In December, Shanghai attracted the attention of the entire China, conspiracy, disputes and transactions were carried out every day, and Yang Qiu suddenly arrived and threw oil on the restlessness.

Especially when the northern representative Yang Du took a bus back to his temporary residence with him. After the photo of the smiling face when he got off the bus was taken by reporters, many people began to speculate whether the two families had reached any agreement. You should know that when the Beiyang Army withdrew from Hubei, the National Defense Forces did not fire a bullet! At this moment when Nanjing began to conduct the Northern Expedition and Sun Yat-sen was about to return, the every move of the National Defense Forces of the three provinces really touched many people. Because everyone understood that if Yang Qiu did not participate in the Northern Expedition, it would be empty talk.

So early the next morning, Wu Tingfang, the chief representative of the South, took Cai Yuanpei to the mansion where Yang Qiu was temporarily living. He was a veteran diplomat and knew how big a change would a sudden appearance of a heavy person before the peace talks were reached. He was still worried when sitting in the car, and asked Cai Yuanpei beside him: "Heqing, what are you thinking about Yang Qiu? Come to Shanghai at this time."

Cai Yuanpei has been in Europe before, and after he hurried back, he was brought to serve as a representative. These geniuses have clarified the matter of Wuchang's shouyi night until now, and said worriedly: "Keqiang sent me a telegram. He thought Yang Qiu was probably here to run for office! Now he holds the military power of the three provinces, but in fact, the civil rights are in the hands of Tang Hualong and others, so taking back the power of affairs is definitely the most urgent thing for him."

"What do Keqiang and the others mean?" Wu Tingfang asked.

Cai Yuanpei scratched his eyebrows and said with a worried look on his face: "Keqiang means that he cannot give him civil rights, and he must be limited to the army. But you know the situation. If he cannot satisfy his side, I guess Tang Shaoyi and Yang Du can go back to Beijing in advance."

Wu Tingfang was also worried and sighed, "Yes! This is what I am most worried about. Give it, he will definitely completely control the three provinces. If he doesn't give it, he will turn to Yuan Shikai and us more passively. Xuzhou has been occupied by Beiyang, and Sun Baoqi from Shandong has also changed his words. More than 20,000 Beiyang troops were dragged in Wusheng Pass and Xinyang. If they reach an agreement, the Beiyang troops will turn around and go south to Hefei and Nanjing within three days!"

"Keqiang is probably a little angry this time. No matter what, Yang Qiu and his National Defense Forces are still revolutionary forces. If it weren't for him, Hubei wouldn't know what happened now." Cai Yuanpei thought for a while and said, "Mr. Sun and Hu Hanmin have already set off from Hong Kong and can go to Shanghai for up to five days. We will go to explore his words today, which is really not possible. A three-provincial inspection envoy will take it out."

Wu Tingfang knew that this was probably the best way, so he shut up and stopped talking.

The mansion where Yang Qiu was temporarily staying was just a road away from the public concession. Everyone suggested that he move into the concession directly, but because the concession did not allow soldiers to enter even in military uniforms, he refused to enter the concession. In the end, Zhang Wenjing had to find someone to leave this ** mansion, so that if there was something wrong, he could quickly avoid the concession.

After the car drove into the mansion, the two found that there were three steps, one post, five steps, and before they could laugh at Yang Qiu's timidity, they suddenly found a car with an American flag parked in front of them. They hurriedly asked Wang Zhengting who came to greet him: "Ru Tang, this is..."

Wang Zhengting and Cai Yuanpei met, and Wu Tingfang was also an old Tongmenghui, and said, "The two gentlemen are going to wait. The commander is meeting the American minister."

"American Minister?" Wu Tingfang and Cai Yuanpei looked at each other and saw each other's shock. First, they came on the German ship, but now the American minister took the initiative to come to the door. Who is this Yang Qiu? Didn't he say that his parents were both dead and only one uncle was in the kerosene business in Shanghai? How could it be so deeply involved?! Wang Zhengting did not continue talking, and avoided this topic. It was difficult for the two of them to continue asking questions, so they could only sit down and wait patiently.

Henry Murphy is the US ambassador to Shanghai. Unlike all the noble missions such as Britain and France, he comes from an ordinary British immigrant family in Wisconsin. He has a typical American optimistic face under his simple American suit, but only those who have dealt with him know that he is a big American and actively supports the US open door policy.

