1890 King of Southeast Asia

"Sir, I heard that you are anxious to see me, what advice do you have?"

Sun Zaizhi met Zhu Erdian only after the tone of public opinion was set.

Zhu Erdian came here temporarily, and he didn't need to see him at all, but thinking of what happened recently on the plateau, he felt that it would be better to talk to Zhu Erdian.

If possible, he didn't want a war, let alone a war with Britain.

After all, his current task is to develop, to develop China's industry and agriculture, to improve people's living standards, and to stop people from starving to death as soon as possible.

War will slow down development and even cause more people to starve to death.

"Did your army attack Sunlight City?" Zhu Erdian asked impatiently.

Sun Zaizhi frowned slightly when he saw his attitude.

"A part of our Plateau Frontier Defense Force has successfully broken through the rebel-held Sun City a few days ago and recovered all the areas east of Sun City."

"This matter is our internal affairs. I am preparing to announce this matter at the next press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What? Sir Jordan is also interested?"

Jordan's face darkened by three points, not only because of Sun Zaizhi, but also because of the British army.

It was so easy for people to capture Sun City, one of the most important cities in the Plateau. How dare those idiots support another group of idiots?

How can Jordan deal with this? You know, he protested to the provisional government at the request of London some time ago, accusing them of sending troops, and even made big promises.

Now he is slapped in the face.

Jordan felt that this matter was difficult to handle at the beginning, and he complained in the embassy, ​​but in the end he did it according to London's idea.

What he thought was that all his actions were in accordance with London's requirements, so he couldn't have any responsibility, right?

As a result, he received a lot of telegrams in the past two days, all of which were to accuse him.

The British and Indian sides attributed the failure to the "mistake of the diplomatic minister, who failed to organize the Chinese to send troops to the plateau."

To be honest, Jordan was disgusted.

But there was no way, who let the British and Indian forces have a strong backstage?

"The plateau issue is not just a Chinese issue. According to the 1906 Sun City Revision Treaty, China's actions on the plateau should be approved by Britain."

"You unilaterally violated the treaty and massively increased troops, and the British Empire is uneasy about this."

Jordan said lightly at this time.

Sun Zaizhi couldn't figure out the reason for Jordan's emotional changes, and hesitated for a while. Did he say something wrong?

"We are very willing to abide by the treaty, but the cause of this incident is that the British army willfully invaded our territory, which has exceeded the scope of caravan exchanges allowed by this treaty."

"I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express our attitude to Britain many times before. We will never sit idly by. The people of the plateau will never fight alone."

"Since you have mentioned it, considering the current situation, I can assume that the 1906 Nikko City Revised Treaty has lost its binding force."

"Britain is unwilling to implement a treaty even if it is decided by Britain. In this case, there is no need for the treaty to exist."

"I will urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss with Britain as soon as possible the abolition of the 1903 Nikko City Treaty and the 1906 Nikko City Revised Treaty."

"I hope that the Minister will notify Britain to prepare as soon as possible to avoid misunderstandings."

Sun Zaizhi thought about it and took a strong medicine.

"Do you know what you are talking about, sir? Do you want to start a war? Go to war with Britain? The Qing Empire has experienced two times and was defeated."

"Does the provisional government want to try it too? When you haven't removed the word "temporary" and officially called yourself an empire?"

Jourdan's face suddenly changed and threatened.

In fact, these treaties had automatically become invalid when the British started to fight, but Jordan could not agree to abolish them.

It's very simple. If you agree to abolish this treaty because of the war, what about other treaties?

If it can be expanded, can it be considered that all treaties are abolished?

The answer is yes, as long as there is a war between the two countries.

Is Jordan afraid of war? No, Jordan has never been afraid of going to war with China, and he can't think of how to lose.

However, Britain does not have so much energy to go to war with China now.

China has hundreds of thousands of land forces. Although he doesn't look down on them, the number is there. If Britain wants to deal with them, it will take at least 70,000 or 80,000 people, right?

In addition, after changing a leader, whether they will surrender so easily, Britain is not sure.

Crossing half the globe, maintaining an army of more than 100,000 people, or even more (the British had little confidence in their own army, so they pulled in the French).

Britain has already experienced it once - the Boer War.

The result of the Boer War was that more than 300 million pounds of military expenditure was lost, and Britain changed from strategic expansion to strategic contraction.

The problem is that the Boer War allowed the British to master gold, and used gold to stabilize its position as a financial hegemon, and the gains were actually greater than the expenditures.

What can be gained by going to war with China again? Colonies? This is a country with a unified national consciousness, and colonization is not so easy.

As for the rest, Britain has already gained almost everything it can get, and it will not be worth the loss if it continues to fight.

"Whether there is a war or not is not decided by us, but by the British." Sun Zaizhi's pupils shrank unnaturally when he heard the word "empire".

