The midsummer sun in the capital is like fire, and the summer is even more unbearable, so the courtyard of every family will set up a pergola in early summer. This kind of pergola is more than a foot higher than the courtyard wall, only with cedar, bamboo poles, ropes, and reed mats are spread on it, and a skylight is opened in the middle for lighting and ventilation; Under such a light 'roof', there is a huge goldfish tank, which is not glass, but a giant old tile pot with a diameter of more than three feet, with a beast face ring outside the pot, moss and lotus flowers in the pot, a piece of emerald green, the head goldfish game in it, the lotus fragrance refreshes the spleen, the fish and water blend, making people feel cool.

Pomegranates are indispensable in pergolas, fish tanks, and yards. In the hot summer season, the yard is covered with a pergola, a fish tank is placed in the courtyard, and the pomegranate flowers like fire are swaying slowly in the breeze, the fragrance of flowers is bursting, the vermilion fish on the side is chattering, the green water is cool, even if there is no air conditioning, it seems to be extremely comfortable, I don't know the heat.

On the twenty-first day of June in the Chinese calendar, the day after the German delegation signed an armistice treaty in a train car at the Etangp railway station, a telegram inviting China and Japan to participate in the Paris Peace Conference was sent to the Far East. It stands to reason that the head of state will not attend such a peace conference, and only President Wilson, who is full of enthusiasm for building a new world, insists on going to Europe despite domestic obstacles, and Britain and France are both prime ministers attending the meeting; But the situation in China is somewhat different, according to the constitution, the head of state is Zhu Kuansu, but in terms of rights, the head of state is Yang Rui, because in the debate over who is the head of state of Greater China, Britain and Italy under the monarchy have the upper hand, and when Wilson was about to go to Europe, the three countries invited Yang Rui to Europe to attend the peace conference.

China's key interests are all in Asia, and the interests of overseas Chinese are all over the Americas, and at the same time. The market for China's high-end industrial products is all over the world. These three layers of interests are analyzed, specifically, the unfinished New Treaty negotiations with the United States need to be concluded at the Paris Peace Conference; China's interests in northern Persia need to be recognized; The personal rights and fair treatment of overseas Chinese need to be effectively committed by all countries; Chinese goods need to be treated as the most favored nation or reciprocal treatment by all countries. The above is unique to China. If the DPRK and Japan are added, it means that the expatriates of China, Japan and North Korea must be treated fairly in each country; Commodities from China, Japan and North Korea need to receive most-favored-nation or reciprocal treatment from each country.

The affairs of the DPRK are represented exclusively by China. There is basically no need for any discussion between the two, anyway, it is the consensus of the Korean monarch and the people to tie up China to death; As for Japan, although China and Japan have the same attitude toward Russia, coal and steel joint ventures and shipbuilding cooperation have entangled the heavy industries of the two countries, and New Japan has stirred up the territory of the two countries, there are many interest groups in Japan. The royal family, the warlords, and the chaebols, these three forces have their own demands, and for the time being, the army and the royal family are tied together. The navy and the chaebol are closer, and the people in the diplomatic port are basically internationalists, so there are a lot of messy things.

Under the pergola, next to the fish tank, the ambassador to China, Kishigero Bihara, will return to China next month, and on the first day of the seventh month, Yang Rui actually invited him to his home for a banquet, and after the meal, he enjoyed the shade in the backyard of his home, which made him very afraid. Even though there were a few children playing in the yard, he could still hear his own heartbeat from time to time.

"Oh...... it turns out that your country is your Excellency Xiyuan Temple, hehe. Old friends. Hearing that the Japanese said that the head of the delegation was the public of Xiyuan Temple, Yang Rui suddenly smiled, he knew this Japanese nobleman very well. His kindness, curriculum vitae, and education made him more of an Englishman than a Japanese.

"Originally, His Excellency Matsukata, the Prime Minister of our country, also wanted to go, but he was concerned about His Excellency Matsukata's old age and frailty. Therefore, His Excellency Xiyuan Temple serves as the plenipotentiary representative of the Government. Kishigero Bihara said, there is a kind of meaning of knowing everything and saying everything.

