After the Little New Year comes the New Year. On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Xiao Family Mansion in Tanggu Industrial Zone was already bustling with activity.
The sound of firecrackers has not stopped since the morning. The heels of the maids and servants who came in and out were so busy that their heels did not touch the floor. The large kitchen in the front yard opened a running table, and the aroma of frying and frying spread in the wind. The man on duty at the door New soldiers, engineers from Europe, officers of the new army, whoever was hungry came in and ate whatever they wanted.
The couplets and grilles on all the doors and windows have been pasted, and even the dead trees without leaves are covered with artificial flowers woven from silk.
The maids and servants all put on brand-new satin and cotton-padded jackets. Old shopkeeper Fan Jian was very generous. During the first and twelfth lunar months, everyone would be given three times the monthly salary if they did a good job. Now the entire Xiao family mansion exploded. For Let the Prime Minister have a good year, everyone is crazy busy.
The little emperor Tongzhi still looks like an emperor. He took off his dragon robe and put on clothes worn by ordinary people. Under the protection of Er Mao and several imperial guards, he played all day long and set off firecrackers and fireworks.
Xiao Letian seemed to want to make up for the childishness that the little emperor had lost in the past ten years. He asked him to study for two hours every day and play for the rest of the time. As long as there was no danger, he was free to do whatever he wanted.
Moreover, Xiao Letian also strictly ordered everyone not to kneel down and worship the little emperor. He just wanted the emperor to descend from the clouds to the earth. Only a down-to-earth emperor could truly understand the emperor's mental skills that Xiao Letian taught him.
Not only was the Xiao family bustling with excitement, Tanggu City, which had been relieved of the threat of war, was also plunged into a sea of joy. With Xiao Letian's efforts, the dead and injured people in Tanggu received generous pensions. The court actually compensated two people for one life. One hundred taels of silver, even the injured were compensated to varying degrees.
This was rare in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty. I had never heard of the Eight Banners soldiers having to pay for killing Han people. Isn't a Han man's life worth a donkey? After the war, it would be considered benevolent for the court to compensate them with some food.
The people of Tanggu were already wealthy under Xiao Letian's rule, and the court's compensation was quickly received. The entire city quickly recovered from the pain of the war, and people's faces were filled with laughter.
Fresh goods from all over the world began to arrive in Tanggu one after another. Dried and fresh fruits and low-priced rice from Southeast Asia, dried seafood and white sugar shipped from Ryukyu, including Western goods brought by countless foreign merchants, flooded the entire market.
Not only that, a lot of businessmen came from Japan and North Korea. Although they didn't have any good products, they brought countless women. Dozens of custom shops were opened in the early 2000s, which made lustful men pass. Got addicted.
The prosperity of business drives the prosperity of all industries. Xiao Letian actually did not do anything. He just gave businessmen at home and abroad a fair chance to do business. As a result, what Xiao Letian got in return was a prosperous port city with a population of nearly 100,000.
The whole city is full of cheering people and the sound of firecrackers everywhere. If it gets late at night, you will find that the fireworks will not stop after dark. If it is not busy until three in the morning, it will not be complete.
This is Xiao Letian's special zone. This is Prime Minister Xiao's concession. The court can only send officials here symbolically. The man standing on the ocean will always control everything.
The French frigates Rome and Lyra have been repaired. Now these two warships are the largest warships in Xiao Letian's navy. Among them, Rome was the least damaged and the youngest ship, so it naturally became Xiao Letian's flagship.
At this time, ice floes have appeared in the outer sea of Tanggu, and a large amount of sea ice will appear in the inner sea of Bohai Sea in winter. It is very dangerous to sail at this time, but Tanggu has now become the largest commercial port in the north, and many merchant ships come here even in winter. trade.
Tanggu has formed a professional sea ice cleaning team, using explosives, iron tongs and other tools to break the ice every day to ensure the smooth flow of the channel.
Xiao Letian was in the captain's cabin of the Roma at this time, with a warm brazier, exquisite dishes, precious Bordeaux wine... and a very angry face.
Sitting opposite Xiao Letian was none other than the French Minister Goldmy from Dongjiaomin Lane. He dared to come to see Xiao Letian before the New Year for the sake of the French prisoners in his hands.
When Goldmy just arrived in Tanggu, when he heard that Xiao Letian was going to meet him on the Roma, this French man with a big nose and curly hair almost stood up. How could a noble Frenchman accept such a humiliation?
Just when he was clamoring for Xiao Letian to get off the ship, Xiao Letian on the deck made him lose his temper completely with one sentence: "Either we have a secret conversation on the Rome, or I invite the ministers of Britain, the United States and Russia to talk together. The choice is yours.”
The order Goldmi received was to talk secretly with Xiao Letian, sign a secret agreement without alerting the international community, and quickly solve the problem of prisoners.
Now the foundation of Napoleon III's rule has been somewhat loosened, and the international environment is not as friendly to France as it was in the past few years. Britain, which controls sea power, has already felt the threat from France. It now has signs of supporting Prussia to contain France.
Napoleon III faced such difficulties and encountered such a failure in East Asia. He was already trapped internally and externally, and the confidence of the domestic bourgeoisie in him had been shaken. How could an emperor who could not even defeat Ryukyu lead France to glory?
For the French Emperor, the top priority is to immediately reach a reconciliation with Xiao Letian, immediately quell the impact of this failed expedition, and first put his energy into the country. The most important thing is to stabilize the foundation of his governance.
