Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 284: For the sake of my big brother, I have to put up with you!

When Ge Luo heard this, the expression on his face changed from cloudy to bright.

Just when he was struggling, Guo Songtao added something.

"When Sir Gro came here just now, he should have seen Earl Elgin at the door, right?"

"May I tell you, Sir, that the Tang Dynasty has reached a consensus with the United Kingdom..."

As for what consensus was reached, Guo Songtao did not say it clearly.

Instead, he chose to leave it blank, letting Groh guess and fill in the blanks himself.

When Gro heard this, he felt a pang in his heart, fearing that the British would sell out France in exchange for benefits from the Tang Dynasty.

The reason is simple: the British have a long history of betraying their allies and have no credibility at all.

Ge Luo made a decision immediately and nodded to agree to Guo Songtao's conditions.

Because he understood that the key point of the consensus reached between Britain and the Tang Dynasty was not what consensus the two sides reached.

But it is about reaching consensus itself.

With Britain reaching an agreement with the Tang Dynasty alone, the coalition as a whole has been disintegrated.

After all, even the leader has been turned against the government, so how far can the so-called coalition be from completely collapsing?

Under such circumstances, Gro had no choice but to agree to the conditions of the Tang Dynasty.

Anyway, the conditions that the Tang Dynasty has proposed to France are all very normal peace treaties.

The most extreme one is that everyone opens their markets to each other.

Strictly speaking, France did not suffer any loss.

In that case, he naturally has nothing to worry about.

……

Afterwards, Guo Songtao invited Portugal, Sardinia, Prussia, Austria and other countries to negotiate separately.

The main discussion was about opening up markets and colonies to each other.

The Tang Dynasty can open its market to them, but they must also open their market to the Tang Dynasty.

Especially Portugal.

Even though Portugal seems to be in a weak position now, it was one of the pioneers of the great voyages of discovery.

Today, the afterglow still remains.

Today, Portugal still retains certain colonies and supply ports in India, the Middle East, Africa, America and all over the world.

If Portugal could be forced to open their colonies to the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty could even use the Portuguese colonies for supplies and complete a round-the-world voyage.

As for Sardinia, Prussia and Austria, they mainly discussed mutual trade.

These countries do not have many colonies overseas.

In addition, they were far away, so the Tang Dynasty had no way to deal with them, and the only thing they could talk about was mutual trade.

In just three days, the Tang Dynasty finalized peace treaties with these parties and signed draft agreements.

At this point, the only two countries that had not yet negotiated were the Netherlands and Spain.

Well, the Tang Dynasty wants to leave them alone.

Southeast Asia is the private territory of the Central Plains dynasty, and it is a place where the Tang Dynasty can truly intervene now.

Li Yi was planning to cut more meat from the Netherlands and Spain, so before taking any action, he naturally had to give them some time to cool down.

……

Hong Kong, Inn!
In a banquet hall, representatives of the coalition forces sat together for a dinner. At the banquet, they raised their glasses to toast each other with smiles on their faces.

The reason is simple: with the peace treaty reached, the war will be over!

After this battle, Britain, the leader of the coalition forces, forced the Tang Dynasty to reopen trade with Britain, opened up the Chinese market, and gained the benefits of mutual trade with the Tang Dynasty.

Although the expedition was not completely successful and failed to achieve all its objectives, at least a small part of the goal was achieved.

It’s not a wasted trip!
France successfully put the matter behind it and was able to continue trading with the Tang Dynasty.

The same thing happened to the remaining countries such as Sardinia, Portugal, Prussia, Austria, etc., which were qualified to continue trade.

The price was nothing more than opening up their homeland and colonies to the Tang Dynasty.

To be honest, with the current navigation capabilities of the Tang Dynasty, the impact is not significant.

The only, no, the only two people with sad faces were the representatives of the Netherlands and Spain.

This was because the Tang Dynasty had already signed peace treaties with six of the Eight-Nation Alliance countries, but they were not among them.

In addition, the Spanish colony of Manila and the Dutch colony of Batavia were all under the nose of the Tang Dynasty. How could they not be afraid?
The Dutch representative Lawson came up to Elgin with a sad face and spoke.

"Lord Elgin, I think Holland needs your help."

Elgin, who was drinking with Gro beside him, was interrupted. He turned his head and asked.

"Mr. Lawson, do you have any questions?"

Lawson was not the Governor-General of Batavia, but he was the military commander of the Dutch East Indies, and could be said to be in a high position of power.

But now he seemed cautious and reserved in front of Elgin.

Lawson took a deep breath and spoke.

"Your Excellency, up to now, the Tang Kingdom has not sent anyone to contact me, let alone negotiate. I think the Tang Kingdom may be preparing to target the Netherlands."

"We, the Netherlands, are also members of the coalition. I think we should advance and retreat together when facing the enemy Tang!"

The Spanish representative Hudson also spoke.

"Your Excellency, it's the same here in Spain."

