The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 782 Now is the Warring States Period in Europe, prepare for revolution! (ask for monthly ticket)
The oak table in the Bai Siwen mansion was piled with yellowed maps of Chinese dynasties and a newly purchased map of Europe. Ma Baocai tapped the Rhine River on the map with his bamboo pipe, and a few ashes fell on the border between Prussia and France: "Look, everyone, this chess game of European powers is just like an enlarged version of the Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States Period."

Friedrich leaned over to take a closer look, his eyes sweeping from Britain on the map to Russia in the east: "Britain may not look very large on the map, but it has the largest colonies in the world and controls a larger population than all other European countries combined! But with such a large land and such a large population, it is impossible to deploy heavy troops on the European continent. It's a bit like..."

"Like Chu!" Bai Siwen had already pulled out a map of Chu from a pile of yellowed maps. "Look, how big Chu is! It has a large population and great potential for war. It's a pity that there is no way to fully mobilize it, otherwise it would probably be Chu that would unify the world."

Friedrich's finger passed over Paris, Berlin, and Vienna: "France, Prussia, and Austria squeezed together, a bit like"

"Of course it's Wei, Zhao, and Han. These three kingdoms were all part of Jin in history. They were formed by the three kingdoms dividing Jin." Bai Siwen took out a map of Jin and patted it. "Most of the territories of France, Prussia, and Austria also belonged to Charlemagne's Empire in history, right?"

"Then Russia is the Qin State?" Mikhail Bakunin suddenly interrupted.

Bai Siwen nodded: "That's right! The Western and Central European powers think that you Russians are barbarians. The Shandong countries also thought the same of the Qin State back then."

"Then Italy," Mazzini asked, "is it Qi?"

"Looks like they are both on the same peninsula!" Bai Siwen said, "They both have a pope. Confucius in China was from Lu, and Lu was annexed by Qi!"

Mazzini scanned the map of Italy, his eyes resting on the Papal States, and he said to himself: "When will Italy be able to annex the Pope's country!"

"Then Türkiye is the State of Yan?" Bakunin asked, pointing at Türkiye.

Ma Baocai shook his head: "Theoretically, the Eastern Roman Empire is the State of Yan! The State of Yan is the only state with the surname Ji among the seven major powers in the Warring States Period, and it is of the same ancestry as the Zhou emperor! Unfortunately, there is no Eastern Roman Empire in Europe anymore."

When the Indian servant Amir brought the freshly brewed milk tea, Torun was pinching a piece of mung bean cake and sneering: "The French military factories are running day and night, and the arms they produce are either sent to the southern United States or to Mexico." He took a bite of the sweet cake and said, "Napoleon III's ambition is simply unstoppable. He has been fighting wars every year since he came to power!"

Moore commented: "He is trying to package himself as Napoleon I!"

"Prussia also regarded him as Napoleon I!" Liebknecht suddenly interrupted, "Bismarck and Moltke are expanding the army like crazy and preparing for war. All railways are managed according to wartime standards. All men of military age in the country must serve in the military. The whole country has become a big military camp. Even middle school mathematics classes teach students to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells!

Bai Siwen gently stroked a map of the State of Wei and suddenly said, "This is the State of Wei, the first of the seven states to successfully reform!" He pointed to the dense railway network on the map, "But now the weight of reform and strengthening has changed from bronze spears to breech-loading rifles and breech-loading cannons."

Bakunin laughed and said, "The Emperor in Vienna is also actively preparing for war. He betrayed Russia, became a mortal enemy of Alexander II, competed with Prussia for the dominance of Germany, and even fought against Napoleon III. He had to build up the military even if it meant spending the last gold coin in his pocket!"

Moore said calmly: "There is one factor now that China did not have two thousand years ago, and that is capital! Britain's financial capital and industrial capital have made tens of millions of profits in recent years because of the American Civil War. Now they are buying a large amount of Prussian government bonds and investing heavily in Prussian industry. When the cost of peace exceeds the profit of war..."

"The shells will fly out by themselves!" Ma Baocai said, pulling out a "Shengku Tongbao" silver coin minted by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from his arms. "This is a silver coin minted by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom using the profits earned from the gold and silver mines in the western United States!" He pressed the coin hard, "This is the main reason why the Heavenly Kingdom's industrialization construction is progressing smoothly! And the American Civil War may not last long! Therefore, capital. Capital in the East and the West needs to find new huge profits, or wars that can create huge profits!"

