The School of Business and Business of East China University, at this time, has developed into the largest college, followed by the College of Agriculture.

The Industrial and Commercial School was extremely lively, and at this time East China University had been open for four years.

In four years, East China University also had its first batch of graduates, although many graduates went out for internships early.

With the development of industry, the talents of the Industrial and Commercial School of East China University are very scarce, and the talents of the Industrial and Commercial School are not enough because the demand is too large.

Especially recently, the Ministry of Trade has picked up a large number of personnel, which has made this shortage of talents to the point where no one can be found at all.

The Ministry of Trade has sent these graduates to South Asia, India, Australia, and South America, with the largest number of graduates being transferred to South America, which has many countries and a rich output of raw materials.

The Ministry of Trade transferred these management talents to those countries in order to establish a trade network, and it was also Xia Jun preparing for the First World War.

When the First World War broke out, the overseas markets of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Belgium were all affected, and a market gap would immediately appear.

Xia Jun had to be prepared to take over the market gaps in these countries, and at the same time to be prepared to take over British overseas assets, which Britain would sell in the First World War.

It's a great opportunity that, once lost, doesn't come again.

Therefore, it is very necessary to send personnel to the colonies of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Belgium, and only by making adequate preparations can we seek the greatest benefits.

Considering that Britain would blockade Germany, the East China Autonomous Axe had to be prepared in advance.

At the end of January, Xia Jun met with German Ambassador Todmann, exchanged some current views with Todmann, and expressed his intention to invest in Germany's military industry and to sell more arms to Germany.

"If it is to invest in the military industry, we in Germany naturally welcome it." Todman laughed, and added in his heart, "I don't know if the German political axe will be bought then." ’

"But we in Germany don't have any more demand for arms for the time being." Todman continued.

Xia Jun smiled and said to him: "We will have needs in the future, so it's better to be like this!" We can first transport the arms to Germany and store them, and if Germany needs them, we can sell them to you, and if they don't need them, we can ship them back. ”

"I think our emperor will say yes." Todman nodded and said, the two camps in Europe were about to fight.

If China is willing to send arms to Germany ahead of schedule, that would be the best. Anyway, it doesn't hurt Germany to put it in the pocket, but it can be bought and used at any time, which is naturally a great thing.

For Xia Jun, it is naturally a good thing to be able to store arms in Germany.

Although the business of the Entente countries is easy to do, after all, there are people fighting! The United States and the book will be doing it at that time, and although the East China Autonomous Political Axe is fully prepared, it is impossible for all business to be the Eastern China Autonomous Political Axe.

Because Germany's sea lines of communication were blocked by the British, there was not much business to do. But if the supplies are put in Germany in advance, then there will be no problem.

When the time comes, you can do business with Germany, and you can directly exchange the gold and transport it back by submarine, or simply put it in Germany, anyway, Germany was only defeated and not occupied, but it did not transport the gold back to get insurance.

When the time comes, it will be enough to buy a few ocean-going transport submarines, and ocean-going transport submarines are not too expensive.

As for the military factory, it is an important layout among them.

Xia Jun could choose to produce different weapons for Germany at different times to balance the situation of the war.

It doesn't matter how much money you make, what Xia Jun wants is gold. Money can be earned with industry, but gold is not so easy to get.

In addition, prolonging the war is also one of Xia Jun's considerations.

As long as the war was extended, then he would be able to earn more money from the Entente.

…… After Todman reported the intention of the East China Autonomous Axe to Wilhelm II, Wilhelm II was very happy and provided free land for the East China Autonomous Axe to open a military factory and build a warehouse.

Wilhelm II was naturally pleased, and the whole of Germany also considered that in the event of a war, the sea lines of communication would likely be affected.

Although they thought that they would soon be able to defeat the Entente, how could such a good thing be turned away by someone who had kept their arms in their own homes?

Xia Jun was also very happy to receive the reply.

When considering what military industry to open in Germany, Xia Jun thought about it and decided to open a tank factory in Germany, as well as an aircraft factory and an aerial bomb factory.

The other is to open an anti-tank gun manufacturing plant in Germany, as well as an anti-tank mine manufacturing plant, as well as an anti-aircraft gun manufacturing plant.

