Since the continent of Europa opened up a new route, it has become the master of the blue planet in one fell swoop, the white race has brought the world under their control, and other continents have become colonies one after another, even if China is lucky enough not to fall, but it is just a piece of fat to be desired.

Europe is at a dizzying height, but the New World began to show signs of bad signs in this God-blessed land, the New World industry flourished, becoming the first industrial power, it seems to indicate that the glory of the old Europe has gradually dissipated, and what is more fatal is that the contradictions within Europe have reached the point of irreconcilability, France and Germany are feuding, Russia and Austria-Hungary are also sabre-rattling, Britain is under the threat of the German navy, and finally the two blocs are formed, everyone knows that war is coming, But no one knows how long God has left you alone!

However, on June 28, the news came that the Crown Prince Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been assassinated in Sarajevo with his wife, and that the murderer was a Serbian youth.

Just two months earlier, Germany had widened the Kiel Canal, making it easier for the German navy to be mobilized, and British aid to Russia had increased considerably, and if it dragged on any longer, Germany would inevitably face a situation of attack from both sides, and it was a common threat on land and sea, so the Germans were not willing to wait any longer.

And Britain is also unwilling to wait, although Britain holds the throne of the world's first power and has the most powerful navy, but the British have bitter self-knowledge, after Britain established global hegemony, the British have a huge navy, and there are colonies all over the world, the British simply work hard, they can get enough benefits from international trade, simply put, the British are like the underworld to collect tolls, so that the British live a comfortable life.

It stands to reason that as long as the British can continue to maintain a huge military advantage, they can continue to live comfortably like this, but the world is not static, with the development of the second industrial revolution, Britain's industrial strength was first surpassed by the United States, and then let Germany surpass, Britain's industry has begun to lag behind.

What's even worse is that the emergence of new technologies has made the original British huge fleet can no longer guarantee complete hegemony, and there is an urgent need to improve the level of armaments, and the renewal of the huge fleet needs a strong industrial base as support, but unfortunately Britain's industrial level has lagged behind Germany, which means that Britain must use more money to be able to build warships comparable to Germany.

Of course, Britain can also gain a certain advantage by virtue of its accumulated shipbuilding experience, but as long as Germany builds more and more tonnage of ships, the defense becomes thicker and thicker, the artillery becomes sharper and sharper, and the speed is faster and faster, it is under this circumstance that Britain and Germany start an arms race.

Britain's backward industrial capacity has been very difficult to cope with this kind of competition, if it is maintained for a few more years, Britain even doubts that it will lose without a fight, how similar is the situation of Britain to the United States in later generations, both countries are at the top of the global hegemony, self-started the road of deindustrialization, want to rely on strong military power to live a good parasitic life, but the past does not forget the future of the teacher, the United States may not be very good.

It was this sense of urgency that made Britain also hope that the war would come quickly, and both sides were so eager to go to war, and after learning of the Sarajevo incident, they could not wait to start preparations for the war.

In Chengdu, Qiao Yu has secretly gathered all the people from all walks of life in Sichuan politics and business, and being able to participate in this level of memory is undoubtedly an acknowledgment of financial resources, and everyone's faces are full of joy, not at all sad because Austria-Hungary has lost the only crown prince, but is jubilant, one by one.

Qiao Yu is also extraordinarily happy, as long as the first war breaks out, the opportunity for Sichuan will come, this is the moment he has been looking forward to, everyone has sat down, Qiao Yu gently straightened the gold wire glasses, and said with a smile: "Princess, the Sarajevo incident will become the fuse of the European war, seeing that a war of unprecedented scale is coming, I don't know if you are ready, as the saying goes, when the cannon goes off, the gold is ten thousand taels, I think this number is too little, this war must be measured at least with hundreds of millions of taels of gold, The perfect time that our industry in Sichuan has been waiting for has arrived! ”

Among the people present, there were Wang Dongcheng, Xue Shan, Zhang Fuxiang, Wang Gui and others who followed Qiao Yu from Yucheng, as well as Wang Chengji from southern Sichuan, all the salt merchants from Fushun, and all the merchants from Chengdu, each of whom was worth more than one hundred thousand taels, and they all had a large number of factories, otherwise they would not have the qualifications to enter this circle at all, everyone heard Qiao Yu's words, and their eyes were full of light, as early as a year ago, the industrial production in Sichuan began to build factories for the production of military supplies for the layout of the war, and purchased a large number of equipment, Cultivating workers at all costs was originally skeptical, but now there is not much doubt.

