Chapter 29 1892

  As soon as the news came out, Britain was in an uproar from top to bottom.

  If the British regarded "Friedrich der Grosse" and "Wilhelm der Grosse" as a laughing stock, then no Briton dared to underestimate "Kronprinz Wilhelm".

  At that time, the speed of this warship not only exceeded all main battleships but also surpassed most armored cruisers.

  When commenting on the "Wilhelm Gustloff", British newspapers all mentioned one point: if this warship broke through the North Sea defense line and entered the Atlantic, it would cut off all of Britain's navigation lines, causing transportation from mainland Britain to destinations around the world to be completely paralyzed; at that time, the Royal Navy would face a daunting challenge, namely that the warships that could catch up with the "Wilhelm Gustloff" could not defeat it, while those that could defeat it could not catch up.

  Fisher also stepped forward at this time and proposed that the Royal Navy should immediately build similar or even more powerful warships.

  Although Fisher's words were low and weak, the stubborn leaders of the British Royal Navy also had to seriously consider the real threats.

  In 1891, Fischer was appointed as Third Sea Lord and Comptroller of the Navy.

  At the beginning of his tenure, the energetic Fisher vigorously pursued reform. In reviewing the Royal Navy's shipbuilding program, he again proposed building "fast battleships".

  It must be admitted that Fischer is a man of unyielding willpower who never gives up until he achieves his goal.

  Within two short months, he submitted three reports to the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Prime Minister, even getting the matter into the ears of King Edward VII through the Duke of Cambridge, causing the king's high attention. With media publicity, Salisbury had to yield to Fisher.

  At the end of 1891, the British government allocated ￡1.2 million to shut up Fashoda.

  Under Feng Chengqian's deliberate arrangement, history changed.

  It is worth noting that in the history familiar to Feng Chongqi, Fisher dominated the shipbuilding plan of the British Royal Navy only after becoming the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the first to be built was the epoch-making "Dreadnought" battleship, followed by the "Invincible" battlecruiser.

  In terms of timing, the British Royal Navy was fifteen years ahead in building battlecruisers.

  Unlike the historical von der Tann, Fischer's budget was only enough to build one battlecruiser and its performance would not have been a match for later battlecruisers.

  Similarly, Fisher still placed great value on battlecruisers.

  Although in the broader context, the British government allocated ￡1.2 million to build a battlecruiser with the firepower of a battleship and the speed of a cruiser for the Royal Navy to counter enemy raiders and protect long sea lanes, Fisher had different views on its specific use, believing that such powerful warships could participate in main force battles, and their speed was the best protection.

  This battleship, which was begun in 1892, was named Invincible by Fisher.

  Perhaps Fischer hopes this warship will be invincible on the ocean.

  Feng Chengqian knew that the cruel sea battle would thoroughly negate the value of the battleship and soon become a textbook lesson in history books.

  With the laying of the keel of "Invincible", the warm-up exercises for the Anglo-German naval armaments race finally began.

  Although the competition was not as intense as the later naval race, both Britain and Germany were extremely restrained, but the decades-long friendly relations between Britain and Germany also came to an end. Even on many issues, Britain and Germany still had common interests, but the confrontation replaced cooperation, and the contradictions between Britain and Germany surfaced. In the following decade or so, as the German Empire grew stronger, especially with the rapid expansion of the Imperial Navy, the British-German rivalry would replace the Franco-Russian alliance against Germany, becoming the main contradiction in Europe and the root cause of World War I.

  At that time, no one thought that the conflict between Britain and Germany would develop into a full-scale war sweeping across the entire Western world.

  Entering 1892, a series of major international events also took place one after another.

  Firstly, the expansion work of the Kiel Canal officially began. After the "Chao Yuan" and other four ships were delivered to the Qing Dynasty one after another, 200,000 laborers set out from Qingdao and arrived in the German Empire, becoming the main workforce for the construction of the Kiel Canal, further strengthening Sino-German relations.

  Later, an ammunition factory funded by Krupp was formally established in Qingdao and began manufacturing military supplies for the Great Qing.

  It was a small matter for the Second German Empire.

  According to Feng Chengqian's arrangement, Krupp's establishment of an arsenal in the Qing Dynasty was completely operated by commercial means, and the imperial government basically did not intervene.

  This is a matter of paramount importance for the Great Qing.

  Although the Westernization Movement has been carried out for so many years, and many factories have been built in various places, the industrial level of the Qing Dynasty still remains at the starting stage, and military materials such as ammunition mainly rely on imports. With the arsenal in Qingdao, even if it is still necessary to purchase from foreign companies, it is much better than importing.

  Li Hongzhang signed a contract with Krupp for the purchase of one thousand machine guns.

  Although this is good news, it has made things difficult for German entrepreneurs.

  It is worth noting that the patent rights of machine guns are in the hands of Maxim, and German companies do not have the right to manufacture them. Because it was Feng Qing who facilitated the Sino-German arms trade, this trouble also fell into his hands. Fortunately, Feng had made preparations earlier and spent 100,000 pounds to buy all production patents of machine guns from Maxim after returning home from visiting Qing, even if they were not exclusive patents, German companies would no longer have to worry about property rights issues.