On the issue of anti-tank, the first tanks were put into the trenches against the Germans, starting with the British Marki. During the First World War, the general rifle machine gun firepower was completely unmatched by them, and most of the armored vehicles were simply unmatched on the battlefield. However, the infantry of this period rarely faced armored vehicles, as it was difficult for them to move on the surface in the case of trench warfare. While armoured vehicles and combat vehicles are not invincible against artillery, mortars, or grenades, ordinary infantry are still at a significant disadvantage when confronted with armoured vehicles due to their lack of effective direct-fire weapons.

The first attempt to increase penetration was the use of a "reversed bullet", which still used the same ammunition and bullet as a normal rifle, except that the bullet was loaded backwards into the cartridge case and the charge was increased.

A further development was the use of special armor-piercing warheads, such as the German "K Bullet" (official name of the German Army: Patronesmkkurz 7.92mm), which could also be fired by ordinary rifles. The K bullet has an incremental propellant and uses an iron-core warhead, which has a 30% chance of penetrating the 8mm thick armor of the combat vehicle at that time when fired perpendicular to the armor surface, and can penetrate up to 12~13mm thick armor when fired at a distance of 100 meters.

K-bullets are expensive to manufacture, so they are usually only issued to snipers or other more skilled shooters who can use them effectively. The average rifleman can only make do with the "reverse warhead", which is less effective and closer to the target.

Of course, other anti-tank weapons such as grenades or mortars are still preferred. It is worth mentioning that both bullets can cause damage to the rifle, first of all, because the barrel wears out too quickly; The second is that their high bore pressure will make the bolt jam, and the bolt can only be opened by knocking, which may also cause the shell hook to fail to exit the cartridge case, and the bottom edge of the bullet case will be scratched and the cartridge case will be stuck in the gun.

The stress caused by firing an increased charge of a bullet can also cause an older or weaker gun to explode through the chamber (in simple terms, similar to a chamber explosion), which can cost the rifle a reimbursement, or injure or even kill the shooter. For the above reasons, K bullets and reverse warheads were not well received by soldiers.

Regardless, they give infantry the ability to stop a vehicle or at least kill a crew in an emergency, provided that the warhead penetrates, of course.

None of these anti-tank weapons were very effective, but anti-tank guns were very good against World War I tanks.

Although these rifles were effective against early World War II vehicles (light tanks such as the German tanks 1/2), as the armor of the new vehicles became thicker and thicker, the effectiveness of the man-portable anti-tank guns became less and less, and initially small "cannons" with calibers up to 20 mm could be used, but soon became effective with chemical energy anti-tank grenades such as conical charges.

But that was the Second World War, and during the First World War, anti-tank guns were still very useful.

Why give the Germans anti-tank guns?

This is to put them up against the British tanks!

When the war is fought with tanks, Germany will also have tanks, but on the basis of tanks on both sides, the East China Autonomous Government will definitely sell a large number of advanced tanks to Britain.

What if Germany can't resist at this time?

That, naturally, is to give them anti-tank weapons, and anti-tank guns are a good choice.

At the same time, anti-tank mines are also a good choice, which can speed up the reimbursement of tanks for the British, so that China can get more tank orders.

In addition, anti-tank mines were developed by the Germans in 1918. In 1916, tanks appeared on the battlefields of the First World War, which led to the creation of anti-tank mines. In 1918, the Germans, who were most threatened by tanks, converted artillery shells into anti-tank mines, and then developed two standardized anti-tank mines for use against British and French tanks, and achieved certain success.

In World War II, 21% of tanks were damaged by mines in the Confederate War, and 70% of all tanks were damaged by mines in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In recent years, in the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War, both opposing sides used anti-tank mines as an important anti-tank weapon in actual combat.

According to US estimates, a minefield with 10,000 explosive tracks and bottom armor has the potential ability to destroy 4,200 tanks, and even if only half of the mines work, it still has the ability to destroy 2,000 tanks. The cost of 10,000 mines is $3 million to $4 million, which is only equivalent to the price of two Leopard-2 tanks or 400 to 500 Milan anti-tank missiles. However, the fact that these tanks or missiles do not have the ability to damage 2,000 tanks in any way shows the significance of using anti-tank mines. The practice of war has also shown that anti-tank mines are also a powerful weapon for a weak army to defeat a strong enemy.

After reading the information, Xia Jun felt very hesitant!

Later there will be armored forces of their own, and after the appearance of anti-tank mines, they may later be cocooned.