"Dear Commander, don't you need to entertain your comrade first?" Henry looked at Wu Tingfang and Wang Zhengting in the garden and whispered. In fact, no matter which side was, he wanted to find out Yang Qiu's final position at this moment.

Yang Qiu smiled calmly and said, "Revolution is for pursuing democracy and freedom, but in addition to these, we also need enough bread to make the people rich. I want to be like the United States." His English is good, so he did not use any translation and took out a procurement list that had been prepared: "Mr. Minister, my representative should have discussed this with you before. Today I hope to implement it."

Henry's purpose today is this big business.

The United States has a very awkward political position in the Far East. It has been shouting for many years that the opening-door policy was restricted because the UK proposed the principle of consistency in action among countries in China. The military industry with the most profit was monopolized by Germany and Japan. The shipbuilding industry was dominant. It finally obtained an order for a training cruiser and was likely to face the embarrassment of being unable to pay the final payment. The huge amount of American goods did not pour into the Far East as imagined. So when I heard that Yang Qiu had recently thrown a large order that could support tens of thousands of workers, I always hoped to make it completely.

The purchase order was made in detail and marked in Chinese and English. Henry could see it clearly even without a translation. This included a complete steel plant, 50,000 tons of scrap steel, hundreds of industrial equipment, a tractor plant and a large number of unknown high-strength steel pipes, etc. The most important thing is that at the end of the procurement book, there was an intention agreement, that is, the United States would build 50,000 rifles, 0 million bullets and a 70mm gun barrel!

The total value is 16 million silver dollars, which is approximately v8 million US dollars!

Although Henry couldn't wait to take it into his arms, he was not a greedy businessman who ignored the consequences. In addition to seeking benefits for the United States, he also needed to consider the political factors behind each business and deliberately pointed to the list one by one: "Iron and Steel Factory? Did I read it correctly? Dear Commander, there is currently only one iron ore in your controlled area. Hanyang Steel Factory is not very useful to the Japanese, but

Mining Area 1. Are you sure you can get enough mineral sand for the steel plant to start construction? Oh 1. You purchased blast furnaces to re-scrap steel. So many machine tools and equipment, it requires enough workers and a lot of money! Tractor Factory 1. Are you sure it is not an automobile factory? Two thousand five-meter 120mm and 80mm steel pipes still need such high strength? Is this pipe wall thickness too thin for making cannons? Ammunition 1. God! This violates the neutrality principle of various countries."

Yang Qiu narrowed his smile and watched Henry perform. Another person might have been worried, but he firmly believed that American cars would sit and watch the contract slip away! Open door policy 1. Haha, Americans are very hungry these days, otherwise why would the United States angrily withdraw from the Four-Nation Bank Group in two years? So he waited patiently for him to finish one by one, deliberately frowned: "Mr. I am an impatient soldier. Can't the United States make these things?"

"No!" Henry would never allow others to doubt the industrial capacity of the United States. He said with certainty: "The United States has the most powerful manufacturing capacity in the world. If needed, we can complete all the above procurement lists within another half a year. However, our country must abide by the principle of neutrality. Your country is currently in war, and selling arms is contrary to international law."

Yang Qiu picked up the coffee and enjoyed the bitter smile of this era and said, "Do you think we can continue to fight? To be honest, yesterday I had reached an opinion on exchanging prisoners of war with the North, and I believe you should know that this is a sign of the end of any war."

"Oh? Is this true?" Henry's head turned rapidly and recorded this important news. If it is true, it means that the most powerful defense force in Southern China is likely to give up the Northern Expedition, so he asked: "Commander, as far as I know, Nanjing and Shanghai are discussing the Northern Expedition, and Guangzhou's troops have even arrived at the front line. Are you going to give up?"

Yang Qiu immediately said: "Of course I will not give up. It is our responsibility to overthrow the Qing government! No matter how difficult the future is, I will not give up. But... As a pacifist, I don't want to see the country fall into war for a long time. Your Excellency Yuan Shikai has promised me to persuade the Qing Dynasty to abdicate as soon as possible. If he can do it, why should the soldiers bleed?"

