Returning to Moltke's office again, Bordo felt that Moltke looked at him in a completely different light, he didn't wait for Moltke to ask, he took the initiative to take out a report, different from the previous military conclusions, this is a comprehensive and perfect report, in addition to the figures and reports obtained from the northwest, there is also a summary of the relationship between the two on the way back to Germany, especially mentioning the potential of Baotou and the connection with Germany, Baotou and Germany, under the situation of interconnected furniture, What benefits will it bring to Germany.

Little Moltke looked at the things at a glance, like a glimpse of the light, because of the previous exercises, Bordeaux showed the things that came out, Moltke Jr. was not worried, Bordo was lying, these things, as long as you go to check, you will definitely be able to find out, for the relationship with Germany, mainly in the future, except for those individual equipment, especially the sapper shovel that makes him amazing, if the Northwest is willing to authorize, he may be able to cooperate with the Northwest, but in other aspects, he does not think that the Northwest can help Germany, Bordeaux's rhetoric is a bit alarmist.

But when Moltke saw the Baghdad Railway, he was stunned for a moment, the Baghdad Railway, in a sense, is related to the strategy between the whole Germany and Turkey, and now, the relationship between Turkey and Germany is gradually getting closer, and the Baghdad Railway has become the Orient Express connecting Germany and Turkey for a certain time, and it took 9 years to reach an agreement in 1912, but the problem after that is still very big, According to previous reports from the General Staff and the Government, the Baghdad Railway is to be built to Baghdad. It will take at least three years, and even longer to Basra.

However, in this intention, Northwest mentioned that if the Baghdad Railway is contracted, it can be within 18 months. The completion of the construction of this railway is no less than allowing Germany, outside Europe, to have an outlet to the sea and an important line of communication in the Indian Ocean. This was crucial to Germany's strategy, and most of Germany's sea routes were under direct threat from the British, especially the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar. One east and one west controlled the whole Mediterranean, and the British powerful navy, a certain amount of dù above, counted as a sharp sword on the top of Germany's head, which was unacceptable to Germany.

"What conditions did they put forward besides this!" Moltke Jr. looked at this intention, a railway, and controlled the construction period from 7 years to 18 months. Instead of going up, the price has dropped by about 20%, which is acceptable. For Germany, the Baghdad Railway is not just a railway, it is related to the security of the entire Allies.

"They said they wanted to use Chinese-made rails."

"Rails made in China?" Moltke said with a slight disdain: "Can China produce steel?" ”

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, you haven't read my report carefully!"

"What. What else! Moltke flipped over, at the end. There is a special section that introduces some of the situation in China in detail. The main iron ore is Baotou Iron and Steel Plant's output of more than 20 million tons, Baiyun Obo Iron and Steel Base's annual output of more than 15 million tons, and TISCO's annual output of 5 million tons.

"It can't be!" As the chief of staff, Moltke Jr. knows very well what steel means to a country, Germany has gone through a difficult process from millions of tons to 10 million tons, and now, it is only more than 10 million tons.

"It's already certain!"

"What, really?" Little Moltke looked at the text in his hand, and was slightly surprised in his heart, Baotou has changed from a force that may be beneficial to Germany to a strength that Germany should pay attention to, any force that can produce 15 million tons of steel can no longer be called a small force, not to mention that Baotou also directly blocked about 20 Russian troops, and even killed a large number of them.

"Yes, I brought a sample of the rail!"

"You brought a sample of his steel, as long as the test is qualified, I can accept the use of Baotou rails!" Moltke said calmly, about the construction of the Baghdad railway, not for him as a chief of staff can decide, but now the war is imminent, the arms race between Britain and Germany, has become more and more intense, everyone knows that this can not continue, when the two sides can not continue, or compromise, or war, and the possibility of the latter is almost more than ninety, in this case, to expand Germany's influence to the Middle East, to establish contact with an industrial power, to avoid the influence of Britain, this impact, It is absolutely amazing, not to mention that Germany has no loss, the other party guarantees that it can advance 50% of the funds, and it will not be paid until 3 months after the completion of the railway, which is beneficial and harmless for Germany, and he believes that neither the Kaiser nor the parliament can not get through.

