From a practical point of view, Xu Huafeng's construction is completely feasible, Japan in the First World War with its 1.5 million tons of merchant ships before the war, and 800,000 tons built during the war, in four years to earn 2.2 billion transportation and charter [Note: Osaka Merchant Marine Co., Ltd. 50 years history, 1934 edition, p82], if it were not for the two years before the start of the war, Japan hesitated not to build large-scale shipbuilding, and two years after the United States declared war and announced a steel embargo, and finally Japan had to tearfully agree to the rice and livestock merchant ships for steel plan, This money is estimated to rise a lot.

At the same time, the judgment of the various departments on freight rates is too conservative, even according to history, in 1917 the freight from Shanghai to London will be more than 30 pounds per ton, in 1918 will reach 50 pounds per ton, 25 times more than in 1913. What's more, now that Germany has 50 more submarines than before, instead of 20 in history, coupled with the wolf pack tactics instilled by Yang Rui, it is completely predictable whether the freight will rise to 100 pounds per ton. It's just that how to strengthen the German submarine force to the same violentness as it was in World War II? In the era when there was no radar, it seemed that the wolves were invincible. Although Yang Rui doesn't know the above historical situations, he knows that shipping is better than shipbuilding to make money, and he also understands that shipbuilding is better than selling arms to make money, but in order to stimulate domestic industry and cultivate manufacturing talents, he still hopes to make money by selling goods.

When he thought about this, the time for recess had come, and looking at the officials sitting down, he had to ask Xiang Sheng Xuanhuai, "Lord Sheng, I just said from Lord Xu that the ship is not worried, but is the crew enough?" If we don't sell these ships, can we form our own fleet? ”

Sheng Xuanhuai is already old. In fact, his ascension to the throne was to make a handover between the foreign treaties of the former Qing Dynasty and the new dynasty, and then to use his connections and connections to make some contributions to the prosperity and stability of the new dynasty. After the Fuxing Society sits firmly in the country, his book of the Ministry of Transport is also a tablet. The actual thing is the responsibility of the people below. Now that Yang Rui announced the meeting and suddenly inquired, he twisted his beard for a while and said: "Your Excellency, if the three million tons of merchant ships are all big ships, there will be no less than one or two thousand." A ship always requires dozens of people, so it costs at least 50,000 or 60,000 people, and the most are estimated to be more than 100,000 people. China Merchants Steamship, Tiantong Company, plus steamship companies in various places, I am afraid that there are 30,000 people at most. ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said that this was the end, although he didn't know who proposed it. But there is no denial. Yang Rui came to his senses when he heard this: "The Ministry of Transportation should immediately count the crew, and then hold some crew crash training courses after the overall arrangement, so that there can be more people; Then there is the shipyard, the ship should be built in Dali, preferably all of them are 6,000 tons, and it cannot be built under 2,000 tons, and the other four private shipyards supported by the government should also be notified in this way; There are also those small shipyards, which also have to be limited in tonnage. What else do you want to add? ”

"Prime Minister. It is also important to expand the dock, and those wooden boats of the private sector should also be used, and in many places they can also build 300-ton sand boats, if these sand boats are equipped with diesel engines and propellers. It can be used as a steamship, and domestic shipping can be handed over to them. Seeing that everyone else had no opinions, Chen Shiying, who was sitting on the outermost side, stood up and said. His thoughts only caught everyone's eyes.

"How many sand docks are there, and how many tons can be made in a year?" Yang Rui asked. "And. Do the diesel engine and sand boat type match? How to manage the shipbuilding workshop of these shipbuilding craftsmen? ”

The front is a technical issue, and the latter is a management issue. Du Yaquan of the Ministry of Commerce said: "As long as the shipbuilding workshops are still in the country after the founding of the country, the Ministry of Commerce has registered, but those who have changed careers can only slowly visit and find out." ”

After he answered, Yang Rui looked over the heads of several people and looked at Chen Quartz, he saw this and said: "Prime Minister, like ships, sand boats can be standardized, the problem of diesel engine matching has been solved two years ago, before there were many ship bosses to install diesel engines to change sailboats, but diesel engines are more expensive, and there are fewer people to install them. ”

