Guangzhou Bay lease, Zhanjiang City. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Two years ago, George. Graham had sworn to stay away from the damn city and never set foot here again - it had nothing to do with the city, in fact Graham liked Zhanjiang very much, but here he met a bad guy he never wanted to see again, a former colleague named Friedrich Karl. Messerschmitt's Impudent Basterds. Unfortunately, according to the top-secret information he later obtained, this Implourious bastard was working for Umbrella, which happened to have a large military base in Zhanjiang, meaning that he would visit the city from time to time - in that case, what was he doing in Zhanjiang?

Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, or whatever, George. Graham was resolute and had to settle in another city. Regardless of the city, except Hong Kong, it is definitely better than Zhanjiang, because Messerschmitt definitely does not appear there very often.

Unfortunately, as a spy of the British Empire and the head of the Far Eastern intelligence station, it is not up to him to decide which city he should live in, but by those who are higher in rank than him. However, these people of higher rank than him were required to stay in Zhanjiang -- if not every day, at least, for six months a year -- and the Guangzhou Bay lease was the sphere of influence of the Americans, with the bases of the US Navy and private security companies, close to Hong Kong, not far from Vietnam and the Philippines, and the command center of the US government for its intervention in the Far East.

George. Graham had a mission to serve Her Majesty the Queen and must stay in Zhanjiang, so he was not at all surprised when Messerschmitt sat down in front of him again.

Since he's here, yes, the two of them will always meet.

"Hi, Friedrich," he greeted his old colleague calmly, "let me think, how long have we not seen each other?" Two years? ”

"Two years." Messerschmitt nodded, "I'm too busy to travel to the Far East. ”

"Understandable." Graham said, "I bet you're not traveling to the Far East this time." ”

"It's work." Messerschmitt nodded again.

"You're such a workaholic." Graham commented, putting down his knife and fork, wiping his mouth with a napkin, and then changing to a more serious expression. "Say, Friedrich, why did you come to me?"

It's good to be open and honest and put the problem on the surface. Messerschmitt, lighting a cigarette, said: "I need some information - up-to-date information on the situation in the Far East, preferably top secret." ”

"Well, I can give you information." Graham acceded to his request with much more readiness than he had two years ago - two years ago he had figured out that it was better to spit out everything he wanted to know in the first place than to let a dangerous fellow use intimidation and inducement to force him to tell the truth, and in doing so he would still have a little room for bargaining - his attitude was clear: "There is a saying in Chinese that there is no such thing as a free lunch......

Messerschmitt tossed an envelope on the table.

Graham swallowed all the words he hadn't had time to say, picked up the envelope, opened it, and glanced inside as fast as he could. Then his eyebrows furrowed. "Two hundred pounds?"

"You know the rules, old man." Messerschmitt spat out a beautiful smoke ring, "If you want to make a fortune, then I suggest you change jobs." ”

"I love my job." Graham stumbled, tucking the envelope into his bosom, but instead of immediately giving the information, he took a sip of wine, lit a cigar, and finally said slowly, "I think you might be interested in this thing—your boss will certainly be interested." He paused, "London has decided to co-opt and support General Yuan Shikai of China and make him the main agent of the empire in China. ”

"Oh." Messerschmitt's reaction was rather calm, ostensibly so, although in reality he was tempted to pull out his pistol and press it against Graham's head: this cunning professional spy knew very well what he really wanted to obtain from top-secret information, but he deliberately fooled him with a completely unrelated piece of information, and what was even more brilliant was that this news was something that Qin Lang had already anticipated.

Two years ago, he had said that the British would choose an agent among the Chinese generals to counter the pro-American tendencies of the Chinese military due to the large number of American military advisers entering the Chinese army, and to balance the influence of the two countries in China, and the agent they would choose was Yuan Shikai, who was responsible for training the new army.

His prophecy was remarkably accurate, as it was always true, and the only regret was that it was, like most of his prophecies, accurate but lacking in specific details—and it was only for this reason that Messerschmitt had temporarily given up on teaching Graham a lesson.

"Go on." He gestured.

As he wished, Graham lowered his voice and said to Messerschmitt: "London has made some contact with General Yuan Shikai through Mr. Jordan [note], and the famous columnist, Morrison, and has Morrison publish several articles in the Times touting the general......"

"Can this be considered support and co-optation?"

"Hear me out, Friedrich, your two hundred pounds will not be in vain." The stationmaster drank the last bit of wine in his glass and continued: "Because your boss has reached an agreement with the Chinese through Washington, London cannot directly provide light weapons and military advisers to China, and in fact the benefits that can be promised are not very many, and Mr. Jordan gave General Yuan 20,000 pounds in the name of the imperial government as expenses for him to woo junior officers, to guarantee a batch of field guns to his troops in the form of a normal arms trade, and to put pressure on the Chinese government, Raise his rank and expand the size of his troops. Of course, General Yuan wanted to change the bad opinion of the Chinese Emperor about him, so Sir MacDonald had proposed to the Chinese Government that an enthronement parade should be held - and I have heard that the young generals, who had the support of you Americans, had also made this suggestion to the Chinese Government through their friends. ”

"That's interesting news, the enthronement parade." Messerschmitt concluded that the proposal to hold an enthronement parade must have been made after he left San Diego, otherwise he would never have received no news. Of course, he didn't know that this matter had something to do with Yi Shui: it was he who gave the three young generals the necessary guidance, and contacted Conger, hoping that he would provide necessary help, and because of the actions of the British minister, Conger really did that.

