Kurosawa Tsuyoshi was not surprised, nor was he dissatisfied. He replied frankly, "If this is the decision of the Taiping Rebellion, I will bring this decision back to the Commander in Chief. But does the Taiping Rebellion have their own plans? "
This was indeed the consensus of the Taiping Rebellion. Shaanxi might be slightly better than Guangxi, but in fact, it was not much better. Compared with Jiangnan, Shaanxi was much worse. When they were driven from Jiangnan to Shaanxi, the Liberation Army surrounded Nanjing, and the generals of the Taiping army could only grit their teeth and accept it. Now the Liberation Army was still far from Chang 'an, and the conditions in Xinjiang were worse than in Shaanxi. Just as Li Xiucheng said in the meeting these two days, "Even if we go to Xinjiang to open up territory, where will we be sent?"
Li Xiucheng said what the generals of the Taiping army were thinking. Even if they could not defeat the Liberation Army, they could not let the Liberation Army trample on them like this. Everyone was against surrendering to the Liberation Army.
Lin Fengxiang was not a masochist, and he was naturally not willing to be ordered around by the Liberation Army. But there was a problem now. It was easy to refuse the request of the Liberation Army, but the Taiping Rebellion could not find its future direction. In reality, if the Taiping Rebellion wanted to open up territory, it could only develop in the direction of Xinjiang and Mongolia. But in those directions, there were thousands of miles of Gobi Desert or vast grasslands. For the Han people who farmed, there was really nothing good about it. Moreover, the Liberation Army had never mentioned the option of recruiting the Taiping army to surrender. If they really wanted the Taiping army to surrender honestly, they would not take the initiative to make such a choice before they were at the end of their rope.
Therefore, it was difficult for Lin Fengxiang to answer Kurosawa Tsuyoshi's frank question at the moment. Kurosawa Tsuyoshi also saw some clues. He did not make things difficult for Lin Fengxiang. He said directly, "King Zhang, the Commander in Chief ordered me to come here. I have asked him what we should do if the brothers of the Taiping army are willing to join our Liberation Army. The commander-in-chief thought for a while before saying that he felt that the brothers in the Taiping army were very unyielding. Due to their pride, they might not choose this path. But here's what I think. We've fought together before, and our friendship is there. I just want to ask King Zhang if the brothers of the Taiping army are willing to join the Liberation Army. "
In the face of the Liberation Army's aggressive attitude, Lin Fengxiang could only let out a long sigh. However, after a long sigh, he also got over it. If the two sides were to change places, based on Heavenly King Hong's conduct, he probably wouldn't have let the Liberation Army escape from Nanjing. He had even given the Liberation Army a few years' time.
Now, everyone in the Taiping army knew that they could not defeat the Liberation Army. However, they knew that they could not defeat the Liberation Army. After all, they were not at the end of their rope. Even if some people had already thought of surrendering, they would not choose to surrender now. Thinking of this, Lin Fengxiang said, "When you go back, please tell the Wayne Brothers that I, Lin Fengxiang, will always remember the favor of saving me back then. However, when the two countries are at war, each has its own master. I, Lin Fengxiang, am a member of the Taiping Rebellion, so I will follow the young Heavenly King. "
Kurosawa Tsuyoshi had originally received the order to come and inquire about the situation. Now that there were many internal problems in the Liberation Army, it was not the time to take action, at least before the basic railway network was completed. In response to Lin Fengxiang's words, Kurosawa Tsuyoshi just smiled. "I will go back and report what King Zhang said to the Commander-in-Chief."
Just as the internal forces in China were changing, the British Parliament also made a judgment on China's problems. Their envoy rushed to Nanjing and met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zuo Zhidan.
"We learned that your country is preparing to attack the Dutch East Indies," the British envoy said bluntly.
"There is absolutely no such thing!" Zuo Zhidan also said firmly. Some people said that diplomacy was about telling lies to each other. This might be the superficial state of diplomacy. Internally, truth and lies were only part of the mutual expression of diplomacy. Misunderstanding the other party's thoughts was the problem in diplomacy. As long as one could accurately convey one's thoughts to the other party, there was no difference between truth and lies.
Hearing Zuo Zhidan's clear answer, the British envoy thought that perhaps China had no intention of going to war with the United Kingdom at this time. This was also the judgment made by the British Parliament. Knowing that China intended to annex the Dutch East Indies, the British Parliament did not feel that there was any moral problem. The real mainland of the United Kingdom was less than 300,000 square kilometers, but it controlled tens of millions of square kilometers of colonies. Colonies were never something that could be discussed on the table. There were constant conflicts between the colonies of various countries. If such matters were discussed on the table, the European countries would fight to the death every day.
