On January 3, the Ottoman ambassador to Germany, Ildilai Ackermann, came to the apartment to visit the delegation.

Although at the Christmas dinner, the Ottoman ambassador expressed an unusually enthusiastic attitude towards the delegation, but Xu Jichao and Li Sanjie still did not think that he would come to visit in person, after all, there is no diplomatic relationship between East China and the Ottoman Empire, and before that, the two sides had no contact at all, not even economic and trade exchanges, which can be said to be a complete first acquaintance.

However, the two of them know this truth, so this visit of the Ottoman ambassador must be something, of course, what is the specific matter, can only be known after meeting and talking.

So the two invited Ackerman into the reception room of the apartment, sat down separately, and Xu Jichao said: "Mr. Ambassador, our conditions here are very simple, so the hospitality is not good, please forgive me." ”

Ackerman hurriedly said, "There, there, that's already good, good." ”

Xu Jichao said again: "I don't know if Mr. Ambassador is visiting today, do you have any advice?"

Ackerman said: "I am here for the friendship between the two countries, our Ottoman Empire and China have a long history of exchanges, so our friendship is a witness of history, and our Ottoman Sultans have regarded China as a friend. This time, East China sent a delegation to visit Germany, which is just an opportunity, hoping to communicate with East China. ”

Xu Jichao also nodded, and said: "Yes, China and the Ottoman Empire are both countries with a long history, and they have been friends for a long time. ”

In fact, Xu Jichao does not know the exchanges between the Ottoman Empire and China in history, but China's history is too long, and it has maintained foreign exchanges for most of the time in history, even if it is the Ming Dynasty that forbids the sea, the Qing Dynasty that closed the country, and the closed Qing Dynasty, which is only closed to the sea, but on land, it has always maintained a certain amount of foreign exchanges, and it is generally believed that the Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299, almost the time of the Yuan Dynasty, so in Chinese history, it is not surprising that there have been exchanges with the Ottoman Empire, and as long as there are exchanges, it can be said to be historical friendship。

When Ackerman heard this, he was also very happy, nodded his head again and again, and said: "Yes! Yes! Our friendship has passed the test of history, and now it is all the more important to establish friendly relations between countries, help and support each other, and jointly deal with the challenges of hostile forces." ”

Speaking of this step, Xu Jichao almost understood the intention of the other party's visit, so he also followed the other party's words and said: "Yes! China and the Ottoman Empire have created their own splendid cultures in history, and have their own glory, but in the past 100 years, due to their own reasons, they have gradually lagged behind the tide of the world, so they have been bullied by imperialist and hegemonist countries, ceded land and paid compensation, lost power and humiliated the country, and suffered great humiliation. Therefore, it is all the more important for us to work together with the same enemy. ”

Ackerman's expression was also quite excited, and he said: "Yes, yes, our Ottoman Empire is indeed humiliated by European countries, because it is Russia, not only encroaching on a large amount of our land, but also not satisfied, still eyeing us, is really our biggest threat." ”

Xu Jichao said: "Yes, Russia has always been rude in the international community, and extremely greedy for land, they not only occupied a large number of Ottoman territory, but also to China is also forcibly seized, before our return, Russia has occupied more than 1.7 million square kilometers of land in our country, although in last year's Far East War, we successfully recovered part of the territory, but now there is still a large amount of land occupied by Russia, and Russia is still trying to occupy, The Mongolian region of our country is divided, so it is still not to be taken lightly against Russia. ”

Ackerman said: "Although it is a little late, I still want to congratulate the Ottoman Empire and Sultan Abdul Hamid II on the victory of the Far East War, which is a major victory against colonialism and hegemony, and we also believe that under the leadership of East China, the territory occupied by Russia will be completely recovered." ”

Xu Jichao said: "Thank you to the Ottoman Empire, and thank you to His Majesty the Sultan." ”

Ackerman added: "Although East China defeated Russia in last year's war and inflicted heavy losses on Russia, Russia is still very strong and is a great threat to our Ottoman Empire, and their setbacks in the Far East will inevitably turn the spearhead of expansion to the West, and Russia has always been eyeing our Bosphorus and wants to open the entrance to the Mediterranean, so once Russia recovers, it is bound to use force against us again, and I sincerely hope that our friends in the East will give us the necessary help." With that, Ackerman stood up and bowed deeply to Xu Jichao.

