Chapter 566: The British Empire is a thing of the past

Returning to Qiao Garden from the barracks, the guard reported, "Marshal, Victoria Lafayette's legal advisor is waiting for you outside the study."

What? The legal advisor of the British Karl Lagerfeld? What is this for?

Hey, Karl Lagerfeld, I didn't dare to attend Ji Zeng's coronation ceremony because I wanted to avoid you. It's far away from London, so you can't rely on me.

Shao Quanzhong met with the lawyer named Edmund Barton with trepidation.

This guy is also called Patton, but he can't drive a tank. He's a lawyer who knows how to talk.

Barton was polite and gentlemanly, bowing slightly and saying, "Greetings, Your Excellency the Marquis."

Well, British officials still only recognize Shao Quanzhong's title of Marquis of Bauhinia, but Shao Quanzhong doesn't care and you can call him whatever you want.

"Your Excellency, I represent Australia..."

"Wait, weren't you sent by Lord Buddha?"

"My Lord, although I am the legal adviser to Her Majesty the Queen, I am also a legislator for New South Wales. I have recently accepted the position of Attorney General. The Australian colonies are trying to recommend me as the Acting Prime Minister of Australia."

Shao Quanzhong breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that it wasn't that the old lady insisted on seeing me. It turned out that this person was representing Australia.

"I have brought some gifts, please accept them, Your Excellency the Marquis."

None of Barton's gifts were suitable to be brought into the study. Shao Quanzhong saw two kangaroos wearing boxing gloves downstairs...

"This is a trained red kangaroo that can have a boxing match with a human, which is very entertaining."

"However, their punching power can reach 245 pounds. Except for professional boxers, please do not fight with them, as it may be life-threatening."

"At the same time, they do not follow the rules of boxing matches. They will use illegal actions such as hugging their opponent's head and jumping up, and kicking their opponents with their feet. Therefore, players competing with them must be careful to keep a distance..."

Well, Shao Quanzhong is neither Roman nor Spanish, and he doesn't like to watch animal fights. But after all, they are gifts, so we have to accept them. Well, donate them to Hailing Zoo...

Patton's second gift turned out to be a heavy ore. Shao Quanzhong had received ore as a gift before, which was Alaskan nugget gold, which was at least valuable. The ore sent by Patton was covered with rust, and it was obviously a worthless iron ore. What did this mean?
"Sir, I heard that the high-grade iron ore in Shilu, Daxia, has been mined to near exhaustion."

Well, Daxia’s high-quality coal comes from Annan, and high-quality iron ore comes from Shilu on Qiongzhou Island.

Guangning anthracite is unparalleled in the world and has huge reserves, but due to the strong industrial processing capacity of Daxia, Hainan's iron ore is no longer enough.

"Thank God for the gift. In 1887, Australia discovered the highest quality iron ore with an iron content of over 70%. The reserves are almost endless. We don't know exactly how much there is, but it will take mankind hundreds of years to use it all up."

"To express our goodwill towards Daxia, I am willing to sign a long-term iron ore supply contract with Daxia at 20% below the market price."

Shao Quanzhong smiled and said, "That's great, but you can just go find Yongxian about this."

Shao Quanzhong had a smile on his face, but alarm bells were ringing in his head.

A long-term supply contract at 20% below the market price, this is a cheap deal worth 10 billion taels of silver. It is a strong backing for the economic development of Daxia. How could such a good thing be delivered to your doorstep at such a low price?

But if you don't make any requests, I'll pretend to be ignorant and take advantage of it first.

Patton is a lawyer, is it possible for Shao Quanzhong to take advantage of him?
"Mr. Marquis, this contract should be signed by the Governor-General and you. I don't have the authority to do so. However, if the money from the sale of our iron in Australia is taken away by the Empire, the locals will be very unwilling."

"For the contract we signed to be legally valid, we need a separate legal identity. We are applying to the Parliament in London. If this application is to be approved, the Marquis may need to exert your influence..."

…………

After discussing with Zhang Siwen and Wang Yongxian for a long time, Shao Quanzhong finally could not resist the temptation of high-quality iron ore.

On September 1890, 9, Emperor Shao Jiming of Great China visited Sydney and formally met with Edmund Barton, who was committed to the founding of Australia.

