If China wants to become a shipbuilding power, the work it needs to do will be very many and cumbersome, and this road will inevitably be very difficult.

This will certainly require special plans and special policies, not only for long-term investment and solid development of commercial institutions such as the Far East Foundation, but also for the formulation of long-term plans and various cultivation and auxiliary policies, including the development of ship schools, the support of the shipping industry, the large-scale expansion of ports, and the overall upgrading of basic industries.

Song Biao did have very high hopes for this.

It's just that the slogan can be shouted great, and things are all about details, and in the final analysis, it's all about money.

In the 21st century, money is dollars.

In the first half of the 20th century, money was gold and silver.

If a country doesn't have gold or silver, then don't talk about any great revival or anything like that, or you'll just be embarrassed like Aquino III.

……

1911 was the first year of Shenwu in China, and the popularization of the new era name represented the complete overthrow of the old dynasty, the establishment of the new dynasty and the arrival of a new order.

However.

In the whole world, Germany is a powerful empire with extraordinary power and arrogance, and it is frantically competing with Britain in Europe, West Asia, Central Africa, and South Africa, and the competition between the European continent and the Russian-French alliance is becoming more and more fierce and oppressive.

After the German-Austrian alliance and the Franco-Russian alliance had become completely irreconcilable, Britain tried to withdraw and unilaterally sign a naval treaty with Germany to avoid a direct threat from Germany to its maritime supremacy.

An all-out war in Europe is inevitably breaking out in a fierce military race.

Sun Tzu said, "Know yourself and know your opponent, you will not be defeated in a hundred battles", the Kaiser and the entire German Empire did not realize that they were not a nation that had to be noble enough to rule the world, nor could they defeat all their opponents at the same time, they probably did not want to decide their future through a world war, they wanted to use the most powerful military force to force their opponents to give up the competition, and the truth is that even if this great military power caused despair and fear, no country was willing to give up the instinct to protect itself.

Although Germany has been supporting the Northeast Army for a long time, and the significance of this support is to contain the British and Russian allies, in the Sino-Chinese Xinhai War, Germany continued to choose to support the Northeast Army in order to gain more interests and privileges in China and expand its leased territory in China, rather than the so-called friendship between countries and nations, and it is impossible to give up the interests in their hands.

On the surface, the German Reich and the new Chinese Reich had been engaged in in-depth negotiations on new cooperation, but in reality, Germany had no intention of making any concessions, even after the United States had given up its original privileges.

Even if Song Biao won an extremely beautiful and world-shattering victory on the Korean Peninsula, proved the strength of the Chinese Army to Europe and the United States around the world, greatly enhanced the national status of the Chinese Empire, and improved China's diplomatic environment in the international world, this does not mean that the European and American powers will be willing to give up all their privileges in China.

The diplomatic situation has been in a kind of complex stalemate, and China cannot turn to the German-Austrian alliance or the Anglo-French camp, and this international political impasse around China's unequal treaties cannot be broken unless there is a further radical break between Britain and Germany.

Song Biao did not have a good countermeasure for such a general, he could only choose to continue to wait for a better time and strive for a better result for China.

In general, he could afford to wait.

After returning to Beijing from the northeast to inspect the shipbuilding industry, Luo Peijin, an ally who controlled the military forces in the southwest, peacefully gave up his military power and went to the Xi'an Army Non-commissioned Officer School to serve as the principal, and did not accept Song Biao's check for 600,000 silver yuan.

As a result, the remaining warlords in the country were Long Jiguang in Guangdong and Lu Rongting in Guangxi, as well as Ma Jiajun in Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces in Gansu.

Just when Song Biao decided to set out to deal with Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting, General Madenidov, the Minister of War of the Tsarist Empire, suddenly arrived in Yanjing in a lightning-fast way.

After all, he was a former military superior, and when he heard that General Madenidov had personally arrived in Yanjing as the Tsar's special envoy, Song Biao specially sent Jiang Fangzhen, chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Department, and Ouyang Geng, foreign minister, to greet him.

Probably relying on the special relationship between him and the Chinese Emperor, General Madenidov got off the railway station and directly asked to go to the palace to meet the Chinese Emperor, and he was also afraid of the old relationship between him and the emperor.

Song Biao's original arrangement was to meet with General Madenidov tomorrow afternoon, but since the other party wanted to come to meet him directly, he didn't plan to refuse, but this arrangement surprised him a little.

