"It costs money to fight a war, and it is even said that fighting a war is for money, and a war without benefits and only harm will not break out! I really don't understand what the British government can gain by intervening in this matter, except for causing trouble for itself. Can you tell me? Was it intended to gain the friendship of the French, or was it to force Germany to turn completely to Russia? The prince asked with a smile.

"It's a threat! The threat of the red fruit! Chamberlain now realizes that his announcement is nothing to the prince in front of him! Because the other side did not believe that the British government would directly use force to intervene, well, to be honest, Chamberlain himself did not believe that Britain would intervene by force at this time.

As a colonial minister, Chamberlain knew that the situation in the Boer War was far worse than the outside world thought! With the exception of a few seaport cities that were struggling to support under the cover of the navy, the British army had begun to retreat on all fronts. More and more descendants of the Dutch took up arms and began to attack the British, and the British Army repeated the confrontation head-on, harassed in the rear, and then forced to retreat to the towns, then to be divided and then eaten in bites. South Africa was so big that tens of thousands of British troops threw it without even seeing a ripple, and it was diluted by the vast land.

Just before coming, when the British Cabinet discussed the issue of the Boer War, when the Prime Minister asked how many troops were needed to solve the problem of the Boer War, the Secretary of War replied that it was 180,000. And Chamberlain's own opinion is 250,000! Of course, he didn't dare to say this, because just 180,000 troops were enough for the British to piece together from all over the world, and the money spent could make the Chancellor of the Exchequer jump off a building!

How many land forces were there in the British during the Napoleonic Wars? How many were there during the Crimean War? The number of troops that the British are now committing is comparable to the number of British troops when they fought against Napoleon the Great! Sadly, however, so far, there is still no victory in sight.

Even at the cabinet meeting, Chamberlain himself said that it was unimaginable to have a full-scale confrontation with Germany at this time, although the British Royal Navy had the strength to crush its opponents, but if Germany attacked France from land, the British Royal Navy would be of no use, after all, the battleships could not land! And judging from the current situation, if the army personnel are not enough, then it is necessary to use naval personnel to make up for it, a large number of naval officers and sailors will participate in the land war, and the funding is seriously tilted towards the army, and the British Navy has even begun to slow down the construction of warships to squeeze out some pounds to support the war!

Historically, the British spent £220 million on the Boer War! At £2.2 million to build a dreadnought, that's 100 dreadnoughts! And this is only the cost of wartime, not counting the cost of post-war reconstruction and pacification of the Boers. And the matter of the Boer War in this plane is even more troublesome, and the prince does not think that at this time the British finances can support him to fight two big wars at the same time! So he's not afraid at all!

"I want to see the Kaiser." Chamberlain said angrily.

"Whatever you want, if your country does do something beyond our imagination, then we may give in, and if the British Empire really wants to do so, then hurry up and prepare." The prince said indifferently, throw Chamberlain to the Kaiser, he has more important things to do, the German fleet is ready, ready to kill Lisbon with all his army! Don't agree to burn the city directly! The Austro-Hungarian Empire had promised to supply supply the German fleet with coal and food. The Italians have not yet taken a position.

Of course, having said that, but the British Royal Navy is strong, it is best not to be right, in order to avoid trouble, before the British reacted cleanly to solve these things, the prince has already thought about it, on the third day after sending Chamberlain away, the German fleet set off, and then took advantage of the night to cross the English Channel at high speed, well, one night is definitely not enough, but taking advantage of the foggy environment, it can also pass relatively safely, after all, it is now peacetime, and there are no mines in the strait.

After crossing the English Channel, make an appearance in Brest, France, scare the French, and then go straight to Portugal, at the same time, because the strength of the French fleet in Africa has been seriously reduced, leaving Hipper's B fleet is enough to watch the remaining two French battleships, Count Spee will lead the A fleet to the sea off Lisbon to join the main fleet, and then a dozen capital battleships are not afraid that the Portuguese will not give in!

As for the British? According to the current progress, the British will not take action until Chamberlain returns to England, after all, although the prince has a tough attitude, it is the Kaiser who will make the final decision, and judging from Chamberlain's performance, he is still more confident in the Kaiser. In that case, let the Kaiser and Chamberlain grind for a while. The two countries will have a bad relationship, but at least they still want to save face.

Immediately after the meeting with the prince, Chamberlain sent a telegram to China, in which he was not very optimistic about the future situation, saying that although he had not met the Kaiser so far, the German high-level attitude was relatively firm, and the possibility of retreat was not very great. At least for now, Germany does not intend to let Portugal go, and finally asks at the end, what should we do.

Five days later, Chamberlain finally met with the Kaiser, and stated to the Kaiser the concerns of both sides, in the Sanssouci Palace, Chamberlain unexpectedly saw the retired chancellor, at this time, the once dominant, the whole world to look at the prime minister is dying, but the spirit is still relatively good.

In this meeting, the great man played his part for the last time, and he expressed in very euphemistic terms that the Reich was not at war with England at present, but at the same time Germany could not tolerate the encroachment of Portugal on German interests, let alone back down.

"We gave Portugal the opportunity, we began to try to solve the problem by external means, a whole month passed, and Portugal did not mention how to solve the problem in the reply to us, Portugal challenged the dignity of the empire with the support of a certain great power, which is absolutely not allowed! We are even less likely to give up because of the support of some great power that was once lost at the hands of the Empire, and we are victims and not provocateurs. ”

Bismarck's words are reasonable, although Germany has long been ready to annex the Portuguese colony, Portugal did not make a move, Germany will also find a fault to do it, but this does not prevent a seasoned politician from saying these words with great righteousness!

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