Crook's words were simply amazing, and everyone was shocked at once, no one expected that Crook said such an earth-shattering sentence, and the foreign minister was even shocked and angry, almost angry: "How is it possible, Qingdao is a fortress, we have the East Asian fleet, that is a powerful force, China is not an opponent!" ”

"That's right, we have the East Asian Fleet, and Vice Admiral Spey is also a general I admire very much, but so what, we have too few people, whether it is the East Asian Fleet, or the Qingdao Fortress, plus soldiers and prime-aged Germans, it will not exceed 3,000 people, which is ......!"

Crook didn't continue, but what he meant, everyone understood, most of the people here are soldiers, or former soldiers, and they also know the protection of the fortress, if the Qingdao fortress wants to play a full role, it needs at least one or two hundred thousand people, so it may not be able to defend it, the ability is too far from the German mainland, but even if it is one or two thousand people, it is impossible, everyone knows that at the moment when the war is about to break out, Germany is unlikely to send troops to the Far East on a large scale.

The Foreign Minister was silent, and then seemed to think carefully before he said: "Is there a threat of war from the northwest, they won't they, won't they be afraid that our Germany will settle accounts in the future?" ”

"Don't say whether the northwest will be, let's just let it be the northwest, then Qingdao will be safe, what I said about Qingdao can't be defended, the illusion is not facing the northwest, because if the northwest really goes all out, even if we don't have a war coming, we can't hold Qingdao, and they can resist the northwest of the Russian million-strong army, and their combat effectiveness is comparable to our German elite soldiers. I don't want to go to war with such an opponent thousands of miles away. ”

Crook said. The army generals present deeply felt the same way, what the Russian Army was like. They knew that when the number of people rose to the million level, even if they were a little big, they had to rely on many methods to weaken him and divide and encircle, but the northwest was a frontal confrontation, relying on real strength to defeat a million army. At this point, the Northwest Army is not weak, which has also been recognized before.

"It's not the Northwest, who is it?"

"As long as we go to war with Britain, there is a country in East Asia that will definitely do something with us, and this country has signed an entente with Britain, and it can be said in legal terms!"

Crook didn't mention anyone, but everyone present thought for a moment. It is clear that the only country that has a close relationship with Britain and has signed an alliance is Japan, which is an alliance between Britain and Japan. At this moment, not only the foreign minister was stunned for a moment, but also the other participants in the meeting. Including Tirpitz was stunned for a moment, they didn't expect it at all. Crook would suddenly mention this country, such a small country on the sea. Having just joined the club of the Great Powers, did he dare to challenge the German Empire?

But if you think about it carefully, everyone is not sure, in 1902, the signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, at that time was more to deal with Russia, but the relationship between Britain and Japan has always been relatively close, it can be said that Japan also relied on the support of Britain, only to develop step by step to today's point, with the support of Britain, he is fearless, with a small country, in the case of insufficient strength, to challenge the Qing State, challenge Russia, and all won, if Europe goes to war, If the German army and navy were to be stripped from Britain to Europe, Japan would really dare to do it.

Now in terms of the strength of East Asia, Japan is superior, some time ago, Britain even helped Japan build the battleship Kongo, which is a grade with the Lion class, using 14-inch guns super dreadnoughts, Britain even authorized Japan to buy one, the remaining three in the country, it can be said that just such a Kongo, Germany's East Asian fleet, absolutely can not resist the Japanese navy.

As for the army, not to mention, Japan and Russia fought a bloody battle in the northeast of China, and even defeated the invincible Russia with the help of the navy's victory, in that 8 years ago in the war, Japan also captured a fortress, Lushun Fortress, you must know that it is a fortress that Russia has been operating for a long time, and its strength is not worse than Qingdao, or even stronger than Qingdao, as for the defenders, it cannot be compared, in the long war, the defenders of Lushun increased to 40,000 people, 646 guns, and 62 machine guns. The navy has 38 warships, such a powerful force, it is still captured by Japan, far inferior to Qingdao in Lushun, it seems that it is easier to capture.

A country like a madman, a country with a perverted thirst for land, and a country that still dares to do everything in the face of absolute weakness, dares to use all its national fortunes in the First World War, such a country, in the navy and army, and Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay are run by Germany like a good meal, Japan does not dare to do it?

