The sky in London seems to be never clear, the gloomy weather makes Yuan Shikai's mood extremely bad, although there is no shortage of money around him, but he is not used to it at all in this foreign country, and now he has fully experienced the pain of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao's death in the past. When he was fidgeting in the house, Zhang Yilin outside said, "Dashuai, call from China." ”

Yuan Shikai glanced at him when he heard this, and knew that nothing was good when he looked at him, and said in a muffled voice: "Say, what's the matter." ”

Zhang Yilin took the telegram and said with a wry smile: "Dashuai, it was the fourth town that was ambushed by the revolutionary army in Yanzhou, and suffered heavy losses, and a target army was given ...... The War Department may mean that there will be no more personnel. ”

"Humph! It's really ......" Yuan Shikai only threw the teacup on the ground angrily, "bang", the tea splashed, and he ran around the room like crazy, "How did you explain it at the beginning?" Yes! How did you explain it in the first place? Yes! Did Wu Fengling get kicked in the head by a donkey, or did he just have a donkey head! ”

Wu Fengling is the son of a servant in Yuan Shikai's family, and it is not all because Yuan Shikai has blue eyes from such a humble situation to become a town commander, this person himself is a malleable talent, when training the Beiyang Army, between virtue and talent, Yuan Shikai chose talent instead of virtue. But how could such a person fall for the plans of the revolutionary army.

"Marshal, Commander Wu has been dismissed from the War Department, and now the commander who has taken over is Chen Guangyuan, the fourth co-commander." Bad news is often not a one-off event, but one after another. Yuan Shikai didn't even have the strength to go wild when he heard this, and sat on the Western sofa. Mu Ran said, "Is there anything else going on at home?" If you have something, say it together. ”

Zhang Yilin is Yuan Shikai's confidant and knows his temper well. Seeing him like this, he said, "Dashuai, there is nothing else going on, even the third town has also been transferred to the three eastern provinces to suppress bandits." ”

"Then let Duan Zhiquan be careful, Tie Liang's side is going to use the bandits to consume the six towns of Beiyang." Tie Liang's intentions Yuan Shikai knew that he had called these people before to tell them to be careful, but in fact, the people below were also embarrassed. The War Department is desperately demanding that they suppress bandits, and there is no room for compromise at all.

"It's already been explained. Dashuai, there is one more thing ......" Zhang Yilin hesitated.

"Speak!" Yuan Shikai said.

"It's the people of the revolutionary party who want to see the commander."

"It's a revolutionary party again. Missing! Yuan Shikai was very disdainful. When he was in Tianjin, he didn't see him, so he spread rumors everywhere that he had plotted to assassinate Lafayette. Then he went abroad and Sun Wen came to see him again, he couldn't figure out how thick Sun Wen's face was? If he does this kind of thing, I'm afraid he won't dare to ask to see him in the next life.

"Great. It's better to see it. Not from the League this time. It's a Renaissance. As soon as Zhang Yilin saw Yuan Shikai's appearance, he knew that he had misunderstood, and he was busy explaining the person who came.

"Oh......" Yuan Shikai still hesitated, this side just ate a target in the fourth town of Beiyang, and here came to ask to see him, what does this mean." Well, let's see each other. ”

Naturally, it was Xie Zhangtai, the new member of the committee, who asked to see Yuan Shikai, who went all the way south after leaving Shanghai. Through the South Seas to Europe, this time it is not considered to lobby Britain, France and other countries. Just set up an outpost first to pave the way for future lobbying, and in the process, I thought that Yuan Shikai was also in England, so I came to the door.

"Duke Yuan, the six towns of Beiyang have been suppressed by the Manchus in the name of encirclement and suppression, which is really not our blessing." There is no politeness, Xie Jintai goes straight to the point.

Yuan Shikai wanted to fight with him, but he thought that he was a fart to the Manchurians, and now the lost dog generally ran to England under the protection of the British, this is because he still has influence in the Qing Dynasty, if the six towns of Beiyang are all tossed, then his value to the British will not be there.

He smiled: "Mr. Xie is really fast-talking." Say, what will the revival look like? ”

Seeing that Yuan Shikai directly took the words, Xie Zhangtai smiled and said: "Yuan Gong, what I mean is actually very simple, that is, everyone should live together peacefully." As a sign of sincerity, we can pretend to be careless and release some of your army's prisoners in Yanzhou. ”

"Haha......" Yuan Shikai laughed, "Wouldn't it be so cheap Fourth Town?" ”

"Yuan Gong, there is nothing cheap or not cheap, neither you nor I want to fight, the Han people kill and kill, they are all cheap and Manchurian, isn't it enough to kill for more than two hundred years? Yuan Gong is a hero in the world, and he has worked hard to train the six towns of Beiyang, is it like this that he was consumed by the Manchus? Xie Zhangtai had asked Yang Rui before seeing Yuan Shikai, and it was Yang Rui's permission to release some of the Beiyang prisoners.

