【2nd Update】

On August 28, 1898, just as the Sino-German Grand Fleet was leaving, Vice Admiral Tirpitz brought sad news that Bismarck, the former Chancellor who had led the German Empire on the road to great power, had died in Berlin two days earlier.

And just a month ago, Bismarck expressed his blessing on the 98 Naval Act in a private letter to Tirpitz, for countries with a gross tonnage of more than 1.6 million tons of merchant ships on the high seas, the former chancellor obviously understood the great value of naval stocks, but he still cautiously reminded Tirpitz that the German Empire had to face more than just a threat from the sea, and that the struggle between European powers for hundreds of years has never stopped.

On that day, 50 warships of various types of the two countries lowered their flags at half-mast and paid tribute to the great men of Europe in this era with a sky-shattering salute. Frederick III led the group to sail in a double battle line, while the destroyer formations on both sides quickly galloped out from between the battleships and rushed into the vast North Sea.

The British Royal Navy battleship Prestige followed the huge Sino-German combined fleet and observed the two navies' two-day long exercises in more than 10 projects such as coordinated operations at sea, replenishment at sea, and maritime communications.

The German Navy now has the second most powerful maritime power in the whole of Europe after the British Empire, although the Royal Navy retains inherent self-confidence and superiority in the face of Germany's rise as a maritime power. When the Chinese fleet, which had given the Far Eastern Detachment its first defeat, appeared. The sight of warships of the two countries overwhelming the North Sea. Or the whole of Europe that shook it for the first time.

On the 29th, when the Sino-German naval military exercises were in full swing, The Times took the lead in publishing a report entitled "China's Whirlwind in the North Sea" and distributed pictures of the Chinese fleet with an entire page of text to comment on the largest naval global voyage pioneered by the Chinese Pacific Fleet......

The Times cautiously commented: The rise of China in the Far East has become an indisputable fact, and the fleet from the East has not only shown their surprising combat capabilities on the west coast of the Americas, but also convinced the European countries that from now on. China's influence will not be limited to the Far East, but will extend wherever the Chinese fleet can reach!

As France has always been Germany's opponent, the "Paris Weekly News" commented in a very worried tone that the Chinese navy has the surprising combat power of this era, and it has the most inexplicable growth rate of this era, and once China intervenes in Europe, it will completely break the balance of power maintained by the whole of Europe, so France should do its best to establish an alliance with the Russian Empire to avoid the suppression of France by German maritime power.

In Germany, there was overwhelming praise. Even the Hamburg Business Officers, who had been vacillating in the naval expansion bill, uncharacteristically switched to the Maritime Officers Corps in favor of the Maritime Officers Corps in this naval bill. proposed to build a strong navy to safeguard Germany's commercial interests on the high seas......

On the 30th, a telegram from German Foreign Minister Schleier had been sent to Qin Kai's desk at the Chancellery in Beijing, and the little red man who was currently in front of Kaiser Wilhelm II was very cautious and once again expressed to Qin Kai that he hoped to establish an alliance between the two countries in order to cope with the increasingly fierce competition between countries in the whole world.

But...... Qin Kai still made it very clear to Minister Brück that China has no intention of participating in the global hegemony, and is only concerned about the rights and interests of the Far East and the Pacific, but will regard Sino-German relations as the most important bilateral cooperation...... The second Boer War threatens to upset the balance of power in Africa.

Minister Brück was naturally not indifferent to Qin Kai's reminder, and there was no need for this powerful politician in the Far East to play tricks on the German Empire in this kind of matter, so the news was soon sent to German Chancellor Hohenlore...... Although Prime Minister Hohenlore did not understand the tough attitude of the Boers mentioned by Qin Kai, he was still very cautious to find Foreign Minister Schleier, after all, the former minister to China had a deep friendship with the strong man in the Far East.

Schleier received a response from Chancellor Hornlore from Qin Kai, which did not surprise him, the powerful leader of China has always shown enough respect for the German Empire, but has always maintained an independent non-aligned diplomatic attitude, which is completely different from the alliance diplomacy that Germany has always maintained, but he is still confident enough that maintaining the friendship between China and Germany will obtain sufficient national interests for Germany.

