Chapter 255 New Three-Nation Alliance

Chapter 255 New Three-Nation Alliance

Chapter 255: New Tripartite Alliance

Shao Quanzhong's first reaction was that Seyforth was joking with him. Thinking that it was unlikely that a diplomat would joke about such a thing, he also thought that Queen Victoria was crazy.

A place that can be called a metropolis, that is, a prosperous area in the city, would cost more than 500,000 silver coins if it was enclosed and sold.

There are still 940,000 square kilometers. It can't be that more than 900,000 square kilometers are all sand, right? If there is arable land on it, even if there are mountains and trees, it is not a big deal to cut them down and sell them for 500,000 silver coins.

"Old Sai, don't fool me. There are many people in this world who have 500,000 silver. Even if the queen is in urgent need of money, you British have a lot of rich people. How can such a good thing fall on my head?"

Sephos shook his head. "No, no, no. We have preconditions for selling the land. You cannot resell it, and you must have the ability to keep it. There are many people who have 500,000 silver coins, but there are only a few who have the ability to keep the land. You have the third largest fleet in the world and 80,000 well-trained soldiers. You have become one of the few qualified candidates."

Shao Quanzhong rolled his eyes and said, "I see, there is an ambush here. Is it because that piece of land is involved in a dispute with someone else? If I buy it, do I have to send people to take it down myself?"

Sephos puffed out his chest and said, "Who dares to compete with our British Empire for territory? Don't worry about that. That piece of land is definitely under the actual control of our British Empire. There is no sovereignty dispute. The only disadvantage is--"

It's not Lao Sai, why are you so unhappy? If you don't explain it clearly, no matter how much I like you, I won't just be a sucker without knowing it.

"The local government over there owes the bank a huge sum of two million pounds. Whoever buys this land will be responsible for paying back the money..."

Damn! Two million pounds is equivalent to seven million taels of silver. No wonder, he took the initiative to sell me this piece of land when he heard that I got ten million silver. It turns out that he was waiting here. Most people really don't have the ability to pay off this huge debt for the local government.

Seyfors was afraid that Shao Quanzhong would be frightened by the two million pounds and would back off from buying, so he quickly explained to Shao Quanzhong.

"The land we want to sell is in North America, British Columbia. There is no sand at all, but there are forests, vast plains, and rich fishery resources. It is not unsaleable. The United States is jumping up and down to buy it and even promised to pay back the local government. But we have been hesitant and don't want to sell it to the United States. We originally wanted to sell it to Canada, but Canada is poor and has no money."

Shao Quanzhong understood what was said. The United States was the rebellious son of Britain, and it fought its way out to establish itself through the War of Independence. Although the Anglo-Saxon people were related by blood, they did not listen to the British.

The United States has vast land, a unique location, and great industrial potential. It is a potential competitor to Britain's position as a world leader. The British certainly do not want to sell land to the United States.

The United States has become powerful and has kicked Britain, its old father, off the throne of world leader. With the rebellious son in charge, what can the British do?
"Then why don't you keep it and develop it yourself?"

Seyforth sighed, "Our British Empire is too big to be developed."

Well, Britain took the lead thanks to the Industrial Revolution, dominated the seven seas, and grabbed territory all over the world. Now the British Empire covers an area of ​​34 million square kilometers, far exceeding Russia and the Qing Dynasty.

The population of the United Kingdom is only 18 million, most of whom are in mainland Britain, and it is really unable to take care of all the overseas territories.

"It's not that we in the UK can't pay back the two million pounds debt. But if we pay back the debt, no one will develop this land. No one will go there for the next hundred years. Then the two million pounds will be a pure waste. It's better to find someone to take over and sell it to save trouble."

Shao Quanzhong was a buyer who really wanted to buy the land, so of course he had to find fault. "How did British Columbia owe so much money? Will I continue to lose money if I buy it?"

"Of course not. You Qing people have a lot of people. If we send people over to farm and fish, and build factories, it will take about 30 to 50 years for the investment to pay off, and it will be pure profit in the future.

There used to be 300,000 Indians on that land, but for some reasons that are not convenient to be disclosed between noble gentlemen, there are basically no Indians left now. Indians who don't know how to farm can support 300,000 people. With the farming skills of you Qing people, it may not take 30 years to get back your investment.

A few years ago, gold was discovered in British Columbia. Supported by the gold rush, 60,000 people flowed there, 10,000 of whom were from your Qing Dynasty, sold by the French as indentured servants..."

