The powder kegs in the Balkans are rapidly constant temperature. Italy and France have resolved the division of interests in the Tripoli colony in North Africa. Britain returned Italian Somalia to Italy. Russia supported Italy's colonial expansion in North Africa. In this way, the conflict between Italy and the Allies can be resolved, allowing Italy to remain neutral in the possible future military conflicts between the Allies and allies.

The strategic purpose of the Allied Powers has been achieved, which made the German-Austrian alliance feel real pressure. The ambiguous relationship between Italy and the Allied Powers was passed to the German senior management for discussion, but the German senior management still believed that Italy was still loyal to the allied powers and tried its best to win over Italy and maintain good relations with Italy.

However, this did not ease Italy's approach to the Allies, because the Ottoman Empire's international status plummeted after the Italian-Turkish War and the Balkan War. Britain believed that the time to regain Egypt was coming. On December 3, 1910, it launched a large increase of 300,000 troops to the Suez Canal area of ​​Egypt, and claimed Egypt's territorial sovereignty over the Ottoman Empire, demanding that the Ottoman Empire return Egypt to Britain.

France, Russia, and Italy supported Britain's war against the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey had to ask for help from the allies, and its willingness to join the allies became stronger. Italy opposed Turkey's joining the allies, while Germany wanted to win over Turkey, so the two sides were dissatisfied, causing Italy to be even more disappointed with the allies and further moved closer to the Allies.

However, Germany failed to help Turkey defend Egypt. Starting from December 18, 1910, the British and French navies blocked the Mediterranean and prevented any country from increasing troops to Egypt. Germany and Austria planned to increase troops to Egypt and help Turkey protect Egypt, but Italy did not cooperate and failed to provide naval support. As a result, the navies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turkish Empire could not compete with the British and French navies, and the plan to increase troops failed.

On December 20, 1910, the British-Turkish war broke out, and 300,000 British troops marched towards Cairo with 1,300 cannons, 50 planes and 30 airships.

There were only four divisions stationed in Egypt, and due to civil strife in Turkey, the conservatives of Egyptian defenders had been incompatible with the ruling young faction, which led to their military pay and weapons and equipment not being updated, and the funds were insufficient. As a result, on the first day of the war, the British reconnaissance planes found out the deployment of the Turkish army. 200,000 British troops head-only restrained the Turkish army, 30,000 British troops attacked from the right wing, and 70,000 British troops deviated from the left wing. Under the bombs of the airship, the 17th Division of the Turkish army was defeated, causing the Turkish army's Cairo defense line to collapse completely.

The Turkish army had to retreat and shrink its defense line. The main force of the British army took advantage of the victory and occupied Cairo the next day.

There were more than 10,000 German troops in the Suez Canal area. Although they wanted to help the Turkish army fight, the German government suddenly became weak at this moment and ordered the German troops in the Suez Canal not to leave the Canal Autonomous Region to prevent the British army from capturing the canal.

In this way, the Turkish army fought alone, and the local Turkish political youth faction hoped to use the British hands to get rid of these disobedient Turkish officers in Egypt, refused to send reinforcements, and sat down to see the four Turkish divisions being wiped out by the British army.

On December 24, the British army surrounded the Turkish army in the southwest desert area of ​​Alexander. The Turkish army was surrounded by more than 20,000 British troops, and there was no hope of breaking through, but it still resisted.

The British army had to celebrate Christmas, so the British commander proposed to Lieutenant General Morad, the commander of the Turkish army, to accept surrender, and would give humanitarian treatment to the surrendered Turkish army.

Morad had no hope of breaking through, and it became impossible to wait for reinforcements from the local Turkish political army. So he led his subordinates to surrender. The battle between Britain, Turkey and Egypt ended in five days, becoming the fastest war in the 20th century.

Egypt lost again at the hands of Türkiye, which made Ottomans feel heartbroken, so they stepped up negotiations to join the Allied Group.

In early January 1911, Germany, in line with the opposition pressure from Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, decided to let the Turkish Empire join the allies. This decision was mainly because Germany hoped to open up land passages and open up the Baghdad Railway to the Persian Gulf estuary, thereby breaking the maritime blockade of Britain and France against Germany. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissatisfied with Germany's actions, the Turkish government decided not to pursue the Turkish territory occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire reluctantly agree. However, Italy was very dissatisfied, and the Allies instigated it, which caused the last bit of Italy's favor towards the allies to disappear.

Italy joined the Allies mainly because of the conflict with France's colonies in North Africa. Now that the conflict between Italy and the Allies has been completely lifted, the importance of the Allies to Italy no longer exists. So at the Berlin Conference of the Allies in January 1911, Italy made a clear statement that it would continue to maintain the agreement of the Allies in politics, but in military terms, Italy did not renew the military agreement and would not participate in the collective military operations of the Allies unless Italy was also threatened by military threats.

