Master Yuan, start!

Prime Minister Robert thought for a moment and felt that this prospect was not optimistic: "This will cause many problems in the mainland and the colonies!"

4. "But if we cling to outdated economic principles, we shall lose the opportunity offered to us by the colonies for closer union." Old Chamberlain's earnest explanation:

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we must not allow our generation to be the last to witness the glory of the British Empire.

Fourth, the establishment of the Imperial Federation must be based on political considerations, not economic considerations! "

"Even so, tariff reform must be carried out with caution." Prime Minister Robert's conservative and cautious attitude towards change prevailed again:

“You can’t start with a colony where stable local governance institutions have already been established.”

Hearing this, Old Chamberlain fell into deep thought. He suddenly remembered the telegram sent by the Chinese Minister to China, Claude MacDonald, a few days ago, and said quickly:

Let’s start from China!

It just so happens that the Chinese president has proposed to negotiate his country's tariff issues, and the French are also ready to make moves in the Far East. We might as well take this opportunity to resolve them all at once.

Raise China's tariff from 5% to 10% for 10 years in exchange for the Chinese sending troops to Vietnam to consume the French national strength.

Of course, we need to change our internal explanation and never say that we accepted the Chinese suggestion to raise tariffs.

We must publicize this matter under the guise of conducting an experiment in imperial tariff reform."

Just when Prime Minister Robert was wondering why China was chosen for tariff reform, Chamberlain Sr. gave his explanation.

"After all, apart from raw silk, we hardly need anything from China." Old Chamberlain looked at the enamel teacup and Assam black tea in his hand and said proudly:

"Porcelain is not unique to China; Indian tea has also replaced the former status of Chinese tea.

Raising tariffs on China will not significantly increase the cost of living for British subjects, and for China, raising their tariffs will also promote economic development within their own country.

If a semi-colony can continue to grow through tariff reform, then the resistance from the colonial representatives will probably be much smaller after seeing the current situation.

This is truly a win-win situation!"

Chapter 407: Empire Turning Point Starts to Stir Up Trouble

Britain's colonial interests in China are certainly important, but for the "Imperial Federation" plan that may determine the British Empire's dominance for the next 100 years, this little bit of interest is not enough.

Therefore, they are willing to give up some of their current interests just to gain more benefits in the future.

In fact, the British did not suffer any loss.

With the situation in South Africa becoming increasingly tense, it is really a good deal to be able to lock the French forces in the Far East instead of Africa at such a small cost.

What's more, if the tariff reform with China can allow the other three colonies of the British Empire to see the prospects after the tariff reform, then Chamberlain felt that Britain could bear this small price.

Establishing a British-dominated customs economy may not necessarily be in the interests of all political entities in the British Empire, but it is clearly more in line with British interests.

After all, apart from the African colonies that are predominantly black, the remaining mature colonies such as Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, and New Zealand, which are predominantly white, followed Britain, partly due to historical inertia and partly due to interests.

If Britain can no longer protect their interests one day, they may learn from the United States and choose to resist or even become independent.

After all, there is no distinction between loyalty and disloyalty between the mother country and the colonies. The premise of no betrayal is that there are not enough bargaining chips.

Therefore, before implementing this tariff reform policy in various mature colonies, it was necessary to experiment with a less "intimate" non-white colony.

Black Africa has too little potential and little spending power; Egypt is too close to Europe and is vulnerable to policy interference from the great powers; India is the purse of the British Empire and is too important;

After much thought, the only option is China.

Prime Minister Robert did not know what Chamberlain was thinking, so when he heard that Chamberlain was planning to use China as a test subject, he said cautiously:

"Joseph, your plan is indeed good, but isn't the success rate a little too low?

If the experiment fails in a backward country like China, will it make other mature colonies more afraid of tariff reform plans?

"No, first of all, sir."

Old Chamberlain took out the data reported by the colonies. The column on China's trade data showed a clear upward trend in recent years:

"Your Excellency, the Chinese economy will definitely experience a boom in the next few years. This is not just my imagination, but is proven by the data after five years of implementation of the bonded sector!"

In fact, in Chamberlain's impression, after national unification and national independence, the economy of any European country will usher in development.

Even Japan in East Asia completed its reforms after driving out the regent.

So even without data to support it, Chamberlain believed that China would usher in a great development of capitalism after driving out the Tatars.

Seeing such detailed data as a guarantee, Prime Minister Robert was moved. He stood up excitedly, wandered around the office for a long time, turned around and asked cautiously:

“Will our actions in China provoke opposition from other countries, especially China’s two neighbors to the north and south, and thus cause an imbalance in the situation in East Asia?

Joseph, do you think the Chinese are willing to offend Russia and France for us?"

The Qing Dynasty left such a bad impression on Prime Minister Robert that he felt that even if the Tatars were overthrown, China would still be a country with a bleak future.

Even though Yuan Shikai had just won a victory against the Russians in the Far East, so what?

Robert did not think there was anything shameful about the Russian army traveling thousands of miles in the snow and ice to lose to the Chinese fighting on their home turf.

After all, the British Empire's army also suffered defeat in Afghanistan.

Logistics is the biggest factor restricting the military.

Hearing Robert's question, Colonial Secretary Chamberlain smiled slightly, touched the paper in his arms, and said confidently with a different light flashing on his face:

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Chinese have no better choice!

If they do not agree, they will have to continue to endure the ultra-low tariff of 5%. China is just an agricultural country and does not have the excellent industrial capabilities of Britain. A 5% tariff is enough to destroy all their future industrial plans.

