There is a proverb in Europe - "Wherever the British go, war breaks out."
The British are not known as the "European shit-makers" for nothing.
What they have always adhered to is the balance of power policy on the European continent. This policy can ensure the UK's right to speak throughout Europe and maintain their hegemony.
In fact, it means always uniting with the second child, and the third child beats the boss.
When France was strong, the British joined forces with Prussia and Tsarist Russia to attack France.
Decades ago, when Napoleon I wanted to dominate Europe, the British were the leaders of the anti-French alliance. They provided people and money, and even personally defeated the French army at Waterloo.
After Napoleon was put to death, Russia took advantage of the situation to rise. Nicholas I felt that he was no worse than Napoleon, and the tail of the "European Gendarmerie" was raised.
The British immediately joined forces with France to launch the Crimean War, which completely defeated Tsarist Russia in one fell swoop, setting Tsarist Russia back for decades and causing domestic chaos.
Now, under the leadership of Napoleon III, the French seem to be rising again.
The third generation wanted to continue the great achievements that his uncle had not achieved. France's industrialization process has achieved remarkable results, becoming the second largest industrial power in Europe after Britain.
The British want to repeat their old tricks again. No matter what you think, if you become the boss, you will have to do it.
But this time the French became smarter. They began to build good relations with Tsarist Russia in advance and win over allies.
Even the Italians who could not afford to be supported were actively wooed by the French.
The two countries are now engaging in joint vertical and horizontal competition.
Seeing that Tsarist Russia was about to fall into the arms of the French, the British began to win over Prussia. Although Prussia was known as a poor relative in Europe, it had always been very capable of fighting.
Since the British want to win over Prussia, they must show some sincerity.
Prussia is not too short of money now. The cooperation with the Renaissance Army in recent years has actually made Prussia a lot of money.
Many domestic factories are developing very well, especially heavy industry.
Prussia was originally focused on heavy industry, and it had a lot of mineral resources in the country.
So how to impress Prussia?
The Holstein and Schleswig areas have always been territories that Prussia wanted to take back.
A war broke out before, but Prussia failed. The British knew very well that Prussia would never be willing to fail.
They felt that they could do something about this.
In any case, the European continent cannot be stabilized.
Prussia and France are feuding, and as long as Prussia takes action, the French will definitely focus their attention on it.
So after the Paris peace talks, the British Foreign Secretary found the Prussian diplomatic representative.
Um...yes, that's Mr. Bismarck.
The British expressed their willingness to support Prussia in regaining Schleswig and Holstein.
The British knew that Prussia's navy was relatively weak, and in order to show goodwill, they were even willing to strengthen naval cooperation with Prussia.
The British don't know that Prussia is secretly building a navy at a high cost. Now the four armored cruisers that Prussia secretly built are about to go on trial.
Of course, it would be great if the British were willing to support Prussia.
After meeting with the British Foreign Secretary.
Bismarck was very surprised to find Wang Tao and told Wang Tao about the incident.
He didn't care at all, the British told him this in secret.
The reason why Bismarck did this was because Wang Tao had foreseen this war before.
Moreover, Wang Tao also said that this war will be the first battle towards the unification of Germany.
This time the British put forward this condition, didn't it just confirm Wang Tao's prediction?
Bismarck did not believe that anyone could predict the future. He believed that Wang Tao was able to predict these things because of his excellent political wisdom.
So now he wanted to know what Wang Tao thought of the British proposal.
"Mr. Bismarck, do you know the British policy towards the European continent?"
Wang Tao's words awakened the dreamer.
"Mr. Wang, are you saying that the British want to check and balance France?"
Bismarck was an extremely smart man, and with a little prodding by Wang Tao, he understood the truth.
"So Mr. Wang, what suggestions do you have?" Bismarck tried to ask. He didn't know whether Wang Tao was willing to make suggestions on such a big matter.
"Mr. Bismarck, there is an old Chinese saying that goes, 'You don't know the true face of Mount Lu just because you are in this mountain.' There is also a saying that goes, 'Those who are in authority are confused, but onlookers know clearly.'"
"What is the relationship between France and Prussia? There is a saying that no matter whether we fight or not, the enemy is there, so don't place your hope on the kindness of the enemy. May I ask, sir, can the conflicts between Prussia and the French be reconciled?"
Wang Tao asked rhetorically.
"Mr. Wang, thank you for your generous advice!" Prussia and the Renaissance Army had no conflicts before, and now they can be said to be iron-clad allies.
Coupled with the personal relationship between Bismarck and Wang Tao.
