The Chinese Empire was secretly transferring assets back to China all over the world, especially for companies and individuals in the Allied member states, where it was necessary to transfer assets. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, some companies and individuals are reluctant to transfer assets in order to seek high profits.

But the Chinese Imperial government could not tell them that war was about to break out, so it had to use all kinds of means to get these companies and individuals to return home.

In order to find a reasonable excuse for the return of overseas assets, the Chinese Empire announced comprehensive economic sanctions against the Entente bloc and erected trade barriers.

Among them, trade barriers have been erected for enterprises abroad, especially those in the Entente countries, to prevent domestic enterprises from continuing to invest, and at the same time, 500% of the trade tariffs have been imposed on enterprises that have already invested.

As a result, the major companies of the Chinese Empire in the territory of the Entente countries will be overwhelmed by such high taxes, and the profits will be collected by the government of the Chinese Empire, and it will be a loss of money to continue to operate, so they will have to close the major companies in the Entente countries and sell their assets at the same time, at least to get the capital back.

To a certain extent, the public resentment of overseas companies is boiling, but fortunately, the Chinese Empire did not immediately implement trade barriers and tariffs, but postponed them after three months, giving overseas companies enough time to sell their assets and transfer funds back to China.

Of course, the necessary pacification is for sure.

To this end, Li Weiguo specifically approved a new provision to compensate overseas companies whose assets are transferred back to China for 50% of the losses, and at the same time tax exemption for three years after returning to China.

This regulation quickly made the bosses and employees of the major overseas companies elated, and they calculated that it was a very good deal, so they responded to the request of the imperial government to transfer overseas assets back to China.

Due to the economic sanctions imposed by the Chinese Empire, it was only natural that these companies of the Chinese Empire had transferred their assets one after another, so the governments of the Allied member states did not think much about it, but applauded.

This is because the power of the Chinese Empire has led to the Chinese Empire's companies running rampant and domineering in the Entente countries, cutting corners in their products, and dumping a large number of unqualified products in the Chinese Empire to the markets of various countries, harming the people of all countries and squeezing the hard-earned money of the people of all countries, while the governments of the Entente countries dare not speak out.

Now that the companies of the Chinese Empire have withdrawn, the governments of the Entente countries have naturally applauded, and the local enterprises in the Entente countries are singing and dancing, working hard for more than ten years, and finally waiting for the Chinese Empire's counterparts to withdraw, and the local companies of the Entente countries will recover their vitality from then on.

Originally, the major companies of the Chinese Empire withdrew from the Entente countries, and their assets should have been sold cheaply, but the result was that the Chinese Empire was technologically advanced, even if the factory equipment in various countries was castrated, it was more advanced than the similar factory equipment in each country, so the factory equipment that these Chinese Imperial companies did not want or were inconvenient to ship back to China were purchased by local companies in various countries at a high price.

In particular, the American branch of Chunghwa Telecom was directly acquired by the Rockefeller consortium for one billion dollars, making it the largest acquisition in the history of China and the United States.

At the same time, the Rockefeller consortium also obtained a contract for the authorized local production of telecommunications switches from the Chinese Empire, for which it paid an additional $50 million in royalties.

The $50 million was really given to the Chinese Empire for nothing, because the Chinese Empire knew very well that once the war broke out, all the patented technologies of the Chinese Empire would no longer be recognized by the American government, and then the local American enterprises would not have to pay patent royalties to the Chinese Empire, and they could even directly copy the products of the Chinese Empire, which would become legal.

Therefore, the Chinese Empire knew very well that these patented technologies would become invalid with the outbreak of war, so it would be very generous to "give out" to major American companies, and finally squeeze them a huge amount of money to pit the United States again.

The same thing happened in other Entente countries, where the Chinese Empire used various means and pretexts to transfer assets, transfer patented technology.

However, the imperial court of the Chinese Empire announced to the whole world that it would benefit all mankind, and deliberately made a righteous and awe-inspiring image, which made the people of the world full of emotion.

It wasn't until the outbreak of the world war that people all over the world understood why the Chinese Empire was so "generous" at the beginning, especially the company bosses who bought the assets and patents of the Chinese Empire at a high price in the Entente countries, and their expressions were more wonderful than their dead fathers.

