October 1920. Hong Kong, the last foreign colony on Chinese territory, seems to have a more military-heavy atmosphere. British warships patrol the waters around Hong Kong Island, and in Victoria Bay, the main force of the British Far East Fleet is also moored. Although there are no capital ships, they are still enough to threaten the weak Chinese Navy! In the northern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, near Baoan County, heavily armed British troops patrolled every day, especially at several ports of entry, and Vickers heavy machine guns were set up as if they were facing a great enemy. On the opposite side of them, the squadron also looked like it was facing a great enemy, the original security force had been replaced by a whole division of the stronger combat effectiveness of the national defense force, and a heavy artillery regiment drove into the preset position north of the Shenzhen River, and the muzzle of the gun was facing the direction of Hong Kong at any time.

However, in such a tense confrontation scene, the economic life of Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, has not been affected much, but has benefited from the rapid growth of China's economy and the opening of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Railway and has become more prosperous. In a year when the world was suffering from the post-war depression, only two second-class powers, China and Japan, were able to maintain strong economic growth. On the one hand, they really do not want the development of China and Japan to threaten their colonies in the East; On the one hand, none of these Western countries are willing to unite to impose an economic blockade on China, Japan, and Soviet Russia -- and now the Western camp is not dominated by the United States, but by Britain, the United States, and France, which are openly and covertly fighting, and a bunch of small powers are not constrained. In such a situation, who wants to give up such a huge market as China?

The battlecruiser HMS Hood, in which Churchill was aboard, and several other light cruisers and destroyers escorting the ship, arrived at the docks in Hong Kong in such an atmosphere. A group of British officials and diplomats led by Stuart and Eiston had been waiting for him here for a long time, and the Chinese government had also sent Wang Ching-wei, chairman of Guangdong Province, to Hong Kong to greet Churchill on his visit to China, and was also preparing to start the first round of contacts with him. On the wharf, the British expatriates who welcomed the colonial secretary to inspect were even more crowded. When the huge hull of the battlecruiser Hood as huge as a mountain slowly approached the dock, all the British people waved the rice flag in their hands vigorously, and a huge cheer rang out from the dock.

Wang Jingwei and several of his attachés. is looking at the world's most powerful warship with his mouth open and a little dumbfounded, and he is probably sweating for Chang Ruiqing's behavior of touching the tiger's buttocks, right?

At this time, the military band of the British Royal Navy played the song God Bless My King. Churchill, the stocky British Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, appeared on the ramp of the Hood, which had been lowered. At this moment, Churchill's face was also a little gloomy, and the most famous prime minister of the British Empire in history was unlikely to hide his feelings. His trip to Siam was obviously not very successful, and although Rama VI's visit to China was temporarily blocked, the Siamese side still insisted on signing a non-aggression pact with China. At the same time, all anti-Chinese policies have been abolished - it seems that the country is still slowly moving closer to China and Japan! And the British Empire in order to slow down their approach to China and Japan. He made a big concession in the tariff negotiations, and at the same time promised a multi-million pound loan.

Churchill knew that this was a very bad precedent, and this gave Siam a taste of sweetness in the process of approaching China and Japan! In the future, these cunning and discreditless Orientals will surely use this trick often to blackmail the British Empire!

But he couldn't come up with a better solution. Start a war to invade Siam? If in the Victorian era, or even before the world wars. The British Empire will do just that! But now...... Even if the invasion were successful, it would only make the Empire's situation more difficult for the rest of the world. Churchill sighed inwardly, gathered his thoughts, and walked down the gangway to the Chinese official (Wang Ching-wei) with a ribbon on his chest. When the two approached, the spotlights of the surrounding reporters flashed desperately. Churchill smiled and stretched out his hand, Wang Jingwei took the British minister's palm, and whispered in English without an interpreter: "Welcome, sir." I hope that your trip to Asia will bring about a new order for the entire region that will guarantee lasting prosperity and peace, and I personally hope that. ”

Churchill smiled slightly, shook Wang Jingwei's hand vigorously, and replied loudly: "I also hope to make some adjustments to the current order in the East through peace negotiations...... By the way, I hope to meet the chairman of your country's military commission in Canton as much as possible, and I hope that by then. Your country can have more mature and rational ideas. That's all, thank you for greeting. He nodded lightly to Wang Jingwei, and walked towards several senior British officials and diplomats who greeted him.

……

Chang Ruiqing was standing on the back deck of the Haiqi cruiser with Luo Yaoguo behind his back at this time, surrounded only by the sound of the sea waves and the ship's power system, and all the entourage and naval officers and sailors were forbidden to approach the two of them.

