"The Portuguese are scared! These cowards actually want to use words to drive a wedge between two countries in Germany that are as close as brothers! It's a pity that this time, no matter what, we won't forgive them, don't you say? Ruprecht? Wilhelm II said with a smile after throwing the newspaper aside in his hand.

"That's right, Your Majesty, the Portuguese have given us a perfect excuse." The prince said with a bow.

"Then, my honorable Mr. Admiral, when will our fleet be ready to launch an attack on Portugal? I can't wait a little bit now. "Wilhelm II's eyes flashed with a belligerent light!

"Not yet, the fundamental reason why the Portuguese dare to challenge the dignity of the empire is that there are other countries to support it, the Russians have no reason to do this, the British have no kung fu, then the only possibility is the French! Their fleet in Africa is the Portuguese to rely on the most! And until our other two warships arrive in Africa, we should not act aggressively! The prince shook his head and said.

"Damn the French, they never stopped fighting against Germany, is our fleet in Africa enough? Do you need to send some more warships? Wilhelm II said angrily.

"No, even if the worst happens, Count Spee and Colonel Hippel have a seventy percent chance of killing the French! And our fleet left on the mainland can directly deter the French, or we can sail to the shores of Portugal and aim our naval guns at Lisbon! The prince said calmly.

"But before that, we need to beat the Portuguese in terms of public opinion! They say that this dispute is nothing more than an economic issue, that it is against the company of the Bavarian royal family, so well, we need to change the direction of this wind! Words for domestic propaganda, change it to a provocation against the German Empire! ”

"And in terms of external propaganda, we need to continue to portray the Portuguese colonial authorities as slave traders of a new age! Of course, it would be better if there were more uprisings in these two colonies at this time! The prince thought for a moment and said.

"Leave these things to others, we now need to draw up a whole set of military plans, and the German Empire today is not obtained by negotiation and rhetoric! We're going to end it all with a thunderbolt eventually, aren't we? The Kaiser was a little bored by what the prince had said, and interrupted directly.

"We have done what should have been done militarily, in fact, we can use this incident to test the reliability of the German allies!" Although the prince was dissatisfied, he gave up on the issue of journalism and diplomacy and moved on to another topic of interest to the Kaiser.

"How reliable are the allies? Hehe, Fritz is your father-in-law, I think Austria-Hungary will support us, and Italy will follow this agreement, right? The Kaiser said with a smile. But to be honest, Italy is too weak and too cowardly, and they don't think they will make any moves. ”

"It would be nice if Italy didn't make a move, and I'm more worried that Italy will be on the side of France. In fact, I have long doubted the value of an alliance with Italy, they are not a reliable and powerful ally. The prince scoffed.

"They have no reason to help the French, do they?" Wilhelm II said with a frown.

"It's not a small matter, the Italians are not small, they have a mentality called extreme egoism, and diplomatic agreements simply cannot bind them, and if the Italians choose to help the French this time, then I think we should reconsider our foreign policy." The prince said.

"It makes a lot of sense, I despise this kind of country that relies on the right and left to finally become independent, and if they don't want to be friends with Germany, then it's better to throw them aside." Wilhelm II said without hesitation.

At this time, the verbal fighting between Portugal and Germany not only did not stop, but developed in the direction of intensification. Portugal characterized it as an economic dispute and expressed its willingness to resolve it through negotiations, while the Germans saw it as a provocation because the Yarrow incident had seriously affected Germany's free trade.

"What good is our army if any small country violently interferes with the freedom of trade in the German Empire, and we have to negotiate a compromise in exchange for the consent of the other side? The other side uses violent means to contain us, and demands that we can only solve the problem through negotiation? It's the funniest joke I've ever heard this year! ”

"The German Reich will reserve the right to take all actions, and we will follow the development of events. If Portugal wants to negotiate with us, then it's better to replace the damned slave colonial government before talking! The Portuguese government, which continued to engage in the slave trade since the 15th century, while preventing others from engaging in free trade, was a cancer on the whole of European civilization! ”

When the German newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung published this very spicy article, some politicians with a keen sense of smell already smelled the blood in it! After nearly a month of quarrels, this matter has not only not been resolved, but continues to ferment!

Shortly after the article was published, the United States, far across the ocean, condemned the Portuguese's practice of restricting the free economy and expressed its understanding of the possible action of Germany. "We believe that any action taken by the German Government in order to guarantee fundamental human rights and the sovereign dignity of a State can be forgiven, and that no country can tolerate the innocent detention of its ships while engaged in normal trade!"

When U.S. Secretary of State Day made this speech at a press conference, the conflict between Portugal and Germany finally began to spread around the world, and then Austria-Hungary also expressed its support for Germany, and Russia cautiously expressed its understanding of Germany, which was basically more inclined to the side of Germany. The British, on the other hand, were slow to take a stand.

"Something is wrong!" The French also sniffed the danger signal from this! The situation they expected to settle the situation and then settle the matter through negotiation did not happen, and there was a tendency to intensify, and what was even more terrifying was that this time the Germans had won many allies, which was clearly an act of momentum! And the French, who are proficient in this, finally realize that Germany may be going to do it this time!

In fact, all this happened faster than the French expected, and just five days after the Frankfurter Zeitung published this article, the German fleet under the command of Colonel Hipper entered the waters near Angola and headed for their first target!

Thanks to the book friends for the rewards of K, Jinshan jeo, Haiyoubian, bighill1982, and Ye Zhong 2015~~, as well as the book friends of the natural hehe, step~, Shuyun Fairy Scattered Flower Worker Oral Art, Halseisen, and 62592299's monthly pass support ~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )