The contract exchange went so smoothly that both Conger and MacDonald were a little surprised that the Germans, Russians, and Japanese had done nothing, had no tricks, and were not in their usual style. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info But anyway, it's a good thing.

Names were signed, seals were stamped, texts were exchanged, and the issue was successfully resolved. All that remained was to send the text of the treaty back to Washington and London, but the work had nothing to do with the two ministers, and their mission was over.

Conger and MacDonald were relieved.

An hour later, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in San Diego, Qin Lang also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now, the plan is ready for the next step." His fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop, his head slightly raised, his eyes fixed on the roof, motionless, and thoughtful.

"What are you thinking?" Rachel asked.

"I'm thinking about what our railroad company should be called."

The answer is that the "Four-Nation Railroad" had been identified when he was still refining the plan in New York - a apparently unimaginative name from the brains of a certain Rothschild gentleman, though no one objected to it, although some did not approve of it. After all, the name is only a secondary issue for a company that is used for scams, and just to avoid controversy, they decided to use it.

"They" of course included Qin Lang, so all he gave Rachel was a perfunctory answer - as he always did when he was thinking about the problem.

Qin Lang was thinking about another plan of his, a plan that had been formulated because of Yi Shui's strong request, a plan to overthrow the Manchu government. A few years ago, the lieutenant colonel of the Marine Corps was full of thoughts about overthrowing the decadent feudal dynasty, saving China, and making the country rich and powerful...... At that time, Yi Shui had asked him to come forward to undertake this great and glorious mission, but he refused without hesitation.

Because he refused to put himself on top of a fire. Qin Lang was an extremely sober realist, not an idealist full of revolutionary passion, and he was unwilling to personally assume the responsibility of leading the revolution, but only willing to secretly support agents - but this did not mean that he was unwilling to formulate some subversive plans; And, since he decided to hide behind the scenes and get the job done through an agent, planning was essential.

Qin Lang had a number of plans, one of which he had now helped implement: in the third phase of the railroad fraud, when the Qing government, following the consortium's "friendly proposal", announced that it would take back the right of way that the people had purchased from the consortium, its rule would be in jeopardy.

But that's not enough. Although in the known history, the "Baolu Movement" was the last straw that broke the backbone of the camel of the Qing government, it was only the last straw. In order to achieve the ultimate goal, Qin Lang also needed something heavier.

For example, the "Imperial Cabinet".

It's a very useful tool and it's very easy to use. As Chinese students would have seen in textbooks a century later, the success of the "Imperial Cabinet" had evaporated the last vestiges of Chinese reformist confidence in the Qing government, and then the complete overthrow of the excessively corrupt government became the basic consensus.

Moreover, this tool hardly wasted the precious energy of Qin Lang or his agents. The "Imperial Cabinet" is an inevitable result, a card destined to be played, as long as the conditions are ripe, the nobles of the Qing Dynasty will complete it on their own, without the need for inducement or coercion.

For Qin Lang, the only problem was that it was not easy to make the conditions ripe for the establishment of an "imperial cabinet", and he needed to eliminate some targets that had to be eliminated: ultra-conservative ministers, members of the Restoration, Emperor Guangxu, Cixi...... At the same time, it is necessary to protect others.

What's even more troublesome is that in order to avoid getting himself into some kind of predicament, he needs to resort to another force. Although this power is not enough to achieve his goals, and can even hinder him from achieving them, it can cause chaos, create opportunities for him, and act as a scapegoat.

The people of Shandong and Zhili can start moving.

Qin Lang finished his contemplation and returned to the real world, and then, he noticed that several pairs of eyes were staring at him intently.

"How?" He asked.

"What's interesting in your mind, Qin?" Elizabeth was a little impatient.

"Or a new weapon? New tactics? "O'Connor was completely absorbed in his game of generals, always reflexively thinking about military problems.

Both of them guessed incorrectly, and they only noticed a certain aspect of Qin Lang's specialty. Of them all, only Rachel knew him better. "A new insidious plan?"

"Nope." He flatly denied it. Even though they all knew what he was doing and what he wanted to do, Qin Lang decided to keep it a little secret. When the time comes, he will reveal a little information to them, but definitely not now. "I'm just thinking about it," he said half-jokingly, "how about we start a school in Zhanjiang?" ”

"Zhanjiang?" Elizabeth was confused, "I've never heard of this place. ”

"Zhanjiang is part of the Guangzhou Bay Concession." Rachel explained to her, "the result of repeated bargaining between consortia and businessmen and Washington." ”

"I don't understand."

Elizabeth is a pure scholar, she doesn't understand politics and doesn't care about politics, otherwise she would easily guess the reason - Washington's power struggle with financiers and businessmen.

"Washington has always defined the Canton Bay Concession as a federal territory ruled by a federal governor appointed by the federal government, but the financiers and businessmen of Canton Bay want to turn the concession into an autonomous city." Rachel went on to explain, "They've been arguing for a while, it's just that none of us care about it. ”

She's lying. Qin Lang and O'Connor may not have cared about this matter, but Rachel has been keeping a close eye on all kinds of news in Guangzhou Bay, because Yi Shui is there. But she always put on a posture of indifference, especially in Washington's power struggle with financiers and businessmen.

Rachel has a rather awkward ambivalence on the subject. On the one hand, in accordance with American tradition and, more importantly, the connection of interests, she chose to support financiers and businessmen, but on the other hand, "Acting Vice Governor of the Guangzhou Bay Concession" was still one of Yi Shui's many titles, so she wanted to strengthen the position and power of the Governor......

Now, of course, she doesn't have to feel embarrassed anymore, and the problem is solved. Washington's compromise with financiers and businessmen resulted in the Concession being divided into two parts: the federal territory of Guangzhou Bay, which was governed by a federally appointed governor, and the city of Zhanjiang, which was governed by an elected council and mayor.

"It's Duncan's name." O'Connor then added.

In fact, this is the name taken by Qin Lang, Duncan only played a mouthpiece, and at the same time took advantage of his dukedom status a little - although he was the duke of the Abyssinian Empire, his status was still worthy of attention, and, no matter what, he just took a name, it was just a small meaning, and no one cared.

"But...... When did this happen? Elizabeth continued to ask.

"Twelve hours ago." Qin Lang said, "But it hasn't been announced yet." ”

"When will ...... be announced?"

"Instead of caring about this one, Elizabeth, we should care about the other one." Rachel interrupted her and turned her head to Qin Lang, "Why do you want to build a school in Zhanjiang?" Because you have another insidious plan? She was always able to think of "insidious plans", sometimes right and sometimes wrong, but this time, she must have guessed correctly...... At least guessed the right direction. "To groom your surrogate?"

"Nope." He shook his head, "To pick a proxy." ”

"Almost." She said.

"There will always be differences. And you should understand that after Yi Shui and Elizabeth, I will not be a teacher of the third person. But "cultivating an agent" requires him to play the role of a teacher, so Qin Lang only wants to choose.

"Whatever you want to explain." Rachel was obviously not going to discuss this, she had other questions, "What school are you going to start?" ”

"I'm going to ......"

"Military Academy, how's it going?" O'Connor suddenly interjected, looking a little too excited. Qin Lang, Rachel, and Elizabeth looked at each other, not knowing why, but he quickly revealed the answer. "We can join forces with the Virginia Military Academy to open a branch in Zhanjiang."

Qin Lang thought for a moment. "I don't think that's a good idea, Sean."

"Why?"

"Where are you going to let graduates of military academies work?"

O'Connor didn't know how to answer, he had never thought about it, but it was a serious problem—most people would not want to attend a school where graduates could barely find a job, and unfortunately, the Virginia Military Institute was one such school if it opened a branch in Zhanjiang.

And, regardless of the branch and the future, the Virginia Military Academy now has no way to guarantee that every one of its graduates will be admitted to the U.S. Army, or even the National Guard. Now, of course, it's got the idea on Umbrella, and many of the graduates who didn't make it to the federal armed forces have gone to San Diego, but the question is, how many people can the mercenary company absorb?

And keep in mind that Qin Lang didn't want to see his company full of Virginia Military Academy graduates, and he also didn't want to see many rookie commanders in his company who lacked actual combat experience. He would only accept a handful of applicants, as for graduates of the Zhanjiang campus proposed by O'Connor......

I'm afraid they can only look for other avenues of employment.

In fact, they can hardly find it.

Graduates of the Chinese branch cannot join the U.S. military and cannot enter the Chinese military...... At least not yet. It is impossible for the army of any normal country to accept an officer who has entered a foreign military academy and is not sent by the state, who is not trustworthy, dangerous, difficult to get along with his colleagues, and is a nuisance; And according to the actual situation in China at present, entering a foreign military academy on your own may cause other troubles, not just employment problems.

Of course, after the collapse of the Qing government, it was a different situation. However, this rosy prospect is a little more distant, and it is impossible to talk about it openly and cannot be a condition for attracting young people to military schools. At present, the Virginia Military Academy Zhanjiang is the only ...... that can attract No, in fact it doesn't attract anything. Theoretically, only certain noblemen who try to show off their foreign diplomas will not care about employment, but they obviously will not go to the military school to suffer.

"And even if they can endure hardship, what's the point to me? Nor is it possible for the Virginia Military Academy to allow such students to smash their own signs. Qin Lang finally concluded, but in fact, he only repeated the earliest judgment as an emphasize. It's not a good idea. ”

O'Connor, however, was unwilling to give up on his plans. To a large extent, the plan was to make up for a regret in his life: when he was still very young, O'Connor's wish was to attend West Point and become an Army officer, only that dream was shattered. But now, commanding mercenaries and leading them in the Abyssinian war with Italy, he is one step away from realizing his dream...... Why not take the last step as well?

He didn't get into West Point, but he could build one. Although the Virginia Military Academy is slightly worse than West Point, it is a military school after all, and that is enough.

O'Connor was not greedy, but since he had so few desires, once he had one, he would become stubborn and vow to achieve his goal or never give up.

"Since the graduates of the branch school cannot serve in the army......" he thought for a moment and suggested, "why not let them join the militia?" ”

"The militia?"

"The militia. It's a good idea for your plans, Qin. We can't always use mercenaries to support your proxies......"

Yes, it's a good idea.

Qin Lang figured it out.

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Supplement to yesterday's note: von. Hai Jing, von. Heyking, it is this minister who plans to seize Jiaozhou Bay (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )