The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 516 This is not the Crimean War, this is the First World War!
Paris France.

Under the golden dome of the Hall of Mirrors in the Tuileries Palace, Napoleon III slammed his Royal Doulton bone china coffee cup onto the Persian carpet. The report of defeat written in elegant French cursive was particularly dazzling under the gilded candlesticks. He anxiously tore off the scarlet ribbon: "Eight thousand French soldiers were buried on the Kerch Peninsula! Another thousand were captured and three thousand were seriously injured! Oh my God, the citizens of Paris will throw my portrait into the Seine!"

"Your Majesty, London has suspended the deployment of additional troops to the Crimea," Count Walewski folded the telegram into a neat square. "Viscount Palmerton said he was considering ending the war and returning Europe to the Vienna system."

Prince Napoleon suddenly drew his sword and chopped at the corner of the teak table: "Damn the British, they now want to retreat and let the Tsar dominate Europe. This is impossible!"

The so-called Vienna system is actually a system to maintain the balance of power among the major European powers. Britain and Russia have more "balance" in this system than others, and France considers itself a victim of this system. The Bonaparte dynasty is a product that violates the "orthodox principles" of the Vienna system. If the Vienna system is to be fully restored, Napoleon III should roll off the throne and let the Bourbon dynasty come back!
"Your Highness, this is possible!" Napoleon I's own son took out two copies of telegrams urging him to die. "Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck has sent a new ambassador to St. Petersburg. The Austrian ambassador handed over a telegram signed by Emperor Franz Joseph this morning, saying that he is considering whether to withdraw troops from Moldova and Wallachia."

The Kingdom of Prussia has been struggling to maintain a neutral position that is not pleasing to both sides, but this country has a military industry that can please the Tsar. Once the Prussian arsenal provides weapons to the Tsar, the Russian army will be even more powerful.

Franz Joseph of Austria maintained a pro-British and pro-French neutrality - his 200,000 troops entered Moldova and Wallachia, squeezed out the Russian army, and threatened Russia's western front, preventing the Tsar from concentrating his forces on the Crimean and Caucasian battlefields. If the Austrian army withdrew from Moldova and Wallachia, the Russian army would be able to free up a large number of troops.

"Betrayal! This is betrayal! Franz Joseph and Bismarck, these two clowns, actually want to beg for mercy from the Tsar!" Napoleon III clenched his fists tightly, his eyes full of bloodshot. "After I deal with the Russians, I will severely deal with Austria and Prussia. I want the French military boots to step into Vienna and Berlin!"

Walewski and Prince Napoleon looked at each other in bewilderment. Did this Napoleon III still think he was as good at fighting as Napoleon I? He couldn't even lead a small battle in person!

The crystal chandelier suddenly shook violently, and the carved oak door was violently pushed open by the attendant: "Your Majesty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's special envoy has arrived!"

Wu Chongyao's yellow robe shone brightly under the whale oil chandelier. He took off his round hat and bowed deeply to Napoleon III. The French emperor, who had regained his composure, smiled and bowed in return. Napoleon I's biological son, Walewski, and the heir to the French throne, Prince Napoleon (Napoleon III's son had not yet been born, so Napoleon III's cousin was the legal heir) also looked calm, as if the failure on the Kerch Peninsula was not important at all. Only the teak table was still missing a corner.
"The French emperor does not need to worry about the prospect of war," the Taiping envoy said in a gentle and calm Oxford accent, "The setback on the Kerch Peninsula will not be a turning point in the First World War."

Napoleon III stood up suddenly, his eyes bloodshot again: "World War I? What are you talking about?"

"Your Majesty, what I mean is that your country is currently participating in a global war!" Wu Chongyao showed a melancholy expression, "The major countries in the world will participate in it in some form. The war will be long and bloody, and the future can be changed!"

Prince Napoleon gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and sneered, "Relying on a charlatan to change things."

"Shut up!" The emperor interrupted the "Red Prince". "In three days, Prince Napoleon will lead a large delegation to China to discuss the details of the Sino-French Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Prime Minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He has full authority! A telegraph line connecting Europe and China will also be started within the year! The work of aiding the construction of the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant will also begin immediately. Bessemmer has now returned to Paris and will conduct research with the support of the French court. After he designs a new steel plant for France, he will go to China. In exchange... I want to know who will be my biggest threat! I think the angel has given you the answer, right?"

"As you expected," Wu Chongyao took out a sealed envelope and handed it to the French Emperor himself with both hands. "This is what our Prime Minister asked me to pass on to you. It contains the answer you want."

