"A lesson you'll never forget?" Hearing Li Zhigao's words, Marven's brows furrowed again, "Li, my friend, are you so confident?" ”

"Of course."

"Hey." Marven shook his head, "Lee, my dearest friend, it looks like I have to talk to you alone. ”

"Oh? Of course. Li Zhigao smiled, "However, I just opened here, and there are so many good things, don't you want to take a look around first, and then talk about it?" ”

"I don't have that mind." Marven shook his head and said with a worried expression, "At least, I didn't have the heart to visit your supermarket until you convinced me that you could protect yourself." ”

Indeed, if you want to say who is most worried about Li Zhigao and the foreigner of Li Zhigao's regime now, there is no doubt that it is Marven, and in terms of sincerity, even Li Huade, who is controlled by drugs, is not as good as him.

As a young American businessman who has been well-fed since he was a child, and especially likes to watch science fiction, and has a little adventure gene, he always longs to be different, and was the first to contact Li Zhigao, Marven can be said to be more interested in Li Zhigao's career than anyone else, and he has always believed that he should be Li Zhigao's best friend.

Marvin doesn't think this way because he's simple, but because of his American thinking.

In the eyes of Americans, the distinction between public and private is very clear, and many people, no matter how tacit they cooperate in the company, the military, or the government, and how familiar they are with them in ordinary times, as long as they don't invite you to their own homes as guests, don't keep you staying, and don't let you touch their own things at will, then they are not your good friends, they can only be regarded as good partners.

When Li Zhigao first met Marven, because of his personality and convenience, he often invited Marven to eat and stay together at his place and talk about his ideals together. Talking about ambitions together, even Li Zhigao's things that were very expensive in Marven's eyes were casually let Marven touch, and even the advanced three-wheeled motorcycle, after he mentioned it many times, he casually gave it to Marven. Even if it can only be opened in Taiping Province.

It's just like this, which makes Marven think that Li Zhigao treats him as a good friend and brother, and then, when Li Zhigao established the army, and even partnered with Qing Dynasty officials, he participated in the whole process, and also made a lot of efforts, so Li Zhigao established a career, Marven also thinks that he has his own share.

Li Zhigao's current achievements. In Marvin's opinion, it's like ...... How to say it, it's like a joint-stock company, and the major shareholder is naturally Li Zhigao, who is at least a small shareholder of entrepreneurship, so he has a bit of a sense of ownership.

In Marven's mind, Marven's army started from scratch, and almost all of them had Marven's shadow and help, if it weren't for the batch of munitions he brought. Without the American instructors he recruited, there would have been no regimental training, the predecessor of the Jiangnan Army. Without regimental training, it would not have been possible to have the dazzling and incredible successes that followed.

It can be seen that Marven attaches great importance to this army, and it is also in order to strengthen Li Zhigao's strength that he is willing to give up the title of vice president of the military academy and the nominal deputy commander-in-chief. He went to the United States to help Li Zhigao register a patent and set up a company, and by the way, he lobbied the high-level leaders of the American political and economic circles, so that the United States could invest more forces to support Li Zhigao's regime. It can be said that what he has done has gone beyond the scope of business partners.

When I was in the United States. Marven didn't forget to ask about Li Zhigao's side of the matter, and almost every three days he had to send a telegram to ask about the matter here.

During this period, transoceanic cables had been opened, and China and the United States had opened transoceanic telegraphs, but because of technical problems, it was not possible to make transoceanic calls, only telegrams, in this case, not only the amount of information was not large, but also the price was expensive, but this did not stop Marven's concern in the slightest.

It was precisely under this kind of continuous concern that he knew what had happened here in the past six months, and knew that Li Zhigao had successfully rebelled in one fell swoop from the commander of a small patrol battalion at the beginning, and became the supreme governor in charge of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the richest region in China.

After knowing the news, although he was in the United States, Marven was also very excited, and this incident also reduced a lot of resistance for his subsequent actions, because it was Li Zhigao's huge actions and influence, especially the many trendy technologies, that made Americans pay more attention to Li Zhigao and increase business and trade with the Jiangnan government. The United States has benefited a lot from the registered patents and licenses, as well as the factories that have been opened in the United States based on patents.

