"Mr. President, what is the annual production volume here?!"

Standing in front of the Ma'anshan Iron Works, which had already completed a small part of the work, Wilmot asked Yan Guang with a look of amazement.

"Here? The current annual production capacity is about 100,000 tons, but when it is officially completed, it will reach 1 million tons―――――― of course, it will take at least one to two years to complete the project..."

When Yan Guang said this, although his face was a little helpless, he was more proud.

After all, during this period, even the British Empire, which claimed to be the world's largest power, produced less than eight million tons of steel. As for Germany, it fell to less than 15 million tons because of the war, and France, the third power, also fell to 4.7 million tons―――――― although it had only 4.79 million tons.

That is to say, when the Ma'anshan Iron Works is completed, that is, when China's industry is developing by leaps and bounds―――――― not only the iron works, but also many supporting factories are under construction in the Ma'anshan Industrial Zone.

But then again, an area like Ma'anshan, which is suitable for industrial development, is only left in the northeast of China...

As for Suiyuan and Hainan, as well as a couple of large iron mines in Sichuan?

Needless to say, Suiyuan and Hainan, although now you don't have to worry about manpower as you did when you started. But now we need to worry about traffic problems, especially the Baiyun Obo iron mine in Suiyuan, which is vast and sparsely populated, coupled with the extremely sad infrastructure and transportation problems...

And there, the pressure on the Russians is also great, after all, now Outer Mongolia is basically equivalent to the territory of the Russians.

As for Hainan? Although transportation problems do not exist―――――― sea freight is much more convenient than taking a train.

However, Hainan is a large island, which is located at sea, and now China is at odds with the Navy, and the current Chinese Navy is really ...

At the very least, the development of Hainan is not very feasible until it has three to five dreadnoughts and an equal number of battle cruisers. After all, if a large industrial base is to be established in Hainan, it will have to face the threat of the sea.

However, Hainan has to be developed, not to mention that Hainan is the most suitable place in China to be used as a space base. Although it seems that it is decades earlier to talk about aerospace now, it is much better than the development of Hainan's space base in the 21 st century.

However, that was also a helpless move, after all, the Chinese navy in later generations was really weak, and it was not until the 21st century that it made great progress. And even if this is the case, compared with surface ships alone, China is a little inferior to its neighbors―――――― and if you count Shanghai Airlines, it will be a different matter.

After these two places, the only thing left is Sichuan.

Sichuan is the starting place of Yanguang, and after so many years of development, Sichuan has made great progress in all aspects. Even the originally rugged mountain roads, with Yan Guang's investment at no cost, are paved with asphalt roads and concrete roads.

Coupled with the Sichuan-Han Railway and the Lancheng Railway, which have been open to traffic for a long time, there will be no problems at least in terms of transportation.

As for manpower? Sichuan has a population of more than 50 million, and it is impossible to lack people without anything.

In addition, the Panzhihua Iron Mine in Sichuan is a rare extra-large iron mine, and at this time, the British, who had been supporting the rebel organizations in Tibetan Province, were also mired in the quagmire of the European war, and they were unable to take care of it at all, nor could they support those rebel organizations to continue to cause chaos or something...

However, Panzhihua iron ore belongs to high-titanium vanadium titanomagnetite, many years ago Yan Guang had already said when he chose the "Feng Shui Treasure Land", high-titanium vanadium titanomagnetite is difficult to directly smelt, and China only broke through this problem in the 70s.

Today, although the domestic and imported engineers of Qijiang Iron Works have been overcoming this problem, and I have heard that they have a little clue. However, the difference between the two years is almost 60 years, and even the engineers in the iron works are not sure whether it will take 5 or 50 years to overcome this problem...

So in the end, the only ones left behind are Ma'anshan in Anhui and Benxi and Anshan in Liaoning, where the distance between Benxi and Anshan is not very far, plus Fushun, the Chinese coal capital (the title of the coal capital seems to change often?). ), to the point where the whole of Liaoning can be used as an industrial zone...

Compared with the above three, as well as iron ore mines such as Baiyun Obo in Suiyuan and Shilu in Hainan.

Now it seems that the Qijiang Iron Works and Daye Iron Works are very weak.

Not to mention anything else, Panzhihua's vanadium titanomagnetite reserves alone are almost nearly 10 billion tons. In comparison, the reserves of more than 100 million tons of Qijiang and Daye iron ore mines are somewhat insignificant...

