Singapore turned from green to yellow overnight, so that Governor Andrew, who was playing golf on the Shenwu, threw away his club and entered the city to severely accuse the Chinese of treachery, but when Lord Henry was talking and laughing with the Chinese with a wine glass, his steps suddenly stopped, and Lord Henry and the old men of the city legislative council all looked at him with strange eyes.

"John, it's great you're here. Allow me to introduce that this is Admiral Li of the Chinese Navy, whose troops saved all of Singapore overnight at my invitation last night. Thank God so much! Lord Henry smiled decently and looked at Andrew kindly, though his impeachment telegram had been sent an hour earlier,

"Thank God." Governor Andrew greeted Major General Li Erhu with a smile and said with the same dignity, "But gentlemen, the rebellion is over, and I think the Chinese army should leave the territory of Great Britain." ”

"No!" Henry smiled even brighter, "John, although the rebels have withdrawn from Singapore, they are going north, these rebels still need to be cleared by the Chinese army, and we need them to stabilize the situation here." ”

"This can't be ......," the Governor met the eyes of the old man, sweating on his forehead, but still holding his ground.

"It's possible. We suspect that this rebellion was deliberately instigated, and this matter requires outsiders to stabilize the situation first. Lord Henry put his glass down, and said, "The City Council has unanimously agreed that the security of Singapore will be the responsibility of the Chinese army for the time being, if the French and Japanese come, of course, until the matter is thoroughly investigated." Together, they will defend Singapore. ”

The City Council is a powerful collection of local wealthy businessmen and celebrities, while the Governor is appointed by the Cabinet. The collision of local and central powers existed throughout the British Empire, and if there was no rebellion. Andrew can completely suppress the local forces, but now it is not unfavorable that the rebellion has occurred, and it is also under the auspices of the local forces to suppress the rebellion, which makes Andrew completely lose the initiative. Especially the devilish Chinese naval soldiers he saw when he entered the city, Major Kirton thought that his inner city guard could not match it in terms of number or plain zhì, not to mention that many of the inner city guards were local British expatriates who really wanted to clash with the city council. As soon as the other party shouted that his own people were about to pass.

"This is so rude!" Andrew's neck shook with excitement, but he just shouted, and he deservedly withdrew with Major Kirton.

Watching Governor Andrew's defeat, Ouyang Geng, the consul in Singapore, finally let go of his worries, he has always been old and conservative, he suddenly learned to knock on the cup like a foreigner, and when the whole audience looked over, he said with an excited face: "Ladies and gentlemen, I mention yì, for the peace of Singapore." Cheers! ”

The whites killed by the rebels were still a little frightened, and when they saw the devil soldiers patrolling the streets, their hearts calmed down slightly, for the European expatriates who were killed and wounded. There is nothing more precious than peace, and everyone present raised their wine glasses as soon as Ouyang Geng mentioned yì. Cheers: "For peace, Cheers! ”

The drinking party at the Doge's Palace reached its climax. At the welcome meeting of the Singapore General Business Association a little later, the atmosphere of overseas Chinese was even more enthusiastic. After Li Erhu's messy rude words, the newly appointed little eunuch took the made up joke and coaxed people vividly: "...... As soon as the telegram arrived in the capital, the emperor beat the glass cup in his hand. The emperor said, 'Although Lacheng is not my land in China, there are also my people there, and now there are more than 200,000 people whose lives are in danger. In the middle of the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the holy decree immediately came down to the Prime Minister's Office. The emperor said in the holy decree, 'No matter where my Chinese people are, even if they are at the ends of the world, as long as they are worried about their lives, the revival army will go all out to rescue them!' ’”

