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The rain continued to pour outside the house. In the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs office, Nguyen Ciyong, the representative sent by Vietnam to seek help from China, also had tears rolling down his face. The man in his forties grabbed Minister of Foreign Affairs Zuo Zhidan's hand and wailed, "Please send troops to save us! I beseech Your Majesty to send troops to rescue us! "
One month ago, Hong Ren? He officially became China's ambassador to France and took a group of diplomats with heavy responsibilities to France. Zuo Zhidan officially became the foreign minister. With a warm expression on his face, Zuo Zhidan looked at the sobbing Vietnamese envoy Ruan Ciyong, his heart brimming with joy. The Vietnamese tried to play with both China and France at the same time, and this kind of dichotomy actually brought China and France together.
The Empire's righteous war was very simple. It only took a few moves. After France gained the recognition of China, they no longer had to worry about being attacked by the Chinese army. They let go of the burden in their hearts, and the 3,000 troops split into several groups as they marched towards the capital of Vietnam, Thuon Hóa.
Seeing that the method of using China to threaten France had failed, the frightened Nguyen court once again sent an envoy to China for help. Ruan Ciyong was no longer as perfunctory as he was during the previous negotiations. He almost cried himself hoarse and shouted, "If Shangguan still doesn't send troops, we can only cede territory to France!"
Zuo Zhidan thought to himself, "You're finally telling the truth! Even if it was ceding territory to France, the Nguyễn Dynasty would not accept ceding territory to China. From Ruan Ciyong's performance, there was no doubt that this was the case.
However, since they had already anticipated the Nguyen Dynasty's actions, China was relieved. Zuo Zhidan asked Ruan Ciyong to sit down, and then said slowly, "What good will we get if we send troops to help and stop the French from advancing into Hue?"
Ruan Ciyong said with tears in his eyes, "What request does the kingdom have?"
Zuo Zhidan laughed. "We don't want you to cede any more land."
Hearing Zuo Zhidan's words, Ruan Ciyong was so surprised that he even stopped crying. Zuo Zhidan admired Ruan Ciyong in her heart. It seemed that if Ruan Ciyong were to play a role in a drama troupe in China, he would probably become famous. It was rare to see such a brilliant reaction.
Taking out the map, Zuo Zhidan used her fingernail to draw a line on the northern part of Vietnam, "These few towns need to have a commander, and the commander will be our side. But these places are still in your Vietnam. "
"And then?" Ruan Ciyong asked curiously.
Zuo Zhidan sneered, "We only guarantee that France won't attack your Hue. As for how you and the French will fight, we don't care. If you really want us to help you take back the south, that's another matter. "
"In the end, the kingdom still wants us to cede territory." Ruan Ciyong quickly understood the logic behind it.
"If you're not willing, then there's nothing we can do to help." Zuo Zhidan immediately shut the door to negotiations. After the international political turmoil, the Liberation Army was not as impulsive as before. As the saying goes, a forcefully twisted melon will not be sweet. The first thing to do now was to divide Vietnam. The Liberation Army might not be able to make a move now.
Ruan Ciyong continued to make his last effort, "Please make it clear that we can't cede territory!"
Zuo Zhidan pretended to be angry and shouted, "We can't do this, we can't do that. But you still want us to send troops. You say that you respect us as the kingdom, but do you really want to order us around like slaves? "
Ruan Ciyong quickly smiled apologetically, "Please calm down, please calm down! We do respect the kingdom. It's just that the Celestial Empire has its own etiquette and righteousness. Taking advantage of the situation is not what the Celestial Empire should do! "
"What the Celestial Empire should do is the Celestial Empire's business. Since when is it your turn to tell us?" Zuo Zhidan said in a harsh tone. After that, he walked back and forth a few times with his hands behind his back, then said to Ruan Ciyong impatiently, "It's not impossible for us to ask France to retreat for the time being, but you have to hand over the Hongji area and the nearby islands to us. If you can't even agree to this, you don't have to come to us in the future. "
Ruan Ciyong rolled his eyes, "Then is the kingdom going to send troops?"
Zuo Zhidan snorted coldly, "We can only tell the French to retreat first. As for the matter of sending troops, it's up to you. But if you don't do what I said just now, you can go deal with the French yourselves. "
"Sir, please explain in detail what you said just now. Don't let me hear it clearly and go back with the wrong information." Ruan Ciyong said.
What Zuo Zhidan wanted was the management rights of the Hongji Coal Mine and the Hongji Harbor. The islands in the Hongji Harbor and the Paracel Islands would also belong to China. In this era, the value of the islands was actually very limited, so Ruan Ciyong didn't discuss this too much. He was more concerned about the Hongji Harbor.
What Vézé really wanted was the entire Hongji Coal Mine area. With the improvement of the industrial level and the development of the city, the demand for high-quality anthracite would increase. Originally, the Hongji Coal Mine's production was already insufficient. If they wanted to increase production, they would have to invest more. Although the Vietnamese themselves didn't understand the significance of the Hongji Coal Mine, they knew one thing. Since the Liberation Army had invested so much manpower and resources into the mine, the Hongji Coal Mine was of great significance to the Liberation Army. Thus, the recent uproar over the Hongji Coal Mine increased. In order to avoid future trouble, the Liberation Army simply proposed that the local officials of the Hongji Coal Mine area must be sent by the Liberation Army, and the local management must be handled by the Liberation Army.
Compared to cutting off the South of Vietnam, or installing a Chinese as the commander of a few towns in the North, these requests were obviously much easier to accept. After the Vietnamese representative, Ruan Ciyong, confirmed in detail the requirements of the China side, he hurriedly left in the rain.
Zuo Zhidan looked at Ruan Ciyong's back. He sincerely hoped that the Vietnamese side would understand the situation. The internal meeting of the Liberation Army had made it clear that if the Vietnamese side refused to budge, they would definitely retreat. At that time, the Liberation Army could only kill their way into Vietnam, using the weapons in their hands to force the Vietnamese to accept the conditions. At that time, it wouldn't just be a simple matter of ceding the North. The capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty would have to be moved from Hue, a city built by China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs actually didn't have much to do now, but it had been busy recently. After sending off the Vietnamese representative, the British Consulate unexpectedly sent out an invitation, inviting Zuo Zhidan to attend a banquet hosted by the British Consulate.
Zuo Zhidan had heard from Vézé that the British were known as the "European Shit Stirrer". After receiving the invitation from the British side, he also felt that what Vézé said might be true. After this incident, which actually had nothing to do with the British, the British immediately reacted. This was really interesting.
The British banquet was also quite interesting. Zuo Zhidan gradually got used to the buffet style of foreign countries. The British Consul, Sir Humphrey, first raised the issue of the new consulate address with Zuo Zhidan. Vézé was planning the brand new city of Guangzhou. The urban construction of Manchu Qing was very poor, and because of the rapid population expansion, the urban rate of Manchu Qing was extremely low throughout the dynasties of China. Vézé's large-scale construction this time was to build a new industrial city, and also to set an example to cultivate urban planning and construction talents. A large number of troops were mobilized, surveying and mapping personnel, engineering teams, and the corresponding construction of cement factories, brick factories, and so on. The whole process was very big. Naturally, the consulates of various countries were also informed of the problem of reconstruction. Since Vézé paid so much attention to this matter, everyone related to it naturally attached great importance to it.
They discussed the problem of how to choose a site, including who would pay for the construction of the new consulate, the area of the consulate, the size of the garrison, and security. These things were actually quite detailed. Zuo Zhidan was a little impatient at first, but he quickly remembered that China also wanted to set up embassies and consulates in Europe, and it was not bad to get related knowledge from the British.
The two sides talked as they ate, and after a while, Sir Humphrey suddenly asked, "I heard that your country is cooperating with France? Is that true? "
Zuo Zhidan began to play dumb, "We have always had various kinds of cooperation with France, what is Mr. Humphrey talking about?"
"We heard that your country is cooperating with France in Vietnam?" Sir Humphrey directly said the main point.
The French are so unreliable! Zuo Zhidan thought. But even if the French were unreliable, Zuo Zhidan had to be. Facing Humphrey, who had an eager "shit stirrer" look on his face, Zuo Zhidan smiled and said, "I didn't know about this. Mr. Humphrey, if I may be so kind as to tell me who has given this information to him. "
In a diplomatic situation, this was equivalent to telling the other party clearly that they would not answer even if they asked. As a person trained in the British civil service, how could Humphrey not know this? He smiled and directly changed the topic back to the discussion of the various specific contents of the new consulate.
After the discussion with Sir Humphrey, Zuo Zhidan felt that he had learned a lot. He excitedly ran to see Vézé to talk about the recent developments, but he did not expect Vézé to disappear. Zuo Zhidan asked the secretary, "Who is the governor meeting now?"
The secretary smiled and said politely, "Minister Zuo, the governor's schedule is full today. If it is not something important, you should not see the governor for the next few days. You should write a report. "
Although this refusal made Zuo Zhidan unhappy, he also knew that now was not the time to rush in and see Vézé. After all, these were just trivial matters. Zuo Zhidan chose to leave.
And Vézé's discussion did not seem to be particularly important. He gathered a group of technical backbones from the Faculty of Agriculture and was discussing a new research group that would be funded by the government in the future.
"As the saying goes, the rarer something is, the greater its value. Chinese people care about their reputation. If they can get something rare, they will feel high-spirited and especially satisfied. What I'm asking you to do now is not to research something particularly rare, but to research something very ordinary. We have liberated Hunan, and Anhua black tea is a very good product. The foreign businessmen have responded well. What I want you to do now is to research the entire process of this product and then be able to mass produce it. "
After speaking to the comrades in the tea department, Vézé said to the technical backbones of the fish department, "In the past few years, everyone has gradually been able to cultivate fish fry. The foundation pond agriculture in Guangdong has a huge demand for fish fry, and fishing for fish fry every year is not enough to meet the demand. I have already approved the funds you applied for. You should hurry up and try to satisfy the fish fry that are suitable for the fish pond. Also, the crayfish imported from the United States is also a good product. Although it will also damage the dam, compared to the pros and cons, there are gains and losses. You have to hurry up. "
The meeting went on for a while. Although Vézé was in charge of approving the funds, he couldn't help but talk a lot. After sending the group of people away, Vézé was also unbearably tired. Productivity was the biggest driving force of society, and the improvement of every technology could bring a little help to the whole society. Even if every family could have an extra fish every week, as well as the spices and oil used to cook the fish, these seemingly insignificant things would probably have a significant impact on the lives of the people.
There was a president in the United States who campaigned on the platform of "let every American family have an extra chicken in the pot." Vézé remembered that this guy seemed to have been elected in the end. Even with the superior agricultural conditions in the United States, there was no need to mention China in this era.
But at this time, Vézé wanted to elect a prime minister who could undertake these affairs. In the past, the territory of the Liberation Army was small, namely, Guangdong and Hunan, and Vézé could make many big decisions. Now that the territory was so large, in addition to the governor, there must be a prime minister to manage the government affairs. But as to who to choose and how to set up the system, Vézé felt that it was very problematic.
As he thought about it, Vézé felt hungry. He said to the secretary, "Prepare some supper."
"What do you want to eat?" the secretary asked quickly.
"Crayfish stir-fried with scallions and ginger, and a bowl of rice," Vézé replied. A few years ago, crayfish were imported from the United States. This kind of small creature had a tenacious vitality. After enduring the hard life on the ship, they arrived in China on the verge of death. Then, they quickly grew up in the tidal flats and ditches of China. This quickly added crayfish to the local cuisine in Guangdong. Vézé preferred to cut the crayfish in half, stir-fry them in the pan after the oil was hot, and then stir-fry the scallions and ginger. It was very appetizing.
