Since the grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of his accession to the throne, Emperor Richard has largely cede power to the cabinet and parliament, reduced interference in imperial policy, and has basically been in a state of semi-retirement.

It turns out that the earth does not affect the rotation without anyone.

Under the leadership of Duke Pan Shouguo, the prime minister, the Tang Empire's economic development was stable and powerful, its social prosperity and stability, its control over the eastern part of North America was further strengthened, and the process of ethnic integration continued to advance.

The experience of these two years has shown that the imperial government is fully capable of leading the development of society independently.

Now

Its preparations for launching a large-scale expansion and colonization war against the East Indies early next year have also been tacitly approved by the royal family, and preparations for the war are in full swing.

After semi-retirement

Emperor Richard had more time to interpret the current world situation from the height of history, and to have a deeper understanding of its inherent inevitability.

The main contradiction in the world today lies in the confrontation between the two major blocs of the German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance and the Franco-Russian Military Alliance in Europe.

The outbreak and rapid deterioration of the Anglo-German contradiction has become a new hot spot in the world today, attracting the attention of the world.

This incident arose from the fact that after the Janssen expedition in 189-5, Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a famous telegram to the President of the Transvaal, Paul Kruger, expressing his warm congratulations, which greatly deteriorated Anglo-German relations and prompted Britain to resolve the dispute with the Transvaal by force.

In the opinion of Emperor Richard;

The rapid intensification of the contradictions between Britain and Germany was both accidental and inevitable, and it was the political wisdom of the rulers of both sides.

At this point

Wilhelm II, who appeared arrogant and stupid, repeatedly provoked the bottom line of the British Empire, thus prompting the contradictions between the two sides to become public, and the rapid rise of hostility among the two countries, was not a wise choice in any way.

Even if you are happy in your heart, why send such a telegram to Paul Kryuger, President of the Transvaal?

How could the arrogant Britons endure such humiliation?

At the end of 189-5, Dr. Jensen, a senior employee of the British colonial South African Mining Company, led 500 South African company policemen and several machine guns in an attempt to overthrow the regime of Paul Kryuger in the Transvaal.

On January 2, 189-6, the Janssen forces were surrounded by the South African Police Force in Kugsdorp, except for 134 people who were killed, the rest of the people, including Jensen, were captured and imprisoned, which was the "Janssen Incident" that became famous in the world for a time.

Anyone with a discerning eye should be able to see that behind the "Jensen Affair", there is the shadow of Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, and it is by no means a reckless action without warning.

Dr. Jensen was a close friend of Cecil Rhodes, the prime minister of the British Cape colony, and a look at the context revealed that the incident was semi-official in nature.

Emperor Richard examined the Anglo-German contradiction from the perspective of great power competition, and its inevitability can be found.

Regardless of whether Kaiser Wilhelm II developed such a famous telegram or not, the friction between Britain and Germany would always slip to the brink of all-out confrontation because of one accident or another.

Rational management of disagreements is a great test of the political wisdom of rulers.

Historically

In 1875, Britain produced 47% of the world's pig iron and 38% of steel, and Britain's pig iron and steel production was about twice as strong as Germany's.

However, just six years later, in 1881, Tang produced more steel than Britain. Eighteen years later, in 1893, Germany also surpassed Britain in steel production.

By the end of last year, Germany's steel output reached 6.62 million tons, while the United Kingdom only had 4.98 million tons, and the gap between the two sides was getting wider and wider.

Germany, Europe's economic leader, is rising like a comet and is making great strides to overtake sluggish British industry and achieve all-round victory.

The two countries were in close proximity, and the British's more intuitive experience of German industrial growth at the time came from German exports that were massively substituting for British and overseas products.

Between 1890 and last year, British exports to Germany doubled.

But this was only half the value of Britain's imports from Germany (which quadrupled during the period), and the trade disadvantage was obvious, with more and more German-made goods pouring into the British market, while British workers lost many jobs.

Hatred spreads among the people, writes in an 1896 bestseller, Made in Germany;

"A vast merchant nation is rapidly rising at the expense of Britain's prosperity and competing with Britain for the supremacy of world trade."

The loss of economic superiority and the humiliation of being challenged to world hegemony allowed Germanophobia to spread rapidly in Britain.

