After a polite exchange between the two parties, the guests and hosts were seated in the reception room, and someone poured them coffee. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Prince Heinrich first said: "Political Commissar Qin, my country is very interested in the cooperation plan proposed by your side, but before we have formal talks, we hope to do another appraisal of the drawings of the three types of British warships provided by you, and this time General Tirpitz will preside over the appraisal, I hope you can take care of it." ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said: "Of course you can, we can also understand your country's caution, in fact, we will be the same." ”

At this time, Tirpitz said: "Commissar Qin, I hope to be able to see these drawings immediately. ”

Qin Zheng smiled: "Of course, we have prepared the room and drawings for Your Excellency. After a pause, Qin Zheng shook a bell on the coffee table, only to see the door of a side room open, and a young soldier walked out.

Qin Zheng said: "This second lieutenant Huang Zhe is our technical soldier, he has a deep study of the design of warships, and he is responsible for explaining the design ideas of these drawings for you." He said to Huang Zhe: "These two are the envoys of Germany, Prince Heinrich and General Tirpitz. ”

Huang Zhe subconsciously stretched out his hand, but immediately withdrew it, but saluted a military salute and stammered: "Your Excellency, mention... Hello, General Tirpitz. ”

Prince Heinrich first returned a military salute and nodded slightly, while Tirpitz looked at Huang Zhe suspiciously, feeling that this young man looked more like a student than a soldier, and the rank was only a second lieutenant, how much could he know about the design of warships, but Qin Zheng asked him to explain these drawings for himself, did these overseas Chinese plan to perfunctory themselves? However, out of politeness, Tirpitz also raised his hand and returned the salute.

Huang Zhe's heart is much more excited than Qin Zheng's, because as a lover of heavy ships and giant guns, it is impossible not to know the name of the father of the German High Seas Fleet, and in the old time and space, Huang Zhe was just an otaku who loved military affairs and liked battleships, only because he collected a large amount of battleship information in the old time and space, he was absorbed into the army, and after the rank of the whole army was greatly upgraded, he was promoted to second lieutenant, but he did not have Qin Zheng's good psychological quality, so when he saw Tirpitz, he was inevitably a little nervous.

At this time, Qin Zheng said: "Second Lieutenant Huang, you take General Tirpitz to appraise the drawings." ”

Only then did Huang Zhe settle down and said, "General Tirpitz, please come with me." ”

Tirpitz nodded, then got up and walked out of the reception room with Huang Zhe. Qin Zheng and Prince Heinrich remained in the reception room to chat.

However, before Tirpitz saw the three sets of drawings, the two sides could not start a formal meeting, although Prince Heinrich was the envoy of the visit to Qingdao and was able to make a final decision, but the cooperation talks between the two sides ultimately depended on Tirpitz's appraisal of the drawings, if Tirpitz determined that the three sets of drawings were fake, then there was no basis for the two sides to negotiate cooperation.

During this period of time, Qin Zheng and Prince Heinrich mainly chatted casually, of course, both of them hoped to understand each other's attitudes, goals, and the bottom line of the negotiation through casual talk, so as to prepare for the next formal meeting.

Prince Heinrich first said: "There is a question that I have never understood, and I hope to ask the political commissar Qin for advice." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Please speak." ”

Prince Heinrich said: "Why did you take the initiative to ask us Germany to cooperate, now strictly speaking, we are now hostile parties, and you have also captured our colony Jiaoao. After a pause, Prince Heinrich added: "I don't want to argue with the political commissar Qin about the sovereignty of Qingdao and the legitimacy of the Lend-Lease treaty signed between China and the Qing State, but to say that before that, China actually controlled Qingdao, and you occupied Qingdao by force, and you put forward your desire to cooperate with China after occupying Qingdao, which really makes me very incomprehensible." ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Your Excellency's question is very good, and I also appreciate His Excellency's frankness, this kind of frankness is very important for our meeting, so I can also answer His Excellency the Prince very frankly." ”

Prince Heinrich nodded, sat down in his chair, and bowed, "I'm respectful." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Although we have achieved some victories on the battlefield and occupied the initiative, frankly speaking, our overall strength is not strong, and it is impossible to confront the Eight-Nation Alliance for a long time, and we must end this war as soon as possible, so we are willing to participate in negotiations with other countries." However, we will not be able to pay reparations for foreign land cession like the Qing government, which will make us lose our moral superiority, and we can only completely defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance and end this war by fighting for the weakness of the Eight-Nation Alliance. And we think that the biggest weakness of the Eight-Nation Coalition is that there is no internal unity, and each side has its own evil intentions and interests, so we need to find a partner in the Eight-Nation Alliance, so that we can divide and disintegrate the Eight-Nation Coalition from within, and we think that this partner is Germany. ”