Of course, this generous way of eating also reminded Vézé of the problem of industrial pollution. With the development of the metallurgical industry, heavy metal pollution made China face a huge environmental problem. In Europe, the fog capital of London and the custom of European countries not to eat fish in the coastal waters and rivers were all caused by industrial pollution. As for the industrial pollution in the United States, it was actually even more terrible. According to friends who studied abroad, the oil producing states in the United States were actually extremely polluted. In order to eliminate pollution, many areas directly put a large number of oil pollution chemicals in many places. These chemicals may be able to neutralize oil pollution, but they also formed a terrible new environmental pollution. The industrial development of China in the 21st century, thanks to the social system and the progress of science and technology, could finally be saved. After 1862, if the industry was allowed to unscrupulously build at a low level and with high levels of repetition …
Vézé shook his head heavily. This terrible future could wait until it was time to face it. On such a rainy night, it was better to eat a few more industrial pollution-free crayfish first.
The next day, Vézé held a central meeting of the Restoration Party. No one had any objections to the establishment of the State Council. But the relationship between the State Council and the current system was a problem.
At this time, Vézé took out the knowledge from junior high school. The important content of junior high school politics class was to explain the structure of the national system. It was a compulsory test. With this question, Vézé did not even need to draft and began to move the set of things on the blackboard.
The President of the State Council was the head of the state, and the Premier of the State Council was the head of the administrative department. Of course, the party that led the army was the leader of the whole system. The relatively independent were naturally the public security, the procuratorate, and the court. The whole system had its own functions, and it was easy to understand. In fact, the Restoration Party was now established in this way, but the departments were temporarily not so complete.
After writing these systems, Vézé hesitated whether to write about the organs of power and the People's Congress. Thinking of the People's Congress, Vézé could not help but stop writing. The impression the People's Congress gave Vézé was that of a rubber stamp, but whether the People's Congress existed or not was a very important matter. This organization determined the legal system of a country. If there was no People's Congress, but a simple party, government, and army system, then all the legal system would undoubtedly be a system that originated from Vézé, the founder of the country. The existence of the People's Congress meant that the cornerstone of the country's power was the people. The difference between the two was as big as the distance between Earth and Pluto. It was not an exaggeration to say that the difference was like heaven and earth.
Looking at Vézé's contemplation, Minister of Education Li Yuchang asked, "Your Majesty, how should you be addressed in this new system?"
Vézé was summoned back to the real world from his contemplation. After thinking for a moment, he wrote down Vézé's full name: "Chairman of the Restoration Party, President of the State of China, Chairman of the Military Commission of the Liberation Army, Emperor Comrade Vézé."
After reading it, Li Yuchang could not help but ask, "Your Majesty, is this order correct?"
"Of course, this order is correct," Vézé immediately replied.
Minister of Education Li Yuchang asked, "If this is the order, it means that the position of the chairman of the Restoration Party is higher than that of the emperor!"
"So what?" Vézé smiled.
Li Yuchang answered without hesitation, "The chairman of the Restoration Party is elected once every five years!"
After this, the whole conference room fell silent. Some comrades looked at Li Yuchang impatiently, some were confused or shocked because it was the first time they thought of this problem, and some were frowning thoughtfully.
Vézé could not help but feel angry. Li Yuchang's question was very important, but it was obviously not timely. Sometimes it was better not to say some things. While Vézé was thinking about how to explain, Wei Changrong said, "Now that the chairman of the Party, the president of the State, and the chairman of the Military Commission have been decided, only the prime minister is left. Your Majesty, how can you be sure that there are rules for the prime minister? "
With Wei Changrong smoothing things over, everyone was relieved. This sharp contradiction was temporarily avoided.
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