  The third major event of that year was the formal start of construction on Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway.

  In terms of time, it is basically consistent with the history that Feng Chengqian was familiar with. In order to speed up the construction of the railway, Tsar Alexander III also appointed Witte as the Minister of Finance of Russia.

  France took advantage of this opportunity to continue making large loans to Russia and again proposed a formal alliance treaty.

  It is said that if you take from others, your hands will be short; if you eat from others, your mouth will be soft.

  Although Tsar Alexander III was well aware that a formal alliance with France would mean enmity with Germany and conflict with England, the economic dependence on others, coupled with the already severe setback in Anglo-German relations, meant that the tsar no longer refused France's request for an alliance.

  After several months of negotiations, officials from the General Staffs of France and Russia signed a military alliance treaty in St. Petersburg.

  The treaty stipulates: when France is attacked by Germany and Italy, Russia will fully support France and attack Germany and Italy; if Russia is attacked by Germany, Italy and Austria, France also has the right to attack Germany, Italy and Austria, and assist Russia; only in the event that France and Russia first launch a war, the other party does not assume alliance obligations.

  What significance does this treaty have?

  Not to mention Feng Chengqian, even people of this era can think that the military alliance treaty between France and Russia was mainly aimed at countering the powerful German Empire.

  The news was brought back and Bismarck immediately went to Potsdam Palace.

  That night, the German Emperor held an emergency imperial conference.

  Feng Chengqian was very clear that the Franco-Russian military alliance treaty would eventually become the basis for an Anglo-French-Russian alliance, and in his familiar history, the Allied Powers of World War I were born from this. However, Feng Chengqian did not agree with the solution proposed by Bismarck, Waldersee and others, namely to strengthen the alliance relationship with Austria-Hungary and Italy, believing that doing so would push Britain, which was more important, towards a Franco-Russian alliance.

  The reason is simple, if in order to counter France and Russia, actively win over Austria-Hungary and Italy, then Germany, Austria and Italy will form the strongest military group on the European continent. Britain's consistent policy has been to support the second-strongest power on the continent to strike at the strongest one, so doing this would be equivalent to making an enemy of Britain.

  At the imperial conference, Feng Chongyi explicitly stated that if a formal alliance was concluded with Austria and Italy, Britain would definitely not remain neutral after the outbreak of war and would immediately, at least before France and Russia were defeated, join the war as the most powerful enemy.

  Feng Chengjian's views were taken seriously by the German Emperor, but failed to convince Bismarck and Waldersee.

  To both of them it seemed that if the secret alliance with Austria and Italy could not be transformed into a formal one, then in the next European war the Empire would not be a match for France and Russia.

  On land, the empire would face a disaster of national subjugation if it could not win.

  Frederick III was very wise, but he also believed that the empire would find it difficult to defeat France and Russia alone, and must seek allies, and they must be sufficiently powerful.

  On the European continent, there were valuable allies only Austria-Hungary and Italy.

  The meeting in front of the throne lasted until the early morning of the second day. Despite Feng Chengqian's strong opposition, under the threat of resignation by Bismarck and Waldersee, Frederick III made a final decision to negotiate an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy, striving to conclude a military alliance treaty as soon as possible.

  Feng Chengqian did not threaten Emperor De with resignation, he never thought of resigning.

  The decision has been made, and there's nothing much to change now.

  After the meeting in front of the emperor, Frederick III had von Sch?nberg stay behind alone.

  "I fully understand your idea and trust your judgment, but you must understand that we can't afford to lose sight of our native land's security, which is the foundation of the empire."

  "Your Majesty, I understand, so I did not offer my resignation."

  Frederick III smiled and said, "The prime minister has repeatedly threatened to resign, it seems that he is already very tired of government affairs, and it's time for the prime minister to go back and enjoy his old age."

  Feng Chengqian was secretly shocked, did Frederick III plan to let Bismarck step down?

  "Alright, let's talk about those things later. I'm leaving you alone for now, it's related to what you mentioned."

  "Your Majesty said..."

  "Do you really think that our alliance with Austria and Italy will cause Britain to lean towards France and Russia?"

  "Your Majesty, I have made it clear. Although Britain has contradictions with France and Russia, they are not fundamental. Before France and Russia defeat us, they absolutely cannot shake Britain's global dominance, and we only need to continue developing, at most thirty years later, we can replace Britain. If in the next war, we repeat the victory of Sedan, quickly defeating France and Russia, then the empire will have no enemy on the European continent, and what needs to be done next is to take away Britain's global dominance from its hands. With the lesson of Napoleon, Britain absolutely will not allow such a thing to happen. The best way is to join the Franco-Russian group after the war breaks out, while thoroughly defeating us, consume the national strength of France and Russia, making it difficult for them to recover in the short term. Even if France or Russia replaces us as the dominant power on the European continent, it will be a matter of several decades after the war. At that time, Britain can re-enact its old trick, supporting another strong country on the European continent to counterbalance France or Russia."

  Frederick III nodded thoughtfully and said, "It seems that we will eventually turn against Britain."

  "We must make adequate preparations for this."

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