The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 319: Now I can finally hold the Queen's waist! (Please vote and subscribe)

In the evening, when the city of London was shrouded in thick fog mixed with industrial exhaust and gray snow, Li Hongzhang, the secretary of the Qing emperor, had already followed Humphrey and Wade, two senior British civil servants from Oxford and Cambridge, in a four-wheeled carriage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and slowly drove into Buckingham Palace in Westminster.

This is another palace full of nouveau riche style!

But then again, this ultra-luxurious palace with a total of 19 rooms, covering an area of ​​ square meters and exuding the th century nouveau riche style only cost a total of pounds, which is about two to three million taels of silver.

For the British Empire in the 19th century, this expense was nothing. In history, the Chinese Emperor Buddha spent 20 million taels of silver to rebuild the Summer Palace, which was enough to build eight Buckingham Palaces.
"Mr. Wei, do I really have to dance for the Queen of England later? Isn't this against diplomatic etiquette?"

When the carriage slowly stopped in the nouveau riche-style courtyard of the royal palace, the somewhat uneasy Li Hongzhang finally made a small "protest".

"What? Dance for the Queen?" Wade was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "Lord Li, I think you misunderstood what Her Majesty the Queen meant. She invited you to the ball today, not to perform a dance."

It turned out to be a misunderstanding!

Li Hongzhang let out a long sigh.

But Wade-Giles hadn't finished his sentence yet: "But you dance with her!"

"Dancing with Her Majesty?" Li Hongzhang was stunned. "What does this mean?"

"You have been dancing with Mr. Brown every day this week, haven't you?" Wade said with a smile. "You will dance with Her Majesty the Queen and other ladies as Mr. Wade teaches you."

"What? The Queen and I and other ladies? But I'm a man."

Humphrey, who was riding in the same car with Li Hongzhang and Wade, was also inexplicably surprised at this time: "Mr. Li, is it true that in Chinese court balls, only men dance with men?"

"Men and men? No, no we don't dance that way."

Li Hongzhang quickly shook his head to deny it. How could it be appropriate for two grown men to hug each other and dance?
At this time, the carriage that Wade, Humphrey, and Li Hongzhang were riding in had already stopped. A servant from Buckingham Palace came forward and opened the door. A cool breeze blew, and Li Hongzhang shivered. Then he heard melodious music and the servant's respectful Oxford-accented English: "Mr. Li, please get out of the carriage quickly. Her Majesty the Queen has arrived at the Royal Ballroom in advance, and with her is Princess Mathilde of the French Empire."

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he knew there was no way to run away. Not only was there the Queen of England, but there was also a "Princess of France". If he ran away, he would offend two great powers at once!

Whatever, isn’t it just dancing while holding the Queen’s thick waist?
From now on, I can be considered as someone who has “huggled the emperor”!

Among all the civil and military officials in the Qing Dynasty, I’m afraid there is no one else like him, right?

Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang got out of the carriage, and then Humphrey followed him out. Humphrey's rank was relatively high, so today he accompanied Li Hongzhang to attend the court ball held in Buckingham Palace.

Today's ball was not held specifically for Li Hongzhang, as he was not that honored. In fact, this ball was held by Queen Victoria for the visiting French Princess Mathilde, who was the niece of Napoleon I, the daughter of Napoleon's younger brother Jerome Bonaparte, and the cousin and lover of Napoleon III.

She was originally a popular candidate for the Queen of the French Empire, but unfortunately Napoleon III finally chose the young and beautiful Eugenie. In fact, Mathilde's appearance is not inferior to Eugenie, but she is a few years older. She is already 33 years old this year, so it is inevitable that her beauty has faded and she has gained a little weight.
Although Napoleon III became a "bad emperor", Princess Mathilde still worked hard for him. This time she came to London from Paris just to please Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who was one year older than her.

"Alessandra, you know, I grew up in Italy, my father has been under the protection of the Pope after the collapse of my uncle's empire, so I am fascinated by demons, angels or prophets."

The ball had not yet begun. The French princess, wearing a daring low-cut, sleeveless, backless long dress that revealed a large area of ​​her milky white skin, was sitting at a small round table with the Queen of England, talking in a low voice.

This French princess is not very tall - she is from the Bonaparte family, so she can't be tall like Napoleon. But she is short like Victoria, and the key "size" is much bigger than Victoria, which is spectacular. Although she looks fat, she has never given birth to a child, and she has been wearing a corset for a long time, so her waist looks much thinner than the queen who has given birth to eight children. Now she sits next to the queen, attracting Prince Albert's attention.
"Oh? Really?" Victoria glanced at her dear Albert out of the corner of her eye, and then said in a somewhat cold tone, "I have no interest in these mystical issues, and the British Empire does not need them. Mathilde, if you are really fascinated by these things, a secretary of the Chinese emperor will come to the ball later. You can ask him to see if he can arrange a visit to China for you."

"Visit China?" Princess Mathilde frowned, seeming to be a little moved.

Victoria looked at the princess abandoned by Napoleon III, smiled and said, "Go and meet that man in person! If you are really interested in him, it is better to meet him in person than to stay in Europe and make blind guesses!"

Mathilde thought for a moment and asked, "I heard that the British ambassador to China once met him in the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

"Indeed I have seen him!" Victoria nodded. "Minister Bonham's report said that he might be a prophet who could predict what would happen decades later." The Queen shrugged. "But so what? Does the British Empire need a prophet to predict the challengers it might encounter in the next few decades?"

"Of course not," Mathilde laughed, "Who else but the Russian Empire?"

Victoria glanced at the French princess and smiled, "Yeah, who else could it be?"

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty's secretary has arrived."

At this moment, Prince Albert's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation between the Queen and Mathilde.

The Queen turned to her husband and said, "Dear Albert, the party can begin. You will dance the first dance with Mathilde, and I will choose the tall secretary of the Chinese emperor as my first dance partner tonight!"

Prince Albert nodded gracefully, then smiled at Mathilde: "It is a pleasure to dance with you, my dear lady."

Mathilde nodded as well: "Me too, Your Highness."

In the royal ballroom, as the melodious waltz sounded, Li Hongzhang, who had come from thousands of miles away, finally hugged the Queen's thick waist - a real hug! He didn't dare to hug too tightly, but only put one hand gently on the Queen's waist, and the other hand pinched the Queen's chubby little hand, and then spun around on the dance floor to the waltz.

Soon, he and the Queen finished their first dance. But the Queen did not let go of his hand. Instead, she pulled him to sit on the sofa beside her, and then said to him with a smile: "Hongzhang, you dance well. Are you really new to this?"

Li Hongzhang could not quite understand Victoria's English, but he nodded politely and said "yes". The Queen then asked: "My Prime Minister told me yesterday that the Cabinet has agreed to lease the paddle steamer to the Qing Dynasty and send a naval officer group headed by Colonel Asben to help you train and command the naval fleet."

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

Li Hongzhang still didn't quite understand, but he could read people's expressions and understand some words, so he knew it must be a good thing.

The Queen smiled and continued, "The Prime Minister also told me that the Cabinet hopes that the Qing Dynasty will send an envoy to London. I hope you can stay in London and serve as the first Qing Dynasty envoy to the UK."

Li Hongzhang nodded again and again: "Okay, okay."

The Queen of England nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, I look forward to you getting along well with my Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary.

In addition, I also wrote a personal letter to Luo Xueyan, and also gave him a portrait of myself."

(End of this chapter)