Master Yuan, start!

This country in particular has always appeared in the European public opinion circle as a barbarian.

Of course, only the insensitive officials were dissatisfied with these last words. As for ordinary citizens and capitalists, they still hoped to use Chinese workers in exchange for the continued prosperity of the London and South African markets. Therefore, even the long-sluggish stock market rose by 3 points in an instant, as if foreshadowing something.

The British people's happiness is not fake.

In fact, the impact of the Boer War on Britain was far greater than later generations imagined.

The Boer War was indeed not as fierce as World War I. After all, the British did not mobilize millions of troops to fight.

But 1899 is not 1914 either.

The development of science and technology, the economy, and the accumulation of wealth are incomparable.

原时空1914-1918一战时期，英国人在5年间先后动员了500万军队开赴战场，平均一年100万。

The Boer War in this time and space started earlier than in history, because the British were afraid that the French, who had lost Indochina, would become desperate and intervene in West Africa, so they increased the intensity from the beginning.

Although the Boers' will was as resolute as in the original time and space, the British reacted extremely quickly.

After the failure of the first few battles, Britain quickly dispatched 15 troops. Before Yuan Shikai arrived in London, a new batch of 15 British troops had boarded ships and headed south to Cape Town.

In other words, the climax of the Boer War had already begun, a year earlier than in the original time and space.

Now that the Boers have launched a total war and started indiscriminate attacks, they have barely stopped the British offensive. By the time the Chinese laborers arrive, it is a foregone conclusion that Britain will ensure logistics and send 50 troops to start sweeping the Boer camps.

In other words, in 1899, Britain sent 1 troops in just over a year.

The Boer War, at least in terms of the number of participants, was half as intense as World War I.

Just because a person can afford 100 yuan as an adult doesn’t mean he could afford 10 yuan as a child.

In 1899, Britain planned to send 50 people, which was a huge difference from the 500 million people it dispatched during World War I. However, in terms of difficulty, it was not out of reach.

Moreover, the Royal Navy, which played a huge role in World War I, was almost useless during the Boer War.

Britain has to rely entirely on its army, which is not one of the best in Europe.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of the Boer War.

In addition, weapons such as radio, mortars, machine guns, rapid-fire land artillery, heavy anti-bunker howitzers, poison gas bombs, etc., which had already matured during World War I, were only in their prototypes or had not yet appeared at this time and had not been used tactically.

In other words, the British's killing efficiency in the Boer War of 1899 was far lower than that in the First World War.

This means that if the British want to quell the Boer War, they will have to put in more effort.

And Britain in 1899 was undoubtedly weaker than Britain in 1914.

Between the increase and decrease, the trauma caused by the Boer War to Britain was actually a real blow.

This is an effect that neither the anti-French war nor the Crimean anti-Russian war could achieve.

Chapter 508 Uncivilized War

After attending the press conference at the dock, Yuan Xiangcheng boarded a train to central London.

The destination is Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, the seat of the British government, next to the British Parliament.

Whitehall, translated into "Hall" in Chinese and "Hall" in English, is actually a street.

This street is the heart of the British government, with many important government departments including the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs located here.

Perhaps the officials were too self-conscious about their status as senior civil servants of the British Empire, or perhaps the streets in Whitehall were too narrow for them to maneuver.

The welcoming ceremony in front of Whitehall was far less grand than that at the London docks.

However, this quietness also gave Prime Minister Lord Salisbury a good opportunity. After Yuan Shikai arrived, he invited him to have lunch at the Prime Minister's residence.

Also invited to attend were Foreign Secretary Joseph Chamberlain and former Chinese Minister to China Claude MacDonald.

Compared to before the war, the British Prime Minister seemed to have aged a lot.

This was not his first time as prime minister, but it was his most difficult one.

More than a year ago, the Prime Minister, the Marquis of Salisbury, made a bold statement in the House of Commons, claiming that he would punish the Boers, and read out the news of the war against the Boers surrounded by MPs.

At that time, no one would have thought that the war would turn out like this.

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The successive defeats in the South African War, the diplomatic pressure from European countries, and the military and political setbacks not only destroyed his spirit, but also accelerated the consumption of the political popularity he had accumulated during his previous terms as prime minister as the war progressed.

The Marquis of Salisbury Search: 4; W^ knows that ordinary British citizens are still supporting the government in waging war.

But more educated elite intellectuals, under the influence of European public opinion, have begun to re-examine the current London government.

They were wondering, is this a "just" war?

Because, for Britain, this war was fought in a very awkward way.

The principles of war in Europe from the Middle Ages to modern times can be roughly divided into two categories.

The first is the war between European countries.

The second type is wars launched by European countries outside their territory.

As for the former, the victor in the war will be relatively restrained in dealing with the defeated, and will not take actions such as reaping large amounts of territory or excessively extorting compensation, so as to avoid creating a life-and-death feud.

After all, neighbors cannot move away, and most of the royal families are relatives. The relationships between so many major powers in Europe are complicated. They may be enemies today and allies tomorrow. Leaving a way out for others means that it will be easier to discuss in the future.

