Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Seeing Yi Zhicontent, he put down the telegram, and Zhao Liewen said cautiously: "The impact of the Cape Town incident is extremely bad, is it necessary to strongly protest to the British Minister in China?" ”

"The Cape Town incident was triggered by the indiscriminate killing of gold diggers in the Transvaal mining area." Yi Zhengxing said slowly: "We don't know the reason and the specific situation of the indiscriminate killing of gold diggers now, and we are afraid that something is wrong if we protest rashly." ”

"There's nothing wrong with that." Yi Zhizu said in a deep voice: "The Cape Town incident is of the same nature as the Tianjin teaching case, I sent a note to the British minister in China, strongly protested, and put forward demands for compensation, severe punishment of the murderer, and the responsibility of the governor of Cape Town. ”

Seeing his tough attitude, Yi Zhengxing couldn't help but be stunned, "Father deliberately provoked contradictions and provoked wars?" ”

"Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of our citizens abroad cannot be just words." Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "In addition, you can also test the attitude of the British by the way, we will have a war with England sooner or later, it is better to fight late than early, and it is better to fight big than small, and it is a good choice for our country and Britain to put the battlefield in South Africa." ”

English Consulate in Shanghai, 2nd floor office.

Wei Tuoma stood on the balcony with a cigar and quietly looked at the Huangpu River under the sunset, he could feel that the pace of war was approaching step by step, although Prime Minister Gladstone called and instructed to negotiate with Qing as soon as possible, eliminate the dispute between the two countries, and avoid the outbreak of war, but the conditions offered were too harsh, and it was impossible for Yi Zhizhi to accept it.

After standing on the balcony for a long time, he turned back to his office and drafted a reply to Prime Minister Gladstone, emphasizing a series of technological innovations made by the Qing State over the years, and boldly guessing that the Qing State should also innovate in the military industry, and proposed that the Qing State be negotiated on an equal footing as an industrial, economic, and military power.

As soon as he put down his pen, he heard a knock on the door, and he said casually, "Please come in." ”

Consul Mai Huatuo pushed the door in and said: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty has sent a note to strongly protest against the Cape Town incident, demanding compensation for damages, severe punishment of the murderers, and holding the Governor of Cape Town accountable, and the wording is very strong....... ”

After taking the telegram and glancing at it a few times, Wittoma's expression suddenly became solemn, the wording of this note was rarely strong, and it threatened with force, and it was clearly stated that if it could not be properly handled, the naval fleet would be sent directly to Cape Town.

Feng Shui takes turns, in the past, Britain and France threatened the Qing State by force, and now the Qing State has actually learned to threaten them with force, it seems that his judgment is correct, the strength of the Qing Navy should have made great progress, otherwise he would not dare to be so provocative!

After a slight groan, he spoke: "Send a telegram to King Gong Yi, hoping that he will come to Shanghai as soon as possible, the Qing and British are facing a serious crisis and there is a risk of war." As he spoke, he handed over the drafted telegram again, "Send it immediately." ”

Three days later, Gong Wang Yili secretly arrived in Shanghai, as soon as the train rushed straight to the British Consulate in Shanghai, over the years, the imperial court and Britain and France have maintained a relatively close relationship, as the prime minister of the cabinet Yi Yi and the British and French ministers in Beijing have close contacts, but also maintain a good personal relationship.

After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, France was crippled, and Britain's position became more prominent, Yi Yi knew very well how embarrassing his situation as a prime minister was, for him, Britain was a strong foreign aid, and naturally did not want a war between Qing and Britain.

The carriage entered the consulate, went straight around to a small two-story western-style building in the back garden and stopped, wearing a top hat and a suit, and the carriage shook hands with the greeted Wittoma, and said softly: "Your Excellency is too sensitive, the Cape Town incident is just a diplomatic incident, is it so serious?" ”

"It's a long story, let's talk about it." Wittoma said as he stretched out his hand and gave courtesy, "Your Highness, please——。 ”

Entering the living room, Wei Tuma said, "Does Your Highness drink tea or coffee?" ”

"Green tea, thank you."

The two of them sat down, and Wittoma said: "The Cape Town incident is because your army killed more than 100 European gold diggers in the Transvaal gold fields, most of whom were ....... of our citizens. ”

The amount of information in this sentence is a bit large, Yi Yi is silent on the surface, but he is shocked in his heart, Yuan Qi bought the territory south of the Zambezi River to Maputo from Portugal, and the Nanyang Navy is stationed in Maputo in a big way, which he knows, and he is also particularly concerned about the situation in South Africa, and he also knows that the Transvaal Republic is one of the two small countries established by the Boers of Dutch descent, but he has heard of the Transvaal gold mine for the first time.

