the world is at stake

Duan Qirui is not greedy or profitable, relatively fair and honest, but what he wants is power.This is 'once' four prime ministers, four army chiefs, one chief of staff, and one head of state.

Jumping from the division commander to the commander of the military region in one step, there is no worry that Duan Qirui will not be fooled.As for handing over the military power of the Sixth Division, it is not impossible to discuss.After all, there are two divisions in Guangdong waiting, and you can collect taxes to raise your own soldiers. Wouldn't it be great?

The more Li Chun thought about it, the more enthusiastic he became, but Zhou Qingfeng suddenly said, "This matter is really embarrassing for brother Zhiquan, I know he has an opinion. If he is not willing, I will ask Feng Guozhang."

These words almost made Li Chun jump up—threat, naked threat!If Duan Qirui refuses to agree, he will go to Feng Guozhang.If you really want to do this, you are playing tricks.

The so-called "Three Heroes of Beiyang", Wang Shizhen is known as the "Dragon of Beiyang", but now he is a bit old and basically half-retired.Duan Qirui is a 'tiger' and Feng Guozhang is a 'dog'.

Looking for a dog instead of a tiger?

Li Chunjue couldn't accept it.He quickly stopped talking, "Brother Zhou, don't worry, don't worry. You are a popular person around the president, so I will tell you a few words from my heart.

If he can take charge of Guangdong's military affairs, Commander Duan will definitely be happy.It's just that the Sixth Division relies on the support of Chief Duan, and we are extremely reluctant to give up. "

"You can also go along. Guangdong is a world of flowers and flowers, not better than the emperor's capital in a place of bitter cold? The girls in the south are still fresh, so don't forget to ask for more wives and concubines when you go."

When Zhou Qingfeng said this, Li Chun patted the table and laughed as if he had taken a reassurance.

Chapter 05 Diplomatic Strife

When the 'Holy Light' team is eager to master an armed force, there are others who are more anxious than them.

When Zhou Qingfeng went to Nanyuan to inspect the Sixth Division of the Army, in the German embassy in Dongjiaomin Lane, Minister Halhausen of the German Empire received a telegram from Berlin.

It was not the German Foreign Office that sent the report, but Kaiser Bazel I.

The content of the telegram was very strange. Bazel I actually let go of the arrogance of the European powers and asked Minister Halhausen to contact the Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately to express Germany's willingness to form an alliance with China.

In order to achieve an alliance, the German Empire was willing to abandon the "Sino-German Concession Treaty of Jiao-Australia" signed in 1897 and completely withdraw its power from the Shandong Peninsula.

"To show sincerity, Germany can provide all the railways, mines, factories, military ports and fortresses built in Shandong to the Chinese government free of charge, and withdraw from the concessions in Tianjin and Hankou.

The German side is willing to give up all the benefits of the "Xin Chou Treaty" signed in 1900, including the "Boxer Indemnity". The part paid by the Chinese side can be used as a cultural and academic exchange fund between the two sides to provide convenience in running and studying.

The German side is also willing to sign diplomatic, military, cultural, commercial and trade agreements on an equal footing with the Chinese side to enhance official and non-governmental exchanges between the two sides and enhance mutual trust. "

When Minister Halhausen saw this telegram, did he feel that his emperor had lost his mind?In the eyes of European and American powers, the human races in other places are monkeys that have not evolved.For example, China now.

After all, the current China is poor and backward, and Westerners can mock and bully wantonly with a posture of looking down.The wife of Hai Jing, the former German minister to China, wrote a book that satirized China.

"We in China seem to be facing a wall, and all European ideas and viewpoints hit it without any response. There is a world of difference in concept between Chinese and Europeans, and there is an unbridgeable gap between the two."

When European gentlemen and ladies came to the imperial capital, they would be frightened by the stench and filth of the civilian areas.The streets are full of rubbish, pedestrians defecate everywhere, and public facilities are extremely backward.

Even Li Hongzhang is extremely vulgar in the eyes of Westerners.He picks boogers in public, and he has a silver cup for boogers.This really disgusts the western ladies.

Today's China is a place where the West can be allowed to do whatever it wants, and there is no need for equal treatment at all.Especially for Kaiser Bazel I who has always been domineering, but why did he suddenly change his personality?

Minister Halhausen was skeptical about the telegram from Berlin.He immediately sent a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the German Empire to ask if someone was playing a prank?

No, no pranks.

But His Majesty the Emperor really seemed to be a different person. He suddenly adjusted almost all domestic and foreign policies, especially the 180-degree change in his strategy towards China.

His Majesty Bazel I even sent a power again, expressing his change of concept to Minister Halhausen-Germany is an enemy everywhere in Europe and needs a strong ally, which is China.

