18 January 1914, London, 10 Downing Street.

Asquith is very melancholy now, and he has not been so depressed since he moved into this prime minister's residence in 196.

Because now the Allies are already ready to move, and Austria-Hungary is gone, but Germany is different, this country is too terrible. From the previous years, Germany's industrial capacity had surpassed that of Great Britain, and the country's rampant militarism, under the leadership of Wilhelm II's psychotics, had become a great threat to Britain.

A few years ago, this guy Wilhelm II had already openly declared that he was going to "fight for the land under the sun." Since last year, Germany has been aggressive, and dreadnoughts have been launched one after another, and in November last year, it was announced that the construction of three dreadnoughts with 3o mm guns would be started.

Although Germany's navy was expanding wildly, the British Empire was not too worried. Although Germany's industrial GDP is high, its shipbuilding capacity cannot be compared with that of the old big brother Britain, which can build up to five battleships a year, while Britain can start construction of nine. In the Navy, Asquith is still confident.

But there's more to this world than naval battles.

When he thought of the 6th Army, which he couldn't mention, Asquiss felt a burst of pain. How did the powerful lobster soldiers of the past become such a ghost? Even beating a Boer guerrilla like a bird has become a laughing stock all over the world. Germany's Standing Sixth Army has been expanded from 950,000 to 950,000 and continues to expand.

Not to mention the Air Force, Germany seems to have cooperated with China in the field of aviation, and Germany's aircraft and airships are better than those of the British, and they are much larger. It is not that Germany is richer, and it will not need much money to build the air force these days, but the key is a matter of concept.

The conservative forces on the British side are extremely strong, and they are very uninterested in the new branch of the Air Force. It's not that they can't see the role of the Air Force, this is a few years ago, after the Sino-Japanese War, the tragic scene of Japan being bombed by the Chinese Air Force is known to the whole world, and even the most stupid guys know the role of the Air Force.

The main reason why these conservatives of the 6 Navy are not interested in the Air Force is that they don't want to see a new branch of the military come out and grab military funds and resources. In the face of such interest groups, even the prime minister is very powerless. In the end, after many rounds of fighting, although the British Royal Air Force was finally established, it was suppressed by the joint efforts of the 6 armies and navies, and it was very aggrieved, far inferior to its counterparts in China and Germany.

Asquith did not think the same way as many of his colleagues, who believed that Germany could not be allowed to continue to develop, and that a war had to be brought about by destroying Germany, or at least containing Germany's continued development. That's right, unlike what is written in some books, World War I was not just what Germany wanted to fight, but many countries had the idea of doing it, and imperialism did not have a fuel-efficient lamp. The Allies want to fight for more cakes, and they can't fight if they don't fight, and the Entente, which has vested interests, can't do it if they want to protect their own interests and contain the opponent's development.

If it was a few years earlier, everyone might still have to talk, but in the current situation, both sides can no longer stop the car, and the problem cannot be solved without doing one.

Asquith really doesn't want to fight now, Germany is not a soft persimmon, he knows very well that if there is a war now, he will have to lose both with Germany, and even if Germany is defeated at that time, what can he do? When the time comes, he will have to cheapen that insidious Yankee, and don't forget that the first industrial country is the United States.

But Wilhelm II's neurotic is not cooperative, and even if Wilhelm II cooperates, as long as Germany does not fall, those guys in the country will not stop.

What is even more dangerous is that since the beginning of previous years, many colonies are now engaged in independence movements. From India to Egypt, even the South African Boers, who had just been brought down by the British for a few years, are now starting to be unstable again, and they have formed an organization called "Glory Days". What if there was a war and these colonies took the opportunity to become independent?

Thinking of this, Asquith felt that his brain hurt. He casually turned the globe and looked at India, the jewel in the crown of the British Crown, and then he looked up to see the large patch of blinding red in the north.

"Chinese ......" Asquith burst out a word from between his teeth.

As an old empire and a thousand-year-old-stirring stick, the British intelligence department is naturally not stupid, in recent years, China has a lot of activities in British Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Singapore, Asquith has a large stack of relevant information in his hands, such as what to organize the local Chinese to establish a mutual aid association, and also kill some Chinese families who are attached to the British to kill the whole family.

China is a country that has become more and more incomprehensible since the CSD overthrew the Tatar regime and established a new one. The expansion of its national power is simply shocking, although the growth of Germany's national power is also terrifying, but it is only because of the proximity that Britain feels uneasy. However, if we only compare the growth of national strength, Germany is completely insufficient, and even according to the most conservative estimates, the growth rate of China's national strength is at least three times that of Germany

Fortunately, China's distance from the country made most people in Britain feel less threatened, but because of the growing trade volume between the two countries, a large number of "pro-China factions" were created, that is, those who made money through the trade between China and Britain. Whether it is the traditional aristocracy or the emerging capitalists, these guys have no discipline in front of the big pounds and Chinese dollars. At present, many people in the parliament have proposed that Japan is too wasteful, and it is a poor sling, which cannot bring benefits at all, and when the Anglo-Japanese alliance expires, it is better not to renew the contract with them, and to change to an alliance with China.

