Master Yuan, start!

Amidst shrill protests, Prime Minister Sergei Witte was the first to step into the Winter Palace's Golden Hall. After saluting the two leaders, he brought a depressing new piece of news:

"British Egyptian mercenaries have landed on Crete with the Turks."

"What? The British army landed on the island?!"

After hearing the news, the field marshals and generals looked gloomy. It was obvious that they did not expect the British to take action personally.

Crown Prince Nicholas also stood up from his chair and said anxiously: "British, do you really want to confront us to the end?

Don't they know that 20 Russian troops are already stationed in the Caucasus Mountains?"

Suddenly, Nicholas II remembered something and looked up and asked the transfer agent, "Where are the French? What are they doing? Is the secret agreement just a piece of waste paper?"

"The French have done their best to stir up trouble in South Sudan, and even instigated African tribes to kill three British soldiers," Prime Minister Sergeant sighed.

"But the British have not shifted their focus and are still focused on Crete."

"Father, give the order!"

Crown Prince Nicholas suddenly turned around and looked at Alexander III who was resting with his eyes closed behind him and said:

“Fight the British!

Russians are not afraid of intimidation!"

Hearing his son's call, Alexander III straightened his back slightly and glanced at Prime Minister Sergei Witte and a group of military and political ministers.

"You guys, please go down for now. Nicholas and I have something to talk about."

Got something to say?

Prime Minister Sergei Witte was stunned for a moment, puzzled, but he still saluted respectfully and turned to leave the golden hall.

The remaining military and political ministers followed suit and slowly left.

"Nicholas, you know what?" Alexander III, who had never shown any interest in politics, said to Nicholas affectionately, "I originally wanted to get you involved in government affairs in advance so that I could create a peaceful, well-organized, and happy Russian Empire.

But now, God seems to have made another plan.”

Having said this, Alexander III slowly stood up, looked at his heir, Crown Prince Nicholas, and sighed:

"Now, let me serve Russia one last time.

Let me take on the most difficult and heaviest burden.

I leave you a country without burdens."

"Don't worry, Nicholas."

Alexander III's eyes were no longer cloudy, but bright instead.

He patted his son's shoulder and said earnestly:

"Soon, I will leave the Winter Palace and announce to the people that I have reached peace with Britain and the Khitans."

"Father, what's wrong with you?" Crown Prince Nicholas looked at his father in disbelief.

"Don't worry, I won't let you bear the responsibility." Alexander III smiled and said, "I will take the blame for this crime against Russia at the cost of my own abdication.

"You must treat Russia well and make it great again in your hands, just like Peter the Great did."

"Did you hear that, Nicholas?"

The year 1896 in the Western calendar was an extremely unusual year for the people of countries across the Eurasian continent.

: On the European continent, the long-lasting peace was almost broken.

The Kingdom of Greece, which had just hosted the Olympic Games and made a strong presence in the international arena, once again attracted the attention of all Europeans.

Zero and his companions shouted the slogan of "Recovering the homeland" and landed on the island of Crete controlled by the Ottoman Turks.

On the surface, this was just a territorial dispute between the Kingdom of Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

But in fact, standing behind them were the Russian Empire and the British Empire.

In the end, this month-long conflict, known as the "Greco-Turkish War" or the "Crete Crisis", ended with a final consensus being reached at the cost of both sides making concessions.

The four parties signed the Peace Treaty of Crete in Istanbul.

First is the Ottoman Empire. Under the guarantee of the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire still has sovereignty and jurisdiction over Crete, but the military armed personnel above must be replaced by police forces and cannot be equipped with heavy weapons.

4 The next is the Kingdom of Greece, and the troops that have landed on the island must leave completely.

The two warships that escorted the Greek troops to the island, which nominally belonged to the Greek Navy but were actually controlled by the Russians, must also dismiss all the Russian instructors on them.

100. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire must pay million lire as military expenses.

But as compensation, Orthodox Christians on Crete are free to choose their nationality.

Moreover, regardless of whether the islanders chose Greek or Ottoman citizenship, the Ottoman government would not allow them to be expelled.

The Ottoman government had no objection to this.

Because most of the residents on Crete originally believed in Orthodox Christianity, the Ottoman Turks did not deliberately change their beliefs after they ruled here.

The reason is that the government can impose a poll tax on pagans!

However, for brothers who also believe in Allah, this tax cannot be levied due to the existence of Shariah.

In fact, in history, the Turks have always been very extensive in their governance of the territories outside the Anatolian Peninsula, and some places even continued the tax farming system from a thousand years ago.

For the Ottoman government, as long as Crete could collect taxes, they did not care whether the people above them were believers in God or people of Allah.

Some even wish that Allah's people were as few as possible, because only with fewer of them could taxes be high.

