Because of the Balkan issue, the contradictions between Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary are almost irreconcilable. Especially after Germany and Turkey reached a Baghdad railway agreement, the expansion of Germany and Austria in the Balkans seriously threatened Russia's interests. Once the Three-B railway is built, Germany will become the master of Turkey and the Black Sea Strait, and Russia's entry and exit from the strait will be restricted by Germany.

Similarly, because of the problems of Artsas and Lorraine, the contradictions between Germany and France are also unreconciled.

So France and Russia became natural ally.

Now the British have signed an agreement with France, and their targets are also aimed at Germany, so there is absolutely no reason to doubt that in the future, the British will likely stand with the Russians for almost the same reason!

This reason is China.

In the eyes of the British, China is no longer a little brother and a tool to deal with the Russians. In the first war against Russia in the past, the power shown by the Qing Empire has made this old empire feel a little uneasy!

The purpose of the British to deal with the Russians was to prevent the Russians from seizing the British Empire's maritime power, but this purpose was not only for the Russians, but for any powerful and thoughtful country. What is the standard of double strength? It is to ensure that even if there is a naval power ranked second and third in the world at the same time, the British still have the ability to win the war!

This maritime power strategy is completely against things and not people. No matter who it is, as long as it hinders the maritime power of the British Empire, there is nothing to say, just search the guys.

Now, the British suddenly discovered that the Qinglong Flagship Fleet, which had defeated the Russian Navy, really did not have a reliable force in the Far East to contain it! This fleet will run rampant in the vast waters of Sakhalin Island in the north, the Dutch East India, and the east to Hawaii. The Western Pacific Ocean will become the inland sea of ​​the Chinese Navy!

The British's sensitivity to maritime rights is definitely not something that mainland countries can imagine. Now they have realized that their hegemony in the Far East is about to be lost, which is enough!

China is not Japan. This ancient empire has a population and land area far exceeding Japan. Once under the leadership of a unified and enlightened government, the power it bursts out is definitely not comparable to that of the island country in the east. And the Qing Dynasty now undoubtedly has all the conditions needed to develop into a strong country, and it is also willing to expand its strategic frontier, which the British do not want to see!

Therefore, after Britain and France reached a compromise on a series of issues, how to curb Russia and weaken China was put on the British agenda. The British were familiar with the strategy of driving the wolf to swallow the tiger. When they were fighting against Napoleon, the British were giving money and guns behind their backs and letting other countries deal with France. Now, the British might plan to use this hand on China!

However, this is still a little different from the situation when facing Napoleon. What the British needed was to completely defeat the French First Empire! What the British now needed was that China and Russia would both lose both ways in the future and they would not be able to compete for Far East hegemony, so that Britain could rest assuredly focus on Europe to solve the major problem of Germany.

This determines that the British cannot help the Russians blatantly, at most they will do some tricks on loans and arms to China, just like they almost canceled the battleship contract that had been signed before, in order to slow down the development of the Qing Dynasty!

Russia has irreconcilable contradictions with the Qing Dynasty due to territorial issues. The two countries had just fought a war, and the armistice agreement has not been signed so far. However, due to the heavy domestic conflicts and financial problems, Russia cannot transfer a large number of troops to the Far East in a short period of time and launch a large-scale battle, so the borders between the two countries are temporarily calm.

But it is conceivable that once the British stood on Russia's side, there was no doubt that Russia would immediately obtain a large amount of loans, so that Russia would have the ability to continue to build the unfinished Siberian Railway and transport troops to the Far East.

At the same time, because the conflict between Britain and Russia has been eased, Russia's troops in Central Asia can also be drawn out. With France's support, China will be able to face land attacks from Russia and France from the south, north and west at the same time, and may even face sea attacks from Britain, France and Russia from the east.

Forty years ago, Britain and France joined hands to reach Beijing, burning the Old Summer Palace, and countless precious losses of the Chinese nation over the years. Even if forty years have passed, this is still an untouchable scar in the hearts of all Chinese children. And in the future, this pair of robbers has added a more brutal Russia. The dangerous future living environment of China is simply chilling.

