Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 197

Therefore, even though India's elite often complain about the various forms of discrimination they encountered while studying in London, they at least don't experience the same kind of violence as in the United States, where they are attacked by white people on the street simply because of their skin color. The American jury system ensures that white people who attack people of color go unpunished.

Therefore, when these Indian elites returned to India and devoted themselves to the nationalist movement, they were persecuted by the British Indian government. Their first reaction was not to flee abroad, but to choose to live in London. They knew that this city could protect them from persecution by the British Indian government, while other places might not be so safe.

Indians and Chinese have significant differences on many issues, but they can still establish a cooperative relationship. The first reason is that both sides believe that the path of scientific socialism is the only revolutionary path for their respective national liberation. Without this revolutionary path, neither side dares to say that they can rely on nationalism to organize the Chinese or Indians.

The second point is the existence of Lin Xinyi. As a revolutionary who conveyed the path of scientific socialism to China and India, Lin Xinyi advocated that the unity of international socialists was the only way to fight against imperialism and colonialism. After he repeatedly proved that his revolutionary theory was correct, revolutionaries in China and India almost never questioned his judgment.

The alliance between the Chinese and Indian revolutions did indeed bring many benefits to both sides. The greatest contribution of the Indian Revolution to the Chinese Revolution was that the British could no longer divert manpower from India to suppress the Chinese Revolution. Moreover, there were a large number of Indian officials in the British Indian government, who could easily access the diplomatic discussions on Asian issues sent from London to the British Indian government. The British did not seem to have considered that the Indians would leak this intelligence to the Chinese.

If London was the brain of the British Empire, then the British Indian government was its body. Therefore, London couldn't possibly conceal any diplomatic adjustments from the British Indian government; otherwise, the British Empire would cease to function. Consequently, much of the intelligence the British Indian government received had little to do with India itself, but rather concerned how India would subsequently cooperate with London's decisions.

After the People's Committee of India informed the Labour Party of the intelligence from the British Indian government, the Labour Party was almost completely aware of the changes in British diplomacy toward China. In fact, Wuhan's assessment of London was even earlier than the official telegram received by the British Minister to China, because the Foreign Secretary of London would inevitably consult the Governor-General of India before making a decision on diplomacy toward China.

As for the benefits the Indian Revolution gained from the Chinese Revolution, in fact, the very existence of the Chinese Revolution was the greatest benefit to the Indian Revolution. The Chinese Revolution greatly attracted the attention of the British, forcing London to repeatedly emphasize to the British Indian government the importance of maintaining stability in India and preventing it from falling into the same chaos as China, as the British Empire could not possibly contend with three fronts simultaneously.

Therefore, if Lin Xinyi had truly abandoned his Japanese identity to join the Labor Party, he would inevitably have become one of the party's main leaders, and there would have been no trust issues between them. However, Lin Xinyi did not do so, which naturally made Cai E and Tian Junyi wary of him. This was not a matter of personal feelings, but rather a matter of perspective from the viewpoint of internal and external organizational relations. After all, Lin Xinyi in Japan was completely detached from organizational life, and they had no way of knowing what Lin Xinyi was actually doing.

However, Lin Xinyi's discourse on worker-peasant relations and his views on Sino-Japanese cooperation dispelled Cai E and Tian Junyi's doubts about him. After returning to Japan, Lin Xinyi continued to contemplate revolutionary issues and explored the situation of the revolution in Japan and China, which formed the basis for their mutual trust.

Therefore, Cai E and Tian Junyi accepted Lin Xinyi's view on the possibility of Sino-Japanese cooperation and the necessity of promoting the Asian revolution. However, they had different doubts about the specific implementation. For example, both Cai E and Tian Junyi were hesitant to start with Germany. In their view, Germany was the most friendly of the great powers to Wuhan. Even if Germany's privileges in China were to be abolished, it should be done last, rather than pushing this potential ally to the opposite side of Wuhan from the beginning.

In response to the two men's doubts, Lin Xinyi gave a detailed analysis: "If it were 1900, the situation you described would indeed have occurred. The Boxer Rebellion's attacks on American and German expatriates would have provoked the unanimous support of the great powers."

However, in 1900, Europe had not yet formed two opposing camps; there was only the Franco-German conflict. Therefore, when the Qing Dynasty declared war on all nations, the great powers were able to quickly reach a consensus and send troops.

However, Europe is now divided into two opposing camps: Britain and France versus Germany, stemming from the Franco-German conflict. This antagonism between the two camps is inseparable from the cyclical economic crises of capitalism. Developed industrialized nations seized control of most of the world's raw material sources and markets, thus establishing monopolistic colonial empires. While developing industrialized nations have caught up in productivity through technological innovation, they cannot shake the colonial system established globally simply through superior productivity.

