The signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty meant that China could finally sit down with the European powers on an equal footing to negotiate international affairs, which was somewhat of a shock to the European powers with the idea of white supremacy.

Russia was a defeated country, and the military defeat combined with the civil unrest forced him to admit this fact.

The reunification of Germany was too late, and by the time Germany began to expand outward, most of the overseas colonies had been carved up by the old empires, and only those places where no one wanted them were occupied to show their existence, in fact, it was difficult to be squeezed by Britain and France.

France has only one colony of Annam in the Far East that it has snatched from China, but France's military strength in Annam can only maintain its current rule, and more importantly, Germany is the biggest threat to France itself, and France can only be powerless against Annam. However, Russia's defeat was a good thing for France, and Russia, having lost Siberia, could only refocus on Europe, which could effectively contain Germany.

Italy and Austria were a little happy, not only were they able to get China's order, but for the two Austrians, the weakened Russia could no longer afford to wage a new territorial war against them.

Britain was the most depressed, and in order to ensure the interests of India and southern China, they acquiesced to China's rise in the hope that China would become a footstep against Russia's southern invasion, so China made a series of moves in the South Seas, and Britain kept back. Unexpectedly, this is simply a return to the mountains, China settled Siberia and the northwest regions with a war, so that Britain saw that they had a country in the Far East that could compete with Britain, which made the position of Britain, the world hegemon, plummet, in the Far East, Britain not only has France, an old enemy, but also Germany is aggressive, and in the Americas, the United States is also trying to challenge Britain's position. The rise of China seems to be the beginning of all this, and they have found that they really have little to do with this China except for war, and even war cannot completely solve China's problems. This makes it very difficult for the UK.

The United States is the most entangled of all countries. As a rising star, the United States hopes most of all that it can talk to European countries on an equal footing, but the whole of Europe regards the United States as an upstart and looks down on it, so the United States has spared no effort to expand its influence. Borrowing money from all over the world and investing all over the world had a certain effect in the early stage, but since the beginning of investing in China, everything has changed.

The United States invested its first money in the construction of China's Northeast Railway, but unexpectedly, a war broke out between China and Japan just after the railway was built, and a large amount of infrastructure was destroyed, and additional investment had to be made after the war. The subsequent Russo-Chinese War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War caused huge losses to the United States in accordance with the regulations of the Chinese government to use the railroad free of charge during the war. Although the profit is still not large, it is far from the original idea. Now that the decade has come to an end, the United States can no longer reap sufficient benefits from the railway. The United States, which regards South America as its backyard, broke out the Spanish-American War in order to seize the South American market, but it did not want China to take Luzon first, and was beaten by Spain. Cuba has been fought by the United States for more than two years and can only be regarded as barely defeated, and now anti-American forces are emerging one after another in various parts of Cuba, making the United States tired of coping. Penetration into South America has also come under tremendous pressure, with the United States losing a large number of markets for cheap Chinese goods. Only then did the United States realize that their war with Spain had benefited China the most. Europe and the United States cannot intervene, Africa is also dominated by Europe, and there is nothing to do with the United States in Asia except for Japan, which owes money to the United States, and China is also deliberately or unintentionally squeezing out the United States in the Japanese market or officially. As for Southeast Asia, that's where China has the final say. The huge manufacturing capacity of the United States has not only not brought the United States huge profits, but has become a burden to the United States.

The war between China and Russia broke out unsurprisingly, and the war between the two great powers of the East and the West is estimated to take a long time. The United States was still counting on making a lot of war money, but it did not expect that the war would be unexpectedly fast and that it would end in a few years. Seeing that the war could not be made of money, American businessmen set their sights on the new open Chinese territory of post-war Siberia and the Middle East. China will not let such large tracts of land go to waste, and China does not have enough industrial capacity to develop these places, and the United States thinks that as long as its price is right, the development of these places will inevitably fall on the Americans. What they did not expect was that China's public demand for the surrender of the Russian imperial family to the Chinese imperial family aroused the dissatisfaction of the royal families of European countries and put pressure on China one after another, and the United States also planned to mediate the dispute in good faith. Unexpectedly, without waiting for the United States to make a move, China immediately softened, and a large number of development and commercial cooperation have agreed with European countries to reach an agreement, and when the United States reacted and then approached the Chinese government, the Chinese government told that in order to calm the pressure of European countries, the various projects in the early plan were gone, and they could only look forward to cooperation again. The United States was once again excluded, and it was only then that the United States realized that since China's rise in East Asia, the United States had a harder and harder time.

