Daming 1805

Chapter 76 The Northland Train
The British Prime Minister and the cabinet studied for a long time, and finally put the psychologically acceptable negotiation place in the Western Cape predicted by Zhu Jingyuan.

After Zhu Jianyan received the suggestion on Namibia, he deliberately delayed it for a while, saying that after "researching" for a while, he finally gave an ultimatum.

At most in the Western Cape, otherwise the peace talks will end and the war will continue.

The British pretended to be reserved for a while, but finally agreed.

Daming Honglu Temple and the British Cabinet finally settled on the place of negotiation after two and a half days of wrangling.

The next step is to determine the negotiation date and arrange specific negotiators.

Under normal circumstances, the people who negotiate are well identified.

Either a professional foreign secretary or a political head such as a more senior prime minister.

But this time the negotiation was very special. For the ruling class in Europe, it was finally a tie with Daming.

This matter is particularly significant, and many people regard it as an important sign to get rid of the barbarian label.

Of course, they still won't have the idea of ​​being on an equal footing with Daming, and it's even less likely that they will have a contemptuous mentality. They just have a feeling of wanting to be recognized and recognized.

At the same time, this must be the largest diplomatic activity in the history of the earth, within the scope of the entire earth's civilized world.

Many princes, princes, nobles, and even many kings and emperors themselves want to see it.

Even if the personnel are confirmed, the preparation and travel of the mission, as well as the expenditure on the itinerary, will be quite a long time.

At this time, there are no long-distance passenger planes. The fastest way to travel long distances is to take an ocean liner, with a speed of twenty or thirty kilometers per hour, which is already very fast.

The real peace talks won't start within a month, because the participants can't afford it, and the West Ocean Cape is very far from the mainland of all countries.

But finalizing the location is also a major milestone, showing that the sincerity of both parties for the peace talks has risen to a new stage again.

The constant compromise between the two sides, the constant exchange of views, and even repeated insistence on meaningless nodes are all adding credibility to the negotiation itself.

In the case of low basic trust, if one party easily agrees and gives reasonable options, it will make the other party feel untrustworthy.

Just like Zhu Jingyuan's initial acceptance, it made the British instinctively doubt sincerity.

It's like haggling when buying something. If the owner who sells something easily agrees, the buyer will worry about whether it is expensive.

Now the people of the Ming Dynasty are arguing like this, and the repeated tossing is true, but the British participants are slightly relieved.

After the location was finalized, the frontline defense contraction and troop withdrawal operations also increased in scale and speed.

The most important sea and land generals on the front line have all received information directly from the British cabinet.

In addition to informing the progress of the peace talks as usual, some generals were also invited to participate in the peace talks.

…………

In the afternoon of Daming time that day, on the coast of the Caspian Sea thousands of kilometers away.

On the border of the three kingdoms of the Khiva Khanate, the Kazakh Khanate, and the Lucia Empire, on the side of the Lucia Empire.

The railway that stretched from the capital of the Lucia Empire turned a corner to the south here.

After passing through the fortress on the border of the three countries, it continues to extend eastward along the border between Lucia and the Kazakh Khanate.

The terminus of this railway is the easternmost part of the more valuable territory in the eastern part of Lucia, the Irkutsk region bordering the North Sea region of Daming.

Due to the great threat of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Paul I of Lucia spent more than ten years building this railway since he ascended the throne more than 20 years ago.

He was two-fifths shorter than the historical Trans-Siberian railway, because Lucia didn't have the entire East Siberia area.

It is this large artery in the east-west direction that maintains Lucia's control over the eastern border, and also supports Lucia's ambition to attack Daming.

Otherwise, Lucia would have no chance to covet the territory of the northwestern border of Daming.

Now, the steam trains on this railway, full of wounded and sick soldiers who have retreated from the northern battlefield, swayed into the fortress on the border of the three countries.

Minglu's northern battlefield can be regarded as one of the actual main battlefields on land. The two sides have invested millions of troops under huge transportation pressure.

The result ended up being a lose-lose situation.

After the official armistice, when the troops officially began to retreat, Emperor Lucia naturally ordered that the wounded and sick be evacuated first.

As a result, almost all of the trains that came back for two consecutive days were wounded and sick, and there were hardly any intact bodies.

But in fact, it is very lucky to be a soldier who can become the wounded and come back by train.

More soldiers died directly on the battlefield, in the field hospital, or somewhere unknown.

The soldiers who came back by train have theoretically escaped the danger, are about to enter a peaceful area, and can live normally.

However, the atmosphere in all the carriages was not as relaxed as it was after the war, and was still extremely depressing.

Many soldiers will suddenly wake up from sleep, or suddenly become uncontrollably nervous, and are very sensitive to all people and sounds.

The spirit seems to remain on the battlefield, and I don't know how long it will take to recover.

The train slowly stopped at the station, and many soldiers looked out the window subconsciously, only to see the dense temporary military camp.

Inside were the troops evacuated from the Three Kingdoms of Anxi, and they were waiting for the extra spare train carriages to carry them back to their home countries ahead of schedule.

The Anxi Three Kingdoms, at the behest of Daming, prohibited Lucia's railway from connecting with their native land.

Even in the west of the Anxi Three Kingdoms, they themselves do not have a railway.

The railways of the Anxi Three Kingdoms are concentrated in the eastern and central parts, which were built by Daming for them, and the actual control is also in Daming's hands.

The armies of Lucia, Prussia, and France were transported to the borders of the three countries by the Lucia railway, and then marched into the three countries of Anxi through machinery and mules.

Of course, this seriously slowed down the movement of the anti-Ming alliance forces, and this was the key purpose of Daming's railway restrictions on the Anxi Three Kingdoms.

After the Daming Right Army Governor's Office received the news, it could start operations in an orderly manner. After taking over the railways of the Anxi Three Kingdoms, they would deploy defenses against the West in the west of the Three Kingdoms.

Now, not long after entering the territory of Anxi, the three-nation coalition forces, which were not fully deployed, turned around again to speed up their withdrawal from the three countries.

But ordinary soldiers may be disappointed. Most of the carriages of this train are full, and they have no chance to leave immediately.

The train came in here just to pick up three people.

The commander-in-chief of Lucia's side, Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov.

The commander-in-chief of the Prussian side, Gebhard Liebrecht von Blücher.

The French army commander, Napoleon Bonaparte, was also the supreme commander of the Triple Alliance.

The three people who used to have a delicate relationship have now become officers of the same camp, and they seem to have a good relationship.

Three people, with their adjutants and orderlies, stood on the platform of this frontier fortress station, waiting for their special carriages to be ready.

Now say goodbye to each other while having a simple chat.

(End of this chapter)