Xu Jichao and Li Sanjie also hurriedly stood up and returned the salute, Xu Jichao said: "Mr. Ambassador, we in China are deeply suffering from aggression and colonization, so we have always supported the struggle of other countries against colonialism, anti-aggression and oppression, the pursuit of national independence and national independence, and we will do our best to help the Ottoman Empire resist aggression and oppression and safeguard national sovereignty." ”

Ackerman nodded, of course he knew that Xu Jichao's statement was just a diplomatic word, and he couldn't take it seriously, but this was the first contact between the two sides, and it was good for East China to have such an attitude, if you want to really get the help of East China, you also need further contact between the two sides, exchange and communication, and at the same time exchange of interests, for decades, the Ottoman Empire has been maneuvering between several major powers such as Britain, France, and Russia, of course, you know what historical friendship, Common values and the like are unreliable, and in the final analysis, there are only two words between countries, interests.

So what benefits can the Ottoman Empire give to East China? Ackerman believes that there are still some things, that is, both sides are facing the threat of Russia, so this is the basis for cooperation between the two sides, and even for joint alliances.

Of course, it is too early to talk about alliances, and it needs to be done step by step, the first thing to do is to establish normal diplomatic relations between the two sides as soon as possible, and only after the establishment of diplomatic relations can the two sides carry out normal exchanges without resorting to other platforms, which is also the opinion of the Ottoman Empire.

So Ackerman said: "On behalf of the Ottoman Empire, I would like to send you a formal invitation, hoping that the mission to Germany in East China will be able to visit the Ottoman Empire after the end of the visit to Germany, negotiate the ways and channels of exchanges between us, and even negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations, and we will definitely give you the highest courtesy." As he spoke, Ackerman took out an official diplomatic document from his briefcase and handed it to Xu Jichao.

Xu Jichao frowned, stretched out his hand to take the document, and said: "I accepted this document first, but whether to accept the invitation of the Ottoman Empire, I can't give an accurate answer to Mr. Ambassador now, which requires me to ask for instructions from the country, and only with the authorization of the country can I accept the invitation of the Ottoman Empire." ”

Ackerman said: "Of course, we can understand, but when I ask Mr. Envoy to report to China, we must indicate that the Ottoman Empire sincerely invites the mission to visit, and sincerely hopes to have friendly exchanges with East China." ”

Xu Jichao said: "Okay, Mr. Ambassador's heart, I will definitely report it to China truthfully." ”

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Ackerman got up and said goodbye and left. Xu Jichao and Li Sanjie also sent Ackerman out of the apartment together, and then turned back.

Li Sanjie said with a smile: "It seems that we have really become fragrant and sweet, and so many countries have invited us to visit!"

Xu Jichao said: "It's still the same sentence, the face is all played out on the battlefield, if it weren't for our victory in the Far East War, so that the Ottoman Empire saw that we were strong enough to fight Russia, would they respectfully invite us to visit!"

Li Sanjie also nodded and said, "Yes! Now I can really understand the feeling that in the old time and space, after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, we really raised our eyebrows." After a pause, he said, "Do you want to send a telegram back to Qingdao immediately?"

Xu Jichao thought for a while, shook his head, and said: "Prepare the telegram first, but don't rush to send it back, talk to the German side tomorrow, after all, we are on someone else's territory, and now Germany is also developing relations with the Ottoman Empire, so we must always tell Germany, and in addition, business negotiations will start tomorrow, and after the results are available, we will send them back together." ”

Before the New Year's Day holiday, the trade negotiations between East China and Germany have entered the moment of construction, and both sides have basically shown their cards, East China has agreed to increase the quota of 8 kinds of minerals exported to Germany by 65%, the quota of 20 kinds of minerals increased by 45%, and the quota of 36 kinds of minerals increased by 25%, including a total of 73 kinds of minerals, which can be said to have made a lot of concessions.

However, there are also many requirements in East China, in addition to requiring Germany to relax the export of high-tech and high-tech goods, it also requires Germany to approve the transfer of 17 kinds of technologies, including large-caliber artillery manufacturing, special steel, surface carburizing and hardening armor, small water tube boilers, synthetic ammonia, Zeiss optical products, etc.

The German side is still weighing the success or failure of this deal, but after a three-day break, I believe that the German side has compared the results, so after the holiday, one or two rounds of negotiations should be almost finalized, but the final negotiation terms still need to be approved by the domestic before the final contract can be signed.