153. A copy of "Marshall"? (a)

At the moment, the Sui Canal is not yet navigable, but the British have lifted the blockade from the sea. Xu Shuzheng first took a boat to the port of Suez, then changed to a train to Alexandria, and then took a liner in the Mediterranean, and then arrived in Trieste. At the Chinese Legation in Vienna, he happened to meet a Chinese delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Shi Zhaoji.

"What was the outcome of the talks with them?" Xiao Xu is also the secretary general of the State Council, and he is also very clear about the purpose of the Chinese diplomatic delegation to Europe, and the State Department hopes that during the European Peace Conference, all the problems that the great powers have made China a semi-colonial country through diplomatic negotiations have been resolved through various unequal treaties since the ** war. These include: the settlement of the 21 Articles and the Shandong Issue, which were forced to be signed by Japan during the European War; return of leased lands such as Lushun and Weihai; abolish consular jurisdiction in China; return to the concessions in various parts of China; the withdrawal of foreign troops; abolish the establishment of foreign postal and telecommunications institutions in China; Restore China's tariff autonomy.

Of course, these problems will not be solved all at once, but the bottom line of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to solve the Shandong problem.

"The Austro-Hungarian Emperor promised to give us full support in recovering sovereignty over the Jiaodong Peninsula, but the Japanese said they had promised to return the Jiaodong Peninsula to Germany and restore their pre-war sphere of influence. The Germans, on the other hand, claimed that they had no desire to occupy Chinese territory, but were unwilling to give up their rights and interests in Shandong. Shi Zhaoji said.

"What does this mean, not wanting to occupy our territory and not wanting to give up your rights?" Xu Shuzheng said.

"What the Germans mean is that they are unwilling to hand over the concession land in Jiaozhou Bay and the control of the Jiaoji Railway." Gu Weijun said.

"What did the Emperor of Austria say?" Xu Shuzheng asked.

"He said that we are too anxious, in fact, our main goal now should be on the stability and construction of the country, as long as the country is strong, these problems can be easily solved." Shi Zhaoji said.

"That's not bad, but we have to give some explanation to the people." Xu Shuzheng said.

"Well, the Austrian Emperor said that he could lend us a sum of money to redeem the ownership of the Jiaoji Railway from the Germans. But the Qingdao problem was difficult to solve, and Germany and Austria needed a naval base in the Far East. "He said that if China forms a military alliance with Germany and Austria, the issue of military bases can be explained to the people, and Germany and Austria are willing to provide some military assistance to the government for this purpose." ”

"Aid? What does it mean? Xu Shuzheng said.

"It's mainly guns and other ordnance, now that the war in Europe is over, they have the remaining supplies in this area." Gu Weijun said, "However, it can be regarded as an exchange. ”

"This has the potential to offend the British and the Americans, and more importantly, to Japan." Xu Shuzheng said.

"That's true, although the European war is over, but after all, Britain and Germany and Austria are hostile." "They will definitely oppose us doing this." ”

"But what if there are Germans behind it?" Xu Shuzheng said, "We need to weigh the pros and cons well, and wait until we meet the Austrian emperor before making a decision." ”

Two days later, Li Haidun met with Xu Shuzheng and Wu Guangxin at the Champrun Palace, and to Xu Shuzheng's surprise, Jiang Zuobin and Jiang Fangzhen were also in the reception room of the Austrian Imperial Palace. It was a little awkward, and a few people shivered for a moment, and then sat down separately on either side of the sofa.

"You're not a faction, are you?" Lechelton said with a smile, and then sat down between them with the Chief of the Army General Staff Boloyevich and Foreign Minister Chernin.

"Yes, they belong to the president's faction." Xu Shuzheng readily admitted that it seemed that the Austro-Hungarian Emperor was very familiar with the political situation in China, and there was nothing to hide from what could be seen in these newspapers.

"Vice Chief Xu is very honest." Lechelton smiled, "Okay, now I'll ask a question, do you love your motherland and nation?" Want her to be strong? ”

"What's wrong with that?" Xu Shuzheng and the others nodded suspiciously.

"Very well, you are all patriots." "There's no big problem now. I would like to give the floor to Mr. Chernin to present the package of plans we have reached with the Germans for the revitalization and promotion of the economic development of the Far East, and then I will give you some of my proposals and requirements. ”

"In this way, we have reached some consensus with the German side on the post-war economic construction, and Germany and Austria have drawn up a package of investment for the development of the colonial economy and the expansion of investment in the post-war period, and it is expected that the two countries will provide about 50 billion marks in the next few years to support basic investment projects abroad, including some transportation and heavy industry construction projects. Although China is not part of the German-Austrian colony, it has a certain share of this huge investment plan, and we plan to allocate 15 billion to 20 billion marks to provide intergovernmental assistance to the Chinese government's basic projects, including roads, railways, industrial and mining investment. Chernin said.

"Are there any conditions?" Xu Shuzheng sat up straight and thought for a while before asking.

"Of course, we need a stable government." "You are all patriots, but if you throw the country into chaos for the sake of a power struggle, you are sinners of the nation." For example, in Russia today, I hope you will understand this. The chaos in Russia has given you the best historical opportunity, and if you are now in chaos yourself, you will never again try to regain the territories you have lost. ”

"We will try our best to communicate with Vice Minister Xu." Jiang Zuobin said, "After several conversations with you, I also understand that China needs stability and development. ”

"It's best if we can do this, we help China, and we also have our own corresponding interests. China needs to vigorously develop industry, import a large amount of machinery and equipment, and also need financial and technical support, which are the strengths of Germany and Austria. It cannot be denied that China's economic development is beneficial to our development. China is the largest market in the world, in fact, including the British and the Japanese have long been aware of this, but the purpose of our financial aid is somewhat fundamentally different, the British to the colonies to adopt a predatory way of profit, do not pay attention to the economic development of the colonies, in fact, from the economic development of Australia, Canada, India can be clearly seen, the British will not make large-scale investment in the colonies, so as to promote the economic development of the colonial areas. In fact, this pattern of property plundering is not conducive to economic stability and long-term development. And the way we do it is to invest first and benefit from your economic development. This was also the useful experience that Germany had gained in the economic construction of the colonies before the war, which was conducive to the long-term healthy growth of the economy. After the defeat of France, Germany's domestic industrial and agricultural production was unfortunately restored, but after a short period of "post-war prosperity", due to the lack of overseas markets, industrial production has shown a weak follow-up, so he thought of such a way to open up overseas markets, which is also similar to the way the United States aided Europe after World War II, so as to make the German and Austrian economy more closely linked with the Chinese market.

It is foreseeable that after the war, a confrontation between the two major interest groups dominated by Britain and the United States and the German-Austrian alliance will inevitably take place in the world, and the two sides will inevitably have a fierce contest for the competition for overseas markets, and the possibility of another military conflict between the two sides in the short term is very small, but the conflicts and confrontations in the economic field are sometimes more terrible, and the losses caused by any serious mistake in economic policy decisions are actually much greater than those on the battlefield.

I1153