July was a tragic day, the small European country of Serbia assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, provoking the roar of the Austro-Hungarian war machine, and Europe entered a state of local war, which was a war without accidents, and everyone knew about the war before the war, but this did not prevent several European powers from placing bets on their own markets, and the war went in an unpredictable direction.

A month later, Serbia, which had the support of more than half of Europe's bookmakers, was finally powerless to resist the roaring war machine of the European-Hungarian Empire, at which time Britain, as the largest bookmaker in Europe, finally came out to declare war on Germany, and in the same month, the Russian Empire declared war on Germany, France declared war on Germany, and the Eastern Empire declared war on Germany.

The world was in an uproar, the direct action of the major dealers made the world unpredictable all of a sudden, far away in Beijing Zhongnanhai immediately issued a secret telegram called to maintain the status quo, in fact, secretly helping the British Empire, all of this is expected by the provincial overseers, the British Empire is the hegemon of this era, France is the largest place in the Asian colonies in this era, the Russian Empire borders China, and has been eyeing the region north of the Yangtze River in China, the Dongying Empire is the only imperialist country in Asia to achieve its own prosperity and strength, And China is surrounded by these three empires, naturally dare not make a mistake, although the German Wilhelm II and Yuan Dagongzi have a good relationship, but there is no selfish feelings in state affairs, not to mention the attitude of President Yuan Da to be emperor, that is, there is no support of the German Empire, and the support of the Dongying Empire.

The atmosphere in the telegraph and newspaper was very fierce and depressing, and all kinds of arguments appeared one after another, but for the Chinese civil and military officials and ordinary people, it was just one more thing to talk about, except that there was almost no difference except that rumors began to rise in the various leased areas of Jiujiang, and the expatriates of the Allied countries were generally subjected to injustice and hostility from the inhabitants of the Entente countries.

The fiercest conflict of foreign expatriates took place in Qingdao, China, the British Empire and the Dongying Empire have joined forces to open up a hot fight against Germany, and the Jiujiang side is calm, but the Dongying Empire, which is close to the water, has filled the forces of the Allied expatriates in the first time, and a few tickets back to Europe can be exchanged for millions of built factories, warehouses, and even villas, this business is really cost-effective, watching the power of the Dongying Empire so shameless while making war money while expanding rapidly, After two or three days, Brazil, who had a peaceful birthday, began to have a headache again.

He was a proud citizen of the British Empire, and it was impossible for him to do such a dirty thing of robbery while the fire was like the people of the East, but he could not help but do something but try to buy these people of the enemy country at a more reasonable price, and it was a pity that these people would rather be cheated by the people of the East than accept the olive branch extended by Brazil, and Brazil, as a gentleman of the British Empire, could only be saddened.

When the Dongying people were in full swing to compete for the assets of the people of the Allied countries, Chang Zhenbang was not idle, but the Dongying people wanted money, he wanted people, you must know that after all, there are only a small number of upper-class white masters who have money, factories and warehouses, and more of the expatriates are technicians and rogue hooligans who come to China to try their luck and make a fortune. It is the big trouble of the concession, Chang Zhenbang as an old friend naturally can't turn a blind eye, he went to Brazil to make a list, there are all kinds of technical jobs on it, Brazil is very surprised by Chang Zhenbang's mind and means, although he also knows that he is not holding back any good fart, but at this time he can't take care of it, as the consul of the British Empire in Jiujiang, he naturally takes stabilizing the order and prosperity of Jiujiang as the first priority, not only according to the list of Chang Zhenbang's technical jobs to give a list of personnel, He also added fuel to the problem and asked Chang Zhenbang to hire some Europeans as much as possible.

"Brother Zhenbang, hiring these people will do you a lot of benefits." Basili said with a smile like a big bad wolf bewitching Little Red Riding Hood: "First, these people are far more proficient in machines than the Chinese, and their daily expenses are similar to you Chinese, but the efficiency is really not the same!" Second, as far as I know, your Excellency's factories are not anything that can see the light, and after these people go to the factory, it is up to you to kill or chop them! As long as you have enough people, even if something happens, the British Empire will do its best to help you settle the matter. ”

For this proposal, Chang Zhenbang naturally did not accept it directly, but just said lightly that it was very complicated and overwhelmed. Brazil immediately said that as long as Chang Zhenbang accepted this European employee, he was willing to dredge up the relationship and then fund Chang Zhenbang's three machine tools free of charge.