If it's just business, it's just a matter of making two less money. This time, however, China has touched the fundamental interests of the United States -- the Panama Canal. In order to grasp the absolute dominance of the Panama Canal and ensure effective communication between the east and west banks of the United States. The United States spent countless thoughts and energy, first buying the right to dig the Panama Canal from the French at a large price, and then buying the right to dig the Nicaragua Canal from the Chinese at a large price and scrapping the canal. Then he tried his best to encourage the Panamanians to become independent, and then fooled the Panamanians into devoting themselves to the construction of the Panama Canal, and finally got rid of the shortage of manpower caused by the large number of Chinese laborers entering Western Canada to work. The Americans worked hard to get the Panama Canal up and running, and just when the Americans were still looking forward to the golden rolling after the canal opened, bad news came from the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the canal.

After a month-long slow voyage, the long-neglected Chinese expeditionary fleet finally arrived at the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador, on September 6, to maintain and replenish the ships according to the previous diplomatic agreement. However, the port of Guayaquil could not accommodate a large fleet of seven battleships and nine cruisers, so part of the fleet was moved to other ports for maintenance. Li Liang, commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet, and Feng Qi, chief of staff, took advantage of this gap to go to Quito and paid a high-profile courtesy to the eldest princess Huang Ling, who was doing business in Ecuador at the time, and her concubine, and held a "meeting" with various circles in Ecuador in the next three days.

On September 12, during the maintenance of the Chinese expeditionary fleet, the former president of Ecuador, Jos? Aloy? Alfaro? Delgado suddenly staged a coup d'état, overthrowing by force the successor President Lisaldo, whom he had supported only twelve days after coming to power? Garcia. During the coup d'état, in order to protect the safety of the eldest princess and others, Chinese marines "decisively and heroically" maintained local law and order and protected the peace of one side. Three days later, the eldest princess Huang Ling, Li Liang, Feng Qi and others accepted the invitation of the new president of Ecuador to attend the banquet, and the two sides were happy at the banquet.

On September 20, the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet, which had been fully maintained and replenished, set off. Alfaro personally went to see him off, and just as he was seeing him off, he heard the news that made the Americans chill -- Huang Ling, the eldest princess of China, announced on behalf of the Chinese Government that China would sell two cruisers, including the battleship Eagle and the Diana, as well as two destroyers, to Ecuador for 8.5 million dragon dollars, and at the same time, China would also build four more destroyers for Ecuador at a price of 800,000 dragon yuan each, and provide military assistance to help Ecuador build its own navy to block aggression from the sea. However, considering Ecuador's financial difficulties, it was unable to come up with sufficient funds for the purchase of ships for a while, so Ecuador leased the Galapagos Islands to China for biological and other scientific research at a price of 100,000 dragon dollars per year. Although the lease was for 99 years, China also declared that sovereignty over the Galapagos would always belong to Ecuador, and that Ecuadorians would still be free to travel in and out of the Galapagos Islands.

The Galapagos Islands are small islands that lack fresh water, and the flora and fauna on the islands are largely rainwater-dependent. The life of a thousand people is easy to solve, but it is far from enough for the stationed fleet, and any warship needs to consume a lot of fresh water. Therefore, the military port must not only have good sea conditions, but also need to have good fresh water resources, but the Galapagos Islands do not have enough fresh water.

The Galapagos Islands are only a thousand nautical miles from the Panama Canal, a distance that means that China does not need to station battleships, only a few destroyers are enough to blockade the Panama Canal. And the Galapagos Islands are short of fresh water, which is enough for several destroyers. In fact, China announced that it would temporarily stay in Ecuador to conduct preliminary reconnaissance of the waters around the Galapagos Islands. Although Americans do not believe that the Chinese will go to war with the United States across the vast Pacific Ocean, such a threat is still worth being vigilant for national security reasons.

