Arthur's words made Wilhelm II and a group of German officials think for a long time, and even spent the rest of the night discussing the latest decision.

However, early the next morning, the new day of negotiations was held as scheduled.

Obviously, the next day, German officials and Wilhelm II changed their attitude towards the German alliance, and did not insist on the birth of the German alliance, but opened a new topic, that is, the German-Russian non-aggression pact, also known as the German-Russian Neutrality Pact.

The terms of support for Russia proposed by Wilhelm II did not change, and Germany was still willing to give Russia 100 million marks in free aid and to lend Russia 500 million marks at low interest rates.

If Russia needs more financial support, Germany can also mobilize private banks to raise at least a billion marks to help Russia better restore domestic production.

All of this adds up to 1.6 billion marks. What is the concept of 1.6 billion marks?

According to the latest exchange rate of one pound to twenty marks, 1.6 billion marks is equivalent to 80 million pounds, which is definitely a powerful boost to the current Russian finances.

At the same time, Germany was willing to support Russia's Far East policy and maintain permanent peace on Germany's eastern borders, on the border with the Russian Empire.

Germany would not join any action against Russia, and was permanently at peace with the Russian Empire for the duration of the Neutrality Pact.

Although on the surface, Wilhelm II was more like spending money to buy sin. Not only will it not receive any support from Russia, but it will only maintain a neutral peace with Russia.

This is not the case. After the Franco-Russian alliance lost its support to Russia, Germany's greatest enemy was the Anglo-French Entente.

But on the European continent, there is only one real enemy left for Germany, and that is France, the former defeated enemy.

Without the containment of the Tsarist Empire on the Eastern Front, the German Empire, which fought on a single front, would definitely be able to defeat France, even if France had the support of the British Empire.

This is the confidence of all Germans in their country, and of course, it cannot be ruled out that it was the last Franco-Prussian war that brought changes to all Germans.

Now that the hegemon of the European continent has taken the turn of Germany, for France? Hum! It's just a former defeat.

Although France had concluded a treaty with Great Britain, the two countries would work together against Germany.

But war on land, Germany was really not afraid of the British. Judging from the strength of the British Army, it is impossible to say whether it can beat Austria-Hungary.

The change in attitude in Germany surprised Nicholas II and Russian officials, but it was good news for Russia.

Russia did not have to break the Franco-Russian alliance treaty, but it still received support and assistance from Germany.

Although after the peace with Germany, the Franco-Russian alliance treaty had been violated.

But it is true that Nicholas II has no idea of getting involved in the situation in Europe at the moment.

At present, the aim of the Russian government is to restore stability in Russia and to quell the wave of rebellion and strikes that are raging in the country.

By realizing the expansion of the Far East policy in East Asia, it would also make the Russian empire stronger.

It's much better to face an opponent like an island nation than an opponent like Germany, isn't it?

The change in Germany's attitude also greatly accelerated the progress of negotiations on a new treaty. Arthur, as a bystander, also witnessed the rapid negotiation of this German-Russian neutrality treaty, which had not been seen in history, and in the presence of three parties, Wilhelm II and Nicholas II signed their names.

On August 4, 1905, just two days after negotiations, the new German-Russian Neutrality Treaty was successfully signed and officially entered into force for ten years.

The German-Russian neutrality treaty stipulated that Germany and Russia should maintain peace between their countries and maintain maximum neutrality in wars in which the other was engaged.

In the event of a war between France, Russia's ally, and Germany, Russia was to remain neutral until the treaty finally ended, unless Germany declared war on its own initiative.

This meant that if France had declared war on Germany on its own initiative, Russia would not have been able to participate in the war between Germany and France unless the validity of the neutrality treaty had expired.

Although this treaty was somewhat contrary to the original intention of the Franco-Russian alliance, it was indeed the external support that the Tsarist Empire urgently needed at present.

This neutrality treaty could bring peace to the German-Russian border for at least ten years, not only gave Russia a decade of recuperation, but also allowed Germany to concentrate on dealing with France, its great enemy, without worrying about fighting on two fronts for ten years.

After the treaty was officially signed, the mood of Nicholas II and Wilhelm II was noticeably better.

Along with Arthur, the trio also embarked on a multi-day publicly-funded vacation.

After no need to discuss government affairs, the mood of the three of them was significantly better.

Of course, Arthur has always been in a good mood, after all, Australia is a beneficiary of the incident no matter what, and the situation in Europe has nothing to do with Australia for the time being.

In the past few days, the three of them have discussed the most domestic political issues.

Speaking of the identities of the three people, although the way of centralizing power is different, Arthur and the other three are still one of the few absolute monarchs at present, and William II, Nicholas II and Arthur also have very strong power in their respective countries.

In the conversation between the three people, it is inevitable to mention the private lives of the European aristocracy, that is, mistresses and lovers.

Nicholas II and William II were surprised to learn that Arthur was not betrothed to be married, but also that he did not have any lovers or mistresses in Australia.

After all, these two words are very common for European male aristocrats, and older nobles will even be misunderstood by others if they do not have a few lovers.

As Duke of Australia and New Zealand, Arthur wielded autocratic power in Australia that was the envy of both William II and Nicholas II.

Although they also have considerable power, they can also be limited by other forces in the country.

What they can do is what they can do without going against the will of the interests of the country.

But Arthur was different. There is currently no dominant class in Australia, and Arthur is the largest ruling class.

Moreover, the popularity of Australia and New Zealand is quite good, which also provides more possibilities for Arthur's absolute autocracy.

It has to be said that Arthur, who was not engaged, made both William II and Nicholas II moved.

Australia's prospects are still very large, and it will at least become a second-strongest country in Europe.

In particular, Australia's unique geographical location and abundant mineral resources in the country allow Australia to extend its hand to Asia and even Africa and the Americas without internal worries, and influence the colonies of major powers in Africa and Asia.

Although the two didn't say anything, judging from the specific performance, they should have a certain plan.

On August 8, 1905, after a few days of playing and relaxing together, the discussion officially ended.

Wilhelm II returned to Germany on a warship and began to consult with German officials about the next steps of German policy.

Arthur, on the other hand, followed Nicholas II to Russia. The last leg of the European tour was Russia, and now it's time to get there.

The current capital of the Tsarist Empire is St. Petersburg, and the previous capital of St. Petersburg was Moscow.

The city was named after one of the greatest monarchs in Russian history, Peter the Great.

But at the time of the war between Russia and Germany, St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd because the word "fort" was pronounced in German.

Petrograd was later renamed Leningrad in honor of Lenin, but was eventually voted back to St. Petersburg after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Because of the previous good conversation on the island of Björk, Arthur and Nicholas II also knew each other a lot.

In addition, on the island of Björk, negotiations on cooperation between Australia and Russia in the Far East had been basically completed, so Arthur came to Russia more to establish relations than to discuss cooperation on the national side.

Nicholas II had this in mind, so he held a grand welcome banquet for Arthur, which was attended by many Russian nobles.

The second more, ask for support!

(End of chapter)