In this way, the relationship between Italy and its allies has been destroyed in name only.

Germany realized that Italy had deviated from them, but before the last moment, Germany was still lucky, so it did not put pressure on Italy, hoping that one day Italy would change its mind.

Germany hoped that his strong military strength would change Italy's mind, so the naval arms race with Britain became even more intense.

In 1910, stimulated by a large-scale naval arms race between China and the United States, the arms race to build super-divine bow-type battleships between the navy of Britain and Germany also entered a state of fanaticism.

The British claimed that every additional battleship Germany built, Britain would build two in response. Rumors were that Germany was planning to import larger caliber main guns and super-divine bow warships with increased armor protection from the Chinese Empire. The British Navy also felt the huge pressure of the 16 15-inch main gun caliber super-divine bow battleships built by the Chinese Empire for the Greek Navy. The British Navy believed that Germany was not able to develop 15-inch large caliber main guns, so it would definitely import from the Chinese Empire. Therefore, in order to consolidate its dominant position over the German Navy in terms of firepower, the British Navy decided to install 15-inch main guns on the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship to replace the original 13.5 and 14-inch main guns.

The experimental cannons were called "14-inch cannons" for confidentiality reasons. In order to speed up the trial production and manufacturing of the 15-inch main cannon, the artillery expert, Maritime Secretary Fisher, personally supervised the work to ensure that when the hull of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship was completed and launched, the 15-inch large-caliber main cannon could be loaded in time.

Due to the large weight and increased power of the main gun, the Queen Elizabeth-class reduced the main gun turret than the battleships built by the British Navy before. After a long period of research on battleships of all levels of the Chinese Empire, the British Navy liked the four dual-mounted main gun turrets of the Chinese Empire to adopt a symmetrical back-and-back layout of the hull. For the new triple-mounted main gun layout plan of the Chinese Empire, the British navy engineers failed to obtain relevant technical parameters, so they were not sure of their reliability, and were afraid of being deliberately misled by the Chinese Empire, so they did not develop a triple-mounted artillery system.

Queen Elizabeth-class battleships reduce the space and armor weight of the hull saved by the number of main guns and main turrets, and are used to strengthen the power system and increase the thickness of the defensive armor.

In this way, Queen Elizabeth-class battleships obtained an armor weight of 8,100 tons and could be equipped with 13-inch armor.

Originally, the British Navy believed that the British surface hardening steel technology was not as good as the Chinese special steel of the Chinese Empire and the German Krupp steel, while the main armor and key armor of the Hanwu Emperor-class battleship of the Chinese Empire reached 343 mm, and the British 15-inch main gun could barely threaten the opponent. The main gun charge used by the Chinese Empire had already achieved the Black Sorkin high explosion** to load, while the British main gun ammunition was only improved cotton gunpowder, which was not as powerful as the opponent. In this way, once the Chinese and British navy fought, the 14-inch shells of the Hanwu Emperor-class battleship could easily tear open the Queen Elizabeth-class 13-inch armor.

However, British politicians seemed to be driven crazy by the Germans. After healing the scar, they forgot the pain and no longer regarded the Chinese Empire as their number one enemy. The British Parliament politicians went to Beijing in the summer of 1909 to conduct a comprehensive exchange and dialogue with the ruling party of the Chinese Empire, the opposition Democratic Party and the CPC. The three major parties of the Chinese Empire promised that the Chinese Empire would not interfere in the internal affairs of Europe, which was because the Chinese Empire did not interfere in the Balkan War, and the Italian-Chinese War.

The battle can be fully proved in the British-Turkish war. The Mediterranean Fleet of the Chinese Empire was only equipped with more than a dozen master-style front-divine bow-type battleships, which did not pose a threat to the navies of European countries. The main battle cruiser of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire has been deployed to the Caribbean Sea, and the main opponent of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire was the US Navy Atlantic Fleet. Also, the Chinese Empire did not renew the Sino-German Alliance Treaty with Germany, which was the biggest concession to Britain.

After the statements of the three major political parties of the Chinese Empire, the British Parliament believed that the large-scale naval arms race between China and the United States was enough to prove that the Chinese Empire was unwilling to interfere in European affairs and would not take Britain as an enemy. The enemy of the Chinese Empire was the United States. Therefore, the British Parliament believed that since they could become allies with the two enemies of France and Russia for hundreds of years, they could also forgive the Chinese Empire's previous harm to Britain.

Some British MPs pointed out that the United Cabinet was frightened by the Chinese Empire and became slaves, but the United Cabinet retorted: "Our Opium War has also caused harm to the Chinese Empire for half a century. In comparison, it is worth understanding that the Chinese Empire retaliates for us once. Now China and Britain have completely resolved the dispute caused by unequal treaties and territorial sovereignty. As long as both sides live in peace, China-UK relations will be better in the future."