It is precisely because he regards Li Zhigao's success as his own success that Marven rushed back to China in such a hurry after hearing about the unpleasantness with Japan, you must know that there are no long-distance passenger planes at this time, and the United States can only go to China by boat, and it is steam power, and it is impossible to go to China without two weeks.

As soon as he came to China, Marven went straight to Taiping Mansion, who knew that just in time for the opening of Dahua Supermarket, he was hard-pulled to visit, but it was obvious that he had been absent-minded.

Seeing Marven so worried, Li Zhigao didn't want him to continue to worry, so he made a little explanation to Liu Runsheng and asked him to continue to take people to visit, Li Zhigao himself went to a café in a supermarket with Marven, and after Marven asked for a cup of coffee and Li Zhigao asked for a bottle of soda, all the service staff were driven out, so that there were only Marven and Li Zhigao in the whole café.

"Alright, now fool the two of us." Li Zhigao smiled, "What do you want to say?" ”

"What I want to say is that your arrogant appearance worries me a lot." Marven stared at Li Zhigao and said, "Do you know why I'm in such a hurry to come back?" Because I have received definite information, Japan already has a plan to send troops to attack you, and they have already started a secret mobilization in the country, and now the negotiations with you are just trying to stabilize you and engage in delaying tactics. ”

"Oh, that's it, I've been expecting this for a long time." Li Zhigao waved his hand, "It's nothing, this era is originally an era of the jungle, I don't feel surprised that the Japanese do this, and I'm already ready, you can rest assured." ”

"Reassured? How can I rest assured? Marven said, "I'm afraid you don't know." The scale of the Japanese mobilization this time is very large, and my people estimate that this time the Japanese may have to dispatch three to five main divisions, and also send out the navy, which is obviously beyond the level of punishment and intimidation, and is to destroy your intention at one time. ”

"Destroy me? Just Japan? Hehe. You think too much of them. Li Zhigao still didn't care, "With my current strength, with the Japanese, there is nothing I can do with it." ”

"I'm really reminding you if it's okay." Marven was dissatisfied, "You are still perfunctory to me like this, this is not what a friend should do." ”

"How can I ......" Li Zhigao just wanted to say how to perfunctory you, but suddenly remembered something, and then looked at his anxious demeanor that did not seem to be fake, and finally suddenly realized.

Originally. Marven's worry comes from not understanding and not understanding the strength of Li Zhigao's current troops!

It should be said that on the surface, the establishment of the Jiangnan Army is indeed inseparable from Marven, because when Li Zhigao first established the regimental training, he was exposed to arms and training personnel. It was all provided by Marven, and the first expansion of the army after that. It was also Marvin who brought bad arms and retired American officers. As for Li Zhigao's batch of modern weapons, especially the situation of the special forces, because the secrecy work is too good, this group of Americans is not clear at all.

Although when the patrol battalion was ambushed, rocket artillery was dispatched, and the power made the group of beautiful ** people very moved. However, under Li Zhigao's fraud, especially after pointing out that this weapon has a short range and poor accuracy, they don't care, thinking that it is a weapon similar to Congreve rockets. And that kind of weapon has long been eliminated because of the problem of range and accuracy.

After that, after the army that started out mastered the preliminary formation training skills and rough writing, Li Zhigao began to establish a military academy, stuffed all the American ** people into the military academy, and let them become teachers in the military academy, away from the training of the front-line troops, and from then on he knew even less about the situation of the front-line troops. As for the training of those front-line troops, the infantry drill provided by Li Zhigao from the modern society was changed to those soldiers who were born as intellectuals to teach, because most of those soldiers were collectively literate and brainwashed, so the training was decent, especially the new training syllabus was more suitable for the use of new weapons, so the training situation was even better than that of the Americans.

In other words, the Americans in the military academy are actually a disguise, although they are also lecturing, but most of the lectures are about some civil engineering and the experience of the First World War, which are all things they have learned before, and the students studying in the military academy only take these things as a subject, and they also have to study the military textbooks provided by Li Zhigao.

Because of the language after all, and the deliberate concealment, until now, the Americans did not know the strength of Li Zhigao's army, only that it seemed to be equipped with a lot of new weapons, and these weapons were produced by the factories in Taiping Mansion.