If Yuan Shikai must have served tea to the guests before going abroad, but now he has seen Manchu Qing very thoroughly, but he didn't speak, and Zhang Yilin next to him immediately knew his mind when he saw this, and then said: "Mr. Xie, what kind of charter is this peaceful coexistence?" Please also make it clear. ”

As soon as Zhang Yilin asked, Xie Zhangtai knew that the matter had been completely done, and said calmly at the moment: "Your two armies do not invade each other's defense areas, even if you want to enter the other party's defense area, you must greet each other first; and then if you are really forced to have no choice but to face each other, you can also release your guns into the sky; the third is the captured personnel on both sides, which can be exchanged in small parts; Finally, the foreign goods required by the base area can be collected by the fourth town, but they must be released. ”

Xie Zhangtai said four, in fact, the most important is the fourth, Yanzhou is located in the deep mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the materials are extremely scarce, especially the salt to rely on the outside import, these months of the war, the consumption of materials is very much, although the salt is carried, but the inventory is gradually decreasing, in the case of a complete blockade, small-scale smuggling is a drop in the bucket.

After Xie Zhangtai's request was finished, Zhang Yilin looked at Yuan Shikai, and under Yuan Shikai's slight nod, he said: "If the items that come and go are not arms and other things, the marshal is willing to speak for the revolutionary army, but whether it succeeds depends on the meaning of the fourth town." ”

Yuan Shikai's words can only be said to this point, Xie Zhangtai smiled when he heard this: "Then thank Yuan Gong." However, Yuan Gong is only in a foreign country, and it is not a way. If we can cooperate with the Renaissance Society, we will ......"

Before Xie Zhangtai finished speaking, Yuan Shikai raised his hand. Zhang Yilin next to him took the tea and said, "Mr. Xie, please." ”

Yuan Shikai agreed to privately reach some tacit understanding with the Fuxing Society to preserve his strength, but Yuan Shikai had no reason to agree with the Fuxing Society in order to fully cooperate. Even if he fled to England, he would not stay long until next year, when Congress convenes. He planned to return to China, after all, under the new political system, if Guangxu killed him, he would be guilty of public anger. Peacefully relying on the former team to seize power in the Congress, it was his plan with King Qing, Xu Shichang and others, when they had a majority in the Congress, and he had a strong army in several towns in Beiyang, so cooperation could completely confront the Manchus. It's just that now the plan has changed. Several towns in Beiyang were suppressed by Tie Liang step by step, which made him have to cooperate with the Revival Society in a limited way.

Xie Zhangtai was not surprised by what he meant, and the call from Shanghai also roughly analyzed Yuan Shikai's scheme. The reason why he led the topic to comprehensive cooperation was just to test Yuan Shikai's meaning. Now seeing that Yuan Shikai was the same as he guessed, he got up at the moment, and left calmly with a farewell.

Yuan Shikai didn't get up after he left. Instead, he watched Xie Jintai walk away. Then he said, "This revival will be a fierce enemy in the future!" ”

Seeing that he also saw this, Zhang Yilin said: "Commander, no matter how strong an enemy is, you have to have soldiers in your hands." Now, with their people in Eastern Province and Yanzhou, this world is still our Beiyang. ”

Zhang Yilin's words of comfort did not make Yuan Shikai happy, the most taboo he was in the revolutionary party was the revival association, especially when he recalled the arrangement of the revival association in China, but it was a strategy to win the world, although it has been broken up now. But that momentum is not something that ordinary revolutionary parties can have.

Different from Yuan Shikai's exclamation, Xie Jintai went out and found a carriage to rush to the telegraph office. He wanted to spread the news to Shanghai and Germany as soon as possible, Shanghai ordered the military government to contact the Fourth Town, and the German side passed the news to Zhong Guanguan, who was trying to find a way to break the blockade of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Xie Jintai didn't know how to break it.

Zhong Guanguan returned to Berlin after a meeting in Shanghai, and now he is no longer a chemistry student at the University of Berlin, but is completely the head of the Revival Association in Europe, but this head is not responsible for everything, he mainly focuses on the latest technology. Now, for example, he was under a huge 'cigar', and in the noisy sound of the gasoline engine, the Germans beside him whispered in his ear: "Sir, it is four hundred and thirteen feet long and thirty-eight feet in diameter, and in this huge body above our heads there are seventeen air sacs, loaded with four hundred and eighty thousand cubic feet of hydrogen, look! These two Daimler gasoline engines may make it fly faster than a bird......"

