Chapter 258

Prussia's decision was unexpected by Britain, France, and Turkey, and the whole world was amazed, and it was impossible to imagine that the Prussians, who had always been cautious and shrewd, could make such a crazy move.

The fighting in the European theater has further expanded!

Prussia and the Russian army united against the British, France and Turkey, as for Italy, has been under the threat of France, announced the withdrawal of troops, but it does not dare to easily declare war with Prussia and Russia, the Crimean War was the siege of Russia, the victory is in hand, Italy's predecessor Kingdom of Sardinia has such courage, now although the Kingdom of Sardinia has been so strong that it has been renamed the Kingdom of Italy, but seeing the powerful Prussian army that even Vienna has captured, and the menacing Russians, naturally do not dare to make the slightest mistake, not to mention that in the far east, there is a powerful Taiping Heavenly Kingdom！

......

When the whole world was trembling at the fact that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had joined the Russian side, His Majesty the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Tian, did not seem to care about it at all.

He is doing ribbon-cutting work in the train station of Tianjing City!

Shanghai-Nanjing Railway officially opened!

In the eyes of Chinese and foreign journalists, Hong Tian and many other court officials participated in the ribbon-cutting action to celebrate the completion and opening of the first long-distance railway trunk line of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Moreover, Hong Tian also accepted an interview with reporters for the first time.

"Your Majesty, how do you feel about the opening of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway?" asked a reporter from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Ben Hou felt that the changes in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were too great, and even such a long railway was built, and the construction speed was so fast, it was called the speed of the Heavenly Kingdom, which really made Ben Hou feel extremely surprised. "Hong Tiandao.

"Some people say that many dangerous sections of this railway were completed by the Manchurians, and the Manchurians sacrificed a lot of people for this, and some people even said that the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway was formed by the accumulation of the corpses of the Manchurians, I wonder if this is really the case?" someone asked.

"Ben Hou actually didn't know anything about railways, so he didn't take charge of railway construction, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a democratic and free country, although the Manchus enslaved the Han people before, but we will not retaliate against them, which is stipulated in the new "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Constitution", and no one dares to disobey it. Hong Tian said with a straight face.

"Therefore, Benhou thinks that this must be a rumor, if such a thing really happens, although you can report it in a big way, if you have real evidence, Benhou will definitely punish him severely! Also, you must remember that our people in the kingdom of heaven, no matter what nationality they were before, are now subjects of the kingdom of heaven, and there is no distinction between nations, we are all brothers and sisters, we should love each other, we should not discriminate and hostile to each other, we are not Manchu, we emphasize national equality. ”

All the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reporters and the surrounding people cheered, and the voice of His Majesty Shengming spread all around.

"I heard that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has announced that it has joined the side of Russia and Prussia and declared war on France, Great Britain and Turkey, Your Majesty, do you want to plunge the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom into the whirlpool of war in Europe?" a foreign reporter asked.

Hong Tian smiled and said: "This has nothing to do with the railway, you shouldn't ask here, and Ben Hou doesn't need to answer, but since you are the first foreign journalist to ask a question, then Ben Hou will answer you." Although the Austro-Prussian War and the Russo-Turkish War were far away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the world was all connected, and our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could not be immune to it at all, and Britain also joined the war, so we could not stay out of it. ”

"I'm afraid you don't know that not long ago, the immigrants of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Britain suffered bloody revenge because of the British defeat at the hands of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and many Chinese families were slaughtered by the British. Even if there was no Austro-Prussian War or the Russo-Turkish War, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would have declared war on Britain!"

All the people of the country are boiling, in fact, they have already seen these news, Britain is the world's largest country, and it was defeated in the hands of the barbaric Orientals that they had always looked down on before, and naturally felt that there was no face, and many radical British people found the Chinese who had immigrated to Britain before, and committed atrocities against them, and these news were transmitted back to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which immediately caused great anger among the people, and there was a call for a crusade against the British people everywhere.

"I heard that Your Majesty, you are going to re-ascend the throne as the Heavenly King, is this true?" someone asked again.

Hong Tiandao: "This topic has nothing to do with the railway, Ben Hou does not answer, and Ben Hou is busy with state affairs, so the question is over here." ”

After Hong Tian finished speaking, he bowed down and left directly.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty!"

......

With a shout, Hong Tian left the train station.

