Master Yuan, start!

Chulalongkorn knew very well that the tragedy of Siam was that it was sandwiched between British and French colonies, but Siam's vitality also came from this.

It is impossible for Siam to rely on its own strength to compete with either Britain or France alone, but if it unites with the major powers in the north, even with local forces, is there hope of finding a bright future for Siam?

Chulalongkorn, who had visited Europe many times, was not completely ignorant of the situation in various countries. On the contrary, he knew what the world looked like better than many Qing Dynasty bureaucrats at that time.

"Using barbarians to control barbarians" is not a diplomatic tactic used only by the Chinese. For weak countries, this is indeed the only way to survive in the cracks.

Chulalongkorn thought about the possibility of contacting the Qing Dynasty more than once, and wondered how Britain and France would react to this matter.

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But just when he was about to make up his mind and was about to send someone to Guangzhou, Yuan Shikai's "Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 Unification Telegram" made him stop at the last moment.

"Yuan Xiangcheng took 50 days to march from the border to the capital. Now, with the same telegram, how long will it take him this time?"

Chulalongkorn looked at the newspaper brought by the palace guards, read it carefully, and finally let out a long sigh.

"Then let's wait a little longer until the situation in the Qing Dynasty becomes clear before making a decision."

At the same time, Europe is not as calm as it seems.

The news of the "Russian-German Reconciliation" brought Slavs and Germans to the streets to cheer for the hard-won peace.

However, the crisis hidden beneath the peace has been brewing quietly.

The Russians' decision to temporarily abandon their investments in the Balkans did not mean they had given up on being the "protector of all Slavs."

Crown Prince Nicholas believed that in the Far East, it was just a "small punishment" for Japan, and Japan would certainly not dare to resist.

After all, they couldn't even defeat the cowardly Qing people, so how could they compare to the gendarmes that roamed across Europe?

Therefore, Nicholas, adhering to the principle of Eurocentrism, continued to focus Russia's main efforts on the Near East and the Greeks. He planned to cooperate with the Greek king to make some minor changes to the map of the Near East.

The current King of Greece is George I, who is from the German ducal family of Oldenburg-Schleswig-Holstein.

At the same time, before ascending the throne, he was a prince of Denmark, and he also married a Russian Grand Duchess.

This chosen son, who was protected by both Germany and Russia, sat firmly on the Greek throne for more than 50 years in the original time and space, and died before the outbreak of World War I.

It is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the top rich second-generations in Europe in the late 19th century. In the same year that his father ascended the throne as King of Denmark, he also traveled to Greece and became the King of Greece.

This is also extremely rare in European history.

However, as we all know, what we fear most is not that the second generation of rich people spend their days eating, drinking and having fun, but that they attempt to start a business.

This chosen Greek king was also dishonest. Instead of trying to manage the situation in Greece, he kept putting pressure on the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to restore "Greater Greece".

During the Russo-Turkish War in 1877, he wanted to follow Russia's footsteps and declare war on the Ottoman Empire, but was forcibly stopped by Britain and France.

However, his dream of Greater Greece never stopped.

More than a decade later, the two new cruisers "gifted" to Greece by the Japanese rekindled the Greek king's desire.

In his view, although Greece has been nominally independent for more than 50 years, Crete, the spiritual homeland of the Greeks and the birthplace of Greek civilization, is still occupied by the Ottoman Turks.

If he did not take back Crete, he would not be worthy of being the king chosen by the Greeks, even though he was a Dane.

However, the interference of Britain and France made George I somewhat wary. How could he recapture Crete in a reasonable way?

Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia suggested using the excuse of missing soldiers to demand a landing and search the island. If the Turks disagreed, war would be declared.

"Jesus, my cousin is really simple-minded, just like his father."

King George I of Greece naturally would not agree to use Nicholas' method, which was too stupid.

However, at this time, he read the mainstream European newspapers every week and saw the French Figaro's ridicule of a Far Eastern general, and he got some inspiration from the general's telegram.

“The Greeks on Crete long for peace and a return to their homeland.

As fellow Asians, if the Chinese in East Asia are willing to unify their country through peaceful means, then I believe that the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in West Asia will have the same wisdom to resolve the Crete issue."

In this way, George I, who claimed to be the King of the Greeks, also launched a public opinion campaign in Europe under the slogan of peaceful unification of Crete.

