Britain and Germany declared war on each other, and after that, both sides proceeded in a step-by-step and orderly manner. In fact, the reason is that these two countries have long been prepared for war.

It had been three months since the war between Germany and France, and during the three months, both sides had drawn up detailed plans, and Germany would certainly have taken precautions against Britain's entry into the war, and Britain would certainly have drawn up a plan of action in the event of a war.

Even Britain and France have long negotiated ways of cooperation.

Germany first attacked with a navy, then quickly retreated, laying mines along the coast, leaving only the narrow waterway from Hamburg to the sea, and shrinking half of the navy to Hamburg, Germany almost completed its self-blockade, with the aim of preventing British troops from landing from the sea. The other half of the navy was deployed in the Baltic Sea, blocking the Danish straits and preventing the British from forcibly entering the Baltic Sea. The topography of Germany, the coastal area is mainly in the Baltic Sea, Poland at this time, is a landlocked country without a coastline, and the coastal area extending from Germany to the coast of Russia is the area where the ancient Germanic people migrated, developed and invaded, so it has always been the territory of East Prussia. The Baltic Sea and the North Sea, separated only by a few narrow straits between Denmark and Sweden, are easily blockaded.

Obviously, Germany carried out a self-blockade and took the initiative to give up maritime trade, because the Germans knew very well that once a war with Britain started, Britain would definitely blockade the German coast, and instead of passively accepting the British blockade, it was better to take the initiative to self-blockade and prevent Britain from landing, which was more realistic.

Germany's main direction of attack was still on land, and whether it could end the war and achieve victory was determined by whether Germany could defeat France. As long as France was defeated, Britain's greatest ability was to continue to blockade Germany, as they had done with Napoleon's empire, and engage in a long confrontation. But this did not threaten Germany, which ruled the continent after the victory over France.

The British side acted equally quickly, and after repelling the German ship, they created public opinion at home that Germany took the initiative to attack the British navy, arousing public anger and anti-German national sentiment, which is very important, because racially, the Anglo-Saxons are of the same species as the Germanic peoples, and the pronunciation of English and German is also more similar, and the relationship between the two countries has always been closer than that between Britain and France, and the most intermarriage between the British royal family is the princes of Germany.

In terms of military operations, the navy took the lead in blockading the German coast, and at the same time landed in French ports to escort troop carriers to begin reinforcements to France.

After the Franco-Prussian War, Britain has established a standing army of 270,000 people, which is the largest standing army in history for Britain, but compared to other countries, it is actually very small, in the world, it is not even ranked in the top ten, and it is not even comparable to the level of Greece's 300,000 standing army.

However, Britain implements a recruitment system, and the quality of soldiers, the standard of military salaries, and the level of training are all first-class in Europe, and in this regard, even the German army, which is strictly trained and civilized, is inferior, so the British army has always been a small number, but an extremely elite unit.

The British army quickly marched to France with the vast majority of the army, 200,000 men. At the same time, more armies will be formed, and less armies can be formed, and the British themselves dare not guarantee it, because under the conscription system, he needs the people to take the initiative to sign up for the army, and can only encourage young people to join the army with military pay and patriotic sentiment. No one can guarantee how many of the more than 30 million people will sign up to join the army and fight in other countries when war breaks out.

The 200,000 elite British troops transferred to France did not go directly to the front line, but took over the French army and stationed on the northern coast of France.

At the same time, Britain began to recruit troops overseas, but there was no sign of these armies being transferred to Europe, because the British colonial fleet had already been transferred back to Europe, and it was impossible to rush to transport troops without even escorting them. The reason for this is simple, China's movements are unknown.

Before the war, China swore that after the expiration of the alliance with Germany, it would not extend, resign, or intervene in the war in Europe, and at the same time promised that China would still fulfill its obligations before the expiration of the alliance. But the war broke out just before the end of the Sino-German alliance. What would China choose, if they chose to fulfill their obligations, but they did not immediately declare war on Britain or France, and now the time has passed; If they were unwilling to go to war, they did not declare their neutrality and did not find a reason for not fulfilling their obligations. Twenty-four hours after the outbreak of the war, China has not taken a position on the war.

