The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 933 Three Extremes
August 1883, Dongjiaomin Lane, Beijing.

Autumn winds swept fallen leaves across the vermilion gates of the "Liang Gong Mansion," the weathered characters of "Shuntian Prefecture Guesthouse" on the lintel reflecting the morning sun. This three-courtyard residence, once the mansion of a prince of the late Qing Dynasty, now served as a guesthouse for foreign dignitaries of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Four guards in grey woolen uniforms stood at attention, rifles at their sides, the bronze badges pinned to their chests gleaming in the morning light—the insignia of the Taiping Army's Imperial Guard Division.

Waldersee tightened the collar of his borrowed Ottoman uniform, feeling extremely uncomfortable in it. Behind him, Baron Ketteler was wiping his gold-rimmed spectacles with a silk handkerchief, while the Russian envoy, Alekseev, kept adjusting the position of the Order of St. Andrew on his chest. Three black carriages stopped before the stone steps, their drivers all officers sent by the Taiping Army's General Staff, revolvers manufactured by the Tianjing Arsenal clad at their waists.

“This place looks like it’s a tribute mission,” Waldersee said in a low voice in German, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. His gaze swept over the pair of mottled stone lions under the porch; the embroidered ball under their paws was already incomplete, but it still exuded a sinister aura.

Baron Ketteler squinted, scrutinizing the two Taiping soldiers standing at attention by the door—tall, with stern faces, their Type C breech-loading rifles of the 22nd year of the Tianli reign gleaming coldly in the sunlight. Even more striking were the guards' gleaming boots, meticulously tied leggings, and even the tung oil applied evenly and thoroughly to their rifle butts. This almost obsessive standard of military bearing secretly alarmed even the well-traveled German diplomat.

“General,” Klind said softly, “have you noticed the guards here? Their military bearing is impeccable. Every Taiping soldier we saw after boarding the ‘Jingyuan’ in Brunei Bay had impeccable military bearing!”

Waldersee muttered under his breath, "This shows they're not doing this on purpose for us, but have always done it this way!"

Alekseev stared at the plaque under the porch, his brow furrowed. He had read about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the archives of St. Petersburg—when the regime rose from the mountains of Guangxi in 1852, the General Staff of Tsarist Russia assessed that it would "last at most three months"; now, thirty years later, their territory spanned both sides of the Pacific Ocean, and their navy was second only to Great Britain in tonnage.

"stand at attention!"

A low shout boomed like thunder. The two guards straightened up abruptly, their rifle butts slamming against the bluestone slab with a dull thud. The three foreigners jolted simultaneously, and Alekseev's right hand unconsciously reached for his waist—where his pistol should have been, but had been "kept safe" by the Taiping Army's protocol department before he entered Beijing.

Colonel Zhang Decheng strode in, his military boots clicking crisply on the cobblestones. This naval officer, who had interned at the Krupp arms factory in Germany, was now dressed in a crisp dark blue woolen uniform, with the Taiping Navy's highest honor, the "Jingyuan Medal," pinned to his chest. He raised his hand in a standard military salute, then gestured for them to enter: "Gentlemen, Vice Minister Li has been waiting in the council chamber for quite some time."

Waldersee took a deep breath and straightened his collar—though he was still wearing his Ottoman uniform, at this moment he represented the will of the German Empire. He could feel that at least twenty pairs of eyes were watching them from every corner of the Liang Mansion, and those gazes hidden behind the carved window frames were even more suffocating than those in the archives of the German General Staff.

“Let’s go, gentlemen,” he said in a low voice, “let’s see what this ‘Yellow Peril’ really wants.”

Inside the council chamber, twelve electric lights illuminated the giant sand table in the center.

Li Xiucheng stood beside the sand table, a copper-plated baton in his hand. This veteran, over sixty years old with slightly graying temples, though retired, still maintained an upright posture, embodying the best military bearing. Behind him, six young staff officers were adjusting the troop markings on the sand table, their movements as precise as watchmakers manipulating fine instruments.

“Welcome.” Li Xiucheng nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the three men before finally settling on Waldersee. “Your Excellency, Quartermaster General, it seems the German General Staff attaches great importance to this meeting.”

His words were immediately translated into German!

Waldersee's heart tightened—he had not revealed this identity to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But what shocked him even more was the sand table before him: this miniature world, about five meters long and three meters wide, precisely marked the locations of the forts and the number of troops stationed in major ports around the world. From Gibraltar to Singapore, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Nicaragua Canal, every strategic location was marked with a small flag of a different color.

"You are all probably already aware of the outcome of the Missouri River counterattack," Li Xiucheng said, pointing with his baton at the North American battlefield. On the sand table, the tricolor flags representing the "Black, Red, and Yellow Army" were planted all over the Dakota region, while dozens of smaller blue flags—representing the US Eastern Union Army—were retreating towards Canada. "Two weeks ago, our army annihilated the US Eastern 19th Cavalry Division at Fort Bismarck, and now our vanguard is less than two hundred kilometers from Kansas City."

Alekseyev stared at the Missouri River on the sand table, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. As a special envoy sent by the General Staff of Tsarist Russia, he knew all too well what these models meant—the Taiping Army's advance in North America was even faster than when the Cossack cavalry swept through Siberia.

