After receiving the news from Europe, the Ming Foreign Affairs Department felt very strange, and they really didn't understand why Germany was suddenly going to attack France again.

The positive feedback from Europe shows that Germany is unanimously opposed by European countries, and they should not target France in such an unfavorable situation.

But the crown prince's reply said that this was the Kaiser's attitude and that the Chinese government needed to take a stand.

The alliance with Germany would inevitably affect the Sino-British alliance, and the interests in the Pacific would be guaranteed by the agreement with the British.

Without a British agreement, it would be difficult to argue that the United States would have compromised and allowed the Chinese to govern California.

The result was placed on Zhu Jinglun's table, and the foreign affairs department needed the emperor's decision.

"Is Germany's attitude reliable?"

Zhu Jinglun was worried that this was the result of the Kaiser's second mistake, and he casually said that China was serious, and then he stopped doing it, but it affected Sino-British relations.

"Not sure, the Kaiser promised it in person."

Jaishankar, the director of the foreign affairs department who has replaced Xu Rongcun, said.

Zhu Jinglun nodded: "Let the crown prince have a secret conversation with the Kaiser, a Sino-German alliance against Russia is beneficial to us, but remember that it must be kept secret." We can assure Germany that if Russia attacks Germany, China will attack Russia. ”

"Do you have a secret contract?"

Jaishankar asked.

Zhu Jinglun said: "Let's talk in secret first, who knows if we can reach an agreement, and who knows if the Germans will make any other demands." ”

This shows that the Germans always believe that they have an advantageous position, and that the alliance with China is that Germany has paid more and gained less, so they should be compensated. The devil knows if the Germans still think so.

The negotiations over there went very smoothly, an emperor, a crown prince, and the efficiency of the negotiations was surprisingly high.

China promised Germany to attack Russia with all its naval and land military forces when it was attacked by Russia, and to deter Russia by Chen troops on the border when Germany was threatened by Russia; Germany promised to attack Russia with all its naval and land forces when Russia attacked China, and to deploy troops on the border to deter Russia when Russia threatened China.

Germany also suggested that China and Austria-Hungary sign a similar treaty against Russia, but the Chinese crown prince politely rejected it, arguing that there was a German-Austrian alliance and that China did not need to form an alliance with Austria-Hungary.

Within three days, this purely diplomatic treaty was signed, and it was only then that the Chinese government was convinced that Germany was really planning to attack France.

The crown prince's itinerary immediately changed, and he arranged for him to visit the Ottoman Empire during his return to China. In the event of a war with Russia, the Ottoman Empire was a good help. After being struck ten times by Russia, the Ottoman Empire was dying, and it can be said that without the blows of the rising Russia, the Ottoman Empire would now have a much higher international status.

The ancient Chinese said, "If I decline, I will prosper, if I prosper, if I prosper, if I prosper, I will invade my suburbs, and if I decline, I will obey my teaching", this kind of relationship is really suitable for Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Russia's step by step is strong, it is to step on the Ottoman Empire to stand up, of course, but Poland has been trampled to death, it is not worth mentioning.

Zhu Ninghua's visit to the Ottoman Empire is the real agreement between strength and weakness, and China hopes to get the support of the Ottoman Empire in the war with Russia. And once Russia attacks the Ottoman Empire, China will also come to the aid and give military guarantees to the Ottoman Empire, obviously China is at a loss, so some economic compensation is necessary.

The Ottoman Empire granted Chinese companies the privilege of exploiting minerals in the Ottomans. It has also given some trade preferences, and greatly reduced tariffs on tea and textiles from China. Later, because of these privileges, China developed the oil in the Ottoman territory and created an oil empire, which is a story for another time.

Before the crown prince had reached any agreement with the Ottoman Empire, something happened in Europe.

Germany's announcement of its withdrawal from the Madrid Conference and its non-recognition of any of the resolutions made at the Madrid Conference instantly aroused cheers from the German public, who feared the government's disgrace, and at the same time won the dissatisfaction of public opinion in France, Russia, and even a part of the United Kingdom.

Germany said that it would never recognize any French interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco and that Morocco must be an independent country.

Germany's move was not supported by any country, including Spain, which was most worried about French expansion in North Africa, and France and Spain had just reached an agreement to guarantee Spain's privileges in northern Morocco and divide Morocco's interests, and Spain did not want to really go to war with France.

However, Spain promised Germany that in the event of a war between Germany and France, Spain would attack France with 100,000 men.

Italy has a great conflict with France because of the Tunisian issue, but France's diplomacy in recent years has been significantly more successful than Germany's.

In 1896, France and Italy negotiated and reached an agreement on the status of Italians living in Tunisia; Italy then formally recognized France's right to protect Tunisia, thus removing a long-standing obstacle between the two countries. In 1898, France and Italy signed a treaty of commerce, ending the seven-year "tariff war" between the two countries, and relations between the two countries further improved. Beginning in 1899, France and Italy held consultations on the division of spheres of influence in the Mediterranean, and some progress was made.

In recent years, the Italian economy has begun to grow rapidly, relying heavily on capital from France, and does not want to go to war with France.

It is likely that only Germany and Austria will be able to act together, and Italy will probably not enter the war, but Italy will have a greater conflict with Austria-Hungary, whose Italian settlements happen to be located in the rich Adriatic port area, and Italy always has territorial claims to it.

Even without the support of any country, Germany's withdrawal from the Madrid Conference has made the air in Europe tense, because Germany alone is enough to cause confrontation in Europe.

Seeing that the vast majority of countries support France, France's submission of the Moroccan issue to international arbitration is already the biggest concession, and it is impossible for France to continue to make concessions, and the French national sentiment will always want to take revenge on Germany, and repeated concessions to Germany will bring down the government.

France not only did not back down, but recalled the previously ousted foreign minister Delcasser, Delcasse is a tough person, and foreign policy has always revolved around the encirclement of Russia, the Franco-Russian alliance was promoted by him, and the rapprochement with Italy was also done by him, it can be said that after Bismarck, the most capable diplomat in Europe is Delcasce.

The recall of Delcasse also unleashed France's attitude that it did not intend to continue compromise.

Zhu Jinglun was still disturbed by this news from Germany in his sleep, and Jaishankar took the telegram and knocked on the door of the palace.

In his opinion, this was an event that could lead to war, and the emperor must be made aware of it as soon as possible.

Zhu Jinglun was silent for only a moment, and immediately made a series of decisions.

"Let the crown prince come to an agreement with the Ottoman Empire as soon as possible. Send someone, no, you go to Japan in person. No, let Huang Zunxian go, he has a lot of connections in Japan. Coordinate relations with Japan with Russia, and in the event of a war with Russia, we hope that Japan will enter the war together, at least to win Japan's neutrality. ”

In the past, Japan was a variable, but through a mutual agreement with Britain, China could hold Japan, at least on the issue of Russia, with Britain as a link, and everyone was in lockstep. But now as soon as Germany goes to war with France, Britain is in an awkward position, and they will definitely support France. But on the issue of Russia, they want to support China. Russia also supported France and France against Germany, and Britain and Russia were in agreement on this issue.

Therefore, Zhu Jinglun was worried that once Germany and France went to war and Britain also joined the war, they would inevitably have to cooperate with Russia, and then it would be impossible to draw Japan and China to stand together on the Russian issue.

Japan, on the other hand, is the main contradiction against Russia, but it is hostile to China. At this time, China needs to directly pull Japan and maintain consistency in the period against Russia. Otherwise, if China goes to war with Russia, although Japan's strength is small, the Japanese navy will still pose a certain threat to China. In addition, the United States may also be restless, and the United States is strongly supportive of Japan. When the time comes, Japan will give China a sneak attack, and no one can stand it.

After receiving the request, the crown prince immediately accelerated the negotiation process with the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire actually wanted to find a backer, and for so many years, they relied on the balance of European countries to prevent Russia from attacking them. So I always wanted to find some strong countries to protect myself, and before the rise of Germany, it had always been friendly with Britain and France. However, Britain and France took advantage of this to divide too many privileges in the Ottoman Empire, so after the reunification of Germany, the Ottoman Empire soon became friendly with Germany.

Germany was given a large number of privileges, the most important of which was the power to build the Baghdad Railway, which allowed Germany to build the railway all the way from the heart of Europe to the heart of the Ottoman land. Germany's exports in Ottoman were also as high as more than 30 million pounds, and Ottomans became a huge market that Germany could not give up.

But Germany did not give the Ottomans any military guarantees, only that Bismarck supported the Ottoman Empire at international conferences. Now that China is willing to provide this military guarantee, they can't ask for it. Historically, before World War I, the Ottoman Empire was seeking an alliance with Britain, and after being rejected by Britain, it made up its mind to stand with Germany.

The crown prince soon reached an agreement with the Ottoman Empire.

On the Japanese side, Huang Zunxian's progress is also relatively smooth.

Obviously, Japan could no longer tolerate Russia's step-by-step expansion in Korea, and Huang Zunxian assured Japan's interests in Korea, allowing that once Japan defeated Russia together with China, China would recognize Japan's privileges in Korea, and that Japan had the right to direct Korean reform while maintaining Korean independence.

But Japan made a small request, they wanted to be able to invite members of the Chinese imperial family to visit Japan.

At this time, the crown prince was in the Ottoman Empire, and Zhu Jinglun had several grandchildren, but they were not yet adults, and the eldest grandson Zhu Dingguo was only ten years old.

Now that the situation in Europe is already very tense and war may break out at any time, Zhu Jinglun believes that his visit to Japan cannot be delayed.

So he decided to go to Japan himself.