Zai Tian said: "There is news from Europe that France is secretly preparing for military operations in Asia. There are already voices in the country that they want to re-enter Tonkin."

Liu Shaoqing shook his head: "The French dare not come. I have deduced it. The battle situation in Xinjiang will have a result in four months at most. At that time, the Northwest Front Army will advance to Central Asia as quickly as possible. Where can there be a complete railway network built by the Russians? If we are fast enough, we will advance to the European and Russian border before the end of the year. And in Irkutsk, there will be a result in one month at most. If the Siberian Front Army takes Irkutsk, it will be fine if the Russians don't move. As long as they draw troops from Novosibirsk, my arrangements there will be immediately launched. At that time, even West Siberia is ours. And the French..."

"The French would never be able to mobilize troops enough to support a war with us within half a year. They had put too much energy on North Africa before. I left ten divisions of troops in the five southeastern provinces. My father was a group of old ministers, as well as Lien Zhan, Lu Rongting, Lei Zhenchun and others were all waiting for the battle. It's not in 1882 now, unless the French can invest 300,000 troops at once, they can't even pass Zhongqi!"

Zai Tian disagreed with Liu Shaoqing's words: "What about the navy?"

Liu Shaoqing said: "In this regard, the minister and the navy have made analysis. From the current perspective, the French are better than us in the total tonnage of the navy. However, about half of the French warships were served ten years ago, and their performance is no longer up to the point. And the warships we served within ten years account for 80%. In terms of battleships that determine the victory or defeat of the naval battleship, the number of French people is about three times that of us. But if the time can be delayed until the end of the year, we will have two new "Great Emperor" class to be put into service..."

Zai Tian interrupted him and said, "Entering the service does not mean participating in the war, participating in the war does not mean having combat effectiveness, and having combat effectiveness does not mean being able to win!"

Liu Shaoqing lowered his head and said, "Yes, I understand. But this can form a certain deterrent force. In addition, there are submarines, which are our trump card. The combination of the 'Emperor-level', 'Command-level' and 'Teacher-level', and no country can defeat us unless the strength is too disparity with the UK. This is the 'Strategic Deterrence' that I have always described to the emperor."

Zai Tian said: "What if the French make a desperate bet?"

Liu Shaoqing was silent again.

But this time, he did not throw the topic back to the emperor.

"Does the emperor still remember the letter you read to me from forty-five years ago?"

Zai Tian was stunned, "What letter?"

"In a certain corner of the world, there is a world miracle. This miracle is called the Old Summer Palace."

Zai Tian's glasses suddenly opened wide!

Liu Shaoqing continued to recite: "This is all the achievements that can be produced by the imagination of an almost superhuman nation. This is a model of a huge scale of fantasy. If fantasy can have a model, please imagine a building that cannot be described in words, a building that looks like a moon palace, and this is the Old Summer Palace."

"Please build a dream with marble, jade, bronze, porcelain, cedar as its strata, and put it on top and bottom with gems and silk. Build a temple here, build a harem there, build a city tower, put a statue of gods, and put a strange beast inside. Decorate it with glazed, enamel, gold, and powder. Please build a thousand and one night of dreams for one thousand and one night, and add gardens, square pools, fountains at one glance, plus groups of swans, mandarin oranges and peacocks..."

Liu Shaoqing's voice became more and more intoxicated, as if he was really in a dream.

Zai Tian couldn't help but continue: "This building, as big as a city, is the crystallization of generations, for whom is it built? For the people of all countries. Because everything created by time belongs to all mankind. Artists, poets and philosophers of the past know about the Old Summer Palace; Voltaire talked about the Old Summer Palace. People often say: Greece has the Parthenon, Egypt has the pyramids, Rome has the Colosseum, Paris has the Notre Dame, and the Old Summer Palace in the East. No one has seen it, but everyone has dreamed of it. This is a shocking and unknown masterpiece, vaguely visible in the indescribable morning light, like the silhouette of Asian civilization glimpsed on the horizon of European civilization."

Liu Shaoqing's voice suddenly turned sharply.

"In order to create the Old Summer Palace, two generations of long-term labor was spent. But now, this miracle has disappeared!"

His tone became louder and louder.

"One day, two robbers broke into the Old Summer Palace! One robber robbed and the other robbed set fire. It seemed that after winning, they could steal. The stolen goods were divided equally by the two victors. In the past, they did the Parthenon Temple, but now they did the Old Summer Palace, but they were more thorough and more beautiful, so they disappeared. The treasures of all our cathedrals were not as good as the magnificent and magnificent museum in the East. There were not only artistic treasures, but also a lot of gold and silver products. Great achievements! Great harvest! The two victors, one filled their waist bags, which was visible, and the other filled the baskets. They returned to Europe with their hands and smiled. This is the story of these two robbers!"

Zai Tian looked at Liu Shaoqing who was clenching his fists in shock, "Do you want to..."

"Emperor, I have never seen the Old Summer Palace. You have never seen it either. But it belongs to us! This is undoubtedly! After the emperor read this letter to me, I no longer imagined that beautiful miracle. Every time I think about it, the anger in my heart will be heavier. Your 20 years ago, you reminded us to beware of the Japanese, what will happen to them; to beware of the Russians, what will happen to them..."

Liu Shaoqing murmured: "But, I have never really been wary of them. I am not the emperor, I can't see such a far future. I am a mortal, but I can only see the past. Therefore, in my heart, there are only those two robbers. I am a martial artist, and the name "People Man" given by the emperor. Have the emperor forgotten that ordinary men will be revenge?"

