the world is at stake

As for the ban on the passage of Chinese merchant ships-now there is no ocean shipping industry in China at all, and all goods are basically transported by foreign merchant ships, and even British ships are running the Far East route.

When Sullivan heard the news in Shanghai, his heart ached.At the same time, he was glad that he saw the opportunity early, sold all the stocks he invested in before, and made a small profit.

The United Kingdom is downplaying this conflict, which not only reflects its internal contradictions, but also allows many forces to see clearly the changes in geopolitics.Many of the chosen ones scattered around the world are considering cooperating with the 'Holy Light'.

Chapter 42

With the sound of its whistle, an ocean liner slowly entered the Huangpu River.The boats on the river flow like a shuttle, coming and going.Small fishing boats and cargo ships of two to three thousand tons were vying for the river, very busy.

The official ship of the waterway management used a loudspeaker to drive the small fishing boats away from the main waterway.But the local fishermen wanted to scurry around, completely ignoring the warnings of the managers.

Ordinary people's disgust and resistance to the government will not be eliminated in a short time.The loudspeaker's rebukes and the fishermen's defenses were mixed together, and finally turned into swearing at each other mixed with slang.

A long stick with a hook stretched out from the official boat to hook the fishing boat and try to drag it away.The fishermen made a desperate gesture and took out two muskets to blast the iron sand on the management boat.

The fight was extremely lively.Zhu Erdian stood at the bow of the passenger ship, watching for a long time with many passing sailors and boat passengers on the channel.

"China is still in such a mess." Hikokichi Ijuin, the Japanese Minister, appeared behind Zhu Erdian, mocking maliciously: "This is not a civilized country at all."

Zhu Erdian was not interested in answering this sentence, and did not speak.

For China's sinking and wounding of British ships in the Yangtze River, London quarreled for two months, and the punishment given was to ban the import of Chinese goods and block Chinese ships from passing through British-controlled areas such as the Strait of Malacca.

But this time the United Kingdom has lost a lot in China. Not only has it lost the Yangtze River Basin, which is making money every day, but even the Pearl River Basin has become precarious.

The Third Division of the National Defense Forces arrived in Guangzhou, followed by the Political and Security Bureau. The revolutionary party who only talkative suddenly collapsed and scattered, and fled to Southeast Asia or Japan via Hong Kong.

Wang Xin, who commanded the third division, asked all the British troops occupying Hong Kong to leave.But the British guy still wants to hang on, and will not give up this "Pearl of the Orient" easily.

The Chinese squadron of the British army in East Asia has the former dreadnought battleship "Canopus" and two heavy cruisers as the main force. This thick-skinned iron king is equipped with a 305mm main gun, and a single ship can block the Pearl River Estuary.

In order to cope with China's temporary air superiority, the United Kingdom began to refit its warships in March to strengthen its anti-aircraft firepower. At the same time, it transported a brand-new aviation regiment from the mainland to Hong Kong, equipped with 24 latest "puppy" biplanes.

In addition, the United Kingdom also transferred seven rifle regiments from India and the mainland, with a total strength of more than 1 people and equipped with a large number of artillery.These personnel and equipment have already been stationed in Hong Kong to build a defensive position.

Considering that the central government is not strong enough to rule the south, relying on Wang Xin, a light infantry division with no heavy weapons and a few weak chicken triplanes, really can't defeat the enemy's strong fortifications.

However, after the British Navy used biplanes to conduct coordinated exercises on its own battleships, it also wisely gave up the idea of ​​fighting China in the Far East.

Although the 'Maxim' machine gun is good, it is not good enough to support the fleet's air defense network.It only takes one regiment of biplanes to launch two waves of air strikes, and the air defense of the fleet will inevitably be ripped open.

In the face of continuous improvement and increasing Chinese air strike force, the British Navy is gritting its teeth and holding on, refusing to give up Hong Kong, a treasured place of geomantic omen.

If Shanghai is lost, if Hong Kong is lost again, the home port of the British Navy in East Asia will retreat to Singapore.There is a distance of more than 600 kilometers in the middle, and its right to speak in East Asia has dropped sharply.

The British army must defend Hong Kong to the death.

Now the Chinese National Defense Forces are not yet capable of capturing Hong Kong, and the British Navy has no guts to find fault with it.The two sides can only confront each other near the Shenzhen River, waiting for the next balance of combat power to be broken.

Considering that Northeast China is still being encroached upon by Russia and Japan, the 'Sacred Light' team believes that the current situation at home and abroad has been greatly eased, and the persimmons still need to be picked softly.The next step is to solve the Northeast issue, which is not suitable for a full-scale war with the United Kingdom.