"Don't worry, Dashuai, we have already started to prepare, and now we have hoarded a batch of materials in Europe, mainly in Germany, the most important of which is food and supplies, according to our estimates, once Germany goes to war, it will face the blockade of Britain, and Germany's grain can not be self-sufficient, so we think this is a good choice!" Xu Hua, a wealthy businessman, first introduced the situation on his side, Qiao Yu nodded slightly, this choice is indeed good, as early as the beginning of the year, Qiao Yu purposefully organized all the businessmen and assigned different jobs.

Some are responsible for production, some are responsible for raw materials, some are responsible for trade, and are responsible for finance, etc., Sichuan's industrial power is undoubtedly weak, not to mention compared with the United States, it is far inferior to this, so if you want to get some profits, you can only lay out in advance and organize closely, fortunately, Qiao Yu has absolute authority in Sichuan, and has close cooperation with businessmen, if you change others, you can't carry out this layout at all.

In addition, thanks to Qiao Yu's grasp of the First World War, other businessmen did not have this kind of courage at all, after all, the whole world thought that the European War would be a short war that could be ended in a few months, and they did not expect that it would be a feast that lasted for more than four years.

After Xu Hua finished speaking, Zhang Fuxiang also spoke: "Dashuai, I am mainly responsible for arranging military production in Sichuan, we have established three large-scale textile factories, the textile workers in the whole Sichuan have exceeded 100,000 people, and can produce a large number of military uniforms, military boots, clothing, tents and other military materials, and seven canneries have also been established, scattered all over the place, mainly using local resources, canned pork, canned beef, and canned fruits, all designed for export, medicines, bandages, etc. Although it can't be compared with the United States, this is already our best effort! ”

"Well, it's already very good that we have a limited foundation to be able to do this, Minister Wang, how is the preparation of the overseas hungry financial market?"

Wang Dongcheng heard that Qiao Yu had pointed at him, and hurriedly said: "Dashuai, we have raised a total of 30 million yuan, which is a lot, but this money is not on the table at all in the foreign market, so I decided to invest all this money in the American financial market, the main target is to buy the stocks of those arms companies recommended by Dashuai, after the outbreak of the Sarajevo incident, it is generally believed in the United States that the war will affect the United States, so the United States will come to naught, so the stock market began to fall wildly, However, according to the personnel sent to the United States, it is estimated that this is very likely a trick played by the arms tycoons in the United States, in order to be able to get the shares of the arms companies of great value at a low price at a low price, so I have people put all the money into the American Steel Company, Mobil Oil, DuPont Company, Bethlehem Steel Company, and General Motors! ”

Qiao Yu knew that the U.S. stock market was bound to rise sharply because of World War I, but he didn't expect it to start falling first, but Qiao Yu also agreed with Wang Dongcheng's judgment, this should be just those tycoons' tricks, across the Atlantic, it is really difficult for the war to burn to the United States, and he fully agrees with this investment strategy.

Zhao Baoxuan is mainly responsible for this part of the military industry, and when he saw that everyone spoke, he also said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the rectification of the Sichuan Arsenal has been preliminarily completed, and the production capacity has increased by nearly two percent, among which the output of bullets has increased the fastest, reaching two million per month, but there is still a big gap between the quality of our arms compared with Europe and the United States, and the white people also have inherent prejudices, and they may not be able to look at our things, so our main target is Russia, which is the largest among the Entente countries, but its own industrial strength is also the weakest, Even the most basic guns cannot be guaranteed, so Russia is our biggest potential customer for arms! ”

Qiao Yu listened carefully to everyone's reports, he knew very well that this was the limit of what Sichuan could do, in addition to these arrangements, Qiao Yu used all the profits from the printing of fake Yuan, and also invested it in the American financial market, this money is not only the private money that Qiao Yu prepared, but also Qiao Yu is ready to use this money to do more things, such as affecting the financial order of Yueben, you must know that Yueben officially became a great power with the help of World War I, and now it is absolutely impossible to add a little blockage to Yueben.

Zhang Fuxiang also immediately said: "Marshal, I have contacted the consul generals of Britain and France, saying that we are willing to provide strategic materials to the two countries, and the enthusiasm of Britain and France is very high, but we advocate that Britain and France take the initiative to give up their interference in Sichuan's finances, but they are not willing, and now the negotiations are not smooth!" ”

"They are unwilling, but I believe they will agree soon, the war will be more ferocious than imagined, my lords, our next task is to count the money!"