9ooo1983 Chapter 464 Four two fights a thousand pounds

In this office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tang Shaoyi and Wu Tingfang chatted with a towel "Tell me that Wu Chaoshu will take a train to Tianjin in the afternoon, and then board a ship from Tianjin to Chile, so Wu Tingfang ended the conversation in time and left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Wu Chaoshu.

After Wu Tingfang and Wu Chaoshu left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tang Shaoyi hung up on the presidential palace again. Telephone, asking about the whereabouts of the president. But the answer is still "the president is still in Nanyuan".

Since the president had not returned to the city, Tang Shaoyi decided to hold a meeting first to discuss with his staff the details of holding formal diplomatic talks with the British minister.

Ever since it was learned that the central government of China had reached an agreement with the Russian envoy to China on the issue of cooperation in the construction of the Inner and Outer Mongolia railway, the Dongjiaomin Lane was almost turned upside down, and the British and Japanese envoys in China were most excited.

It's not so much "excited." It's rather "anger." "This is because once this railway from Kulun in Outer Mongolia to Inner Mongolia is completed and opened to traffic, it will undoubtedly greatly strengthen the power of Tsarist Russia in China, and what is even more worrying is that if the Tsarist Russian government shifts its strategic focus from Europe to Asia because of the benefits brought by this railway, it will not only pose a serious threat to Japan's interests in China, but will also have a far-reaching impact on the situation in Europe as a whole and even in the world.

It is by no means alarmist that a mere agreement on the construction of a railway can cause drastic changes in the world situation

Got it. The British minister's fears were understood, and Germany's position on the matter was to be calculated.

That's right, for the international event of China's cooperation with Russia in the construction of the Inner and Outer Mongolia Railway, Germany asked Emperor Wilhelm II to send a congratulatory telegram to Russia to "congratulate" the Russian Tsar on the completion of the railway construction plan, because the German Emperor also hoped to use this railway to tell the Russian Tsar this, simple and simple truth: Europe is all hard bones, will gnaw teeth, it is better to go back to the Far East, where there is a piece of fat, and the Japanese watchdog has also been exhausted by the "Far East madman".

Germany gloated on the sidelines, the United States also joked in the back, followed by the congratulatory telegram from the German emperor, and US President Taft also sent a congratulatory telegram to the central governments of China and Russia, congratulating the two countries on their "great progress" in commerce and trade. According to the principle of "equal interests," American businessmen and consortia should also share in the benefits of China's commerce and trade, so the grand "Grand Cross Railroad project" should indeed be launched immediately.

Seeing that Britain's interests were almost forgotten by many countries, the British Government was anxiously red-eyed, and the British Foreign Secretary personally sent a telegram to Mr. Zhu Erdian, the British Minister to China, and issued a sternly worded order. In Jurdian's own words, the telegram was written in a "small and mad dog-like tone, barking." Although he expressed "regret" for his boss's gaffe, Zhu Erdian quickly fulfilled his duties, drafted a diplomatic memorandum with his assistant overnight, and invited Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Shaoyi to the British Legation in China the next day, solemnly handed over the diplomatic memorandum to General Tang, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the Republic of China government with this kind of behavior that violated diplomatic etiquette.

Now, the diplomatic memorandum is resting on the desk in front of Tang Shaoyi, and the rice-character flag on the cover is particularly eye-catching. As if to remind Commander-in-Chief Tang that the dignity of Britain cannot be ignored, and so can Britain's military and diplomatic strength.

In fact, the diplomatic memorandum did not mention any harsh conditions, but it was based on Russia's "Kugui Railway Plan1". Xiao drafted a new railway plan, this railway from Hangzhou, across the Xijiang River, Fujian, directly to Guangdong, and finally with the Guangzhou-Kowloon railway, this railway is also a Sino-foreign joint venture, after completion, should also refer to the Sino-Russian Kugui railway organization of a Sino-foreign joint railway company. Manage everything together.

If this railway is completed, then, from Nanjing, through the Shanghai-Nanjing-Ningbo railway, you can go directly to the city of Guangzhou, from this, the route can be seen, this is actually the American consortium that was the eastern parallel line of the "Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway", once the railway is completed, there will be competition between these two railways.

Now, the "Canton-Hankou Railway Project 1" of the American consortium has been expanded to "Grand Cross Railway Jige". "In the face of an ambitious American consortium, this of the British government." The small plan of the Xiyue Railway is not so much to compete for the interests of the railway, but to protect the face of the British government, because the railway is too close to the coastline, and in such an era when the routes of steamships are becoming more and more popular, this kind of railway regulation seems a bit silly, and even Tang Shaoyi, a layman, can see that this railway is unprofitable, at least for the time being.

However, the face of the British Empire is very important, and Mr. Liu Cai Zhu Erdian has hinted at this several times. For this railway, the British government is aspiring. No matter what the central government of China thought, the British government would not abandon the railway plan unless Russia abandoned the Kugui railway plan. Otherwise. Britain must get the planning and construction plan for the "Xiyue Railway" by the end of the year.

It must be admitted. The deadline given by the British minister was relatively generous, and it was autumn, and the end of the year was still far away, and the central government had ample time to consider and discuss this "proposal" put forward by the British company for the construction of a railway. "This may be seen as a move by the British government. gesture, after all, the one who now holds power in this country is a "Far Eastern madman." "For the face of the British government. This soldier has never cared much about it. The British Government did not want to be slapped in the face again, and at least it was impossible for it to devote its forces to the Far East until it had withdrawn from the affairs of the Child"1.

