The establishment of the Tank Regiment of the Imperial Chinese Army is only a microcosm of the army's equipment innovation.

In the 11th year of Guanghua, the Army Reform Outline reported by the War Department of the Chinese Empire to the General Staff showed that the Chinese Empire was divided into 10 military regions, namely the Imperial Praetorian Military Region, the Zhili Military Region, the Fengtian Military Region, the Lanzhou Military Region, the Chengdu Military Region, the Guangzhou Military Region, the Nanjing Military Region, and the Shandong Military Region.

Overseas territories are under the jurisdiction of 11 overseas military regions, including the Korean Military Region (stationed at the Ulsan Fortress Base), the Ryukyu Military Region (stationed at the White Beach Base), the Pacific Military Region (stationed at the Guam base), the Australian Military Region (stationed in Sydney), the Southeast Asian Military Region (stationed in the Singapore Fortress), the Mediterranean Military Region (stationed in Cyprus), the Indian Ocean Military Region (stationed in the Maldives), the Caribbean Naval Region (stationed in Puerto Rico), the Panamanian Military Region (stationed in Panama City), the Atlantic Military Region (stationed in Bermuda, Persian Gulf Military District (based in Kuwait).

As the empire grew and the scope of overseas territories expanded, the Imperial Army had to be expanded. The standing army has been increased from 54 divisions to 60 corps, totaling 2.4 million troops. Each army is equipped with two divisions as standard, and each division is equipped with a standard of 20,000 people. In addition, there is a supplementary area directly under the army, a reserve brigade and regiment, with a reserve force of 10,000 people, and a total wartime strength of 50,000 troops.

There are 2 million troops deployed on the mainland and 400,000 troops stationed overseas, of which 200,000 are stationed in the island chain used to blockade the United States, and the Panama Military Region has the most, up to 100,000. In addition, the largest garrison is the Kuwaiti base in the Persian Gulf, with 100,000 troops, mainly used to control oil in Kuwait and Baghdad, and also out of the need to prevent Tsarist Russia. The second is the Cyprus base, with a garrison of 60,000 troops, which is strategically important, which can intervene in the Ottoman Empire to the east, suppress the Balkans to the north, control the Suez Canal conflict to the south, and deter the countries surrounding the Mediterranean to the west.

The total strength of the Imperial Chinese Army has gone up, but it doesn't mean that the quality will decline. On the contrary, the national defense force of the Chinese Empire still attaches great importance to the army, after all, the navy is an expansive type, and the army is the one that truly guards the last line of defense of the empire.

Take the First Army of the Imperial Chinese Army as an example, which was stationed in the Tianjin Military Grain City Base of the Zhili Military Region. Formerly known as the first town of the Zhili New Army personally trained by the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao, it is the founding father of the Chinese Imperial Army system and the elite of the elite troops.

As the descendant of Wang Chenhao's lineage, its supreme commander is naturally from among the most trusted people around Wang Chenhao, and the current army commander is Wang Chenhao's third guard captain Wang Wenqing, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhili Military Region, the commander of the lieutenant general, the rank of first-class baron, and the youngest lieutenant general officer in the empire.

The First Army has two divisions, four brigades and eight regiments, and is also the only unit in the battle sequence of the Imperial Army that maintains a combat duty establishment all year round, with a total strength of 50,000 troops in wartime.

In terms of equipment, the First Army took the lead in completing the Type 10 redress in 1910, and an ordinary private was equipped with a round M10 steel helmet, combat boots and camouflage uniforms that matched the shape of the Oriental head. Among them, the M10 steel helmet is the most revolutionary. The overall shell of the M10 steel helmet is formed from a single metal alloy steel plate after several stampings, and its circumference varies in six sizes: 60, 64, 66, 68 and 70 cm. The inside of the enclosure is fitted with two different leather pads depending on the size of the wearer's head. The padding straps of the steel helmet are made of metal and are divided into two parts, the inner and the outer ones, which are placed inside to connect the leather lining to the outer shell. The leather padding of the steel helmet is secured with a metal liner, which is screwed to the two inner and outer liners by rivets.

At the same time, European and American countries were not equipped with such steel helmets, and Wang Chenhao, the well-known emperor of the Chinese Empire, vigorously promoted the use of steel helmets for troops. Because the most lethal on the battlefield is shrapnel and sharp fragments flying indiscriminately, using a helmet to protect the head can effectively avoid this kind of killing. For the bullet, as long as it does not hit the front of the helmet vertically, the curved surface of the helmet will basically bounce the bullet away, thus protecting the safety of personnel.