Zai Tian has made so many years of hard work and even sacrificed national interests to maintain the relationship with the United Kingdom. However, it turned out to be just a piece of exquisite porcelain, which looked good, but with a slight blow, it would become a piece of fragments in the ground!

Zai Tian sighed. "What should we do now?"

The emperor thought of the question a little helplessly, while the ministers seemed a little powerless to respond.

"Now that the agreement between Britain and France has been reached, we are powerless to make a comeback. Now we know that Britain and France have signed an agreement, and I believe that the Russians will also know the specific situation of this agreement. At that time, Russia will inevitably ask France to express its position and implement the agreement between the two countries. Perhaps at the end of the year, the latest will not exceed the beginning of next year... Prince, we have one more time to prepare!"

Yes, there is only one year at most. But what are you preparing for? More than a dozen ministers looked at each other.

In August 1892, France and Russia signed a military agreement in Petersburg, with the main content being to deal with the alliance between Germany and Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. However, once Britain is not the obstacle, the Russian and French alliance will be completely possible to expand to the East.

The French believe that they had gained too little benefits in China after the Sino-French War, and had long been trying to expand their colonial interests in East Asia and the Indochina Peninsula.

Now that the alliance agreement signed between China and Britain in 1894 just expires, the British have become their own ally, and the other is getting worse. The French probably can't wait to work with Russia to fight China.

Faced with the two powerful countries with the top three titles in the world, China, a newborn who has just completed the industrial revolution, seems so weak and powerless!

"Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope!"

Liu Shaoqing, who had been keeping his head down and pondering, suddenly said.

This sentence undoubtedly ignited Zai Tian's hope, and his tone even trembled. "Tell me quickly, what can I do?"

If we talk about the political and economic relationships between countries, Liu Shaoqing may be much weaker than the important officials of the court, but his strength lies in military strategy, and no one in the entire hall can be better than him.

"I think that the reason why the British dared to confront Germany and chose to get close to France is that the French have the second largest navy in the world, while the Russians have the largest army and the vastest land in the world. The British were not sure to defeat these two countries, or the British believed that fighting with these two countries would not be worth the loss, so they would abandon the weaker Germany - perhaps even us - and choose France and Russia. Therefore, my solution is to make them think that fighting with the Qing Dynasty is also worth the loss!"

Liu Shaoqing woke up the dreamer with one word!

To be strong and bully the weak is an unchanging rule between countries. The ministers in the court all knew very well. However, they only saw the strength of Germany compared to the two single countries of Russia and France, but ignored the overwhelming power that could be formed by the alliance with France and Russia.

And if you want to break this curse, the only way is to destroy the existing balance.

Zai Tian asked: "What do you mean is to let the Qing Dynasty replace Russia and become the most powerful land country; or to replace France and become the second most powerful naval power in the world?"

Liu Shaoqing nodded: "Or both!"

The ministers took a breath of air. This vision is really challenging!

However, the forced force of reality made this choice the only way out for the Qing Dynasty.

Once a person is forced into a desperate situation, he will show jaw-dropping power.

Sheng Xuanhuai, the new Minister of Works, who succeeded the late Minister of Military Affairs and Minister of Works, Weng Tonghe, said first: "As of this year, our Qing Dynasty has implemented four five-year plans. At present, my country's railway construction has nearly 40,000 kilometers, steel output has reached 5 million tons, coal output is the world's largest, and the shipbuilding industry is second only to the United States, Britain, chemical industry, printing and dyeing, textile and other industries. If the court further strengthens its support for industry, there is no problem that these numbers will double again in the next five years!"

