Red Alert 1895: Chapter 449 Shipbuilding Competition Part 2

At 10 Downing Street, London, England, the British Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury, is enjoying a cup of afternoon tea and then heaves a sigh of relief.

"The Netherlands is really ashamed. The queen even made Wang Guorui from Taiwan pregnant. Now she has become the laughing stock of all countries. It's so funny, so funny." The Marquess of Salisbury laughed. road.

Anyway, Salisbury will not be afraid, because he knows that this is the queen of the Netherlands, not his own queen of England. What's more, the Queen of the Netherlands has no rights. Although she has blood ties with all European countries, in fact the blood ties in Europe are very weak. When it is time to fight, they will still fight, and there will be no mercy. . So the British Prime Minister also began to mock the Queen of the Netherlands unscrupulously, and the Netherlands will become a laughing stock next.

"Your Excellency, there is news from the Netherlands," the secretary said.

"What news?" asked the Marquess of Salisbury.

The secretary immediately replied: "After the discussion in the National Assembly of the Netherlands, their Queen officially married the Governor-General of Taiwan."

"Oh? It seems that this is an old saying in China. Raw rice is cooked, so you can't get married?" The Marquess of Salisbury still couldn't help laughing.

"Taiwan promised the Netherlands to purchase 10 million pounds of industrial products from the Netherlands every year."

"Oh, Taiwan is really rich. Taiwan's finances can be said to be a miracle in the world! However, although we in the UK are also a little jealous of the purchase order of 10 million pounds, it is not too crazy. So , let him go! Anyway, the Netherlands has declined, even with this annual order of 10 million, it is just lingering." The Marquis of Salisbury said casually.

"Next, the Netherlands agreed to give those Nanyang colonies to Taiwan as the queen's dowry."

"Is Sumatra not given to Taiwan?" asked the Marquess of Salisbury.

"No, Sumatra still belongs to the Netherlands. Taiwan didn't ask for it. They know that Sumatra guards the Strait of Malacca. All of our western countries will not allow Taiwan to control the Strait of Malacca. So they didn't ask for it. And this Sumatra still belongs to the Netherlands, but the Netherlands Not too strong for us. So don't worry about anything."

"Well, they were able to reach an agreement, which is also within my expectation. Since the leaders of the two countries are going to get married, what's the point of fighting? I'm afraid they will all achieve peace in the future." Marquess of Salisbury Said.

However, the secretary then said an important piece of news: "The Netherlands asked Taiwan for a dowry, that is, their queen's dowry, and asked for three Sovereign-class battleships."

"What? Why didn't you say it earlier? If the Netherlands gets three Sovereign-class battleships, then our British mainland will be in danger! Order our British Empire's ambassador to the Netherlands and let them stop this from happening quickly, otherwise our British Empire will It's going to be troublesome. At that time, the shipbuilding competition will start soon." The Marquis of Salisbury immediately turned green, and immediately howled.

soon. The British envoy immediately sent a note to Burgesius and Wang Guorui, hoping that everyone could sit down and talk about the battleship.

"Governor Wang, our British Empire does not want you to give the Sovereign-class battleship to the Dutch government. This will affect our British interests!" said the British envoy.

The British Minister's words were very blunt. He obviously started to tell Wang Guorui that what he did would affect the interests of the UK. He hoped that Wang Guorui would consider the attitude of the British. This is also the usual gangster style of the British, and they threatened like this when they faced the Manchu Qing. Therefore, he still subconsciously wants to threaten Wang Guorui with threats. But he didn't know that Wang Guorui didn't like it.

But Wang Guorui immediately asked, "What does British interests have to do with me?"

"You—" the British envoy panicked for a while.

Wang Guorui doesn't know this kind of guy. The British are currently not ready for a full-scale war with themselves, because the British have seven Sovereign-class battleships, and they also have six Sovereign-class battleships, which are not much lower than them in number. But the British want to guard the colonies around the world. Although they have more than ten battleships, they cannot send all of them to attack Wang Guorui. It is not bad that they can send three ships. But there are only three ships, so naturally they will not be Taiwan's opponents, so they will not be stupid. The battle between Taiwan and the British is either not fighting, or it is an all-out war, so now the British are not ready to fight Taiwan.