Well, the French, as slave traders, sold Chinese workers all over the world. Slave traders are definitely bad guys, but objectively speaking, they made Chinese people spread all over the world...

"During the gold rush, the local government was ambitious and borrowed money from banks to build infrastructure. The construction of the local capital, Victoria, was based on metropolitan standards.

As a result, the gold mines were almost mined out, and new gold mines were discovered in Australia, resulting in a large population exodus to Australia. As a result, the 2 million pounds of infrastructure investment went down the drain..." This is a typical case of a government getting carried away and borrowing money to build infrastructure, but the economic expansion did not meet expectations, and the government was unable to repay its debts and went bankrupt.

The bank was opened by the British, and the local government could not be allowed to go bankrupt and default on its debts.

Then the economy went into recession and the local government couldn't even pay the interest. Queen Victoria was unwilling to be the scapegoat and pay off the local government's debts, and no population was sent to develop the area for profit.

The UK has seized too much territory and is now overfed, so it wants to find someone to sell this land that is losing money for the UK. That’s basically what’s going on.

Americans are willing to buy but Britain doesn't want to sell. Canadians want it and Britain is willing to sell it, but Canada is poor and has no money to buy it.

If Shao Quanzhong hadn't been there, the British would have gritted their teeth and given the land to their obedient son, Canada, for free, instead of selling it to their rebellious son, the United States...

Although the Nanyang Navy was the third largest in the world, it was bought with money. The industrial base of the Qing Dynasty was far behind that of the great powers, and it would not become a threat to Britain in the short term. Seyfert was well aware of this.

Shao Quanzhong is also a "good friend of the British Empire" and is quite obedient. He just took the initiative to offer commercial benefits to Britain.

Such an obedient and non-threatening younger brother, with an extra 10 million silver coins in his hand to take over, isn't he definitely the best buyer for this land?
…………

February 8th, the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign, Kokand City.

The British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Qing Dynasty established the Triple Alliance to jointly prevent Russia from moving south.

The three representatives, Saifus, Murad and Shao Quanzhong, signed the Treaty of Kokand.

To support the Qing Dynasty's expedition to Central Asia, the British Empire invested 10 million taels of silver to help the Qing Dynasty build the railway from Bukhara and Tashkent to Kashgar, accounting for 49% of the shares. It also sold British Columbia to the Qing Dynasty at an extremely low price of 500,000 taels of silver as compensation.

The Qing Dynasty opened Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent as ports for trade between China and Britain, established British concessions in the three cities, and allowed British troops to be stationed there.

British merchants had priority investment rights in the Bukhara Khanate and the Syr Darya Oasis.

In order to show its support for its ally, the great Ottoman Empire gave the Qing Dynasty 11 million taels of silver in military expenses and granted the Qing Dynasty the Province of Mecca.

On behalf of the Qing Dynasty, Shao Quanzhong stated that the previous conflict with the Ottomans in Yili Province was a pure misunderstanding and apologized for the capture of more than 30 Turkish officers. The Turkish military advisers were respectfully sent back to their country.

In order to add the two words "apology" to the treaty, the Ottomans "granted" an extra one million taels of silver to the Qing Dynasty...

The treaty is formal and complex, with four versions in English, Turkish, Chinese and Latin, and the Latin version shall prevail.

Murad is the son of the previous Ottoman Sultan, the nephew of the current Sultan, and the first in line to the Sultan's throne. The treaty is final once he signs it.

The treaties signed by the other two countries needed to be taken back to their respective capitals for ratification.

The Chinese version of the treaty sent to Beijing for approval had slight textual differences from the Latin version, but the other two parties had no objection and understood it to be a translation problem.

Britain ceded British Columbia to the Qing Dynasty and paid an indemnity of 9.5 million taels of silver. In return, the Qing Dynasty granted the British 49% of the shares of the two Central Asian railways, and allowed the British to do business in the Bukhara Khanate and Tashkent, and allowed the British to set up separate merchant residential areas in Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent and send a small number of armed personnel for protection.

The Ottoman Empire ceded the province of Mecca to the Qing Dynasty and paid an indemnity of 11 million taels of silver. In view of the obedience of the Ottoman Empire, the Celestial Empire granted special grace and sent troops to protect the small Ottoman Empire from the invasion and poisoning of the Russians.

(End of this chapter)