Nanyang Storm 1864

Two hundred million pounds? These Brits are really asking for it.

When the Great Chu Emperor Zheng Guohui heard the clear message from the British side, he couldn't help laughing and ordered the imperial diplomatic department to continue secret consultations.

This is not something that can be done in a day or two, nor is it like going to the market to buy vegetables. It needs to be discussed slowly and in accordance with one's temperament.

Whether the negotiation succeeds or not, it's still a way forward.

As was the case in history, Australia declared independence on January 1901, 1 and established the Republic of Australia.

The Chinese people, led by Queensland, were not satisfied with the current status of Australia's independence, and immediately formed a four-state alliance, publicly declaring their desire to submit to the Great Chu Empire.

Until early April
The Four States Alliance and the Australia-New Zealand Alliance headed by Victoria have completely broken up, threatening to announce that they will not rule out separation from Australia and the Four States Alliance has an urgent desire to submit to the Great Chu Empire alone.

The Australia and New Zealand Alliance, which was mainly composed of white people, adopted a tough confrontation policy in the temporary capital Melbourne. Riots mainly composed of Chinese people broke out in Melbourne, which attracted suppression from the British garrison.

The riot resulted in the deaths of 37 Chinese people and the injuries of more than 6. Six British soldiers were killed in the gunfight and more than were injured.

This attracted the close attention of the governments of Chu and Britain, who accused each other and started a fight, making the situation in Australia even more chaotic.

By July
The situation in Melbourne, which was under curfew, became increasingly tense, causing thousands of wealthy white businessmen to flee with their families and head to the nearby Straits Settlements.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, eager to watch the action, gleefully declared, "The British have suffered a shameful betrayal by the Orientals. The seeds of this outcome were sown many years ago. A few hundred thousand white men could not withstand the attack of 550 million Orientals. This is truly an era of miracles."

As a result, the relationship between the UK and Chu has encountered huge setbacks. The diplomatic departments of both sides have been threatening each other. No. 10 Downing Street is in a state of panic and its policies have been widely questioned by the British people.

January 8st

Her Majesty Queen Victoria, who holds great prestige in the British Empire, publicly stated during her attendance at the annual Royal Summer Polo Match at Hampton Court Palace;

"The Emperor of Chu is an old friend of Britain, and the two countries have enjoyed a close friendship that spans over thirty years. Regarding the current brief disagreement, I believe this wise Emperor of Chu has sufficient political wisdom to resolve this diplomatic dispute."

Her Majesty Queen Victoria set the tone for the incident, calling it a "diplomatic dispute" rather than a sharp conflict of life and death, and there was no need to call for war and killing.

British newspapers, led by The Times, subsequently shifted their public opinion, publishing fewer speeches by radical conservative politicians, especially those with pro-war tendencies that stirred public sentiment.

Instead, it published speeches by many politicians who advocated a rational solution to the Australian crisis, lowered the tone, and stated that the London government was making continuous and unremitting efforts to this end.

Under the pressure of domestic and international situations, Downing Street's stance has shown obvious concessions.

Manila

The Great Chu Palace
"8500 million pounds, where can the Union get so much money?" Zheng Guohui, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, shook his head with a wry smile and waved his hand to signal Li Jingxi to leave. He wanted to be alone for a while.

8500 million pounds is equivalent to 4.25 million silver dollars. The Chu royal family is indeed rich enough to rival a country, but they really cannot come up with so much money at once.

Not to mention 4.25 million silver dollars, they can't even take out one-third of it.

why?
In addition to daily expenses, more than half of the money of the royal family of the Great Chu Empire was invested in the fields of finance and fixed asset investment, including replenishing the capital of several major royal banks, purchasing extensive properties at home and abroad, cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings, and war bonds in the northern Shenzhou, etc.

Since the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance

The amount of money that the Chu State invested in the rescue purchase of northern China amounted to tens of millions of silver dollars. The purchased ceramics, paintings and calligraphy, cultural relics and rare books were worth millions, all of which were transported back on 10,000-ton cargo ships.

In the capital alone, Nanfengtang set up more than 20 purchasing points, purchasing large quantities of cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings looted by officers and soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and accepting all kinds of old items.

Someone in the know has done statistics

Excluding gold and silver, the cultural relics, treasures, calligraphy and paintings purchased by the Chu State accounted for more than 70% of the total amount looted by the Eight-Nation Alliance. This number can only be lower, not higher.

After all, those foreign officers and soldiers were not interested in these Chinese cultural relics. What they were interested in were pounds, francs, German marks, and shiny silver dollars, which were all world-class hard currencies.

They rob just for money, why not exchange it on the spot?
So, you can see such a wonderful sight.

Those Eight-Nation Alliance soldiers who were looting crazily sold a large number of ancient books and rare editions and precious porcelain by the pound, with one pound worth only one silver dollar. They also simply refused to accept many ordinary items and gave them away for free.

Many corrupt scholars and bureaucrats in the north were heartbroken and angrily accused the State of Chu of "aiding and abetting the tyrant", "not being a human being", "being used by the red foreigners and having no face to see the elders of Jiangdong", and so on.

anyway
They failed to see why this ancient land of China suffered an unprecedented disaster, failed to see the corrupt and foolish rule of the Qing court, and failed to see the millions of people fleeing. Instead, they simply blamed the State of Chu for aiding and abetting the evil.