Fortunately, Jordan was thinking about how to bring the topic back and did not pay attention to these.

"The British Empire is a peace-loving country. I think we can sit down and have a good talk to solve the plateau issue at the negotiation table." Jordan looked at Sun Zaizhi with hesitation.

"Only after the British withdraw from Yadong will we sit at the negotiation table." Sun Zaizhi saw that Jordan only mentioned it unintentionally, so he felt relieved and toughened his attitude.

"You... are asking for more!" Jordan widened his eyes, as if Sun Zaizhi said something sensational.

"If..."

The fierce quarrel lasted for a whole day. Sun Zaizhi was best at speaking, and speeches were inseparable from fierce debates, which could be called profound skills.

As a diplomat with rich experience, Jordan's verbal skills were not bad.

The two were considered to be evenly matched. In the end, because it was really dark, the two stopped arguing for a short time.

The whole day, the two were testing each other. Jordan's attitude was: the British withdrew, but the interim government should withdraw all troops, abolish the plateau border guards, and give the plateau greater freedom.

Sun Zaizhi's attitude was the opposite: establish a province, the British withdraw, and abolish the Sun City Treaty and the revised treaty signed in 1903 and 1906.

No one achieved their goal, and in the end, they still needed to use cannons to speak out, but the two reached a tacit understanding:

This matter is only a border friction, no publicity, no expansion.

Although it is good news, Sun Zaizhi doesn't understand why the British are still engaged in a public opinion offensive since they don't want to fight?

…………

"Yadong?" Liu Yiming murmured softly, recalling something.

"Here, this place is called the gateway to the south of the plateau. It has been harassed by the British for a long time and is very annoying."

"This place is in the river valley area, with a superior natural environment, forests and wetlands everywhere, suitable as a logistics base, or in other words, the most suitable rear base."

Seeing that Liu Yiming didn't speak, Yang Tao thought that Liu Yiming didn't know where he was and was confused, so he took the initiative to explain.

"It's not this matter. Just before the establishment of Nanhua, Britain pushed the border here. I don't know when it can be pushed back." Liu Yiming shook his head.

"Are you talking about the British occupation of Longtu Mountain in 1888?" Yang Tao asked. After all, it was not a long time ago.

Liu Yiming nodded gently and shook his head lightly.

"The Balkan War has been going on until now. The Balkan coalition has run out of ammunition and food, and it is all supported by Tsarist Russia."

"The Ottoman Empire was also given blood transfusions by us."

"This war has lost its meaning and it should end."

"Deliver all weapons to the Ottomans as soon as possible, and then bleed Tsarist Russia."

Liu Yiming turned the huge globe around and faced the Balkans.

Although the Europeans are on the verge of war all day long, in fact, no one has the courage to start a war.

Otherwise, France and Germany should have started fighting as early as the Moroccan crisis.

Everyone is clamoring for a war, but in fact everyone is trembling for fear of being betrayed and becoming a reason to quell the war.

The real war was an accident.

Don't listen to what German William II said excitedly, "This is the best opportunity", or the French, Russians and others.

What really determines whether a war is launched is never one or two people, not even the emperor, but interests.

The Bosnian crisis and the assassination of Ferdinand were unexpected events.

A series of accidents afterwards led to the inevitable war coming early.

War is not decided by one person, nor is it decided by one person to end it. Just like this war caused by uneven distribution of spoils, it is only a matter of time.

In fact, including in the early stages of the war, all countries still hoped to win a "Franco-Prussian War"-style victory, which is simply a small friction-compared with the total war.

But as the stakes are higher and higher, the intensity of the war becomes greater and greater?

After a war, the wealth accumulated by Europe for decades and hundreds of years was wiped out. The British almost lost their position as the world's number one, and the Americans climbed up on the corpse of Europe.

"If you want to develop, you can't avoid trade. If you want to trade, you can't avoid Britain."

"Europe has plundered the world for hundreds of years, and it's time to spit out something." Liu Yiming said softly.

In this situation, even if Serbia finishes the war, it will not have much energy left. Bosnia should not have anything to happen in the near future - Liu Yiming thought.

Without the shot of the Serbian youth, it is still unknown when the war will start, but Liu Yiming can't wait that long.

At the latest in 1914, the South China Society will launch a war against Japan. On the second day of the war, Liu Yiming hopes that a war will break out in Europe.

In this way, Europe will not be able to interfere in East Asia, and Liu Yiming will have an excuse not to fulfill his obligations as an ally.

"Go tell Jiang Wang to buy off some Serbs, Serbs who are stranded in Bosnia."

"Yes!"

[Author's digression]: The outbreak of World War I was inevitable due to various coincidences. If this happened between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia, the war might not have broken out so early.