"Your Highness may not know much about the Boers." "The Boers are of Dutch descent, originally living in Cape Town, but moved north because they were dissatisfied with our rule, and then established the two republics of the Transvaal and Orange, and the Transvaal has discovered huge gold deposits, once mined, it will seriously threaten our rule over South Africa. ”

Speaking of this, he paused and said: "In order to maintain our rule in South Africa, and in order to contain the Boer power, we hope to work with your country to exploit the gold mines of the Transvaal. ”

Co-mining? Yi Yi frowned, it was obvious that Yuan Qi bought Maputo from Portugal for the gold mines of the Transvaal, and the meat in his mouth was eaten to let Yuan Qi spit it out again, I am afraid that this matter is not ordinarily difficult, he groaned slightly, and then he said: "What are the exchange conditions?" ”

Wei Tuma said: "Your Highness may wish to test Yuan Qi's attitude and see what they want, and our country will try our best to meet them." ”

This matter is not difficult, Yi Yi secretly thought, after all, Yuan Qi is not willing to go to war with the British, all along, Yuan Qi has been trying his best to avoid the outbreak of a large-scale war, pretending to think about it, he nodded and said: "I will go to Zhennan Wangfu tomorrow." ”

Wittoma glanced at him and said thoughtfully: "My country hopes that your country will suspend the construction plan of the Qing-Russia Railway, a great railway connecting Europe and Asia. ”

Qing-Russian Railway? A railway connecting the Qing Dynasty to Russia? Yi Yi was angry in his heart, how many things did he not know? But on the surface, he said quietly: "I'm afraid this matter is a little tricky? ”

Wei Tuma estimated that the other party didn't know about it at all, but he didn't break it, and said slowly: "Your Highness should know very well about the situation in Russia, since the founding of the country, Russia has been constantly expanding, and your country is also taking advantage of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War to recover the northwest and expand vigorously, including the purchase of Siberia.

Once Russia rises, it will inevitably make a comeback, and at that time, it will not only pose a great threat to your country, but also pose a great threat to European countries, and will inevitably affect the situation in Europe. ”

After a pause, he changed his sincere tone, "As the two great empires of the East and the West, your two countries have close ties in politics, economy, commerce and trade, and I hope that you and we can maintain friendly and close cooperative relations for a long time and avoid war, which means huge and even unbearable losses for both countries."

Both of these things are intolerable to our country, and I hope that His Highness will do his best to persuade and dissuade Yuan Qi from developing relations between the two sides to the point where it is difficult to mediate. ”

Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Yi Zhizu appeared at the gate of the courtyard on time, and Zhao Liewen, who was waiting in advance, hurriedly stepped forward and reported softly: "King Gong is here." ”

"No wonder Wei Tuoma hasn't reacted in the past few days, it turns out that King Gong has been brought as a guest." Yi Zhengxing laughed and said, "What about people? ”

"I've been waiting outside the study, it's been a quarter of an hour." Zhao Liewen said: "Don't let me report either." ”

Yi Zhizhi nodded, and slowly paced in, Wei Tuma actually invited Yi Yi to Shanghai, which was a bit unexpected to him, it seems that the British did not dare to rush to war with them, think about it, tonight is not as good as in the past, today's comprehensive national strength of the Qing Dynasty is no longer comparable to twenty or thirty years ago, and England was not good in the past, not to mention now, it is normal to have concerns.

Before he went up the steps, Yi Yi, who was dressed in a robe and horse coat, hurriedly greeted him, and said with a smile: "Brother Guocheng didn't expect that Wei Tuma would invite him to Shanghai as a lobbyist?" ”

Seeing him so direct, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile, and bowed his hand and said: "It's really an accident, the constitution is about to be established, there are a lot of things, and the sixth master can still find time to come to Shanghai." ”

"It's about the diplomatic relations between the two countries, how dare you not come?" Yi Yi smiled and said, "Brother Guocheng won't blame, right?" ”

"It's good to come, for two more days, let's discuss many things face-to-face." Yi Zhixiang said and stretched out his hand to be polite, "Come into the house and talk." ”