The Americans agitated for Panamanian independence, much to the annoyance of the Colombian government. Although the Colombian government is powerless to resist American infiltration, it can still be said. Under the deliberate guidance of a certain country, the Colombian government hired a few writers to describe the Colombian government as an innocent victim in the world's major newspapers, which was **** by the United States, but it really attracted a sympathetic voice in the international community. However, driven by interests, the indifference of the United States and the intendency of European countries to conflict with the United States over South America, Panama eventually became independent. However, the indifference of European countries has further aroused the antipathy and resistance of South American countries towards the United States.

South America had a chance to do the same as the United States, but the government of Gran Colombia, which Bolivar single-handedly built, eventually split. If this time it was the Panamanians who made their own independence, it would have been forgotten, and the government of Gran Colombia would have been divided. This time, however, the Panamanians became independent at the instigation of the Americans. According to the newspaper Columbia, today the United States dares to agitate for Panamanian independence, and tomorrow it will dare to encourage other regions to become independent. Although it is a bit alarmist, no one dares to deny this possibility. Add to that the abundance of words in the Panama Treaty on permanent use or permanent monopoly by the United States, which is tantamount to annexing Panama to the United States. This made the countries that were also split from the former Gran Colombia government deeply hostile to the American newspaper on the Panamanian independence event.

But that's not the point. The United States had a fleet of two battleships and three heavy cruisers stationed in San Diego on the east coast, and the United States had the money to build new battleships if needed. In terms of military strength, the United States does not need to fear South American countries. But China also announced that it would provide a low-interest loan specifically for the construction of a railway from Quito to the port of Guayaquil; China will formally set up a legation in Ecuador and officially send a minister; China and Eritrea have established diplomatic relations on an equal footing.

The news of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Eritrea on an equal footing is equivalent to a fatal shot for the United States. This is tantamount to a de facto alliance between China and Eritrea, and China is extending its influence into South America, the backyard of the United States. Because Ecuador only had to force the battleship into the Panama Canal and sink it in the canal, the Panama Canal was paralyzed. And it took half a year to salvage a battleship during the war, and half a year was enough to do a lot of things. And if there is a war between China and the United States in the future because of some irreconcilable conflict, half a year is enough time for the Chinese army to rush to the west coast of the United States...... For the sake of homeland security, it is possible to simulate any country as an imaginary enemy.

William, then President of the United States? Howard? Taft received the news of China's sale of battleships to Ecuador and immediately convened his staff to discuss. Panama's independence has aroused resistance from South American countries to the United States, and the United States has encountered the greatest obstacle to its penetration into South America. But Taft and his aides did not negotiate with any results, and it was a normal business transaction, and China did not have a single soldier in Ecuador.

The United States is still struggling with Ecuador, but things are not over.

On October 2, the Chinese expeditionary fleet arrived in Lima, the capital of Peru, the birthplace of Indian civilization and the birthplace of the Inca Empire, and the Peruvian government gave the Chinese expeditionary fleet a very high standard of reception. For nothing else, I hope that the Chinese government will set up a legation as it did with Ecuador, formally establish diplomatic relations with Peru on an equal footing, and provide construction assistance to Peru.

For a long time, South American countries were regarded by Americans as nothing more than an inferior race, and their status was even inferior to that of the yellow race. Although the white countries also established diplomatic relations in the countries of South America, they showed more relations towards masters and servants. At this time, the great empire of the East was able to establish diplomatic relations with Ecuador on an equal footing, which shows that the Chinese do not look down on South American countries. China's warships sold at low prices and equal diplomatic etiquette have shown South American countries the respect they receive from China. On the night of October 6, local time, on the morning of October 7, Beijing time, at the moment when Li Ming was sacrificing heaven and earth on Mount Tai, the Chinese expeditionary fleet fired naval guns off the coast of Lima. The powerful firepower of six battleships and nine cruisers lit up the skies of Lima City and shocked people from all walks of life in Peru.

