The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 813 We only want a European war, not European unification!

Hu Wansheng's fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a dull sound.

"Your Highness," he said in a low and slow voice, "Have you read the history of the Warring States Period of China?"

Prince Napoleon frowned. He had not read the history of China's Warring States Period, but he had heard Rinko tell many stories about Japan's Warring States Period.

"In the early Warring States period, Wei State took the lead in reforming and strengthening itself." Hu Wansheng took out a copy of "Strategies of the Warring States" from his arms and slowly unfolded it. "It could have annexed Han and Zhao in one fell swoop and completed the unification of the Three Jin States. Unfortunately." His finger stopped on a map attached to the book "Strategies of the Warring States". "At that time, the five countries of Qi, Han, Zhao, Qin and Chu joined forces to suppress Wei State."

The prince's eyes swept across the linear notebook. Those unfamiliar oriental characters looked like heavenly books to him.

"Europe today is another Warring States period." Hu Wansheng suddenly emphasized, "Prussia is the Wei Kingdom that took the lead in reforming! And France and Austria." He sneered, "are the Han and Zhao Kingdoms that are still asleep."

"You mean"

"The disaster of national destruction is not far away, but it is still in our dreams!"

"Destroy, destroy the country?" The prince's voice trembled a little. "How is this possible?"

"How is it impossible? Prussia's reforms were more thorough than Wei's reforms!" Hu Wansheng stood up suddenly and paced back and forth in the room. "Their reforms started with compulsory education for all!" He stopped in front of the prince. "The workers and soldiers trained by Prussia's compulsory education are much better than your illiterate soldiers and workers in France. Prussia's 7-year compulsory education coverage rate is 98%, and the quality is very high. Geometry and algebra are compulsory for all students. Although you in France also have compulsory education in name, it is not mandatory. The compulsory education coverage rate is only 58%, and the average schooling period is 2.3 years. There is no comparison at all!"

"Impossible, impossible," the prince shook his head again and again, "German unification has reached its limit, how could France be annexed by Germany?"

"Why not?" Hu Wansheng said, "Once Prussia merges the entire Austrian Empire and other German states except Hungary, it will form a huge empire from the North Sea to the Adriatic Sea. This country will have 90 square kilometers of land, a population of 6000 million, a steel output of more than 200 million tons, more than 3 kilometers of railways, and extremely rich coal and iron ore resources. Moreover, the Kingdom of Hungary, which has separated from the Austrian Empire, may still maintain a close alliance with the German Empire! If Hungary, the little brother, is included, the land area that the German Empire can control will exceed 120 million square kilometers, and the population will reach more than 7000 million!"

The prince's hands unconsciously clenched into fists.

"But this is just the beginning." Hu Wansheng's voice became more and more urgent. "Prussia's compulsory education system trains hundreds of thousands of excellent workers every year! This advantage is unmatched by Britain, the world's number one industrial country!" He suddenly lowered his voice, "His Royal Highness Prince Wu predicts that in twenty years, this new German Empire will have--"

"How much?" the prince asked subconsciously.

"At least 1000 million tons of coal, 6 million tons of steel, 1.2 kilometers of railways and million people!" Hu Wansheng's eyes flashed with a strange light, "By then, the Italian states, the Netherlands and Belgium, and even..." He paused meaningfully, "France itself."

"Ridiculous!" The prince stood up suddenly. "My uncle Napoleon I couldn't do it, these Prussian bumpkins."

"Napoleon I relied on his military genius." Hu Wansheng interrupted calmly, "and Prussia relied on its industrial system and compulsory education! The steel rolling workshops of the Krupp factory, the laboratories of the Berlin Institute of Technology, the coal mines in the Ruhr area, and countless well-educated workers, this is the real strength!"

The prince was silent for a long time before he asked hoarsely, "So, what do you want? Be specific!"

"Confrontation!" Hu Wansheng looked directly into the prince's eyes. "Long-lasting confrontation. Between Prussia and France, between Germany and the Slavs, and even..." He smiled meaningfully, "between Britain and Germany."

"why?"

"Because a unified Europe will be a nightmare for the whole world!" Hu Wansheng suddenly raised his voice, "Just think about it, 100 million Germans united under iron and blood, plus the land and population of France, and the fleet and colonies of Britain." His voice became cold, "By then, who can stop the white people from ruling the world?"

The prince turned pale.

"So you want to support me?"

"We will support any power that can prevent Germany from unifying Europe!" Hu Wansheng said calmly. The prince suddenly smiled bitterly: "The Prime Minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has really long arms." He stood up and straightened his military uniform. "I'll tell you, King Wu, I can be his pawn to disrupt Europe, but..." He thought seriously, "I want... I want an American political family!" He glanced at Rinko who was standing by, "A political family for my and Rinko's children! Mr. Ambassador, I think your Highness King Wu should be able to arrange it, right?"

