The time spent in Europe was too long, and the domestic political infighting had already become a mess, and some Manchus even proposed that the Empress Dowager Cixi should come out again to "watch the government" and "train the government".

Hu Chuyuan didn't ask, he knew that although Zhang Baixi would be in a hurry in some things, he was definitely not a political idiot like Kang Youwei, Zhang Baixi would definitely be able to control the situation, but ...... It's still going to be a bit messy.

Especially in the absence of Hu Chuyuan, the governor of Zhili and the prime minister, the Manchurians are even more unscrupulous.

Zhang Baixi sent several telegrams, hoping that Hu Chuyuan would go back soon, and today, even Emperor Guangxu himself sent a telegram, but Hu Chuyuan did not leave Berlin.

He continues to wait for new opportunities to arise.

It was cold in Berlin in November, and there was a light snow yesterday, so Hu Chuyuan put on a cashmere coat like a German, black and black, with a thick wide-brimmed hat with a cashmere texture.

Occasionally, he would smoke a cigar and stand in the courtyard in a decent manner, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky.

He was not a smoker, and the reason why he smoked cigars was purely because Prudent de Molais, the first democratically elected president in the history of Brazil, gave him a box of the best Brazilian cigars and assured him that if he liked them, the Brazilians would always be willing to supply them for free...... What a fucking gift.

Smoking a Brazilian cigar, Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly in his heart.

He didn't care about the nicotine inside, he just liked the spicy scent.

The snow is getting heavier and heavier.

Pan Limei, who was in the room with two children, walked out, warmly put on a thicker coat for Hu Chuyuan, and stood silently behind him, leaning on him.

Hu Chuyuan laughed happily, turned around, hugged her in his arms, and looked at the snow scene in the distance together.

As a special courtesy and respect, Wilhelm II provided a medieval castle owned by the Hohenzollern royal family on the outskirts of Berlin, and also allowed Hu Chuyuan's guards to take care of the security themselves.

As it gets late, the chefs have prepared a dinner, and the original chef of the castle has prepared a roast suckling pig, which has German-style Western food and traditional Chinese food, but due to the limitation of materials, there are not many types of dishes.

Hu Chuyuan was about to take his family to dinner, and asked people to invite Princess Kaorani as usual, when the iron fence gate of the castle was opened, and a black carriage drove in.

Soon, three people came down from the carriage, all dressed in the usual black suits and overcoats, with hats.

When they got closer, Hu Chuyuan realized that it was Prince Hohenlow-Heathlingfest, the third chancellor of the German Empire, and the old prince, who was nearly sixty years old, looked arrogant, firm and powerful.

The two men who accompanied him were both diplomats and familiar to Hu Chuyuan, one was Count Bernhard von Pilov, who famously said that "let other nations divide the continent and the sea", and the time when we Germans were content with the blue sky is over, and we also demand territory under the sun.

As Germany's most relied upon diplomat, it was he who bought ownership of the Marshall Islands, and it was he who transferred ownership of the islands to the Qing Dynasty.

The other is the controller of the Krupp family - Gustav Krupp, because Mr. Alfred Krupp has no son, only a daughter, in order to prevent the Krupp company from being controlled by foreigners, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally acted as a matchmaker and introduced a young diplomat Gustav who was proficient in industry to the Krupp family, which facilitated the marriage.

Since then, Gustav has changed the surname of the woman's family and has become the head of the family.

The three of them walked through the snow, led by Prince Hohenlowa-Heathingfest, the Prime Minister of the Empire, and his steps were large, as if he had been in the army, and his expression was extraordinarily resolute.

There was no warning in advance, and there was no appointment, which made Hu Chuyuan somewhat surprised.

Of course, he will not refuse these people.

Hu Chuyuan made a slight arrangement, let Pan Limei and the children eat first, he met the three guests alone in the living room, and arranged a small dinner party for the four of them, only the four of them, Shang Dequan, who served as a German translator, and Renel, who served as a Chinese translator.

It was strange to Hu Chuyuan that at the dinner, they did not talk about any very important topics, but before the dinner was completely over, Prince Hornlohe-Heathingfest proposed to talk to Hu Chuyuan alone.

Hu Chuyuan did not refuse.

