Master Yuan, start!

Today is the day they ended their visit to London and returned to Germany.

After arriving in Berlin, German Foreign Minister von Bülow and Crown Prince William rushed to Potsdam, southwest of Berlin.

Together, the two of them walked through the majestic gate of the City Palace, passed by a dazzling array of collections, and arrived at the door of the William II Conference Room.

At this time, William II had just finished arguing with German Chancellor Joseph Hohenlohe.

Faced with the Prime Minister's firm opposition, William II finally decided to give in and not arrest striking workers nationwide. Instead, he decided to enact an "Anti-Social Democratic Law" to target the increasingly fierce strikes and protests in Germany.

Just when the atmosphere was tense, the chief of the inner court guards knocked on the door and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have returned."

"Oh, little William is back. Let him wait outside for a while and call the Foreign Minister in first." William II glanced at Prime Minister Hohenlohe in front of him and put away the unhappy expression on his face.

"Prime Minister Hohenlohe, let's put aside the domestic debate for now and turn our attention to Europe."

Hornlohe bowed slightly and said helplessly, "As you command, my Lord."

What can he do?

The emperor before him was notoriously reckless and acted without regard for the consequences. As the successor of Prime Minister Bismarck, Hohenlohe was very troubled by facing such an emperor and even had the idea of ​​retiring.

Anyway, he is the federal representative of Bavaria. At worst, he can go back to Munich to serve as the President of the Federal Parliament. It is better than being bullied every day in Berlin.

However, no matter what he thought, Hohenlohe knew that it was not the time for him to leave. He had to at least choose a qualified successor to the position of Imperial Chancellor, and only then could he step down.

After meeting William II, Foreign Minister von Bülow took a half step forward and said:

"Your Majesty, after meeting with the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary in London, the British brought good news and bad news to the Empire."

"Oh?"

Hearing von Bülow's words, William II became interested. He shook his mustache and said, "Let me tell you the bad news first."

Foreign Minister von Bülow said: "The British have made an informal protest to Germany."

"Protest?" William II frowned. "What are they protesting?"

"Protesting our provision of weapons to the Boers," von Bülow replied.

"But those are all private actions, the government didn't participate at all!"

William II cried out in anger, as if he had been greatly wronged: "How can the British Prime Minister accuse us of something the government has not done?"

3 "In fact, that's what I responded to right away." Foreign Minister von Bülow looked up and said:

"But Your Majesty, I think the British protesting to us shows that they are still very wary of the Boer country."

"This is a sign. Can we seek some benefits from it?" Prime Minister Hohenlohe took the opportunity to express his opinion.

"This is exactly the good news I want to bring," von Bilo raised his head and smiled.

"Your Majesty, the British Prime Minister and Foreign Minister agree that it is necessary to support Germany's expansion of its colonial territories."

"Expanding colonies? That's good news indeed. Africa really has no future."

After hearing this, the anger on William II's face disappeared, and he said excitedly: "Could it be that the British want to give Angola or Mozambique to us?"

There is no doubt that Germany in the late 19th century was very eager for colonies.

But they unified too late. Even though the Germans spared no effort to fight and expand in Africa, in the end, apart from the original equatorial Africa, they only got the desolate Namibia and Tanganyika.

Compared with South Africa, which is a gold-producing area, West Africa, which is a ivory and spice-producing area, and Egypt, which is an international waterway, the German colonies have almost no oil or water.

In Namibia, which is under the control of the subtropical high, 8% of the country's land is desert; only Tanganyika can have some plantations.

"No, not Africa, but the Far East!" Foreign Minister von Bülow's eyes lit up.

"The Far East?" William II had never thought of this place: "Is there still land in the Far East that can be colonized?"

"I am also a little confused." Prime Minister Hohenlohe keenly sensed the danger hidden in the British proposal.

"Your Majesty, the Straits Settlements and the Malay Peninsula are British territory, and Borneo is Dutch territory. If we want to expand our colonies, we can only seek solutions from Siam, China, and Japan.

However, Siam was a protectorate of Britain. Although China and Japan were independent countries, they both had armies of at least 0 men. If Germany were to colonize these countries, it would consume a great deal of its national strength.

I think this is a British plot to divert the Empire’s attention away from Africa!”

Prime Minister Hohenlohe's eyes were very vicious, and he could see at a glance that the British were trying to shift the blame elsewhere.

However, he overlooked one thing: not everyone can look at the issue from the perspective of a seasoned politician.

Von Bülow, standing by, retorted, "Mr. Prime Minister, is Africa the only colony? Are the colonies in the Far East not considered colonies?"

After seeing the Foreign Minister's rebuttal, William II immediately nodded in agreement.

If the German central government in 1897 could be divided into doves and hawks, then Prime Minister Hohenlohe was a rational dove, while William II and Foreign Minister von Bülow were out-and-out hawks.

There is no need to say much about William II. Although Foreign Minister von Bülow was only the Foreign Minister at this time, in the original time and space he served as the German Chancellor for 1900 years after 10.

During his tenure as prime minister, he forcibly leased Jiaozhou Bay, purchased the Mariana Islands and some islands in the western Pacific, and was very concerned about colonial expansion.

It was he who said that famous quote that is now widely read in German history.

That is, "Other nations divided the continents and oceans, while we Germans were content with the blue sky. The time is over. We also want a place under the sun."

