After nearly a month of repeated negotiations, Halldan finally signed a treaty with Germany on behalf of the British Empire on the contents of a treaty restricting the naval armament of the two countries.

Due to Bilo's insistence on the size of the German fleet during the negotiations, Britain's blackmailing method of defeating others without fighting was declared bankrupt; when there was no future in the arms race, the proportion of its own industrial economy in the world had already declined seriously, Britain had to accept the request from Germany and agreed that the number of German dreadnoughts could reach 80% of the Royal Navy. In addition, once France and Russia actively attack Germany, Britain will remain well-intentioned neutral in this "just defense" and will not show any troops to either side of the warring parties. Britain and Germany also jointly promised to slow down the construction speed of the two countries in the field of dreadnoughts from the year of the signing of the treaty, and create a blueprint for the era of peaceful development for Europe.

When the news of Britain and Germany reaching a reconciliation on the naval competition was widely published and circulated by major European newspapers, most media around the world gave a very high positive comment on the efforts made by Britain and Germany for peace. After all, in the first few years when the giant ship of the new century set sail, the two largest empires in Europe began to build fleets at shocking speeds, which really made the European people who long for peace feel endless concerns about the future. This time, the two countries work together to slow down the arms race, which undoubtedly greatly dispelled the haze of war shrouded over Europe; the New York Times and the Washington Post praised the trust and reconciliation of both governments, saying that this behavior opened up a new era of the 20th century where there will never be war.

However, in the eyes of French politicians, the signing of the British-German naval agreement was like a bolt from the blue.

In Paris, when French Foreign Minister Del Casse saw the news coming back from Berlin, he immediately pushed his circular eyes on his forehead. Then he instantly spit out the coffee in his mouth. He stared blankly at the document report that was already stained, and his heart seemed to have been blown up by five flavor bottles: astonishment, anger, desolation, hatred, bitterness... All kinds of expressions flashed across his face, and a strong feeling of dizziness suddenly surged in his mind.

As a hard-core revenge of Germany, Del Casse began to accuse the harm and crimes caused to France in 1870 from the first day he entered the political arena, and he set up a "glorious banner" that pushed France to launch a war of revenge and avenged the previous shame. Countless, due to defeat, ceded Arts Lorraine, and paid 5 billion francs for compensation. The German army held a victory parade in Paris, and the people who were tortured by humiliation and hatred who were crowned and resented by the empress and hatred of William I, who were crowned and emperor in the Palace of Versailles, gathered under his banner of revenge, and were ready to attack the old hatred in the east at any time like a red-eyed wolf.

In order to make France, whose national strength is inferior to Germany, have the capital to revenge against Germany, Delkasse took great pains: the Franco-Sauda crisis that broke out between Britain and France in 1898 was due to Delkasse's efforts to avoid the war with Britain and France, thus laying a solid foundation of trust for the reconciliation of Britain and France he led. After 10 years of hard work as a foreign minister, the unstable European system established by Bismarck in the past to prevent the revenge of France was completely disintegrated; while France's former diplomatic isolation was reversed in one fell swoop, Germany and Austria were also trapped in diplomatic siege! When he signed his name on the sincere agreement between Britain and France, Delkasse was full of confidence: the establishment of the French-Russian alliance and the British-French Agreement was enough to give France the confidence to revenge against Germany!

Just as Del Cass was planning to take the center of his plan and let Britain and Russia, two old rivals who were their own allies, put aside their prejudices and reached an understanding and formed a more tight encirclement of Germany, the news that Britain and Germany reached a naval agreement was like a tsunami collapse. In an instant, it shattered his grand blueprint for ten years of planning. The naval scale limit stipulated in this agreement is second, the key is the shocking attitude of Britain's statement that it would remain neutral in the war against Germany launched by France!