(Increasing steel production by one million at a time may seem like a bit too much, but it was the United States that saw the biggest jump in steel production during this period.) In 1914, U.S. steel production was 23.89 million tons, in 1915 it was 32.66 million tons, and in 1916 it was 43.46 million tons. Of course, this has a lot to do with the strong industrial strength of the United States, but it also shows that the increase in steel production of one or two million in a year is actually not very much―――――― at least compared to the United States... ）

――――――――――

Looking at the Ma'anshan Iron Works under construction and Yan Guang with a proud face, Wilmot's heart continued to improve China's scores, and at the same time, he also raised a trace of vigilance against China.

Today, the Qijiang Iron Works and Daye Iron Works, together with the numerous small private iron mills in China, have almost reached 400,000 tons of steel production.

Of course, this figure is nothing compared to the great powers, and it is not even a fraction of what the United States holds.

In fact, this year's steel output has reached 420,000 tons, which is still a step ahead of China.

But...

If the Ma'anshan Iron Works is also put into operation, then China's industrial capacity will be improved by leaps and bounds, not only can it be higher than the other capital, but most importantly...

France, the current European power, because of the war, was originally close to 5 million steel production before the war fell very fast, according to the statistics of the French political axe, this year's steel output is likely to drop to more than 2 million tons.

What Wilmot didn't know was that by 1915, because of the war, French steel production would drop to a staggering number―――――― only 1.11 million tons...

Then, until 1919, France's steel production could only hover at the figure of one million tons...

What's more, China's steel output will not stop at about one million tons, and looking at Yan Guang's appearance, it will continue to vigorously support industrial development. By that time, I'm afraid three or five million will not be a problem...

"It seems that while we are concerned about the war in Europe, we should also worry about the two Asian countries of China and Ben..."

Wilmot didn't want his own country's interests in Asia to be inexplicably replaced by two emerging Asian countries because of the European war―――――― although one of them had a long history of 5,000 years and had been the strongest country for a long time.

It's just that those politicians in China are now focused on the two battlefields of the Eastern Front and the Western Front, and they have no time to take care of Asia...

But with just a slight turn of his head, Wilmot already had an idea in his heart.

"As long as the empire intervenes to keep the two sides in a state of equilibrium, then the two sides will naturally have a demand for the empire..."

This can be said to be a trick that Britain is used to, and as for the object of support, in Wilmot's opinion, the best object is the book. After all, after seeing the Ma'anshan Iron Works and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, in Wilmot's opinion, China's development potential is definitely far greater than that...

And according to the information provided to Wilmot by British intelligence before his departure, it seems that two more iron works are being built in the northeast of China. At the same time, in addition to the shipyard such as the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, new shipyards are being built in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin...

In such a situation, it is clear that the need for support is the foundation.

However, although Wilmot made some decisions in his heart, he was only a slightly influential figure in Britain after all. So even if he already had some ideas, it was the people in Whitehall who could make the final decision...

And until the bureaucrats in Whitehall make a decision, it would be useless for Wilmot to have anything in mind...

――――――――――

Yan Guang, who was looking at the Maanshan Iron Works under construction, looked proud, and of course he didn't know what Wilmot was thinking. Looking at Ma'anshan Iron Works, Yan Guang only had pride in his heart at this moment...

Because this iron factory represents the possibility of China surpassing Britain and France...

"Megatons? Qijiang and Daye Iron Works will both become million-level iron works, while Ma'anshan and Benxi and Angang? I'm going to build tens of millions of !! ”

After watching the Ma'anshan Iron Works, Yan Guang took Wilmot to the Ma'anshan Arsenal, the Automobile Factory, and the airport.

In terms of navy, Britain is naturally the only one in the world, but in terms of land warfare and emerging aviation, Britain can only be called first-class.

Among them, the airport in the Ma'anshan Industrial Zone is the most popular thing for Wilmot to see.

Because the National Defense Air Force once created the miracle of Longkou Bay, the European powers and the United States, which were not familiar with the inside situation, thought that China had a unique feature in aviation. But they were right, after all, the Wehrmacht Air Force did have an amazing record.

What's more, China's aviation industry has also made great progress under Yan Guang's huge investment. So far, not only has the work of copying the "Yueguang-type" engine been completed, but the Air Force has also succeeded in developing a new type of aero engine that is even better than the "Yueguang-type" engine.

At that time, coupled with the rich application experience of the Defense Air Force, it will not take much time for the Defense Air Force to become the world's first-class air force, stimulated by huge military spending.

However, after watching the arsenal and aircraft factory, Wilmot was certainly amazed by the Ma'anshan Industrial Zone, but at the same time, Wilmot was also frowning.

Because in the arsenal, Wilmot found that almost all the production machines inside were German, and almost all the weapons produced were German...

The artillery is quite unified, all of them are German-style artillery ...

There is also a car factory, which also produces German-style cars from the German company Daimler.

As for aircraft factories? Although Ilya. The Muromets bombers were Russian-made, but the production equipment was all German. And the current equipment of the Wehrmacht Air Force is also German-style Fokker aircraft...

Germany, Germany, Germany...

Reminiscent of a piece of information provided to Wilmot by British intelligence, which described in detail that the Wehrmacht was originally established with the assistance of retired German military personnel. Even now, there are many German [***] personnel in the Wehrmacht who are active. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the newly established Chinese political axe to choose to shelter the German [***] team in the Qingdao fortress, and fall out with Yuben for this...

"This country is so deeply involved with Germany..."

When he thought so, Wilmot suddenly felt that maybe there was no need to rush to rely on China's power now, after all, the relationship between China and Germany was too close, and if one day China suddenly jumped ship to the Allies and stabbed the Entente in the back...

This kind of thing is not impossible, at least Wilmot vaguely knew that the political axe was now negotiating with Italy, and the purpose of the negotiations was to encourage Italy to betray the Allies and throw herself into the arms of the Allies―――――― in fact, in May 1915, Italy had switched to the side of the Allies and declared war on the Allies because Britain and France had promised to give them to Fum and Dalmatia after the war. Although Italy was weak, losing nearly 300,000 men at the beginning of the war, it managed to hold back the strength of 40 divisions of Austria-Hungary, relieving the pressure on Russia and France, and finally did not trap its allies like in World War II...

If China really ran to the side of the Allies, it would not need to do anything else, but only launch an attack on the Allied colonies in Southeast Asia, or even India, and plunge the Allied resource supply into chaos...

You know, the advantage of the Entente over the Allies, apart from the navy, was only resources ...

And the close relationship between China and Germany...

Although Wilmot had many concerns in his heart, and he also sent his concerns back to London through a telegram at the consulate in Nanjing, after returning to Yanjing with Yan Guang, Wilmot and Yan Guang signed an agreement in the Capitol building.

After all, no matter how wary you are of China, it is better than pushing China to the Germans...

After signing the agreement, Wilmot rested for two days in the embassy in China, which had been upgraded to an embassy, and then returned to England on the passenger ship he had been traveling on and escorted by the British navy.

After all, his task has been accomplished ...

As for the work of appeasing the book? It's okay to leave it to the embassy in Yue, he's just a special envoy sent by Whitehall to China, and he can't take care of it...

――――――――――

After the news of China's accession to the Entente came out, the Allies and Germans in China did not react excessively, although there was some fluctuation.

After all, the intelligence personnel of the Central Powers are not vegetarians, and it is impossible for such a big thing as joining the Entente to be really covered up. Therefore, not only the Germans knew about China's accession to the Entente, but even the Germans in China also vaguely knew about it.

After all, although they have some influence on China's military and political aspects, they can't reach the point of controlling the political axe―――――― of course, but they can't do it because they can't join the army, which has somewhat calmed their emotions.

However, compared with the more stable Germans, the Ben side is...

Although in recent years, Britain seems to have begun to be a little wary. However, because of the relationship between Britain and Britain back then, there was also some incense between Ben and Britain. In my own country, I also have a lot of good feelings about the UK.

But now Britain has included China in the Entente system...

Who is China? China had just been at war with the Entente in Shandong, and had killed and wounded at least 50,000 people, and now Britain had included such a country in the Entente system...

For a time, in front of the British Embassy in Japan, people were standing in front of the protesters.

Many people have even picked up stones and other things and threw them at the British Embassy, so that the British in the embassy did not dare to go out at all. And the army soldiers who were sent out to maintain order by the Masatake only stood outside the wall, and except for the guys with katanas who didn't rush in, the rest didn't care...

The crowd over there is angry, and Yan Guang can't control it...

At this time, it was already December, and Yanjing in December was covered with snow, and because of the agreement to join the Entente, all the troops stationed in China around Yanjing were withdrawn, which also made Yan Guang's mood much easier.