Since the British were destined to be Taiwan's enemies, why did Wang Guorui give them face so much, so Wang Guorui spoke very bluntly, obviously not taking them seriously. Anyway, Wang Guorui is also a guy who doesn't shy away from meat and vegetables. Anyway, he used hooligan methods to deal with the Spaniards at that time, so he didn't have to care about face. What he pays attention to is actual interests. Anyway, since sooner or later he will be enemies with the British, why can't he add obstacles to the British?

"These battleships will be my dowry gifts to the Netherlands. This is a common custom in China. So, if I give a dowry gift, do the British still care so much? They control the sky and the earth and people **** and fart?" Wang Guorui snorted.

But the British minister immediately said: "This battleship will cause an imbalance in our Europe. When a war breaks out in Europe, can you afford this responsibility?"

"Hey, what does it matter to me that you have a war in Europe?" Wang Guorui asked.

If the kingdom wished for a war among the Europeans, he would immediately send troops to attack the Manchus and rule China! So if anyone wants war in Europe the most, in fact Wang Guorui hopes it the most, so that he will have the opportunity to seize the central power of China and then sweep China. But Europeans are not stupid, don't give him this chance! And this battleship, in fact, is eager to provoke the European shipbuilding competition, and then indirectly break out a war. Maybe with this shipbuilding competition, the First World War will break out in advance.

"Okay, Your Excellency the Minister, do you have anything else to say? If there is nothing to say, then I will sign this agreement on the dowry with Dutch Prime Minister Burgesius.

The British envoy quickly left, and Burgesius saw that he had actually blackmailed three Sovereign-class battleships, which made them all seem to be in a dream. Originally, Bourgesius just said that casually at the time, wanting to blackmail Taiwan and gain benefits. But now he actually got three Sovereign Class ships, which made him feel very shocked. If you can get these three Sovereign-class battleships, then you can become an important political figure in the Netherlands and gain a lot of political capital.

If the Netherlands relied on the Netherlands to build this Sovereign-class battleship, the Netherlands would definitely not be able to build it. But now if you can get it from Taiwan yourself, it can be said to be a big profit. With these three Sovereign-class battleships, the Netherlands will once again become a naval power. Although it is not the world's number one naval power, it is definitely a very important naval power. Even if these battleships are second-hand, it can be very good. What's more, these battleships have not actually experienced the war and have not been damaged in any way, so it can be said that they are still new.

As long as he signs this agreement on the dowry gift from Taiwan, he can also become a hero in the Netherlands. I asked for three Sovereign-class battleships as a dowry, so that they, the Netherlands, may not lose money. Those colonies in Southeast Asia have been occupied, and if those occupied colonies can be exchanged for three Sovereign-class battleships, he will also recover the losses for the country, so they are all worth it. Next, this is of great benefit to his political career.

On behalf of the Dutch government, Burgesius quickly signed and stamped the dowry gift from Taiwan to the Netherlands, and then Wang Guorui also began to sign. This agreement stated that when the Taiwan mission returned to Taiwan and repented of Taiwan, it would leave three Sovereign-class battleships to the Netherlands, so that it could be regarded as a dowry for the Dutch.

And in the UK~www.mtlnovel.com~ the Marquis of Salisbury heard the news, and immediately sighed and said: "Immediately let the parliament agree as soon as possible that we will increase the navy's military budget and use it to manufacture battleships! This Taiwan Wang Guorui actually gave the Netherlands three battleships, which is really courageous! Three battleships, not three cabbages, and he was able to give them all? But his three battleships were completely broken. Our balance in Europe. And their Netherlands is just across from our English China, so how can we not worry? Their Sovereign-class battleships can attack our homeland at any time, which is too dangerous."

And soon, the British Parliament immediately approved the plan to use the reserved capital to purchase battleships, especially this time to build six Sovereign-class battleships at one time, so that they can feel safe. However, less than three hours after the decision was made by the British Parliament, the French also received news from the British, and suddenly felt a lot of pressure. If the British build six Sovereign-class battleships again, then France is only separated by the English Channel, which makes France feel insecure.

France will soon start building ships, and Russia will follow soon.

And Wang Guorui, who received the news, immediately laughed: "Haha, let's make it, let's make it, when my new baby hits the water, then all these things of yours will become scrap metal!" (To be continued)