Before the paragraph was finished, the overseas Chinese with tears in their eyes shouted Long live, bowing and kowtowing to the north together. When this wave of things was over, the little eunuch continued to read according to the script, "...... This telegram was sent from Beijing to Zhoushan that night, and Zhoushan was sent to Huangpu, and the commander of the South China Sea Fleet, Li Zhun and Li, set sail south without saying a word, but before he could reach half an hour, he slapped his thigh...... You think, this Whampoa to Lacheng more than 3,000 miles of sea road, those old warships can go less than 30 miles in an hour, how many years will it take to get to the place? So the telegram went to Zhoushan, and Zhoushan then to the Jingshi Prime Minister's Office, and the prime minister looked at it, 'Oh, how can you do it so slowly?' ’

General Bei, a general of staff who came to discuss overnight, said: "The fastest is the Shenwu, which can travel thousands of miles in one day and night, and can reach the place in three days and nights, but this is the emperor's ship...... 'The Prime Minister's Office is not at most, and the matter has spread to the Forbidden City, and the emperor will say it when he hears it. 'Confused, is my ship the people's ship, and now the people are in danger, why can't the Shenwu go?' If I can go to the Forbidden City, I still want the Forbidden City to fly over......"

The welcome meeting became a storytelling meeting, and the little eunuch told the story of the Shenwu Rescue for more than an hour, and the overseas Chinese were fascinated by it, and they wished that they could talk about this thing for three days and three nights, and it was also a shame that the eunuch's mouth was slippery, if ordinary people would have cramps in their mouths. The welcome would be so boring, Colonel Zhu Tiansen took advantage of the convenience to go to the courtyard to take a breath. He didn't really understand why this propaganda always wanted to say good things about today, and during the three days and three days of rescue, it was always the prime minister who sent him a telegram urging him, and when did he become the emperor. But fortunately, in the mouth of the little eunuch, the miserable situation of the navy is known to overseas Chinese, and after this incident, the navy is afraid that it will be built.

Zhu Tiansen imagined the result of the Navy's large-scale increase in ships, and he became happy in his heart, and after a long time on the Shenwu, he became more and more dissatisfied with this warship. Compared to the captured Hiei, this Shenmu is simply a merchant ship; The function is also unstable, the speed of 26 knots rushed to Singapore, the boiler and turbine on the way continued to fail, this is still a new ship that has only been used for a year, if it is used for another five or six years, what will happen? And that terrible power system, 7,600 tons of total weight, twice as much as the Hiei.

Thinking about these big and small problems, Zhu Tiansen forgot for a while that this was at the welcome meeting, he found a corner to list these problems, and began to write a book on the long-term development plan of the navy.

"The Navy's Long-term Development Plan". When this document was submitted by the Navy Office under the General Staff, it was already out of the Lantern Festival. On this day, Yang Rui had just sent off several overseas Chinese parliamentarians, who had also come to strengthen the construction of the navy.

Looking at this wave of naval heat that was made by himself, Yang Rui just smiled bitterly. He suddenly had the idea of beating up the little eunuch who had become famous for his nonsense. It's enough to put on a show and show the court's care for the people, who will let him take it seriously? Is Anglo-American law something that China can afford to provoke now, and now China's strategy is to go all out to the north and west, and the southeast has to endure like a grandson even if something happens. Fortunately, overseas Chinese spontaneously engaged in naval bonds, and in half a month, they subscribed for more than 40 million taels, and the funds received in the account were 30 million, and the most outrageous thing was that the total amount of bonds issued was 100 million taels. What is this called, it's lawless!

Yang Rui patted his head. Li Zilong reported that Mr. Shigean and the Japanese ambassador Mr. Bihara had come, and after hearing this, he wanted to put the report in the drawer, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was not necessary, so he let the report be placed on the table, and he got up and went out to personally welcome Xie Jintai and Nishishigero Bihara into the room, and when the Japanese sat down, he smiled kindly and said, "I guess Bihara-kun must have come for this." ”

The thick Wen Jiàn was thrown into the arms of Kishigero Bihara by Yang Rui, who knew Chinese, and couldn't help but jump his ass when he saw Wen Jiàn's name. Almost jumped up. He came for the navy, although China and Japan have the intention of cooperation and alliance, but the shape is stronger than the people, if China builds a navy. If one day the two countries turn against each other, then Japan will be miserable. So seeing that the newspapers were full of calls for the construction of the navy, Kishigero Bihara came.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister. This ......" Kishigero Bihara's eyes longed to penetrate the blank paper, wanting to see what was said inside. But he still pretended to hand Wen Jiàn back to Yang Rui with both hands.

