After the United States entered the war, Germany's defeat was decided, everyone knew that the Germans could not hold on, and countless commentators were staring at Germany to see how the empire came to an end.

It was always unexpected, and on 25 October 1918, the German naval command ordered the German High Seas Fleet in the port of Kiel to go to sea to fight the British, and if it failed, it would "sink with honor".

The 80,000 sailors in the port of Kiel, tired of the war, refused to anchor and extinguished the warship. Although the resistance of the sailors forced the German naval authorities to withdraw the order, the sailors were persecuted and several hundred arrested.

The pent-up anger of the soldiers finally flipped out, and on 3 November, sailors took to the streets of Kiel to demonstrate against the naval authorities and demand the release of those arrested. The demonstrations then turned into an armed uprising, with the sailors disarming the officers and quickly seizing strategic points and taking control of the city.

The workers also responded with an armed uprising and established a majority regime. By the evening of the 4th, Kiel and the nearby suburbs were occupied by the insurgents. On the 5th, a general strike in Kiel supported the sailors' uprising, which became the signal for the outbreak of the November Revolution in Germany, and the revolution spread rapidly throughout the country. By 8 November, armed uprisings had taken place in almost all of Germany's major cities, and majority party organizations had been established to take most of Germany into their hands.

Known as the November Revolution, the uprising scared not only Kaiser Wilhelm II away, but also the Entente. The majority party in Russia has already made them anxious, and now this kind of problem has arisen in Germany, and if the majority party is allowed to control Germany, it will be a doomsday for the entire West.

The Entente group also immediately abandoned the war and did not want to force the Germans anymore. Moreover, the original Junker aristocracy in Germany was also extremely afraid of the majority, and they quickly formed a new government of the republic, took power in Germany, and decided to sit down at the negotiating table with the Entente and accept the fate of defeat.

A bloody battle between the two sides, which had been fought for more than four years, ended in such a dramatic situation that greatly exceeded the estimates of all political commentators, and the whole Shijie was shaken, even China in the Far East was no exception. After all, China is a member of the Allies, a victorious country in the truest sense of the word. Including the Beiyang government, they all feel that this is a once-in-a-lifetime good opportunity to regain lost power and achieve a turnaround.

The news reached Fengtian, and Lao Zhang was also alarmed. He summoned all his civil and military officials together, and specially asked Chang Yinhuai to invite Zhang Tinglan and Wang Yongjiang. Wang Yongjiang is Zhang Zuolin's money bag. And Zhang Tinglan is the number one think tank, and he knows the international situation best, Lao Zhang hurriedly let them go, and he also wanted to do something.

On the way, Wang Yongjiang asked: "Humble words, the war is over, what do you think we should do?" ”

"Mr. Min Yuan. We know what the great powers are, don't expect to treat China as an equal footing, those unrealistic ideas have no value, the most realistic is to go to Europe to exchange industrial equipment and talents. Germany and Austria-Hungary are finished, the military industry of these two countries is very strong, there are many talents, and if we can get a little, we will be able to develop. In addition, Britain and France have also been seriously damaged, let's think of a way, take the opportunity to get a little jishu, get these things in hand, and develop for another three or five years, and our foundation will be stable. ”

Hearing Zhang Tinglan's idea, Wang Yongjiang nodded: "Humble words, although I don't know about international affairs, but I am familiar with the three eastern provinces, and it does take a while to settle down and practice internal skills, but in my opinion, our handsome seems to have other ideas!" ”

Wang Yongjiang sighed slightly, Zhang Zuolin, as the leader of the Feng army, is competent most of the time, but there is only one point, that is, he is ambitious, especially in the recent period, the strength of the Feng army has expanded, and Lao Zhang has also begun to expand, which the Feng army is aware of, and Wang Yongjiang is also a little worried.

Chang Yinhuai took them to the Tiger Hall, there were already a lot of people gathered inside, Wu Junsheng, Zhang Jinghui, Zhang Haipeng, Kan Chaoxi and others, in addition, Sun Liechen happened to come back from Rehe, and also arrived at the Tiger Hall, Zhang Zuolin was sitting in the middle with a red face, and when he saw Zhang Tinglan and Wang Yongjiang arrived, he said with a smile: "Min Yuanhe and Humble Yan have arrived, I just have a telegram to give you, take it and take a look!" ”

Wang Yongjiang took a look, it was Duan Qirui sent over, the content of the letter is mainly to ask Zhang Zuolin to send a representative to discuss how to deal with the problem of the war, the main task is two, one is to recover what rights to recover after the war, and the other is to interfere in the Russian civil war, now that the Entente countries have sent troops, the Beiyang government does not want to lag behind.

The prestige of the Feng army is very high, and it can already compete with Beiyang in terms of strength, and it sent troops to Hailan Bao early, both of which are indispensable to the participation of the Feng army.

Wang Yongjiang and Zhang Tinglan read the telegram, and then returned it to Lao Zhang, Zhang Zuolin glanced at everyone, and then said: "Everyone, Lao Duan is ready to take back Germany's rights, and he is still thinking of sending troops to Russia, what do you think?" Can we use this opportunity to cause a little trouble for Lao Duan and discredit him? ”

Yuan Jinkai on the side suddenly smiled and said: "Dashuai, I think this is a good opportunity, the great powers will definitely not easily give up the benefits to the Beiyang government, we might as well raise the conditions, Lao Duan will definitely not be able to complete it, so he will be scolded by the country, see if he still has the face to continue to be the prime minister?" ”

After Yuan Jinkai finished speaking, Wu Junsheng also said with a smile: "Dashuai, people who are familiar with the situation in Japan have revealed to me that the Japanese want to occupy Shandong permanently this time and are unwilling to return to China, and Beiyang wants to take advantage of this opportunity to return to Shandong. ”

Wu Junsheng showed a smug smile as he spoke, looking like Zhizhu was holding it, but Zhang Tinglan was sighing in his heart on the side, he never thought that these veterans of Fengjun would have this wishful thinking, and his heart was suddenly extremely disappointed.

