The sun is setting in the west, and the sunset is full of sky.

In the spacious office study, the sun shines brightly, and everything is plated with a layer of golden-purple light. Behind his desk, Kaiser Wilhelm is buried in a mountain of papers. Hearing the sound of familiar footsteps, he poked his head out of the wall with a pile of papers, and William's face glowed with joy when he saw a young creature appear in the doorway.

"I brought you here today because something happened on the other side of the ocean that was very favorable to my Germany. Last night, the USS Maine, an ironclad ship sent by the United States to Cuba to protect overseas Chinese, exploded and sank in the harbor of Havana, along with nearly 300 US Navy soldiers. You should know what this means, right? William got up from his seat and walked over to Qingying and said.

Hearing this news, Qingying was suddenly shocked in her heart; Scanning the calendar on the desk, the characters of February 16 came into view. He was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, and spoke his point to William.

In the last decade of the 19th century, 25 years after the Civil War, the United States achieved a blowout of industry and economy under the wise leadership of successive presidents. The growth of the United States' national strength can be seen from a set of data: in 1886, the United States produced more than 2.6 million tons of steel throughout the year, surpassing Britain to become the world's first; After a decade of leapfrog development, its total industrial volume has far ahead of other countries. The operation and establishment of a large number of new factories made this ancient and vast land burst into the skyscraping of the industrial revolution.

While the hard power of industry has been greatly developed, the soft power of talents in the United States has also taken off in great strides. Harvard, Yale, Massachusetts and other universities with a strong academic atmosphere have cultivated a large number of cutting-edge talents in various fields for the country; This group of personnel has made full use of what they have learned in their lives in their posts, and promoted the whole society to move forward benignly and at a high speed. Today, the United States of America is one of the brightest rising stars on the planet, with a brilliant glow and a dazzling glow.

With the rapid expansion of the United States' national power, they are no longer satisfied with staying in a distant corner of the Americas, but have set their sights on overseas places full of gold. The American continent is flanked by the sea, and if you want to extend your tentacles overseas, you must have a strong naval force; The Americans, full of self-confidence, began the construction plan of the "new navy of the United States".

In October 1888, the construction of the USS Maine with a design displacement of 6,882 tons began at the New York shipyard, opening a new era of US naval expansion. Although the Americans' enthusiasm for the sea has not yet fully awakened, the number of shipbuilders is also quite impressive, with the world's largest industrial strength. By February 1898, the U.S. Navy had a two-ocean fleet consisting of four battleships, two ironclads, two armored cruisers, and six coastal defense heavy gunboats, ranking sixth in the world in terms of strength, second only to Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Germany. In addition to these active ships, there are currently 2 Kearsarge-class battleships and 3 illinois-class battleships on the slipway that are about to be launched; In another two years, the number of capital ships of the US Navy will double again. Such a large-scale military expansion is obviously not for the purpose of implementing a defensive strategy, since the United States began to build battleships in batches, it has clearly erected the hunting banner of foreign expansion.

However, because the United States rose too late, it was slower than Germany, a country that barely caught up with the last train to divide the colonies; By the time they began to look at the world, the overseas colonies had been carved up by Britain and France. The unwilling high-level of the United States immediately set their sights on the dying Spanish Empire. The colonies of this country are the closest to the United States, and the strength is also the weakest among the great powers, this kind of soft persimmon, if you don't pinch it, you will be sorry for yourself! In addition, the current large-scale uprising in Cuba has also seriously affected the income of American capitalists investing in Cuba, and the US government is eager to bring Cuba under its control. With the combined effect of so many factors, it is almost a sure thing for the Americans to use the explosion of the Maine to make a big fuss and meet Spain!

