Wild North America 1846

Chapter 520
Nov. 1869, 7

On the Colorado Plateau, Mirror Lake Palace in Taoyuan City
Due to the influence of the plateau climate, the climate here is cool and pleasant in summer, with beautiful mountains and clear waters. His Majesty the Emperor led a group of concubines to the Mirror Lake Palace a week ago and began their summer vacation for more than two months.

The vacation is a rare parent-child time for Emperor Li Cha. Whether the younger prince or princess is in his arms, or a teenager of fourteen or five years old, they all followed the emperor to the Jinghu Palace this time, accompanied by more than 60 concubines. Driving here, plus the entourage of more than 2600 people and dozens of pet animals, the royal special train started 16 times.

The empress sits in the Chang'an Palace to accompany some older concubines, but she is also leisurely.

after eight o'clock in the morning
At this time, the sun was not strong yet, and a juvenile football match had already started on the lawn in the garden. This was a game for the 6-10-year-old group. The teams formed by the princes and their companions fought against each other. You come and go. Kicked quite fiercely.

Off the field were the court concubines and some top noble ladies, wearing elegant and expensive dresses to watch the battle under the arbor. The court attendants prepared exquisite refreshments, fruits, and clusters of flowers decorated with flowers.

From time to time, laughter came from the football field, full of youthful atmosphere.

Emperor Li Cha did not appear on the football field, which would make everyone less restrained, more free and happy, and able to have more fun.

In the quiet pavilion near the lake
There was a melodious sound of silk, bamboo and zither outside. Li Cha simply wore a light linen robe, walked barefoot along the rosewood floor, sat down on the edge of the couch, and fell into deep thought while looking at the beautiful scenery of the lake and mountains outside, as if intoxicated In the melodious music.

With the arrival of the hot summer, the nationwide general election has also kicked off, and the fierce competition between the two major political parties in the empire has also begun.

This general election will not only elect a new prime minister, but also re-elect two-thirds of the members of the lower house of the Imperial Assembly and one-third of the members of the noble house of the Imperial Assembly. This is a major reshuffle of the political forces of the empire. Almost all political forces All swept in.

The current prime minister, Liu Xianjun, is the leader of the "Democratic Party of Justice and Liberty" in the Tang Empire. He has served as prime minister for two consecutive terms. Therefore, the party has launched Count Juan Carlos, a political veteran, to participate in the competition. In fact, he is a runner.

The "Democratic Power Party" is an out-and-out royalist party. The former party leader was Duke Gu Yan, the outgoing prime minister, and the current party leader is Earl Dong Jie. He is also a popular candidate for the party to run for the prime minister.

At present, Earl Dong Jie is taking a train parade in the provinces of the empire to canvass votes. Everywhere he goes, he will hold a large speech and a series of campaign activities.

After more than 20 years of development, the Tang Empire formed a stable pattern in which the two parties ruled in turn under the deliberate promotion of Emperor Li Cha, and the division of political forces was generally formed.

At early stages

Emperor Li Cha intervened a lot in the political arena. For example, the "Justice and Liberal Democratic Party" was a political party he single-handedly supported. He personally appointed several heavyweight political leaders to join this new party to strengthen the party's strength.

Otherwise, in the Tang Empire where the royalist party was prevalent, the party would have no chance of winning the election, and Liu Xianjun would not be able to become the prime minister of the cabinet, and one term would be two terms.

Now, Emperor Li Cha has gradually let go.

He just stated explicitly or implicitly in the early stage of the election; he is optimistic about Earl Dong Jie and the "National Power Party" he represents, sending a signal of whom the imperial family pays attention to?

Any politician who is not too stupid knows how to choose.

The position of the prime minister will basically not change much, but the position of members of the lower house of parliament must be contested. This is a major event related to the right to speak of political parties and the territory of political power.

Therefore, the "Justice and Liberal Democratic Party" referred to as the "Public Liberal Party" and the "National Power Party" competed fiercely in each province, and they each launched highly competitive candidates.

And some smaller local parties have also launched their own election representatives, which triggered a vigorous election campaign in this gradually hotter July.

An imperial election is an in-depth and extensive political propaganda campaign. While allowing the citizens of the empire to experience the happiness of being the master, it also allows the subjects of the empire to receive extensive education.

in the election

In order to facilitate illiterate citizens to vote, the "Democratic Force Party", which claims to represent the basic interests of the Chinese ethnic group, uses yellow. Whether it is election flags, hats, numbers, and the color of voters' votes, all of them are yellow, referred to as "Yellow Party" .