As soon as Sheng Xuanhuai finished speaking, Wu Tingfang, the new Minister of Revenue, who is also the Minister of Military Affairs, continued: "Since last year, the Northeast region has developed arable land in the coastal and Longling provinces that were recovered in the Russian War. As of this year, due to the significant increase in the area of ​​arable land, the agricultural output value of our Qing Dynasty is well deserved to be the world's number one. At the same time, because the large amount of industrial products needed to reclaim wasteland and the construction of railways, highways and other roads and bridge infrastructure have driven the total national income output value, so this year our national income is expected to exceed 10 billion Longyang, about 2.5 billion pounds. Moreover, with the development of our country in the northeast, northwest, southwest and overseas, the annual growth rate of national income will not be lower than double digits. Five years later, the national income of our Qing Dynasty will be able to exceed 5 billion pounds!"

It turns out that China has become so powerful without realizing it!

Zai Tian regained his confidence.

"But we also need to turn these productivity into military strength. The Russians have more than one million regular army and more than three million reserves, and the French have more than three times our maritime power. To do this, we need to add at least three million rifles and two hundred thousand tons of ships! And we only have a year, is it time?"

Liu Shaoqing shook his head: "If it is a war in the next three to five years, three million rifles are enough, but if we have to consider five to ten years, we need at least five million rifles!"

Hu Yifeng also said: "Yes, with our current naval strength, we can completely deal with France's maritime power by increasing the tonnage of 200,000 tons. But if we consider the issues of the British and Russians, 200,000 tons is far from enough. At least 400,000 tons will be added!"

Sheng Xuanhuai, Wu Tingfang and Wang Wenshao - Since the end of the Russian War in China, the elderly Sun Yuwen resigned from the position of Minister of War, and Zai Tian appointed Rong Lu, the governor of Jiuzhou, to take over, and Yuan Shikai took over as the governor of Jiuzhou. However, Rong Lu unfortunately died of serious illness this year. Wang Wenshao just took office as Minister of War - looked at each other, "It can be achieved simply from the perspective of industrial capacity, or from the perspective of economic capacity. But..."

The three of them wanted to speak but stopped.

Zai Tian sighed: "Yes, time. We don't have enough time!"

At this moment, Shanqi suddenly said, "Master, we may have more time."

Zai Tian was overjoyed: "What do you say?"

Shanqi said: "My intelligence department has been paying attention to the domestic situation of various countries over the years, and has reported memorials to the emperor about domestic issues in Russia. I believe that judging from the current domestic situation in Russia, it is very likely that a large-scale uprising will break out in Russia in the next two years. The main forces of the uprising are serfs and some basic workers. If we can give them some support in this, we may be able to drag the Russians until 1906 or even 1907. And even if the Russians wipe out the uprising in the country, it is impossible to start a war against our country immediately. Without Russia's restraint on land, France will be unable to support it and naturally will not use force. In that way, we will have three to five years!"

Zai Tian high-five: "Yes, I remembered it, what is that person's name 'Ulyanov'?"

Shanqi said: "This person is the head of the largest anti-government force in Russia at present."

Wang Wenshao continued: "It's still not possible. We now mainly rely on five major military factories in Shenyang, Jingshi, Jinan, Anqing and Wuhan. In addition, some small factories can produce up to 600,000 rifles a year. There are less than 2 million rifles in three years. Not to mention five million, even three million can't satisfy it."

Zai Tian said: "This is not a problem. On the one hand, we can further build new factories, and at the same time, we can also purchase from abroad."

"Yes, Germany's rifles are completely universal and our country's ones, we can buy them like Germany."

Xu Jingcheng shook his head: "No, if you hand over such a large order to Germany now, it will add fuel to the British. It will accelerate the UK's move towards France and Russia."

Military Minister Zhai Hongji said: "The court wanted to jointly agree with the Americans to restrict the development of the navy in the past two years. However, the US president did not agree and continued to develop the navy. If we throw this piece of fat to the United States, the American industry and business community will inevitably put pressure on its government to seize this order. At that time, the domestic industrial forces in the United States will turn their attention to the army's equipment manufacturing, and the navy's production capacity will be affected, which will be beneficial to our country."

Once a breakthrough was opened, the tricks of these geniuses came out one by one. Zai Tian couldn't even think of such a way to restrain the American industrial manufacturing power.
Chapter completed!