The Germans wanted to take advantage of the British, and the British were not prepared to do the wrongs, and Prime Minister Salisbury was also thinking about how to use Germany and maximize the interests of the British Empire.

The weather in London at the end of January was cold and damp, and the world outside the window was white after a snowfall, but Salisbury, who stood in front of the window of the Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street, had no intention of admiring the snow-covered scenery. While the fireplace warms the room, Salisbury is as cold as the outside.

Salisbury stood in front of the window, the cigar between his fingertips slowly burning, the smoke drifting away, and Salisbury's thoughts slowly drifting away.

The Boer War has been going on for more than three months, but the direction of the war has been somewhat out of the hands of the British, and in the face of only a few tens of thousands of Boer forces, the British army has been defeated repeatedly, and even suffered the great humiliation of a total rout on all fronts known as the "Dark Week" in early December last year.

This failure swelled the budget needed for the Imperial government, which had thought it would be enough to end the war with only a small number of forces. Now that Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops have been depleted and arrived in Cape Town, the army of more than 100,000 troops still says that it is not enough to end the war.

Damn, it's not enough! Where is the empire going to continue to pump troops for them? Is it necessary to then draw out the troops in India, in the Far East =M.? This is tantamount to concentrating all the power of the entire empire in Africa!

How much would it cost to support such a nationwide war? Even just thinking about Salisbury is already dizzy. But Salisbury knew that he had no choice, and the successive defeats made all walks of life in Britain begin to cry for revenge, and the people of the empire could not accept a defeat. And the opposition in parliament also took the opportunity to start to step down on their own, which was a heavy blow to themselves, to the government, and to the Conservative Party.

So he can only keep raising and use the strength of the entire British Empire to keep this war going until the Empire finally wins.

Suddenly. Salisbury's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and he turned to see Chamberlain, the colonial minister, walking in.

"Your Excellency, the Germans have agreed to consult with us, and their Foreign Secretary, Bilow, will come to London in person." Chamberlain reported to Salisbury.

"Okay, thanks. Joseph. Salisbury nodded his head to indicate that he understood.

"Your Excellency, do we really need to make such a big concession to Germany?" Chamberlain asked with some doubts: "Now the Germans do not have the energy to confront us, we are engaged in a war, and they are also engaged in a war." Although the Germans were extremely tough on the Sitis incident, this was just an example, and the Germans were powerless to magnify the scale of the conflict with us. ”

"Yes, Joseph, it is true that the Germans cannot enter into a full-scale conflict with us, they are unwilling and incapable. Although the Germans' response to the Citis incident was unexpected, the fact that the Germans did not escalate the situation after that speaks volumes about their attitude. Salisbury extinguished the cigar in his hand, put it down, and sat down again.

"But Joseph, you know that we were originally going to co-opt Germany to deal with the unreasonable demands of the French on the Sudanese region. We still need the Germans to do this, but the Sitis incident has caused problems between us anyway, so now we need to give the Germans a greater benefit to achieve this. ”

"And more importantly. We cannot sit idly by and watch a thaw between Germany and France, which is intolerable. Salisbury put it bluntly: "Germany is an important force for us to contain France and Russia. The Franco-German contradiction was a pawn that we could use, which is why the Reich supported and instigated the Germans to occupy Alsace and Lorraine.

And now, with the Empire powerless, if Franco-German relations are eased, or even eventually reconciled, it will be a great disaster for the Empire. We must stop this qiē. For this purpose, it is also necessary to sacrifice some interests. ”

"However, supporting the Germans to build the 3B railway and allowing them to penetrate into Asia Minor and the Middle East will affect our control of the Middle East, and will directly threaten the crown jewel of the empire." Chamberlain asked, puzzled.

Salisbury shook his head: "Joseph." Do you think the Germans really have enough energy to do these things now? The Philippines has already taken too much of their energy into it, and Germany is still investing heavily in the integration of Austria into the network.

Even if they do start building, it will not be a big problem, doing so will inevitably consume a lot of their financial and material resources, and Asia Minor and the Middle East are our sphere of influence, and even if they come, they will inevitably be limited by us. What's more, once the 3B railway is built, the ties between Germany and the Ottomans will inevitably be even closer, so who would not want to see this scene the least? ”

Salisbury's ideas are not without subtlety, and yes, since the time of Bismarck, the Germans have not stopped thinking about turning the entire Ottoman Empire into their backyard.

