It turned out that the German office of the East China government had approached Carl Friedrich Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, the founders of Mercedes-Benz, and asked them to invest in the shares.

But what the traveler didn't expect was that these two well-known figures in the old time and space both rejected the investment requirements of the East China government, in fact, the reason is very simple, now Benz and Daimler have set up their own car companies, although they have not yet reached the point of the industry hegemon of Mercedes-Benz Company, but it is also a small achievement, so at this time the two are not bad for money, and now the car market is not large, and the two are not eager for investment; and both believe that the car has broad development prospects in the future, and naturally will not sell the company's shares for this investment。

However, the two have no objection to the transfer of part of the technology to the East China government, from its engine technology, because it does not involve shares, and can also be exchanged for a part of the funds, after all, in a short period of time, the two sides basically have no competition, and the technology of the car is still developing, if it is really time for the two sides to compete head-on, the current technology may have long been outdated.

After receiving the reply from the German office, everyone in the East China government couldn't help but sigh, it seems that it is not by chance that Mercedes-Benz can achieve the hegemony of the industry, these two founders are not only excellent engineers, but also extremely shrewd businessmen. It seems that the Traverser's plan to seize the original shares of Mercedes-Benz has failed, but it is not bad to be able to obtain some of the technology.

However, the Executive Yuan had objections on how to use engine technology, one suggestion was that the Sifang Locomotive Factory should take over, so that the existing equipment and technical personnel of the Sifang Locomotive Factory could be fully utilized and that the existing equipment and technical personnel of the Sifang Locomotive Factory should be used to save money; Bi Jing's main goal in the East China Government was the Russo-Japanese War, and other provinces would be saved; there was also a suggestion to set up a new automobile factory or machinery factory, after all, the Sifang Locomotive Factory mainly produced railway locomotives, and used steam engines, which were still very different from the internal combustion engines used in automobiles。

Although the Executive Yuan is still discussing the plan, the engine technology has definitely been introduced, which also solves the biggest obstacle to the development of fixed-wing aircraft, although the engine technology of this era is still very backward, but it is also okay for the most primitive fixed-wing aircraft, the first aircraft that the Wright brothers completed the flight used a four-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine with only 12 horsepower.

Therefore, the Executive Yuan also decided to formally set up a fixed-wing aircraft research and development project department, with Wang Xinping as the team leader, but the 8-10 cars required by the pilots were cut to only 4, because the army had already gone to 40 in one go, and the rest of course had to be saved.

In fact, the situation of armored forces has many similarities with that of flying troops, all because the technology is too advanced compared to this era, so it seems to be a bit high and low. However, the armored forces are better than the flying units in that they are more numerous, and the armored forces have a total of 28 amphibious combat vehicles, 6 engineering vehicles, There are 18 warrior vehicles, and there are more than 400 drivers and maintenance personnel, and the number of the team is more than twice that of the flying troops; moreover, most of the spare parts of the armored vehicles can be found on other vehicles, and the power system of the armored vehicles is all diesel engines, and there is no shortage of fuel in this era, so that the armored troops do not have to worry about the failure of the armored vehicles for a considerable period of time. And as long as there are these armored vehicles, then the armored forces will not be disbanded, so the members of the armored forces are much better mentally than the members of the flying units.

But in addition to the slightly better state of survival, other aspects of the armored forces and the air force are almost the same, they are all nobody, no projects, no money three no troops, and the solution of the two sides is the same, that is, to develop armored vehicles, and this project is more reliable, after all, at this time practical cars have been invented.

However, the Executive Yuan's proposal for armored forces has great reservations, because armored vehicles are based on the automobile industry, and they are early armored vehicles, which are basically an iron shell for cars, but now the East China government does not have a little foundation in the automobile industry, so it is necessary to develop armored vehicles, and this step is not too big, and even the flight unit only proposes to develop fixed-wing aircraft, not fighter aircraft. Therefore, from now on, the development of the East China government's automobile industry will be more dependent on the general public, after all, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler have agreed to sell car technology to the East China government.

But this is not a small knock on the R&D team, but should be formally built factory, but once the factory is built, even if it is only a small-scale factory, the investment can not be less, at least it is more than 100,000 silver dollars, and in the first 2 or 3 years, it is likely to continue to increase investment. However, some people believe that this investment is completely worthwhile, because in addition to the great commercial value of the car itself in the future, if the East China government can come up with reliable finished cars for logistics and demand before entering the war, it will also be extremely helpful for the East China government to win the war. Bi Jing still has nearly two years to go, and he can rely on the mature technology proposed by Germany and use German equipment to manufacture several practical cars.