When General Madenidov rode all the way to Zhongnanhai in a Chinese car with the imperial insignia of the Chinese Emperor, Song Biaozheng invited Song Jiaoren, who was the minister of land and resources, to talk about Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting, these two people were first members of the League, but they were not members of the Mingzhuo Party, and Song Jiaoren, who was the vice chairman of the Mingzhuo Party, did not know how to coordinate, but he and Long Jiguang had some common friends.

Although he had already re-pressed the Second Infantry Division back to Changsha and was ready to mobilize the three recruit divisions in Changsha, Wuhan, and Nanchang to encircle and suppress Liangguang, the Second Infantry Division was responsible for pressing the formation in the rear and crushing the enemy's main force at a critical moment.

Halfway through the conversation, Ouyang Geng called the Secretariat of the Inner Court and directly asked the emperor about General Madenidoff, and after Song Biao agreed to General Madenidorf's request, he slowly put down the phone, wondering why General Madenidov was so anxious.

Song Jiaoren looked at the emperor inexplicably, listened to a few words, and roughly guessed that it was the newly arrived Russian envoy who asked for a direct meeting.

At this time, Song Jiaoren was in a very good situation, the seats of the Chinese Ming Cook Party he formed in the Congress were far less than the initial estimate of the League, and after promising to give five cabinet members, because Mr. Sun and Huang Xing were dissatisfied with the arrangement and withdrew, as a result, there were only three seats left, but his Song Jiaoren's seat was really good, and the emperor's arrangement for him was still very kind and polite.

Imperial legislation stipulates that all land trade is subject to taxes, which is not under the control of the Ministry of Land and Resources, but if agricultural land is converted into industrial and commercial land, the process of such transfer must be approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources, and a large amount of value-added tax and agricultural land protection tax must be paid.

On the one hand, the Ministry of Land and Resources also has several other powerful powers, one is that all mining resources are under the control of the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the other is that the Ministry of Land and Resources is responsible for the division, investigation and exploration of national territories.

These three functions and powers are too important, and concentrated in one ministry, Song Jiaoren can be said to be the most powerful cabinet member outside the imperial party, and even stronger than Yuan Shikai's Minister of Communications.

Earlier, after Luo Peijin withdrew from the southwest, Song Biao immediately asked Song Jiaoren to focus on arranging a comprehensive expedition to the southwest region to survey the territory, and for the places that are more ambiguous with Myanmar and Vietnam, he will strive to make every effort, especially for the Savage Mountain area on the border with southern Tibet and the disputed area in northern Burma, it is necessary to invest heavily in surveying, and be prepared for forced development and resettlement.

The Ministry of Land and Resources is the most well-funded administrative department, and this amount of money is definitely not a big problem for the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the Ministry of Land and Resources even has a subordinate unit of the Frontier Survey Bureau, which is basically a paramilitary agency.

Of course, Song Jiaoren is very happy, he has both power and practical things to do.

It is precisely under this kind of intimacy and distancing that Song Jiaoren is a pro-emperor faction in the Mingzhuo Party, and has a great influence on both the Sun faction and the Huang faction.

Seeing that the emperor was looking solemn and lit a cigarette on the cigarette holder of the brass rod, and did not speak for a long time, Song Jiaoren asked him a little worriedly: "Your Majesty, is it too special that Russia sent an envoy this time, or is the other party too rude?" ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said, "It's not rude, the other party is an old friend, and it's normal to see me when I arrive in Yanjing." I just think that not long after Grand Duke Mikhail left, Tsarist Russia re-sent a new envoy, probably very eager to deal with some problems between China and Russia at a good speed. Although Tsarist Russia claims to be the steamroller of Europe and has an army of millions of people, after all, it is facing Germany, if you think that the generals at the War Department are not afraid, most of them are fake. If we want to fight the Russian army now, I have the best confidence to easily defeat the Russian army, but how to face the German army, the scale is more than 300,000, I am only three or four percent sure at most. I'm afraid I'm not the only one who understands the truth here. ”

Song Jiaoren did not understand military affairs, but he felt that since the emperor said so, there would be no falsehood, after all, the emperor was the Napoleon of Asia.

