There are two major tendencies in Beiyang, "pro-German" and "knowledgeable". In the Beiyang Army, Germany helped Beiyang establish its own military system, and there was cooperation from Li Hongzhang Beiyang. When Yuan Shikai was training at the station, he hired many German officers as instructors, and many military manuals were translated into German military works. In addition, many officers in the Beiyang Army graduated from the Japanese Army School, and Beiyang could not be said to be close to Japan, but his understanding of Japan made Beiyang dare to deal with the Japanese.

As early as the Gengzi Incident, Yuan Shikai had a lot of cooperation with Germany in Shandong, and on the whole, Germany was relatively friendly to Beiyang. After Yuan Shikai seized power in 1909, the German minister immediately telegraphed to Germany, "Yuan Shikai must be supported, because he alone is the guarantee of stability." ”

The German minister came to visit in person, and Yuan Shikai knew that it was never a good thing, but he couldn't help it. After the two met, they said a few words of etiquette, and the German minister went straight to the point.

"Your Excellency President, the funds of our Rui Kee Foreign Bank have been in place recently, and I don't know when Mr. President will decide to sign the agreement." The German minister asked.

Since the German Deutsch-Hua Bank was under the purview of the government, the minister provided financial support to Yuan Shikai through the Rui Ji Foreign Bank in Hankow. Originally, the German side was ready to lend Yuan Shikai 300,000 pounds at low interest rates and without discounts, but Yuan Shikai temporarily crossed this threshold after receiving the support of the People's Party. The loan was frozen for the time being.

"Aren't we talking about a quota trade deal right now?" Yuan Shikai said it very cleverly.

"Your Excellency, isn't the quota trade agreement presided over by the BJP rebels? Has the president decided to listen to the rebels? "The German minister bites the word rebel very tightly.

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai could probably guess that the German minister was preparing to coerce and intimidate the People's Party. If the German side really did this, Yuan Shikai would welcome it. However, the current situation is completely different from that of the Gengzi Incident, Yuan Shikai will definitely not participate in person, he immediately replied: "Mr. Minister, China has been at war for a long time, and what is needed most now is peace. It doesn't matter who comes up first, what matters is that it's good for China. ”

The German envoy did not want to have anything to do with Yuan Shikai, and the foreign missions generally believed that the People's Party was a radical faction in Beiyang, and the People's Party's promotion of this "quota trade agreement" with great fanfare made the foreign missions confirm this judgment. Regardless of what Yuan Shikai thinks of the People's Party, in the eyes of foreign missions, the two sides are on the same page in their attitude of trying to stabilize the situation in China. There are no fewer intrigues in Europe than in China. The BJP's efforts to fight for its own interests were all too normal in the eyes of foreign missions.

"Your Excellency, we in Germany have our own interests in Shandong. This is guaranteed by treaty. Now that our interests in the south of Shandong have been harmed, what does Your Excellency the President think about this? ”

Sure enough, this is it! Yuan Shikai thought in his heart. The Germans had been trying to turn the whole of Shandong into a German sphere of influence, and they had forcibly broken into Jiaozhou Bay, occupied Qingdao, and finally had a foothold in China. Since then, however, Germany's progress in Shandong has been minimal. The German power was never able to intervene in the southeastern part of Shandong, and in terms of trading, German goods sold in the southern part of the mountain were even inferior to those of the Americans.

Listening to the German minister talk about "interests in the south of Shandong," Yuan Shikai felt very ridiculous.

"Mr. Minister, we have been negotiating with the People's Party on the issue of southern Shandong. You might as well wait until we have a result of the negotiations. Yuan Shikai said with a smile, "But if Your Excellency the Minister wants to negotiate with the People's Party alone, the central government can't stop you from doing so." ”

What the German minister wanted to hear was actually Yuan Shikai's attitude. Before he came to see Yuan Shikai, he had already discussed the Shandong issue with Britain and France. The British fleet had its own base in Weihai, and the reason why Germany could not continue to expand after occupying Qingdao had a lot to do with the constraints of the British.

The British and the People's Party did a lot of business, and the import and export trade between the two sides was very prosperous. Not only the British, but even the Yankees are making a fortune in the BJP base areas. Compared to these two countries, Germany's trade has been greatly affected.

And the whole of Germany does not like the People's Party. Chen Ke, chairman of the People's Party, is also a chemist, and after the cooperation between the United States and the United States, American ammonia products poured into Europe. Germany's chemical industry is also a well-known rising star in Europe, and Germany is a little surprised to encounter such a big variable as Chen Ke in the heavy chemical industry.