Chapter 204 Kang Youwei's Adventures in Jiangnan

In midsummer, all things grow, and the lush ginkgo trees along the Huangpu River are lined up in neat rows.

There were many figures standing under the ginkgo tree. They were wearing official uniforms and looking anxiously at the river, with beads of sweat dripping from their ears from time to time.

The tall French sycamore trees that later became popular in mainland China had not been introduced to China for planting at this time.

Because the Chinese at that time had no awareness of improving the appearance of their cities, no one thought it was inappropriate to use ginkgo trees as street trees.

Moreover, the ginkgo tree can be used for many purposes. After careful planting, it will bear fruit. The ginkgo fruit is even praised by the Compendium of Materia Medica as a famous health medicine that "relieves asthma and cough, reduces urination, and stops diarrhea."

Therefore, the Chinese people, who are well versed in practicality, are naturally not very interested in plane trees. Even though Britain, France and other countries transplanted many tall European plane trees in their concessions, it did not attract Chinese officials to follow suit.

However, today, the Chinese and foreign people waiting at the Huangpu River Wharf in their hearts hoped that the government would plant more sycamore trees.

Because today, it’s so hot!

Ginkgo trees are not as tall as sycamore trees, and ginkgo leaves are often only a fraction of the size of sycamore leaves.

In the scorching summer sun, the shady places under the ginkgo trees have long been occupied by officials, and the rest of the people can only bear the direct rays of the scorching sun.

"Lord Kang, when will the people from the north arrive?" Shanghai County Magistrate Huang Chengxuan stood on tiptoe to look, but there was no sign of the ship.

"No hurry, wait a little longer, maybe there's a storm at sea and it's too late."

Kang Youwei, who was standing aside, was not in a hurry. He twirled his beard lightly, appearing calm and composed.

"That's right, let's wait a little longer."

Huang Chengxuan felt a little nervous when he recalled the violent storm that had ravaged the entire Jiangnan region a few days ago.

Trees so large that three people had to hug them were blown down; countless roofs of houses were blown away; when the storm came, sand and rocks flew everywhere. In just one day, the Shanghai County Government received more than a dozen reports of pedestrians being "drowned" in the river by the strong wind.

"Sir Kang, I'm not going to hide the truth from you." Huang Chengxuan saw that Kang Youwei was unmoved and said earnestly:

"This typhoon has displaced tens of thousands of people in Shanghai County. Now is the time for disaster relief, but all the government officials have been called to the dock to welcome our distinguished guests. How unbelievable, how unbelievable!"

Huang Chengxuan sighed for a moment, but ultimately did not utter the words "ignoring people's livelihood."

However, Kang Youwei was a man of great observation and understanding, and naturally understood what the Shanghai County Magistrate meant from his tone, so he immediately comforted him:

"Sir Huang, disaster relief is a trivial matter. It is far more beneficial to the country and the people to prevent war between the North and the South.

As the envoy of the Jiangnan Governor's Office to observe the situation in Suzhou and Songjiang, how could I turn a blind eye to the disaster in Shanghai?

When this matter is settled, I will report to the Governor-General and have him allocate money and grain for disaster relief. By then, there will be grain in the treasury, and disaster relief will be twice as effective with half the effort, won't it? "

"In that case, I would like to thank you, Lord Kang."

4 Upon seeing this, Huang Chengxuan, the magistrate of Shanghai, felt relieved, so he clenched his fist, bowed, took a half step back, and said nothing more.

It turned out that after Yuan Shikai entered the capital and returned to Korea, Kang Youwei went north to the capital and wrote letters everywhere, hoping to get an official position.

However, at that time, the government affairs in the capital were controlled by Weng Tong, and the officials had no idea whether the reform was real. Kang Youwei, a mere juren from Guangdong, naturally suffered setbacks everywhere.

After being blocked in the three capitals, he thought of going to Korea to seek refuge with Yuan Shikai.

However, at that time, various undertakings in North Korea had already started, and most of them were light and heavy industrial affairs such as business and factory establishment, which were not Kang Youwei's forte.

6 Therefore, after meeting Kang Youwei, Yuan Shikai suggested that he become a newspaper editor or a middle school principal, which would be a suitable position for his profession.

