"Huh? Expensive? ”

Zhou Changfeng, who didn't know why, walked over, pointed to the porcelain jar on the table and said, "I asked when I was doing things before, and the emperor said that she didn't like this, so he asked me to bring it back." ”

Oh, Gongcha, then everything makes sense.

Xia Xiaoshi nodded lightly and said, "Sir, it's normal that you don't know, I think this should be the big red robe of Wuyi Mountain, and I'm afraid it's the best grade." ”

"Is it particularly expensive...... How much? ”

"That's for sure, someone once sent it to my father's door, and it is said that the high-grade red robe is worth sixty yuan and a pound on the market."

Outrageous, higher than the monthly salary of the vast majority of the capital's citizens.

This is tea, like drinking gold.

Zhou Changfeng stared at the pot of tea, crossed his waist and said, "Then I'll use it to make tea and drink it later, and see how much difference it is from a bag of eight cents." ”

After speaking, he added: "Do you remember what you said yesterday? Later, I will go to the Tonghui Hotel for a banquet, this time to talk to foreign diplomats. ”

"Oh, remember." Xia Xiaoshi advised: "Just take a few drinks, don't drink too much, I feel uncomfortable smelling wine now." ”

"Good, good, never drink too much."

Zhou Changfeng agreed, then returned to the study to read the memo again, and then began to think about the situation when he met with the staff of the German Legation in the future.

Although the Cabinet did not intend to shut him out, it did not want to negotiate straightforwardly, so it planned to meet privately before the two sides formally negotiated to exchange views and attitudes in a superficial manner.

The meeting place was chosen in the Tonghui Hotel, and in addition to Zhou Changfeng, there were also the military department of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion and the foreign affairs secretary of the Ministry of Rites, representing the emperor, the military department, and the imperial court respectively.

The golden autumn of October should have been a good day with high and crisp weather, but unfortunately it was raining in the capital for the past two days, and the sky was dark.

In the evening, when the setting sun stained only a small part of the western sky red, the rest of the place was very gray, and before six o'clock, the lights of all kinds of cars and trams were turning on on the streets.

Two round black Beetle cars drove out of the German Legation in Daming and drove straight to the Tonghui Hotel, which was three streets away.

This is Volkswagen's pioneering work, and perhaps this time it is more worthy of the name of Volkswagen's people's car.

Different from the "scam" in history in which more than 600 Beetles were sold to the public, in order to prove the superiority of its own system, the German Society implemented the people's car plan early, and Ferdinand Porsche personally mastered his own proud work.

However, because of the exterior design, today's Beetle cars are slightly different from their historical ones.

In the first car, the man driving turned his head sideways and said, "Chrissy, this is really a coincidence, they assigned the person who knows you well. ”

"They did it on purpose." Chrissy, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked ahead and said lightly: "Actually, I don't want to deal with that person." ”

"Uh... It's rare to hear you say that. ”

"In fact, he is more vigilant and sensitive than others, and perhaps there will be no significant gains today."

The windshield wipers swept the rain back and forth on the front windshield, and since it was late afternoon, the traffic was not small, and the two Beetles could only move forward slowly.

I don't know how many times they hung up back and forth, but they finally arrived at their destination.

The two men and one woman were present at the meeting, Chrissy wore a blue and white plaid dress and a beige top hat, and the other two diplomats, although dressed in suits and leather shoes, were generally more casual.

Enter the door, enter the elevator, and go around all the way under the guide.

Unofficial private meetings are naturally not very formal, and after a few simple pleasantries, they are then seated.

A large private room with a delicately patterned carpet underneath, a large copper chandelier on the top, and a medium-sized round table in the middle.

Although they are old acquaintances in a sense, Zhou Changfeng always feels that meeting Chrissy is a very different thing, and it is very uncomfortable.

This is probably the "deterrence" of professional characteristics - knowing that the other party belongs to intelligence officers, so subconsciously will be extra vigilant, and every word must be weighed again, so it will be quite tiring.