Tang Shaoyi also understood this, so he was not so anxious to transfer the diplomatic memorandum submitted by the British envoy to the President of the Republic of China.

After Chief Tang's order was issued, the staff and advisers quickly rushed to the conference room to attend the meeting, and to their surprise. Also arriving was Zhan Tianwei, a railway expert. He has been in Beijing for the past few days, selecting some young students transferred from Wuhan, and it is said that he intends to train reserve talents for railway construction. Tang Shaoyi made a phone call, and Zhan Tianyou rushed over.

However, Zhan Tianyou's current mental state is not very good, he looks dejected, others kindly asked, he just shook his head and sighed, refusing to say the reason, but it was Tang Shaoyi's words after he rushed over that everyone understood why Zhan Tianyou was so depressed.

"Chengcheng, you don't have to be so frustrated, although the Kugui Railway uses the size of Russian-made rails, and it can't be on the same track as Jinghan Road and Jingzhang Road, but can you still take the train? It's a big deal to build a shunting yard in Zhangjiakou and reserve some suitable carriages and locomotives, so that the problem will not be solved? Besides, if the Russian ** team comes by car, they will have to change cars when they arrive in Zhangjiakou, which is also conducive to national defense. ”

Only then did the crowd understand. It turned out that Zhan Tianyou was still worried about the track system of the Kugui Railway, indeed, for an engineering expert who is going all out to unify China's railway system, this Kugui Railway is undoubtedly a head-on blow, and this depression is understandable.

"At the end of the day, our country is too weak."

Zhan Tiange sighed. I sat at the conference table, but I didn't complain about anyone. It's just that the mood is still not very high, looking at Tang Shaoyi. I want to know why the other party is in a hurry to call me over.

"Please come over today. It was an important foreign matter to discuss the construction of the railway, so I asked you to come over. ”

Tang Shaoyi said a few words, umbrellad out the diplomatic memorandum submitted by the British minister, briefly introduced the contents, and then asked everyone to speak freely.

"This railway is too close to the coastline1 to have little commercial value, but it still has some benefits for opening up Fujian and Xijiang Inner 6 areas

Zhan Tianyou was the first to speak. Although he was not optimistic about the economic interests of this railway, he did not oppose it, because the railway construction design 1 did not involve the exploitation of mineral resources along the line, so strictly speaking, this cannot be regarded as a loss of sovereignty, after all, it is a Sino-British joint venture company that controls and builds the railway, on the surface. This is a business investment, and perhaps only everyone here knows that there is a diplomatic issue involved.

"Railways don't just make money. It can also transport troops and train weights. If the construction of this railway was completed in the last "Guangdong Incident", then the central center could also quickly mobilize troops to quell the rebellion, and it would not have had such a big impact on Guangdong

Tang Shaoyi reminded everyone from another angle, which also told everyone that he supported the construction of this railway. Because there was no way to refuse the British "proposal", at least in his opinion, there was no way to offend the British. China is too weak, if it can offend one less power, it will offend one less, and now that the Japanese government has been treated as a monkey by President Zhao, and it is angry, at this time, it is better to win over the British government, lest these two powers join forces to show the government of the Republic of China.

According to the information that Tang Shaoyi received from the US minister, because of the "Xinzhou incident, the issue of small apologies, and the subsequent Sino-Russian railway cooperation, there is a fierce debate within the Japanese government to discuss whether it is better to give China a little color, after all, Zhao Bei's "appearance" on these two matters is too ugly. By using the Japanese government's apology as a means to divert the attention of the people, he skillfully sided with Russia.1 It also caused the public to ignore President Zhao Da's "traitorous" behavior, consciously or unconsciously.

For the actions of the Japanese government, Zhao Bei may not be afraid, but Tang Shaoyi is afraid, so, in his opinion, the current position of the British government is very critical, as long as the British government does not nod, the Japanese government will never dare to take blatant military action, even if they make trouble, but they can't make any big waves, after all, the current Sino-Russian "friendship" is further deepening.

Since Governor Tang did not oppose the railway plan,1 then no one else was easy to oppose, so the Foreign Ministry quickly gave an opinion, "strongly recommending" that the president approve the Sino-British railway plan, so as to ease the tense relations between China and Britain.

After the meeting. Tang Shaoyi made another call and called the presidential palace to inquire about the president's whereabouts, but was still told that Mr. President was still in the Nanyuan 6 Navy Joint Staff Office, and he didn't know when he would come back, and the adjutant in the chamberlain suggested that General Tang go directly to Nanyuan to see the president.

Of course Tang Shaoyi won't go. Because he learned from the adjutant that the people who went to Nanyuan with the president to inspect today were basically officers from the United Front, and there were only a few Beiyang officers, so Tang Shaoyi really didn't want to go to Nanyuan, in his opinion, the officers of the United Front were too fanatical, and sometimes they were more unreasonable than the veterans in Beiyang, and he didn't want to be bored with himself.

Tang Shaoyi didn't want to go to Nanyuan. However, Zhan Tianyou wanted to meet the president, so he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to borrow an official carriage, took a few assistants, and rushed to Nanyuan with a blue face.