Far East, Jiaozhou Bay.

This beautiful harbor belongs to a country where warlords are divided and strife, and the waves of revolution are surging, and the "sleeping lion of the East" in Napoleon's mouth is beginning to awaken, but the situation of internal and external troubles will continue for a long time.

Apart from the Kaiser's personal feelings, this rich land is currently coveted by three great powers: its close neighbor, Japan, which grew stronger through the Meiji Restoration, Russia, its distant neighbor, known as the polar bear, and Germany, which has just won the European War. The three countries had their own advantages, the Japanese had fanatical armies and better geographical advantages, the Russians had a second-class geography but large populations, and Germany, although the most distant, had unparalleled military superiority.

While the world is full of calls for peace, the shadows are full of aggression and killing.

On a clear, windless day, the blazing sun baked the earth, and even the shade of the trees was not cool at all. On the wharf of Qingdao Port, the porters were sweating profusely, and bags and baskets of grain, vegetables and meat were continuously sent to the six warships docked in the port, and on the decks of those warships, the sailors were also busy preparing for sailing under the scorching sun.

The armored cruisers "Scharnhorst", "Gneisenau" and "Leipzig", and the light cruisers "Emden", "Nuremberg" and "Dresden" were the main forces of the German Pacific Fleet, which were commanded by the famous German Vice Admiral Graf von Spee.

Vice Admiral Spee was hailed as one of the best German admirals of the war, and his exploits were in successfully saving Germany's largest overseas fleet from being destroyed by the much more powerful British overseas fleet. In the early days of the war, this fleet was surrounded and pursued by a British fleet several times its size, and Vice Admiral Speeze did not drive the fleet directly back to the German mainland according to the advice of the Admiralty, but led the British Navy by the nose around the west coast of South America, until the end of September 1914, when the British lost the main force of the home fleet in the Battle of the North Sea. After that, most of the British colonial fleet was repatriated, and the only enemy of Spee and his fleet in the Pacific was Japan, an ally of the British, who declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914.

Like the German home fleet, General Spee's fleet also had a good number of sailors. These sailors have been serving together for 3 years and are distinguished by their excellent shooting skills. The Scharnhorst, which won the 1913 Combat Exercise Cup, finished second in the 1914 competition behind the Gneisenau, a technical advantage that played a huge role in the Spee's fleet against the Japanese Navy.

In September 1914, the Japanese Army landed at Longkou, Shandong, and the three main fleets of the Japanese Navy poured out, of which the First Fleet was on alert in the South China Sea, and the Second Fleet besieged Qingdao from the sea. The Third Fleet went south to attack the German colonies in the Pacific Islands. At the beginning of October of the same year, the Japanese Army suffered heavy losses on the periphery of Qingdao, while the Japanese Third Fleet successfully captured some of the German islands in the South Pacific, and on October 25, the German Pacific Fleet led by Speeth encountered the advance cruiser of the Japanese Third Fleet, and the two sides engaged in an artillery battle that lasted more than one hour at sea in the Marshall Islands, and the Japanese lost a light cruiser and hundreds of sailors, and the losses of Spee's fleet can be described as "insignificant" Only seven sailors fighting on deck were wounded by Japanese shrapnel, and the "Gneisenau" was hit by two "innocuous shells".

However, due to the fear of the main force of the Japanese Third Fleet, which was swimming nearby. The Speese fleet withdrew from the battle on its own initiative, in a favorable situation. The Japanese side did not catch up, and the two sides immediately disengaged from contact.

Later, the Battle of Qingdao ended in a crushing defeat for the Japanese army. Peace talks between Germany and Japan ensued, and the Japanese government withdrew from the war and returned the German colonies occupied during the war. Soon after, Spee led his fleet back to his home port of Qingdao.

After a year, Admiral von Spey and his fleet had another opportunity to make contact with the Japanese Navy. It's just that the situation at this time is very different from a year ago, and the Japanese have long since adjusted the direction of the muzzle.

On this sweltering hot afternoon, the Spee's fleet set sail, and their first destination was the Japanese port of Yokohama.

Half a month ago, Berlin, Germany.

Representative of Austria-Hungary: Yes!

Russian representative: Yes!