The subtext is... Halhausen, hurry up and build a good relationship with China!Germany needs China's resources and markets, it needs to accumulate enough strength before World War I, and it needs China to share its firepower.

Don't look at China as weak, but its health bar is thick!

It has been beaten since 1840, and after more than 100 years of hard work, it turned around in 1949, and it even had to shit on the head of old Europe in a few decades.

In contrast, Russia, which has always been considered to have a thick blood bar, is not worth mentioning at all.

If you can't win the first battle, you guys can change the dynasty, and the emperor will die.As long as you have a little loyalty to the king, you have to share my worries for me!

Minister Halhausen could not understand this subtext. He was very confused but helpless. After repeatedly confirming the change of foreign policy, he could only convey Bazel I's cooperation intention to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Wang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personally met Minister Halhausen, fully affirmed the goodwill of the German side, and expressed his willingness to work together with the German side to develop a good Sino-German relationship.

The first item of cooperation between the two sides was that the German side withdrew from the concession in China and allowed the Chinese military and police to enter the German embassy area in Dongjiaomin Lane to maintain law and order.

The next day, the headlines of major Chinese newspapers were that the government had made a major breakthrough in diplomacy. People from all over the country were surprised and surprised——when did the Germans become so talkative?

Seizing the concessions is a manifestation of the interests of European powers in China, which is equivalent to a country within a country.The United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, and even Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden-Norway all had concessions in China.

The concessions have become scars on China's body, reminding the Chinese people of the humiliation they have suffered.Through newspaper propaganda, the Kaiser's move did trigger a violent reaction.

This is tantamount to giving up Germany's plundering interests in China.

Whether it was Yuan Shikai who was recuperating in Henan or Sun Dapao who was preparing to rebel in Guangzhou, one counted as the other, and I was very surprised.At the same time, they sent a telegram to the imperial capital to inquire about the news, to confirm the authenticity of the situation.

The bureaucratic system of the imperial capital is still a sieve, and the affairs officers at all levels are still collude with the outside world, without any sense of confidentiality, and spread the news all over the sky.

I don't know if it's true news or fake news. After the newspaper announced the improvement of Sino-German relations, the outside world rumored that the two sides were trying to sign a secret agreement.Although Chinese and German diplomats categorically deny it, there are too many people who can't help but speculate.

Secret diplomacy was a very popular way of diplomacy before World War I.

It was not until World War I saw a sea of ​​corpses and blood, that countries realized that secret diplomacy that undermines trust among countries is extremely dangerous, and then switched to open diplomacy to avoid suspicion and misunderstanding as much as possible.

With the high-level promotion of both sides, the movement between China and Germany is very fast.Germany withdrew from the two concessions in China, and Minister Halhausen also took the initiative to release the news that the German assets in Shandong will be transferred to China.

The most important of these is Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao.

Germany built shipyards, supply docks, and ship maintenance bases here, and stationed a large number of troops, which formed a strict military defense system with forts and strong fortresses.

As soon as the news came out, the Western powers were stunned.The envoys of various countries were very baffled, and they asked the German envoy Halhausen what happened-is your emperor sick again?

Your Excellency the Minister is very depressed, and he still has to categorically deny it in public.

Only those selected from various countries understand what's going on-this is definitely Germany Bazel's initiative to show his favor, hoping to get China's help when World War I broke out.

This is very uncomfortable for Britain and France, which have huge interests in China.

The French government is still baffled, but King Charles I of England is very clear.He communicated with Bazel I by power generation, hoping that Germany could 'step in step' with European countries to avoid internal friction and let the Chinese take advantage.

As a result, Bazel replied: "We are very peace-loving, but don't come and beat me with the United States."

Charles was confused by this sentence, and had to reply patiently: "Your Majesty Bazel, as long as you don't start a war, we will definitely not have any plans against you."

Bazel added another sentence, "I don't want to fight, but I can't give up the interests of Germany. Can you open up the oil in the Middle East to me? Can you provide me with rubber in Southeast Asia? Can you share the global market?"

They are all the core interests of Great Britain, how can it be possible to share them?This is out of the question.

Charles could only persuade: "Your Excellency Bazel, if Europe cannot unite, it will only benefit China and the United States."

Bazel made a mockery of this sentence, saying, "Without you, the UK, maybe Europe can still be united. As for China and the United States, whether we are united or not, they will benefit. If you can prevent their development, I am Willing to wait and see.”

Stop the development of China and the United States?This difficulty is not small.

The United States is definitely unstoppable. It is enough to shrink itself into a behemoth in the North American continent.At best, the United Kingdom is restricting its encroachment on the interests of old Europe, but this is already very difficult.

