The scenery of Nanjing in summer was beautiful, especially in the pavilion in Qilizhou, drinking afternoon tea, enjoying the river breeze, and watching the river scenery. It was even more wonderful.
The British Ambassador and Chinese Foreign Minister Zuo Zhidan sat under a large pavilion built on Jiangxin Island. Not only did the British Ambassador attend, but the French Ambassador, the American Ambassador, and the Dutch Ambassador were also invited. Ambassadors from countries that had the ability to establish embassies in China, except for the Russian Ambassador, were all invited.
The buffet was spread out under the pavilion. Cold dishes, fruits, and cakes were available. If one wanted to eat hot dishes, the Chinese chef would cook them. Those who wanted to eat could wait in front with a plate. The women played on the lawn with their children. Several four to five-month-old huskies were loved by the women and children because of their handsome and cute appearance, as well as their lively and docile personality.
There were all kinds of alcohol and cold drinks in the broken ice bucket, and ice cream in the insulated box. One box could hold 50. In less than an hour, three boxes were emptied, and the fourth box was opened.
Both men and women loved sweets, but the difference was in sweetness and sweetness. As for children, they didn't care about sweetness. They ate it first.
Zuo Zhidan and the British Ambassador each held a caramel-flavored ice cream cone and sat side by side, chatting slowly. Just now, the two had eaten two different flavors of ice cream, and they weren't in a hurry to eat the third one. The British Ambassador took a sip of the lemonade next to him. After he put down the teacup, the ice hit the glass and made a crisp sound.
The British Ambassador sighed and said, "It's really good."
Zuo Zhidan imitated the British Ambassador and took a sip of the cold lemonade. He felt the rich cream taste in his mouth dilute, and the refreshing sweetness made him nod. Zuo Zhidan took another bite of the caramel-flavored ice cream and sighed, "It's really good."
The British Ambassador finished the ice cream and drank a glass of lemonade before he asked, "Minister Zuo, I heard that you have a falling out with the Russians?"
"We have already told the Russians that if they don't want to discuss the full restoration of the Treaty of Nerchinsk with us, then they don't need to come to us anymore," Zuo Zhidan said frankly.
"Will there be a war between China and Russia?" the British ambassador asked with great interest.
"That's not a war between China and Russia. We, China, are expelling foreigners from China's territory. What kind of war is that?" Zuo Zhidan answered straightforwardly.
"Hehehe!" The British Ambassador laughed. This meant that China had no intention of declaring war against Russia. But a military conflict would unfold.
After spreading the news, Zuo Zhidan changed the topic. "We're going to send a fleet to the Dutch East Indies."
The British ambassador didn't care at all about the fight between China and Russia in the Northeast, where birds didn't even lay eggs. No matter how many troops China and Russia invested there, it would only benefit Britain. But the Dutch East Indies were different. The British ambassador stopped smiling and listened carefully to what Zuo Zhidan was going to say next.
Zuo Zhidan said with a face full of disdain and disdain, "We're not sending a fleet to fight the Dutch this time. According to the treaties and business agreements we signed at the time, we rented the land and spent a lot of money. It was clearly written in the agreement that within ten years, we would not have to pay taxes to the Netherlands for the minerals mined and the agricultural products grown. But now the Dutch want to force a change in the commercial agreement and want us to pay taxes on the minerals mined from the Dutch East Indies again. The Dutch also threatened us that if we don't pay the taxes, they will stop our ships from shipping minerals out. Since the Dutch are so unreasonable, we don't think it's possible to make the Dutch understand by just talking. So we're going to send a fleet to the Dutch East Indies. To protect our merchant ships from the Dutch's obstruction. "
The British ambassador didn't know what to say after listening. The British ambassador also heard a little about this matter, but the version was different from what Zuo Zhidan said. The Dutch said that they were deceived by the Chinese at that time, so they combined the exploration rights with the mining rights. They didn't expect the Chinese to have ulterior motives. In fact, they had already explored in private. So as soon as the Chinese landed, they began to mine the minerals in the Dutch East Indies. According to this mining intensity, not to mention ten years, it was estimated that the local minerals would be mined out in five or six years. Overall, the Dutch suffered a big loss.
The British, as the mediator, couldn't say anything about this matter. In traditional European and American customs, the exploration rights and mining rights of mines were separated. The exploration rights usually lasted for thirty to fifty years, and the mining rights were calculated separately. When the agreement was signed, the Dutch were very afraid of the Chinese. Chinese exploration teams explored everywhere in the Dutch East Indies for decades, which was a nightmare for the Dutch. To avoid this problem, the Dutch combined the exploration and mining rights and set it at ten years. On one hand, it could limit the range of activities of the Chinese, and on the other hand, it could prevent the Chinese from taking root in the Dutch East Indies.
In terms of political and military security, the British certainly supported the way the Dutch East Indies was handled. The number of Dutch in the Dutch East Indies was very small, and the number of British in the South Sea was also very small. The expansion of China's immigration in the Dutch East Indies was not a good thing for the colonies of either country. Therefore, the British firmly supported the request of the Dutch East Indies at that time.