It was several respectable gentlemen who proposed this bill, and among them was a duke, and Asquith also knew that this venerable duke had made a lot of money in the Sino-British trade in the past few years, and had made at least a million pounds sterling.

"China is a country that is not restless at all," Asquith sighed, although this bill has not yet been passed, but it will not be clear in a few years.

According to the information of the intelligence department, Asquith is very aware of the ambitions of the Chinese, although they are not as flamboyant as the Germans, they only eat hard, but as long as they have a heart, they will appear, and they have increased nearly two million square kilometers by various means in recent years. Of course, according to the Chinese, these places are "lost ground since ancient times". Thinking of this, Asquith felt very spitting**: "When you lose your land, you lose your land and go to New Guinea??? I don't read much, don't fool me."

Not to mention, after the Chinese bought German New Guinea from the Germans, they announced that they had dug up ancient Chinese artifacts from there, which are said to be from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, that is, in the 6th century AD. In addition, the Chinese have also dug up many ancient cultural relics from the Philippines, Kashmir, northern Myanmar, and northern Vietnam.

The Chinese also organized a cultural relics fair with great fanfare, inviting the world's well-known antique experts, historians, and archaeologists to identify and taste them. Asquith knows that if the Chinese dare to play like this, at least those things must be true, but whether they are really buried in those places, only God knows. Whether others believe it or not, anyway, the Chinese are sure that they dug it there.

This is the most gnashing thing about China, where you can find a lot of antiques that are more than 1,000 years old by casually collecting them at home. In the past, when China was weak, this kind of thing was nothing, but it was a blessing for collectors of various powers. But there are two sides to the story, and once the country rises, these antiques, which would have been just fun to look at or precious, become so hot because they have become evidence that they have been "since ancient times".

In this world of the jungle, if there is only "evidence", it is nothing, without strength, no matter how much "evidence" there is, it will only become a collection used by powerful countries to show off their martial arts, and there are a lot of these "evidences" in my British museum. But the problem is that China now not only has a lot of "evidence" in its hands, but also has the strength to make it happen

Although the Chinese have not yet shown any hostile attitude towards the British Table, they have too many small actions in Southeast Asia. Although they are now mainly targeting the Dutch East Indies, they have also made a lot of moves in Malaysia and Singapore. Even if they don't attack India now, this matter cannot be left unchecked.

Just kidding, if the Chinese continue, maybe one day they will also "dig up" Chinese antiques in Malaysia, Myanmar or something, claiming that the colonies in Southeast Asia are also theirs "since ancient times", what should the British Empire do, is it possible to start two wars in Asia and Europe at the same time?

You must know that China now has 150,000 modern 6 armies, 20,000 navies, 150,000 air forces, thousands of combat vehicles, tens of thousands of cannons, thousands of warplanes, more than 100 large airships, more than 10 battleships, and ships of more than 300,000 tons. If you really turn your face, you really don't know who will hit whom. It is not the big 6 of Europe that is close to the future, but the Far East across the ocean.

Halfway around the world to fight such an opponent, Asquith felt that he was not crazy enough to do such a brainless thing. If he really dares to bring it up in Congress, he will be guaranteed to step down the next day. He fully wanted the reaction of those pro-China factions, and guaranteed that charges such as "starting a war without permission, attacking the empire's trading partners, and sending the emperor's subjects to the Far East to die ......" would be severely blamed on his head.

However, a country like China will not be able to contain it, but how to contain it is a problem. Japan's dog raised by Great Britain in the Far East has been beaten to the point that he can't take care of himself, and he can't count on it. Russia is a good choice, but now that Nicholas II is a fool and his cousin Wei Er is on his shoulder, as long as China does not have hostile behavior towards Russia, Nicholas II will definitely not be able to take care of the Far East, and he will also have to consider whether the Far East territory can be kept if he really turns against China. Russia is not my British dog, on the contrary, it is still an old adversary, why should people use you as a knife for the British?

In an irritated mood, Asquith flicked the globe again. The globe made half a turn and stopped at its location in the Americas.

As soon as he saw the insidious, despicable, and hateful country of the United States, Asquith's mood became even more irritable. If Germany and China are a problem, the United States is a real threat. Although the United States does not have a strong military on paper, even if it expands its military from -4,000 to 60,000 in response to tensions in Europe, it is nothing.

But the terrible thing about the United States lies in its industrial prowess, and the country has already shown signs of British hegemony, and their coveting of Canada is no less than a day or two, which is no less than the trouble of Germany's henchmen.