"Let's go to the Rheinland steel plant and test it!" Little Moltke didn't care and said, Germany's steel production, a certain amount of dù, because of the relationship between the battleships, the comparison of tension, the use of Chinese rails, if the quality is clear, Germany pays, is just a little bit of money, the construction cost is reduced by 20%, he agreed, as long as the quality of the rail is qualified, the price is not too outrageous, this he can still do, little Moltke, at this moment, plus the concern is still in Baotou, Baotou zuò products, recently in Germany more popular, It is synonymous with good quality and low price, but I didn't expect his heavy industry to be so developed.

"Tell me in detail, what you have seen and heard in Baotou!" Moltke asked.

Bordo told him in detail what he had seen and heard in Baotou, and not the news of the battle of buying and selling the city, I heard that even the elite 122 divisions of the Russian army in the Far East were heavily damaged, and the new army in Baotou now has 20 divisions, each division has 72 75 guns and 48 heavy guns of more than 100 mm, and even each division also has more than 1,000 Makqin, and it is well-trained, this is a huge army of nearly 250,000 people, even if it only has about seventy percent of the strength of German soldiers, this force is strong enough, Baotou can almost sweep the whole of China, Baotou can produce all their munitions, not purchased outside, the whole of China, the military forces in the north and south, also buy weapons from Baotou, from light weapons, heavy weapons, basically from Baotou, this item, so that the German foreign bank, have a lot of losses.

"It seems that this Baotou, a certain amount of Chengdù, has become a place that can produce a large number of materials!" Moltke Jr. showed a smile on his face, now Germany, all parties have been operating at full capacity, some munitions, have to be outsourced, a big direction, is in the United States, but the United States also produces the British average needs of materials, on the balance of the two sides, the United States is naturally inclined to the United Kingdom, for German orders, not particularly interested, which makes Germany look for other outsourced products, a little difficult.

"Bordo, when you go back, I'll give you a few orders, and you go to China to see if Baotou can be completed." Little Moltke made a decision in an instant, as the chief of staff, he has a certain right to issue military supplies, not to mention anything else, the sapper shovel, at least 100,000 must be ordered, as well as those individual equipment, even if Germany can imitate it, there is not enough productivity, if the northwest can produce it, this is acceptable,

"Okay."

Bordo stayed in Germany for a week, three days later, Rheinland Iron and Steel Plant, the technical indicators of the rails were reported, meeting and exceeding the standards of German heavy rail indicators, in terms of wear resistance, load-bearing, even better than the best rails in Germany, Rheinland Steel Works was surprised where these rails came from, you know, heavy industry and steel industry, Germany has always been from the forefront of the world, can compare with Germany only the United States, but the United States has not recently put all its energy on the railway, Whether this rail is a product of the real yàn chamber.

The question of the Rheinsteel mill, Bordo prevaricated, took the test report, and found Moltke Jr., itself, the Baghdad railway, is just a quasi-trunk railway, the design track, only at 35 kilograms per meter, but now, with Chinese production, 45 kilograms per meter of heavy rail, can immediately jump to the trunk railway, can use good, of course choose good, and Chinese products are relatively cheap, even cheaper than Germany, but also reduce a certain amount of transportation costs.

Moltke Jr. also weighed the situation in Baotou, set up more than a dozen orders, and handed him over to Bordo, among these orders, more than 8.9 million marks, less than 3.4 million marks, of course, the largest is the order of individual equipment, a total of 100,000 sets, according to the price of a set of 350 marks, the total amount is amazingly 35 million marks, so plus the previous one, it is almost 42 million, which is equivalent to eight or nine million dollars, which is a lot, but relative to the national level, Not much, as long as Baotou can withstand three or four, they can continue to improve on this basis, this is only a preliminary contact.

The matter of the Baghdad railway is not a short time to be decided, Moltke Jr. promised to do his best, and also hoped that the northwest side could complete these orders, as long as these orders can be completed, many of the next projects are logical.

Bordo didn't expect that this time he would have such a big harvest when he returned to Germany, and the order of more than 45 million marks was enough for him to have the confidence to go to the northwest, as for the issue of the Baghdad railway, he hoped that it would be jointly promoted by Mumo and the northwest, which was a big deal, and only by the strength of their family and little Moltke, even if there were huge interests, it could not be completely handed over to the northwest. (To be continued) R466