And some people have suggested that when the government can't come up with the money, it is time to try the way of national joint ventures, and the government will provide technology. Land and other resources, private funds, can even be introduced into the form of a joint-stock system, at least to start the project first, but this has been opposed by some people, because the research and development of automobiles is a long process, the need for a large amount of upfront investment, private individuals are afraid that it is difficult to invest in such a project, can only be done by the state acts, but some people think that it can be a try, but the members of the committee also hold their own words, for a while there is no unified plan, so it is still being discussed.

In addition to actively deploying in Lushun, the East China government formally proposed to Germany, the United States, and Britain the intention to issue bonds.

Germany first sent a positive response to the East China Government, expressing its willingness to provide convenient conditions for the East China Government to issue bonds in Germany, and hoped that the East China Government would organize a negotiation working group as soon as possible to come to Germany to negotiate and negotiate matters related to the issuance of bonds.

The United States replied to the East China Government two days late, agreeing in principle that the East China Government should issue bonds in the United States, and if the East China Government really has such intentions, it can first negotiate with the US Consulate in Qingdao, and the US Government will consider it according to the content of the consultations between the two sides.

Britain did not respond to the East China government until five days later, and although it also agreed to the East China government's issuance of bonds in Britain, it was said that the British government's work had already been filled this year, so the time for negotiations was postponed to after 1904.

It should be said that although the attitudes of the three countries are different, they are all within the expectations of the East China Government, and from the perspective of containing Russia, the goals of the three countries are the same as those of the East China Government, but the relationship between the three countries is by no means simply black and white, but a comprehensive consideration of the intertwining of various interests.

Germany is currently the country with the best relations with the East China government, and the degree of cooperation is also the deepest, although at the beginning, it was the East China government that took the initiative to show goodwill to Germany, but now Germany has a certain dependence on the military technology of the East China government, so it has also continuously strengthened the relationship between the two sides, at present, more than 50% of the foreign trade of the East China government is with Germany, and the East China government exports mainly mineral resources to Germany, and the purchase is machinery and equipment and finished product technology.

On the other hand, the hostile attitude of the East China government towards Russia is also in line with Germany's interests, and in order to break the Franco-Russian alliance, Germany has always actively promoted Russia's expansion in the Far East, and at the same time has not forgotten to set up a few more opponents for Russia in the Far East.

It is precisely because of its political and economic interests that Germany naturally responds positively to the East China government's request for issuing bonds, not to mention that the issuance of bonds itself is also beneficial to Germany.

In addition to Germany, the United States is the largest international trade partner of the East China government, accounting for about 25% of the foreign trade of the East China government, although the total trade volume is far less than Germany, but the types of products exported to the East China government are much richer than Germany, from machinery and equipment, to small hardware, daily necessities, etc., and because the United States itself is an extremely resource-rich country, so there is no need to import resources from the East China government, almost all of the trade is a surplus, in terms of interests alone, to not much worse than Germany.

Although the United States also opposes Russia's expansion in the Far East, it is not as urgent as Britain, after all, the United States mainly has commercial interests in China, and basically has no geopolitical considerations, and with Britain in the front, the United States will naturally not come out, but hide behind it while contributing to containing Russia, and at the same time make a lot of money quietly.

Of course, the issuance of bonds is a kind of fortune, so the United States has issued 50 million US dollars (about 10.25 million pounds) of bonds for Japan, and the United States certainly welcomes the intention of the East China government to issue bonds, but the United States does not intend to let the East China government achieve its goal so easily, since it is the East China government that wants to maximize its interests, and the United States intends to first figure out the goals and cards of the East China government, and then try its best to strive for more interests for itself, such as asking the East China government to further open up the market, if the East China government defeats Russia, the United States will be able to obtain those benefits in the northeast。

Britain's mentality is the most contradictory, the Java incident has made Britain full of vigilance against the East China government, and even has listed the East China government as the second containment target after Russia, of course, it does not want to allow the East China government to issue bonds in Britain to obtain development funds, but now Britain still needs the East China government to deal with Russia, after all, Britain is still a little confident in Japan's ability, so it can not completely tear up the face with the East China government, so it has to make a delaying strategy.

Since Japan was basically certain to launch a war against Russia in the first half of 1904, Britain also planned to wait and see, if Japan fought well on the battlefield and did not need the help of the East China Government, Britain would explicitly reject the East China Government's request to issue creditor's rights, but if Japan was defeated by Russia and needed the East China Government to send troops to save the field, then Britain had no choice but to try its best to support the East China Government, so Britain did not say anything to death, which also fully reflected the flexibility and adaptability of an old driver.