Wang Yongxian, head of the Daxia Project Investment Committee, who was accompanying him, signed a long-term contract with Patton to purchase high-quality iron ore.

Navy Commander Liao Rong personally led two Guangdong-Guangxi-class aircraft carrier formations to escort His Majesty on his trip and had another friendly exchange with the British Empire's fleet on the east coast of Australia.

Shao Jiming received a call from his third brother Shao Jizeng in Sydney that day. "Brother, you are not nice. I just took over the throne and you threatened the British Empire with an aircraft carrier. How can you bully your own brother like this?" Shao Jiming looked silly. "How did I bully you? The kangaroo meat here has a fishy smell and is not delicious at all. But it is said to have aphrodisiac effects. Do you want me to send you some dried meat?"

…………

During the European War, the British Empire moved its capital to Ottawa, allowing the Maple Leaf Country to witness the weakness of its sovereign country. The situation now is similar to that of Patton.

Gandhi of India was arrested and imprisoned for the third time, but the work stoppage action he led, "I don't resist, but I just won't work," was very vigorous, and the Indian colony had completely entered a state of operating at a loss.

After a month of urgent study, on October 10, Parliament approved the reform plan of the British Empire.

Victoria Lafayette announced her resignation as Queen of India, and Queen Louise and Shao Jizeng jointly signed the Federal Act, allowing Australia, the Maple Leaf Country, and India to establish countries based on Ireland's example and join the British Commonwealth.

The British Empire is a thing of the past.

…………

In the past three months, the busiest person in Daxia is You Sihai, the Minister of Transportation who is in charge of shipping.

Twelve million families of the indigenous people of Southeast Asia would be sent to The Hague, and five million immigrants given to King Wing would be sent to Havana, in addition to 2 soldiers and equipment from Luzon and northern Japan, including one thousand Feng- fighter planes.

Daxia's military transport ships plus all the civilian ships that could be mobilized, including those from various vassal states, were still not enough, and merchant ships from the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Greece were all temporarily rented.

The Suez Canal tolls are very generous, of course most of this is just the flow of funds within Daxia.

Commonwealth, Georgia.

Garfield was soaking in the hot spring, listening to Brian's report.

"Sir, we have a 25% stake in the Suez Canal, which now constitutes a large part of the Federation's revenue. Daxia is very particular about this. What do you think? Should we take a step back on the Havana side?"

Garfield shook his head. "One thing is another. The benefits of the Suez Canal were obtained by President Johnson when he sent George Dewey to participate in the Franco-Prussian War. It has nothing to do with the current situation."

"Cuba's position is too important. It is the core of our Federation. We cannot allow it to be controlled by the Daxia people."

"However, the people of Daxia are particular. They did not sell bombers to Cuba, but only defensive weapons fighters. This means they don't want to break up with us."

"We also believe in not going to war. We will send ships to blockade Cuban waters so that they can't sell their sugar and cigars."

The Atlantic Fleet immediately took action and began to search cargo ships entering and leaving Havana.

King Yi responded immediately, "Someone, cut off the water supply to Guantanamo."

Five days later, the federal government demonstrated its strong industrial capabilities and shipped seawater desalination equipment to Guantanamo.

Seawater desalination equipment has existed since ancient times, but it was the Chileans who first developed industrial-scale desalination equipment.

In 1872, the world's first solar seawater distiller was born in Chile. It used solar energy to desalinate seawater, producing 17 tons of fresh water per day and continued to work until 7.

In 1877, the first mechanized desalination plant appeared in Baku.

In 1887, the British Navy developed a seawater desalination device for warships. Since then, the ability of warships to sail on the ocean has been greatly increased, and they no longer need to stop at ports to replenish water when necessary.

It's 1890 now, and the federal government wants to desalinate seawater, which is a piece of cake.

Cutting off the enemy's water supply did not work, and the export of products was blocked, so King Yi immediately called Shao Quanzhong for help.

On December 12, Daxia announced that it was extremely concerned about the disruption of Hailing’s import channels for sugar and cigars.

At the same time, Liao Yuzhu was sent to lead two Guangdong-Guangxi-class aircraft carrier formations to visit Havana to open up sugar and cigar trade channels.

Conflicts over sugar and cigars escalated, and the shadow of war began to loom over the Caribbean.

(End of this chapter)

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