Master Yuan, start!

Seeing that everyone had an unchanged expression after passing the paper around, Liu Kunyi's face turned pale and his stomach seemed to ache slightly.

Yu, Tao and Kang wanted to go forward to check the contents of the paper, but were driven away by angry students and could only retreat back to Liu Kunyi in embarrassment.

They didn't expect that a secret agreement would cause Liu Kunyi to offend all the middle and lower classes.

They were even a little surprised. Why were the people nowadays so bold as to stare at the imperial officials in person?

In fact, in the original time and space, even if such a secret agreement was leaked, if no one was held accountable, the people might become numb and let it go, after all, they cannot do anything against the will of others.

But now, it is obvious that Yuan Xiangcheng wants to use this matter to attack Liu Kunyi, so they have found their backbone and are willing to charge into battle.

The people were angry, and so was Eugenie.

As the British Empire's plenipotentiary diplomacy director in China, Liu Kunyi played tricks with the French under his nose and engaged in "secret diplomacy"

Ogene thought Liu Kunyi was simply confused. If he wanted to borrow money, why couldn't he borrow from Britain?

Even if it had not agreed before, if Liu Kunyi could offer the conditions to the French, how could London not agree!

As for the French involved in this matter, Eugen was even more dismissive.

Do the French think they are diplomats in Vienna?

Back then, the Austrians traveled across Europe just to form an anti-French alliance.

Why are you French traveling around East Asia now? Are you forming an anti-British alliance?

Thinking of this, British Minister Eugene was shocked. Could it be that the Russians had discussed with the French about probing Japan?

A vague anti-British thread emerged in Ogene's mind.

The British Empire has made it clear that it has major interests in China and Japan. Now Russia wants to take action in Japan, while France intends to put pressure on China.

One in the south and one in the north, the British Empire's colonial interests in China were gradually compressed, in an attempt to lock Britain west of the Strait of Malacca.

Eugen couldn't help but shake his head. The French are really stubborn.

More than 100 years ago, in order to contain Britain, Napoleon joined forces with continental Europe to adopt a blockade and embargo policy, hoping to bring down Britain economically.

One hundred years later, Napoleon's descendants still held such naive ideas, but this time they made some progress and only planned to blockade Britain in the Indian Ocean.

However, the French were still doing useless work. Eugen thought to himself, do they really think the cannons on the Chinese Fleet and the Pacific Fleet are just decorations?

Do you have the strength to fight against the British Empire?

Although Eugenie was not a professional diplomat, he was born in the glorious Victorian era of the British Empire. After some thought, he immediately thought of ways to counter France.

The Germans seemed to covet the Ivory Coast in French West Africa, and they had also expressed interest in French Madagascar across from German East Africa. Ten years had passed since the Berlin Conference that divided the African colonies, and it was time to propose a new treaty.

The King of Siam also seemed to like going to London, and it seemed that he could let the gentlemen in Whitehall talk to him about the territorial issues between Siam's eastern border and French Indochina.

And there is the United States. Americans are rich and powerful. If you French cannot build the Panama Canal, then change people as soon as possible and don’t waste the world’s time!

Almost in an instant, Ogene thought of multiple countermeasures across Africa, Asia and America in his mind.

If Yuan Xiangcheng knew what Ogen was thinking, he would be shocked.

He simply wanted to provoke a war of unification, but he didn't expect that a forged secret agreement would make the British Minister Eugene's thoughts fly across half the world.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Yuan Xiangcheng, for revealing the truth." Ogene changed his title to address Yuan Xiangcheng. "I think it is necessary for the British Empire to reconsider and re-evaluate the various forces in China."

"At the same time, the British Empire will never allow foreign countries to approach the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Chinese problems must be solved by the Chinese!"

Hearing Ogen's decisive words, Liu Kun opened his mouth slightly and was almost unable to speak.

Yuan Xiangcheng, oh Yuan Xiangcheng, is this the gavel you gave me?

At this moment, Liu Kunyi seemed to hear only the sharp sound of the bow crossing the strings.

He faced the gazes of everyone in the room and looked at Yuan Xiangcheng in the crowd. Beads of sweat dripped from his temples. He couldn't help but drink another glass of ice wine and wanted to explain.

The secret agreement is just a matter of rights and interests. We will never allow legal persons to infringe upon China's interests, and I am not a traitor.

However, when the words came to his lips, Liu Kunyi couldn't say them.

"Old... old man..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Liu Kunyi felt an unbearable abdominal pain and the ice wine in his hand fell to the ground. He felt that his eyes seemed a little dazed and his ears were ringing sharply, followed by a dizzying feeling.

With a loud bang, Liu Kunyi fell to the ground, and the sound of musical instruments in the hall stopped again.

He first ate watermelons cooked with well water and drank ice-cold well water in the hot summer.

4 In the stuffy indoor environment, facing the angry eyes of the crowd, he couldn't help but drink the iced wine.

3 Under the dual pressure of psychological and physiological factors, Liu Kunyi's blood vessels contracted strongly, his heart was stimulated, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the brain, and he fainted on the spot.

His fainting completely confirmed the secret agreement, regardless of whether the papers in the hands of the people present were real or fake.

In the past, some people fled for fear of punishment, but now some people faint for fear of punishment.

"Hyun Shuai!"

"Hyun Shuai!"

Seeing this, Yu Lianyuan and Tao Senjia had no time to worry about whether the secret agreement was true or not. They frantically lay on the ground to check the situation. After finding that the man was still breathing, they hurriedly helped him up.

Kang Youwei, who was also involved in the support, couldn't help but glance at Yuan Xiangcheng in the crowd, and couldn't help crying out in his heart.

"Weiting, Lord Yuan, Governor Yuan! You have to protect me!"