When Prince Napoleon and Walewski saw Wu Chongyao off from the Tuileries Palace, Napoleon III stared at the English cursive on the letter paper and murmured, "Helmut Karl Bernhard von Moltke is actually a damn German!"

At the end of the corridor of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Alexander II, who had just won a victory, handed a locked oak secret box to the director of the Third Department, General of the Cavalry Orlov: "This contains my secret order. Deliver it to Grand Duchess Natalia as quickly as possible, and let the most reliable person do it!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The old general stood at attention and took the secret box with both hands, "I will let my youngest son go to the United States to catch up with Her Majesty the Grand Duchess!" In late May of the fifth year of the Tianli calendar, on the platform of Wusongkou Station of the Songhu Railway, which had just been built and not yet officially put into operation, a four-wheeled steam locomotive made in Britain was spewing coal smoke. Behind the carved glass window of the first-class compartment, Feng Yunshan was holding a new edition of "The True Covenant" that still exuded the scent of ink, and was reading "Theory of Heaven" with relish.

"Ninth brother, can this train really be ten times faster in the future?" Hong Xuanjiao took off her sword and placed it across her knees. The red ribbon wrapped around the scabbard swayed with the carriage, like a decapitated red snake. She deliberately chose a seat near the Huangpu River. Through the window, she could see a steam gunboat flying the Union Jack in the distance. It should have arrived in Shanghai this morning.

Luo Yaoguo took the coffee Maria brought in, held the Jingdezhen-made Doucai coffee cup that looked like a work of art, took a sip, and then replied with a smile: "Everything written in Theory of Heaven is achievable. It will be there in more than a hundred years."

"More than a hundred years? How can one live that long?" Hong Xuanjiao also took a cup of coffee and sipped it, her eyes sweeping over Maria's bulging belly. "But our descendants should be able to live that long, right?"

The whistle suddenly blew, the train slowed down, and drove cautiously across the Hongjiang Bridge. At the moment when Feng Yunshan closed the book "True Covenant" and took the coffee from Maria, three fast horses came diagonally from the direction of Yangshupu Wharf. The leading rider held a red flag, and the two black Wei-style characters on the flag "Great Victory" were fluttering in the wind.

Hong Xuanjiao had sharp eyes, and when she saw the red flag, she cheered: "Lubu's victory! The Western King must have won another great victory in Hunan!"

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Minister of the Army, Western King Xiao Chaogui, was in charge of military affairs in Hunan during this period, venting his anger on Feng Yunshan for beating Jiang Zhongyuan, and from time to time, news of victory would be sent to him.

"No!" Luo Yaoguo shook his head, "They came from the direction of Yangshupu." His eyes suddenly flashed with joy, "Zuo Jigao, it was Zuo Jigao who captured the Petropavlovsk Fortress! Wang Xier, stop the train immediately!"

The horse's hooves stirred up gravel between the sleepers. The rider galloped to the train carriage with the Tuanlong King flag flying on it, then pulled the reins. He then took out a gilded bamboo tube and handed it to Luo Yaoguo's secretary Wang Xier with one hand.

"Zuo Jigao really captured the Petropavlovsk Fortress! It took less than 20 days from the landing! What a miracle! And" Maria's blue eyes overflowed with surprise: "Muravyov led 2,000 defeated soldiers and 2,000 civilians to break through on four warships. Except for one that was sunk, the rest escaped successfully, most of them went to America."

Luo Yaoguo slapped the table with a few coffee cups on it. "They must have gone to America! Haha! It's getting more and more exciting. The Crimean War is going to become the First World War!"

"Crimean War? World War I?" Feng Yunshan had just received the victory report written by Zuo Zongtang in pencil from Maria. Before he had time to read it, he seemed to have heard something very important. "Ninth brother, you mean this war was..."

Luo Yaoguo picked up the coffee on the table and drank it all in one gulp: "It doesn't matter what it was originally. What's important is that the war is getting bigger and bigger, and our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is becoming more and more important, and the True Covenant faction's influence overseas will also grow! Third brother, North America is very important, we must send more forces there!"

Feng Yunshan frowned slightly: "Ninth brother, November of 1855 is coming soon! We have already put a lot of efforts into Japan. In the next two years, there is a high possibility that a civil war will break out in Japan! So in America."

"America is more important! Let Luo Dagang take an army to America!" Luo Yaoguo said with a smile, "America needs a general." His eyes were full of expectation, "The war there will last for a long, long, long time!"

The train whistle suddenly sounded, followed by a "crunch crunch" sound, and China's first steam locomotive started moving again!

(End of this chapter)