Just when the Imperial Chinese Navy was actively developing the destroyer program, a major event occurred in Europe that shocked the whole world.

At the end of 1878, in order to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the German Empire and the Chinese Empire, Bismarck personally held a telephone conference with the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo.

The meeting lasted six hours, and after Bismarck's proposal was approved by Li Weiguo, Li Hua, the plenipotentiary of the Chinese Empire in Berlin, signed the Sino-German World Railway Plan with the German Empire.

According to this plan, the Chinese Empire was to build a railway from the capital of the Chinese Empire to Basra on the Persian Gulf coast of the Persian Empire by the year 3990 (1890). At the same time, the German Empire will also build a direct railway from Berlin, the capital of Germany, to Basra by 1890, and eventually the railway between China and Germany will be connected in Basra.

This is a railway that integrates the military, political and economic core interests of China and Germany, and the railway spans the entire Eurasian continent, with a total length of 24,788 kilometers and passes through ten countries in between.

Among them, the Chinese Empire built the longest railway, but only needed to reach an agreement with Aiukhan, the Persian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire to build the railway from Beijing to Baghdad, while the German Empire, although the railway built was shorter, it needed to negotiate with seven other countries, and the negotiations were relatively complicated.

At this time, the Chinese Empire had completed the fifth phase of the railway construction plan, and the total length of the country's railways reached 130,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. The Meili Railroad was the second largest in the world, reaching 102,000 kilometers in 1870, but due to the Civil War, a large number of railways were damaged, and by 1879 only 4,000 kilometers had been added, to 106,000 kilometers. The third largest in the world was the German Empire, which reached 34,000 kilometers in 1879, followed by France with 29,000 kilometers, the Russian Empire with 18,000 kilometers, and Britain with 17,000 kilometers.

The total length of railways between Britain and France has not increased in ten years, but has decreased massively, all because of the war relationship. The British Empire suffered a crushing defeat in the Fifth Sino-British War, losing Australia, Malaya and Bangladesh, and losing more than 10,000 kilometers of railways to the total length of railways in the Chinese Empire. France suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, losing a large number of railways from Alsace and Lorraine, which were incorporated into the total railway mileage of the German Empire.

The length of the railways in the Russian Empire increased the fastest, because the Russian Empire built the Trans-Siberian Railway with the intention of opening up the Asian continental shelf to the Far East and seize the Primorsky Territory occupied by the Chinese Empire.

However, compared with the first Chinese Empire and the second Confederate State of America, both of these countries exceeded the 100,000-kilometer mark, and the total railway mileage of the Tsarist Russian Empire was not even a fraction of that of the Chinese Empire, and the gap was huge.

In the eyes of the people of the world, the gap between the railways of the Chinese Empire and the Confederate States of America is not very large, but only insiders know that the gap is huge.

You must know that the Confederate States of America is located on the American continent, most of which is plains, and the railroad is easy to build. The Chinese Empire is different, the terrain is complex, there are various terrains, especially in the central and western regions, the mountains are dangerous, there is Sichuan where the Shu Road is difficult to reach the blue sky, and the western Xinjiang, which is known as the roof of the world, and the northern Xinjiang, which is covered with snow all year round, and the difficulty of railway construction is ten times higher than that of the United States. Even in this case, the total length of railways in the Chinese Empire still exceeds that of the United States by tens of thousands of kilometers, which shows that the Chinese Empire is strong in terms of railways.

At the same time, although the railway area of the United States has reached 100,000 kilometers, it has not achieved national coverage, especially in the southern states of the United States, there are no railways at all, and the national railway coverage rate has only reached 45%. On the other hand, in the Chinese Empire, the railway coverage rate has reached 80%, and as long as the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Far East Railway are opened, the goal of connecting all parts of the country to railways will be completely realized.

The reason why the Chinese Empire and the German Empire jointly built the world railway was that, on the one hand, considering the political factors of the Sino-German strategic alliance, wherever the railway went, it would be the sphere of influence of the Chinese Empire and the German Empire to increase global influence. On the other hand, the Chinese Empire is now the world's largest economy with the world's largest GDP, while the German Empire is now Europe's largest economy with the largest GDP in Europe and the world's third. The Sino-German economic alliance will achieve 75% of the world's total GDP, which is the economic domination of the world.

The last aspect is military infiltration, once the Sino-German railway is built, connecting the entire Asian continent, from the easternmost part of Asia to the westernmost part of Europe, whether it is military projection or material supply, the Chinese and German armies support each other, and militarily dominate the Eurasian continent.

