The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 931 A Century of National Fortune
The warm sea breeze from the Strait of Malacca brushed against Wadersi's face as he gripped the rusty railings of the "Sultan," a ship plagued by poor maintenance.

The Ottoman ironclad warship rocked slightly in the waves, its deck filled with the strange smell of tobacco and spices characteristic of Turkish sailors. Waldersee subconsciously touched the little red Ottoman cap on his head; he was now en route to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom—as a secret envoy of the German Emperor.

Because it was a secret, he had to change his clothes, so he became an Ottoman naval officer. He even boarded the rusty "Sultan"—a second-hand "Zhenyuan"-class ship that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had transferred to the Ottoman Empire a few years earlier. The ship wasn't particularly old, but the Turks' maintenance was really appalling.

However, Waldersee's attention was not on the "Sultan", but on the "Mistral", a "Rafale"-class armored cruiser that was escorting the "Sultan" - the "Sultan" was on this trip under the pretext of escorting the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's embassy in Britain back to China, and it would have to take the British embassy in Britain back to Britain afterward.

So when the HMS Sultan entered the mine-strewn Strait of Malacca, the British Far East Fleet Command dispatched a Rafale-class escort ship—the Sultan couldn't be allowed to sink in Malacca! Otherwise, the British mission in China wouldn't be able to return to Britain.

Meanwhile, the British cruiser HMS Mistral was turning around, like a fleeing silverfish. Waldersee noticed that the British warship's funnels were suddenly spewing unusually thick black smoke, clearly indicating that the engine room was operating at full capacity. This reminded him of the antelopes in the Berlin Zoo that had fled in panic after being frightened by wild animals.

“They’re scared.” A calm voice came from behind.

Waldersee turned around and saw Kang Youwei leaning against the gangway. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom diplomat was wearing a dark blue Chinese robe, his short hair was perfectly styled in the sea breeze, he held a telescope in his right hand and fiddled with an exquisite copper pipe in his left.

“Mr. Kang,” Waldersee said in German, then realizing his mistake (he was Turkish now), he repeated in broken Chinese, “You mean the British are afraid?”

Kang Youwei's lips curled slightly upward, his voice deep and clear: "Beyond this strait lies the waters where the dragon flag flutters." He raised his hand and pointed to the horizon to the northeast, "The Taiping Navy's 'Jingyuan' class is waiting for us there."

Waldersee's adjutant, Lieutenant Muller, suddenly let out a low growl: "Light signal! Mistral is sending Morse code!" The veins on the young staff officer's neck bulged, and each word sounded like shards of ice squeezed from between his teeth: "The escort is terminated in the waters under Chinese control ahead. Good luck. Beware of mines."

Before he could finish speaking, the engine noise of the British cruiser suddenly intensified, and the black smoke billowing from its funnels almost obscured half the sky. Waldersee instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, and by the time he lowered his hand, the Mistral was already quite a distance away.

"The British are quick on their feet," Kang Youwei chuckled. "It seems they also know that once we cross the Strait of Malacca, we'll be in our territory."

Waldersee squinted, watching the British warship speed away. As a seasoned army general, he was all too familiar with this kind of hasty retreat. On the battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War, he had seen far too many French soldiers fleeing in such a panic. But when a Rafale meets a Jingyuan, running away quickly isn't shameful; running too slowly means sinking!
“Mr. Kang,” Waldersee said, choosing his words carefully, “does your country really intend to include the Strait of Malacca within its territorial waters? This would likely provoke a strong reaction from the international community.”

Kang Youwei did not answer directly. He took a deep drag on his pipe, letting the smoke linger in his mouth for a moment before slowly exhaling. "General Waldersee," his voice suddenly turned serious, "what do you consider international law to be?"

Waldersee straightened his back and replied in the standard tone of a Prussian officer: "International law is a code of conduct commonly observed by civilized nations and is the cornerstone of maintaining world order."

“Wrong,” Kang Youwei shook his head slightly. “International law is a tool used by the strong to restrain the weak. The British can control Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, and the Nicaragua Canal, so why can’t Malacca be ours?”

Just as Waldersee was about to retort, an unusual flash suddenly appeared on the horizon. What began as a faint wisp of gray smoke instantly transformed into a towering column of smoke. A colossal steel behemoth was cleaving through the waves towards them.

Waldersee's binoculars trembled slightly. Through the lens, he saw a massive warship, unlike anything he had ever seen before, cutting through the waves. This armored cruiser, which Kang Youwei called the "Jingyuan-class," far exceeded the tonnage of any armored cruiser in the German Navy. Its sloping bow, like a sharp blade, cleaved the azure sea, stirring up white sprays several meters high on either side of the bow.

