The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 778 China Can Do It, So Can We (ask for monthly tickets)

In the royal study of the Tuileries Palace, the wood in the fireplace was burning brightly, and Napoleon III was sitting in front of a large oak desk, holding a report that had just been delivered. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were staring at the contents of the paper gloomily.

Prince Valevsky stood aside, also holding a document in his hand, and said in a serious tone:
"Your Majesty, the situation is more serious than we thought. Workers' groups in Lyon, Marseille and Paris have recently been secretly circulating "Red Star Over China", a book that records in detail how the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rose rapidly through land reform and industrialization. Not only did they confiscate the land of landlords and nobles, they also used the wealth to build factories, railways and armies. Now, radicals in Europe are shouting - 'China can do it, so can we!'"

Napoleon III snorted coldly and slammed the report on the table: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's theory is not suitable for Europe at all! Their True Testament, Anti-Scripture, and Heaven Theory are nothing but a monster that forcibly blends Christian heresy with Eastern thought!"

Valevsky nodded. "But the point is, they did succeed. According to the records in 'Red Star Over China', the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completed the equal distribution of land in just ten years, the lives of farmers were greatly improved, the rural market expanded rapidly, and industrialization was rapidly promoted. In just ten years, they even built a superpower that could suppress Russia on the ruins of the civil war. The Kingdom of Korea followed closely behind, completely abolished the feudal system, also embarked on the road of industrialization, and successfully promoted the union of Korea and Japan. Now, European revolutionaries believe that since the East can do it, they can do it too."

Napoleon III was silent for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a telegram translation from his pocket and handed it to Valevsky: "Take a look at this."

Valevsky took the telegram and found it was a secret letter from Archbishop Doria's illegitimate daughter Maria from Tianjing. The content of the telegram was as follows:
Dear Father:

The angel's (Luo Yaoguo) prophecy has become increasingly clear. Europe is about to face an inevitable war, and the flames of revolution will be ignited in the defeated countries. The church will suffer heavy losses in this storm, the statues will be toppled, the churches will be looted, the clergy will be forced into exile, the red flags will fly everywhere, and the Virgin Mary will cry in heaven.
Father, I suggest that you return to Rome as soon as possible, to the center of the Catholic Church, to seek a position that can play a role in the future turmoil. His Highness the Angel believes that the Roman Curia needs a helmsman who can stabilize the situation in the storm, and you are the most suitable person.

May God bless you and the Catholic Church.

Your devoted daughter, Maria.

After reading the telegram, Valevsky's face turned extremely ugly: "Your Majesty, if Luo Yaoguo's prediction is true..."

Napoleon III said coldly: "That means that war between Prussia and France is inevitable, and a revolution will break out on the defeated side. The red flag will fly over the land of Europe, and the red flames will burn all over our continent!"

Valevsky took a deep breath: "We must prepare in advance. Over the past ten years, His Majesty the Angel's predictions have been very, very accurate!"

Napoleon III stood up, walked to the window, looked at the French soldiers who were training on the parade ground, and said in a deep voice: "The Prussian army is growing stronger every day because of their workers. Those Germans are very dull and can't produce excellent generals. Even Moltke is just so-so in my opinion. I know what he has done over the years, nothing more than more and more punctual railways, more and sharper breech-loading rifles, and more and more powerful breech-loading cannons. There is no art in his military command, but he turned the war into industry. This is not a war between French soldiers and Prussian soldiers. It is a war between French workers and Prussian workers!

Now the Prussian workers are working hard to produce more and better steel weapons, while our workers are discussing how to divide the land... They don't even want to have more children! If they don't even want more children, what do they need land for? It's ridiculous. "

Napoleon III had a terrible two years!
Luo Yaoguo had predicted his defeat long ago. But he found that even if he knew who the most dangerous enemy was, he could do nothing about it, because this was not his war at all, but a war between French industry and Prussian industry!
And Prussian capitalists, engineers, and workers are better than those in France!
Although France is also one of the world's most industrialized countries, French capitalists prefer usury - France is known as usury capitalism, and they like to play with finance. In addition, French culture has been the leader in Europe for hundreds of years, and beautiful clothes, expensive perfumes, and expensive wines are the cash cows of French industrial capital.

But facing the war with Prussia, Napoleon III couldn't use Paris Bank bonds, French perfume, lace dresses and delicious wine to fight, right?

Before the war came, he couldn't let the French capitalists stop making money, so he quickly made weapons and steel. In addition, he couldn't say that he couldn't beat the Germans. The King of Prussia next door could say that he couldn't beat Napoleon - that was as it should be, wasn't it? If the Prussians didn't work hard, they would be Napoleon's slaves for generations! In order not to be slaves, they should work hard.

But Napoleon III did not dare to say the same thing.
Valevsky whispered, “Your Majesty, perhaps we should consider cooperating with the church to suppress the spread of these revolutionary ideas.”

Napoleon III shook his head: "The problem now is not revolutionary ideas, but more and more German steel, German cannons, German breech-loading rifles, more and more, and better and better. Duke, do you know? We in France are actually lagging behind! But I have no choice. I don't even dare to tell the truth to those French people who feel good about themselves."

The two of them fell silent, the only sound in the room being the crackle of the burning wood in the fireplace.

At the same time, Weng Tongjue, Ma Baocai, Hu Wansheng, and Feng Xiuying had just arrived at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Embassy in Paris. The embassy attendants were busy settling their luggage, while Weng Tongjue personally brewed a pot of Longjing tea for everyone.

"Everyone, take a break first." Weng Tongjue said with a smile, "Winter in Paris is much colder than in Tianjing. Drink some hot tea to warm yourself up."

Ma Baocai took the teacup and nodded his thanks. Hu Wansheng looked around, taking in the Chinese-style decoration inside this European-style building - mahogany furniture, landscape screens, blue-and-white porcelain vases, all showing the style of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Feng Xiuying stood by the window, looking at the Parisians hurrying by on the street, deep in thought. At this moment, the embassy guard walked in quickly and whispered, "Sir Weng, Archbishop Doria and Prince Napoleon are here to visit, and they want to see Sir Ma and Sir Hu."

Weng Tongjue raised his eyebrows: "How come they came so quickly?"

Ma Baocai put down his teacup and said calmly, "It seems that they also know that the world in Europe is going to be in chaos!"

Hu Wansheng stood up and said, "Let them in."

A moment later, Archbishop Doria and Prince Napoleon walked into the hall. Both of them were in casual clothes, obviously not wanting to attract attention. Archbishop Doria looked much older than when he was the archbishop in China, but his eyes were still sharp, while Prince Napoleon had gained some weight and looked worried. His status in France was equivalent to Moltke in Prussia, and of course he knew that Prussia was getting stronger day by day. Although France had been fighting everywhere in recent years and looked extremely powerful, Prussia's heavy industry had surpassed France. Steel and coal were 30%-50% more than France! Moreover, Prussia's military industry was at a higher level. They had mastered the breech-loading rifle 20 years ago and could produce tens of millions of copper-cased bullets. In terms of breech-loading guns, they were second only to Britain.

As for France, it still hasn't mastered the breech-loading rifle, and its breech-loading cannon is not very good either, which is much worse than Prussia.

What's even scarier is that everyone in France thinks they are great.
Weng Tongjue stepped forward and introduced them with a smile: "Your Excellency the Archbishop, Your Highness, this is Ma Baocai, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ambassador to the UK. This is Hu Wansheng, the Prince of Yu, who will succeed me as ambassador to France. This is Feng Xiuying, the adopted daughter of Feng Yunshan, the Southern Prince, and the sister of Lady Temple Hill."

Archbishop Doria's eyes swept over the three people, and finally stopped at Ma Baocai. He knew him when he was the archbishop in China, and knew that he was "one of the twelve disciples" and a core disciple of Luo Yaoguo. So he said in a deep voice: "Master Ma, we came here today to ask you something."

Prince Napoleon followed suit and said, "What's going on with the 'Maria Telegram' and Luo Yaoguo's prophecy?"

Ma Baocai looked calm and slowly put down his teacup. "Your Excellency the Archbishop, Your Highness, this matter involves a secret that should not be easily disclosed. But since you have come in person, I can tell you - my teacher did predict that Europe is about to face a war, and the defeated side will experience a revolution."

Archbishop Doria's face changed: "Will the revolution affect the church?"

Ma Baocai nodded: "Yes. Moreover, the church will suffer an unprecedented impact. Even before the outbreak of this war, the church will encounter a major crisis! Because the Italian nation-state is about to be born!"

Archbishop Doria frowned and said, "Ridiculous! How can we be the same ethnic group as the colored people in southern Italy?"

Doria has blond hair, blue eyes and skin as white as snow. You can tell at first glance that he is a descendant of the Germanic conquerors. He and those people in southern Italy are not of the same nationality at all!

Prince Napoleon asked anxiously: "When will the war break out?"

Hu Wansheng took over the conversation: "The exact time cannot be determined, but... it won't be too long."

Archbishop Doria took a deep breath and looked at Feng Xiuying: "Princess Feng, what does the King of the South think?"

Feng Xiuying said calmly: "My father said that since the Vienna balance of power no longer exists, a war in Europe is inevitable. And the church... My father said: If there is no Roman heaven, then let God's things be God's, and Caesar's things be Caesar's."

Archbishop Doria was silent for a moment, and finally nodded slowly: "I understand... It seems that I must return to Rome as soon as possible."

Prince Napoleon looked at Hu Wansheng and said, "Sir Hu, if war really breaks out, which side will the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stand on?"

Hu Wansheng smiled slightly: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not interfere in the internal affairs of Europe. But one thing is certain - no matter who wins or loses, the flames of revolution will not be extinguished. If you want to prevent the flames of revolution from burning, you must avoid war. But can you, the Bonaparte Dynasty, be afraid of war?"

The room fell silent again, with only the fire in the fireplace burning quietly.

(End of this chapter)