Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

In the crisis of the succession of the Spanish crown, if one looked at it from an outsider's point of view, Prussia was indeed a little bit of a scoundrel.

After two consecutive years of diplomatic conflict, Prussia had been tough for a while, righteously declaring that she had to take the throne of Spain and making matters worse.

Then the rest of Europe would come out to regulate it, and when the French were angry and ready to fight, they would change their language to say that everything could be discussed at the negotiating table, that Prussia did not want to escalate the conflict or anything like that.

It was this erratic diplomatic gesture that had left Prussia's pulse in Europe, and what was this new military power trying to do? What was their bottom line?

Prussia could only be regarded as a military power in Europe at the moment, but not as an economic power. Not as an industrial power, not as a colonial power.

Countless analysts believed that Prussia would use troops as firmly as the Denmark and the Austria. The Iron Blood Prime Minister would use cannons and bayonets to conquer France.

At the same time, however, there are many analysts who find the argument absurd, since France and Prussia are not even on the same level of power.

Regardless of the size and quality of the colonies, annual volume of overseas trade, population, national and civilian wealth... France was ahead of Prussia in all the indicators.

The history books were full of examples of France defeating Prussia. Under such circumstances, unless the King of Prussia was crazy, he would never start a war.

It was the intense clash of these two theories that made all the politicians in Europe fall into deep thought. France was neither the Denmark nor the Austria.

The vast majority of people thought that this was just a bargaining method used by Prussia. In the end, they had to give up the Spanish throne in exchange for France's surrender in the southern region of the Germany. Prussia's goal was to peacefully annex the southern region of the Germany.

Fa Huangnapolunsanshi thought so too. This was the main reason why France was still not actively preparing for war.

Although the diplomats said that they were a very patient bunch of people, their patience was also limited. To play this kind of childish game twice, they still thought that if they could play for a year or two, who would be able to take it?

It was against this background that the Ames telegraph incident took place.

When the Spanish media started to preach that Prince Leopold of the Germany Region was the most legitimate successor to the Spanish throne, Napoleon III and all the French diplomats were enraged. At that time, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grand Duke Grammon even directly gave Prince Leopold of the Bavaria power, threatening the Prince in her message not to covet the Spanish throne.

The French diplomatic envoy was quickly dispatched. He was the French ambassador to Prussia, Benedict. The infuriated diplomat took the train directly to the King of Prussia's spa, the Ames Palace.

The king of Prussia had never imagined that the French ambassador would rush forward and grab the king by the sleeve, ignoring diplomatic etiquette, insisting that he immediately declare to the whole of Europe that he would not touch the Spanish throne.

Benedict even insinuated that the king was a capricious man. How could his words not count?

William I had never said that he would relinquish the Spanish throne? The history books did not agree, and the French definitely did. If not, diplomats would not have been so rude as to ask the king to make another promise.

But there were different accounts in Prussia. They believed that the king had never spoken in public or in private, and that the king's attitude was one of negotiation. They could negotiate together, that was all.

The secret message from Napoleon III that Benedict brought expressed the anger of the France Government through its actions. When this rude envoy was sent out of the palace, William I fell into deep thought.

In the end, he decided that he still had to consult with Prime Minister Bismark. In the end, he sent a telegram from the Ames Palace, detailing everything that had happened today.

"..." And you can think it over in Berlin! " This was the last sentence of Ames' secret message.

When Bismark received the secret message from the King, not only was he not angry, he was also overjoyed. He directly invited Chief of Staff Mao Qi to a secret meeting, asking him about the probability of victory in Prussia after the war.

Mao Qi did not let Bismark down. Prussia had long been prepared for war, and he firmly believed that Prussia would win this battle.

The situation in Europe had finally started to stir up huge waves. Bismark sneered and used ink to write off the last sentence of the king on his secret message.

"After that, the His Majesty the King refused to receive the French ambassador and ordered the deputy on duty to inform the French ambassador that His Majesty has nothing more to talk about …"

This was the declaration of war in the Franco-Prussian War, the historic Ames telegraph incident.

No one could describe how angry Napoleon was. France, the second strongest country in the world, was humiliated like this, causing him to order the whole country to prepare for war. He finally decided to use his army to teach this group of barbarians of the North a lesson.

The dark clouds of war once again shrouded Europe.

The entire Europe was dumbfounded. Prussia had more than a million land forces available, and France had a regular army of six hundred thousand. Once the war began, it would be a war that would only end in death.

These two were extremely proud races, and no one would give up until blood flowed like rivers. When the time came, with more than 2 million troops fighting on the European continent, the number of citizens they would bring would reach close to 10 million.

Diplomats from all over Europe had been mobilized, sincere or not, and everyone had to stand by themselves. There were those who expressed their concerns, those who personally regulated the situation, those who supported Prussia, and those who raised the flag for France.

For a moment, the first class cabin of the European train was filled with the figures of envoys from various countries, important ministers, and nobles. They began to band together, hoping to seize their own interests in this war.

Yet Ai Liguo was completely unaware of all that had happened. Xiao Letian's story had caused the British Minister's face to turn deathly pale.