Prince Heinrich frowned and said, "Political Commissar Qin, I am very happy with your frankness, and I also admit that what you just said is true, the Eight-Nation Alliance is actually a group of people with different ideas and different goals, and only want to fight for their own interests. Therefore, your idea of dismantling the Eight-Nation Alliance from within is completely correct, but why should you choose Germany as a partner instead of Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and Japan? ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "What His Excellency the Prince said is not wrong, but there is one thing that His Excellency the Prince did not say, in fact, Germany also has Germany's unique advantages. ”

Prince Heinrich was a little puzzled and said, "I really don't understand what unique advantages Germany has?" I am willing to ask Political Commissar Qin for advice. ”

Qin Zheng said: "That's the conditions we can provide, which is exactly what Germany needs." ”

Prince Heinrich said: "Does Commissar Qin mean these three sets of drawings of British warships? These three sets of drawings are indeed what we need in Germany, but for other countries, this is also a favorable condition, and I think France, Russia, and Japan will all be interested in these three sets of drawings." ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Your Excellency, you have misunderstood, these three sets of drawings are only part of the conditions we can provide, but they are not all. And I mean, if you want to be a partner, you have to give each other what they need most, but it's not optional, or what they don't need, and that's the only way to impress each other. Britain has extensive commercial and political interests in China, and in terms of security, Britain has the most powerful fleet in the world, and the benefits we can provide to Britain can only be regarded as negligent and insignificant; France's interests in China are second only to Britain, and I am afraid that we cannot look down on the benefits we can provide, and in terms of security, France's greatest enemy is your country, which is why they have formed an alliance with Russia, and we cannot help France in this regard; Russia, Both Japan and Japan have great ambitions for China's territory, which are far from being satisfied by the drawings of these three sets of warships and ordinary economic cooperation, and this is something that we cannot give; the United States has no ambition for China's territory, but what they need is comprehensive free trade with China, and we cannot satisfy the United States in this regard. So we simply do not have a basis for full cooperation with these countries. ”

Heinrich said: "And where is the basis for your cooperation with Germany?"

Qin Zheng said: " First of all, Germany does not have many interests in the Far East, because after the loss of Qingdao, Germany has almost no foothold in the Far East, so if Germany still wants to maintain its presence in the Far East and wants to gain some benefits from it, the only way to cooperate with us is to cooperate with us, although we will not give up Qingdao's sovereignty, but it is completely possible to carry out economic cooperation, mutual benefit, and help Germany expand its interests in the Far East; second, we know that Germany is now aiming at Britain to build an ocean-going navy, and we have a little ability to operate in Britain, for example, the drawings of the three types of British warships this time are exactly what Germany needs most; and finally, please forgive me for being bluntWe know that Germany is trying its best to use diplomatic means to get out of this situation, but war is always a necessary option, and although we and Germany cannot form an alliance like France and Russia, in terms of military technology, we should be able to provide Germany with some help, so that the German army can increase some chances of winning in future battles, which we will show His Excellency the Prince in the next few days。 I think these should be the basis for our cooperation. ”

After listening to Qin Zheng's words, Heinrich was silent for a while before he said: " Political Commissar Qin, I admit that the basis of cooperation between our Germany and you is indeed more than that of other countries, but have you ever thought about it, in this war, you have caused the greatest damage to our Germany, Qingdao has been occupied by you, and the German Far East Fleet has also been wiped out by you, it can be said that in this eight-nation alliance, only we Germany have suffered the greatest losses, and do you think that in such a situation, our Germany will still accept cooperation with you?"

Qin Zheng smiled, Heinrich's words made him feel at ease, at least here in Heinrich, the matter of cooperation with Germany has been decided, although Heinrich's words just now seem to be very tough, but in fact, it is hard and soft, to advance as retreat, deliberately raise the profile, just hope to fight for more interests for Germany in the formal talks, if Germany has no intention of cooperating with the traverser, why send such two heavyweights to visit Qingdao?

Qin Zheng said: "I believe that Germany will definitely cooperate with us. ”

Heinrich said: "Why, I hope that Political Commissar Qin can give me a reasonable reason?"