Seeing Schleier's contemplative appearance, Prime Minister Hohenlore obviously wanted to know more about the situation in the Transvaal Republic, "Schleier, how do you understand the views of this Chancellor Qin on the issue of the Boers!" ”

"Your Excellency, from the point of view of the national interest, I do not think it is appropriate at the present time to enter into a head-on conflict with Great Britain, and if Chancellor Transvaal Kruger were to act excessively, it would only cause great harm to the interests of the German Empire...... So, I think we must heed the warnings from the Far East, and we must give a friendly reminder to the Transvaal! Schleier thought about it for a moment and immediately made his point.

"Schleier, did the Chinese get information that we don't know?" Chancellor Hohenlore immediately raised his doubts, Kaiser Wilhelm II had a personal friendship with Chancellor Kruger, and His Majesty the Emperor's personality dictated that he was afraid that after receiving the news, instead of stopping the Boers, he would be willing to provide the Boers with more weapons.

Schleier naturally had no clue about this, but he quickly understood Qin Kai's warning intentions, "Your Excellency, I don't know anything about this special information channel, but I think one thing is certain, Chancellor Qin Kai and the Chinese government obviously hope that the German Empire can contain Britain in Europe, and in that case, it can also reduce their pressure in the Far East...... Since he proposed to pay attention to the situation in the Transvaal, it means that China believes that the situation there is not optimistic! ”

In the telegram submitted by Vice Admiral Tirpitz to Kaiser Wilhelm, he spoke highly of the technology of torpedoes and fire control systems brought by the Chinese Navy, and even believed that if the gunnery lead could be achieved in an all-round way, it would be enough to offset the numerical superiority of the British Royal Navy...... From this, it is easy to deduce that the Chinese have completely unabashedly expressed their attitude, that is, they fully support the rise of Germany's maritime power.

And the rise of the German Navy, the main opponent in Europe at present, is undoubtedly the first naval power of this era, and Germany's old enemy, the French Republic, for the time being, the German Navy has completely surpassed the French Navy, not to mention the Russian Imperial Navy, which has just recovered its strength!

The secret meeting between the two lasted for half a day, after which Chancellor Hohenlohr rushed to report to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who reacted completely in Hohenlohr's expectations, on the one hand, the emperor was very happy about the imminent achievements of the navy, but at the same time he did not trust and agree with the reminder of Far East China.

Naturally, several suggestions discussed by Hornlohr and Schleier, the prime minister immediately swallowed them with knowledge and interest, and did not propose them on the spot, Wilhelm II wandered around the palace for a while, and finally expressed his opinion, "Dear Hornlohr, I think it is necessary to give Kruger a kind opinion, although we will fully support their independence, but I hope that the Boers will remain cautious in their actions!" ”

However, before Prime Minister Hornlore could draft a diplomatic telegram to the Transvaal Republic, on 2 September, the British South African Company suddenly came out with surprising news, which quickly aroused the attention of Europe, and the South African Secret Intelligence Service, which belonged to the Transvaal Republic, had launched operations in the Cape and Natal colonies to supply firearms and ammunition to the so-called "reliable" Boers, and as a result, dozens of Boers were arrested by the South African colonial police for illegal possession of weapons in an operation in early September.

This incident quickly attracted the attention of the whole Europe, unexpectedly, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Germany have expressed their condemnation of Britain, you know, although the Transvaal is an African country, but it is indeed a white republic, this white skin is enough to resonate with the whole of Europe, and the only world policeman of this era, Britain, obviously did not get the approval of the entire white world in this matter.

Cecil, who has resigned as the Governor of Cape Town and has a keen sense of smell? Rhodes saw an opportunity at once, and he immediately recognized that this would be an opportunity for the British Empire to continue its expansion into central Africa. Sir Milner, an avid British politician with German roots, almost hit it off.

Within a few days, the Cape Governor's Office ordered the criminal trial of 32 Boers in the Natal Colonial Court, almost surprisingly efficiently, and on 10 September the entire trial was completed, sentencing all the Boers to forced labor in the Mamus mines, and at the same time the Cape Governor's Office issued a circular to the Transvaal Government demanding that the Transvaal immediately withdraw its intelligence organization in South Africa.

This series of swift trials and diplomatic actions apparently angered the Boers immediately, and Chancellor Kruger immediately protested to the British, demanding that the British government correct the wrongful trial of the South African company against the Boers, and at the same time demanded that the Transvaal immediately renegotiate with Britain on the interests of the Transvaal minerals, and what made it even less urgent for Germany to take action, just two days later, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State set up a federal conference to coordinate the actions of the two countries...... And the purpose of the operation is obvious, it is Britain. (To be continued......)