After negotiating the payment of a large ransom, Lin Daxin sent away the disgraced French minister Bi Sheng, and the British minister who helped Bi Sheng to support the field, and told the French minister that when the ransom was paid, when the French naval prisoners of war in the Lushun prisoner of war camp could return to France.

Then Lin Daxin asked the German minister Klinder to come over, and now there is only one guest left who came to participate in Lin Daxin's concubine ceremony.

In the living room of the Governor's Palace, Lin Daxin said enthusiastically to Klinde: "Mr. Minister, have you had a good time in Shenyang these days?" "Lin Daxin's relationship with the Germans is still good, at the beginning of the establishment of the Dingbei Army, many munitions were purchased from Germany, and the Northeast Navy has 6 German-class all-steel battleships that were built by German shipyards to help Lin Daxin, these 6 all-steel battleships except for 1 sank in the sea battle in Manila Bay, the other 5 are currently serving as the main warships in the battleship formation of the Third Fleet of the Northeast Navy.

Clint nodded and said: "Thank you for Governor Lin's hospitality these days, I have a very good life, and even walked around Shenyang City, although it is winter now, but Shenyang City is under the governance of Governor Lin, it is very lively, and I have also bought a lot of items produced in your Northeast for my family and friends, you see that my clothes are just bought, very good." ”

Lin Daxin saw that the woolen coat and the suit worn by Clinder were all new styles from the garment factory under his name, so Lin Daxin said with praise: "Mr. Minister's clothes are really very good!" This was definitely a boast, but Clinder didn't know it, and nodded approvingly.

Then Clinder smiled and said, "I think so too, and I'm going to buy a few sets for my two sons as well." In addition, Governor Lin, on behalf of Germany, I have come to discuss a very important matter with Governor Lin. ”

Hearing Clint get to the point, Lin Daxin immediately asked, "Oh? What's the matter? Mr. Minister, please! ”

Klinde's following words made Lin Daxin frown, "Governor Lin, we Germany are ready to get a foothold in Asia, that is, we Germany want to get a colony in Asia. ”

Asia has been carved up by the Western powers, and at present, there are several countries in Asia, such as the Qing Dynasty, Japan, Siam and Central Asia, which are ostensibly independent, but behind these independent countries, there are the shadows of the great powers, of course, now they have joined the ranks of the great powers, the Philippines has become their own Luzon Province, and now they and the Russians are competing for the Far East and the eastern part of Siberia, if there is no accident, they will also be taken into their own pockets.

When Lin Daxin heard that the Germans wanted to obtain a colony in Asia, his first reaction was that the Germans took advantage of the fact that they had swept away most of the essence of the French navy, and took advantage of the fire to rob and prepare to rob France's colonies in Asia.

Immediately, Lin Daxin's heart became more and more headed, he thought that the Germans could not target the French now, although the French navy became sluggish, and there was no time to recover in a few years, but France's powerful army still existed, if Germany dared to rob the French colonies in Asia, and France, which borders Germany, would inevitably choose to declare war with the Germans, which would mean that the First World War would break out more than ten years in advance, because in that case, many countries would be involved.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the sense of confrontation between the European powers deepened, and Germany became the center of the storm. After the reunification of Germany, it has always been on guard against the revival of France, especially against the French recovery of Alsace and Lorraine, after all, these two areas were the German-French War, that is, the Franco-Prussian War, to seize the French. Austria-Hungary was in constant conflict with Russia over the Balkans.

For Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was of the same ethnicity, was its loyal ally, and on the other hand, Austria-Hungary also needed the strength and support of Germany. So in October 1879, Germany and Austria concluded a secret military alliance. The treaty stipulates that if one of the two countries is attacked by Russia, the other side will assist it with its "full military force", and if one of the two countries is attacked by the other power, as long as Russia does not join the side of the aggressor country, the two countries will maintain each other's neutrality in good faith.

