At the end of May 1859, the Great Commander of the Republic of Prawn eliminated all the opponents. Ben Muyang promulgated the Outline for the Establishment of the Republic of Prawn and established the first republic in the history of Nihon. China then officially recognized the Republic of Prawn and signed a mutual assistance agreement with the Republic of Prawn.
When this agreement reached Edo, the Foreign Minister of the Meiji government immediately went to the China Embassy to protest. The answer of the China Embassy was, "It is China's internal affairs to decide whether to recognize the Republic of Prawn or not. It is not Japan's turn to interfere in China's internal affairs."
After the Foreign Minister of Japan left angrily, in addition to reporting to the Meiji government of Nihon, he also told the people around him. In this era of God's Retribution, the news of the naval battle in the Tsugaru Strait had long been known by the Meiji government. Through some diplomatic channels, the Meiji government finally determined that it was the Chinese warship that fought the battle. With the accumulation of old and new hatred, the matter of throwing a bomb at the China Embassy was immediately born.
On June 3, the personnel of the China Embassy were dispatched. After informing the Meiji government of the news that the China Ambassador in Nihon had temporarily returned to China, China actually withdrew the Ambassador. The Meiji government of Nihon, which had begun to be civilized, immediately became anxious. But the China Ambassador had already boarded the ship, and the Nihonese did not dare to intercept the China warship in any case. They could only watch helplessly as the Chinese ambassador "left in a huff."
The news quickly spread throughout the diplomatic circle of the embassies of various countries in Nihon. The Ambassador of the British Embassy smiled happily at the afternoon tea party and said to the counselor, "This step is finally completed."
At this time, the civil service system of the United Kingdom was quite excellent. In a sense, the counselor was also the assistant and "apprentice" of the ambassador. The counselor could not fully understand the joy of the ambassador.
The British Ambassador smiled and told the whole operation behind the scenes of the United Kingdom.
Under the instigation of the British Minister, the envoys of various countries in Nihon recognized the existence of the Republic of Prawn. This was a big deal. As long as the Republic of Prawn was recognized, the war between the Meiji government and the Republic of Prawn would become a war between two equal forces. At this time, the Great Powers could openly intervene in this war.
The Meiji government immediately sent the Foreign Minister to protest to the Great Powers. The United States was the first to back down. It temporarily admitted that it was a civil war and sold the Ironclad to the Meiji government. The United Kingdom and France, on the other hand, adopted delaying tactics. They tried their best to speak ambiguously, not giving the Japanese Meiji government a hard time. At the same time, he strongly encouraged China to intervene in the war between the Meiji government and the Republic of Prawn.
As a troublemaker, the Englishman had actually put in a lot of effort in this matter. The British Empire first forced the new China to recognize Britain's privileges over Japan, and then used the "return of the Spanish fleet to Asia" and the Dutch East Indies as bargaining chips to further weaken China's intervention in Japan.
The core of Japan's Meiji government was the Choshu Domain and the Satsuma Domain. Both of these domains had suffered under the Liberation Army. When the British expelled China's ability to intervene in Japan, the two major forces rejoiced. They even tried to propose that the British come forward to help annul the border treaty signed between the Tokugawa shogunate and China. The Satsuma Domain was particularly enthusiastic about this, completely forgetting how they begged the shogunate to help them solve the blockade of Kyushu by the Liberation Army Navy.
Now, under the encouragement of the British, China clearly supported the Republic of Prawn. The deserted island of Hokkaido was not important to the British, and China did not dare to monopolize Hakodate. Hakodate's status as an international port had not changed.
If China came forward to split Japan, Japan would be firmly tied to the British, becoming the bridgehead of the British against China. As for China controlling the Republic of Prawn, so what? It just made the Japanese Meiji government feel the heavy pressure of war. With the pressure of war, Japan, which had begun to arm itself, would be the best assistant for the British in the Far East. From the perspective of the British, the troublemaker, the more hostile the Japanese Meiji government was to China, the more the British would be able to control the Japanese Meiji government. Even if they took ten thousand steps back and China conquered Japan, they would not be able to defeat Japan. Conquering tens of millions of hostile Japanese meant that China would consume a terrible amount of internal resources. The weakening of China itself was beneficial to the British.
The Counselor knew some of these things, but he also didn't know some of them. After all the content behind the surface was connected, the Counselor was very impressed by this method. "Your Excellency, this is really wonderful."
The ambassador looked at his' apprentice '. Even though this apprentice didn't know anything, he still performed well in many diplomatic meetings. At this time, it was time to tell him some more core content. It was also the predecessor's duty to cultivate successors.
So the Counselor quickly learned new knowledge from the ambassador.
Even if the conflict between China and Japan reached a full-scale war, the British didn't have to evacuate Japan. As long as the Great Powers with interests in Japan worked together to put pressure on China, they might be able to further divide Japan and let the British control Japan more effectively.
As long as it did not infringe on the interests of the Great Powers in a new area, any country that further opened up the new area and forced the local government to make greater concessions, the other Great Powers would be happy and even help. This was the basic principle of the unity of the Great Powers.
