The special classic car slowly drove out of the flight base, under the guidance of the cavalry, although the road conditions were extremely poor, but the classic car adapted very well, but it took more than ten minutes to enter the city, and slowly drove to the current political propaganda committee under the attention of passers-by.

Since the reconstruction of Hankou has officially begun, the Political Propaganda Committee has moved its headquarters next to the Hanyang Guest House.

There were many people waiting in the reception room of the Political Propaganda Committee, in addition to foreigners, a group of gentry were also drinking tea in the wings, they were all businessmen from afar, no matter what kind of industry they had, they all had one thing in common: they were all private shareholders of the Hanyeping Coal and Iron Factory and Mining Company.

Last year, Han Yeping was reorganized into a joint-stock company, Sheng Xuanhuai originally planned to raise 20 million yuan of private funds, but the applicants were not enthusiastic, not long after the fundraising, the "Xushen Revolution" broke out, therefore, Han Yeping's fundraising plan was not completed, the private capital was less than two percent, and the rest were either dry shares or flower shares, all swallowed by Zhao Bei, so now he is the largest shareholder of Han Yeping.

These private shareholders were invited to come, as for what to do, the commander-in-chief's invitation letter only said "discussion", what is the matter of discussion, everyone is confused, but they dare not come, because if they do not come, they will be disqualified as shareholders, if they are really disqualified as shareholders, there is no place to even shout grievances, Zhao Bei is not even afraid of rì himself, who has no choice but to get this "Zhao Tu"?

In fact, if you think carefully, you can still guess the commander-in-chief's intentions, just a few years ago, the "Pioneer Rì Daily" is advocating the implementation of the expansion of Han Yeping's shares, the completion of business offices, and the support of private capital, so the commander-in-chief may be discussing this matter by soliciting shareholders.

According to the plan, Zhao Bei planned to hold a general meeting of Han Yeping's shareholders after the actual parachute, but considering the extreme importance of the diplomatic cause, he had to postpone the meeting to meet with the two foreigners, and as for those businessmen, they were accompanied by Jiang Fangzhen and Lan Tianwei to visit and test ride the car.

Zhang Jiyang said inaccurately, the foreigners waiting for the commander-in-chief to meet are not two, but four, in addition to Morrison and Stade, there is also an American Marvin, but he is Stade's assistant and translator As for the other one, it is a drunken French drunkard named Bessonluc, who was arranged by Zhang Jiyang to sober up here, speaking of which, he can be regarded as a hero, if it were not for his barge, Feng Ru and Xie Tai's planes and machines would not have been transported back to Wuhan so quickly. When he asked to see the commander-in-chief, Zhang Jiyang hesitated for a moment but agreed.

In that simple and quiet room, Zhao Bei officially met with three foreigners except for the drunkard, politely spoke, and soon began a formal meeting.

Morley; The purpose is very simple, he asked for an exclusive interview with the commander-in-chief, and hoped to be able to visit the "famous" flight brigade to his request, Zhao Bei only agreed to the request for an exclusive interview with the flight group, but he refused, the current aviation construction has just begun and does not want to be interfered with, and now all countries in the world do not pay attention to the new weapon of the aircraft North does not want to inspire the powers, after all, there are not many trump cards that can be played by the best people, if you want to catch up with the world's strong army in the short term, We must use more brains on new equipment, the training and courses of the Republican Army Flying Team are the most advanced in this era, and they have been listed as military secrets, and even Feng Ru and Xie Tai must be tight-lipped.

Morrison had some regrets. But it didn't dwell on the Flying Team's local affairs. After all, there are Feng Ru and Xie Taidi interviews as the foundation. This time I came back to Wuhan. His main purpose was to interview Zhao Bei. Trying to get a sense of what he really stood for the British. Seeing that the commander-in-chief has agreed to the request for an exclusive interview. After making an appointment for an exclusive interview, he took his leave.

The American Stade was not in a hurry to leave. After repeated greetings with the commander-in-chief. Take out a letter. He smiled and said, "This is a letter written by a general's friend. Your Excellency the General, please take a closer look. ”

I listened to the translated words. Zhao Bei opened the letter. A few glances. Surprised: "It turned out to be Mr. Zou Tingbi's letter." Is Mr. Stade a friend of Mr. Chow? ”

Stade shook his head. "I have only met Mr. Zou twice. It is the place of recommendation of Mr. Pei Shikai, the acting chief tax officer. They're friends. Other than that. Mr. JV~Merry, the local business representative of Texaco Petroleum Company in the United States, is also a friend of Mr. Pei Shikai. He also strongly recommended that I come to Wuhan in person. He told me. The Commander-in-Chief is a very nice man. Reasonable. By no means a madman in the mouths of British politicians. ”

Zou Tingbi's letter is very simple. It is only said that this Stade is the American consul. I have some acquaintances in the political and business circles of the United States. There are many connections and relationships available. It is recommended that Zhao Bei try to establish a good relationship with him. He also briefly introduced the purpose of Si Dede's trip to Wuhan.

