The most important event in the world in 1885 was the Berlin Conference, which finally reached an agreement after a long period of debate, resulting in the General Resolution, which was more than 60,000 words long and included 38 articles.

The core of the General Resolution is Article 36;

It stipulates that in the future when the Powers occupy land or establish protectorates along the coast of Africa, they must notify the other States that have signed this Agreement so that they may make their own demands if necessary.

At the same time, to ensure the establishment of a ruling power sufficient to protect the existing rights and, if necessary, to comply with the conditions laid down, freedom of trade and freedom of transit, only in this way can it be considered an effective occupation and be recognized by the other Powers,

In this way, for the first time, the European and American powers drew on a map the geographical boundaries of their respective tropical Africas in Berlin, far from Africa.

After defeating the powerful France, King Leopold II of Belgium became the last person to laugh, and with the support of European and American countries, the Congo River basin with an area of more than 2 million square kilometers was included in his private territory, and the Belgian "Congo Free State" was established.

The support of the British Empire was a key factor in Belgium's victory.

This is because Her Majesty Queen Victoria is the cousin of King Leopold II of Belgium, and the royal families of the two countries have a close relationship.

Without firing a single shot, he defeated France through superb diplomatic skills and finally won the territory of the Congo River Basin.

King Leopold II of Belgium became a dazzling figure of European royal families, and was a prominent figure in international politics in 1885.

Tang Shaoyi witnessed this outstanding diplomatic performance in Berlin and was deeply moved by it, and since then he has made a great wish to dedicate his life to the cause of diplomacy.

In order to avoid countries competing in Africa and to establish relevant crisis management measures, the Berlin conference focused on the issue of "effective occupation".

After a heated debate between the countries and the United Kingdom, which held the largest territory in Africa, the resolution was finally adopted with extremely vague wording.

How to understand that countries can be freely defined, and the real deal is under the table, and it has become a fact on the surface, which greatly increases the room for maneuver in London's diplomacy.

It's nothing more than bargaining, buying a steamed bun with a green onion.

At this conference, the Western powers divided their spheres of influence in central Africa and established common norms for the expansion of their colonies in Africa, thus setting off the climax of the partition of Africa at the end of the 19th century.

Through the "General Resolution" of the Berlin Conference, the legitimacy of aggression and the partition of Africa was openly recognized by the international community, and the signatory countries, without affecting the interests of other powers, belonged to whoever occupies those areas that have not yet been partitioned first will belong to their sphere of influence.

One day in mid-October

Red River Valley City, Dream Castle

After five and a half years of large-scale construction, the overall white dream castle stands majestically on the top of the mountains, and the towering spire of the castle pierces the sky, which looks particularly magnificent against the blue sky, and is one of the landmark buildings of the Red River Valley City.

The main body of the castle has been completed, but the details will still be polished, and it is a marvel of German and French castle architecture, full of imagination, especially the double spiral grand staircase and the huge crystal chandelier.

This is the main palace where the Earl of Queensland will live in the future, with a total of 999 rooms, built on an extremely large scale, decorated with fine stone carvings in the French neo-romantic style, and the dome frescoes by famous European artists, each reflecting the rise of Queensland.

From the Earl just set foot on the Brisbane docks, won the first income through the oriental trick of the Three Immortals Return to the Cave, built the Fu Linmen Hotel, purchased the Red River Valley ranch, was attacked on the way, led the team to kill the giant bandit "Wild Wolf Bilken" across Australia, the Queen of England awarded the seal, opened Shangri-La Island, the Jayapura Sea Encounter, and the Dutch fought a series of bloody battles in Moresby, and marched into Borneo......

The artist creative team led by the famous French impressionist painters Paul Cézanne and Oscar-Claude Monet has gathered more than 10 famous painters from Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands to jointly create large-scale murals and dome murals for the Dream Castle, and it has been more than three years now.

As the world's top rich man and lord, the Earl of Queensland certainly wants the best palace for himself, whether it is an architect, painting or carving, he hires European masters to create, and the interior is extremely luxurious.

Surrounded by mountains behind Dream Castle, overlooking the city of the Red River Valley stretching out to the sky, and the magnificent Brisbane River in the distance, the infinite beauty is refreshing, and I don't want to take my eyes off it for a long time.

