Before 10 o'clock in the evening, Xiao Yimin quietly left the US Legation on Gulou West Road, and after returning to his camping residence, he was still repeatedly weighing the informal talks with the British and American ministers, and he knew that within 12 hours, the US Foreign Office and the British Cabinet would receive relevant urgent reports thousands of miles away, after all, Shandong, which is located in a strategic point in North China and carries the huge interests of Europe and the United States, will soon change because of Xiao Yimin's strong intervention.

The United States, which has been making unremitting efforts to expand its political influence and economic interests in China for more than 10 years, will certainly be happy to see the forces of Xiao Yimin, which is hostile to China, advance into Shandong.

It is precisely because of the active cooperation of the pro-US Xiao Yimin and the Nanjing camp that the benefits and achievements of the US political axe and consortium in China in the past two years far exceed the sum of the past few decades, and there is a good trend of steady improvement and a bright prospect that people look forward to.

Although the cooperative relationship between the United States and the United States is more durable, the stubborn and cunning people do not have China's vast market and rich mineral resources, especially the rapid rise of the Xiao Yimin clique, which has created a miracle of economic development in Sichuan, and then led to the rapid recovery and development of the surrounding provinces from the war, and the whole of southern China has shown gratifying vitality and vitality.

In just over two years, Xiao Yimin Group has successfully reached a trade and investment cooperation of up to $250 million with the US political axe and consortium, and the large-scale manufacturing equipment, smelting equipment, automotive electrical appliances, special steel, cotton, and grain produced in the United States are being shipped to China in a steady stream, thousands of American engineers and technicians have been hired by Chinese business circles with high salaries, and as many as thousands of Chinese students go to the United States for further study every year. To the delight of the US political axe and consortium, this is not counting the million-ton scrap trade pact that has been reached between the two sides, and the large amount of weapons processing and production equipment that has been idle due to the end of the war and will be exported to China.

By contrast, Britain, with which it has a close alliance, has faced a huge selection dilemma.

In essence, the greatest purpose of Britain's alliance with Britain's alliance has always been to guard against Tsarist Russia, which has a vast land in the north and is full of ambitions, and at the same time, it is also to restrain the interests of France and other European countries in China, which are also old colonial empires, so as to ensure Britain's traditional interests in China and even the whole of Asia and its lofty status as the world's number one power.

With the initial establishment of the industrial system and the inability of Tsarist Russia to expand in the civil war, Britain's political and economic benefits in the country became smaller and smaller, and because of the strong rise of the United States, Britain's share in the narrow market of the country shrank sharply, and in addition, the company continued to suck blood from the chaotic and backward China through various unconventional and even despicable means that violated justice and international laws, and its navy has become the fourth largest navy in the world, and its humility and respect for Britain have become more and more hypocritical. Britain's Asian interests have been seriously harmed.

In such a situation, the British fell into painful hesitation.

Although the Xiao Yimin clique, which occupies most of China, has expressed its sincere attitude and good wishes for establishing friendly and in-depth cooperation with Britain with concrete actions, a series of problems such as the Kang-Tibet border conflict three years ago are still fresh in the memory of the British political axe, and they have always maintained sufficient vigilance against the increasingly powerful Xiao Yimin clique.

However, the British political axe and consortium clearly saw the rapid development momentum of China's southern provinces and inland areas, saw the increasing economic vitality and huge market in this vast and ignorant land, and more clearly realized the strong strength and potential of the Xiao Yimin group.

Under the new situation, if Britain continues to maintain its original China policy, it is very likely that it will be defeated by the United States, which is said to be more powerful in the future competition, and will not only lose the huge Chinese market, but will also lose the political influence on China that has gradually formed since the 40s of the last century.

Prior to this, many British political observers had made bold predictions: within ten years, Xiao Yimin would defeat all his opponents and become the most powerful ruler of China in a century, and under his leadership, China would likely quickly recover the glory it had lost for hundreds of years!

Xiao Yimin basically grasped the mentality of the British, and in order to recover Qingdao and effectively curb and weaken the development and growth of the British, Xiao Yimin had to put down his body and seek the support of the British.

With the injection of British and American investment into China's textile industry, within two years of rapid growth, vigorous, no longer afraid of the despicable suppression and destruction, but Xiao Yimin had to pay a huge price for this, and will continue to endure in the future, but such a payment is worth it, at least the economic development speed of the country has been seriously frustrated, although Xiao Yimin's "reform and opening up policy" was denounced by many people as a traitor.

However, Xiao Yimin's achievements in developing China's heavy industry, especially in vigorously supporting the iron and steel industry, are enough to make the people of the whole country talk about and feel proud, and after losing the normal supply of Daye iron ore, he once again lost the Ma'anshan Iron Mine, Hainan Shilu Iron Mine, Hunan Shaoyang Iron Mine, Xuzhou Iron Mine and other four high-quality mining areas that are bound to win, so that last year's steel output increased for the first time in ten consecutive years, reaching only 850,000 tons. Steel had to be imported in large quantities from the United States to make up for domestic demand.

Looking at China again, the total output of the three major iron and steel companies in Qijiang, Yucheng, and Ma'anshan, which has been publicly announced, has reached 800,000 tons, and if we add in the output of as many as 20 small smelters in the four provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangdong, China's total steel output last year was definitely not less than 1.4 million tons.

More importantly, the second phase of the Ma'anshan and Yucheng Iron and Steel Companies, and the new Hainan Shilu and Hunan Shaoyang Iron and Steel Companies will be put into operation this year and early next year, when China's total steel production will increase exponentially on this basis, and the people of the whole country will benefit from the steadily declining steel prices.

