"I'm kidding~"

Although Yan Guang quickly added such a sentence, Zhu Erdian still felt dizzy because of his earlier joke. It's no wonder that after all, Zhu Erdian is an old man in his 60s after all, and he can also be called old and frail, plus he has not rested well recently because he is worried about the war situation in Europe, and suddenly heard Yan Guang's joke, Zhu Erdian obviously can't accept it... Seeing Zhu Erdian's appearance, Yan Guang stood up very nervously on the surface, but in fact, he felt a little dark in his heart... You know, he has been annoyed enough by the guys sent by the British to intercede recently, especially Charlie and Richard, who are acquaintances who come to the door... While dealing with these acquaintances in the past, it is natural that Yan Guang will also be secretly hated by Zhu Erdian in Yanjing. After all, it is not difficult to know that he has a relationship with Charlie, because when he was in Sichuan, a lot of arms and equipment were purchased through Charlie.

But except for Zhu Erdian, an Englishman who has been living in China, Yan Guang really doesn't know who knows about his friendship with Richard.

Now that he has a sigh of relief here in Zhu Erdian, Yan Guang is finally much more relaxed... Since he breathed a sigh of relief, Yan Guang naturally would not continue to embarrass Zhu Erdian, after all, he came to Zhu Erdian to talk about business, so after seeing Zhu Erdian's appearance, Yan Guang hurriedly asked Yue Chang on the side to step forward and pour Zhu Erdian a cup of tea―――――― as for the beautiful secretary who had just been recruited to be responsible for Yan Guang's daily life, and even included the warm bed? Yan Guangcai was reluctant to let her pour tea for Zhu Erdian, a foreign old man... Although Yue Chang's skills in making tea and pouring tea were very good, Zhu Erdian was not so particular at this time, so he took the teacup handed over by Yue Chang and drank it carefully.

I have to say that although Yan Guang himself doesn't like to drink tea very much, the tea he has here is definitely the best―――――― but he is also a big president, and the people he entertains in the office are by no means ordinary people, of course, it is impossible to entertain people with a lot of tea leaves for a few cents... And after drinking Yan Guang's tea, Zhu Erdian's expression finally improved a lot.

"It's good tea..."

"Of course!"

Hearing Zhu Erdian say this, Yan Guang said a little proudly, although he had no idea what kind of tea Yue Chang poured for Zhu Erdian just now. If it was juice poured, Yan Guang would be able to distinguish it, but even if Yue Chang dared to pour it, Zhu Erdian might not be willing to drink it... After drinking tea, Zhu Erdian eased his emotions for a while, and then looked at Yan Guangdao with a serious face.

"Mr. President, you just said you were joking?!"

A thousand words, and now Zhu Erdian wants to confirm this sentence the most.

And Yan Guang did not disappoint Zhu Erdian, and nodded bluntly.

"That's right, it's just a joke before the point."

Seeing Yan Guang's relaxed face, he didn't take what happened just now, Zhu Erdian was very angry, but now that he was looking for someone to help, it was impossible to fall out with someone because of a joke. In that case, even if he is already the ambassador to China, his status in Whitehall is much higher than in the past, and if he offends Yan Guang, he will definitely be withdrawn to the country.

Therefore, looking at Yan Guang, Zhu Erdian could only frown.

"Mr. President, the current situation is different, it's better not to make more jokes like that just now..."

Between the words, the resentment in his heart was also brought out by Zhu Erdian.

But Yan Guang didn't care, just nodded.

"This nature..."

Saying that, Yan Guang continued.

"Mr. Ambassador, let's get down to business?"

"Okay."

Saying that, Zhu Erdian looked at Yan Guang with a straight face.

"Mr. President, when you were at the embassy, you said on the phone that you wanted me to come over to discuss the matter of participating in the war, is it true?"

"Of course it's true, it's been almost two months since April Fool's Day, and I'm not kidding..."

Ignoring Zhu Erdian's belly slander, Yan Guang continued.

