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A huge, silvery-white airship with a huge golden dragon painted on it was slowly sailing through the air, and in the cabin below the airship, bombs were dropped, and smoke rose from Big Ben in the cloud of smoke from the explosion. The crowd on the ground began to riot, scream, run......

London burned violently in the explosion, and the once landmarks burned in flames......

Of course, this is not true, to be precise, this is just a picture in the newspaper, but it fully reflects the European understanding of "****".

If the Sino-Russian war made those Europeans realize something. Perhaps it was the country's astonishing potential – they had mobilized nearly four million troops, and in the eyes of many Europeans, China had crushed the Russian Empire to pieces with a "tidal wave" of people.

For military experts of various countries, what they see is that the Chinese did not give full play to their manpower superiority, but used a smaller number of troops, relying on sufficiently good weapons, easily broke the resistance of the Russians and almost destroyed the entire Russian Empire. This is the most terrible part, because not only are they numerous, but their combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of European armies.

It is precisely because of this that the "**** theory" was finally accepted by Europeans, and the airship that surprised the world in the Sino-Russian War became a symbol of the nascent Chinese Empire together with the dragon, and almost every European believed that the Chinese had dominated the sky with airships, and in their simple consciousness, in the future, when a war broke out between China and Europe, the Chinese were bound to destroy everything in Europe with airships.

Even the United Kingdom, the world's largest power, is fearful of the threat from the air. And after experiencing Persian oil, South Africa's gold mines and other diplomatic disputes.

In London in 1908, no one would talk about the "Sino-British Treaty", but the "****" rhetoric intensified, as for the cartoon cartoon of the airship destroying London, it was generally accepted by the British, and in the eyes of many British, China has become a potential threat to Britain, even not inferior to Germany.

"The German Navy can never really threaten the glorious Royal Navy, the Royal Navy may be invincible, but they can only sail at sea!"

This is where the British are really worried - they believe that the Chinese dominate the sky, and they simply do not believe that they are capable of blocking the threat from the sky, because the Royal Navy has no wings!

"We have to adjust our foreign policy as quickly as possible, Britain is facing threats that have never been seen before, in Europe the Germans are trying to challenge Britain at sea, and in Asia, the Chinese navy is also ambitious to build warships, and even the Russians are building new warships...... Britain has reached the most dangerous moment, and at this moment, where are our allies? ”

Four years ago, the British Emperor Edward visited France, although he was initially treated with great cold reception and even hostility, but he finally won the support of France, and the most important thing is that in the subsequent secret talks, Britain and France reached a compromise on the colonial issue and signed the "Siam Declaration" and the "Moroccan Agreement", which not only resolved the contradictions between Britain and France on the Egyptian question, It also brought Britain and France from one extreme of tension after the Fashoda crisis to the other, and also succeeded in betraying Morocco, so that Germany, which had a great interest in the country, was caught in a struggle with France. This intensified the German-French animosity.

Beginning in 1904, the British Royal Navy's shipbuilding plan, which was almost "frantically suppressing its opponents", seriously affected Germany's security and forced Germany to start joining the shipbuilding race. And when Britain was caught up in "Germany's naval program, it was facing the greatest threat since the Napoleonic Wars." The British were equally aware of the arms race in the Pacific Ocean.

As the initiator of the "Warring States Ships", the maritime arms race between China and the United States is also in full swing, with 7 ships

The "Sengoku class" ushered in a new era of naval armament, and all countries in the world saw the opportunity to catch up with and surpass Britain. And the United States on the other side of the Pacific is also challenging the nascent naval nation. South Carolina, LaTralaware, Florida...... The fierce arms race at sea occupies the mainstream of the world's newspapers, and it seems that the whole world has been ignited by the "Warring States Ship", just like the symbol of the "Warring States Ship" -- the world has entered the Warring States Period.

And in this Warring States era, Britain needs its own allies!

Once upon a time, Britain tried to alleviate the pressure from Germany through an alliance with France and Russia, but during the Russian civil strife, the urgent intervention of Germany and Austria made this possibility zero, and even Russia and France have broken up, and the alliance of the Three Emperors has once again appeared in the eyes of the world.

As for China, in the eyes of the British, it is also unreliable, or it can be said that the unreliability of Britain itself has caused China to have to fall to other countries. But when the Warring States era came, Britain had to choose to make some new friends in every possible way.

Autumn in London is so tireless! The rain continues!

Glens, who was in his office, looked a little anxious, as an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he found that he could not grasp the movements of the foreign secretary, which was undoubtedly extremely dangerous.

"Could it be that there will be some new secret protocol in the near future?"

Sighing in his heart, Glens then rubbed his own left shoulder, which was faintly sore at the moment because of the old injury, which was an old wound that fell in the intelligence school in the Northeast, of course, for those who knew him, this old wound was left by him when he was in Cambridge.

As a member of the Foreign Minister's Office, when Glens found out that he did not know about His Excellency's itinerary for the past few days, he immediately realized the problem - usually the minister's itinerary is not confidential, more precisely, it is not kept secret from him, and if the minister has something to say that he does not want others to know, then he, as a member of the office, will also be informed of his movements. It's rare to have no idea where he is and without any hint beforehand.

"There must be something big, but what could it be?"

Being able to enter the top echelons of the British government in the midst of many "submarines", Glens has his own merits, and his sensitivity to intelligence work is his greatest advantage, and it is precisely because of this that he will be appreciated by his superiors and enter the office of the foreign secretary, and now, his sensitivity makes him immediately pick up a document on the table.