Germany is a hierarchical society, and other people are like being ordered to be expelled, and they quickly get up and leave, and this oppressive force gives Hu Chuyuan a very unique sense of oppression.

Hu Chuyuan tried his best to make a pot of Qimen black tea for himself and the serious and arrogant German Imperial Chancellor opposite.

Tea hasn't been brewed yet......!

Prince Horner was very direct and a little arrogant in slow English, and asked Hu Chuyuan intermittently: "Your Excellency, in your opinion, what is the political situation in this world?" ”

Hu Chuyuan was very weird, and replied very simply: "Complicated." ”

"yes......!"

Prince Hornel replied suggestively, "It is indeed very complicated, to be exact, France is the source of all this confusion, and they provoked the war for the Spanish throne, which eventually led to all this." ”

Hu Chuyuan raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, and continued: "It's obviously more complicated than this. In particular, with the gradual recovery of China, the contradictions between China and Russia and France will continue to expand, and even more contradictions will arise with Britain...... The same is true in Germany. The United States is a neutral country, and as they further expand their maritime superiority, they will have more and more battles with Spain, and the United Kingdom, which will one day abandon their policy of glorious isolation, will become more complicated. For me and my country, the situation in Asia is relatively simple, we need to deal with Russia and force Russia to cease to be an arrogant country without any boundaries in the Far East. ”

Prince Hohenear seductively reminded: "If you want to deal with Russia, you will inevitably face the threat of France, which is Germany's greatest enemy. At this point, we do have more room to work together. We can assure you that in the event of a war between China and Russia, we will not hesitate to move the front line of our troops to the French border and prevent the French from increasing their forces to the Far East. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought and pondered.

This was a good condition, but the problem was that the cost was too great, and he was too closely connected with Germany, and he was bound to be retaliated against by the British.

At present, Britain still gives China certain preferential treatment and favoritism, and a very important reason is not to allow China to form an alliance with Germany, although the interests of the Sino-German alliance are the greatest, and the two sides have almost all common enemies.

Considering that Germany, Austria and Italy had already concluded an alliance, and that the Franco-Russian Entente was unbreakable, any of China's accession to the side would arouse strong opposition from Britain, just as it had been said that it had joined the Franco-Russian alliance.

Weighing this question in his mind, Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything.

Prince Horner waited indifferently, sipping his tea.

After a while, Hu Chuyuan replied: "It is true that there is a possibility of further alliance between our country and your country, but it is definitely not now. In fact, I personally have a fear that as countries develop further and each other's thirst for raw materials increases, a large-scale war will inevitably break out. The problem was that Britain could not tolerate the further expansion of Germany, the same was true of France, and no one, including the United States, was willing to accept a near-unified European continent. All in all, this is an unsolvable puzzle and my biggest concern. ”

Prince Hornel was silent, unable to see what kind of attention was in his mind.

The German Reich was like a high-speed train that either crashed through the old blockade or fell apart, the problem was that it could no longer stop.

It was possible to avoid war, and in advance it was Germany itself that gave up its dream of becoming a world hegemon.

In fact, it's impossible.

The two men were silent with each other for a long time.

After thinking for a moment, Prince Hornel asked, "Then, under what circumstances is your country willing to attack Russia?" ”

This is a matter of cunning diplomacy.

If China were to fight Russia in the Far East, it would mean that China would face threats from both Russia and France, and it would be necessary for China to form an alliance with Germany.

Hu Chuyuan replied: "For the time being, China should continue to intensify its efforts in domestic construction. ”

Prince Hohenel said: "The German Empire is fully willing to give more support on this point. Privately, His Majesty the Kaiser greatly appreciates your abilities and courage, and if you wish, he is more than happy to see a better development of your industry in Germany...... Especially in the shipbuilding industry. ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly in his heart, nodded lightly lukewarmly, and took a sense of proportion.

The agreement between him and the Germans was not fully reached, and the stalemate continued, and there was no doubt that Prince Horner wanted to resolve the issue quickly.

Mr. Hu agreed to transfer the turbine technology on the condition that he would be allowed to use the links between BASF and the rich country to set up a steel, shipbuilding and chemical company that spanned China and Germany.

It is too early to talk about the Sino-German alliance treaty, Hu Chuyuan will continue to wait and see, and China also needs to continue to wait and see, but in terms of technical cooperation and capital operation, the space for cooperation between the two sides is still huge.