What the British Parliament could not accept was China challenging the United Kingdom's global hegemony. If China was only interested in a certain colony, on the basis that it did not touch the British Empire's global hegemony, the conflict could be resolved through negotiation.
Therefore, the British envoy began to try to communicate this idea with Zuo Zhidan. After all, China's ironclads were sailing in the South China Sea, and this fleet did not collapse in the face of the British Fleet's attack. Instead, it fought hard. The existing gap in strength between the two sides did not give the United Kingdom much of an advantage. For this reason alone, the British needed to give China enough respect.
Perhaps it was a cultural difference, or Zuo Zhidan herself had some preconceived ideas. In short, after more than two hours of talking, Zuo Zhidan finally understood that the British were determined not to accept China's strategy of annexing the Dutch East Indies by force. However, if China made a "legitimate request" to the Dutch East Indies at a meeting hosted by the British, the British did not care about fulfilling their authority as the world's hegemon. In other words, they would host a negotiation.
"Who do you think you are!" Zuo Zhidan cursed in her heart. This was the unique mentality of the people who conquered the world. From a practical point of view, the British's attitude could be said to be very friendly. All they needed was for China to recognize Britain's dominant position in the Western Pacific. The Dutch East Indies was so big, and the local Dutch population was so small. China had sufficient manpower and strength worthy of the British Far East Fleet's respect. The Dutch were afraid of China entering the Dutch East Indies, and tried every possible way to prevent the Chinese from opening plantations and mining in the Dutch East Indies. The British were not afraid of this. The British Parliament even thought that if China was allowed to gain some benefits in the Dutch East Indies, it could promote China's recognition and respect of the British order in the Far East.
However, Zuo Zhidan clearly did not think that this attitude was friendly. China was completely different from the British. China did not need colonies, China needed land. Allowing China to invest in the Dutch East Indies and use the local land and minerals was not favorable conditions to speak of. As long as China occupied the Dutch East Indies, all the power would come with it. Therefore, the only thing that Zuo Zhidan really cared about was that "the British firmly do not accept China's strategy of annexing the Dutch East Indies by force."
After the two sides had a frank exchange of views, Zuo Zhidan went to see Vézé to report the situation. To Zuo Zhidan's surprise, Vézé was very interested in the British's conditions. It was no wonder that the two had different views. Vézé knew the arrogance of the British and the low status of China in those days. It was definitely a victory of national power to force the British to make such a huge concession on the Dutch East Indies issue. Vézé originally thought that the British would mercilessly send a large fleet to bombard China's seaports.
Vézé wanted to let Zuo Zhidan discuss the issue with the British envoy, but looking at Zuo Zhidan's "celestial kingdom" attitude, he swallowed his words and changed his words. "I want to see the British envoy."
The negotiation between the two, who had a more accurate understanding of the world, was quite rational. The two sides had a serious discussion about the British's position in the Western Pacific.
The fact that China had seized the entire Borneo had indeed caused the British to be unhappy. Moreover, the fact that China had quickly established a foothold in Borneo and carried out large-scale development of the Borneo had made the British very unhappy. However, this was not enough to make the British fall out with China. The British's huge colonies were very little developed. They really could not find a reason to go to war with China over Borneo. All the British needed was China to respect the British's dominant position in the Western Pacific. In other words, China's expansion had come to an end.
After confirming the attitude of the British Parliament brought by the British envoy, Vézé frankly said, "We are willing to respect the British's position in the Western Pacific. Apart from the Spanish islands in the Pacific, we are not going to continue to seek ownership of more land. "
Zuo Zhidan did not have any special expression on his face, but he was a little speechless in his heart. Vézé gave everyone the impression that he was a very frank and honest person. He never lied to his comrades. However, when Vézé lied to the British envoy, he was really sincere. If Zuo Zhidan did not know Vézé's attitude towards Southeast Asia and even Australia and New Zealand, he would have been deceived by the deep joy and sincere expectation of cooperation in Vézé's tone.
After making his promise, Vézé continued, "I think our negotiations have been carried out too late. The British Navy is strong, so we are worried that the British will indiscriminately stand on the side of the Dutch East Indies."
The British envoy smiled at this compliment, which was perfectly true. He was facing the Emperor of China, and the Emperor of China was recognized by the whole world. There were only a few real emperors in the world: the Queen of India and King Elizabeth of England, the Emperor of China, the Sultan of Turkey, the Tsar of Russia, the Emperor of Shenluo, and the Emperor of Ethiopia. Even if the other countries called themselves emperors, they were only regarded as kings.
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