On the issue of peace talks, since one side is quite "sincere," it is still easier to talk about it. So it didn't take long for Gu Weijun and Takaaki Kato to have been finalized in many aspects. For example, the concessions in Hankou and other places will be abolished completely.

As for the matter of garrisoning troops in China, Takaaki Kato has also promised that the next time when China's political axe and the signatories of the Xinchou Treaty discuss the matter of stationing troops in China, he said that he would agree to the proposal put forward by China's political axe and withdraw the troops stationed in China――――――.

And Britain and France and other countries also took into account that the original treaty was signed jointly by the troop-contributing countries of the Gengzi War, and it could not be inexplicably missing one. Therefore, in the case that Yue Ben did not let go, although Britain and France and other countries had already agreed in their hearts, they could only be the same as Yu Ben in terms of face.

However, now that the expeditionary force in Shandong has been relieved for the more than 70,000 expeditionary forces in Shandong, it is believed that the withdrawal of the troops stationed in China will not be too far away... There is only one thing that has been in a stalemate between Gu Weijun and Kato Takaaki, and that is the matter of war reparations.

Of course, Kato Takaaki will no longer be like at the beginning, and he will have to ask Gu Weijun to compensate more than 100 million yuan to give Yueben. However, Kato Takaaki did not agree to Gu Weijun's proposal, that is, he would pay one or two hundred million silver dollars for this book, and Kato Takaaki was only willing to pay a few million as compensation for his surname.

One is one or two hundred million, the other is several million, the gap between the conditions of the two sides is too big, and the possible surname of the negotiation is really small... It is precisely for this reason that Gu Weijun and Kato Takaaki have been at a stalemate now, which is why when a representative sent by the British arrived in China, Gu Weijun did not come forward with Yan Guang.

At this time, Yan Guang, after entrusting all the matters to Gu Weijun and Xu Shichang, rushed to Fuzhou with some people.

On the one hand, he wanted to inspect the progress of the construction of the "Chaokaze," the lead ship of the Chaokaze-class heavy cruiser in Fuzhou, and on the other hand, he wanted to meet with the British representatives in Fuzhou to discuss some matters concerning China's accession to the Entente..."

As long as it can join the Entente, then China will be able to reap a lot of benefits on the chariot of the Entente. After a period of time, when the Chinese [***] team officially sends troops to Europe, they can talk with Britain and France and other countries about a series of unequal treaties signed in the past, and even the balance of Gengzi's indemnity and tariffs... However, this is a bit far away, and it is not the place where Yan Guang is most concerned at the moment...―――――――――― on the sea not far from Fuzhou Port, a passenger ship is sailing to Fuzhou Port under the escort of several second-class cruisers.

And on the foredeck of the passenger ship, as the British envoy, Nathan . Sir Wilmot was looking down on the calm sea.

"What a peaceful sea..."

So softly, Nathan. Wilmot burst out laughing.

Of course, he said this for no reason, because Wilmot came here via the Atlantic, and it is well known that under the Atlantic Ocean there were countless German submarines in motion.

These German submarines, hidden at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, have sunk an Entente passenger liner of an unknown number of tons since the beginning of the war, and I don't know how many supplies that should have been shipped to Britain have been destroyed... Wilmot himself, on the other hand, set out from this sea area and headed for Asia.

Although at the same time as the voyage, the British Navy also dispatched several second-class cruisers of 3 and 4,000 tons to escort Wilmot. However, during the voyage, the cruisers sounded the sirens many times, and at one point, Wilmot even felt as if he had seen the periscope of a German submarine on the surface of the sea... Wilmot even alarmed the entire fleet for this, which, of course, turned out to be just a false alarm... But even so, the incident still cast a shadow on Wilmot's heart.

It is precisely because of this that when the fleet sailed into the waters of East Asia, although the sea here did not seem to be much different from that of Europe, Wilmot was still a lot more relieved. After all, in any case, the area of activity of German submarines had not yet reached East Asia.

It's just..."This war......... I'm afraid there won't be any winners. ”

Wilmot is in his 50s and has been through a lot.

