On November 11, 1897, Minister Schleier arrived in the port of Hamburg aboard the battleship "Elector" of the German Navy, and was immediately summoned by Kaiser Wilhelm, and the Prime Minister, Prince Hornlow, also participated in this rare meeting.

And Schleier, the young diplomat who played a great role in the establishment of Sino-German strategic cooperation, also embarked on a new starting point in his political career, and the Prime Minister Prince Hornlow appointed him to the extremely important post of foreign minister of the Reich on behalf of the Kaiser, and the core diplomatic interests obviously came from the more urgent interests of the German Empire in the East.

Schleier apparently did not disappoint Kaiser Wilhelm II this time, he brought Qin Kai's highest respect for the German Empire, China will open 12 private shipbuilding bases in southern China and the South China Confederation territories to Germany to meet the peripheral production capacity needs of the German Imperial Navy, which means that although the Chinese side cannot immediately provide the German Empire with the export of large naval warships, it has agreed to open China's production capacity to serve the German military.

The first batch of agreements signed included the manufacture of 2 notification vessels, 40 sets of three-expansion steam engines, 120 sets of TK93 vertical boilers, and 2,500 tons of marine carburized armor parts for Germany...... The export of these products, although not able to directly supply the German Reich with advanced warships, could greatly speed up the construction of German naval shipyards.

For the news brought back by Schleier, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prince Hornlow were naturally satisfied, facing the powerful maritime overlord - the British Empire. The German Empire, which was close at hand, naturally felt the greatest pressure. Although the German navy has grown by leaps and bounds in just three years. The size of 18 battleships and battlecruisers has completely achieved the suppression of the continental shelf countries.

However, for the British Empire, which awakened after the war in the Far East, even if the Empire was trying its best to catch up, it still felt tremendous pressure, not from the economy, but from the British Empire's century-old industrial accumulation, and the German Empire's efforts to catch up for more than 20 years were obviously impossible to surpass at once.

And Schleier clearly didn't just bring this important agreement. China's export of industrial capacity at the same time, of course, also has corresponding requirements, from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce agreement, incidentally from China's light industry exports from China, varieties of leather products to canned food, the list of nearly 60 items, large and small, this somewhat surprised the Kaiser and Prince Hohenlow...... Although, the content of this transaction realized Schleier had been briefed by telegram.

Wilhelm II bowed his head in contemplation, and Prince Hornlow immediately understood, "Lord Schleier." We use the full use of industrial capacity from the Far East, but in view of the tariff agreement between China and Germany. As well as the abundant supply of materials in our country, it seems that it is not necessary to import light industrial goods from the Far East in large quantities...... Is this what the Chinese strongly demand? ”

Schleier had obviously been thinking about this problem for a long time, and he immediately took out a stack of documents from his briefcase and handed it over, "Your Excellency, this is the relevant commodity trade agreement and quotation provided by the Chinese Ministry of Industry, and the Chinese have obviously investigated very carefully, and the price of these products is at least two percent lower than the products obtained by our country in Europe, moreover, this already includes the transportation costs from the Far East to Europe!" ”

Speaking of this, Schleier looked at Wilhelm II's somewhat surprised expression very calmly, this obviously did not understand the price in this trade agreement, but after hearing Schleier's explanation, he also understood what the Chinese meant, China is unceremoniously asking for special rights and interests in trade, but if the information he learned is accurate, instead of trading with the French, Russians, and British, it is really better to buy cheaper Chinese goods!

Schleier naturally saw the effect of his statement, and immediately asserted in a firm tone, "Your Majesty, from my observation in the Far East for more than ten years, that vast empire, with its almost inexhaustible manpower, made the agricultural products of the Far East large in scale and inexpensive, while our main competitor, the British Empire, was able to maintain its long-term development in heavy industry, apparently thanks to the huge colonial resources they possessed, and China ...... I think that this is the kind of help that can be used for the rise of Prussia! ”

Prince Hohenlow apparently understood what His Majesty meant, and he immediately and sharply raised several questions about the trade of Chinese goods, but he soon received satisfactory answers......

A day later, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin, Wang Li, met with the new German Foreign Minister Schleier, who received a very satisfactory answer...... The German Empire was willing to strengthen complementary trade with China in light industry and agricultural trade, and the German Empire would provide tariff protection on Chinese goods, but only if the prices of Chinese goods were exported in accordance with the agreement between the two sides!

The telegram quickly forwarded the news to the port telegraph offices, and on the afternoon of November 14, the head of the Ministry of Commerce, He Xing, personally delivered it to Qin Kai's desk, Wang Li apparently achieved additional results in his negotiations with the Germans, and Schleier played a very important role in it, the German magnate who had benefited greatly from Sino-German relations, and after receiving some important funding, very generously agreed to assist China in obtaining the request for the establishment of a Chinese exclusive port in Austria-Hungary.

Of course, the purpose of setting up an exclusive port is naturally to provide assistance for the huge trade between China and Germany, which inevitably has to give Austria-Hungary a piece of the pie, but this is obviously already in the plan, and this additional result provides an important basis for the full import of Chinese goods into the huge territories of Germany and Austria, because, compared with the way of circumambulating the Mediterranean Sea into Germany and then transshipment, Austria-Hungary near the Suez Canal is obviously a more convenient unloading point.

Qin Kaile took the telegram, the entire European industry is rapidly turning to the direction of the arms race, even the German Empire such an industrial power has exposed the shortcomings of the industrial structure, and taking this opportunity to fully develop the industrial system of Greater China under his own rule is obviously an opportunity not to be missed.

In the past five years, it has fully opened up its light industry and manufacturing industry. At the same time, the strong national banking system adopts a tilted supportive policy. Nanyang Machinery provides technical support to various provinces. The domestic light industry products have completely entered the high-speed period of full-speed development, but then there is a headache for the Ministry of Commerce!

In this era, the tariff protection policy has long become a common practice in trade between countries, so that the domestic goods that have increased greatly because of the industrial production capacity have quickly appeared overcapacity in light industry, compared with the huge country with a local population of more than 400 million and an overseas population of nearly 100 million, this is definitely an incredible development result, and Qin Kai naturally understands the importance of overseas trade for the country's industrial development. So without hesitation, I took this huge benefit from Germany.

And his instructions were obviously very direct and crisp, "Chief He, immediately confirm the details of the trade with the Germans, and we want Europe to see our position!" ”

On the 17th, He Xing and the Acting Minister of the German Consulate Brück attended the grand ceremony of Tianjin Port, where 11 ocean-going ships loaded with Chinese goods slowly sailed out of the port under the escort of a Shanghai-class destroyer, which represented that Sino-German trade had entered a new complementary model, and this made the diplomats of various countries, especially the British, feel great pressure.

On the same day, He Xing did not conceal it at all, and directly announced the Sino-German package trade agreement to other countries. The news of China's export of military machinery to Germany immediately drew protests from London. However, Bauer clearly understands that China and Britain are not allies, and the warming up of Sino-German trade is obviously the result that China wants to see, and the only result of the tough attitude from London is only to expand the contradictions between China and Britain.

Therefore, although he visited the Minister of Foreign Affairs Zeng Jize many times, he always maintained a tactful attitude, he hoped to obtain a commitment from the Chinese side to ensure that China would not expand the scale of military industrial exports to the German Empire, but Zeng Jize obviously got a hint from Qin Kai, and he always said that he did not deny or clarify this, but he unreservedly expressed his interest in the British market with high tariffs!

Just when Bauer was busy thinking about the great power in the Far East to exert some pressure in order to obtain the capital to reply to London, on the morning of November 27, Zhou Ruidong, the chief of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and Lu Han, the chief of the navy, suddenly appeared at the Prime Minister's Office. And after Lu Han entered the house, he said, "Prime Minister, what's wrong with Panama!" ”

Panama...... This term obviously made Qin Kai not a little worried, and the appearance of these two here at the same time was obviously not an insignificant situation, "Ruidong, let's talk about the theme directly, whether the heat is in place!" ”

Cai Chen, director of the intelligence department of the Americas, sent a telegram that the French Canal Company had a serious accident while excavating the Gatun dam on the Chagres River, and the dam collapsed, killing a large number of engineering personnel, and more than a dozen Chinese Freemasons are currently missing...... I think now is the time to attack the French! Zhou Ruidong handed over a telegram, and then made a judgment very decisively.

Hearing this news, it was obvious that Qin Kai was also quite interested, as an important fulcrum of his Pacific strategy, he went all out to obtain the control of the Panama Canal, as a traverser, he would not see the huge benefits, however, Panama in this era, it was a province of Colombia, and the power operation of Shen Shouchang, the minister from the four South American countries, obtained the local entry point through the export of the guò industry.

And last time provoked the conflict between the American railroad company and the indigenous Panamanians, and finally the Tongguò shadow company successfully acquired the Panamanian railway, which is difficult to make money, but the problem is that the French company that controls the right to dig the canal, despite the huge deficit, the Colombian top management has always pinned its hopes on the French to continue to undertake the canal dug, and the French canal company continues to operate without dying!

Although the Global Sources consortium has been fully operational, it has never been able to leverage the support of the French high-level direct intervention to the canal company, and at the same time, Qin Kai considered that the blatant intervention, after all, this is an interference in a country's power, which is not conducive to establishing a positive international image of China, so the entire Panamanian operation has been secretly operated by the Intelligence Department to this day.

The collapse of the French Canal Company was apparently a secret collaboration between the Intelligence Department and the Global Sources consortium, and the collapse of the Gatun Dam was ...... He looked up at Zhou Ruidong, although this guy had a stern expression, it didn't mean that he also had his own ideas, maybe it was a big drama directed and acted by the Intelligence Department......

However, it is a good opportunity to intervene in Panama now...... But...... Qin Kai thought of something, "Ruidong, don't be in a hurry to meddle in this matter first, obviously the Mutual Freemasons will make a ......big deal first" Speaking of this, he turned his head sideways to Lu Han, "Gengtang, where is our battleship formation closest to Panama?" (To be continued......)