The sun is blazing on the land of the Far East, and the imperial palace in Berlin, thousands of miles away, is also scorching. In the shady and spacious study, William is vigorously shaking a fan to send himself a cool artificial cool breeze; But even so, his face still showed an almost sickly flush, as if there was something that made him extremely resentful, which made him angry and surging.

At this time yesterday, he was still in a very good mood, and Prime Minister Chillings Pfister came to the palace to report to him something about the Far East. Thanks to the development of a detailed operational plan and the start of personnel scheduling and material reserves more than half a year in advance, the German Army was progressing smoothly on the Philippine island of Luzon; After having completely routed several of the larger Native rebels, there was nothing left to stop them. According to the estimates of the Army General Staff, in a maximum of one month, Germany could take all of Luzon, including Manila. Luzon is the heart of the Philippines, where more than half of the country's indigenous and economic value lies. After conquering Luzon, is it still far from occupying the whole of the Philippines?

At the same time, there is also exciting news from the Japanese side. Japan borrowed 300 million marks from Germany as collateral for tariffs and its interests in Korea, to be repaid in 15 years, and the interest was a full 1 cent, which means that Japan will eventually have to repay at least three times the principal! In addition to this, there is also the most crucial point: since Japan has almost no heavy industry in its own country, almost everything it needs to expand its armaments and warfare must be purchased from abroad; In other words, although the money was sent out as a loan, the vast majority of it would flow back into the German market. The Japanese side has reached an agreement with Germany on the purchase of ships, and will order 80,000 tons of capital ships (78,000 tons in history) from Germany this year and next, at a total cost of 150 million marks.

The loan issued by Germany not only did not cause the slightest reduction in the development rate of the domestic economy, but could obtain an ultra-high interest rate of 1 point; More importantly, Japan, as the unjust leader who bears this high interest, will willingly help itself deal with the potential enemy Russia and let Russia shed a lot of blood in the Far East. As soon as he thought of this, William danced excitedly; In his spare time, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of expression would his cousin Nikki have on his face when he heard the news.

However, a piece of news came yesterday, but William's mood quickly turned from sunny to cloudy, and then full of anger. According to a telegram from Tirpitz, the U.S. Pacific Fleet had set out from Hong Kong a week earlier to attack the Philippine island of Mindanao, not far from the equator, and had sent land forces to the area. Upon hearing the news, William was at first incredulous, followed by intense anger. Since Germany forcibly captured Santa Ana Harbor more than half a year ago, Germany's territorial thirst for the Philippines has been well known to the world, but now the Americans have come to intervene in the United States, intending to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. This is unbearable for no one! On the same day, William summoned the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Jurgen Klinsmann, and demanded an explanation from him for an explanation; However, the Americans have said that the Philippines is a colony of Spain, and the United States and Spain are already at war, and in such a situation, it is normal for the United States to launch an attack on the Philippines. Finally, the Americans also hinted to Wilhelm that Germany had no reason to interfere with this move of the United States. Although William was angry at this situation, he had nothing to do for a while; After some consideration, he summoned Prime Minister Chillingsfest into the palace to discuss.

The wall clock was ticking, the sun was warm, and the eighty-year-old prime minister appeared at the door of William's study, and his back was already a little rickety. Seeing the thin old man in front of him, William waved his right hand to salute him, and then pointed to the seat next to him, where the waiter put a cup of fragrant coffee in front of the coffee table.

"Lornhohe, you already know what happened, right? More than half a year ago, we showed the world our territorial claims to the Philippines; But I didn't expect that that barbarian country without a nation could be so shameless, and they would dare to grab a bite of the food in the mouth of my German Empire. What do you think about this? William asked.

"So what does Your Majesty mean?" Chillingsfest asked tentatively.

