The Empress Dowager took the "October Willow" mail ship to the port of Hamburg at the beginning of May, the German Imperial Foreign Minister greeted here, and then changed to medium ships, all the way down the Elbe River to the south, to Messer, got off the ship, and transferred to the railway to the capital Berlin, the Elbe River is the largest river in Germany, in which the merchant ships come and go frequently, and are all smoky internal combustion engine ships, the speed is extremely fast, both sides of the Elbe River are continuous factories, the natural scenery is not visible, are to see these industrialized things, the Queen Mother is very interested, asked the ambassador to Germany again and again, the ambassador to Germany is a banner man from a middle-aged family, and he is also under the blue flag, Ma Jiashi, named An Lan, has been in Germany for several years, watching Wilhelm I rise from the king of Prussia to the emperor of the German Empire, because he is from a poor background, he pays special attention to the customs and customs of Germany, and the situation at the bottom, the queen mother asked, An Lan answered all the times, "I heard that Wilhelm I was in France, that is, the German emperor?" ”

"Yes, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles, the residence of the King of France, there are hundreds of floor-to-ceiling glass mirrors, which are very magnificent, and the servants also went to Versailles with the envoys of various countries to observe the ceremony, and on that day, the French Emperor Napoleon III, who was captured in Sedan, also watched the ceremony......"

"Needless to say, the French are in mourning, aren't they? This hand is inevitably a bit excessive," the Empress Dowager Cixi said with a smile, "Coronation in the palace of the emperor of another country, and letting the captured French emperor watch the ceremony, this beam is over, and it will be a situation of endless death in the future." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info "Think about the next World War, the next Hitler, and the next World War II, France and Germany can be regarded as a feud.

"I heard that Emperor Wilhelm was preparing to return to Berlin to be crowned, but Chancellor Bismarck insisted on being in Paris, humiliating the French while promoting the authority of the newly established German Empire, so he was crowned in the Hall of Mirrors."

Bismarck, the thought of meeting this iron-blooded prime minister, was really excited. Queen Victoria, the Queen Mother did not appreciate it very much, after all, she was born there. Of course, it is easy and simple to achieve a career (of course, there is also the jealousy of the same sex), but Bismarck is different.

On April 1, 1815, Otto? Feng? Bismarck was born in a small town in the Kingdom of Prussia called Shingösen. His family was a traditional Junker landowner and owned a lot of land and estates. Bismarck's father. Ferdinand? Feng? Bismarck was a landowner and retired military officer.

Bismarck was originally a Junker aristocrat in Brandenburg who adopted a capitalist way of doing business. He fanatically defended the privileges of the Junkers and the monarchy. He served as a Prussian delegate to the Federal Parliament and ambassador to Russia and France. In 1862, he was appointed prime minister by King William I, and he immediately pursued an "iron-blooded policy" that represented the interests of the Junker landlords. He openly declared in parliament: "Germany looks up to Prussia not for its liberalism, but for its strength ... The solution of the major problems of the present is not based on speeches and resolutions of the majority...... but by iron and blood. ”

The policy of "iron and blood" made Bismarck and the Kingdom of Prussia successful, and through the three wars of the Prussian-Danish War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War, all obstacles were cleared for the Prussian Kingdom to unify Germany.

"Since the reunification of Germany, Chancellor Bismarck did not want any more foreign wars so that Germany could recuperate. Cultivating national strength. Therefore, he did not plunder the colonies in large quantities like other European countries. But he feared French retaliation, so he adopted a policy of alliance to isolate France. Last year, the Austrian Emperor and the Tsar visited Berlin together, and the structure of the Three Emperors Alliance was immediately apparent. ”

"Three Emperors Alliance?" The Queen Mother smiled, "An Lan, the trend of Europe is like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and in terms of diplomacy, it has always been a long-distance friendship and a close attack. Have you ever seen an alliance between three bordering powers? Even if there is, it must be fleeting. I've heard that Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia are eyeing each other in the Balkans, alliances or something. In the eyes of politicians, it is a piece of waste paper. ”

"The Russian ambassador to Germany has already talked to me privately, and if it is convenient for the Queen Mother at this time, she can also visit Russia by the way."

"Oh? I think back then, I spent a lot of money to buy the Golden State, just to have good relations with the Russians. Lest they make trouble in the north at every turn, I didn't expect that in the Aguba rebellion, there were Russians making trouble, their minds are really hard to guess, what does it mean, if you don't have territory in Asia, you can sell it, but other lands are coveted? is also drunk, the lord of Kokand has written several times, asking Zuo Zongtang's army to enter Kokand and assist them in resisting the invasion of the Russians, it seems that the tsar's serfdom reform is very successful. ”

The Queen Mother said a lot, but she still didn't explain whether she wanted to go to Russia, "Then the Queen Mother, how will the slave reply to him?" ”

"Let's take a look first, I'm going to see what I get from the Germans first, and then make a decision," the Empress Dowager Cixi said, "You are engaged in diplomacy, and you know it very well, our west, it's not so peaceful, the British have India, and they have invaded Afghanistan, but Russia also wants to go south, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea have become Russia's internal lakes, and the two behemoths are around, I have the heart to ignore any of them, and I can't do it in the end, if I can find one or two allies in Europe, Forming an alliance with an enemy based on a common goal is the greatest political gain. ”

"So I'm going to look at the attitude of the Germans first," the Queen Mother got out of the carriage, and the German diplomatic greeting staff had already arrived, headed by the German Crown Prince, Frederick Wilhelm.

His wife is Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, he also studied in England in his early years, he is 42 years old this year, Prince Edward is 32 years old, Tsar Alexander II is 55 years old this year, the rulers of three European powers or future rulers, are all in the prime of life, but unfortunately, in addition to Alexander II, Edward and Frederick are very aggrieved, one has been shrouded in the halo of his heroic mother for a long time, and the other, only served for less than 100 days, and died.

Counting up, he is still the most blessed, the Empress Dowager Cixi got out of the carriage happily, Crown Prince Frederick bowed to the Empress Dowager Cixi, and the Empress Dowager stretched out her hand, "Crown Prince." ”

Frederick, who had a big beard, was the usual dress for Central Europeans, bowed his head and kissed the back of the Queen Mother's hand, "Welcome to Germany." (To be continued.) )