In addition, Wang Chenhao also asked the War Department to develop military bulletproof vests, if it were not for the current level of craftsmanship could not be compared with the 21st century, now every soldier in the Chinese Empire wears bulletproof vests. However, the idea put forward by Wang Chenhao has already taken root in the War Department, and there are already experts in this area who are studying it, but it has not yet succeeded.

The various other individual equipment is basically the same as before, with not much change. The only thing that the army soldiers did not understand was that when they received their equipment, they had an extra set of gas masks. Since the news of poison gas operations has always been tightly sealed by the top brass of the Imperial Army, ordinary officers and soldiers have no idea that there is still such a thing as poison gas operations in the world. But they were all told to wear gas masks as soon as they noticed any air or breathing abnormalities.

In terms of weapons, the rifles used by the Imperial soldiers have been replaced with M1 Garand semi-automatic rifles. The rifle was successfully developed by Garland, an American firearms expert from Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, and won the favor of the War Department, making it a standard rifle in the 10-year army weapons replacement plan of the Chinese Empire. Browning, the chief gunsmith of Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, who competed with him, was eliminated from the M10 automatic rifle.

Due to the fact that the soldiers of the Chinese Empire were weaker than Westerners as Orientals, from the beginning of the Mauser 95 rifle used, the soldiers of the Imperial Chinese Army had to pay considerable sweat to carry. The ordinary rifle bullets used in the world at that time made the recoil of automatic rifles large when firing continuously, it was difficult to control the accuracy, and the weight was large, and it was difficult for the oriental physique to carry. As a result, the first requirement for weapons in the 10 years of the glorious Chinese Empire was that the weight must be light, followed by the firepower, and the cost control.

The M10 automatic rifle developed by Browning for soldiers of the Imperial Army weighed 9 kilograms, and although it was quite powerful and could fire 20 rounds in bursts, it was too difficult for infantry to carry and was not suitable for individual weapons.

At this time, Garand, who had just been invited by Beiyang Technology from the Springfield Arsenal in the United States, had the idea of the Chinese Emperor's urgent request for a portable rifle, so he immediately took out a rifle that he had carefully developed for a long time, and here was the Garand M1 rifle, a semi-automatic rifle weighing less than 4 kg.

When the bullet is pushed out of the muzzle, part of the gunpowder gas enters the piston barrel through the gap between the end face of the barrel and the gun mask, pushing the piston backwards. The disadvantages of this method of air conduction are that the piston barrel is not firmly connected to the gun mask, the bayonet assembly is unstable, and the movement of the front sight affects the accuracy.

After testing by the War Department, Garland was asked to redesign, and he improved the rifle's air guide to one that opened air guides under the barrel. After the hammer strikes the firing pin to cause the bullet to be fired, part of the gunpowder gas enters a small piston barrel from an air hole near the end under the barrel, which pushes the piston and frame backwards. The guide protrusion on the bolt slides along the guide groove of the frame, and when the frame recoil drives the two locking protrusions on the bolt to be freed from the locking groove of the receiver, and rotates to achieve unlocking, and the bolt recoil process completes the action of throwing the cartridge case and presses the hammer into a standby state at the same time. The tail end of the bolt frame hits the rear end of the receiver and is driven by the reentry spring to start the re-entry. The guide protrusion on the guide bolt in the guide groove of the frame drives the bolt to rotate until the two locking protrusions enter the locking position. During the re-entry process, the bullet is loaded and the bolt is locked. The frame continued to re-enter into place, and the gun was again in a state of readiness. Compared to its contemporaries with pull-back bolt rifles (manual loading), the rate of fire of the M1 Garand rifle has been qualitatively improved.

Especially for the soldiers of the Imperial Chinese Army, they have experienced many large-scale battles on the battlefield in modern times, and they have deeply realized the great advantages brought by the continuous rifle fire. On the battlefield, its firepower superiority can effectively suppress manually loaded rifles.

The M1 rifle has a more distinctive way of feeding ammunition, the steel leakage magazine containing a double row of 8 bullets is pressed into the magazine from the top of the receiver, and when the last bullet is fired, the gun hangs up empty, and the magazine will be automatically ejected from the magazine by the unclipper, which will make a sound to remind the soldier to reload the bullet.