"I have invited Mr. Ambassador to come this time, just in the hope that Mr. Ambassador will convey to your country's political axe the hope that our country will enter the war in Europe, and that's all..."

"So..."

Zhu Erdian nodded.

"I won't say anything superfluous, I believe that the war situation in Europe is very clear to Mr. President, so Mr. President's wishes, I believe that the European side will absolutely agree, but ......... A few days ago, Mr. President categorically rejected this proposal, I don't know why now? ”

At least Zhu Erdian remembered how categorical Yan Guang's refusal was a week ago, when he came here for the seventh time to invite Yan Guang to send troops.

But now... Yan Guang's change in attitude obviously made Zhu Erdian a little uncomfortable.

"It's very simple, for the sake of profit..."

"Interests?"

"Of course, participating in the war is naturally for profit, and it can't be for the honor of the Entente, right?"

When he said this, Yan Guang's face had a slight mocking smile.

However, Zhu Erdian, who was sitting in front of him, directly ignored this smile and just nodded.

"That's going to do it..."

Sending troops for the sake of profit is indeed a reality, and it is also a matter of course. For the sake of the friendship between the allies, if Yan Guang said so, Zhu Erdian would not believe it if he was killed.

However, Zhu Erdian didn't care about these, Zhu Erdian cared about when Yan Guang would send troops and how he would send them. After all, the situation on the European side, whether on the Eastern Front or the Western Front, is very tense, and there is really no room for delay.

And in the face of Zhu Erdian's question, Yan Guang also said quite directly.

"According to the internal discussion of our political axe, we are willing to send three infantry divisions to the Caucasian theater on the Balkan front first, and at the same time bear part of the pressure on Russia while adapting to the war in Europe, so that Russia can transfer part of its troops from the Caucasian theater to the Eastern Front. Later, after the three infantry divisions that had been sent to the Caucasus in advance adapted to the environment there, our country continued to send more troops until it fully assumed the Russian mission in the Caucasus..."

In other words, when the day comes, the Russian [***] team will withdraw from the Caucasus and be replaced by the Chinese [***] team. Similarly, by that time the areas of Iraq and Kuwait will be completely occupied by the IDF ... And Zhu Erdian, who was a little relieved because Yan Guang was willing to send troops, frowned again after hearing this.

"Caucasian battlefield?"

The place where Britain and France need China most now is not the Eastern Front or the Balkan Front, but the Western Front where the Anglo-French forces and the German-Austrian forces confronted each other.

Especially recently, the German-Austrian forces have just launched a new offensive, and the British and French forces on the Western Front are struggling. According to the information just sent back from London, thousands of Allied soldiers are dying almost every day on the Western Front, and at this time, the British and French are in need of the [***] team to fill the trenches on the Western Front... At this time, China proposed to go to the Balkan front to share the pressure on Russia? I'm afraid London and Paris won't agree..."Mr. President, I'm afraid that your troops are more needed on the Western Front at the moment..."

The subtext is that the Western Front needs your soldiers more to fill the trenches.

It's just that Yan Guang didn't buy his account, and if he really had to go to the Western Front, he would rather not go to war. Anyway, it developed slowly, and when the European war ended and the Soviet Union was established, he was sure that he would take Central Asia.

If it weren't for the fact that Iraq and Kuwait were too tempting, and that he would have had a chance to take them only by going to war, he would not have offered to join the Entente, let alone participate in the European war or something... Therefore, looking at Zhu Erdian, Yan Guang also said straightforwardly.

"The current situation of the war on the Western and Eastern Fronts has been studied by the generals of our Ministry of Defense. After their research, they believe that our country should not participate in such a cruel war at present, because our soldiers cannot afford such a cruel war and the huge casualties caused by the war..."

This is true, after all, if it were really for hundreds of thousands of Europeans to be killed or injured in Europe, Yan Guang's current position would also be shaken.

"Therefore, if the target of the troops is not the Caucasus, then our country will refuse to participate in the war ..."

"This..."

Hearing Yan Guang say this, Zhu Erdian was embarrassed again.

However, although it was difficult, Zhu Erdian still tried his best to persuade him.

"But Mr. President, there is now only one Trans-Siberian Railway connecting Russia and China. If, as Mr. President said, a large number of troops are to be sent in the Caucasus, I am afraid that the logistics of your [***] troops will be in great difficulty..."At this point, Jurdian paused. "And with all due respect, as far as I know, the combat effectiveness of your [***] team is mainly supported by extremely luxurious equipment even in Europe, if there is no such equipment, I am afraid that the combat effectiveness of your [***] team will be weakened a lot, and most of the troops may only reach the second-rate level of Europe, after all, now that the Dardanelles Strait has been cut off by the Allies, our country can no longer provide material support to Russia as in the past. On the contrary, if it is on the Western Front, because of the strong industrial strength of our country and France, your army does not have to worry about logistical problems at all, and the logistics of ammunition can definitely meet the needs of your country, isn't it better for your country? ”

Zhu Erdian also told the truth, the closure of the Dardanelles is tantamount to cutting off the blood transfusion line between Britain and France to Russia. And without this blood transfusion line, although Russia's industrial strength is not bad in this era, I am afraid that it will not be able to provide the Wehrmacht in the Caucasus with the same generous logistical treatment as at home or on the Western Front, but..."It doesn't matter, although without the logistical advantage, the combat effectiveness of our [***] team will indeed be weakened a lot, but the combat effectiveness of the same Turkish army is not very strong." So even without logistical and heavy firepower superiority, I believe that our [***] team can still win in the Caucasus, and..."

When he said this, Yan Guang smiled..."Moreover, in the end, China is currently building the Dilan Railway from Lanzhou to Dihua, and as long as the Dilan Railway can be completed and opened to traffic with the Russian Central Asian Railway, then it will be able to provide quite favorable logistical support for the expeditionary force going to the Balkan battlefield..."

After finishing speaking, although Yan Guang's smile was still bright, Yue Chang on the side always felt that he could smell blood... That's right, the Dilan Railway is being built now, and it is still being built quite smoothly, but the construction process is full of blood..."Dilan Railway..."

The railway from Lanzhou to Dihua is more than 1,900 kilometers long, and although the environment on the way is not as harsh as the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, it is by no means a pleasant place.

With a length of more than 1,900 kilometers and a harsh environment along the way, although in the early years when Chinese workers built the Pacific Railroad in the United States, they set a world record of 10 miles and 200 feet of track laying in 12 hours (equivalent to 16.41 kilometers), but it was not easy to complete the Dilan Railway with the diligence of the Chinese.

(The Pacific Railway is more than 3,000 kilometers long, and it took almost 7 years to complete it, but in fact, the Pacific Railway was not repaired for a few kilometers at all in the first few years, and it was just grinding the skin there...) Moreover, in many parts of the Dylan Railway, there are still some rather dangerous sections of the railway, and if these sections are to be completed, with the current state of technology, I am afraid that human lives will have to be filled.

And Yan Guang? Although Yan Guang always wanted to finish the Dilan Railway as soon as possible, he didn't need this railway, it was filled with innocent lives. Of course, even if Yan Guang is willing, it can't be done, after all, it is Zhan Tianyou who is now supervising the Dilan railway line, and Zhan Tianyou will never agree to use the surname of his workers to build the railway... It's just that when Yan Guang and Zhan Tianyou were still in a dilemma about the problem of the Dilan Railway, Xiong Kewu, who was training in Xinjiang Province with two infantry divisions at that time, presented a big gift to the two of them... Xinjiang Province has been a troubled place since ancient times, there is no doubt about this... This was especially true when the Manchu control weakened and the Russians invaded.