Prince Hornel suddenly continued to repeat, "Especially in the shipbuilding industry, this is the personal promise of His Majesty the Emperor, and my duty on this trip is to convey this promise well!" ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said, "What I want to say is a great business, a great industrial empire, and a great dream. Your Excellency, if Germany could allow me to build a complete industrial empire, I would be willing to invest more money, from ore to metal, from metal to machinery, from machinery to ships, all of which could be quickly operated in the same commercial company, which would continue to provide Germany with more powerful warships in the future. This company is also the best alliance and bond between the two countries, and the perfect use of technology, capital and production capacity in both countries. ”

Prince Horner replied simply and indifferently: "With all due respect, the Germans have their own financial consortium, and we ourselves can complete the shaping of this industrial empire." His Majesty the Kaiser's promise is to allow you to hold no more than 20% of the shares in the new thyssenkrupp company, and then you have to run your shipyard with the company's steel and artillery...... Of course, as His Majesty the Kaiser has promised, you will still have the right to run the Readpower in other industries that are not so important to the Reich, as long as you continue to keep your promises. ”

"Is that so?"

Hu Chuyuan responded coldly.

He began to hate these short-sighted, arrogant chancellors and Kaiser Wilhelm II, and he began to think unrestrainedly about Bismarck's time.

After all, Bismarck's courage was not comparable to theirs, and after learning that it was extremely likely that Ben would rely on the support of France to declare war on China in the near future, Bismarck forcibly ordered the suspension of the German naval shipbuilding contract and transferred the contracts of the six Fuzhou-class (called Ansbach-class) ironclad ships originally produced for Germany to the Qing Zheng Axe Navy.

Bismarck also gave the green light to Hu Chuyuan's plan to invest in Germany, allowing Hu Chuyuan to be a medium to transfer the superior technologies of various countries to his various companies.

Bismarck was also an arrogant man, even a little rude, but he always knew what was the right decision.

Hu Chuyuan was nostalgic for Bismarck's time, and calmly raised his eyes to look at the Prince of Hornel in front of him.

After a long while, he laughed self-deprecatingly: "It seems that the best times are over!" ”

He spoke Hangzhou dialect.

It was completely impossible for Prince Hornear to understand, but he subconsciously asked, "What?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "It's nothing. In fact, if the two countries want to cooperate, the relationship and methods are the same as doing business. Now it seems that China and Germany are not ready to run this big deal. The technology for the steam turbines will be transferred to Germany, and all I ask is that I be allowed to raise my own funds to create a machine shop to supply steam turbines to Germany, and at the same time allow me to send a technical team to the Krupp company for two years. Other than that, I wouldn't ask for anything. ”

Prince Horner was a little surprised, he had always believed that Hu Chuyuan, a foreign capitalist, had a technology that was vital to Germany in his hands, and he used this as a threat to monopolize the German economy.

In this regard, he sneered contemptuously and looked down on Hu Chuyuan, a foreign capitalist, from the bottom of his heart.

But when Hu Chuyuan completely gave up his original request, he hesitated a little, feeling that there was a new conspiracy in it.

It was so easy to make Hu Chuyuan bend over, and although Prince Horner was a little unsteady, he still felt very happy and satisfied, and the two immediately reached a verbal agreement.

Gustav wanted to negotiate a new cooperation with Hu Chuyuan, to introduce a new rifle from the Auckland military factory to Germany, and compete with the Mauser rifle, but the problem was that Prince Horner was very disgusted by this, the Reich Chancellor had too deep a sense of German glory and believed in the Germans' own creation.

However, a compromise was reached, that is, Hu Chuyuan could establish a new firearms factory, introduce the Maxim machine gun patent, and be responsible for the production of this machine gun and various derivatives for Germany.

In addition, the new Mauser rifle uses a 7.62 mm 0.3-inch caliber to unify the two countries in rifle cartridges, and the new cartridge will also be used for the Maxim machine gun.

Compared with the huge plan proposed by Hu Chuyuan in advance, the agreements reached so far are too pitiful.

Prince Horner was satisfied, and in the middle of the night, he left Hu Chuyuan's residence with two retinues, Count Bernhard von Pilov and Gustav.