"That's good. China, for its part, is invited by various countries. So for the time being, I'm going. If Your Excellency Xiyuan Temple does not object, then your two countries, oh, by the way, and North Korea, let's charter a cruise ship together, so that there is anything to discuss. Yang Rui said with a smile. Historically, it was Japan that dragged China along, but was cut off by the United States; Now it's the other way around, with China pulling Japan along. Although Yang Rui didn't know much about the situation in history, when he made this suggestion, he couldn't help but secretly say in his heart: "Dog's day, come to Lao Tzu's bowl." ’

Going with a Chinese chartered ship is tantamount to saying that China and Japan wear the same pants, and their foreign policies are the same. Although the two countries have already worn half pants together, the attitude in Japan is still a little more reserved like that of the, especially when the Japan-Britain alliance has not yet expired. Bihara Kishigero knew the attitude of such people in China, so when he heard this, his face was a little difficult, and he said: "Your Excellency, I will definitely convey your goodwill to China, and I will also urge China and Japan to go together on the same ship." ”

It is not surprising that Kishigero Bihara replied to Yang Rui like this, he is just an ambassador to China, and he can only be regarded as a second-tier figure in Japanese political circles. What Yang Rui really cares about is what the Japanese are focusing on this time, and for China and Japan, except for the fact that the New Covenant with the United States is a matter between China and the United States, Japan does not have much interest in the affairs of the diaspora.

Unlike China, which has a special overseas Chinese parliamentarian, Japan only has women who sell their bodies and branches of the major chaebols overseas, and the interests of the chaebols are guaranteed by the Japanese government. Protecting overseas Chinese for a few female prostitutes, it is simply a smear on the emperor's face; And if China does not protect overseas Chinese coolies, it will not be justified from any angle, just talking about the backgrounds of Yang Rui and Cheng Ying, we cannot allow foreigners to bully overseas Chinese, otherwise we will forget our roots.

After talking about the embarrassment of going to Europe on the same ship, Yang Rui, who was silent for a while, asked again, "Then what are your country's plans to go to Europe this time?" ”

When Yang Rui asked, Yuan Yuan was stunned and said with some pride: "In this European war, the yellow race contributed a lot, not to mention China and Japan, but to say that there are many Indian soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force, and many Indochinese soldiers in the French Army; That is to say, ethnically, the yellow race was crucial to the Entente's victory in the war. China hopes that all countries in the world will no longer discriminate against the yellow race and give equal treatment. ”

"This proposal coincides with ours!" Yang Rui fanned his fan and said excitedly, "Master Xie of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of my country also feels the same way, he mentioned a word called 'equality of race', but some people concluded that this would be opposed by European and American countries, so ......." Now the world. It's a completely Caucasian world, and America is theirs. Even half of Asia is theirs. It's theirs and we also admit it, as long as the guests are in general. It's okay for everyone to be courteous and treated equally, but this is not recognized by them, which is very puzzling. The Entente had to rely on us yellow people to rescue him, otherwise he would have failed, but after solving the problem, he turned his face and didn't recognize people, which was simply crossing the river and demolishing the bridge. ”

The country would demand equal treatment of the yellow race, which was an attempt to blackmail the German Pacific colonies, particularly German New Guinea, which Australia reportedly wanted to annex. But now I see Yang Rui looking at the equality of races like this. Kishigero Bihara had a different kind of thought in his heart. However, he was still thinking about it, and at the press conference of the Prime Minister's Office on the third day of July, the spokesman claimed that China's participation in the Paris Peace Treaty in Europe this time is not only for the interests of one country, but for the interests of the whole race, because China has only one proposal for this meeting, that is, the bill on racial equality.

Japan has also prepared a so-called racial equality case, but this is only a tool of coercion; And the case of racial equality in China. It is a fusion of the Sino-US New Treaty negotiations, the rights and interests of overseas Chinese, and the most-favored-nation treatment of Chinese commodities. As for the remaining territorial rights in Central Asia and the Outer Northeast, they have been put aside for the time being; However, this is a peace treaty with Russia, and since the signing of the peace treaty last year and the aid of food and supplies, the Kolchak government has declined. Defeat is a matter of time; Baku to the south had also been recaptured, and only Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, and the Black Sea coast of the Arctic Ocean remained under the control of the Entente, and Krasnov, the general of the White Army on the Don, quickly moved towards the Entente after losing German support.

