The powder keg in the Balkans was heating up dramatically, Italy and France settled the question of dividing the interests of the North African colony of Tripoli, Britain returned Italian Somalia to Italy, and Russia supported Italy's colonial expansion in North Africa, so that the contradictions between Italy and the Entente were resolved, allowing Italy to remain neutral in a possible future military conflict between the Entente and the Central Powers.

The Entente's strategic objectives were achieved, and the German-Austrian alliance felt real pressure. The ambiguous relationship between Italy and the Entente was reported to the German top level for discussion, but the German top brass still believed that Italy was still loyal to the Allies and tried its best to win over Italy and maintain good relations with Italy.

However, this could not alleviate the situation of Italy moving closer to the Entente, because the Ottoman Empire's international status plummeted after the Italian-Turkish War and the Balkan War, and Britain believed that the time had come to retake Egypt, so on December 3, 1910, it increased its troops to the Suez Canal area of Egypt by 300,000 troops, and claimed Egyptian territorial sovereignty to the Ottoman Empire, demanding that the Ottoman Empire return Egypt to Britain.

France, Russia, and Italy supported Britain in its war against the Ottoman Empire, while Turkey had to ask the Central Powers for help, and its willingness to join the Central Powers became even stronger. Italy opposed Turkey's accession to the Central Powers, while Germany wanted to win over Turkey, so the two sides were unhappy, causing Italy to become more disappointed with the Central Powers and move closer to the Entente.

However, Germany failed to help Turkey hold Egypt, and from December 18, 1910, the British and French navies blockaded the Mediterranean Sea to prevent any country from sending more troops to Egypt. Germany and Austria planned to send more troops to Egypt to help Turkey defend Egypt, but Italy did not cooperate and failed to provide naval support, and as a result, the navies of Austria-Hungary and the Turkish Empire alone could not compete with the British and French navies, and the plan for the increase failed.

On December 20, 1910, the Anglo-Turkish War broke out, and 300,000 British troops marched to Cairo with 1,300 cannons, 50 aircraft, and 30 airships.

Only 4 divisions of the Cairo Corps were stationed in Egypt, because of the civil strife in Turkey, the old guard of the Egyptian defenders has been at odds with the ruling youth faction, resulting in their salaries and weapons and equipment not being updated, and the funds are insufficient, as a result, on the first day of the war, the British reconnaissance planes found out the deployment of the Turkish army, 200,000 British troops frontal to contain the Turkish army, 30,000 British troops from the right flank feint, 70,000 British troops from the left flank detour interspersed, under the bombardment of airships, the left flank of the Turkish army 17th Division was defeated, resulting in the complete collapse of the Turkish defense line in Cairo.

The Turks had to retreat and shrink their defensive lines, and the main British forces pursued the victory and occupied Cairo the next day.

There were more than 10,000 German troops in the Suez Canal Zone, and although they wanted to help the Turkish army in the war, the German political axe suddenly weakened the British at this moment, and ordered the German troops in the Suez Canal not to leave the Canal Autonomous Region to prevent the British from giving an excuse to capture the canal.

In this way, the Turkish army fought alone, and the local Turkish political axe youth faction hoped to get rid of these disobedient Turkish officers in Egypt with the help of the British, refused to send reinforcements, and sat back and watched the four Turkish divisions be wiped out by the British.

On December 24, the British surrounded the remnants of the Turkish army of about 20,000 men in the desert area southwest of Alexandria. The Turkish army was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of British troops, and there was no hope of breaking through, but they still resisted.

The British army had to celebrate Christmas, so the British commander-in-chief proposed to the commander of the Turkish army, Lieutenant General Morad, the conditions of surrender, and the surrendered Turkish army would be given humanitarian treatment.

With no hope of breaking through, and waiting for reinforcements from the native Turkish Axe Army became impossible, Morad led his men to surrender, and the battle between Anglo-Turkish-Egyptian ended in five days, making it one of the fastest wars of the twentieth century.

Egypt's regain at the hands of Turkey was devastated by the Ottomans, and they intensified negotiations to join the Allied bloc.

At the beginning of January 1911, Germany, despite the opposition of Italy and Austria-Hungary, decided to allow the Turkish Empire to join the Central Powers. This decision was made mainly because Germany wanted to open up the land passage and open the Baghdad railway to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, so as to break the naval blockade of Britain and France against Germany. Although Austria-Hungary was dissatisfied with Germany's approach, the Turkish government decided not to pursue the Turkish territories occupied by Austria-Hungary, which made Austria-Hungary reluctantly agree. However, Italy's attitude was very dissatisfied, and the instigation of the Allies made the last vestiges of Italy's favor with the Allies disappear.