The pacifist? Henry's eyes twitched, and he had the idea of ​​splashing coffee on his face. Yang Qiucai didn't care about him so much, and waved his hand to the guard to bring a brand new rifle: "This is a new rifle I designed myself. Yesterday I handed over the sample gun and drawings to Germany. They have promised to send the gun to Mauser for subsequent testing and modifications. I expect it to be finalized in two months at the latest. Unfortunately, our country's industrial capacity is too poor and cannot meet the needs of the troops to change their clothes, so we need some help."

Henry was a soldier when he was young and picked up the gun and started to sway it. From the appearance, it looked a bit like a short British rifle. The traditional five-round fixed magazine. The bullet changed the German standard in China at present, using the 7625 bottomless bullet (the bullet was changed, everyone's opinion). Of course, he would not care whether the gun was designed by Yang Qiu because a rifle would not change the current situation in China. What really surprised him was that Yang Qiu was able to convince Germany to let the famous Mauser company serve him! Thinking of the previous incident of him riding on a German cruiser, it means that some kind of connection might have been established between them!

Put down the gun and tentatively said: "I heard that the Hanchuan Railway has started construction. Why did the Commander hand over this artery that connects the three provinces to private companies with insufficient technical capabilities? I think we should participate in the United States, because our country has the best railway technology in the world."

They are all helping the evil wolf. Yang Qiu sneered in his heart and said, "Is a railway really that important? In the upper reaches, it accounts for nearly one-quarter of China's population, which is an extremely huge market! Unfortunately, as an old country, the UK's method there is very unreasonable. They only think of skimming over resources but forgetting to cultivate the market.

I think your minister should know more about this than me, what will a stable and densely populated area with a certain purchasing power bring."

"Yes, the Commander and I have come to this point, but how do you make sure that the people have enough purchasing power?" Henry picked up the cup and waited quietly for the following.

Yang Qiu stood up and looked at the waiting people downstairs, speaking slowly: "This is a complicated process, which specifically involves many aspects including tax reform, land resource allocation, and the need to get the surplus rural labor out of the land, which takes a certain amount of time. But I think I have already done it! This procurement planning equipment can form four large factories and absorb tens of thousands of labor. In addition, I am also planning to establish a free economic bonded zone in Hankou, and convert the resources of the three provinces into commodities with this bonded zone as the center, which is much cheaper than shipping by ship."

"Free Economy Bonded Zone? What do you mean is to establish a new concession?" Henry almost jumped up. This is big news! You should know that because the rise was too late, the world had been divided up by Britain and France, so the United States had to enjoy second-class treatment. Many consulates in China had to parasitize in the UK or public concessions. If a new large American concession could be promoted, he could even enter the White House.

Yang Qiu shook his head and smiled, "Mr. Minister, do you think the old method of the concession will bring anything besides arousing public anger?"

In Henry's doubts, Yang Qiu said the idea of ​​the bonded zone in later generations. The novel concept was very interesting to him. Although he still needed to abide by local laws and pay some taxes, if such a bonded zone was really available, then American companies could enter the Chinese market in a large number of streams and use the resources of the three provinces to create more commodities. God! How did he come up with this novel idea? And Yang Qiu took two steps and pretended to be mysterious: "I believe that your minister is very clear that our country is on the verge of an anxious and uneasy xenophobic movement. The people do not like foreign goods very much. If there is a bonded zone, then some companies can fully operate in a joint venture. As long as the people can see that the origin of the goods is indicated to be domestic, their acceptance will definitely increase a lot."

There is no doubt that Yang Qiu’s suggestions are all tempting, but Henry has a final doubt: “Master Commander, how do you ensure that your dream is realized?”

Yang Qiu took out a 762mm bullet from his pocket and put it on the table: "Right and one. It."

Henry left, took away the procurement contract without any accident, and promised to strive to promote the trade. He also expressed his willingness to send technicians to assist in the construction of Hanyang Iron and Steel and Tractor Factory. Of course, the free bonded zone plan may be the best interest he took away.

Looking at the car slowly driving out of the door, quickly integrating into the huge Shanghai Concession Zone, Yang Qiu didn't know whether his set would work or whether it would be stolen. However, he insisted on his own path. Later practices have proved the role of bonded areas in promoting industrial development. A bonded area factory can drive a large number of small spare parts factories. China is already too behind, and the long model of traditional handicraft transitioning to industry can no longer help this country.

Of course, before these dreams, there is another thing to do, right!

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Chapter completed!