Technically feasible, it is only money, and before Yang Rui could see it, Yu Huizu of the household department said: "As long as you can ensure that these people really go to build ships with money, money is not a problem." ”

Seeing that Yu Huizu, who had always said that he had no money, finally opened his mouth and said, 'Money is not a problem', several ministers present laughed, but he ignored it and continued: "There are still things that are very important, the domestic copper dollars have been replaced a lot since the abolition of the two yuan, but the people are used to copper coins, and some places are still using copper dollars. Since there is a war in Europe, copper is indispensable, and the price is bound to rise. This foreigner will definitely not be able to resist going to various places to collect copper dollars, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the peasant association must take care of this matter, and cannot let it go. ”

"There is no problem with the Ministry of Civil Affairs!" Zhang Chengyue promised. "I will notify it today, and prohibit the vendors below from collecting copper dollars and copper coins."

"There is no problem with the peasant association." Xu Guantian also promised that he is now the president of the National Federation of Chinese Peasant Associations, and although he was squeezed out of the Standing Committee by Qiu Jin, he was also counted as the core of power of the Fuxing Association when he sat in this position.

"Then write it down, immediately work out the details of the plan, whether it is expanding the dock, building a standard sand ship, or training the crew, we must seize the time." Yang Rui saw that no one objected after a circle, so he settled the matter. However, he thought that in addition to the crew, the merchant ships would have to deal with the German wolves when they went to England, and he wrote a paragraph in his notebook so that he could remember to send this question to the General Staff.

After the matter of the ship is arranged, it is another topic to come down, Du Yaquan said: "Two years before Shenwu, Nanjing held a business persuasion meeting. Now at the beginning of the European war, we have any good things that other countries do not know, so the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry are preparing to hold another industry meeting in Nanjing. Compared with the previous time, the scale of this time will only be larger, and it will no longer be divided into the North and South Oceans, just call it the Great China Industry Association, in addition to the traditional agricultural and mineral products, there are also a variety of self-produced industrial products and military products. Please read the briefing note first, and then discuss how it will be opened, and what you have to add. ”

The persuasion industry will be an expo, last year the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce raised this issue, because he knew that military products were not good to participate in the exhibition, so Yang Rui has not agreed, and now Europe is fighting. This expo is going to be held soon.

After reading the briefing sent, Tao Chengzhang of the Ministry of Agriculture, who knew the least about the situation, said: "It will be opened before and after Chongyang." When will the war in the north end? ”

Only a few or two of you here know about the course of the war, but they dare not say what they do. So in the end, only Yang Rui replied, "It can be over, don't worry." At least the fighting on the Gyeonggi side will end. There were submarines on the Nanjing side, and the Japanese fleet did not dare to enter the Yangtze River. Qiu Fan, did you invite Japanese merchants this time? ”

"It's... And invite the Japanese? No matter how open-minded Du Yaquan was, he would not invite the enemy country to come to the meeting, and he was stunned for a while.

"Why don't you invite, invite together." Yang Rui said with a smile, "War is war, business is business." Now the Japanese cannons are all cast in iron from the Maanshan Iron Works. As I said earlier, in addition to resisting aggression, this battle is more for the purpose of building industry. The Japanese are just our whetstones, and now there is no need to scruple about it, you still invite the Japanese to do it.

There is also the location of the exhibition should not be held in Nanjing, the Japanese do not dare to come to Nanjing, and Nanjing is not a foreign trade center, our customers this time are foreigners, so the location is still the best in Shanghai. There are also names. It is better to call Greater China than Nanyang, but the pattern is still small, it should be called the Asian International Trade Commodity Fair or something, Japan can be called, North Korea can also be called, Thailand, Iran. There are only a few independent countries that can invite them to participate. Isn't Iran already having diplomatic relations, inviting them to come. If they don't come, we'll pay them to come. As for the other colonies, it depends on the foreigners' own meaning. ”

Yang Ruizui quickly said North Korea. Fortunately, everyone didn't think about it, Du Yaquan heard Yang Rui say this. thinks it makes sense, but he doesn't understand why Yang Rui has a good impression of Iran. "There is a ready-made place for a meeting in Nanjing, but if it is placed in Shanghai, there is no place? Besides, it's already June, and even if it is held in the Mid-Autumn Festival, it won't be able to build a venue for three months. He asked.

