Chapter 237: The weather changes

The Allies and the Allies are indeed about to showdown. This is also the opportunity for me to let go of gambling. Like a casino, if you want to make big money, capital and opportunity are indispensable. In the situation I am facing now, the improvement of national strength and the national prestige established through war are the bargaining chips in my hands. Opportunities are the struggle between the Allies and the Allies. The rich guys like them are competing with capital and strategies. A small rich guy like me can only aim at opportunities to make a profit. The world is like a big gamble, and what is betting on is the dignity of a country and the future destiny. Japan is the craziest and the worst loser in this big gamble. It has long been eliminated. Build battleships under my nose. If this stupid behavior does not teach him a harsh lesson, it will slowly forget that there is a dragon around it that it can never afford to offend.

With the strategy set, the remaining affairs will be completely left to Yuan Shikai and the hawkish officials who have cultivated enough confidence and domineeringness to do. After the political turmoil, the political and military circles seem to have signs of being too lifeless, and everyone feels afraid of avoiding disaster. Low-intensity war mobilization can give the military a little vitality.

Zhang Zhidong was accompanied by his trip to Baoding. His destination was Shanxi and Shaanxi, which are extremely important in the industrial layout. His major strategy was to expand the railway line and lay out the industrial process. His railway construction plan also gave priority to resource mining and industrial production. Shanxi and Shaanxi are important bases for resources and primary processing. The key projects he visited this time include mining, oil industry, military industry, etc. After I returned to Beijing, his itinerary would continue to be spread to several provinces in the south. He did not have much local foundation, so he had to go to the whole country to review it. It was also my great support for establishing a prestigious cabinet. I have been committed to building a prestigious cabinet over the years.

As far as my personal premonition is concerned, no matter how much my country gains after World War I, I am afraid that the government and military will produce a group of extremely high prestige talents. At that time, a strong cabinet will be inevitable. Perhaps at that time, it will first transition to a dual monarchy, and then after the baptism of World War II, and finally achieve my ideal political system - constitutional monarchy.

Of course, it is also possible to enter the republic directly, and the imperial power faces a slump. This possibility does not exist. But even so, I am not willing to do anything against the historical trend for this ever-changing line of imperial power. As long as it is a peaceful transition, as long as the country and the people do not suffer from the torture of civil war, as long as the country does not overthrow one dynasty and establish another dynasty, then what does it have to do with me, my descendants or grandchildren to become emperors?

The important thing is to achieve national progress at the minimum cost. This is the direction I have been working hard for. Now this series of actions to grasp military power is the most important guarantee of this desire. The stability of the army is the root of all stability.

Baoding Royal Army Non-commissioned Officer School was established specifically to train non-commissioned officers. The service period of ordinary soldiers is currently tentatively set to four years, while non-commissioned officers are not subject to this year limit and can be relaxed to a level of ample. Professors of various professional skills, a small number of command courses, and of course, exceed the training requirements of ordinary soldiers. This is the guarantee of the quality of graduate non-commissioned officers of this school.

Baoding Prefecture is not far from Beijing, and when there is a rebellion, this group of student soldiers is also a new force that cannot be underestimated. Therefore, I came here in person, which fully reflects the royal family's attention to the non-commissioned officer class. You must know that I did not attend the graduation ceremony of the first batch of Imperial Mainland University, and at that time, Zai Ding attended the meeting on his behalf.

Therefore, the school and local officials in Baoding Prefecture prepared everything for the control and security early, and the welcoming atmosphere was extremely warm. Warriors wearing short military uniforms and rows of buzz cuts stood along the way, and behind them were inspections of some local governments, maintaining the order of the people's welcome.

I stood in the car, Zhang Zhidong was slightly behind, waving to the people along the way. The local officials had already issued an edict that when the emperor arrived, there was no need to kneel down and bow down. It can be seen that the people were spontaneously coming to pay homage.

At the Baoding Non-commissioned Officer School of the Royal Army of the Qing Empire, under the golden sign written by me, two armed non-commissioned officers respectfully stood by the road with guns. What caught my eye was a group statue of soldiers from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This sculpture that was employed by foreigners to make has inspired every student in this school in recent years.