Finally, Chinese and British diplomats re-communicated.The United Kingdom agreed to withdraw from the Yangtze River Basin and no longer interfere in China's internal affairs, and the troops of both sides exercised restraint;

'Sacred Light' promised not to change the status of Hong Kong within 50 years, continue to abide by some of the terms of the Treaty of Nanjing signed in 1842, and recognize that Britain has a special status in diplomacy.

But this agreement is the paper in the toilet, waiting to be used to wipe the ass after shitting.

Zhu Erdian, who signed the agreement, commented afterwards: "This is not an agreement to quell the conflict at all. It is a treaty agreement. If it can last for three years, it will be considered God's blessing."

The conflict seems to have disappeared, so the responsibility for being forced to withdraw from the Yangtze River Basin will always be found on someone.The bureaucrats in London searched and found Zhu Erdian who signed the agreement.

The reason is that as a professional diplomat with more than 30 years of diplomatic experience in China, Zhu Erdian made a major mistake in judging China's military strength, which caused damage to the interests of the British Empire.

In fact, Charles I knew very well that this had nothing to do with Zhu Erdian. It was entirely due to the addition of the "Holy Light" that suddenly increased China's national power by more than ten times, and it had a central government that could not surrender.

But blame the blame, if you don't look for the minister in the imperial capital, who can you look for?

Zhu Erdian fulfilled his duties for the Great Britain, but had to resign and leave Beijing. He boarded the ship from Tianjin, and came to Shanghai specifically to see the ship 'Adventure' that was recorded in history.

The ship has no repair value and has been towed to Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai.

The outside world speculates that the Chinese will dismantle it, but the central government requires it to be treated in a harmless manner, and it will be dragged ashore and placed in Nanjing as a patriotic education exhibit.

As for Hikichi Ijuin, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has long listed him as persona non grata and asked him to leave the country immediately.

This guy is thick-skinned, keeps procrastinating and refuses to leave, and wants to take advantage.It wasn't until Zhu Erdian was dismissed that he couldn't drag on and had to leave.

The passenger ship sails to the Bund Wharf, where passengers and cargo are diverted.Several cargo ships were unloading at the cargo terminal. In the cargo hold were two steam cranes for the terminal, or second-hand goods.

Zhu Erdian waved to the waiter on the passenger ship and asked, "Where do these devices come from?"

The waiter was from Annan, holding the plate, glanced at the shore, shrugged and said, "Sorry, sir, I can't tell the difference either. But there have been a lot of cargo ships arriving in Shanghai recently.

The last time I saw there were shipping rails and sleepers, and a lot of scrap steel.I heard that there is a surplus of American railways, and many railway companies are losing money, so they sell locomotives, carriages, etc. to China at low prices. "

"Because the Chinese government set a high price, isn't it?" Hikokichi Ijuin asked anxiously.

Due to the coming of the "Holy Light", China's steel production has increased by more than ten times.This has put a lot of pressure on Japan, which currently has only 10,000+ tons of steel production.

Japan lacks iron ore, and scrap iron and steel from the United States is an important source of raw materials for Japan's steelmaking industry.Now that there are more Chinese purchases, it will bring huge troubles to the Japanese steel industry.

Last month, China would rather not make money but also control the export of raw silk, which led to an increase in the price of silk fabrics in East Asia.This has had a considerable impact on the Japanese economy.

If the steel industry suffers another disaster, the emperor will have a hard time.

Annan's waiter shook his head, "The era of huge profits is over. At the beginning, China was willing to charge several times the price to attract Western merchants, but now they have a very good relationship with German and American merchants, and the import and export prices tend to be balanced.

A recent "Zi Lin Xi Bao" reported that Thai rice controlled by the United Kingdom faced competition from American wheat, and Malaysian rubber faced competition from Brazilian rubber.

The Germans even grasped the orders of the Chinese government, and machinery and equipment poured in like a tide.

Many American merchants shipped cheap grain and raw materials across the ocean.Because the financial resources of the Chinese government have skyrocketed after controlling the customs, and they have the ability to swallow them all. "

Nowadays, most of the sea transportation is a thousand-ton cargo ship, and the transportation efficiency is far lower than that of the [-]-ton or even [-]-ton cargo ship that is common in later generations.It takes more than a month for the goods to travel from the United States to China, and even longer from Europe.

The current cargo ship to Shanghai must have been shipped a month ago.It shows that not long after taking Shanghai, the Chinese government began to make large purchases.