"The British are willing to support us in colonizing the French Indochina colony!" Foreign Minister von Bülow said excitedly:

"That's a huge market with tens of millions of people, and it's rich in spices and rice. And it's located in the tropics, so we can build a lot of plantations!"

"French Indochina?!" Prime Minister Hohenlohe exclaimed: "No, absolutely not!

Germany would rather colonize China than go to war with the French in the Far East, as that would severely worsen Franco-German relations!"

"My Prime Minister, so what if the situation worsens?"

Seeing this, William II asked in displeasure, "If relations don't deteriorate now, will the French voices demanding revenge and the return of Alsace and Lorraine be reduced?"

You were once the governor of Alsace-Lorenz, and I think you should know this better than I do."

"Your Majesty, that's different!" Prime Minister Hohenlohe did not notice William II's displeased expression and quickly refuted again.

"Prime Minister, there's no need to worry about going to war with the French Far East." Seeing Hohenlohe's disapproving expression, von Bülow explained, "In fact, we are not the main force. The Chinese are."

"Chinese?" Hornlohe was a little confused.

The news that Yuan Shikai sent people to kidnap Emperor Cheng Thai of Vietnam made headlines in both China and Paris, but in Germany, not many people cared about what happened in other countries' Far East colonies.

So, Hohenlohe didn't know about this yet.

It was not until Foreign Minister von Bülow explained the whole story that Hohenlohe understood what was going on.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, are you willing to support Germany in sending troops now?

The Chinese are about to unify the country, and perhaps even stage another Franco-Prussian War in the Far East, invading the French Indochina colony!"

Seeing that Hohenlohe remained silent, von Bülow made another French joke.

"Even so, we must not send troops lightly!" Hohenlohe looked up at William II and said firmly:

“Your Majesty, the southern part of Indochina is a British colony. Even if we take it now, if Britain blocks the Strait of Malacca in the future, Germany’s colonial activities there may be in crisis!

Lao Han Jiao Liu 97

Therefore, as Chancellor of the Reich, I cannot allow German soldiers to take the risk of engaging in a business that may result in a complete loss."

When telling the first half of the sentence, Hohenlohe was facing William II.

When saying the second half of the sentence, Hohenlohe turned to von Bülow, who had been urging William II to send troops.

"Okay." Facing the Prime Minister's firm eyes, von Bilo chose to retreat.

Unlike diplomats stationed in colonial countries such as Asia and Africa, diplomats from European countries are more like puppets of the prime minister or the king, acting as clerks and executors rather than decision makers.

Therefore, although von Bülow is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs and seems to be in a high position of power, he is not the Prime Minister after all, and naturally cannot dominate Germany's foreign policy.

In the original time and space, when he was the Prime Minister, he rejected the proposal of the British Chamberlain to establish an "Anglo-German Alliance".

Although there were many conflicts between Britain and Germany at that time, the conflicts between Britain and France and Russia were equally acute.

Von Bülow believed that Britain would never reach an understanding with France and Russia. Relying on this, he constantly forced Britain to make concessions in international affairs, and eventually made the British completely abandon the fantasy of the Anglo-German alliance and instead ally with their century-old enemy, France.

Although von Bülow was willing to cooperate with the British, he was not the prime minister and could only shuffle his hands helplessly.

But just as von Bülow lowered his head, William II beside him said in a high voice:

"My Chancellor, the German soldiers, when did they become so fragile?

Could it be that, facing an enemy they had once defeated, the Prussian soldiers would fail?"

William II looked at Prime Minister Hohenlohe, who was trying to dissuade him, and said disdainfully: "In my opinion, the French have not only made no progress in the 20 years since the Franco-Prussian War, but have actually taken a big step backward.

Don't forget that they were able to win a complete naval victory in 1885, but lost the land battle to the Chinese!"

"But, what's the current situation?" Hornlohe hurriedly tried to explain.

"Okay, no buts!" William II interrupted him and waved his hand.

飞卢

"My Lord Prime Minister, Germany is like a galloping carriage. It cannot stop. On the contrary, it needs a better driver to control it. Do you understand?"

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, what do you mean?" William II's words were extremely simple, and Prime Minister Hohenlohe certainly understood them.

However, he never expected that he would be dismissed by William II.

"Is it because I disagree with sending troops to Vietnam, or because we couldn't reach a consensus on suppressing the workers' movement? Or is it something else?"

Hohenlohe stared into William II's eyes, trying to find out the reason.

But it was obvious that William II had already made up his mind. He leaned on a crutch with his withered left arm and patted Foreign Minister von Bülow on the shoulder with his right hand.

"Minister von Bülow, starting next year, you will be the new Chancellor of the German Empire. There is less than a month left. I hope you can learn a lot from Chancellor Hohenlohe!"

Wu: "Okay, the imperial meeting is over. Call little William in."

"Yes, my Lord," they both replied in unison.

Seeing that William II had issued an order to expel him, Prime Minister Hohenlohe could only bow absentmindedly, and with the support of Foreign Minister von Bülow, he slowly walked out of William II's conference room.

...

At the same time, a whirlwind filled with youthful energy rushed into the conference room with a whoosh.

"Father, this is a handwritten letter from Great-Grandmother Victoria!" As the door opened, Crown Prince William rushed in, waving a letter with intact wax and shouting:

"He also invited me to study at Cambridge and recommended that I major in philosophy!"

William II's mother was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, which means that Queen Victoria was actually the great-grandmother of Crown Prince William.