Italy's entry into the Central Powers was mainly due to the conflict with the French colonies in North Africa, but now that the contradictions between Italy and the Entente have been resolved, the important surnames of the Central Powers for Italy no longer exist. Therefore, at the Allied Berlin Conference in January 1911, Italy made it clear that politically it would continue to maintain the agreement of the Allied Powers, but militarily, Italy did not renew the troop dispatch agreement and would not participate in the collective military operations of the Allied Powers, unless Italy was also militarily threatened.

In this way, relations between Italy and the Central Powers were already in name only.

Germany realized that Italy had turned its back on them, but until the last minute, Germany was still lucky, so it did not put pressure on Italy, hoping that one day Italy would change its mind.

Germany hoped that his military might would turn Italy around, and the naval arms race with Britain intensified.

In 1910, stimulated by a large-scale naval arms race between China and the United States, the arms race between the British and German navies to build superbow-type battleships also entered a feverish state.

The British claimed that for every additional capital ship that Germany built, Britain would build two in response. It is rumored that Germany is planning to import larger caliber main guns and increased armor protection from the Chinese Empire, and Britain also felt the great pressure of the Chinese Empire's 16 15-inch main gun caliber perverted version of the Super God Bow battleship built for the Greek Navy, the British Navy believes that Germany has no ability to develop 15-inch large-caliber main guns, so it will definitely be imported from the Chinese Empire, so the British Navy in order to consolidate its superior position over the German Navy in terms of firepower, under the strong advocacy of the new Admiral Churchill, The British Royal Navy decided to install 15-inch guns on the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships to replace the original 13.5 and 14-inch guns.

In order to catch up with the trial production and manufacture of the 15-inch caliber gun, the naval minister Fisher, an expert in gunnery, personally supervised the work to ensure that the 15-inch large-caliber main gun could be loaded in time when the hull of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship was completed and launched.

Due to the heavier weight and increased power of the main guns, the Queen Elizabeth class had one less main gun turret than the battleships previously built by the British Navy. After a long period of research on the battleships of all levels of the Chinese Empire, the British Navy liked the Chinese Empire's four twin-mounted main gun turrets in the front and rear of the hull symmetrically using a knapsack layout of two each, for the Chinese Empire's new triple gun layout scheme, the British naval engineers failed to obtain the relevant technical parameters, so they did not dare to determine its reliable surname, for fear of being deliberately misled by the Chinese Empire, so the triple artillery system was not developed.

The reduction in the number of main guns and turrets in the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships was used to strengthen the power system and increase the thickness of the defensive armor.

In this way, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships received a weight of 8100 tons of armor and could install 13-inch armor.

Originally, the British Navy believed that Britain's case-hardening steel technology was inferior to the Chinese Empire's China Special Steel and Germany's Krupp Steel, while the main armor and key parts of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships of the Chinese Empire reached 343 mm, and the British 15-inch guns could barely threaten the other side. The main gun charge used by the Chinese Empire has been loaded with black sorkin high explosives, while the British main gun ammunition is only an improved version of cotton gunpowder, which is not as powerful as the other side. In this way, in the event of a battle between the Chinese and British navies, the 14-inch shells of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships could easily tear through the 13-inch armor of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships.

However, British politicians seem to have been driven crazy by the Germans, and they no longer regard the Chinese Empire as their number one enemy. In the summer of 1909, the politicians of the British Parliament went to Yenching to engage in a comprehensive exchange and dialogue with the ruling party of the Chinese Empire, the Minsheng Party, the opposition Mingzhuo Party, and the Civil Rights Party. The Mediterranean Fleet of the Chinese Empire is only equipped with a dozen old-fashioned former Shenbow-type capital ships, which do not pose a threat to the navies of European countries, and the main battle cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire have been deployed to the Caribbean Sea, and the main opponent of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire is the Atlantic Fleet of the United States Navy. Moreover, the Chinese Empire did not renew the Sino-German alliance treaty with Germany, which was the biggest concession to Britain.

After the statements of the three major political parties of the Chinese Empire, the British Parliament believed that the large-scale naval arms race between China and the United States was enough to prove that the Chinese Empire had no intention of interfering in European affairs and would not regard Britain as its enemy, and that the enemy of the Chinese Empire was the United States.

Some British parliamentarians pointed to the Coalition Cabinet being frightened by the Chinese Empire and groveling as a slave, but the Coalition Cabinet retorted: "We also caused damage to the Chinese Empire for half a century when we launched the Opium War, and it is understandable that the Chinese Empire retaliated against us once." Now that China and the UK have completely resolved the disputes arising from unequal treaties and territorial sovereignty, as long as the two sides coexist peacefully, the future of China-UK relations will be better. ”

The statement of the British coalition cabinet was actually to appease the Chinese Empire, and they did not want the [***] voices within Britain to stimulate the Chinese Empire to meddle in European affairs. As long as the Chinese Empire does not meddle in European affairs, then the British political axe can forget about the Sino-British hatred.