Therefore, Bismarck could directly say many things to Wang Tao.
Naturally, Wang Tao also said everything he knew.
After Liu Qingbei circled around the UK, he headed for North America.
The visit to England was extremely unpleasant. Apart from a polite sexual encounter with the Queen of England.
The British were warning China's actions in the East throughout the whole process.
The Queen of England was extremely polite, and both parties even gave each other gifts.
Liu Qingbei only knew about the war between the Renaissance Army and the Spanish earlier than the British.
The British hope that China will not let the war expand.
Liu Qingbei said that the war has been in Nanyang, and at least the Renaissance Army will not attack Europe.
Of course, the British fleet has set out for the Indian Ocean, but it is still sailing in the Atlantic Ocean.
This time they not only gave verbal warnings, but also prepared threats of force.
But the British obviously didn't know that a huge quagmire was forming in India.
Wang Tao took advantage of Bismarck's proactive visit and discussed with him that Prussia would come forward to mediate the war between the Renaissance Army and the Spanish.
This order was sent from China by Dong Shuheng.
Because it is impossible to wait for the Spaniards to come to the east to negotiate.
In other words, Wang Tao can be allowed to contact the Spaniards first.
Then the Spanish envoys were sent to the East to complete the final negotiations.
In order to promote negotiations, the Renaissance Army is also doing many things.
Now the Baath Army has seized dozens of Spanish merchant ships in the Pacific waters.
In other words, as long as the Spanish do not cease the war with the Renaissance Army, Spain will lose the qualification to trade with the East. This is definitely a huge blow to Spain.
Bismarck knew the situation in Europe very well. He knew that China was giving Prussia an opportunity.
One could participate in carving up Spanish interests in the Pacific with huge benefits.
Bismarck then agreed to go to Prussia to lobby on this matter.
For this matter to happen, the Prussian royal family must come forward. It is better to have Bismarck say it than Wang Tao himself coming to request.
Liu Qingbei did not stay to participate in the negotiations with the Spanish. He also wanted to continue his global tour.
His next stop is the United States, then Brazil and Argentina in South America. Next is Chile, Peru and other countries.
Let’s take a look at the situation in Tsarist Russia.
After being driven to the ground, Tsarist Russia is now making every effort to suppress the domestic serf uprising.
But this uprising is different from the previous ones. It seems that it will not be so easy to suppress.
Moreover, in many places, the serf armies that revolted reached a certain scale. They even put forward their own program.
What these farmers demanded was to receive all the land free of charge and to be completely liberated from the power of the landlords.
Obviously, the landowners would not agree to this request. They all came forward to support the government in suppressing the serf uprising.
Some people are even willing to pay to buy the government's national debt so that the government can have money to suppress the serfs.
In Ukraine, Tsarist Russia's main grain producing area, the scale of the serf rebel army was the largest.
Many areas were occupied by serf rebels.
Although the peace talks have been completed and the coalition forces have withdrawn, the local government forces suffered successive defeats in the early stage.
Government troops can only defend some large cities.
When Liu Qingnan left Ukraine, he even sold a piece of arms to these rebels.
The expeditionary force will definitely need to change their equipment after returning. Therefore, these front-loaded rifled guns no longer have much value to the expeditionary force.
Therefore, Liu Qingnan simply sold the general's spare rifles to the rebels.
They have cooperated with the rebels here before, and there is a channel of communication between the two parties.
Just before Liu Qingnan boarded the ship with the expeditionary force, he delivered more than 5,000 rifled guns to the rebels in Ukraine.
The local rebel army, led by the liberal leader Chernyshevsky, established a Ukrainian democratic government and advocated the distribution of land to farmers free of charge.
This is simply the Russian version of the land equalization order.
Many serf rebels gathered under the democratic government because of this program.
Suddenly, the number of rebels gathered by the Ukrainian democratic government reached more than 100,000.
They liberated most of Ukraine's rural areas and began to attack the larger cities.
This incident shocked Tsarist Russia greatly. Even many European countries were shaken by it.
We all think that a great uprising similar to the one in France in 1848 will break out in Tsarist Russia.
Faced with such a situation, the European monarchies were relatively united. They borrowed money from Tsarist Russia and provided blood transfusions to Tsarist Russia, hoping to support Tsarist Russia in suppressing the uprising.
At this time, the only country still supporting the rebels was Turkey.
Although an armistice agreement was signed, the conflict between Türkiye and Tsarist Russia was impossible to resolve.
Türkiye will not let go of such an opportunity to cause chaos in Tsarist Russia.
