1890 King of Southeast Asia

"General Xu, it's a great honor to meet you. I'm David Lloyd George, Minister of Ammunition and Minister of War of the British Empire."

In Charles's mansion in the suburbs of London, Xu Sunming met David. This was an unofficial private meeting.

In fact, 90% of the substantive content of diplomacy is reached in private exchanges, and the reasons are very complicated.

"Hello, Minister George, I'm also very honored to meet you." Xu Sunming shook hands with David, and then the two sat down.

"General Xu, just call me David. I have a lot of exchanges with China and am very interested in China. I have a good relationship with Ambassador Hu and hope to visit China one day." David sat down and started to build relationships.

"Huh? Is the Minister of War also responsible for diplomatic affairs?" Xu Sunming looked at David in surprise. It's okay for him to come here. If David really has a lot of exchanges with China, it proves that David has diplomatic contacts with China.

This power is great. War represents a part of military power, plus diplomacy, that is, there is no finance, otherwise it would be a small government, right?

"The war is fierce. The Empire is not only responsible for the supply of weapons and ammunition for the British Expeditionary Force, but the Russians also need help from Britain. We also need to support the French, and now the Italians."

"Relying solely on the ammunition production of the British Isles is far from enough to sustain the war, so we can only purchase from abroad, and our largest ammunition supplier is China."

David explained to Xu Sunming with a smile.

At first, the previous Minister of Ammunition first looked for Americans to provide ammunition, and later the United States could not meet the needs of the British, so it found China.

The industrial scale and industrial output value of the United States had surpassed the British Empire at the beginning of the century and became the world's number one, but when the war broke out, the United States was still in a very peaceful state.

There are many arms companies in the United States, large and small, but they are mainly private military factories, and their main customers are ordinary Americans, because the United States does not ban guns.

As for the US Army? That small scale can't support a few arms factories at all.

Before World War 1, arms, as an industrial product and a necessity of life (the United States has a tradition of buying guns), did not give rise to large trusts. Arms were produced in thousands of factories in the United States.

Because there were too many producers, the arms market was very competitive. For example, the famous Colt built its first factory in 1836, closed down in 1842, and built another factory in England in 1851. Then, it sold guns to the United States in the name of Britain, so that it could sell well, and then built new factories in the United States.

Even though the weapons produced by Colt were very popular in the fight against Indians and the American Civil War, Colt's production and operation were up and down. It was not until the production of Gatling machine guns began that Colt's business improved.

This was still the leading large-scale military industrial enterprise in the United States (at that time). If it was a small enterprise, it would have disappeared during the depression after the Civil War.

There are many enterprises and fierce competition, which leads to the situation that the individual production lines of these enterprises are not large. For example, Colt only produced more than 100,000 pistols of various types and thousands of rifles or shotguns in the year before the war.

The sudden orders greatly stimulated the military enterprises to expand production, but expanding production is not a matter of one day and one night. It involves equipment installation and commissioning, personnel training, material procurement and transportation, etc.

The result is that the huge United States has no way to deliver the orders in a timely and effective manner.

Some people may wonder, how is it possible? They are the first industrial country, how many guns and ammunition were produced during World War I?

In fact, there is a certain amount, but the model is wrong.

The Lee Enfield caliber used by the British is 303 inches, and the bullet is 7*56r, while the rifle caliber used by the United States is 62 mm, and the ammunition is 62*63. It is not possible to change it to 7*56r in one or two days.

Especially for small civilian factories, many of the equipment are old equipment. It is okay to produce 9mm flange-bottom pistol bullets, but their old equipment cannot play this kind of thing.

In fact, it was the large number of orders brought by World War I that made American military enterprises full and completed the integration of American military enterprises. The American military industry before World War I cannot be said to be weak, but it is far from strong.

"General Xu, I heard that the Chinese army is equipped with a machine gun with a long barrel for anti-aircraft shooting. I want to purchase some equipment for the front line. You know, the German planes on the front line are too annoying." David changed the subject.

"I heard that the Allied aircraft have also been equipped with machine guns. The effect of anti-aircraft machine guns is actually not as good as that of fighters. Anti-aircraft machine guns are only used to pass the time for fighters to arrive."

"I was fortunate to see the battle on the Western Front. The Allied and Central Powers' aircraft fought over France. The flight was too chaotic. The rash use of anti-aircraft machine guns is likely to cause accidental injuries."

"Of course, if you need it, we can provide it immediately. I just remind you that it is not very useful to use it on the Western Front."