And that's not the worst thing, Europe has formed the "Solvay Union" on large-scale industrial soda ash production, and they have a monopoly on industrial soda ash technology, which is a lucrative deal. After the People's Party purchased more than 20 sets of equipment from joint ventures in the United States, it also began to sell soda ash on a large scale. This shows that the People's Party has mastered the soda ash production technology.

Solvay's trade union system faces strong external challenges. To make matters worse, when the Solvay union came to ask Chen Ke why he was "stealing patents from other countries", Chen Ke compared the production process of the Solvay union with that of the People's Party. The new process ideas stunned the representatives of the Solvay trade unions.

Everyone is knowledgeable, and Chen Ke's production process is indeed feasible. This is not "patent theft" at all. Of course, that's not the heart of the matter. The core of the problem is that the Solvay union relies on technology monopoly to make huge profits, and if Chen Ke unveils this new production process to the public, as he did with the 606 formula a few years ago, the Solvay union will collapse immediately.

If Chen Ke is just a simple scientist, there are many ways for the Solvay union. Hire Chen Ke with a high salary, or put Chen Ke under house arrest, and in the extreme, get rid of Chen Ke. This solves the problem. In terms of business competition, it is all too common for Europe and the United States to kill each other's technical backbones. Killing a Chinese is even less a problem.

The problem is that Chen Ke is not just a scientist, he is the leader of a political entity with an army. Even if Chen Ke is killed, the production process is still in the hands of the People's Party. If the Solvay union wants to continue to dominate ammonia technology, it can only eliminate the BJP completely. That's the hard stuff to do.

The German minister received many inquiries from within Germany: "What is the attitude of the People's Party?" "Not only in Germany, but also in Solvay, the union is very anxious. The news from the British side is that the BJP is demanding a monopoly on the entire Asian market. If this request had been made by a European country or the United States, the Solvay trade union would have agreed to it long ago. The problem is that it is actually a Chinese "warlord" who makes this request. Moreover, this "warlord" does not even have a navy, so he wants to monopolize the Asian market, and the Solvay trade union does not want to give in to the "blackmail" of the BJP.

Now it is time to teach the BJP, which has been doing well, a lesson. If the BJP is allowed to develop like this, God knows what else they will come up with. The chemical industry is actually a layer of window paper, once it is punctured, it is really punctured. On the existing basis, as long as you invest in R&D, there will be corresponding benefits. The Germans know better than anyone the significance of the support of government leaders for the chemical industry. Germany's chemical industry began to take off during the time of Chancellor Bismarck, and with the resources of the Ruhr coal mines. If the leaders of the government were chemists themselves, the results would be even more terrible.

The British and French had no intention of destroying the BJP. However, Germany proposed to teach the People's Party a lesson, but Britain and France were ambiguous. In China, both the central and local governments are weak, as is the consistent view of Europe and the United States, and there is no need for all-out war, as long as it can put pressure on certain areas, or even take mild military action, the government will compromise. The Germans understood very well that as long as "no land was ceded and no reparations were made", the Chinese government would consider this a real victory. When it comes to business interests, these Chinese government officials themselves do not even rule out cooperation. It's a great opportunity for them to make a big splash.

The German minister received many inquiries from within Germany: "What is the attitude of the People's Party?" "Not only in Germany, but also in Solvay, the union is very anxious. The news from the British side is that the BJP is demanding a monopoly on the entire Asian market. If this request had been made by a European country or the United States, the Solvay trade union would have agreed to it long ago. The problem is that it is actually a Chinese "warlord" who makes this request. Moreover, this "warlord" does not even have a navy, so he wants to monopolize the Asian market, and the Solvay trade union does not want to give in to the "blackmail" of the BJP.

Now it is time to teach the BJP, which has been doing well, a lesson. If the BJP is allowed to develop like this, God knows what else they will come up with. The chemical industry is actually a layer of window paper, once it is punctured, it is really punctured. On the existing basis, as long as you invest in R&D, there will be corresponding benefits. The Germans know better than anyone the significance of the support of government leaders for the chemical industry. Germany's chemical industry began to take off during the time of Chancellor Bismarck, and with the resources of the Ruhr coal mines. If the leaders of the government were chemists themselves, the results would be even more terrible.

The British and French had no intention of destroying the BJP. However, Germany proposed to teach the People's Party a lesson, but Britain and France were ambiguous. In China, both the central and local governments are weak, as is the consistent view of Europe and the United States, and there is no need for all-out war, as long as it can put pressure on certain areas, or even take mild military action, the government will compromise. The Germans understood very well that as long as "no land was ceded and no reparations were made", the Chinese government would consider this a real victory. When it comes to business interests, these Chinese government officials themselves do not even rule out cooperation. It's a great opportunity for them to make a big splash.