In the county government axe building in Yichang, Yan Guang signed an agreement with the German minister Marzan.

The agreement stated that Yan Guang would pay 10 million pounds for German products, and that the German political axe would return Jiaozhou Bay and the Qingdao fortress to the Chinese political axe in the event of a European war.

P.S. The agreement will take effect immediately after it is signed, and the German products required by Yanguang will also arrive in China as soon as possible.

Another: Of the 10 million pounds, 5 million pounds is paid in cash, and 5 million pounds is a low-interest loan from Deutsch-Wah & Co.

Another one: if the European war does not break out, Jiaozhou Bay will also need to be returned to China within 10 years at the latest...

The Germans will ask for the return of Jiaozhou Bay after the outbreak of the European war, which is not surprising to Yan Guang, after all, although the European continent is full of war clouds, but there is also the possibility that a major war will not break out, if the European war does not break out at that time, Germany will return Jiaozhou Bay to China because of the order of 10 million pounds, then Germany will not lose a lot? You must know that the majority of this transaction was the businessmen like Lihe & Co., and the German political axe could only drink some soup and water—————— although the deal was finally successful, and those merchants and nobles who were extremely influential in the German political axe made great efforts.

As for Yan Guang? What he wants is just a morally defensible reason, and exchanging an order of 10 million pounds for Jiaozhou Bay is not a loss-making transaction in Yan Guang's opinion, not to mention that there is a low-interest loan of 5 million pounds in this 10 million pounds, and this loan that needs to be repaid little by little in the future is like Gengzi's indemnity for Yan Guang, and he is not ready to repay...

As for the return of the European war after the outbreak of the war? Could it be that Yan Guang would have told Marzan that in 1914 there was an eighty percent chance that a Serbian young man would have brewed the Sarajevo incident with a bullet?

For Germany, however, there is no need to worry about Yan Guang's failure to repay the loan.

First, the current Europe is only a war cloud, when the European war will break out and whether the European war will break out is just like Schrödinger's cat is still unknown, and before the outbreak of the European war, Germany will still be the second most powerful country in the world after Britain, in this case, neither Malzan nor Deutsch-Hua Bank need to worry about Yan Guang will rely on the loan of five million pounds—————— you must know that Germany is ready to maintain the expansion of the army until 1920, so that Germany's high seas fleet is equal to the naval power of the British Empire...

Although it didn't take long for the Sarajevo incident to happen...

Besides, Yan Guang's personal annual income is quite high, unless the oil field in Tampico is nationalized by Mexico the next day, otherwise Deutsche Hua Bank does not need to worry about Yan Guang's ability to repay at all.

It is precisely because of this that Deutsch-Hua Bank agreed to sign a low-interest loan agreement of 5 million pounds with Yan Guang.

Of course, the core content of this agreement is absolutely confidential, after all, if the content of the agreement is revealed, it is difficult to say whether the person who is still neutral will make any moves. You must know that when the Germans wanted to return Jiaozhou Bay to China, they directly opposed it, and thought that Jiaozhou Bay should be handed over to Yueben first, and then it should be transferred to China "at some point in the future——————", although we all know that after Jiaozhou Bay was in hand, Yueben never thought of returning Jiaozhou Bay to China at all.

If Yue Ben really intervened in the duel between Yan Guang and Yuan Shikai after learning the content of the agreement, Yan Guang would not be arrogant enough to think that the Sichuan Navy would be the opponent of Yu Ben's navy.

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After inspecting the 1st Guards Division stationed in Yichang with Yan Guang, Marzan also believed that the strength of the Nationalist Army was at least equivalent to the level of the second-rate army in Europe, and all that was lacking was actual combat experience and sufficient training...

With this in mind, Marl agreed with Riddle and the others to leave Yichang with the secret agreement after circling in Yichang for a few days.

And Yan Guang himself is thinking about the purchase list on that agreement...

"As long as all the equipment purchased by this 10 million pounds is complete, we can build a heavy industry base for China..."

None of Yan Guang's procurement list this time are finished products, or ordnance products such as artillery, firearms, and ammunition, all of which are various basic equipment required by industry.

In addition to the mining equipment used in the mining area, the smelting equipment required by the steel mill and the production equipment required by the arsenal, there are also equipment required by the shipyard, the production equipment of Fokker aircraft and Daimler automobiles, and so on.

For example, the equipment of the shipyard, as long as the equipment ordered by Yan Guang is complete, then at least theoretically, the shipyard will have the ability to build battleships, and even the production equipment and technology of steam turbines are also on the purchase list.

There are also Fokker aircraft and Daim cars, even equipment for the production of screws, which are also on the list of orders.

As Yan Guang said, as long as the equipment on the order can arrive before the outbreak of the European war, then it is only necessary to develop quietly, and it is not impossible for China to have 10,000-ton heavy cruisers, or even 2 or 30,000-ton Dreadnought-class battleships, before the end of the European war...