As a semi-automatic rifle, the War Department of the Imperial Chinese Army was too small for its magazine capacity, and asked for it to be improved to 10 rounds. At the same time, when Duan Qirui, Minister of War of the Chinese Empire, talked about rifle ammunition with Emperor Wang Chenhao, he proposed to create rifle ammunition of the independent caliber of the Chinese Empire to distinguish it from the mainstream ammunition caliber of European and American countries.

Previously, the Chinese Empire did not have such industrial capabilities and could not produce ammunition of read-power models on its own. Now that the industrial system of the Chinese Empire is sound, and the process technology has reached the international advanced ranks, there is indeed a need for a new ammunition caliber standard that represents China.

In this regard, Duan Qirui was naturally dark-eyed and could not find that the caliber of the rifle cartridge was suitable for the Chinese Army. But Wang Chenhao is different, he knows too well the direction of future rifle development.

During World War I, the armies of various countries used high-powered rifle cartridges such as 7.92, which resulted in a large rifle weight, too strong recoil, not easy to control accuracy, and too heavy to carry. After the First World War, the armies of various countries believed that the actual combat distance between the two sides during the First World War did not exceed 500 meters, and the use of high-powered rifle bullets was really wasteful, because the naked eye of the soldiers could not see the target 500 meters away at all, and could not shoot accurately. As a result, after World War I, countries began to use rifle cartridges with a medium power of about 6.5. However, after the end of World War II, the armies of various countries found that medium-power ammunition was also a waste, because in the beginning of the war, it was basically difficult for soldiers to calm down and aim and shoot, basically estimating the direction of the enemy and shooting, and the real effective shooting distance between the two sides was actually between 200 meters and 50 meters. For this reason, after World War II, the armies of European and American countries once again reduced the power of bullets and changed them to low-power close-range kill bullets, that is, NATO 5.56mm rifle bullets that represent surnames.

Wang Chenhao believes that since he knows the direction of future development of guns and bullets, it is necessary to develop in this direction. But he didn't dare to reform too radically, in case the caliber of the rifle cartridge was too large to a small power bullet and the Imperial Army was very uncomfortable, causing a defeat on the battlefield.

Therefore, Wang Chenhao decided to carry out reform step by step, as long as he was ahead of the European and American armies.

Therefore, at the suggestion of Wang Chenhao, the first standard rifle cartridge of the Chinese Empire, the 6.5 mm intermediate power bullet, as the difference and characteristics of the Chinese Imperial Army from the European and American armies, swore the characteristics of the Chinese Empire.

At the same time, Wang Chenhao's consideration is also in line with the current development speed of the Imperial Army, because a group of firearms experts such as Browning and Garland have designed semi-automatic rifles and light machine guns, and this kind of automatic firepower is the necessary equipment of the Imperial Army. And as automatic firepower, it is obvious that high-power rifle cartridges are not suitable, and medium-power rifle cartridges are just right. Therefore, Wang Chenhao wanted to go to the Imperial Army at this time to adopt medium-power rifle cartridges, which was actually to prepare for the Imperial Army to equip submachine guns in the near future.

Of course, there are many things that Wang Chenhao will not directly state, he hopes that as the emperor will give his subordinates a sense of mystery and worship, only let the civil and military officials of the empire after some hard exploration, only to find that the emperor has pointed it out many years ago, so that they will worship Wang Chenhao more fanatically, which is more conducive to Wang Chenhao's rule.

For Duan Qirui, he never thought about whether what Wang Chenhao said was correct, in his eyes and heart, what Wang Chenhao said was always correct and must be implemented. Therefore, after Duan Qirui won Wang Chenhao's opinion, he returned to the War Department and immediately issued an order to change the imperial standard rifle cartridge to 6.5×56 mm, and the caliber of the other standard rifle cartridges was cancelled.

Since the caliber of 6.5 is not unused, as early as 1894, Sweden was barely called a European power, as a symbol of power, the Swedish military imitated the Mauser 6.5×78mm rifle cartridge. But soon Sweden's status as a great power plummeted, and it was suppressed by the standard rifle cartridge caliber of the major European and American powers, and it has been unknown ever since.

