Chapter 979: Style of powers

As the sun sets, a large fleet slowly sails towards the New Frankfurt Port and quickly caused a sensation among the workers on the docks.
As one of the most important military ports of the Holy Roman Empire in Southeast Asia, it is normal for a fleet to come and go. It's just that this time it's different. The flags of the incoming fleet are wrong.
A young man pointed to the front with trembling hands, and exclaimed: "What's the matter? Which is so careless and has made the flag wrong!"
The New Frankfurt Port is one of the bases of the Austrian Southern Ocean Fleet and is a military center. Even if there are occasional foreign warships passing by and need to be supplied, small boats are sent there, and they have never docked.
This is also the tacit understanding between colonial empires. For the safety of the port, unless an invitation is accepted, or if a warship is damaged in the course of the industry, it must be repaired. Under normal circumstances, warships of other countries are not allowed to enter.
Especially after the successful Japanese attack on the Philippines, the major colonial empires have increased their vigilance. Such a huge fleet is not said to be docked, even if it wants to get supplies, it must stay a few miles away.
The middle-aged foreman next to him sneered: "Don't talk nonsense, who would hang the flag wrong. Look at the shape of the warship, and obviously it's not ours.
It was the Spanish flag. They were fighting the Japanese. I heard that they suffered a big loss a few days ago. It seems that this fleet should be their reinforcements.
Just don't know what's going on, they ran to us. "
After a pause, the middle-aged man seemed to have thought of something. After reacting, he immediately reprimanded: "Get to work, don't want to be lazy for me, is it your turn to worry about big people?
Do you still want wages? I'm telling you, if you can't finish today's work, no one wants to go home. "
Suddenly a little man hugged his belly with his hands, showing a painful expression, and quickly attracted the attention of the middle-aged foreman.
"Little monkey, what are you kid doing?"
It can be seen that the middle-aged foreman is still very worried. It's just that the little monkey's body is worried about his life today, so no one knows.
"Boss, I have a stomachache. Can you make some money first and let me go to the hospital."
While talking, the young man of the little monkey had already squatted down, as if the pain was unbearable.
The middle-aged foreman wrinkled his brows and fell ill, especially those engaged in heavy physical work on the wharf. However, when he fell ill, few could get up.
It is not that it is not cured, but that there is no money to cure it. Although the income of the dock workers is relatively generous, after deducting the expenses of the family, there is still little left.
If you don’t go to the doctor, you will die. If you go to the hospital, you don’t know if you can save your life. Anyway, your home will definitely be gone.
"Okay! But don't go to the hospital, kid, that's not the place for us people to go, just go to Old Liu to prescribe a medicine."
The poor have their way of life. In addition to expensive hospitals, there are barefoot doctors who live outside.
Regardless of the medical skills, but the price is cheap.
Generally speaking, the herbs used by these barefoot doctors are collected by themselves. Only medicines that are not available on the island will be purchased, and the cost is much lower than that of the hospital.
However, you get what you pay for, and there are not many barefoot doctors in Nanyang who have good medical skills. If you had the ability, it would have been included by the hospital.
They are all private hospitals, and everything is on par with money. As long as they can make money, capitalists will not care about Chinese and Western medicine.
Driven by interests, the earliest hospitals of integrated Chinese and Western medicine appeared so quietly.
The young monkey nodded unceasingly, indicating that he already knew. After receiving the money from the middle-aged foreman, he left tremblingly.
Everyone swept their doors. In this age of precariousness, unless they are relatives and friends, they will not be nosy.
The little monkey was added later, and he didn't get along with everyone, and he didn't even count as his hometown. Except for a few sighs, the rest of the people continued to work again.
After getting rid of everyone's sight, the dying little monkey instantly regained his vitality and rushed to the telegraph company as quickly as possible.
...
In the early hours of the morning, the Emperor Palace was still brightly lit. Emperor Meiji, who was supposed to rest, was also awakened by a sudden telegram and hurriedly called an imperial conference.
"The enemy's speed is much faster than we expected. It has arrived in Sulawesi and stopped at the New Frankfurt Port at the moment, only one step away from the Philippines.
Seeing that the enemy is about to launch an offensive, and the warship promised by the British has not yet been obtained, how to deal with it next, we must come up with a plan. "
Emperor Meiji said without a doubt.
The situation was so terrible that he completely exceeded his expectations. According to international practice, the Holy Roman Empire, as a neutral country, cannot provide help to Spain during the war.
