After entering the living room and taking a seat with courtesy, Vitoma said tactfully: "As the two empires of the East and the West, our two countries have maintained a very close relationship in the fields of politics, economy, culture and education. This war broke out in South Africa was a completely misunderstanding.

Your country signed a security treaty with Transvaal without publicly declaring it. If our country had known about this situation, it would not have rashly declared war on Transvaal. Your Highness should clearly know that our country has always attached great importance to your interests."

This is a typical lies with open eyes and English declared war on Transvaal. The excuse was that English citizens who were mining gold were killed in Transvaal gold mines. Can the British not know who was killed?

Yi Zhizu sneered in his heart, but he was unwilling to bother about this issue. He knew very well that Britain was really intended to launch this war, but some things were done with all their knowledge. If they really wanted to be taken to the table, it would be like tearing apart.

The Qing Dynasty is really unable to break up with England. After all, England is still the Qing Dynasty’s largest foreign trading country. Moreover, Britain’s investment in China has become increasingly larger over the years. The Qing Dynasty has developed rapidly in railway construction over the years, and at least 30% of the funds were raised from England.

After pondering for a moment, he said slowly: "My country has always paid great attention to its relations with your country. Even if your country captured Maputo, the most important port in South Africa, our country has not declared war on the contrary..."

"Her Majesty the Queen of my country does not want Transvaal to affect the relationship between the two countries, nor does it want the war in South Africa to continue to expand." Weituoma said slowly: "The expansion of the war in South Africa is extremely unwise for both of us. Therefore, our country hopes to negotiate to resolve the matters in South Africa through negotiations."

"War is only a means, not an end." Yi Zhizuji said first: "My country also agrees with negotiating the resolution of South Africa matters." As he said that, he glanced at Zhao Liewen, who understood and quickly handed over the drafted draft agreement.

Yi Zhizu slowly pushed the text over, "This is a peace talks drafted by our country. Please review them."

Even the peace talks were drafted? Witoma thought to himself that something was wrong. Sure enough, after a little glance, his expression became solemn. The conditions offered by the other party were not enough to describe it as a lion's mouth.

1. Maputo was destroyed by war, and England paid 30 million pounds for the reconstruction of Maputo.

2. Pretoria was seriously damaged and compensated 10 million pounds for repair.

3. Ceding Durban Port.

4. Kimberley originally belonged to Transvaal and Orange, and returned Kimberley to both countries.

5. Redefine the boundary between the Qing Dynasty, Transvaal, Orange and the British colonies in South Africa.

6. In order to make up for the Qing Dynasty's losses in the South African war, the British withdrew from the Persian Gulf.

Putting down the text, Witoma said with a somewhat ugly expression: "Your Highness is not planning to end the war in South Africa!"

After glanced at him, Yi Zhizu said in a faint tone: "I think your country should understand very well that our country does not want to completely expel your country from South Africa, but it does not mean that our country does not have this strength."

Witoma was silent for a while, and he was defeated in land and naval battles, and he could not defeat Qingguo in the short term. The power of torpedoes was too great. The main warship of the ironclad ship could only sink with one torpedo, let alone ordinary merchant ships? If the war continues, the British Empire may indeed be completely expelled. This is definitely not intimidation.

After a while, he spoke: "These conditions are not something I can decide at all. I will stop all military operations first and then start negotiations in Cape Town. What do you think?"

"Yes." Yi Zhizu smiled and said, "I'll talk after fighting, fight after talking, or fight while talking, either."

Seeing that he agreed to a truce first, Vitoma couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as he was willing to agree to a truce first, it would be fine. As for the Qing Dynasty's sky-high price, he could bargain slowly. If the war in South Africa really ended, it would definitely be a disaster for the British Empire.

Watching Vitoma leave, Zhao Liewen chuckled: "If we are tough to the end, the British will probably have to pinch their noses and recognize these conditions. The British will definitely not have the courage to fight the South African War."

"No need to do it." Yi Zhizu shook his head slowly, "All we want is the Persian Gulf, and everything else can be compromised. There is no need to be too deep with the British. Next, the world should be peaceful for a few days. We have a honeymoon period with Britain for decades."

After pausing, he continued: "Get the phone to Maputo, stay at Maputo when you go on a trip, and go to Cape Town to negotiate with the Qing people. Give the phone to Pretoria, restore the mining of gold mines as soon as possible, and speed up the construction of railways."

As he said that, he turned around and walked back to his study. The battles between South Africa's sea and land can be said to have completely established the Qing Dynasty's position as a world military power. This position will not be shaken for at least 20 or 30 years. In other words, the Qing Dynasty can be mined with peace of mind for at least 20 or 30 years. For the country, it will usher in another golden period of development.

