Chapter 247 Jiaozhou Bay

Kang Youwei's reform has been blocked and difficult to achieve. Sun Wen's revolutionary movement took advantage of the situation. In 1985, the revolutionaries launched an armed uprising in Guangzhou. Although they ended in failure, they fired the first shot to overthrow the Qing court. Since then, the revolutionaries have been more and more frequent in China, and armed uprisings have arisen one after another. Although all of them have ended in failure, Yes, every uprising added another force to the crumbling building of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty, which is in trouble at home and abroad, regards Zhou Charter as the last hope, but at the same time, it also regards Zhou Charter as the biggest threat.

Zhang Jun is like the Xiang army of Zeng Guofan in those years. If the powerful Zhang Jun is willing to help the court, then it is the gospel of the Qing Dynasty. Once they stand on the opposite side of the court, they will be the tomb diggers of the Qing Dynasty!

The princes and ministers of the Qing Dynasty hope that Zhou Charter will become the second Zeng Guofan. After saving the impending Qing Dynasty, they will automatically disarm themselves and achieve a rejuvenation of Tongzhi!

Therefore, by the end of 1897, the Taiwan Governor's Office became lively.

People from all sides came to Taiwan to see Zhou Charter.

Among them are imperial envoys, secret envoys of the old faction or the Weixin Party, the old revolutionary party, and personal representatives of Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi and Li Hongzhang, and even the Empress Dowager Cixi sent people.

They are all lobbyists representing all forces, trying to persuade Zhou Charter to take their side.

For these lobbyists from various political factions, Zhou Charter treats them with courtesy and impartiality. Even the revolutionaries regarded by the imperial court as rebellious, Zhou Charter held a banquet in Taipei.

However, Zhou Charter did not make a statement.

He can't express this state.

The internal disputes of the Qing Dynasty have inevitably affected Taiwan.

In Taiwan, political opinions are inconsistent within the Zhang Jun brothers.

Zhang Xun is a complete royalist. He doesn't care about the innovation, but he opposes the overthrow of the Qing court!

Nahawu is the uncle of the Qing Dynasty. Although this uncle is a little unclear, Nahawu is still full of feelings for Emperor Guangxu. Nahawu resolutely stood in the position of the Party of the New and supported Emperor Guangxu's arbitrariness.

Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin hoped that Zhou Charter would take Zhang Jun to overthrow the court, change the dynasty, and pull down the cowardly Emperor Guangxu together with the Empress Dowager Cixi. However, the two of them did not agree with the democratic republic proposed by the revolutionaries. In their view, after the change of dynasty, of course, Zhou Charter became emperor.

Cai Tinggan, who came from the United States, Luo Mingfang and Li Guoge, generals from Tianjin Military Academy, have accepted new ideas, but agreed with the set of revolutionaries and hoped to establish a Western-style democracy in China.

The officers and soldiers of other chapters are also puzzled, and their ideas are extremely inconsistent.

This makes it difficult for Zhou Charter to make a decision.

However, he knew that he had to make a decision.

In this era of great change, Taiwan cannot stay out of the matter. Both ends of the first mouse are waiting to die!

On November 14, 1987, a sudden incident pushed Zhou Charter to the forefront of the storm.

This sudden event forced the Conservative Party, the Conservative Party and the Revolutionary Party to let go, and also forced Zhou Charter to make a final decision!

......

At 4 p.m. on November 13, 1897, the German Far East Fleet with the Kaiser as its flagship suddenly appeared in Jiaozhou Bay.

The German Far East Fleet is the most powerful fleet of the Western powers in Asia. The fleet consists of five cruisers, namely the flagship Kaiser with a displacement of 7,650 tons, the Princess William with a displacement of 4300 tons, the Cormorant with 5200 tons, the Ilena with a displacement of 4300 tons and the Akna with 2370 tons. By the navy. Lead by Dietrich.

In terms of tonnage alone, the German Far East Fleet is not large. Its flagship Kaiser is comparable to the Dingyuan of Zhangjun, and the tonnage of Princess William and the Magy is slightly smaller, slightly larger than the ordinary cruiser of Zhang's navy.

However, these five cruisers of the German Far East Fleet are the most advanced warships in the world today. Later, the German shipbuilding industry has technically surpassed the old maritime power Britain, the German warship represented by the Kaiser. Its speed, firepower, armor and tactics have surpassed the level of British warships of the same class, ranking as the world's leading position, and far beyond the Zhenyuan purchased by the Zhangjun Navy more than a decade ago. And Dingyuan. In fact, a 4300 Elena has a single-ship combat capability, which is equivalent to the 7,000 tons of Dingyuan.

