Xiao Letian's trip to Europe is said to be safe and secure. A rising political star in East Asia and the powerful Prime Minister of the Ryukyu Kingdom is enough to receive courtesy from any country in the West.
But that's just a courtesy. Britain and France will give Xiao Letian a lot of face, but they will definitely monitor Xiao Letian's every move. They don't mind disrupting the friendly agreement between him and any country, especially the rising Prussia and Germany. .
There is no real friendship between countries at all. The royal families of various European countries are now basically a network of relatives left over from the Habsburg dynasty, and they are all very close to each other.
But this kind of close relationship cannot change the strict law of the jungle. Competition between countries is always bloody. Let’s not forget the British Isles at sea, let’s talk about Prussia’s close neighbor France. If they know that Xiao Letian has come to Europe, I'm afraid intelligence officers from all along the Mediterranean coast will be mobilized.
They will try their best to invite Xiao Letian to Paris, let the cocktail parties and dances hold him back, and then slowly figure out the purpose of his trip. Want to cross the border to Prussia? No, no, no, France will have 10,000 reasons to hold you back.
Of course, Xiao Letian could also choose to cross Gibraltar and go straight to Hamburg via the Strait of Dover by sea, but that would probably delay him for an extra month. If something unexpected happened on the way, the Austro-Prussian War might start, and he would have to arrive too. Not to Germany.
"Time, the most urgent thing now is time. It's early April now. If history doesn't change drastically, the Prussian army will go south in two months. The small states that support Austria will soon go to war with Prussia. In July In a few weeks, Austria will declare its defeat, and the Treaty of Prague will be signed and come into effect..."
"Okay, I'll just grab this month's time. I must see Bismarck before the war starts, and my Xiao Letian's forces must get involved. Didn't everyone in Qingliu call me a troublemaker for the Qing Dynasty? Today I will continue to be a troublemaker for Europa! Let’s be chaotic. The political situation will be a little more chaotic. The more chaotic it is, the better it will be for China..."
Xiao Letian understands that since the First Opium War, when the Qing Dynasty was forced to open its borders, countless opportunities to rise and become stronger have been missed. It is really a pity to think about it.
Just as Xiao Letian stood on the deck and carefully analyzed the situation, he didn't know that a small security chaos was taking place in the famous Egyptian port they had just left.
In a typical Egyptian-style flat-roofed stucco house, a middle-aged man with a Nordic appearance was pushing two bags of silver coins to an Arab businessman, and the turban-covered businessman nodded and thanked him profusely.
"This escort mission is top secret. You must swear to Allah not to leak a word... Of course, if you dare to leak it, without Allah punishing you, I will personally send you to hell..."
The Arab businessman quickly stood up and pointed at the roof, chattering something, apparently taking an oath.
At the last moment of taking the oath, suddenly the wooden door of the house was kicked open with a bang, and big leather boots and foreign guns and bayonets were rushed inside.
"Catch him, this lone wolf in the Middle East. It seems that you have made another big deal. Can you tell me?" The speaker was a French army captain. Under his command, there were more than ten musket handles. The two people in the room surrounded him.
The spineless businessman was the first to raise his hands, shouting at the top of his lungs in Arabic, and confessed all the ins and outs of the meeting before even being interrogated.
The Prussian spy nicknamed Lone Wolf smiled bitterly. It seemed that this mission was a complete failure. The sense of smell of these French hunting dogs was really sensitive.
The French captain was very proficient in Arabic. He heard that a mysterious group of Chinese people had left the port of Seychelles by boat under the protection of the German intelligence agency. He suddenly felt an unpleasant feeling in his heart.
"Lone Wolf, I think you also know my torture methods. We are all gentlemen in the civilized world. I hope you won't let me use force. A little cooperation will be beneficial to both parties... Now tell me, what do those Chinese people do? ?Why deserve the protection of Prussian intelligence?"
Lone Wolf didn't speak, he just reached out to pick up the cup of black tea in front of him. Before his fingers touched the cup, he heard a gunshot, and a smoking bullet hole appeared one centimeter in front of his index finger. On the table.
"Want to drink tea? It's best to tell the truth. You have to remember that our French fleet has the largest number and the most powerful firepower in the Mediterranean. The time you delay will not help at all..."
Lone Wolf rolled his eyes at him and looked indifferent. "You want to get my information? Then you'd better be polite. My mouth is very dry and I need the moistening of black tea..." After that, he continued to reach for the cup of black tea.
The captain did not stop him this time, and the lone wolf finally drank the warm cup of tea. "Ah... it's really good, but it's a pity that it's Indian black tea. It would be better if I had a cup of Chinese black tea."
After saying that, he waved his hand to the captain, "Come here, and I will tell you some Eastern people's secrets..." Just as the captain's ear was close to Lone Wolf's mouth, Lone Wolf said with a sneer.
