Chapter 341 The Third English-Bu War

After Britain formed an alliance with France and Russia, the five-nation joint fleet collapsed immediately, and the combined quantity and quality of the German, Italian and Austrian navies were not as good as the British navies.

Faced with this situation, German Emperor William II immediately convened a meeting of imperial fronts and discussed solutions with his ministers.

Prime Minister Teobaden von Bateman Holwig first said: "It is obvious that Britain temporarily sacrificed some of its interests and reached a reconciliation with the Chinese Empire, France and Russia, so that they can divide our eight-nation alliance and achieve the goal of defeating each one."

"All countries without vision!" Foreign Minister Caprivi snorted coldly: "They are greedy for small gains now, so that the British can breathe. Let them cry in the future."

"That's right!" said Defence Secretary Bernhardt von Bielou. "The British seem to be learning our Bismarck's diplomatic strategy."

William II said: "Don't worry about what strategy they use, what should we do?"

Navy Minister Tilbitz immediately said: "Your Majesty, our high seas fleet is absolutely confident, but the Italian Navy and Austro-Hungarian Navy seem to be inconsistent. Especially Italy, they have already backed down."

William II nodded, and was still very satisfied with Tilbitz.

Teobaden said: "It is understandable that Italy is located on the Mediterranean Peninsula, surrounded by the sea on three sides. The Austro-Hungarian Navy is too poor and has limited help to us. I suggest not confronting the British Navy head-on for the time being, and then make plans when our navy is strong enough."

Bilo asked, "What should we do if the colony we have worked so hard to seize? Leave it to the British? Then have we been in vain?"

Teobaden explained: "British strength is at sea, their army is not good. The Imperial Army has controlled South Africa, and with the Netherlands and the Boer coalition has reached 200,000. It is almost impossible for the British Army to retake South Africa."

Bilo asked, "You mean we fight another Boer war with the British?"

Teobaden nodded, not saying anything.

Bilo frowned and said, "But the problem is that if Britain joins the French-Russian alliance, can France and Russia sit idly? The British army cannot do it, but the French army and the Russian army still have a great threat."

Teobaden said: "After the Sino-Russian War, Russia was greatly damaged and would not rashly go to war with the empire for the sake of Britain. France has many conflicts in its domestic situation, and corruption has caused strong dissatisfaction among the French citizens. The French government has no intention of helping Britain to go to war with the empire in a short period of time. We also have the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Italian Kingdom to restrain France and Russia. Therefore, the final result must be that France, Russia and Italy are neutral, and only let us fight with Germany and Britain, which is in line with their strategic purpose."

Everyone nodded, and it became clear to them that Teobaden explained this.

Teobaden continued: "Britain does not have the ability to attack Germany, and we are the same, so the war between Germany and Britain is ultimately limited to South African colonies. I believe that the German army can withstand the British army's counterattack, and South Africa's gold and diamonds belong to Germany."

William II immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good! Let the British touch a bloody head in South Africa!"

Tilbitz said at this time: "Your Majesty, Britain has joined the Allies. The naval power of the Allies is already at an overwhelming advantage over our allies. We must expand our naval power."

William II nodded and said, "You are right. We have to expand our naval power again. Does the Navy have any plans?"

Tirbitz said: "Obviously, all countries in the world's naval states are developing divine bow warships. In this regard, the Chinese Empire's navy is in the world's leading position. Their divine bow warships have withstood the test of naval battles and are sought after by the navies of various countries. Developing divine bow warships to fight against the British navy's fearless warships meet the development requirements of the Imperial Navy. However, the imperial naval industry is not enough to fully imitate the Chinese Empire's divine bow ships, and most of the equipment and parts must be imported from the Chinese Empire. According to the first-class service, first-class construction, and first-class design development strategy, there must be a first-class more advanced divine bow ship in the Chinese Empire. At present, there must be a first-class more advanced divine bow ship in the Chinese Empire. I hope to continue to strengthen my relations with the Chinese Empire's navy and obtain their most advanced first-class warships."

William II nodded. The naval industry of the Chinese Empire had indeed surpassed Germany, and expressed support for the German Navy's practice of learning and introducing technology from the Chinese Empire's navy.

Bilo asked: "Is there any news about the Imperial Intelligence Department?"