When he entered the house and sat down, Yi Yi smiled and said: "Brother Guocheng is so bitter in the future, the Transvaal Gold Mine and the Qing-Russia Railway are the prime ministers of the cabinet, and they don't know anything, and they have to let Wei Tuma, the British minister in China, tell you." ”

"I didn't mean to hide it from you." Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "The Transvaal Gold Mine is not far from the British colony of Cape Town, and in order to prevent the British from coveting it, it has been kept strictly secret, and I don't want the Transvaal to leak the news." As he spoke, he turned his head, "What do you mean by the British?" ”

"The British, fearing that the Boers would threaten the Cape Town colony if they became stronger, wanted to work with Yuanqi to develop gold mines in the Transvaal." Yi Yi said slowly: "They said that Yuan Qi can ask for anything, and they will try their best to meet them." ”

"Co-development?" Yi Zhizhi laughed and said, "They think it's beautiful." ”

Yi Yi said tentatively: "The Transvaal gold mine has a lot of reserves? ”

"Our country is intensively preparing to implement the gold standard, and urgently needs to reserve a large amount of gold, so how can we easily spit out half of it when we finally obtained the right to mine the Transvaal gold mine?" Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Over the years, gold mines have been discovered in western America one after another, and the same is true for the British colonies overseas, Victoria in Australia, Frazeg Canyon in Colombia, and Otago in New Zealand, all have discovered gold deposits with large reserves, triggering waves of gold rush, we finally got a gold mine, but the British want to get a piece of the pie, why?" ”

It turned out that Yuan Qi was preparing for the implementation of the gold standard in the reserve of gold, no wonder the gold and silver exchange was rising stronger than a force, Yi Yi suddenly realized, and after thinking about it for a while, he said: "If it is because of the mining of the Transvaal gold mine and the war with England, will the gains outweigh the losses?" ”

"The sixth master should also care about international finance and international trade." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile, Yi Zhengxing, who saw it, stepped forward to serve tea, he stretched out his hand to ask for tea, and then picked up the teacup and took a few sips, then continued: "Germany is selling silver in the European financial market to buy gold, no surprise, this year or next year will implement the gold standard."

In recent years, the United States has frequently discovered gold deposits in the west, and its gold reserves have increased greatly, and it is also preparing to implement the gold standard; once Germany and the United States implement the gold standard, it will inevitably cause a chain reaction, and all European countries will implement the gold standard one after another.

In this way, it will inevitably lead to a sharp drop in the price of silver, in terms of China's silver circulation and reserves, this is an unimaginable loss, and if China still adopts the silver standard, it will be controlled everywhere in international trade, all international trade is settled in gold, as long as the Western countries increase the gold and silver exchange ratio, we can make heavy losses!

In view of the huge amount of silver in circulation in our country, we must implement the gold standard before the general implementation of the gold standard in Western countries, and the Transvaal gold mine is the life-saving straw for us to implement the gold standard, and there is no room for negotiation, even if there is a war for this, it will not hesitate! ”

For international finance and international trade, Yi Yi really doesn't know much, besides, for Yi Zhi's judgment, he doesn't dare to question, seeing the other party's words are categorical, there is no room for mediation, he also has nothing to say, pondered for a while, he said: "What about the Qing-Russia Railway?" ”

After lighting a cigarette, Yi Zhizhi said: "What is the attitude of the British towards the Qing-Russia Railway?" ”

Yi Yi said truthfully: "They don't want Russia to become strong, and they hope that our country can stop the construction of this railway." ”

"Even if Russia is strong and Germany is in the way, what is England to worry about?" Yi Zhizu sneered: "The British are worried that the Eurasian Railway will affect their interests in our country, and the biggest victim of this railway is the British Empire, which relies heavily on maritime trade!" ”

"Brother Guocheng has seen it thoroughly." Yi Yi said slowly: "However, after Tsarist Russia becomes strong, it will also pose a great threat to the northwest of our country, so Brother Guocheng will not worry about endless troubles?" Once our country has internal and external troubles, Tsarist Russia will inevitably take advantage of the situation as we did with them. ”

"It's not unreasonable for the sixth master to be worried." Yi Zhizhi nodded, "But what if I say that the rise of Tsarist Russia is unstoppable?" ”

Hearing this, not only Yi Yi, but even Zhao Liewen and Yi Zhengxing were stunned, what do you mean? Was Tsarist Russia destined to rise?