On July 28, negotiations between the Central Powers and the Entente broke down, and World War I officially began.

On the day of the start of the war, Yan Guang was in his yard, watering flowers in the yard with a small watering can.

These flowers were given to Yan Guang by others, Yan Guang didn't know what their names were, but Yan Guang accepted them because they looked good, although Yan Guang didn't have much interest in raising flowers, but at least he could pass the time in his spare time―――――― in this era of lack of entertainment industry, if you don't have a hobby, it's really difficult.

Yan Guang understood why there was such a large population in ancient China, without him, he would only have to make children at night.

Just as Yan Guang was taking care of the flowers in the yard, Yue Chang walked in from outside with an excited face.

"President, let's fight!"

"Europe?"

Yue Chang nodded excitedly.

"That's right, Europe!"

As the beginning of World War I, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary, which had just lost its crown prince, declared war on Serbia. As soon as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia, which had long been prepared, announced mobilization and sent troops to support Serbia.

Russia made some promises to Serbia, and Germany promised much more to Austria-Hungary.

So when Russia announced that it would send troops to support Serbia, Germany declared war directly on Russia and later on France.

As the beginning of World War I, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary, which had just lost its crown prince, declared war on Serbia. On 30 July, Russia announced mobilization and sent troops to support Serbia, and on 1 August, Germany declared war on Russia and then on France.

After declaring war on France, Germany sent troops to Belgium, and Britain declared war on Germany under the pretext of the Treaty of London signed in 1939.

In fact, this excuse is completely superfluous, because everyone knows that war is already inevitable...

Putting the watering can in his hand aside, Yan Guang said to Yue Chang.

"Let's go, let's go in and talk."

"Yes."

However, as soon as Yan Guang and Yue Chang entered the house, an officer outside had already walked in and reported.

"President, the German minister is here."

Yan Guang nodded, of course he knew the reason why Marzan would come.

"Let him wait in the living room now, and I'll be over right away."

"Yes..."

Yan Guang washed his face first, and after cleaning up a little, he took Yue Chang to the living room.

In the living room, Malzan had been sitting for a while. But even though war had broken out on the European side, Malzan was not too panicked because of the Germans' special surname.

After seeing Yan Guang's figure, Marzan stood up and said.

"Mr. President."

Yan Guang hurriedly walked over.

"Just sit down and talk."

As he spoke, he sat directly across from Malzan.

Because both sides know a lot of things, and they both have a consensus, so Malzan doesn't talk nonsense.

"Mr. President, I have already contacted His Majesty the Kaiser, and His Majesty has allowed me to return the leased land of Jiaozhou Bay and the Qingdao Fortress to your country..."

Hearing Malzan say this, Yue Chang, who was standing behind Yan Guang, and some of the political axe officials around him were all happy, and even Yan Guang's face flashed with a hint of joy. After all, Jiaozhou Bay was the first foreigner-occupied colony to be recovered by Yan Guang during his tenure―――――― although Yan Guang was regained at a certain price, rather than in a more "exciting" way.

But in any case, it is always a good thing to be able to recover Jiaozhou Bay.

To be honest, before Marzan said the above, Yan Guang was really worried that the polio patient in Berlin would break the contract, and then let the thousands of German officers and soldiers in the Qingdao fortress "fight to the last man for the honor of the German Empire", but now, Yan Guang can breathe a sigh of relief.

It's just that just as Yan Guang smiled and said some words of thanks to Marzan, an official suddenly walked in outside.

"President, a consul from the German consulate came outside, saying that he had an urgent matter to find Mr. Marzan."

"German consul?"

Yan Guang and Marzan were stunned, not knowing what was going on, but Yan Guang still said to the official.

"Invite the consul in first."

"Yes..."

In the curiosity of Yan Guang and Malzan, a well-dressed German consul walked in under the guidance of the official.

After the German consul walked into the living room, Yan Guang looked at his face and found that the official had just arrived right, and the German consul seemed to be really anxious.

Yan Guang himself was still empathetic, so after seeing the anxious appearance of the German consul, he quickly stood up and said.