In order to attract the attention of the Entente and prevent the Entente from detecting the real military action of the Chinese Empire in the First Year of the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Weiguo personally ordered the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire to sail into the Persian Gulf and engage in a military confrontation with the Third Detachment of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Royal Navy of the British Empire stationed in the Gulf of Kuwait.

At the same time, Li Weiguo also ordered the Third Brigade of the World Railway Road Escort Corps under the Shence Army of the Chinese Empire, stationed in Baghdad, to carry heavy equipment south and arrive in the Basra area north of Kuwait to create a false attack on Kuwait City.

The joint action of the navy and army of the Chinese Empire immediately frightened the British little friends, and the eyes of the whole world were instantly attracted to Kuwait, a small place, and the other members of the entire Entente bloc were also nervous, for fear that China and Britain would disagree and fight in Kuwait and detonate a world war.

In the same way, the member states of the Central Powers are also very nervous, and this is not just a war between two countries alone, once the war starts, it will be a full-scale war between the entire Central Powers and the Entente Powers, and the whole world will be in chaos.

Because the Allied members were not sure of victory, they had been holding back and making concessions to the Allied members, including the Chinese Empire.

The Allied member states all believed that the Chinese Empire was invincible and would eventually be able to defeat the Entente, but the cost of the war could not be explained, and the Allied member states did not think that the outbreak of war was a good thing, because in modern warfare, once the cannon sounded ten thousand taels of gold, once the war started, even if it was won, it would be a miserable victory, and it was the best result if it could not fight.

Therefore, both the Central Powers and the Entente Powers set their sights on Kuwait, a small place, and persuaded the Chinese Empire and the British Empire to settle the Kuwait issue peacefully.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire, as the initiator, deliberately transferred the suzerainty of Kuwait to the Chinese Empire, provoking the contradiction between the Chinese Empire and the British Empire.

However, only Li Weiguo himself understands that on the surface, Turkey deliberately cheated the Chinese Empire, but in fact it cheapened the Chinese Empire.

Li Weiguo is very aware of the value of Kuwait, every inch of Kuwait's land is rich in oil resources, once Kuwait is obtained, the oil extracted is enough for the industrial oil needs of the Chinese Empire for two hundred years. Even if there is no such thing, Li Weiguo will attack Kuwait sooner or later.

Now, however, Li Weiguo killed two birds with one stone, not only to force the British Empire to cede Kuwait, but also to attract the attention of the whole world, and to cover the Sino-Japanese military operation that the Chinese Empire's Shence Army was about to launch against Japan.

However, in the matter of forcing the British Empire to cede Kuwait, Li Weiguo will not be too anxious. The Imperial Court exerted political pressure on the British Empire through diplomatic channels, and the Ministry of War sent the navy and army close to Kuwait to cooperate militarily.

According to the plan of the General Staff, after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, if the Entente bloc and the Central Powers go to war in an all-out way, the Chinese Imperial Shence Army will immediately launch an offensive against Kuwait, seize Kuwait, and completely control the Persian Gulf.

Although this does not ensure the safety of the sea route for Middle Eastern crude oil to reach the Chinese Empire, after all, India is still in between, and the British Empire's Indian Ocean Fleet is a huge threat, but it can cut off the British Empire's crude oil supply.

At this time, the British Empire had not yet discovered the North Sea oil fields.

Of course, even if the British Empire wanted to find out, it would be impossible, because Li Weiguo simply did not allow the British Empire to find the North Sea oil fields, forcing the British Empire to import crude oil from the Middle East. As long as the British Empire imported crude oil from the Middle East, even to the United States farther away, it would face the security of the supply lines at sea, and the Imperial Chinese Navy could find an opportunity to launch a broken war and inflict serious economic losses on the British Empire.

Therefore, Li Weiguo has always ordered the Imperial Chinese Navy to regularly conduct "free cruises" in the North Sea, the doorstep of the British Empire, and at the same time there are submarine forces secretly operating in the North Sea.

As a result, the North Sea region of the British Empire was in crisis, and the British government was forced to restrict domestic crude oil companies from searching for oil in the North Sea, and it was naturally impossible to discover large oil fields in the North Sea.