In June of this year, the British newspaper The Times openly made a hateful remark: "If Germany disappears tomorrow, all the British people in the world will become richer." There had been several years of war between nations over a city or inheritance. Won't they go to war over hundreds of millions of pounds a year in trade? The expansion of the German fleet would only make the British blow them harder, and their ships would soon sink to the bottom of the sea, or be towed to British harbors. ”

The British media "Saturday Review" declared: "If Britain wishes to maintain its Anglo-Saxon national superiority, the nation that threatens Britain needs to be eliminated" and "be prepared for war with Germany, for Germany must be destroyed." “

In this situation of strong mutual hatred, Kaiser Wilhelm II's famous telegram added fuel to the fire and instantly detonated the hostile feelings of the British.

The London government openly declared; "In the event of a war against Germany, the Royal Navy would strike first before the adversary read the news of the declaration of war in the newspapers!

This undisguised hostility, in turn, exacerbated the distrust between the British and German governments and contributed to a full-scale confrontation between the two sides.

In this world

No government has dared to turn a deaf ear to the warnings of the British Empire, which would undoubtedly put its own national security in an extremely dangerous situation, and no one can afford the serious consequences of this.

For the Germans;

The most dangerous of all was the threat from the sea, and the British had the ability to destroy the rapidly developing German Imperial Navy.

If you look at history, you will know that the British have a bad record in this regard, and undeclared war is a tradition of the British Navy in the era of privateers, and its reputation is far and wide in the world.

For example, in 1807, Britain destroyed the navy of neutral Denmark in a surprise attack without declaring war and bombarded Copenhagen, killing more than 2,000 citizens in the war.

British parliamentarians have made unashamed claims;

The attack on Denmark was justified because the British believed that Denmark might have hostile ideas to the British.

For Britain, the word "unwarranted" was enough to start a war.

Other words

As long as Britain feels threatened, Britain has the right to eradicate these potential dangers. This is the natural and sacred mission of the British Empire to rule the world, and the excuse for waging war is reasonable and justified, and no refutation is accepted.

This bandit logic kept the Germans in constant fear of a preemptive attack by the British, and strengthened the original intention of building a strong navy.

Kaiser Wilhelm II stated:

"In the face of such egoism (in the UK), it is useless to do nothing but support the strength that it demands."

Such a public statement would not have any positive effect other than to anger the British even more.

Looking at the world situation with a cold eye, Emperor Richard found that many things were bad on the outspoken mouth of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who did not understand the four words "Taoguang Yanghui" at all.

This is true of Anglo-German relations, of Russian-German relations, of Franco-German relations, and of today, Tang-German relations, which are mired in twists and turns.

Needless to say, Anglo-German relations, which led to an alliance with France in anger by Wilhelm II, due to Wilhelm II's inner contempt for the East Slavs, led to an alliance with France in a fit of rage.

Think about it

As soon as the German-Austrian-Russian Three Emperors Alliance Treaty expired, Tsarist Russia turned around and signed a military alliance treaty with France, the sworn enemy of the Germans.

The reason for this is that the bad thing is the broken mouth of Wilhelm II.

The character of the old man of Tsarist Russia is also very strong, on the one hand, the Germans are disdainful, and on the other hand, the French are attentive, and it is self-evident how to choose.

France and Germany are bitter enemies, so the relationship between Tang and Germany has always been close, why are there major twists and turns?

Ultimately

It's still bad on Kaiser Wilhelm II's broken mouth.

The rivalry between Tang and Germany was mainly reflected in the field of industrial economy, a market war between an emerging European industrial power to challenge the dominance of the old industry, which affected many fields.

The process of comprehensive industrialization of Germany began in 1868 after Prime Minister Bismarck came to power, and after winning the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the entire German industrial development took off in an all-round way. It has attracted the attention of the world with its steep upward line, and has occupied the first place in the world's economic development rate for 27 consecutive years, which can be described as a dazzling new star.

Different from the traditional conservative steam industry in Britain, Germany's industrialization has developed in an all-round way, closely following the second wave of industrial revolution represented by electrification and petrochemical industry led by Tang Guo, and the steam machinery, electrification and chemical industry have developed in an all-round way, and have made remarkable achievements.

In the first two quarters of this year, its economic aggregate has surpassed that of the United Kingdom, temporarily ranking second in the world, second only to the Tang Empire, the world's economic hegemon.

Of course

Britain did not recognize this indicator, and stubbornly tied up the economic output of 300 million British colonies, which was indeed much higher than that of Germany, which was to bully the Germans for having no overseas colonies.