Up to now, although there are the past Xinjiang Provincial Governors and the current Xinjiang Provincial Governor Yang Zengxin is in charge, the chaos in Xinjiang Province has not been less than a day. There are local princes and wealthy families in Xinjiang Province, as well as rebels supported by the Russians, and Xiong Kewu took two infantry divisions to Xinjiang Province, in addition to conducting actual combat training for these two newly established troops, to solve some troubles for Yang Zengxin... And it turned out that although the rebels in Xinjiang Province had many Russian-funded weapons in their hands, they were still vulnerable to the well-trained regular army.

In nearly half a year of actual combat training, Xiong Kewu led two infantry divisions to defeat at least 50,000 rebels in Xinjiang Province, and with the support of a cavalry division from the Lanzhou Military Region, captured more than 20,000 of them.

As for the rest of the ones? Naturally, they are dead, and they are fleeing, even if they are not found out by Xiong Kewu and Yang Zengxin, they are all honestly hiding at home and not daring to make trouble.

Naturally, the Russians will not remain indifferent to this matter, after all, these rebels are all supported by the Russians, and for these rebels, the Russians are equivalent to their godfathers.

Unfortunately, the situation of the Russians on the Balkan front and the Eastern Front is quite unsatisfactory now, and at this time the Russians do not want to anger the Chinese, who already have a certain strength, so they only came forward to condemn two sentences, which disappointed the rebels who were waiting for the godfather to come forward to uphold justice.

So in this case, those who did not want to continue stood up and accepted the surrender of the political axe of Xinjiang Province. Those who did not want to surrender fled to Russian territory or lurked in the territory of Xinjiang Province. After all, Xinjiang Province is very big, and if you hide Xiong Kewu, they will not be easy to find.

As for Xinjiang Province, because of the purging of Xiong Kewu, Yang Zengxin and others, it has also become stable.

It's just that stability is stable, and after clearing out the local rebels, Xiong Kewu and they also suffered some troubles, such as... Those rebels who were captured... There are more than 20,000 sturdy captives, how to deal with them is worried about Xiong Kewu and Yang Zengxin's heads. You must know that this is more than 20,000 strong, and there are not many factories or mines in Xinjiang Province now, so it is not easy to settle down.

It was at this time that Yan Guang and Zhan Tianyou needed workers who were "not afraid of death" and the news came to the ears of Xiong Kewu and Yang Zengxin.

"Not afraid of death..."

Aren't these captives in Xiong Kewu and Yang Zeng's new hands just some guys who are "not afraid of death"?

Although there are many solutions to the words "not afraid of death", it is obvious that these captives in Xiong Kewu's hands are very consistent with the words "not afraid of death"... So soon, more than 20,000 prisoners were sent to Zhan Tianyou, accompanied by an entire cavalry division responsible for escorting the mission... Looking at these captives, Zhan Tianyou was very embarrassed, he really needed some workers who were "not afraid of death", after all, those troublesome sections were real death sections, which needed human lives to fill, and there were also some rebels in front of him who were not sorry to die.

But Zhan Tianyou is only an engineer after all, although he was assigned to the navy by the Manchu political axe (-_-!) because of the distribution problem, but Zhan Tianyou can't be so ruthless after all... However, Zhan Tianyou can't get down, but it doesn't mean that Yan Guang can't get down... Soon, this group of sturdy "workers" who were "not afraid of death" were pushed to the forefront of railway construction.

In the construction process of nearly half a year, at least more than 5,000 people who are "not afraid of death" have died, but these more than 5,000 lives have also filled in many dead sections.

Under this kind of construction method at the expense of human lives, according to Zhan Tianyou's estimate, the Dilan Railway may not take more than two years before it is opened to traffic. Of course, by the time the Dilan Railway was opened, it was estimated that there would not be many prisoners left, but this was not something that Yan Guang needed to consider.

Yan Guang gave Xiong Kewu and Yang Zengxin only one order, that is, in the process of building the railway, capture the rebels in Xinjiang Province as much as possible, and then send them to Zhan Tianyou.

