"I'm going back to China soon, so I want to express China's position clearly. China believes that the Bulgarian parliament itself is a legitimate institution, and the Bulgarian parliament has the right to elect a leader they agree with. Of course, Bulgaria is an administrative region under the rule of the Osman Empire, and the Bulgarian governor must be appointed by the central government of the Osman Empire as the final procedure. For example, China is the suzerain of Korea, Vietnam, Siam, and Hawaii. Their countries ultimately decide who will be the king. This is the problem of Korea and Siam. The final approval of the king is the power of China. This power cannot be destroyed. Based on the philosophy that China adheres to, we believe that the proposal of the British side is in line with morality. "China's Foreign Minister Li Xin spoke with fervor and assurance. The other participating countries also listened to him for the time being.
Li Xin's speech was clear. He was leaving Berlin to return to China. The one who stayed in Berlin to continue to participate in the meeting was the China ambassador to Germany. Li Xin's statement was China's statement, and it was just a statement. Once the China representative left, the meeting to decide the fate of Bulgaria would not be affected by China.
The representatives of the various countries listened to Li Xin's words with tolerance and did not want to take it seriously. Moreover, what Li Xin said was not a shocking theory. One of the powers of the suzerain over the vassal state was to decide the candidate of the vassal state's leader.
A shrewd diplomat like Prime Minister Bismarck also understood the meaning of China's Foreign Minister Li Xin. Korea, Vietnam, and Siam were all distant Asian countries. Now that China had almost controlled the entire western Pacific, the European countries did not really care. But it was very interesting that China brought up Hawaii on such a serious occasion. Hawaii was an unreachable place for Germany. Prime Minister Bismarck saw the change in the British Foreign Minister's expression, and he was happy.
China did not start to attack Hawaii just now. The British knew that China's Pacific Fleet had built ports and fortresses in Hawaii. In the Pacific, no other navy could compete with the China fleet. The substantial control had been completed. According to the nature of China, it would not take long for the natives of Hawaii to become Chinese. China has made it clear to the UK that China wants to be the overlord of the Pacific. Although the British were dissatisfied with this, they could only keep quiet for the time being.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Austria-Hungary were not the only ones who looked upset. These two hostile countries wanted to control Bulgaria, and China supported the British view, which meant that it opposed the positions of these two countries. However, the two countries did not object. Since China had made it clear that it would relinquish its influence over Bulgaria, Li Xin's words were meaningless.
Li Xin left Berlin after making a series of general knowledge arguments. After leaving Berlin, Li Xin went straight to London. He was going to negotiate with the British Admiralty.
"My country hopes to purchase your country's old artillery technology," Li Xin said without beating around the bush.
The British Lord of the Admiralty was taken aback. Although they had secretly contacted each other beforehand, the content of China's purchase of technology was beyond the British Navy's expectations. The Lord of the Admiralty asked, "Are you sure you want to purchase the old artillery technology?"
"Do you think it's appropriate for us to sell the 14-inch cannon to a South American country? What's the difference between selling to South America and Germany? "Li Xin laughed.
The Lord of the Admiralty just shook his head slightly. Germany had begun to build a large number of warships. If the Germans were to get their hands on the latest technology, regardless of the level of Germany's warship technology, their artillery technology would definitely improve by leaps and bounds. That would not be good for the British. The logic was clear, but the British Lord of the Admiralty raised the doubts of the British Admiralty. "Does your country not have the technology for the old artillery?"
Li Xin was stumped by this question. He did not know much about naval equipment, and the concept of old and new was just a very general concept in his mind. The central government believed that the British's old naval artillery had been developed over the years and had a strong technical foundation and a high level of design. Moreover, the British no longer needed the technology, so it was a good idea to buy the technology at a reasonable price.
After listening to the British Lord of the Admiralty's question, Li Xin considered this problem for the first time. China seemed to have never developed the "old artillery." The logic was easy to understand. If China had developed the old artillery, then they could just directly use China's old artillery technology. Why would they buy it from the British? The reason why they bought from the British was because China's old artillery technology was very low. Rather than researching it themselves, it was more convenient to buy it from the British.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was never stumped, nor could he be stumped. Li Xin laughed and said, "Our old artillery technology has only been developed for a short time, and it has long been eliminated by the new technology. The British technology is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the old artillery. We, China, are very benevolent in doing business. Even if we don't have the new technology, we still have to give the best. "
This matter was probably fooled, and the British Lord of the Admiralty had no reason to ask too much. After the two sides talked, the British Lord of the Admiralty offered a sky-high price of five million pounds to China.
