Chapter 667: Log Cabin
"Your Highness Yannick, how are you? Do you want to admit defeat?" Looking at Queen Elizabeth's proud face, as happy as a little girl, Yannick nodded. "Of course I am willing to admit defeat. What is your wish, Your Majesty the Queen?"
Queen Elizabeth thought for a moment. "I'll tell you when I think about it. I can't default on it then."
The two of them walked to the small wooden house not far away. It was warm in the house. The firewood was burning vigorously in the fireplace in the corner, and the smell of rosin filled the room.
Taking off his ski clothes, Yannick opened the box next to the fireplace. Queen Elizabeth watched curiously as he took out a few sweet potatoes and tinfoil from the box, skillfully wrapped the sweet potatoes in tinfoil and threw them into the fireplace. "Do you like this?"
"I used to go to my grandpa's house in the countryside. At that time, my family was poor and we didn't have any decent snacks. My favorite thing to eat was the sweet potatoes that my grandpa roasted for me. My grandpa was really good at roasting sweet potatoes. He could accurately control the heat every time. The baked sweet potatoes are charred on the outside and tender on the inside, and you can even eat the skin. "But he failed to master that skill. Without wrapping it in tin foil, the outer shell of the baked sweet potatoes would be covered with a thick layer of char, which seriously affects the taste. . "It can be said to be the most unforgettable taste of childhood."
Queen Elizabeth looked puzzled when she heard this. "Grandpa's house in the countryside? Isn't your grandpa always in the palace?"
Yannick smiled, and on this whim, he actually told the story of the grandfather from the original time and space. "Yeah, but I'm not talking about this grandpa, I'm talking about another one. Even if you tell me, you won't understand."
"You were able to leisurely ski and bake sweet potatoes during the war. I'm afraid you are the only head of state in the world."
Yannick couldn't help laughing. "Yeah, I guess Stalin is furious about the hundreds of thousands of besieged troops, and Wilkie is worried about the blackouts in more than a dozen cities. I am the only one who has this leisurely time." Stalin probably didn't know that most of the Soviet troops in the encirclement had already After surrender, only tens of thousands of troops were still fighting to the end; however, these die-hards would starve to death if they could not hold on for a few days.
Queen Elizabeth sighed leisurely. "If only Your Highness Yannick had been born in the British Empire, maybe the British Empire would have unified the world long ago."
"Born in England?" Yannick curled his lips. "In that case, I might still be arguing with those old guys, and I won't even be able to conquer the European continent."
Why Britain failed to conquer the European continent? In fact, it is not that Britain has never thought about it. Britain has always had this wish even before the Hundred Years War.
From 1337 AD to 1453 AD, the famous Hundred Years War broke out between Britain and France, which lasted for more than a hundred years. The war was ostensibly caused by Britain's attempt to recapture French-occupied Aquitaine (southwestern France) and Flanders (northeast France). The essence is that Britain and France are competing for control of the European continent.
As a result, the winner of the Hundred Years War was France, and the British forces were expelled from Europe. The disastrous defeat of this war made Britain realize one thing: Europe must be divided in order not to threaten the existence of Britain. In addition, Britain's failure in Europe also prompted Britain to shift its strategic focus to North America.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Wolsey, minister to King Henry VIII of England, made a suggestion to the king. The suggestion is: We should help the weak in the continental competition to fight against the strong, regardless of who the weak and the strong are. Volsis's meaning is very clear: let the European countries maintain a balance of power, and no one can eat anyone else. Only in this way can Britain be profitable among the European powers.
Since Britain has no ability to win Europe, Walses's strategy is very important to Britain.
Fragmented Europe has always been one of the cores of Britain's continental strategy. The French hero Napoleon wanted to unify Europe, which triggered a huge existential panic in Britain. From AD 1793 to the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, there were seven alliances against France (including the Battle of Waterloo), each time involving Britain. The main storyline of World War I and World War II was Germany's attempt to unify Europe. France was reduced to a minor role and was no longer enough to threaten Britain's continental strategy. Therefore, Britain joined forces with France and other European countries to jointly contain Germany.
Regarding the Soviet Union after World War II, the British wanted to tear it into pieces. Because at that time the possibility of the Soviet Union unifying Europe was much greater than that of France during the Napoleonic period and Germany during World War II. Every time the British mention the Soviet Union's ironclad torrent, they feel inexplicable fear. Immediately after World War II ended, Churchill immediately delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech.
“From Szczecin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, an Iron Curtain has been drawn across the European continent. Behind this Iron Curtain are the capitals of all the ancient countries in Central and Eastern Europe—— (name of a bunch of capitals), these famous cities and surrounding populations were all located within the Soviet sphere of influence, all in one way or another, not only falling under Soviet influence, but becoming more and more intensely Controlled by Bosque."
Such a speech was undoubtedly extremely offensive, and in the speech, Churchill also said that the appeasement policy could not be adopted against the expansion of the Soviet Union, and that it was necessary to unite with the United States to prevent the Soviet Union's "aggression." This speech has been hailed as a landmark event in the beginning of the Cold War.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Britain still feared Russia, which was far less powerful than the Soviet Union. Germany and France had different views on the United States' containment of Russia. Only Britain was the most staunch supporter of the United States' suppression of Russia. For more than 20 years, if we were to say which major European country (excluding several small Eastern European countries that had defected to the United States) had the worst relationship with Russia, it would probably be Britain. In history, Russia (Tsarist Russia, Soviet Union) had not seriously harmed Britain or carried out mass killings. The main reason why Britain wanted to kill Russia was to prevent Russia from unifying the European continent.
This concept has been deeply rooted for hundreds of years. If Yannick really traveled to Britain, it would probably take half of his life just to persuade those old guys to fight on the European continent. If he made a mistake in the middle, he might be kicked out of the military and political circles and never turn over.
These words made Queen Elizabeth's face flash with embarrassment, and Yannick sat on the chair opposite her, looked into her eyes, and said seriously. "But I think it's good to be born in England. Maybe I'll be the one who invites Her Majesty to dance at the ball that year."
Queen Elizabeth did not avoid his gaze, but looked at him straight, with an indescribable complexity in her eyes.
The two of them just stared at each other silently until a few drops of crystal tears fell from the corners of her eyes.
"!!" Why did she cry? Yannick took out a handkerchief to help her wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, but the next second her tears burst out like a river that broke the dam.
Yannick was really a little panicked. "Your Majesty..."
Queen Elizabeth cried even louder. "Don't call me Your Majesty, I'm not your queen!"