The agreement signed between Yan Shao and the Germans is naturally a secret agreement, otherwise if it is made public, although there will be no problems, it will still bring some trouble.

As for such a thing as ordering ordnance from Germany, there is nothing wrong with that.

The current Wehrmacht is almost all equipped with German weapons, plus the German heavy artillery can also be called first-class or even super-first-class at this time, Yan Shao's purchase of some large-caliber heavy artillery from Germany is completely reasonable, reasonable, and legal, and it is said that since the Qing Dynasty, German ordnance has occupied a huge share in China, and Yan Shao's doing this is just a continuation of the past practice, so Britain and France and other countries have nothing to say at all.

The Japanese were very unhappy with this deal, after all, Yan Shao had ordered a large number of heavy artillery from Germany this time, and if something happened in the future, these heavy artillery would pose a great threat to them.

It's just a pity that the Japanese have no say in this regard, even more than Britain and France.

The reason is also very simple, because in the two years before the Qing Dynasty or even just after the liberation, most of China's arms market belonged to Germany and Japan, and other countries except for Britain could take advantage of the navy, and basically they could only say that they drank some soup and water...

Just like France, in addition to some infantry guns, the most famous business exported to Beiyang is probably the export of a batch of 'Gaudron' aircraft, and there is really nothing else to talk about.

Even those planes are only worth more than 200,000 yuan, and each one is only equivalent to more than 20,000 yuan, which can be said to be very cheap.

As for the Germans. Although it is a little strange that Yan Shao insisted that they deliver all the goods by mid-June, the customer is God, and they still understand this truth very well. In addition, the amount of this business is by no means small, so I nodded and admitted.

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In Wuchang, Hubei, the current Hubei Military Government, and the future Hubei Provincial Government Office Building, Li Yuanhong and a short middle-aged man in a black kimono were sitting in the office talking to each other, but it could be seen that the short middle-aged man was somewhat excited. In contrast, Li Yuanhong's mood seemed much calmer.

"Li San, are you so willing to give up everything?!" Clenching his fists tightly, the short middle-aged man tried hard to persuade Li Yuanhong. "As long as you want. We can help you contact several other provinces, and now in addition to your Hubei province, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces are not satisfied with the decision of the Kuomintang, as well as Fujian and Guangdong. There were also many Kuomintang comrades. As long as you ascend to the top and shout, these people will stand up and respond to you, and then you will not only be able to save the Hubei military government forged by countless revolutionary blood, but even ......... It's not impossible to be a great president, and our Black Dragon Society is absolutely willing to help our friends, and the same is true for the Empire..."

Looking at the short middle-aged spittle, a trace of disdain flashed in Li Yuanhong's eyes, but he still hid this emotion well.

After seeing that this Japanese has already said almost. Li Yuanhong said in a light tone. "Mr. Xiaoqiao, I wonder how your country can help us? Is it to send some arms? Send someone to help train the troops? Or do you just send troops into the war..."

"This—" gritted his teeth. Xiaoqiao wanted to answer directly to join the war, but before he could answer, Li Yuanhong had already continued to ask.

"I, Li Yuanhong, am naturally willing to trust my Japanese friends, but if your country can't directly send troops to help............... Li, I can't just take a risk with empty words..."

When he said this, the corners of Li Yuanhong's mouth already showed a hint of sarcasm.

Xiao Qiao didn't notice this, but at this moment, in addition to anger, the only thing left in his heart was powerless...

At this time, it was already December, and there was only less than half a month left before the time limit, although Li Yuanhong was very unwilling, but he still chose to give in. This is also something that can't be helped, the situation is stronger than people, and the difference in strength between the two sides is too big, even if he doesn't want to, what's the use?

Although the original national defense forces stationed on the Hubei border have retreated to their original stations, if they want to be brought back, it will take a week at most, and unless Li Yuanhong can't think about it, it is impossible for him to choose to stand up and confront the Kuomintang.

However, although he did not want to, it did not mean that the Japanese did not want to put a foot in it.

Seeing that the Kuomintang government was about to substantively unify China, and not mentioning the personal grievances between Yan Shao and the Japanese for the time being, the Japanese had already regarded Yan Shao as a serious danger just from the current 'First Five-Year Plan' and the '75 Project' and the fact that they actually paid for three dreadnoughts from South America for the Navy.

Although it is impossible to send troops directly, after all, the strength is still poor, and the international environment does not allow it, but this does not mean that the Japanese do not want to make some trouble for Yan Shao. Seeing that the time has entered December, and it is still almost January, if the national government does not take action and allows the national government to carry out local reforms, this ancient country, which has been divided for a long time, will once again be united, and the threat to Japan will reach the highest level in decades.