Sitting in the carriage back to Tianhou Mansion, Hong Tian breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, although his acting talent was amazing, but the first time he was interviewed, it still made him feel a little pressure, and as the king of a country, he had to answer decently, and he couldn't let people find any faults, which was really not an easy thing to do.

"Your Majesty, aren't you ready to return to the throne of the Heavenly King?" asked a young guard.

Hong Tian looked at the other party, with a smile in his eyes, the other party was Zhang Pifang, the person who personally slashed the monk Greenqin, and was named the first guard in front of the emperor by Hong Tian.

"Originally, it was planned to return to the throne of the heavens, but now that the war has resumed, it can only be postponed for the time being. "Hong Tiandao.

Although the outside world calls him His Majesty, but he has always called himself this marquis, his identity is still Tianhou, and he has not changed, he doesn't care about this false name Hongtian, although there are a lot of people who persuade him, but he has suppressed it strongly, and it was not until recently that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom unified China, he finally relented, but since the war resumed, this matter naturally had to be postponed.

When Zhang Pifang heard Hong Tian's words, he nodded and stopped talking.

Looking at Zhang Pifang's simple and immature face, Hong Tian couldn't help but sigh lightly in his heart, the age difference between himself and the other party was similar, but the other party was still a teenager, naturally he was already old and serious, and he didn't have any youthful demeanor, although this was related to his two lives, but it was more caused by pressure.

Shouldering the destiny of this country and nation, this burden is too heavy.

Originally, I thought that after the unification of China, I could take a break for a while, anyway, domestic affairs only need to formulate the general direction, and the details of the matter can be left to the officials below.

But the situation in Europe has changed drastically, and the Austro-Prussian war is still expected, although it is advanced, but it is still acceptable.

However, the Russian-Turkish war made Hong Tian change his color, especially after Britain and France declared war on Russia, Hong Tian was even more frightened.

The world had changed beyond recognition, and the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, which had only begun in 1877, had broken out ahead of schedule, and it had evolved into a situation in which Britain and France had entered the war, and the Franco-Prussian War, which had only broken out in 1870, seemed to have begun.

Hong Tian has always looked at the war situation in Europe, and he is very anxious, but he can't find a person to talk about and discuss, because for the strength of European countries and all kinds of intricate relationships, there is no one who understands it at home, and even the Wang brothers who have gone abroad know nothing about it, let alone talk about other people.

Therefore, this time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom joined the Russian side to fight, and it was Hong Tian's own decision, and he used his limited knowledge to push the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom into this large-scale war that swept the world.

Joining Russia and Prussia in the war was the result of Hong Tian's repeated calculations, although Britain and France were both old powers, Russia was defeated in the Crimean War, and Prussia was only an emerging power at this time, but Hong Tian still chose to support them.

Hong Tian had already seen from the recent war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain that Britain was weak, especially in terms of the army, which was simply weak!

Even if Britain's land military power in Europe is better than that in Asia, it is by no means the opponent of the Prussian army and the Russian army, Napoleon III of France is just a straw bag, and the French army led by him suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, although the current Prussian army may not be as strong as a few years later, but it is not difficult to defeat the French army, not to mention the help of the Russian army.

As for Austria and Turkey, Hong Tian directly ignored that Austria has been completely destroyed by the Prussian army, and it is a question whether it can continue to exist, as for Turkey, it has long since declined, and under the blow of the Russian army, it can be said that it is Allah's blessing to be able to hold Constantinople.

Therefore, Hong Tian felt that Russia and Prussia would win, so he announced that he would join the Russian war, in fact, this is also the meaning of forcing Prussia to join the war group, Hong Tian did not want Prussia to compromise with Britain and France, so that Russia may not be able to win, and facing Britain, France, Turkey, and Austria alone, the Russians may be abused again.

However, Hong Tian was not worried about the safety of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Asia was not worried that those distant European countries could be killed at all, and he was confident that he would win a comprehensive victory on the Asian battlefield, especially the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a land country, even if the European powers defeated Russia, they would at most send their navy over, and the land force that landed on the shore would only be wiped out by the Taiping Army in the end.

Position!

As long as it wasn't at war with the Russians, who had a relatively strong army in Asia, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom didn't have to really worry about security.

Therefore, in the end, Hongtian chose Russia and Prussia, and the result was also good, Prussia announced that it would join Russia and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to fight, and World War I officially broke out.

The First World War broke out in advance, but Hong Tian did not immediately order the Taiping army in South Asia to attack, but only transferred a large number of troops and horses to oppress India.