On October 7, local time, China and Peru reached an agreement on the sale of warships. China sold two battleships, Alexander III and Navarin, two cruisers Venoch and Jihai, and two destroyers to Peru for 10 million dragon dollars, and also built four more destroyers for Peru at a price of 800,000 dragon yuan each, and other related construction projects have also reached an intention. So much so that the President of Peru said with great excitement at the moment when the agreement was signed: The time of Peru has come.

The United States was outraged, because the naval strength of the two South American countries was already equal to that of the American Pacific Fleet. In the absence of sanctions against the two countries, the United States immediately announced the deployment of two additional battleships and two heavy cruisers from the west coast to strengthen the Pacific Fleet.

This time, the United States was too anxious, because the very next day, the Colombian government invited Huang Ling, the eldest princess of China, who was then in Quito, and her concubine to visit Colombia and ask the Chinese government to purchase the battleships Hai Jui and Haining. There is no problem in accepting the invitation, but the request to purchase ships has been ruthlessly rejected, and you want to buy all the flagships of the Chinese expeditionary fleet, and this must not be agreed. However, China has made a suggestion to the Alumbian government that China can build brand new battleships for Colombia and sell them at an affordable price. Colombia indicated that it could elaborate.

The United States is entangled, should it send more ships to the Pacific Ocean again?

"The Chinese are a-stirring stick." Taft was angry and helpless, because the news had just come that Venezuela also had the intention to buy warships from China, which had seriously touched the interests of the United States. Taft tried to unite European countries to put pressure on China and force the Chinese expeditionary fleet to return home. By the way, it's no longer called an expeditionary fleet. After the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty between China and Russia on October 7, the expeditionary fleet was renamed the Chinese Visiting Fleet. According to China's official statement, this is a fleet with a mission of peace, just as Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty did when he went to the West, bringing peace and prosperity to the world. Taft did not care about this, and he persuaded the European countries on the grounds that China first tried to enter the Mediterranean, the so-called Black Sea formation remained in Kibuti waiting for diplomatic results, and now that China has extended its hand to South America, the ambitions of the Chinese need to be effectively curbed.

Are the Chinese ambitious? Judging by the European way of thinking, China does not. China did not leave a fleet in South America, did not send a single soldier, this is also called ambition? As for the Black Sea formation, it was just a way to put pressure on Russia, and after the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, did China intend to merge this formation into the visiting fleet? As for Taft's statement that China's hand is reaching out to South America, it is only hurting the interests of the United States. If China is really driven out of South America at this time, won't South America be monopolized by the United States? The ambitions of the Chinese need to be limited, so don't you American ambitions need to be restricted? I didn't look at China, and as soon as the Sino-Russian war ended, China began to disarm, and such a country could not see any ambitions. It is in Europe's interests that European countries are now uninterested in South American affairs, and China and the United States are just letting each other pinch each other in South America.

The United States was powerless to stop China's visit because European countries were reluctant to intervene, and the Chinese fleet arrived in Valparaíso, Chile, on October 16. China's relations with Chile were first established by purchasing warships from Chile before the First Sino-Japanese War, and Li Liang, Feng Qi and others were also trained in Chile. After 10 years of crusade in the east and west, the Chinese navy has laid down a great reputation and a huge maritime frontier. Ten years later, Li Liang and others, who had become the pillars of the Chinese Navy, returned to Chile again, and a sense of intimacy arose. Chile sent the Chinese visiting fleet to receive the visiting Chinese Navy Commander-in-Chief Simmons, a Chilean general who had trained the Chinese Navy in a friendly and warm manner.

Chile does not need to buy Chinese warships, but China has placed an order for the first batch of five 10,000-ton cargo ships with Chile, which is said to be very expensive, and Chile has a crooked face. The Chinese Navy stayed in Chile for three days and continued its voyage south.

At the same time, the Chinese Black Sea Formation in Djibouti set sail, and although Britain finally agreed to the Black Sea Formation's passage through the Mediterranean Sea after unremitting efforts from other countries, the Chinese Admiralty decided that the Black Sea Formation would circumnavigate South Africa to join the visiting fleet.

