Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Xu Jingcheng heard Lin Yuan's words and said in a low voice: "Outside is not a place to talk, let's go in and talk."

Lin Yuan nodded, and gently pushed open the door, the two came into the room, turned on the light, Xu Jingcheng took out a document and handed it to Lin Yuan, and said, "This is Lu Wansu, the treasurer of Dashengkui, and you are not here." It was sent at that time, and this document contains the list of Russian personnel for this negotiation."

Lin Yuan read it again, and the names on it were more unfamiliar than the last, not even the Ilya he was familiar with. Lin Yuan asked, "What's wrong with this list? Is there something wrong?"

Xu Jingcheng pointed to the person in front and said, "Look at this person."

Lin Yuan muttered the name in a low voice: "Ivankovic? Giles? What's wrong with this man?"

Xu Jingcheng said: "Do you know the "Ili Treaty" we signed with Russia in the seventh year of Guangxu?"

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "Of course I know. This treaty not only allowed the Russians to rob us of more than 500 million taels of silver, but also allowed them to cut off more than 9 square kilometers of our land. How could I not know!"

Xu Jingcheng said, "Then do you know who the Russian representative is in the negotiations?"

Lin Yuan looked at the name written as "Gills" and asked, "Is that him?"

Xu Jingcheng nodded and said, "That's right, that's Gilles! He has a high prestige in Russia, and is called the 'Russian Bear' by the Russians. In our opinion, bears are all stupid and stubborn things, but in Russia It seems that bears are brave and fearless, so this Gilles is called the bear of Russia, which is enough to show his talent!"

Xu Jingcheng went on to say: "Although I did not participate in the negotiation of signing the Yili Treaty, it was an old friend of mine who participated in the negotiation. His name is Zeng Jize, and he is the son of Zeng Wenzheng. He was in charge of the negotiation alone. According to him, this Giles is meticulous in thinking, profound in knowledge, proficient in the public laws of all nations, and often quotes classics when speaking, and can often refute his opponents speechless!"

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "In other words, this Gilles is extremely difficult to deal with, isn't it?"

Xu Jingcheng said: "Exactly, not only that, this Giles is also good at using various methods, cunning and despicable, Brother Ji Ze also said that this Giles seems to be able to read minds, sometimes his thoughts can be known by him!"

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "Mind reading? Is there really such a thing? I really look forward to fighting this Gilles known as the 'Russian Bear' as soon as possible!" He didn't wait too long. Someone came to report: Russian Foreign Minister, Ivanovich Giles asked to see.

Lin Yuan didn't ask someone to invite him in immediately, but asked someone to tell Giles that he had something to do now, and asked him to wait for a while, and then Lin Yuan called Xu Jingcheng to discuss with him: "I don't know what Gilles is doing this time. What are you going to say to yourself?"

Xu Jingcheng said: "I think it must be related to the upcoming negotiations. Let's invite him in."

So Lin Yuan asked Giles to come in, and when Giles appeared in front of him, Lin Yuan couldn't help being taken aback. In his impression, this Gilles, who is called the "Russian Bear", must be a burly man He was a tall and thin old man, but he didn't expect that he was a tall and thin old man, and he had no entourage by his side.

Giles walked up to Lin Yuan and said with a respectful smile, "I am Russia's foreign minister, and I am in charge of this negotiation."

Lin Yuan thought that Giles would be aggressive when he came up, but he didn't expect him to be so polite, so he exchanged polite greetings, Giles looked at Xu Jingcheng, smiled and said: "Mr. Lin Yuan, I hope to have a private meeting with you Discuss, I hope your deputy will avoid it."

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "There have been a lot of things that you want to discuss with me alone. They either want to make a deal with me or give me money. Today, Giles is doing his old trick again. It seems that I have made money again. .”

So Lin Yuan asked Xu Jingcheng to go back first, and then said to Gilles: "What do you want to see me for?"

Gilles laughed and said, "According to what you Chinese say, I will go to the Three Treasures Hall for everything. I came to you to talk to you about the current international situation in the world and your country's status."

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "He doesn't talk to me about things related to this war, but wants to tell me about the international situation and the status of our country. I don't know what kind of medicine he sells in his gourd."

So Lin Yuan nodded, and Gilles said with a smile: "There are only a handful of countries in the world that can be called powerful countries. Let's talk about Europe first. Britain is undoubtedly the strongest country in the world, both in terms of economic strength and The military strength can be called the king of the world!"

"However, Britain's status as the king of the world is already in jeopardy. There are two countries in the world that are catching up from behind. One is Germany. Germany's steel production surpassed France last year, ranking third in the world, and their new technologies are more The second is the United States. Since the end of the American Civil War, the United States has been thriving, and its steel production has now ranked second in the world, and it is almost the same as the United Kingdom."

"There are also old powers in Europe, such as France, Austria-Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, etc., but except for France, the others have declined to such an extent, especially the Netherlands and Spain. The Netherlands is known as the sea coachman, but now they Even the Navy can’t piece it together.”

"Spain had the Armada back then, but since the Armada was defeated by the British, they have been in a slump, but the Spaniards still occupy a few excellent lands, like the Philippines in Asia, and Cuba in South America, but these people are too close to the United States Now, the Americans regard themselves as God's chosen darling, so expanding land has become a matter of course for them."

"After the Americans have finished reclaiming the west, they will naturally focus on these places. Recently, a military expert named Mahan in the United States published a book called "The Influence of Sea Command on History". It has had a great impact in the United States, so the United States has also launched a wave of building a navy. In my opinion, the Philippines and Cuba will sooner or later be in the hands of the Americans!"

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "It seems that this Gilles is really not simple. He can actually see the international situation clearly. In our era, in 1898, the United States and Spain broke out in a war, known as the 'Spanish-American War' in history. Among them, the aging Spain was defeated by the United States and lost its colonies such as the Philippines and Cuba.”

Giles went on to say: "These are far away from your China. I believe you must be very interested in the country I will mention below, and that is Japan! Your China has fought several wars with Japan in history, and the most recent one occurred in 1894. In [-], the Qing army had already lost a complete mess in the land battle in Korea, and Japan was about to win, but you stood up and defeated Japan."

"Later, Japan took the opportunity to occupy North Korea, and once occupied your Shengjing in China. Later, you led the troops to beat them out. Japan regards these two failures as a great shame. Come and see this, I believe you can Understand how Japan will change."

As Gilles put a booklet on the table, Lin Yuan picked it up and couldn't help being surprised.