There are also Daye Iron Mine in Hubei, Benxi and Anshan Iron Mine in Fengtian (Liaoning), Qian'an Iron Mine in Hebei and Ma'anshan Iron Mine in Anhui, plus now Qijiang Iron Works. By 1915, Ben's crude steel output would reach 514,000 tons, and Yan Guang was confident that China's crude steel output would reach 600,000 tons. In 1919, it was said that Ben's crude steel output would reach 813,000 tons, but Yan Guang was confident that China's crude steel output would reach more than 2 million tons, which was equivalent to the level of France at the same time, no, maybe it could be higher...

"As long as these devices can arrive, then give me enough time..."

Where is the steel produced? This is not something that Yan Guang needs to worry about, because during the European war, steel, like other materials, there is no need to worry about nowhere to sell, and it is not because of this opportunity that the debtor country becomes a creditor country.

After all, whether it is an arsenal, or an automobile factory and an aircraft factory, it is a place to use steel, and shipyards are large steel producers—————————— by the way, at the end of the European War, Russia's steel output was only 160,000 tons, which was quite pitiful, but by 1929, Russia's steel output became 4.85 million tons, which was much higher than the pre-war steel production...

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Just when Yan Guang was still standing on the Yichang wharf, looking at the departing passenger ship for a while, the war in Qianjiang was still going on, but the direction of development was becoming more and more unfavorable for the Beiyang Army.

After learning that the battle situation was unfavorable, because he did not get Zhu Erdian's help, Yuan Shikai could only let the 2 mixed brigades left in Wuhan go to Qianjiang to assist, leaving only one division of the Hubei army, and at the same time, 2 mixed brigades were also transferred from Zhili to the south of the Jinghan Railway to assist, but the combat strength of these two mixed brigades is really a matter of the end...

After learning that Yuan Shikai sent troops south, Yan Guang also transferred two infantry divisions from Sichuan and Guizhou to Jingzhou by water, and then to Qianjiang by rail.

Although Yuan Shikai sent reinforcements south much earlier than Yan Guang, the waterway was much more convenient than the train after all, so although Yuan Shikai sent troops south to reinforce first, it was Yan Guang's two infantry divisions that arrived in Qianjiang first.

And after learning the news of the unfavorable situation in the Beiyang War, just as Yuan Shikai, Feng Guozhang and others thought, Zhu Rui and Sun Daoren, who originally seemed to be very obedient, also began to waver, even Cai Yi in Yunnan.

Looking at Yuan Shikai, who is very likely to fail, Cai Ye really doesn't know if he still wants to continue to support. After all, Cai Ye will support Yuan Shikai, just because Yuan Shikai is the only person who Cai Ye seems to be able to clean up the chaos in China, if it turns out that Cai Ye is wrong, then...

Seeing that in the Battle of Qianjiang, the Guoshe Army had successes one after another, and the Beiyang Army he originally supported only had bad news, and Cai Ye didn't know how to choose. Just let him turn around and choose to support Yan Guang? Not to mention the world's evaluation of him, just referring to the friction between him and Yan Guang in the past, as well as the matter of Cai Ye containing the strength of the National Army on the Sichuan-Yunnan border after [***], Cai Ye also has to take into account whether Yan Guang will settle accounts with him after the autumn...

However, just when Cai Ye was worried, the representative of the National Social Army in Yunnan suddenly came to visit.

At the same time, after seeing the successes of the National Social Army, Tan Yanhong, who had long been in contact with Yan Guang, also officially announced that Hunan would read again. The news of this news could not be said to have dealt a fatal blow to Yuan Shikai, but it also made the Beiyang Army in Hubei begin to be demoralized.

Not long after, I don't know what the Sichuan representative said to Cai Yi, Cai Yi also officially announced that he would send a division of the Yunnan Army to Hubei to participate in the war...

Seeing that the overseers of the two provinces all stood up and chose to support Yan Guang, especially one of them was Cai Yi, who had always supported Yuan Shikai in the past, although Yuan Shikai's battle in Qianjiang had not yet failed, people began to disfavor him. Even his old friends, the British and himself, began to secretly contact Yan Guang, especially the British, hoping that Yan Guang could protect the interests of Britain in the Yangtze River basin after the victory—————— there is no way, who said that Yan Guang's territory is now in the Yangtze River basin...

Seeing that the situation had become worse than ever, after the news of vomiting blood came out, Yuan Shikai could only pin all his hopes on Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, who went to Qianjiang in person.

In Qianjiang County, whether it is Feng Guozhang or Duan Qirui, or Li Chun and others who have just returned from the front line, they all look unconfident...

Is the National Socialist Army strong? It is not strong, and it is even worse than the Beiyang Army in terms of individual soldier quality, but the equipment of the people is really good, in the face of absolute superior firepower, even if the individual soldier quality of the Beiyang Army is two or three points stronger than that of the National Social Army, it can only continue to retreat from the front...

(To be continued)