The public visit of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor at this time was undoubtedly a shot of stimulant to the Beiyang government.

For this reason, Wang Zhengting, the new premier, and Duan Qirui, the representative of the military and political leaders of the Beiyang government, made a special trip to Tianjin Port to welcome the visit of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor.

As the first head of state of a Western power to make an official visit to China, Li Haidon was naturally warmly welcomed by the Chinese officials and the people, and the purpose of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor's visit was also clearly introduced in the newspapers.

Li Haidun held two talks with Duan Qirui at the presidential palace, one was a formal meeting and the other was a private meeting. Li Haidun still has a certain respect for Duan Qirui, although he also plays with power tricks and intrigues in politics. But in general, he belongs to the kind of old-fashioned soldier with integrity and integrity, relatively speaking, the experience of studying in Germany in his early years made him pay more attention to public opinion and his reputation, which is completely different from some undisciplined generals in Beiyang.

As a prime minister, Duan Qirui never had any interest in the country's economic construction, but he never interfered in the decision-making of the financial, agricultural, commercial, and transportation departments, so during his administration, the domestic economy, industry and commerce continued to develop rapidly. Although he did not like the Kuomintang, during his administration, the Kuomintang or opposition members made up half of the cabinet members, and of course the most important War Department was always in his own hands.

In fact, if it weren't for the Chinese Workers' Corps that Li Haidun had equipped and trained for the Beiyang government in Europe, Duan Qirui would not even have his own descendants.

Austrian-Hungarian Foreign Minister Stirnig was invited to give two public lectures at Peking University and Tianjin Beiyang University, entitled "Peace in Asia" and "China in Progress," the center of which was to oppose aggression and maintain peace in Asia, and to praise China's progress over the past few years and its close political, military, and economic ties with Germany and Austria. For the first time, the Imperial Foreign Secretary used the term "strategic partnership" to describe Austrian-Chinese relations.

Indeed, in 1933, the import and export trade between Austria-Hungary and the Republic of China reached a record 3.4 billion crowns. China became Austria-Hungary's second largest trading partner after Germany. The speech of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister had already made clear the determination of the Reich to safeguard its interests in China and to maintain peace in China.

However, Helton knew very well that his "intimidation" operation could only last for a while. It is more important to rely on the efforts of the Chinese themselves.

During the discussion meeting with the Chinese military, Li Haidon and the Austro-Hungarian military strategists gave the Beiyang military and political officials a discussion on speeding up preparations for the anti-aggression war. The following points are proposed:

1. Establish a national defense leadership system that integrates the whole country, establish a Supreme National Defense Council, whose composition includes as many principal members as possible of all forces in the country, to lead, build, and command all armed forces in the country in a unified manner, and to speed up the establishment and improvement of the training and equipment of reserve forces and local garrison forces.

2. Establish and speed up the process of building a strategic rear in the western region in order to help persist in the need of a protracted war. The focus of the strategic rear is in the seven northwestern and southwestern provinces, with the center in Sichuan and Shaanxi.

3. Vigorously develop the inland transportation system and establish a perfect railway and highway network in the western region. Rectify and strengthen inland waterway shipping. Transportation is an important indicator of a country's economic and national defense strength. The well-connected transportation lines and advanced means of transportation can not only promote the rapid development of the economy, but also enable the army to quickly maneuver and ensure that the rear supply is timely and abundant. To a certain extent, the success or failure of modern warfare depends on industrial production and logistical support.

Fourth, the system of conscription and the general military training system of the people should be implemented in the country. Military training has been carried out among the people, mainly through the system of training strong men and the system of military training for students. Familiarizing the population with weapons handling and military skills, and training reserve officers in student armies, facilitates the rapid replenishment of skilled soldiers and reserve officers in wartime.

Fifth, the army should be reorganized and the building of special arms should be strengthened. The army's armament should be of uniform models and standards, which will be conducive to wartime supply and munitions production, especially the strengthening of the building of artillery, armored troops, mechanized units, and engineering units. Austria-Hungary agreed to provide equipment assistance for 5 mechanized armored divisions in the form of loans over a period of three years.

6. Strengthen the building of the navy, especially the air force, and speed up the expansion of the production scale of the aviation special metallurgical industry, especially aluminum and aluminum alloy materials. Integration of existing aviation schools and aircraft production in the country. New aircraft factories were established in Xi'an, Taiyuan, Chengdu, Wuhan and Kunming, and the existing three major aircraft factories in Beijing, Nanjing and Fuzhou were gradually relocated to the west. The navy has reduced the number of bases along the southeast coast and gradually concentrated them in the two regions. Fortunately, in an emergency, it was able to enter the protected area of the German-Austrian Far Eastern Fleet in time and accumulate strength for future counteroffensives.

7. Prepare fortresses and build fortifications. Under the guidance of German consultants, the first line of the Great Wall Shanhaiguan to Chahar, and the Yangtze River Jiangning, Zhenjiang and Jiangyin fortresses were sorted out.

8. Adjust and expand munitions production.

On the basis of the current Linxian Arsenal, Xi'an Arsenal, Hanyang Arsenal, Taiyuan Arsenal, Sichuan Arsenal and Nanning Arsenal, the expansion of production scale will be accelerated, and at the same time, the Jiangnan, Dexian, Jinan, Jinling, and Guangzhou Arsenals will be relocated inland.

It is clear that the construction of the Austro-Hungarian military advisers was to abandon the coastal areas that were not easy to defend in the early stage and expand the logistics supply lines and battle lines of the Japanese army. Hold on to the Japanese on the second line, and then gradually counterattack.

This made the Chinese high-level very unhappy. But there is nothing to be done.

Xiao Xu and others basically accepted the relocation of the factory, but abandoned the coast as soon as the war began. They won't admit it.

In the end, Jiang Fangzhen said a very classic sentence: "When dealing with a country like Japan, no matter whether you lose or win, anyway, you should not make peace with it, you must be prepared for a long-term war, and you will always be able to drag it down in the end." This also expresses the fundamental idea of protracted war.

However, there are always surprises, and Heldon thought that these preparations were sufficient, but when the actual war came, he realized that these were not enough.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor's visit to China did temporarily deter Japan and Soviet Russia, at least for the time being, but they were still very afraid of the Central European Empire, which had rapidly re-emerged in the European War, mainly because of the even more terrible Second German Reich behind it.

Even the three major empires of Britain, France, and Russia were defeated by the Germans, and the Japanese thought that with their current strength, they would not be able to take advantage of Britain alone in the Far East, let alone Germany, which now claims to be the world's number one military power.

This temporarily restrained Japan's ambitions, and the situation in the Far East eased slightly. (To be continued) R640