"Li Zhangyuan, what is the new development?"

The crown prince met Li Zhangtong in the upper study, and his attitude looked pleasant.

But Li Zhangtong felt a lot of pressure, and he was humble.

Briefly introduce the current situation: "Your Highness, I have just received news that France has recruited a large number of soldiers in Africa, and the number of troops is extremely scarce. The Germans had taken control of the Marne, and the main forces turned to Paris. It seems that there is no hurry to encircle and annihilate the main force of the French army, but to capture Fajing Paris first. ”

The crown prince interrupted Li Zhangtong: "You know what I'm asking, you tell me, what will happen in three days?" ”

The crown prince was tired of Li Zhangtong's style of talking about him, and for three months, Li Zhangtong always dealt with him like this, never giving him a clear answer.

Without being noticed, Li Zhangtong took a breath, and his demeanor seemed calm.

"Back to Your Highness. In three days, the Anglo-German war will begin. Dare to ask Your Highness, must our country fulfill its obligations to Germany and join this war? ”

"Huh?"

The crown prince was surprised.

This was the first time in three months that Li Zhangtong clearly told him that Britain and Germany would go to war, and asked him about his attitude in turn, his attitude had long been no secret, and everyone knew that the crown prince was actively participating in this war.

The crown prince did not make a clear statement, but asked: "Tell me, why did Britain and Germany go to war?" ”

The crown prince is no longer the crown prince of the past, and even if everyone guessed that he wanted to go to war, he never expressed his position publicly.

Li Zhangtong did not make a clear statement, and asked rhetorically: "Dare to ask Your Highness." If Britain had not entered the war, would Germany have been able to defeat France? ”

The crown prince didn't know what Li Zhangtong wanted to say, so he replied smoothly: "Germany's national strength is far stronger than France, and even if it can't completely defeat France, it will definitely be able to inflict heavy losses on France." ”

Li Zhangtong said again: "Dare to ask Your Highness." France suffered a heavy blow, and the British could not accept it. ”

The crown prince shook his head: "Russia to the east of Germany is still divided, Austria-Hungary has always been pro-German, if France suffers a heavy blow, Germany will inevitably dominate the European continent." The British have never wanted to see a European continent dominated by a powerful country. ”

Speaking of this, the crown prince became impatient: "You don't have to be sloppy with me. Britain would not accept Germany's domination of the continent, and an alliance with France was inevitable. But it will not be in three days, and even if Paris falls tomorrow, Britain will not risk entering the war before the end of the Sino-German alliance. Tell me, why did Britain and Germany go to war in three days? ”

Li Zhangtong said without hurrying: "Your Highness Mingjian." If, in three days, the Sino-German alliance ended, Britain would inevitably enter the war. ”

The crown prince nodded, the situation in France was very dangerous, and it was obvious that the British would never allow Germany to become bigger.

Li Zhangtong continued: "But within three days, the British will never go to war. ”

The crown prince said: "This is something that everyone knows. ”

Seeing that the crown prince was becoming more and more dissatisfied, Li Zhangtong hurriedly said: "So the Germans are also very aware of this matter." ”

The crown prince was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "You mean that Germany will go to war with Britain in three days?" ”

Li Zhangtong nodded.

The crown prince's heart began to tumble, he felt that this matter was very logically valid, everyone knew that Britain would definitely enter the war, but it was only because China supported Germany behind the scenes, but China's alliance with Germany was time-limited.

The three-month deadline has created a difficult problem for all countries, including China and Germany, but this deadline was not proposed by China, but by Germany. The purpose of the Germans in forming a short-term alliance was, of course, to gain an opportunity for themselves to fight independently with France in the short term, and to use Chinese pressure to make Britain dare not enter the war. The reason why it was a short-term war was mainly that Germany overestimated its own strength, and the quick victory of the two wars of Prussia and Austria and Prussia made the Germans mistakenly believe that their army was capable of sweeping the surrounding countries in a short period of time. Why not seek a long-term alliance, because Germany does not want to get involved in the world hegemony between China and Britain, and does not want to become China's leading bird in Europe against Britain.

The Germans were too shrewd to sign such a short-term alliance with Italy in their history, led by Bismarck at that time, in order to win an ally in the Austro-Prussian War, and the reason why it was a short-term alliance was that they did not want to continue to confront the Austrian Empire after the war.

But this time, the Germans were clever and mistaken by their cleverness, they did not defeat the French in three months, did not even achieve a decisive advantage, and were dragged into a war of attrition by the French. At this time, Britain was becoming more and more active in preparing for war, so they could only seek to extend the alliance with China before the end of the alliance.

The crown prince was already very dissatisfied with this treaty. Not dissatisfied with Germany, but dissatisfied with Li Zhangtong. It was under Li Zhangtong's strong initiative that he accepted a short-term alliance. Because Li Zhangtong told him that if he did not form an alliance with Germany, Germany would not dare to start a war. At that time, the situation was urgent, Germany issued an ultimatum to France, and Britain was putting pressure on Germany to withdraw the ultimatum. Without China's support, Germany could only capitulate. Therefore, giving Germany a security guarantee was necessary to defend Germany against France.

The crown prince was dissatisfied with the question of why it was not possible to establish a long-term alliance, and if it was not possible to go to war with Britain in this war, then through a long-term alliance with Germany, and Germany's attainment of European hegemony after the heavy defeat of France, a situation would be formed in which China united with the hegemon of the European continent to jointly oppose Britain.

The crown prince believed that under the circumstances, it was possible for Germany to accept a long-term alliance as long as China proposed it. However, the negotiations presided over by Li Zhangtong did not do so.