The reason why the Eight-Nation Alliance was able to quickly reach a consensus to send troops to China was essentially to carve up the last continent on Earth that had not been colonized by Europe. However, the signing of the Boxer Protocol made German imperialists realize that under the existing Anglo-French colonial system, not only were those backward Eastern nations subject to Britain and France, but even the industrialized countries in Europe's rear were also subject to British and French restrictions.

Germany's motivation for sending troops to China was certainly not to avenge Ketteler. What they wanted was to partition China, just as Britain and France dismembered the Ottoman Empire. Germany also tried to gain a colony with concentrated population and resources from the dismemberment of China, and to establish new overseas markets for German industrial products.

Germany's investment in Qingdao was a government-led long-term plan, different from the British development model in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which was mainly driven by merchants. However, the British-led plan to preserve China thwarted Germany's attempt to establish a new Germanic state in the East, and Russia's war against China was also driven by dissatisfaction with the Anglo-French colonial system.

Russia's expansion in the Far East, supported by Britain, was thwarted by Japan and China. Russia's defeat proved one thing: Britain's main enemy had shifted from the unconquered non-European peoples of the world to the European peoples who threatened the global dominance of the British Empire.

Therefore, in the confrontation between the two major camps in Europe, the one with the strongest desire for war was actually Britain, not Germany and France. Britain attempted to use the Franco-German conflict to create a war against Germany, thereby destroying Germany's ability to threaten the global hegemony of the British Empire.

Britain's strategic objectives are so clear that the British government is steadily shrinking its global hegemony and redeploying its main naval forces back to Europe. This presents the perfect opportunity for Asian nations to regain a degree of sovereignty, as Britain's global retreat is creating power vacuums in certain regions.

Now is the time to reclaim maritime power in East and Southeast Asia while Britain is undergoing a global retreat, at the lowest possible cost. Germany and France will no longer have the resources to instigate wars outside of Europe, the Netherlands is a small country whose rule over the islands of Southeast Asia depends on British support, and the United States will be unable to interfere in Pacific affairs before the Panama Canal is built.

Therefore, if we now demand that Germany relinquish its privileges in China, Britain and France will not only welcome it, but Germany will also find virtually no supporters in Europe. Because the choice of war in Europe is not in Germany's hands; it cannot even maintain peace in Europe, let alone talk about the principle of unity among the great powers.

Cai E and Tian Junyi couldn't help but nod in agreement. They also felt that Germany was currently in a state of isolation and helplessness, and it was not impossible to force Germany to give up the Jiaozhou Bay leasehold. After all, even the Germans themselves had discussed whether to return the Jiaozhou Bay leasehold to China in exchange for permission for German capital to invest in mainland China.

After its attempt to partition China failed, the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory became a liability for Germany. After all, Germany was operating Shandong as an Eastern colony, and the Jiaozhou Bay lease alone was insufficient to maintain German rule in the East. If it were merely for Shandong's economic interests, Germany wouldn't have needed to build such a modern port in Qingdao.

Only countries like Britain, which control the seas, can monopolize trade in other countries simply by occupying one or two ports. For a land power like Germany, which has little say in the Atlantic, establishing port cities overseas is of little significance, because if Britain and Germany go to war, these port cities will become British spoils of war.

Only Qingdao Port, which was a colony of Shandong, was valuable because the people of Shandong could be mobilized to defend it. This was also a major reason why Germany invested in the construction of the Jiaozhou-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Railway, which transported goods to Qingdao Port in peacetime and provided manpower and resources to Qingdao in wartime.

However, the Boxer Rebellion and Britain's opposition to the partition of China rendered the construction of Qingdao Port largely meaningless, leaving only its function of plundering local wealth. Compared to Shanghai, which used the Yangtze River as a logistics channel, Qingdao was clearly at a disadvantage in commercial competition. Even before the development of Wuhan, German merchants mostly chose Shanghai rather than Qingdao to establish factories.

There are actually two reasons preventing China from reclaiming the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory. Berlin does not want its domestic audience to know that the Qingdao port, which they have invested heavily in building in the East, is merely a hostage in the hands of the British. Wuhan, on the other hand, is concerned that reclaiming the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory will trigger a sense of crisis among German capital.

Therefore, before Lin Xinyi pointed out this issue, the Labour Party chose to place it after other issues. Compared to Qingdao, which was far from the Wuhan-controlled area, the Labour Party was actually more concerned about the status of Shanghai. After all, if Shanghai, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, was not under their control, Wuhan's foreign trade could be shut down at any time.

Lin Xinyi also listened to their concerns about cooperation with Germany, given that Wuhan currently has close ties with German capital and the German military. The German government is far less flexible in its relations with China than its businessmen and military personnel; they are subject to the emperor's instructions and also bear the pressure of public opinion, so it is impossible for them to adopt any radical policies in their diplomacy with China.