To this day. If the Entente transferred millions of troops in Europe to support the White Army, it was possible to help restore the Russian Provisional Government. But the Entente will not end up in person at all. Britain and France were crippled, and Wilson could not convince the people at home no matter how righteous he was. Let the US military go to fight an intervention war in the ice and snow, so territory is not a big issue.

The press conference was just a release, but the Prime Minister's Office was dealing with other things. At the regular ministerial meeting on the third day of July, the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry were the protagonists, and the Ministry of Household was concerned about two things, one was the handling of the merchant fleet; the second is the redemption of Russian gold; And the Ministry of Industry was anxious about how to re-establish diplomatic relations with Germany in order to implement the industrial program.

The handling of the merchant fleet is a big problem, excluding the sunken part, China now has 4.8 million tons of merchant ships, and more than 3.1 million tons are left after the armistice. Of the nearly 8 million tons of merchant ships, the best way to sell the remaining 6 million tons is to sell them, excluding the two million tons for their own use. Japan needs a million tons of it, and the British need all of it, but at this price......

The Japanese gave a moderate price of 300 Chinese yuan a ton for the sake of making money together, while the British were only willing to pay an ultra-low price of 180 Chinese yuan after inspecting the quality of standard ships. The price of 180 yuan per ton was a relatively normal price before the war, but during the war, the price of marine steel plates rose to 500 yuan per ton, which is equivalent to 200 to 250 yuan per tonnage of steel alone.

Although the 500 yuan ship was second-hand, it would not be sold for 180 yuan anyway, so he had been hesitating since the negotiations between Tobe and the British. In general, the world's merchant ships are not saturated, but China has too many in its hands, because there is not such a large commercial network and shipping terminals, and after losing excess profits, 8 million tons of merchant ships cannot be played in China's hands.

"One hundred and eighty-one tons is too low!" Yang Rui knew that since the beginning of this year, the household department and the British began to negotiate the sale of merchant ships, but China has been demanding post-war delivery, and the angry British have itchy teeth. "These are all diesel engine ships, even if the hull is not good, but when the time comes, the shell will be no different from a normal merchant ship, which is more fuel-efficient than a steam ship."

"We keep saying that merchant ships are rough in hulls and workmanship, but the motives are top-notch. But after they added thirty pieces per ton, they didn't add any more, not two hundred. Yu Huizu shook his head, "In this way, the loss of one hundred and twenty yuan per ton, five million tons is 600 million Chinese yuan, which is half of this year's tax revenue." Yu Huizu shook his head, he looked at Xie Jintai and Yang Rui again, and said with some expectation: "Will the international situation repeat in the future?" Didn't the Entente say that they were going to use troops against Russia, and when would they use ships, and when was the most appropriate time for this merchant ship to strike? ”

"Now is the time. The sooner you sell it, the better, even if the price is lower. Yang Rui didn't want to be serious with the British. Although the merchant ships of the United States are still being launched, the more than 10 million tons of merchant ships on his side are a great pressure on Britain.

"Can't we keep it for ourselves?" After Sheng Xuanhuai's death. Yan Deqing, who was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Transport the year before last, asked.

"We don't have trading companies around the world, no colonies, no docks, no military bases, no financial networks all over the world, and there ......are no navies," said Du Yaquan, the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, "Merchant ships are a very small part of the world trade system, and now the trade network is in the hands of the British, even if we and the United States build so many ships, as long as Britain converts those military dockyards to civilian use after the war, then his ships will still eliminate our ships, which is why the British are not in a hurry."

The reason why our standard ships were more attractive than the merchant ships of the Americans was that the British had run out of money after the war. Although the standard ship is not durable, it is cheap, and after two or three years, the British shipowner will be able to use the money earned to go to the shipyard to change a hull, which is equivalent to installment payment, and the Americans now do not say that they do not want to buy, even if the selling price is not low, their ships are good ships that can be used for more than ten years. ”

"One hundred and eight is one hundred and eighteen, can you add one, when you buy it, the British will pay two hundred Chinese dollars. Of this, 20 Chinese dollars were placed in HSBC, and the interest went to the British shipowner; A few years later, when they changed the hull, they came to our shipyard to change it, and the 20 Chinese yuan was deducted from the price of the ship. Xu Huafeng wanted to peel two cowhides from a cow. Added such an article.