It just so happens that Tsarist Russia no longer has maritime power in the Black Sea region.
Türkiye has transported a large number of weapons to Ukraine via land and sea.
In April, the rebels occupied Nikolayevsk, a large city on the Ingur River.
Chernyshevsky positioned this place as the temporary capital of the Ukrainian democratic government.
This way they have an entrance to the sea.
However, after a long time, thanks to the continuous blood transfusions from various European countries, the Tsarist Russian army finally collected enough military expenditures.
After receiving their military pay, the 50,000 leading troops set out for the lowland areas of Ukraine.
Everyone wants to ask why Tsarist Russia did not send troops to the Crimean frontline to suppress it.
In fact, it is very simple. It is because of lack of money. When it was fighting against the coalition forces, Tsarist Russia could no longer afford military expenditures.
The army of Tsarist Russia itself was armed by serfs. Alexander II was very self-aware.
He knew that if such an army was sent out to suppress the uprising without sufficient military expenditures, these people would probably defect on the battlefield.
So St. Petersburg has been delaying until all parties are willing to pay to suppress the uprising.
Alexander II was a man full of political wisdom.
He took full advantage of the fear of uprising among the landowners at home and among the European monarchs.
Everyone is worried that the uprising in Tsarist Russia will spread to other countries. This is not alarmist.
The uprising that broke out in France spread to many European countries at once.
Alexander II guessed correctly, and he waited until he got what he lacked most now-money.
As for the fact that the uprising had been delayed for so long and that more people were going to die in Tsarist Russia, it was nothing more than a trivial matter in the eyes of these rulers.
These rebellious serfs lacked training after all. The regular troops who came back from the mountains of blood and corpses in the Crimean battlefield beat the rebels to pieces at the first sight.
The Chernyshev driver could only take the remaining people and wander around.
It was now the spring plowing season, and Alexander II hoped to end the war before the spring plowing, which might alleviate the domestic food crisis.
Taking advantage of this great victory, Alexander II prepared to launch the reform of the serf system that he had been thinking about ahead of schedule.
At the end of April, after the Tsarist Russian army defeated the peasant army, Alexander II announced the "General Decree on Peasants' Disengagement from Serf Dependence."
This decree stipulated that farmers had personal freedom and general civil rights. Landlords could not buy, sell or exchange farmers, and farmers had the right to own property.
Hold public office, conduct litigation and engage in industry and commerce. On the premise that all land belongs to the landlord, farmers can use a certain amount of land, but they must pay a ransom to the landlord (this ransom greatly exceeds the actual price of the land).
Before signing a redemption contract, farmers had to perform labor services for the landlord or pay service rent.
At the same time, there is also a "Local Ordinance" that stipulates that when the farmers' use of allotment land exceeds the amount stipulated in the "Act", or after allotment of land to farmers, the landlord's remaining good land is less than 1/3 of the total land, the landlord shall
It has the right to cede land to farmers, that is, to deprive farmers of 1/5 to 2/5 of their original cultivated land.
In order to manage the farmers after the reform, village communities and township organizations controlled by local nobles were established, and a company-wide environmental protection system was established to supervise farmers.
In fact, this system was not completely reformed, and it did not meet the requirements of the serfs.
But he gave the serfs hope of freedom after all.
However, Alexander II also considered the interests of the landowners in his decree.
This is the redemption policy. This is the hope of the Tsarist Russian government to extract all the wealth held by the serfs at once.
However, this law, combined with brutal repressive activities, has played a certain role.
On the one hand, there is brutal suppression, and on the other hand, you spend money to buy freedom. If you don’t have money, you can pay in installments.
At least in name, the tsarist government began to recognize these serfs as free people.
This gave many rebels an excuse to give up resistance.
By May, many of the liberal leaders who led the uprising were in exile.
The uprising in Tsarist Russia gradually subsided.
Dong Shuheng was greatly surprised when the news reached his ears.
Because the process of history has accelerated. Although he is not very clear about the timing of these historical events, Dong Shuheng still knows that the Prussian-Danish War and the serfdom reform in Tsarist Russia did not happen in the past few years. At least it was not until the 1960s.
Perhaps it was his own appearance that increased Prussia's strength ahead of schedule.
Liu Qingnan's plan intensified the peasant uprising in Tsarist Russia.
In addition, Dong Shuheng's defeat of Tsarist Russia in the east made Alexander II feel more crisis-oriented, so he launched this reform plan in advance.
ps: The second update is here, please give me monthly votes and recommended votes!