But when the interests of the Great Powers were damaged, whoever was the overlord of the world could use the power in their hands to make the other Great Powers obey the world overlord's greatest interests. Countries outside the Great Powers obeyed the Great Powers, and the inferior Great Powers obeyed the superior Great Powers. This was the core of the British version of the unity of the Great Powers.
At the end of the speech, the British Ambassador solemnly said, "As long as there is a large fleet, the United Kingdom will stand in an invincible position in the world of diplomacy. So we must not be afraid in the face of war, and we must not be involved in conflicts that have no benefits because we have such power. The balanced policy of the British Empire is built on this basis. "
The counselor, who had accumulated a considerable amount of experience, felt enlightened after listening to the explanation. As a diplomat, some words didn't need to be so clear. Being told about the theory meant that the Counselor had been valued, and at the same time, he would naturally take on more diplomatic tasks. Opportunity and risk were double-edged swords. If the Counselor couldn't perform better in the following work, then the Ambassador's favor would turn into disappointment, and the possible bright future of the Counselor would vanish.
After understanding this, the Counselor pondered for a while and said, "I think China's action of withdrawing the embassy is very correct."
"Oh?" Big Boss replied encouragingly.
The Counselor analyzed with a little unconfidence, "China has no intention of competing with the British Empire for Japan. Although the withdrawal at this time cut off diplomatic contact with Japan, even if they get closer to the Japanese Meiji government, it will only let the Japanese Meiji government get more. Instead of this, it is better to withdraw the Ambassador and help the Republic of Prawn. If we need them to come back, they can also ask us for more bargaining chips. "
The Ambassador agreed with the Counselor's analysis in his heart. What the United Kingdom had to do was to control the fate of Japan. Even the concessions in the Dutch East Indies were part of the exchange for China's release in Japan. At most, the Dutch East Indies could affect China's Lanfang Province. If the British were too aggressive, China might really go to war with the British without any regard for life or death. The British government had already made an assessment that the United Kingdom would at most gain the result of the Crimean War. The result of the Crimean War was that Russia did not cede land or pay reparations, but only gave up its claim in Eastern Europe. For the Dutch East Indies, which was far less valuable than Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom fought hard and suffered heavy losses. In addition to spending tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pounds, the United Kingdom got China to give up its "unreasonable claim" on the Dutch East Indies. With the result of the Crimean War in front of them, the British Parliament would not accept such a choice.
But Japan was different. Just looking at the map, one could know that if they wanted to control China, the best helper in the Far East was Japan. In any case, the United Kingdom would tie Japan to the United Kingdom and make Japan work for the United Kingdom. After all, Japan was a country with a population of 40 to 50 million. It would be a pity if they could not make use of it.
Almost at the same time that the British Minister was educating the counselor apprentice, Vézé was also telling Zuo Zhidan about China's attitude towards Japan. "According to a surface mining law, there is coal and iron in the area controlled by the Ryukyu Republic. I believe you can understand what this means."
Hokkaido accounted for more than half of the coal reserves and mining volume in Japan. Although Vézé did not know the size and reserves of the Muran iron mine, the shipbuilding industry needed special steel. Vézé knew that some of the special steel was imported from Muran City, which was the prosperous iron industry in Japan. According to the bragging of the Muran side, they started to prosper in 197 at the latest. Vézé did not believe that in 197, Muran, a ghost town in Hokkaido, could afford to import iron ore from abroad. It would be strange if the local area did not have iron ore, or even high-quality iron ore.
Zuo Zhidan understood the significance of the coal and iron complex. Currently, several large iron and steel centers in China were made of coal and iron. Although the coal and iron complex in Guangdong did not seem to be a place with good resources, Vézé relied on the overseas Hongji Coal Mine to support this iron and steel center. What Zuo Zhidan did not understand was the significance of the Republic of Prawn having this iron and steel center. He could only answer according to his own understanding: "Commander-in-chief, the Republic of Prawn has a small population, so the per capita amount of iron and steel is higher."
Now the leadership of China understood the significance of per capita amount of iron and steel. During the era of the Manchu Qing, there was a population of 400 to 500 million. Although they produced a lot of things, it was good enough that the people did not starve to death. This was only the food production. As for the per capita amount of industrial products and steel, the Manchu Qing could not compare to the United Kingdom. It was not without reason that they lost to the United Kingdom.
"If the Republic of Prawn has these, then the Meiji government of Japan will lose these. As long as we control the Republic of Prawn, it is equivalent to greatly reducing the strength of Japan." Vézé replied.
This answer surprised Zuo Zhidan. Everyone was now used to thinking deeply and thinking for a decade or even longer to understand Wei Ze's decision. However, after thinking about it carefully, Vézé's judgment was based on the current situation. The Republic of Prawn controlled by China indeed had great benefits for China. However, judging from the current situation, when the United Kingdom controlled Japan lost the opportunity to build a coal and iron complex, it was already a great loss for them.
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