Of course, none of this is much, the point is... What happened in the Atlantic cast a shadow over Wilmot's heart, and on the European continent, there was no good news... At least 10,000 people are lost every day, more than 10,000 lives... And normal war has entered a stalemate, and no one knows how much time it will take to end it... When the war is over, there will be no one winner in all of Europe, everyone will be a loser.

And the winner? You can only look for it on the continent outside of Europe... As a person with a bit of status within the British political axe, Wilmot originally thought that the victor should be the United States and Ben, but now it seems..."Maybe add a China..."

Thinking so, Wilmot sighed.

First the United States, then the United States, and finally China, is the golden age of Europe coming to an end after all?

Just as Wilmot was sighing there, the commander of the escort fleet walked over and said.

"Sir, is there anything you can do?"

"Nope..."

The Commander smiled at Wilmot's appearance.

However, the commander didn't say anything, just walked up to Wilmot's side and asked.

"Mr. Wilmot, do you think the Chinese can really become a force that can help us?" That being said, there was a slight disapproval in the commander's tone.

Seeing the Commander's appearance, Wilmot sighed, but still spoke.

"I don't know about this, but we have to be willing to help us in this matter..."

With that, Wilmot looked back at the sea.

At the moment, the Entente and the Central Powers were at war on land and sea, even in the air. Every day on the battlefields of the eastern and western fronts, the Central and Allied powers sacrificed at least more than 10,000 lives.

But now the war had just begun, and the leaders of both the Entente and the Central Powers were distressed by their own losses. However, in the case of not shedding the last drop of blood, he did not pay too much attention to those who came from outside, and who might become the object of assistance.

Take the Entente as an example, at present, the main target of the Entente is still the United States, and as for China, it is just piggybacking.

For the Entente, the most important thing was not to make China an ally of the Germans, as for what role China could play after becoming a member of the Entente? The British never expected this.

This is also the reason why the British agreed so readily after receiving the intention of China not to send troops to the allies.

Because although Chinese has shown a certain strength in Shandong, this force is too small compared to the huge forces that the Allies and the Entente are fighting together in Europe, and although the Entente is now in great pain because of the war, it has not yet hurt to the extreme, so it has not thought about letting China send troops to Europe―――――― for Britain, as long as Chinese does not help Germany, it will be done, and it will be the French, because it is the French who have lost the most on the battlefield on the Western Front. So the French have this in mind. It's just that now the war has only started for less than 100 days, and the losses of the French are large, but not so big that the French can't bear it, so this idea is relatively weak in the hearts of the French.

However, although the leaders of Britain and France think so, many of them belong to the type of "unfounded worries", such as Nathan. Guys like Wilmot are worried that the war will eventually bury Europe's golden age.

So people like Wilmot were always looking for someone who could bear some of the losses for the Entente.

This priority is naturally the United States, but the United States is now very shrewd, only acting as an arms dealer in North America, selling arms to the Entente and the Central Powers at the same time. In order not to offend this sleeping beast, others did not dare to provoke the Americans at will.

As for the second one, it is the Allied member states, who originally promised to send troops, but have not sent troops until now... As for the third party... Originally, China was not qualified to enter the eyes of Britain and France, and before the outbreak of the war in Shandong, China's ranking was even lower than that of the three South American countries.

At least in the hands of the three South American countries, each country has one or two battleships, and they are all dreadnoughts... Like Brazil and Argentina, both have two dreadnoughts in their hands.

As for the Chilean Navy, Britain has undertaken the construction of two super dreadnoughts for Chile (main gun caliber 356mm/45 times caliber, full load displacement 32,300 tons...). The first of them was bought by the British on the slipway before it was completed, and the same was true for the second.

(The first Admiral Latorre was sold back to Chile by the British after the war for £1 million, a price less than the original cost, and Chile made more or less money on it.) Think about it, the three South American countries also have a few dreadnoughts in their hands, although the army is a little worse, but before the Shandong Campaign, the Chinese army may not be stronger than the army of the three South American countries in the eyes of the British and French―――――― after all, there are so many excellent deeds there.

