Prince Edward never expected that Zai Chun would say such words, which completely reversed his old impression of the Qing Empire.
In the eyes of the British, the Qing Empire was stubborn and declining. If you wanted to open one more port, you had to use strong ships and cannons to bombard it.
Not to mention preaching and imparting Western scientific knowledge, the empire's borders were too tightly sealed.
Everyone in the UK really wants to send a large army to solve the China problem once and for all. People like Benjamin and others have even begun to clamor to promote the Indian model, allowing Britain to deeply colonize China and completely capture China's interests.
But the reality is cruel. Rational British politicians cannot avoid China's huge size and almost unsolvable strategic depth problems.
The Europeans could defeat the squadrons again and again on the battlefield, but establishing effective control was extremely difficult.
This is different from India. In a territory as big as India, there are countless languages and texts. A unified dynasty does not exist at all. It is a collection of a large group of princely states. It is easy for the British to defeat each one.
But China is different. This is an ancient civilization that has unified writing, language, culture and religion for thousands of years. You can cling to its fur and suck blood and eat meat through means, but you really want to transfer your soul and body to completely colonize this empire. That is simply delusional.
How many troops would be needed to conquer tens of millions of square kilometers of land? I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough to force all the men in the UK into the army.
What's more, the vast mainland has no support from the navy at all, and Britain is really not good at playing with the army. Coupled with the complex terrain and the ladder-like continental structure rising to the west, this adds to the war. difficulty.
Therefore, in the UK, only a few colonialists such as Benjamin have the illusion of deep colonization. Most politicians are still pragmatic. What they want is to maintain the status quo of the current semi-colony and use the hands of the Manchus to unite and suck blood.
How to open a breakthrough for the Manchu and Qing courts so that these stubborn Eastern Tatar leaders can open up the market more while trying to avoid war is a question that successive British governments have been pondering.
Today, Zai Chun's speech was like the ray of God's light on the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, piercing the haze in his heart, and Prince Edward suddenly became excited.
He suppressed his emotions and pretended to be calm and said, "As you wish! All the doors of the empire where the sun never sets will be open to your majesty!"
A big breakthrough, this is a major diplomatic breakthrough! Prince Edward even had a fantasy in his mind. If Britain could hold Emperor Tongzhi in charge and support him to become a powerful Eastern monarch, then Britain would naturally be able to reap endless benefits from this process.
Xiao Letian looked at the hypocrisy of the two people in front of him indifferently. He had to admit that Zai Chun was indeed much more mature, at least he was much thicker-skinned than before.
"You brat! That brat... you have such a good psychological quality. Now you can steal my things in front of me without changing your face or heartbeat?"
After all, Zai Chun was only 13 years old, and his worldview was still in the process of being shaped. He couldn't say those words just now. They were Xiao Letian's usual words and deeds, and some of them were even part of his speech draft on the paper.
Zai Chun didn't just copy the whole article. He actually learned how to excerpt, steal two sentences he liked from this piece of paper, and then steal another sentence from another piece of paper, and pieced it together to become the theme of his visit to England. Speech material library.
Sure enough, the effect was outstanding. The British really did not expect that Zai Chun would be so mature and precocious. This made Prince Edward more confident in placing a heavy bet on Emperor Tongzhi.
Only then did Edward notice the awkward-looking Xiao Letian next to him. He quickly smiled and said, "Of course, the door of Britain is also open to you. We also hope to have more in-depth cooperation with the Chinese. I believe it will start tomorrow." Negotiations will definitely yield huge gains..."
The golden carriage slowly moved forward amidst the cheers of the people, and Xiao Letian's guard of honor aroused the enthusiasm of London citizens. In a sea of flowers, the convoy of the envoys passed through London and headed towards the heart of the British Empire, Buckingham Palace. go.
As the conversation progressed, Xiao Letian became more and more certain of his judgment. Prince Edward's abnormal behavior was indeed subtly related to the adjustment of royal policy.
Recalling Gladstone's arrogance and Benjamin's anger, perhaps these are just the ripples on the sea surface in the undercurrent.
Benjamin also became restless while marching. He didn't have any accurate information yet to show that he was in crisis, but he could always feel something strange.
Does Prince Edward’s beating and abnormal behavior just now represent a certain attitude of the royal family?
No, no, no, I can't have random thoughts. No matter what, I am the Prime Minister of the British Empire. The royal elbow cannot be turned outward. My biggest threat now is Gladstone's Liberal Party.
The Chinese are just suffering from scabies. We must not waver in maintaining our grand strategy!
At this moment, Gladstone was also calculating the situation at hand. He looked coldly at Benjamin's carriage and couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Poor guy, you should really study Eastern political philosophy..."
"Although the British Empire implements a constitutional monarchy, and the royal family seems to be just a symbol of honor, it still needs to be treated differently in different periods!"
"The Queen now has supreme authority that is above the Constitution. This authority is entirely accumulated through the love of the people!"
"Even if the queen says something that violates the constitution, I'm afraid the people will accept it. This is the power of love! So the queen is the emperor with real power at the moment. Why can't you change your mind during the short period of time when the queen is in power?"
"Fool, if you can't face the Queen with the same mentality as facing a dictator, then you will suffer losses later!"
"The two wars against the Qing Dynasty were instigated by you Tories. You have controlled the operation of the empire for too long, and it has caused some concern in the royal family..."
"Didn't the ancient Chinese monarchs say that if all the ministers are harmonious, then the monarch will be in trouble, because if the ministers don't fight among themselves, then they will immediately join forces to fight against the monarch!"
"Knocking left and right to balance the political situation is the way for a monarch to govern the country! Silly Benjamin, you are really carried away by a series of military victories!"
"You group of people have aroused the Queen's fear and you don't know it? Idiots!"