Under the dim street lamp, Hu Chuyuan sent them outside the door, stood in the snow and watched the carriage quietly roll the snow and creak away, he could feel in his heart that in addition to the strong complacency and xenophobia of the Germans, there was also a kind of disappointment.

He was disappointed with the Germans.

The plan he wants to build is something that even the blind can understand, he wants to unite the entire German steel, shipbuilding, military industry, machinery, and chemical industry through a number of financial institutions to increase production and costs, and at the same time, this giant Kang Zeen can continue to absorb various advanced technologies in the world, and make Germany more terrible in the fastest and shortest time.

At that time, whether it is BASF, Fuzhou-Jiangnan General Administration, Wanqi Foreign Company, Bell Labs, and Auckland Military Factory, all the military technologies of BASF and Phu Quoc and other technologies can be applied to the United States, Germany and China as quickly as possible.

What can Hu Chuyuan say?

He didn't have to say anything, because he wasn't German.

Of course, there was no need for him to completely withdraw from German industry, he believed that one day the Germans would have to cooperate fully with him.

A few days later, he invited all his partners in Germany to Berlin to renegotiate new business, and in the past few years, he has continued to penetrate Opple, Daimler, Bentz, Siemens and other companies through BASF's investment bank.

No matter how arrogant Prince Horneel's attitude was, the merchant was always the most direct, capital and technology were the soul of industry, as long as Hu Chuyuan had these two points, plus he had the citizenship granted by Kaiser Wilhelm II, he could design the entire system according to his own needs.

He invited these partners to join forces and build up the entire system, by merging the majority of the shares of Opple and Siemens, using Opple to control the two car companies Opel and Daimler-Benz, and to involve new spare parts companies, and also to invest in a new Hanseatic Maschinenfrag shipyard in Hamburg to produce steam turbines, engines, boilers and shipbuilding.

In the circle of interests drawn by Hu Chuyuan, BASF, Opple, and Siemens are all giant companies with a very wide range of involvement.

BASF operates in the chemical industry, and continues to try to penetrate into the fields of raw materials such as coal mines, iron ore, and petroleum, and further penetrate into the steel industry...... Whether the Junkers in Germany are willing to accept it or not.

Opple's core is the machinery industry, especially in the fields of automobiles, ships, engines, etc., to get absolute control, but also to have its own Opple lighting company, and to Opple electrical appliances.

The core of Siemens is electrical and electronics, not only a complete electrical industry system, but also telecommunications, telegraph, telephone and other businesses, and to the radio, electric railway and other fields.

In order to better help the development of these three large companies, Hu Chuyuan decided to invest 40 million pounds to merge the First Citizen Bank of Munich and the Ruhr Industrial Bank around Commerzbank, and build a German commercial trust and savings bank with the national surname, and at the same time merge a number of insurance companies to merge into the German Lianzhong Insurance Company.

With the leverage of these two financial institutions, all three companies will grow significantly, and this is what Hu Chuyuan was able to attract these German businessmen together.

In addition, Hu Chuyuan will continue to increase the capital of Chanchen & Co., increase the expansion capacity of Chanchen & Co. in import and export business, and assist these companies in doing business in foreign countries.

Perhaps, in the eyes of Kaiser Wilhelm II, among these companies held by Hu Chuyuan, except for BASF Chemical Company, which occupies the largest dye and explosive company in Germany, it is relatively special.

But within a few years, Hu Chuyuan's influence in German economic circles swelled to the point that the German Junkers had to compromise.

Considering the xenophobic characteristics of the Germans, Hu Chuyuan was also prepared, and if it really came to that point, he would also resell these properties and shares at a good price.

The premise is that he has enough returns, and he also has to get enough technology transfer from Germany to ensure the development of rich countries in China.

In this era, Germany's technological innovation ability is indeed very strong, and it also has the best experts in chemistry and physics, and the early Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physics are almost monopolized by the Germans, which is a kind of proof.

Germany also invests the most in university education, more than the United States, the United Kingdom, and France combined.

One of the simplest examples, cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel, HAWE Hydraulik steel are done in the laboratory in Oakland, USA, but Germany is always able to catch up in the shortest possible time, at present, the hot oil injection HAWE steel proposed by Krupp is better than the HAWE steel in Auckland.