Generally speaking, for the sake of national reputation, even if it is to provide support to the belligerent countries, it is carried out in a sneaky way. Blatant support like the Holy Roman Empire rarely happens in the European world.
The persevering convention suddenly failed. The Holy Roman Empire doesn't seem to care about its international reputation this time, not only allowing Spanish warships to pass through the Suez Canal, but also providing port calls to the Spanish Navy.
If nothing else, it is not surprising that the Spaniards will be repaired and maintained next.
It seems that these supports are inconspicuous, but in fact these are all factors that directly affect the naval's combat effectiveness.
Because of the lack of these logistical guarantees, the original space-time Russians Pacific Fleet was completely defeated by the Japanese without even five points of combat effectiveness. Otherwise, who wins and loses is still unknown.
Admiral Yuhiro Ito asked: "What does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs eat? Didn't the Austrians say that they were neutral? Why did they suddenly support Spain?
Why did we not receive any news before? You are dereliction of duty. Do you know how much loss this accident will bring to the empire? "
"Ito-kun, calm down for a while. No one wants to see such a thing happen. And our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not a casual meal.
The Vienna government declared neutrality early, which is a well-known fact. What happened now is mainly because we ignored a secret agreement from 40 years ago.
Before the Austrians went to the sea, they signed a port sharing agreement with several colonial empires, including Spain.
Thanks to this treaty, Austrian talents were able to overcome the difficulty of supply in the early days of colonization and created the world's second colonial empire.
According to the provisions of the treaty, in the case of jeopardizing their own interests, the contracting states are obliged to provide logistical support and port calls to the other party within their capabilities. "
Xiyuan Temple Gongwang explained helplessly.
This is really not their responsibility. Forty years ago was the era of the shogunate, and they were still kiddies. Who cares about a treaty that they don’t have for half a dime!
Especially this treaty still exists in a secret form. Had it not been for negotiating with the Minister of the Holy Roman Empire, he would not know that a treaty existed.
Yuhiro Ito asked angrily: "What about a secret agreement? Didn't the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ask the Austrians for an explanation for such a violation of international practice?"
Xiyuanji Gongwang replied bitterly: "The explanation is of course coming. After receiving the Spanish navy's entry into the New Frankfurt Port, I met with the Minister of the Holy Roman Empire as soon as possible.
The other party also gave a reasonable explanation, but this explanation, I think you will not like it. "
Eyes exchanged for a while. Seeing that everyone was determined to know, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang slowly said: "Envoy Antonio expressed regret for this incident and made a promise on behalf of the Vienna government that he is willing to bear all the consequences.
He also said that if we have to be held accountable, we can declare war on them on this ground, and the Holy Roman Empire will take the initiative to assume the moral responsibility for this war. "
It's okay not to explain, everyone can't bear this explanation. Even the Emperor Meiji, who has always valued the authority of the monarch, was furious at this moment.
An understatement of willingness to take responsibility, which seems to be responsible for the matter, is actually playing helpless.
"Declare war"?
If Japan had this strength, Emperor Meiji wouldn't mind fighting a good battle with the Holy Roman Empire, letting them know that the Japanese Empire is not easy to mess with!
Unfortunately, the reality is cruel. The Holy Roman Empire, which was established less than two months ago, is now half of the world's hegemon. A country like Japan can be beaten to death with a slap in the hand.
Weak countries have no diplomacy, which is vividly reflected here. Even though they have admitted that they violated international practices, the Japanese government now has no guts to go and hold them accountable.
Even the Vienna government once again proved its credibility to the outside world because of this incident. For a secret agreement that was made forty years ago, all can be offended to death in violation of international practice...
Well, the weight of the Japanese is still a little lighter these years, and it's not very convincing to spread it out. It is estimated that the effect will be better if it is replaced by the British.
At the end of the day, he was accustomed to strong winds and waves. Seeing that the meeting was out of control, Emperor Meiji who reacted immediately reprimanded: "Shut up all of you! If you want to go home and scold slowly, don't run wild here.
I also know that the Holy Roman Empire is doing very unnaturally this time, but what can it do? People are the most powerful country in the world, with domineering capital.
If you have the ability, you will keep this account first, and wait until the future has a chance to collect it from them, and wash away the shame this time. "
At the end of the talk, Emperor Meiji had no confidence. There is no way, the difference in strength between the two sides is really too wide.
Only the power of the Holy Roman Empire in the Southeast Asia has the ability to destroy the Japanese Empire. When talking about the comprehensive national strength of the two countries, this gap is at least a multiple of the two-digit gap.