The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War was also a major event for the world, which once again turned the attention of all countries to the Far East.
Regarding the war that broke out between Japan and Russia, various countries had different attitudes. Among them, Britain and the United States stood on Japan's side, while Germany and France stood on Russia's side. As for other countries, they were more interested in watching the excitement.
However, one country is not in the mood to watch the fun, because they are being forced to express their stance and require them to strictly implement the policy of neutrality.
"Your Majesty Carlo, Russia has violated the treaty unanimously adopted by all countries to ensure the territorial integrity of the Qing Dynasty, and your country has great interests in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, our country believes that in this war between Japan and Russia, your two countries should have the same attitude and implement it.
A policy of neutrality rather than adding variables to this war."
In the palace, Phil Coulson, the new British ambassador, was earnestly advising the Italian monarch in front of him. The new British ambassador to Rome, who succeeded Mandison, certainly knew how difficult the Italians were, but it was his duty
London's orders must be implemented to ensure that Japan does not suffer interference from Europe. This is not only a requirement of the British Empire, but also a strong requirement of the Japanese government.
After the war with Russia broke out, Japan was most worried about Italian interference. Although Italy had lent them 200 million lire before, Italy had too many criminal records and neutrality simply did not exist for Italy.
Everything needs to be mixed in.
The Japanese government had suffered huge losses before, how could it possibly forget this. So before declaring war, it made this request to its boss behind the scenes, the British Empire, to stabilize Italy and prevent it from getting involved.
In the face of this request from the Japanese government, the United Kingdom is of course willing to see it. After all, Italy has been mixed up everywhere in recent years, which makes people have to guard against it.
Unfortunately, Italy did not express neutrality as they wished. Instead, at this tense moment, they suddenly released a message that the Italian Navy planned to eliminate a group of warships that did not meet its needs.
Well, Italy, you must have done it intentionally by releasing this news at this time.
And this news alone was not enough, the Italian Navy accidentally let it slip. These batch of warships that did not meet the requirements included three Genoa-class battleships, three Garibaldi-class cruisers, and fifteen ships that did not meet the requirements.
Battleship, with a total tonnage of up to 120,000 tons.
Do the Italians treat everyone as fools? Are they phasing out battleships? They are phasing out an entire fleet of main combat warships, and it is also the Italian main fleet. Look at what warships Italy plans to eliminate, except for the above six large battleships.
Apart from that, the rest are basically cruisers with a tonnage of three to four thousand tons.
For example, it performed well in the Sino-Japanese War and was Italy's fastest Eagle-class reconnaissance cruiser. As well as the 3,600-ton Savoa-class protected cruiser and other Italian warships produced in the 1990s. The performance of these warships is still good.
Not bad, even now it is still considered a first-line battleship.
For such a large-scale elimination of warships, Italy might as well just put a note on their forehead saying "I'm going to cause trouble". You think Italy is bad? People can pretend not to notice the elimination of one or two warships. After all, it won't affect the overall situation.
, but such a whole fleet can completely influence the outcome of the naval battle in the Russo-Japanese War. After all, among these battleships, most of the main battleships with a capacity of over 10,000 tons have only been in service for a long time.
Two years later, for example, the third ship of the Garibaldi class, Franciscos, has been in service for less than three months. It is estimated that even the smell of paint has not dissipated.
Whoever can obtain such a brand-new warship will definitely directly put his own navy at an advantage.
Of course, the price will definitely not be cheap. If Italy sells it for 1.5 times the normal price, it will be considered conscientious.
Of course, now Italy has only released news and nothing else has been said. You can see that the British are eager to come and talk about the friendship between the two countries.
And how could Carlo take Ambassador Colson's so-called friendship seriously? Although Italy also had very large interests in the Qing Dynasty, Italy did not have much involvement in the northeastern region, so it was necessary to talk to me about this.
"Ambassador Colson, I also believe what your ambassador said about the friendship between the two countries, but the decommissioning of the navy's warships has already been decided. This requires you to convince our navy, rather than coming to me."
Colson didn't believe a word of Carlo's excuse. When did the Italian Navy become so powerful and dare not listen to the government and the king?
But even if he doesn't believe it, he must explain what the other party said, especially when he is asking for help from others. This is diplomacy and this is politics.
"Thank you for your Majesty's information. I will discuss it with your country's Navy next, so I won't disturb your Majesty and take my leave."
Colson left the palace in a hurry. When he was about to board his carriage, he saw a carriage with a diplomatic badge appearing in front of him.
He took a closer look and saw that those getting off the bus were Russian Ambassador Tokayev and French Ambassador Skleia.
As soon as he saw these two ambassadors coming together, Coulson basically guessed the purpose of the other party's visit. Needless to say, he must have come to release news from Italy.
At this time, he did not intend to leave first, but walked towards the two of them.
"Your Excellencies, two ambassadors, are you so free to pay a visit to the King of Italy?"
"Sir Colson, aren't you also very free?"
"I heard that your country is not going well in the Far East. If you have any difficulties, tell me and I will help you think of a solution."
"No, thank you."
After a few brief words to tease the Russians, Coulson got into his carriage and left.
"This British guy, who does he think he is?"
After Colson left, Russian Ambassador Tokayev complained to Ambassador Sklaya standing aside.
Faced with Tokayev's complaints, Sklea could only smile and give up. Of course, he also knew the purpose of the Russian ambassador in bringing him here, which was for the Italian fleet.
He knew this would happen when Italy let out the news. Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to receive instructions from Paris, asking him to cooperate with the Russians.
You don’t need to think about it to know that the Russians must have done the work in Paris. In order to keep this vital ally, Paris can only donate generously to purchase ships. What is this thing? The Italians are selling ships, and the Russians want to buy them.
ship, but it turned out that France had to foot the bill.
But no matter what, this is the only way. The temperament of polar bears is like this, and there is no other better way to ask for help from others.
When the Russian and French ambassadors entered the palace, Colson, who had just left, said to the coachman, "Go to the Japanese Embassy. I want to talk to Ambassador Teppei Osawa."
