On March 11, 1918, the German government, on behalf of Erzberger, signed an armistice agreement with Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, at the Redonde station in the Compiègne Forest in northeastern France, and Germany surrendered. According to the agreement, Germany withdrew all its troops from France, Belgium, Rwan, Alsace-Lorraine and the Left Bank of the Rhine within 15 days, and at the same time withdrew its troops from Turkey, Romania, Austria-Hungary and Africa, and surrendered 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 mortars, 1,700 aircraft, 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 wagons and 5,000 trucks. Six hours later, the ceasefire came into effect. The signing of the Armistice Agreement at the Compiègne Forest declared the complete defeat of the German, Austrian, Turkish, and Bulgarian allies, and the end of the First World War.

Germany lost, but it did not mean that the Germans willingly conceded defeat, and in the words of Marshal Fuxi, it was not a victory, but an armistice, a truce of twenty years.

However, these were not Wang Zhenyu's worries, and he was most interested in the fact that the Entente was about to receive the spoils from Germany. If 5,000 artillery pieces, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 mortars, 1,700 airplanes, 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 wagons, and 5,000 trucks fall into their own hands, it will be a great help to China's national defense force construction and northwest development plan. Gu Weijun received the latest order from Wuhan, and he was asked to get these things to China by various means. According to Wang Zhenyu's memory, in the end, these things were piled up in the warehouses of Britain and France and became waste, and the planes were even used as firewood to burn.

Britain and France obviously did not expect that the Chinese allies would have such a big appetite, considering the post-war international situation, Britain and France did not hesitate to refuse the Chinese's request this time, what kind of joke, if the Chinese really get so many things, then there is peace in Asia?

After the European war, Britain and France no longer had the spare forces to go to Asia for another colonial war, otherwise they would not have turned a blind eye to the large-scale actions of the Nationalist government in the frontier areas.

It doesn't matter, this result has long been expected by Wang Zhenyu, so on the one hand, he obtained 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 wagons and 5,000 cars from the French through Gu Weijun's exchange of grain for war booty, with a total value of 200 million US dollars in rice and wheat and foreign exchange. The French needed food to restore stability and support at home, and the outbreak of revolution in the two nascent countries of Hungary and Turkey, in addition to Russia, had seriously affected the French plans to realize the benefits of the war. What's more, these three types of materials are not strictly speaking, not munitions, so naturally there is no problem. In this way, Wang Zhenyu, who could not get arms in the hands of Britain and France, naturally established contacts with the Germans privately as planned, hoping to further accelerate China's industrialization with the help of the Germans.

Now the person who is secretly meeting with Wang Chonghui and Yu Dawei is none other than the two most powerful industrialists in Germany, Gustav. Krupp and Siemens are currently in charge of Karl. Friedrich.

"Dear two noble gentlemen, on behalf of my boss, I send you blessings from the Far East. He was deeply saddened by the hostility between our two sides in this European war, and believed that it should be avoided with all efforts. At the same time, he expressed his sympathy for the restrictions imposed by the Allies on the development and growth of the German nation after the war, but because of the strength of Britain and France, my boss wanted to help our German friends in a different way, just as you had helped our country after 1900. As a career diplomat, Wang Chonghui naturally knows how to communicate with the Germans, don't go around the bush, and tell the other party bluntly that your purpose is the king.

Sure enough, after Yu Dawei's translation passed,. Gustav and Karl exchanged glances and asked: "The current situation in our Germany is indeed a bit bad, Britain and France do not allow us to have an army of more than 100,000 people, do not allow us to develop industry and electrification, and if we Germany do not develop industry and electrification, then we can only sink forever." I would like to know how the boss of your country intends to help Germany, knowing that we are so far away. ”

Wang Chonghui smiled and said: "Isn't it because we dare to help our German friends because we are far enough away from Britain and France?" If it's in Europe, can we still help your country? Specifically, the plan of our boss is actually very simple, but it is also difficult, to be specific, that is, to take the things that are currently restricted in Germany to China, so that the German enterprises represented by Krupp and Siemens will continue to grow without being restricted by Britain and France. As for security, our boss is currently in control of the situation in China, so there is no need to worry about it, and in China you will also see abundant natural resources and cheap labor resources, which are the most coveted things for any business to develop. ”

Gustav frowned, briefly exchanged views with Karl, and said, "Mr. Wang, I think we are very interested in your suggestion, but it is obvious that we can't make too many decisions on such an occasion. So, this weekend, the day after tomorrow, our family has an in-house cocktail party at our private estate, which I hope you and this young Mr. Yu can attend, and we will have a lot to discuss when I think about it......"