In addition, the Italians were afraid that the French would attack them, because in July 1870, after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III had to repatriate his troops in Rome. Italy seized the opportunity, and in early September, the Italian army and Garibaldi's volunteers entered the Papal territory, which had been controlled by France, and occupied Rome. Later, according to a referendum, Rome was merged with Italy, and the pope was stripped of his secular powers and took refuge in the Vatican. At this point, with the help of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Italy drove out the French power, recovered the papal territories occupied and controlled by France, and finally completed unification.

Therefore, Italy also signed the Triple Alliance Treaty with Germany and Austria, which stipulated that Germany and Italy would assist each other in the event of French aggression, and that if either side of the alliance was attacked by more than two powers, the other two countries would guarantee assistance. The spearhead of the Triple Alliance is directed at France and Russia.

As a result, Germany gradually distanced itself from Russia by favoring Austria-Hungary on the Balkan issue, and the German-Austrian alliance regarded Russia as an imaginary enemy, which made Russia more and more uneasy. France, which had suffered from the long-term isolation of Germany and Austria, seized the opportunity to win over Russia, and financially supported and assisted it in completing industrialization and building the Trans-Siberian Railway, hoping to sign a military treaty with Russia.

But the Russians hesitated until after the war with Lin Daxin, and the Russians hoped to get the assistance of the French Navy to deal with Lin Daxin's Northeast Navy, so they formally signed the Russo-French Alliance with France.

The treaty clearly stipulates that if one of the two countries is attacked by Germany alone or by a joint attack by Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, military assistance will be provided to each other. And the navies of the two countries formed a joint fleet to expedition to Asia to eliminate Lin Daxin's Northeast Navy, and then Russia occupied the Northeast and Mongolia, France occupied the Philippines, and the French Army would not participate in this war, and the French Navy participated in the combined fleet in the form of volunteers, and France did not choose to declare war with Lin Daxin's forces.

The latter part of the Russian-French alliance entente carved up Lin Daxin's territory, and they had no way to achieve it, but the first one was still valid.

In other words, if Germany invaded France's Asian colonies now, it was likely to turn into a great war between Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and France and Russia, and the British would also participate in this war.

Britain has always pursued a foreign policy of "glorious isolation" towards Europe, and the Germans invited Britain to join the Triple Alliance in 1889, but the British government refused, although Britain failed to join the Triple Alliance, but it was closer to Germany, Austria and Italy, and had a relatively cold relationship with France and Russia, France has been Britain's main rival in history, and relations are strained for African colonies, and Russia is a direct threat to British interests in Central Asia and the Balkans.

However, with the rapid expansion of Germany's national strength, Germany's foreign policy has undergone a fundamental change, and Germany's desire to re-divide the world's colonies has become increasingly urgent, and the whole country is full of calls for "longing for land under the sun." The Germans believed that in order to re-divide the world, they must vigorously develop their navy and break the seas of British domination, and Germany tried to seize the territory of Britain's world factory around the world, so Britain became its number one illusory enemy.

Germany's policy of trying to surpass Britain economically and militarily at the same time made Britain feel threatened, especially Germany's fanatical development of its navy, which made the British like a thorn in the back, and the sudden rise of Lin Daxin, a demonic figure in Asia, made Britain very scruples.

Both Lin Daxin and Germany had very strong armies and navyes that were currently ranked second and third in the world, which made the British feel that it was difficult to compete with them alone, so they began to abandon the policy of "glorious isolation" that they had always pursued, and began to prepare for the strategy of alliance.

Britain began to seek European partners, at this time the French expeditionary fleet was almost completely annihilated by Lin Daxin's Northeast Navy in the naval battle of the Gulf of Ussuri, so that the entire essence of the French Navy was lost, and France sought British protection because of its Asian colonies, and after the rapid improvement of Anglo-French relations, the two countries began to negotiate on the long-standing colonial issue, and quickly reached a consensus.