Now Xiao Letian has a lot of bargaining chips to negotiate with France. Special envoy Molière is one of them. The captains of Lyra, Kraft, Roma, and Molde are also locked up in Xiao Letian's cell.
Not only that, Xiao Letian also had more than 4,000 French soldiers and hundreds of grassroots officers, all of whom were his prisoners.
France cannot abandon these soldiers. The French people who have experienced the Great Revolution naturally love to resist imperial power. If Napoleon III ignores the lives of more than 4,000 people, it is foreseeable that serious demonstrations will occur in France.
Xiao Letian had figured out the weakness of Napoleon III, so that he could put pressure on Minister Goldmi at will. The negotiations on the Roma were just an appetizer. There would be more conditions that the French could not tolerate. .
"My Lord Prime Minister, as a master of Western learning, I think you should understand that negotiating on such a battleship is an insult to us French people. Aren't you afraid that our French Emperor will send an expeditionary force in anger?"
"The Roma is our French frigate, you must return it to us, and those soldiers, you must release them unconditionally."
Xiao Letian looked at the idiot Goldmi and smiled coldly, "Mr. Minister, it seems that you have no sincerity in negotiating. Or maybe you think I am as easy to deceive as the Manchu royal family, or you think the French army can scare me." Woolen cloth."
"Of course I am afraid of the powerful French army, but I also have questions. How many more troops can France send now? Moliere has mobilized all the warships in the Indian Ocean and South Asia. In addition to the Mediterranean and Atlantic fleets, what else can you do? Mobilize the troops somewhere.”
"I also admire the French army very much. After all, I have fought against them, but how do you mobilize them? How do you deploy troops to Asia without a navy."
Goldmy roared angrily, "The fleet brought by Molière is only a small part of France's powerful navy. As long as our invincible Mediterranean Fleet and Atlantic Fleet set sail, your Ryukyu will be nothing more than a rotten egg..." "
Xiao Letian was not angry at all, waved his hands and said with a smile, "I understand, I understand, of course I understand, but I am confused. You have deployed most of the European troops to deal with me. What do Prussia think, what do the Russians think, and what do the British think? No matter how you look at it, can you still keep your back door?"
"Let's not talk about it. There is only a little army left in French India. If the British fleet blocks your port in the name of suppressing bandits, can you French interests in India be preserved?"
"You." The French Minister was speechless. He didn't expect Xiao Letian to know the situation in Europe so clearly.
After being silent for a long cigarette, the French Minister said, "Tell me your conditions. There is no need for us to argue."
"Very good, very happy..." Xiao Letian drank a glass of red wine and said excitedly, "The conditions are not many. If you want these prisoners to live, first of all, you must compensate me 50 million gold francs..."
"Secondly, you cannot ask for anything we captured during the war. In the end, you must transfer Tahiti to Ryukyu."
Hiss... The minister took a breath of air. He agreed to the first two conditions, but he was really shocked by the last one.
Tahiti, the full name of French Polynesia, is a group of 118 small islands located in the northeast of New Zealand and south of Hawaii.
If this archipelago is controlled by Xiao Letian, he can build a large naval base, which can affect South America to the east and New Zealand and Australia to the west.
In Xiao Letian's plan, South America's rich resources can be transferred here. As long as it is under the control of the future navy's naval guns, South America will surely surrender.
Gold, silver, copper mines... these precious metals have always been in short supply in China. If we can open up such an economic lifeline, Xiao Letian's central bank plan can be launched smoothly.
More importantly, New Zealand and Australia are still British colonies. They are absolutely barren lands. European criminals are exiled here. With Xiao Letian's clever mind, it is not difficult to spend money to buy several ports and countless pieces of land. Anyway, At this time, Britain did not pay much attention to this place.
After the Polynesian Islands and part of Australia become Xiao Letian's territory, he can go north to encroach on Hawaii, Saipan, Guam and the Marshall Islands. As long as he has a powerful fleet in hand, the Pacific Ocean will be Xiao Letian's inland sea.
This is not an impossible task. The United States has just ended its civil war and is in the recovery period. Historically, Hawaii was not annexed by the United States until 1898. It is only 1866 now. Xiao Letian still has thirty years to carry out the strategy. Everything is still late. .
"Dear Minister, the Tahiti Islands only produce some pearls, corals and tropical fruits. Apart from providing some supplies to the fleet, they are of no use to France...it's just a piece of useless food. Don't be reluctant to part with it."
Note: There was an explosion in Tanggu yesterday. Xinjing was very surprised. The explosion location was more than 40 kilometers away from Xinjing’s home. Many people in the world heard the explosion. It was really scary.
The sky is unpredictable, and people are prone to misfortunes and misfortunes. Such a disaster would never have been expected. I hope the deceased rests in peace, and I hope the country can dig out the person responsible and give an explanation to the deceased and the living.
The Hidden Dragon of the Qing Dynasty has opened a new chapter. Xiao Letian is the first one to have surgery on Tahiti. The Polynesian Islands are so beautiful. Hehe... It's a pity that Xinjing has never been there, so I can only look at the photos. Drooling.
Seizing a base in the South Pacific, even if it has no military value, is still a good choice to leave a vacation spot for China. Xiao Letian is about to start harming the world. Book friends, do you have any plans to harm the world?
Join the readers group and write out your disaster plan. Group number: 116253076 This book was first published from, and you can read the original content for the first time!