But if you think about it, anti-tank mines appeared in the First World War, and they were already mature in the Second World War, and if he didn't make anti-tank mines, other countries would also come up with such weapons, after all, it was not too technical.

As for the tank factories and aircraft factories that drove to Germany, they also needed to be equipped with an engine factory.

However, the equipment requires money and credits.

Investing in an anti-tank gun manufacturing plant is not a lot of points, 10 million points are enough to build a military factory with an annual output of 10,000 anti-tank guns.

The factory for the manufacture of anti-tank mines is much cheaper, and it only takes 5 million points to build a military factory with an annual output of 100,000 anti-tank mines.

As for the tank factory, Grinder 1 to Grinder 2, there is no need to exchange, as long as the drawings are brought to Germany, equipment can be ordered in Germany.

The equipment for the manufacture of Type 13 tanks, Xia Jun did not intend to give to the Germans.

In terms of tanks, the Germans did not pay much attention to it in the First World War, and when they paid attention to it later, the tanks designed were also very bad.

The tank factory in Germany was opened only to give it to the Germans when they were paying attention.

The main ones sold to the Germans were still airplanes, as well as anti-aircraft guns.

Aircraft, mainly Hammer 1 to Hammer 3, as well as Kunpeng 1 and Kunpeng 2, as well as Fokker fighters and Eagle 2 reconnaissance aircraft.

The Heavy Hammer Bomber is a tactical bomber that is used for bombing on the battlefield.

The Kunpeng bomber is a strategic bomber, used for long-range bombing, mainly to bomb the enemy's cities, since the birth of the strategic bomber, there has always been a question that makes people think repeatedly, that is, bombing the enemy's city, can it really force the victory to end?

Obviously, this is impossible! Unless there is an atomic bomb.

But it is a good choice to use it to hit the enemy's morale, to destroy the enemy's factories, strategic points.

The Fokker fighter is equipped with a machine gun in front of the fuselage, so the aerial combat ability is much stronger than the Eagle 1 reconnaissance aircraft with a machine gun on the side of the fuselage, so the Eagle aircraft is a reconnaissance aircraft, but the Eagle 2 reconnaissance aircraft also uses the device on the Fokker fighter, and the fighting ability is even stronger than the Fokker fighter, because the flight speed of the Eagle 2 is much faster than the Fokker fighter.

As for anti-aircraft guns, artillery fired at air targets from the ground.

It has a long gun body, large muzzle velocity, large firing range, fast rate of fire, high shooting accuracy, and most of them are equipped with fire control systems, which can automatically track and aim at targets. Anti-aircraft guns can also be used to fire at ground or water targets.

Anti-aircraft guns are divided into towed and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns according to the mode of movement. According to the caliber, it is divided into small-caliber, medium-caliber and large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. Small-caliber anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of less than 60 mm, medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of 60~100 mm, and large-caliber anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of more than 100 mm.

Some projectiles of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are equipped with trigger fuses to destroy targets by direct hits; Some are equipped with proximity fuses to damage targets by projectile fragments.

The projectiles of large and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns are equipped with time fuses and proximity fuses, and the target is damaged by projectile fragmentation. After the 60s of the 20 th century, some countries gradually replaced large and medium-caliber antiaircraft guns with ground-to-air missiles. However, due to the presence of dead zones for firing at low altitudes of surface-to-air missiles, small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were still developed.

To the Germans anti-aircraft guns, that was to speed up the attrition of the Allied aircraft, so that it would be beneficial for China to export aircraft for profiteering.

Of course, give the Germans a choice of what age anti-aircraft guns had.

In World War I, anti-aircraft guns used optical rangefinders, listening machines, searchlights, etc. to cooperate with anti-aircraft guns in air combat.

In the 30s of the 20th century, a mechanical analog command instrument was used to calculate the shooting elements, and the shooting elements were transmitted to each gun at the same time with a cable, which shortened the transmission time and improved the shooting accuracy.

During the Second World War, anti-aircraft artillery systems consisting of aiming radars, electromechanical commanders, and artillery were able to determine the coordinates of targets in all-weather conditions and improve accuracy. The follow-up device is added to the artillery, which can automatically aim, eliminate the error of manual operation, and improve the aiming speed.