The newly occupied colonies of the Germans in West and East Africa, although vast but barren, with more inputs than outputs, have not yet seen any benefit.

Just this year, the Germans forcibly seized Jiaozhou Bay, but it was also in the stage of large-scale construction. It was intended to become a model colony for the Germans, and the city and the docks were built at any cost, which would last for many years.

Back to the point

Unlike Britain, the world's economic hegemon, the second world industrial revolution, led by it, emerged in 1848 and has been fully affected by all sectors of industry by the end of this century, and its development has become more and more in-depth.

When it comes to industrialization, it was 20 years ahead of the Germans.

In terms of the comprehensiveness and advanced nature of industrialization, the Germans cannot catch up, and whether it is the European market or the world market, they are firmly suppressed and rubbed under their bodies.

The British were defeated by the Germans in the industrial field, which was the conservatism and inaction of the British, who stubbornly defended the one-third of an acre in the field of steam industry, and completely looked down on the emerging industries represented by electrification and chemical industry, and the development of related emerging industries in Britain was extremely slow.

The large-scale entry of German industrial products is to solve the problem of having or not and win with cheapness.

Tangguo industrial products occupy the high-end market in the United Kingdom and Europe, whether it is thermal power stations, hydropower stations, large-scale complete sets of power equipment of factories and enterprises, rail locomotives, agricultural machinery, high-end machine tools, special steel, automobiles and rubber, petrochemical products, coal, tin, silver, aluminum ingots, copper ore powder, petrochemical products represented by kerosene, diesel, lubricating oil, bicycles and plastic daily products, grain, oilseeds, frozen meat and red wine, all kinds of meat and fresh canned food, etc., Tangguo's products have an absolute dominant position in the market.

The industrial products of the Tang Kingdom won by quality and resources, and solved the problem of whether they could be better.

Generally speaking

Developed 20 years ahead of schedule, Tangguo industrial products occupy a more lucrative high-end market in the world, and almost all industrial categories have an advantage, which is a question of how many advantages.

Germany is competitive in a few areas such as shipbuilding, coal and steel, because it has ceded Alsace and Lorraine in France, both of which are rich in coal and steel reserves, and because of its geographical advantage in Europe, it is able to dump the market at a lower price.

Comparatively speaking, the steel products exported by Tang are more expensive and of better quality.

Needless to say

Price has always been the only magic weapon in the market competition, and Germany has occupied a considerable part of the European market with this, and its own development is also like a fish in water.

However, with the size of Germany's economy, there have been obvious market bottlenecks.

Reflected in the economic growth rate, in recent years, Germany has dropped to an average annual rate of 6.5% ~ 7%, which is not far from the average annual economic growth rate of 5.6% ~ 6.2% of the Tang Empire, and there is no obvious advantage.

Due to the huge gap in the economic volume of the two sides, the Tang Empire is more than twice the total economic output of Germany, and the average annual increase is far from being comparable to Germany, which is a huge obstacle that is difficult to surpass on its development path.

The repeated setbacks in market competition have caused many people in German economic circles to complain and make the accusations against Tang Guo even more radical and emotional, which has had a tremendous negative effect on the close relations between the two countries.

Among them

Kaiser Wilhelm II blurted out disgruntled during his inspection of Krupp Industries;

"The yellow-skinned Orientals in the Tang Kingdom are shameless thieves who have stolen the essence of Western culture and used them for their own economic development, which is a serious problem that the entire Western world must face."

"They are greedy and cruelly exploit the blood and sweat of people of all ethnic groups in the world to win benefits, which is unacceptable."

"The biggest problem we are facing at present is to defeat and firmly trample on the Tang competitors in order to win the final victory."

His intention was to encourage the development of German industry, and this broken mouth was crooked as he spoke, and he carried out a frenzied and discriminatory national attack without any warning beforehand.

Kaiser Wilhelm II is now like a wild horse that has lost the grip of Chancellor Bismarck, galloping wildly down a dangerous road.

As soon as his remarks were made public, they immediately caused an uproar in the public opinion circles on both sides of the transatlantic strait, and twists and turns rose out of thin air.

At this time, the former Prime Minister Bismarck, who was lingering on the sickbed, commented on his monarch like this, saying; "I can foresee that within 20 years of my death, Wilhelm II will lead Germany to the abyss of destruction, and he will lose his throne forever."