At the ceremony, one hundred outstanding representatives of the 1,771 graduates, stood up from their envious eyes, climbed to the parade platform, and received the graduation certificates with the royal seal, military seal and school seal from me, and the ejection stamped with the Great Wall pattern embroidered with two rifles crossed by me. I excitedly put them on my shoulders, and finished the military salute upright, and then went to my right to receive congratulations and encouragement from Zhang Zhidong, the Prime Minister of the Qing Empire. The simple ceremony of the graduation ceremony was held.

Looking at these young and passionate faces and strong figures, I know that one day in the future, these people will be active on a battlefield outside the empire, commanding artillery fire, driving airships to transport supplies, and leading reconnaissance teams to the enemy behind... They, like those officers who studied abroad, infantry divisions trained abroad, soldiers engaged in secret activities in the south, and more than one million ordinary soldiers on this land, will be the Great Wall of the Empire's future steel.

The speech with this idea as the basic content is my penultimate schedule here. After Zhang Zhidong thanked the army for its significant contributions to domestic construction and hoped to continue to make greater contributions, my final speech officially began.

The slightly inflammatory tone and exciting content made every non-commissioned officer who was about to go to all parts of the country excited. At the end of the speech, I specially gave them another grace. Every non-commissioned officer in the army has the right to send me a secret letter. If there is any delay in the post of the post of the Military Logistics Department, it will be punished for blocking the road.

This is the fourth measure for me to control the military trends in addition to the officer system, education system and intelligence system. Every non-commissioned officer and officer have the right to send a secret report directly to me. I can know any dangerous movements in the army in time in Beijing to make the right response.

Before the ideological system process was fully established, this secret supervision method, combined with the new conscription system, will be launched nationwide, eliminating the past system of self-recruitment. In combination with all aspects, the situation of warlords separating the side will be completely impossible in the future that I can foresee.

As for the hawks in the army gaining greater power as the war is gradually won, and then being able to manipulate the country to move in other directions, this is indeed a bit dangerous. However, with the improvement of the system and laws in the future, and the majesty and absolute power that the emperor still has, the alternation and conflict between war and development may not be so difficult to deal with.

After parting with Zhang Zhidong, he set out from Baoding to return to Beijing, and devoted all his thoughts to Zaiying's trip to Germany and the situation he had to face.

The German Emperor's visit to China should be very fast. He has signed a contract for the construction of the railway section from Baghdad to Baghdad. The whole world knows that the Germans will challenge the authority of the British Empire in this part of the Middle East.

The British were so worried. They were not stupid. The German Emperor's fleet would not go around the Cape of Good Hope for no reason. The Boers obviously received some promise from the German Emperor. In terms of war preparations, the Boers walked to the forefront of Britain.

Almost all the century, the British and of course there were financiers from other countries and explorers continued to penetrate into the southernmost part of Africa, a place rich in diamonds and gold, which was controlled by the Dutch, which continuously compressed the Boers of the Dutch descendants to the north, while the British's power continued to expand. Under such circumstances, military operations against the British had already begun, and an army of nearly 90,000 people were mobilized to obtain a large amount of material and armed aid from an important European country.

The war was fought two years ago, and the German Emperor even gloated and gloated towards the hero of the Boers, President of the Devaslam.

Bruger sent a congratulatory message. Perhaps it was this congratulatory message that stimulated the dignity of the British Empire. They mobilized an unprecedented army - a joint sea and land force of 440,000 people. The first batch of more than 70,000 people had landed on the front line of the Cape of Good Hope and gathered and adaptive training. While waiting for the second batch of 110,000 troops to arrive in two months, and in two months, after all 440,000 troops were assembled, the war would start completely. To the north of them was the 90,000 army of the Boers.

In the Eastern Hemisphere, such a confrontation of 500,000 people may not be a big deal, but on the African continent, such a confrontation is a shocking number even in the turbulent North Africa.

The two sides were about to break out. It was just that coincidentally that the German Emperor's fleet passed through the Cape of Good Hope and then went to Baghdad to sign an agreement to challenge the British. Even with the Mahdi Army, some German-made ordnance made the British suspicious. Did the Germans really start their challenge?

