After passing on the message of Germany's desire to form an alliance with Britain to Edward VII, the question of what to do next was Edward VII.

Although Jochen did not understand why Edward VII had such a bad feeling for his nephew as Wilhelm II in history, according to the current British Foreign Secretary, the Marquis of Lansdowne, wrote: "The words used by my king when he spoke of his nephew, the German Emperor, were horrible. "Maybe it was Wilhelm II's personality problems, maybe it was Wilhelm II's unguarded mouth, maybe it was Wilhelm II's bad relationship with his mother, but in short, Edward VII's own attitude also had a considerable impact on the deterioration of Anglo-German relations.

However, now that his father Frederick III is alive, he has a good relationship with his mother, and he has always been cautious and courteous in his words and deeds, and has a very good reputation in England. Even if it could not prevent the politicians in the British Prime Minister's Office from promoting British hostility towards Germany out of self-interest, the attitude of the king himself could make these people restrain somewhat.

However, Edward VII was not a monarch who only acted according to likes and dislikes, and if England really decided to form an alliance with France, then Jochen's uncle would have unceremoniously used his charisma to weave a terrible anti-German encirclement, as he had done in history.

So at the end of the day, the Germans had to prepare themselves.

However, Jochen's desire to ally to Edward VII was not without effect, and the British at least understood that it was absolutely impossible to write a blank check to the Germans and let the Germans help them block their guns, so although it was not yet certain whether they really wanted to abandon the policy of glorious isolation, the Marquis of Salisbury restarted negotiations with Germany on Helgoland and the 3B railway issue to ease his increasing diplomatic pressure in the Boer War.

The British military campaign in Africa had already won a decisive victory, with the complete capture of Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal Republic, on 1 June 1900, and the annexation of the Transvaal Republic by the British in September. The President of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger, fled to Lorenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique, and then traveled to Europe on a cruiser sent by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, where he was warmly welcomed in France.

The war in Africa did not end as the British had hoped, and the Boers did not give up their resistance and waged guerrilla warfare, and the long supply lines of the British army from Cape Town to Pretoria were attacked by the Boers who were still resisting.

In order to deal with these guerrillas, the British began to implement a scorched earth policy, and Roberts, the commander of the expeditionary force, changed his original policy of leniency: surrendered and captured partisans, as well as adult male citizens who had participated in the guerrillas, were exiled to prisoner of war camps in distant India, Ceylon, and Bermuda. In the Cape and Natal colonies, British citizens of Dutch descent who responded to the call to "take up arms" were sentenced to death if captured.

On the other hand, the British began to build concentration camps to hold Boer women, the elderly, and children on the grounds that they were family members of the Boer guerrillas, along with a large number of black slaves.

However, due to Germany's previous request to open a Boer escape channel and accept Boer refugees, German East Africa and German Namibia received a total of about 60,000 Boer refugees.

Although the German public was unhappy with the government's continued reluctance to openly support the Boers, the move to resettle the Boers was greatly praised and eliminated some social opposition to the government. The Germans' actions were immediately widely praised by the international community when compared with those of the British, and the American media even called Germany a moral model for white Europeans.

Britain's image plummeted, and there was strong resentment among the British public about the government's actions, especially as the death rate in the concentration camps continued to increase. Emily Hobhouse, an Englishwoman, was so shocked by the conditions in the camps that she submitted a 15-page report describing the horrific conditions inside the camps.

As a result, Miss Hobhouse was declared an "enemy of the fatherland" by the British government, and was immediately arrested and deported, while the opposition Liberal Party, headed by the young Welsh nationalist David Lloyd-George, violently attacked the brutal policies of the Conservative Party and the Army, and the British government came under unprecedented pressure in foreign and domestic affairs.

In this case, the pace of negotiations between Britain and Germany was accelerated. The two countries reached an agreement in November 1901 whereby the British returned Helgoland to Germany and allowed Germany to build the 3B railway, which ended in Kuwait. Germany also made appropriate concessions and shared the rule-making power for the section of the railway from Basra to Kuwait with the United Kingdom.

The signing of this agreement has greatly improved the relationship between the two countries, and the British government sees this as a great victory in the diplomatic dilemma facing the country at this time, while the German government has used a large enough interest to silence many disgruntled voices at home.

