Before everyone had time to be surprised, even more astonishing news came out, saying that the lion opened his mouth and proposed five paragraphs and 21 articles to China, hoping to seize huge interests and take the opportunity to control China.

The newspaper that first got the news couldn't believe that it would be so rampant, but not long ago, there was a large-scale conflict between China and China because of the Shandong issue, and I am afraid that most of the news in front of me is also true, and soon the major newspapers received similar news, and also got photocopies of the text, and suddenly the major newspapers made the headlines of this news on the front page.

Countless students took to the streets, waving flags and slogans, calling on the Beiyang political axe to reject this treaty of destroying the country and exterminating the species, and even the great powers were alarmed, the European powers were busy with the war and had little energy, but the United States was getting harder and harder at this time, and the First World War made the waist of the American ruling group full.

With money, the ambition is also great, the Americans absolutely do not allow the book to dominate China, and the book in the treaty showed the ambition of the Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant, the factory was originally established by the United States with the assistance of China, and the American businessman still maintains a 30% stake, with the collusion of interests, saying that he wants to co-operate, just moved the cheese of the Americans.

The United States immediately flew into a rage, the American minister went to Yuan Shikai to verify the problem, and Chengdu Consul General Newman also found Qiao Yu.

"Qiao, I think you should know about myself, these little dwarfs are too rampant, Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant is jointly established by China and the United States, there is absolutely no share to give to Yue himself, let them die!"

Newman took the initiative to find Qiao Yu, to some extent, it shows the immaturity of the United States in international politics, the United States certainly has huge interests in the steel plant, but Sichuan is the most anxious at this time, the United States can just wait for the price to sell, let Sichuan give the United States more benefits, instead of giving the initiative to Qiao Yu in this way.

Qiao Yu looked at Newman and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Consul, you should understand that this treaty is aimed at Yanjing Political Axe, and we, as a local political axe, do not have any right to speak at all, and we have already occupied Qingdao, and the power is when it is strong, I am really helpless!" ”

"Qiao, you definitely have a way, just like the last time at the Hanyang Iron Works, completely crush Yuben's ambitions, and the West will stand on the side of justice!"

Qiao Yu shook his head, "Mr. Consul General, things are not so simple, the last time Britain was able to intervene, after all, there is an alliance treaty, and Britain can still restrain it, but now Britain's power has been completely tied up in Europe, and what's worse is that Germany launched a submarine war, this despicable weapon has shown great power, and tens of thousands of tons of freighters can be easily sunk, The data I have now shows that in a few months the speed at which German submarines sink ships will exceed the speed of British shipbuilding, and you should know what this means, that is, Britain's industrial capacity can no longer cope with the attrition of the war, in other words, Britain is doomed to defeat in the war of attrition, I can see this situation, and I can also see that I have no due reverence for Britain, and it is difficult to resist the pressure of China alone, and what is even more terrible is that President Yuan Shikai is a weak person! ”

The color on Newman's face became very ugly, and he had also heard what Qiao Yu said, the situation of the Entente was becoming more and more difficult, the United States was alone in China, and the military strength of the United States was still too weak, the only way to measure the strength of a country in this era was war, as long as you can defeat a strong country in the war, you can replace the position of that powerful country.

On the way to becoming a strong country, he himself defeated China and Russia, while the United States only defeated Spain, which was said to be Bo Xishan, and militarily the United States did not have a lot of confidence, and the long distance made the United States seem powerless to fight against Yue Ben alone.

Newman shrugged, "Joe, are you willing to give your heart and soul to me?" Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant is the largest steel company in China, and it is second to none in East Asia, will you bear to let this enterprise fall into my own hands? ”

"Of course I'm unwilling, but I mean I have to come up with a complete strategy, otherwise there is no way to make Yue Ben succumb, I think this time we have to rely on economic means to make Yue himself succumb, so that he can feel the pain of his skin, so that he can let Yue Ben stop!"

