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In the early morning in the two conjoined docks of Jiangnan Factory No. 4 and No. 5, there are two rusty but slender Atlantic cruise ships, and the workers are using air hammers to smash the steel plate rivets open to remove rust from the interior, and by the way carry out special modifications. Bernard and Kant, who learned that Yang Qiu had arrived in Shanghai, rushed to the shipyard as soon as possible, and the two were not surprised by the Atlantic cruise ship in front of them. Since 1911, Yang Qiu has been crazy about buying cheap second-hand steel, and a total of about 3 million tons were imported from 12 years to the outbreak of the European war, which effectively made up for the lack of domestic steelmaking, which also led to many European shipowners simply sending old ships to dismantle and sell them at a high price, and even the navies of various countries sent many old warships to dismantle weapons to make money.

When she went to the United States to negotiate a patent for oil cracking, she accidentally learned that two Atlantic cruise ships that had been in service for 15 years were sent to the Bethlehem shipyard in the United States to be dismantled. After all, two large ships with a displacement of more than 15,000 tons have high research value for the restart-up domestic shipbuilding industry. It is also her mind that makes Jiangnan Plant finally able to build its own 10,000-ton wheel after two years of research. At the beginning of the year, the factory was ready to dismantle the two cruise ships after the completion of research and reverse mapping, but the Navy's five-year expansion plan gave them a new lease of life, because Yang Qiu planned to convert them into aircraft carriers (known as seaplane carriers to the outside world), for which the Jiangnan plant also purchased four large hydraulic lifts and a full set of technology from Italy.

Europe is also currently refitting many aircraft carriers with civilian ships, and Britain alone has converted seven improvised aircraft carriers, and three aircraft were dispatched in the Battle of the Dardanelles. Two years later, the world's first Athletic God, which is a real aircraft carrier from the beginning of its design, will also appear, so the US government has no voice at all about Yang Qiu using the old-fashioned cruise ship he sold to convert an aircraft carrier. Even Bernard and Kant, who were present now, didn't take a second look, after all, let alone them at this time, even the most discerning generals of the Labor Exchange Mill in Chapter 371 Whitehall only used aircraft carriers as second-class warships for reconnaissance and naval supplementation. Choosing them instead of the coal carriers that are more suitable for modification than previously considered, mainly because the domestic coal carriers are too short, although these two cruise ships are very old and the hull refurbishment price is not cheap, but in order to pursue speed, the hull length is 200 meters, but unfortunately due to internal structural problems, even if the modification is completed, it can only load up to 35 aircraft, and the speed is up to 26 knots, so it is mainly used for training and groping experience.

After a night of madness, Yang Qiu regained his seriousness and seriousness, but after Lu Bicheng took off his cheongsam and put on professional clothes, he seemed to have changed from a female boss of an oil company to a capable female secretary, only the lazy glances between his eyebrows and the flattering eyes that floated from time to time could make Yang Qiu feel the truth of last night. Bernard and Kant were also not surprised by her appearance next to Yang Qiu for the first time in public, because all their attention was focused on the signal revealed by this woman last night.

When Japan did not approve the dispatch of troops and labor, this signal was too important for Britain and France, which were anxious about the war and began to lack human resources! Only Cai Gongshi, who was next to him, smiled secretly in his heart, this was originally part of the huge Houyi plan, to export labor and troops to Europe before Japan, and completely cut off their chance to recover from the European war. Even though there was a strong opposition to sending troops within the National Society, there was a lot of debate about sending workers in the name of the state because of concerns about the good Sino-German relations that had just been established. Everyone agreed that the European war should be used to focus on business and domestic political reform, and that the turmoil that might arise over the Taiwan issue in five years must be respected, even if Yang Qiu is the chairman.

Therefore, in the end, I came up with the method of distributing European labor certificates, sending Chinese workers and some military forces to Europe in the name of private companies and security guards, and at the same time finding a way to break through the restrictions of Congress at home.

Britain was not yet in a hurry to need a large number of Chinese laborers, and as long as India was in demand, they would not be too short of human resources, but Kant was ready to be slaughtered. Because after last night's drinking party, he had already learned that the German army had used terrible poison gas bombs on the Western Front, and more than 20,000 Allied soldiers had lost their lives because of poison gas in just a few days! What is the population of mainland France? Even the total number of German-occupied areas is only about 40 million, and now one-fifth of the population of the occupied areas and the casualties of the soldiers has disappeared, and excluding the elderly, children and women, it is very rare for the whole country to be able to muster 20 million available labor, but at present the army (including logistics personnel) alone has almost reached 7 million! As a result, almost all of the important industrial areas of Paris and Bordeaux were suspended, and even the naval industry of Marseille came to a standstill.