Therefore, as soon as this grand plan was proposed, Li Weiguo immediately agreed, and the countries of the world, especially Britain and France, immediately felt a great threat.

The British Empire had just been beaten by the Chinese Empire, so naturally it did not have the courage to protest to the Chinese Empire, and the Second French Empire was still counting on the Chinese Empire to help France build the strongest navy in Europe, and it did not dare to touch the mold on the side of the Chinese Empire.

Therefore, the British Empire and the French Empire aimed their artillery at the German Empire, putting pressure and protesting against Wilhelm I.

The Russian Empire also joined the ranks, as the German Empire was to help the Ottoman Empire by building a railway through Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Now that Russia and Turkey are engaged in the ninth war, it is clear that they do not want Germany and Turkey to get closer.

In the face of the strong intervention of Britain, France and Russia, the German Empire had a tough attitude and did not care about the three countries at all.

At this time, the German Empire had a strong army, and the navy had eight ironclad ships and eight dome cruisers that the Chinese Empire helped build, which was stronger than the British Empire's fleet in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, so the British protest did not work.

As for France, although the French Navy had more than a dozen ironclad ships, the grade was too low to threaten the German Navy at all. And the French Army has long been frightened by the German Army, and it does not dare to be arrogant.

Finally, there was the Tsarist Empire, Germany and Russia had an insurance treaty and non-aggression against each other, and Bismarck was another big fool, and Tsarist Russia soon believed that Germany had no hostility towards Russia. Moreover, before the 20th century, most of the national industry and military technology of the Tsarist Russian Empire came almost exclusively from the help of Germany, and it did not dare to offend Germany.

As a result, the so-called interference of Britain, France and Russia did not work at all, and the German Empire soon signed an agreement with the Ottoman Empire, and Germany set up the Asia Minor Company to be responsible for the construction of the Berlin-Constantinople railway.

In contrast to the international pressure borne by Germany, the Chinese Empire was simple, bypassing the Tibetan Plateau and building directly from the railway node in Ili Prefecture to the Aiukhan border. Ai Wuhan also paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty until 1840, and was secretly divided between the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but neither the Russian Empire nor the British Empire announced the annexation of Ai Wuhan, thus giving the Chinese Empire an excuse.

When the envoys of the Chinese Empire negotiated with the Great Khan of Aiukhan, although the British and Russians exerted pressure, the effect was very bad. The British lacked confidence, after losing the Fifth Sino-British War, the entire Himalayas became the Chinese Empire, and the Chinese Imperial Army occupied the commanding heights, directly overlooking the entire Indian continent. Moreover, the treaty stipulates that 200 kilometers of the southern foothills of the Himalayas are demilitarized zones, which is the most painful part of the British eggs, and if the Chinese Empire forcibly builds railways, the British will not be able to stop it at all, unless there is another war.

Obviously, the British do not have that courage now.

As for the Tsarist Empire, it is also quite painful, the Russian army in Central Asia is still at war with the Ottoman Empire, and finally saved some money and planned to go to war with the Chinese Empire, but it turned out to be all involved in the Russian-Turkish war, the sore Tsar wanted to announce the annexation of Aiukhan, but the British did not agree, and the Chinese Empire did not agree, and in the face of the strong national and military strength of the Chinese Empire, the Tsar could only protest twice.

The final hurdle is the Persian Empire, a weakened empire corrupted to the roots, and the Chinese Empire can be coerced by force or brought to its knees by economic means.

With the Silk Road as a bargaining chip, the Chinese Empire and the Persian Empire bargained repeatedly, and finally a large number of Persian officials received huge bribes, and the Chinese Empire successfully won the right to build and operate railways in Persia.

The Persian Gulf has the oil resources urgently needed by the Chinese Empire, and now the world's automobile industry is booming, and the use of internal combustion engines is prevalent all over the world, which has also accelerated the plundering of oil resources by European and American countries.

Five years ago, petroleum smelting was only the preserve of the Chinese Empire, but now countries in Europe and the United States have successively established petroleum smelting plants, which can also produce their own gasoline and diesel.

In this way, the oil of the Persian Gulf has become fat in the eyes of the great powers of various countries. Although the Chinese Empire had long purchased a large amount of land in the Persian Gulf to extract oil, the British had an advantage in this region, seizing a large amount of land to extract oil, and fighting an oil price war with the Chinese Empire and a price war for refined oil.

This is another oil war between China and Britain, and there is no gunpowder, it is all going on in secret.