Whenever tired

Paul Cézanne, Monet and other friends sat on the high platform to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them, drank a cup of coffee, and all the fatigue disappeared.

The majestic scenery of the place inspires artists to know that they are working on a masterpiece that has never been done before, and they are even more committed to doing so, striving to make it even better.

Famous European artists come together here, and only by creating amazing works can they stand out, and in this sense, every artist is a competitor.

Li Fushou inspected the construction progress of the Dream Castle and returned to the Red Fort in the afternoon.

The backyard of the Soaring Pavilion

Chrissy, the personal masseuse, was massaging Li Fushou's shoulders, the tea was fragrant on the coffee table in front of her, and Fan Zhongzhai, the head of the secretariat, was sitting opposite the coffee table, and the two were gossiping with each other.

"Zhong Zhai, you continue to follow up on these things in the Dream Castle, Li An has been in charge of building a palace in Songjiang City recently, and he wants to build a magnificent Chinese-style palace in Songjiang Reservoir, which will be built by the Style Lei family, and I will also toss it by him here, anyway, there is a lot of surplus in the inner treasury."

"I will keep an eye on this matter, Lord Yuan Ding, local administrative officials and the military have recently become involved in business, I think this will corrupt our original healthy operation mechanism and corrode the body, should we introduce a policy to curb it?"

"You and Speaker Xin Changjun discuss this matter privately, refer to the relevant laws and regulations of the United Kingdom and the United States, and introduce a legal constraint that belongs to Queensland, which is to use power to participate in shares in violation of the regulations, and which is a reasonable investment.

"Understood, I'll do it soon." Fan Zhongzhai took a sip of fragrant tea, thought about it for a while, raised his head and said with a serious expression; "Lord Yuan Ding, according to the news from Guangzhou, Lord Gu Yanchuan is now being attacked by the ministers of the imperial court, I am afraid that the situation is not good!"

"Oh...... What did you hear? ”

As soon as Fan Zhongzhai heard it, he knew that the Earl had not read the briefing, so he explained; "It's a briefing from Guangjitang, and they are in charge of some intelligence and espionage work in the Shenzhou Continent, so I learned about it......

Li Hongzhang, minister of the Westernization faction, first proposed that in order to regain the unified command of the navy, he proposed to set up a premier's naval affairs yamen in Beiping, which was approved by Guangxu and implemented on the same day.

This policy will take back the command of the Nanyang Fleet in the hands of Gu Yanchuan, the governor of Liangguang, and may make the South China Sea defenseless, even if the Nanyang Fleet is still stationed in the southern region, but it has no command in its hands, and it may not be able to count on it in the event of an invasion by a foreign enemy.

Gu Yanchuan, the governor of Liangguang, has always expressed strong opposition to this, advocating that the coastal defense of Shenzhou stretches for thousands of kilometers, and it is advisable to defend it in sections from the north and south.

Apparently, the court did not heed this advice.

Li Hongzhang took advantage of this to impress Guangxu and the one in the Forbidden City, and urged the navy yamen to vigorously purchase foreign ships in the name of rectifying coastal defense, and allocated the ships of the better naval divisions of Nanyang and Fujian to Beiyang to expand the Beiyang navy.

As shown on the briefing;

Beiping set up the Prime Minister's Naval Affairs Yamen, with Prince Yixun of Alcohol as the Prime Minister, Wang Yixuan of Qingjun and Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, as the office of the Association, and Shanqing, the capital of the Red Banner Han Army, and Zeng Jize, the right attendant of the Military Department, as the assistant.

Don't look at the Manchu princes and ministers on the top of your head, the real power is still in the hands of Li Hongzhang, and the Beiyang Army will inevitably become his hall, and the power in the imperial court will be further expanded.

As Gu Yanchuan, the governor of Liangguang who has always been at odds with Li Hongzhang, it is inevitable that he will be attacked repeatedly, and the situation is really worrying! ”

"Oh...... Has it come to this? Hearing this, Li Fushou couldn't help but sit up and asked.

"It hasn't collapsed yet, after all, the contract has just been signed, and the ink has not dried, and the French still need Gu Yanchuan to deter him in southern Xinjiang, so that he can't look north, at this time, the birds are all hidden, and the rabbits and dead dogs are not wise, and the Qing court should not be so stupid."