"How fast is it?" Zhong Guanguan saw him with a very proud look and interrupted him: "Also, what I am most concerned about is, how much cargo can it carry, and how long can it continue to fly?" Mr. Reinhardt, we had an agreement before. ”

"Yes. Yes. "Reinhardt saw that this Chinese was not at all intoxicated by the happiness of rising to the sky, so he had to tell the truth." Sir, he can reach speeds of over twenty-seven miles and can carry more than fourteen thousand pounds. Flight time, of course, we're still experimenting, but I'm optimistic about it going over twenty hours. ”

After Reinhardt's words were finished, the whole airship moved sideways to the left with a gust of wind, and there was a kind of shaking in the airship's pod, and Zhong Guanguan didn't notice it, and 14,000 pounds would be converted into a load of 6.35 tons, and 27 miles would be 43.45 kilometers, so the general speed would be more than 35 kilometers. In this way, Ma'anshan to Yanzhou is about 300 kilometers, and in winter, it can be reached overnight.

Different from the establishment of base areas during the Republic of China, under the premise of the division of warlords in various parts of the Republic of China, the difficulty of establishing base areas is extremely low, especially since the base areas are generally at the junction of two or three provinces, and the warlords of this province rarely encircle and suppress together with the warlords of neighboring provinces. However, under the rule of the Manchus, no matter where there was a rebellion, the Manchus would mobilize troops to encircle and suppress, such as Yanzhou, which was surrounded by three new military towns at the beginning, and although Yanzhou, where the revolutionary army was located, had the advantage of having the right time and place, it was also surrounded enough, and the most important thing was the blockade, after salt and other strategic materials were not allowed to flow into the base areas, the situation of the military government became increasingly difficult.

In order to break the blockade of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Yang Rui couldn't help but think of air transportation, he initially expected to use airplanes, but poured cold water on Zhongguan - according to the previous understanding, the current planes are not only loaded with fuel and pilots. It can't carry it at all, and even if it can, it will never exceed fifty kilograms. Even with such a small weight, the plane cannot fly more than 200 kilometers, so it can be said that in the next few years, if you want to supply the base area, you can only use airships. Of course, in order to hide from the eyes, the airship can only be used at night. If it is a place other than an overnight flight, then a transfer station needs to be set up to support the airship's endurance. For supply airships in the base. Yang Rui's requirements were to sail at least 300 kilometers in one night, with a load of more than 10 tons, and a cruising time of more than 24 hours.

With these numbers in hand, Zhong Guanguan returned to Germany and contacted Count Zeppelin, who had already built several airships. At this time, Zeppelin was bankrupt to build the LZ3 airship. Today is the inaugural voyage of the LZ3 airship, but depending on the actual situation, this LZ3 airship cannot fly for 24 hours.

After an hour of drifting in the blue sky, the 'cigar' lowered its altitude and threw only the cable to the ground, and as soon as Zhong Guanguan came out of the pod, the bald and bearded Count Zeppelin waited outside with a smile, and said enthusiastically: "Dear Zhong, how does it feel to fly?" ”

"Very good!" Zhong Guanguan said with a smile. He asked Xu Shangwu, who was afraid of heights, to help him to the side to rest, and then said again. "Earl, the airship hasn't reached the 20,000-pound load we needed before, and it doesn't have a flight time of twenty-four hours, and the speed, twenty-seven miles is still too slow, we hope it can be faster."

Zeppelin fully understood the clear needs of the tobacco smuggler in front of him, although he didn't understand how much tobacco and soil needed to be transported to earn back the airship costing hundreds of thousands of marks, but when he saw the credit certificate issued by the bank for several millions, this uncomplicated calculation problem had been ignored by him, if he got this money, he could build a bigger airship, and even if the German military didn't pay for it, then the influence of the airship would be known to everyone, and he was now building an airship, building a bigger airship.

"Dear Zhong, this is an airship designed several years ago, and it's just a trial item. Now, I have here the latest design, which, of course, is very expensive to build, estimated to be more than a hundred marks. Zeppelin seemed to have begun to learn some of the merchant's negotiation skills, and as soon as he finished talking about the price, he said: "But it will be exactly what you need." Loads are more than 20,000 pounds, and as for speeds, we can replace them with larger engines, like the Maybach six-cylinder inline engines, each of which will be more than a hundred kilowatts of power, and if there are three of them, it will definitely be more than forty-five miles per hour. ”

The cost of one million marks did not surprise Zhong Guan, the airship was very expensive, this was what he knew before, but Mark has been depreciating on a large scale, one million marks is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and such a price revival will still be affordable. In Yang Rui's words, even if it is expensive, there is no way, just as if there is no money in the United States.

"Twenty thousand pounds? Forty-five miles? Zhong Guanguan took Zeppelin's blueprint and asked.