Even the American instructors in Taiping Mansion did not know the situation of Li Zhigao's troops, let alone Ma Wen, who was far away in the United States and could only obtain information through telegrams, so in Ma Wen's mind, although he knew that Li Zhigao had expanded his army several times later, he did not know much about the number of troops or weapons and equipment, so he was so worried.

The worry lies in Japan, in the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army!

The Russian army is recognized as a strong army, and Japan can defeat Russia, and it is also considered to be the strongest army in Asia, especially Japan also has a strong fleet, such a combination to fight Li Zhigao, not many people are optimistic about Li Zhigao's regime, even if many people know that Li Zhigao's troops have a lot of artillery and machine guns, and they have surpassed Japan in army firepower.

At this point, the Jiangnan Army, which did not have many big battles and had little actual combat experience, was obviously inferior to the Japanese army that had just gone through the Russo-Japanese War in terms of overall quality, not to mention, Japan still had a strong fleet, and Li Zhigao's territory was close to the Yangtze River, and the Japanese fleet could completely go upriver through the Yangtze River and land directly in Taipingfu.

In other words, although Li Zhigao's army has very strong firepower, because of its geographical location, it is very vulnerable to naval artillery strikes, and under the blow of naval guns, the army's firepower is simply not enough, which is universally recognized.

Although Li Zhigao had previously shown to the consuls of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries that he had a 130-millimeter cannon with a range of more than 30 kilometers, which could theoretically be used as a shore defense gun to fire at naval guns, not many people really believed that this was true, even if the consul who witnessed these artillery firing scenes at that time was gradually persuaded and began to find out a bunch of so-called "flaws" on his own.

And. According to common sense, if there is such a weapon, how can it be shown to people so hastily? Therefore, the outside world generally believes that Li Zhigao is putting on a show and bluffing. It's just that at that time, Britain and the United States and other powers still needed a stable Taiping Mansion. He also needed Li Zhigao's scarce materials and special medicines, especially those new technologies, so he didn't want to irritate Li Zhigao too much, and acquiesced in Li Zhigao's rules and regulations that treat Chinese and foreign people equally under his territory, and repeatedly promised that he would not send warships over.

Although later Li Zhigao exported a large number of weapons, showing the ability of Li Zhigao's military production, he did not have a strong navy after all, although there were several small gunboats, but in front of the Japanese fleet. It's just a child, and it's easy to be destroyed, at least that's what the other powers think.

In other words, in the eyes of some observers of the great powers, the Japanese army was likely to be unable to destroy Li Zhigao's troops, but as long as the Japanese fleet was dispatched, it could deal a devastating blow to Li Zhigao, at least the Ma'anshan New Port in Taiping Province. and the Ma'anshan base near this port, all within the range of naval guns. Once this most important manufacturing center is destroyed, Li Zhigao will lose supplies, and when the Japanese blockade the sea again, Li Zhigao will want to transport those new equipment. It's going to be difficult.

It can be seen from this that the outside world's speculation about Li Zhigao's new technologies and equipment is all due to the support of mysterious forces abroad, and never expected that it was produced by China itself. This is also understandable, given the situation in China at this time. How could such a strong industrial system be built without external support? Even Japan has only come to this point by relying on external import and absorption.

In fact, in order to obtain these technologies, the great powers have sent a lot of secret agents, especially Britain, Japan and the United States, but because Li Zhigao has strict control, all key factories are military restricted areas, which belong to the closed ring management, and outsiders are not allowed to trespass, so they are basically clueless.

Although outsiders are very curious about Li Zhigao's technology and equipment, it is certain that the core of everything is Taiping Mansion, that is, around Ma'anshan in Taiping Mansion, once this place is destroyed, then Li Zhigao will lose half his life.

"I see, it seems that you are really suspicious, and you are really worried about me." Li Zhigao nodded with a sigh.