China's refusal to take a stand is the most painful situation for Britain, France and even Germany. If the Chinese do not declare war, Britain will not dare to take the initiative to implement the plan, otherwise China will be able to occupy the advantage of public opinion, once the national hatred of the 800 million Chinese at home and abroad is aroused, this may be more dangerous than the first strike to seize the opportunity for the strong, Britain is not willing to let itself fall into an unfavorable public opinion situation, so it will never take the initiative to declare war on China. France, on the other hand, was extremely worried that China would support Germany by land, which meant an unimaginable superiority in troops, and France, which had already felt the exhaustion of manpower, was deeply aware of the constraints of manpower at this time.

Even Germany is very anxious. Even if their ambassadors continue to communicate with China, and every time the Chinese diplomatic department has stated that it will fulfill its obligations, and has made it clear that the current situation is in line with the provisions of the Sino-German alliance treaty, and China has an unshirkable obligation. But as long as China does not enter the war for a day, there are variables. China's political situation is very complex, with checks and balances of power basically formed, but not as clear as in the UK.

In China's parliament, there are strong opposition to the war, and public opinion does not support the war. Although China's ruling class, which is dominated by literati and doctors, has changed a lot compared with their ancient ancestors and has a much broader vision, it is still a relatively conservative class, and compared with the ruling classes of other countries, they are not interested enough in the outside world and lack interest in expansion. Especially outside of China, and there is no direct threat to China, they are indifferent and reluctant to intervene in external affairs.

On the other hand, China's expansion has been large enough that even with China's population base, it will be difficult to absorb the benefits quickly in the foreseeable future. Countries in such cases, with the exception of a very small number of expansionist empires such as Russia, tend to be isolated.

Thirdly, the trade unions representing the interests of the lower classes are becoming more and more powerful, since the trade unions first became a political force in England, they are anti-war, and the workers' organizations have been taught by some spiritual teachers that war is always unfavorable to the people at the bottom, that it is the struggle for power and profit of the ruling class, that the workers should be worldly, borderless, internationalists, and that the proletarians of the world should unite. The Jewish-born spiritual mentor presumably introduced into these theories the cosmopolitan culture of the Jewish people, presumably the general anti-war of the early workers' organizations.

Public opinion is opposed, and it is the literati class who controls public opinion, and it is also this class that rules the parliament, so the mainstream of the parliament does not support the war; The literati were opposed, and the bulk of the bureaucracy, which consisted of the literati, would obviously not support the war; With the rising workers' forces even more opposed to the war, China had no possibility of entering the war, but under the operation of the top management, they had a diplomatic obligation to participate in the war.

It's not safe.

However, China's constitution is similar to that of Germany, and the monarch has relatively large powers, and the monarch can bypass parliament when necessary. Their top brass had always pledged to enter the war, and according to the German ambassador's knowledge, it was the crown prince, led by the crown prince, who were strongly involved in the war, temporarily suppressing the bureaucracy, parliament, and other political forces.

At present, it is the power of the crown prince who is in charge of China, but the decision to start a war is not in the hands of the crown prince, but in the emperor, who no longer cares about the affairs of the world.

This was the greatest source of instability, and the Chinese government could cancel its commitment to Germany at any time as long as the emperor did not support it.

Therefore, every day that China does not enter the war, there will be variables every day, so that Germany will not be at ease for a day.

Germany's understanding of China is not as profound as that of the British, what the Germans can understand, the British understand even better, the French have an even closer relationship with China than the British, and so far in China's scientific system, the French factor occupies the largest proportion, China's weights and measures, scientific norms, and scientific theories all have strong French characteristics, and there are still many French scientists in China's high-level scientific institutions. This is a close relationship between China and France since the time of Napoleon.

So Britain and France also knew that as long as the emperor did not express his position, everything could be changed.

Therefore, Germany is constantly urging the Chinese government, and Britain and France are also lobbying the Chinese government to make greater commitments. This even included the ceding of all German overseas territories to China. Most importantly, Britain and France were trying to talk directly to the Chinese emperor, especially France, which was in a very unfavorable situation and maintained close ties with China, and they even mobilized members of the Napoleonic family to invite the son of Louis Bonaparte, the former French prime minister in exile in London, to try to meet the Chinese emperor in person.

Before China officially declares war, both sides still have a chance to change the final outcome, so the diplomatic war in China has not ended, but has become more intense.

Both sides felt a heavy pressure, whether China entered the war, like a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, or a bow and arrow that had been drawn but not fired, both Britain, France and Germany, both felt a suffocating pressure, like criminals waiting for a verdict, feeling powerless against fate.

This state lasted for three days, seventy-two hours.

From Wudang Mountain, a copy of the emperor's will was passed down and sent to Jingshi.