Hongtian did not attack because he could not capture India, but because he was worried about the safety of the sea, and although the British could not land and fight, harassment in the coastal area was enough to give the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a headache.

Under the suppression of Hongtian, the British army in India began to speed up the construction of fortifications, and the British navy was mainly transferred to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea to fight against the Russian and Prussian navies.

Eastern Stationary War!

This is a later description of the military confrontation between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain in Asia, the deformed dynamics of war, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain had declared war on each other, but neither side launched an attack.

The Taiping army threatened the British in South Asia but did not fire a single shot, while the British navy cruised in the ports of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom without firing a single shot.

Britain was building fortifications and increasing troops in India to prepare for the attack of the Taiping army, and the Taiping army continued to produce all kinds of warships to improve the military strength of the Taiping army, in order to be able to slightly compete with the British navy in the naval battle with the British, and at least assist the coastal defense batteries to defend important sea ports.

Of course, Hong Tian's actions are far more than these, in fact, his main role to deal with is not the British, but his subjects.

Although these vassal states followed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to declare war with Britain, France and Turkey, they looked like they were like fart, but Hong Tian could not be satisfied, he had the ambition to swallow the sea and establish the Taiping River, how could he leave these independent kingdoms to exist.

Absorbing these places into the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in addition to strengthening the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, also has the effect of eliminating disasters, now these places do not belong to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, coerced by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to fight, the people will be dissatisfied, and the soldiers will not be willing to fight, if they defect before the battle, it will be troublesome, these troops in the previous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the British war, there has been a sign of instability.

These subjects must be brought to their knees, and this is what Hongtian intended.

And Hong Tian's first target was the first subject country that the Taiping army entered, Burma.

......

Mandalay City, Myanmar.

"Your Majesty, do you want us to annex Burma? This is absolutely impossible!" Min Dong roared, he had long been suspicious of the Taiping Army's refusal to withdraw from Burma, and he was relieved that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had recently re-declared war on the British, feeling that since the Taiping Army and the British Army were at war again, there was still a chance to use Burma, and it might delay the invasion of Burma, but he did not expect this result.

"Impossible?" Zhang Ran smiled, waved his hand lightly, and the Taiping soldiers around him had already pressed Min Dong.

"Burma has long been applauded by our Taiping army, and it is really impossible for you not to agree! Let him sign and draw the pledge, and then send him to heaven. Zhang Ran said.

Min Dong struggled hard, but he was beaten by an old punch, and he suddenly became honest.

In desperation, after signing the annexation treaty, Min Dong was dragged away.

Zhang Ran picked up the treaty with a smile on his face and said, "From now on, Myanmar will be the territory of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." ”

When Hongtian received the treaty, he immediately announced the news to the outside world, and divided Burma into Upper Burma and Lower Burma, in fact, only Upper Burma was attached, and Lower Burma was recovered by the Taiping Army, but because the Taiping Army nominally sent troops to help Burma recover the lost land, there has always been a hidden danger in the ownership of Lower Burma.

However, since Upper Burma was included in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the ownership of Lower Burma is naturally no longer a problem.

In addition to Hong Tian's Malay Province in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, as well as the Malay Province established by the British stronghold on the north coast of Borneo Island, and the Bengal Province located in eastern India, Hong Tian has added four provinces to South Asia and Southeast Asia, China's national strength has been further enhanced, and with Hong Tian's development in China, the strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has increased by leaps and bounds, which is the foundation of his courage to join the Russian and Prussian side and fight against Britain, France, Austria and Turkey.

The annexation of Burma was only the beginning, and then the Joseon, Zhe Mengxiong, Gurkha, Bhutan, Siam, Annam, Ryukyu, and the small kingdoms of Champasak, Luang Prabang, Sichuan Khouang, and Vientiane in the Nanzhang region were annexed, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reached a peak of prosperity.

Hong Tien announced that Korea would be divided into two provinces along the 38th parallel, namely North Korea Province and South Korea Province, Gurkha, Tsemangxiong, and Bhutan would form Outer Tibet Province, most of Siam would be a separate province, and the four small countries in the Nam Palm region would be merged into Lao Province, while Annam would be changed to North Vietnam Province.

In addition, the Malay Peninsula of Siam was merged with the original Malay Province, with Singapore as its capital, and the Ryukyus were placed under the jurisdiction of Taiwan, and Taiwan was officially established as a province with Taipei as its capital.

