The tense year 3985, that is, 1885 AD, passed.

At the same time, the media around the world breathed a sigh of relief, according to the fate of China and Britain fighting every five years, ten years have passed since the last Sino-British war.

In the last five years, when the whole world thought that China and Britain were about to go to war, the British Empire unexpectedly chose to remain silent. This is directly related to the fact that the military power of the British Empire was severely destroyed in the last war, and it will take time to recover.

Now, the second five years have passed, and just when the whole world believes that war between China and Britain is inevitable, the British Empire has chosen a policy of non-resistance, exchanging space for time, and exchanging the huge British Empire colonies for respite.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the British, American, and Japanese Triple Alliance. If it were only the British Empire itself against the Chinese Empire, then the outbreak of war was inevitable. However, after the Triple Alliance of Britain, the United States and Japan, especially the American imperialism, the total economic volume was huge, and the industrial strength surpassed that of the British Empire, second only to the Chinese Empire. The combined economic aggregates of Britain, the United States and Japan are almost the same as those of the Chinese Empire, so the possibility of war breaking out becomes smaller, because neither side will gamble, and the bigger the business, the more it cannot afford to lose, which is an eternal law. Neither side will easily detonate a full-scale war until it is completely certain.

To this end, the Chinese Empire made small fights, gradually encroaching on the overseas colonies of the British Empire, and squeezing the living space of the British, American, and Japanese Triple Alliance.

In the face of such a small move, the British, American, and Japanese Triple Alliance can only stare dryly, as long as it is not ready to start a full-scale war with the Chinese Empire, it has to be endured.

However, an interview by Zhang Juzuo, an authoritative military expert from the Chinese Empire, pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of this situation, and hit the nail on the head.

"Military alliances help maintain a delicate balance between great powers and help prevent the outbreak of wars at a small frequency, which is a benefit to the whole world. Mutual compromise between major powers will create a peaceful and prosperous scene in a short period of time. But this is an illusion, a short-lived period of peace and prosperity. ”

"In order to obtain a short-term peace, major powers have to sacrifice some small interests. For example, the British Empire had to abandon the islands of Papua, the Solomon Islands and the islands of New Zealand in order to gain strategic respite. In order to break free from the quagmire of the Cuban battlefield, the United States transferred the island of Cuba to the Chinese Empire, which actually suffered a loss. Small interests similar to losses have been exchanged for peace in a short period of time, but with the continuous accumulation of these small interests and the accumulation of contradictions, after ten or twenty years, they will break out in a concentrated manner, and once the next war breaks out, it will be unprecedented and will be a great catastrophe in the history of mankind. ”

The contents of this interview were published on the front page of the Central Daily, and attracted great attention and attention from military experts from all over the world.

Even Bismarck, the iron-blooded chancellor of the German Empire, openly praised Zhang's views, saying that the peoples of all countries should cherish the short-term peace and prosperity in front of them.

Napoleon III, the Second Emperor of the French Empire, also took the opportunity to show his face in front of the whole world, saying that the current large-scale arms race between the navies and armies of all countries in the world will break out into a tragic war in the future, which will become a catastrophe for mankind, and he hoped that all countries will pay attention to it. Emperor Napoleon III proposed to convene an international conference in which heads of state would come together to negotiate an end to the arms race and avoid war.

People all over the world were amazed by Napoleon III's remarks, how could the former militants suddenly turn around and talk about peace? Could it be Alzheimer's disease?

At this time, Napoleon III, who was already in his seventies, was not captured and then exiled to England as in history, and finally died of illness in England. He was in the Palace of Versailles, enjoying the special medicine provided by the Chinese Empire and saving his life.

But he did not make this statement because he was old, in fact Napoleon III was very sad, and he was eager to start a war to seize Alsace and Lorraine, which were occupied by the German Empire. But it is a pity that the German Empire is developing too fast, and its economic aggregate is close to that of the British Empire, becoming the second in Europe, or it will not be long before it becomes the first in Europe.