Bulgarian representative: yes!

The next person to vote on behalf of Germany was Foreign Minister Gustav Tremelemann. This time. Stresemann looked a little undecided. in favor, then the subsequent Turkish delegates will follow suit and vote in favor; Abstaining, the vote will be passed, only a negative vote can bring the bill back into discussion, but there are many things behind the negative vote......

In a small café not far away, a group of Orientals were anxiously waiting for news.

At 12 noon, the representatives of the five countries walked out of the meeting hall one by one. Seeing the relaxed expression on the face of the Russian Foreign Minister, Kato Takaaki's hanging heart finally relaxed.

As soon as he walked out of the venue, Stresemann boarded a waiting car and sped away.

The last day of August 1914. The headlines of the world's major newspapers almost without exception are:

Ireland, a new member of the "Confederate Circle"!

Japan, the first Asian country to join the Allied Powers!

The position of the Republic of Ireland is not surprising. The country's ability to break free from British rule so quickly was inseparable from the power of the Germans. At the beginning of the war, most of the Irish expressed their willingness to cooperate with the British government during the war, but as the war progressed, the British government began to recruit troops on a large scale, and the cooperation of the Irish changed as the casualties of the government army gradually increased. Especially after the war entered its second year, the Irish who resisted the government's conscription clashed with the government army, and armed riots broke out from time to time. At the same time, the new emperor of Germany showed a positive attitude towards Irish affairs, and several German fire companies also smelled the great interests in this. In early February, the first shipment of 30,000 rifles and 1 million rounds of ammunition arrived in Ireland; In March, the leaders of several Irish independence forces reached a secret agreement with the German government, under which the German government provided funds, weapons, and instructors to contain British government forces in Ireland.

As part of the secret agreement, Ireland naturally became a strategic ally of Germany after independence.

Many people do not understand the 180-degree shift in Japan, once a close ally of Britain. The Dutch crown prince once privately called it a "traitor nation", and this despicable nation is peeking into the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)! Then came the news from within the Confederate Council: the Russians voted in favor of this bill, which was even more puzzling! Haven't Russia and Japan always been incompatible? Have the Russians forgotten their crushing defeat in the Far East in 1905?

"That's politics! In the world of politics, there are no eternal friends. There are no eternal enemies either! Look, we will soon know how much the Russians and Austrians benefited from the Japanese! ”

In the imperial palace in Berlin, Chen Tian comforted Stresemann like this. Although Chen Tian had already explained to him before the meeting, the Imperial Foreign Minister still seemed a little lost, after all, he, like his own emperor, had never had the slightest affection for the Japanese government, even if the Japanese had previously done the German government a "small favor" in the Pacific.

"But Your Majesty. Before we sent troops to the Indian Ocean, I am afraid that the British colony would have been captured by the Japanese army long ago! The Foreign Minister's fears were justified, since the Sun Flag was planted in Singapore, Malaysia, and the German-Japanese secret treaty within three months, and the Japanese would be able to extend their influence into the Indian Ocean.

"It's inevitable!" Chen Tian was not depressed, "Our primary goal is to stabilize the situation in the Mediterranean, not to go on an expedition to the Indian Ocean!" Since the Japanese are coming in with their heads out, we don't have to kick them out to be happy! There is an old Chinese saying, which comes from it. Then be safe! ”

"It's done. So Anzhi? ”

Stresemann was not an inexperienced young man, and he quickly got the hang of it.

"Using Allied status to restrict certain actions of the Japanese government?"

"That's right! Since they have to put on the cloak of the Allies, let it be a tool to bind them! "Chentian is very open. A negative vote can temporarily block Japan's accession to the alliance, but it is not a long-term solution.

"What does Your Majesty want ......?"

"China!"

"China?"

"Undoubtedly, that is the number one target in the Japanese government's aggressive plan!" For the ambitions of the Japanese, Tatsuten couldn't know anything better.