Although the Ottoman Empire was weak, it was still a vast empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, with abundant resources, a large population, a superior geography and a corrupt government. This is undoubtedly a gift from God to Germany, which is facing the fact that the world has been divided up more or less so.

A place that can become a German "India", a place that can become the "most dazzling jewel in the crown" of the German emperor.

Therefore, as early as the Bismarck era, Germany built the "Eastern Railway" connecting Vienna and Istanbul, and after the completion of this railway in 1896, not only did the relationship between Germany and the Ottomans begin to become closer, but also Germany and Austria-Hungary became closer.

But this was not enough for Germany, and the success of the Eurasian land bridge, which would connect the core area from Mesopotamia to Ottoman and Central Europe together with the two continents of Europe and Asia, would mean that Germany would gain its own "India".

Now with the growth of German national power, the development of industrial capacity, and the full integration of Austrian railways into the German railway network, this made the German bankers and all the bourgeoisie more and more interested in building the 3B railway, but the British control of the Middle East has always been an obstacle that the Germans cannot overcome, but if Britain gives permission at this time, then the Germans will inevitably join it.

Then Salisbury's goal was achieved, not only to make Germany consume a lot of manpower and material resources, but more importantly, the closer the relationship between Germany and the Ottomans, the more unhappy one country would be.

That is Tsarist Russia, although the relationship between Germany and Russia was quite close at this time, but this intimate relationship was also fragile, and the reinsurance treaty was not renewed, which was a rift for both Germany and Russia.

Without the constraints of the treaty, if there was a dispute over Ottoman interests, the Russians would immediately remember what the Germans had done, and if this distrust spread, the damage to German-Russian relations was inevitable.

In particular, the Russians still have the existence of France, a standby ally, once German-Russian relations break down, then France, a quasi-ally, will become a true ally, then in the face of pressure from both France and Russia, Germany will have no choice but to move closer to Britain, so that with one stone, Germany can only continue to act as a pawn to help Britain balance Russia and France.

And this is still a dignified conspiracy, even if someone in the German government can see what the British intentions are, is it possible to abandon the construction of the 3B railway? Is it possible to abandon this place, which has long been in the minds of the Germans, the last perfect colony belonging to Germany in the world that has been carved up?

Seeing Chamberlain thinking about what he said there, Salisbury smiled slightly: "And as long as we end the war with the Boers, then the Reich has the ability to free up its hands, I don't think the Germans have the ability to complete the construction of this railway before we end the war, right?" So can the railway, which has already started at that time, be completed, and the Germans still have to look at our faces? ”

At this time, Chamberlain's face suddenly changed: "Your Excellency has thought carefully, when the time comes, if the Germans want to complete this railway, it is time for them to compromise and make concessions to us, and we can let their plan be stillborn at any time." ”

Backtracking is a trick that every great power is good at, and the British are the best at it, and this little trick can be described as a trick.

"That's right, in this way, the expansion of German influence in the Middle East is completely within our control." Salisbury nodded, and then said: "As for Helgoland, the navy thinks that the strategic value of this place is not great, so we can also take out this place as a favor, although the Germans would rather choose the colony than choose this place back then, but now it is directly given to the Germans, I believe the Germans will want it." Even the Germans realize that there is not much value here, but there is no reason to push away what is given away for free. ”

"The Germans would not be able to refuse our offer, and all we would ask them to do was to show our support for us in the time of our pressure on France." Chamberlain interface to.

"Yes, as long as the French are honest, we can settle the Boer problem first. As long as the Boer problem is solved, the empire will have access to the gold and diamonds there, and will be able to withdraw from the war, and the empire will still be able to maintain its pre-eminent position in Europe. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the Biquge www.biquge.info () to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support, is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to M. to read. (To be continued......)

ps: The day before yesterday, my colleague had a birthday, was pulled to celebrate his birthday, and then the party lasted until 1 o'clock in the morning, drank a lot of wine, and then I could still recognize the road and ride a bicycle home, and when I got home, I fell asleep, and then I had to go to work during the day

So the last chapter was naturally out of play, I'm really embarrassed. R1292