Standing on the open-air bridge of the "Archduke Friedrich", Admiral Willenic looked at the bleak sea, and could not help but sigh with emotion, and a feeling of being separated from the world welled up in his heart. At the outset of the war, the invincible British Royal Fleet was an invincible giant, bringing a suffocating sense of oppression to any of his opponents. But now, only four years later, their proudest and most formidable battleship is now burning on the surface of the sea and sinking into the water.

As if in a dream, such a powerful battleship, known as the unsinkable ship, fell under its own gun.

The god of luck has left behind the British, and now that they have lost the scepter of the god of the sea, the myth has been shattered. For the first time since the victory over the "Invincible Armada" of the Spanish Empire, the British Empire tasted defeat at sea, and it was a crushing defeat, and Betty's fleet fled like a lost dog, and no longer cared about the so-called gentlemanly demeanor and face.

The signal flag for the "Victorious Return" on the "Count Spee" had been raised, and Admiral Sorochin was directing his scar fleet to parade and stagger across the sea. Although the German-Austrian fleet had three British and three capital warships, its own situation was not much better, most of the German warships were badly damaged, and the deck superstructure and equipment were also in disarray. Three battleships were damaged, and the "D-Fllinger", which was attacked by the British battleships, was even more miserable, the bow was destroyed, the front part was flooded with as much as 2,200 tons, the foredeck was almost as high as the sea, and the power compartment was also damaged, and it could only barely follow the fleet at a speed of 15 knots.

Thanks to the excellent design of the German ship designers and the large reserve buoyancy of the warship itself, as well as the hard work and active damage management work of the crew, it still stubbornly floats on the sea.

In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian ships were less damaged and could be reactivated after about a month's return to the shipyard for emergency repairs, and several German ships would have to stay in dock for a long time to come.

After hours of sailing, the battlefield was far behind. It was already dark, and the entrance to the French Bay of Brest was already in sight, and the navigation lights outside the French port were clearly visible.

"History will turn a new page!" The news had already reached Berlin, Vienna and London, and the British Cabinet was shrouded in a dark cloud of misery, and the news of the naval defeat was tightly sealed and the general public knew about it. Berlin and Vienna, on the other hand, were in a state of revelry, with people pouring into the streets and staying up all night celebrating a great naval victory. The Kaiser immediately sent an enthusiastic telegram of commendation, praising the bravery and greatness of the German naval officers. The Austro-Hungarian Emperor uttered the above famous sentence in a congratulatory message.

The outcome of the Battle of the Bay of Biscay did indeed determine the course of the war, marking the inability of the British Royal Navy to prevent the German and Austrian surface fleets from freely entering and exiting the waters of the North Atlantic, and also marking the fall of the British Imperial Navy from the supremacy of the sea. The New York Times' review of this naval battle is: The scepter of the sea god has been lost, who will be the next sea hegemon?

Will it be the British who are making a comeback and rediscovering their old days, or the new industrial nations: Germany and the United States?

The replacement of the old and the new is a historical necessity, and with the decline of Britain's industrial capacity and technological level, it has become inevitable that it will be replaced by new industrial countries.

In Madrid, under the mediation of the Spaniards, the Allied bloc and the United States and Britain finally sat down at the negotiating table.

The Great War has now entered its final phase. On the European continent, the German-Austrian alliance has no rivals. And on the oceans, over time, the German-Austrian fleet has begun to gain the upper hand. After the Battle of the Bay of Biscay, the British realized that it was impossible to win the war again, and had to heed President Wilson's advice and put down their positions and began peace talks with Germany and Austria. If this war dragged on, by the time the German-Austrian fleet rushed into the Indian Ocean, then the British Empire would have risked losing all of its colonies in India and the Far East.

The British could no longer take such a risk.

It took time for the Americans to rearm, and they entered the war only to profit from the war, and they were not likely to suffer huge losses and casualties for the sake of Britain. Now the Americans have begun to retreat, reducing supplies to Britain and demanding that Britain pay for goods in gold.

In Vienna in May, the height of summer has arrived, and the pleasant weather of spring is being replaced by heat. After the end of the French campaign, the atmosphere of war in the streets of Vienna began to become peaceful, and with the beginning of the demobilization of the army, domestic production gradually resumed, and the whole city returned to its former peaceful and lively scene.

Although some supplies were still being rationed during wartime, the variety of goods on the market began to become abundant, and even luxury goods such as alcohol could be seen on sale.

The Habsburgs had not yet completed the construction of the new Hofburg Imperial Palace, and the Kaiser had moved to the Chambrun Palace a little further away, as it was so noisy that the Kaiser had moved to the Schembrun Palace.

In the palace of the Austrian Emperor, the Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary is entertaining his brother-in-law, the "Great Kaiser" Wilhelm II, and his entourage, while the two imperialist chiefs are behind a sordid deal with each other before peace talks.

"Egypt and Sudan were to be placed under German administration after the war, Sinai was ceded to Austria-Hungary, and Libya was to be administered by Austria-Hungary; Regarding the disposition of the French colonial empire, Tunisia was transferred to Germany, and as compensation, the Crimean peninsula was ceded to Austria-Hungary. In the Far East, the French Indochina Peninsula (Annam) was placed under the joint administration of Germany and Austria as part of the war reparations. The Japanese government had to return the German colonies and property occupied during the European war, and compensate Germany and Austria for the loss of 5 million marks of property (of which Austria-Hungary was able to receive 500 million marks for the loss of four warships during the Battle of Tsingtao). Germany and Austria agreed to establish independent Polish and Ukrainian states on Russian-occupied Poland and Ukrainian territory...... "Ludendorff was reading the terms of the agreement between the two governments, but the deal behind it was much dirtier, the focus of the deal was to dismember the Russian Empire so that it would not be a new threat for decades, and the two countries had privately agreed to intervene in the civil war that had already broken out in Russia.

The negotiation process and conditions were mainly led by Ludendorff and Boloyevich, and the two emperors rarely interfered in this process.

"I heard that you supported the formation of a large army of Chinese laborers?" Wilhelm II abruptly shifted the topic in another direction.

"Well, well, I want to help the Chinese. What's wrong? Lehairton lit a cigar and took a puff of green cigarette to cover his face.

"It's not that simple, what do you think?" "Want to enter the Far East? ”

"Of course, William, what is the purpose of our war? By no means because of this war reparation, but for the sake of the sphere of influence, that is, the vast space for the future development of the country. The Far East, which has the largest market in the world, has twice as many people as all of Europe combined, and there is no reason to ignore it. Lechelton said.

"What does this have to do with helping them form an army?"

"The military is the cornerstone of a country's stability, and what is the value of a market that is mired in chaos." Li Haiton smiled and said, "What we need is a stable and promising market." ”

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