Since the current German economy cannot afford the life of retired and demobilized soldiers, a large number of Germans have brought heavy pressure to German society, and the Chinese side has recruited a large number of Germans to serve in China with preferential treatment, which has relieved the burden on the German economy on the one hand, and on the other hand, has also preserved a large number of vital forces for the German army.

Seckert believes that in the near future, as long as Germany is in danger, these German soldiers who have been exiled in foreign countries will still return to the embrace of the motherland without hesitation, as before!

"What do you need me to do with the United States and China?" Ruprecht I, who knew what Seckert was thinking, avoided the overly sensitive topic of German rearmament, asked.

"Your Majesty, if you want to lead Germany forward and get the people out of this predicament, needs to maintain the greatest friendship with the United States and China." "Your Majesty can try to create such an atmosphere that will ease the pressure on the country to move forward. ”

"I know." Ruprecht I gasped and nodded.

"I need all the people to work together to get Germany back from the ashes." Ruprecht I looked at everyone and said, "From now on, we cannot afford to miss any opportunity. ”

At this time, outside the window of the golden conference room, the impassioned voice still came from time to time.

Yanjing, Jurentang, the Great Presidential Palace of the Republic of China.

"President, this is a memorandum from Minister Yang of the Ministry of Finance." A staff member handed over a document to President Xu Shichang, "Chief Yang, please take a look." ”

Xu Shichang at the desk put down the pen in his hand, nodded, took the document and read it.

The title of this document is "Memorandum made by Yang Shuoming, Minister General of Finance of the Republic of China."

"Topic: Visit of the Central Bank by Mr. Schacht, Director of the Reichbank of Germany, September 10, 1922."

"Mr. Schacht's visit has been very friendly, I have known him for two years. During that meeting, Mr. Schacht had referred to the territorial question of Siberia, which he wondered whether would give rise to the danger of war. I denied this and told him that our political interests in Siberia were focused on the issue that we naturally did not want a Bolshevik regime in any Asian country. With regard to the differences and disputes between Ben and the United States, which he mentioned, I also said that I am not worried about any armed conflict between the two countries. ”

"Then Mr. Schacht referred to the agreement between us and the Zoben (referring to the 1921 signing of the Sino-Chinese [***] International Agreement"), to which I pointed out to him two points, first of all that it was only an agreement purely against the common international, and that was why it was signed by Mr. Kishigero Bihara, and not by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This simple fact is enough to show that the agreement did not result in any more political provisions. Second, Mr. Schacht should not forget that China is in the stage of rapid development of its national economy, so it is natural to show the peace-loving sincerity of the Chinese people to his former adversaries. Reconciliation with China, as a military power, is a favorable factor in our policy of peaceful development. The signing of this agreement is enough to dispel the impression that China is a belligerent country. ”

"As for Germany, I pointed out that China and Germany have always had friendship, and that the past war was a tragedy, but this war has also removed the obstacles to the resumption of the traditional friendship between the two countries, and the unequal treaty between China and Germany has been abolished, and the two countries will have friendly exchanges as equals. I would also like to make it clear to Mr. Schacht that China will reach a credit agreement with Germany in the amount of about $100 million, which shows the friendly sincerity of China's political axe and people towards the German people. I reminded him that our trade with Zoben was paid for entirely in cash. Mr. Schacht agreed with me when he said: Despite the fact that there are sometimes internal conflicts, China is the only race in the world with a large population that has lasted for thousands of years. He believes that the reason is that the Chinese people have a strong national spirit and a stable surname of religion. He showed me that Germany had no political interests in the Far East. They don't want to gain the same sphere of influence in China as they did in the past, with Britain or the United States. All they want is a free and well-read China with an excellent central political axe, which will bring unimaginable benefits to German business. ”

"Mr. Schacht then asked about our specific political and economic goals, and I replied that the Chinese people have always loved peace and hope to maintain a peaceful situation and overcome social and economic difficulties by promoting economic development through peaceful trade. Mr. Schacht expressed support for our aspirations, saying that he had already received the same impression from the Americans at the talks in New York. He also added that Germany would not become an imperialist power or get involved in other conflicts of interest in order to gain colonies, and that their goals were entirely limited to the economic sphere. ”

Finally, Mr. Schacht spoke about trade with China. I have expressed some concern that the German political axe trade body is not performing the functions we would like to do in terms of technology transfer and that prices are often inflated. I point out that Germany should do more in this regard. I criticized in some respects the machines and equipment and armament sold to us by the German side, not only in quality, but also in price. Mr. Schacht said that this situation must be changed. I also told him that he should not hesitate to discuss these issues with the German authorities and hold them accountable for all military equipment. ”

"In a few days, Mr. Schacht and I will have further discussions. Yang Shuoming. ”

Xu Shichang put down the memo and signed it with a fountain pen, "Read, transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and his own name.