"It's okay, China wants to develop its navy. I have to take into account my friend's feelings, so I asked Bihara-kun to bring it back and find someone to help me with my staff officer. Yang Rui said generously, with a smile on his face.

"Ahh Kishigero Bihara was shocked, he couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Bihara-kun, I have a mention, you and I should have a naval meeting on the tonnage of the two navies, so that we can trust each other. What do you think? Yang Rui was not joking at all, he felt the need to talk to the Japanese about the navy.

"When...... Of course! Kishigero Bihara was a little pleased, since China took the initiative to talk about the naval issue, that is, it is very likely that China will accommodate the Japanese side's ideas on the naval issue, which is exactly what Japan needs. China is a continental country, and the navy is not a matter of life and death for the country, but Japan is. He stood up and bowed respectfully, then solemnly put the document on Yang Rui's desk, and left.

When Kishigero Bihara left, Xie Jintai sent a short paragraph, but he would come after a while, and he said when he entered the door: "Actually, you really want to compromise with the Japanese in the navy?" ”

"Compromise?" Yang Rui smiled, "Can we build a ship without compromise?" ”

"Huh?" Xie Jintai knew that the government had spent a lot of money on shipbuilding, but now he was surprised to hear Yang Rui say that he couldn't build a ship, "Isn't this what can be built, right, a leveler?" There are also hydraulic presses, and so will metallurgy, so why can't you build ships? ”

"You can build a ship, but if you want to build a big ship, it will take at least six years." Yang Rui knows the domestic shipbuilding technology well, and it is true that he has spent a lot of money and effort, but the key is that when China will build tens of thousands of tons of ships, it will happen to be the Washington Naval Treaty. At that time, as soon as the treaty is signed, then don't think about building ships, but if you don't sign it, won't China want to fight on two fronts?

"Can't you build it in six years?" Xie Zhangtai said, it still can't be said to be strange. "Is there any information?" He asked.

"There is some information, but I don't know if it's accurate or not." Yang Rui said. "I estimate that the European war will be a victory for Britain and France, but the victorious Britain is also exhausted and can no longer cope with the American shipbuilding race, so he will definitely propose disarmament in order to maintain the current naval position of the British Empire, if there is another Anglo-American war, then Britain will definitely lose."

"Well......" Regarding Yang Rui's speculation, Xie Jintai had to think about it seriously, he thought for a long time, and then asked, "It turned out that in six years, Britain and the United States will pull Japan to disarm with us?" ”

"That's what it means. By the time we learn to build big ships, this disarmament conference will just be held, and then everyone will scrap the unbuilt ships, and we will all be shot together? So. If you want to build a ship, you can only ask Japan to help build it. In this way, it is in time to catch up. Yang Rui said.

Unexpectedly, the plan was like this, Xie Jintai seemed to understand a little. He said, "But is Japan willing?" ”

"Would you like to talk about it, isn't this how the matter of the merchant ship joint venture was talked about last time?" Yang Rui said that this question was very confident, "It can be seen from that incident that those chaebols can be discussed, as for those warlords, wasn't Youpeng in Shan County scolded by the Japanese as a national thief and discredited?" Now there are only those people in the navy left, but these people grew up eating Western rice and know how to retreat. Besides, the biggest threat to Japan is submarines rather than warships, and as long as we don't build battleships and aircraft carriers, the Japanese won't react much. ”

Yang Rui mentioned the last merchant ship joint venture negotiations, Xie Zhangtai agreed very much in his heart, last year Japan's Mitsubishi wanted to contract all China's merchant ships, which China could not agree, but without cooperation with Japan, there would be no wharf and coal station in East Asia. So the two sides talked about this issue for several days, and finally reached an agreement on the basis of concessions on both sides. China needs Japanese docks everywhere to support shipping, and Japan needs Chinese shipbuilding steel plates, especially low-phosphorus steel plates for the navy. Both sides have seized each other's life, and neither can help the other, so the result is obvious.

