The bells of the Palace of Westminster rang, the bells of the Houses of Parliament rang, and the bells of all the churches in London rang. Christmas of 1869 finally arrived, and the whole of London fell into a sea of joy.
Three days ago at the British Parliament Building, Gladstone officially signed his credentials and organized a grand ceremony. Amid the applause of countless members of Congress, the Chinese head of state attended the meeting in full dress. The two sides exchanged credentials and made friendly gestures. speech.
In Xiao Letian's speech, he highly praised the Queen's wisdom and the enlightenment of the British Parliament, and expressed his envy for the prosperous empire on which the sun never sets.
The free flattery came like a wave, and finally Xiao Letian announced that the Chinese would safeguard the interests of British capital in East Asia, and the door of the Chinese would always be open to British businessmen.
This is a rare enlightened voice in Asia. When these businessmen heard that they could gain freedom and the right to do business in Asia without war, they all stood up and applauded excitedly. They felt that taking away Benjamin and replacing him with Gladstone was really a mistake. Wise choice.
Businessmen are not war-mad. Their core desire is to make money by doing business. It cannot be said that there is no market for Benjamin’s fanatical colonial ideas, but the prerequisite is that too many people cannot die and too many costs cannot be invested.
In the eyes of businessmen in this country, if the British army could open up countless colonies with a small cost and few casualties, and bring countless commercial benefits, then these businessmen would naturally support colonialists like Benjamin.
But now that the world has been almost divided up, where can there be colonial expansion with low investment, quick results, and few deaths?
The investment in each war increased, and the casualties increased. However, the resistance from the colonies became more and more fierce, and many commercial activities were unable to continue.
This is a loss-making business. In this context, it is natural for the British business and financial circles to abandon Benjamin and choose Gladstone.
And now, Gladstone has indeed given them a satisfactory 'answer sheet'. Not to mention whether Xiao Letian is a trustworthy person, at least in this era, there is actually a politician in closed Asia who has chosen to be proactive and civilized. The world is integrating, and we are actively opening our doors to do business around the world.
This trend is gratifying. It can expand the commercial market without war, which is a shot in the arm for the entire British economy.
After the exchange of credentials, the Queen highly praised the enlightenment of the Eastern heads of state in her New Year's message the next day. This was probably meant for Emperor Tongzhi. Of course, Britain hoped that the Qing Dynasty would open up more markets, especially inland.
The Queen finally set the tone, and then she could win the support of the people across the UK. Suddenly Xiao Letian and Gladstone became peaceful politicians who pioneered civilization. Everyone had completely forgotten that they had opened their mouths just at the beginning of the year. He ate his way to the Far East of Tsarist Russia.
At that time, all British public opinion overwhelmingly said that he was an ambitious warlord. However, just one year later, he became a civilized messenger and a model of peace recognized by the Western mainstream.
It is believed that if there is a Nobel Peace Prize in this era, Xiao Letian will definitely win it.
The good news before Christmas goes beyond that. Just before Christmas Eve, Gladstone suddenly released shocking news. He announced that the Prime Minister's envoy to Ireland had established contact with the top leaders of the Irish Youth Party.
On Christmas, the two sides jointly agreed on a ceasefire, and the war that lasted for several months miraculously stopped!
This is a breakthrough that has never been done before or since. In the face of Ireland, the British have always been under high-pressure rule. Any rebellion is a killing. They will never indulge the Catholics in Ireland.
During the most brutal period of rule, the Irish could not even raise horses, own their own land, or receive education. The British purpose was to use hundreds of years to reduce the number of Irish Catholics to the lowest level.
Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, the flames of uprising will naturally continue. Until this year, when everyone was in disbelief, a riot in Dublin shocked the entire Europe.
This was the largest riot by the Irish in a century. It not only burned the customs but also attacked Dublin Castle. Even three coastal defense forts were captured and even the Royal Navy warships were damaged.
The tragic results of the war caused Benjamin's ruling foundation to completely collapse, people's hearts and minds receded like a tide, and the British people lost face.
Reflection, the entire British Isles, driven by a premeditated trend of thought, began to reflect. Everyone is considering whether the British policy towards Ireland is too harsh, and whether this harsh high pressure can finally solve the problem once and for all.
The answer is obviously no. From the Cromwell era to the present, the British high pressure on the Irish people can be said to be extremely cruel, but the high pressure did not make the Irish people surrender, even in that incident that the English called God's punishment. The battle did not stop the Irish from resisting.
The continuous uprisings, suppression, and bloodshed made the British miserable. Gladstone sensed the disgust in the people's hearts for this suppression that lasted for four to five hundred years, and made a decisive decision.
The Prime Minister secretly sent an envoy to contact the top leaders of the Irish Youth Party. With the help of some unknown forces, the two sides finally reached a ceasefire agreement before Christmas.
European public opinion is in an uproar. Since the Dublin Uprising, the Irish have changed their past wrong practice of attacking cities and seizing territory. Instead, they have snatched countless weapons and ammunition and hid them among the people like mercury.
The British could not find the main force of the rebel army at all. These small troops were broken up into ten or dozens of people and began to desperately harass the British rule.
The tax office, the police station, various town halls, English residential areas, and even the private farms of large English landowners were attacked.
The flames of war burned from south to north, from east to west. The Irish Youth Party gave up the old way of occupying land and establishing political power, and all turned into "bandits".
This made the suppressed British army miserable. Tens of thousands of troops were exhausted on the island of Ireland. Thousands of people often attacked for tens of kilometers, and finally killed more than a dozen rebels.
Over the past few months, all the British troops had lost weight three times from exhaustion, and the morale of the troops had reached an extremely low level.
The army is miserable, the people are miserable, and even the politicians in London are miserable because they have to face the pressure of all citizens and the ridicule of diplomats from various countries.
Everyone at the top and bottom has had enough of the chaos in Ireland. At this time, Gladstone's reforms are undoubtedly a good medicine for everyone.
The political winds changed so quietly. On Christmas Eve, all British newspapers announced the good news. There was a ceasefire in Ireland, and the Prime Minister's peace policy received a major breakthrough.
Except for a small number of die-hard colonialists, everyone else praised him. Gladstone's reputation suddenly shot to the top. This prime minister who rose to power by conspiracy actually received more than the democratically elected prime minister. High popularity.