After reviewing a few more documents, Xu Shichang put down the pen, rubbed his sore eyes, got up and went out of the window, and looked out the window.

At this time, between the blue sky and white clouds in the distance, the figures of large airships were clearly visible, and there were planes flying through the sky from time to time.

"It's been a long time since I've been in an airship." Xu Shichang moved his somewhat stiff body, thinking back to the days spent in those airships with luxurious and comfortable internal facilities, and couldn't help but sigh.

Airships have become an important tool for air travel in China today, even though the country's major aircraft manufacturers have been trying to launch large passenger and cargo planes to compete with airships.

Thinking of the production technology and equipment of the "Zeppelin" large airship that Yang Shuoming imported from Germany, Xu Shichang turned around and returned to his desk, picked up the memo he was about to send away just now and looked at it a few times.

"Whatever you see, you don't care about the price." The corners of Xu Shichang's mouth showed a wry smile, "No matter what, you are the reincarnation of the 'God of Martial Wealth' Guan Yunchang, and we can't control you." ”

Xu Shichang was talking to himself there, and suddenly there was a strange whistling sound outside the window in the distance, Xu Shichang turned his head to look and saw a white line rushing straight into the sky, which was spectacular.

Seeing that the target of the white line seemed to be pointing at a large airship, Xu Shichang couldn't help but be surprised, he grabbed a long telescope and looked in the direction of the white line, but at this time the white line seemed to have flown to the end and lost its strength. Xu Shichang stared at the airship tightly, waited for a while, and after not seeing anything unusual, he let out a long breath.

"What's going on?" Xu Shichang looked at this sudden strange scene and asked a little strangely.

At this time, a confidential secretary walked in and sent more documents waiting to be reviewed, Xu Shichang asked him if he had seen the strange scene just now, and the confidential secretary also gave an affirmative answer.

"Maybe the military is doing some kind of experiment." The confidential secretary did not make the same fuss as the Chinese president, "This thing often appears these days." ”

"You give me orders and ask what is going on." Xu Shichang looked at the airship in the sky, and after all, he was a little uneasy, so he instructed the confidential secretary.

The confidential secretary agreed, put away the documents that were to be forwarded, and then withdrew.

Xu Shichang settled down, sat down again, and devoted himself to his usual work. About two hours later, the confidential secretary returned.

"President Yu, just now the 'Rocket Association' was doing a rocket launch test." The confidential secretary said to Xu Shichang.

"What? Rocket Society? Xu Shichang asked with some surprise, "Are they doing experiments?" ”

"Yes." The confidential secretary replied, "This 'Rocket Association' is a non-governmental research institute that gathers a large number of domestic and foreign scientists to specialize in the study of rocket-powered vehicles. It is said that this association is also well-known internationally. ”

"Oh." Hearing the confidential secretary's report, Xu Shichang relieved himself, "The rocket is very useful in a war, and I said that I suffered a big loss from us at the beginning, and such experiments should be carried out more." ”

"I've just heard that it's expensive to conduct research in this area, but it seems that this association is funded by a large domestic company, and the funding is not a problem, so it often conducts experiments and regularly gives academic lectures at universities...... "The confidential secretary stopped talking when he saw that the president seemed to have lost interest in the affairs of the rocket association.

At this time, Xu Shichang's mind had indeed left the rocket just now, but focused on the work at hand.

Xu Shichang did not know how the scene he had just seen would profoundly affect China's future.

"The earth is the cradle of mankind, and human beings cannot be bound to the cradle forever."

A young Chinese was looking at the rocket wreckage on the ground and whispering to himself.

"Well said! Dawn! Another spectacled student-dressed man approached the young man and smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

The young man reached out and picked up the wreckage of the rocket, and looked at his companion, his eyes radiating with incomparable determination.

This young man is Dr. Feng Tianming, who has returned from studying in the United States and has just joined the China Rocket Association.

Fung was born in Hong Kong in 1896. His father was a member of the city council, very good at solving problems in all aspects, and judged accurately, and later became an official of the Hong Kong Governor's Office, and was one of the founders of the Hong Kong Chinese Commercial Bank. His mother was an excellent amateur astronomer, born into a British aristocratic family and was very educated. Feng Tianming was deeply influenced by his mother since he was a child, and when he was a child, his mother, who loved music and music, always followed him well, aroused his curiosity, and made him curious.