It's like an outlet for resentment, and people start blaming others indiscriminately.

The royal family of the Great Chu Empire was not disturbed by these rumors. They continued to allocate huge sums of money to purchase a large number of cultural relics and antiques in the northern Shenzhou and transported them back to the empire for collection.

This also lays a solid foundation for the next step of cultural relics discovery on the seven mainland islands.

In addition to this expenditure, the major banks of Chu State provided huge loans to Britain for the South African War, which led to monetary tightening and forced them to replenish capital.

Continuous large infusions of royal capital, combined with government and social capital, were necessary to sustain the massive war loans to Britain, amounting to between 500 and 600 million silver dollars. Beyond these two significant expenditures, royal capital investment in the massive construction projects on the newly conquered islands of Java and Sumatra was also a major priority.

To be honest

The royal family of the Great Chu Empire indeed possessed a huge amount of wealth, worth more than tens of billions of silver dollars. Even if converted into British pounds, it would be more than 300 million pounds.

But there was not much cash on hand, only tens of millions of silver dollars at most.

The Great Chu Emperor Zheng Guohui knew that Australia was a treasure trove of resources, and the 8500 million pounds was indeed not expensive, but the problem was that the landlord had no surplus food.

He didn't want to be blackmailed by the British, nor did he want to form a military alliance with the British. He adopted the attitude of saving as much as possible.

The diplomatic department still needs to continue dealing with the British and instigate continued division in Australia to put pressure on Number 10 Downing Street.

After seven rounds of secret consultations, Chu and Britain reached a consensus on some issues, but there were huge differences between the two sides on the most critical issue: the price.

The psychological price of Zheng Guohui, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, is between 4500 million and 5000 million pounds, which is equivalent to 2.75 million to 3 million silver dollars, or about the same amount of US dollars.

If a deal is reached
It will be a shocking deal that makes history so far. If it gets out, the British will also feel proud and feel that they have bitten a big bite at the State of Chu and gained a great advantage.

The United States spent $1500 million to purchase Louisiana from France and $2500 million (note, the two transactions combined) to purchase large tracts of land in the southwest, including California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, ceded by Mexico. This is already amazing enough.

If compared with Australian transactions, it is far from enough, a typical example of a small witch compared to a big witch.

From the perspective of the Great Chu Empire itself, this transaction was not a loss.

Australia's total area is 769 million square kilometers, which is one and a half times larger than all the land purchased by the United States combined, and it is an independent continent.

Compared with the more than 500 million square kilometers of North American land that the United States acquired at a cost of to million US dollars, a premium is reasonable.

The key is
By using relatively gentle means to allow the British to save face and continue to maintain close economic and trade relations between the two countries, it will bring in a steady stream of massive wealth.

Which is lighter and heavier, at a glance.

The Great Chu Empire earned a huge trade surplus of hundreds of millions of pounds from trade with Britain every year. It was really fat and happy.

If this great source of wealth is cut off, won’t you cry to death?
Understand from a certain perspective
The huge amount of money paid by the State of Chu for the purchase of land can be understood as a trade license paid to Britain, or a step paved with gold. The face of the British Empire is worth this money.

Isn't it a daydream to want to take Australia away from the British without paying a heavy price?

Zheng Guohui, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, walked into the side hall with his hands behind his back, looked up at the huge map that he had examined countless times, his eyes fixed on the location of Australia.

This Australia, which looks like a pancake, is even more attractive than a peerless beauty in the fiery eyes of Zheng Guohui, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, and he likes it no matter how he looks at it.

If Australia could be swallowed up successfully, the vast territory of the Great Chu Empire, which is 888 million square kilometers to date, could be doubled.

In total, it is larger than the overseas colonies operated by the French Third Republic for hundreds of years.

This is the solid foundation of the empire!

The Emperor of the Great Chu Empire, Zheng Guohui, sat down in a very good mood, looking at the large map in front of him, and felt intoxicated in his heart.

The current situation in Australia is very favorable to the Great Chu Empire. The 550 million Chinese population is a heavy weight that no one can ignore, including the British.

On the current historical trajectory

In 1869, Australia suffered a massive invasion by the Chu expeditionary force. The Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland all fell, and tens of thousands of white people were ruthlessly killed, especially men.

Since then, Chinese immigrants have occupied the mainstream of society. After decades of continuous immigration, the population has skyrocketed to its current size of more than 550 million.

Many white Australian women become spouses of Chinese people, which, to a considerable extent, has slowed the growth of the white Australian population, which is much lower than in previous historical periods.

Today
The entire white population of Australia is only over 90, most of which are concentrated in the southernmost states of Victoria and South Australia, with a smaller number in the four northern states.

This has led to the current political situation in Australia, with the Australia-New Zealand Alliance being mainly composed of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, where white people are in power.

The most core area

It is Victoria, with a population of more than 220 million. It is the most prosperous, richest and most densely populated state in Australia, with white people accounting for about %.

Relying on its traditional political advantages, it firmly controls the upper political and business circles of Victoria. The British garrison is also located here, with a number of only more than 730 people.

Compared to the powerful Victoria, Tasmania, with a population of only a few thousand, South Australia, with a population of less than 40,000, and New Zealand, with a population of over 100,000, are just additions to the Australia-New Zealand Alliance. (End of this chapter)