Xu Sunming made a serious suggestion. No matter how much he talked, he would not panic. The unlucky David should be panicking.

Wouldn't it be unlucky to be sent to contact Xu Sunming at this time?

"Oh, I'll consider it."

"Speaking of fighting, I heard from the navy that they have arranged the itinerary for the members of the navy observation group, and would like to ask when you are free so that they can send someone to discuss it."

"What you know, every 1 -inch space on the warship is very precious. They were directly arranged before, and I also think they are too low."

David has a low efficiency of the navy.

"Of course! The Navy prepared the requirements of the cabin that met their identity for each member of the observation group. On the battleship, the general and the prospective general could get the same treatment of the captain."

"Colonel and expectant will also receive the same treatment on the cruisers, and the remaining levels of officers at all levels will also be treated with their military rank."

"We plan to compile members of the observation team into the main fleet and patrol fleet so that we can experience war more comprehensive. Of course, you don't need to participate in the battle. When you fight, you are advised to observe the records in a safe place."

"This is just a suggestion. As long as it does not affect the captain's command, there is no problem where you want to go."

David said cheerfully, as if this had been talked about one.

"Minister David, thank you very much for your attention to us, but this has not changed for more than a month, the British ignored the observation group."

Xu Sun Ming said politely.

"Sorry, we are not intentional. In fact, this is the result of the bureaucratic faction of the Ministry of Navy. We are conducting internal investigations. 1 will be explained to the allies."

David directly pushed 256 and pushed the responsibility to the Ministry of Navy.

This situation has long been expected, or all British people have expected that if you do not pay a fixed price, this incident will definitely not pass like this.

However, there are not many prices that Britain can give now, so push the responsibility first, find a unlucky egg with enough weight, which has become the consensus of everyone.

This unlucky egg has appeared, his name is Winston ...

"my country is very angry about the treatment of the observation group. There is already the voice of withdrawal of the observation group. You don't need to be nervous. David Minister, the Prime Minister has rejected this proposal."

Xu Sunming said with the "horror" David, said,

"However, the discussion of the Ministry of Finance attracted the attention of His Majesty. His Majesty asked the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Imperial Bank of the Empire to make a financial report, about war expenditure issues."

"Oh! The cost of the Huaxia Empire's troops is borne by the British Empire. You will not have financial pressure. This reason is not established!" David almost jumped up.

He is responsible for a series of matters of the general logistics of the war. How poor the war is and how poor the Britain is now, it is quite profound.

Xu Sunming was moving towards the direction of money. According to the character of the Chinese Empire's death, David felt bad in his heart.

"Yes, Her Majesty in my country also thinks so, but the Minister of Finance and the Imperial Bank does not think so, because the funds of the war are borne by the British Empire, but the Huaxia Empire is paid."

"Although these costs can be reimbursed in the end, they have to admit that to take out these money, it will squeeze a lot of funds in my country."

"There is no enough money in our country, so it is necessary to issue war bonds, which will directly affect domestic wealth circulation."

"my country is conducting large -scale infrastructure construction, and the scale of construction even exceeds the era of the United States Westward."

"We have made 3 railway planning beyond the Pacific Railway Railway. We plan to build 3 railways with a length of more than 3,000 kilometers within 5 years. This requires a lot of money."

"If joining the war, 1 will affect our plan, which is why His Majesty asked to hold a financial closed -door meeting."

Xu Sun Ming started flickering with something casually.

"Xu, you can't do this. This is immoral. You have signed a treaty and promised to join the contract." David stared at Xu Sunming.

"What? Do you say the treaty?"

"If you are executed strictly in accordance with the treaty, I should now be on Queen Elizabeth's battleship, and it should be blowing the sea breeze in the North Sea."

"In fact, I caught the fish for more than a month in the countryside of London. The housekeeper of my residence euphemistically reminded me to hope that I would not catch it, because even the cats in the manor were tired of eating fish!"

Xu Sun Ming said with a sorrowful face and said sharply.

"General Xu, very sorry, this is a misunderstanding, you can't ..." David wanted to explain, Xu Sunming did not give him a chance.

"Is this a misunderstanding, we all know, David Minister!"

"I still stay here because I want to join this war. I am the head of the observation regiment and can impact 1 impact on the country."

"We all know the purpose of your coming here, and the reason why I sit here. Let's just say, you must give enough chips to convince the Finance Minister."

"Otherwise, there is no way to change the results of the financial conference with the people behind me."

"Your Majesty is more concerned about when to travel to the empire by train, the important extent of this incident is above the war!"

((