The Chinese Empire set off 6.5 mm caliber rifle cartridges, of course, it cannot be the same as Sweden, it needs to have the characteristics of the Chinese Empire. As a result, the 6.5 mm rifle cartridge of the Chinese Empire was shortened to 56 mm, and the arc radius of the warhead was increased to 50.2 mm to improve the shape of the bullet, and the length of the bullet was increased to 23 mm to increase the mass coefficient of the warhead and the ability to save velocity, and the rifled entanglement distance was shortened from 305 mm to 178 mm of the original Mauser bullet to improve flight stability.

The warhead is a pointed head, a conical bottom, a steel/lead core composite structure, and a copper coat armor. The shell is flangeless and bottle-shaped. The primer is of the Bodan type. The charge is a bibasal flat ball drug.

In addition, the strong steel production of the Chinese Empire has significantly reduced the cost of steel-core warheads, and it has become possible to replace copper-core warheads. Therefore, the standard 6.5mm rifle cartridge of the Chinese Empire adopts a steel/lead core composite structure bullet core, with a 0.8-gram hard steel core directly placed into the arc part of the bullet case, and a columnar lead core is placed at the back.

The advantage of this structure is that the processing and assembly are simpler than the steel core/lead sleeve structure. The position of the steel core of the warhead is not embedded in rifling, which reduces the wear and tear on the barrel. The position of the center of gravity is shifted backward, and the moment of inertia at the equator decreases, which is conducive to improving flight stability. Taking into account the dual effects of penetration and killing, when hitting the target, because the steel core is not easy to be upset, and it is accelerated by the habitual force of the lead core, it has a better penetration effect than the lead core warhead of the M98 Mauser.

The standard 6.5 mm caliber rifle cartridge of the Chinese Empire has a very good dispersion accuracy, with a distance of 100m (R50) of 1.7 cm, R100 of 4.2 cm, 300m of R50 of 6.4 cm, and R100 of 11.8 cm.

Because of the use of steel core, its armor-piercing surname can be very high, at a distance of 200 meters, it can penetrate the previous generation of steel helmets of the Chinese Empire, and at a distance of 750 meters, it can penetrate a steel plate with a thickness of 3.5 mm.

The design of this caliber bullet was very successful, and it became the first domestically developed standard rifle bullet in the Chinese Empire, which was in line with the status of the Chinese Empire as a great power at this moment.

After the standard caliber of the rifle system of the Chinese Empire was changed to 6.5 mm, in this way, the M1 semi-automatic rifle designed by Garand had to be reduced to 6.5×55 mm in addition to changing the ammunition capacity to 10 rounds.

The key effect of the drastic reduction in the caliber and length of the bullet is the significant reduction in the weight of the rifle.

The improved M1 rifle adopts a gas-conductive, rotary locking bolt, the barrel length is reduced to 610 mm, the empty gun weighs only 3.2 kg, and fires 6.5×55 mm rifle cartridges of the Chinese Empire, with a magazine capacity of 10 rounds and staggered pressure ammunition. The muzzle velocity of the bullet reaches 865 m/s, the effective range: 750 m, the flake front sight, the hole-type illuminator.

The bayonet remained unchanged, and the earlier three-edged bayonet was still used, because the three-edged bayonet had become one of the important symbols that distinguished the Imperial Chinese Army from the armies of other countries.

After being tested by the Army, the M1 rifle finally passed the comprehensive test of plains, mountains, islands, jungles, deserts and other environments, and its reliability is high, the shooting accuracy is high, and it is easy to disassemble and clean, it has proven to be a reliable, durable and effective rifle.

As a result, the War Department finally approved the replacement of rifles mainly with the M1 Garand rifle, and ordered 3 million rifles of this type, of which the First Army of the Imperial Chinese Army and the Royal Praetorian Guard were the first to be equipped, and other units will be reequipped in the next three to five years.

The rifle is a soldier's life, and being able to get the advanced M1 rifle is a boon for the soldiers of the Imperial Army. The soldiers of the First Army were the first to be equipped with M1 rifles, which highlighted their superior status.

As the chief firearms designer of Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, Browning's M10 automatic rifle was defeated, which made him very unhappy when he was surpassed by a newcomer Garand. So Browning learned from the lessons of the M10 automatic rifle he designed, and after refining the design, it was improved into the M10 light machine gun.

Originally used as an automatic rifle, the M10 weighed 9 kilograms, which obviously could not be favored by the army. However, if it is used as a light machine gun, this weight fully meets the requirements of the light machine gun program for upgrading classes stipulated in the new reform program of the Imperial Army.