"It can be built with a steel frame shed to rush the work." Yang Rui didn't speak, but Xu Huafeng did. "The steel frame is the column, the ash is the ground, the newly made tempered glass is the wall, and the thin steel plate is the roof, which can be completed in three to four months, and it can be barely done in three months day and night. However, the foundation of the selected place must be good, and it can be paved directly if it is slightly flattened, and then it is to be near the river, so that the material transportation is convenient, otherwise the offline project will be delayed, and it will not be able to catch up in three months. ”

In the past three years, all parts of the country have seized the time to build factories, and there are many construction teams, but now they are basically completed, and the buildings are empty, so Xu Huafeng is still very sure of what he said. Yang Rui heard him say that tempered glass was the wall, and he couldn't help but think that the Shanghai International Exhibition Center would come in the future, and when he saw that everyone had no objections, he immediately said: "Then do what Mr. Huafeng said." Find a place as soon as you decide on the size of the venue, and make sure that there is room for it. ”

The matter of the expo was briefly passed, and then there were the issues of supporting industrial loans during the war, financial control, subsidies for civil servants and soldiers under the doubling of prices, etc., and so on.

After leaving the conference room, Yang Rui learned that the ministers of various countries had come in the morning, but they were all blocked by Li Zilong with the fact that the Prime Minister was discussing foreign policy decisions and needed to meet in the afternoon. The others are gone, but only the Germans are still there, but this person is not Xia Lifu, the minister to China, but Yang Rui's old acquaintance, Freihair. Feng. Rutte.

Smiling and greeting Lu Te, Yang Rui smiled: "I really didn't expect ......"

When he said this, Rutte also smiled: "I really can't think of ......"

Everyone felt that this conversation was extremely interesting and couldn't help but laugh. Rutte smiled and introduced: "This is Mr. Xin Ci, who came with me, and he is now the counselor of the legation. ”

When Rutte introduced, the German next to him, who had a stern face, suddenly smiled extremely brightly, he took off his hat and bowed, and complimented: "Honorable Chancellor, I have always admired your prestige, and when I was in Germany, I called you Bismarck. Poplar. It is really my honor to see you today and to stand by your side. ”

A person with a cold and stern expression could suddenly say such a sensual word, which only made Yang Rui's heart speechless, and he said vigilantly: "Mr. Xin Ci, compared with the great Bismarck, I am inferior, I am facing a complete and weak country, and he is facing a plate of scattered sand. ”

As he spoke, he invited the two men to the backyard. When he entered the backyard, he looked at Lu Te, who had been smiling, and said with a smile: "Did His Majesty the Emperor of your country ask you to come?" ”

"I wanted to do it myself, too." Rutte's expression was solemn. "Yang, just now. The British declared war on us, and Germany needed friends. Otherwise, he will fail. ”

"No, sir, you are wrong. Germany now needs not friends, but courage. Yang Rui and the two of them had already entered the flower hall, and he already knew Lu Te's intention.

"Courage?" Rutte was a little surprised. "Courage Germany does not lack, we just don't have that many troops to deal with two battlefields at the same time."

"There is no need to worry about the Russians, they can't even afford rifles, and their tactics are extremely old. By the way, I'll give an ultimatum to the Russians in the afternoon. They were asked to withdraw from Chinese territory. As we all know, the greedy Tsar will not pay attention to us, so the Russian Siberian Army will eventually be wiped out in the northeast. Yang Rui said, and then picked up the teacup and took a sip of shallow money.

As soon as he heard that the Siberian Legion was going to annihilate Russia, Xin Ci, who was listening next to him, clenched his fists and said: "Yes, Prime Minister, you are too wise to annihilate the Slavs." It is even more important to occupy Vladivostok, which is already part of the Chinese Empire......"