However, after the end of the war in Shandong, China's ranking surpassed that of the three South American countries, but its status was still not very high. After all, at this time, the Entente was not hurt enough, and the demand for foreign aid was not so urgent.

That's why the UK sent Nathan. Wilmot is a guy who has a bit of status within the political axe, but the reason why he doesn't have a very high status came to China... Of course, as the special envoy of the British political axe, Wilmot came to China for other missions in addition to China's accession to the Entente.

This mission is to look at China's overall strength, overall strength, not only to examine the army, but also to examine China's industrial strength and so on... In this way, the Entente countries could have a more comprehensive consideration of China.

And before departure, Wilmot had already thought in his heart that as long as the strength of the Chinese was passable, Wilmot would boast about the Chinese to death in the report.

In this way, when the Chinese go to the battlefield, their British blood will naturally be shed less..." I hope these Chinese can be the same as in the observation mission report..."

With that in mind, Wilmot walked back to the cabin, leaving the commander alone with the sea breeze.

After some ――――――――――, Wilmot's fleet finally arrived at the special military port of the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau.

On the outskirts of the military port, Wilmot, who was standing on the deck, looked at the several destroyers and several second-class cruisers moored in the harbor of the Harbour Bureau, and was also slightly taken aback.

"Are these the warships built by the Chinese themselves?"

Wilmot was taken aback, as was the fleet commander who had come to East Asia with Wilmot.

Because the various types of warships anchored in the military harbor and still in the sea trial stage are much stronger in combat power than the warships he brought from Britain.

Although this time he brought a total of four second-class cruisers to escort Wilmot to China. However, these four second-class cruisers, to be honest, are all old ships that have been a little old, not to mention that the firepower on the ships is not as good as the "Jinghai-class" cruisers, and even the power systems used on the ships are all old-fashioned steam engines.

On the other hand, the warships moored in the harbor, not to mention the destroyers, are just small ships of more than 1,000 tons. As for those second-class cruisers, the appearance is simple, and according to the commander's visual inspection, the main guns used by these second-class cruisers are all 210mm long-barreled naval guns..." I really didn't expect that the Chinese actually have some ability! ”

At least if these warships in the military port were combined to form a single fleet, they would have few opponents in Asian waters, in addition to their own fleet.

It's just that these warships surprised Wilmot and them, but the real surprise is still to come..."This is !! ”

Looking at the huge hull of a slipway that seemed to have been under construction for some time, Wilmot and the commander both grew their mouths in surprise..."Chaofeng-class" heavy cruisers... Although the heavy cruiser on the slipway, so far only the keel has just been laid, and by the way, the construction of the hull has begun. However, just looking at the huge hull, Wilmot and the commander could see that this cruiser that was still on the slipway was definitely a first-class cruiser.

And on the slipways of the cruiser of the first class, there are three destroyers of 1,000 tons and cruisers of more than 3,000 tons under construction..."If those workers were not all yellow-skinned, I am afraid I would have thought I was in England..."

Looking at the busy shipyard situation, the commander said in disbelief.

Not only him, but even Wilmot beside him took a closer look.

"Yes, it's hard to believe. Originally, I thought that Chinese could only build 3,000-ton warships so far, but I didn't expect that now they can actually build large warships of 10,000 tons......... If I give them some time, I'm afraid even battleships are not impossible..."

If a 1,000-ton warship and a 3,000-ton warship belong to the same class, then the 10,000-ton and 20,000-ton class belong to the same class... And the 20,000-ton class, the current mainstream battle cruisers all belong to the 20,000-ton class, and similarly, the 20,000-ton class is also equivalent to the entry tonnage of dreadnoughts.

In Wilmot's view, since the Chinese have been able to build 10,000-ton large warships, then the follow-up battlecruisers and battleships, I am afraid that the Chinese may not be able to build.

"I have long heard that there are many British engineers and German engineers here in the Chinese, and it seems that this is accurate. Otherwise, the Chinese would not have made such great progress in this regard..."

Thinking so, the weight of China in Wilmot's heart has quietly increased a lot.