The emperor's position was consistent with that of the military, who believed that Wuhan's outstanding performance in the war made it possible for China to become a friend of Germany in the Far East, and that it could help Germany contain Russia and India should war break out in Europe.

However, public opinion on China is polarized. Businesspeople believe that friendly relations between Germany and China are beneficial to the German economy, while small and medium-sized business owners and landowners believe that China should become Germany's India, not an equal friend. Concessions to Chinese agricultural imports and tariff protection on light industrial goods exported to China in Sino-German trade have resulted in losses for the German people.

The German public's attitude toward China was similar to Germany's attitude toward the Ottoman Empire. The military and capitalists believed that the Ottoman Empire should be a friend of Germany, but the ordinary German people's impression of the Ottoman Empire was still that of an Eastern monarchy, with the emperor surrounded by a group of eunuchs all day long, and politically corrupt to no end, and they really couldn't see what help it could be to Germany.

Of course, Wilhelm II's Hunnic-themed speech during the Boxer Rebellion also fueled discriminatory sentiments towards the Chinese among the German public. Now, only a few years later, the government is again promoting the idea that the Chinese are Germany's allies in the East—isn't that a joke? Therefore, Sino-German relations are far more commercially driven than politically driven, which means that the relationship is actually quite fragile. Wuhan's proposal to reclaim the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory cannot ignore the possibility of damaging relations with Germany.

In response to their concerns, Lin Xinyi proposed a solution: "I agree with your desire to maintain cooperative relations with Germany, and I also agree with Sino-German cooperation. Introducing German capital is extremely helpful for China's current industrialization and agricultural modernization. Therefore, we should try to persuade the Germans to give up the Jiaozhou Bay lease, rather than directly notifying them to return Jiaozhou Bay through diplomatic channels."

Tian Junyi asked, somewhat puzzled, "Is this even possible? Although the Germans have made some concessions to us, they are still part of the great powers. How could they be persuaded by our empty words to hand over Jiaozhou Bay, which they have invested heavily in? I'm afraid no one would dare to make that decision."

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Tian Junyi's concerns were almost a consensus within the Workers' Party. Although everyone believed that once the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee gained national power, it would inevitably abolish all unequal treaties and reclaim the lands that had been forcibly leased by the great powers, they also believed that turning against all the great powers was not something China could afford at the moment. Therefore, how to abolish these unequal treaties still needed to be considered in the long term.

With the resolution of the Sino-British Tibet issue, China recovered Yantai, which had been forcibly leased by the British; with the victory in the war against Russia, China also recovered the territory that Russia had stolen in Northeast China, and was even forced to relinquish the Primorsky Krai and Outer Manchuria, which had been swallowed up by Russia. However, the question of how to recover Jiaozhou Bay, which had been forcibly occupied by Germany, and the leased territories in Shanghai and Guangzhou by Britain and France sparked different opinions within the Party.

Pro-German party members believed that friendly relations should be maintained with Germany, and that the focus should be on Britain and France. At this time, the party leadership was already aware of the possibility of a major war in Europe. They accepted Lin Xinyi's assessment and, through the party's connections with the Russian Bolsheviks, investigated the situation in Europe. They also believed that war was highly likely, and therefore, the party members thought they could use the opportunity of a European war to force the great powers to make concessions.

However, some party members who were optimistic about Sino-German relations advocated for a joint effort with Germany to strike at British and French influence in China, thereby forcing Britain and France to relinquish their concessions and privileges. Others, however, believed that Britain, with its naval power, would ultimately be the victor in this European war, as Germany and Austria-Hungary lacked the resources and population to contend with these two established colonial empires. As for Italy and Russia's choices in the war, while unclear, Italy lacked control of the Mediterranean, and Russia had just suffered a defeat in the Far East; therefore, they would not be the decisive force in this war.

Given the eventual victory of Britain and France, siding with Germany and antagonizing them was clearly not a good choice. Therefore, these party members advocated for neutrality in the European war while simultaneously demanding the abolition of unequal treaties from Britain, France, and Germany. This would create the illusion for Britain, France, and Germany that refusing China would lead to China joining the opposing camp, thus prompting them to make concessions.

These two opinions remained deadlocked within the party, but no one had considered taking action against Germany first, thereby severing the good relationship between China and Germany. Lin Xinyi's proposal was clearly somewhat unexpected by Tian Junyi and Cai E.

However, Lin Xinyi quickly explained his reasons: "The reason I demanded that Germany return the leased territory of Jiaozhou Bay was not because I intended to stand with Britain and France, but to make German capital understand one thing: once a war breaks out in Europe, Germany will have no friends in the world. Therefore, what German capital should consider now is how to protect its overseas investments when war breaks out."

