A swarthy luxury car slowly parked outside the gates of the Forbidden City, and the co-pilot, an adjutant in a double-row buttoned military uniform, got out of the car and opened the door of the car. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe man in a decent tuxedo got out of the back row, the beard on his face shaking in the cold north wind.

The adjutant draped his fur coat over the foreign man's shoulders, and then the bearded man took a big stride towards the Forbidden City, the most graceful and luxurious red-walled compound in the world, the hall that symbolizes the absolute power of the Ming Empire.

Standing in front of this palace, anyone will feel their own insignificance and humility, and what it shows you is the supreme power of the arbitrary master here, and in order to create this atmosphere, every brick and wall here is repeatedly pushed and considered, and never sparing the cost of work.

Nowadays, because of the reform of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, this place is different from the closed and mysterious it was back then, but it is still a symbol and symbol of the spiritual level of this empire. Although many people come and go here every day, everyone is undoubtedly a powerful person in the true sense of the word.

On the palace road, which was very smooth by the boulders, the two people who passed by the foreigner stopped and turned sideways to look at the foreigner who was in a hurry to enter the palace. One of them, a middle-aged man in a gorgeous official uniform, said to a companion in a suit beside him: "Look, the Russians obviously can't sit still, and it's not just us who want to fight this war." ”

The man in the suit turned his face sideways to look at the background of the bearded foreigner, and a faint smile remained on his face. It's no wonder that he is in such a good mood now, because this war can be said to have started in such a hurry under the impetus of his products.

The person who spoke had just sat in the management position of the procurement department of the Ministry of War was Tan Jincheng, chairman of the Chiyou Weapons Company, who was now a celebrity in front of His Majesty the Emperor and held the right to directly purchase many weapons. Of course, the benefits brought to him by the Liaodong War are far more than that, and the official uniform on his body is undoubtedly one of the benefits of the complete victory in the Liaodong War.

"I think that if Muscovy is in a hurry to go to war with the outside world, I can buy at least 5,000 more units of that equipment." The middle-aged man in a suit mentioned his business and was a little proud, he was the cornerstone of the entire Ming Empire's industrial plate, and the major shareholder of Wang's Machine Tool Industry Group, known as the world's industrial engine, Wang Yadong.

Although Chiyou Company is the largest arms company in the entire empire, and the weapons it produces are powerful, most of the machine tools that can produce these weapons and equipment are made by Wang Yadong, a person who seems to have nothing to do with weapon production.

Wang's Group is one of the most advanced machine tool manufacturers in the Ming Empire, and its subsidiaries are located in all corners of the world. The industrialization of the Ming Empire was initially driven by enterprises controlled by the royal family, but it was the Song Wang group that inherited its mantle.

Today, Tan Jincheng followed Wang Yadong to see Emperor Zhu Mu, and a large part of the reason was that Zhu Mu needed to build three more large shipbuilding companies in Shanghai, Shandong, Lushun and other places, and the early investment needed the strong support of these heavy industry groups. At the same time, because of the news from the front, Zhu Mu has seen the impact of advanced fighters and bombers on the war situation, and hopes to double the production capacity of new aircraft.

These things need to be supported by banknotes, and they are also very willing to be seen by the capital group. The war turned everything into a straining commodity, and the armies of the Ming Empire in the north and south were like pixiu swallowing gold, consuming all types of supplies that the Ming Empire had in reserve.

Every bullet casing is copper and iron, every soldier is a life, and war consumes copper and iron, destroys lives, and leaves behind a black hole that consumes money and silver such as pension construction -- if war is a nightmare, then the sweetest sleep in this nightmare is undoubtedly the capital group.

"But isn't it, my arms exports still need to be reviewed, His Majesty the Emperor is still somewhat dissatisfied because of the needs of the war, but the machine tools and equipment on your side are promising." With a hint of envy, Tan Jincheng said to his companion Wang Yadong with a smile.

Wang Yadong glanced at Tan Jincheng with slanted eyes, laughed and pointed at the other party and teased: "You, you!" How many tanks did you produce, how much did His Majesty the Emperor want, and what else do you have to complain about? If all my machine tools and equipment are eaten, I will wake up laughing from my dreams! ”

"Hahahaha!" Hearing Wang Yadong's compliment, Tan Jincheng laughed, he reached out to support Wang Yadong's arm, and with the other hand made a gesture of please, and said: "Between the colorful clouds in the south of the city, I will be the east!" Take a walk and have a drink or two! It's rare to meet, drink two drinks together! ”

……

The two people here stood at the palace gate of the Forbidden City and joked with each other, the Russian bearded man over there had already passed through a palace gate and stood outside the gate of the Ministry of Rites, he explained his intention to the guards on duty at the door, and was introduced into the door by a diplomat of the Ming Empire after a while.