Xie Jintai nodded. He didn't quite understand the difference between a battleship and an aircraft carrier, so he didn't delve into it. Instead, he mentions another thing, "It did." The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry yesterday signed a big deal with the Russian Tsar Grand Duke Mihailovich, and the Austro-Hungarian ambassador had just made a fuss with me, and he was very angry. ”

Although China and Russia are in a state of war, the funny thing is that the 'compradors' greet Russia Maozi as a big sum, and after ordering nearly 100 million yuan of weapons and military supplies last year, Russia Maozi has just opened this year, and Russia Maozi has ordered weapons and military supplies worth 600 million taels. The maximum of these were three-inch shells, twenty million rounds were ordered. Tsarist Russia, which ran out of foreign exchange, paid for the goods in gold this time, which really made the household smile for several days, and someone sent 600 tons of gold during the New Year, which was really auspicious.

Although Britain and France were jealous of the arms trade between China and Russia, they were still in favor of it on the whole, not only in favor, but also on the basis of maintaining the original Chilean saltpeter order, the increased consumption was completely changed to cheap nitric acid produced in China; Although Japan is interested in the Sino-Russian arms deal, it can't get so many goods, so it can only stomp its feet and be in a hurry; The United States originally wanted to grab business, but not to mention the price of goods, the freight alone is higher than China, and they also want Russia to pay in gold hard currency, so to put it simply, it is better for China to be the seller, the price is cheap and sufficient, and the price is more than a package of mail, so that the Tsar Grand Duke and his entourage took British passports and rented a house in Beijing.

Britain and France have developed arms industries, China mainly earns money from nitric acid, airplanes, trucks, and shipping, and Russian munitions workers are inefficient and backward, and they simply cannot support the war; after last year's defeat, this year's ammunition shortage cannot even take advantage of the victory and pursuit, the lack of rifles, artillery, ammunition, and even the construction of airplanes and trucks is not good, so China's main profit to Russia is the money for weapons, especially artillery shells, which has risen to more than 30 taels per round, and 10 million rounds is more than 300 million taels. The price has only dropped to the absolute low price of twenty-two taels in the world.

Business is booming, but Germany and Austria have paid a great price for this, especially Austria-Hungary - knowing that they can't do the Germans, Russia will pump Austria-Hungary hard, it turns out that the Russian army lacks ammunition, and it can't chase after winning the war, but now it's okay, a Chinese guy sold him so many arms, Austria-Hungary immediately quit, and the matter went to Xie Zhangtai, and Xie Zhangtai told Yang Rui about it again.

"It's serious business." Yang Rui didn't buy Austria-Hungary at all, a country that expanded its territory by marriage, what was there to worry about, not to mention that it would fall apart after the war, why care. "If Russia does not order goods from our side, it will go to the United States to order, how can such a commercial thing be stopped."

"But at the beginning, we didn't have enough machine tools in Germany, and Austria-Hungary also sold us a lot." Xie Jintai was sometimes a little detoured, he was justified in the face of the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, but when he turned around and talked to Yang Rui, he was still a little uneasy in his heart.

"Then why didn't they tell us what they paid us in the first place?" The United States, Germany, and Austria-Hungary have bought a lot of machine tools to expand the arms industry, but the price of such a large amount has almost doubled, but Yang Rui gritted his teeth and bought it.

"This ......" Xie Jintai was asked by Yang Rui. I can't figure out if it's right or wrong. But he said, "I'm afraid the Germans are coming." ”

Before Xie Zhangtai could finish speaking, Li Zilong outside reported that Mr. Rutte, the German ambassador of trust, had asked to see him. Yang Rui looked at him and smiled. "You have a mouth, say whatever you say." After that, let Li Zilong invite people in.