It's just that at this time, the Japanese didn't have many chess pieces to use, Beiyang was defeated, Yuan Shikai stepped down, and the Japanese had secretly contacted Yuan Shikai a few times, but they were all sternly refused.

As for the Kuomintang, although Yan Shao has allowed the Kuomintang to return to the mainland, they are only a large political party that has lost all their strength, and they do not even have the slightest strength, and the current Kuomintang is dominated by Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren, and will not cooperate with the Japanese in this matter at all, and Sun Yat-sen, who may cooperate with the Japanese, has no strength, and the Chinese Revolutionary Party he built is even more half-dead to now, and there is not even the slightest value of cooperation.

After looking for it, the Japanese found Li Yuanhong's body...

We have said that the political status of Wuhan as the first place of righteousness is very special, and before Nanjing was used as the provisional government, it was even regarded as the central government by most of the provinces that were recovered at that time, and the revolutionary party of Li Yuanhong and Sun Wu also relied on this ability to fight against the Nanjing provisional government.

Now the Nanjing government is gone. Wuhan naturally became the center of other provinces, and Li Yuanhong himself enjoyed a special political status.

Now, in addition to Hubei, there are seven other provinces that are not willing to bow their heads like this. In addition, Xiaoqiao did not lie, in Guangdong and Fujian, where the revolutionary party was strong, there were indeed many remnants of the Kuomintang, and there were also provinces such as Sichuan where the revolutionary party was stronger, although the governors there had bowed their heads, it did not mean that they would also bow their heads...

If Li Yuanhong decides to step forward, it is very likely that these provinces will follow suit, and then the Japanese will only need to give some reinforcements behind their backs. Without a year and a half, Yan Shao can hardly settle this matter, and there is no need to talk about the '5-year plan' and the '75 Project' in two or three years.

Of course, there are pros and cons to doing this. Naturally, if the plan is successful, it can greatly delay the progress of China's industrialization.

And the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, after this incident, the Kuomintang-Socialist government will complete the reunification of China in the real sense. Instead of the local power party still having a lot of influence on the local area as in the past.

However, the Black Dragon Society also thinks very clearly. The control of the local government by the national government will one day be completed, and this time will be either three or five years, and at the latest it will not exceed 10 years. In this case, it is better to find a way to postpone China's industrialization process first, so that the benefits will be more...

After considering the pros and cons, the Black Dragon Society's decision was to delay China's industrialization as much as possible. So he sent Xiaoqiao to Li Yuanhong, wanting to move him to stand up against Yan Shao.

As long as he stands up, everything will naturally succeed.

It's just obvious that Li Yuanhong is much smarter than the Black Dragon Society thinks. So without even thinking about it, Li Yuanhong had already rejected the Black Dragon Society.

Although the Black Dragon Society did not think that Li Yuanhong would refuse. But the rejection was so painful, which was somewhat unexpected to them...

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Looking at the back of Xiaoqiao's departure, the sarcasm in Li Yuanhong's eyes became heavier and heavier.

How could he not see that the Japanese didn't want to help him at all, but just wanted to use him to make some trouble for Yan Shao. If he agreed to the Japanese and raised troops against Yan Shao, maybe the Japanese would really give him some assistance, but it was definitely symbolic, and as for sending troops or something, it was almost impossible...

The fate of Beiyang is forgotten, and the fate of the Kuomintang is ......... It's only been a few months, how could he forget? He's old, but he's not forgetful enough...

Of course, he has been the emperor of the soil for more than two years, and he just let himself put down his power and become a governor from now on, how could Li Yuanhong be willing. However, in the case of almost completely losing the upper hand, Li Yuanhong still chose to bow his head, because he knew that he was not an opponent of the Wehrmacht at all.

What is particularly important is that he wondered how many people in his own military government had already voted for the Kuomintang.

If these people stab themselves in the back when they stand up against it...

Then he didn't even have a chance to run into the concession and hide.

So no matter how reluctant he was in his heart, Li Yuanhong still surrendered after the last day...

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Standing outside the door of the office, I saw Xiaoqiao walking out with an angry face, and some military government officials outside the door thought that Li Yuanhong must have collapsed with the Japanese.

So he pushed open the door, and the officials walked in from the outside in turn, and the one at the head was even more puzzled.

"Dudu, it's rare for the Japanese to come and say they want to help us, why do you want to refuse..."

If the junta is changed to a provincial government, then the power in their hands will not be reduced by a little, especially in terms of money, if the tax is divided into national tax and local tax, their oil and water will not even be half left...

Li Yuanhong said that after all, he had made enough money, and he could also make a provincial governor, and he also had a salary of 1,000 yuan a month, which was absolutely enough to support his family. But what about them, they haven't caught enough...