By the time Wilmot's passenger ship docked at the wharf, Yan Guang and his entourage and the supervisors of the Fuzhou Harbour Administration had been waiting on the wharf for a long time―――――― of course, in addition to these, there were many British engineers on the wharf who were serving China.

As for the German engineers who contributed more, Yan Guang had already arranged a way to get them out of the Harbour Bureau... Nowadays, although domestic engineers have learned a lot, they can also replace imported engineers in some regions. However, in some important projects, domestic engineers are still a little immature, and imported engineers are still needed to contribute. Especially the German engineers, who account for a large share of this, so although China's entry into the Entente is already a sure thing, it will be a while to be able to hide it for a while... Anyway, it will take some time to wait for China to sign an agreement to join the Entente, and then it will be open to China.

During this time, as many projects can be completed, as many projects as you can complete.

It really can't be done―――――― and we can only see if these German engineers will go on strike after China joins the Entente.

If these imported engineers really strike, then Yan Guang also has high hopes for those domestic engineers.

―――――――――― "Mr. Jazz?!" ”

Seeing Wilmot walking down from the passenger ship, Yan Guang stepped forward and held Wilmot's hand and asked.

Although it was like a question, Yan Guang's tone was quite certain―――――― when Wilmot was still floating on the Atlantic, the military intelligence had already sent Wilmot's photos and Wilmot's own preferences back.

And shaking his hand back, Wilmot also smiled.

"Mr. President, you are so polite, just call me Wilmot..."

When he said this, listening to Yan Guang's American English, Wilmot also remembered the information provided to him by the legation in China―――――― this person had lived in the United States for a long time and spoke fluent American English.

Anyway, at this point, the two of them can be regarded as connected.

After a little greeting on the dock, Yan Guang also took Wilmot and them to the accommodation that had been arranged to rest. After all, people also come from a long journey, so it's impossible to pull them to eat and drink or talk about business as soon as they get off the boat... But after the break, when it came to the second day, the main topic began.

During the discussion, Yan Guang and Wilmot were not in the conference room discussing matters related to joining the Entente. Instead, in the shipyard of the Harbour Master's Bureau, he watched the workers work on the newly built ship and discussed related matters.

Of course, while discussing, Yan Guang and Wilmot and the fleet commander who were following them talked for a long time about the Asakaze-class heavy cruiser on the slipway.

Cruiser of the 1st rank ... According to the way the British were divided, about 10000 cruisers belonged to cruisers of the first rank.

And there are quite a few cruisers of this class in the book, not to mention in the UK.

It's just that Asia is not Britain after all, and there is only one naval power like Ben in Asia. So in Asia, the Chaofeng class is already quite a strong force. What's more, the Chaofeng class is just the beginning, and no one knows what kind of warships will appear in the future.

So, Wilmot, they naturally have to ask more carefully.

And Yan Guang also knows everything about Wilmot and their questions, and even if he doesn't know something, he will call Wei Han and them over and let them answer Wilmot and them.

After a little bit of this lap, Wilmot and the others also felt at home.

As for business, while watching the shipyard, Yan Guang and Wilmot also talked a little. However, the real whole, I'm afraid it will have to wait until Wilmot and Yan Guang go to the Ma'anshan Industrial Zone together, and by the way, review the garrison of the Nanjing Military Region together.

Sichuan's heavy industry base is large enough and comprehensive enough, but Sichuan is still too far away from Fujian. The relatively close Ma'anshan Industrial Zone and the garrison of the Nanjing Military Region are a more suitable target.

What's more, Ma'anshan Industrial Zone has already taken a certain prototype.

In addition to the most important steel mills and arsenals, construction has begun or been completed on the automobile plant, the airport and other miscellaneous factories. At the same time, as an emerging industrial zone, Ma'anshan Industrial Park can also represent China's development prospects.

As for the Nanjing Military Region?

Although more than half of the elite of the National Defense Force have been dragged to Shandong to fight with the little devils, there are still a few of the most elite Class A infantry divisions and the passable Type B infantry divisions in Nanjing.

So the route for Wilmot couldn't be more suitable...

(To be continued)