According to the agreement between the East China government and Russia, the East China government has set up an office and a commercial hall in Lushun, and obtained the right of navigation, but the East China government hopes to further expand its business scope, and it also hopes to have the right to operate the wharf. In addition, it is hoped that he can obtain the qualification to buy and sell horses, so that a batch of three hippos can be introduced.

Among these requirements, except for the qualification of horse trading, the others are within the normal scope of business, and Lushun also needs to develop business and increase income, so he quickly agreed, but the qualification of horse trading is much more sensitive, because it is a three-hippo is a military horse, and generally Russia does not allow the purchase and sale of three-hippo. However, now Russia urgently needs to improve its relations with the East China government, and it is not impossible to tolerate it, after all, only selling a few hundred horses will not have a big impact.

After negotiations, Russia agreed to sell 500 Three Hippos to the East China government, but asked to negotiate with the East China government to sign a treaty of mutual aggression or a peace treaty. This time, the East China government did not refuse, but decided that 500 Three Hippos was too little, and demanded a five-year commercial agreement with Russia to sell 1,000 Three Hippos to the East China Government every year, and could negotiate with Russia the following year.

After considering it, Russia thinks that this deal is still feasible, after all, there are only about 6 months left in this year, if it can be used to negotiate with the East China government, of course, it is cost-effective, and even if the East China government breaks the contract and refuses to negotiate, Russia has no loss, buy 1000 horses to the East China government, and make a small profit, and the East China government cannot rely on these 1000 horses to organize a strong cavalry army.

In fact, the traveler is according to the historical process of the old time and space and the current situation in this time and space, the Russo-Japanese War is very likely to occur in 1904 as scheduled, because the Trans-Siberian Railway will be built in 1905, and Japan can only start the war in 1904, otherwise there is basically no hope of victory, of course, the Russo-Japanese War may not break out in February 1904 like the old time and space, but the East China government promised Russia to start negotiations in 1904, and did not specify the month, as long as it dragged on until the outbreak of the war, the negotiations would not end。

At present, the East China government only wants to make full use of the last time to make arrangements for itself to increase its bargaining chips in the world's most important gamble before the First World War, and requires the expansion of the scope of business and the right to operate the wharf, that is, to make full use of the layout in the northeast, to place intelligence personnel, collect intelligence, and understand the situation, and the purchase of the three hippos can only be regarded as an additional value-added.

In the past two years, the East China government has bought a total of more than 5,000 high-quality horses, and opened two large military horse farms in Shandong, now the number of horses in the People's Army has reached more than 7,500, and the cavalry troops have also expanded into regimental levels, but more than 6,000 of them are Mongolian horses, but in the Eight-Nation Coalition War of Aggression against China, Shanhaiguan defeated the Russian army in a battle, and captured more than 1,000 Russian three hippos, and the quality of the three hippos is significantly stronger than that of Mongolian horses, so take this opportunity to buy another batch of three hippos to enrich the cavalry and transport forces。

In fact, after the Javanese action to protect overseas Chinese, Japan paid close attention to the development of the situation, and since it was Britain that intervened in Java, Japan could not hold its breath, and if the East China Government and Britain turned against each other and pushed the East China Government to Russia's side, it would be quite unfavorable to Japan. The East China Government has also sent diplomats to communicate frequently with the two sides, hoping that the two sides will exercise restraint and settle the matter peacefully, and even intends to send special envoys to visit the two countries in order to mediate between them. Fortunately, the [Batavia Treaty] was successfully signed, and the East China Government and Britain did not tear their faces, and after the signing of the [Batavia Treaty], the East China Government gathered the Japanese and British consuls to hold a meeting, and the three sides reaffirmed that the attitude of cooperation against Russia remained unchanged, and Japan breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that Japan has determined itself to start a war against Russia, the East China Government has frequently held talks with Russia at this time, and although the level is relatively low, and it is basically at the economic level, it has also made Japan feel uneasy, and it has sent inquiries to the East China Government through the Qingdao Consulate. However, the East China Government explained to Japan that economic development is only a means, and the purpose is to collect intelligence and prepare for war against Russia, so that the Japanese Government does not have to overreact, and the East China Government's determination to resist Russia has not changed.

Japan also proposed to the East China Government that it hoped to formally negotiate with the East China Government on military cooperation in waging war against Russia. It turned out that on May 12, 1903, the Japanese Chief of Staff Marshal Oyama Iwa played to Emperor Meiji, formally putting forward the request for war against Russia, and the Japanese government and the opposition received a lot of support, and the Japanese government also attached great importance to Oyama Iwa's performance, and Emperor Meiji personally issued an edict ordering the Japanese General Staff to immediately start formulating a war plan against Russia.

Although Japan used Russia as an imaginary enemy to expand its armaments after the First Sino-Japanese War, it still pinned great hopes on a negotiated settlement of the dispute between the two countries, and the performance of Oyama Iwa and the edict of Emperor Meiji marked the beginning of Japan's formal implementation of the war against Russia. Under such circumstances, Japan naturally hopes that the East China government will be able to fight against Russia together with it, after all, Russia is still a behemoth from the outside.