Yuan Xiangcheng did not avoid Kang Youwei's gaze, but after pausing for a moment on him, he glanced at everyone in the hall, taking in everyone's expressions.

"Everyone, the traitor has been exposed." Yuan Xiangcheng raised a glass of iced brandy into the air. "From now on, if anyone dares to sell out the country again, there will be a glass like this!"

"Snapped"

The crisp sound of glass breaking was heard, and the aroma of wine burst out.

"I will obey the order of the President!"

From all corners of the hall, a resounding response came from the National Defense Forces Guard Battalion.

Facing the complicated gazes of the crowd, Yuan Xiangcheng grinned and said in a gentle tone:

"Why are you still standing there? Keep playing the music and keep dancing!"

As soon as the words fell, the melodious piano music sounded again.

Chapter 219 A Dream of the Sino-Japanese War of -

The sound of musical instruments began to play again, but no one dared to move.

The huge hall was silent. The banquet, which was lively just now, became silent. No one expected that the Governor of Jiangnan and the leader of the Hunan Army with hundreds of thousands of troops would suddenly faint.

Seeing this scene, the reporters present knew that big news had come. Whether it was a secret agreement or Liu Kunyi fainting, it would be a big news if it got out.

Qi Baishi, who had just been thinking about painting in his mind, was also extremely surprised at this moment. He clearly saw the gloomy look in Liu Kunyi's eyes before he fell to the ground.

Could it be that the secret agreement is true?

Not only Qi Baishi, but everyone present was caught off guard.

6+07jiu38ling445+fufei群ba：2、3叁wu(

The shrill cries of Yu Lianyuan and others attracted the Jiangnan New Army's personal guard battalion responsible for assisting in the defense outside the hall.

As guest troops, they were stationed outside the museum without Eugen's permission.

However, after they rushed in and saw Liu Kunyi falling to the ground, they pointed their guns directly at Yuan Xiangcheng in the crowd.

The National Defense Forces in the hall were not to be outdone and also pointed their guns at the Jiangnan New Army.

When Yu Lianyuan saw Liu Kunyi fainting, he looked at Yuan Xiangcheng with anger.

You could have stopped the war, you could have avoided provoking foreigners, and you could have brought a few years of peace to the people in the south of the Yangtze River. Why did you, Yuan Shikai, rush to start a war?

Yuan Xiangcheng understood why Yu Lianyuan was angry. Perhaps in his opinion, borrowing money from the French was not a big deal, and it was better to negotiate peace with foreigners than to fight a war.

Just like how he ran around between governors and foreigners in the original time and space and finally promoted the Southeast Mutual Protection, in his heart he always believed that not to fight with foreigners and to preserve strength was the first priority.

But history has proven that such ideas are just wishful thinking.

People are greedy. There will always be a day when foreigners can no longer be fed. Only by holding a gun in one hand and money in the other can we have "normal dealings" with them.

If you just come forward with a licking face, you are just offering to eat.

Sometimes you just have to fight, and one punch is enough to avoid a hundred punches.

Signing a treaty with the French now and allowing French goods to flow freely into the Chinese market is undoubtedly stifling China's economic potential and suppressing its development speed.

No one knows how much potential this country has now. Now that it is in the second wave of the industrial revolution, it has the best opportunity to catch up with Europe and the United States, and there is no need to wait until World War I.

原时空2满清搞了玖30多年肆的洋务0运动，前前四后后花去50300多5万两白银。

However, because of the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, China's industrialization process was abruptly interrupted. The indemnity for Shimonoseki and the ransom for Liaoning totaled 2.3 million taels, which was equivalent to the funds for Japan's Westernization Movement for more than 120 years.

This money directly became the savior of Japan's finances, allowing Japan to leap into the first industrial country east of Malacca.

The Boxer Protocol signed after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China required the repayment of a total of nearly 10 billion taels of silver, which was equivalent to the Westernization Movement that lasted for more than 550 years, starting from the time when Ming Baozong was captured by the Oirat Mongols and lasted until the 21st century.

In other words, the potential of the Chinese people is far from being "exploited" to the limit. There is no need to rush to borrow money from foreigners. It is enough to explore their own economic vitality.

Otherwise, if Liu Kun sells the right of way today, he can sell the right of inland waterway transportation tomorrow, and then the right of management, defense, and mining.

China still has the most-favored-nation clause now.

Yuan Shikai does not have the ability to overturn all the unequal treaties yet.

Liu Kunyi's sale was equivalent to opening up the right to build roads to all foreigners. The obstacles at the institutional level had been removed, and the only remaining problems were operational difficulties.

You know, even when building the railway in Korea, Yuan Shikai did not dare to open all the road rights to the British, for fear that other countries would also invoke the Most-Favored-Nation Treaty.

But the France today is not the France of the original time and space. The benefits they gained after taking Taiwan have intensified their desire for Chinese territory.

The British are now full and only want money; the French, on the other hand, want both money and land!

Of course, Yuan Xiangcheng did not really dislike the plan proposed by Yu Lianyuan.

Just like the Southeast Mutual Protection proposed by Yu Lianyuan in the original time and space, it indeed preserved the vitality of the South and protected it from the invasion of war.

Compared with Empress Dowager Cixi's foolish operation of declaring war on all nations, this is already a remarkable achievement.

In this time and space, if Yuan Shikai was placed in the position of Yu Lianyuan and Liu Kunyi, there would probably not be any major changes in the general direction. He would just be more cautious when signing the treaty and not sell so much sovereignty.

But who can blame him for not being Liu Kunyi? There is no right or wrong in political struggles, only positions.

When the ruling party implements a certain policy, the opposition party opposes it fiercely, but when the opposition party comes to power, it takes over the policy and uses it again.