This is also why, although the Ottoman Empire was called the Sick Man of West Asia in history, although it was also a sick man, it was able to collect two-thirds of the tax burden of the Qing Dynasty with a population of only one-fifteenth of the Qing Dynasty.

They value taxation far more than the apparent ownership rights.

If the Ottomans came to rule China, they would most likely choose the method of "not shaving the braids, but imposing a high tax on growing hair."

Instead of choosing the reckless move of "keeping the hair and losing the head".

From the perspective of East Asians, this may have been a humiliating defeat for the Ottomans.

But the great jiusiba￥ersisan of Istanbul? - Chinese D: The Vizier knows.

In this conflict, the Greeks gained face and the Ottomans gained substance.

At present, the Ottoman government is preoccupied with its own affairs and has no energy to deal with an island where the majority of the population is Orthodox.

I am very satisfied with the result.

Besides, wasn’t Crete still within the Ottoman territory?

Who can deny that this is not a victory?

In fact, the Ottoman Grand Vizier's judgment was correct.

In the historical Greco-Turkish War, although Türkiye defeated the Greeks and forced Greece to pay 400 million lire in compensation, they ultimately failed to retain Crete.

After the war, the island was designated as an "international protectorate" by the British. An autonomous government was established one year later. On the eve of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, it was again ceded to Greece.

Therefore, after the peace treaty was signed in Istanbul in this time and space, Greece and the Ottoman Empire, the actual participants in the war, were quite satisfied with the outcome.

Next up was Tsarist Russia, which backed them up.

Russian Tsar Alexander III ordered the troops stationed north of the Caucasus Mountains to retreat, and withdrew the Black Sea Fleet that had originally intended to force its way through the Bosphorus Strait.

At the same time, in order to appease the anger of the Russian people, Alexander III abdicated and exiled himself to a small town called "Orenburg" on the Kazakh steppe, thus calming the clamor for war in the country.

Of course, the new generation of prospective tsar, who had been given the title of "Nicholas II", also promised to restart the "Local Gentry Conference" and made concessions to domestic progressive forces and capitalists.

Under a series of combined punches from the Tsar and his son, the Russian public opinion, which had been boiling, gradually cooled down.

The merchants and factory owners who secretly supported the Russian people also chose to wait for the new Tsar Nicholas II to ascend the throne, releasing their goodwill towards the people.

As for the British Empire, it once again played the role of a balancer and troublemaker.

By earnestly persuading the weak countries of Greece and the Ottoman Empire and confronting the powerful country of Russia, the situation in the eastern Mediterranean region was successfully maintained stable.

Of course, this maintenance is not without cost.

The pressure from the French on Britain is real.

The French used French Congo in central Africa as their base and expanded northeastward to Sudan, even at the cost of bloodshed. It was clear that they had unrealistic ideas about Upper Egypt.

Considering that it could not confront both Russia and France at the same time, London made some concessions on its African colonies and no longer sought the claim to the "French Protectorate of Dahomey".

Instead, they instigated the Germans to provoke disputes against the "French Protectorate of Dahomey" in the name of the "German Protectorate of Togo" and guaranteed to provide the Germans with sufficient food and weapons supplies.

So, Germany sent troops to hold the "Rhine Military Exercise" on the Franco-German border, while at the same time rushing to send soldiers on board, intending to rush to Africa to expand its colonies.

In Asia, because of the great victory achieved in the anti-Russian war, the National Revolutionary Army has undoubtedly become the most dazzling existence on this continent.

In addition, Yuan Shikai overthrew the Manchu dynasty and established a "republic" that claimed to belong to all people in the world.

China, especially North China, mainly North Korea, has become a holy land in the hearts of the yellow race.

Whether it was the Japanese who had their Meiji Restoration dream shattered overnight after the near destruction of their fleet;

Or the Vietnamese who are trapped in the clutches of France and have been seeking to revive their country;

Even the Indians in faraway South Asia, who had completely become a British colony.

They were all inspired by each other.

9 In their view, the Chinese not only overthrew the monarchy but also defeated the Russians in one fell swoop, gaining the strength to stand on equal footing with the great powers.

Is this the magic of the republic?

What kind of powerful medicine is this that can instantly transform a seemingly shaky old empire into a country that can compete with Russia?

Could it be that the republic is the weapon to overthrow the European colonial shackles?

From Fusang, the land of the rising sun, to India, where the monsoons rage;

From the fallen small China of Vietnam in the South, to Siam which barely maintained its independence in the cracks.

liuInsightful people from Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia rushed to northern China in search of an answer.

At the same time, the center of everyone's attention was Yuan Shikai, President Yuan.

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He did not dwell on the achievements he had made. As soon as he received the news that the National Revolutionary Army was encircling the Russian Army, he convened a meeting of the Central Decision-making Committee of the Red Confucian Society to discuss countermeasures.

After the meeting, he issued a rather strong "ultimatum" to St. Petersburg in accordance with the meeting's requirements.