109021908 Far East Madman Chapter 421 Traveling South to the East

In the wilderness to the northwest, "the railroad stretches north and south. The northern section of the railway, which is currently controlled by a German consortium, has not yet been completed.

The Jinpu Railway is the former Jinzhen Railway, and the construction of this railway itself is the product of an international political struggle, similar to the Jinghan Railway. The construction of this railway was also discussed after the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, and it was the Americans who first proposed the construction of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, but the Americans did not come forward directly, but through a Chinese Rong Rong who had close ties with the American business community, he came forward to the Qing court, asking for the establishment of the Jinzhen Railway Company, and agreed to "serve" 2 million taels of silver to the financially constrained Qing court, and then "repay" the imperial court 25 percent of the profits of the railway company every year.

For the Qing court at that time, Rong Ge's suggestion was very tempting, because of the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court was burdened with heavy foreign debts, resulting in extremely difficult finances, if according to Rong Ge's proposal, not only could you earn two million taels of silver at that time, but also later from this catty, the profits of the Jinzhen Railway Company, so the Qing court, which had always been not interested in the railway, immediately reacted to Rong Hao's suggestion, issued an edict, officially approved Rong Ge's request, allowed the establishment of a railway company, and built a railway.

But as soon as this edict of the Qing court was issued. It immediately aroused protests from Germany, because according to the railway plan, the Jinzhen Railway would pass through Shandong, and Shandong had just become Germany's "sphere of influence", so Germany strongly demanded that the Qing court hand over the construction rights of the Jinzhen Railway to the German consortium, and the German consortium would control this north-south communication artery.

The German protest made the Qing court very frightened, but before the Qing court had time to react, the British protest also followed, and the British not only protested diplomatically, but even used the Far East Fleet to directly intimidate the Qing court by force. Therefore, the Qing court had to "compensate" the British, and the content of the compensation was to hand over the construction and control of the Jinzhen Railway to a British consortium.

The Luhan Railway was later known as the Jinghan Railway. In that battle for the right of way, Britain and the United States were on one side, France, Russia, and Belgium were on the other side, and the two sides fought openly and secretly for the control of this north-south artery, but because the United States soon fell into the war with Spain, it was no longer able to pay attention to the Luhan railway issue, so Britain finally lost in this battle for the right of way, it is worth mentioning that in this battle for the right of way, Germany was on the side of Russia, and Britain had not yet ally with France at that time.

It is also because of the defeat in the battle for the Luhan Railway. The United States will turn its attention to the Jinzhen Railway, and for the same reason, Britain has also decided to attack the Jinzhen Railway, especially when Germany is also interested in this railway, and Britain is even more determined to win the Jinzhen Railway.

Under this complicated and deceitful international political background, the Qing court once again became a rat in the bellows, which side did not dare to offend, after some weighing, Rong Ge, the "fake foreign devil" was the first to be kicked out, and the Americans' wishful thinking was naturally lost, so the remaining competitors were only Britain and Germany, and under the international background at that time, the British government hoped to win over Germany against the Russian Far East forces, therefore, Britain and Germany exchanged interests on the Jinzhen railway issue, and the two countries finally reached an agreementIt was agreed that the southern section of the Jinzhen Railway would be built and controlled by the British. The northern section, built and controlled by Germany, was divided into Hanzhuang on the border between Shandong and Anhui, and this agreement not only resolved the issue of the ownership of the Jinzhen ironclad, but also formally recognized the two countries' respective spheres of influence in China, and eased tensions between Britain and Germany.

For the British and German pounds. The "commercial treaty" Qing court had no countermeasures, but had to agree to hand over the Jinzhen Railway to the two countries, the northern section to be undertaken by the Deutsch-Hua Bank, and the southern section to be undertaken by the Sino-British company, and for this purpose to borrow more than 7 million pounds from Britain and Germany, as an additional condition, this foreign debt will be completely repaid after 50 years, until the full loan is repaid, the Jinzhen Railway will be managed and controlled by the Anglo-German banking group, and for 30 years after the completion of the railway, the Qing court will not borrow money from France, Russia or other countries to repay the loan of the Jinzhen Railway.

This overlord loan treaty not only allowed Britain and Germany to join forces to gain control of the Jinzhen Railway. Moreover, it revealed to the Qing court the illusion of international politics that Britain and Germany were moving closer to each other.

But the facts show that the conflict between Britain and Germany over European and African interests has escalated. The distance between the two countries was not getting closer, but getting farther and farther apart, and finally the formation of the Allied Powers and the Entente bloc officially moved towards confrontation, which was evident from the vicissitudes of international politics, which the Qing court could not understand in any way

For the Qing court, how international politics changed. It is indifferent, and as long as it remains in power, it is content, but as a patriot, it is necessary to pay more attention to international politics. And use this international contradiction to seek a possible respite for China.

As a patriot and also as a traverser, Zhao Bei is very concerned about international politics. Moreover, we can also see the development trend of international politics.

Now, a train is speeding on this Tianjin-Pudong railway, and Zhao Bei, the president of the Republic of China, is on this train, experiencing the wind and lightning, and at the same time experiencing the deceit of international politics.

The Jinpu Railway was not completed when the "Wushen Revolution" broke out, and later Yuan Shikai was anxious to dispatch the Beiyang Army to the south to eliminate the revolutionary forces, which urged the German side to step up construction, but so far, the northern section of the Jinpu Railway was only repaired to Jinan, and the train departed from Tianjin, which could not directly reach Pukou on the Yangtze River, Jinan Station was the southern terminus of the Jinpu Railway, Jinan, and was also the main destination of Zhaobei's southward journey.

Zhao Bei was from Beijing to the south, after that

": Kou Jijin went south and stayed in the Texas Cup for a day yesterday. Visited the "Huiyang Machinery Bureau, continue to rush today, and now, it is not far from Jinan City.