Tirbitz replied: "Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry is secretly building a first-class god bow battleship. The specific configuration of the Chinese Empire is still in the confidential stage. The information obtained by our intelligence system is that the Xia Dynasty-class battleship before the displacement of this class has increased by more than 2,000 tons, which should be due to the increase of the caliber of the boiler and main gun. The news we have obtained is that the Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry of the Chinese Empire has completed the shooting range of two ship-borne main guns, 305mm 50 times extended naval guns and 320mm 40 times extended naval guns. I heard that the 330mm 40 times extended naval guns are also being secretly developed. We guess that this class of battleships should be equipped with a 320mm 40 times extended main gun system, and the speed should reach more than 22 knots."

Teobaden asked: "But I heard that during the Battle of the North Atlantic, the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire had reached more than 27 knots."

Tilbitz smiled and said, "We have also paid attention to this information. The nine main battleships of the Atlantic Fleet of the Empire of China did have this speed, but the nine main god bow ships of the Pacific Fleet were only 21 knots. They were all built at the same time. There was no possibility that there would be such a big gap. The only possibility is that the nine main battleships of the Atlantic Fleet were not battleships, but second-class battleships with reduced armor protection."

William II said: "The Chinese Empire was able to defeat Britain, and their battles on the North Atlantic are worth our consideration."

"Your Majesty is right!" Tilbitz agreed: "In addition to obtaining the design blueprint for the latest divine bow ship of the Chinese Empire, our Navy Department's plan this time is to introduce the second-class cruiser of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire, so that the Imperial Navy can deal with the British Navy in the ocean, and we can even launch a battle against Britain and achieve brilliant results."

William II nodded, very satisfied with Tilbitz's naval thought.

After some discussion, William II approved the allocation of 250 million German marks to the German Navy for the 1907 Navy expansion plan.

Subsequently, the German Navy formulated the Navy Act of 1907, approving the German Navy to build four Caesar-class battleships and four Blücher-class second-class battleships. The required technology and equipment are still imported from the Chinese Empire.

After the German Navy was approved, it immediately instructed Major General Pace, the military officer of the Navy stationed in the Imperial China, to contact the Imperial China Navy.

Just as the German Navy was seeking an expansion plan, the British Navy escorted 300,000 British Expeditionary Forces to Cape Town, and formed a reorganized African colonial army with 250,000 Cape Town British troops to launch a counterattack against the German-Dutch-Boer coalition in South Africa. The Third Boer War broke out.

After 550,000 British troops entered South Africa, they divided into two groups, one from the upper reaches of the Dafish River in South Africa and attacked Bloemfontein, Olan Free State. The other group marched into the German Southwest African colonies from the Orange River in northern South Africa, with the purpose of restraining the main force of the German army, and the German army was unable to reinforce the Dutch and Boers.

In order to ensure the completion of the combat purpose, the British army used naval power to shell the German coastline along the southwestern African coastline, forcing the German army to use most of its troops to defend the coast and prevent the British army from landing.

In this way, the German army could reinforce South Africa with less than 20,000 people, plus 20,000 Dutch troops and more than 100,000 Bull Miscellaneous Army, which was far inferior to the British army in terms of strength and combat effectiveness.

On February 3, 1907, 150,000 British troops captured Bloemfontein and re-occupied the capital of Orange. Germany and Holland retreated into Johannesburg, and the Boer troops retreated into the Majuba Mountains area and launched guerrilla warfare.

The frivolous British army thought that the German-Dutch coalition was just like this, and gathered 120,000 people to surround Johannesburg, intending to wipe out the German-Dutch coalition. However, they ignored the Boer guerrillas. When the main British army attacked Johannesburg, the British supply line behind them was fiercely attacked and harassed by the Boer army.

On February 15, the Boer Army launched the Battle of Majuba Mountain, ambushed the British transport team in Spionkope Canyon, annihilated more than 3,000 British troops, intercepted 60,000 British rifles, 6 million ammunition, 36 cannons, including 4 large-caliber siege artillery, 30,000 shells, and more than 100 other supplies, all fell into the hands of the Boer Army guerrillas.

The British army's front line was resisted by the German-Dutch coalition forces, and the weapons and equipment were seriously damaged and needed to be replaced. The army urgently needed supplies. In addition, large-caliber siege cannons were required to attack Johannesburg, otherwise it would be difficult to collapse the solid fortifications. The British army's supply supplies were all robbed in Spionkope Canyon, causing the British army to give up attacking Johannesburg and return to Bloemfontein.