Zhang Tinglan felt more indignation on the Shandong issue, dissatisfaction with the great powers, and longing for Liliang, and Zhang Tinglan desperately hoped to make every effort to improve industrial strength and strengthen armaments. Then take back power from the Great Powers. But these old-school characters are different, they think this is an opportunity for Lao Duan to not come to the stage, and they want to bring down Duan Qirui.

In fact, this is also the fundamental difference between Zhang Tinglan and Wu Junsheng, Zhang Tinglan looks at the problem more from the perspective of the country, while Wu Junsheng and others look more at Fengjun and their own small abacus. Heavy internal fighting, light external fighting, different patterns, the results will be different.

Moreover, from Wu Junsheng's words, Zhang Tinglan also captured a trace of important information, Lao Wu communicated with the Japanese side, and also knew that Japan was not ready to return Shandong. This is not a trivial matter, what Zhang Tinglan hates most is the collusion between the top level of the Feng army and Japan, and now that Lao Wu has this sign, how can Zhang Tinglan be happy.

What worries Zhang Tinglan even more is whether there is any conspiracy here, after all, as long as the Japanese are involved. There is nothing good about it, Zhang Tinglan is already a little nervous.

Lao Zhang's eyes fell on Zhang Tinglan at this time. smiled and said, "Humble words." What do you think? ”

When asked about himself, Zhang Tinglan couldn't help but answer, thought about it and said: "Dashuai, the two things that Duan Qirui proposed are top priorities, if you can provide some help, try to help Lao Duan." Taking back the sovereignty of some countries can also boost the morale of the people. If this is used as a means to attack Lao Duan, I am afraid that it will make people think that Feng Jun does not know the general situation. Regardless of the overall situation, it is a little unbeautiful. ”

"To put it mildly, those who achieve big things are not informal, and if you want to do big things, you can't care about a small reputation." Wu Junsheng said on the side: "We want to bring down Lao Duan, but also to let the big marshal enter the Central Plains, and when we take control of the power, won't we be able to do more, and it is also a great thing for the people of the world." ”

Lao Wu still wanted to continue, but Zhang Zuolin waved his hand to stop him, and asked with a smile: "Humble words, in addition to helping and supporting Lao Duan, what else are you going to do?" ”

"Marshal, the defeat of Germany, the people are bound to be miserable, the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the outflow of all kinds of talents, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I think we should go all out to copy Europe, get more jishu and talents, in addition to the establishment of sea and air liliang, we should strengthen the vigilance in the border areas, the coastal defense and border defense are carried out, and the northeast will be built into a solid foundation."

"What you said makes sense, you are temporarily responsible for these two things, especially when you go to Europe to buy machinery and equipment, you must arrange professional manpower, and you will be fully responsible for it, and other government affairs will be handed over to others for the time being."

Hearing Lao Zhang's words, although Zhang Tinglan's face did not change, her heart was already a little churning, it seemed that Zhang Zuolin wanted to break himself away and not let himself interfere in this matter.

Obviously, Lao Zhang is no longer obedient, in fact, it's right to think about it, how can the dignified patrol envoy of the three eastern provinces, a generation of heroes, completely obey the proposition of a junior, especially after Fengjun has a certain strength in his hands, Lao Zhang must have his own ideas.

Zhang Tinglan was also a little lonely, and he wasn't arguing about anything, but he was still thinking about it in his head, to think about the things in front of him, and see what to do, which was the most beneficial to Feng Juncai.

Of course, the most important thing in front of him is how to copy Germany, Zhang Tinglan quickly found Kuang Rongguang and Xia Han and others, and the main figures in the industrial circles of the three eastern provinces were gathered together.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the war in Europe is over, this is our most haode opportunity, I am going to set up a special purchasing group, the task is to go to Europe to get the jishu equipment we urgently need, and then make every effort to recruit all kinds of talents."

"Humble words, we are waiting for this day to be short!" Kwong Rongguang said with a smile: "I think there are two things that must be clarified, what we lack and what we can get from Europe." ”

"That's right, Mr. Kwong got to the point all of a sudden." Xia Han said on the side: "The chemical industry, metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, medicine, automobiles, shipbuilding, etc. are all industries that we urgently need to fill. I suggest that all the factories in the three eastern provinces should unite to form a purchasing group, write down the problems we are facing, whether it is a shortage of people or equipment, and then we will go to Europe to purchase in a purpose. ”

Zhang Tinglan nodded: "This proposal is very good, we will temporarily divide the military industry and the civilian industry into two parts, make a list separately, and then go to procure, in addition, we must also be forward-looking, some key jishu breakthroughs may have just appeared, and have not yet been taken seriously, we must also take the opportunity to get it back, it is best to dig up talents to China together." ”

Kuang Rongguang said with a smile: "According to the meaning of the humble words, we will prepare immediately, but I also want to ask the humble words to give me a bottom, such a large-scale operation, the amount of money to be spent is no longer a small amount, how much money are you ready to pay?" ”

Zhang Tinglan stretched out her slap and shook it with a smile: "Five hundred million, Mr. Kuang, do you think it's enough?" ”

Although these people have seen Zhang Tinglan's big strokes, they suddenly came out with 500 million, which is simply astronomical, and they all opened their mouths wide, for fear that something would happen to their ears.

"Humble words, are you sure you can come up with so much money?"

"Mr. Kwong, in fact, this is only the first batch of investment, if you can contact the German government, the investment will increase!" (To be continued......)