The British Empire was obviously not ready yet, and another news was almost transmitted back to the newspapers of the British Empire at the same time - Germany's new first-class battleship, which produced seven ships in one go. The first ship, the Prussian ship, and the other three sister ships have been launched for trial sailing, while the other three are still working day and night on the ship platform.

The German Emperor was right, Germany wanted to build a navy that was commensurate with the German status. He always believed that after a powerful navy, someone would listen to what he said.

Now Britain's reaction will confirm his judgment. If Britain does not compromise, the comprehensive confrontation between Britain and Germany will almost immediately escalate, and the world war is almost no longer necessary, and the whole of Europe will be brought into a trembling all-out war.

Where to go, the British obviously are not ready for this.

Before he learned that the Qing Empire Prime Minister, His Highness Zai Ying, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Minister Wu Tingfang, were about to visit Germany, the United Kingdom had sent special envoys to the Middle East to try to persuade the German Emperor to give up signing a railway construction contract on the condition that Britain would support Germany's position on many island issues in the Pacific.

The British hope was to use certain compromise conditions to delay time so that the empire's war machines would be prepared to deal with comprehensive confrontation.

But William II did not give them any face. Almost under the eyes of the special envoy, the German Emperor happily signed his name.

At the same time, the British learned from the customs declaration process that two important figures of the Qing Empire tried to travel to Germany through the Suez Canal.

Without too many associations, everyone can't help but imagine whether the consequences of the Germans and the Chinese people. If one day they unite, will the British Empire be able to bear it. Especially when the Chinese army taught the Russians a painful lesson on land.

Under such serious psychological expectations, I could feel relieved when I waited for the British to determine Zai Ying's goal that seemed to be just seeking Germany to support China's requirement to ban opium.

However, through such requests, they could find that the Chinese did not seem to have forgotten the two wars that broke out in the 1940s and later that caused them to suffer humiliation due to the opium trade.

The choice they are facing now is more painful than the choices they have made a few days ago. Moreover, the weight of their opponents has been completely increased.

As they expected, after receiving the Overdai Ying, the German government and diplomats issued a common statement to the outside world that China and Germany do not support opium to continue to poison the body of the Chinese people in any form, no matter who the interests behind this thing are.

With this, coupled with the contract to purchase a flamethrower, especially when the German Emperor needed the most external help, some of the bumps and bumps in Sino-German relations in the past have disappeared. The problem has now come to the British side.

On the one hand, the Boer War is about to be fought, and on the other hand, China seems to have signs of going into Germany's arms, and the British seem to have no need to think about it for too long.

Several members of the House of Commons have claimed that continuing to use the opium trade to destroy the bodies of the people of allies is immoral business profit. The British learned to turn.

The decision-makers are now facing two choices of arguments. No matter which one, they must regain their tough attitude in order to try to dismantle Germany and China's two big and small offensives. First, it is serious to fight the Boer War. Otherwise, more than 400,000 people will mobilize and withdraw their troops in shame, and the government will immediately face the danger of collapse.

The difference between the two arguments is just the future trend. First, from now on, we must directly merge China into Germany's allied system to deal with it. Because of the strength of the enemy's forces, we must provide comprehensive assistance to Russia and then support the Japanese, thus putting pressure on Germany and China. Of course, this also faces the problem of large-scale revision of established policies. Especially for a series of agreements with China, a large number of Chinese people, especially civil servants, must be driven away, and even a large number of arms orders will be invalidated. The country will face serious political and financial pressure. Moreover, the pro-British bureaucracy cultivated in China in the past decade and the friendly image of Britain in the minds of the Chinese people will all be wasted. In a word, the previous effort has been wasted. And it will also take more efforts to support Russia and Japan, two countries that are on the verge of bankruptcy. There is a long way to go.

The second type is much simpler. After this year's crisis, we must compete with Germany in all aspects, including wooing China. This country with huge potential and population is better than standing on the side of Germany. Faced with the joint confrontation between two enemies whose strength is almost the same as that of themselves, Britain is unable to bear it, and the world is unable to bear it. Years of confrontation will lead to a sluggish world economic situation, and no one can bear this pressure.