After Feng Tianming entered school age, his mother did not give him toys or money as usual, but gave his son a telescope. So since he was a child, Feng Tianming has become an amateur astronomy enthusiast and has developed a strong interest in the universe.

Feng Tianming has three brothers, he is the second son in the family, and the brothers often play games together. Feng Tianming's first rocket test was conducted in the summer villa area of California's seafront. When he was a teenager, his family moved to the United States with his father. Xiao Feng Tianming tied 6 extra-large fireworks to the skateboard and created his own "rocket car".

On the day of the test, Xiao Feng Tianming lit the fuse, and the "rocket car" got out of control, dragging the flames like a comet's tail and rushing out, whistling out of the distance, and finally, the fireworks burned out with a thunderous bang, and the car flipped to the side. All this made Xiao Feng Tianming ecstatic, he never expected that his "rocket" could have such great power.

Despite the success of the "rocket car" experiment, the neighbor's house was almost set on fire, and the white police, who arrived on the news, seized the disobedient bold child and handed him over to his father to discipline. Xiao Feng Tianming was severely scolded by his father for this, but this incident did not affect Xiao Feng Tianming's interest in rocket launches at all, and he still often launched many homemade fireworks with his brother. There, Xiao Feng Tianming was a well-known naughty child, always causing trouble one after another, today the firecrackers blew up other people's book and newspaper halls, and a few days later the fireworks fell into people's bakeries.

At that time, Feng Tianming was an adventurous child. In the United States, he found that there was much to explore, but almost nothing in his school curriculum. He excelled in foreign languages, especially English, but neglected other subjects. Because his school was a British Protestant college preparatory department, the traditional consciousness was very strong, and the educational methods were also very backward. These are far from adapting to Xiao Feng Tianming, who loves adventure and pursues progress. He didn't like the school's approach to education, so his report cards were not always pleasing to his parents, especially in physics and maths.

In the most critical year of the school, Feng Tianming did not realize the importance of school learning, and he made up his mind to build a better means of transportation than bicycles. So he started building his own car in his father's garage. However, the young man's car had not yet been built, but he delayed the time to review his homework, and as a result, Feng Tianming not only failed in mathematics, but also failed in slightly better physics. His father decided that he could no longer educate the child, so he transferred Feng Tianming to a boarding school that was known for its strictness.

Feng Tianming felt depressed by the school's various rules and regulations, but what made Feng Tianming happy was that the teaching environment of this school was very good, and it was known for its advanced teaching methods and close teacher-student relationship. After the morning class, students often spend the afternoon working on carpentry, masonry, farming, and other creative work. This is a far cry from the boring textbook knowledge before, but it is similar to building a car, and Feng Tianming likes this kind of learning environment very much. At school, he could also use his little telescope to look at the stars for an hour or two before going to bed. One day, Feng Tianming saw a book, it was Konstantin, the founder of Russian astronautics? Tsiolkovsky's "Cosmonautics", which he immediately found to read through, gave him a great impetus to choose his life's work without hesitation. Feng Tianming made up his mind, if he went to conquer the universe, he was willing to go all out. In order to be able to read through the various mathematical formulas in the book, Feng Tianming devoted himself to studying mathematics and physics, two subjects that caused him headaches, and as a result, his grades gradually improved, much to the delight of his parents. It didn't take long for him to be the best student in his class.

In Feng Tianming's mind, Tianjiang, the boundless territory beyond the earth's orbit, deeply attracted him, and cosmic travel was the most desirable and beautiful thing in his heart; He has always maintained a strong interest in the sky. The small telescope given to him by his mother was no longer enough to satisfy his broad vision, so in this school, he decided to build a complete school observatory. He first persuaded the principal to buy a very advanced 8-inch refracting telescope, and then organized a group of stoneworkers among his classmates to build the outer structure of the observatory. In the construction of the Observatory, Feng Tianming not only showed great enthusiasm, but also showed outstanding organizational skills.

After graduating from school, Feng Tianming went to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, according to the strict rules of the academy and the regulations that placed great emphasis on internships, he had to work as an apprentice in a machine shop at the same time. In the factory, he studied fitter, caster, blacksmith, and also worked in the locomotive assembly warehouse for 3 months, which gave him considerable knowledge and experience as a mechanic, which had an important impact on his future career.

The ultimate goal in Feng Tianming's heart is space flight. During this period, considerable progress was made in rocket research worldwide. In fact, as early as the beginning of the 20th century, the advent of the space age was conceived in the minds of some theorists, such as Tsiolkovsky in Russia, who proposed the use of liquid fuel as a rocket propellant. At this time, a large amount of rocket research work began to be carried out in laboratories of various countries, and rocket technology had entered the initial experimental stage.

(To be continued)