Imperial meeting at the Berlin Palace.

William I sat at the end of the long oak table, his fingers unconsciously stroking a sword left by Frederick the Great. As the candlelight flickered, Prime Minister Bismarck pushed a document marked "Top Secret" to the center of the table.

"Your Majesty," he said in a low and hoarse voice, "It is time to change the original 'Small German Plan' to the 'Greater German Plan'!"

When the document was unfolded, it showed a red-marked map of the Greater Germany territory - from the North Sea to the Adriatic Sea, from the Rhine to the Vistula, even the Kingdom of Bohemia, which was dominated by Czechs, and Venice, which had a population of 250 million, were included in the territory of Greater Germany.

Army Minister Karl von Steinmetz showed a look of surprise, and then a look of ecstasy: "Prime Minister, have you really decided to adopt the Greater Germany Plan?"

Bismarck nodded helplessly.

Of course, the Prussian General Staff would not formulate only one plan. In fact, the "Little Germany Plan", the "Greater Germany Plan" and the response plan in case of defeat were all in Bismarck's drawer.

The most ideal plan in Bismarck's mind has always been the "Little Germany Plan", but after a secret conversation with Weng Tongjue last night, he began to waver in his original decision - to be honest, this Little Germany Plan is a bit self-deceptive!

Prussia clearly had the most powerful army and the most advanced industry in the world, but it still pretended to be a "middle power". It also hoped to reconcile the contradictions between Russia and Austria with "superb diplomatic skills" - can the contradictions between the two countries be reconciled? If Bismarck were still alive, he might be able to smooth things over, but he was going to meet God, so who could persuade Austria and Russia?
If they were to fight, wouldn't Prussia be involved? Since Prussia would be involved sooner or later, it would be more advantageous to put Austria, the Czech Republic, and Venice under Prussia's control and create a Greater Germany! Among the 7000 million people in this Greater Germany, there are at least 5000 million Germans. If the Germans in Venice are included, there will be even more people. It can be completely integrated into a whole!
Bismarck's pipe blew out choking smoke: "I think it's clear that real great powers are lonely! The British are pursuing glorious isolation, the Russians only believe in their own fists, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to be the paradise of the Pacific, and we..." He said coldly, "Prussia has only three allies: the army, the navy and Krupp's guns!"

Finance Minister August von Itzenpritz frowned: "The annexation of Austria means a huge amount of additional military expenditure every year!"

"But the benefits are also huge!" Bismarck said, "We will have a huge empire of more than 100 million square kilometers, enough to defeat France and Russia alone in the future!"

Foreign Minister Hermann von Thiele warned: "Britain will never allow any major power to dominate Europe!"

"So we must first destroy the Second French Empire!" Bismarck said calmly, "Napoleon III is gathering 200,000 rabble in Sedan - this is the last bet he can make! If he loses, there will be a revolution in France! A revolution that will terrify the Russian Tsar and the British capitalists!"

William I's breathing became heavy. The old king looked at the prime minister who suddenly changed his position and said, "Tell me about your plan."

"The first step," Bismarck pointed his pipe at the Western Front, "is to suspend the war with Vienna and transport the main force to the Western Front to encircle and annihilate the main force of the French army of Napoleon III. We want the whole world to think that we only want to punish France and have no intention of unifying Germany."

"The second step," the pipe turned to Vienna, "is to wait for Joseph Franz to transfer the Austrian army to Venice and Hungary to deal with the Italians who are taking advantage of the fire and the Hungarians who want to seek independence, and then use the railway to transport the army to the south, and then suddenly capture Prague!"

Steinmetz frowned and said, "Are we going to annex the entire Austrian Empire? That's nearly 70 square kilometers!"

"No," Bismarck sneered, "We will give independence to the Hungarians and autonomy to the Czechs, leaving only the German core and the wealthy Venice. If Franz Joseph is willing to surrender, we can support him to become the King of Hungary."

Izenplitz still had reservations: "England will join Russia and France."

"They will unite sooner or later! No matter what we do, they will unite to oppose us." Bismarck bit his pipe and looked around at everyone, "Do you think that we Prussians can rest assured as long as we defeat Denmark, Austria and France? No! Prussia's strength itself is an original sin!"

"Gentlemen," the Prime Minister's voice suddenly became old, "this victory is just the beginning. Every generation of Prussians will live on the edge of a knife until they completely dominate Europe!"

William I nodded gently: "Mr. Bismarck, I now understand why the ancient Qin State of China was determined to conquer the six kingdoms and unify the entire civilization."

(End of this chapter)