After returning to the consulate, Weituma has been wondering why the Qing Dynasty was so interested in the Persian Gulf? The Qing Dynasty was not Tsarist Russia, lacked seaports, long coastline, and many islands. The Qing Dynasty had many ports. Why did the northwest expand to reach the Persian Gulf? Now it has proposed to withdraw from the Persian Gulf. It is obvious that the Qing Dynasty wanted to monopolize the entire Persian Gulf!

Is it to eliminate Britain's threat to Central Asia and weaken Britain's influence on the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire? Or is it to join forces with Tsarist Russia to divide the two empires in the Middle East, thereby posing a threat to the entire Europe?

In his opinion, among the six conditions, this last one - the seemingly most inconspicuous one - is the most important one, and this one should be the one that is least likely to agree to in China.

Regarding the South African negotiations, Yi Zhizu completely gave it to Yi Zhengxing, and only made one request, the British must withdraw from the Persian Gulf, while the others were allowed to make decisions on their own. This time, Yi Zhengxing was asked to go to South Africa with the fleet, with the purpose of training and accumulating political capital for him. Naturally, he let him go and let him do whatever he wanted. Anyway, with Yuan Qi's current strength, he could still hold back even if something went wrong.

With his hands freed, Yi Zhizu began to pay attention to the financial and securities markets and economic conditions of industrial powers in the world. Not every economic crisis can be remembered, but he was impressed by this economic crisis in 1872 and 1873, because this economic crisis has a significant feature, not only a wide range but also a long duration. The ordinary economic crisis only lasted for one or two or three years. However, this economic crisis lasted for seven or eight years, and it was the first time that lasted for such a long time.

The reason why he paid special attention to this economic crisis was not only because of opportunities, but because he was worried that the Qing Dynasty would not be out of the situation this time. Since the development of industry, the Qing Dynasty experienced three major economic crises - three economic crises from 1847 to 1850, 1857 to 1858, and 1867 to 1868.

Hu Xueyan said with some confusion: "It is easy to alleviate and avoid economic crises. Why do Western countries still frequently have economic crises?"

After hearing this, Zhao Liewen smiled and said, "No Western countries can study the economic crisis so thoroughly like the shopkeeper. Besides, even if you know this method, how can the courts of Western countries have such great ability and courage?"

This is true. The courts of Western countries did not have as strong financial resources as Yuan Qi. Even if they had one, they might not have the courage to do so. Hu Xueyan pondered for a while before saying: "Will such a large amount of paper money be released, will it cause some adverse consequences, such as rising prices... Moreover, it is easy to release paper money, but it is probably not easy to take it back."

"What are you going to take it back?" Yi Zhizu smiled and said: "It is not easy to fill this hole in the Transvaal Gold Mine's annual output of hundreds of tons of gold. As for the rise in prices, this is inevitable. However, the two evils are the least, and the harm of rising prices is much less than that of the economic crisis."

After a pause, he continued: "The additional loan issuance and distribution is mainly aimed at infrastructure projects, building bridges and roads, and building farmland and water conservancy. Part of it is guided by the court and part of it is guided by Yuanqi."

After hesitating, Hu Guangyong said: "At present, there are many railway projects under construction in various provinces..."

"Building bridges and roads does not only refer to railways, but also highways." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Building the highway first is also more conducive to promoting and popularizing cars. Even if it is not available now, it can be used in ten or eight years, and it will be available in twenty or thirty years. The most urgent task is to spread the money through infrastructure projects, so that the people can have money and stimulate consumption."

Hu Guangyong nodded and no longer asked, he had seen the outbreak of economic crises in Western countries with his own eyes. A large number of banking and factories went bankrupt, a large number of workers were unemployed, the market was depressed, and the economy was regressed. The harm was beyond imagination. If a large number of infrastructure projects could be used to avoid the outbreak of the economic crisis, it would be very cost-effective.

After taking a sip of tea, Yi Zhizu continued: "Notify overseas branches to withdraw all funds in the financial market as soon as possible, stop lending, recover funds, tailor staff, and compress outlets. The scale of this wave of economic crisis will not be small, and the duration of the extension may be different from the previous several economic crises. We must be fully prepared."

After hearing this, Hu Guangyong realized that this economic crisis might be more serious than the economic crisis in 1867, and immediately said, "Subsidiary will arrange it immediately."

Yi Zhizu added, "Keep your idea confidential, don't make a big fuss."
Chapter completed!