PS: Ask for tickets at the end of the month!

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Presidential palace.

After sending off the British and French ambassadors, Wen Desi gathered a bunch of henchmen and members of the Military Commission for a meeting to see how to slaughter the cattle and roosters that were sent to the door.

"This kind of bamboo pole sent to the door, if you don't knock hard, you are simply sorry for the motherland and the people!" Zhang Lizheng, premier of the State Council, said with a righteous face: "Anyway, Britain and France have money, and they have looted the entire earth for hundreds of years.

"Well, of course it can't be low, last time I recommended it to them, they didn't like it, and now they want to eat back grass, but it's not that price!" Wen Desi also said sternly. After speaking, he said to the commander-in-chief of the navy, Wang Tiezhu: "Tiehammer, what ships can be sold in the navy now?"

Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Wang Tiezhu, said with a smile on his face: "Mr. Wen, our navy now has a lot of old ships to sell, the Qing Dynasty and Beiyang leftovers, the second-hand ships bought for training when the army was first established, and the ones captured in the Sino-Japanese War, a lot of them." Let me count them, there are twelve former dreadnoughts that can be sold, eight old armored cruisers that are more than ten years old, eight protective cruisers, and twenty-three destroyers...... Well, presumably they won't want shallow gunboats and torpedo boats...... If it weren't for the fact that there were training ships, I would have even sold the Kurama, Ikoma, and Hirado, all of which were second-hand ships less than 10 years old......."

Mr. Wang gave an offer while calculating, and both eyes were shining with green light: "For example, how about selling these twelve ships to them for 15 million pounds? The average ship is only 1.25 million pounds, which is very fair." "Where does Mr. Wang still look down on those fearless people now, and he can't wait to sell them at a high price to the wronged bosses, and then add new ships to himself.

He wrenched his fingers and said: "Well, eight armored cruisers are 8 million pounds, eight protective cruisers are 6.4 million pounds, and 23 destroyers will be sold in piles for 4.6 million pounds, so that a total of 34 million pounds......!

"......" Mr. Wen and Premier Zhang both looked at him with blank expressions. £3,400?

"Wang, you're going too far, aren't you! Those wrecked ships are worth £34 million? Are you taking the British for a fool?" Rosie, the commander-in-chief of the army, couldn't stand it.

Wang Tiehammer said angrily: "Cut, now they are begging us? His sister, we bought their old man star back then, but it cost 800,000 pounds per ship, and I have always remembered this account." Besides, we have modernized and refitted those warships, and now I have only increased by 450,000 yuan, and I have not doubled and sold them to them, which is already very conscientious, okay!"

"Lao Wang, your price is too high, Britain and France will definitely not agree...... "Air Force Commander-in-Chief Meng Shu also said sourly.

Originally, the military expenditure of the navy was high, although it was not as high as the army, but it was much higher than that of the air force. In addition, they also have a "naval construction fund" that is privately funded, which can share a lot of dividends every year, and last year they distributed more than 80 million yuan, which made Commander Meng's eyes very red. Although the Air Force also has an "Air Force Construction Fund" on its side, its income is far worse than that of the Navy, and it was divided into less than 20 million last year.

Not to mention, the "gold strike" operation of robbing British gold since the beginning of the war, the navy has made a windfall, which makes the army and air force envious to death. Once this navy is shameless to be a pirate, it will be really rich. This is also the most frustrating thing for Commander Meng, the army is fine, once it invades the enemy country, it can be robbed. But the Air Force is not easy to manage, the number of airborne troops is so small.

"Ahem...... Wen Desi spoke: "This price is indeed higher, but the price is too high to pay back on the spot, although we are now going to support the Entente, but we will not do loss-making transactions." We calculate the purchase cost of these warships, including the cost of later modifications, and double it is our reserve price. ”

"Of course, we can also give them a concession, that is, they don't have to pay all the cash, they can use their colonies to pay off their debts......" Wen Deji smiled and said, "For example, British Malaya, British India and so on, we can accept them...... The specific conditions will be formulated by Premier Zhang and Minister Ka......"