The "public self party", which claims to represent the general interests of all ethnic groups of all colors in the Tang Empire, widely uses blue, referred to as "blue party".

On the most important ballot paper, Earl Dong Jie, the prime minister candidate of the "Yellow Party", is printed on the yellow item, just tick "√" according to the color.

The name of Count Juan Carlos, the prime minister candidate of the "Blue Party", is printed on the blue entry, and you just need to tick "√" according to the color, which is clear at a glance and cannot be mistaken.

The corresponding two parties also adopted similar methods in the elections for the number of congressional representatives in each province. Through the overwhelming propaganda of the newspapers and magazines, the subjects of the empire basically knew about it.

As for some other small parties, there is no such convenient condition. They are distinguished by various colors, and ordinary voters have no idea who is who?
The turmoil in these elections will not affect His Majesty the emperor, and he does not care about the specific election process. Let these political powers cross the sea and compete with each other according to their means.

In the past two years, the empire has developed smoothly, and its economic and military strength has become more and more prosperous, so there is nothing to worry about.

The Great Tang Empire, which has annexed a large number of territories, is keeping a low profile, accumulating strength, restraining its colonial efforts to reach all over the world, and digesting the existing colonial achievements wholeheartedly.

Except for the ongoing South American war in the Andean Governor's Palace, the empire basically did not intervene in other hot spots.

For example, the Fusang Islands, such as Cuba, such as Egypt, such as the French-Prussian relationship where the contradictions in Europe are becoming increasingly acute, are not involved in all of them on the surface, but focus on developing the economy wholeheartedly.

Hot spot in Northeast Asia Fuso Islands

last year to date
The shogunate army relied on the prestige of the great victory in Kyoto, and gathered heavy troops to crusade against the powers in the southwest. The generals of the Tokugawa shogunate were lost in the face of the victory. Fan.

With the mentality of bereavement, the defeated and returned Southwestern powers did not hesitate to borrow huge amounts of British funds to rearm, and relied on their geographical advantages to fight bloody battles with the shogunate army to the end. The victory of the "Battle of Defense" dealt a heavy blow to the arrogant shogunate army, losing troops and generals.

More than half of the 11 army suffered casualties, and the defeated shogunate army also lost a lot of weapons and equipment. After more than a year of bloody battles, they returned to the starting point.

After this ups and downs
The Tokugawa shogunate also spent a huge sum of 2200 million Tang Yuan from the sale of Beihai Province. The war is really a gold-swallowing beast!
As a last resort, he continued to borrow two high-interest war loans from the Tang Empire, totaling 1300 million Tang Yuan, with a repayment period of 9 years and a monthly interest rate of [-]%.

The Tang Empire also expressed helplessness when the Tokugawa shogunate played a good hand of cards.

Central American hotspot, Cuba
The Kingdom of Spain dispatched another 6 expeditionary troops to Cuba in June. Today, the total number of Spanish colonial troops gathered in Cuba has exceeded 8200. They are putting increasing pressure on the new Cuban Republic, and the fierce civil war is continuing.

The war of words between the Tang Empire and the Kingdom of Spain never stopped, and the newspapers accused each other. The latest incident was a small naval battle on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

In this little naval battle
A Spanish sloop was sunk, with as many as 137 casualties, while the steam steamer that caused the accident sailed away without a single person being injured.

After the investigation by the Spanish Navy, it was found that the smuggled steam freighter was equipped with two sharp 18-pound advanced artillery, which fired the most advanced fuze shells in the world today.And this kind of advanced artillery shell is only equipped by the Tang Empire and the United Kingdom, and France is developing it without success.

All kinds of signs of spearheads were aimed at the Tang Empire, but they were categorically denied by the country's military.

It's just a few shells, as long as it's not impossible to get out at a high price, it doesn't prove anything at all.

On the contrary, the brutal killings by the Spanish military in Cuba, as well as the large number of deaths and injuries caused by the abuse of women and children in the concentration camps should arouse the great attention of the international community and should be strongly condemned morally, which is simply a shame to a civilized country.

When necessary, international forces should strongly intervene in mediation to maintain peace and stability in Central America.

The rebellious Republic of Cuba has recently launched a series of offensives in the southeastern provinces. The Brazilian rebels armed with muskets rushed out of the jungle, captured more than 30 villages and some cities in the two provinces, and killed and wounded more than 3700 Spanish soldiers. The Spanish colonial army dealt a heavy blow.

And all of this, the angry Spaniards blamed the Tang Empire, and the war of words is still going on...