The Russian Tsar's envoy is coming, and the emperor always needs time to prepare to greet him, so Song Jiaoren is ready to say goodbye, saying: "Your Majesty, your majesty has avoided it first." ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, and after a little thought, he continued: "Regarding the matter of Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting, it is up to you to entrust the intermediary to make an ultimatum, I will give them another month in the end, if they are sure to continue to resist stubbornly, before the end of the year, I will send them to the guillotine for treason and Han annihilation." During the war and before the war, they had all kinds of conspiracies and agreements with the Ben, and I think they knew it best in their hearts, so don't think that I don't know it. As for the issue of surveying the southwestern territory, it must be handled secretly, and it should be completed step by step in four or five years; there should be no rush, no fanfare, and no premature exposure, and you must handle this matter well. ”

Song Jiaoren bowed down and said: "Please rest assured, your subordinates will be very cautious and careful, and there will be no mistakes." ”

Song Biao nodded again, watched Song Jiaoren leave, and then recruited Yuan Jinkai and Jiang Zuobin in, and instructed them to urgently prepare to meet the Tsar's envoy.

An hour later, General Madenidorf arrived at the Xuanzheng Garden by car, and went directly to the emperor's office to pay homage to the emperor accompanied by Jiang Zuobin, a first-class chamberlain, the emperor's official office in the Xuanzheng Garden is the general office, the imperial study is on the east side of the office, from the main hall to the imperial study, there is a nine-zhang long corridor closed with golden glass to connect it, the corridor is surrounded by rockeries, and the bamboo forest is quiet.

Under normal circumstances, Emperor Yanjing of the Song Dynasty handled official affairs in the imperial study, while the main hall of the General Office, the Mingguang Pavilion, was used to meet with foreign ministers, or when it was necessary to meet with more cabinet ministers, and to deal with more formal official affairs.

Before General Madenidorf arrived at Xuanzheng Garden, Emperor Song also relocated to Mingguang Pavilion, the main hall of the General Office.

Entering the main hall, General Madenidov stepped forward to bow to the emperor very decently, and presented the state gift of Tsar Nicholas II, the gift was packed in a very grand gold-decorated wooden box, inside is a Chashik saber made in accordance with the standard of Benxi saber regulations, the craftsmanship is brilliant, the decoration is extremely luxurious, with a gilt scabbard, inlaid with dozens of bright sapphires, emeralds, topazes.

Song Biao took out half of this saber and looked at it, and knew that it was indeed a real noble blade, with exquisite craftsmanship, and the two royal insignia of the Romanov royal family and the Chinese imperial family were engraved on the body of the sword.

The coat of arms of the imperial family is the three-dragon ring bead pattern of the dragon pattern structure of the Ming Dynasty, and there are the pattern style and dragon pattern characteristics of the Han Dynasty, which is simple and majestic, and the design is very complex, but it does have the characteristics of traditional Chinese emperor culture.

Song Biao couldn't tell clearly that Tsar Nicholas II was a pure and expensive gift, and there was another deeper meaning, so he accepted the gift first and invited General Madenidov to sit down in the corridor of the garden.

At this time, it was the time for the Russians to have morning tea, so Song Biao invited General Madenidov to drink tea in the garden, and lit a cigar with him, and sat here to enjoy the leisurely morning time.

This kind of leisure is always relative, and when the military competition between Russia and France and the German-Austrian alliance is becoming tense, General Madenidov, as the Minister of War of the Tsarist Empire, always has too much work to do, and the Song Emperor also does not have much leisure time.

But after all, it is rare to get together, and now Song Biao is the emperor of China, and General Madenidov, who originally wanted to quickly cut to the point to discuss urgent matters, can only follow the rhythm of Emperor Song and is not in a hurry to talk about the conditions for the time being.

Song Biao and General Madenidov exchanged a few polite words, and asked General Madenidov about the situation over the years, and then said: "You came very suddenly, after the departure of Grand Duke Mikhail, I didn't expect that Russia would send a special envoy so quickly, let alone that it would be you who would come in person, Your Excellency the Minister of War of the Tsarist Russian Empire!" ”

General Madenidov said: "I must tell you the truth, Your Majesty, that our Emperor is very angry that you have failed to hand over the lease of Port Arthur to us as previously agreed, and even asked us to give up the lease in Darny. With all due respect, His Majesty the Emperor Hua, without the consistent support of our Emperor, it would have been difficult for you to achieve what you have achieved today, so just looking at this, you should also meet some small reasonable requests from the Emperor of China. ”

After a pause, he added: "Your Majesty, I have come here this time in the hope of resolving this matter as soon as possible, without damaging the long-term cooperation strategy between China and Russia, please compromise on my side, allow our country and your country to take a step back and reach a new covenant that is very decent for both sides, and we can completely abandon some of each other's prejudices and unreasonable demands, continue to unite closely, and remain in one camp to deal with the international world." ”

Song Biao replied: "Yes, I think the same way. ”

He can only say that General Madenidov's chances of coming are very good and lucky.

