After nearly a month of repeated negotiations, Haldane finally signed a treaty with Germany on behalf of the British Empire on the content of the treaty limiting the naval armaments of the two countries.

As a result of Bilow's insistence on the size of the German fleet during the negotiations, the blackmail tactics of the British without a fight were declared bankrupt; With no prospect for an arms race, Britain, whose share of the world's total industrial economy had fallen sharply, had no choice but to accept Germany's demand that the number of German dreadnoughts reach 80 percent of the Royal Navy's. In addition, if France and Russia take the initiative to attack Germany, Britain will maintain a good faith neutrality in this "just defense" and will not show its militant war against either of the warring sides. Britain and Germany also pledged to slow down the pace of construction in the field of dreadnoughts from the year the treaty was signed, and to create a blueprint for peaceful development in Europe.

When the news of the settlement between Britain and Germany on the issue of the naval race was widely published and circulated in the major European newspapers, the vast majority of the media in the world gave a very high positive evaluation of the efforts made by Britain and Germany for peace. After all, in the first few years of the great ship of the new century, the two largest empires in Europe began to build fleets and fight each other at an alarming rate, which really made the European people who longed for peace feel endless anxiety about the future. The joint efforts of the two countries to slow down the arms race have undoubtedly greatly dispelled the haze of war that has hung over Europe. The New York Times and the Washington Post praised the trust and reconciliation between the two governments, saying that the act ushered in a new era of the 20th century in which there would never be war.

However, in the eyes of French politicians, the signing of the Anglo-German naval agreement was tantamount to a bolt from the blue.

In Paris. When French Foreign Minister Delcasse saw the news coming back from Berlin. Immediately pushed his disc eyes to his forehead. Then he squirted out the coffee in his mouth. He stared blankly at the already stained document in front of him, as if he had knocked over a five-flavor bottle: shock, anger, desolation, hatred, bitterness...... All kinds of expressions flashed alternately on his face, and a strong feeling of dizziness rushed through his mind.

As a hardcore French avenger against Germany, from the first day he entered the political arena, De Casse began to tearfully accuse Germany of the harm and crimes committed against France in 1870, and set up a "glorious banner" that pushed France to launch a war of revenge and put an end to it. Countless people tormented by humiliation and hatred for the defeat of Sedan, the cession of Alsace Lorraine, the payment of 5 billion francs, the victory march of the German army in Paris, and the coronation of Wilhelm I in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, the palace of the French Emperor, gathered under his banner of revenge, ready to attack the long-cherished feud to the east like red-eyed wolves.

In order to give France, which was inferior to Germany, the capital to take revenge on Germany, Delcasse took great pains: the Fashoda crisis that broke out between Britain and France in 1898. It was under Delcasser's efforts that war with Britain was averted, thus laying a solid foundation of trust for the Anglo-French rapprochement that he would later lead. After 10 years of hard work as foreign minister, the precarious European system that Bismarck had built up to prevent French revenge was completely dismantled; While France's former diplomatic isolation was reversed in one fell swoop, it also brought Germany and Austria into a diplomatic encirclement! When he signed his name on the sincere agreement between Britain and France, Delcasse was full of ambition: the establishment of the Franco-Russian alliance and the Anglo-French entente was enough to give France the confidence to take revenge on Germany!

Just as Delcasse was planning to make his own central strategy, so that Britain and Russia, two old enemies who were also allies of his own, put aside their prejudices and reach an understanding, and form a tighter encirclement of Germany, the news of the naval agreement between Britain and Germany was like a landslide and tsunami, which instantly shattered the grand blueprint he had been planning for ten years. The size of the navy under the agreement is secondary. The point is this jaw-dropping attitude of Britain stating that it would remain neutral in the war against Germany launched by France!

Although Russia was greatly weakened at present, the French military did not formulate a plan for an active attack on Germany. However, this move by Britain has undoubtedly greatly touched the nerves of the top brass in Paris. Does the signing of the Anglo-German naval agreement mean that Britain has included the rapidly rising Germany on the list of compromises they can endure, acquiescing to the dominance of this empire on the European continent? If this is the case, then it means that the encirclement network prepared by France against Germany has been torn open by the Germans; And over time, Britain will even break away from the intervention of the two major military blocs on the European continent, and this will be an almost unbearable blow to France!

At the regular high-level meeting between Britain and France a few months ago, British Foreign Secretary Edward ? Gray was still patting his chest and swearing to Delcasse that Britain would join France in stopping the ambitions of the "evil warlord empire" in Europe and throughout the world. And now, Britain has unilaterally reached a peace with Germany, and its commitment to neutrality, which is of great importance to France's diplomatic and strategic relations, has not even been informed of France in advance! As soon as he thought of this, Delcasse, who felt that he had been betrayed by the British, was furious, and Shaoqing rushed straight into the British embassy in Paris like a mad bull, and roared violently at the British ambassador. In a tone of extreme ridicule and indignation, he vividly vented his strong dissatisfaction with Britain's move, and sternly questioned the British ambassador's true intentions regarding London. Delcasse made an extremely sharp threat that if the British side did not give the French side an explanation on the matter, he would immediately resign and bring to power the pro-German elements who were ready to replace him, and promote the understanding and cooperation between France and Germany.

In the face of Delcasce's threat, the British government, which was already overwhelmed by the huge wave of protests in the country, was even more troubled. If De Casser, a far-right advocate of revenge against Germany, disappears from his main position in French politics, the vengeance force in the French government will be greatly weakened; The coming to power of its pro-German government will greatly undermine the balancing role of Britain, the "sowing machine of hatred," in the European situation, and make it fall into an extremely disadvantageous and isolated position diplomatically. What's more, the British side also understands that it has indeed done something inauthentic in this matter, and this kind of trick of selling allies with one hand is unbearable for anyone!

In this context, British Foreign Secretary Gray visited Paris again and had many hours of detailed discussions with Delcasse in a secret room. During the meeting, Gray disguised the softening of the British government's own attitude toward Germany, and attributed the signing of the naval agreement solely to a "clever tactic" aimed at speedily overtaking the German dreadnought. Gray used his superb acting skills to tell Delcasse that Britain had never wanted to give up its hard-won friendship with France. In order to show the sincerity of Britain to still close alliance with France, Gray also deliberately threw out a formal joint defense treaty for the two navies in the future European war: in addition to a series of specific details on the deployment of troops on both sides, it also included a list of ports that were fully open to each other free of charge.

Although Britain's distrust of London was greatly deepened by Britain's distrust of London on the Franco-German position, France could only rely on the "strength of the alliance" with Britain if it wanted to realize his wonderful idea of revenge against Germany. Moreover, the present situation, as the British said, could not have the internal conditions for France to take the initiative to attack Germany, and Britain's commitment to neutrality under such circumstances was not unacceptable to Paris at this stage. In the face of this mutual defense agreement proposed by the British, Delcasse, who was intent on taking revenge on Germany and deepening military cooperation between Britain and France, signed the secret agreement as in history, without the knowledge of the vast majority of the members of the Diet and the Cabinet. According to this agreement, all French dreadnought battleships were to be put into the Mediterranean theater to counter the fleets of Austria-Hungary and Italy; The Royal Navy, on the other hand, could throw off the Mediterranean, which was once dominated by the most powerful of the nine British fleets, and throw all dreadnoughts into the North Sea for the defense of Germany.

In addition, in order to win over France so that it can continue to be used by Britain to threaten Germany in the future, and at the same time to sincerely contain Germany, Gray also expressed Britain's strong support for the Russian Navy to rebuild the Baltic Fleet. Gray strongly suggested that the French should transfer all the drawings of their newly started Danton-class battleships to the Russian Navy to help them build their own dreadnoughts; And if Russia can reach an agreement with Britain on international affairs such as the Far East and Central Asia, Gray assured that the British Admiralty will also provide Russia with the blueprints of its most advanced St. Vincent-class battleships.

Gray's proposal surprised Delcasser. As early as after the signing of the Anglo-French Entente, he wanted to unite Britain and Russia, France's old and new allies, to form a huge encirclement of Germany in three directions, but because Russia's mud in Far Eastern affairs could not support the wall, the Anglo-Russian conflict was extremely fierce, so he had to stop his efforts to mediate the Anglo-Russian contradictions. And under the form of Russia's defeat in the Far East and Germany's aggressiveness, Britain was forced to take the initiative to reach an understanding with Russia, which was undoubtedly good news for Decasser, who was bent on revenge! (To be continued......)