In fact, at the end of the 19th century, Germany's military industry and tactical ideas were already at the top of the world. Both the army and the navy have surpassed the old military power Britain. Before the First Sino-Japanese War, both China and Japan respected Germany as their teachers. The Japanese army and navy almost completely copied Germany's idea of building the army and navy. The limited reforms of the Qing army also followed the framework of the German army. German military instructors are all over the armies and military schools in the Qing Dynasty and Japan. All the foreign instructors of Beiyang Marine Academy and Tianjin Military Academy, the highest military institution of the Qing Dynasty, are all Germans.

In the eyes of the Qing Dynasty, the Western powers are very powerful, but the strength of Britain, France, the United States and Italy is still tolerable. But Germany is as powerful as Mount Tai!

Therefore, when the German Far East Fleet appeared in Jiaozhou Bay, the garrison of the Qing Dynasty felt endless fear!

The Qing Dynasty, which lost the Beiyang navy, has given up the sea power at its doorstep and is unable to stop the warships of the Western powers from showing off their power along the coast of China. What's more, it is a world-class fleet armed to the teeth.

Therefore, after Zhang Gaoyuan, the highest military officer of Jiaozhou Bay and the general of Dengzhou, got the news, he sat on the floor while playing mahjong. It was not until he was helped to the chair by his subordinates that Zhang Gaoyuan stammered and asked, "Germans, what are they doing here?"

Zhang Gaoyuan's gaffe is also exorbable.

Late night on November 1, German missionaries Han Ligalu and Neng Fangji were killed by the local knife club in the Zhangzhuang Church of Juye Milling in Shandong Province. Xue Tianzi, the priest of the church, was only spared. This is the famous "Giant Wild" teaching plan in history. The Juye teaching case was originally an ordinary criminal case. The knife association that killed German missionaries was a folk gang active in Shandong. Like North Korea's Dongxuejiao, Dadao will take the banner of defending the country, blindly exclude foreigners, and advocate killing all foreign forces that exist in China. Da Daohui can be said to be the predecessor of Shandong Yihe Boxing, or a branch of Yihe Boxing. Although the Dadao Association's claim is ignorant, it is also the inevitable result of the rudeness of the Western powers in China. German missionary Han Rigalu was killed. In individual cases, he was an innocent victim. However, from the perspective of the bullying of China by the Western powers in the late Qing Dynasty, Han Rigalu to the Western powers had long been a victim of bullying China!

As an emerging military industrial power, Germany's action in China is later than that of the old powers Britain and France, and even Russia. Therefore, the actual benefits obtained by Germany in China are far lower than those obtained by Britain, France and Russia, and even worse than Japan. German Emperor Wilhelm II is deeply ashamed! He believes that Germany's interests in China are extremely disasurate with her international status. Therefore, after the First Sino-Japanese War, Germany accelerated its infiltration of China. An important strategic step is to first obtain one or two military bases in China!

For this reason, the German Foreign Minister has repeatedly asked the Qing court to lease territory in China, but was unerantly rejected by the Qing Dynasty. The reason is very simple. Germany has a frightening military power and industrial capacity. Once they have established a foothold in the Qing Dynasty, its expansion capacity will greatly exceed that of Britain and France. Three countries of Russia.

The rejection of the Qing Dynasty made the Germans deeply ashamed and angry! However, it also makes the Germans helpless. After all, so far, the Qing Dynasty and Germany are still friendly countries, and Germany can't find an excuse to send troops to the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, a giant teaching case happened!

When the news reached the ears of the German emperor Wilhelm II, the emperor was so happy that he drank three glasses of red wine in a row!

Here comes the opportunity for Germany!

The ambitious William II wants to challenge the hegemony of Britain. In Europe, Africa and even the Americas, Germans do not have many opportunities. In those places, the British are deeply rooted.

Only in China, Germans can fire the first shot to challenge the British hegemony!

William II would not be so excited if the Juye teaching case happened in any other part of China! This sudden teaching plan happened in Shandong! That is the gap between the power of Britain, France and Russia in China, which used to be the Japanese's sphere of influence, but the Japanese were defeated by Zhou Charter and withdrew from Shandong forever. After that, the Germans focused on Shandong. In German planning, Shandong, with Jiaozhou Bay as the core, is the first strategic place for Germans! According to the Germans, Shandong has three irreplaceable advantages: first, Jiaozhou has convenient transportation and broad room for development; second, Shandong has coal fields with superior location and good quality; third, Shandong has an infinitely great, very cheap and intelligent labor force!

William II believes that this is the will of God!

The Juye teaching plan gave the Germans a good opportunity, which was not only seen by William II, but also by the Qing court!

The Qing Dynasty knows that the Germans will not let go of this good opportunity to expand in China!

However, the weak Qing Dynasty was unable to stop the Germans! The only thing the court can do is to strictly investigate the culprit of the giant teaching case and try its best to flatter the Germans to calm the anger of the Germans, hoping that the Germans can let go of the Qing Dynasty!

This is simply a reckless move! The Germans were not angry at all about Han Rigalu's death. What they felt was joy!