"The two of you will talk here slowly, and when the talk is finished, you will call me."

Saying that, Yan Guang didn't wait for the two of them to speak, and directly took Yan Guang and the others to the side.

Malzan was very grateful for Yan Guang's understanding, and he also wanted to know what made his subordinates so anxious, so after Yan Guang stepped aside, Malzan hurriedly asked softly.

The consul originally came here to inform Malzan of the matter, but now that Yan Guang had stepped aside with great interest, he naturally told Malzan everything.

However, after listening to the consul's words, Marzan's face turned pale. It wasn't until he had finished listening to the last sentence that he waved his hand to the consul.

"You go back first, I'll go later."

The consul nodded, and then said goodbye to Yan Guang.

Since the consul was leaving, Yan Guang would not persuade him to stay, but after the consul left, Yan Guang, who looked at Malzan with a pale face, asked curiously.

"Mr. Minister, don't you know just now?"

Listening to Yan Guang's words, Marzan glanced at Yan Guang. Thinking that this was not a secret, and that Yan Guang must be notified as soon as possible, he hurriedly spoke.

"Mr. President, it seems that we are going to complete the handover ceremony to Jiaozhou Bay as soon as possible!"

“？”

Listening to Malzan's words, Yan Guang, Yue Chang and the others were stunned.

But at this time, Marzan spoke again.

"My subordinate has just informed me that the ambassador to Germany has sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country, asking us to hand over the leased land of Jiaozhou Bay to our country before August 10, and to transfer it to your country after the war. Moreover, if China had not handed over Jiaozhou Bay to Yueben before August 10, Yueben would have launched an attack on Jiaozhou Bay, especially the Qingdao Fortress..."

After listening to Marzan's words, Yan Guang's expression also changed, but after the change, he immediately regained his calm.

"I asked the Germans to hand over Jiaozhou Bay to them?"

This kind of thing has long been expected by Yan Guang, or rather, because such a thing has happened in history, so Yan Guang has expected it, and therefore has psychological preparation―――――― speaking of which, isn't the army that Yan Guang assembled in Shandong to deal with himself?

However, Yan Guang is mentally prepared, but it does not mean that Yue Chang, and the people around him are also mentally prepared.

When they heard that they were asking the Germans to do so, they were not to mention the anger in their hearts, but there was also a hint of panic.

After all, it is no longer the small country that was pointed at by the former Qing Dynasty with naval guns a few decades ago and did not dare to violate it in the slightest, but a great power country in the real sense. It is simply not the same as a country like China, which has just touched the edge of the second power.

Therefore, although these officials present were all in the upper echelons of the New Axe, and they all knew about the deal between the Political Axe and Germany, they still panicked after hearing about his own actions.

Looking at these indisputable subordinates, Yan Guang was naturally angry, but he also knew how much influence foreign devils had on the Chinese of this era, not to mention that it had only been 14 years since the Gengzi incident, so even if it was an Oriental devil, in the eyes of many Chinese, it was impossible to war.

"Ugh..."

After shaking his head and sighing, Yan Guang said to an official on the side.

"Go, send a telegram to General Cai in Shandong, so that he is ready for battle."

"Yes!"

The officer said loudly with his legs together, acting like a soldier, in fact, he had always been a soldier before he retired not long ago.

At this time, in Shandong, the Jinan Military Region had already been established, and the commander of the military region was Yin Changheng, whom Yan Guang relied on very much. As a matter of fact, Yin Changheng is not only the commander of the Jinan Military Region, but also the commander of the group army after the establishment of the group army in the future.

However, although Yin Changheng now has the right to control 6 infantry divisions and 2 artillery brigades in Shandong, Yan Guang is still a little uneasy about Yin Changheng in terms of command. After all, Yin Changheng is too young, and he doesn't have the experience to command so many troops.

In the end, Yan Guang transferred Cai Yi, who had already served as chief of the general staff of the Ministry of National Defense, to Shandong, and he was fully responsible for all defense issues in Shandong.

