Siberia is a vast and sparsely populated region, with a harsh environment, where most of the people live fiercely and aggressively, and the standard of living here is quite low, and they are dissatisfied with the government. In addition, the troops hastily mobilized by Nicholas II were not first-line armies, so the battle did not go well.

In Beijing's Dongjiaomin Alley, Mr. Sa Daoyi poured Yang Xiaolin a cup of coffee, and then handed over a cigar: "Commander Yang, there is news from London that we have abolished the surcharge policy on Chinese silk products, and we also hope that you can open up more markets, such as your bicycles." ”

Sa Daoyi shrugged his shoulders: "The quality of our British bicycles is also very good, and the price we offer is also in line with the Chinese market, at this time I think your department store should consider buying from our British factory, you can't say that you only sell permanent brands, which is not in line with the spirit of free trade!" ”

Yang Xiaolin lit his cigar and took a puff, and said with a smile: "Mr. Sa Daoyi, I don't care about this matter now, it is all Sheng Huaixuan's question, you can go to him to discuss." ”

Sa Daoyi said: "Don't shirk like this, you can call the shots on all China's problems, and we all know this." As for Sheng Huaixuan, I have looked for him many times, and it was not until yesterday that I learned that he actually has shares in the car dealership in Shanghai! Commander Yang, your Chinese officialdom is really strange, if it is in our British Empire, such a relationship with direct interests is absolutely not allowed. ”

Yang Xiaolin smiled and didn't say anything, what Sa Daoyi said did make some sense, there are many problems in the operating mechanism of their government, and some places are not perfect. However, Commander Yang is not the kind of person who pursues perfection, and some contradictions can be put aside for the time being as long as they do not affect what he wants to do now.

Sa Daoyi was obviously unwilling to give up: "How is it? Even if I ask you for a favor as a friend, is that okay? ”

Yang Xiaolin smiled: "How did you learn this too?" ”

"Do as the locals do."

"Well, that's all I'm going to do, and I've said it many times, and I'd love to make you a true friend. That's it, Mr. Sadaoyi. I will ask the Ministry of Commerce to give you some shares, but the bicycles you sell to China must be hung with the permanent brand. ”

Sa Daoyi's mood is a little lost, as a diplomat, he still has a certain understanding of the mode of business operation, Yang Xiaolin's approach is equivalent to what, I will help you sell things, but my market is still mine, no matter how good your British bicycle is, it will not be able to challenge the monopoly position of the permanent brand in China.

Although Yang Xiaolin does not like monopolies. But at a time when Chinese companies are just beginning to rush into the world, he must protect Chinese products.

Seeing that Sa Daoyi didn't speak, Yang Xiaolin's body leaned forward: "I can only do this, Mr. Sa Daoyi, I think you should be able to understand my distress." ”

Sa Daoyi finally nodded: "That's okay, at least I can go back and explain." To be honest, I'm not happy to deal with you, you can't make me completely satisfied on all issues, as if every negotiation is a reluctant agreement between us, I miss President Yuan, he is much easier to get along with than you. ”

Yang Xiaolin smiled when he heard this. Lao Yuan was traveling in Timor-Leste at this time, this old guy was quite upright, although he was a little unwilling to be lonely after stepping down from his position, he really didn't add any trouble to himself. He was dedicated to maintaining the traditions he wanted to maintain.

Yang Xiaolin also supports Lao Yuan on this point. For example, in the design of the school's uniform, he adopted the more retro scheme provided by Yuan Shikai, and at the same time, on the uniforms of government officials, the jacket also adopted the style of Tang costumes, and the establishment of a Chinese film company in Shanghai. The first film filmed was "Yue Fei" with very national characteristics, and the second film was a film that reflected the theme of the Great Patriotic War, and Yang Xiaolin personally named it "Beiyang".

All this made Yuan Shikai quite satisfied. So when he asked Lao Yuan to travel, Lao Yuan didn't say anything, and went to East Timor with his legs. Things are not bad, for him, the president who led China to win the Great Patriotic War, the Chinese over there are quite obedient to him.

Yang Xiaolin said to Sa Daoyi: "Mr. Sa Daoyi, a true friend should be like us, there are disputes, but every dispute can reach a compromise. If I were to accommodate you, our relationship would never be a friend's relationship. ”

Sa Daoyi nodded: "What you said makes sense." I have one more thing for you to communicate about, and you won't have an excuse to pass the buck on this matter. You know that the situation on the Russian side in Siberia has been very bad recently, and the instability there has caused a large number of casualties. To be honest, we have expressed doubts about Russia's ability to deal with this issue alone, and if we can, can the Chinese side give some help? ”

Yang Xiaolin was stunned for a moment, he paid more attention to the situation in Siberia than Sato, because it was originally his layout, and he was playing a game of chess with the Russians. However, he really did not expect the British to make this request to him.

