Seduced by Qingying's carrots, Camille finally decided to reach a compromise with Austria-Hungary on the Bosnian question.

As the young man said. The core purpose of Britain's friendly attitude toward the new Turkish government was undoubtedly to sow discord between Germany and Turkey and to curb Germany's expansion in the Asia Minor peninsula, but not to genuinely establish a genuine friendship with the Ottoman Empire. This is evident from the fact that they tried their best to incite the resentment of the Turks against the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they did nothing but do nothing substantial. If Turkey continues to play according to the script of the British and cling to the Bosnia and Herzegovina issue, then they will not only not be able to recover that land and will not get any benefits from the British, but will also offend Germany and Austria, the two big countries that are currently in the limelight on land, for no reason, which is obviously an extremely uneconomical deal!

And if you choose to settle the matter and reach a compromise with Austria-Hungary on this issue, although you are a little uncomfortable in terms of face, you can get tangible benefits. In addition to a sizable "ransom" relative to Turkey's finances, the prospect of a possible tariff increase is even more exciting. Although the Ottoman Empire's tariffs were decided by the great powers through negotiation and could not be directly controlled by Germany and Austria, the support of the two German and Austrian powers on this issue undoubtedly greatly increased the possibility that the Turkish bill would be passed at the Great Powers Conference. Once this vision becomes a reality, it will not only open up a steady stream of lucrative benefits for the government, but also shelter the country's fragile capital sprouts, so that they can better develop under high tariff barriers, and thus drive the entire empire forward to rumble.

Compared to Britain, which has a deep hatred of pan-Islamism, sees thousands of Muslims as cattle and horses, embezzles large tracts of land in the Ottoman Empire, and disdains to give Turkey any benefits. Germany, which was friendly and sympathetic to the Islamic world, came to the Reich with clean hands, and was able to bring vital benefits to the Reich, was obviously more acceptable to the Turks. Not to mention on this plane. The construction of the Middle Eastern Railway, which continues east from Ankara, is almost entirely supported by German companies; This is an arterial hub that greatly promotes the health of the national economy. It is enough to prove the sincerity of Germany in the past thirty years to obtain the friendship of the Ottoman Empire!

After three days in Istanbul, Qingying finally felt the warm cheers that Kaiser Wilhelm II received when he visited. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's modest concessions to the Turks effectively eased the tensions that had existed two months earlier; The Young Turks and Liberals, who had calmed down from the fanaticism of opposition to Hamid's rule and hostility to Austria-Hungary, began to take a rational look at the current situation facing the Reich, and pro-German thought suddenly regained the upper hand. Seeing this scene, Qingying decided to take advantage of this favorable opportunity to get the diplomatic side of the Turks in one fell swoop; Over the next few days, he visited the current Turkish government's powerful giants, as well as the most prominent pro-German factions in history, such as Ximir Pasha and Enver, who were about to enter the political arena, and exchanged views with them about the significance of cooperation between the two countries. and the bright prospects that will be realized later. Although the non-stop back and forth and exhaustive negotiation work made Qingying's energy extremely tired, the gradual change in the diplomatic attitude of the Turkish Al-Shabaab government made his work not in vain!

However, what made Qingying feel a little nerve-wracking was that the attitude of the new Ottoman government towards Germany was only from the previous hostility to the current friendliness. Almost all the high-level authorities politely rejected Qingying's intention to form an alliance, and only Enver, a young Zhuang officer who was not a few years older than Qingying and had no real power to speak of, reacted positively. Although the chief minister of state, Camille, was moved by Qing Ying's words and began to take a pro-German stance in his administration, but this was also based on the Austro-Hungarian Empire's promise of a compensation package for Turkey, and the fact that the Eastern Railway would have a real boost to the Ottoman economy. Other words. Of course, there is no problem for the Turks to choose a foreign strategy close to Germany in order to obtain win-win benefits, after all, no country will be at odds with interests; But if this Reich is to be tied to the German chariot. The Turks were unprepared, both psychologically and externally. Although the British Empire is far from being as glorious as it was half a century ago, it is still firmly at the top of the world's world. The Ottoman Empire, known as the sick man of Europe, had a heartfelt fear of Britain under decades of constant pressure. Whenever Qing Ying took out the German-Turkish defense alliance agreement that had been drawn up long ago, Camille and other core important members of the Ottoman Empire avoided it like a snake and scorpion; They still have illusions of neutrality, hoping that they can be saved in the pinnacle duel between Britain and Germany.

Regarding this situation, Qingying could only say that there was nothing she could do. He had done his best to win over the Turks, but this group of guys full of Islamic exoticism had made up their minds to walk the tightrope and refused to make the decision to take sides. In order for this empire to fully catch the chariot of the Allies, it will take a long time to export influence before they can subtly change their position. After much deliberation, Qingying decided to pick up on the decision he had made when the situation in Turkey had not changed, which was to sell German-made dreadnoughts to the Ottoman Navy.

Prior to this, Qing Ying had the idea of equipping the Ottoman Navy with dreadnoughts to relieve pressure on the German fleet in the Baltic Sea, but due to the inexplicable hostile attitude of the newly formed Ottoman government towards Germany, Germany could only temporarily put this plan on the shelf. Now, with the appropriate concession of Austria-Hungary on the Bosnian question and the friendly visit of Qing Ying to Istanbul, German-Turkish relations have returned to normal; The idea of selling dreadnoughts to the Ottoman Navy was put back on the agenda in Qingying's heart.

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Since 1906, when the Intrepid was launched, a new procurement boom has been set off in the arms market of the world. In addition to the British and German powers began to purchase a large number of dreadnoughts for their own military, other second- and third-rate countries are also paying close attention to this powerful weapon, which is claimed to be of epoch-making significance. Thanks to such a miraculous means of capital operation, third-rate countries with weak national strength and fragile industry also have the equipment to represent the first-class industrial achievements. And in this area, Brazil, which is located in South America, became the first person to eat crabs. In 1907, 2 Minas with a standard displacement of up to 19300 tons? The Djilas-class battleships laid their keels at the Armstrong and Wicks shipyards; The Brazilians have made a great start to history by their massive spending, ambitious regimes and greedy shipbuilders who want to get their hands dirty on the seas.

For buyers, dreadnoughts are undoubtedly the best weapon for their maritime ambitions: a naval fleet with dreadnoughts can knock out enemy forces that are still using old protective cruisers in regional conflicts. For the seller, the sale of a Dreadnought battleship not only means a £1.8 million to £2.5 million deal and jobs for thousands of people over the next three years, but also a political and economic willingness of the buyer's country to accept the influence of its own country. Although these were the same in the naval arms sales of the pre-dreadnought era, the previous standard battleship of no more than 1.2 million pounds per unit was not as powerful as the dreadnought that could easily start at 1.8 million pounds, both economically and in terms of impact!

The current year 1908 was the best time for Germany to sell dreadnoughts to the Ottoman Navy. Unlike the United Kingdom, which has shipyards with dreadnought construction qualifications all over the country, and can help the country's rapid military while also undertaking orders from Brazil, the German shipbuilding industry has relatively limited production capacity, and can only ensure the speed of construction of up to 5 new dreadnoughts per year, otherwise it will be suspected of being greedy and chewing too much. Due to the naval agreement signed with Britain at the beginning of the year, the pace of construction of German dreadnoughts has slowed down sharply this year, and only two new battleships have been budgeted, so that German shipyards are fully capable of accepting construction commissions from foreign customers.

In addition, the entire German shipbuilding community is also in urgent need of foreign orders for dreadnoughts. With the rapid construction of five ships per year in 1906 and 1907, domestic resources began to automatically gather in the field of shipbuilding under the allocation of the market economy itself; And if such a large number of resources are not consumed by sufficient orders, it is bound to cause considerable damage to the German shipbuilding industry and even the entire national economy in the form of shrinking value. At present, Volkeng, Germania, Shuoxiao, Bromfors and other major German shipyards have sent a large number of salesmen overseas, and their footprints are all over Spain, the Netherlands, Romania, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Japan, Mites and even Russia, hoping to complete their sales tasks by casting a wide net.

As the target of Germany's key wooing, the Ottomans should be equipped with a large number of German-style ships, which can not only promote the healthy development of Germany's economy, but also allow Germany to exert better influence on the Ottoman Empire. As relations warmed, a large German team of technical experts and financial advisors arrived in Istanbul by train; Armed with beautiful battleship models and boxes of blueprints, they moved into the most luxurious hotel in the thousand-year-old capital, ready to pitch their dreadnoughts to the Ottoman Navy. (To be continued......)

PS: Today's unit suddenly had a dinner, so I'm sorry for the late update