After Mr. Wen set the tone, the meeting broke up, and Zhang Lizheng and Cavour immediately began to sharpen their knives behind closed doors, and they were ready to sharpen their knives to the crisp, and they were ready to slaughter opium cattle and Gallic chickens at that time.

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At that time, it was not only China that was ready to eat a big beef and chicken feast at this time, Britain and France also found the United States to sell old warships, and the unscrupulous Yankees also prepared knives, forks and dinner plates, and were ready to cut a large piece of beef and chicken to feast on. Well, although according to the Sino-US secret treaty, both countries must now vigorously support the Entente, but the Americans are not open-minded, if they can't even slaughter the cattle that are sent to the door, are they still qualified Americans?

The Americans were also overjoyed that they could sell their rags at a high price, and all of their 21 existing former dreadnoughts (BB5-BB25) were put up for sale. As for the armored cruisers, all but four of the newest Tennessee-class (Memphis-class) were ready to be sold to the Entente. In addition, there were thirteen protective cruisers and fifty-six destroyers.

What is the price they offer? Not much, that is, according to the cost of the price, but the unit is changed from dollars to pounds. At that time, the exchange rate between the British pound and the US dollar was about 1:4. 86......

Anyway, after getting the offer from the United States, China's top leaders were all scorched. Everyone said that compared with these old imperialists, we are still too young, too simple, our hearts are not black enough, and we are not ruthless enough.

Of course, Britain and France are not fools, how can it be possible that you can pay as much as you say, and pay back the money on the spot if you ask for the sky. So at both ends of the ocean, the British and French delegations began a painstaking bargaining process, but no matter how hard they tried, the effect was limited, because the shape was different.

Now on the Russian side, due to successive defeats, Lithuania on the Eastern Front has been lost, Belarus is about to be lost, Ukraine has lost half, and the South American battlefield is slightly better, only half of Armenia has been lost. The number of Russian casualties has exceeded 2 million, more than 5 million wounded, and about 800,000 have entered Allied prisoner of war camps.

As a result of a series of failures, as well as the deterioration of the economy, the consequences were extremely severe. The prototype of the clay-footed giant of Russia has finally been revealed, the prestige of the royal family has plummeted, and the domestic form has reached a precarious point.

Although the Russian Empire seemed to be very large and terrifying, and was regarded by Europe as a "gray steamroller" and a "European gendarme", it was actually a giant with clay feet and a strong foreign power, and its economic, political and other systems were very backward, and at the same time, the government army was extremely corrupt, the officials were incompetent, and the system problems were extremely strict. The whole of Russia is full of sharp and complex contradictions.

Although Tsar Nicholas II was mediocre and incompetent, he was an expert in suppressing the revolution, and was called the "bloody Tsar" by the people. The first bourgeois revolution in Russia in 1905~1907 was stifled by him. In order to divert domestic contradictions, and at the same time to plunder abroad, Nicholas II dragged Russia into the First World War.

However, the result was that the Russian army suffered repeated defeats, lost its divisions and lost its territory, its already backward economy was greatly damaged, and the disasters of the war aroused strong dissatisfaction among the broad masses of the people. Up to now, this war has completely intensified the social contradictions in Russia, and the anti-war movement in the country has been growing day by day.

Russia is now in chaos, under heavy oppression for a long time, the people in hunger and cold can no longer endure the heavy oppression and the sacrifice in vain, and the mass struggles are one after another. There is unrest almost everywhere, and there are mass incidents every day.

By this time, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Russia could no longer hold on, and it was only a matter of time before a revolution broke out in the country. At this time, the morale of the Russian army on the Eastern Front was extremely low and the soldiers had no heart to fight. Now Germany and Austria-Hungary have also seen that they have slowed down their attacks on Russia, and instead transferred a large number of main forces to the Western Front and increased their offensive against Britain and France.

And after the British landed in Britain in Germany, they were also driven crazy, and now although London can still hold on, it is also three shocks a day. The most terrible thing is that during this time, the Germans reinforced 14 more divisions to the British Isles, and occupied Oxford and Harlow north of London, as well as Reading west of London, cutting off several major connecting routes between London and other regions.

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Now the shape of the Entente is extremely critical, and if the revolution breaks out in Russia, or if London falls, then the battle will be almost over. They can't afford to drag it out, even if China and the United States offer a very high price, but this batch of warships must be eaten.

China and the United States, however, were not in a hurry, at least on the surface, and they were bargaining with Britain and France on the one hand, and colluding with each other on the other, sending several or even a dozen transoceanic telegrams every day. After the two parties hooked up, they gave a final price at the same time, indicating that it could not be less.

The United States said that the price of the warships was 45 million pounds, which was the final price and could not be less. But you can pay for it without giving so much cash. All islands and bases in the Caribbean Sea and its coast, French Guiana, British Guiana, and the Great Lakes region of Canada, all areas south of the 50th parallel, including all of Newfoundland and Vancouver Island, and the Pacific islands of Britain and France......

China's final offer was £27 million, and it was acceptable to pay off the debt with land without cash. British Malaya, British Borneo, British India, Ceylon, French Indochina, the Gulf, etc., can be ......

As soon as Britain and France received this condition, they were directly in the groove. This Nima is simply taking advantage of the fire to rob ah! Both countries are under this condition, and if Britain and France do not think that this is a joint effort between China and the United States to raise prices, it will be imperialism that has been working in vain for so many years. China and the United States will absolutely not be in a hurry for this deal, and Britain and France really cannot afford to wait.

Looking at the posture of these two companies, if they do not cede the land, they will definitely not be able to do this business, even if Britain and France really spend such a large amount of money to buy, China and the United States will definitely find all kinds of excuses to make things difficult, anyway, it is not them who are in a hurry. At this critical juncture, Britain and France had no choice but to pinch their noses and admit that it was a big deal to win the battle and then get it back from Erdezi.

"Damn Americans, damn Chinese, these greedy devils! They will definitely go to hell! Definitely!" Prime Minister Lloyd George had a feeling of grief and indignation, in the past, it was the British who treated others as wronged bosses, how could there be such a wronged boss? When was the British Empire so tormented by two nouveau riche?

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, but now without these warships, we simply cannot hold the vast colony, nor can we suppress the German fleet. Arthur Balfour, Secretary of the Admiralty, who had recently become Foreign Secretary, was also saddened: "Your Excellency, although the colonies are important, the homeland is even more important......

"I know, well, it looks like this time it's not going to work......" Lloyd George sat down in his chair in frustration.

He thought for a while with a gloomy face before saying: "But India and Canada are the foundation of the empire, and these two lands cannot be compromised under any circumstances! The Caribbean Sea can be given to the United States, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean can also be given to a few, but don't think about these Yankees elsewhere!"

"Well, what about the Chinese?" asked Arthur Belfour.

Lloyd George said angrily: "Burma and Malaya can't give it, and British Borneo can't give it, and a group of yellow monkey nouveau riche dare to blackmail us." ”

"Your Excellency, we now have a very large shortage of warships, and if we lack China's warships, we will still not have enough. "Although Balfour now wears two hats, mainly in charge of foreign affairs, he is still familiar with naval affairs.

"Hey, well, let's find a less important piece of territory for the Chinese, these damn guys are the Jews of the East at all!" Lloyd George gritted his teeth and cursed, and could only give in to reality.

He searched for a long time on the map of things on the wall, and finally pointed to the colony in the bay and said, "Arthur, what is there?"

Belfort shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sand, dates, camels and Arabs, nothing but these...... I think just this little bit of sand, I'm afraid the Chinese will not want to. ”

Sir Henry Jackson, First Sea Secretary, said: "These Chinese are no less greedy for land than the Russians, you see they even want rotten land like New Guinea, and besides, they have bought the Hasa region from the Ottomans, which shows that they still value it." You can try it altogether, but if it doesn't work, you can add more. Besides, the French can't just go out of nothing!"