Now that the political and security requirements had been satisfied, it was now time to discuss commercial interests. The Dutch wanted to tear up the commercial agreement. If they did not get the consent of China, in theory, it could not be implemented, and they needed to seek arbitration. The arbitrators of this era were the British, and the other was the warships and cannons.
Obviously, the Chinese were more inclined to the latter. The British ambassador immediately said, "We oppose the Chinese fleet to the Dutch East Indies."
Zuo Zhidan said without hesitation, "We signed a treaty with the British, of course we remember that. But that treaty is about military action. But this operation is not a military operation, this is a commercial operation. If you don't let our warships go to the Dutch East Indies, then ask the British Fleet to escort our merchant ships. If the British Fleet is not willing to go, then we must go. This kind of thing can't be started. Once it is started, there will be no way to end things later. "
The British ambassador's brain was working fast. He immediately understood that China was pressuring the British, asking the British to come forward and suppress the Dutch East Indies. But this did not mean that China would wait foolishly. If the Chinese really had confidence in the British mediation, they should have asked the British to come forward first, and sent the fleet as a trump card. Now that the order had been reversed, there was no hope that China would obediently wait for the British arrangement.
"No matter what the situation is, we, the British, oppose China sending a fleet. If China must send a fleet to the Dutch East Indies, then we, the British, will also send a fleet. "The situation could not be sustained, and the British ambassador could only make further threats.
Zuo Zhidan smiled and said, "We don't care at all if you send a fleet. As long as the British Fleet does not intercept our merchant ships, we welcome the British Fleet to go there and have a look."
"No matter what the situation is, we oppose the Chinese warships going to the Dutch East Indies." The British ambassador once again clarified the British position. He stood up and went to the Dutch ambassador. If he was not mistaken, there would be a diplomatic discussion between the British ambassador and the Dutch ambassador.
Zuo Zhidan did not join the discussion between the two foreign ambassadors. The discussion would only be effective if he did not join. The two ambassadors did not seem to have any intention of completely avoiding people. Zuo Zhidan saw them walk to a corner away from the crowd, but they could still be seen. They began to gesticulate and say something. Their expressions and movements were sometimes agitated, and sometimes calm. It seemed that the discussion was quite heated.
I hope the Dutch can be sensible, Zuo Zhidan thought to himself. He originally thought that China would use diplomatic channels to solve this problem, but at the Politburo meeting, the entire upper echelon, regardless of the previous attitude, showed a strong hawkish stance. Everyone unanimously asked for the Dutch East Indies authorities to be subdued as soon as possible, so that they would not obstruct China's mining operations.
Sending a fleet to carry out intimidation and escort was also a method that everyone agreed on. The words of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce were like one person. "At this time, we can't afford it. We must ensure that the supply of raw materials is not interrupted. " If one only listened to what they said, there was no way to associate the phrase "harmony brings wealth" with them.
The military's tough attitude was even less likely to change. "The military protects the interests of the country."
Thinking of this, Zuo Zhidan could only sigh. He had thought that the risk of war in the Dutch East Indies had been greatly reduced, but he did not expect that the possibility of war had not disappeared.
But did the war really disappear? The Liberation Army tried to annex the Dutch East Indies, but in the end, due to diplomatic efforts, the war did not start. But in the past few years, China was at war internally, Japan was also at war, and even Korea could not avoid the flames of war. Now, the war between the three Far Eastern countries was not completely over, but the war between China and Russia had, in a sense, already begun.
Zuo Zhidan suddenly understood one thing. It had been 17 years since 1852, and the flames of war in the Far East had not been extinguished for a day. The flames of war that had lasted for 17 years showed no signs of extinguishing. More and more countries were involved in the war, and the forces involved in the war were getting stronger and stronger. If the situation continued to develop according to the current trend, there would eventually be an unprecedented war in the Far East.
Under the leadership of Vézé, China had long begun to prepare for this. Were the other countries prepared for this? If they were, were they ready?
Zuo Zhidan looked up at the banquet attended by the ambassadors of the various countries with their wives and children. He thought about who among the brightly dressed people would be his enemies and who would be his friends in the future war.
As he was thinking about this, he heard the sound of a band playing in the distance. The central venue of the garden party was an open-air square with a terrazzo floor, which was very suitable for dancing. Presumably, the ball had already begun. Not long after the opening music started, a blonde girl in a formal long dress ran over. She was the daughter of the Swedish ambassador to China, and she was 12 or 13 years old.
When she ran in front of Zuo Zhidan, the girl looked a little shy and said to Zuo Zhidan in broken Chinese, "Mr. Zuo, last time we said we would dance together …"
"Oh …" Zuo Zhidan had a slight impression of this, but as the foreign minister, his first thought was that the relationship between Sweden and Russia was not good. Could it be that the Swedish ambassador knew about the war between China and Russia and wanted to strengthen contact through this way?
Whether it was out of courtesy or out of interest, Zuo Zhidan had no reason to refuse the invitation. Zuo Zhidan stood up and raised his arm to the girl, "Miss, can I have a dance with you?"
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