In addition, there are many technical personnel, among whom Liu Qingen, the former superintendent of the Hanyang Arsenal, is the most prominent, and he is now not only a senior adviser to the presidential office, but also the head of the soon-to-be-established Ordnance Industry Administration.

The Ordnance Industry Administration is a special unit, it is directly subordinate to the Presidential Palace, although the level is not as good as the government ministries, but the scope of power is very producing, red-eyed, almost all things related to the ordnance industry can be intervened, from the War Department to the Navy Department, from the Ministry of Heavy Industry to the Ministry of Education, the key government departments are installed in the Ordnance Industry Agency liaison, responsible for coordinating the work of the ministries, concentrating on the development of the ordnance industry, to ensure that all kinds of best resources are given priority to the arsenal, whether it is human resources, or steel resources.

At present, China's munitions industry is very backward. The arsenals and arsenals established by the Qing court could not meet the needs of national defense modernization at all, and according to Zhao Bei's military development strategy, China must establish a complete set of self-sufficient military manufacturing within four units, not only to manufacture its own light and heavy weapons, but also to be able to manufacture its own aircraft, light warships, and even armored vehicles.

This is a grand strategic idea, whether it can be realized or not, in addition to financial and technical issues. The rest depends on Liu Qingen's group of professionals, this time Zhao Bei specially summoned Liu Qingen from Wuhan to inspect the arsenal, just to let him give some advice, and in order to make Liu Qingen concentrate on work, Zhao Bei also approved the note and agreed that Liu Qingen's wife would accompany him to serve his daily life. As for Liu Qingen's niece, Miss Cui Shi, she is also inseparable from the president.

Now, Sister-in-law Liu is sitting in the corner of the carriage, Miss Cuiyi is sitting beside her, her hair is scattered, and the wooden comb in Sister-in-law Liu's hand is slowly moving in her hair, both of them look leisurely.

Really on the side of the president of the Republic of China, a group of people also gathered, it was Liu Qingen and the technical backbone he brought over, and they were arguing over a drawing.

This drawing was drawn by Liu Qingen himself, and the details of the structure of the Hatch Kais machine gun were drawn on it, and Liu Qingen already knew the advantages of this machine gun.

"Commander-in-Chief, compared to the Maxim machine gun, the biggest advantage of the Hatch Chase machine gun is that it is light, although the firepower is not as sustained as the Maxim. However, in terms of China's current military and financial strength, the Hatch Chase machine gun is the most suitable for the equipment of the Wehrmacht. I suggest that as soon as the new German machines are shipped back to China, we should make appropriate modifications to the machines and not make Maxim machine guns in the future. The Hatch Chase machine gun was made instead, and of course, the ammunition used was also changed to the German 79 rifle cartridge. ”

But there are also many people who oppose Liu Qingen's opinion. In the opinion of opponents, the shell feed method of the Hatch Chase machine gun was not sustained enough. This is the biggest shortcoming, and in this regard, Liu Qingen thinks that it can try to change its ammunition feeding method to a canvas cartridge belt, and this ammunition feeding method is the Makqin machine gun.

Regarding Liu Qingen's optimism, Zhao Bei poured cold water on him.

"Lao Liu, now our national defense forces need the most is a mature and stable ordnance system, machine guns are not like submachine guns, submachine guns are our own inventions, of course, you can try boldly, but machine guns are different, this kind of weapon has basically been designed and finalized now, we had better take it directly and use it, instead of changing it here and there, our time is very tight, and it is too late to try a new machine gun. So, my opinion is that either we can go directly to Maxim or Hatch Cash, and then we will have enough time to bait a better machine gun. ”

"Since the Commander-in-Chief has decided so, I won't have to bother with that. However, the commander-in-chief should decide which kind of machine gun should be equipped as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will not be easy to change it back as soon as the machine arrives and mass production begins. Liu Qingen nodded and didn't insist anymore.

"I still have to listen to the opinion of the War Department on this." Zhao Bei raised his head and looked at Cai Fu, who was standing opposite.

Cai Guo is now the deputy minister of the Ministry of the Army, and he only rushed to Beijing from Hangzhou a few days ago, and he has not yet taken a few breaths. was pulled by Zhao Bei and went south with him to inspect, as for Duan Qirui, the chief of the War Department, who is still in Beijing, Zhao Bei really doesn't want to run around with a person who looks good.

Cai Guo smiled and said, "I personally prefer the Hatch Kais machine gun, but as far as I know. Brother Baili looked down on this kind of machine gun, he thought that the Hatch Chase machine gun was weak, when Japan and Russia were at war in the Northeast, the Russian Makqin machine gun was all over the ground looking for teeth. Now Brother Baili is in charge of logistics, although he is still in Wuhan, but if he opposes the equipment of Hatch Kais, his opinion cannot be ignored. ”

"Although the Maxim machine gun is really too heavy. And the water-cooled machine gun is not easy to serve, but the fire duration is indeed much better than that of the Hatch Cash. In addition, we already plan to copy and equip the Maitson light machine gun, compared to the light machine gun. The lightness advantage of the Hatch Chase machine gun weakened. ”

Zhao Bei was about to make a final decision, when a confidential officer of the presidential palace walked over.

"Mr. President, Jinan Station is coming soon

"Got it, let's sort it out, and when we get to the station, there will be a welcome ceremony. Wang Zhanyuan and Wang Dudu must be coming to greet him. Inform the guards and let them get off the train first, and if Wang Zhanyuan comes to the train station to meet us in person, please invite him on the train, I have something to tell him. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Bei glanced at Cai Feng. Seeing that he smiled, obviously, he also understood what Zhao Bei wanted to say to Wang Zhanyuan.