The patrol fleet bypassed South America, visited Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, joined the Black Sea formation in El Salvador, Brazil, and continued to the north after reorganizing the visiting fleet. French Guinaa, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela and other countries have left behind the footsteps of the Chinese. In the end, Venezuela did not buy battleships, and although the price of battleships was low, the cost of maintenance and operation was still high, which allowed Venezuela to stop. In the end, Venezuela bought two cruisers and two destroyers, including the Diamond. The fleet's last stop in South America was Barranquilla, Colombia.

Colombia is eager to buy cutting-edge battleships from China, but the high price is not something Colombia can afford. However, in order to disgust the United States, Colombia, after obtaining a loan from China, purchased two battleships, the Osri Yabia and the Haining, and two cruisers, including the Haiqi, at a price of 15 million dragon yuan, and four destroyers, and also ordered two destroyers from China at a price of 800,000 dragon yuan. As always, China has sent naval officers and other personnel to Colombia to assist Colombia in building its own navy.

Although Cuba is controlled by the United States, the United States must be under the slogan of democracy, so Cuba still has its own government, albeit a puppet government under the control of the United States. When the Chinese Foreign Ministry proposed to the Cuban government that the visiting fleet stop at Guantanamo for necessary supplies and maintenance, the United States reacted that China's so-called expedition to Russia was simply a pretext, and it was no wonder that China would bring all the warships and old warships seized from Russia with it, and China was planning to stir up the situation in South America by selling warships.

The resistance of the whole of South America to Panama's agitation for independence has already made the United States uncomfortable enough. Now that China is disposing of warships at a low price to South American countries, these countries dare to point fingers at the United States. The United States is extremely depressed, China and the United States are on opposite sides of the world, and the United States also provided a large number of loans to support China's development in the early stage of China's development, not to mention that in the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, China used the loans provided by the United States to buy the Pacific Fleet to save the defeat. Whether it is distance or strength, China and the United States can be said to have no conflict at all, but the United States has found that China is always working against the United States. Whether it is the Nicaragua Canal incident, the South American ship sales incident, or China's handing over orders to European countries, China has always felt more or less hostile to the United States. The United States is a commercial government that does everything to maximize profits. China's actions are also for profit, in the case of this South American ship sale, China already has the world's most selected Baiqi-class battleships, and there is naturally no need to keep these old ships, and it is naturally good to be able to sell them. However, only South American countries are willing to buy these old warships in the world, which is also in line with the principle of maximizing the interests of the Americans. But every time China strikes, it always strikes at the key places of the United States, but every incident has some more or less coincidental occurrences, and the Americans are unable to say anything.

At this time, the United States was not the United States that dominated the world in later generations, and the United States, which had not experienced foreign wars, did not have the confidence to fight when it said it would fight. Cuba is already the only colony of the United States other than Panama, and it is also an important channel connecting the United States and Panama, and the loss of Cuba is equivalent to cutting off the communication line between the United States and Panama, so the United States will be completely locked up on the North American continent. This is at stake in the core interests of the United States. Therefore, with regard to China's behavior, apart from instructing Cuba to refuse China's visiting fleet and send a fleet to Cuba, the US Government has completely shut its mouth and will no longer make any remarks about China. They know that their protests will have no effect. Eventually, the U.S. government added four battleships and four cruisers to the Pacific and built new Virginia-class battleships, six at a time, and six heavy cruisers at the same time. For the first time, the vast industrial capacity of the United States showed its true strength.

"If any country wants long-term development, the suitability of the climate and the size of the land determine the fertility of the product, which will directly affect the number of the country's population, and the population is the cornerstone of a country's strength at any time." At a high-level confidential meeting in Beijing, Li Ming said: "Historically, any country that has long been a hegemon has a vast territory. Although the European countries are strong at the moment, they are only built on technology. Its population and properties are not enough to support future development. And in the future, with the development of science and technology, countries with huge populations will always catch up. The United States is too advantageous in terms of geographical location, vast territory, suitable climate, abundant products, and large population, and once such a country develops, it will inevitably control the entire North and South American continents, which is not in China's interests. Keeping the United States on the North American continent and restricting its development is beneficial to China in the long run. So restraining the United States is the most important thing for us right now. ”

"Whoa." Whether it is the emperor or the military generals, they have agreed on the overall strategy of the country. (To be continued.) )