Zhao Bei read the letter and said, "It turns out that Mr. Si Dade is here for the matter of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway. However, this matter of building the railway should be managed by zhōngyāngzhèngfǔ, and you didn't go to talk to President Yuan, but you came here to find me for something? ”

Si Dai said: "You have a saying, 'a strong dragon is difficult to suppress the head snake', although it is a little rude, but I still have to admit that in Hubei, only His Excellency the general is the 'head snake', only you have the strength to control the situation, without your assistance, the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway can not even be repaired an inch." As a diplomatic officer of the country in China, I think it is necessary to communicate with you personally about the construction of the railway, and the use of a railway to connect Hubei with Guangdong is not only very beneficial to your country's commerce, but also to the deployment of the army of His Excellency the General, if you feel it is necessary, we

Consider building a railway bridge over the Yangtze River to connect the Jinghan Line with Guangdong, so that your army can easily move in the north-south direction. Of course, the management and operation of railways and bridges should be presided over by the investor, and the specific articles of association can be handled with reference to the Jinghan Railway. ”

Zhao Bei put down the letter, looked at the translator sitting next to Si De, and said expressionlessly: "Building the railway is a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, and I raise my hands in favor." It's just that building a railway requires a lot of money and strong technical force, at present, I don't have either, even if I have the strength to build a railway, I think the first thing that should be built is the railway in Sichuan Province, as for the Guangdong-Hanzhou railway, it seems to be a little early to talk about it now, and once this railway is completed, it may have an impact on the current commercial order in the Yangtze River basin, causing dissatisfaction among other countries, and in case of diplomatic disputes, President Yuan Da will complain that I am unauthorized to provoke foreign affairs. ”

"Are you worried about the attitude of the British?" Stade blinked slyly.

"There is absolutely no need for you to worry about this, President Taft made it clear at his inauguration that he wanted to protect American business interests abroad, ~ the Han Railway is American capital, and Britain has absolutely no reason to interfere. As for money and technology, it is not a problem for us American businessmen in the slightest. ”

"American capital?" Zhao Bei felt a trace of bitterness in his heart. "Britain alone is good to say, the problem now is that Britain, Germany, and France are all interested in this railway, and the matter of the Guangdong-Hanzhou railway is very tricky. Besides, the road protection wind a few years ago was vigorous, and the people's hearts were not calm, and I couldn't ignore public opinion. ”

The last time they had a dinner with the representatives of the German Federation of Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs, the Chinese people mentioned the joint construction of the Guangdong-Hankou and Sichuan-Han railways, and they also referred to the Jinghan line as the Americans planned, not only to preside over all the construction work, but also to be fully managed by the Germans after the railway was completed. Zhao Bei did not agree to the Germans' request, after all, if this matter is not done well, it will be a road protection storm.

In 1905, during the vigorous "right of way" movement, the Qing court redeemed the right to build the railway for 6 million US dollars, and one of the conditions attached to it was that if it borrowed foreign debt to build the railway in the future, it must first contact the British side.

After the outbreak of the "Wushen Revolution", the Qing court raised military funds everywhere, and started the idea of this railway, intending to transfer the right of way again, after the British zhèngfǔ learned about it, it immediately contacted it, but then because it turned to support Yuan Shikai and put this proposal on hold, the Qing court had to turn to other countries, the United States, France, Germany has expressed strong interest, but before the formal start of negotiations, the Qing family has been forced to abdicate and give way, after Yuan Shikai came to power, Britain immediately began negotiations with Yuan on this issue, if it were not for the strong opposition of Germany and France, I am afraid that this railway would have become the bag of the British.

One of the most important reasons for the establishment of the "Troika of Banks" was to negotiate the construction of this railway, which, according to the wishful thinking of the three countries, should ideally be jointly built and managed by Britain, France, and Russia, so as to strengthen the friendship of the Entente bloc while seizing economic benefits.

The sad thing is that the real owner of this cake can only stand aside, watching others gobble up, if you want to eat, you can only take refuge in foreigners, maybe you can pick out some residues from between the teeth of foreigners.

This kind of food residue is not so delicious, a carelessness is the infamy of eternity, in the history that Zhao Bei is familiar with, Sichuan "Baolu Movement" broke out in this way, not long after, the Qing Dynasty was destroyed in the cannon fire of the revolutionary army.

It is not necessarily impossible to build railways with foreign money, which can be regarded as a way to attract foreign capital, but the key to the problem is not foreign investment, but sovereignty. The "Regulations for the Construction of the Jinghan Railway" negotiated between the Qing court and the Belgian consortium set a very bad precedent, and when the foreign consortium mentioned borrowing money to build the railway, it first thought of the Jinghan Railway, and demanded that it be handled with reference to the Jinghan Road and that all the management and financial rights of the railway be controlled.

Therefore, if the Americans insist on building the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway in accordance with the Jinghan Road Regulations, then this railway cannot be handed over to them, even if the Germans can't, they want it, they go to Yuan Shikai to ask for it, anyway, they can't get it here in Zhaobei, unless it is "co-organized" by China and foreign countries, and managed by China, foreign companies only enjoy the normal rights of shareholders―――――― this is Zhaobei's bottom line, and it will definitely not waver, and he can't afford the infamy of "traitor".

But now that the United States has stretched its thighs over, if you don't hold it, you're really sorry for the identity of the traverser.

The commander-in-chief has already hugged one of the German thighs, but the German thighs are not strong enough, so one more thigh must be hugged, the British thighs are not allowed to be hugged, the rì thighs cannot be hugged, and the French thighs have not yet been revealed, so the white and pure American thighs are particularly precious.

Hugging your thighs is also strategic.