With Cai Ye here, Yan Guangzhi was much more relieved, after all, Cai Ye is also the most capable general in China.

After instructing that official, Yan Guang ordered several other officials in succession.

It's just that these officials are different from the officials just now, they are all standard civilian backgrounds, and they have never been on the battlefield or experienced any major events.

So when he was ordered to leave the living room, one of them actually hit the table in a trance. The sound of the table legs rubbing against the marble is very harsh in the quiet living room.

With such subordinates, Yan Guang, the boss, is also deeply embarrassed.

Fortunately, the most important thing at the moment is to say that he is in his own affairs, and for Yan Guang, the war against himself can only be won and not defeated. So after frowning, Yan Guang continued.

"Mr. Minister, it seems that our handover is going to be sooner rather than later."

Marzan nodded.

Seeing that Marzan agreed with his statement, Yan Guang continued.

"It's tomorrow, what do you think?"

"Tomorrow?"

Although, according to the signed agreement, after the outbreak of the war, Germany was supposed to return Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao Fortress to China. However, it was returned the next day, which seemed to Marzan to be too early.

In Marzan's view, the handover or something, at least a more solemn handover ceremony should be made. After all, the Far East is still relatively peaceful at the moment, and even if I want to come, it will probably not be until after August 10.

While Marzan was still in a dilemma, an official suddenly ran in from outside.

"President, Minister Ben is also here..."

Hearing this, Yan Guang and Malzan looked at each other.

After a while, Malzan said with a wry smile.

"It seems that we are really going to complete the handover as soon as possible, as you said, Mr. President..."

Marzan is not a fool, of course he knows why Minister Ben didn't come early or late, but he would come at this time, just for the sake of Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao.

"Mr. President, do you want me to recuse myself first?"

Yan Guang was stunned for a moment, but nodded after thinking about it.

"It's fine."

Saying that, Yan Guang said to Yue Chang.

"You should take Mr. Minister to the courtyard for a stroll first, and then bring Mr. Minister back after the Minister leaves."

"Yes..."

After Yue Chang left with Marzan, Yan Guang faced a person on the side.

"Go, bring the envoy here."

"Yes..."

Minister Yuben was already outside, so it didn't take much time for the official just now to bring Minister Yuben in.

This minister is called Zhiyi, short but a little fat, and he also has a horned mustache.

Historically, the current Minister Komoto would have been Kohata Yukichi, and of course, Kohata Yukichi was only the acting minister. However, the acting minister of Kohata Yukichi should have been able to do it on August 20 of the 14th year. It will not be until August 20 that Zhiyi will take his place.

But now it's only July 28th, and Zhiyi has actually taken over Kohata Youkishi's position, and I have to say that although the big history doesn't seem to have been changed, the small history has really changed a lot.

After entering the living room, Zhiyi didn't look very arrogant, but when he sat in front of Yan Guang, he said again what Yan Guang had just learned from Malzan.

When he said this, he still looked like "you should be grateful to us".

At this time, Yan Guang should have pretended to be "I'm grateful" to satisfy Yu Zhiyi's self-esteem, and then quickly drive him away. However, looking at Yu Zhiyi's horned beard, Yan Guang didn't have such thoughts at all, and his face was full of perfunctory expressions.

Looking at Yan Guang's expression, Yue Zhiyi frowned.

Because when he saw Yan Guang's expression, Yue Zhiyi remembered what he had told him about this political axe...

Yan Guang once made a 10 million pound deal with the German political axe, and all the amount of the transaction was used to cover the machinery and equipment produced in Germany, which is already known to everyone in the world.

And behind this transaction, the content of the transaction about Jiaozhou Bay was also covered up by this glorious transaction.

However, after the 10 million pound deal, the German high society's favorability of Yan Guang is simply "off the charts", at this time, looking at the Jiaozhou Bay Colony and Qingdao Fortress that look a little chicken in the shadow of the European War...

Thus, in the German upper class, a call for the return of Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao fortresses to China sounded―――――― of course, how many people were really for Sino-German friendship, and how many were for Yan Guang's pleasure and it is not known how many of them were for another order that Yan Guang was likely to send after he was happy.