The statement of the British Union Cabinet was actually to appease the Chinese Empire. They did not want the voices within Britain to stimulate the Chinese Empire to interfere in European affairs. As long as the Chinese Empire did not interfere in European affairs, then the British politics could forget the hatred between China and Britain.

Of course, in the face of national interests, there are no eternal friends, no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. Britain is also correct in doing this, and it has been supported by most members of the British Parliament.

In this way, the British political team believed that the Chinese Empire would not interfere in European affairs, so the British Navy's combat targets were no longer the Imperial Navy as its main competitor, but instead placed on the German Navy. Therefore, the armor of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Navy was not as targeted as the combat targets of the Hanwu Emperor of the Chinese Empire, so the original 14-inch armor was further reduced to 13-inch. In terms of protection, the armor of the key parts was strengthened.

Of course, this is not the case for the British to cut armor. The armor of any British battleship is not corresponding to the caliber of the main gun, much smaller than the caliber of the main gun.

The British did this mainly because the British navy liked the tactical maneuverability brought by high speed. They believed that in naval battles, only when the speed was faster than the opponent could they seize advantageous shooting positions and suppress their opponents. Therefore, this British idea led to the British navy's battleships being thinner than the armor of the same level of battleships in other countries.

Another feature of Queen Elizabeth-class is that she is the first British battleships powered by oil-fired boilers. Not only does it help improve speed, but it is very easy to recharge fuel. Its maximum speed is close to the battlecruisers built by the British Navy in the early days, reaching 25.5 knots. As a result, the British Navy added a new term between battleships and battlecruisers, called "high-speed battleships".

The Queen Elizabeth-class adopts a long forecastle ship type, with 16 6-inch caliber secondary guns installed in the forecastle and the rear of the hull. During the trial voyage, Queen Elizabeth found that the four secondary guns on both sides of the rear of the hull were at a lower position (the gun position was one layer lower than other secondary guns). When sailing at high speed, it could not be used due to the influence of sea waves, so it was immediately removed. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, both firepower, speed and defensive armor were significantly improved compared to the previous fearless-class battleships built.

The first Queen Elizabeth class ship, the Queen Elizabeth, started construction on May 21, 1910. Four ships of the same class: Queen Elizabeth (hms  queen  elizabeth), and War-wearing (hms  s valiant).

Originally, the British Parliament believed that the design speed of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship had reached 25.5 knots, and the speed of traditional battlecruisers had no advantage. Therefore, the British Parliament wanted to cancel the plan to improve the battlecruiser based on the Queen Elizabeth-class. However, Navy Minister Churchill firmly opposed it. He always remembered the huge losses and strategic passiveness caused to Britain by the battlecruiser of the Atlantic Fleet of the Chinese Empire when he was in Cape Town. Although Sino-UK relations have improved, Churchill was a vengeful person. He believed that the Chinese Empire never followed the common sense.

When playing cards, you must be on guard against them. Therefore, you will continue to build battlecruisers. As long as the speed of the battlecruiser is increased to more than 31 knots, you can widen the gap with the fast battleship. In addition, Churchill believes that the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleship is strictly not considered a first-class battleship, but can only be a special-class battleship cruiser, because her armor does not install the 15-inch battleship armor required for this class. If she installs 15-inch armor, the speed will not reach 25.5 knots, and it would be good to have 22 knots. Therefore, the appearance of Queen Elizabeth-class does not mean that the battleship cruiser is outdated.

Churchill's explanation was supported by the Admiralty. The British Parliament also believed that although the number one enemy in the Chinese Empire was not regarded as the number one enemy, he was defensive. In order to avoid the recurrence of the one-sided massacre of the Sino-British Atlantic Battle, the British Parliament finally approved Churchill's battle cruiser plan.

So the British Navy started construction of four prestige battlecruisers, which still reduced armor and increased boilers according to Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, so that the speed of prestige battlecruisers reached 31 knots. However, because the steam turbine technology still did not meet the requirements, the British Navy had to significantly reduce the armor thickness in order to ensure this speed. In the end, it was only 228 mm, which was thinner than the armor of the old large armored cruiser, and became the fatal weakness of this class of battlecruisers.

After the German Navy's spies intercepted the British Navy's plan to build Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and reputation-class battlecruisers, they immediately launched a response.

In 1910, the German Navy Act of 1910 stipulated that the German Navy would start construction of four Bavarian-class super-divine bow battleships to deal with the four Queen Elizabeth-class battleships started construction by Britain.