William said coldly: "Of course, the expulsion of Americans from the Philippines!" They are at war with the Spaniards, and the thought of tearing off a piece of flesh from our German Empire at the same time, with just a few of their ships, is a dream! This group of Americans thought that they were the world's largest steel producer last year, right? I want them to have a good look at what strength and army are, and to deal with this group of idiots who think they are great, they should slap him in the face! ”

"Seize the Philippine first place in sea supremacy, but the Americans' naval fleet in the Pacific Ocean is a group of clowns: among their four protective cruisers, only the 5,865-ton 'Olympia' and the 4,413-ton 'Baltimore', two battleships equipped with 8-inch guns, have some combat effectiveness, and the other two are scum that can't be put on the table. However, we have three battleships in the Far East, and if we attack them, it will be like a sharp knife cutting through butter, and there is no suspense about their final victory. The Americans dare to seize the Philippines from us, I really wonder where their self-confidence comes from? William snorted.

Seeing the emperor's confident appearance, Chillingsfister sighed quietly, and a trace of helplessness and regret flashed in his eyes. Although the imperial monarch of 10 years has not been confused, he is still very impulsive in some things, and he has been prime minister for more than 4 years, and he has lost count of how many times he has paid for the aftermath of William's outspoken words. His mind turned, and he said carefully: "Your Majesty, what you said is not wrong, with the strength of our Germany in the Far East, it is indeed not a problem to defeat the Americans. But if we choose to use force, will there really be an outcome that Germany would like to see? At this time, the Spanish-American War had broken out, and we had no reason to interfere with the United States in its invasion of the Philippines; Moreover, the fact that the Americans have captured Mindanao, far from Luzon, is 1,000 kilometers away from our control area, which also shows that the Americans do not want to be our enemy. If we use force by force, it is very likely that it will stir up waves in the public opinion of the world, which will be quite unfavorable to our Germany. His Majesty is the reincarnation of Frederick the Great, and he has only seen it in a thousand years of wisdom and wisdom. ”

Hearing the old prime minister express his opinion in a non-angry voice, William's lips moved, as if he wanted to refute something, but he was silent again and did not say much. He has been emperor for 10 years, and he has a profound understanding of international opinion and moral justice, which can sometimes be discarded, but must be considered in some specific circumstances. The United States is not a weak and internationally isolated country like Spain, and the impact of expelling the Philippines from the Philippines by the United States' Pacific power is by no means comparable to that of the previous forcible occupation of the port of Santa Ana; The gap between the two is so great that William has to weigh it carefully.

William took a deep breath and calmed the anger in his heart, but his words still had the smell of gunpowder: "What do you mean, what do we do about it?" It's not like that's what the Americans want! In the past two years or so, our German Empire has used all kinds of means to create this excellent situation of annexing the Philippines. There can only be one owner in the sunlit land of the Philippines, and that is the glorious German Empire! ”

"The United States is completely different from Spain. Although this country is not one of the European powers, its economy and industry are far superior to those of the European powers, and they are truly the world's first; We must be cautious in dealing with such countries and must not rashly use troops against them. Personally, I think that Germany can transfer the main force of the fleet originally stationed in Jiaozhou Bay to Santa Anna, in order to show our determination to fight at the expense of the interests of the Philippines, and then test the reaction of the United States and the rest of the powers; Only after the first gesture will the rest be easier. Chillingsfest looked solemn, and there was a hint of worry in his words, "But this is only a stopgap measure at this stage, and we can't afford to delay this matter for too long." Because with each passing hour, the United States gains more control over the areas they have captured, which undoubtedly reinforces the fact that they have captured the Philippines. This is undoubtedly extremely disadvantageous for me in Germany! ”

William slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was less hesitation and hesitation in his eyes, and more determination and determination. He stared at him and was about to speak, but suddenly found that the butler Aleman had appeared in front of the door of the study at some point. William glanced at this guy and said with some displeasure: "Why are you here, didn't you see that I was discussing the country with the prime minister?" ”

The butler Aleman walked up to William, bowed slightly, and then took out a telegram from the folder and handed it to him, saying, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has sent a telegram from the Far East. Didn't you say that whether it is a telegram or a letterhead, as long as it is something sent back by His Highness, it must be delivered to you as soon as possible? ”

William said. He waved his hand slightly, signaling Aleman to disappear from his eyes, and slapped the telegram on the table. After a while, William glanced out of the corner of his eye, and saw that the old prime minister's gaze was distracted, and he seemed to be wandering into the world; His heart moved, and he gently picked up the message again, and then began to read it quietly.