The French Empire was not only overtaken by the German Empire economically, but also militarily. The German Empire had the help of the Chinese Empire behind it, and its military power developed rapidly, although it was not less pitted by the Chinese Empire, but compared to France, the military strength was beyond the reach of the French Empire.

This is prominently manifested in the German Empire's High Seas Fleet, with the help of the Chinese Empire, the German Imperial Navy started from scratch, in just a dozen years, it built a perfect naval industrial system, the Chinese Empire helped build more than 30 warships of various types, and helped the German Imperial Navy to form the skeleton of the High Seas Fleet, and then the German Imperial Navy built all kinds of warships on its own, and quickly grew the High Seas Fleet.

The French Imperial Navy was very sad, and the economic difficulties led to the very slow development of the French Imperial Navy, especially after the French Emperor Napoleon III ordered the large-scale construction of the former Dreadnought-class battleships, as a result, the Chinese Empire's Dreadnought-class battleships were born, making a large number of former Dreadnought battleships of the French Empire obsolete overnight and became scrap metal.

Now, the Chinese Empire has introduced another battle cruiser, which has made dozens of armored cruisers of the French Empire obsolete.

For the French Imperial Navy, these two blows caused them huge losses.

So, Napoleon III's real purpose was to hope that the countries would stop the naval arms race and give the French Empire a breather.

However, the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

After hearing the appeal of Emperor Napoleon III, all the major powers of the world disdained it, except for a few European countries with good relations with France.

Especially in the German Empire, Kaiser Wilhelm I immediately stood up to satirize the French Emperor Napoleon III.

"If the French Empire reduces its army to its pre-1868 size, we will believe the Emperor!"

In 1868, on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War, the French Empire had a standing army of only 250,000 men, compared with 700,000 in the German Empire. Therefore, the Franco-Prussian War broke out suddenly, and the French Empire suffered a great loss and lost the war.

Since then, the French Empire has accelerated the expansion of the compulsory military service system, and by 1885 the Standing Army of the French Empire had reached 1.5 million men, making it the largest standing army in Europe. The German Empire, on the other hand, was unable to retain a standing army of 1.5 million like France, and could only maintain a standing army of 1 million at most.

Therefore, in terms of the size of the army, the French Empire is known as the first in Europe, the second in the world, second only to the world's first Chinese Empire, since the Sino-British War in 1875, the standing army size has increased from one million to the current two million, known as the strongest in the world.

Hearing Kaiser Wilhelm I's shout from the air, Emperor Napoleon III was so angry that he almost turned his back on it.

Nowadays, the only enemy of the French Empire is the German Empire, as well as the lackey Austria-Hungary, the two sides border, and the land war is actually the key to the real victory or defeat, so although the French Navy is currently inferior to the German Navy, it is not afraid of the German Empire, relying on the strong army size of the French Empire.

If the army was reduced to the level it had been before 1868, it would have been destroyed by the German Empire in less than a month.

"If the Kaiser had brought both the army and navy to the level of pre-1800, the French Empire would no longer have pursued Alsace and Lorraine."

Napoleon III was even more ruthless and directly wanted to turn the German Empire into the Duchy of Prussia.

The German and French emperors scolded each other in the air, each more treacherous than the other, and suddenly made the Europeans understand one thing, that is, the contradictions between Germany and France are irreconcilable, and a tragic war will inevitably break out in the future, until one side is completely defeated.

"You **** go!"

Wilhelm I was very temperamental, and was easily provoked by the French emperor, so he called Bismarck.

"How's the negotiations with the Chinese Empire?"

Bismarck replied: "It's still going on!" The Chinese Empire was very cautious about the export of dreadnought-class battleships! ”

"Just be very cautious! Prove that that's a killer technology! We have to get it, it's about the Empire's plans for future world hegemony! ”

Wilhelm I patted Bismarck on the shoulder and said heavily: "Please! ”

Bismarck was immediately moved: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will go all out to obtain the core technology of the Chinese Imperial Dreadnought as soon as possible!" ”

Bismarck undertook this task, actively carried it out, and sent the highest military representative to visit China.