"That's a big shot that you can't even imagine, that's an elusive and magical person... Poof!" He only spoke half of his words before a mouthful of bright red blood spurted out, and half of the captain's body was stained red.
The lone wolf grabbed the captain with trembling hands, and a strange smile appeared on his face, "Go with... with questions... go to hell..." With a tilt of his head, the lone wolf died of poison.
"Ah! Ah..." The Arab businessman held his face in his hands and slumped in the corner, screaming wildly, "He wants to poison me. He is not here to give me silver coins. He wants to silence me..."
The French captain was already mad. He took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood on his body. He pointed at the businessman and shouted, "Torture him and bring out all the secrets in his belly... These damn Prussians are simply... Stubborn stone…”
Ten minutes later, all the French ships and merchant ships in the port weighed anchor. With the latest orders, they began to cast nets towards the Mediterranean Sea to find the mysterious group of Chinese.
In 1866, telegraph lines had begun to spread across the European continent, but they were not connected into a network. Many areas without wires still relied on the speed of horses for message transmission.
Centering on the port of Seychelles, a coded message that only the French could understand began to stretch along the coastline in both the north and south directions. Almost all French intelligence agencies and garrison got this strange message.
The transceiver at the telegraph station was tapping the transmitter. After the message was copied, the soldiers outside the door rode fast horses and ran to the next telegraph station.
The French lighthouse on the coast kept sending signals to its own ships in the ocean. The content was only "search for an Italian merchant ship in the Mediterranean and seize a group of Chinese on the merchant ship."
In just two days, the Mediterranean Sea exploded. French ships, whether warships or civilian merchant ships, would send out light signals and semaphores to copy the news whenever they encountered each other.
In this way, one ship was passed to two ships, and two ships were passed to four ships. Three days later, even the British knew the information. They even notified the garrison in the Strait of Gibraltar and asked them to guard an Italian merchant ship.
The entire Mediterranean coast was in a commotion. No one knew what the French and British were crazy about, let alone what the Italian merchant ship had offended them. As for the news about the mysterious Chinese guest, it makes all Europeans feel incredible.
There are more than tens of thousands of ships in the Mediterranean. Mobilized by the French, a huge search network soon covered the entire ocean. Coupled with the strict defense of the Strait of Gibraltar, everyone believed that it was only a matter of time to find these Chinese. .
The crisis was getting closer and closer. It was not until the fourth day that even Xiao Letian felt the seriousness of the problem. In the evening of the fourth day after entering the sea, a small French frigate actually appeared on the sea and launched an attack on the merchant ship from a long distance away. Light signal, requiring the ship to stop for inspection.
"Damn it, the French are so arrogant. What right does he have to inspect our Italian ships? This is Sicily, not their French offshore..."
"Let's rush over with full sail, don't give these proud roosters face, don't pay attention to them..."
There was a commotion on the deck, and the Italian sailors pointed at the frigate and yelled. At this time, the German intelligence officer Paul and the Italian captain Alexander, who were escorting Xiao Letian and his party, hurried over.
"Guests from China, we are in trouble now. The French have gone crazy. They actually forced us to stop the ship for inspection. You must be mentally prepared..." the captain said urgently.
At this time, the German intelligence officer Paul also spoke: "Dear Prime Minister, please rest assured that we will protect your safety, but I am afraid that you will be wronged. We have two ways, one is to escape with the sails full, and we will take advantage of the night. There is a 70% certainty of getting rid of the entanglement of the French warship..."
"The second method is more passive. I hope you can hide in the cargo boxes containing dried fish. I don't think these French people are so crazy that they open every cargo box..."
Before Paul could finish speaking, the frigate in the distance suddenly flashed red, followed by a thunderous sound of cannons, and then a huge water column rose into the sky a hundred meters directly in front of the merchant ship.
"The French opened fire! God, are these bastards crazy? Are Italy and France in a state of war now? Crazy, they are all crazy!"
At this time, the French frigate sent another light signal, this time with a more severe tone. If the ship did not stop, they would aim at the hull and fire.
Xiao Letian smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid we have only one way to escape. The French are now ready to dismantle the ship. Do you think you can deceive them with a few wooden boxes? Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and run away... "
This time, the Italian captain received double life money from the Prussians and the Chinese. Their only mission was to safely deliver the Chinese to Marseille and rendezvous with the response force. All the sailors also received three times the usual salary. .
These Italians still have business ethics in using people's money to eliminate disasters. When they saw that the situation was not good, they actually rushed north with full sail.
"Accelerate, accelerate, we are a triangular clipper, the frigate will never catch up, let's run away in the dark..."
Xiao Letian stood on the deck and shouted in English, "Brave sailors, as long as you can complete the mission, I will reward each of you with a hundred gold francs!"
"Long live!" The bow and stern of the ship cheered excitedly.