Because of the secrecy decree signed by the two countries, the German political axe did not disclose the real deal after the agreement to the "idle people", after all, they could not guarantee that no German would disclose it to him.

So over time, this call has faded a lot.

However, this much lighter cry sounded again after the Sarajevo incident.

Because war is inevitable, it is better to bring the soldiers back to their homeland sooner rather than to keep them in the dangerous Far East...

This time, under the tolerance of the Germans, this kind of cry has become more and more intense, and in the end, it has even reached the book...

Naturally, I was wary of this, and yes, when I made representations to the Germans, they did raise it.

"Give Jiaozhou Bay to us first, and return it to the Chinese when the battle is over."

But these words are just scene words, and the real content is that after getting Jiaozhou Bay, I didn't even think about returning it to the Chinese.

Therefore, if in the end the Germans return Jiaozhou Bay directly to the Chinese, won't they be empty of bamboo baskets?

Therefore, the biggest purpose of Zhiyi's trip is to ask Yan Guang, even if the Germans propose to return Jiaozhou Bay unconditionally, they will never allow Yan Guang to accept it―――――― this matter has also happened in history when Yuan Shikai was still in charge of Beiyang.

At that time, due to his threat, even though the Germans proposed that Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao Fortress could be returned unconditionally, Yuan Shikai did not accept it in the end.

However, Yan Guang is not Yuan Shikai...

Therefore, when Zhiyi finished saying the purpose of this trip, the only smile left on Yan Guang's face disappeared.

"Mr. Minister—" Yan Guang considered the wording. There is no doubt that Shandong, including Jiaozhou Bay, is Chinese territory. Although we lost Jiaozhou Bay in the past because of the relationship between the previous dynasty, I hope you can understand that according to the agreement, Jiaozhou Bay is only a leased land, so if the Germans are willing to return Jiaozhou Bay to us free of charge, we have no reason to refuse..."

In a nutshell.

Fuck you sister!

Hearing Yan Guang's words, Yue Zhiyi's face was also much colder, but Yue Zhiyi still persuaded him.

"Mr. President, I hope you can think about it more, I have just said that after obtaining Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao from the Germans, we will only keep them temporarily, and when the war is over, we will naturally transfer Jiaozhou Bay and Qingdao Fortress..."

However, before Zhiyi could finish speaking, Yan Guang had already laughed softly.

"For the time being?"

There is an indescribable irony in the words...

Hearing the meaning of Yan Guang's words, although as a diplomat, Zhiyi's face is definitely thick enough, but at this time, he is also slightly red, but fortunately, his face is dark enough, so that he is not afraid of Yan Guang to see it.

However, after his face was slightly red, he was a little annoyed.

In the past, when he was in Yueben, he had heard about the deeds of many predecessors, for example, when Yuan Shikai was still there, he had to express his awe of the Great Yueben Empire. However, now Yan Guang's performance is...

Not to mention anything else, Yan Guang's sneers just now had already made Yue Zhiyi feel offended.

"Mr. President, I have come this time with peace and friendliness, does Mr. President have to choose a third person over the two?" The third party in Zhiyi's mouth is naturally hostile.

However, after listening to Zhiyi's words, Yan Guang really smiled a little more. "Don't you know, Mr. Minister, that men like to play fresh?"

Hearing Yan Guang say this, Yu Zhiyi was stunned for a moment and then reacted.

It's just that before he could say anything, Yan Guang had already waved his hand.

"If the Germans hadn't thought about returning Jiaozhou Bay, I wouldn't have asked for it, but if they decided to return it, I had no reason to refuse. With that said, if Mr. Minister has nothing else to do, please go back. ”

Seeing that Yan Guang was blatantly issuing an eviction order here, Yue Zhiyi was also annoyed.

But after all, this is Yan Guang's land, so Zhiyi is just a flick of his sleeves.

"Hmph"

After a sigh, he turned around and left.

However, at the same time as leaving, a cold light flashed in Yue Zhiyi's eyes.

(To be continued)