The interests of German capital and the German government are not entirely aligned. Once German capital discovers that war will wipe out their overseas investments, it will only have two options.

One option was to try to stop the war, but the choice of which to wage war lay with London, not Berlin, so the efforts of German capital would be largely ineffective. Another option was to find neutral countries to cooperate in transferring German capital, thereby avoiding its confiscation by Britain and France during the war.

From a global perspective, when war breaks out in Europe, there are actually only two non-European powers that are not threatened by Britain and France: the United States and the East Asian alliance under the cooperation of Japan and China. Japan and China alone cannot withstand the pressure exerted by Britain and France.

Therefore, it is not that we are asking German capital to do something for us, but that German capital needs to facilitate Sino-Japanese cooperation by returning the leased territory of Jiaozhou Bay, so as to establish an East Asian alliance on the basis of Sino-Japanese cooperation that can protect German overseas capital.

Germany should declare its Pacific colonies independent nations and then join this East Asian alliance, thereby maintaining neutrality in the war and providing protection for German capital in Asia.

Therefore, as long as we persuade German capital to face reality, German capital will then take the initiative to persuade the German government and military. Otherwise, after the outbreak of war, Germany will not only be unable to protect its overseas assets, but these assets will also become resources used by Britain and France for the war, which is obviously the most unfavorable situation for Germany.

Simply put, returning Jiaozhou Bay was not a concession by Germany to China, but rather a protection fee paid by German capital to the East Asian Union in exchange for the Union's wartime protection of German capital. I believe that German capitalists, after careful consideration, would accept this proposal.

Cai E and Tian Junyi's thinking was suddenly opened up. The two changed their perspectives on the problem and realized that German capital could not refuse this suggestion. After all, it was impossible for Germany to quickly withdraw its overseas investments back to Germany, because the outbreak of war could be sudden, and Britain and France would not give German capital the opportunity to withdraw back to the country.

If it were merely liquid commercial capital, the Germans would at most lose some commercial profits and interest, as long as they hid the funds until the war ended. But if it were industrial capital, the Germans might lose everything, because factories cannot be hidden.

From the perspective of German capital with substantial overseas investments, war with Britain was clearly unwise. With Britain clearly siding with France, war between France and Germany should be avoided. The signing of the Anglo-French agreement essentially indicated that Britain had intervened in the Franco-German conflict, which meant that the possibility of Britain joining the war was quite high.

Therefore, after the signing of the Anglo-French agreement, German capital began to call for peace between Britain and Germany. German and British capitalists had close ties; after all, as a late-developing industrial nation, Britain was not only a provider of industrial technology to Germany but also its largest market. However, German capitalists probably weren't entirely confident about the extent to which such personal friendships between capitalists could influence the relationship between the two countries.

Unlike Tian Junyi, who needed to consider the overall situation, Cai E, who only focused on military feasibility, quickly made a judgment: "I think Comrade Lin Feng's words make a lot of sense. If we look at it from the perspective that a war in Europe is bound to break out, Germany returning Jiaozhou is an inevitable option, because after the outbreak of a war in Europe, we will definitely have to take back Jiaozhou. Otherwise, there will be a strange situation where Britain and France attack Jiaozhou while we are in a neutral position. Once such a thing happens, the people will inevitably distrust the government."

Lin Xinyi added: "According to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Japan will inevitably side with Britain and France and join the war. Therefore, attacking Germany's leased territory in Shandong and Germany's colonies in the Pacific will inevitably be the first choice of Japanese imperialists. This trend cannot be stopped by any individual. Once the Japanese army lands on the Shandong Peninsula under the pretext of attacking Germany's leased Jiaozhou Bay, the confrontational sentiment between Japan and China will rise, which is not conducive to the unity of the Chinese and Japanese proletariat."

Cai E had already anticipated Lin Xinyi's addition, but he hesitated to speak it out directly due to Lin Xinyi's status. Now that Lin Xinyi had frankly addressed the issue of Japan's military intervention in Shandong, he readily agreed, saying, "Yes, the possibility of Japan intervening in Shandong is extremely high. Shandong is currently under the control of the Beiyang government. Judging from the style of Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang clique, they probably won't outright reject Japan, but will instead adopt a neutral stance. In that case, we cannot maintain peace with the Beiyang government. Because if we acquiesce to Beijing's neutral stance, we will become Yuan Shikai's accomplice."

Tian Junyi then nodded and said, "Indeed, Yuan Shikai's neutral stance can avoid taking sides between Britain and France and Germany. If we express our opposition, it would be tantamount to confronting Britain and France, which would be good for Yuan Shikai. Then, Yuan Shikai could attack us for defending the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory for the Germans, and it would also give Britain and France an excuse to blockade the Yangtze River waterway."