Freihair. Feng. Rutte himself did not expect to be appointed as the first ambassador to China by His Majesty the Kaiser. Although he has such a relationship with the rulers of this huge country, deep down, he cannot read the true thoughts of Chinese Premier Yang Rui, a cunning yellow man who has always been able to navigate the contradictions of various countries, painstakingly obtaining unexpected benefits, and never missing a beat. In the face of such a fox, he always felt exhausted, like this time. Yang Rui gave him another shock.

"Dear Mr. Rutte, the Russians have given me something I can't believe......" Yang Rui took out a stack of memos written in Russian and a few telegram photos, and was very confused to start first, and the face of the wicked person who sued first made Xie Jintai on the side couldn't help laughing.

Lu Tefa, who had been asking for guilt, looked at the diplomatic memos and telegram photos stupidly, and cried out like a cat stepping on its tail: "Oh, God! How is this possible?! This...... Yang, this must have been faked by the Russians, they liars!! ”

The photographs and memos are 'incriminating evidence' that Germany instigated Russia to send troops to the Northeast early last year. And the provision of these is an effort by Russia to end the war with China, which Russia did not bother to do in the past, but now the war is getting bigger and bigger, and the supplies are becoming more and more scarce. Giving China the memorandum of previous negotiations with Germany would drive a wedge between China and Germany, if not at all, if it were indeed close.

"I don't want to believe it's true." Yang Rui said very seriously. "The friendship between China and Germany has a long history, and it is a ...... with a strip of water. Hey, no. He suddenly felt that he had missed something, and quickly corrected, "Mr. Rutte, I am a Jedi who will not believe Russian perjury, and I am trying to convince others not to believe it either." ”

"Thank God." Rutte, who was sweating in his head, completely forgot the purpose of his visit, but Xin Ci, who came with him, cleverly led the topic to the arms trade between China and Russia, and he did not dare to use fierce words, but only said euphemistically: "Your Excellency, as far as I know, Russia has ordered a large number of arms in your country, and we are very worried that this will affect the situation of the war in Europe......

As soon as Xin Ci said a beginning, Yang Rui interrupted: "Mr. Xin Ci, I also just learned about this matter. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to stop this deal, all arms are ordered by Japanese companies, which is legally legal. Moreover, although the arms companies are controlled by the state, as long as the general offices of the companies do not violate the law and the interests of shareholders, the state-owned enterprise committee will not be able to stop such normal business practices. ”

"Yang, but China and Germany are allies, and Russia will not only use those arms in Europe, but may even be used in the revival army, and it is a very dangerous behavior to sell arms to Russia." The sweat on Rutte's forehead finally stopped, and he got down to business.

"I know, I know. But the problem is that now the Revival Society can't fight, and the railroad to the Western Regions is still being built, and if it is not sold to Russia, who can it sell it to? Last year, my finances had bottomed out, and my debts were even greater. If Germany would buy it, I'd be willing to sell it at a 7% discount, but is that okay? Yang Rui complained, "Now that China is carrying out land reform, I don't want Britain and France and other countries to interfere, so even though I know that the ultimate buyer of these arms is Russia, what can I do?"

Mr. Rutte, you know my feelings for the great Germany, China has helped Germany a lot, but Germany has helped us ......, "Yang Rui is very helpless, in addition to selling a lot of submarines and machine tools to China, the Germans have sent a lot of professors to teach in Tongji University, which may be very important, but in fact it is not important, the production of guns does not need Germany to do technical guidance, and now the only thing that is helping China is the thousands of technical backbones in Germany, but this kind of help is difficult to explain, this kind of internship without salary, how to say that the Germans took advantage.

Yang Rui said this very aggrievedly, Li Zilong suddenly came in and whispered a few words in his ear, his face changed greatly after hearing it, he took the stack of diplomatic memos and photos and said to Lu Te: "It's over!" The Russians went to the newspaper, and they wanted to reveal everything. (To be continued......)