After the Boer guerrillas obtained a large number of weapons and equipment from the British army, they replaced their guns and made great improvements in equipment, not inferior to the British army. They continued to adopt guerrilla tactics, infiltrated the rear of the British army, and attacked and destroyed them everywhere, making it impossible for the British army to launch a large-scale battle against the German-Dutch coalition forces.

In the German Southwest African colonies, although the British army had a numerical advantage and had the power to control the sea, the German army had strong combat effectiveness and the British army failed to move forward. The two sides formed a confrontation on both sides of the Orange River.

So, just half a month after the Third Boer War, the British army's mistakes made the war stalemate.

Britain and Germany compete for South Africa, while the Allies and other members of the Allies declared external neutrality, to push the front for Germany and Britain, and to avoid a full-scale war between the two major military groups.

The Third Boer War broke out in England and Germany, but the Chinese Empire, far away in Asia, was busy developing the national economy.

After the Sino-British War, the Chinese Empire achieved unprecedented victory. Not only did it recover lost territory such as Hong Kong and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it also obtained a large number of British overseas colonies, especially Australia became a vassal state of the Chinese Empire. The cheap wool and mineral resources were continuously exported to mainland China, providing cheap raw materials for the industrial development of the Chinese Empire.

But what excited the Chinese Empire's politics the most was that through the plunder of Britain, the Chinese Empire gained 2 billion dragon coins during the entire war, of which 1.5 billion dragon coins were worth 1.5 billion dragon coins. This huge war income was equivalent to allowing the Chinese Empire's citizens to fight for ten years less.

To this end, the Chinese Empire Congress had to modify its future development strategy and formulate a five-year development plan again.

Imperial Prime Minister Zhang Feng made a summary report on his work in his New Year's Congress report and put forward a plan for next year, requiring the Congress to formulate a seven-year fiscal budget for Guanghua based on Guanghua's six-year achievements.

According to economic data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Empire of China in January 7, Guanghua's GDP in six years was greatly stimulated by the Sino-British war, and the national economy grew strongly. The GDP of the Empire in six years was 8.8 billion dragon coins, an increase of 122.3 over the previous year, and the second triple-digit growth was reached. The last time the triple-digit growth was during the Sino-Russian War. It can be seen that once the war is won, it is extremely important for the development of imperial industry.

Unlike the growth model during the Sino-Russian War, during the Sino-Russian War, the Chinese Empire did not carry out large-scale shipbuilding operations. The stimulus factors during the Sino-British War were concentrated on the empire's naval industry. The large-scale shipbuilding operations of the imperial naval naval led to the rapid development of the national metallurgy, manufacturing and other industries. Since the naval industry is the core of a country's national industrial system, it led to a sharp surge in Guanghua's GDP in six years.

Agricultural production has grown steadily, and high-quality grain cultivation techniques and scientific methods are fully promoted across the country. Grain production has increased for eight consecutive years. The total grain output has reached 113.65 million tons, an increase of 11 over the previous year, and the growth rate has continued to decline. The increase in traditional grain output is close to its limit. If you want to continue to increase grain output, more farmers and cultivated land are needed.

The agricultural population continued to decrease, with a rapid increase. It was mainly because the empire's industry was developing very fast, and a large number of farmers were transferred to workers. At the end of the sixth year of Guanghua, the national urban population increased by 5 million compared with last year. Although it decreased by 500,000 from 5.5 million the previous year, the overall workers' growth rate still maintained double-digit growth. The Chinese Empire is rapidly moving from an agricultural country to an industrial country.

In terms of imperial industry, naval industry became the main driving force for industrial growth. The industrial production of the Chinese Empire continued to grow rapidly, and enterprise efficiency further improved. During the war, the added value of industrial enterprises above scale increased by 189.7 compared with the previous year. In terms of light and heavy industries, heavy industries grew by 256.5 and light industries grew by 43.6.

Among the six major industrial bases, the four industrial bases along the coast, namely Liaozhongnan, Beijing-Tianjin-Tang, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta, developed the fastest, thanks to the large-scale expansion of the imperial naval industry. The four major industrial bases include the 90 factories of the imperial naval industry. In order to fight against the British Navy, more than 200 shipyards were added nationwide, and 80 were concentrated around the four major industrial bases.

In the sixth year of Guanghua, the Empire's shipbuilding accumulated 10,056 ships, with a total tonnage of 1.88 million tons, ranking third in the world (first in the UK, 2.21 million tons, and second in the US, 2.03 million tons).

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Chapter completed!