Shocked by the price, Li Xin almost instinctively said, "I think five thousand … five hundred pounds is good enough." After all, he had worked in the Ministry of Commerce. At the very least, the technology of asking for a sky-high price was not completely abandoned. Five million pounds was enough to build several old battleships. And when it was said to be five thousand, Li Xin also felt that the price was too high. What China needed was the brake device of the artillery, not the entire artillery. Even five hundred pounds was too much.
Seeing that Li Xin was not fooled, the British Lord of the Admiralty laughed heartily and said, "How about this, the Admiralty has some patents that we want to sell. If China is willing to buy, we can consider cooperation. As for the artillery, I have already understood China's sincerity, and the price is indeed not appropriate. "
The final result of the negotiation was that China paid four thousand pounds to buy some of the "old technology" from the United Kingdom. Neither China nor the United Kingdom were willing to sell the latest technology to a third country. The British were better. Anyway, they temporarily acknowledged their lagging position. Since China was in a leading position, they naturally did not want other countries to catch up faster through technology outflow.
This negotiation was not so much about the purchase of technology, but it was more like a very implicit diplomatic statement. The meaning of this was only known by the two major naval powers.
After settling this, Li Xin left London and embarked on the journey back home. It was almost the end of 1885. After a whole year of traveling around, Li Xin only wanted to hurry home and reunite.
Just as the ship Li Xin was on passed the Strait of Malacca, Li Xin received the news that the Berlin Conference had collapsed.
The British and the Osman Empire had the same position, while Germany and Austria-Hungary's position was that Germany and Austria-Hungary should elect a Bulgarian Grand Duke. Russia did not expect Germany and Austria-Hungary to stab them in the back. The Tsar of Russia, who was visiting Germany, was furious and simply went straight back to St. Petersburg. The Foreign Minister of Russia also learned from Li Xin and put down Russia's position. "The current Bulgarian Grand Duke is a legitimate Grand Duke elected by the people. This person's position cannot be shaken. And Russia, according to their agreement with Bulgaria, has a lot of power over Bulgaria. "
After putting down these tough words, the Foreign Minister of Russia also left the Berlin Conference. The remaining British, the Osman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Kingdom of Italy continued to meet. According to the information provided by the China Ambassador to Germany, these countries finally came up with a resolution to "restore order in Bulgaria."
This resolution seemed to be light and fluttered, saying a lot of nonsense about the current chaos in Bulgaria and the local government not being recognized. In the end, it was made. "Several major powers believe that it is necessary to restore order in Bulgaria. This restoration of order is conducive to peace and stability in Europe. "
The light words revealed a strong murderous intent. What restore order? The first step to restore order was to push down the current Bulgarian government. As for the process of overthrowing the current government and what the result would bring, it was not a problem for the European major powers to care about. Li Xin was very clear that this was a resolution made by the so-called major powers' consensus. To implement this resolution, it depended on who would personally execute it.
"Is it the Osman Empire? Or the Austro-Hungarian Empire? This is going to be interesting. "Putting down the telegram, Li Xin used the standard mentality of watching a show and guessed with ease.
However, the development of the matter did not let the European major powers have their way. Russia was straightforward enough. They did not say a word and strengthened their offensive in the Caucasus region. This war was originally at the end. Russia slaughtered in the Azerbaijan region and basically wiped out the forces that supported the Osman Empire. Those Azerbaijanis who opposed Russia were either killed or forced to flee to the Osman Empire. Now Russia strengthened the deployment of troops and began to continue to move south. The route of troops not only included the border between Russia and the Osman Empire. A force passed through the territory of Iran, bypassing the fortress of the Osman Empire from the east, and went straight to the Asian part of the Osman Empire. Looking at the aggressive appearance, it seemed that they wanted to kill their way into Baghdad and march into Syria.
In response to Russia's reaction, Britain immediately launched a counterattack. In addition to the British Navy once again appearing in the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait, Britain also began to mobilize its forces in India and was ready to enter the territory of Iran.
At this time, India had not yet reached the era of India and Pakistan. Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh were still under the jurisdiction of Greater India. Iran had a long border with India, so they could directly enter Iran to fight.
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