Beiyang reactionaries

"Say."

"Let's poach people from the Hanyang Arsenal. General, we have poached some technicians from the Hanyang Arsenal before, but this is far from enough. I recently heard that Liu Qingen, the general manager of the Hanyang Armory, wanted to develop artillery, but the government refused to allocate funds. Not only In this way, the relationship between Liu Qingen, Cao Kun and Wang Zhanyuan is not good, especially Wang Zhanyuan always embezzles the funds belonging to the Hanyang Arsenal. So there has been a lot of trouble recently. General, if we can poach Liu Qingen, we can take away some technicians from the Hanyang Arsenal , our new factory will definitely not lack technical strength.”

Duan Xun was taken aback.

He never thought that Han Linchun's appetite would be so big that he would directly poach Liu Qingen, the general manager of Hanyang Armory.This is not a small move, that is Liu Qingen, a benchmark figure in the history of China's weapon development.

However, Liu Qingen did not have a good relationship with many Beiyang warlords, and everyone knew this.

This is also related to Liu Qingen's background.

Liu Qingen was born in the Revolutionary Party.After the Revolution of [-], Hanyang Arsenal was occupied by the Revolutionary Party.When Sun Yat-sen returned to China, he appointed Liu Qingen as the general office of Hanyang Arsenal.Although the Beiyang Army also acquiesced to this result later, they didn't like Liu Qingen after all.

Therefore, the support for Hanyang Arsenal is very limited.

Liu Qingen went to Beijing several times just to ask for funds.But the funding has never been handed over to him happily.And sometimes funds are withheld.

"Are you sure? Have you had any contact with Liu Qingen?"

"General, although Liu Qingen is the general office of the Hanyang Arsenal, he is more of a technician. He is a person who likes to work on the front line in person. The semi-automatic rifles and artillery he is currently researching need to invest funds to continue research and testing. But there is no funding, so his research is basically stagnant. As long as we support him in this area, it is not impossible. And we have already contacted Liu Qingen's classmate, Guo Jingyu, who is currently the principal of the Hanyang Arsenal Ordnance Engineering College. Guo Jingyu is from Sichuan, and he is very willing to work in the Sichuan Armory. This will give us more guarantees for our poaching of Liu Qingen. However, General, I am only worried about one thing. Will Prime Minister Duan interfere with our poaching?"

Han Linchun was worried about this.

Because Feng Guozhang invited Duan Qirui to come out again and gave him a post of war supervisor.The so-called War Participation Supervision Office is the department that participated in the First World War, so several arsenals controlled by the Ministry of Army at that time were assigned to Duan Qirui's command.

Inside is the Hanyang Arsenal.

In other words, Hanyang Arsenal is directly under the leadership of Duan Qirui.

"Don't worry about this. Prime Minister Duan is now focusing all his energy on the upcoming congressional elections, and Premier Duan doesn't attach much importance to these arsenals. If you can dig them, you can dig them boldly. If you can really dig Liu Qingen over , I will personally give you a bonus. There is no need to hand over the new factory to him, but directly hand over our Sichuan Armory Factory to him, and let him be the director of the Sichuan Armory Factory. You should jump out of the specific things and think about how to develop Our country’s weapons business. This includes not only the army’s guns, but also the development of the navy and air force. You have to take responsibility.”

Duan Xun gave Han Linchun a reassurance.

Maybe this is Duan Qirui's short-sightedness.Since Yuan Shikai's death, Duan Qirui has been in charge of the central government for many years, but Duan Qirui doesn't care much about these arsenals in China.Compared with the late Qing Dynasty and Yuan Shikai's period, these arsenals have not developed much.On the contrary, these arsenals in China have regressed.This includes the most powerful Hanyang Arsenal and Jiangnan Manufacturing Plant.

They are all severely underfunded.If Duan Qirui paid more attention to them, there would be no problem for the current Chinese arsenal to provide Duan Qirui with more than [-] rifles every year.

Compared with weapons produced by China's own arsenal, Duan Qirui trusts foreign weapons more.

Many of Duan Qirui's troops are equipped with Japanese weapons.In other words, most of the direct descendants of the Beiyang Army are Japanese weapons.Within a few years in history, Zhang Zuolin would aggressively poach technicians from Hanyang Armory.

