Blenheim Palace, Long Library.
"Marquis, I don't understand. Who do you regard as the main opponent of the Ming Dynasty? Is it our United Kingdom, the United States of America, or the Indian Empire? Is your request for the United Kingdom really just the wild southern continent? ?Are our two countries fighting to the death over the land used to exile criminals? "
The person who raised the question was the most daring Viscount Palmerston - in another timeline, he openly claimed that "the British Empire has no permanent friends, only permanent interests"! Although this has always been the British way of dealing with international affairs, when it is said openly, it still means that the door is not closed.
After hearing this question, Zhuge Weixue laughed: "Viscount, don't you understand what the diplomatic principles against the West our Ming Dynasty has been adhering to since King Wu Zhong? We have never regarded Britain as our main opponent. Britain has always been our friend in the past. But in the future, after the end of this war to determine who is the first in the world and who is the second in the world, our two countries will still be friends, and they will be even closer!
As for our main rivals, now of course it is Britain, but in the past and in the future there have been three, the United States of America, the Indian Empire and Europe! "
"And Europe?"
"You mean a united Europe?"
"This seems to be from the UK too."
When it comes to opposing Europe, the three British guys immediately get excited!
A united Europe is certainly a great enemy to the Ming Dynasty. But for Britain, it is a question of whether the country can still exist. Even if Britain can still exist, it will inevitably lose all its glory and dreams, and of course most of its wealth, because of the unification of Europe!
To put it bluntly, Europe's prosperity after the Age of Discovery was due to zero-dollar purchases all over the world, while Britain's special wealth was due to sucking the blood of Europe. Therefore, it has always been Britain's number one diplomatic principle not to make life easy for Europeans!
Zhuge Weixue said with a serious face: "Obviously, we both have common interests on the issue of not allowing Europe to be unified. A divided Europe should have at least three poles, and at the same time there needs to be a broken core. In ideal terms In this case, these three poles must be located on Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the British Isles respectively. Because the two poles that control Eastern Europe and Western Europe must be opposite. And the third pole located on the islands must not want to see the two poles on the European continent. Decide the outcome, and because she is an island country with a small population and cannot build a continental army large enough to conquer Europe after maintaining the necessary large navy, she can only prevent the unification of Europe, but cannot herself To unify Europe, this is why Ming Dynasty has been quite friendly to Britain in the past hundred years. Of course, the relationship between Ming Dynasty and Britain will only become closer in the future!"
Zhuge Weixue continued: "The core of Europe, that is, Germany in Central Europe, must be fragmented and weakened! Because a unified, cohesive, and strong Germany will inevitably become the foundation of a unified Europe. Just imagine, If the German states and the Austrian Empire become a whole, it will be a powerful country with the German nation as the absolute main body, controlling a population of more than 60 million, with a complete industrial system and developed agriculture. France, with a population of only 30 million, will have a long-term future. It seems impossible to resist her, and it seems difficult for the Rakshasa with a population of 68 million to resist alone a Germany that defeated France and dominated Central, Western and Southern Europe! And a unified Germany is what the United Kingdom is trying its best to prevent, and Good results were achieved.
Therefore, the role that Britain can play in preventing European unification is irreplaceable. We need a strong and prosperous Britain, even if she once fought a war with us to compete for the first place in the world! And to prove this, our Pacific Fleet has now stopped chasing the main force of our Royal Navy. They can now leave Australia and return to Europe after resupplying in Sydney Harbour.
In addition, we do not want to meet the main force of the Royal Navy on the battlefield again. Because you, the United Kingdom, also need the remaining fleet to protect the security of the homeland to prevent the little Napoleon of France from leading the navy that we helped the Bourbons build. and the army left behind by his great father, launched a surprise attack on the British mainland! "
The merger of Bonapartists and Republicans in France and their rise to power was indeed a major event that exceeded the expectations of the Ming rulers. On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty supported the Bourbon Dynasty in reviving France because of its traditional friendship with the Bourbon Dynasty. Since Louis XIV, the Bourbon Dynasty, which leads European fashion, has been "bringing goods" to the Ming Dynasty. This is made of real money. friendship! On the one hand, it is the need to contain Rakshasa. After defeating Napoleon I, Alexander I galloped into Paris and was so arrogant!