The reason why Song Biao wanted to take the opportunity to solve the problem of leased land and privileges of various countries was that he saw that the opportunity was right and wanted to take the opportunity to expand his interests and gains, but in the basic principle, the most important real power that must be recovered is the right to customs and the right of self-control of tariffs, in addition to other privileges and Gengzi indemnity, and finally the issue of leased land.

Hearing Song Biao's positive reply, General Madenidov could not wait to propose: "Your Majesty, allow me to suggest that the two countries deal with this issue in the simplest and fastest way, and that each side take a step back from the original demands, first, China demands the right to lease the military port of Arthur for at least thirty years and the right to garrison the army in Arthur; Second, we hope that the two countries will reach a stronger cooperative relationship than that between China and the United States, and on this basis, we will not only be willing to give up our privileges in China and conclude an alliance between China and Russia on an equal footing, but will also forcefully force France and other allies to accept a similar alliance. ”

Song Biao smoked his cigar lightly, and only explained after a while: "Agreeing to lease the Lushun Military Port to Russia, this is a promise I made when I signed the "Terms of Lease of Military Materials", in fact, I have no intention of vetoing this matter, but compared to the Lushun issue, I can't wait to solve the problem of leasing Shandong and Jiaoao." If I first agree to Russia's demands, it will be very unfavorable for me to recover the leased land in Jiaoao through negotiations. On this point, I and Grand Duke Mikhail also emphasized. It's just that now it seems that it is too difficult to solve the Jiao-Macao issue through negotiations, and it is almost impossible. ”

General Madenidov immediately said: "Then resort to force, if you can't really defeat your opponent, you can't regain the territory and dignity you have lost, this is an era when the strong are kings, my noble and worthy of the name of the Napoleon of Asia, His Majesty the Emperor of Asia, Russia and His Majesty the Tsar are fully capable of supporting you to fulfill this long-cherished wish, with the relationship between China and Russia, now in fact only lacks a truly deterrent alliance agreement." ”

Song Biao was not in a hurry to answer, he continued to smoke his cigar in silence, took a sip of Wuyi black tea, and slowly pondered the pros and cons in his heart.

Real politics is brutal.

China's largest exporter is Germany, which exports about 30 million pounds of soybeans, raw silk, tea and other agricultural products to Germany every year, and Germany is also China's second largest importer, even if military imports are not considered, the annual import of machinery, lathes, dyes, and chemical products from Germany is as high as 24 million pounds.

Without the interruption of Germany's foreign trade in World War I, the fact is that China and Germany cannot be embarrassed by each other, without China's export of high-quality soybeans, it is difficult for Germany to maintain its hegemony in the global oil industry, and even the guarantee of domestic edible soybean oil is a problem.

If China chooses to join the Franco-Russian alliance, resulting in a split in Sino-German relations, both sides will suffer serious economic trauma, and some German industries will inevitably suffer a period of slowdown, and the further development of Chinese industry will also be stalled.

Thinking of this, Song Biaocai and General Madenidorff said: "China's problems are very complicated, and if we are at odds with Germany, it will mean that China will lose 30 million pounds of exports a year, and it will be difficult for France and Russia to make up for such losses in trade." Similarly, China's industrial level is still at a relatively low stage, and it needs to import a large amount of equipment, dyes, chemical raw materials and lathes from Germany every year. Although in theory, China could obtain these goods from France, the United States, and Russia, but in terms of the economic surname and surname price ratio, including the adaptability of industry, it is inevitable that it will suffer a huge shock, and the most critical problem is that when China's exports are blocked, there will not be enough foreign exchange to import these machinery and industrial raw materials. So, it's not that I don't want to join the Russo-French alliance and rely on the power of the alliance to resolve the unequal treaties and leased land issues between China and Germany, but it's the economic constraints on the political shift, and the politics on the military shift. ”