"We want to stop the Japanese from invading China?" Stresemann was a little puzzled, "The Japanese Foreign Minister once told me that the best way to resolve the dispute in the Far East is to jointly divide China between Germany and Russia through negotiations!" ”

"Partition? Hum! Don't be fooled by the Japanese tricks! We, the Russians, will not be able to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in the Far East in a short time, and the Japanese government will be different! ”

Chentian's resistance to this kind of partition is, to a certain extent, due to the secret of his life experience that cannot be exposed to outsiders. On the other hand, he also did not want Japan to become strong quickly by plundering China's resources, but the Japanese were far from getting the resources they hoped for, with the addition of the Korean Peninsula and Singapore and Malaysia.

"An agreement could be signed to limit the expansion of the Japanese in China as a condition for us to agree to their accession!" Stresemann made a suggestion, which is also what Chentian wants.

"We want the Japanese government to turn the finger elsewhere, further afield!"

Chen Tian remembered that not long ago, he had a private discussion with his army and navy generals, and the topic was the possibility of Germany winning in the event of a war between Germany and the United States. However, the results were not so satisfying!

Tirpitz and the Navy can guarantee defeat the existing U.S. Navy in the Atlantic, but if the war is not ended quickly, the Americans' strong economic and industrial power will provide a constant supply of power to their war machine. The admiral also mentioned that a considerable part of Britain's best ship designers have already been recruited by the Americans, and the strength of the future US Navy should not be underestimated!

Army generals, including the Minister of War and the Chief of the Army General Staff, believed that if the war was fought on the European continent, the German Army would be completely annihilated in two weeks, but now the two countries are separated by an ocean, long supply lines, unfamiliar geography and climate, and the morale effects of being far from home, the situation is very different from the current conventional pattern!

In the end, Chen Tian and his generals came to a rough conclusion: the United States is not terrible until it is fully mobilized! But once their war machine is in full swing, even if they can't defeat us, it's going to be hard for us to defeat them! If you fight a protracted battle, the result will inevitably be a lose-lose situation!

"Further afield...... Indian Ocean? Australia? ”

"No, across the ocean!" Tatsuten replied affirmatively, and after that private discussion, he had a new perspective on the future. The General Staff of the German Army, already by order of him, has begun to secretly develop a new plan for "Schlieffen", which will be an important task of the General Staff in peacetime.

"Oh God......" Stresemann's eyes widened, he had never imagined! But now his monarch told him very clearly that while the Empire's primary goal was to consolidate post-war Europe, it should take a more long-term view.

"Use all the power you can use!"

After more than an hour of detailed talks with the Kaiser, Stresemann left with a heavy heart.

The next day, the representatives of the countries participating in the treaty of alliance sat down again to discuss the specific rights and obligations of Ireland and Japan after joining the alliance. Modelled on the German-Austrian Treaty of Alliance, the delegates proposed a series of articles on the instructions of the Governments, and negotiated and discussed them. Three days later, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ireland and Japan signed the Treaty of the Eurasian Union!

At the same time, Germany, Russia, and Japan signed a separate mutual agreement as a subsidiary condition for accession. In order to ensure stability in the Far East, the future actions of the three parties in the Chinese region must be open and non-forced, and the stationing of troops in the Chinese region must not exceed the quantitative limit of 75,000 troops in Germany, 125,000 in Russia, and 82,000 in Japan, and must remain within the existing area and must not expand into non-occupied areas.

Seeing the expression of Japanese Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato when he signed this subsidiary agreement on behalf of the Japanese government, Stresemann could snicker, because this is tantamount to making the Japanese government "abstinence" in front of a "beautiful woman" at his fingertips. Although a treaty alone could not completely curb Japan's expansionist ambitions in the Far East, it at least guaranteed that the Japanese government would not invade China under the pretense of an "Allied power", which was not only due to the Kaiser's personal wishes, but also in line with Germany's established Asian strategy.

However, the Japanese government's decision to sign the treaty was not entirely due to the authority of Germany and Russia, or the loss of interest in China. Under these circumstances, the Japanese also proposed a quid pro quo for the formation of a joint fleet to jointly maintain peace in the Pacific region.

On 10 September, Germany, Japan, and Russia announced the formation of a "Pacific Combined Fleet."

On September 16, the German Pacific Fleet and the Russian Pacific Fleet set sail from Qingdao and Vladivostok respectively, and they will go to Japan to participate in the first assembly training of the Combined Fleet!