"It's really hard to be the global boss, there are challengers everywhere, Germany in Europe, China in Asia, and Yankees in the New Big 6, what should I do now?" Asquith felt that his head was getting bigger and bigger, and it hurt more and more, and he really couldn't think of any good way.

Then his butler came and reported, "Your Excellency, Sir Edward Grey is here......"

"Oh, Sir, please come in," Asquith said quickly. Sir Edward Grey is the British Foreign Secretary, and there must be something important coming here at this time.

Soon Sir Edward Grey was led by the butler to the study, and the maid withdrew after bringing tea and refreshments.

Gray picked up the teacup and said directly without much politeness: "Your Excellency, there was news from Afghanistan just now. The Royal Government army was defeated by the BJP rebels, Kabul was lost yesterday afternoon, Habibullah Khan has fled Afghanistan and is now staying in Peshawar, India......"

"What? Kabul is lost?" Asquith was shocked and asked repeatedly: "When did the Afghan People's Party bandits become so powerful? What is this Habibullah Khan? Can't even defeat a group of bandits?"

"Bandits?" Gray looked at him with strange eyes and said, "Your Excellency, are you mistaken?" The Afghan People's Party is better equipped than their royal government army, how can it be bandits?"

"Better than the government army? How is it possible? I also know what the People's Party, doesn't it mean that they are poorly equipped and only operate in the countryside?" Asquith asked in surprise, feeling that his memory had not yet deteriorated to such an extent.

The Afghan People's Party (AHP) emerged a few years ago, and the leader was an imam named Makji, who was said to be from a green sect called the "Eastern faction" and claimed to be one of the imams of the sect. Originally, this sect was only preaching, but of course their means of preaching were quite powerful, and they adopted a kind of missionary method of using force to carry out the mission, first attacking the imams and mullahs of other factions, and those who were willing to cooperate were absorbed into their "Oriental faction", and those who refused to cooperate were finished.

After they expanded to a certain scale, they began to intervene in the local government, and in all the areas they controlled, the nobles and powerful people were all unlucky, and they were willing to cooperate, but the land was forcibly acquired and some wealth was broken. Those who refuse to cooperate will cry, and the family will be ruined. Although they were hated by the upper classes, they were extremely popular and embraced by the lower classes.

By last year, the influence of this "Eastern faction" had grown so much that it had even formed an Afghan People's Party and declared itself a socialist party. At that time, the British who learned the news were all thundered, Nima is obviously a god stick, okay, what kind of socialism is he engaged in?

I have seen a lot of this kind of god stick British, who borrowed religion to ascend to the top, and I didn't take it seriously at all. Anyway, Afghanistan is neither a colony nor a good place, just a sphere of influence. No matter how chaotic Afghanistan is, it is also Habibullah Khan's business, this guy has always wanted to get rid of the British control, and it is not a bad thing to let this guy suffer a little, maybe he will be more obedient.

Based on this idea, Niu Niu turned a blind eye to the Afghan People's Party, but he didn't expect that the People's Party would be out of control.

"Hey, Your Excellency, there is nothing wrong with your information, but it has expired...... Gray sighed, took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Asquith: "This is a telegram from our diplomats in Kabul, reporting in detail about the Afghan People's Party. ”

Asquith quickly looked at it before he looked up and asked, "Is this news true that there are a large number of Russian-made and German-made weapons in the People's Party rebels?"

"Very accurate, there are even a lot of weapons that are new from the factory......" Gray replied in the affirmative.

"Damn, it's normal for Wilhelm II to do this kind of thing, is Nicholas II still thief-minded?" Asquith felt his head hurt even more.

"Your Excellency, there's one more thing that needs to be reported to you......" Gray threw out another message. If the news about Afghanistan just now is still insignificant, and it is difficult to say whether it is good or bad, then this news is downright bad news.

"What? What is going on in India? Is it true?" Asquith thought that today was a bad day.

Gray's face was not good-looking, he nodded and said, "It is completely certain that our intelligence officers paid a great price to discover that the Indian rebels have a close relationship with a group of American businessmen. Their weapons are mostly ...... supplied by these Americans"

"Damn Yankees, how dare they do such a thing" Asquith finally got angry, stood up all of a sudden, and said loudly: "We have to act, we can't let these damn cowboys go on anymore, it seems that we need to strengthen the power of Mexico, and the power of Canada must be strengthened"

"Well, let's protest to the United States first...... Gray said. He felt that in the current situation, it was still difficult to turn the other cheek with the United States.

"Do you think it will be useful?" Asquith said angrily. After a while, Asquith also felt that he couldn't turn his face immediately, so he said: "Then protest first, but we can't let go of Mexico, hmph, these cowboys are too comfortable, we have to find something for them to do"

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