Xin Ci is a troublemaker no matter how he looks at it, and when he wanted to say more, Lu Te coughed heavily, indicating that it was rude for him to do this. Yang Rui smiled at this: "It is also human nature for Mr. Xin Ci to say this, but we have a non-aggression pact with Russia. It is impossible to really occupy Vladivostok. I still think that the key to Germany's victory is not in friends, but in courage. No matter how long the war lasts. By Christmas this year, we will know whether Germany will win the war; By the end of next year. I know if Germany can negotiate peace. ”

"Yang, please elaborate." Lu Teh just came, and it was not from the military system, so he didn't understand Yang Rui's words.

Seeing him like this, Xin Ci also expected to know the reason, Yang Rui only smiled and said: "This year is the year with the smallest difference in strength between the Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy, according to what I know, the British warships are thin and explosive, and the German warships of the same level cannot be compared at all, their shells also have problems, the fuse will explode without waiting for penetration, and there are ...... such as gunnery, it can be said that although there is a gap in the number of the two navies, there is a great possibility that the Imperial Navy will win the naval battle." British supremacy lies entirely in the navy, and after the first decisive battle, they must have to avoid war for a while, waiting for other warships to be launched to deal with the Imperial Navy, and there is a big problem in Britain with Ireland, even if the Germans do not land in Britain, prompting the Irish to revolt will be enough to get Britain out of the war.

That's why I said that I knew before Christmas whether Germany would win or not. If the British Navy could not be destroyed, then Germany would not have been able to win the war, and even if China could reach the Urals? The Russian Army was already vulnerable. That's why I say that courage is more important than friends. Your Majesty, the Emperor, should have made up his mind, whether to completely defeat Britain and achieve victory, or to reluctantly hope for peace without offending Britain, or to finally fail, it was in his thoughts. ”

"At the end of next year, I will know if I can negotiate peace, how to explain this sentence?" Rutte listened and wrote it down, then asked.

"Whether or not we can negotiate peace depends on whether submarine warfare can effectively blockade the British and French shipping. This in turn involved the Capture Act, but the plan was set by the British, in his own favor and not in Germany. If they really comply, then the submarine forces will only tie their hands and feet. In addition, submarine warfare also depends on whether or not it can ignore the protests of other countries, and if the submarine sinks a US merchant ship and many Americans die and it has to be stopped, then in the end there will not even be a chance for peace talks. Yang Rui prophesied. Unrestricted submarine warfare is only aimed at a small area of the sea, if someone breaks in, pursues high profits and does not care about the safety of his life, it is his own problem, you must know that this is a war, if you lose, a tragedy will only fall on the heads of your own people.

Mr. Rutte, the first thing that any ruler should consider is his people and not his own morality and affection. Either they are determined to defeat the enemy by all means, and finally win the victory under the accusations and slander of others; Or try to avoid war. ”

Yang Rui was silent after speaking, and while Lu Tee thought carefully, the counselor next to him, Xin Ci, asked: "Your Excellency, can you think that as long as the Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy fight a decisive battle and win this year, China will join the Allied Powers?" ”

"If that's the case, is it still necessary for China to join?" Yang Rui asked with a smile. "China and Germany, one at the easternmost tip of the mainland and the other at the westernmost tip of the mainland, are too far apart. Even if you attack Russia. Russia could also withdraw to the area west of Irkutsk and dismantle the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is difficult for me to imagine that the Baath Army could go to Omsk on the ice field. And there are no railways in the direction of Central Asia, so I say after defeating Japan. In a few years, it will be difficult for China to attack Russia. If your god can change China to the Ottoman position, then the alliance between our two countries will have a different meaning. ”

Lu Te was silent after listening to Yang Rui's words, but the counselor named Xin Ci was a cliché many times, but was blocked back by Yang Rui, and when Yang Rui served tea to the guests, he was a little stupid, but when he was leaving, Yang Rui asked Lu Teh to come to the house for a banquet on the fifteenth. He rekindled some hope.