"Of course." Marven nodded, "We are friends, and I have a part of all this, how can I watch all this be ruined?" No, it's absolutely not going to work! I'm not a governor yet! ”

"Ugh!" Hearing the last sentence, Li Zhigao was stunned, "Then what do you mean, what should I do?" ”

"This ......" Marven twisted slightly, looked left and right, and then lowered his voice, "Actually, you know, the reason why I was able to come so quickly is because I was not on an ordinary passenger ship, but on a destroyer, an active destroyer of the United States. ”

"Oh." Li Zhigao nodded thoughtfully.

"Looks like you've guessed it." Seeing Li Zhigao nodding, Marven sighed, "The escort of the destroyer, including my understanding of Japanese information, is all the US government helping me, and their purpose in doing this is to let me rush over and lobby you as soon as possible." ”

"Lobby me?"

"Yes." Marven nodded and said, "Before I came, the U.S. government made a promise to me, saying that if you are willing to completely open up to the United States your technology of special drugs like Huang An, as well as your technology in manufacturing stainless steel and high-performance military steel, and promise to continue to inherit the Gengzi indemnity after taking control of China's power in the future, and implement a zero-tariff policy on American goods, then the U.S. government will come forward to mediate and make Japan give up its attempt to attack you." ”

"Well, the U.S. plan is really good." Li Zhigao smiled, "Is this considered a robbery while the fire is hot?" ”

"This ......" was said by Li Zhigao, and Marven, who was familiar with this word, turned red and retorted gently, "Li, you have to figure it out, these are nothing compared to preserving the family business. The British and the French made it clear that they wanted to see a good show, and even secretly supported Japan. For example, as far as I know, the British secretly sold a lot of arms to Japan during this period, including a lot of heavy artillery, and they were just waiting for Japan to attack you, so that they could reap the benefits. At this time, only we, the United States, can help you. You see, just letting you go with some technology can save you from being attacked by Japan, and it will also give you some royalties and gain the friendship of the United States, so why not do that? ”

"That's a good idea." Li Zhigao smiled, "However, you are also one of my partners, you should always know how sought-after my things, especially my medicines, are?" Not to mention anything else, once my medicine is used in war, after a big battle, it can at least reduce the casualties of my own troops by more than 30%, and the effect is no less than a large number of artillery, and even surpasses, after all, it is also very effective in peacetime, and this is something that can save people. As for stainless steel and military steel technology, hehe, this is the key technology that my own products can sell well, once these key technologies are gone, how can I compare with the powers in terms of my current production capacity? Also, when it comes to zero tariffs on U.S. goods...... I don't mind zero tariff, but the problem is that at least let my goods have zero tariffs in the United States, just unilaterally let me have zero tariffs, which is a bit unreasonable, right? ”

"This, this ......"

"As for Gengzi's indemnity, hehehe." Li Zhigao narrowed his eyes, "That's the clause signed by the Qing government to lose power and humiliate the country, it has nothing to do with me, why should I admit it?" There is a debtor and a debtor, you should ask the Qing royal family. ”

"After all, the Qing government represented your country at that time, so according to international practice, this is a treaty of the state, regardless of whether the government collapses or not." Marven frowned, "Of course, I also know that thing is not good, but it is determined so internationally." Moreover, wasn't the Gengzi indemnity drastically reduced later? You know, in the international arena, when a government falls, if the later ruler does not recognize the treaty of the previous government, it will create an excuse for others to attack you, and attract others to beat you, do you know? ”

"Come on, then." Li Zhigao said lightly, "Don't say that I am not the one who rules the whole country now, even if I rule the whole of China, I will not admit these things." If any of you are dissatisfied with the attack, let the horses come. Which country's rise is not accompanied by war, get used to it. ”

"Why are you so disobedient?" Marven was anxious, "Japan's blow is coming soon, you think about it again, the US government is very sincere." ”

"Needless to say." Li Zhigao raised his hand and stopped Marven's further lobbying, "It's a friend, don't say it." Anyway, I thank you for this, but please don't bother with it. Regardless of whether the Japanese really came or not, I should have come down by myself, and it was nothing more than soldiers coming to cover the water. As for the kindness of you Americans, I appreciate it, but it is not necessary, after all, I have never heard of a powerful country that has risen by foreign handouts. In short, we have the ability to be self-reliant, and we also have the ability to protect the fruits of victory, so you can rest assured. (To be continued.) )