Kang Youwei, who was dreaming of rising to the top overnight and at least becoming a Tongzhi or a county magistrate, was unwilling to start from the grassroots level. Moreover, he thought that if he wanted to run a newspaper, why should he go outside the Great Wall?

He once thought that Yuan Shikai was a hero in the capital, but now he thinks he is just so-so and that they don't even recognize his talent.

As the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Repository, Kang Youwei had already gained some fame in Shanghai. Relying on the income from selling newspapers, he could even be considered to have a small fortune. Naturally, he was unwilling to start all over again outside the Great Wall.

Therefore, he returned to Shanghai, the place where he made his fortune, and continued to publish the International Gazette, hoping to attract the attention of those in power.

Sure enough, after a report criticizing the Jiangning prefect, Liu Kunyi, who was nearby, invited Kang Youwei to the Governor's Mansion for "tea".

After a detailed discussion, Liu Kunyi gave him an official title of Susong Guanfengshi, and told him to "report any difficulties he encountered in Susong to his superiors."

This inspector was a fifth-rank official, two levels higher than the county magistrate and one level lower than the prefect. Although he was an idle official with little real power, he still greatly satisfied Kang Youwei's vanity.

After all, to be promoted directly from a small juren to a fifth-rank civil servant, and to take up the position without paying any money, is something that many people would never be able to achieve even if their ancestors' graves were filled with smoke.

After this incident, Kang Youwei's attitude took a 180-degree turn. He never reported on the internal affairs of Jiangnan again. Even if he did, he only said good things. Instead, he kept finding fault with Yuan Shikai in the north and Li Hongzhang in the south.

This move naturally caused dissatisfaction among his younger brother Kang Guangren. After all, Yuan Shikai had once saved his two brothers in the capital.

Moreover, when Yuan Shikai led his troops to attack the capital, the two of them applauded and celebrated Guangxu's return to the throne. How could they treat their savior like this because of their own selfish interests?

Kang Guangren once said:

"Brother, you can go to the capital or the border areas, or even return to Guangdong. As long as you devote yourself to writing books and focusing on education, you will definitely be appreciated. By then, not only will you be promoted to the fifth rank in name only, but even to the position of a fifth rank prefect, it won't be difficult for you to do so."

However, Kang Youwei evaded the question by saying, "The pros and cons here are: 10? There's no need to say more about medicine and sulfur. I have my own plans."

In this way, Kang Youwei made money by running a newspaper in Shanghai while enjoying the treatment of a fifth-rank official, and even walked with a sense of elatedness.

After Yuan Shikai sent a unified telegram to the whole country during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, newspapers in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, led by the International Repository, launched a debate with northern newspapers, led by the Korean East-Asia Times.

Yuan Xiangcheng was willing to argue with others in the newspaper because he wanted to seize the time to deploy troops and distribute supplies.

Liu Kunyi did the same, but he was a little confused.

It was not until the British Minister to China, Eugene, came to him that Yuan Xiangcheng realized who Liu Kunyi was most relying on.

"Foreigners are mediating!"

Since Liu Kunyi wanted to talk, Yuan Xiangcheng was naturally willing to play with him.

Talk, anything can be discussed, anyway, he does not intend to reach any agreement in the end, all the actions at the negotiation table are just to accumulate strength for the battlefield.

The reason why the British wanted to mediate was simply to protect their own interests in the Far East.

But this benefit should be divided into two parts.

Chapter 205 Kang Guangren Rebukes Foreigners

During these three years, relying on loans from Liu Kunyi, the British continued to accelerate economic plunder, and their goods further penetrated the Chinese market in Jiangnan.

In addition, the British also set up a number of new companies in the concession, directly collecting raw materials in China, producing goods, and then selling them to the Chinese.

Of course, the British also opened many factories and sold goods in the bonded areas of northeastern North Korea.

But with a population of less than 3000 million, the area outside the Great Wall is undoubtedly too small compared to the Jiangnan area with a population of nearly 1 million.

In addition, Jiangnan is a prosperous area in China, so the British wanted to keep this land away from war.

The British made friends with Yuan Shikai in order to safeguard the long-term economic interests of the British Empire in the Far East.

Long before the Anti-Curtain Campaign, Yuan Shikai took the initiative to ally with the British and was willing to serve as a pioneer in resisting the Russians' southward advance.