Hearing their words, Li Yuanhong smiled bitterly. "In the future, don't call me the governor, just call me the governor, as for the Japanese you talked about. Don't you see that the Japanese are just trying to take advantage of us? Just like with the use of the Kuomintang, now they are speaking very well and are willing to provide us with assistance. You can even send troops when you need them, but when you really need them, I'm afraid they will run faster than rabbits, and now we can still get some benefits if we are soft, but if we really mix with the Japanese, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave anything..."

Hearing Li Yuanhong say this, some people nodded in understanding, but some people still looked a little unwilling, but they also knew that Li Yuanhong was telling the truth.

This time, the Japanese came to the door. I'm afraid it's more to take advantage of the mind...

Seeing that a few henchmen no longer said anything, Li Yuanhong took a deep breath.

"From today, it's all over..."

After speaking, he turned his head out the window. Outside the window, the 'Red Dragon Flag' belonging to the National Social Government is fluttering on the flagpole.

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At this time, there is only one Li Yuanhong who has the ability to influence other warlords, and since Li Yuanhong has bowed his head, no matter how unwilling the other warlords are, they can't do anything. So gradually. All of them lowered their heads. It even includes the most unruly Northwest Ma family...

In a way, the most rebellious, perhaps the most aware of current affairs...

In January, more than 10 provinces and cities, including Hubei, successively announced that they would carry out reforms, abolishing the original post of governor, and the original 10 or so governors were either changed to provincial governors or directly joined the army as division commanders.

Later. The local government also officially announced the abolition of a number of miscellaneous taxes, including 'centi', which had been inherited from the previous Qing Dynasty. There are also more than 2,000 items added by the local governments themselves after the liberation, and at least 300 of them were added temporarily after the establishment of the national government, and some local officials were afraid that they would not be able to scrape the ground in the future...

“……… Now the ministers and gentlemen can fulfill their promises..."

Sitting opposite Zhu Erdian and the others, Yan Shao said with a smile, and put his hands on his overlapping legs.

With the smooth success of the local government reform, the centigold has been canceled as Yan Shao promised. In other words, the demands put forward by the great powers have already been fulfilled, and it is natural for them to fulfill their promises...

Glancing at each other, Zhu Erdian and the others were more or less reluctant in their hearts. Unlike in the past, China now has more or less signs of becoming a great power, and the tariff issue is equivalent to a chain...

The problem of garrisons Malzan They have never regretted it, after all, with the current strength of China, hundreds of thousands of garrisons are useless at all, but tariffs...

"Raising tigers is a problem..."Thinking in his heart, although he knew that the tariff issue would be thawed sooner or later, Zhu Erdian still had some uncomfortable feelings in his heart after all.

However, he also knows that although China is still not comparable to the United Kingdom, it is much more important in the eyes of London than in the past. Especially at the moment, Yan Shao has a close relationship with the French, and the French only have a 0.6% share of China's trade, and they don't care about the interests of tariffs at all.

"Since your government has canceled the centigold as promised, our government will naturally make concessions on tariffs as promised..."With a smile on his face, Zhu Erdian said with a smile to Yan Shao.

With Zhu Erdian at the beginning, the ministers of several other countries also echoed it, but only the expression of the Japanese minister was very unwilling. But after several other ministers' envoys frequently saluted him, he nodded in response...

On January 2, the day after the reform, Britain and the United States officially announced that in return for the abolition of the centigold by the national government. From today, the tariff will be increased by a surcharge of 5% on top of the existing 5%, and the tax rate on luxury goods will be increased to 30%, so that domestic capital can be better protected than in the past...

Naturally, 10% is not a very high level, but at least it is much better than the 5% in the past, and as Yan Shao said in the newspaper, it is just the beginning, symbolizing the beginning of tariff autonomy.

It's hard at the beginning, but now that it's done, the rest will only take some time...

Incidentally, after the tariff issue was officially over, the Ministry of Finance originally wanted to apply for the formation of a negotiating group to negotiate with the foreign powers on the issue of complete tariff autonomy, but this application was rejected by Yan Shao.

Because he knew very well that the powers, which had already made concessions on tariffs, could not immediately back down again, let alone give China the right to tariff autonomy immediately, even for the French.

If you really want to wait for the opportunity, you can only wait for the first world war that I don't know if it will happen in a year's time.

At that time, it was the best chance for China to take back its tariff autonomy...

Even if they don't want to, they can't do anything about Yan Shao, and when the war is over, if they still have the ability and Yan Shao to do it, then Yan Shao will really obey them...

By the way, at the same time as the end of the tariff issue, a small episode occurred, that is, Yan Shao was assassinated again...

The reason why I say it again is because this is not the first time Yan Shao has been assassinated...

It's just that compared to the past few times, this time it seems a little...

Nonsense? (To be continued......)