As the sun shone on the Thames at ten o'clock in the morning, the people gathered in Baiswen's mansion reached a shocking consensus:

1. The powder keg triangle of France, Prussia and Austria - Prussia had to fight Austria to unify Germany, and Austria also had to fight Austria, while France would never tolerate the rise of a powerful country on the other side of the Rhine;

2. Arms race trap - France's "Napoleonic threat" gave rise to Prussia's military superiority, which in turn stimulated France and Austria to expand their armaments crazily, and this crazy arms race consumed a huge amount of wealth. This formed a huge "peace cost". Since peace is so expensive, why not fight a war?
3. The temptation of colonies - Britain gained huge wealth from overseas colonies. France also followed suit and seized a lot of territory in Africa. In the past two years, it invaded Mexico. Although it has not made a lot of money, the "money prospects are good". Prussia and Austria must be very jealous.
4. The people become more and more warlike because of "mobilization" and "preparation for war" - when the country becomes a war machine, the people also become part of the war machine! They will expect that their efforts and the sufferings they have suffered because of mobilization and preparation for war will be sufficiently rewarded after the victory of the war!
Ma Baocai finally unfolded the Book of Lord Shang that he had brought with him: "Back then, Shang Yang's reforms transformed Qin from a small border country into a powerful country, and finally swept across the six countries. Now the European powers are also carrying out reforms, but the results of these reforms may not even be controlled by them themselves."

"I learned to forge iron in Daozhou," he continued. "My master said that to forge iron, you have to master the temperature. If the temperature is not high enough, the iron will become useless; if the temperature is too high, the iron will melt. I'm afraid the furnaces in Europe are burning too hot now."

Bai Siwen pushed open the balcony door and let the cold wind blow away the smoke in the house. Over the Thames, several columns of smoke drifted away with the wind. "Did you hear that?" he asked softly.

Everyone listened attentively - the ironclad ship "Warrior" sailing on the Thames sounded the whistle - it was the most powerful warship in the world, and such a warship allowed the British rulers to sit in Buckingham Palace with peace of mind, drinking milk tea while enjoying the fighting on the European continent! The discussion continued until noon, and the waiter brought a simple lunch - bread, cheese and British fried fish fillets. Bakunin wolfed down his food while waving his knife and said, "If you ask me, we should let this fire burn even more vigorously! Let the Prussian cavalry flatten Vienna, let the French bayonets pierce Berlin, and when they are all exhausted..."

"And then?" Moore interrupted him calmly, "Let the Russian Tsar's Cossack cavalry clean up the mess?"

There was a moment of silence in the room. Ma Baocai broke off a piece of bread and said slowly, "I have run a literacy class for farmers in Hunan, teaching them how to read and do accounting. An old farmer often said, 'It is better to be a dog in peacetime than a man in troubled times.' But the European working people who have not experienced real troubled times will not really agree with this statement."

Friedrich suddenly slammed the table and stood up: "So we must be prepared! When the working people can no longer endure the imperialist war, we can no longer be defeated one by one as we did in 1848. We must have an organization, a program, and..."

"We must have our own armed forces." Ma Baocai added in a low voice, his eyes flickering, "We must prepare in advance, secretly reserve weapons, train military cadres, and establish organizations among the imperialist armies."

Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini suddenly asked: "If there is a war between Prussia, France and Austria, which side should the workers stand on?"

This question was like a stone thrown into calm water. Bakunin was the first to jump up: "Of course both sides are against it! To hell with the emperors and kings!"

"The ideal is beautiful," Liebknecht said with a wry smile, "but the reality is that the workers in Berlin and Paris are working hard for their respective military factories. If a war really breaks out, they will probably shout patriotic slogans and kill each other."

"So we have to do the work in advance," Moore said firmly, "so we have to establish the International Workingmen's Association to make them understand that the real enemy is not the worker brothers on the other side, but..."

"It's the system that forces them to kill each other." Ma Baocai continued, "Just like what is said in the Tianchao Tianmu System of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, 'All men in the world are brothers; all women in the world are sisters.'"

Bai Siwen turned his teacup thoughtfully: "The question is, when the drums of war sound, how many people can stay awake?"

Ma Baocai sneered: "When the drums of war sound, few people will stay awake, but when they suffer heavy casualties and face defeat in the war, they will wake up!"

As the sun was setting, the discussion was finally coming to an end. Standing at the window, looking at the steamboats on the Thames, Friedrich suddenly said, "Do you know? The Krupp factory in Prussia is testing a new type of cannon that is said to be able to fire five kilometers away."

"Five kilometers?" Toran gasped. "Wouldn't that mean we could bombard the Louvre outside Paris?"

"Technological progress does not bring peace, but more efficient killing." Ma Baocai sighed, "In the past, the Qin State relied on powerful bows and crossbows to sweep across the six kingdoms, but now the European powers rely on railways and rifles."

Moore was sorting out the manuscripts on the table, and suddenly looked up and asked, "Comrade Ma Baocai, according to you, when will this war break out?"

Ma Bao finally realized who the "that person" Moore was talking about. He lowered his voice and said, "Within five years, the outcome will be clear. There will be a war between France, Prussia and Austria."

"Why are you so sure?" Liebknecht asked.

"That person said: The arms race is like a fully drawn bowstring, it cannot be kept stretched forever." Ma Baocai explained, "Prussia wants to unify Germany, France wants to prevent German unification, and Austria wants to maintain its hegemony in Central Europe - when these three forces collide, what else can the result be except war?"

Mr. Bai Siwen suddenly raised his teacup: "Then let us toast to the Warring States Period in Europe and the coming revolution."

Everyone raised their glasses in silence, each with their own thoughts. The Thames River outside the window continued to flow quietly, as if it was completely unaware of the coming storm.

(End of this chapter)