The double main gun turret of the Bavarian-class battleship adopts a hull symmetrical front and back symmetrical arrangement with two back-mounted seats. A sturdy tripod mast is designed, and a shooting commander is set up on the mast. The Bavarian-class focuses on protection capabilities, and its side and horizontal armor thicknesses exceed that of the British Navy's Queen Elizabeth class. The total armor weight is about 1,000 tons more than that of the Queen Elizabeth class, and the protection range is more comprehensive.

Originally, he was worried that Baku's oil was banned by Russia during the war and that Britain blocked maritime transportation lines, which made German tankers unable to transport the oil from the United States and Persian Gulf back to Germany. Therefore, the German Navy used coal-fired boilers to all the power systems of this class of ships. However, after the Chinese Empire concessioned Kuwait and Iraq from the Ottoman Turkish Empire, a large amount of oil was mined in these two regions. The Chinese Empire secretly revealed to Germany that once a war broke out, the Chinese Empire would supply crude oil or refined oil to Germany by sea and land respectively.

Of course, the Chinese Empire was afraid that the world would not be in chaos, for fear that Germany would not dare to start a war, so they had to tell the German government this secret. After obtaining the guarantee from the Chinese Empire, the German government decided to let the Chinese Empire invest in the Baghdad Railway. On the one hand, it could transport oil from the Kuwait and Baghdad oil zones of the Chinese Empire by land. On the other hand, if the Baghdad Railway was completely controlled by Germany, it would be likely to find attacks and destruction from the Allies during the war. Germany was determined to drag the Chinese Empire into the water and join the ranks of allies, so Germany transferred the shares of the Baghdad Railway Project to the Chinese Empire. Once the Allies attacked this railway, it would be equivalent to declaring war on the Chinese Empire. If the Allies feared the Chinese Empire and did not dare to attack this railway, then Germany could rest assured to obtain supplies for oil and other strategic materials from the Chinese Empire, and the British navy blockade would have no effect on Germany.

The Chinese Empire's politics certainly understood the Germans' abacus. The imperial emperor Chenhao has always planned how the Chinese Empire would export arms and various strategic materials to the Allies and allies at the same time once a war broke out in Europe.

Wang Chenhao knew very well that the rapid and powerful United States became a superpower in the 21 world, which was due to the United States' war money during the two world wars. Wang Chenhao's strategic purpose was already very obvious. He launched a large-scale naval arms race with the United States, which on the one hand dragged down the US economy. On the other hand, the British overseas colonies obtained by the Chinese Empire just formed a maritime island chain blockade against the United States (starting from the western United States, Bering Strait in the Pacific, Wake Island Base, Guam Base, Carolina Island Base, Panama Bay Base, to the Panama Canal Fortress in the southern United States, Jamaica Base in the Caribbean Sea, Virgin Islands Base, Puerto Rico Base, and then to the Bermuda Base in the Atlantic Ocean). All bases were like a U-shaped encirclement, covering the US mainland and preventing the United States from exporting arms and strategic materials to Europe.

On the other hand, the Chinese Empire could quickly transport Chinese materials to the Atlantic Ocean and sell them to the Allies through the Persian Gulf through the Baghdad Railway. At the beginning, the United States only exported materials to the Allies on a large scale. Now the Chinese Empire exported materials to the Allies and the Allies at the same time, and earned much more money than the United States. By the end of World War I, the Chinese Empire would definitely surpass the United States to become the world's largest economy and industrial power.

This is Wang Chenhao's strategic plan. The Chinese Empire Cabinet follows Wang Chenhao's will and agrees to purchase Germany's Baghdad Railway shares and is responsible for the construction and completion of the last section of the railway project within two years.

However, the Chinese Empire's political affairs knew about the German conspiracy, so they naturally had to slaughter the Germans.

After a series of negotiations, the Germans asked for a 90 million yuan dragon coins, but the Chinese Empire finally agreed to give Germany only 30 million yuan, and not cash payments, but exporting 1 million barrels of oil to Germany.

Germany was very depressed. When encountering rogue negotiations by the Chinese Empire, they could only choose to be slaughtered. Because Germany really needed the opening of this land railway, and it was necessary to ensure the safety of this railway. At the same time, Germany had to import a large amount of advanced naval equipment from the Chinese Empire, otherwise Germany's super-divine bow warships could not compete with similar fearless warships from Britain, so the German government quickly agreed.

In this way, the Chinese Empire acquired all shares in the Baghdad Railway and immediately started the construction of the last 10,000 kilometers of railway project, which was planned to be completed by the end of 1911 and opened to traffic in 1912. The German government believes in the railway construction capabilities of the Chinese Empire. Because of the huge industrial capacity and technology of the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire has completed the opening mileage of 420,000 kilometers of railways in China, becoming the world's second largest railway power (520,000 kilometers in the United States).
Chapter completed!