And Yang Zengxin and Xiong Kewu's orders to Yan Guang are also meticulously implemented, so far, the number of people in the "not afraid of death" battalion, because the number of inputs and the number of consumption is in a state of parity, has been maintained at the level of 20,000 people, but if one or two hundred die one day, it is estimated that more than 19,000 will fall...―――――――――― The smell of blood in Yan Guang's smile, not only Yue Chang smelled it, but Zhu Erdian, who was sitting in front of him, smelled it clearly, because of what happened in Xinjiang Province, They also know it very well.

It's just that they don't want to provoke China, so apart from some painless condemnations made by Russia, Britain, France and other countries have hardly expressed their positions. In fact, the British and French political axes were worried about whether Russia would invade Xinjiang Province through this railway after the end of the European war, after all, everyone knew that Russia's hunger and thirst for territory were very clear―――――― compared with it, but some domestic newspapers reported more, and the criticism of political axes was also more harsh, and some newspapers even openly called Yan Guang "executioner", because he ordered to use prisoners to build railways, and once counted these prisoners in public with "pieces", that is, Yan Guang... Love overflows... However, it is not clear how many of these love overflowers received what kind of back-the-scenes funding... Afterwards, Zhu Erdian persuaded again for a while, but it did not shake Yan Guang at all.

In view of this, Zhu Erdian had no choice but to retire and return to the embassy first.

However, Zhu Erdian did not have the slightest worry, although the war situation in Europe is very tense now, it is not possible to let China send troops to participate in the war in a short time. Therefore, after returning to the embassy, Zhu Erdian only transmitted Yan Guang's desire to join the war back to Whitehall, and then it had nothing to do with him.

And after sending Yan Guang's wish back to Whitehall, the bureaucrats in Whitehall and Paris also had a headache.

For them, the biggest and most useful thing for the Chinese [***] team is to fill in the post-war situation on the Western Front, and the rest is not in their consideration, so the bureaucrats in Whitehall and Paris gave Zhu Erdian and others the task of making Yan Guang change his mind... It's a pity that Zhu Erdian's efforts failed.

On the other hand, after learning of Yan Guang's desire to send troops to the Balkans, the Russians were also excited.

To be honest, Russia's current situation is not good at all, not only has it suffered repeated defeats on the Eastern Front, but it also has many internal troubles in Russia. As far as Russia is concerned, it would be great if someone could share some of the pressure on Russia in the Balkans at this time, so that Russia can transfer some troops to the Eastern Front.

Moreover, if the Dilan Railway can be completed and opened to traffic with the Central Asian Railway, then after the end of the European war, it will be much more beneficial for them to encroach on the province―――――― although Russia will collapse in two years.

So, just as the bureaucrats in Whitehall and Paris were trying to change Yan Guang's mind, the Russians stepped in... Russia, which was now shouldering the pressure of the Allies on the Eastern Front, obviously had a lot of face on the side of Britain and France, so after Russia came forward, Britain and France would no longer insist, after all, they did not want to provoke Russia, an important ally.

It was at this time that the bureaucrats in Whitehall and Paris began to think about things for the better.

For example, "If the Dilan Railway and the Central Asian Railway can be opened, then supplies from Southeast Asia and the South Asian continent and the United States can be transported to Russia through this railway, and the blockade of the Dardanelles Strait will be invalid..."

"And at present, China's industrial strength is not bad, if these two railways can be opened, China's materials are also very effective support for Russia, not to mention that with China's current strength, transporting thirty to fifty infantry divisions to the Balkan front is not a big problem, it can completely replace Russia's forces in the Caucasus, so that Russia can draw more troops to the Eastern Front..."

After comforting themselves in their hearts, the bureaucrats in Whitehall and Paris were much more relaxed.

But just when Zhu Erdian walked up to Yan Guang with a relaxed face and wanted to convey the meaning of Whitehall, Yan Guang smiled at him.

"Don't worry, you haven't heard about the benefits I'm seeking..."

“？” Zhu Erdian was stunned for a moment, but still nodded. "Please..."

"First of all—" Yan Guang smiled slightly. I want Iraq..."

"And, of course, Kuwait..."

(To be continued)