"When the Tang Kingdom was negotiating with the coalition countries, it deliberately omitted us, the Netherlands and Spain. It was obvious that it wanted to divide and disintegrate the coalition forces and then defeat us one by one."

"I think His Excellency the Earl will not stand idly by!" The two men sang in unison and lifted Elgin up, hoping that Elgin could come forward to help them share the pressure from the Tang Dynasty.

But when Elgin heard this, his face turned grim.

I secretly cursed the two of them for being ignorant.

Britain had just finished negotiating with the Tang Dynasty with great difficulty. How could it possibly go back to quarrel with the Tang Dynasty for the Netherlands and Spain?
Knowing that Britain would not intervene, they still jumped out and made a noise in front of Elgin. Isn't this ignorant?
Seeing this, Gro, who was standing by, spoke up to help Elgin.

"Alright, alright, Lawson, Hudson, you two, just be patient for now."

"The Netherlands and Spain are also members of the coalition forces. The coalition forces will naturally not ignore you."

"How about this, when we have time, the Earl and I will help you put pressure on the Tang Kingdom."

Gro was clearly trying to appease Lawson and Hardison.

It was clear that the coalition forces could not deal with the Tang Dynasty. Under such circumstances, since France had preserved its own interests, it would naturally not create any more trouble.

What about the Netherlands and Spain?
Well, for the benefit of the two leaders, Britain and France, we have to give them some concessions.

After hearing this, Lawson and Hudson wanted to say something else, but Gro waved his hand to dismiss them.

The two men turned their attention to representatives from Portugal, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia and other countries, trying to get them to speak for them.

But they all remained silent, as if nothing had happened, and just continued to drink and laugh loudly.

Now that they have obtained the peace treaty and the benefits of trade, and the two leaders, Britain and France, are silent, how could they make any statement?
Anyway, even if the coalition is disbanded, it is not them who will suffer losses.

The Tang Dynasty couldn't reach their homeland, so what was there for them to be afraid of?
Lawson and Hudson looked at each other, both of them showing obvious loneliness and dejection.

The two of them walked out of the banquet hall together.

Behind him, there was a lively and cheerful banquet with clinking glasses, bright lights and a lot of fun.

In front of me was a pitch-black garden, deserted, silent, dark and lifeless.

Both of them felt a chill in their hearts!
"Damn those British! Damn them!"

"They were the ones who took the lead in setting up the coalition, but now that their goal has been achieved, they don't care about us anymore!"

"Leave us to the Tang Kingdom for disposal!"

"These British people are so shameless!"

Lawson could not help cursing.

Although he had long known that the Ansa people put profit above all else and took betrayal for granted, he still couldn't help getting angry when he actually experienced it.

Hudson on the side also had an unhappy expression on his face.

"They will definitely regret it!"

"The coalition has been broken up. We are the ones who suffer now, and they will suffer in the future."

"Those British, French and Portuguese people will regret their short-sightedness sooner or later."

The two looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

The two leaders, Britain and France, were unwilling to step forward, and the rest of the countries mostly stood by and watched. To put it bluntly, the coalition forces had actually disbanded.

The coalition forces disbanded. With the strength of their two countries in Southeast Asia, they were simply not enough to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

……

Lawson and Hudson walked out with their minds on their minds.

Halfway through the journey, he saw an official from the Tang Dynasty coming towards him.

The Tang official walked up to the two men, stopped and spoke.

"Mr. Lawson, Mr. Hudson, please follow me!"

"Director Guo has been waiting for a long time."

Lawson and Hudson looked at each other, their eyes obviously solemn.

The Tang people are here with ill intentions!
But in the end, the two of them nodded.

"can!"

"Please lead the way!"

As they were talking, the two followed the Tang official towards the city hall.

Arriving at the meeting room of the city hall, the two pushed the door open and walked in.

At first glance, they saw Guo Songtao sitting in his seat with a smile on his face, waiting for them.

After raising his hand to signal the two to sit down, Guo Songtao began to speak.

"The reason why I invited you two here today is mainly for peace talks."

"The reason why this war broke out was entirely due to the coalition forces, so the coalition forces need to bear full responsibility for this war."

"And compensate the Tang Dynasty for the losses it suffered in this war!"

"What do you two think?"

Lawson and Hudson looked at each other, and Lawson took a few steps forward.

"Director Guo, I think the Tang Dynasty should not discuss the peace talks with our two countries alone, but should discuss it with the entire coalition forces together!"

They also knew that if it were just the two countries, they would have no bargaining rights with the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, they want to continue to use the coalition’s tiger skin!

Upon hearing this, Guo Songtao sneered disdainfully.

"No need for that. The Tang Dynasty and the other six countries in the coalition have reached an agreement and signed a peace treaty."

"Now, only the Netherlands and Spain have not signed the treaty. We can discuss it alone."

"The Tang Dynasty has reached a consensus with all the countries. The coalition will not interfere in the affairs between the Tang Dynasty and your two countries."

(End of this chapter)