The scorching sun was shining, and the high-pitched chirping of summer cicadas came from the trees outside the palace.

Hearing Qing Ying's last words, for some reason, Wilhelm II suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of irritability rushing up, and his forehead was instantly covered with fine sweat droplets. He picked up the fan that his wife had just thrown away from the ground, slapped it a few times on his body, and then said slowly: "Ettel, this part of international affairs is the most difficult to analyze, and I hope you can make a conclusion after a period of careful consideration." Blurting out on major issues is definitely not a good thing for a prince. ”

William shook his fan and said unhurriedly: "Why do you say that the contradiction between Britain and my Germany is better than that of France and Russia, and it is still an irreconcilable contradiction?" You must know that Queen Victoria of England is the mother of your grandmother, your father and my maternal grandmother; The royal families and nobles of Britain and Germany have a deep relationship of nearly 1,000 years. Although I personally don't like the UK, the people of both countries have a good opinion of each other and see each other as close partners. Compared with France, a long-cherished colonial enemy for hundreds of years, and Little Nikki, which is expanding vigorously in the Far East, our Germany has no disputes with Britain in terms of history, humanity, or current situation. Why is the contradiction between Britain and Germany more acute than that between Britain and France, Britain and Russia? ”

Qingying glanced at his cheap father and said, "This time, my German initiative to build ships to Russia, is a dispute with Britain. And in my father's heart, I'm afraid I have long wanted to compete with the British, right? ”

William said calmly: "Not bad. In the 25 years since the reunification of Germany, the growth rate of national strength has been several times or even ten times that of the European powers, and until today, it is the top power on the European continent. In this case, the days when other countries competed for the sea and territory under the sun, and I, Germany, were content only with the sky, are gone! I, Germany, deserve what we should have as a great power, and that is the sea, trade, and colonies! Even France, a second-rate country that has been completely destroyed by our Germany, can have the second largest naval fleet in the world and nearly 10 million square kilometers of colonies; I, Germany, are superior to France in every way, so why can't I have these beautiful things? Britain has occupied sea power for hundreds of years, and its colonies are larger than Genghis Khan's empire; It's long overdue to give up some of my rights and interests for the German Reich to enjoy! ”

William gushed, and added, "These fellows in England are even more greedy than the shameless Jews of Grandet; We have always been opposed to the legitimate demands of our Germany in order to conform to the status of a great power. Don't they know that Germany, I, am now Britain's only ally on the European continent? The reason why I want to build ships for Russia this time is to give the British a little bit of a good look, so that they can understand the serious consequences of not accepting my reasonable demands of Germany! Such a small contradiction is only a small episode in the relations between the two countries, and it is not worth mentioning at all compared to the contradictions between the British and French colonies and the contradictions between Britain and Russia in the Far East. ”

"At the present stage, because Britain has considerable contradictions with France and Russia, it is natural that it will not turn against Germany in this matter, and provoke another powerful country to be its enemy. But it's hard to say what happened after that. Qingying did not shy away from it, and directly met Wilhelm's eyes, "According to my father's plan, Germany will expand to the sea and colonies in the future, and this is where Britain's most traditional and fundamental interests lie." In this case, Britain will surely reach an understanding with France and join the Franco-Russian alliance against our German Empire! ”

"Didn't I tell you just that? Anglo-French feud, Anglo-German feud, why would Britain choose to reach an understanding with France, which is more contradictory, than choose our German Empire? William said with some displeasure.

Qingying said in a deep voice: "Among the contradictions between the European powers and Britain now, on the surface, the contradictions between Britain and Russia are the most acute, followed by Britain and France, and the relations between Britain and Germany are the most peaceful. However, the actual situation is the opposite, and the differences between Britain and Germany are the main potential contradictions! Because Germany can pose a much greater threat to Britain than France and Russia! ”

"Although Russia occupies half of the territory of the Eurasian continent and has more than 100 million people, the essence of this country is still a barbarian and backward agricultural country. Although the injection of French capital helped them establish a basic industrial system five years ago, their industrial output value is still at the bottom of the first-tier European powers, and all their precision industrial products rely on imports. Financially, with the level of the Russian economy, there is not much money available for the expansion of armaments. In contrast, Britain is far superior to this seemingly powerful behemoth, both industrially and financially. And to fight a war, it is the overall strength of the country, as evidenced by the First French Empire back then! No matter how brave Napoleon was, in the face of the almost endless manpower, material and financial resources of the four major powers of England, Prussia, Austria and Russia, he could only defeat Waterloo and die a lonely death on the island of Corsica. And in terms of national strength, Russia, which has neither industry nor money, is not an opponent of Britain at all! ”

Qingying paused, and then continued: "It's the same with France. Although France's industry is stronger than that of Russia, and it is a rich creditor of the world, it is still more than inferior to England. Last year, France produced only 830,000 tonnes of steel, while the UK produced 3.16 million tonnes of steel, almost four times that of France; On the one hand, this also reflects the reason why the gap between the British and French navies has widened in recent years. Therefore, if you really want to tear your skin, even if Russia and France are combined, they will eventually be wiped out by Britain one by one. ”

Hearing this, William nodded slowly. He knew a little about the reasons for the slump in French industry. In addition to the impact of the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the French were definitely responsible for lending money everywhere.

At the moment, if any country wants to get rich quick, then lending abroad is definitely an excellent option. Lending not only has the other party's hard income as collateral, but also the annual interest rate is scary; The degree of its steady income is even worse than the real estate activities of the Celestial Empire in later generations. Therefore, seeing that it was profitable, the French put all the money they could use into vigorous lending, and waited for the good money to be counted in the future. As a result, there is money, but the domestic industry has developed slowly due to the lack of capital injection, and even fallen into a trough of regression. In 1886, steel production in France was almost a quarter lower than the previous year, and in 1894 it was less than in 1892. Compared with France's behavior, Germany has always focused on industry, and a large amount of wealth created has been reinvested in operations, so that the entire country's industrial economy has always been in a state of benign development. And the final outcome is also very clear, on the eve of World War I, Germany's national strength was prosperous, and the single destruction of France was as high as Mount Tai; If it weren't for the trench warfare and the intervention of Britain and Russia in a specific era, France would have died a long time ago!

"I, Germany, am completely different from France and Russia. In heavy industry, which was closely related to the war, Germany's total heavy industry had surpassed that of Britain and several times that of Britain and France; In the field of top industries such as precision machining, Germany has obvious advantages over the United Kingdom, and it is the crown of the world without suspense! Even when combined with the light industry that Britain is proud of, the total output of the empire is not much worse than that of Britain. Economically, thanks to the development of productive forces and the competitiveness of high-quality goods, the goods of the empire sold well in the oceans; In less than 10 years, Germany will surpass Britain in industry and economy. ”

Since Emperor William was exposed to information and data on the economy and industry every day, Qingying did not elaborate too much in front of him; After a brief introduction, he said in a deep voice: "France and Russia, due to their national strength, can only cause trouble to Britain; And the rising German Empire is the real henchman who can shake the hegemony of the British world! As a veteran empire that has colonized the world for hundreds of years, it is impossible for Britain to give up its vested interests; As an emerging power, Germany must have broken the old order and intended to re-divide the world. It is almost impossible to reconcile this contradiction between the old and new hegemons vying for dominance in the world, and the result of the two countries' struggle for hegemony will inevitably end after the complete fall of one side! In contrast, the contradictions between Britain and France and Britain and Russia are completely petty and not worth mentioning at all. ”

"Thankfully, almost no one has been able to see this layer yet. In the eyes of all the British, their greatest enemy was Russia, followed by France. Under these circumstances, what Germany should do was to try not to get involved in the conflict with Britain, to dilute the hostile vision of Britain, and to vigorously develop its own industry and economy. For Germany, which is developing rapidly, Britain is obviously much more beneficial as an ally than as an enemy. The longer we can delay this time, the more room for development we can obtain, and the more rapidly our national strength will grow. And once our Germany shows obvious anti-British expansionist tendencies, it is bound to gain more hostility and attention from Britain; And after paying attention for a long time, it is only a matter of time before Britain sees this layer! At that time, England will unite with France and even Russia to make a common enemy of Germany; And this is the last thing I want in Germany to see! Qing Ying said loudly.

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William stood in place, his face was as usual, but his eyes that had lost focus were a true reflection of his current mental state. A warm breeze blew, and William's beard moved, and a few whiskers folded into his nostrils, causing him to sneeze loudly. After a while, his pupils gradually contracted, and his gray eyes bloomed with unprecedented brilliance, and he said in a deep voice: "Ettel, this kind of tone, these opinions, you yourself will never think of it!" Say, who taught you this? ”

Facing William's expression, Qingying was not flustered, he lowered his head slightly, and whispered in a voice that only William could hear: "Father, on April Fool's Day last year, I lied to you. I didn't go to Hamburg to see the circus, but to the Friedrichslu estate to celebrate the man's 80th birthday. ”

William's right hand was clenched into a fist, and the expression on his face was complicated, relieved, approving, angry, stunned, mocking...... All kinds of expressions were mixed, and finally they returned to calm. Looking at the most handsome child who had high hopes for him, William snorted coldly and said hesitantly: "I remember." Isn't that person's birthday on April Fool's Day? Well done, Well done, Well Done, Well Done, Ettel, It's Awesome! ”

Qingying laughed dryly and said, "Thank you father for the compliment." ”

The corners of William's mouth twitched, and he said softly: "That person...... Hmph, I knew that he couldn't bear the loneliness, and he never thought about retiring. It's obvious that he's already so old, but he still has to be nosy......" Speaking of this, he glanced at Qingying and said lightly: "Thank you for speaking for him." You can find a time and bring him a message for me. This time, it's right again, but I, William, will never thank him! ”