No one can be sure, but everyone knows that the possibility is very large, a question that has never been considered was actually brought up by Crook, the scene was silent for a long time, the foreign minister did not dare to speak, and the foreign secretary said tentatively: "Will Japan really attack?" ”

"Yes, they have an extraordinary thirst for the mainland, for the land?" Crook had already prepared and took out a large amount of information, all of which were submitted to them by the northwest, explaining in detail that in the past few decades, Japan's desire for the mainland and its territorial claims, from the Liaodong Peninsula to Taiwan, and after Germany occupied Jiaozhou Bay, Japan also had a lot of small actions for Jiaozhou Bay, and they didn't care too much about it before, and the possibility of connecting these together is really huge.

An enemy that I never thought of, suddenly appeared, Japan is different from the northwest, they do not have such a strong army in the northwest, and can fight a million-level war with the Russian army, but he has a strong navy, with the current fleet strength of the Japanese navy, plus the Kongo, even above the British Asian fleet, not to mention the German fleet, there is no possibility of victory in the naval battle, and there is a lack of enough soldiers in the land battle, it seems that the fall of Qingdao is almost a certainty, as long as the war starts, Given the distance between Japan and China, war may be declared in two or three days, and war will break out in ten days.

No one would have thought that this most successful colony, Germany's only sphere of influence and military port in the Far East, was really destined to be unsafe, and this kind of blow was really unacceptable.

The Foreign Minister opened his mouth, and the qiē he preached, and the one he insisted on, after such a strip of cocoon, was so ridiculous, since it was destined to be lost, it was better to take it out in exchange for some benefits, this is the way that everyone understands, and it is also the most correct idea.

Seeing that everyone did not speak, Wilhelm II sighed, but he did not expect that his most successful achievement, the matter that was directly decided back then, was destined to be lost. Noticing Wilhelm II's lost gaze, the chief of staff of the army, Moltke Jr., suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I have a number here, you may be able to take a look, it is about the northwest!" ”

What Moltke Jr. took out was a general list of the materials ordered by the army in the northwest, which also went through a certain summary, how many divisions' equipment, how many divisions' logistics, and how much total amount, which could help the German military save how much money and how much time it could save.

Wilhelm II had long known that the trade between Germany and the northwest was particularly close, but he did not expect that it would be close to this kind of process, seeing that the cumulative amount of these has reached 1.2 billion marks, involving 7 group armies, more than 40 integrated divisions and a large number of logistics supplies, it can be said that once the northwest side breaks the treaty, Germany's war preparedness will pay a huge price.

"Why order so many things in China." Wilhelm II asked, somewhat puzzled.

Moltke smiled bitterly, if there is a choice, he doesn't want to, the key is that the northwest is extremely cost-effective, even if it is the equipment of the German army, entrusted to the northwest production, even if it is added freight, it is a little cheaper than the domestic one, although this is not much, but it is equivalent to a real reduction in consumption, and the most important thing is that this can save a lot of production capacity.

Don't underestimate this, money can never be turned into strength and wealth, and at the juncture of war, only armaments, materials and weapons are the real strength. Between the Northwest and Germany, it is not only in and out, many German machine tools, industrial products, are needed in the Northwest, compared with the two, it is equivalent to Germany exports a large number of industrial products, and the Northwest exports a large number of guns, ammunition, munitions and military supplies, under the exchange between the two sides, the deficit is very small, and Germany is relatively easy to accept, which is gradually expanded.

The Army General Staff has long made an article on this issue, and now it is taken out and proved with detailed evidence that this exchange is necessary for Germany, because the emergence of the northwest, under the premise of the same investment of manpower and material resources, Germany's war readiness material reserves and armament speed have increased by at least 15% compared with the previous estimate, which is greatly conducive to the cohesion of Germany's strength.

Wilhelm II was taken aback, he didn't expect that China was already important to this kind of process, and his heart had already made a tilt, for Germany, the key was to win the next war, if Britain was defeated, everything would be in vain, if Germany could defeat Britain, in addition to China, there were a large number of colonies and military ports for Germany to choose.

Crook used evidence to prove that Qingdao was destined to be unkept, and to use a doomed thing to make enemies of his close allies, and that in the past few years, the northwest could have made great contributions and help to Germany. And what Moltke Jr. has come up with, but it is another aspect, with definite evidence, the important role of the northwest for Germany now, aside from the direct help from the military, in terms of economy and war readiness, the northwest also has an important role for Germany, which seems to be two huge weights, so that the balance begins to tilt.

Wilhelm II pondered for a long time, weighed the pros and cons, and finally said with difficulty: "You can negotiate with the northwest on the Shandong issue!" (To be continued......)