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say......" Li Fushou muttered, sat back down, frowned and thought about it, and really smiled bitterly.

What insight can that old witch in the Forbidden City have?

Dealing with state affairs is based only on personal likes and dislikes and reasons, and it is simply a blind eye to the general international situation, otherwise it will not be possible to make the absurd decision to go to war with all nations.

The old witch has forgotten the pain after the scar is healed, and anything can happen when the roots of her ears are soft.

Isn't it time to be reminded?

Li Fushou immediately thought of the two heavy cruisers "Qinglong" and "White Tiger" that had already equipped the Borneo fleet, and it was no wonder that President Lao Mi always thought of his aircraft carrier at the first time, and he can now deeply understand this.

To show off your strength, you still have to be these big guys.

"Pay close attention to the relevant situation, if you really can't do it, let whoever side work hard, Britain has a commercial port in Yantai, so I will take a trip in the name of a friendly visit to remind these forgetful guys."

"Understood, the Secretariat will further communicate with Lord He and convey your instructions." Fan Zhongzhai understood what the Earl meant, and agreed with a smile.

"How's the construction of the Suzaku progressing?"

"Well, that's right...... After this round of great development of naval equipment, the construction technology of Hongshan Shipyard has been rapidly improved to a new level, and it is expected that all the slipway construction work will be completed in 9 months, and it will be launched and outfitted in the middle of next year. ”

"It's not easy, the improvement of technology is one step at a time, and it can't be fake."

"Yes, through the construction of these main warships, the shipyard has trained a large number of young backbone experts and designers, and trained a large number of technicians with a qualified technical level, which can produce more and better warships and improve the strength of the navy."

"So all our efforts are worth it." Li Fushou has a satisfied smile on his face, after 8 years of development, Hongshan Shipyard has become one of the world's top shipyards, ranking between sixth and seventh.

In particular, the construction of three 10,000-ton "Majesty" class ironclad battleships and four 8,800-ton "Qinglong" class heavy cruisers have enabled the Hongshan Shipyard to rapidly expand and develop as if it had taken a big tonic, made up for the shortcomings in the construction of military ships, and realized the take-off of its technological strength.

The economic benefits are secondary, and the key is the military significance and the significant social impact it brings, which can never be measured by money.

With tens of thousands of islands and most of the surrounding towns within 50 kilometres of the sea, it has long been agreed that a strong naval force is a present and an urgent need for the future.

Li Fushou will not pin his safety on the pity and sympathy of others, this thing is worthless, it is purely a fool's dream.

Only with strong strength as a backing can we gain the respect and attention of others, and only then can people listen to what we say and have weight, which is an eternal truth.

After returning from Europe, he had put aside his scruples and ordered the latter two "Qinglong"-class heavy cruisers to be replaced with twin 305-mm long-barreled naval guns, and a new hydraulic re-entry system was adopted to further enhance the firepower of the warships.

This is a major change

As a result, the construction of the heavy cruiser "Suzaku" was delayed by more than four months, and the original three twin-mounted 280-mm guns were all replaced, and the displacement increased by more than 800 tons to more than 9,650 tons, which can be called a battle cruiser.

Fortunately, the "Qinglong" class heavy cruiser used twin-mounted 305 mm heavy guns at the beginning of the original design, and later forcibly suppressed it for other considerations.

It's just that after such a change, the maximum speed of the last two warships will be reduced by 1.5 knots, which can be regarded as a necessary price to pay!

Such a powerful battleship was only inferior to the battleships of the "Majesty" class in all aspects.

The "Mighty" class battleships used Armstrong's advanced twin-mounted 343 mm guns, and the larger the outer diameter of the shells, the weight and power almost doubled.

The 280 mm long-barreled main gun is the caliber commonly used by warships below the heavy cruiser, and it is also the main force of shore artillery, from 1,000-ton light cruisers to 8,000-ton heavy cruisers, especially the German Krupp 280 mm gun, which sells well in various countries with high quality and low price.

The 305 mm main gun is about 12 inches, and the whole gun weighs 57 tons, which is the mainstream caliber of the main ironclad battleships of the French, German, American and Tsarist fleets.

The 343 mm cannon is a 13.5-inch caliber, the whole gun weighs 76 tons, and was first equipped with the British Royal Navy's first-class ironclad battleships.