The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 796: Pope, your two divisions are about to arrive!

The winter sun in Rome shines obliquely into St. Peter's Basilica, and the saints in the dome frescoes are coated with a layer of golden light. Cardinal Doria, wearing a crimson robe, clutches a telegram and walks quickly through the ancient corridor. Old Pope Pius IX kneels in front of the altar, his withered fingers stroking the golden cross on his chest, and the prayer he murmurs echoes in the empty hall: "Lord, please have mercy on this broken lamb."

"Holy Father!" Doria's voice was trembling uncontrollably. He pressed the telegram on the Bible. "An urgent telegram was sent from Macau. The First Division of the Eastern Crusades has set out from Macau! The Second Division has been formed on the Shimabara Peninsula in Japan - a full 20,000 elite soldiers! They are equipped with French Mitellius revolvers, Napoleon cannons, and American rifles. They will all be stationed in Rome by the end of next year! By then, you will have two divisions!"

The Pope raised his head slowly, his eye sockets sunken like dry wells: "Doria, do you know how many divisions the Kingdom of Italy has?"

"Eight, or ten." Doria's voice lowered.

"The peasants of Naples could pierce the breastplates of the Swiss Guards with their pitchforks." The Pope tapped the words "Eastern Crusades" on the telegram with his knuckles. "Do you expect these yellow-skinned pagans to defend the Holy City? They can't even say their Latin prayers properly!"

Doria said solemnly, "Holy Father, Amakusa Tokiki's grandfather was Amakusa Shiro! During the Shimabara Rebellion, the blood of 30,000 Christian martyrs soaked the land of Kyushu! The faith of these Japanese samurai is a hundred times purer than that of Swiss mercenaries!" He unfolded the copy of the Book of Prophets and ran his fingertips over the prophecy that "Pope Pius IX will 'lose land' during the unification of Italy." "You see, this is God's warning to you through His Majesty the Angel. The land of the Holy See comes from the Donation of Pepin. The Kingdom of Italy covets Rome, which is a blasphemy against God. They are even more ungodly than the Crusaders in the East."

The Pope suddenly coughed violently, and there was blood in his sputum: "Why didn't he answer my prayers? For eighteen years! I confessed to the Father and pleaded with Jesus every day, but God never responded."

In theory, God should respond! Because the Pope is God's "general representative" on earth, and in theory he should be able to contact God.

But the problem is, ever since Pope Pius IX became Pope, God seems to have “lost contact”!
It would be fine if no one in the world could contact God, but there is a person in the East who can use a "Sky Mirror" to contact God!
"Because the real oracle is in the East!" Doria knelt down suddenly, resting his forehead on the tip of the Pope's shoe. "Holy Father, don't you understand? The prophet in the East is God's only messenger in the world. Do you want to disobey God's will?"

That was God's will, but it was not conveyed through him. Thinking of this, the Pope trembled all over!
London, Buckingham Palace.

Queen Victoria stirred her milk tea with a silver spoon and glanced at the map of Burma presented by the Colonial Secretary: "How much land does King Mindon want before he is willing to send troops?"

"He demands to first recover the most fertile land in the Pegu Delta before he can go and compete with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the north," replied Colonial Secretary Grey.

"May I give it to you?" The Queen looked at her dear Albert.

"Sure!" The "husband" of the British Empire nodded. "For us, Pegu and Tanassarin are nothing. The most important thing is to ensure that Burma does not fall to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and prevent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's forces from entering the Indian Ocean from Burma!"

The queen nodded and said, "Then how many troops is my fourth soul brother going to send?"

Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell replied: "The report of Minister Aliguo said that King Yang Dong agreed to send 5000 troops. If necessary, more mercenaries can also be sent at a reasonable price. He is now doing mercenary business!"

"Mercenary business?" The queen blinked. "This is a good deal. By the way, how much does he want?"

"His mercenaries want to get the estate from the Burmese king." Lord Russell laughed, "I don't think that poor King Mindon can afford it. The price Lincoln paid to King Yangdon was 15 short tons of American wheat per mercenary per year."

"Fifteen tons of wheat per person per year? That's a lot of money!" The Queen of England shook her head. "King Mindon really can't afford it."

Prince Albert suddenly interrupted: "Tell the Burmese king that if he is willing to provoke a war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the Shan Plateau, we can give the land of Tanassarin to Yang Xiuqing's warriors as a territory!" He turned and looked at Siam on the map, and said worriedly, "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has taken Siam under its protection, and the chieftains on the Shan Plateau have pledged allegiance to Tianjing." Siam is also a country bordering the Indian Ocean! If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom builds a port and deploys a fleet on the Indian Ocean coast of Siam, it can threaten India from there! That is something the British Empire cannot tolerate!

The Duke of Somerset, the Minister of the Navy, tapped his pipe and said, "The experts of the Admiralty have fully analyzed the situation of the Battle of Callao Bay. The Admiralty believes that the 'Xi'an' of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy is a very excellent ironclad ship, better than the original 'Glory' class, but still no match for the 'Warrior' class. However, the Admiralty still recommends designing a new type of ironclad ship. We need to use a triple expansion steam engine, with a light load displacement of more than 7 tons, protected by mm 'steel + iron' composite armor, and equipped with a new type of warship with -inch or even -inch breech-loading guns to ensure that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy will be suppressed in the next ten to fifteen years!"

Victoria looked at Albert, who looked at Chancellor of the Exchequer Gladstone.

Finance Minister Gladstone smiled and said, "As long as our trade with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can continue to grow, the Empire will have enough financial resources to develop warships to contain the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In addition, our miner has discovered a large gold mine in southern Africa according to his 'prediction'!"

The queen suddenly stood up and said, "Everyone, the biggest threat to the empire now is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the empire's largest trading partner is also the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! We need to adopt flexible means to contain them, trade with them, and give them a moderate blow - adopt the model of proxy war! Of course, we must always be vigilant. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is very aggressive, and they will use the same method to deal with us!"

Palmerston unrolled a stack of treaties: "Chile, Colombia, and Nicaragua have all accepted Royal Navy protection, and the gold miners in Ecuador are lobbying their president. The situation in that country is similar to Peru, with 10% of the white people ruling over the other 90% of the population!"

Prince Albert snorted coldly: "They must miss their Spanish motherland too, right?" He paused, "Keep the Ecuadorians on their suspense and don't sign a treaty with them! But you can provide them with advanced weapons and equipment."

At the same time, Doria left the Pope's palace. Dusk had already enveloped Rome. He lit a candle in the study of the mansion on the Tiber River and unfolded the secret message sent by the Wu Palace: "After the American Civil War, black prisoners of war can be recruited to form the Black Crusaders, southern exiles can be organized into the White Crusaders, and Indians can be organized into the Red Crusaders. Within five years, the Holy See should have 100,000 crusaders of various colors to drive. In addition, five years later, there will be a revolutionary storm in Europe. The fire has already appeared and it will spread all over the country in the future. The Holy See needs to prepare early!"

December 1864, 12, St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London.

Gas lamps illuminated the not-so-spacious hall, and the benches were packed with worker representatives from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, etc. Moore stood up and walked toward the podium slowly but firmly.

"Citizens!" His Rhine-accented German was as heavy as an anvil. "When British factory owners calculate their profits with the ribs of child laborers, when French peasants starve to death for Napoleon III's colonial wars - this is not an accident, but a necessity of the capitalist system!"

He paused, then raised his voice again: "But a greater disaster is approaching! Look at the war between Prussia and Denmark, the struggle between France and Austria in Italy, and the recent collusion between Napoleon III and Emperor Franz Joseph to organize an anti-Prussian alliance - the imperialist powers are preparing to send tens of millions of workers to the battlefield to fight each other!"

Friedrich strode onto the podium again, waving a telegram in his hand: "Everyone, I just received news that the Vatican is recalling their Eastern Crusaders. A division of 10,000 Eastern Portuguese is boarding a ship from Macau, the Pope's Eastern territory. Now, even the Vatican has received news that a war is about to break out! We must also be prepared!"

A representative of London dock workers stepped onto the steps with a hunched back: "My son died in Crimea... Officials say he died fighting for the glory of the Queen, but I know he died fighting for the imperialist war of hegemony!" He turned to Moore and said, "Mr. Moore said the war would bring about revolution - let the revolution come faster!"

When the Inaugural Address of the International Workingmen's Association was translated into six languages ​​and read aloud, the dim light had enveloped London. Friedrich and Bai Siwen walked out of the church side by side, looking at the black smoke of the munitions factory on the other side of the Thames.

"Friedrich, do you think the war will really come?" Bai Siwen lit a Cuban cigar that was not very suitable for appearing at the meeting of the "Workers' Association".

Friedrich took a puff of tobacco from his pipe. "I will. Moore and I have carefully studied China's Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and compared it with today's Europe. It is obvious that Europe is in the Warring States Period, and all reforms are centered around enriching the country and strengthening the army. Isn't the purpose of strengthening the army to fight wars? Look. The busiest factories on both sides of the Thames are related to military industry! The bourgeoisie has manufactured so many weapons and has generally implemented compulsory military service, turning all young and middle-aged men into reserve soldiers. The future is doomed!"

(End of this chapter)