Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

First of all, this island did not control any gold channel. Back then, when the Dutch found out about this island, it was only because of a huge storm that she got lost here.

Later, when the British captured the island through war, they realized that other than the delicious dodo which could be considered a speciality, there was no need to develop any other products on the island.

Although the Mauritius could find traces of the tropical products such as rubber, sugar, fruits, spices, and wood, the area was truly small and remote. All kinds of industries could not form scale, much less make it cheap.

It was a typical colony without much oil and water, and the end result was that the British simply emigrated some Indian pariahs and domestic criminals in the early days, and then let it go on.

Until now, Mauritius had a population of less than a hundred thousand, and the population in Europe was extremely low.

Without resources, without industry, agriculture was just a matter of keeping food warm. The strategic position of a broken island was not even comparable to a piece of chicken in Britain.

In regards to this kind of barren land, no one in Britain would care about it. Once they heard that Xiao Letian, the idiot, actually wanted to buy it? Actually, many people were laughing in their hearts.

However, the face of the British Empire became an obstacle. Although the Mauritius was a barren land, when did it ever sell its own colonies?

The British Empire was not a weak Sha Wo, he did not need to sell the Alaska for money.

Although face was the obstacle blocking Xiao Letian's purchase plan, he had found a weakness in this obstacle today.

When the staff of the Imperial Asset Management office sent the contract as drafted to the Congress, all the councilors were dumbfounded. This was because they really saw the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Queen in the requisition column.

"Elisabeth Ama Leah Eugenie von Witbach... Isn't that the name of Princess Cissie? God, it really is her who applied to buy the Mauritius! "

The representatives discussed passionately. The contract that was drafted stated very clearly that the Princess Cissie had contributed 100,000 pounds and was preparing to purchase 800 square kilometers of land in the northern part of Mauritius Island to create a natural protection zone for the Doodoo Bird.

At present, there are only the Tupperbirds in the Royal Botanic Gardens, which will be transferred to the nature reserve to reproduce.

Furthermore, the contract clearly stated that this was a land transaction that did not involve the adjustment of sovereignty. This meant that this land purchase was actually the same as the purchase of a villa by the Princess Cissie in London.

Ownership of the land was permanently vested in the Princess Cissie, but the sovereignty over the land was still British.

You can do this! All of the councilors were relieved. Since it didn't involve the purchase of sovereign rights, then this was just an ordinary business. No one would object to it.

Although a hundred thousand was a small sum of money, but to increase their relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Chinese through this insignificant business transaction was naturally also very good.

"Look, everyone here, do you have Xiao Letian's name?!"

Everyone turned to the last column of the contract. Under the name of the Princess Cissie, there was indeed the name of the Chinese Finance Department written down.

"It's fake, it must be a deceiving. Princess Cissie would definitely not pay for it, there must be something going on here! Everyone, don't believe this contract. They are trying to use this kind of method to make us recognize the Chinese nation's status! "

The members of Benjamin's faction were still trying to think of all sorts of ways to stop Xiao Letian's conspiracy, they were all shouting loudly, hoping to make the other members of Parliament sober up.

"Gentlemen, until now, we have not recognized the Chinese as an independent nation, so they do not have any right to do business with us in the name of the country!"

"Look at this contract, it did not mention Xiao Letian's name, but actually wrote his name as the Chinese Ministry of Finance. This shows that this is a Chinese purchasing contract in the name of the country, if we admit to this, then later on, they will use this contract to force us to exchange letters of credence …"

"This is a conspiracy, a conspiracy!"

Within the crowd, a few clowns jumped up and down hysterically. However, at this time, no one was willing to pay any more attention to them. In Congress, Gladstone's faction was at its most prosperous. These people would not give them any face.

The draft contract was sent to every Member of Parliament, the House of Commons decided to vote three days later, and the House of Lords decided within 24 hours of the House of Commons results whether to support or oppose it.

According to the procedure, if the House of Commons were to pass the purchase contract by majority vote in three days, the House of Lords would basically have no objection, since most of the members of the House of Lords were pro-Chinese.

There were many nobles in the House of Lords. They were on the same side as the Queen, and the Queen's attitude was their attitude. At home, these people more or less owned stakes in Chinese restaurants, so it was impossible for them to be enemies with their own shareholders.

There were many members of the church in the House of Lords, and these disciples of the Protestantism all had a good impression of Xiao Letian. Be it the Protestantism's Church or the Protestantism's Church, they all did their best to speak up for the Chinese.

In addition, Xiao Letian had been throwing money around and doing charity works quite a few times. As a result, everyone in the Protestantism became Xiao Letian's supporters.

There was nothing wrong with the House of Lords now, it all depended on how the House of Commons decided. At the moment, the House of Commons' attitude was completely the same as that of Gladstone.

As expected, on the second day, the front page of the London street newspaper had already started predicting the time when the Chinese would exchange their letters of credence with the British Empire.

It was so lively that the whole of England was stirred to such an extent that no matter what people said to each other, they were all talking about the envoys. The Asian storm of 1869 was indeed an ancient event.

However, compared to the excitement of everyone else, there was a group of people who seemed to be on the verge of self-isolation.

The Zhiyuan Warship was in a stifling atmosphere, the sailors on both sides did not even dare to breathe, and people did not even speak much when they saw each other, their eyes showing panic.

There was no other reason but that of the Zhiyuan Warship had already locked herself in her cabin for three days and three nights, and no one could see him.

What was even more horrifying was that the leader clearly knew of Xiang Ying's abnormality, but he did not say a word nor give the next order.