The so-called proverbial is an unfortunate remark of former Prime Minister Bismarck, who has insight into world affairs.

Nineteen years after his death, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been overthrown by the people at home, was infamous for his defeat and fled to Denmark in fear to take refuge under the protection of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

Kaiser Wilhelm II's unpredictable personality was also reflected in his arrogant expansionist colonial attitude.

The Tang Empire had learned of it through secret channels;

In order to clear the obstacles to German expansion in the Pacific, Wilhelm II and his admirals formulated a series of operational plans for attacking the Republic of New York, occupying port cities such as Boston, and invading the Carolina Republic and the Republic of Florida.

In the end, the plan could not be implemented because it was "too difficult" and "difficult to obtain the permission of the Tang State", and could only be kept as a secret military archive in the heavily guarded naval archives of the southern German city of Freiburg.

The relationship between Tang and Germany was severely tested by Kaiser Wilhelm II's wild words, to which Viscount Lin Feng, Minister of Foreign Affairs, once responded angrily;

"It's hard to imagine; Some would call the empire's innumerable new inventions, new achievements in the industrial field plagiarism, and this kind of reversal of black and white is shameless. ”

"It's ridiculous that you can't steal something that never exists."

"This will undoubtedly cause serious damage to the relations between the two countries, and the government will continue to monitor the development of the situation and take all necessary resolute measures to safeguard the interests of the country from being harmed."

The Tang Dynasty did not overreact to Kaiser Wilhelm II's speech, but issued a faint warning. As a result, a war of words broke out between the two countries across the Atlantic, which made European countries happily eat melons.

Unlike Germany

The Tang Empire has always been stuffy and rich, and will not boast that it has surpassed Britain, gained many new colonies, and is more or less ahead of Britain and the world in the field of industry and academia, so as to deliberately stimulate other countries.

After the twists and turns in the relationship between the two countries, some imperial officials said;

Kaiser Wilhelm II was straightforward and would not turn around, and he did not need to take what he said too seriously, nor did he need to be overly careful.

This part of the officials of the Tang Empire was directly slapped in the face by His Majesty the Emperor, and ordered to reprimand;

Some government officials have their hearts set in Cao Ying's hearts and their hearts in Han, and they should be ordered to immediately apologize and resign from their posts and never be hired.

In his position, he does not seek his own government, and does not think about the well-being of the people of the empire, such an official's ass is crooked, what is the use?

In June ~ September, a large number of government officials and some nobles who had expressed similar views were disgraced, which quickly shocked the atmosphere of imperial officialdom and became more unified with foreign affairs.

Unconsciously

There were fewer and fewer German officials in the Imperial Government, many German officers in the Imperial Army retired early, middle and senior German officials in the Imperial judiciary and police were transferred or dismissed one after another, and the prospects of German politicians in various parties were also cast a heavy shadow.

After the serious twists and turns in the relations between Tang and Germany, the voice of German immigrants in the imperial society was greatly reduced, and this invisible exclusion was still going on.

In the eyes of the upper echelons of the empire

It is enough for German immigrants to play a role in academic, cultural, and economic circles, and as for the military, police, and judicial departments, the imperial centers, and the local administrative organs of provinces and cities, it is not advisable to be contaminated with too much German color, so as not to affect the unified external voice.

Again, the Tang Empire's consistent strategy has always been to just do and not say.

Now

Looking back at the intimate and friendly policies of His Majesty the Emperor towards Britain in history, we have to admire the foresight that ensured the international environment in which the Tang Empire has been developing steadily and rapidly for decades.

Take, for example, the Yukon in the North

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Tang Empire has had a strong interest in the northern Yukon, and has continued to strengthen the influence of the Chinese people, making it absolutely dominant in the entire Yukon.

However, the Tang Empire attached great importance to the opinion tendency of the British, and would never take the initiative to provoke the British and incorporate this territory into the imperial territory.

For more than a decade, Chang'an and London repeatedly bargained, repeatedly emphasizing that they would not interfere in the process of democratic referendums in various regions of British Canada, and that they would not seek to interfere in Canadian affairs by various means, including force.

After four British prime ministers, the Tang Empire finally reached an agreement with London, paying Harvey's armor steel patent, a new trigger fuse warhead patent, a new yellow high explosive patent, and a series of political concessions in exchange for the final result of Britain's acquiescence to the Yukon Territory's voluntary accession to the Tang Empire through a democratic referendum process.