Newman nodded repeatedly, "That's what the U.S. side means, but doing so may affect the spirit of free trade!" ”

Qiao Yu sneered: "Mr. Consul General, Ben has never followed the spirit of its own trade in this land of China, otherwise their inferior products would have been driven out of the Far East long ago!" I propose to join Britain and France to jointly impose economic sanctions on the country, with China and the United States both reducing their raw material exports, and at the same time reducing orders from the Entente countries, so that the country will inevitably suffer huge economic losses, and as long as this can be done, the company will definitely stop! ”

Economic sanctions are still a new word for Newman, but he quickly understood the connotation and gave Qiao Yu a thumbs up: "Joe, this idea of yours is awesome, I think Ben will definitely give in!" ”

Qiao Yu shook his head, "Things are not so simple, if you want to impose effective sanctions on Yueben, all parties must be in unison, but Britain and France are consuming too fast, and they can't reduce orders at all, they can only symbolize the eagerness of some punishments, and President Yuan's execution ability is very problematic, and whether or not strict trade restrictions can be established is still between the two, so I think there must be appropriate military means to achieve our goals!" ”

"Joe, you see the problem very clearly, I will immediately inform the Minister Mr. Reinsch, and then coordinate with the Entente as soon as possible!"

After the news of the 21st article appeared in the newspaper, the most angry was that he said Zhiyi, he originally wanted the treaty to be kept secret, and he didn't want to make the city full of wind and rain and arouse the opposition of the Chinese people, he just wanted Yuan Shikai to compromise first, and then get all the benefits in his hands little by little, especially in Sichuan, he had to think carefully about how to deal with it, but suddenly the newspapers were full of news from the 21st, how could he not be angry.

"Your Excellency President Yuan, we have proposed a treaty to strengthen Sino-Chinese relations, which is beneficial to both China and China, especially for President Yuan, we are willing to see President Yuan take a step higher and dominate the whole of China, but it is very disappointing that the President actually leaked our cooperation treaty!"

Yuan Shikai also knew that he was bitter at this time, and he didn't want to make the city full of storms, but he leaked the treaty to Qiao Yu first, and then Qiao Yu leaked it to the media, so President Yuan couldn't escape the blame.

"Mr. Minister, I am also investigating who leaked the news, but I can't find the murderer for a while, but Mr. Minister, you see that the Chinese people are reacting so violently now, and other powers are also interfering, it can be seen that the treaty is still too much, it is better to reduce it, otherwise I really can't accept it!"

"Your Excellency the President, of course it is possible to negotiate, but the conditions given by this book are already very favorable, I can tell you, some people are writing letters to the political axe every day, and the conditions are better than yours, it is precisely because we trust the president and regard the president as a friend that we will only put forward such low conditions, otherwise we will support Mr. Sun Wen!"

After saying that, Zhiyi got up and left Zhongnanhai, leaving Yuan Shikai stunned, and a cool breath rushed up from Yuan Shikai's back and rushed straight to the top of his head, making Lao Yuan extremely depressed.

In desperation, the United States had no choice but to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with Yue himself on Article 21 in an effort to reduce the loss of sovereignty against China as much as possible, and at the same time, another economic sanctions plan against Yue Ben had already appeared, and the United States took the lead in making a move, demanding that Yu Ben clarify the issue of Article 21, and at the same time announced that the Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant had US shares in it, and that it absolutely could not be co-organized with Yu Ben, and that if Yu Ben's political axe could not change its wrong policy, the United States would reduce its exports to Yu Ben.

Britain and France followed suit and reduced their orders for the Entente, but this symbolic surname was too much, Britain only reduced 500,000, and France only 300,000, which was only a drizzle, but showed the weakness of the Entente.

Sichuan also followed, again used the weapon of iron ore, while China and the United States reached an agreement on the export of raw silk, the United States will give priority to the import of raw silk from Sichuan, the conclusion of this agreement is undoubtedly very huge for the killing surname of the book, in the long history of China is the largest exporter of raw silk, but after the Meiji Restoration, the export of raw silk is also regarded as the main source of accumulation of foreign exchange, with the improvement of production technology, the book gradually became the largest exporter of raw silk, The market share has accounted for more than seventy-five, bringing hundreds of millions of yuan of profits to the capital every year.

Relying on the raw silk trade, the machine was bought and the heavy industry was established, the heavy industry investment in the early stage of the book was large, the product quality was low, if it was not for the profit guarantee of raw silk, it could not be maintained at all, it can be said that the heavy industry of the book was accumulated by relying on raw silk, Sichuan and the United States reached an agreement on the export of raw silk, and the United States supported the production of raw silk in Sichuan, and at the same time Sichuan provided raw silk to the United States at a preferential price. There is no doubt that Sichuan has moved the lifeblood of Yueben, and Qiao Yu, the warlord leader, suddenly became a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh.

On the same day that the agreement was reached, two freighters from Sichuan were seized, one containing 500 boxes of bristle brushes and a large number of canned yaks, which were the finest food for the Allied magnates, and the other containing the first shipment of arms from Sichuan to Russia, 20,000 rifles, and a large quantity of ammunition.