, or plunder the English merchant ships in the Atlantic, or raid Ireland, or take advantage of the almost perennial southwesterly winds to attack the English coast in the English Channel. ”

"In view of this, the only feasible way for the English navy to increase its ability to deter the French fleet in a timely manner was to extend its defences beyond the English Channel. Therefore, thirty years ago (1698), England spent more than 100,000 pounds to build a large dock that could accommodate first-class battleships in Plymouth, on the opposite bank of Brest, the westernmost French military port in the English Channel, and gradually transferred part of the main naval force from the Portsmouth military port in the center of the channel to this place, so as to focus on monitoring the French and Spanish Atlantic fleets. ”

"Your Highness knows that before the outbreak of war, the Kingdom of England could have returned the islands of Gibraltar and Menorca, which it occupied, to the Kingdom of Spain, and thus sought to draw them into their camp to jointly deal with the maritime threat of our Kingdom. However, the Kingdom of England was always unwilling to give up the above two places, and watched as Spain changed its position and sided with our Qi country to jointly attack England. Why? ”

"England's insistence on Gibraltar and Menorca was to make them outposts to monitor and contain the Franco-Spanish Mediterranean fleets. These two strongholds, together with a strong alliance with the Kingdom of Portugal and the Anglo-Dutch alliance established during the War of the Spanish Succession, as well as the Kingdom of Denmark, formed a chain of protection against the threat of invasion from the continent. ”

"As we all know, both France and Spain have a large number of colonial territories in the Americas, and the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic are naturally the necessary seas for them to travel to and from the Americas. How could England not make France and Spain jealous and frightened by such a deployment? If we add to this the European and land disputes, the Caribbean trade disputes, and the competition for colonial territories in the Americas, even if they want to work together with the outside world to unite with our country, it will lack sufficient mutual trust and mutual benefit. ”

Hearing this, Qi Zexuan nodded, and his gaze at Pan Weixue was also full of respect.

As one of the bigwigs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he is really not in vain, not only well versed in the situation of European countries, but also knows a lot of geo-military strategies.

"Then why did the European countries intervene in the war between Qi and Britain and carry out diplomatic mediation and mediation?"

"Without him, the rabbit dies and the fox is sad, and the thing hurts it!" Pan Weixue said with a smile: "France does not want our Qi country to take the opportunity of this war to deeply involve in the European continent, and at the same time, it also hopes that England's maritime strength will not be lost too much, so as not to make our Qi country, an outsider, uncontrollable in the North Atlantic waters." The Dutch feared that England would be crippled by the heavy blows of our Qi country, so that France could annex the South Netherlands without any scruples, and even invade their Dutch mainland again, threatening their survival. The Kingdom of Denmark feared that it would not be able to cope with the invasion of the Kingdom of Sweden without the support of England. Poland-Lithuania and Saxony feared that Hanover would be directly affected by the devastating defeat of the Kingdom of England and would lose its restraint on the Kingdom of Prussia. As for the Kingdom of Genoa and the Kingdom of Sardinia, apart from the fear that Venice would be annexed by the Ottoman Empire and thus endanger their security, that is, they did not want our Qi Kingdom to completely control the Mediterranean Sea and affect their commercial interests. ”

"Therefore, even if we don't consider the balance of the European region, our Qi country can't force England too much, so as not to be counterattacked by the European continent countries."

After Pan Weixue's explanation, Qi Zexuan suddenly had a clear understanding of the situation in Europe as a whole.

I have a prosperous national strength, and if I fight a small island country like England, as long as I pay a small price, it will naturally be easy to defeat it completely.

However, the geopolitical situation in Europe is complicated, and if we are not careful, we may face the joint efforts of various countries to drag our country into a long-lasting dispute.

Now, the English envoy came to Hanzhou in person, thinking that he was going to admit defeat and give in.

That being the case, then our Qi country should accept it when it is good, and end this war as soon as possible after claiming enough benefits.

Through this war, presumably the countries of the European continent also know the prestige of our Qi country, and in the future exchanges, they should be cautious and dare not provoke lightly.

"After the train arrived in Weihai (present-day Cairns, Australia), I wanted to pay a visit to the British envoy." Qi Zexuan suddenly had an idea.

"Your Highness, be careful!" When Pan Weixue heard this, he immediately solemnly admonished: "It is ...... to meet with foreign envoys privately It is a great taboo in the country. Moreover, as His Royal Highness, I am afraid that it will be...... I'm afraid that this move will cause a lot of criticism. ”

Although you are a teenager, you are the grandson of the emperor, so you should not be so wanton and indulgent.

Moreover, as the heir of the royal family, rashly interfering in the foreign affairs of the cabinet is a bit violated!

In the past, Emperor Taizu made a good start, establishing a cabinet as a government, the imperial family holding military power to defend the world, the Imperial Decree (legislature) and the Senate establishing laws and regulations, and the Supervisory Yuan to supervise hundreds of officials, forming a set of seemingly stable, mutually balanced, and mutually restrictive national framework.

