The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 283: Far-Fetched Thucydides

Teng Yuzao smiled slyly, "Although I am friends with your country's merchant Christian, and even have some friendship with your Colonel Lehman, this will not affect my teaching you some unforgettable lessons. I sincerely hope that you will send more troops to the Qing Dynasty."

Teng Yuzao glanced at Bi Sheng with a half-smile, "I think the French will be very happy to see this situation. They should hope that you can send more troops to the Qing Dynasty. In that way, the French should have a chance to taste the taste of capturing the enemy's capital."

"Even if you impose indemnities on the French and take away land, the French will not mind taking it back double."

Teng Yuzao thought mischievously that Bellow might be thinking, "Only a fool would send more troops!"

Teng Yuzao glanced at the Russian Minister Resar, then turned his gaze to several European powers.

"The Russians have an extremely passionate love for land. Over the past few hundred years, they have not only expanded their territory eastward on a large scale, but have also been expanding westward, that is, to the heart of your Europe."

"you"

Just as Resar was about to retort, he was met with a cold gaze from Teng Yuzao. Resar immediately shut his mouth tightly, reached out to grab the wine glass on the coffee table with a look of resentment, and poured a large glass of vodka into his mouth in a fit of anger.

"The Russians have grudges against almost all of you European powers, and they are all caused by territory. Especially more than 40 years ago, you united to stop the Russians from expanding into Crimea. I think the Russians will never forget it."

"Once there is an opportunity, the Cossacks will step on that land again, and even Ukraine, Lithuania, and Estonia will fall into the arms of the Russians."

Teng Yuzao paused and looked at Dou Nale, whose expression had become serious, and continued, "You don't think that I am exaggerating or trying to scare you, do you?"

"As for you in the UK, in order to maintain stability in Europe, it is impossible for you to participate deeply in the coalition."

"Also, although it seems that you are not likely to have a direct conflict with that great power now, you are an ally of the French. Sooner or later there will be a war between France and Germany, and you will definitely be involved then."

"Because of the Crimea and France issues, you British are potential enemies of Russia and Germany."

"In particular, Germany's rise is extremely fast. In just a few decades, its industrial production capacity has surpassed France, and it is now getting closer and closer to you."

Under Wei Jinghai's astonished gaze, Teng Yuzhao took a sip of the red wine in the glass and continued speaking.

"In the past, in terms of power in Europe, you, Britain, were the second, and France was the first. You were always hostile to each other, and in order to compete for the leadership of the European continent, you even fought a Hundred Years' War. Although France won in the end, it also led to the subsequent rise of you, the British."

"Now in Europe, you British are the boss, and the Germans are the second. According to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, when a rising power competes with an existing ruling hegemon, the dangers faced by both sides mostly end in war. I simply summarize this sentence as the 'Thucydides Trap'. I believe that a war between you and Germany that determines your national destiny will also break out." "I make a prediction here. A war is destined to break out between you, and it is even likely to trigger a world war. It will probably not take more than 20 years, or even shorter."

Not all the envoys here had read the literature of the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. According to Teng Yuzao's observation, it seemed that only Dou Nale had read it, or at least knew the name Thucydides, while the others were all confused.

Especially Resar, he looked confused.

At this time, diplomats from various countries were not like those in later generations, where professional diplomats had to have high academic qualifications, and they were basically graduates of diplomatic academies or international political economics. Now the diplomats of the great powers had very complicated backgrounds, and those who were children of aristocrats were better. These people had higher academic qualifications, and many of them were from military backgrounds. For example, the deceased Kettel was once a captain in the German army.

Of course, this does not apply to American ambassadors in later generations, who can take up ambassadorial positions simply by donating enough campaign funds to the running mate.

Under the strange gazes of the crowd, Teng Yuzao looked at the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Acting Ambassador Rosston and said, "You can't continue to increase your troops because your internal situation is unstable, and there is also the Balkan Peninsula issue. The Russians have coveted that place for a long time."

Teng Yuzao took a deep breath, glanced at Leisar again, and said to Dou Nale, "As for the Russians, we can't rule out the possibility of further reinforcements, because they have a large number of troops. Although the military budget is a little tight, as long as they can take away the land outside the Great Wall, they will get rich rewards. This is also the reason why the Russians used the Boxer Rebellion as an excuse to send hundreds of thousands of troops to invade the Great Wall."

"If the Russians occupy the area outside the Great Wall and even take it for themselves, not only will they gain access to the Pacific Ocean and be able to interfere in Pacific affairs, but they may even expand further south and west. At that time, your Asian colonies will probably become nervous."

"Moreover, the land outside the Great Wall is extremely fertile. As long as the Russians work hard to cultivate it, they will reap rich rewards within two years. By then, their national strength will be greatly enhanced, and they will be more confident in competing with you for sphere of influence."

Teng Yuzhao's words greatly surprised all the ministers. They could imagine that it would not be surprising for the Russian fleet to appear in the Pacific Ocean or even in the Indian Ocean.

"Also, the Japanese will continue to recruit soldiers, but in that case, the two families will inevitably demand more benefits, which will not only seriously damage the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Qing Dynasty, but it will also probably damage your interests in the Qing Dynasty."

Seeing Komura Jutaro's disdainful look, Teng Yuzao said in a cold voice, "Minister Komura, you must know that as early as thirty years ago, when your Emperor Meiji ascended the throne, he issued the "Imperial Letter", saying that he would inherit the great cause of his ancestors, expand the vast ocean, and spread the country's prestige to all directions. From then on, the tone of your continental policy was set."

"And ten years ago, your Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo also proposed the so-called "line of interest" theory in his policy speech at the first Imperial Diet of Japan. Based on this two-line theory, you have always coveted the East Asian continent and have always tried to use force to first conquer its neighbors Korea and Qing Dynasty, then sweep across Southeast Asia, and finally reach India, and even dominate Asia and the world. What I said is not wrong, right?"

"You forcibly occupied Ryukyu, a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, ceded Taiwan, and even invaded Fujian last month. This is the best evidence of your continental policy. Fortunately, Britain, the United States, and France intervened to thwart your fantasy."

Teng Yuzao raised his voice, "In recent years, the Japanese have been vigorously developing their navy. The Qing Dynasty now has almost no naval power. So why are they developing their navy so vigorously?"

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(End of this chapter)