The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 325 Why is this country selling more and more? (Please subscribe, please vote)
It is obvious that the British, French and American envoys were reluctant to acknowledge that the Ryukyu Kingdom was a vassal state of China.

According to their three thoughts, Ryukyu would be an independent country at best, but that would be a small country, which could be easily controlled by the three powers of Britain, France and the United States. The King of Ryukyu would have to sign any treaty he was asked to sign.

If the envoys of the three countries can reach an agreement, they can occupy Ryukyu together!

The next best option for them is to recognize that Ryukyu is a vassal state of Japan. Japan is always smaller than China, and small countries are generally easier to bully. If they put more pressure on Japan, won't the three powers be able to do whatever they want with Ryukyu?
But once Ryukyu becomes a vassal of China, China is huge! Big countries are always more difficult to deal with, and now there are prophets, the Christian "True Testament" and Luo Xueyan, a republican warlord in the guise of the Qing Dynasty. Even the Qing Dynasty, which has always been conservative and stubborn, has been working hard to reform and innovate during this period.

China is such a big country that it will be difficult to deal with in the future, whether it is unified by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing Dynasty's reforms are successful, or Luo Xueyan's republicans come to power.

If we acknowledge that Ryukyu belongs to China, then no matter what kind of treaty is signed now, as long as the sovereignty of Ryukyu belongs to China, there may be changes in the future.

Moreover, China’s vassal states were not limited to Ryukyu. Korea, Vietnam, Siam, Myanmar, and even Nepal were all vassal states of the Qing Dynasty!
If the Ryukyu Kingdom was sold by the Qing Dynasty, then what about Korea, Vietnam, Siam, Burma, and Nepal? Would they also be sold by the Qing Dynasty? Why did the Qing Dynasty sell more and more countries?
Isn't this inappropriate?
"Minister Wenxian, Minister Bourboulen, Minister Marsali, General Perry. Ryukyu has been a vassal of China since ancient times. This is the consensus of all East Asian countries!"

As expected, Luo Xueyan showed off his golden signboard of “Since ancient times”!

"China has been the leader of East Asia since ancient times, and its status is comparable to that of the Roman Empire in Europe! All of East Asia, both domestically and overseas, as far as Lanfang and Brunei, and as close as Korea and Ryukyu, are vassals of China. Even when the Ashikaga Shogun was in power, Japan was granted the title of King of the Great Ming Japan, and was also a vassal of China!"

"Why are there Lan Fang and Brunei?" British Minister to the Kingdom of Brunei, Sir John Bowring, frowned. "When did the Qing Dynasty become the suzerain of Brunei?"

French Minister Bourboulon also protested: "How can Siam be a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty? Siam is clearly an independent country! And the Kingdom of Vietnam once expressed its submission to France!"

The American minister shook his head repeatedly: "The Ashikaga Shogun regime of Japan no longer exists. The one who rules Japan now is the Tokugawa Shogun, and the Tokugawa Shogun has never surrendered to the Qing Dynasty!"

"Don't worry, the three of you," Luo Xueyan waved his hand and said, "It is also beneficial for you to have China lead East Asia. The benefits you want to obtain from Lan Fang, Brunei, Korea, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Siam, Zhenla, Nanzhang and other countries, except for Korea, I, the Minister of Commerce of Nanyang, can make the decision to give them!"

It turns out that Luo Xueyan wanted to be the general agent of traitors in East Asia and Southeast Asia!
If he could become the emperor, he would not only be able to sell out the country on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, but also on behalf of Lan Fang, Brunei, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Siam, Zhenla, Nanchang and other countries!

Of course, the premise for him to sell out his country on behalf of so many countries was that those countries recognized China as their overlord, and the great powers also recognized China as the overlord of these countries.

So this country is really selling more and more!
As for Britain, France and the United States, once China becomes the overlord of these countries, it will be difficult for them to turn these countries into colonies, and at most they can only turn them into semi-colonies.

Of course, Bonham, Bourboulen and Marsalis could not agree to this.

However, Luo Xueyan was quite confident. He smiled and said, "How about this? The Qing Dynasty's European delegation will discuss the sovereignty issues of Lan Fang, Brunei, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Siam, Zhenla, Nanzhang and other countries with the Queen of England and the Emperor of France. Let's wait for the results of the discussion!"

After hearing what Luo Xueyan said, Wen Xian and Bulbulon immediately understood.