This is why Britain does not pay attention to the cold region of the Yukon Territory, which is the high-latitude cold region, which allows the Tang Empire to get its hands on it, connecting Alaska with the empire mainland, which is a transaction under the table.

There are countless similar examples, the Tang Empire allowed British power to meddle everywhere in North, Central and South America, is it powerless to stop it?

The answer is no.

The reason why the British forces acquiesced in their reckless behavior was that in the foreign policy of the Tang Empire, it always adhered to the main line of maintaining close alliance relations with Britain and avoided deteriorating bilateral relations because of some trivial matters, which would outweigh the losses.

While Britain was constantly stirring up disputes in North America, Central America and South America, the Tang Empire silently ate one new colony after another, silently continued to immigrate, and silently continued to expand......

Looking back decades later

From North America to Central America and South America, the regional disputes in which Britain intervened have become new colonies of the Tang Empire, with more and more Chinese immigrants and greater regional influence, and less and less room for interference, and the hegemony of the Tang Empire in the Americas has been continuously strengthened and consolidated......

In the end, Britain provoked loneliness.

Now, even the Carolina Republic, which is closest to Britain, has to make drastic adjustments in its policy, comprehensively show goodwill to the Tang Empire, and show its deference to the servile face.

These southern Yankees also know that they are afraid, and now looking around the entire Americas, it seems that the next thorn in the Tang Empire is them, and they can no longer find the second place.

Against such a terrifying empire, its forces surrounded the Carolina Republic from the west, south, and north, and the maritime threat of the Atlantic in the east was more direct, and the frightened southerners could not sleep at night.

I'm afraid that one morning when I get up, the tidal army of the Tang Empire has already surrounded Richmond, and it will really be the end of the world.

I really couldn't bear it, and in front of the smiling but vicious Tang Empire, the Carolina Republic knelt down unexpectedly.

The country has sent a diplomatic delegation to negotiate with the Empire that it is willing to sign the Florida version of the treaty of military and political alliance between the two countries.

In this way, it is equivalent to fully falling to the Tang Empire, ceding the important port area in China as a long-term military base, and there is no chance to regret it in the future.

It is precisely because the Tang Empire is good at managing differences of interest and trying its best to cooperate with Britain in international affairs, even if its economic aggregate exceeds that of Britain, it does not hype it up and does not stimulate the sensitive nerves of the British.

This series of practices, coupled with the long distance across the Atlantic, prevented the British from overreacting to the rise of the Tang Empire, and often hovered between the hesitation of containment or non-containment......

Such a delay

The Tang Empire has developed rapidly, and its physique is getting bigger and stronger, and simple suppression is not in the interests of Britain, so it can only be inclined to cooperate.

At a time when the Tang State showed that it was harmless to humans and animals (note, that is, to maintain a reasonable military size and not develop transatlantic attack capabilities), the European powers such as France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia were unwilling to work with Britain to contain the Tang State based on their own interests and international political considerations.

Tang is on the other side of the Atlantic, is that necessary?

Thanks to the backwardness of the development of communications and maritime traffic in today's era, the Tang Kingdom, which is located on the other side of the Atlantic, seems to be at the end of another world, and it is difficult for Europeans to have a realistic sense of threat.

This has won precious time for the rise of Datang, and it has grown into a giant in a trance.

Germany is in a different situation, at the crossroads of Central and Western Europe, too close to Britain across the narrow English Channel.

Even if you turn over and snore, the British on the other side of the strait can hear it, and the surrounding countries such as France and Russia are even more like facing a great enemy, and the strategic environment is much worse.

In addition, when you meet such an open-mouthed Kaiser Wilhelm II, it is strange that the contradictions do not intensify!

The general deterioration of Anglo-German relations has set off a wave of all-out hatred against Germany in Britain itself, which was caused by a gloating telegram from Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Seeing such a big reaction in Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II also regretted it very much, and he expressed his deep regret in a letter to his grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

But if you can say it, can you still pick it up?

As distinguished as Kaiser Wilhelm II, where can he speak openly and become the basis of Germany's foreign policy?

He has been in power for seven years since 1890, and he is not a young child, which makes it hard to believe that he made a slip of the tongue.

Coupled with Germany's vigorous development of naval power, the British always felt that there was a deep sense of malice and confirmed their ill-intentioned intentions.

Any justification will only get darker and darker.

(End of chapter)