"I proposed a similar plan, but the British refused." The kung fu of peeling two cowhides has long been known, and the British are even more veterans. After Yu Huizu finished speaking, he said: "I have thought of all the ways I can think of." However, the Britons did not enter the oil and salt, and only said that they would consider the change of ship comprehensively. We don't need to give us special offers. ”

"Don't worry about it, let's sell it sooner." The price is low. But when the time comes, no matter how you try to do it, don't go against the situation. After Yang Rui finished speaking, he didn't want to discuss the sale of the ship anymore, so he only asked, "Is the gold over there staring at Kolchak?" Will it be brought out to the Entente? ”

"Kolchak has been surrounded, and as long as the gold crosses through our country, it will definitely be intercepted." Speaking of gold, Yu Huizu immediately changed his declining trend, and his eyes just lit up. All the gold in the Russian treasury was in Kolchak's hands, and if this gold could be collected into the treasury, then the country would be truly rich. "But what about Red Russia? They already know about this batch of gold, and they want to use it as a reserve to issue new rubles,"

"Anyway, 150 tons of gold is only 100 million dollars, and even if it is 1,500 tons, it is only 1 billion dollars. We have so much paper money now, it would be nice to be able to exchange it for gold. Yang Rui said, "Our financial strategy is to do everything possible to save more gold in the treasury. Now the more than 1,000 tons is too little, the paper money will depreciate, the value of goods will fall, but gold has remained strong for thousands of years. Wouldn't it be better to buy gold with foreign exchange and then spend the Chinese dollars that were used as reserves for this gold? Find a way, find a way to get more gold from abroad, from gold mines, and we must add at least 100 tons of gold every year without using private gold. ”

There are many people, and some words are not easy to say directly. Kolchak's gold, if it transits from China, must be sold to China, whether it is a Czech or a Russian, can only cross the border with all kinds of banknotes, and the gold must be left behind; In order for the Bolsheviks to issue a new ruble, they did not have to be on the gold standard, and the gold exchange standard with the British pound and the dollar as reserves was still feasible, so that China could buy some Bolshevik gold at a higher market price than the market price, a Russian gold, until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks had been selling gold;

In the end, the gold snatching team sent out by the Intelligence Bureau, if they can really get the gold back, it is to make a lot of money in a muffled voice, and they are secretly having fun. In the era of the gold standard, gold is the core of the currency, but also the guarantee of the strength of the currency, in the household plan, ten years later, it will be integrated with the Japanese currency, that is, the issuance of the Asian dollar, when China does not have the absolute quantitative advantage of gold as a support, the Asian Bank will not be able to suppress the Japanese, can not get full control.

The two things of the household department were briefly discussed, and then the matter of the Ministry of Industry, seeing that he was discussing his own affairs, Xu Huafeng immediately said: "The situation in Germany is very bad now, after a few years of eating the vines, now there is only the bark left." Now that the war has been armistic, can we support Germany with a batch of grain? No matter how the peace agreement is signed, the amount of compensation and the amount of land ceded. You always have to save people first. ”

As soon as he finished saying this, Du Yaquan said, "Mr. Huafeng." The contract was not signed, and the British blockaded the North Sea. Even if we were to transport food, we would not be able to send it to Germany. ”

"Ahh Still in lockdown? Xu Huafeng didn't know that this was the case, he looked at Yang Rui a little helplessly. The icing on the cake is really not as good as sending charcoal in the snow, now people in Germany are starving to death every day, and if you really want to send food in, the Germans will never forget it for the rest of their lives.