In addition to labor, France also hoped that China would participate in the war, especially the outstanding combat ability and quality of the Wehrmacht in the Sino-Japanese War, which made Europe change the thinking of the late Qing army of cowardice and incompetence. But it is clear that sending troops is much more difficult than sending labor, and this requires unanimous congressional approval in the first place, as well as a reversal of previous diplomatic commitments to neutrality. Therefore, Yang Qiu spread out his hands and deliberately pretended to be embarrassed: "Your Excellency Kant, as a member of the free world, I am very willing to help your country, but you must take into account the concerns of our people about sending labor and troops to Europe. Not to mention that the conflict between us and Japan has not really ended, Taiwan. He glanced at Bernard, meaning that if it were not for the deliberate favoritism of the British Empire, there would be no Taiwan issue and he would not have strengthened his armaments, and continued: "I have to think more. ”

Bernard chose to ignore this look, and even more disdainful of his speech. What a member of the free world! The Central Empire of the Far East, which has been feudal and decaying for hundreds of years, puts on a coat, even if it dares to lick its face and say that it is a member of the free world? But he would not be sarcastic at this time, after all, France is a more important ally, and said: "We understand your concerns, but can we send labor first?" ”

"Of course, Miss Lu Bicheng has already convinced me." Yang Qiu looked at Lu Bicheng with a hint of tenderness in her eyes: "As a peaceful person, she also hopes to help Europe end the war as soon as possible." ”

The two warm eyes made Lu Bicheng smile slightly, and quietly turned his head away. Kant has no interest in this pair of "dog men and women" taking advantage of job opportunities to make love for each other, and the 500,000 labor plan is the focus! Hurriedly asked, "Then what are you waiting for?" ”

"Waiting for your price." Cai Gongshi, who knew Yang Qiuyan next to him, smiled secretly in his heart, how can such a large-scale labor dispatch be done without bleeding? Yang Qiu glared at him with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and continued: "500,000 laborers is not a small number, it will definitely cause a strong response from public opinion and the people in my country, and I need to convince them. ”

Bernard suddenly wanted to point his nose and scold: "You didn't even say hello to the cabinet for such a big thing as the Sino-Japanese War, now it's just sending some laborers." Obviously a partisan dictator! Convince the people of the fart! He was indeed angry, because Kant had told him that Yang Qiu's condition was that he wanted to go to Najd to survey for oil, and although it was limited to two regions, it was still seen as an "invasion" of the traditional sphere of influence of the British Empire. "Your Excellency, we are willing to hire them at a price of 30 francs per worker per month, and the French government is willing to open up 100,000 entry-level worker jobs and even help you train them as qualified workers," he said.

Bernard raised the price and saw through Yang Qiu's idea of using labor to train his own workers. He didn't care about this kind of careful thinking, but he didn't mention oil exploration in his words, obviously refusing to let Chinese forces enter Najd and the Persian Gulf. But for Yang Qiu, this is the best time to enter the Persian Gulf circle under oil, because it is the most urgent and weak time for Britain and France, he looked at him and said: "Your Excellency Bernard, I know you are worried, but please also consider the real pressure of our country's extreme shortage of oil. At present, the Han River and Yanchang can only supply 50,000 barrels of crude oil per month, but the army alone needs 80,000 barrels per month, and I have no intention of destroying the interests of your country, if you think Najd is not suitable, can you help persuade the Netherlands to allow me to enter Borneo to explore for oil?

Bernard had a headache, and it was impossible to enter Borneo! It is better to let him go to Najd to limit the projection of power in the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca than to open up to him the closer and vital South Seas region. God knows if this madman, who has just said that he wants to export the National Society International, will have the weakest chance of Britain to hit the closer Nanyang. If his army landed on Borneo, perhaps the enraged Dutch would join Germany, leading to a deadly gap in the North Sea defenses!

Yang Qiu's eyes looked at him sincerely, making people feel the true temperament in the depths of his eyes that he was eager to find oil for the country and make the country rich and strong, but Bernard always felt that there was something inexplicable in the depths.