"And in the South Seas—" Li Xiucheng's baton swept across the Strait of Malacca, with three ironclad warship models facing the direction of Singapore, "Our South Seas Fleet's First Squadron has completed its assembly in Brunei Bay."

Waldersee's pupils contracted slightly. He noticed the words "36 9.2-inch coastal defense guns" next to the Singapore fortress on the sand table, but what was more unsettling was the label "Nanyang Army Corps, 8 men" next to the model of the Taiping Army's landing force at Cam Ranh Bay.

"As for the South Pacific," Li Xiucheng's baton stopped at the New Britain Islands, a red arrow pointing directly to Port Moresby, "the dock at Rabaul has already started construction. It's a large dock capable of simultaneously repairing two ironclad warships of over 20,000 tons each."

Alekseev immediately thought of the "Qianlong-class" submarine, which weighed "more than 20,000 tons"!
Baron Klind whispered to Waldersee, "They're trying to swallow the whole Pacific Ocean whole." His voice trembled slightly, and he nearly dropped his notebook.

Wang Zhengyi, who was accompanying Li Xiucheng, seemed to have heard this and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly: "The Baron is right, but not entirely right. What we want is a new world order."

A servant silently brought over teacups. Li Xiucheng lifted the blue-and-white porcelain lid; steam rose, blurring the wrinkles on his face but making his eyes appear even sharper. "I've told you before, Britain's maritime supremacy is built on five key points." He held up five fingers, bending one after each one he mentioned: "The Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, the Nicaragua Canal, Gibraltar, and the Cape of Good Hope."

“As long as these five points are controlled, the British Empire’s global dominance will look like this—” Li Xiucheng suddenly turned a teacup upside down on the London location on the sand table, and the brown tea meandered along the model of the Thames River, “collapse.”

“Our proposal is very simple.” Li Xiucheng’s voice suddenly softened, but carried an undeniable power. “The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be responsible for taking Malacca, the Nicaragua Canal and the Cape of Good Hope; the German Empire and the Russian Empire will be responsible for taking Gibraltar and Suez. As for how your two countries will divide them, we will not ask.”

A deathly silence fell over the council chamber. Even the footsteps of patrolling soldiers outside the window could be heard clearly. Waldersee's temples throbbed—this plan meant that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would gain 60% of the sea power, while Germany and Russia would share the remaining 40%. But what was even more terrifying was that if Britain was rejected, it likely wouldn't mind continuing to hold 40% of the world's sea power and remaining the dominant Western power!

"The day all five points are won will be the day a new world is born." Li Xiucheng took a document from his staff officer. The gold-embossed Taiping Heavenly Kingdom emblem on the parchment gleamed under the light. "This is the draft of the 'Outline for Military Coordination among the Three Kingdoms'."

“The German Reich needs time to prepare,” Waldersee said hoarsely. “At least twenty-four months.”

Li Xiucheng chuckled softly and then turned his gaze to the Russians.

Alekseev hurriedly replied, "Russia also needs time to prepare its navy, including the new ships for the Black Sea Fleet."

"Those Black Sea heavy gunboats you have at the Black Sea Shipyard?" Li Xiucheng's assistant, Zhang Decheng, interrupted, taking another document from a naval staff officer. "The armor steel for the lead ship, the 'Sevastopol,' was imported from Britain, and now," he opened the document, "the British Admiralty has frozen arms sales to Russia because it needs to prioritize building its own battleships."

The Russian envoy's face turned deathly pale instantly.

“If we wait until you are ready, the war may already be over.” Li Xiucheng walked to the window and looked at the century-old ginkgo tree in the courtyard. “How about this—we set a more flexible condition.”

He returned to the sand table and pointed to three key locations: "Singapore, Port Moresby, and the western entrance to the Nicaragua Canal."

"If our army captures two of these locations, Germany and Russia will have to join the war." Li Xiucheng's voice suddenly turned icy. "Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Waldersee unconsciously clenched his fist.

"We don't care who rules the West!" Li Xiucheng said calmly. "Not at all!"

When the midnight drumbeats came from the direction of the Forbidden City, the council hall of the Liang family mansion was still brightly lit.

Twelve scribes took turns recording the details of the treaty, their brushes making a soft, scratching sound on the rice paper. Li Xiucheng stood before the world sand table, rhythmically tapping the model of Gibraltar with his baton.

Waldersee's pen hovered over the Tripartite Pact for a full three minutes. This document, written in Chinese, German, and Russian, explicitly stated in Article 7: "When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captures two of the three objectives—Singapore, Port Moresby, and the western entrance to the Nicaragua Canal—the German Empire must withdraw from NATO within three months and launch a war on the European continent."

The pen finally came to a stop. As Waldersee signed the last letter, he heard his heart pounding like a war drum.

Alekseev's signature, however, appeared much more hasty, much like Russia's war preparations.

As the three left Liang Gong's residence, the east was already tinged with the first light of dawn. A troop of Taiping cavalry galloped past on Chang'an Street, the red ribbons on their sabers fluttering in the morning breeze. Waldersee, watching their departing figures, suddenly recalled some widely circulated prophecies about China made by Napoleon I: "China is a sleeping giant; let it continue to sleep. Its awakening will be the new sun for mankind!"

"When Easterners start playing the game using our rules, that will be the end of European hegemony."

(End of this chapter)