Of course, this does not mean that Japan has great expectations for the East China government, but that it must first understand how much strength its partners have, so that it can formulate its own battle plan. Japan's bottom line for the East China government was to remain neutral in the Russo-Japanese War and to provide material support to Japan.

The East China government also agreed to Japan's request, and the two sides agreed to find an opportunity to hold formal talks in August and September, because both sides need time to prepare. This is when Japan is relieved.

At this moment, the overseas Chinese fleet finally returned to Qingdao, and was warmly welcomed by people from all walks of life in Qingdao, and the East China Government also held a grand welcoming ceremony at the wharf, and commended the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions on the spot, and all the soldiers could receive a commemorative award for protecting overseas Chinese, and the warships and teams participating in the protection of overseas Chinese were all awarded a pennant, and the regiment recorded a collective first-class meritorious service, and the Qingzhou and Yizhou warships recorded a collective second-class meritorious service, and as many as 300 soldiers received meritorious service awards, and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives were recorded as a personal third-class meritorious service.

In the end, it was announced that the soldiers participating in the protection of overseas Chinese would have a seven-day holiday, while the soldiers of the Qingzhou and Yizhou warships would have a 15-day holiday, after all, they had been away from home for more than seven months. And the soldiers were very happy, after all, they had time to reunite with their families.

For the German skilled workers who arrived in Qingdao with the Qingzhou and Yizhou ships, they could each receive an additional bonus of 100 pounds as compensation for their involvement in the incident. 100 pounds to 2000 German marks, in this day and age, is a lot of income for the average German worker, so these mechanics are also very satisfied, although it is said that the delay in Java for more than two months, it is worth it.

After the end of the welcome ceremony, the soldiers turned back to the barracks, cleaned up their belongings, and began the official holiday tomorrow, and the Qingzhou ship and the Yizhou ship were dragged into the dock by tugboats for overhaul, originally these two warships were new ships, and they were still in the run-in period, far from the overhaul period, but this time not only carried out a long ocean-going voyage, but suffered varying degrees of damage in the battle, and the damage of the Yizhou was not small, and because there was no repair shop in Java, and the best repair time was missed, it was not allowed to be raised for overhaul. Although other warships do not need to enter the dock, they also need to carry out daily overhaul and maintenance.

Luo Yue led the troops back to the barracks, and then recruited company-level officers for a meeting, mainly to arrange holiday arrangements, requiring the officers to return to the army, requiring the soldiers to maintain the style of soldiers during the vacation, respect military discipline, etc., and remind them to pay attention to the time to return to the team, not to be late, etc. Then Luo Yue left the barracks and returned to his residence.

At this time, Zhou Weiying has also been transferred back to Qingdao to work, and this time Zhou Weiying is ready to work in Qingdao for a long time, firstly, this time back to Qingdao, Luo Yue will basically not have a long-term station, and will settle in Qingdao for a period of time; second, it is not conducive to Zhou Weiying's development to change the place of work frequently, so Luo Yue and his wife can also be stable for a period of time.

And that night, Luo Yue and Zhou Weiying went to Qin Zheng and his wife's house for dinner together, and the family was finally reunited again. Now, in the third year of the establishment of the East China government, the living conditions of the travelers have greatly improved. At the beginning of this year, Qin Zheng and Zhou Ping moved out of the original dormitory building and lived in a three-story villa building, with all kinds of living facilities, and two waiters regularly took care of their daily life, and specially divided a floor to stay in Luo Yue and Zhou Weiying when they returned.

At dinner, the family talked and laughed, and the atmosphere was very warm.

Qin Zheng said: "Xiao Luo, when you go back to Qingdao this time, the main task is training, and the task is also very arduous, we will talk about this later, but you will stay in Qingdao for at least two years this time, and Xiaoying will have to work in your current position for at least 3 years, so you can also live a stable life for a while, so if you have time, you will come back to live for a few more days, such a big house, there are only me and your mother, and we can live in space." ”

Zhou Ping also said: "Yes, Xiao Luo just came back from Java, the soldiers are on vacation, and you don't have much to do, just stay at home for a few days." ”

Luo Yue hurriedly nodded and said, "Okay, let's stay for a few days." ”

Qin Zheng said again: "Also, it's rare for you to have such a long period of stability, take advantage of this time to hurry up and have a child, I still want to hold my grandson early?"

Although she has been married to Luo Yue for more than a year, Zhou Weiying still blushed, after all, she is only 23 years old, in the old time and space, this age may have just graduated from school, so she said coquettishly: "Dad-"

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "What's this, getting married and having children is a normal thing, although you are still young, but military families, it is common to separate the two places, and such a stable time is not much." ”

At this time, Zhou Ping said: "Okay, okay, let's say a few words, let them go with the flow of children's affairs, let's not worry about it more." ”