"I need to report back to China." Bernard finally twisted his eyes away. Yang Qiu also knew that he didn't have the right to make such a big decision, so he bowed to Bernard: "Thank you, Your Excellency, for your help." After speaking, he turned to the anxious Kant: "Your Excellency, in order to show my sincerity, I will persuade Congress as soon as possible to issue a labor export permit to Miss Lu Bicheng's company, and if soon, I think the first batch of laborers will be able to leave Shanghai early next month." ”

Kant was pleased that although he knew that the first batch was only symbolic, and that the main labor force would certainly not set off until Britain reached an agreement on oil extraction in the Persian Gulf, this frankness was the beginning of cooperation between the two countries.

Lu Bicheng quickly reached a cooperation agreement with Kant that France would provide 100,000 entry-level jobs and be responsible for training them, while the other 400,000 laborers would supplement the logistics support for the French army, so as to alleviate the dilemma of insufficient human resources, so that France could recover the workers from the front and start the necessary machinery and equipment to end the war as soon as possible. At the same time, she also saw the embarrassing reality that the current French iron and steel enterprises were short of manpower and basically stopped production, and the equipment slowly rusted, and Kangde reached a low wage of 20 francs per month, but France dismantled all the equipment of a million-ton steel plant from the country, and used the equipment as a share in the name of the French Schneider company to jointly establish the Sino-French joint venture "Hubei-Schneider" Changchun Iron and Steel Plant Project, which can make use of the North Korean Maoshan iron ore mine as soon as possible. In addition to Anshan Baofen United Iron and Steel Group, a second large-scale steel plant with a scale of one million tons will be built in Northeast China.

Kant agreed to this cooperation intention after the calculation, anyway, it is impossible for France to maintain so many steel plants at the same time, once the steelmaking furnace is out for more than half a year, it will be completely scrapped, scrapped is always a hundred times stronger than the increasingly hot Chinese market for share investment, not to mention that this can also open the door for French capital to enter the Chinese market again after the war. Second, France has made a lot of profits in this business! Because before the war, the entire equipment of a million-ton steel mill in the international market cost about 100 million francs, and even second-hand goods cost about 60 million, about 20 million US dollars or 40 million yuan. Based on a reduction of 10 francs per person per month, if the war lasts for another two years, 500,000 laborers alone will save France 120 million francs, which is equivalent to helping France earn back a new steel mill. There is no shortage of manufacturing capacity in Europe, and anyone would have done this kind of business if it were not for the fact that the US steel industry was running at full capacity without old equipment, and the government's strict sales restriction order, it is estimated that it would have been eaten by Wall Street long ago.

The smiling Lu Bicheng made Bernard who was standing next to him couldn't help but admire, putting aside his resentment and resentment towards Yang Qiu, this woman does have all the strength of a strong woman. Beautiful, shrewd, capable, and discerning, people are addicted to it before they know it, and they take out everything from their hearts. Even Yang Qiu was surprised, because Lu Bicheng didn't tell him in advance about this labor exchange for steel mills, but only said that she wanted to fight for more benefits, so when she proposed this plan, she was happy and hated that she couldn't continue to repeat the madness of last night.

Because this proposal not only allowed the French government to earn back a new steel mill, but also helped the country significantly improve the level of the steel industry! Even with old equipment, a million-ton steel plant can still make China's steel industry develop by leaps and bounds. More importantly, she gave France a 30% stake at the behest of Yang Qiu, allowing the French government to preserve access to the Chinese market after the war. For a country with a population of 400 million, once it enters the high-speed construction track, the industrial investment it will bring will reach at least tens of billions of dollars.

Japan has been expelled from this feast that is destined to be on the horizon, the United States has taken advantage of its previous relations, Germany is still in contact with each other, and France is now able to secure a piece of the pie in the future, but the British government has not yet been given any chance to intervene! In an era of great reshuffling of the world pattern, is it too conservative to continue to support Japan's idea of containing China? Should there be a need for a new order in Asia with him at its core?

PS: It's your turn to work overtime today. I want to apologize, because this holiday is extremely chaotic for the hippo, because the household appliances and furniture that bought the new house before were deliberately all arranged to be delivered during the holiday, so it led to extreme chaos and time delay, and the hippo himself was unlucky, and his train of thought was completely interrupted.

In fact, it's better to go to work, although it's busy and monotonous, it's also very fulfilling.

By the way, the hippo moved to a new house on October 27th, so I can quickly rest assured that I don't have to worry about messy chores......!!!