As for China, it is even more embarrassing for the United Kingdom-not because of how strong China is at the moment, but for the United States to be very happy to see Britain fight China.

The Boer War that ended in 1902 has taught the British a lesson, and the era of relying on force to acquire overseas colonies is over.The British Empire could no longer afford the high cost of war.

If China is still the Manchu government in the past, Charles can also try the means of diplomatic intimidation.But Zhou Qingfeng's 'Sacred Light' clearly doesn't like this, and will definitely resist to the end.

Moreover, according to preliminary investigations by British diplomats in China, China in which time and space have been reversed is several times stronger than in history.Like a snail, Zhou Qingfeng keeps all his belongings by his side wherever he goes.

Iron and steel, cement, coal, many industrial indicators of the Republic of China are far superior to those of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and are no worse than Japan.It is also exceptionally complete in many subdivided industrial categories.

Time and space go back to 1910. Although the national strength of Great Britain is the highest in the world, there is no way to conquer China. Even if there is a full-scale war, it will be difficult to win.

Just as Charles was fighting with Bazel, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom submitted President Xiao Jinlang's personal letter to Charles I——Can you, like Germany, withdraw from its colonial interests in China?

The direct questioning cornered Charles, who was overwhelmed by the question.China is forcing Britain to express its position-I don't expect you to be a friend, but do you regard me as an enemy or neutral?

Charles is like holding a hot potato. He must consider the direction of Sino-British relations.In the long run, abandoning Britain's illegal interests in China is conducive to the development of diplomatic relations between the two sides and avoiding confrontation with the 'Holy Light'.

But at present, the United Kingdom is the power with the greatest interests in China, not one of them.It doesn't matter to Charles if he loses this benefit, but the nobles in the UK are definitely not happy.

Faced with this dilemma, Charles contacted France, Russia and other countries, but received unanimous responses from other powers.Everyone felt that the Kaiser was always whimsical and confused.

But when Charles wanted to evade China's request, President Mark Marcos of the United States said to the outside world that he could consider giving up the concessions in Tianjin and Shanghai, giving up the balance of the "Boxer Indemnity", and considering developing equal diplomatic and commercial relations with China.

Charles was furious when he heard the news—the United States doesn’t have much diplomatic and commercial relations with China now, and the Yankees are still in the stage of enclosing themselves, so where is it their turn to criticize China’s interests?

'Can consider it'?This clearly does not want to think about it, but it is giving eye drops to the current strongest British Empire in the world!

Chapter 06 Lack of virtue

"When did Marcos become smart?" Charles bowed his head and pondered in Buckingham Palace in London, with briefings of information collected from around the world in recent days on his desk.

'In the past', satellites, reconnaissance planes, and front-line reporters would collect countless intelligence, and the heads of state could know the news in the remotest corners of the world without much effort.

But now the great retrogression of technology has made the transmission of information inefficient and slow.Even the British Empire, the strongest human being, has a lackluster understanding of the world.

Charles can only make judgments based on a small amount of information in his hand, and use this to determine national policy.He hoped to isolate the United States in America and prevent it from getting involved in the affairs of World Island.

But it was impossible for Marcus to follow the wishes of Britain.He changed the simple and rude diplomatic methods of the United States, and cleverly chose China as the fulcrum instead of Europe.

Telling white Europeans now that China will affect their lives will surely be laughed at.

But there is a top-secret technological evolution memorandum on Charles's desk, which is about the impact of technology a hundred years later on the current national strength of various countries.

Britain's electorate gave a gloomy outlook.

In the short term, Great Britain can rely on its own industrial accumulation to obtain the greatest benefits.But in the long run, China can concentrate its efforts on major tasks and quickly close the gap with European and American powers.

After all, capitalists in Western countries live in a comfort zone, and they will not spend money casually to eliminate their current industries and equipment.However, in terms of developing next-generation technologies, China stands on the same starting line as the great powers.

Electronics, medicine and new materials and new technology, many "future" industries do not require much investment, but the benefits are extremely high.For example, the large-scale mass production of sulfonamide and penicillin, each team has definitely started.

"Marco's intention is obvious. He hopes to unite China, the United States and Germany, and first break the colonial monopoly of Britain and France. The Germans will definitely not refuse. They are the natural allies of the United States, but the key is China in Asia."

Glancing at the technical memorandum, Charles looked at the letter of intent submitted by the Chinese ambassador to the UK on the desktop, demanding that the British forces withdraw from China.

"It can't be done, obviously it can't be done." Charles shook his head.

China's current central government is weak, but local forces are not strong either. The 'Holy Light' team can still strengthen the centralization of power after using their reputation well.