The two just quietly looked at the sea. Chang Ruiqing didn't speak, he was still thinking about a proposal proposed by Luo Yaoguo, a mysterious person, to establish the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and send Albert Einstein to be the director of this institute...... Of course, it is famous, but Einstein will use his influence in the world scientific community to help China find some second-rate scientists to fill the scene. At the same time, it also helps to train China's own scientists. Luo Yaoguo had already met with Einstein, and the two sides talked for a whole morning. Under the watchful eye of the agents, of course! Much of their conversation focused on the theory of relativity. However, during this period, Einstein once handed Luo Yaoguo an envelope, Luo Yaoguo opened it on the spot and read the letter, and then burned the letter with a lighter!

"I guess you're still hiding something, aren't you?" Chang Ruiqing broke the silence first: "I'm afraid that not much of what you said to me that day was true, right?" Also, you haven't handed over the formula and principle of creating an atomic bomb. ”

Luo Yaoguo smiled: "I will take those things out at the right time, but not now...... Now it's useless that you get those things. In fact, the main formula for the manufacture of nuclear weapons has been proposed by Albert Einstein, and now the discovery of nuclear fission is missing...... You know what's going on, right? ”

"Of course, I know that it was discovered in 1939 by the German scientist Hahn and the Jewish female scientist Meitner in the search for transuranic atoms. But before that, uranium-235 needs to be found and separated, right? ”

"Well, it's not difficult, give me six months and a million dollars to do the separation of uranium-235 and 'discover' nuclear fission. In fact, there are many physicists in the world who can accomplish such a reality if someone points the way...... Without me, you can open this Pandora's box yourself. But that doesn't mean you can build an atomic bomb! You should know where the difficulty is, right? ”

Chang Ruiqing nodded and did not speak. Luo Yaoguo said with a solemn face: "If you told the world about the nuclear fission phenomenon in the 20s, maybe you would find a way to keep it secret, but that would be practically impossible. Because you want to make an atomic bomb! It's a huge undertaking that requires billions of dollars to upgrade the industrial base and a large amount of equipment for isotope separation from the United States or Germany. It is also necessary to recruit relevant scientists from all over the world...... And those scientists are very smart. Just give them a hint and they'll discover your secrets.

What happens then? Have you thought about it? With China's industrial base, can you build an atomic bomb before the United States or Germany? Even if you can build it, what will you use to put it there? The difficulty of building a long-range heavy bomber is not below the atomic bomb! ”

The mysterious futuristic man went on to say in a mocking and sarcastic tone, "If I were you." I would never have thought of opening this Pandora's box in advance...... And every time I make a decision, I think carefully about the consequences! Because every little change in history has the potential to produce an unimaginable butterfly effect! For example, the Four-Power War and the Triple Non-Aggression Pact threatened to cause the revival of Germany! ”

"Are you worried that Adolf the Great will appear in this world? By the way, you haven't told me yet, what role did China play in Hitler's unification of the world in your world? I remember what kind of imperial nobleman you call yourself! Wasn't Nazi Germany racist? How can an Asian be made an aristocracy? ”

Hear this question. Luo Yaoguo just snorted lightly: "Of course my nobles are inherited...... And there are still a lot of aristocrats of Chinese descent like me! Saying that, he glanced at Chang Ruiqing with a very disgusted look: "As for what kind of role China plays, this is something you need to seriously consider!" Because you are now one of the few who hold the future destiny of this world in your hands! ”

Chang Ruiqing suddenly had a creepy feeling, feeling that the road in front of him was likely to lead to a huge disaster! Or one of the countless possibilities in the future is a Hitler's world empire! And some of the arrangements that I think are very beneficial to China are likely to hasten the rise of Germany and eventually lead to the birth of Hitler's Reich!

Chang Ruiqing muttered: "I can send someone to kill Hitler!" I have some White Russian spies who are very close in appearance to the Germans. ”

Luo Yaoguo sighed: "Before Sun Yat-sen died, the whole world thought that China could not live without him...... But what is the result? Besides, if the Third Reich really did not appear, Germany became a strong pillar of the Western world. Is it really good for your China? Then you and Trotsky should be surrounded and isolated by the whole world, right? ”

This time, Chang Ruiqing really ran out of ideas, and history has now embarked on a fork in the road that he can't grasp at all! And he doesn't know if the result of going down this fork in the road will be worse than the original? He even had a hunch that in the history of Luo Yaoguo's original world, there was probably a character like himself......

Luo Yaoguo looked at Chang Ruiqing's preoccupied appearance, and finally couldn't help but smile: "My commission." What are you worried about? You are now a drunken figure who is in charge of the world...... And there is more than one beauty. His eyebrows flew slantedly, but the corners of his mouth showed a sneering smile, which looked a little more mysterious.