Anglo-German relations had a brief period of intimacy, but the situation in the Far East became more and more sinister.

As a result of Germany's previous actions, Russia's military operations in the northeast were terminated. Nicholas II, who was extremely unwilling to do so, stirred up trouble in order to make things difficult for Britain and raise the so-called Mongol question.

According to the 12 articles of the Imperial Decree "Manchurian Judicial Regulations" issued by Nicholas II, which infringed on the judicial power of the Qing Dynasty, the cases of the annexed areas of the Eastern Railway were to be tried by the courts of Vladivostok, Chita, and Lushun on the eastern, western, and southern routes, respectively, and mediation judges and prosecutors were set up along the routes, thus increasing the infiltration and prosecution of the Northeast region.

Not only that, but the Russians began to intensify the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which, once opened, would allow the Russian military to transport its vast military power in Europe to the Far East, leaving no one to resist the Russian Empire's occupation of the Northeast and Korea, which would eventually become Russian land.

As for Japan, which may stand in the way, it is naturally vulnerable in the face of the great Russian army. In a report sent back in 1900 by the Russian military attache in Japan, Vanovsky, said of the Japanese Army: "The Japanese Army is still in its infancy, and it will take at least 100 years for Japan to meet the moral standards by the standards of the armies of the weakest countries in Europe." ”

Since the military attachés stationed in Japan have said so, there is nothing to fear, and the "Wanovsky Report" has become the basis for the Russian military's analysis of the Japanese Army.

Therefore, the Russians have stepped up the accumulation of military supplies and the transfer of troops in the Far East.

A series of actions by the Russians made the Japanese very nervous, further squeezing the country, frantically expanding the armament war, and putting a huge financial burden on Japan, but the olive branch extended by the British relieved the Japanese.

On January 30, 1902, the Marquis of Lansdownne and Lin Dong signed the Treaty of Alliance between Britain and Japan in London, which undoubtedly gave Japan a shot in the arm. The treaty stipulates that Britain and Japan have special interests in Qing and Korea; When a signatory is at war with only one country, the other signatory is expected to maintain strict neutrality. However, if a signatory is at war with two countries, the other signatory is obliged to participate in the war.

This regulation was just a trick played by the British, who were cunning and cunning, and wanted Japan to help seal off the Russians, and they were unwilling to play shirtless.

It is basically impossible for Britain and Russia to go to war directly and fight another Crimean war? How can it be? My army is still all in Africa. Coupled with the fact that the main targets of the Russians now are the Northeast and Korea, there are no British interests here at all, so no amount of trouble can threaten the British.

However, the interests of the Japanese are in the Northeast and Korea, so it is obvious that the Japanese are the first to bear the brunt, so it is obvious that Japan and Russia can only start a war in the Far East.

As for going to war with two countries at the same time, who will go to war for Russia and Japan? And then a war with the British? None of these European fellows would get involved in a European war with Britain in order to help Russia monopolize Northeast China and Korea. So once Japan and Russia went to war, Britain could have remained neutral and watched the Japanese help themselves to fight the Russians.

But even so, this is a timely rain for Japan, which is already reaching the limit, Japan has an ally, even if this ally is not ready to play in person, but this ally is the world's only superpower, Britain obviously has a great deterrent power. And the financial assistance provided by Britain, such as loans and the purchase of Japanese bonds, was also a huge help to Japan, so that the Japanese would not collapse on their own before the war began.

The Japanese were right, the British Empire was an ally, and the saying that the British Empire was an ally was really a huge deterrent, and the Russians may have short-circuited their brains, and they didn't realize that they were still playing hide and seek with the Boers in Africa and didn't have the energy to care about the Far East.

The British actually gave up glorious isolation and allied themselves with a yellow-skinned monkey in the Far East? Are you sure you're not kidding me? This news startled the Russians and found out that it turned out to be true! Then Russia actually coaxed, not only did it no longer talk about the Mongolian issue, but even the speed of hoarding supplies and sending troops slowed down.

Under these circumstances, the situation in the Far East was eased for a moment, but Europe was in turmoil again. R1152