This is not normal, did the British notice something? Yang Xiaolin's mind instantly went through the whole process again, and finally when he felt as if he really didn't make a mistake, he asked, "Mr. Sadaoyi, is this what you mean from the British side or the Russian side?" ”

Sa Daoyi's expression was a little playful: "Is there a difference?" ”

"Absolutely! You must know that it was a battle on the territory of the Russians, and it is really not appropriate for us to intervene in China. What's more, I have already said that now China really does not want to go to war, you know that I am disarming. ”

Sa Daoyi looked at him, and finally said: "But the incident was caused by your China, if it weren't for your attitude, this turmoil would not have happened at all!" You are obliged to help the Russians to calm down. ”

Yang Xiaolin guessed correctly, the British were indeed a little suspicious of the outbreak of this unrest, but they could not produce conclusive evidence now. Even if the eyes of the British Empire are bright, at this time the Republic of Siberia has just been established, no country has diplomatic relations with them, and that area is already desolate, the British Empire did not think of arranging an intelligence agency in that place before, and now the investigation of that can be said to start from scratch.

The British tried to infiltrate, and they cooperated with Mr. Sordorf, Russia's most famous intelligence expert, to investigate the Stessel people, but several of the spies sent either did not return or could only pass back some false information deliberately released by the other side. The British side is sure. There must be a very good opponent among those people to fight again, and they don't even know who that person is now.

Britain really suspects that there is a shadow of China behind this, and letting China send troops to help the Russians is just a pretense, and the British side wants to hear the attitude of the Chinese on this matter, and also wants to see how Yang Dagui reacts.

In their opinion, if those rebels really have something to do with China, Yang Xiaolin should agree to help, of course, they must be more and more helpful.

As a result, Yang Xiaolin's reaction was quite normal, at least Sa Daoyi didn't see the slightest flaw. Mr. Sa Daoyi said, "Commander Yang. Don't you think it's really a bit bad for the Chinese to get into trouble and then push it on the Russians? ”

Yang Xiaolin seemed to be very honest: "I also feel a little sorry. But I can't help it, if they were only 3,000 now, I would definitely kill them. But now there are 20,000 of them, Mr. Sadaoyi, I really don't want to fight. ”

Sa Daoyi pondered for a moment: "In this way, how about you provide a batch of weapons to the Russian troops?" Now Nikolai's soldiers are not even fully equipped with rifles, they are not a real army at all. As for the money, you don't have to worry, we, the British, pay for the Russians. ”

Yang Xiaolin nodded: "Of course there is no problem. To be honest, I don't feel sorry for this matter, and besides, it won't do China any good if there is a disturbance in that area, so let's give the Russians a cheaper weapon. ”

Yang Xiaolin's face had a very sincere look. At this time, Sa Daoyi really thought that maybe the British were wrong, maybe Yang Dagui really had nothing to do with Stessel's gang. He believed that as soon as the weapons arrived, the predicament faced by Nicholas II would be eased.

Three days earlier, the Russians had asked Britain and France to replenish their weapons of war, and Nicholas II made it very clear. The Russian front-line troops are now in Europe, and the troops remaining in Siberia are second-line, if these forces are not able to quell the rebellion. Russia had to draw back soldiers from the front.

This is a situation that Britain and France absolutely do not want to see. The situation in Europe is not very good, especially in Turkey, where the pro-German regime in power has collapsed after the defeat in the war with Russia, and the new government that came to power has put all the blame for the war on the pro-German faction, and then waited for the signing of a peace agreement with the Russians, and completely eliminated the political opponents on the charge of provoking war.

However, they never expected that in the subsequent negotiations, the British and French, who had always been good to Turkey, would force them to sign an unequal treaty with Russia, and the cession of 200,000 square kilometers of land would make the pro-British and French parties that had just come to power quite passive.

The situation in Turkey is very delicate, although the defeated pro-German faction has lost the opportunity to hold power, it has become a hero in the hearts of the people, and the pro-British and French government in power has been branded a traitor. The pro-Germans lost the war, but won the hearts and minds of the people, and Turkey was getting closer and closer to Germany.

The Germans intensified their maneuvering in Europe, Bulgaria and Germany formally signed an agreement, Romania was interested in joining the Central Powers, Montenegro expressed a strong desire to maintain neutrality, and only Serbia stood firmly on the side of the Entente for the sake of its territorial and sovereign integrity.

Look around Serbia, there is a circle of German brothers, if this really fights, it will not take a few days for Germany and Austria-Hungary to finish out Serbia. Therefore, Russia must maintain a large military presence in Europe, and they must ensure that they can attract all the main forces of Germany and Austria to the Russians at the first moment of war, so that Serbia has enough respite, and at least a chance to let the Serbian government escape. (To be continued......)