The M10 LMG was originally 0.30 in (7.62 mm), but was later changed to 6.5 mm and weighed 6.8 kg. Semi-automatic or fully automatic fire can be carried out with a rate of fire of approximately 550 rounds / min. Ammunition is fed by a detachable magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds mounted under the receiver. Using the principle of air conduction, it can choose between semi-automatic or fully automatic shooting.

As an automated firearm, starting from the M10 type, the air-cooling technology has matured, which has opened the prelude to the future development of submachine guns in the Chinese Empire.

The M10 is rugged and all metal parts are blued, the gun receiver is machined from a single block of steel to give it a stout appearance, and the non-reciprocating reload (ready to fire) handle is located on the left side of the receiver. The ruler is upright. The barrel is 610 mm long, and a cylindrical flame suppressor is installed in the muzzle of the barrel, which can be well concealed, which greatly improves the survival rate of the machine gunner.

The M10 was also equipped with a special cartridge belt with a metal "cup" on the right side, into which the bottom of the butt was inserted in order to allow it to be used in the combat mode of "shooting on the march", as conceived by Browning.

The improved Browning automatic rifle has a simple structure, easy to disassemble and combine, and can be carried by a single soldier and assisted by a secondary shooter to shoot between the marches to carry out assault operations, suppress enemy firepower, and provide fire support for one's own side.

The Browning M10 light machine gun was also favored by the War Department, which plans to purchase 30,000 units in three to five years to equip each infantry squad of the Imperial Army with light machine gun firepower.

Although Browning did not compete with Garand in rifles, he was successful with light machine guns, and earlier he had developed the M2 heavy machine gun with 12.7×99mm ammunition for army tanks and Navy submarines. In terms of heavy machine guns, the Imperial Army planned to eliminate the Maxim water-cooled heavy machine gun and replace it with an M2 heavy machine gun.

As the first unit to be equipped, each infantry battalion of the First Army will be equipped with three M2 heavy machine guns to form a heavy machine gun platoon, which will be released to company-level units as company-level heavy fire support in wartime.

In terms of artillery, the First Army is still equipped with 75 mm infantry guns, 105 mm mountain guns and 155 mm heavy howitzers.

There are still two caliber mines, one is a 60-mm mine-strike gun, and the other is an 80-mm mine-strike gun, which is used as artillery support for regimental units. In addition to further improving the sighting equipment, the second is to develop more safe and reliable lightning shells, which are easy for individual soldiers to carry and enhance the battlefield fire support capability.

In addition, the biggest change in the First Army is the realization of the reform of wireless communications, the army directly under a wireless communications battalion, in wartime radio stations can be arranged to each battalion headquarters, to facilitate the unified action and dispatch of the whole army, to achieve the first step in the reform of the information of the Imperial Chinese Army.

Of course, in the reform of the Imperial Chinese Army, mechanization reform was the most important.

As the Chinese Empire successively completed the large-scale construction of the national railway network and highway network, the developed transportation network system put forward a new test for the Imperial Army, that is, it must achieve the ability to quickly reach the theater of operations.

Trains were the most important thing, but they only led to the cities of the Empire, and most of the villages and towns were only connected by roads, so it was inevitable that motor vehicles would enter the Imperial Army.

In the 11th year of Guanghua, there were more than 200 automobile companies in the Chinese Empire, including more than 10 large automobile companies. This is due to the economic stimulus policies implemented by the Chinese Empire, and the state financial subsidy for individuals to buy cars by more than 70%, but anyone with a job can afford to buy a car. Of course, most people can afford but can't afford it.

Despite this, as long as one thousandth of the empire's 420 million people are willing to pay for cars, it will be a huge cake, and more than 200 cars will not be enough to share this big cake. Of course, there were also foreign car companies participating, but the Chinese Empire refused to give financial subsidies to those who could afford to buy foreign cars, and even imposed a 200% tariff and purchase tax.

The Chinese Empire's hegemonic policies have greatly protected the country's emerging large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, enabling them to surpass the large foreign automobile companies after this round of state fiscal stimulus. In this regard, the imperial government is full of confidence, because the Chinese empire monopolizes 80% of the world's automobile production and sales, and the Chinese empire's cars are advanced in technology and advanced design, and are extremely popular with car buyers around the world.