Chang Zhenbang thought for a while and said: "Ten machine tools can no longer be said, you also know my situation, just a few machine tools, only with a sufficient number of machine tools, I can hire enough machine tool workers." ”

Basiri said: "Impossible, the Imperial Foreign Affairs Department will never agree to such a ridiculous thing!" I'll give you a maximum of five, and it's not guaranteed to be the Empire's newest machines. ”

In fact, it doesn't matter whether it is new or not in Chang Zhenbang's eyes, as long as he can work, after all, in the land of China, the ancient machine tool is also a new thing, so he pondered for a moment and said: "Okay, as long as Your Excellency the Consul can provide me with five machine tools, I will promise Your Excellency the Consul to recruit five more European workers with machine tools!" I have one request, though! ”

"My old friend, no matter what you ask, as long as I can do it without endangering the interests of the British Empire, I will definitely help you!" Seeing that Chang Zhenbang was willing to accept the work of expatriates from those European allies, Brazil couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and said with great relief.

Chang Zhenbang said mysteriously: "It's easy, you'll know when the time comes!" She winked at him mysteriously as she discussed with Basiri about recruiting expatriates.

The next day, countless Indian Ah San and Chinese compradors of the British Empire outside the British Concession hurriedly came and went in the empty buildings with lists in their hands, passing the news of Chang Zhenbang's recruitment to those European expatriates who were worried about their future, when these expatriates saw Chang Zhenbang's recruitment notice, they were shocked at first, and then some questioned the authenticity of the news. Some people even risked being beaten up and ordered a large glass of beer at a nearby bar, but not all of them are optimistic, after all, the Chinese are an ancient empire composed of peasant craftsmen and officials in their eyes, and it is impossible for such a country to carry out large-scale machine production, but doubts are doubts, anyway, there is no way to go, instead of sitting and eating empty, it is better to try your luck and not to farm these yellow monkeys.

Standing on the balcony of the consulate and watching through the telescope the hundreds of Allied expatriates dragging their families out of the British Concession like refugees and being taken away by people sent by Chang Zhenbang, Brazil couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, without these Allied nationals, the stability of the British Concession in Jiujiang would be guaranteed. Nowadays, there are many disputes in the various leased territories in China, but there are not many stables like Jiujiang, and this alone gives him a reason to apply to work in India after the end of his term, and when he thinks of being proud, he suddenly remembered Chang Zhenbang's rather mysterious request that day, and he couldn't help but wonder, what does this Oriental want?

Just when he was puzzled, the bearded officer of the patrol room came to Basiri's side in a hurry, and said breathlessly: "Your Excellency, there is a bad sign of fraud in the British Concession now, and a subject of the empire named John is going around buying the assets of those enemy nationals at a very low price. ”

"What's so strange about this, isn't that exactly what those shameless Dongying people do? It's just that I didn't expect that my British Empire would have such a gentlemanly guy, it's really pitiful! Basili gathered up his binoculars and said very sadly: "Although this guy named John has no gentlemanly manners, he can't be convicted of this!" ”

"Your Excellency doesn't know that this John has dual citizenship of the Empire and Austria-Hungary! Behind his takeovers are local Chinese officials. ”

"That's what happened!" Basili suddenly understood what Chang Zhenbang's request was, he thought for a moment, and said: "That John has purchased those materials, is there a criminal act that endangers the empire behind his actions!" ”

The bearded man thought for a moment and said, "Your Excellency, this scum of the empire named John has purchased a large number of precision machine tools and warehouses for Chinese officials, but it does not involve any military materials, let alone any intelligence information. But don't worry, your Excellency. Lord Silas is closely monitoring the every move of these enemies of the Empire, and if he has any whereabouts that are harmful to the interests of the Empire, Lord Silas will take him down! ”

"Okay, I got it!" Basili said lightly: "This kind of thing is very common in Tianjin and Shanghai and other concessions, and it is not surprising that many Chinese magnates will take their life's accumulated property to live in the concession after losing power!" However, as the person in charge of the patrol room, you are very competent, and I will recommend you what you want to the above! ”

The bearded man was very happy, and immediately said: "Thank you for your kindness, my subordinates are very honored to serve the empire and your Excellency." ”

"Although this kind of thing is very common in Tianjin and Shanghai, it is not much for us in Jiujiang, so you should pay close attention to the whereabouts of these people, and attach it to me in the report at the end of each month, so that I can judge the development of this matter, and also prepare for more Chinese officials to settle in the British Concession in the future." Basiri said lightly.

"Yes, Your Excellency! I'll do what you ask! The bearded man happily pushed down.

Chang Zhenbang sent someone to send a big red invitation about his son's 100th birthday.

Basili smiled faintly and said, "I just happened to have something to look for you, but I didn't expect you to send it to the door first, okay, according to the Chinese's saying, it is better to choose a day than to hit the day, three days later, let's see you at the banquet!" ”

This novel is from the King of Books