"Now the chairman has reached this point. There are some things that need to be considered from the perspective of the overall situation of the world. You are already a figure who is enough to influence the situation in the world. And your influence will grow as China grows stronger. What you have to think about is how to make China's strength thicker and stronger, and then use this strength sparingly, with less wishful thinking, and ambitions should be in moderation, and it is best to learn more from Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister of the Second Empire. ”

Chang Ruiqing looked at Luo Yaoguo with gloomy eyes, and said coldly: "What do you mean." Is my business likely to fail? ”

"I mean, things don't quite go the way you think they are."

……

Governor-General's House, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Conference Room.

"I've read your book many times, and I can almost memorize it." Churchill frowned: "Isn't there any other way to use than appeasement of China?" The British Empire must have had many friends in China, right? Is there no one to replace him? Is that Vice Chairman Jiang Jishi okay? ”

None of the Englishmen in the room showed a look of surprise on their faces. In fact, they were all talking to Churchill with blank faces.

"Is this the opinion of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet?" It was Zhu Erdian who spoke. There was an inquiring tone in his tone.

"If possible, this will become the core of the Reich's Eastern policy." Churchill's answer was ambiguous. However, a few of you can still hear that the opinion of overthrowing the Chang Ruiqing authorities is only Churchill's own.

"Of course, the possibility exists." Zhu Erdian thought for a few minutes, and then continued: "For example, let the battlecruiser Hood go to the Taiwan Strait to find Chang Ruiqing's ship. Sink it with a cannon! Other than that, I can't think of any other way to overthrow Chang Ruiqing. Your Excellency, do you know what China was like three years ago? Do you know what ordinary people and upper-class people in China have gained in these two or three years? Dignity, self-confidence, peace, food that fills your belly, and hope for the future! I can assure you, if you are Chinese. You will also become his advocate. ”

Churchill took two puffs of his cigar. "Sounds a bit like a savior, if only Britain could have such a guy. Well, since we can't destroy this savior, we can only sweeten him and appease him...... But he's stretching his claws out to the South Seas! This is one of the most prosperous and rich colonies in the world, and you know, our British Empire is centered on Singapore, and the South Seas are actually the core of the empire. ”

The British ambassador to China, Eston, added at this time: "There is also Tibet, and the Chinese have just given Lhasa an ultimatum. Ask Tibet to open its borders to allow the squadron to enter! ”

"It looks like India is also under threat!" Churchill exhaled heavily. "Whitehall already knows about this, right? Do they have any instructions? ”

"Not yet, Mr. Chancellor." Eston replied: "I don't think there's anything Whitehall can do about it either...... China is the suzerainty of Tibet, which is recognized by the whole world, and as a world power, China has the right to move freely in its own vassals or colonies. ”

"But is China a great power? How much steel do they have? How many navies are there? ”

"China's steel output is expected to be around 100,000 tons this year. After the completion of their first five-year plan, it is estimated that they will have no more than 2 million tons of steel. As for the navy, there are no ambitious development plans, and the savior of China doesn't seem to have much idea about the sea—so China is not the greatest threat to the empire in the East. ”

"But you want to encourage China to develop its navy."

Zhu Erdian took the question and said, "Yes, this is the point I put forward. The policy of the British Empire. It is necessary to consider from the angle of safeguarding world hegemony, and not only to consider the interests of East Asia. I don't think the former empire was strong enough to suppress the challenge from all sides. To do this, we can only find a target that can be united among the many challengers, and China is one that can be united. ”

"United China...... Against whom? Soviet Russia or Japan? ”

"All opponents!" Zhu Erdian's answer was clear and affirmative: "When China and the British Empire get closer and closer, Japan will be the first to be afraid!" The combination of the sea power of the British Empire and the land power of China could easily defeat Japan! The rich Far Eastern states, Korea, the most important vassal state in China's history, and Taiwan and the Ryukyus, which were lost to Japan, were all coveted by China, at least that's what the Japanese thought. Fearful, Japan will also look for allies around the world, but who can work with them? Soviet Russia? Unless Japan agrees to return the Far Eastern states, there is simply no way for Japan and Russia to trust each other...... The United States may have the possibility of uniting with Japan, but that must come at the cost of Japan giving up its pursuit of maritime superiority in the Pacific. In this way, Japan will return to the mainland to compete with China and Soviet Russia for living space. In this way, the pressure on the empire in Europe could also be greatly reduced. Of course, there is also the possibility that Japan is unwilling to give up its big navy, so that it is unlikely that they will form an alliance with the United States, and they will have to seek cooperation with us instead...... Such a shape shì is also very beneficial to the empire. As soon as Britain and Japan cooperate, the United States will feel tremendous pressure, and they will face two naval powers at the same time in both directions, east and west! In this way, the United States will also have to bow to the empire, and perhaps the empire can sign a treaty with the United States and Japan aimed at limiting the naval arms race, maintaining the empire's maritime superiority at a relatively small cost, and at the same time concentrating on containing the westward advance of Soviet Russia. Therefore, uniting China will be the key to solving the dilemma facing the empire! ”