In this regard, the Royal Motors Company of the Imperial Motor Company has always ranked first in the world in car sales, and it is also the most expensive. Every year, more than 4 million vehicles of various types are exported to all over the world, and the domestic sales volume has reached 6 million, which is firmly in the leading position of the automobile industry.

The reason is that the Royal Motor Company belongs to the emperor Wang Chenhao is his personal private property, Wang Chenhao has applied for international patents for almost more than 500 types of car designs in later generations, and every year he will come up with more than 10 beautiful car designs with a sense of supergeneration on the market, and each time it will cause crazy buying by car enthusiasts around the world. Especially in China, the beautiful cars designed by the emperor are deeply loved by the people, and all the cars are named royal xxx cars, which strongly attracts the excitement in the hearts of the people, and they are proud of the cars used for the royal words, and they also have a sense of pride in front of relatives and friends.

Regardless of the advanced style, surname Neng, or the emperor's face, the official cars of the imperial political axe units basically choose the products of the Royal Motor Company, and the annual purchase volume exceeds 1 million. Not to be outdone, other domestic car companies imitated the design of the Royal Motor Company, followed their own routes, and sold cars to the common people with a surname-price ratio, and also achieved considerable sales.

The Imperial Army's demand for military jeeps and transport trucks is huge, and the country's 2.4 million troops, 1 million National Guards, and 3 million law enforcement policemen of all kinds need more than 10 million vehicles of various types registered in the General Logistics Department alone, which will be distributed to more than 200 domestic automobile companies, because one or several large automobile companies cannot complete the task.

The surge in demand for automobiles in the Chinese Empire and around the world has led to a boom in the automotive industry in the Chinese Empire and an astonishing rate of growth.

In the Beiyang Stock Exchange, the Beiyang Index, which opened on August 12, 1911, reached a new high of 176 points. The auto industry stock index soared for five consecutive years, contributing more than 20%, becoming the second largest contributor to the shipbuilding industry at 38%. More and more people are investing in automotive stocks, which has snowballed the entire industry. Stocks in various industries related to the automotive industry also increased, with the rubber industry in particular seeing the largest growth.

Since there was no industrial synthetic rubber production technology at this time, although some scientists had synthesized rubber components, they could not achieve industrial production, and the cost was too high, so all rubber came from the milk of rubber trees and rubber grass that grew in the tropics.

Obviously, the yield of rubber trees and rubber grass crops is too low and requires a growth cycle, which is a drop in the bucket for the large-scale rubber industry of the Chinese Empire, which needs rubber.

The price of rubber is rising every day, and rubber companies in Europe and the United States have also begun to intervene in the competition, resulting in a sharp rise in international rubber prices, bringing about an increase in the cost of rubber products, and even the automobile industry related to rubber demand has also been affected.

What made the Chinese Empire's political axe most unhappy was that as the main international rubber producing area, the rubber plantations in Southeast Asia were harassed by the local European and American colonial political axes, restricting their exports to China, with the intention of weakening the Chinese Empire's rubber industry, and then attacking the Chinese Empire's automobile industry and aircraft industry.

And they did this for only one purpose, because the Chinese empire had too much trade surplus with various countries, especially the monopoly position of the automobile and aircraft industries, both of which were profiteering industries, resulting in huge trade deficits between European and American countries, and more than a dozen large-scale trade wars would be set off every year.

This year, Southeast Asia was hit by hurricanes and tsunamis, the rubber plantation industry suffered a heavy blow, and the large-scale reduction of rubber production made the already insufficient rubber more scarce, resulting in a sharp rise in the price of tires and other major rubber products, and the price of four tires even rose to the level of half a car.

In response to this situation, the European and American colonial governments in Southeast Asia further controlled the plantations, requiring the plantations to export rubber only to the suzerain, and prohibiting exports to China in disguise. Even the plantations of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia were restricted from exporting their rubber to the Chinese Empire. Even the rubber plantations invested by the Chinese Empire in the region were restricted under various pretexts.

Faced with this situation, the capitalists of the Chinese Empire in the rubber industry were very dissatisfied, and they united with a large number of chaebols and consortia in this field, such as the automobile industry and the aviation industry, to protest to the colonial authorities in Southeast Asia and Europe.