Zai Tian was a little stunned. "You have been hiding your thoughts for so many years. It turns out that this is it? You could have completely resisted the enemy outside the country in Xinjiang, but played such a big game of chess to mobilize the Russian-French alliance?"

Liu Shaoqing said: "The Russians occupy our land, and we must take it back. I am a stingy person and will inevitably have to collect some interest. If the French are honest, it would be fine. If they really think about the Russian-French alliance and want to take advantage of the situation, I am happy to ask them for some interest."

Zai Tian didn't hear what Liu Shaoqing said at all. At this moment, his mind quickly turned around. In his mind, countless thoughts, countless information, and countless possibilities emerged one after another, like a lantern turning around in front of his eyes!

"No, right, let me think...let me think..."

Liu Shaoqing quickly said: "Your Majesty can rest assured. I have deduced it countless times. Now is the weakest time in Russia. After these five years, it will be difficult to find such an opportunity..."

Zai Tian waved his hand, "No, no...No...No...No Russia..."

Zai Tian was wandering around quickly, muttering in his mouth while slapping his forehead.

"Russia...France...Russia, French Alliance, British, French Alliance, British, Russian Agreement..."

Liu Shaoqing continued beside him: "There is also the alliance of the Three Emperors... Emperor, I have considered the battle between Central Asia and Siberia..."

Zai Tian stopped suddenly and pointed at Liu Shaoqing's nose: "If France sees an opportunity, or when Russia faces a comprehensive crisis, Nicholas II will definitely force the French to send troops. If the French transfer the army to the East, then there will be a chance for the Germans and Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. At the same time, if we restrain Russia's troops in Central Asia, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany will inevitably take the opportunity to annex the Balkans. Then, it is impossible for the lost Russians to sit idly by the Balkans to declare war on Germany and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Similarly, the British cannot sit idly by and watch the Balkans and the Near East be controlled by the Germans, and may be involved in war!"

"This is... this is a world war! Do you want Europe to dry up blood? Do you know that in this way, we will be wounded into this meat grinder, and the blood of the Chinese will also be dried up!"

Liu Shaoqing hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, no. The Russians have a choice. They can compromise with us after the Balkan War. Moreover, if Europeans want to come to East Asia, they must pass through the Strait of Malacca or the Strait of Sunda. Please ask your great blessings. In 2002, we mastered the Strait of Sunda in the Strait of Malacca, and we had already laid seeds in the Strait of Malacca 20 years ago. As long as we block these two Straits, whether it is Britain, Russia, France, there is only the strongest fleet in the world, and can only sigh!"

Zai Tian immediately retorted: "What about the Americans? Americans don't need to cross any straits when they come to the west coast of the Pacific?"

Liu Shaoqing said: "Your blessing is also entrusted to you by the emperor. Now, in order to meet the orders of our fifty divisions, a large number of industrial enterprises have been transferred to the army's ordnance industry. The navy will not be able to achieve success in the next five years. Even if they quickly switch to production after the war begins, it will take five years to suppress us. This is only based on the premise that our domestic industry does not develop further."

Liu Shaoqing said, Zai Tian counted. It seemed that every step was very detailed, but there was always something wrong...

"What about human life? How do the sacrifices of the soldiers count? The Russians have the ability to attack us through land. What if they go out to fight on both sides? Moreover, the British have garrisons in India, Central Asia and the Malay Peninsula, as well as colonial minions, France. No matter how powerful they are, they will still pose a threat to the lives of our soldiers. Have you ever thought about the sacrifices of these soldiers?"

Liu Shaoqing lowered his head and said, "Emperor, the life of warriors is used to sacrifice for the country. Have the emperor ever thought that when the Qing Dynasty and when China began to become stronger, would the colonial empires who originally wanted to root their interests in our suffering agree? When we joined hands with the British in order to develop our own industry and navy, we were destined to fight with the Russians today. But if we had not chosen to join hands with the British twenty years ago, perhaps such wars had already occurred earlier. Could it be that at that time, we would not have had warriors sacrificed? The rise or revival of a country must be accompanied by blood and guns, and it could not have been smooth sailing. Because the vested interest groups would not agree."

Since taking power, Zai Tian has tried his best to develop national industry. He encouraged the Westernization, introduced foreign capital, strengthened education, promoted economic reform, and even was willing to sacrifice his imperial power to make the country prosperous and modernized. However, when the country stands in front of the threshold of a world war, why does it seem that he has personally pushed the country here step by step?

It took a long time before Zai Tian broke his silence again.

"You are right. Instead of being slaughtered by cowards, it is better to fight for it with strength. If bleeding is inevitable, then let the enemy shed more!"

On March 20, after delivering a constitutional speech to the whole country, Zai Tian once again issued a telegram to the whole country.

"On October 19, 1907, Tsarist Russia, despite the public international law, brazenly launched an aggressive war on our country. The reason for their invasion of us was that when they invaded and massacred us in 1902, we resisted! More than 40 years ago, when our country was exhausted from inside and outside China, the Russians took advantage of the situation to rob us and occupied more than one million square kilometers of our land from the northeast and northwest. These lands are equivalent to 14 Jiangsu provinces. However, when we exchanged the blood of the soldiers' blood for something that originally belonged to us, they actually declared war on us!"

"What kind of behavior is this? The logic of the robbers who prey on the weak is exactly the same?"

"However, even so, the peace-loving Chinese people still do not want to start a war with any country or nation in the world. Even when the Russians have declared war on us and have even burned the war to our homes, we are still actively seeking solutions to peace."

"However, the robbers are unwilling to negotiate with us. While I was speaking, the sound of the invaders' cannons had already sounded in Dihua City, and the war was about to burn to the mainland of the motherland. We have no choice but to retreat!"
Chapter completed!