Unexpectedly, the Bourbon dynasty, which was supported by the Ming Dynasty, was still not loved by the French people, and was ousted by Napoleon II, who was pretending to be a republic!
Therefore, Zhuge Weijiu and Zhuge Weixue were very worried that Napoleon II would take advantage of the Royal Navy's disastrous defeat in the Pacific to attack England secretly, so they wanted to leave some navy for the British.
British Lord of the Admiralty Viscount Palmerston smiled and said: "Marquis, your worries are unnecessary. Now all the shipyards in the British Isles are building warships day and night. It will take up to 6 months. Our latest standard displacement is 42,000 tons. A new battleship equipped with 16-inch cannon and 60,000 horsepower will be put into use!"
His words are of course bragging. Although there are already several 40,000-ton projects under development in the UK, none of them have advanced to the point of starting construction and production. Currently, the British shipyards are still building a large number of Indian Emperor-class and William IV-class, and are preparing to launch the Fury-class, the new aircraft-carrying fast cruiser with more than 20,000 tons. However, it is unlikely that the first Fury-class ship will be put into service within 12 months.
Zhuge Weixue smiled and said: "Since you have a 42,000-ton battleship, we can rest assured. Although your 42,000-ton battleship will definitely not be able to defeat our 52,000-ton battleship, it is slow to deal with the French." Fast and heavy artillery battleships are enough, after all, those are only 25,000-ton battleships."
Of course he is also cheating on diplomatic negotiations.
He then changed the subject and said with a smile: "In addition, the problems of the United States of America and India are also obvious. These two countries have as much land and resources as Central Europe, Western Europe and Southern Europe combined, and both have initially achieved political progress. The United States is continuously absorbing immigrants from Europe. In the foreseeable future, it will be a country with a large population. India now has a population of 200 million or 300 million, and there will be more in the future. So we believe that the United States is What it will look like after the unification of Europe, while India is a China that is in a declining stage. If given time, the rise of the United States and India will definitely threaten the Ming Dynasty's leadership of the world and will replace the British Empire's current status. By the way, our Ming Dynasty There has never been any hostility towards Britain, the second most powerful country in the world. If you have done anything that we find unacceptable, it is that you allowed the United States to become independent and tried to build India into a truly unified country. This is what we must not Reasons not to go to war with Britain!”
"In other words." British Foreign Secretary Robert Peel looked at Zhuge Weixue in disbelief, "Everything is the fault of the United States and India?"
"You can say that!" Zhuge Weixue said, "So these two countries must pay a really heavy price for the mistakes they made!"
"What about us?" Robert Peel asked, "Do we have to lose Australia? That's a huge continent!"
Zhuge Weixue nodded and said: "We know. We have to take the new version of the world map to tell the people down there, what did we get in this war that cost astronomical amounts of military expenditure? Australia is so big, it will definitely satisfy people. of.
In addition, we also need to get Oregon, which is co-governed by Britain and the United States. Maybe it can be changed to the name of co-governance by Britain and the United States, as long as the United States is excluded.
I think such a loss is not unbearable for the UK. In fact, you are not using Oregon at all and Australia is nothing more than a penal colony. The world is so big, where can’t we exile prisoners? You can let them go to Canada, but if that doesn't work, just enclose territory in Africa. "
Viscount Palmerston and Robert Peel exchanged glances, and Robert Peel asked: "What about war compensation?"
"Compensation?" Zhuge Weixue shook his head, "The Ming Dynasty must be the winner, and the winner has no obligation to compensate. However, the Ming Emperor will not ask his sister-in-law for money, so you can rest assured."
Viscount Palmerston said: "But we can't give up on Australia because British bookstores also sell world maps!"
Zhuge Weixue nodded: "I understand, you can't give up, but we can win the war, that's it!"
Palmerston said: "We have deployed 500,000 troops in Australia. You cannot capture it quickly, but the war should not continue forever. This is not good for both of us! It will only benefit Europe, India, and the United States. , maybe we can consider other alternatives.”
Zhuge Weixue smiled and said: "Yes, there is no benefit in continuing to fight. Sooner or later the people will get tired of it. Then set a timetable. We will seize the entire coastline of Australia within 12 months!"
In 12 months, regardless of whether we have achieved this goal, we hope to sign a permanent and just peace treaty with Queen Victoria that will benefit both the Ming Dynasty and Great Britain! "
(End of chapter)