Since the 60s of the 20 th century, self-propelled antiaircraft artillery systems have appeared, and some systems have adopted infrared, television tracking, and laser ranging, cooperated with radar to observe targets, and are equipped with multifunctional digital fire control computers, so that the speed and accuracy of firing elements have been further improved, the anti-interference ability has been further enhanced, and the reaction time has been further shortened.

Anti-aircraft artillery is divided into four stages.

The anti-aircraft guns of the first stage were the least effective, or even not very effective, and the anti-aircraft guns of this stage were designed by the Germans themselves. The creation of anti-aircraft guns of this stage for the Germans was tantamount to not strengthening the German air defense.

Therefore, Xia Jun wanted to give the Germans the second stage of anti-aircraft guns, and it was only for Germany, not for the Entente. The anti-aircraft guns of the second stage cost 100 million points to buy.

In the third stage, 500 million points are required.

In the fourth stage, two billion points are required.

Obviously, the anti-aircraft guns of the fourth stage have become very perverted, although they are small-caliber, and large-caliber missiles have been replaced, but if the anti-aircraft guns after the 60s are brought to World War II, it will undoubtedly be like child abuse, and the required points will naturally be extremely high.

However, after reading the information in detail, Xia Jun found that Germany already had anti-aircraft guns, and it also had the best 77mm anti-aircraft guns in the world.

In this case, there is no need to build an anti-aircraft gun factory in Germany, and when the time comes, it is enough to sell to Germany the technology of calculating the firing elements with a mechanical analog commander and transmitting the firing elements to each gun at the same time by cable.

At the same time, the anti-aircraft artillery technology was exchanged, and the East China Autonomous Political Axe had anti-aircraft artillery technology. Although it is not very useful for anti-aircraft artillery technology of this era, if you want to exchange for the next level of anti-aircraft gun technology, you must start from the lowest level, unless you have developed such a technology.

At this time, Xia Jun had more than 300 million points left in his hand, and because a large number of factories were being built everywhere, Xia Jun spent a lot of points on pollution control.

Especially now that factories are developing into inland provinces, often one in the east and one in the west, it has exacerbated the cost of sewage discharge.

As far as industry is concerned, emitting a little black smoke doesn't have much effect, after all, countries around the world are discharging it, but it is difficult to treat sewage when it is discharged into the river.

Whether it is black smoke or sewage, Xia Jun is now treating it. In addition, I bought a batch of equipment before, and at the same time bought the technology of the first-generation aircraft carrier, and the points in my hand have almost bottomed out.

Therefore, Xia Jun used these points to buy the technology of anti-aircraft guns, as well as the manufacturing plant of anti-tank guns, and bought the equipment needed for aircraft manufacturing and the equipment needed to make combat vehicles, and the points completely bottomed out.

However, these points are smashed, but a lot of aircraft manufacturing equipment has been bought, and the aircraft manufacturing capacity can be increased to 20 of the largest Kunpeng bombers per day, and if you don't stop 24 hours a day, it is not a problem to build 30 planes a day.

As for the engine factory, Xia Jun did not build it in Germany in the end, after all, if the engine is only needed, the East China engine factory can reserve thousands of engines in Germany first, and the reserve of 5,000 units is enough!

…… In Hangzhou Bay, a huge fleet of ships is loading.

Boxes of munitions were carefully carried onto the ship, and these arms were of a wide variety, but most of them were submachine guns, light machine guns, sniper rifles, bullets, and artillery shells.

Xia Jun stood in the distance and watched, looking forward to it.

These were all arms that had been stockpiled in the year before the East China Autonomous Axe, and the total cost reached 250 million yuan. These arms were loaded onto the ship, Xia Jun thought, this batch of arms can at least get 500 million yuan of gold from the Germans!

In addition to these munitions, there is also equipment for tank factories and aircraft factories.

Xia Jun was not stupid enough to go to Germany to build a bullet manufacturing plant, although the Germans needed bullets, shells and many other munitions, but when you drove to the Germans, it was to use the raw materials that the Germans could get for production, and they naturally gave the raw materials to the [***] fire company, such as the Krupp factory, etc., where would they be stupid enough to hand over the raw materials that were already in short supply to the [***] factory to produce.

Of course, if there is a cost advantage, it is possible. But in that case, the cost of Xia Jun's investment will naturally be high.