Leonhardt? Feng? Count Leonhard Grafvon Blumenthal (1810-1900), the newly promoted German Imperial Field Marshal, was the head of the military delegation to China. He was accompanied by representatives of dozens of giant companies from the German Empire.

Such a high-level delegation is rare in the world, covering almost all areas of the German Empire.

The various powers were highly concerned about this matter, and kept a close eye on Count Tal and his party.

At this time, the eastern section of the World Railway, which was jointly built by China and Germany, that is, the railway from Beijing to Baghdad built by the Chinese Empire, had been fully completed. Because the British Empire was in a weak position in the game with the Chinese Empire, the British Empire's sphere of influence eventually withdrew from the northern part of the Persian Empire, allowing the Chinese Empire's railway to pass through the northern part of the Persian Empire and reach the Persian Gulf coast in Baghdad.

However, the progress of the construction of the western section of the world's railway, the German Empire was responsible for the construction of the progress was relatively slow, mainly due to the joint intervention of the British Empire and France, which led to the Germans to start and stop the construction of the railway, and by the end of 1885, it was still not completed, and a large number of robbers along the line were infested, often destroying the tracks and shooting German workers.

This time, the delegation of Count Taal traveled to the Chinese Empire, and if it took the sea route, it would be safer to have a warship escort, but the sea route was too long.

It would take half a year to travel back and forth, and with the uncertain time of negotiations with the Chinese Empire, with the conservative attitude of the Chinese Empire towards the Dreadnought-class battleships, I am afraid it will take some time.

For the German Empire, they could not afford to wait, because with the advent of the second five years, war did not break out between China and Britain as expected. The British Empire made concessions to the Chinese Empire step by step, and a large number of colonies cheapened the Chinese Empire for nothing, which made the German Empire very unhappy. I thought that while the Chinese Empire and the British Empire were at war, the German Empire grabbed the colonies of the British Empire, but now it is in vain. The German Empire had to rely on its own strength to compete with the British Empire for colonies in Africa, and the need for naval power was imminent.

At the same time, the German Empire had Bismarck, a shrewd prime minister, and seeing that the Chinese Empire was reluctant to build dreadnought battleships for the German Navy, there must be something greasy in this, which must be the killer technology of the Chinese Empire. Therefore, Germany must get this technology as soon as possible.

This time, the Count of Tárr, with the hope of Germany, prepared many gifts for the Chinese Empire. He was mentally prepared to be slaughtered by the Chinese Empire, so he brought the giants of various industries of the German Empire and prepared to go to the Chinese Empire to purchase on a large scale, in fact, to send money to the Chinese Empire, hoping that the Chinese Empire would take care of the German Empire as soon as it was happy.

With this in mind, Count Tal and his delegation took the airship of the Chinese Imperial Tourism Company and flew directly from Berlin to Baghdad, and then took the World Railway through the western region of more than 10 million square kilometers of the Chinese Empire, and finally reached the capital Beijing.

At Beijing Railway Station, the German Imperial special train slowly stopped.

In order to show the friendship of the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire sent the second prince and Admiral Lin Jiyun to greet Count Taal and his party.

The second prince has just been named the king of Yan, serving as the left servant of the household department of the Chinese Empire and the deputy minister of the Du Branch, and this time the delegation of the German Empire is here to "spend money", so the second prince is very suitable for both his identity and position.

As for Lin Jiyun, although he is only a general, no one in the Chinese Empire has been canonized as a marshal, so the general is the highest military rank, and it is equivalent to the German Imperial Marshal Count Tal.

The principle of reciprocity must be adopted in the selection of diplomatic personnel. If the official rank is higher than the other side, it is to elevate the other party, which is generally the way for a small country to meet a large country. If the official rank is lower than the other party, it is to look down on the other party, and it is generally the way for a strong country to meet a weak country.

The Chinese Empire sent a prince and admiral to greet the German delegation, which was enough to give the German Empire face.

Of course, it's the power of money. If a delegation of the German Empire wanted to visit China, it had to greet the Chinese Empire in advance and obtain permission from the Chinese Empire before they could visit. There is a lot of knowledge in this, and the important one is that the purpose of the German delegation's visit to China must be communicated to the Chinese Empire. Thus, the Chinese Empire knew their purpose before the Taal delegation arrived at the Chinese Empire.

At least a huge order of 100 million yuan must be won, which is the real reason for the second prince to greet him personally.

"It is worthy of His Royal Highness King Yan, at a young age, he can hold an important position in the household department. I heard that the prince fought pirates in the Strait of Malacca, and his achievements were impressive! ”

Wowhaha!

The second prince was very happy in his heart, that time in Malacca to fight pirates, the three royal brothers fought wits and courage. Especially when they scrambled to sink the pirate warship, it directly made the British want to cry without tears, and later people all over the world knew how the three princes fought pirates at that time, and they became "celebrities" in the world for a while.

"Don't dare to be! As the marshal of the German Empire, Count Tal has many things worth learning from! If you have time, I hope you will give me advice! ”

The two praised each other and happily completed the welcoming ceremony.

The capital railway station was built on the outskirts because the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo was reluctant to tear down the city gates. You must know that in Beijing in the 21st century, most of the famous city gates and walls have been demolished, which is a serious trampling on history and culture and disrespect.

Now that Li Weiguo is the emperor, it is obvious that this kind of thing will not be allowed to happen, and the railway station can only be built on the outskirts of the city.

Therefore, the distance from the train station to the Imperial Hotel is relatively far.

However, the Chinese Empire has a special welcome convoy, the world's top and most luxurious Zhonghua brand sedan, carrying Tal and his party on the highway. There is a motorcycle team on the front and back, and the red and blue warning lights are flashing alternately, which is quite magnificent, quite a pull of the wind!

Sitting on the comfortable sofa in the car, Count Tal and other members of the German delegation were surprised all the way, this kind of limousine, in Germany, even Kaiser Wilhelm I had never sat in it, and even the rich people in the delegation could not afford it.

"This time, we must buy such a luxury Zhonghua brand car to return to China, so that the bosses of those competing companies will be envious and jealous!" A certain big businessman of the German Empire said excitedly, stroking everything in the car, as infatuated as the woman who touched him.

"It's in the city! Look outside! It's so prosperous! ”

"Wow, there are high-rise buildings on both sides of the road, one is taller than the other, the lowest is six or seven floors, and the highest row of buildings is probably fifty or sixty floors!"

"Look at the sign above, it's the Beiyang Weapons Group! The world's top 500 companies rank first, that must be their main building, and they are really rich! ”

"It is said that the world's tallest building is also in Beijing, with 88 floors!"

"That must be the Imperial Bank of the Chinese Empire! It is the richest bank in the world, with gold reserves of up to 8,000 tons, and the world's financial center is located in Beijing, holding a quarter of the world's financial wealth! ”

"Ah, what an eye-opener, have you noticed! Every time you pass through an intersection, there are traffic lights all around! Vehicles are only allowed to drive when the light is green! ”

"I've seen it a long time ago! Tell you, how prosperous the Chinese Empire is, you don't need to look at high-rise buildings, just look at the number of vehicles and pedestrians on the streets! In our own Berlin, the most prosperous city in the Empire, an average of 1,000 people own a car! And in the Chinese Empire, you will see that there are more cars than people here! ”

There are more cars than people, which is enough to show the economic prosperity of the Chinese Empire, the affluence of the people's life, and the powerful industrial strength.

"I thought that the German Empire was already very strong, but when I came to the Chinese Empire, I realized that the Chinese Empire was really powerful, and it was simply boundless!"

Tarton said with emotion, this time he came to the Chinese Empire, and he had just entered the city, which had already opened his eyes. Thinking about the next task, he suddenly felt a little apprehensive, wondering if the investment projects and funds he brought could enter the eyes of the Chinese Empire, what if the Chinese Empire thought the Germans were stingy?

With apprehension, Tal moved into the Imperial Hotel.

According to the itinerary, he will be arranged to meet the Emperor of the Chinese Empire tomorrow. (To be continued.) )