If war breaks out in Europe, trade between China and Europe will inevitably be severely affected. At that time, the British and French blockade of the Yangtze River would not have much impact on themselves, but it would be quite difficult for Wuhan. We cannot truly side with Germany and go to war with Britain and France. Therefore, forcing Germany to return Jiaozhou Bay before the outbreak of war would actually solve our problem in advance.

But can this East Asian alliance truly remain neutral should war break out in Europe? Is Japan truly willing to shoulder the pressure of confronting Britain and France? Even if the East Asian alliance is a union of Japan and China, in the face of the British with their naval power, it is still the Japanese navy that will truly confront the Royal Navy. Does the Japanese government really have the courage and determination to do so?

Lin Xinyi shook his head and said, "The Japanese government certainly wouldn't have the determination or courage for that. Therefore, we should establish an East Asian Joint Fleet based on the Japanese Navy, and use the name of the East Asian Alliance to counter the pressure from Britain and France. In this joint fleet, in addition to the Japanese Navy, I believe there should also be the Chinese Navy and the East Asian Fleet of Germany's Pacific colonies. In this way, the navies of the three countries will be combined into one force, which can both suppress internal opinions within the Japanese Navy and give us the strength to deter Britain and France."

I believe the British will not force the East Asian Alliance, which could have remained neutral, into an adversary before dealing with the German Grand Fleet. Our concern is that we cannot allow the German-controlled fleet to provoke a war between Britain, France, and the East Asian Alliance, nor can we allow the Japanese navy to completely control the East Asian Alliance fleet, thus turning it into a tool for Japanese militarist expansion. Therefore, the development of the Chinese navy must be put on the agenda.”

Rebuilding the navy has always been a call from insightful people in China. After all, in this era, sea power represents national security, and the beginning of China's decline was its inability to maintain security over its coastal areas.

Frankly speaking, although the Russians occupied the most land in China among all the great powers, they posed far less of a threat to China than the British. This is because China's economic center was in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As long as this area was not threatened by foreign enemies, China could maintain the structure of a unified dynasty. The Northeast and North Manchuria occupied by the Russians were just uninhabited lands. Apart from damaging the face of the Qing Dynasty, they did not pose much of a threat to its rule.

However, British warships moved with impunity along the southeastern coast, even cutting off the Grand Canal, leaving Beijing unable to maintain its airs of superiority. Similarly, Wuhan ignored Britain's threats of war because it had regained control of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, bringing the economic heartland of China under its grasp and ensuring the continuation of its rule.

However, if Wuhan wanted to take over the national government, it had to consider the same problem as the Qing Dynasty: how to ensure the security of the southeastern coastal areas. If the security of the southeastern coastal areas could not be guaranteed, it would mean that the most important economic center in Chinese history would become the front line of national defense. Any construction in this region would be like throwing money into the water. A single attack by the enemy fleet could wipe out the achievements of more than ten or twenty years of construction.

Of course, for Wuhan, military development must be prioritized. Developing the navy before ensuring land security is clearly unrealistic. For example, during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Fleet could still fight the Japanese fleet back and forth, but the Beiyang Army suffered successive collapses in land battles, leading to the capture of Lushun, the most important naval base, by the Japanese Army. This rendered Li Hongzhang's strategy of protecting the ships and defeating the enemy a failure, and instead turned into the worst-case scenario of the Beiyang Fleet being trapped in the port.

Therefore, although Cai E, as a member of the Military Commission, believed that China did need a navy, he was still hesitant to develop a navy at this time. He put forward his own opinion: "Of course, China needs a navy. After all, China has such a long coastline. Without a navy, it is impossible to protect the security of the coastline."

However, Wuhan has not yet achieved national governance. All the coastlines are not in our hands. The northern coastline is in the hands of the Beiyang clique, Shandong is controlled by the Germans at least to the south, the Yangtze River estuary to Guangzhou Bay is under British control, and the area south of Guangxi is French territory.

Even if we reclaim the Jiaozhou Bay area, we cannot change the current situation where the coastline is divided among various forces, because Wuhan does not yet have the strength to confront the order recognized by these forces. Just a short distance from the coastline lies the sphere of influence of the Japanese navy. There are too many concentrated maritime forces in East Asian waters, leaving little room for the Chinese navy to expand.

While I support the idea of ​​a joint East Asian fleet, can the Japanese navy truly support the reconstruction of the Chinese navy? The Americans have contacted Beijing and us before, indicating that the US government is willing to provide a low-interest loan to help us rebuild our navy, but I think the Americans are trying to create antagonism between China and Japan.

Lin Xinyi nodded and said, "I agree with Comrade Cai E's basic viewpoint. Indeed, considering the current division of power along China's coastline, the most important thing for China at present is to develop its army. Only by ensuring the security of the land can we have the spare capacity to consider the security of the sea."

The Americans' proposals to Beijing and Wuhan may have stemmed from an attempt to create an enemy for Japan. After all, the current situation in East Asia is one of Japan being strong and China being weak. Supporting the weaker side would naturally balance the situation in East Asia, thus providing a foothold for the United States to intervene in Pacific affairs.

Of course, another part of the reason is that the current domestic crisis in the United States urgently requires the United States to increase the export of industrial products. Providing loans to China to rebuild the navy will provide a considerable number of orders for American shipyards, thereby stimulating the American industrial economy.

Therefore, considering all factors, the naval loan proposed by the United States to China this time is likely genuinely intended to help China rebuild its navy. However, for China itself, the US proposal merely rebuilds the Beiyang Fleet. While this may improve China's naval power in the short term, China's industrial base is too weak. This means that the Chinese navy will essentially need logistical support from the United States, thus giving the US significant influence over the Chinese navy.

My suggestion is to talk to the Americans, but not to focus too much on building capital ships. Instead, we should try to transfer the manufacturing technology of smaller ships from the US, thereby laying a technological foundation for the Chinese Navy. Naval shipbuilding technology is currently undergoing a comprehensive revolution. What are considered advanced warships today may be obsolete as soon as they are launched. China doesn't need to keep up too closely, lest it waste money on new technology validation for the UK and the US.

From the perspective of the Japanese Navy, China's rebuilding of its navy is certainly a threat. However, if the Japanese Navy can control the development of the Chinese navy, then such rebuilding is not a bad option. This is because the Japanese Navy can continue to suppress the development of the Chinese navy by maintaining a lead over it.

The current rebuilding of the Chinese navy poses only a distant threat to Japan. The immediate threat to Japan is actually the naval power of the major powers north of the Yangtze River estuary. After the defeat of the Russian East Asian Fleet, this threat became the German East Asian Fleet in Qingdao. Therefore, if a trade were possible, the Japanese navy would choose to allow the Chinese navy to rebuild in exchange for Germany's withdrawal from Qingdao.

After the Chinese navy was rebuilt, it was able to be bound by the Japanese navy to go south to deal with the United States and the Netherlands. This was even better news for the Japanese navy, because it meant that China would no longer be able to get the support of other powers to deal with it.

Therefore, with the goal of establishing a joint East Asian fleet and the lure of the East Asian alliance's southward expansion, the Japanese Navy would inevitably choose to support the reconstruction of the Chinese Navy. My suggestion is that Wuhan should accept the Japanese Navy's proposal to purchase Russian warships damaged in this war, and after repairs, use them as the basis for the reconstruction of the Chinese fleet.

The Russian warships were poorly designed and encountered numerous problems in naval warfare. However, for the rebuilt Chinese navy, they were considered cost-effective and wouldn't arouse suspicion from Japan and Britain, given their subpar performance…

Chapter 656

In the comfort of his luxurious study, Franz Krupp could hardly believe the suggestion Tian Junyi had made. He looked at Tian, ​​then at Lin Xinyi, who had accompanied him on his visit, and then back at his personal secretary, Artoni Cohen.

However, it was clear that Artoni Cohen was unaware of the purpose of Tian Junyi's visit today. He looked at his boss with an innocent expression, his eyes showing that he really didn't know anything about the matter. Moreover, Cohen's secretary obviously didn't know how to handle the matter either, so he remained silent to his boss and did not offer any advice.

Realizing this was a surprise attack from Tian Junyi, Krupp was somewhat displeased, but he still maintained his politeness and said to Tian Junyi, "Discussing such topics on such a beautiful night seems a bit out of place. I think it would be better to discuss such important national matters with Dr. Rohrbach. After all, I am just a businessman, and His Majesty and I have never discussed official business."

Siemens' newly developed tungsten filament bulbs are very bright, making it easier to see facial expressions than the previous dimmer carbon filament bulbs. Krupp's displeasure was clearly evident on his face.

However, Tian Junyi was not intimidated by Krupp's coldness. But just as he was about to speak, Lin Xinyi, sitting next to him, spoke up first: "Dr. Rohrbach, of course we will have a formal visit. However, Dr. Rohrbach has no vested interests with us after all; he only considers Germany's interests, so we will not be too explicit with him. The reason we came to see you first, Mr. Krupp, is that we hope you can convey our true thoughts to His Majesty the Emperor, so as to avoid His Majesty misjudging our true intentions."

This wasn't the first time Franz Krupp had met Lin Xinyi, and he knew that the man was the Eastern strategist who had saved his reputation. Therefore, he still held a considerable goodwill towards Lin Xinyi. After all, he was able to extricate himself from the mess in Berlin entirely thanks to Lin Xinyi's guidance. With the passage of time, although German public opinion still occasionally mentioned his crimes, the German people had become almost immune to the scandals of the Krupp family.