For example, although the anti-French alliance finally defeated Napoleon, they did not execute him or dismember France.

For example, during the Crimean War, Britain and France fought against Russia and at one point captured the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia regarded as a forbidden territory. They even forced the Russian Tsar to commit suicide to apologize.

But the final result was that Russia not only did not pay a penny in compensation, but also took back the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

The price paid was only a few fragmented pieces of land seized from the Ottomans, including southern Bessarabia, the Danube estuary and the Caucasus, as well as the suzerainty of some small countries in the Balkan Peninsula.

Although this is embarrassing for Russia, it is a fundamental solution except that it will restrict its future development.

This was even more true during the Franco-Prussian War, when the French emperor led his troops to surrender and the capital, Paris, was captured by the German army.

In the end, the result was nothing more than paying compensation and ceding Alsace and Lorraine, a piece of land that had belonged to Holy Roman Germany since the 17th century.

Alsace and Lorraine are the frontier areas of France. The local residents all speak German, so it is not an exaggeration to say that they are Germans.

Invading another country's capital and capturing the emperor is such a small price to pay. Don't the Germans want more? Don't they want to swallow up France east of the Seine?

Of course they did, but they were forced to keep these thoughts to themselves due to the rules.

The treatment of the defeated nations by these victorious European nations fully illustrates the general pattern of warfare among European nations before World War I, which was to "demand limited territory and reparations from the defeated nations."

On the contrary, what about non-European countries?

Whether it was Britain, France or Germany, they all did their utmost to squeeze reparations from non-white, non-Christian countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, cede territories, and even turned them into colonies.

This is true for Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, India, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, and Japan.

However, when the British encountered the Boers, who were also of European descent, in South Africa, everything changed.

From the very beginning, this war was not a simple "colonial war"

In the past, the targets of European colonization were either black or yellow people, and they were not of the same race as the British.

People of the same race, such as white people from North Africa and Arabia, are pagans.

The British colonized these places and launched wars against these countries without any psychological burden.

But the Boers are different. They are descendants of European whites and are all believers in God.

The Boers believed that the British were going to treat them with the first form of warfare.

However, the British used the second method.

During the Boer War, the British Army was not fighting against the Boer Army, but against the entire Boer people.

Did the Boers first mobilize the entire population to launch indiscriminate attacks on the British, or did the British first establish concentration camps and involve innocent Boers, young and old?

The truth is: 0% rescue Yisui slipped search: It is unknown.

Therefore, the Boer War caused a great uproar in Europe.

"Damn British, how can you treat us the same way you treat blacks, yellows, and pagans?"

Such words even triggered a wave of reflection within Britain, with some people questioning whether the South African War was just.

The Marquis of Salisbury certainly knew that this was not a just war!

In fact, which colonial war launched by Britain was just?

If we had insisted on justice, there would probably be no British Empire today, and the British people might still be trapped on the British Isles!

But for the future of the empire, Lord Salisbury knew he had to make the decision to go to war.

The steel production of the United States and Germany has surpassed that of Britain, and Britain's position as the world hegemon has been challenged at the economic level.

The Marquis of Salisbury believed that if Britain wanted to maintain its status as the world hegemon and the British Empire, it must stay ahead in certain areas, and in an absolute sense.

Industries represented by steel have fallen behind the United States and Germany, so we must catch up in other industries.

Naturally, the Marquis of Salisbury set his sights on the financial industry.

Want to rely on the development of the financial industry to keep the British Empire "sun never sets"

The reason why the British fought the Boer War was for gold.

The British have only one goal, which is to control gold, rely on international hard currency gold, and issue pounds sterling pegged to it.

The more gold is mined, the stronger the pound will be, and the stronger the pound is, the more secure the British Empire's international dominance will be.

In fact, the choice made by the Marquis of Salisbury in the late 19th century was exactly the same as the choice made by Americans in the mid-20th century.

Or we can simply say that the latter is imitating the former.

The difference is that one directly grabs gold to enlarge the British pound, while the other is more subtle and stipulates the relationship between gold and the US dollar through an agreement.

Chapter 509: Straightforward Revelation

After dinner, they walked through office after office and came to the central lawn of the Prime Minister's residence, where they sat on rattan chairs and started a formal conversation.

The Marquis of Salisbury was well-mannered. Although he was very curious about how many laborers Yuan Xiangcheng could provide this time, he first asked about the recent disaster situation in North China.

"Yuan, Minister Dounal told me that your country has been severely affected by disasters recently, is that correct?"

Yuan Xiangcheng picked up the Indian black tea at hand and replied, "It is indeed very serious. From June until I left, the total number of households affected has exceeded 6 million, with a population of over 100 million. It has seriously threatened my country's grain production.

Therefore, on the one hand, we are trying to find ways to replant crops, and on the other hand, we are also mobilizing grain from the northeast and southeast regions of my country to support the disaster-stricken areas.

In addition, I am also planning to purchase a batch of food from the British Empire for disaster relief."