After all, the British and American ministers, as well as the Japanese ministers, have all publicly stated that they will represent their countries in the parade, and even Conger went further and said that there will be an American army to join the parade - no doubt that it must be Umbrella's mercenaries, so MacDonald also decided to send a Marine Corps - Aisin Kyoro. After all, Zaifeng is a young man, and he likes face like the Chinese emperors in history, so he agreed without much hesitation, and as for several ministers who take care of their lives, of course, they will not object.

It's just that this military parade may not be as expected by the British and Yuan Shikai to reverse the emperor's bad opinion of him, after all, the military adviser of his unit is also an employee of Umbrella, and he did not train his soldiers well according to Qin Lang's hints.

None of this was Messerschmitt's concern, however, and he was only surprised, especially the inside information that Graham later referred to in connection with the enthronement parade—he had no idea that the British rivalry with the United States had become so open and intense.

"I find it hard to believe that the situation in the Far East is more complicated than I expected." He grunted.

"Do you think it's strange?" Graham smiled, "It's not like your usual style, Friedrich. And the whole thing was done by you Americans. ”

"We?" Messerschmitt raised his eyebrows, "Are you accusing of something?" ”

"It's not me who blames, it's the whole of Britain who blames." Graham put on an innocent expression, spread his hands, and explained: "The Prime Minister, the Parliament, and the Royal Navy are very annoyed by what you Americans are doing, not because you are expanding your power in the Far East, nor because you are lending money to Japan and then asking it to go to war with Russia - we can't ask for that war, you know. The problem, Friedrich, is your ship-building program. ”

"Shipbuilding plan?" Messerschmitt was stunned for a moment. He knew that the U.S. Navy had a shipbuilding program, but he knew very little about it, only the number of battleships that had already been built, three, which was not an exaggeration, and did not annoy the British, as it should be.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked.

"What's the problem?" Graham sneered, "Our intelligence department got some information, the battleships you built do not have secondary main guns, but have eight twelve-inch main guns, which is twice as many as any battleship in the Royal Navy, that is, your three battleships have the firepower of our six battleships, and then you also plan to build three more, or four more in the next fiscal year, with the same design, but with more tonnage, thicker armor and faster speed." Friedrich, do you know what London says about your actions? ”

"Deliberately provoking an arms race at sea?"

"No, it was at a time when the British Empire was in financial trouble, it was a deliberate attempt to provoke an arms race at sea by massively increasing the number and performance of new battleships."

"Sounds like a serious accusation." If you think about it, this is a very serious accusation indeed.

"Look, you can tell that we're very angry." Graham continued, "to be precise, complaining, "that the chief hypothetical enemy of your American Navy is our great Royal Navy, and that you have not abandoned your attempts against Her Majesty's Canada since 1775, and that you fear that the army of Great Britain will invade the United States again, as it did in 1812, and burn Washington again......"

"Stop, George." Messerschmitt stopped him, "I didn't pay you to hear your complaints. ”

"Okay, you're the head, you have the final say." Graham shrugged and returned to the previous topic, "In short, London is very unhappy with your ship-building plans. At any other time, the Council would not hesitate to approve any shipbuilding plan proposed by the Admiralty, and it would have doubled its approval, but now, unfortunately, because of the troubles that the Germans and the Boers have caused us, we are in financial difficulties, and we are planning to issue war bonds in North America through American conglomerates, and we have no money for an arms race at sea. ”

"So, you're provoking small-scale competition in the Far East, intending to curb the expansion of American power in China in this way?" Messerschmitt thought for a moment and then commented: "I don't think it's a smart thing to do, especially in the current situation. ”

"To be smart, or not to be smart, that's London's decision." The head of the intelligence station began to say frustratingly, "I'm just an ordinary spy, and I can't even decide which city I live in. ”

"Don't you like it here?"

"No, I like it here, but I don't like to touch you, Friedrich. You're my problem. ”

If so, then you're really unfortunate - Messerschmitt didn't say it because he didn't want to comfort his former colleague or make him feel like a comfort. He was silent for a moment, thinking quietly, for a few minutes, and then he threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and lit it again.

"What else do you know, George?" He asked.

Graham thought for a few seconds. "Yes, and one more, the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, John. Vice Admiral Fisher, who has been complaining incessantly, accuses the U.S. Navy's ship design department of plagiarizing his concept for an all-heavy artillery warship,[2] although most officers believe that his accusations lack concrete basis...... Friedrich, do you care about this? ”

"Nope."

"So, old friend," Graham asked rhetorically, "what more do you want to know?" ”

"I think it's better for us to return to the situation in the Far East." Messerschmitt no longer concealed his purpose, "Let's talk seriously about the situation in Russia and Japan. ”

"The situation in Russia should have nothing to do with the Far East......"

"Now it's about the Far East."

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Note: John. N. Jordan (Jhon. Newell. Jordan), that is, the famous British Minister Zhu Erdian

Note 2: Fisher's clear idea of an all-heavy artillery battleship should have been born after the Russo-Japanese War (to be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )