On September 25, 1898, at the University of Berlin, Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II invited ministers from 27 countries, including the Chinese minister Wang Li, to attend the European University of Science of the Year held here on the same day.

Wang Li, the minister to Germany, as the first generation of diplomats of the new China who came out of Mawei, is well aware of the importance of the scientific spirit to the country, and almost all of their young people have turned from technical posts to walk on the road of serving the country, and the rise of the Nanyang system has thoroughly embodied the truth that backwardness will be beaten, and he is walking on the stage of showing the most cutting-edge science and technology in Europe today, in addition to caring about the scientific achievements of the whole Europe, more importantly, the German side has a profound meaning to allow four Chinese students to participate in the entire scientific conference.

With the harmonious diplomatic relations between China and Germany in recent years, the number of students from China at this university has also surged, before 1885, there were only two students from Guangzhou University at the University of Berlin, and now there are more than 90, and the Chinese students who have the opportunity to participate in the conference are all elites who have won the trust of their mentors, of course, these young students in their early twenties do not have cutting-edge research results, but this experience is enough to benefit them a lot.

Before the meeting, Wang Li was very happy to have a relaxed conversation with four Chinese students who were no more than 24 years old, three of whom were from Nanyang University and one from Aurora University in Shanghai. I hope to return to China to establish my own physics research laboratory.

Let Wang Li sigh at the same time as young people grow up. Unexpectedly, it was. The circumnavigation of the Chinese Grand Fleet, which has recently sparked a frenzy of discussion throughout Germany, has not become a hot topic of discussion among these young people at all, but an article by an engineer named Miller published in the London electronic magazine "Analog Engineers and Electricians" two months ago for the first time announced the technology of radio transceiver and receivership.

In fact, radio technology is not news to Wang Li at all, the Navy has long put this technology into practical use, and. China's radio technology was also secretly exported to Germany, and although it was only an early stage of technology, it was a joy for the German side...... However, when it came to the news from the European academic field, he immediately realized the great value of it, and it was clear that radio technology would soon enter a stage of comprehensive development, rather than a domestic monopoly.

Just when the European Science Congress was being held in an orderly manner, Wang Li unexpectedly received news from two high-ranking German military officers, and Kaiser Wilhelm II hoped to hold talks with him immediately...... This was somewhat surprising to him, but he immediately thought of the earlier telegram exchange between China and Germany.

Wait to see Kaiser Wilhelm II in the secret living room. To Wang Li's surprise, German Prime Minister Prince Hohenlohr and Foreign Minister Schleier were also there. Although the news they brought was a bit sudden, it was also in Wang Li's expectations, and it was really about the Transvaal Republic!

When the news of the formation of a federal conference between the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State reached Berlin on September 25, Prime Minister Hohenlore was so surprised that he summoned Foreign Secretary Schleier, who was surprised that China's warning had come true so quickly, so he immediately came to meet with Wilhelm II, who was attending the annual scientific conference at the University of Berlin on the same day.

It just so happened that Wang Li was also at the venue that day, and Wilhelm II naturally wanted to get China's position for the first time, and after briefly introducing Germany, after receiving the news, Foreign Minister Schleier first put Germany's worries on the table, "Ambassador Wang, your country's warning to the Transvaal, although we have already informed Chancellor Kruger, the British actions in the Cape Town colony still inspire great contradictions today!" ”

Wang Li thought about it for a moment, and immediately asked very sternly: "Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, regarding the Transvaal, Beijing has already made an overall judgment, and the attitude of the German Empire actually determines the fate of the Transvaal...... And the most critical issue in this is probably not the fighting power of the Boers, but the relationship between the Boers and the British...... As far as we know, the Boers are still bewildered by the question of suzerainty left over from the First Boer War. ”

According to the news from Beijing, Wang Li naturally knew the cause and effect of the incident, and the word games played by the British in the first Boer War obviously made the Boers not shallow, and even used this as a basis to deny the independent status of the Transvaal and the Orange Autonomous Region.

However, the development of events now is obviously beyond Beijing's expectations, and the second Boer War known to Qin Kai was largely triggered by the Transvaal Republic's vigorous and even somewhat excessive protection of national interests, and the Chancellor Kruger was obviously also a fervent expansionist supporter, but it was the most powerful colonial empire of the era that stood in the way of the Boers.

Although the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Autonomous State, which have no access to the sea at all, do not need to guard against the powerful sea power of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, but similarly, the Transvaal has also lost the means to obtain important supplies from the sea, but what makes Wang Li and the country equally worried is that the industrial strength of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Autonomous State is almost zero, and once the war breaks out, how can the Boers with no industrial base last against the British!

Kaiser Wilhelm II obviously understood what Wang Li meant, but he obviously had no intention of making a decision immediately, and Prime Minister Hohenlore on the side looked at the powerful emperor and immediately picked up the topic, "Ambassador Wang, I think your judgment also represents Beijing's judgment!" ”

Speaking of this, he immediately received an affirmative response from Wang Li, and Prime Minister Hohenlore immediately nodded, oh, and then continued: "Ambassador Wang, according to the inference of the German Army Staff on the situation in the Transvaal, unless Britain can mobilize more than 100,000 troops, it is possible to achieve military superiority over the Boers, between the complexity of the strategic terrain of the Transvaal and Orange, and our general believes that the war between the two sides will be a small-scale conflict, and it will be difficult to turn into a full-scale war!" ”

As soon as Wang Li heard Prime Minister Hohenlore's reasoning, he immediately realized that the German government had obviously studied the possibility of a conflict in the Transvaal, and although the Transvaal's gold and diamond veins were extremely profitable, fighting from the land deep into the interior of Africa, where the terrain was complicated, and in the absence of sufficient supply lines and railways, the huge logistical supply alone was enough to drag down the army.

The German Army Staff obviously also conducted an in-depth study of the Boer War, from the Cape Town coastline into the interior of the Cape Town colony in a straight line of more than 300 kilometers, and then 400 kilometers north to complete the attack on the Transvaal and Orange Autonomous Region, if in Europe, with nearly 30,000 kilometers of railways, this may not be an expedition, but that is in Africa, a small number of railways are only monorail lines, to support more than 100,000 troops, the danger of this, any general can deeply feel.

Wang Li realized that the Germans obviously did not have a sufficient understanding of the war, and may have underestimated the determination of the British Empire to go to war, and also underestimated the willingness of the Boers to go to war......

After Wang Li left, Prime Minister Hohenlore immediately told Wilhelm II that he would seek their position on the Boer issue from London to ensure that Germany could make the right judgment, and Kaiser Wilhelm II was obviously aware of the mystery of the changes in Africa, and he immediately asked Schleier to maintain contact with China in the Far East to ensure that the information provided by the Chinese could be known to him as soon as possible.

On October 1st, when the Chinese Pacific Fleet, accompanied by the battleship Prestige of the British Royal Navy, sailed into the Plymouth Naval Base and began a goodwill visit to the Royal Navy of the British Empire in accordance with the prior agreement, Lord Fisher, the First Admiral of the British Empire, and the best warship designer of the Empire, William Fisher. Sir White appeared in harbor to personally greet this sea force from the Far East.

Xu Shoushan did not learn of the British arrangements until he landed, but he met twice with Fisher, who was then commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, in Beijing and Tianjin, and this was not the first meeting, and among the admirals who accompanied Fisher on the same day, he also met Rear Admiral Shalman, who was now commander of the Far East Fleet, and Rear Admiral Jericho, who had visited the South Sea Naval Division.

As far as the Chinese fleet is concerned, although it has defeated this strong opponent in the Far East, in fact, there are many ambiguities in the understanding of the British Navy, and he does not mind taking this opportunity to deepen his understanding...... As for what the British want to steal from it, as long as they close the fire control command room on a few new battleships, the other party will not see the reason at all!

In fact, he fully knew that Qin Kai had no intention of showing it in front of the world when he was working the new gadgets that were being studied in China, and since he had sailed around the world, he was not afraid of others coming to see them!

On the contrary, after receiving the news that Xu Shoushan, commander of the Chinese fleet, agreed to carry out joint exercises, Fisher and Sir White were very happy, and they had always been very confused about the understanding of the Chinese navy, even the British Empire, otherwise there would not have been a bad outcome of the Far East naval battle, and the more mysterious the opponent, the more it could arouse the curiosity and fighting spirit of these British gentlemen.

On the same day, the British Times reported on the Chinese Navy's peaceful visit to the British Empire under the headline "The Lion from China", and the British newspaper, which has a strong voice in the United States, gave the title of an important country in China for the first time, claiming that it was precisely because of China's rise that it resisted the rise of the United States from the other side of the Atlantic to a great extent, so that the British Empire re-entered the Central American region after losing its interests in the Americas for 40 years.

When the British welcomed the visit of the Pacific Fleet with mixed feelings, Qin Kai also sent an extremely confidential telegram to the consulate in Germany thousands of miles away, and then the ambassador to Germany, Wang Li, visited the German Foreign Minister Schleier again on October 3. (To be continued......)