From the laboratory to the factory, the Germans are the most perfect.

The technology of electrolytic aluminum appeared in the United States, and after it was transferred to Germany through BASF, new chemical solvents were soon born, which made the efficiency of electrolytic aluminum even more efficient.

The rapid-fire gun was built and designed in France, but the Germans provided better silicone oil as a buffer, which made the rapid-fire gun of 275mm caliber very stable and mature.

This is also the reason why Hu Chuyuan continued to use Krupp's new guns on all the main guns of warships in China, and he was unable to obtain this technology until he used the technical research laboratory of BASF Chemical Company to re-extract new silicone oil, and then transferred this technology to the Fu Quoc system.

During his stay in Germany, he hired Heinheath-Rudolf Hertz, a professor of physics at the University of Bonn, the discoverer of radio waves, to the Siemens Communications laboratory.

Under the research of R-Clausius, BASF Chemical has found a more suitable electrolyte catalyst in the electrolytic aluminum industry, and with the help of the late German chemist Augst von Hofmann, the third step of TNT's industrial production method has been completed, and new progress has been made in the field of dyes and petrochemicals.

In the field of medicine, they also have more than a dozen German chemists engaged in the research of salicylic acid and other chemical drugs, and there is only one final step left before the birth of aspirin.

In the field of metal materials, better new steels are also being born, and aluminum alloys have become more numerous.

Of course, Hu Chuyuan could not rely on the Germans for a long time, so in recent years, he also intends to increase the number of German students in the Chinese schools in China, send more international students to the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin in Germany, and establish a university preparatory school in Hamburg to help Chinese students make the transition in language and living habits.

Hu Chuyuan even directly hired some German university professors to teach in German at Nanyang University and Tianjin University.

As BASF's investment banking grew in size and influence in Germany's financial community, so did the oppression it faced, and the Junkers began to keep their eyes on it.

This makes Hu Chuyuan's investment a little difficult.

In Germany, Hu Chuyuan stayed for three months before he reluctantly established the three major industrial systems of BASF, Opple, and Siemens, and invested in a new Hanseatic mechanical shipyard in Hamburg through Opple to produce steam turbines and build merchant ships, and invested in a mechanical factory in Hannover, specializing in the production of machine guns and bullets.

At this time, he had to return to China, and Emperor Guangxu was facing extremely strong conservative pressure.

In March 1896, Hu Chuyuan returned with a visiting fleet, this time crossing the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and returning to China via the Indian Ocean.

Just before the fleet set sail, he received a special telegram from Zaiyan.

Only six words.

The Queen Mother's view of politics is imminent.

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything, burned the telegram in great silence, and sent a telegram to Lu Guangquan, and then led the fleet to leave officially.

This time, the flagships of the patrol fleet became the Ningyuan-class Ningyuan and Yangyuan, on the basis of the Sovereign-class, this ship is more unique in the use of eight 305mm caliber guns provided by Krupp, with a rate of fire of 1.5 rounds per minute, 12 155mm caliber main guns, 12 75mm caliber machine guns provided by the Auckland Military Factory, with 6 405mm caliber torpedo launchers, four underwater, and two water stern launchers.

In terms of power, the British's own Sovereign class uses more traditional coal-fired technology, while the Ningyuan class uses kerosene mixed combustion boilers, and under the state of ventilation and high pressure, both the Ningyuan and Yangyuan can reach a speed of 18.2 knots, and the cruising range is 1.4 times higher than that of the Sovereign class, and the smoke exhaust is greatly reduced by 30%.

To some extent, it was precisely because of the Ningyuan-class built by the British themselves that they finally persuaded the British Admiralty to use kerosene mixed combustion boilers in future capital ships.

Receiving Ningyuan and Yangyuan back to China is also one of the main tasks of this tour.

After the reorganization of the new patrol fleet, it officially embarked on its home.

On the way, the visiting fleet passed through South Africa, India, and Dutch Indonesia, which was very stimulating to the Dutch.

On April 17, 1896, the visiting fleet arrived in Singapore, and by this time, Hu Chuyuan had already received a telegram - Cixi had returned, and Lu Guangquan had mutinied.

A truly big thing happened.

There is no doubt that this is the result of Hu Chuyuan's deliberate connivance.

(To be continued)