Although the French military has not formulated a plan to take the initiative to attack Germany under the current situation of great weakness, Britain's move has undoubtedly greatly affected the nerves of the Paris high-level leaders. Does the signing of the British-German naval agreement mean that Britain has included the rapidly rising Germany on the list of compromises that can be endured by them and acquiesced the dominance of this empire on the European continent? If this is true, it would mean that the encirclement net against Germany compiled by France has been torn a huge gap by the Germans; and over time, Britain will even break away from intervention in the two major military groups in the continent, which is almost an unbearable blow to France!

At a regular meeting between Britain and France a few months ago, British foreign minister Edward Gray was still patting his chest and swearing to Del Cassie to promise with France that Britain would advance and retreat with France to prevent the expansion of the ambitions of the "evil warlord empire" in Europe and the world. Now, Britain has reached a peace with Germany unilaterally, and its neutral commitment to France's major diplomatic strategic relations was even more unaware of France! At this point, he felt that Del Cassie, who was sold by the British, was furious, and he was like a crazy person in a short while.

The bull rushed straight into the British embassy in Paris, and roared violently at the British ambassador. He vented his strong dissatisfaction with the British move in an extremely ridiculous and indignant tone, and sternly questioned the British ambassador's real plans for London. Del Case issued an extremely sharp threat. If the British side does not give France an explanation on this matter, he will resign immediately and let pro-German elements who are ready to replace him come to power to promote understanding and cooperation between France and Germany.

Faced with the threat of Del Cassel, the British government, which was already overwhelmed by the huge wave of protests in the country, was even more troubled by the British government. If Del Cassel, the far-right wing who advocated revenge on Germany, disappeared from the main position in the French political arena, the revenge force in the French government would be greatly weakened; and the rise of its pro-German government would greatly undermine the balance of the British "hate seeder" in the European situation, causing it to fall into an extremely unfavorable isolated position in diplomacy. What's more, the British side also understands that it is indeed a bit unauthorized in this matter. This kind of activity of selling allies is unbearable if anyone else could not bear it!

Under this circumstance, British Foreign Minister Grey visited Paris again and held hours of detailed negotiations with Del Cass in a secret room. During the talks, Grey concealed the softening of the British government's attitude towards Germany, and attributed the reason for the signing of the naval agreement to a "clever strategy" made by intending to quickly surpass the German Fleet. Grey used his superb acting skills to tell Del Cassie that Britain had never thought of giving up the hard-won friendship with France. In order to show that Britain would still be in close cooperation with France, Grey also specially put forward a formal joint defense treaty on the navies of the two countries in the future European war: in addition to making a series of specific refinements on the deployment of both sides, it also includes a list of ports that are fully open to the other side for free.

Although the British's snake-rat-stops on the French-German position this time greatly deepened Del Casser's distrust in London, if he wanted to realize his wonderful idea of ​​revenge against Germany, France could only rely on the "alliance power" with Britain. What's more, the current situation is just as the British said. France cannot have the inherent conditions to take the initiative to attack Germany, and Britain's commitment to maintain neutrality in this situation is not something that Paris cannot accept at this stage. Faced with the British's joint defense agreement, he insisted on

Delkasse, who hopes to revenge on Germany and deepen military cooperation between Britain and France, signed the secret agreement directly without the knowledge of the vast majority of members of the parliament and the cabinet. According to this agreement, all the fearless battleships built by France will be put into the Mediterranean battlefield to fight against the Austro-Hungarian and Italian fleets; while the Royal Navy can get rid of the Mediterranean, the area that was once the most powerful of the British fleet, and put all the fearless ships into the North Sea defense against Germany.

In addition, based on winning over France so that it can continue to become a big gun used by Britain to threaten Germany in the future, and also to truly restrain Germany, Gray also expressed Britain's strong support for the Russian Navy to rebuild the Baltic Fleet. Gray strongly suggested that France could transfer all the drawings of their latest Dandong-class battleship to the Russian Navy to help them build their own dreadnoughts; and if Russia can reach an agreement with Britain in international affairs such as the Far East and Central Asia, Gray guaranteed that the British Navy would also provide Russia with the most advanced drawings of the St. Vincent-class battleships.
Chapter completed!