What bargaining power did the Sushun Mission have? They also wanted Queen Victoria and Emperor Napoleon III to recognize the Qing Dynasty's sovereignty over Lanfang, Brunei, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Siam, Zhenla, Nanzhang and other countries. Are they dreaming?
Luo Xueyan continued, "Let's discuss a treaty on the opening of Ryukyu. You can make any requests you want. As long as it does not deprive the Qing Dynasty of its sovereignty and the Shang family of their royal power, I will sign it immediately! And you don't have to worry about the execution. I will personally lead the troops to execute it.

Then, let's discuss how to force Japan to open up its country. Japan is now an independent country, and it is not easy to deal with!
Don't think that Japan is easy to bully because it is small. Japan has a population of 30 million, among which there are hundreds of thousands of samurai. Do you know what a samurai is? It is a military noble, equivalent to your European knights, but without horses. Although they don't have horses, they are also warriors who have been in the army for generations!" He glanced at Matthew Perry: "General Perry, I don't think you want to fight a land war with the Japanese, right? I don't mean to underestimate you, the United States. If you really want to send out the army to attack Japan, you will definitely lose!"

Matthew Perry frowned. He looked very ostentatious when he led the warships to attack Japan, but in fact it was just bluffing. There were only a few ships and not many sailors.

They could certainly show off their power at sea, but the Tokugawa shogunate refused to open up the country. What could Matthew Perry do? Send the sailors to land and attack Edo?
The town under Edo Castle was overrun with samurai and ronin, and with a single order from the general, an army of 100,000 could be assembled in no time.

One hundred thousand!
How many troops can the United States send to Japan these days? Ten thousand?

"So, my suggestion is that we, the Qing Dynasty, together with the United States, Britain, France and other four countries, should send troops to put pressure on the Tokugawa shogunate!" Luo Xueyan then proposed a method he had planned long ago, "And before we jointly exert pressure, our Qing Dynasty's Nanyang New Army and Nanyang Navy will go out first to expel the Japanese Satsuma Army that is illegally stationed in Ryukyu to deter the Tokugawa shogunate."

Matthew Perry and Marsali exchanged glances and were a little undecided for a moment.

They were both afraid that the attack on Japan would really turn into a war!
"I think this method is feasible!"

While the two Americans were still thinking about it, the French Minister Bourboulon nodded in agreement.

It was the United States that sent the "black ships knocking on the door", and it was the Qing Dynasty that was preparing to send out the army to expel the Satsuma army from Ryukyu to intimidate the Tokugawa shogunate. France at most sent a warship to follow, and it was able to force Japan to sign an unequal treaty. How great was this job?

Moreover, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan had always strictly prohibited Catholicism, and the French Emperor Napoleon III regarded himself as the protector of Catholicism. If Bourboulon could use this incident to force the Tokugawa shogunate to abandon its policy of persecuting Catholics, then His Majesty the Emperor would be very satisfied with his work.
The French envoy nodded, and British envoy John Bowring followed suit: "I think it's feasible. Now that the Qing Dynasty and Korea have opened up, Japan is the only country in East Asia that is still closed to the outside world. We civilized countries do have an obligation to help Japan open up its country!"

Since Britain, France and the Qing Dynasty all agreed, the American Minister Marshal and the American Fleet Commander Matthew Perry had no choice but to nod in agreement.

After all, the great powers still need to be united!

But can the Qing Dynasty be considered a great power?
The Queen's Audience Room, Buckingham Palace, UK.

At this time, Li Hongzhang and Wang Libin were both dressed in robes and stood solemnly in front of Her Majesty the Queen of England.

The person invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen today is Li Hongzhang, and Wang Libin is here to act as an interpreter. After all, Li Hongzhang's English is not very good at the moment.

"Li," the Queen of England frowned, looking unhappy, "Have you talked to Prince Sushun about you becoming the Qing ambassador to the UK? Today my foreign minister reported to me that your Prince Sushun has no plans to establish an embassy in the UK! It is an international practice for sovereign states to establish embassies with each other, and you, the Qing, should abide by it."

The Queen spoke English quickly and urgently, and Li Hongzhang couldn't understand her at all, so he had to ask Wang Libin for help.

Wang Libin said to Li Hongzhang: "Shaoquan, the Queen of England wants to ask you whether you have told Lord Su about your appointment as the Qing Dynasty's ambassador to Britain. In addition, she also wants to ask how many vassal states our Qing Dynasty has? Vassal states have no diplomacy, and the diplomacy of those vassal states must be represented by you!"

(End of this chapter)