After the signing of the short-term alliance, the Germans, seeing the unfavorable situation, now took the initiative to ask for the extension of the alliance. The crown prince personally will not refuse, but the reality does not allow it.

When the short-term alliance was signed, the crown prince had already forced it through the opinions of various opposition forces, and although the confrontation between China and Britain was an inevitable pattern, there were too many forces unwilling to fight. Chinese literati are generally not belligerent, and even princeling forces are reluctant to go to war. While those interest groups were encouraging confrontation with Britain, most of them were actually reluctant to go to war because war would affect their interests. They are willing to benefit from confrontation, but they are not willing to actually go to war.

Due to the free trade policy pursued by the United Kingdom and the developed economic foundation of the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom has been China's largest trading partner in recent years, with the most fierce confrontation and the most intense economy.

For most literati, including Zhou Guanhai, the backbone of the crown prince's power, he was also reluctant to go to war. Because the war with Britain had no real interest in the understanding of the Chinese bureaucracy. Defeated the British, at best, to capture British India and British North America. But India is a densely populated foreign state, seize the land here, the Chinese cannot live in it, British North America, is a Siberia-like alpine zone, unattractive. The seizure of land that could be cultivated and relocated was the greatest goal of the Chinese bureaucracy.

As for the small number of bureaucratic forces concerned with economic interests, they were not happy to go to war with the British. Because they believe that British India and British North America, under the British free trade policy, raw materials can enter China unimpeded, and Chinese goods can enter these markets in a steady stream. In British India, China imports more cotton than the United Kingdom, and China exports more goods than the United Kingdom. In this case, there is really no need to go to war with the British and occupy this place directly.

The only ones who really supported the war were some military groups of the crown prince's faction, but the crown prince's control over the army was always inferior to that of the emperor, and the top leaders in the army were all old ministers left over from the emperor's period.

Under these circumstances, the Crown Prince's support for Li Zhangtong and the signing of a short-term alliance agreement with Germany had already aroused the dissatisfaction of the bureaucracy and the Parliament.

The bureaucracy generally believed that this would be tantamount to bearing the pressure on Britain for Germany and at the same time risking China's involvement in a needless European war. The trade union forces in parliament have always been resolutely opposed to war under the banner of internationalism. and threatened to organize the passage of the war budget by all means, and the gentry in parliament supported the trade unions in this matter.

The opposition forces were already dissatisfied, and this time, they took advantage of the crown prince's rash involvement in the war to launch a protest against the crown prince. When the Germans tried to extend the alliance, the crown prince was inclined to agree, allowing the opposition to seize the opportunity again. In recent years, the crown prince has continued to promote the princelings, which has made the opposition more and more united, this time they seized the opportunity, and even shouted the slogan of the prince's disorderly government, a large number of old ministers and even officials in the wilderness, intensively went to Wudang Mountain to meet the emperor, hoping that the emperor would come out of the mountain.

With whether or not to participate in the war as the fuse, the political undercurrent that broke out against the crown prince made the crown prince's heart, which had been stable for several years, hang again again.

Under these circumstances, he did not dare to force the extension of the alliance again, and had to say against his will that he had always expected peace. He also publicly stated that he would not consider extending the Sino-German alliance, and even expressed his unwillingness to get involved in the war in Europe.

This made the crown prince very frustrated, and also made him understand that if the emperor does not die, he is just the crown prince.

But having missed this opportunity, he did not know how many years he would have to wait before it was possible to launch a direct blow to Britain.

As a result, the crown prince became more and more dissatisfied with Li Zhangtong, who presided over diplomatic work.

The crown prince knew that Li Zhangtong was the emperor's person, and he also knew that Li Zhangtong was a diplomat who supported the peaceful settlement of problems, and he was a diplomat, which reflected the ability to solve problems with politics.

Dissatisfaction with Li Zhangtong has gradually accumulated over time, and the crown prince has begun to consider removing Li Zhangtong, even if Li Zhangtong is a rare diplomatic minister, but he will not use an official who is not loyal to him.

Unexpectedly, Li Zhangtong suddenly told him that war would break out in three days, and it was Germany that launched a war against Britain.

This made him a little puzzled, could it be that Li Zhangtong has been promoting?

If this is the case, Li Zhangtong has understood his attitude and is working hard for his goal of going to war.

But if Li Zhangtong had seen through this early on, why did he not say anything, and had to wait until the time was about to end, before he suddenly came to tell himself that Germany would start a war before the end of the alliance, so as to drag China into a war that Britain was destined to wage war against Germany, so that Germany would always have the upper hand.

If he had known earlier and not said it, he would have either hidden his true intentions, or he would have made a temporary intention to deceive him.

So the crown prince directly expressed his dissatisfaction: "Since you understand these truths, why didn't you explain them earlier?" You are deliberately deceiving the Lone King! ”

Li Zhangtong couldn't afford to wear this hat, so he immediately confessed: "Your Highness is clear." Weichen didn't dare to be a little deceitful, but the situation had been unclear, so he didn't dare to play. ”

The crown prince snorted coldly: "Then it's clear now?" ”

The crown prince's dissatisfaction with Li Zhangtong has reached the point where he decided to find an opportunity to dismiss him, so he will not be relented and give him a charge of bullying the prince, which may not be able to impose a punishment, but it is enough to remove him. This Li Zhangtong is as slippery as a loach, if he doesn't take the opportunity to dismiss him, he may not be able to find an opportunity in the future.

But after that, Li Zhangtong said something to ask the prince to withdraw his thoughts, and he hesitated a little.