However, the British were very painful, thinking that the blockade of the Persian Gulf and the control of oil could deal a heavy blow to the oil industry and automobile manufacturing industry of the Chinese Empire, but they found that they did not know when the Dutch East Indies also produced a large amount of oil.

The Chinese Empire could obtain enough oil from the Dutch East Indies, and it was cheap, the distance was short, and the surrounding waters were under the control of the Imperial Chinese Navy, which was very safe.

The British's plan to blockade the Persian Gulf and control the oil lines of communication of the Chinese Empire broke the city in an instant!

This Nima immediately made the British angry half to death, and found the Dutch to scold him.

The Dutch were also shot while lying down, screaming and screaming, this is not our fault, if we don't provide oil to the Chinese Empire, they will destroy us in minutes!

Li Weiguo's foresight prevented the Chinese Empire from being cut off by the British Empire's oil supply lines, and after learning of this, the civil and military officials of the empire admired Li Weiguo even more.

This is not a man, this is a god! Do you dare to worship the statue of Li Weiguo at home?

Politically speaking, once China and Germany build the Eurasian World Railway, it will affect the entire Eurasian political pattern, and the influence of the Chinese Empire will enter Europe effortlessly. Economically, once the Eurasian railway is completed, the volume of trade will definitely increase dramatically, and the countries of Central, West Asia, southern Europe, and Western Europe will benefit from the influence of the Chinese Empire. And the Suez Canal, which the British Empire finally built, was instantly halved in value, and wanted to levy a high river crossing fee? Dream about it, it's better for people not to take your Suez Canal, it's cheaper and more convenient to take the Sino-German World Railway directly. If we look at the military impact, once Germany provokes a war in Europe, once the army of the Chinese Empire enters the war, it will be able to enter Europe from Asia in a month and a half.

The British were so sore to think about it that they would never allow the railway to be built.

Historically, Britain and France launched World War I the day after signing the Baghdad Railway Agreement with Germany, which shows that the British and French attached great importance to the construction of the Baghdad Railway by Germany at that time, and even did not hesitate to start the First World War. Today, the Baghdad Railway built by the Germans is part of the world's railways, bringing in the Chinese Empire, which shows that the threat to Britain and France has reached an unprecedented level.

Britain and France negotiated in secret, and soon reached an agreement that if they could not stop the construction of the world railway, they would completely destroy it before it was built, and even go to war.

As a result, the construction of this world-class railway by China and Germany has virtually buried the hidden danger of world war.

The Germans don't know about this, but Li Weiguo, who is far away in the Forbidden City, knows it very well.

Planting a powder keg for the world war is exactly what Li Weiguo likes to do the most.

If a major war breaks out in Europe, the overall strength of the Western powers will not be weakened, and the Chinese Empire will have to waste more time if it wants to dominate the world.

Historically, the United States was the world's largest in terms of economic strength and military strength before World War I, but the United States is still not the world hegemon, because Europe's heritage is very strong, and this is the reason why the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse. Therefore, it was not until the United States properly experienced two world wars that it completely tossed away the heritage of European countries, and then became the world hegemon.

It can be seen from this that if you want to become a world hegemon, you must first toss Europe down.

While Li Weiguo is giving Europe eye drops, he is also actively preparing. The country's last two virgin lands, the Roof of the World and the Far East, must be completed as soon as possible.

The fifth Sino-British Yapian War Western Xinjiang Campaign, the Chinese Empire is to suffer a big loss from the West Xinjiang Railway, from the beginning of the war to the present three years have passed, under the continuous urging and supervision of Li Weiguo and the military, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has made rapid progress, originally from the Jianyuan 3967 (1867) to build, it is planned to take 20 years to open the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and now there is good news ahead, the most difficult to open the wind volcanic permafrost tunnel has been opened, which means that the permafrost of up to 550 kilometers will be completed in the next three years, It is expected to be opened to traffic in 3980 (1880) and will be completed 7 years ahead of schedule.

Once the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is opened, the Chinese Empire will no longer have to worry about logistical supplies on the western frontier.

As for the Far Eastern Railway, although it is also a railway project ordered by Li Weiguo, it is not easy to build because the Far East also has a large area of frozen soil, and the construction period has reached 20 years. However, there was no war in the Far East for many years, and the population of the Chinese Empire in the Far East was very small, so the military did not need to rush to build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Of course, unless the Russian Empire or Canada invaded the Far East militarily, the Chinese Imperial Military only needed to build the Far Eastern Railway step by step. (To be continued.) )