It was late at night, Xiao Yimin was about to go upstairs to see his wife and children, and suddenly received a report that Deng Xihou had gone to Nanjing to wait for the summons, Xiao Yimin hesitated slightly, and postponed the meeting until tomorrow afternoon.

Almost at the same time, thousands of miles away in Kyoto, Liu Bingxian, who had been in exile and isolated by the whole party for a long time, finally ushered in Chiang Kai-shek, a sworn brother who was running around, when he was drunk.

"Zicheng, you can't drink so much anymore, it won't help your body or your future at all."

Chiang Kai-shek boarded the tatami mat, shook his head, and tidied up the messy room for Liu Bingxian, and suddenly saw a handsome woman running out, apologizing in front of him, and then rushing to clean up the house, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but look at Liu Bingxian who didn't care in surprise.

Liu Bingxian laughed at himself: "Brother doesn't want to scold the younger brother for being degenerate, right?" Yes! As long as you treat everyone equally, the little brother has no opinion, if you want to scold you first, you will first scold those who claim to be the pillars of the party, and even scold Mr., they are even more shameless than me, at least the money I pay for women is my own, and not a penny is donated by those stupid and ignorant overseas Chinese. ”

"Enough! Shut up! ”

Chiang Kai-shek was so angry that he scolded loudly, and the woman on the side was so frightened that she hurriedly knelt down again.

Chiang Kai-shek waved his hand to the panicked woman: "I'm sorry, I was rude!" Please rest, Zicheng and I still have something to talk about. ”

"Hey!"

The woman bowed in reply, got up and turned to the side to hurry to the green, and after a while served Chiang Kai-shek a pot of tea and two teacups, then apologized frequently, bowed back to the back room.

Chiang Kai-shek opened the lid of the teapot and took a look, and saw that the neat and good tea had not yet been brewed, so he had to sit down cross-legged and wait patiently: "Zicheng, the foolish brother hurriedly came in the snow to tell you two important news. ”

Liu Bingxian rubbed his numb face, propped himself up, moved to sit opposite Chiang Kai-shek, lifted the teapot and poured tea into the cup, then lifted his own cup, drank it all, let out a long breath, and then shook his head and smiled bitterly: "It's all like this, what worse news is there?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek knew Liu Bingxian's temper of being cold on the outside and hot on the inside, so he took a sip of tea and replied in a low voice:

"First, the Beiyang garrison in the northwest attached to Xu Shichang and Feng Guozhang united and defeated the Shaanxi overseer Chen Shufan's department appointed by Duan Qirui in a surprise attack, as well as Deng Xihou, the Shaanxi military affairs office who had broken away from the Sichuan army and tried to stand on his own, and then turned east to capture Tongguan, and fought with Zhao Wei's army in Henan.

"Sir and the elders of the party analyzed that Wu Peifu is likely to take the opportunity to make trouble, which is very beneficial to us."

Liu Bing first picked his teeth and made a few "zizi" sounds, and then there was an unceremonious sarcasm: "What do those rotten Confucians who only talk about on paper know?" Sir, I'm afraid that under the demagogy of these grandsons, he is hot-headed again, right? ”

"Zicheng, can you please respect yourself a little bit?" Chiang Kai-shek glared angrily.

Liu Bingxian still has a self-respecting attitude: "Do you also think this is an opportunity to return to China for development and once again turn over and be the master?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek sighed in a low voice: "Alas! I don't know what to say, you know more about the situation in Shaanxi and Wu Peifu, so I want to hear your opinion...... Don't get me wrong, this is my own idea, not assigned by anyone. ”

Liu Bingxian knocked on the tea tray and pouted: "I dare to say that Wu Peifu will definitely not join in this excitement, and I conclude that the Henan warlord Zhao Wei, who is swinging between Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui, must have also seen this, and the reason why he hurriedly went to western Henan and clashed with the warlords who defeated Chen Shufan and Deng Xihou was completely the result of Zhao Kui's unwillingness to put the other party into Henan."

"Besides, Wu Peifu's reputation for wisdom and courage is not earned for nothing, not to mention that he is now an important member of the Nanjing camp, and even the Sichuan army, which should have reacted the most, has not moved, will Wu Peifu move easily? Save it......"

Chiang Kai-shek felt deeply justified and praised with admiration: "I thought you were stupid when you drank alcohol, but I didn't expect you to be so sharp and sharp." ”

"Don't boast, in the end, I'm just such a little hindsight, and if I praise it again, it will hurt me, in fact, you can see it very clearly, how can this little be difficult for you? You're just here to comfort me. Liu Bingxian looked around after speaking, but he didn't find the wine bottle, so he had to continue drinking tea.

Chiang Kai-shek was said to be in his mind, so he had to smile helplessly: "There is another matter, the day before yesterday, Xiao Yimin, in the name of the Nanjing camp of the Central Military and Political Department, once again submitted to the Consulate General of the Central Military and Political Affairs in Nanjing to extradite 37 party elites to return to China for trial, basically including all the generals of the revolutionary army who had studied military affairs in Yueben.

"But what is surprising is that there are no names of you and me in the list of requests for extradition, and even the names of more than a dozen famous literati such as Wu Zhihui and Zhang Ji have been deleted."

Liu Bingxian was stunned, and quickly figured out the mystery, and couldn't help but smash the teacup angrily: "This bastard! Insidious and despicable hypocrite......"

(To be continued)