Xu Huafeng had been talking about aiding Germany for a long time, and seeing him, Yang Rui had no choice but to say: "There is only one way now, and that is to use submarines to drill through the North Atlantic blockade line." Grain was sent to Germany, but it was not much, and with the fact that we built it ourselves, the Navy only had 12 transport submarines, and 12 could only transport 5,000 tons at a time, which was a drop in the bucket. ”

Thinking of the complexity of the matter, Yang Rui shook his head like eating a sour orange, "This thing is really difficult." In this way, fifty pieces of grain for a meal will be turned into two hundred. ”

"Two hundred is two hundred. Not to mention one million tons of grain, two hundred thousand tons can also save many people. Xu Huafeng insisted: "If it happens, you have to think of a way." Our industry still depends on the Germans to build, and now is a good time to recruit talents, the value of these 200,000 tons of grain. It's more valuable than 20 million tons on a normal day. ”

Xu Huafeng pointed out the key, and the lighter that Yang Rui was playing turned off again, and he said, "Is it really so important?" ”

"Of course it's important. Now Germany is in chaos and famine. The workers made a revolution and all the factories were shut down. The technicians were terrified. We have brought in grain, talents, technology, and drawings have been snatched out, and there is nothing better than this. These 200,000 tons of grain are only how much, even if they are 200 yuan a ton, it is only 40 million, and 40 million can be exchanged for how many things. Xu Huafeng took out a list and said, "Just follow this list to help and find people, you can't go wrong!" ”

The Ministry of Industry has really prepared for a long time, and the first category on the list is universities in Germany, marked as free aid; The second category is those backbone factories, shipyards, and research institutes, which are marked as key follow-ups. Obviously, this is not only to sell favors to German universities, but also to take advantage of the famine in Germany to wipe out all the valuable things in Germany.

Seeing this list, the regular meeting ended after other things were simply dealt with. However, Xu Huafeng stayed, and Zhang Shi from the Intelligence Bureau was also called.

"Can you bring grain into Germany?" Before Zhang Shi sat down, Yang Rui asked.

"Yes!" Zhang Shi's eyes turned half a circle, and he looked straight to the right for a long time before giving a word.

"Tell me what you can do." In Xu Huafeng's smile, Yang Rui continued to ask.

"If the amount is not too large, such as tens of thousands of tons, then it can be transported directly from the defense line of the expeditionary force." Zhang Shi's method is so simple, it's really unexpected.

"Oh......" Yang Rui couldn't help nodding after being surprised, this is indeed a method, and it is ready-made, as long as the dozens of kilometers between the expeditionary force defense line and the German defense line are paved with railroad tracks. But this is likely to be known to the French. ”

"There are a lot of trucks in the expeditionary force, and in any of the mountain passes in Lorraine and Alsace, as long as the trucks can pass through the grain. Once you get to the railway line, or to the Rhine, no one knows where the grain comes from. "Zhang Shidao." Such a method is that the amount should not be too large, and in terms of the supply of the expeditionary force, 20,000 or 30,000 tons a month must be no problem. ”

"What if it's hundreds of thousands or millions of tons?" Yang Rui asked again. When he was waiting for Zhang Shi just now, he found that the blockade of Germany would have to last until the contract was signed, and the contract would take at least half a year or even longer. Historically, Germany finally signed the treaty in July 1919, and the armistice was in November 1918, with eight months in between. It's a truce in July, and considering that winter ...... is coming in a few months, it's an opportunity.

"I have to turn to Russia for help." Zhang Shidao. "The grain we helped Russia was delivered all the way to Moscow, because at that time it was said that the transportation was as much as it was necessary, so the railway from Orenburg to Kazan, the waterway from the Caspian Sea to Nizhny Novgorod, and the port station were all renovated to make them suitable for container transportation."

"But the reality is that Russia and Poland are at war." It was a road from Russia, but Poland blocked it, so Yang Rui made another difficulty.

"We can transport grain to Petersburg, and from Petersburg back to Germany, and this does not require our merchant ships, Germany has its own ships." Zhang Shidao.

"What about secrecy, who is better to come forward?" The method is indeed a method, and Yang Rui is worried that the matter will be known to the Entente countries. Transporting grain from France was not considered, but it was much safer to go to Russia.

"Sir, Count Christian has not returned to China, he is still in Beijing." Zhang Shidao. As soon as he said this, Yang Rui remembered that among the German instructors at the South African Military Academy, the profiteer who sold guns to himself was still in Beijing. (To be continued......)