"You don't have to be restrained, let's just talk in private, so you can be more comfortable." Fan Ming, the secretary of the Army Department, said with a smile: "Haha, speak freely, speak freely." ”

Looking at the honest Fan Ming is by no means good at stubble, otherwise it would be impossible to hold this position, at least Zhou Changfeng feels that he will inevitably suffer a loss when dealing with this kind of person, and the twenty years of experience in the ups and downs of the sea is not fake.

The implication of his remark was not to take this private meeting too seriously, it was essentially just a preliminary exchange of views between the two sides; At the same time, I also got a preventive shot by the way.

As diplomats of the legation, the two Germans had long learned to distinguish the voice-over of the Ming officials, and they knew it as soon as they heard it.

So one of the diplomats spoke in fluent Chinese:

"Distinguished gentlemen, the present situation is not good, and the British, while trying their best to restrain our country, are doing everything in their power to hinder you."

"You rely on imports for most of the oil you need, so it's not a good feeling to be choked, and our people feel the same way."

"Unlike the iron ore that you have enough for your own use, our country not only lacks oil, but also does not have enough iron ore, and even food is not fully guaranteed."

"In this regard, gentlemen, I think that our people share your troubles, and that the predatory colonial rule of England and France needs to end."

In that case, the diplomat should have said "Anglo-French imperialism," but given that the person he was talking to was also an out-and-out imperialist, he naturally could not use that word.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Zhang Wushan has a straight face from the beginning to the present, this is a tall thin man who is not angry and arrogant.

He calmly asked, "Mr. Paul, what do you mean by 'ending the colonial rule of Britain and France'?" ”

Knowingly asking rhetorical questions throws the topic ball back, which is a basic conversation game operation - try to let the other party express their attitude and put forward their opinions first, so that you have a natural advantage.

However, because they had come with a clear purpose, the two German diplomats did not want to play with words.

So the diplomat, Paul, replied generously, "By force, of course, Mr. Zhang." When diplomacy and politics are ineffective, soldiers, artillery, and airplanes are the strong backing for interests. ”

"So, you're ready for a tough one?" Zhang Wushan's tone was indifferent, he paused, and added, "We must be preparing. ”

It is not appropriate to ask the other person blindly, which will appear to be insincere and overly vigilant, but it can be avoided by mentioning your own situation occasionally.

The two diplomats on the other side were silent, they looked at each other, and then looked at Chriss, who was sitting on the far left.

She took a sip of wine and said calmly, "We're always ready." Enough oppression from Britain and France, these are two bastards who are in cahoots. Just as you want to be 'famous', we are also waiting for the right time. ”

Uh-huh? This woman's Chinese level has improved qualitatively, not only is her speech much clearer, her tone is basically accurate, and she can also use idioms.

The timing couldn't be clearer – now Britain and France are continuing to make a fuss about Norway and Sweden, and are even considering landing directly in Norway.

The top level of the Ming Dynasty knew this information, and the same was true of the German Society.

Zhou Changfeng glanced at the two beside him, then looked at the other side and muttered, "Since you are thinking about making a preemptive strike, how long will you wait?" I am referring to after the Anglo-French began to act. ”

"Soon!" Expressionless, Chrissy replied coldly: "These unscrupulous imperialists openly invade neutral countries, then they must pay the price they deserve, we will bury them, and the ice and snow of Scandinavia are their graves." ”

Because of her family background and her three views as a ▇▇▇, Chrissy's hatred of Britain and France is deep in the bone marrow.

Uh... You used such radical words in front of Mingren?

Fortunately, it was only a private meeting, and if it was a formal negotiation, it would be a diplomatic accident.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he heard this, and then looked at the side - Fan Ming was still as stable as Mount Tai, his face did not change, and he was still kind; Zhang Wushan's gaze sharpened, but his face was still expressionless.

He exhaled lightly and smiled, "In that case, your navy will have to fight, but in the face of the (British) Royal Navy, which has a natural advantage, you are likely to suffer a great loss." ”

This was the case with the Norwegian campaign in history, where the German navy suffered heavy losses - the cruisers Blucher and Karlsruhe were sunk; Ten destroyers were unilaterally slaughtered in Narvik by the battle cruisers of the Royal Navy, all sunk.

