"You mean, let Germany find a port from the Philippines to occupy?" Looking at the area where Qingying's finger touched, a complicated look flashed in William's eyes, like greed, eagerness, and unwillingness; After a long while, he slowly spoke, "As for what you said, I have actually thought about it a long time ago. The Spanish Empire is like this sunset in the sky now, although it was once the most glorious, but now it has been reduced to the last country in Europe; It is a great waste of colonial resources for such a country to occupy such a good colony. However, this is their most traditional range of potentials; They have been operating on this archipelago for more than 300 years. If Germany were to attack it rashly, it would have a very negative impact on the international community. After all, over the years, European countries have maintained a tacit understanding of mutual non-aggression in foreign colonization, and no country has ever plundered colonies that are also Europeans; Even Britain did not plunder the Philippines and Indonesia. ”

"Father, didn't you just talk about the marginal effect? Britain and France, the two old colonial powers, already have a large number of overseas colonies, and there are countless base ports, which is like a person who has eaten 9 slices of bread, and the demand for the Philippines is naturally not so thirsty. And I, Germany, have nothing in the Far East, and am already dying of hunger, in this case, of course, to quickly snatch this piece of bread to satisfy my hunger! What's more, compared to the Qing people's Beiyang Fleet, the Spanish naval strength in the Far East can be described as a lump of poop: their only combat power is an old 3,000-ton fourth-class cruiser, and it is not at all difficult to seize the port from them! Qingying said with some eagerness.

Hearing this, William glared at Qingying and said, "Of course I know that Spain's naval strength in the Pacific Ocean is completely vulnerable!" However, in many cases, the use of force does not solve everything, and the international implications must also be taken into account. It is for this reason that I chose the Qing Kingdom, which has considerable naval strength, as the target of plunder, rather than the virtually undefended Philippines! ”

William said: "The territory of the Qing Kingdom is larger than that of the whole of Europe, and the population accounts for a quarter of the entire world; However, the military strength of this country with so much potential wealth is only at the third-rate level, which is like a baby with a lot of gold, how can it not arouse the covetousness of other countries? At present, except for the British family, who still wants a complete Qing country to resist the southern invasion of Russia, the rest of the powers have long wanted to attack this weak and decaying country and annex it as their colony! Therefore, the territorial plundering of Qing by our German countries is exactly what France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and even the Japanese have long wanted to do in their hearts; Under such circumstances, they would never have jumped out to accuse us of Germany's act of kicking open the door of the Qing Dynasty, but would have followed in our footsteps and also made territorial claims against the Qing State. ”

"Spain is a different story. Although its military strength was even worse than that of the Qing state, it was a member of the European states after all, and there was no conflict of interest with the great powers; Once we annex the Spanish colonies, it will have an extremely bad impact on the international community, and no country will be on our side except Austria-Hungary, which is a very unfavorable situation for us in Germany. William tapped his finger bones on the table and said, "Therefore, although the ports of the Philippines are more militarily accessible, their political influence will be greatly detrimental to our German Empire; Although it is a little troublesome to seize the ports of the Qing State, as long as we greet other countries in advance and agree with them on the distribution of interests, there will be no political obstruction. When I say this, you should understand, right? William glanced at the boy and said.

Qingying nodded slightly. Historically, Wilhelm II personally went to St. Petersburg to meet with Tsar Nicholas in order to lease Qingdao as a base for his colonial expansion in the Far East; He offered his support for Russia's forcible occupation of the port of Dalian in exchange for Russia's approval of Germany's lease of Jiaozhou Bay. In addition, Wilhelm also drew up a very complete outline for the distribution of spoils, and used diplomatic means to settle Britain, France, Japan and other countries, so that these countries, which were either old enemies or potential opponents, acquiesced in Germany's territorial needs for Jiaozhou Bay. When the German warships broke into Jiaozhou Bay and the Mites Qing government begged various countries for mediation, they found that these Taixi barbarians, who were intriguing one by one on weekdays, had all died down, and even refused to give Mites even the slightest public opinion help in this matter. Seeing that there was no hope of stopping the columns, the Germans were brandishing a big stick outside their own homes, and Mites Qing could only swallow this bitter fruit of humiliation and "lease" Qingdao to Germany for use.