Zhang Zuolin can dig, why can't Duan Xun dig.

"Yes."

"Hanyang Armory is not only Liu Qingen alone, but also a lot of outstanding technicians. Dig if you can, don't be polite to them."

"Yes."

…………

"Sir, here is a telegram from Shanghai."

"What does it all say?"

Eric Techman looked at the telegram and frowned.

What are these things.I just wrote a telegram asking for help, but I didn't write out the cause and effect.I just asked myself to help clear the Wanxian side, which made Eric Techman very confused.

"Go, send a telegram to Shanghai to ask what is going on."

"Yes."

"Tap-tap-"

Before the telegram sender had gone out, someone ran in.Came in front of Eric Tekman and said, "Sir, a telegram from Hao Yuwen from the 'An Liying' foreign firm in Wan County."

"what happened?"

"Sir, the ship 'Wanliu' of Swire Pacific overturned four wooden boats belonging to the Sichuan and Chu Ship Gang in Wan County, and was blocked by the Sichuan Marine Police Force. There was also a serious conflict between the two sides, and the Sichuan Marine Police Force opened fire. The ship 'Wanliu' was hit. Wanxian has already detained two ships of Swire Pacific."

Eric Techman was even more confused at this time.

But anyway, I know a little bit.

The request letter from Shanghai was because Wanxian detained two ships of Swire Pacific.This matter can be big or small.If we talk about small things, we can discuss and negotiate, and it can be concluded.As for knocking over a few wooden boats, it's not a big deal, just pay a little money.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in the Yangtze River.In fact, this kind of thing happens every year, and if you just send some money, it will be over.Don't talk about overturning a few ships, it's nothing to drown a few people, it's not worth making a fuss about.

However, the arrest of the British merchant ship by the Wanxian Marine Police is a big deal.

What kind of country is the UK and what kind of country is China.Didn't it just hit a few of your boats, and you dared to fire or detain our boats.Back then, British warships bombarded Changsha in Changsha, causing countless casualties to the people of Changsha, but who dared to say anything.Who dares to detain the British ship.

This is the face of Britain.

Moreover, Britain's ability to run rampant around the world is not entirely based on strength, but also on influence and deterrence.Many people are afraid of the UK in their hearts. The UK can solve many problems by relying on this deterrence.

There is no need to mobilize a large number of troops. This kind of deterrence alone is enough for many British people.

But once the deterrence of the United Kingdom is affected, many things will be difficult to handle in the future.This is the most fundamental problem.It is not a big deal for Sichuan to detain the two British merchant ships, but this may affect Britain's deterrence in China and affect Britain's influence in China.

If this incident is ignored, many powerful factions in China will think that the United Kingdom is a paper tiger in the future, and they will all learn from Sichuan. How can the United Kingdom have so much energy to settle so many powerful factions in China.Moreover, Britain does not have much military strength in the Far East now, so it needs deterrence.

So this matter must be resolved.

And it can't let Britain lose its share.

"Sir, telegram from Shanghai."

Telegrams were frequent.

Before Eric Tekman knew anything, telegrams from all directions came to Eric Tekman.Eric Tekman waved his hand and asked him to read the contents of the telegram.

"The mayor of Wanxian sent a telegram to Swire Shipping Company, requesting Swire Shipping Company to compensate the dead crew's pension, the price of the wooden boat, the price of the goods, and the one-day closure of the Wanxian Wharf due to the 'Wanliu' incident. In total, the Swire Group is required to compensate 30 silver dollars for economic losses, and requires the Swire Group to make a public apology. Not only that, but also imposes a time limit, requiring the Swire Group to reply within a week. If there is no reply within a week, they will take further measures. Aggressive strategy."

"How much? 30 silver dollars? They are poor and crazy."

Eric Techman was furious when he heard the report.

It only crashed a few broken wooden boats, lost some cargo, and killed some people. 30 silver dollars, such a high, outrageous price, dare to call it out.And also asked Swire & Co to make a public apology?

how can that be.

What kind of country is Britain, how can the British apologize to the Chinese.

"The Swire Shipping Company means."

"They said that they could give some pensions to the Chinese sailors appropriately. But 30 silver dollars is out of the question, and they will never make a public apology. Instead, they want to hold Wanxian accountable for arresting their merchant ship and firing guns."