"The war of the Ming Empire in Liaodong has made His Majesty the Grand Duke very uneasy. Grand Duke Vladimir VII desperately hoped that the Ming army would rein in its war in the north and fulfill the Non-Aggression Pact between the Ming Empire and Muscovy. After meeting He Yuxi, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, the envoy of the Principality of Moscow, a bearded man, spoke eagerly.

Putting down the teacup in his hand and bringing his hand back to the furnace he was holding in his arms, He Yuxi raised his eyebrows and said slowly: "Why haven't I heard that the non-aggression treaty signed between you and China has a clause governing the Korean Peninsula?" ”

His words made the envoy from afar blush, and he couldn't refute a word. Muscovy wanted the Ming Empire to go to war in the south against Ceylon, but it did not want to see the Ming army move on the Korean Peninsula. The reason is also very simple, because Muscovy does not want to see the northern part of the Ming Empire become monolithic, threatening his eastern front.

"Your country's combat operations on the Korean Peninsula have made our country feel uneasy, so please consider carefully and consider the friendly and cooperative relations between your two countries...... Knowing that he could not bargain with a strong tone, the bearded man immediately changed his diplomatic rhetoric and pleaded.

He Yuxi still looked unhurried, and only after coughing did he continue to speak slowly: "The treaty signed between you and us, the Ming Empire will continue to fulfill it, please rest assured." The import and export between your two countries, as well as weapons and machinery, must continue...... The Empire has no intention of expanding the war in the North, and this is a matter for the benefit of both of us and you. ”

"In this case, His Majesty the Grand Duke of China is willing to sign more trade agreements with the Ming Empire, and strengthen the alliance between you and us......" The bearded man opened his mouth to propose a proposal that would better ensure the stability of the Muscovy and the northern part of the Ming Empire.

Hearing this, He Yuxi put down the furnace in his hand, threw it on the table, stood up and walked out, and said as he walked: "At the beginning, I was willing to form an alliance with the Muscovy, but your country was too suspicious and unwilling to go further. Now that your country has figured it out, wouldn't everyone be happy to upgrade the "Non-Aggression Pact between the Ming Empire and Muscovy" to become the "Treaty of Alliance between the Ming Empire and Muscovy"? ”

"Squire-sama! Stay! Stay! Hearing this alliance treaty, the envoy from Muscovy raised his hand, stopped He Yuxi, who was about to walk out of the conference room, and said: "Actually...... His Majesty Vladimir VII hoped that the Ming Empire would join the Berlin Cooperation Agreement instead of submitting a treaty to Muscovy alone. ”

"This ...... I'm afraid it means that the German Emperor and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor have the same meaning, right? He Yuxi was stunned for a moment, then withdrew his palm to push the door of the conference room, looked at the envoy from the Principality of Moscow, and said: "Joining this kind of agreement requires the approval of the cabinet and even His Majesty the Emperor...... This is beyond my authority and I have to escalate. ”

In order to appease Muscovy in the north, or to prepare for the conquest of the Korean Peninsula, the Ming Empire had a preset plan for Muscovy's response. That's why He Yuxi is so confident, so he has the right to give a direct reply to Muscovy.

But if it involves a full-fledged alliance with other countries, this goes beyond the scope of pacifying Muscovy, and it goes beyond the power given to He Yuxi by the preset plan. Therefore, he, the squire, can only report this issue to Sun Fang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, or the cabinet or even His Majesty the Emperor to finalize it.

Obviously, this will take time. Muscovy had already massed its forces on the Ottoman borders, and the most important thing they lacked at this time was time. After hearing He Yuxi's words, the special envoy immediately made the decision to ignore the "three-power alliance" for the time being, and first stabilize his eastern front.

"The matter of the joint is a long-term negotiation, which is negotiated between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country and the Ministry of Rites of your country, and as a special envoy, I am responsible only to His Majesty Vladimir VII, Grand Duke of our country." The envoy spoke, twitching his beard. He was in a hurry to sign a treaty that would benefit his country, so he didn't care about pulling the Ming Empire into a three-power alliance.

At noon on December 10, a telegram flew to Moscow, the capital of the Principality of Moscow, and two days later, in the early morning of December 12, Grand Duke Vladimir VII of Moscow officially declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and the war began to spread from the Far East and Southeast Asia to the whole world. (To be continued.) )