After listening to Qingying's story, William's eyes showed a look of satisfaction, and he bowed his head slightly: "Not bad." Due to its unique geographical location and economic value, Cuba has long been the object of long-term coveting by the Americans; And the financial oligarchs at home will not allow the Cuban plantations, in which they have invested a lot of assets, to fall into the crisis of abandonment. This incident is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity given by God to the Americans to mobilize troops against Cuba. Regardless of whether the explosion of the Maine was accidental or man-made, and whether Spain or the United States itself directed the tragedy that was responsible for the accident; Since this established fact has emerged, Spain, as a landlord in Cuba, cannot get out of it in any way! As long as the U.S. government takes advantage of the issue and gives a small boost in this matter, it can ignite the anger of the people at home and oppose Spain to war. And according to my estimates, the probability of the United States doing this is almost 100 percent! ”

Qingying looked at William with some surprise, as if she didn't expect that he, a cheap father who was accused of being insane in history, could have such an accurate analysis of the situation in the world. William paused, and then said leisurely: "Once the tension between the United States and Spain enters a state of tension, my German opportunity will come!" Etel, will you tell me about it? ”

Qingying said without thinking: "The current situation is already obvious. Before the explosion of the Maine, Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines and Cuba was untenable; And now the Americans are on the opposite side of them, and the situation they face abroad is several times more critical. With their strength, it is impossible to cope with such a mess; What we Germany have to do is to take advantage of Spain's internal and external difficulties to implement our Far East expansion strategy! If, at this time, we attack the Spaniards on the question of the Philippines and make our territorial claims to the Philippines, the Spaniards will have no room for resistance. The only thing they can do is to accept all the conditions that our Germany has put forward. Within six months, we would be able to incorporate this 260,000 square kilometre territory into the territory of the German Empire! ”

Qingying's words were full of confidence, and there was no hesitation or hesitation in them at all. As a result of his layout, Germany gained a wedge in the Philippine Islands in August 1897 and built barracks and docks on the land, always welcoming support from the mainland. After half a year of troop transportation and material reserves, the Germans have assembled an army of 4,000 officers and soldiers and 30 cannons in Santa Ana, which is enough to change the current force pattern on the Philippine Islands.

Although the total number of Spanish troops in the Philippine Islands was still 46,000, more than 10 times that of Germany, the vast majority of them, like the Spanish troops in Cuba, were weak brigades with extremely poor fighting quality, and only 5% of their total strength was actually capable of fighting a war. In order to seize the Philippines, Germany mobilized all the domestic elites, and even William's 1 entire guards battalion was sent to the Philippines. With the strength of the German Army, as long as they were careful to guard against the variable of dysentery, it was as easy to deal with the Spaniards and local natives as it was to chop melons and vegetables.

As for the attitude of the United States towards the Philippines that it may have, as it has historically been, Qingying has long taken into account. Historically, the United States was able to successfully seize the Philippines only because the European powers were not ready to seize the Philippines; And Germany, which was ready half a year ago, does not have to worry about the nouveau riche of the United States at all. At this time, three of the four battleships in active service in the US Navy belonged to the Atlantic Fleet, and in the vast Pacific Ocean, only the battleship "Oregon", the protective cruiser "Olympia", completed in 1895, and a few small trash fish maintained the situation. Even if the Americans did not transfer back the battleship "Oregon" as in history, but kept the size of the Pacific Fleet unchanged, then the 3 battleships of Germany would have an absolute advantage!

What the? What did you say? What if the U.S. Navy sends more troops to the Pacific? Don't think about it, because it's simply not possible! Now that there is not even a shadow of the Panama Canal, it is a full 20,000 nautical miles from the east coast of the United States to the Philippines; At present, almost all of the four battleships of the United States are built for the purpose of coastal defense, and their bow freeboard is only a little more than 3 meters. Letting this group of guys go on an expedition of more than 20,000 nautical miles is more absurd than a sow going up a tree in every way!

"In addition to the capture of the Philippines, there is another interest for me in Germany. Relations between the United States and Spain were tense, and Spain urgently needed a strong fleet to strengthen their voice in the Cuban region; And their few old ironclad ships, which can only be used to suppress the natives, obviously cannot meet this demand. Therefore, we in Germany can take this opportunity to get rid of some of our old warships with extremely poor combat effectiveness! Father, don't you want to add more warships to the navy? The marks obtained from the sale of these old ships can be invested in the construction of new ships. Qingying said with a smile.

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