The United Kingdom is second only to the United States in the number of electors and followers, with a total of more than [-].But they are not enough to control the entire country. The upper and lower houses of the British Parliament will never approve withdrawal from China.

In this way, the power of the king of Great Britain is not as good as that of the German emperor.The latter can change the country's foreign policy by ordering it, while the former is just a hypocrite and absolutely impossible.

In this way, the deterioration of Sino-British relations is inevitable.

"Damn it, it was calculated by these guys." Charles punched the table heavily.

There are only four large chosen factions left. If three of them join forces to set up another one, the besieged will definitely die ugly.

Charles' intention of uniting Europe to attack the United States naturally went bankrupt.Because Daying was the strongest, he became the target of public criticism and was vigilantly rejected by all forces.

"The weakest link among the three must be broken first." Charles focused on the word 'a' marked with a red pen in the memo, "supporting its domestic opposition and creating civil strife."

There was Chinese intelligence collected by the British diplomatic service on the desktop, but Charles didn't read it, and called the Prime Minister's Office instead.He had to be thankful that the prime minister was an elite in the chosen team, otherwise he would be caught blind.

The Prime Minister's Office quickly sent a diplomatic affairs officer to Buckingham Palace to introduce the situation in the Far East to King Charles I. As for the Chinese opposition...

"Yes, there are quite a few political forces in China that pursue democracy and oppose freedom. For example, Mr. Sun from the Tongmenghui has received Western education and once studied in London. He is very friendly to Europe and the United States.

In addition, there are also many pro-Western officials in the Chinese civil servants. If necessary, they can be contacted. I believe they can exert considerable influence on the current Chinese government. "

British diplomats are naturally aware of China's demands.They didn't know why, and they just thought it was the natives of the Far East who were somewhat delusional by the Kaiser's crazy behavior, and responded with ridicule and ridicule.

British bureaucrats are already discussing how to fight back against the Chinese government, so that those yellow people understand their identity and status.

King Charles was very satisfied with the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and generously stated that he could give more assistance to the opposition in China.Weapons, equipment, training, you can have all of these, as long as you can hold the 'Holy Light'.

When the Brits were ready to set off, the 'Holy Light' team was also clearing mines.

Yuan Shikai, who lived in seclusion in Huanshang Village, Anyang, Henan, was fishing on a small boat on the Huan River.The founder of Beiyang looked like an old farmer, wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat, and ordered people to break up the ice on the river, and threw a fishing rod in.

Yuan Shikai's Ninth Aunt put some charcoal into the cabin's warm stove and prepared to boil water for tea.The servants stood by and saw that his master hadn't caught a single hair after fishing for a long time, wishing he could turn into a fish and bite the hook in the water.

Huanshang Village is actually the Yuan family's mansion by the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway. There are trains and telegrams leading here, and Yuan Shikai's news is still very well-informed.

The German minister said that he would withdraw from the foreign trade and hand over extraterritoriality. This matter has been hyped up by the newspapers in recent days.Several official media mouthpieces even created a series of columns...

"Today's Germany has such good intentions, and China should not be humiliated. The [-] million compatriots unite as one, and the combined strength is enough to fight against the European powers.

Countries such as Britain, France, the United States, Japan, Russia and Germany are not monolithic, and there are many contradictions with each other.Although our country is weak, we should fight for it and safeguard our national interests.Today's weakness is not the reason for the compatriots to fawn on others. "

A housekeeper was reading a newspaper on the boat. In the middle of reading, Yuan Shikai dropped the fishing rod in his hand, took off the bamboo hat on his head and threw it at his feet, scolding impatiently: "Why is this German suddenly so cowardly? like?"

In the late Qing Dynasty, many important ministers were promoted by handling foreign affairs, the typical one being Li Hongzhang. After the 'Holy Light' came, the nature of these people remained unchanged.

The Beiyang army was also run with the support of foreigners, and one of the most important pillars was Germany-the equipment and training of Beiyang in the early years were all arranged by Germany.

When Yuan Shikai went home to "recover from his illness", he hoped to maintain his relationship with foreigners and rely on foreigners to respect himself.After all, few officials in the late Qing Dynasty knew how to deal with foreigners.

However, when the "Holy Light" came, the "middlemen" were not allowed to make the difference, and all the foreign compradors were kicked out.The team has professional diplomats who are familiar with the political situation in Europe and the United States, and they know the rules of diplomacy better than the two knives like Yuan Shikai.

It's ridiculous to say that my things were sent back by the robbers, and I have to thank the robbers for their kindness.But the recovery of the German Concession was still regarded by the central government as a major diplomatic victory.

Who makes the country poor and weak? A weak country has no diplomacy.With this achievement, the people of the country are also in high spirits, and the whole country is jubilant, expressing their approval.