He didn't know how business would work in Germany, so he didn't want to invest too much in it.

As far as the current investment is concerned, even if it is nothing, as long as the Germans can hold on, Xia Jun will be able to make money back from the British and French.

The flotilla was loaded in the evening of the same day, and then sailed out of Hangzhou Bay under the escort of five submarines, as well as the newly launched Haidun 1 cruiser and three Zhendong 1 destroyers, followed by two supply vessels.

This flotilla will sail to Germany.

The Germans had already provided land there, where they could build factories and warehouses, and they had also provided several free warehouses for the East China Axe.

…… At the same time, as the clouds of war loomed, the possibility of the East China Autonomous Government wanting to make loans in a commercial way was greatly reduced.

Banks have largely lost interest in Asia, and countries in both camps are pumping capital from overseas in preparation for the coming war.

By the beginning of 1914, there was a general awareness that the two camps were going to war.

The East China Autonomous Government also admired the chairman's eyesight, and it was not without warning before the outbreak of war, but the problem was that the arrival of war could be seen before the obvious signs appeared, and this kind of vision was not available to everyone.

In order to cope with the coming war, all factories and enterprises are trying to expand their production capacity, and the machinery manufacturing plant is therefore carrying out machinery manufacturing in three shifts of 20 hours a day to meet the needs of the factories for new equipment.

The textile industry has developed the fastest, due to the large supply of cotton, as well as good market competitiveness, the textile industry expansion rate is incomparable to any industry.

The garment industry has also seen great growth driven by the textile industry.

China's textile industry has shifted from selling yarn and cotton cloth to selling clothing, and its deep processing capacity has been strengthened by the variety of clothing designs provided by Xia Jun.

The coal mining industry has also developed rapidly after the opening of the railway from Hangzhou to Taiyuan, and its domestic coal can basically be supplied by itself.

The British coal mining industry in China is a fuck off.

The steel industry is also developing rapidly because of the abundant supply of coal and the construction and commissioning of Australia's large iron ore mines.

More importantly, the steel industry has enough domestic demand support, and a large number of projects and railways are being built everywhere, which requires a large amount of steel as support.

These three industries are well prepared and are waiting for the British to take their place in the international market as soon as the war starts.

In the transportation industry, the number of merchant ships of the East China Ocean Shipping Company has increased to 120, some of which are manufactured by the East China Shipbuilding Company, and some of which are secretly exchanged by Xia Jun.

Due to the fact that the East China Autonomous Government is building a large number of ships, other countries do not feel anything wrong, and even the interior does not notice the strangeness in it.

And the East China Offshore Transportation Company, with the use of container terminals, profits have increased greatly.

As far as the original price competition is concerned, the East China Offshore Transportation Company still has to lose money, and it is only supported by those factories in East China to survive.

After using the container, even if the price is cut, there is a slight profit.

Jardine Matheson was completely unable to hold on at this time, and Britain was pumping capital, and British businessmen were busy returning home to prepare for war.

So Jardine Matheson also closed down at the beginning of the year with Swire & Co., and the collapsed Jardine Matheson began to sell their merchant ships, but no one bought them, only the East China Offshore Transportation Company offered a cabbage price.

Everyone can see that China's coastal transportation has now been monopolized by the Chinese, so no fool is willing to invest capital in this abyss.

In the end, Jardine Matheson had to sell the ship to the East China Offshore Transportation Company at the price of cabbage, and since then the East China Offshore Transportation Company has dominated domestic transportation.

Whether it is between coastal ports or in the Yangtze River waterway.

This undoubtedly created an incognito trade barrier in transportation, which caused other countries to quickly lose their markets in China, and countries that were busy preparing for war had no intention of coping.

He wanted to deal with it, but he lacked effective means for the time being.

The United States can also get a piece of the pie in investment, and the investment in the United States by the East China Autonomous Government is also very profitable, and both sides are increasing investment in each other's countries.

Xia Jun's project to increase investment in the United States is also arms, and the Ablot Group, which he and Tana have a joint stake, has begun to take shape at this time.

Since it is an American company, it can still get a loan from the United States at this time.

The United States is not a belligerent country, and its lending business is not very affected, so the only object that can lend money in the name of commerce is the United States.

The Abrot company basically pledged everything it could, in exchange for nearly $200 million in loans, all of which were invested in the military industry.

(To be continued)