Of course, in the face of national interests, there are no eternal friends and no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. Britain is also right to do so, with the support of the majority of members of the British Parliament.

In this way, the British political axe believed that the Chinese Empire would not interfere in European affairs, so the British Navy's combat objectives were no longer the Chinese Imperial Navy as its main competitor, but on the German Navy. Therefore, the armor of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships of the British Admiralty was not as good as the Chinese Empire's Han Wu Emperor class, so the original 14-inch armor was further reduced to 13 inches. In terms of protection, the focus is on strengthening the armor of the vital parts.

Of course, this is not the time for the British to cut their armor, and the armor of any British battleship does not correspond to the caliber of the main gun, which is much smaller than the caliber of the main gun.

The British did this mainly because the British Navy liked the tactical maneuverability brought by high speed, and they believed that in naval warfare, only by being faster than the opponent could they seize a favorable firing position and suppress the opponent. Therefore, this British thinking led to the fact that the battleships of the British Navy had the characteristics of thinner armor than the armor of battleships of the same class in other countries.

Another feature of the Queen Elizabeth class is that she was one of the first British battleships to be powered by oil-fired boilers, which not only helped to increase speed, but also made refueling very easy, and its top speed was close to that of the early battlecruisers built by the British Navy, reaching 25.5 knots, so the British Navy added a new term between battleships and battlecruisers, called "high-speed battleships".

The Queen Elizabeth class adopts a long bow ship type, with 16 6-inch secondary guns installed in the bow and rear of the hull, and the Queen Elizabeth found that the four secondary guns on the two sides of the rear of the hull were in a low position (the gun position was one deck lower than the other secondary guns), and it was unusable due to the influence of waves when sailing at high speeds, so it was withdrawn immediately. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were significantly improved in terms of firepower, speed, and defensive armor over the dreadnought-class battleships built previously.

The start of construction of the Queen Elizabeth class, the Queen Elizabeth, began on May 21, 1910. 4 ships of the same class: HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Warweary (HMSWWW.xstxt.orgsbarham), HMS Warrior (HMSVALIANT).

Originally, the British Parliament believed that the design speed of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships had reached 25.5 knots, and the speed of the traditional battlecruisers had no advantage, so the British Parliament wanted to cancel the plan to improve the battlecruisers on the basis of the Queen Elizabeth-class. However, the Admiral Churchill resolutely opposed, he always remembered that when he was in Cape Town, the battle cruisers of the Chinese Imperial Atlantic Fleet blocked the British supply lines and caused huge losses and strategic passivity to Britain, although Sino-British relations have improved, but Churchill is a grudge master, he believes that the Chinese Empire has never played cards according to common sense, and must guard against them, so continue to build battle cruisers, as long as the speed of the battle cruiser is increased to more than 31 knots, then the gap with the fast battleship can be widened. In addition, Churchill believed that the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were not strictly first-class battleships, but could only be special-class battlecruisers, because her armor was not the 15-inch battleship armor required for this class, and if she installed 15-inch armor, the speed would not reach 25.5 knots at all, and it would be good to have 22 knots, so the appearance of the Queen Elizabeth class cannot mean that the battlecruisers are outdated.

Churchill's explanation was supported by the Admiralty, and members of the British Parliament also believed that although the number one enemy of the Chinese Empire was no longer the number one enemy, it was necessary to guard against people, and in order to avoid another one-sided massacre of the Sino-British naval battle in the Atlantic, the British Parliament finally approved Churchill's battle cruiser plan.

So the British Navy began to build four prestige-class battlecruisers, still according to the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships to reduce the armor and increase the boiler to make the prestige-class battlecruisers reach a speed of 31 knots, but the British Navy because the steam turbine technology is not up to the requirements, in order to ensure this speed, had to drastically reduce the thickness of the armor, and finally only 228 mm, thinner than the armor of the old large armored cruisers, which has become the Achilles heel of the class of battlecruisers.

When German naval spies intercepted the British Navy's plans to build the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and the Prestige-class battlecruisers, they immediately began to respond.

In 1910, the German Navy Act of 1910 stipulated that the German Navy would begin construction of four Bavaria-class superbow battleships in response to the four Queen Elizabeth-class battleships that Britain had begun to build.

The twin main gun turrets of the Bavaria-class battleships were symmetrical in the front and rear of the hulls of the Queen Elizabeth class, with two knapsack layouts arranged in front and rear. A sturdy three-legged mast was designed, and a firing director was set up on the mast. The Bavarian class focuses on protection capabilities, and its broadside and horizontal armor thickness are higher than the British Navy's Queen Elizabeth class, and the total armor weight is about 1,000 tons more than that of the Queen Elizabeth class, and the protection range is more comprehensive.