As soon as he saw Yang Rui, he shouted: "I heard that you met the German representatives, and the British and French ministers came without eating, so you have to meet this time." ”

Yang Rui wanted to eat, but when he heard this, he had to smile bitterly: "Then please come in." ”

Yang Rui was on leave at a critical moment, and by the time he had finished his vacation, Britain had already joined the European war and declared war on Germany. Although he knew Xie Jintai's promise to the French, Yang Rui met with the German representative as soon as he heard it. Zhu Erdian still put down his knife and fork and hurried to the Chancellery with the French Minister Immanuel Kant.

The green trees in the capital have only been planted for a short time, and even in the carriage at noon in the summer, Zhu Erdian feels hot. Between the East Asian War and the European War, Whitehall undoubtedly chose Europe. This made his status in the Far East very embarrassing, the Chinese were wary of him, and the Japanese did not like him. In particular, the advice he issued a few days ago for armistice and peace talks was rudely ignored by the Japanese. This qiē. All of them made him feel that his days in the Far East were going to get shorter and shorter, starting three years ago. He has been misjudging the situation, and the man in the Yin'an Palace has been right again and again, especially this time, seeing that Beijing is about to take it, but the situation is miraculously reversed, is he really a god? Thinking of the rumors outside, Zhu Erdian suddenly believed it.

Along the asphalt road, Zhu Erdian soon arrived at the Yin'an Palace, and went to the backyard under the leadership of Xie Jintai. He came eagerly, but when he looked at Yang Rui with a smile on his face, he didn't know what to say.

He didn't speak, but the French minister Kant said: "Your Excellency, do you really want to form an alliance with the Germans?" This is in complete disregard of public international law. ”

When he said this, Xie Jintai immediately said a few words, Yang Rui suddenly understood the reason, and he smiled: "Mr. Kant, if it is not from my mouth, you should not believe it, even what I say is useless, only the official documents issued by the government are true." ”

"Your Excellency, for the sake of peace, we hope that you will expel the German-Austrian concession and the German-Austrian army at Tsingtao, so that the Entente and Japan will attack these places at some point. This would be unfortunate for your country, so I hope it can be avoided. Kant said.

"Germany and Austria will return the concession and the port of Qingdao within this month." Yang Rui said the news that shocked them, and he was very happy, "The German East Asian Fleet will also leave Qingdao before this, and their army here will lay down their arms and become a normal alien, they may or may not leave China." ”

"Your Excellency, is this true?" Jurdian, who had been watching from the sidelines, said that he was happy but also worried that the fleet would carry out an attack and disrupt Britain's shipping.

"Of course it's true. This is the news that the Prime Minister's Office will make public this afternoon. Yang Rui said. In addition, there is another piece of news that I think both of you know, that is, the chief of the general staff of the Baath Army, Leo. Duke William will resign this month due to health reasons. Gentlemen, these things are enough to explain my position. ”

Although he had known the news of the Germans' resignation for a long time, he heard Yang Rui say with his own ears that the French Minister Kant was still a little excited, which was entirely due to his negotiations and was indelible.

Seeing the joy of the two, Yang Rui said again: "There is one more thing I want the two gentlemen to know, that is, although we have signed an agreement with Russia, the Russian army is still on the territory of China and refuses to retreat." So, I'm going to give them an ultimatum to start retreating within twenty-four hours and finally leave ......"

"It can't be! Your Excellency the Prime Minister. Yang Rui was interrupted by the French before he finished speaking, his beard stood up, and he said angrily: "When your country negotiated at the beginning, it agreed to the independence of Outer Mongolia, but now you are asking Russia to retreat without making any compensation, which is deliberately provoking a war." ”

"Mr. Minister, the aggressor is Russia, and it is Russia that provoked the war, I really don't understand why we should compensate them?" Yang Rui felt that the previous two things made the French inch inch, and regretted that he didn't pay attention to the order of his speech. "I have to remind Your Excellency that China and Russia are now in a state of war, and there is no need for me to give them twenty-four hours for retreat, but in the spirit of peace, I still give them a whole day, hoping that they will be self-aware." (To be continued......)