At this time, Yan Guang was talking about recent interesting things with Song Dinghan and a few other people in the living room of the presidential palace, drinking juice and coffee.

But just as they were talking, Wang Yaowu suddenly walked in very embarrassed outside.

"Samin, what's wrong with you?"

Seeing that Wang Yaowu seemed to have been beaten by someone, Yan Guang stood up in surprise.

As soon as Yan Guang stood up, Song Dinghan and the others also stood up. But to be honest, they were indeed as surprised as Yan Guang in their hearts. You must know that Wang Yaowu is the Minister of National Defense, although there are also the Minister of the Army, the Minister of the Air Force and the Minister of the Navy below, but everyone in Yanjing City knows that Wang Yaowu is Yan Guang's No. 1 henchman, and now this number one henchman seems to have been beaten by someone...

"Who is so bold?"

It's just that when he heard Yan Guang's words, and looked at the surprised expressions of Song Dinghan and the others by the way, Wang Yaowu had a wry smile on his face, and he didn't seem to want to say it.

It's just that under the repeated questioning of Yan Guang and others, Wang Yaowu still said it.

"You all know, tomorrow is my wife's birthday, so a few hours ago I ran to the mall to buy a birthday gift for my wife or something, who knew that at this time I suddenly ran into a woman, and accidentally had a little dispute with her, originally, I am a big man and not good to mess with a woman, who knows that the woman is quite unreasonable, and in the end when I argued, I didn't argue with me, actually..."

"What's going on?"

At this time, Yan Guang also lost his anger, and looked at Wang Yaowu with curiosity in his heart, and Song Dinghan also thought of it in his heart.

"No wonder he looks like he was scratched by someone, it turns out that he was really scratched by a woman!"

However, Wang Yaowu's answer was a little beyond Yan Guang's expectations, and Wang Yaowu just said with a wry smile there.

"Just when the woman was at a loss, she suddenly took out a bottle of perfume, and then sprayed a lot on my body, and said to me with a smile after spraying." Tonight, you wait for your daughter-in-law and you to desperately put "After saying that, the woman turned around and left..."

Several of the wives present, especially those who were a little afraid of their wives, listened to Wang Yaowu's words, and a drop of sweat dripped from their foreheads, thinking to themselves.

"Sure enough, it's the most poisonous woman's heart..."

Then Wang Yaowu continued to be a little aggrieved.

"The perfume is sprayed too much, even if I change my clothes, it is impossible to clean it up, I have no choice, I have to go home, think that I should be able to explain it to my daughter-in-law, who would have thought that my daughter-in-law would not listen to my explanation at all, and directly to me..."

It's not surprising that they are here with this Yan Guang, they all know Wang Yaowu's daughter-in-law, she is a secretary of the State Council, and she is quite dignified and virtuous on the surface, just like a kitten. Wang Yaowu happened to run into her when he went to the State Department once, and he couldn't take his eyes off it at that time. After that, I married her in a daze.

It's just that she got married, but this woman suddenly changed from a kitten to a tigress.

And Wang Yaowu, a man who has a very deep fist and foot kung fu, and has no problem dealing with five or six soldiers, has turned into a kitten in front of this tigress, really...

However, just when Song Dinghan and the others sighed that the most poisonous woman's heart and the tigress were really powerful, Yan Guang on the side was disdainful.

"Samin, the woman who had a conflict with you, does he have a husband or a boyfriend?!"

Wang Yaowu didn't know what Yan Guang meant, but after thinking about it, he replied.

"Listen to her, it seems to have a husband..."

"That's not it." Yan Guang slapped his face. "Send someone to check the woman's house, and then send you the perfume smell of your clothes, and write on it: You must be familiar with this smell. The rest of the things, don't you have to worry about it?! ”

“………………………”

If Wang Yaowu and the others were still sighing about the topic of "the most poisonous woman's heart" just now, then now Wang Yaowu and they are looking at Yan Guang's eyes, as if they are looking at a flood beast...

Especially Wang Yaowu and Song Dinghan and several other people, who have followed Yan Guang for so many years, they found out for the first time that Yan Guang was such a sinister person...

"Sure enough, don't offend him..."

In the still feudal era of the Republic of China, it is nothing for a woman to be fierce, but if she is involved in such a thing, no matter how fierce a woman is, she will be spurned...

(To be continued)