Also affected is France, an oil-starved country that also needs to be imported from the Persian Gulf. Once the Chinese Empire seized Kuwait for control of the Persian Gulf, France was similarly greatly affected.

Of course, the historical German Empire and Austria-Hungary were seriously affected by the lack of oil, and the German Empire was even forced to cancel the oil-fired boilers of warships and use coal-fired boilers all the time, all because oil imports were cut off.

But in this life, Li Weiguo intervened in the Middle East crude oil market, and the German Empire, after obtaining the powerful ally of the Chinese Empire, fully supported the Chinese Empire to control the Middle East crude oil base, cutting off the supply of crude oil to the British Empire on the one hand, and ensuring the crude oil supply of the German Empire on the other hand.

In this life, the oil strategic posture of Britain and Germany is destined to be reversed.

The only variable is the United States, which historically entered the war in the latter stages of World War I with minimal national consumption. But in this life, the United States will enter the war as soon as possible, and even if Britain and France do not have the supply of oil from the Middle East, they still have the oil support of the United States.

Therefore, the Kuwait issue is not a dead end for the British Empire, and there is still room for manoeuvre.

It was precisely because there was room for maneuver that the British Empire would not immediately fight the Chinese Empire to the end on the Kuwait issue. But it will not be easy for the British Empire to abandon Kuwait, and it may eventually need to be resolved by war.

This time, it is no longer the coalition government of William and Saul, who can pursue a policy of non-resistance to China and tolerate it everywhere. But today's prime minister is Ross, a hard-line hawk leader who promised the British Empire its citizens to regain all that the British Empire had lost, and to restore the British Empire's world hegemony.

Therefore, it is impossible for Ross to cede Kuwait in the end, at least not to use the policy of non-resistance again, even if it is just for show, and to fight.

Ross did not want to go to war with the Chinese Empire, and he could not give up Kuwait, so he was very entangled and tried his best to negotiate with the Chinese Empire, hoping to resolve the Kuwait issue peacefully.

This is exactly what Li Weiguo wants, and he needs Ross to have such an attitude, and the two sides can negotiate slowly in saber rattling. Tension could attract the world's attention and the nerves of the Entente, while slow negotiations ensured constant delay until the Chinese Empire launched the Sino-Japanese War.

Because once the war starts, there is no need to negotiate.

On the surface, the situation in Kuwait has made the nerves of the people of all countries in the world highly tense, and they are afraid that the Chinese Empire and the British Empire will fight and trigger a world war.

Secretly, while the world's attention was focused on Kuwait, the Chinese Empire was actively expanding its armaments.

The first is that after the outbreak of the war, the national industry will quickly shift from civilian industry to military industry.

Whoever has the strongest industrial capacity and the most industrial raw materials will be invincible in the war.

The industry of the Chinese Empire is the strongest and largest in the world, and if it is fought alone, no country can compete with the Chinese Empire in industry, not even the United States, and it is a big step behind the Chinese Empire.

The second is human resources, the Chinese Empire is a compulsory military service system, a huge base of 450 million people, and can mobilize up to 45 million (one-tenth) of the army.

In contrast, the most populous country in the Entente camp was the Tsarist Empire, with a population of 145 million, a standing army of 1.35 million, and a maximum mobilizable force of no more than 13.5 million (one-tenth).

The United States, the most powerful of the Entente powers, currently has a population of only 80 million, a standing army of 500,000, and a maximum mobilization of no more than 8 million during the war.

In addition to the absolute dominance of the Chinese Empire in terms of population, in terms of the concept of militarization, the Chinese Empire hid soldiers in the people, and every year the army would change blood, veterans would retire, and new recruits would serve, especially campus military training, and students must serve in the military before graduation, which made the quality of the Chinese Empire's military resources much higher than that of other countries.

Once the war breaks out, a large number of retired officers and veterans of the Chinese Empire will be secretly recalled and take up arms again to serve.

In short, the Entente was still dreaming of a negotiated solution, while the Chinese Empire was secretly preparing for war.

With mental calculation or unintentional, the Chinese Empire has already won at the starting line.

As for whether it can win the world war, there are still many variables, but the victory rate of the Chinese Empire is undoubtedly the highest. (To be continued.) )