Of course, although Franz Krupp successfully extricated himself from the scandal, he also almost lost control of the domestic management of the Krupp company. Social contradictions in Germany have not stopped since the outbreak of the crisis in 1900. Although German capital found Wuhan as a partner and thus gained access to the new Chinese market, Germany's protective tariffs on agriculture have kept ordinary Germans in a difficult situation of rising prices and stagnant wages.

In short, while the German economy has recovered strongly, and its performance is significantly better than that of the UK and France, which were affected by the US financial crisis, this improvement is only due to a halt in the rise of the unemployment rate. Workers' wages have not seen substantial growth because the export share Germany lost in the UK, France, and the US cannot be fully compensated for by the Chinese market.

Although China, as an agricultural country, can supply Germany with a large amount of agricultural products, the cost is not lower than importing from Russia and the United States. The only advantage is that Germany can exchange agricultural products imported from China for industrial goods, while importing agricultural products from the United States and Russia requires gold.

While both the United States and Russia needed to import German industrial goods, the United States itself was an industrial powerhouse, and the value of the grain it exported to Germany was greater than the value of the industrial goods it imported from Germany. Although Russia's industrial capacity was lagging behind, Russian landowners did not care about Russian industry; they used the gold they obtained from selling grain to buy luxury goods from France and Britain.

Therefore, theoretically, China's export of large quantities of agricultural products to Germany and its purchase of industrial goods from Germany could create a complementary economic relationship between the two countries. However, German agriculture was protected, and German landowners were unwilling to relinquish this protection. This led Germans to prefer buying Russian grain with gold rather than signing a trade agreement with China that would mutually reduce tariffs.

Consequently, the profits Germany gained from trade with China were ultimately pocketed by capitalists, with ordinary working-class people receiving no benefit whatsoever. Their only advantage was keeping their jobs. This fueled resentment among the German proletariat towards the Junker landowners, capitalists, and aristocracy, leading to the widespread dissemination of socialist ideas within the German working class.

The reason why Franz Krupp's scandal in Italy provoked anger among the German people was less due to moral conservatism and more to reflect their discontent with the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. After all, Germans hadn't felt any sense of justice regarding the massacres of civilians by German soldiers in Africa and China, so how could they possibly be outraged by Krupp's alleged manipulation of a few Italian teenagers?

What angered these Germans was that, after the economic crisis of 1900, when a large number of workers lost their jobs and the wives and daughters of working-class families had to sell their dignity into prostitution for a few marks, the capitalists who claimed to be facing business difficulties and had to lay off workers were still able to build a paradise for themselves in Italy and force beautiful young men to satisfy their despicable lusts. This naturally aroused public outrage.

However, simply hating Franz Krupp could not solve the predicament faced by the German working class. Therefore, when the Franco-German conflict faced the crisis of war, the Germans' attention shifted to the Franco-German war itself. Many Germans felt that if they could fight another Franco-Prussian War and force the French to pay another 50 billion gold francs in reparations, Germany's social problems would be solved.

The thirty years following the Franco-Prussian War were thirty years of rapid industrial development in Germany, and thirty years in which both the working class and the bourgeoisie felt their lives were constantly improving. Many hoped history would repeat itself, that another Franco-Prussian War would be fought, thus winning Germany another thirty years. This idea of ​​solving social problems through foreign war also caused the public to lose focus on Franz Krupp's personal scandals.

Although Wilhelm II protected the Krupp family, he also harbored deep resentment towards his old friend, as Franz Krupp's personal scandals nearly dragged him down as well, branding him as a scoundrel. Therefore, Wilhelm II and the military intervened in the Krupp family's management of the Krupp company; Franz Krupp was removed from the company's management and even lost control over his eldest daughter's marriage.

Under Wilhelm II's arrangement, his eldest daughter married a career diplomat last year and began to take over the management of the Krupp company. Although Franz Krupp was greatly dissatisfied with this, he also knew that his scandal had only been downplayed, not that the public had truly forgotten it. The emperor's actions were a warning to him and to prevent him from returning to the country and making public appearances, so as to avoid reminding the public of the incident again.

Under these circumstances, Franz Krupp actually needed Wuhan's protection of Krupp's overseas investments even more, something Wilhelm II couldn't interfere with. Similarly, he was even less likely to offend a strategist like Lin Xinyi, who could help him resolve public opinion crises; he didn't know when he might need Lin's help again.

Faced with the suggestion that Tian Junyi and Lin Xinyi shared the same stance, Franz Krupp, though unwilling to listen, could not help but say, "If it is just to help you pass on messages, then I can do my best. However, you should not have too high expectations of me. His Majesty and I have not seen each other for a long time. Last time I returned to the country to attend my daughter's wedding, His Majesty and I did not have a private meeting."