Middle East Hotspot Egypt
The focus of the issue was on the just-opened Suez Canal. Representatives from Britain, France and Tang held three rounds of meetings in a row. They held closed-door talks on the distribution of equity in the independent Suez Canal Company, the issue of redemption price, and the issue of interest exchange. Finally, the latest results were reached. .

At the moment when the third round of the secret meeting was about to break down, the British representative made threats;

"If you can't see France making a satisfactory gesture on the Suez Canal, London will not be able to guarantee a neutral and impartial position on the issue of European law and Prussia. After all, Princess Elizabeth is now the Crown Prince of Prussia. There is further deepening of bilateral relations between the two countries. The necessity of the relationship."

This sentence scared France to pee.

What are the hot issues in Europe today?
It is the struggle between the French Empire and the rising Prussian Kingdom for continental hegemony. The friction between the two countries is like a grinding wheel grinding an iron rod... that is really sparks flying.It affects the nerves of European countries all the time, and is the core of the core of today's world problems.

There is no way, the scale of the dispute between the two world powers of France and Prussia is there, and every move is a world-class influence.

The result is obvious. France has made an obvious concession on the Suez Canal, and is willing to sell half of the 52% shares held by the French Empire in the Suez Canal. It is priced at 2000 million pounds, which is equivalent to a slight premium of more than 6%. Save face.

In order to build the Suez Canal, the French-led canal company only paid 1860 million pounds and took 11 years.

The 12 Egyptian laborers and other human costs who died in the vast desert have not been counted here, and the painstaking efforts of the French have not been counted. The cost of 2000 million pounds is not a premium in any case.

The two world powers, France and Tang, are not weak in themselves, and trying to take advantage of them is purely a daydream.

Only the British Empire has the strength to force France and Tang to make concessions. If it is replaced by any other country, even if the price is quadrupled, it is impossible to get a share.

that's it

London took 520% of the shares of the Suez Canal from the French at a price of 26 million pounds, and Datang Empire also transferred 22% of the shares under the same conditions, that is, sold half of the shares for 440 million pounds.

In this way, the equity of the Suez Canal became 48% for the UK, 26% for France, 22% for the Tang Empire, and the remaining 4% belonged to public shareholders.

Datang Empire did not suffer a loss in this transaction. It sold 440% of its shares at a price of 22 million pounds, and recovered the 44 million pounds it had paid to obtain a 400% stake in Egypt. It made a small profit of 10% and retained 22% of the shares. Canal equity, and let the British take a favor.

Of course, this favor will be repaid by the British in the future.

to be honest

In the face of the mighty British Empire, neither the French Empire nor the Tang Empire could stand it. They could only make substantive concessions on relevant international issues. Who would let them be the hegemons of the world?

Finally, we will talk about the current hot spot in Europe, Franco-Prussian competition.

The grievances between France and Prussia have a long history.

As early as the "European Thirty Years' War", the German region fell into a long-term split due to France's deliberate intervention. In the next two centuries, the French monarchy used various means to hinder the unification of Germany.

It can be said that the French Empire is an out-and-out obstacle to the unification of Germany, and it is also the biggest sufferer of the German nation.

Under the leadership of Frederick II, Prussia rose rapidly through the "Seven Years' War".During the reign of William I, through the "Purdan War" and "Prussian War" successively established the position of the leading brother of the German nation, leaving the Austrian Empire aside.

In particular, the victory of the "Prussian-Austro-Prussian War" brought unprecedented prestige and strength to the Kingdom of Prussia in the entire German region, and established its leading position in the German Confederation.

The defeated Austrian Empire no longer has any right to speak, so it can only hang its head and hide aside to lick its wounds.

This situation poses a serious threat to France's hegemony in continental Europe and further affects the competition for overseas colonies.The rift between the two countries is growing, and the sparks of friction are lightning.

France was clearly aware of the threat of Prussia, and Napoleon III insisted on the consent of the Kingdom of Prussia;

Annexation of Bavaria on the west bank of the Rhine and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt to France as compensation for France's conservative neutrality in the Austro-Prussian War.

Otherwise, France does not mind sending troops to take it personally...

At this moment, the nerves of all European countries were tense in an instant, and they watched in horror whether the two European giants would change from friction to hot war in the next step, and that would be a catastrophe.

These days, the tempers of the European powers are not good, and it is common to start a war if one is dissatisfied.

Turn your fingers to see how long France has been silent since the Crimean War in 1853?

Almost one war was fought after another, and there was no more than a year of cessation in between. The whole world fought back, and now they have found an opponent in Europe, and there is really no one left!
(End of this chapter)