Every senator or representative of the Reich Congress, and even members of the local provincial assemblies, almost every member of the Reich Congress has the shadow of one or several capitalists behind them, because all the political parties in the Reich are not allowed to have their own enterprises, and their funds for running elections have to be raised from the capitalists everywhere, so they have to speak for the capitalists.

Tens of thousands of companies and enterprises related to the rubber industry in China were more or less affected, and their protests soon turned into anger, and then intensified into hatred, and the Imperial Congress influenced by them unanimously passed on December 3, 1911 to unanimously condemn and protest against the restrictions on rubber exports by the European and American countries led by the United States, but the effect was not obvious, the United States had regarded the Chinese Empire as a potential enemy, and the United States political axe would spare no effort to support anything that might weaken the economic capacity of the Chinese Empire.

The largest rubber producing regions in Southeast Asia are the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, and the Malayan Peninsula, controlled by the Chinese Empire, produced less than one-twentieth of that. However, the Dutch and indigenous people in the Dutch East Indies rejected the Chinese from the beginning, so that the rubber plantations there were basically foreigners, especially the Americans.

As a result, the imperial government saw that the political solution to the rubber problem could not be solved, so it had to use other means.

On December 13, an incident caused a sensation in the Chinese Empire and even the world.

On this day, a Southeast Asian expatriate named Li Yunlong arrived in Yanjing with his wife and children, and made a report in the Imperial Diet on the bloody and tearful accusation of the Dutch occupation of the Republic of Lanfang.

It turned out that a month ago, a rubber plantation of Li Yunlong's family on the outskirts of Batavia, the Dutch East Indies, was seized by Dutch authorities simply because Li Yunlong refused to export rubber to the United States at a low price. Li Youyi argued that he was of Chinese descent and wanted to sell rubber to his native businessman. Moreover, the domestic rubber price of the Chinese Empire has reached 150 yuan per barrel, and the United States only gives 120 US dollars, which is too cheap to sell.

Because Li Yunlong did not sell, the Dutch authorities, together with American businessmen, bribed the local natives, destroyed his estate, and robbed Li Yunlong of all the property of his family, and threatened Li Yunlong not to go to the Chinese Imperial Consulate in Batavia, otherwise he would kill their entire family.

However, Li Yunlong is a descendant of Lan Fang, and he is also a member of the former Lan Fang Fu [***], when Lan Fang was destroyed, he was the same as other Lan Fang descendants, and he endured the grief of destroying the country, because the Qing political axe at that time was the flag man in the world, and he didn't care about the life or death of overseas Chinese. Lan Fangfu [***] was soon disbanded.

Now the Han Chinese have restored their legitimacy, established the Chinese Empire, and become the world's number one military power in one fell swoop. This made Li Yunlong once again sprout the pride of recovering Lanfang.

So, with the help of his friends, Li Yunlong secretly entered the Chinese Imperial Consulate in Batavia, and told Consul Chen Ping everything bitterly. When Chen Ping learned that Li Yunlong was a descendant of Lan Fang, his eyes lit up, because he was worried about how to put pressure on the Dutch authorities to send rubber resources from the Dutch East Indies to China. Now the matter of the Lanfang Republic suddenly inspired him, so Chen Ping immediately agreed to do his best to help him recover his property and justice, and at the same time suggested that he go to Yanjing to negotiate with the Imperial Political Axe on the matter of the Lanfang Republic, perhaps the Imperial Political Axe could consider helping Lanfang restore the country.

Li Yunlong was immediately overjoyed, so he flew to Yanjing with Chen Ping on the C-12 flight of the Imperial Airlines.

In this way, during his stay in Yanjing, Li Yunlong successively visited the military and political dignitaries of the Chinese Empire, as well as a large number of company managers who had rubber business dealings with him, and obtained their introduction and support.

The Imperial Political Axe was busy with the issue of rubber raw materials, but Li Yunlong's Lanfang restoration could just be used to make a fuss, so the Imperial Congress agreed to Li Yunlong's speech in the Auditorium of the Capitol in order to persuade more Imperial Councillors to support.

After Li Yunlong's impassioned speech, the history of blood and tears of the Republic of Lanfang, overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia are still threatened by the local aborigines, and their lives and property cannot be guaranteed, and he implored the Chinese Empire to send troops to restore Lanfang, which will definitely deter the indigenous people of Southeast Asia and force the local European and American colonial authorities to protect the overseas Chinese.

Li Yunlong's words touched the members of the Imperial Congress, and before the session ended, the Imperial Congress passed a declaration of action to defend overseas Chinese, and formally legislated to allow the Imperial Political Axe to pay more attention to the living conditions of overseas Chinese and safeguard the interests of overseas Chinese.

In fact, the Chinese Empire has long had a declaration in this regard, but the situation in Southeast Asia is complicated and involves the interests of European and American countries. In order not to be discriminated against, most Chinese broke away from the Qing government at that time and became a local citizen, and the Chinese Empire had no excuse to interfere.

Now it is different, if the excuse is given to Lan Fang to restore the country, then this reason is enough to gag the mouths of the European and American powers, and at the same time, it can also really deter the Netherlands, and if necessary, this is also the best reason to send troops to occupy the Dutch East Indies.

On December 26, Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, summoned Li Yunlong and his son in the imperial study, inquired about some information in person, and promised to restore the country for Lanfang.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, the people who sacrificed on behalf of Lanfang thank Your Majesty for your grace of reconstruction." Saying that, Li Yunlong took his son and was about to kneel down for Wang Chenhao.

Wang Chenhao supported the two of them and said, "We haven't done this for a long time!" ”

Li Yunlong said: "Your Majesty is really the lord of the Holy Ming, and under the wise leadership of Your Majesty, the empire has become a prosperous, strong, and civilized country, and its military strength has attracted the attention of the world. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, this is indeed his credit, there is no need to be modest.

"Li Yunlong, I want to restore Lan Fang, where do you think I will restore the country?"

"Naturally, it's in Pontianak!" Li Yunlong replied immediately.

Wang Chenhao smiled: "I hope it is the entire East Indies!" ”

Li Yunlong was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood Wang Chenhao's intentions, so he smiled and said: "If Your Majesty sends troops, the Dutch East Indies will naturally be fine." ”

Wang Chenhao said again: "I need a president of Lan Fangguo, do you have a candidate?" ”

Li Yunlong replied: "The grass people are not talented, and they are willing to recommend themselves!" ”

Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "You can convince more than 10,000 members of the National Assembly to prove that you have this ability." However, I want to know what your political program will be after you become President of Lan Fang? ”

Li Yunlong thought about it and guessed the meaning of Wang Chenhao's words, so he replied: "Although Lanfang calls it a republic, it has always regarded the former dynasty and Qing Dynasty as the suzerain, and we are just vassals, and now we can naturally become a vassal state of the Chinese Empire, and we should take the political program of the Chinese Empire as the first priority." ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, very satisfied with Li Yunlong's answer, and then said: "I need a pawn to break the situation in Southeast Asia, if you can do it, then you are the new president of Lanfang, and the empire will give you strong support." ”

Li Yunlong asked: "Even if Your Majesty doesn't mention it, all the descendants of the grass people and Lanfang are not at odds with the Dutch and the natives, and the hatred of the Pontianak massacre must be avenged." Therefore, Your Majesty has been sent, and the grass people must go all out. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, the words had already arrived, and Li Yunlong had already understood Wang Chenhao's intention to use force against the Netherlands.

Looking at Li Yunlong's son, who was only seven or eight years old, Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "What's your name?" How old are you this year? ”

"Your Majesty, my name is Li Jinkun, and I am 8 years old this year."

Li Jinkun? Wang Chenhao felt that the name was somewhat familiar, and suddenly blurted out: "Is your son's name Lee Kuan Yew?" ”

Li Jinkun was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I haven't married yet?" Where did the son come from? ”

Li Yunlong hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is really like a god, I can't hide it, my Pontianak Li family has been in Jinkun for 12 generations, and the next generation is the Guangzi generation, Guangyao is a good name, and the grandson of the grass people is called Li Kuan Yao." ”

Wang Chenhao was stunned for a moment, and immediately burst out laughing.

The next day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire sent an official note to the Dutch ambassador to China, demanding a strong protest against the Dutch invasion and occupation of the Republic of Lanfang, a vassal state of the Chinese Empire 30 years ago, demanding that the Dutch government withdraw from the territory of the Republic of Lanfang, apologize for the crimes committed in those years, and make compensation.

This move immediately frightened the Netherlands, and European and American countries were even more shocked, muttering in their hearts, afraid that the Chinese Empire was going to do something against the Netherlands.

(To be continued)