William sighed softly and said, "Actually, why don't I want to take the Philippines away from the Spaniards?" The archipelago was almost half the size of the empire itself, and it was abundant with rain; The 9 million natives who lived on it were also the best carriers of colonial plunder and commodity dumping by the Empire. However, it has always been taboo in Europe to attack the colonies to which the whites belong, and we have no reason to go to war with the Spaniards. If you want to take this land, you will need to be patient. ”

Hearing William slowly express his thoughts in a helpless tone, Qingying also began to think about it in his heart. Judging from the current situation, William has never dismissed the idea of annexing the whole territory of the Philippines; For this 260,000 square kilometers of sun-drenched land, there is no reason why this monarch obsessed with colonial expansion should not covet it. One year earlier, Qing Ying had also set a strategy for Germany to infiltrate the Philippines: whether it was to cater to William's colonial ambitions or to obtain a real forward base for Germany in the Far East, the Philippines was an area he was determined to acquire. However, in terms of his attitude towards the Spaniards, Qingying did not have as many worries as William, because he knew the direction of historical development and understood that it was too easy to cut a piece of meat from the Spaniards.

Since Spain declared sovereignty over the Philippines, the indigenous people who have lived on it for generations have not had a good time for the Spaniards. A small riot every three years, a big uprising every five years, and all kinds of riots and disturbances of hundreds of people are commonplace, and they are countless. According to statistics, since the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, there have been an average of 5 uprisings per year, and there have been 102 large-scale uprisings. The Spaniards' army, which was one of the lowest in Europe, could not completely suppress these uncivilized barbarian bandits. For hundreds of years, the empire was in a state of half-war with the indigenous people of the colonies, and almost all of the empire's gains in the Philippines were used to suppress riots. In the previous years, Spain was still able to rely on the foundation of the family to barely suppress these rebellions, but since the second half of the 19th century, as the Spanish state continues to decline, the big stick in their hands has gradually lost its weight, and it can no longer suppress these brave and ruthless natives in the local area.

In 1896, an unprecedented riot began in the Philippine Islands. The rebel army took the "establishment of the Republic of the Philippines" as its program of action, and wanted to completely drive the Spanish colonizers out of the Philippines itself. In order to be able to completely break out of this situation of long-term enslavement by Spain, the rebels were more prepared than any previous uprising: they not only included 100,000 guns and corresponding ammunition in the arms purchase list signed with Japan, but even purchased a full 150 cannons for the first time. Although the Japanese munitions ship transporting these weapons was sunk in a storm on the way, and only a very small number of weapons ended up in the hands of the rebels, the amount of armaments purchased by the rebels is enough to show the ferocity of the uprising. And as long as the situation is chaotic, are you afraid that there will be no chance to fish in troubled waters?

"In peacetime, it is indeed difficult for Germany to find an opportunity to make a move on the Philippines. However, the natives of the archipelago are not good. Every few years, they would launch a large-scale uprising against the Spaniards, and that was our chance to get into the Philippines. At present, the monkeys in the Philippine archipelago have started a new round of riots, and we can fully claim that the indigenous people in the local riots threaten the security of the German expatriates in the Philippines, and must send warships to protect the overseas Chinese. As long as the German warships enter the desired port, then the rest of the matter is up to us. Qingying told William the easiest way to seize the Philippine port.

"Huh?" William's brow furrowed, and there was a look of confusion in his eyes. Although he was not as hands-on as Frederick the Great was, sleeping only four hours a day, Germany is not the Prussia of the past, and there are many things that need to be reviewed by the emperor himself. In his memory, he didn't seem to see any news about a large-scale riot in the Philippines. William pondered for a moment, stood up suddenly, and in Qingying's surprised gaze, he took out a large stack of documents from a file box behind him, and began to review them quickly. Seeing this scene, Qingying was slightly nervous, although the historical resistance movement of the First Republic of the Philippines only declared the Declaration of Independence in mid-June 1896, and it was only March; But this group of Diao natives should have started to fight with the Spaniards, right?