A thick political textbook of strategic research and hypothesis was sent to the Cabinet and Buckingham Palace. The British needed to choose one of these two plans as soon as possible.

No matter what, the Boer War still needs to be fought, otherwise the army will be mobilized in vain. Therefore, when fighting in the front and discussing countermeasures urgently, this is the main theme of Britain in the past six months.

But their determination was still too late. While they were worried about the international situation, the Boers launched a first attack and fired the first shot to make up for their shortcomings in strength and military strength. The effect was very good.

The 90,000 Boers army was divided into three groups. Taking advantage of the fact that the British army had not yet established a stable foothold and was not very adaptable to the environment and climate, he launched a fierce attack on the under-prepared British defense line on the three fronts of Corenso, Stormberg and Magsfontein.

The Boer army, which received German help, was so imposing, but the British army was caught off guard. If it weren't for the British army's new defense design - machine guns, barbed wire, and trench defense system, their losses would have been as simple as 4,000 casualties. Faced with an opponent with equally well-equipped equipment, the British Empire's army was not able to show the majesty and glory as their navy.

Major General Winobi, the British commander, lost all his face, and what awaited him was not a good result. Being replaced or regained his face was one of his few choices.

At this time, the German Emperor's fleet was already in the Pacific Ocean. He wanted to inspect his new territory, as a friendly country, and his itinerary would soon arrive in our country. His sea itinerary was naturally escorted by my Royal Navy Pacific Fleet. I also learned more accurately about his itinerary. Southeast Asian island countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei were all within his concern.

He particularly showed his concern for the Samoa Islands. In this archipelago between New Zealand and Hawaii, it has attracted Americans and British people to stay in their own eyes, and the British and Americans have enjoyed first-served benefits on this archipelago. Now his fleet seems to want to get a share of the pie here.

The German Emperor's statement clearly conveyed this news to Britain. He first reiterated the immorality of the opium trade, and then boasted about his achievements in implementing world policies and the achievements made by Germany in recent years. This enabled people to establish an impression that he had the right to point fingers at world affairs, and then talked about the issue of the Samoan Islands, and the Germans fully enjoyed the right to speak. In the statement, he clearly stated that Germany's claim that the Samoan Islands should have rights. His Far Eastern cruiser also landed on some islands and established his own camps.

The world has never seemed to be as easy to fall into war as it is today.

Zaiying's itinerary in Germany was soon over. Just as he was returning to me for the news that he was about to return home, the British also sent him an invitation, and I quickly received his second request.

My instructions are of course yes. After a special conversation before his departure, I believe he has the ability to gain more benefits for the country in front of the British.

At the same time, I believe this is also a signal that the British began to compromise.

As soon as Zaiying arrived in London, the sick Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister met him, reiterating the history of friendly relations that already existed between China and Britain and the bright future. It also clarified the huge differences between Britain and Germany, indicating that there might be a war. If China wants to continue to be friendly with Britain, then China should express its attitude early between Britain and Germany, otherwise, China is forcing the British Empire to regard China as its enemy.

Of course, Zaiying had no right to make any promises, but her anxious mood could not be hidden. The British had already shown up.

After he sent me a telegram that night, I also fell into thinking. I had expected this situation to be there long ago. But I didn't expect it to come so early.

Britain is forcing me to make a choice between Britain and Germany. If I stand on the British ship, I should cut off cooperation with Germany. For me, this is equivalent to cutting off the road to profits on both sides.

My instructions were issued quickly, so that Zaiying would not need to pay attention to this issue for the time being, and asked him to say a few pertinent words, such as asking your country to see our actions, we will keep in mind the help of the British Empire, etc. Let's discuss this issue slowly when we come back.

The first thing is to see whether the British House of Commons can vote to pass the proposal to make concessions to China on the opium trade as soon as possible. If so, we will slowly agree on the next countermeasure. If he wants to make a statement, it doesn't matter if I can make a statement.

Anyway, William is coming, so I will throw these words to him to see his reaction.

However, I can basically see the attitude of the British. They were the last to make a big concession before making a big concession. Every gambler was like this. Because they seemed to have agreed to make their second concession to the German Emperor: the Samoa Islands.
Chapter completed!