Originally worried that Baku's oil would be embargoed by Russia during the war, and Britain blocked the sea lines of communication, making it impossible for German tankers to transport oil from the United States and the Persian Gulf back to Germany, so the German Navy used all coal-fired boilers for the power system of this class of ships. However, after the Chinese Empire conquered Kuwait and Iraq from the Ottoman Turkish Empire, large quantities of oil were extracted from these two regions. The Chinese Empire secretly revealed to Germany that in the event of war, the Chinese Empire would supply crude oil or refined oil to Germany by sea and land.

Of course, the Chinese Empire was afraid that the world would not be chaotic, and that Germany would not dare to go to war and would have to tell the German political axe this secret. After receiving the guarantee of the Chinese Empire, the German government decided to let the Chinese Empire take a stake in the Baghdad Railway, on the one hand, it could transport oil back to Germany by land from Kuwait and the oil fields of Baghdad, and on the other hand, if the Baghdad Railway was completely controlled by Germany, then it was very likely that it would be attacked and sabotaged by the Entente in wartime. Germany was bent on dragging the Chinese Empire into the water and joining the ranks of the Central Powers, so Germany transferred its stake in the Baghdad railway project to the Chinese Empire. If the Entente attacked this railway, it would be tantamount to declaring war on the Chinese Empire. If the Entente were afraid of the Chinese Empire and did not dare to attack the railway, then Germany would have been able to obtain supplies of oil and other strategic materials from the Chinese Empire without peace of mind, and the British naval blockade would have no effect on Germany.

Of course, the Chinese Imperial Axe understood the calculations of the Germans, and the Emperor Wang Chenhao had been planning how the Chinese Empire would export arms and various strategic materials to the Entente and the Central Powers at the same time in the event of a major war in Europe.

Wang Chenhao knew very well in his heart that the rapid growth of the United States and its transformation into a superpower in the 21 st century benefited from the fact that the United States made a lot of war money during the two world wars. In this way, Wang Chenhao's strategic purpose is already obvious, he launched a large-scale naval arms race with the United States, on the one hand, dragging down the American economy, on the other hand, the British overseas colonies obtained by the Chinese Empire just constitute a blockade line against the United States on the sea island chain (starting from the western part of the United States, the Bering Strait, Wake Island base, Guam base, Caroline Islands base, Panama Bay base in the Pacific Ocean, to the Panama Canal fortress in the southern United States, Jamaica base in the Caribbean, Virgin Islands base, Puerto Rico base, and then to the Bermuda base in the Atlantic), all the bases are like a U-shaped encirclement, encircling the continental United States, which will prevent the United States from exporting arms and strategic materials to Europe.

On the other hand, the Chinese Empire could quickly transport Chinese supplies to the Atlantic Ocean through the Panama Canal and sell them to the Allies through the Baghdad Railway, and from the Persian Gulf to the Central Powers through the Baghdad Railway. At the beginning, the United States only exported materials to the Entente countries on a large scale, but now the Chinese Empire exports materials to the Entente and the Allies at the same time, and must have earned much more money than the United States, and by the end of World War I, the Chinese Empire will definitely surpass the United States to become the world's largest economy and industrial power.

This was Wang Chenhao's strategic plan, and the Imperial Chinese Cabinet followed Wang Chenhao's will and agreed to buy a stake in Germany's Baghdad Railway and to be responsible for the construction of the last section of the railway project within two years.

However, the political axe of the Chinese Empire knew about the conspiracy of the Germans, so it was natural to slaughter the Germans fiercely.

After a series of negotiations, the Germans asked for 90 million yuan, but the Chinese Empire finally promised to give Germany only 30 million yuan, and instead of paying in cash, it exported 1 million barrels of oil to Germany.

Germany was very depressed, and when it encountered the hooligan-style negotiations of the Chinese Empire, it could only choose to be slaughtered. Because Germany really needs this land railway to open, and it is even more important to ensure the safety of this railway. At the same time, Germany also had to import a large number of advanced naval equipment from the Chinese Empire, otherwise Germany's Super God Bow type battleships would not be able to compete with the British dreadnought warships of the same kind, so the German political axe quickly agreed.

In this way, the Chinese Empire acquired all shares in the Baghdad Railway, and immediately began construction of the last 10,000 kilometers of the railway project, which was scheduled to be completed by the end of 1911 and opened to traffic in 1912. The German government believed in the railway construction capacity of the Chinese Empire, because of the huge industrial capacity and technology of the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire has completed 420,000 kilometers of railway mileage in China, becoming the second largest railway country in the world (520,000 kilometers in the United States).

(To be continued)