Wild North America 1846

After finishing the regular weekly imperial meeting, Emperor Richard took his pet animals for a walk by the Qixing Lake in the palace, enjoying the quiet, peaceful and beautiful scenery.

Today's pet beasts are white-skinned, prosperous, and red. They have reached the fourth generation. They have grown up in the deep palace since childhood, and they have become more and more spiritual.

Emperor Richard walked for a while by the beautiful lake. When he stopped and looked around, the huge Fa Cai obediently came up and lay prone on the grass, gently rubbing Emperor Richard's legs with his huge head.

The meaning is obvious;

Master, if you are tired from walking, just sit on me and have a rest!

Emperor Richard understood the situation and sat down. The beautiful white tiger known as the "Fourth Generation White Skin" also lay down on his stomach, narrowed his eyes and stretched his big head to Emperor Richard's hand, so that the owner could scratch it easily.

If it weren't for the majestic animal skins and huge physiques, people would mistakenly think that this pair of ligers are proper licking dogs.

Sitting leisurely by the Qixing Lake, Emperor Richard could see the unfinished palace complex on the other side of the lake from here. Work has been temporarily suspended.

On the west side of Qixing Lake, there is the West Palace Palace Complex, which consists of dozens of palaces of different shapes. They are mainly Han and Tang style palaces, as well as French, British, Baroque and Spanish style palaces. All the furniture comes from the famous

The handiwork of a master architect is extremely gorgeous.

The emperors of the Tang Dynasty had concubines from all over the world, with different skin colors and different religious beliefs, so there were royal temples, Taoist temples, Protestant churches and Catholic churches built in the palace.

Different from the East Palace and the Han and Tang Dynasty style palaces, the West Palace is an organic fusion of different architectural styles. The buildings located on the riverside are more similar to the buildings in different countries like the Bund in Shanghai.

It's just more low-key and luxurious, mostly hidden in the lush trees, looking well-proportioned.

The number of new palaces and pavilions required for the new palace is staggering. It will take at least ten more years of construction to complete the general layout.

As for the final completion, it will take longer.

Just like the Daming Palace, it has been under construction for decades. Due to its vast area and numerous palaces, it has not yet been completed.

With Emperor Richard's current lofty status, he has taken these external things lightly.

However, as the dignity and glory of the Tang Empire, which reflected the royal grandeur of a vast country, the palace was too shabby and unsuitable to be built.

Sitting by the Qixing Lake

At this moment, Emperor Richard's mind was not on the East Indies issue. Instead, he was looking at the sparkling lake in a daze, thinking about nothing.

After living in the palace for decades, he was really tired of this kind of life.

The long-planned trip around the world has been pushed back again and again due to complicated state affairs and the entreaties of ministers. Wherever I go, I am surrounded by a group of people. If I want to visit privately incognito, I have to dress up.

He is like a dragon trapped in a deep pool. He has long wanted to rise into the sky and soar between heaven and earth.

Therefore, in the past two years, he always asked the crown prince to attend the imperial consultations to increase his experience in handling major national affairs.

Count on your fingers

Crown Prince Tang-Li Qian will turn 50 next year. He has always been prudent and disciplined in his actions and has a steady personality. Emperor Richard will be able to abdicate early with confidence in a few years and become the emperor like a wandering crane.

The biggest resistance still comes from the courtiers and the empire's top powerful families.

Alas, let’s talk about it in a few years.

Several clear eagle calls were heard not far away, and Emperor Richard turned his head to look. On the tall treetops, there were several vigorous figures of bald eagles rising into the sky, which soon turned into small black dots.

Haha, these wild little guys.

Unlike the pet animals kept free in the palace, which were fed on time and on schedule, these bald eagles, except for the occasional feeding by Emperor Richard, all foraged in the wild.

These proud bald eagles won't even look at the food fed by others, let alone eat it.

After sitting by the lake for a while, Emperor Richard stood up and walked towards the harem.

…

In April of the same year, Sir Alfred Milner, the Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony, instructed British expatriates in the Transvaal to write a letter of grievance to Queen Victoria, asking her to protect the interests of British subjects and prepare for the war with the Boers.

Make reasonable excuses.

In June, Milner and Kruger held the last negotiation in Bloemfontein on the issue of protecting the rights and interests of foreigners. While negotiating, the British side seized the time to deploy troops from overseas to South Africa.

In this year, the Western world launched a large-scale movement of sympathy and solidarity with the Boer Republic. The Netherlands and Belgium formed numerous civil society groups, solicited donations, published articles, established foundations, and donated wartime mobile hospitals and medical supplies to the Transvaal.

Medical equipment.

Thousands of volunteers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, New Zealand, Russia, Ireland, Italy and Scandinavian countries crossed the ocean and came to the Transvaal, preparing to fight alongside the Boers.

As the British gathered more and more troops, the Boers could no longer sit still and prepared for war while importing large amounts of military supplies.

end of august

The Tang Empire once again sent troops and occupied the line from Bali to East Timor for 11 days, burning the flames of war to the doorstep of Java. This made the originally peaceful regional situation suddenly tense.

Telegrams from the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies requesting for help flew to the Kingdom of the Netherlands like snowflakes.

This coincided with the handover of the old and new prime ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and they were caught off guard, causing chaos from top to bottom.

Domestic calls for a quick solution to the East Indies issue immediately surged, and for a time it overtook the Boer issue in South Africa and became the primary international issue of concern to the Dutch people.

The families and sympathizers of the white prisoners of war launched a massive demonstration, demanding that the royal government face up to the East Indies issue, free the white prisoners of war through armistice negotiations and international consultations, and let the boys go home.

More than 50,000 white prisoners of war have put this small Western European country under unimaginable pressure.

At the end of the 19th century, the total population of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe and overseas was only 5.1 million. These more than 50,000 white prisoners of war accounted for 1%, and they were all strong young white men.

Together, the families and sympathizers behind them can easily amplify their influence more than ten times. No one can ignore this powerful social force.

At this time, the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was in a state of distress because the British also came to the door.

These two things came together to overwhelm the Royal Government.

On October 9, 1899, the Transvaal government issued an ultimatum to Britain, requiring Britain to stop sending more troops to South Africa, withdraw all troops that arrived in South Africa after June 1, and submit all disputes to diplomatic arbitration within 48 hours.

reply.

On October 10, Chamberlain, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, ordered Milner to reject the conditions proposed by the Boers.

At five o'clock in the afternoon on October 11, 1899, the Federal Parliament of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State Republic declared war on Britain, and the Second Boer War officially broke out.