Moreover, we can take advantage of our cooperation with China to cultivate pro-British interest groups within the new republic of China.

The Chinese president will not always side with the UK, but if Chinese businessmen and capitalists all choose to side with the UK, what will he do?

如果袁1项城0在场一0定会惊7呼，老6张伯伦9的计1策，不就4是在3培养买办阶层6嘛！

If they had intervened when Chinese national capitalism was still in its weak stage, once it had grown to a certain size, they would have found that it had long been inseparable from Britain.

However, even if Yuan Xiangcheng knew that this was a poison pill wrapped in sugar, he would probably choose to take it.

A 10% tariff is better than maintaining a 5% tariff.

As for what happened later, we will talk about it later. Britain did not decline in one day, and the tariff issue could be discussed during World War I.

"Besides that, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

Chamberlain paused and continued, “China is not the traditional sphere of influence of Russia and France, and European countries have not held a conference similar to the Berlin Conference to divide the spheres of influence of each country in China.

Now, since Yuan Shikai, the force supported by our British Empire, has fought from northern China to southern China, the British Empire naturally enjoys more rights and interests in China than other powers.

If the French covet this benefit and want to cause trouble for the British Empire elsewhere, the Chinese can restrain them by threatening the French Indochina colony.

The only people the British Empire had to face in the future were the French and the newly crowned Tsar Nicholas II.

The Russians have no colonies in Africa, so what's stopping us from sending troops to South Africa?"

After going around in circles, Chamberlain brought the issue back to South Africa.

In the final analysis, Chamberlain was willing to make concessions to China because he wanted to use Yuan Shikai's current strength to serve Britain's double C strategy spanning Cairo to Cape Town in Africa.

Throw a fruit to Yuan Shikai and let him contain the French to share the pressure Britain is facing in Africa.

In the original time and space, Britain used the interests of some of its Central African colonies to satisfy the appetite of the French. In this time and space, it transferred these interests to the Chinese at a lower cost.

“What about Germany? How can we ensure that the Germans will not interfere in future Boer wars?

As far as I know, Berlin has already sold a large amount of arms to the Boers, including Krupp artillery and 5 rifles. "Prime Minister Robert said with concern.

Apart from France and Russia, there were only two countries in the world worthy of the British's attention at the end of the 19th century.

Germany counts as one, Austria-Hungary and the United States each count as half.

When Robert asked, Chamberlain replied, "Your Excellency, my original idea was to give up some of Portugal's interests in the colonies of Angola and Mozambique in order to bribe William II.

However, considering that Angola and Mozambique are too close to South Africa, any future disputes will become more troublesome."

At this point, Chamberlain showed the unique smile of a British politician:

"I intend to give part of the French Indochina colony to the Germans.

Of course, this is just an immature suggestion. I wonder if William II, who only set his sights on finding colonies in Africa, would be interested in the lands of the Far East.

"Part of French Indochina will be ceded to Germany?" Prime Minister Robert asked in surprise:

"What are you going to do? Let the British Empire and the Germans send troops together? Otherwise, I can't think of any reason why the French would give up Indochina."

"They will give up. The British Empire won't send troops, but someone else will!"

Old Chamberlain took out from his pocket the Far East telegram which he had not had time to hand to Robert after he came out of the colonial meeting today.

The Shanghai Minister to China and the Governor of Hong Kong jointly sent an urgent telegram: The Chinese have kidnapped the Emperor of Vietnam, the French Indochina colony is furious, and a war is about to break out!

Prime Minister Robert looked at the telegram in his hand and found it difficult to digest for a moment.

5 Is this still the China that won the battle but had to ask for peace from the French?

7. "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, war between the newly born Republic of China and French Indochina is inevitable.

"If we let them fight each other, it would not only consume France's national strength, but also curb the further expansion of the Chinese, and it might further worsen Franco-German relations."

Sixth Elder Chamberlain looked at the world map behind Robert and said expectantly:

"The only uncertainty now is whether William II will send troops to participate?"

Chapter 408 Turning Point: Four German Emperors Change Prime Ministers

City Palace, Potsdam, southwest suburb of Berlin.

This Prussian royal palace, built by Frederick I in the 15th century, naturally became the imperial palace of the German Empire after the establishment of the German Empire in 1871.

Time has left mottled traces on this Baroque building, but the interior of the City Palace demonstrates its extraordinary and glorious nature.

During the Franco-Prussian War, after King William I of Prussia was crowned as the German Emperor in the Palace of Versailles, although he did not choose to burn down the Palace of Versailles, he looted many collections from this palace that the French were proud of.

Since then, the antiques and treasures that had been preserved in the Palace of Versailles for hundreds of years and carefully protected by successive French emperors were brought back to Berlin by the Germans and placed nonchalantly in the exhibition room on the first floor of the Berlin City Palace for the people of Berlin to visit.

The celebration of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne was not just an internal carnival within the British Empire. Royal families and political leaders from all over Europe received invitations.

Not to mention, the current German Emperor Wilhelm II is also the "grandson-in-law" of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. It is reasonable for Germany to send people to participate.

However, William II suffered from polio since childhood, and the muscles in his left arm were atrophied, making his body shape really unsightly.

He did not want to show this in front of politicians from all over the world, so William II did not go to London in person, but sent his eldest son, Crown Prince William, and the Foreign Minister.

In Germany, the emperor is the number one person, the crown prince is theoretically the number two, the prime minister is the number three, and the foreign minister is the number four.

Number 2 and Number 4 went together, which was considered to be a sign of the British side's attention.