The drastic changes in Asia stunned the whole world, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had only just been established, and the Chinese Celestial Empire had only revealed its extremely hideous face, and those subject countries had been attached one after another.

At the same time, both Russia and Prussia demanded that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom immediately send troops to India, because they could not afford to fight in Europe and other countries.

The Russian army has gone south to Turkey, but it has been strongly blocked by the Turkish army, and the British and French armies have landed in the Balkans, thinking that soon after, it will officially clash with the Russian army, and Russia fought in the Caucasus, although it has won many victories, but it is far from the extent of defeating the Turkish army.

And the most stressful thing for Russia is that the combined Anglo-French fleet has entered the Black Sea, and it is impossible to win with the rebuilt Russian navy in the Black Sea (the Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed in the Crimean War a few years ago), and God forbids to be able to defend against the British and French fleets.

The situation in Prussia was even more severe, and although the Austrian army was completely routed by the capture of Budapest in Hungary, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I escaped and fled with the rest of his army in the direction of Italy, still refusing to admit defeat.

The Prussian army was unable to resist the attack of France, and was defeated and retreated, and did not dare to retreat in the direction of Austria, fearing that it would affect the situation in Austria, so the direction of retreat was Prussia itself, according to expectations, soon after, unless the Prussian army was willing to fight and win a decisive battle with the French army, the French army would enter Prussia, which would definitely be a heavy blow to Prussia.

In addition, the British fleet wandered the Prussian sea frontiers, terrifying the pitifully weak Prussian naval forces.

Therefore, the two countries hoped that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would immediately launch an offensive against India, so that the British could focus on India, which would reduce the pressure on them.

Hong Tian turned a deaf ear to this, and just ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to use Chinese Guoxue Taiji, and pushed these things again and again, and there was no intention of sending troops to India at all.

He made up his mind, as long as the British navy did not take the initiative to attack, then the Taiping Army and the Army would maintain restraint and provide valuable time for the development of the Taiping Army and Navy.

The British also maintained their own restraint, apparently agreeing with the actions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the British idea was also very loud.

Instead of provoking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and losing precious India, it is better to seize the time to solve the war in Europe, and if Prussia and Russia can be defeated in Europe, then we can unite France, Austria and Turkey to the Far East to deal with the Chinese, and then we will not be able to avenge the previous World War?

So the British had no intention of making a move, and the French in southern Vietnam were even more restrained.

Northern Vietnam was originally controlled by the Kingdom of Annam, but before the Hongtian army went south, nominally to attack the British on the Malay Peninsula, in fact, it took a fancy to Annam's territory, and the large army stayed there and did not leave, and quickly controlled the important areas of Annam, and finally was forced to annex the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The southern part of Vietnam was the domain of the French, who had long since attacked it and turned it into a French colony.

The French in southern Vietnam were very vigilant when the Taiping army entered northern Vietnam, and when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom announced that they would join the Russian and Prussian sides to fight, they were naturally even more frightened, because with the strength of the French in southern Vietnam, it was absolutely impossible for them to be the opponent of the Taiping army, and they would probably lose worse than the British.

Since now the Chinese do not plan to attack, they naturally cannot ask for it.

In this way, the war of stillness in the East continued, while the war in Europe became more and more violent.

......

As soon as the affairs attached to each country were dealt with, Hong Tian held an even more important event.

Ascend to the throne again!

A year ago, Hong Tian deposed himself from the throne in front of 500,000 mass graves, won the praise of the whole country, and since then has truly won the hearts of the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Now that China has been unified, and even many of its subjects are attached to the country, the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has further expanded, and its territory is no longer limited to East Asia, and has become a large country that spans East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

And in such a big country, the monarch is just a marquis, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a joke, so someone has long been persuaded to enter.

Hong Tian's ears were calloused to the words of persuasion, but he didn't have time to pay attention to the continuous war before, and he always felt guilty about the dead people.

And now it's finally time to act, return to the throne of heaven, and become the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom again.

Every time Hong Tian thought of the past, he had a feeling of being in a different world, at that time he was just the king of a small country trapped in a lonely city, besieged by enemy legions, and in danger.

But now, a great empire that is so huge that the whole world is shocked is in its own hands, and its every move will have a deep impact on the world, and now it has joined the First World War, and it can even change the trend of the whole world.

The winds of change!