At that time, China's national treasury was empty, and the central government had no money at all, so it had to rely on borrowing to execute purchases.Where does the huge amount of money come from?

Kaiser?

Germany's financial resources are not strong enough to spend a large sum of money to support China.But there are many forces in Europe that can lend.

Zhu Erdian was worried. He knew very well the greedy nature of the old Europeans, and it was probably not the Germans who lent money to the Chinese.For example, Belgians are the most popular lenders in the Chinese market.

Brussels is now a European financial center no less than London. As long as China shows its willingness and ability to fight against Great Britain, some people are willing to provide loans to the Chinese government.

Compared with Japan, which is small and poor, China's development potential is much greater.

In fact, Zhu Erdian guessed correctly. When the outside world thinks that Germany provides financial guarantee for China's development, in fact, Deutsche Bank is just a cover-up in the foreground.

After the Sino-British enmity, the staff of the British Consulate in Shanghai were forcibly expelled.The consulate building at the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek was expropriated by the new city government.

This is a Renaissance-style two-story brick-wood structure building built in 1873, covering an area of ​​nearly 2 square meters.The appearance is simple, but the construction is exquisite.On the side of the river, there is a large lawn of nearly three hectares, green grass, surrounded by towering trees.

Zhou Qingfeng is receiving several European candidates here.Some documents must be signed by him, the leader of the 'Holy Light', and Xiao Jinlang has no right to do so.

In the office of the former British Consul in Shanghai, Zhou Qingfeng waved his hand to let the guests feel free.He and Cai Xuebin proofread the cooperation documents at hand, mainly loans worth tens of millions of pounds.

In this year and month, the cost of a 'Dreadnought' class battleship was only 178 million pounds.A loan of more than 5000 million pounds is enough to build an ultra-luxury navy for China.

Of course, this loan is not a one-time payment, it will be divided over several years.Nor did the money come from one family, but from a private financial consortium of European electorates.

These old Europeans have nothing but money.

Mr. Kompany from Belgium stood at the window, casually looking at the garden built by the British outside the window, and said meaningfully: "The empire on which the sun never sets really enjoys."

It is the prerogative of modern European colonists to build a comfortable manor in a poor and backward country like a refugee camp.

Rather, it is the prerogative of the British.

The building materials, interiors, furniture and pipes of this gorgeous building are all from the UK.Only a global empire could have had this luxury in the nineteenth century.

Zhou Qingfeng confirmed that the text was correct, raised his hand to sign his name on the last page of the contract, and used his space-time ring as the seal of the contract to stamp it.

The contract takes effect and is confirmed by the distorted space-time.It is also a certain kind of privilege, with full security of interests, more effective than state contracts.

Mr. Kompany took the contract and said with a big smile: "Mr. Zhou, thank you very much, and hope that we can fully benefit each other in this era of restart."

"This is a win-win situation." Zhou Qingfeng made an exception and drank some wine to celebrate. "European funds need to find a sufficiently high profit point. China is also short of funds and is willing to share the fruits of development with friends."

Everyone at the scene laughed and were very satisfied with each other's cooperation.

After the 'European Will' was dismantled by Zhou Qingfeng, France and Germany went their separate ways.However, these two countries are not the only ones in Europe. There are still many selected countries who choose to develop independently.

But the cloud of World War I is a nightmare that all European candidates cannot avoid.Germany hopes to use China to strengthen its national strength, and the candidates from other countries do not want the whole of Europe to be destroyed by war.

The solution is very simple, either to avoid or postpone the war as much as possible, or to transfer their own property.There are two transfer destinations, one is the United States and the other is China.

It stands to reason that the conditions in the United States are better and it is easier to absorb European capital.

But precisely because of the good conditions in the United States, there is no shortage of capital itself-the Yankees themselves are trying to find ways to "open the door" and invest abroad.

The current American consortia are all barbaric, and they are not merciless in embezzling assets.

In addition, as the leader of the same power, Marcos couldn't come out to personally receive the European candidates for tens of millions of pounds, and give a lot of preferential conditions.

For example, it is stipulated that more than half of the loan must purchase European products.

But Zhou Qingfeng can. In addition to restricting foreign investment in the financial field, he is very open in the manufacturing field.As long as it is legal and compliant, foreign capital can come.

The experience of later generations shows that the road of "exchanging the market for technology" will not work, and it will only cultivate compradors such as "Lenovo".Moreover, China does not lack technology, but lacks the talents and funds to realize the technology.