General Madenidov nodded silently in agreement, and said: "I can understand the special situation you are facing, we Russians always say that if there is gain, there will be gain, there will be loss, and if you get wealth, you will lose health and friendship, how normal it is. Before I came here, I met with the French Foreign Secretary, Raymond, who was visiting our country. His Excellency Poincaré has discussed this, if China is worried about the deterioration of relations with Germany and the resulting economic damage, France is willing to pay you a long-term loan agreement, just as France has given a huge credit to Ben and Russia, with such a huge long-term loan, you have no need to worry about China's economic and financial problems. ”

Song Biao asked, "How many loans can I get each year?" ”

General Madenidov said: "It depends on the attitude of you and the Chinese cabinet, my noble majesty, but if I were to give an estimate, I would guess that the total would not be less than 2,500,000,000 francs." ”

Song Biao sighed, not too surprised, because 2.5 billion francs is only about 100 million pounds, which is less than the amount of loans provided by France to Russia, theoretically speaking, China is too far away from Germany after all, and it will not be treated as well as Russia.

Seeing that Song Biao did not have any surprise, General Madenidorff knew that this amount might still be low for China, compared with China's total annual exports to Germany, the total loan of 100 million pounds did seem very insincere, but for the French political axe, it was difficult for them to afford a higher political axe loan, even in the case of French Foreign Minister Raymond. In Poincaré's plan, the loan will also be disbursed in six-year instalments.

To this extent to make up for the losses caused to China by the Sino-German hostility is really insignificant, so whether or not China can be drawn into the Franco-Russian alliance depends on how determined China is to recover its territorial rights in Jiaoao.

Song Biao made a simple calculation, and replied to General Madenidov more simply: "I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you, because this amount of loan can't solve any problems at all." Although I would like to join the Russian-French alliance to effectively safeguard the interests of the country and compete in the world as an alliance, the fact is that China cannot afford to lose such a huge export market as Germany for at least ten years, and we cannot afford to lose such losses, and the Russian-French alliance lacks the sincerity to make up for this. ”

General Madenidov hastily persuaded: "There is no doubt that if the problem of Port Arthur is resolved within the Alliance, Russia will also try to provide the Allies with a generous loan." Within the Alliance, we will actively help China to restore an equal and free environment, and assist you in reclaiming customs rights and most of the privileges from the British, as well as most of the concessions, even the Shanghai Concession, which is said to be willing to negotiate a settlement. ”

Customs power is certainly the most important thing for Song Biao.

Although he signed a treaty of trade with the United States, and even a more favorable strategic reciprocal treaty, Song Biao attached great importance to the protection of national enterprises, and did not open the market for basic industries to foreign countries, as long as the customs rights were withdrawn, he would quickly and gradually raise the tax rate, and increase the import tax on textile, food, and other light industries to 25 percent in ten years, and gradually stifle the export space of foreign textiles in China.

At present, it has been confirmed that Britain, Germany, France, and Russia cannot easily give up their privileges and various interest clauses in China, Song Biao is just asking for a sky-high price, and the only thing he wants to take back now is the customs right, and everything else is fine.

The so-called customs power is not to handle the customs business by itself, but the right to formulate tariffs, which has actually been firmly controlled by the British, as long as China wants to revise the tariffs, it must obtain the consent of the British Empire, the most important of which is the tariff mortgage provisions, which is why Song Biao actively asked for the abolition of the Gengzi indemnity reasonable surname.

Thinking about the conditions of the Russian-French alliance, Song Biao continued to weigh it in his heart for a while, and then said to General Madenidov: "This is a series of surname issues, we need a larger international surname conference to discuss this matter, then we will negotiate this matter in Tianjin, if Germany is unwilling to attend, or opposes giving China the most basic equality and respect, and on the basis that other countries are willing to compensate, China can conclude a military alliance with Russia and France to jointly deal with German hegemonism." ”

General Madenidov was overjoyed, for Russia, China is a very large support force, once Germany and Russia go to war, even if the Chinese army will not participate in the actual war, through the agreement of the military alliance, Russia will be able to obtain a large amount of support materials from China, including food, ammunition, etc., and can even lease some emergency equipment to the Chinese army through the previous military supplies lease agreement.

If Port Arthur is further acquired, the Russian and French navies will also have a better competitive position against the German Far East Fleet in Asia, and with China's local support, the German Far East Fleet will not be able to threaten the security of the French colonies in Asia.

(To be continued)