This is an official letter from the embassy in the United States, which does not seem to reveal much information, but after reading it carefully, he suddenly realized the problem - the United States is very likely to form an alliance with Britain! And the "disappearance" of the minister is precisely related to this.

In fact, as Foreign Secretary, Gray did not "disappear", and of course he could not have "disappeared"; in fact, at this time, he was in a manor house more than 20 kilometers away from London, receiving a special envoy sent by President Roosevelt from the United States, William? Howard? Taft.

"Your Excellency, please come in!"

In William? Howard? As soon as Taft got out of the car, Gray stepped forward to shake his hand, for the US Secretary of the Army, Gray is no stranger, he is a close confidant of the President of the United States, and now he is visiting Britain as a special envoy, of course, not for the sake of army affairs, after all, the British Army has nothing worth visiting.

Well, for the outside world, the reason why he came to England was to negotiate directly with British companies about the purchase of machine guns, of course, this is just a cover-up.

"Gentlemen, please."

At the conference table, Gray picked up a large box of cigars and held it out in front of Taft.

Naturally, Taft reached out and picked out a cigar from the box, and then puffed out the clouds with the Chancellor. Then they chatted like chat, and in fact, as early as Washington, the two countries had secretly reached a consensus on some issues.

"I don't think your country will be on China's side anymore, right?"

Taft's eyes were fixed on Gray's face, he didn't know the British very well, their behavior was despicable, ignoring the interests of other countries, there was never only the interests of Britain, in the Hawaii incident, they would rather see China occupy Hawaii than support the United States, and in the Sino-Russian war, they were even more on the side of China. Now, in the face of the threat from Germany and the fact that China is seeking new reassurances, they are drawing closer to the United States.

"Of course, just as it is impossible for the United States to continue to support Russia now......"

As a diplomat trained by the British Empire, Gray was undoubtedly extremely good, and he did not feel any unpleasant about Taft's unceremonious words, but only pointed out the reality that there are only eternal interests between countries. Britain may have supported China, but the United States has also supported Russia, and neither of them can support either now.

“…… One thing we have to see is that the United States is undoubtedly at a disadvantage in the confrontation in the Pacific right now, and although China's financial resources are more difficult than that of the United States, compared to the United States, they would rather bear heavy economic pressure than make too many concessions on the fleet issue. ”

Gray went on to get straight to the point:

"We have all noted that the United States has to rise to the challenge in the face of the threat from China......"

Taft did not show any joy in the admiration of Britain for the power of the United States, but sat quietly, looking up at the Chancellor sitting in front of him, waiting for the other party to offer a deal.

In fact, his knowledge of Britain led him to know that by the beginning of the 20th century, the core of Britain's foreign policy had evolved into a "appeased power", that is, it would never directly confront the potential enemy that posed the greatest threat to Britain, even at the expense of the interests of other countries. There are two main criteria for Britain to choose a strong country to "appease": first, it must be so strong that it is difficult to defeat, and its war strength and war potential must be large enough; Second, there must be a direct threat to Britain's worldwide strategic position, and it will be difficult to eliminate such a threat.

The United States meets this criterion, and the shipbuilding race between China and the United States, but with the speed of the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding program and its economic strength, it is only a very realistic matter of time before the U.S. Navy surpasses the Royal Navy. From the start of the construction of dreadnoughts, maybe not more than 15 years! In fact, the Admirals of the Royal Navy, represented by Admiral Fisher, were convinced of Mahan's doctrine of the necessity of funding the Royal Navy. While witnessing the rise of the U.S. Navy through the "Great White Fleet," they didn't even think about making the U.S. their adversary. So much so that Admiral Sayborn once privately complained that the First Sea Secretary had forgotten about the fleet on the other side of the Atlantic.

The core of all this is that Britain has realized that according to its diplomatic logic of "appeasing the great powers", the development of the United States is unstoppable. Of course, more importantly, there is another country in the Pacific that is holding the attention of the United States. The US arms race is between China and China, and it is precisely for this reason that Britain chooses to "connive" at the United States; of course, it is not only the United States that they connive, but even China, and the United States is also conniving at it -- the Chinese Navy's 14-inch naval guns were developed by the Vickers Company. The Chinese Navy is still importing a large amount of British naval technology, which is deliberately connived at by the British.

And that's the heart of British diplomacy, and that's what Taft needs to solve, the root cause.

“…… After deliberations in Washington......"

Finally, Taft spoke.

"Given the current situation, and China's recent aggressive posture, we believe that there is some common interest between the United States and the United Kingdom...... However, what we must see is that the United States is now doing everything possible to adjust relations with China instead of worsening relations between the two countries. ”

After Taft quickly finished the last sentence, he pursed his lips and looked at Gray, no doubt he was using this sentence to remind the other party that the arms race between the United States and China is now tending to ease, in other words, Britain needs this alliance more than the United States.

"Does the cabinet mean the concessions made by China on the warships?"

Grecha didn't show any nervousness in the face of Taft's words, he just withdrew his gaze from Taft's body, and then spoke in a calm tone.

"So is your country aware of the fact that Vickers has received an order from the Chinese Navy to develop a 15-inch naval gun for it? I think your country should know this first! I believe that this is also the fundamental reason why the Chinese Navy has made concessions on warships! (To be continued.) )