On December 20, 1898, Britain and France signed an "Anglo-French Entente", which stipulated that France would give up its fishing rights in Newfoundland, and Britain would make concessions to France on the territorial issues of The Gambia and Central Africa. France recognized Egypt as a British sphere of influence, and Britain agreed to France's annexation of Morocco; The British and French divided Siam into two along the Meunang River, and the western part of Siam bordering Burma was the British sphere of influence; The eastern part adjacent to Indochina was the sphere of French influence; Reconciling the contradictions between the two countries in Madagascar and the New Hebrides.

In addition, Britain and France have reached a consensus that they will jointly deal with the Triple Alliance led by Germany in Europe, and they will jointly deal with the menacing Lin Daxin in Asia, and when one of Britain and France is attacked, the other side must come to the rescue.

Originally, France wanted to pull Russia into this entente and form a three-nation entente, but Russia fell into the quagmire of a war with Lin Daxin and could not extricate itself, Britain thought that after the end of the Russian war, it would consider what the three-country entente, otherwise now pull the Russians in, isn't it that Britain and France have to start a big war with Lin Daxin now!

Lin Daxin already knew the news of the Anglo-French Entente, so he didn't think that the Germans would choose to snatch France's colonies in Asia, which would cause a major war in many countries and make the world's first war come earlier. If the Germans still dare to seize Qingdao as they did in history, they will never agree to it.

Lin Daxin wondered and asked, "Mr. Klinder, where do you Germans want to get a colony in Asia?" ”

Clint didn't answer directly, but said, "Governor Lin, do you have a map of Asia here?" ”

Lin Daxin waved his hand to a lieutenant of the Governor's Mansion next to him, took a map of Asia, and after spreading it out, Klint pointed to a location on the map and said, "We Germans want here!" ”

Lin Daxin looked at the position that Clint was pointing at and shouted in surprise: "What! Do you Germans want to launch an attack on Japan? "It turned out that the location of Klinder's finger turned out to be the Japanese island of Shikoku.

Clint shook his head and said, "No! No! No! The Japanese navy is now only behind our German navy, and if we attack Japan now, the losses will be unacceptable to us Germans! ”

Lin Daxin frowned and asked, "Then what do you Germans mean?" ”

Klint smiled and said: "We in Germany think that Governor Lin's Dingbei Army is very good in the war with the Russians, and we in Germany know that the battle of the city is not as the Russians say. We Germany believe that with the existence of the powerful naval and land armies under the command of Governor Lin, even if the war is unfavorable, it is just a loss of some land, and it cannot shake the foundation of Governor Lin, but after the war between Governor Lin and the Russians is over, it is likely that Governor Lin needs to fight a new war with the Japanese, so we Germans are willing to unite together to deal with the Japanese army and navy when Governor Lin and the Japanese are at war, and finally after the victory of the war, we Germany only need to obtain Japan's Shikoku Island. What does Governor Lin think of our German construction? Even Governor Lin can choose to ally with us Germany, and when a country like Russia attacks Governor Lin's territory in the future, we Germans are willing to fight side by side with Governor Lin. ”

When Lin Daxin heard what the German minister Klinder meant, he immediately understood, what kind of Asian colonies did Germany want to acquire, and this was clearly an alliance with himself to deal with the Entente that Britain and France had just established, and even the three Entente countries that Britain, France and Russia might have in the future. However, if Germany wants to seize Japan's Shikoku Island, it may only be to pick up a bargain behind the war between itself and the Japanese, but Germany is a long way from Japan, and even if it unites with itself to launch an attack on Japan, how many forces can it send, at most, it will send a fleet that is not weak.

However, it is reasonable for Germany to find Lin Daxin to form an alliance, you must know that although Germany established the German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance in Europe, Austria-Hungary is far from Britain, France and Russia in terms of economic strength and military strength, and Italy originally had a strong navy, but because of the continuous provocation of Lin Daxin, the navy under Lin Daxin defeated the Italian naval fleet three times in a row, especially the destruction of the second expeditionary fleet of the Italian Navy, which made the Italian Navy withdraw from the ranks of naval powers. Worse still, Italy's finances simply do not allow Italy to build warships as frantically as it did in previous years, so that in a short period of time, Italy's navy rivals that of the great European powers will not be able to rise again. R1152