During the Taizong period, the various systems were basically followed by Xiao Gui, and no major changes were made, but the members of the royal family were strictly restrained to prevent them from doing things that endangered the government and the people.

After the current Taiping Emperor came to power, this set of national governance structure was also fixed.

According to the convention, the children of the royal family who are not government affairs officials should not interfere in or interfere in the affairs of the cabinet.

Of course, if His Majesty the Emperor wants to force a major policy according to his will, and the Cabinet Government refuses to carry it out, then the Emperor can only issue an emergency edict to dissolve or order the Cabinet to resign, and then appoint a provisional Prime Minister to form a provisional Cabinet Government.

However, this is a tear between the royal family and the cabinet, which will cause a shock to the political situation of the whole country. In the unlikely event that the new cabinet government is strong again and does not cooperate with the emperor, the emperor will not be able to roll up his sleeves and go on his own.

Although Emperor Taizu did not establish any insurmountable ancestral system during his lifetime, if the successor emperor acted so willfully and recklessly and broke the existing rules, he would more or less be counterattacked by domestic public opinion and lose a bad reputation.

Well, that's right, the Qi State has been enlightened and wise for decades, and the education has made the people in the country have a little more ability to think, if the emperor does nonsense and does too much, he will make the people's resentment boil, and he is afraid that he will be drowned in saliva.

The types and quantities of newspapers and books issued in Qi are a bit more!

What's more, the empire's control of public opinion still has a potential stipulation of "not being convicted for words" in the former Song Dynasty.

This somewhat made the emperor a little jealous.

However, for the shameless emperor, with the military power in his hands, if he wants to flip the table, the world will not dare to control him!

Fortunately, from the Taizong period, the heirs of the royal family will receive systematic and formal education from an early age, be self-reflective, know the righteousness, know the reason, well, and also know some political proportions, and they have to go through a lot of general training, and they can maintain the necessary restraint politically, but they will not cultivate arbitrary tyrants.

In fact, for the royal family of Qi State, not only the emperor is restricted to a certain extent, but the princes and grandchildren also have to hold their tails and behave in a proper manner.

In addition to the consideration of knighthood and succession, the royal family's reputation still has to be taken into account.

Emperors can't act recklessly, and as a member of the royal family, they can't be too bastard, right?

You can eat, drink and be merry, but you can't bully men and women.

You can also use the channels and fame of the royal family to accumulate wealth, but you can't use the tricks to steal the money of the people.

More importantly, the royal children must not rashly meddle in and interfere in the affairs of the cabinet and local governments, and cannot break the rules.

For Pan Weixue's reminder, Qi Zexuan's heart was awe-inspiring, but also extremely depressed.

As the eldest grandson of the emperor, the future heir of the empire is also subject to a lot of constraints, and nothing can be done arbitrarily by himself.

If you look at Uncle Dan who visited Daqin with him, he is a little less restrained, he should eat and drink in Daqin, and finally he can take the beauty all the way back to the mainland, so it is not easy to relax.

And that Uncle Minwang, who finally won the position of governor of Runzhou, actually wanted to raise a large army, plot the Kingdom of Cambodia, expand the territory for our Qi country, and show his great martial arts.

However, this Uncle Minwang's move is not without risks, if he messes things up, he is likely to be stripped of his position as governor, and if he doesn't do well, he will be cut down and fined, and he will lose all opportunities for political promotion.

As the rightful heir of the empire, he must resist all kinds of temptations, not only to keep himself clean and quiet, but also to be cautious in his words and deeds, and not to let people accuse him of anything wrong.

The idea of meeting with the envoys of England was not to do anything diplomatic, to test their negotiating conditions, and not to ridicule the failure and loneliness of others to their faces.

He was just curious, and wanted to get close to the people of England, and we would sit together and have a brief chat, talk about their English customs, talk about their secular people, and exchange about the cultural differences between the two countries.

It is said that when Emperor Taizu was in power, he attached great importance to this island country, believing that with their development path and geographical environment, they would inevitably become a strong competitor of Qi.

Over the years, Qi first cooperated with the Dutch to squeeze the English out of the South Seas and the Malay Peninsula. Later, after gradually taking control of India, through two more local conflicts, no effort was spared to drive the English out of the subcontinent. A few years ago, at the request of the Safavid Empire, the Qi State sent a large number of troops to help it expel the Afghan tribal rebels and restore the empire's rule. It is believed that from then on, it will also take advantage of the situation to control the dominance of Persian trade and completely expel the English from Persia.

In this way, there will be no place for the English in the entire Indian Ocean Rim, and their commercial influence will be almost none.

In this Qiying War, the English navy suffered heavy losses, not only the territory of the country is at risk of invasion, but even Ireland, which has been colonized for hundreds of years, will also be lost, which can be described as extremely heavy losses.

In Qi Zexuan's view, after England was beaten by Qi State, it would not be able to pose a threat to Qi State in the future.

Emperor Taizu knows what to do, and he must be able to look at it!

(End of chapter)