China's fleet needed a formal invitation from a foreign country for a visit. If the other party didn't invite them, the Chinese Navy would break into the port of another country and force a "visit," which would be called a military invasion or even a war.
On July 15, 1885, there were eight countries that officially invited. Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Italy, Germany, France, and Sweden. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was busy. In the past, when China's foreign minister visited more countries, but at that time, China's foreign minister only had one ship, and it was very convenient to enter and leave the port with water and coal. This time, there were eight ships, four warships, and four supply ships. The maximum tonnage of a warship was 22,000 tons, and many countries' ports couldn't dock it.
When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the embassies of the countries, they had to first hire local port transport ships and order fuel coal, drinking water, and boiler water. This was the first time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did these things, so it was particularly complicated. Foreign Minister Li Xin handled this matter very seriously, and the team that was responsible for the heaviest work was the team that Wei Wenjie was in. Wei Wenjie also changed his habit of liking to talk in the past. He kept his mouth shut and worked very quietly. After more than ten days of busy work, Wei Wenjie still didn't have his old cute self. His colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' evaluation of Wei Wenjie improved a little.
On July 17, three 10,000-ton transport ships and a heavy cruiser that was in charge of escorting were the first to leave the port of Madagascar. The port was very lively, but not because people came to see them off. At this time, the island railway in Madagascar was under construction, and a large number of local new China citizens and China Asian workers were busy working. The island railway and the two east-west railways would form a zigzag railway network in Madagascar. The completion of the railway network would mean that China's rule in Madagascar was officially established. Although it would still take decades or hundreds of years of assimilation, that was a problem in the future. As the western gate of China, Madagascar was of great strategic importance.
On July 20, the four main warships of the Chinese Navy also left the port of Madagascar, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope and entering the South Atlantic. On the same day, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a telegram from Britain. In the telegram, China was invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers to be held in London. The topic of the meeting was the Black Sea and the war between Russia and Turkey. The reason why China had been invited was because the British side had made it clear that China was involved in the recent incident along the coast of Romania. The British Empire believed that China was also an interested party.
The telegram was personally handed to Li Xin by the British Ambassador to China. The Ambassador subtly mentioned one thing, "I remember His Excellency the Foreign Minister once promised my country's Foreign Minister that if Britain mentioned that the Osman Empire would appoint the Grand Duke of Bulgaria as the Chief Executive, China would publicly support our country's position. I wonder if Your Excellency still remembers this matter? "
Li Xin still remembered that he had made this promise from the bottom of his heart. However, in less than half a year, Li Xin felt that he might have to change his stance. Of course, this was not because the British Foreign Minister had spread Li Xin's words around a few months ago, and Li Xin did not take it to heart at all. In the end, it was all thanks to the British Foreign Minister's propaganda. If the British Foreign Minister's propaganda had led to a lot of changes, how could China have become an "interested party in the Black Sea"? In the foreseeable future, China could not enter the Black Sea by force.
Before leaving, Li Xin talked to Vézé. After the conversation with Wei Changrong, Li Xin went straight to the point. "Your Majesty, I heard that some old comrades think that the Foreign Ministry is not doing its job well and that I'm incompetent as the Foreign Minister. What do you think of this? "
Vézé replied, "The Foreign Ministry lacks experience and has not been able to solve the problem quickly. I think we need to strengthen our work in this area. "
Li Xin wanted to ask Vézé if he was going to be replaced as some people said. But Vézé did not mention the change of Li Xin's position. He was a little discouraged. If he asked the wrong question, wouldn't it become Li Xin questioning Vézé and wanting to replace Li Xin?
Vézé once said that if he forcibly started a war against the United States with his own will, it would exhaust the prestige and influence that Vézé had accumulated for decades. But the war had not started yet, and Vézé did not instigate a war for the time being. Emperor Vézé's prestige and influence were growing day by day. In the Min dynasty, he could decide anyone's position with one word. There was no doubt about it. Therefore, it was not good for Li Xin to show a wrong judgment in front of Vézé. Based on experience, Vézé could accept a comrade who had made mistakes and could accept a comrade who had made mistakes. But Vézé would never accept an incompetent person occupying the position of a minister.
Thinking of this, Li Xin changed the topic back to the work plan of this visit. "Your Majesty, I wrote in my report that we are going to provide a bank payment system supported by wireless in various countries. But this involves a lot of things, especially when it comes to a product like wireless in an international context. I'm not sure if it will work. "
China's radio had begun to be promoted in major cities, and it sold quite well. However, there were many objections from the central government to the disclosure of the wireless. The wireless was one of the magic weapons that the Chinese Navy used to win against the British Navy. The British did not expect that the Chinese could cross hundreds or even thousands of kilometers in less than 10 minutes to communicate with each other and even command the war. After the wireless was made public, China's technological advantage would no longer exist.
Vézé did not care about this. Instead, he was happy to see another thing. It was the military that opposed it, but the banking and business sectors were very welcoming of it. The leakage of this technology also brought benefits to China. If the verification of a bank payment could be completed thousands of kilometers away in a day, a 5% to 10% handling fee was not much at all. This meant that the liquidity of capital had greatly increased, and this liquidity itself meant money! Money! Money!
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