Two days later, in the simple Krupp manor, Wang Chonghui unexpectedly met Albert, who is currently at the helm of the German government. This cunning old German man is currently using the threat of communism to bargain with Britain and France over the issue of war reparations, anyway, first, Germany has no money, and second, if it is persecuted, Germany is likely to become a red country, so not only does he have no money to pay the bills, but he also has to borrow money from Britain and France to live the current small life, otherwise, it will ......

Britain and France were also laughing and crying at this, for the first time they found that the European war was likely to be a money-losing business, and they were likely to receive nothing except the colonies, which were not numerous and worthless. This is really discouraging news, and the cost paid by Britain and France over the past four years has not outweighed the gains.

Chancellor Albert, who showed no mercy to the GCists, raised his glass to Wang Chonghui and said: "Lovely Chinese friend, I have received some news from Gustav, and it is said that you can help us in Germany, right?" The situation has been terrible lately, the price of a loaf of bread has reached a thousand marks, and the French are still forcing us to pay for it, and it seems that they are not willing to turn Germany into a communist. ”

Wang Chonghui nodded and said: "I must apologize to my German friends on behalf of my country, we were forced to participate in the European war, from the heart, our modern army was built with the help of German friends, but the Beiyang government at that time announced its participation in the war at the instigation of Britain, France and Japan, and our national government, as a local government, had to carry out the orders of the central government. But now the situation has changed, and I believe that your diplomats in Beijing also reported that in September last year, the Beiyang government had lost actual control over our local government due to infighting. Even their army was severely damaged by the troops of our Nationalist Government in Shandong under the condition of absolute superiority in strength, and now they do not dare to point fingers at us at all. Therefore, the Nationalist Government decided to help our German friends in a cooperative way, and of course we also hope to strengthen ourselves through cooperation with Germany, overthrow our central government, and complete the reunification of the whole country. As for our credibility, I believe that the experience of Luxembourgers in China is the best proof of that......"

Chancellor Albert nodded and said, "Well, I believe this, I remember that recently it seems that your country's army in Europe escorted a couple from the East to the throne of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, this thing is there!" ”

Wang Chonghui said with a smile: "There is such a thing, that couple is Wang Zhenpeng, the younger brother of Wang Zhenyu, the military chief of our national government, and his wife Princess Charlotte, well, now they should be called His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Charlotte." ”

Albert motioned for Wang Chonghui to follow him out of the living room and into a room, Wang Chonghui and Yu Dawei walked in only to find that this was the Krupp family's private study, which was full of books and dazzling cultural relics, including cultural relics from China, the zodiac, seeing this cultural relic, the young Yu Dawei's face involuntarily showed a trace of displeasure. Gustav. Krupp and Karl. Friedrich and other seven or eight big German capitalists and military and political dignitaries have already sat in it, diplomat-turned-Gustav was the first to capture the fleeting displeasure on the face of Yu Dawei, the translator, in the subsequent trip to China, Gustav gave a lot of Chinese cultural relics collected by the Krupp family to China's ** Wang Zhenyu, which really made Xiao Wang very satisfied.

"We hope that our cooperation will be comprehensive, on the one hand, it will enhance our strength in China, so that we will be able to avoid the suppression of Britain and France in Asia in the future; On the other hand, it can also reserve enough strength for German and Italian friends"Wang Chonghui soon began to sell his plans to the German controllers"First, we hope to carry out all-round cooperation with German companies in steel, transportation construction, electrification and military projects, the larger the better, the specific details I suggest to be finalized when your business delegation visits China. Second, we need a large number of German technicians and scientific researchers, the former is for the production needs of enterprises, and the latter is for all projects to be jointly researched by China and Germany, and the results are shared. Thirdly, we want to cooperate in the military, from the navy to the air force to the army, and strictly speaking, we need the help of Germany. Although Germany lost the war, our leaders insisted that it was not because of the German army, but because you lost the foundation and decision-making, and that the German army will still be the most powerful presence on the planet in the future. Specifically, we need a large number of instructors from Germany to strengthen and build our army, to be precise, our army needs to be equipped with tens of thousands or more German officers in the future, and we will pay the salaries......"