“General, please look,” Kang Youwei pointed to the spray splashing at the bow of the ship, “the 210mm main guns can penetrate six inches of armor at eight thousand meters.” His voice was filled with undisguised pride, “The British Rafale-class ships are nothing but iron coffins in front of her.”

Waldersee's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. As an army general, although he wasn't an expert on naval equipment, he still possessed basic judgment. The armor thickness, gun caliber, and overall design of this warship were clearly superior to similar warships from other European countries.

Moreover, it achieved brilliant results in the Pacific theater!
As the massive shadow of the Jingyuan completely enveloped the Sultan, gasps of alarm rose and fell among the Ottoman sailors on deck. Waldersee noticed several Turkish officers even instinctively taking a few steps back. He forced himself to remain calm and continued to observe the details of the Chinese warship through his binoculars.

“Mr. Kang,” Waldersee said after a long pause, putting down his binoculars, his voice a little hoarse, “your country’s shipbuilding technology is indeed impressive.”

Kang Youwei smiled without saying a word, only gently patting the railing. Just then, the whistle of the "Jingyuan" suddenly sounded, its deep, resonant sound echoing across the sea like the roar of an ancient beast. Waldersee silently thought to himself: China, you should stay far, far away from Germany.
At the same moment, Yevgeny Alekseev adjusted the gold tassel on his naval cap, a habitual gesture that betrayed his unease. A thought that shouldn't have crossed his mind suddenly surfaced: if the Pacific Fleet gained this stronghold, the Sea of ​​Japan would become a Russian inland lake!

Wait, how could I dare to have such a thought? Yevgeny Alekseev was horrified by his own idea. "Am I going crazy?"

The Lushun Fortress was already faintly visible in the morning mist, and the 280mm coastal defense turrets looked down on any possible invaders.

Alekseev took a deep breath of the damp sea air and quickly banished the terrible thought from his mind.

"Ugh——!"

A piercing whistle suddenly shattered the morning mist's tranquility. Alekseev turned sharply and saw a steel mountain slowly sailing out of Port Arthur. The four twin-gun turrets gleamed menacingly in the dawn light, and the bulbous bow below the waterline cleaved through the murky water, leaving a wake wider than the entire deck of the armored cruiser "Dingyuan".

"My God!" Alexeyev's hand trembled, and the expensive monocular telescope fell onto the deck with a crisp sound. He vaguely remembered this giant ship—it must be the "Hidden Dragon Project" from the secret files of the Tsarist Russian intelligence agency.

As the colossal 19800-ton vessel rolled across the sea, Alekseev could clearly feel the deck beneath his feet tremble slightly. Even more terrifying was the fact that this giant ship was clearly not slow, the waves it cleaved through with its bow forming a graceful arc.

"That's the 'Tianjing'," Deng Shichang's voice rang out from behind, speaking in English. "The world's most powerful battleship, with a standard displacement of over 20,000 tons!"

Alekseev's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. He thought of the "Black Sea Floating Bastions" being built day and night in the shipyards along the Black Sea coast; compared to the giant ship before him, they were utterly insignificant!

As the main gun turret of the "Tianjing" slowly turned towards the training area, Alekseev suddenly shuddered—would this battleship eventually sail to the mouth of the Neva River to show off its power?

Alekseev picked up the dropped binoculars with trembling hands. That evening, he scribbled in his notebook: "The Chinese giant ship has a speed of over 20 knots and a displacement of over 2 tons, much larger than our largest battleship."

Four thousand nautical miles away, Waldersee was huddled in the cramped officers' cabin of the Jingyuan, writing furiously by the light of a bamboo lamp: "His Majesty must be reminded that helping China defeat Britain is like feeding a tiger; fighting China is like fighting a tiger."

His pen stopped at the word "tiger." The Prussian general suddenly recalled Bismarck's warning before his departure: "Remember, Alfred, this negotiation with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will determine the fate of Germany for the next 100 years."

At the same time, Zhao Liewen, Secretary-General of the Tianjing Prime Minister's Office, delivered two telegrams to Luo Yaoguo: "Prime Minister, German Special Envoy General Waldersee and Russian Envoy General Alekseev will soon arrive at Tanggu Port in Tianjin."

Luo Yaoguo put down his pen, took the two telegrams, glanced at them, and muttered to himself, "Waldersee and Alekseev are interesting. I wonder if Ketteler will come?"

Zhao Liewen asked with a smile, "Who is Klind?"

Luo Yaoguo laughed and said, "A man who should have died in Beijing! But he probably won't die in Beijing this time. Even if he did, it would be a pointless death!"

Zhao Liewen nodded, completely unaware.

Luo Yaoguo added, "Arrange for them to go to Beijing. Let them discuss with our people in Beijing how to betray the British Empire! This concerns the fate of both countries and our nation for the next century!"

(End of this chapter)