Lin Xinyi simply smiled at Krupp's evasive words and said, "Actually, we just hope that His Majesty the Emperor can understand the real world that Germany is facing now. We are worried that His Majesty the Emperor will make wrong judgments based on false intelligence, and then not only will Germany's interests be harmed, but we will also be put in a dilemma."

Krupp hesitated for a moment before asking, "False intelligence, you mean?"

Lin Xinyi looked at him frankly and said, "In fact, Germany is currently isolated by the world. The German people will not find any friends to help Germany fight against Britain and France except for themselves. This is the real world we see."

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Krupp looked at Lin Xinyi with some surprise, and quickly retorted: "The conflict between Germany and Britain is just a verbal dispute. In fact, Germany has no intention of challenging Britain's maritime hegemony. The purpose of building our high seas fleet is to safeguard Germany's maritime trade. I don't think the British government can't see this."

As for the issue between Germany and France, it involved France attempting to overturn the borders established during the Franco-Prussian War. Germany would not launch a preemptive strike against France, therefore Britain had no reason to intervene in the Franco-German War initiated by France. If the British were to do so, it would be tantamount to destroying the treaty system they themselves had built, and I don't think the British would be so unwise.”

Lin Xinyi smiled and shook his head, saying, "Mr. Krupp certainly has outstanding management skills in business, but he clearly knows nothing about the essence of politics. The essence of politics is not about morality, but only about possibility."

The purpose of building the German High Seas Fleet is not important. What is important is whether the existence of the High Seas Fleet threatens the Royal Navy's control over local sea areas. As the creator of the global colonial system, if the rulers of the British Empire could believe that someone had a naive naval force to oppose them but would not use it against them, such naive people should not become the rulers of the empire.

Let's not forget the fact that the Mughal Empire did not adopt a policy of exclusion against British merchants. Rather, it was the British merchants who committed numerous illegal acts in India and launched a war against the Mughal Empire in the name of their companies. If the Mughal Empire had initially believed that British merchants should not establish fortifications on its territory, then whether the British merchants would have been able to invade India is truly an unknown.

You see, the British often do this: when they are weak, they request to build ports and fortresses to protect trade on other people's lands; once their power in the local area has increased to a certain extent, they will abandon the agreements they have signed with the local area and bring the local area under the rule of the British Empire.

From the British perspective, the Germans' sole purpose in building the High Seas Fleet was to confront the Royal Navy. No matter what reasonable explanation the German government gave, it didn't matter. As long as the High Seas Fleet appeared in German ports, Britain would have no choice but to redeploy most of the Royal Navy's forces back to the British Isles.

Therefore, there is only one way to achieve peace between Britain and Germany: destroy the high seas fleet. The British don't care whether Germany thinks about it or not; they only care whether Germany can or cannot. After all, thinking about something doesn't constitute a crime, but someone with a weapon can commit a crime simply by thinking about it.

As for the claim that Britain's entry into the war would depend on which country initiated it, I believe that relying on the British people's moral integrity to ensure national security is utterly irresponsible. Britain's decision to join the war wasn't based on whether France or Germany started it, but rather on whether France could inflict a significant blow on Germany. If France could independently defeat Germany, Britain might have chosen neutrality, because what Britain needed was a Franco-German standoff, not a merger into one country.

Moreover, the advantage of time lay with Britain and France, because Russia could not possibly side with Germany. If Russia joined the Anglo-French agreement, Germany would face a rapidly industrializing Russia supported by Britain and France. Once Russia's industrialization was complete, a Russia with twice the population of Germany would completely eliminate Germany's military and industrial advantages.

Krupp's expression darkened. He didn't even bother to ask why Russia would definitely not side with Germany; he understood this better than anyone else. The trade relationship between Russia and Germany had once been similar to the current trade between Germany and China: Russia exported grain to Germany in exchange for German industrial goods. This was the basis for Bismarck's signing of the Three Emperors' League.

However, as the Junker landowners proposed protecting German agriculture, trade issues between Russia and Germany became serious. Dissatisfied with the high tariffs Germany imposed on Russian grain imports, Russia retaliated with tariffs on German industrial goods. This trade conflict between Russia and Germany led to the export of Russian grain, which had previously been primarily destined for Germany, to countries like Britain and France.

The decline in Russia's reliance on the German market for grain exports quickly alerted German entrepreneurs. Russian landowners fundamentally disliked German manufactured goods, preferring to spend more money on British and French products. In the eyes of the Russians, French luxury goods were more sophisticated, British manufactured goods were of higher quality, and German goods were simply cheap imitations of British products.