Although Belgium is a small country, its industry is still very good, and it has great advantages in the fields of steel and chemicals.China is expanding production and building factories on a large scale, requiring a large number of skilled workers and engineers, who can just be hired from Europe.

After all... no one likes Great Britain, the shit-stirring stick.

Chapter 43 Ruthless

After signing the contract, the old European financial faction represented by Kompany will open a settlement bank in China, which will be used exclusively for import and export remittance and settlement business with China.

The domestic banking system will also be formalized, replacing the complicated and chaotic local bank notes, and replaced by the People's Bank of China and various commercial banks.

Kompany's forces will also help China issue foreign debts in Europe as an agent, and the interest will be higher than that of the national debts of the big powers. It will be good if they can raise construction funds.

Especially after China drove the British power out of the Yangtze River Basin and regained the dominance of foreign trade, the agency of national debt became smoother, and the purchase volume and interest rates changed a lot.

Whether it is lending, exchange, or treasury bonds, these businesses mean huge amounts of money and wealth.The candidates from small European countries have no ambition to dominate the world, and are more interested in making money.

After the contract was signed, Kompany specially gave Zhou Qingfeng a gift, the national emblem of China inlaid with various precious stones.Its appearance is very beautiful, bright and radiant, and it has a beautiful meaning.

Zhou Qingfeng readily accepted this and said that there would be a gift in return.Kompany also asked him to present a gift to President Xiao Jinlang on his behalf, which was a pair of wedding rings.

"President Xiao is the head of state of your country after all. We can't ignore him. According to what we know, his and his wife's wedding anniversary is coming soon. I hope this pair of wedding rings will make them like it."

Kompany was very confident about the gift he sent, and believed that President Shaw would definitely like it.But Zhou Qingfeng frowned, and politely refused: "I'm afraid this gift is not suitable."

"Not in line with your party's regulations?" Kompany knew that the 'Holy Light' team had rebuilt the Communist Party.

Zhou Qingfeng shook his head, "Comrade Xiao Jinlang's wife didn't come to this world. Giving him a ring, I'm afraid it will make him sad in vain."

Ah... Kompany was surprised: "This restart of time and space, President Xiao didn't bring his family?"

Zhou Qingfeng said with a gloomy face, "In the 'Holy Light' team, only very few members brought their families, for example, my wives and I were together.

In addition, some non-core members or members with special requirements brought their families.But the vast majority of those selected use the number of followers to bring the most needed personnel to build the country. "

Kompany was even more surprised, and continued intermittently: "You...you are really..." He couldn't continue, and turned to ask: "Do you know how many families are brought by the candidates from the other three major forces?"

Zhou Qingfeng shook his head.

"The total number of 'Brotherhood' is more than 3000, but nearly [-] are family members of the chosen ones; 'Deutschland' is slightly better, less than [-] of their more than [-] are family members;

The British are very exaggerated, half of the more than 4000 personnel are family members.Charles I brought not only his family, but also one of his dogs as a follower.

Even the 'Holy Alliance' is the same, although they bring less than a quarter of their families.But last month in St. Petersburg, who else do you think I met besides the Vladimir family?his cook.

Besides, the French are not going anywhere.The number of them is not as large as in Germany, but the proportion of their families is much higher than that of Germany.

Many of the candidates in Britain, France, and the United States belong to non-mainstream ethnic groups.Such as blacks, Hispanics, North Africans, Indians.They are less patriotic, so..."

Kompany was a little stimulated, talking about what he had seen and heard about the forces of the chosen ones, and he talked endlessly.After a long while, he asked faintly as if confirming, "You really didn't bring your family?"

Zhou Qingfeng kept his face straight, "The total number of 'Holy Light' groups is 530 people, and the team members are 74. It can't be said that we didn't bring them. After all, we have absorbed a lot of scattered candidates.

But our backbone members did not bring their own family members with them, only comrades who can fight on the front line.For the sake of the country and the nation, something must be sacrificed. "

Kompany fell silent, and after a long silence, he whispered, "You guys...it's scary that you even gave up everything, even your family."

These conversations uncovered the biggest pain point of the 'Holy Light' team, and made the originally festive signing a strong atmosphere of sadness.

After Kompany left, he sent a telegram to his companions in Europe, emphatically adding: "'Holy Light' has no family members, including President Xiao Jinlang, all of them are fighters."

Wow...the news spread like gossip among the small circles of the European elect.In their view, this is undoubtedly a manifestation of the Chinese people's cruelty, ruthlessness, and inhumanity.

"'Holy Light' actually abandoned his family?"

"It's horrible, why did they do that?"