"Mr. Zhou, are you trying to dissuade us?" Another diplomat said in a deep voice: "Our will is very strong, and war will inevitably pay a price, but this is not a business, and we can't count gains and losses like this." ”

"No," Zhou Changfeng smiled slightly, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm just talking, in fact, you should be more optimistic, because the British will prepare a large fleet to the Far East in order to deter our country." ”

As the conversation progressed, the mood in the room took a subtle turn.

Although the Germans knew that there was no possibility of an alliance, they tried to secure some cooperation agreements – military, intelligence, material, and technical.

Isn't it beautiful to take what you need?

"There is an old Chinese saying, 'Distant friendship and close attack'." The diplomat named Paul said earnestly: "Gentlemen, no matter how great our differences may be, in the face of a common enemy, even if we cannot be safely united, is it not worth considering a little cooperation?" ”

Fan Ming stroked his beard and smiled without saying a word.

Zhang Wushan, who looked calm, looked at him and asked rhetorically: "What kind of cooperation?" For example, exchanging useful information on a regular basis? Or barter? ”

"The highest priority should be the exchange of information." Chrissy said bluntly, "It's called 'check and fill in the gaps', so as not to miss out on important information." ”

Daming knows that A doesn't know B, and Tokusha knows that B doesn't know A, and this can be avoided if information is exchanged regularly.

She paused and added, "If you're willing to inform your decision, we'll do it all." ”

Obviously, this goes a step further ... Or rather, once at the top.

The exchange of intelligence is actually nothing, but the span of informing the country's decision-making is too large, and even two allies in alliance will each have one hand.

"Why bother?" Fan Ming said with a smile: "With your country's national strength and military strength, it is not a problem to seek self-protection, and your country and our country will ...... Echo each other from afar. ”

Compared with Fan Ming's polite refusal, Zhou Changfeng was much more direct, he waved his hand and said lightly: "If you don't consider this aspect of decision-making, it is a big deal." The technical and material aspects are worth talking about, and can even be expanded and deepened. ”

"We can basically do nothing, but you also have to pay for something of equal value." Chrissy also responded cheerfully.

"In this case, there are advantages and disadvantages to cooperation." Zhang Wushan took a sip of the wine cup.

At this time, another German diplomat sighed helplessly: "Since the British and French intercepted merchant ships in the Suez Canal, our country has not received rare metal minerals." ”

The ship Cheng'an is still detained in Beirut today, and the crew is similarly trapped in that remote foreign land.

In fact, the French side does not want to completely break the relationship with the Ming Dynasty - it is enough to intercept and detain merchant ships, so let's release them.

But Britain has been getting in the way, insisting that unless the Ming court publicly admits that it violated the agreement, it will never release these crew members as "evidence".

For several months, the three parties have been arguing and bargaining, and the Ming court has also deliberately hyped up the matter, and the people are naturally angry.

[War Support +5%]

Today's German society is quite embarrassed in terms of rare metal resources. Portugal also has a large reserve of tungsten ore, which has historically been in business at both ends during the Great War, so Germany has always had a stable source of tungsten ore - not abundant, but barely enough.

However, this plane is very different, due to the difference in ideology, Portugal is naturally impossible to export to the German Society, not to mention that Britain and France have taken all the tungsten ore produced in Portugal according to the order, so they do not have to worry about making money.

"In the future, we can consider a more special method and use large ocean-going submarines." Zhou Changfeng said.

"It's too inefficient." Paul smiled wryly, "If only the Russians were willing to disobey the sun." ”

Rail transport is naturally a better option, but the Russians ...... Would you really agree?

This is the equivalent of handing a knife to a potential enemy, which could stab itself in turn at any moment.

Perhaps because she had drunk a lot of wine, Chrissy's fair face was slightly reddened, and her words became more out of place.

"There is no need for the decaying Romanov dynasty to exist, these imperial Russian nobles will definitely be buried, and the current imperial Russia is like a broken hut in the wilderness, it only needs to be 'kicked at the door' and it will collapse......"

My God! What are you talking about!

Paul, who was beside her, quickly tugged at the hem of her skirt.

The Air Force Insignia Style Easter Egg Badge has been updated.

(End of chapter)