"Yes, I'm sure! Guaranteed with my honor. "The Earl is true to what he said. His beard grew more and more curled, and he really wanted to build a bigger airship. In particular, the other party's conditions are very favorable to him, in addition to earning some money, during the sea trial, he can once again expand his influence, get rid of the shadow of bankruptcy, and start a new Zeppelin company.

Looking at the other party's serious appearance, Zhong Guanguan didn't believe it, many Germans looked serious, but they were actually very cunning. He said sternly, "Then we can discuss the technical details first, and besides, I would like to know how long it will take to build such an airship." ”

"If you have the money, it's just more than six months." With the construction of the previous airships, Zeppelin is already familiar with how to build airships. "If you want to be faster, maybe you'll need to use some of the builds on the LZ3. Don't worry, everything is in good condition. ”

Zhong Guan laughed when he heard him say this, in fact, the mechanism of the airship is not complicated, first the keel like a ship, these things are made of aluminum, and then the glued cotton airbag - this is actually the hidden danger of the airship, these gelatinized airbags will inevitably produce static electricity when flying, there is no problem when flying, once the landing touches the ground, the charge of the airship and the charge on the surface of the ground produce sparks, which will trigger the hydrogen in the airbag - the material is very general, the difficulty lies in the structure of the keel and the arrangement of the airbag. These are all things that can only be understood after a long time of making and flying. Shipbuilding, like shipbuilding, is an industry that attaches equal importance to technical experience, and Zhong Sightseeing chose Zeppelin. In addition to Yang Rui's naming of him, it is because he has rich manufacturing experience.

"I'm going to ask for a lot. Your Excellency the Earl, Zhong Guanguan said: "I hope to train my people in Germany," Zhong Guanguan's request was very simple, and when Zeppelin just wanted to agree, he added: "Moreover, my people must be involved in the design and manufacture of the airship, and it is impossible for me to transport it to Germany for repair when it is damaged." Also, most importantly, I wish it was cheaper. For example, I want it to cost less than 600,000 marks, or even less. ”

"No, it can't be." Count Zeppelin's bald head swayed. 600,000 is actually only enough to build an LZ3.

"It's very likely!" Zhong Guanguan said. "My people have calculated the cost of the entire airship, aluminum, airbags, pods, engines, and manufacturing workers, and the cost of manufacturing workers will not add up to 600,000 yuan."

"You've got a good accountant. But dear Zhong, he missed one thing, and that is hydrogen, you know, more than 80,000 cubic feet of hydrogen needs ......" Zeppelin, who finally grasped one of the opponent's weaknesses, is like unfolding here. Then he overturned the argument that the other party had built an airship with 600,000 marks, but he was interrupted by Zhong Guanguan.

"There is no need for hydrogen. After the test flight, the airship will be transported to the Far East for assembly, where it will be filled with hydrogen. By the way, I forgot to say that we are not building just one airship, but many ......" Zhong Guanguan was interrupted by the assistant behind him before he could finish speaking, and he received a telegram from Xie Zhangtai in England.

After reading the telegram, he smiled at Zeppelin again, "Oh, things have changed a little now, and I hope to discuss this with His Excellency the Count again tomorrow or sometime." ”

Zhong Guan's idea of building a few airships made Zeppelin's heart almost explode, but when he heard him say that the situation had changed somewhat, the heart that was about to explode shrank sharply, and then hung in the air, but his good cultivation made him not lose his temper, he was extremely reluctant to send Zhong Guanguan to the hotel, and then after making an appointment for dinner, he went back.

Zhong Guanguan patiently waited for the call back from Shanghai after the detailed information about the airship, this call may take several days, after all, this involves the General Staff, the Logistics Department, and Yang Rui's judgment on each base area, according to the previous calculation, the airship needs six to eight, Northeast, North China, Northwest, East China, one to two in each region, they only do short-distance flights, that is, one to two night flights, but if the speed of the airship increases to forty-five miles, that is, seventy-two kilometers per hour, A one-night flight can exceed 600 kilometers, and a supply radius of 600 kilometers can set up a landing field in Shanxi, so that North China and Northwest China can be combined into one, so that only four or six airships are needed to reduce it to three areas.

Yang Rui, who was presiding over the study meeting in Shanghai, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he got the telegram sent from Britain, and the Yanzhou base area saw that there had been great victories one after another, but the situation was already very critical, the troops were already very tired from continuous combat, the materials that had arrived from Hangzhou earlier were also exhausted, although some of the ammunition had been captured by the new army, but it was impossible to fight a big war by capturing it alone, and there was already a shortage of medicines and necessities for life, and if the Manchu Qing Dynasty's purge and blockade continued until next spring, then the troops would inevitably have to wander againAt that time, whether the base plan is feasible will be questioned by the middle and senior management of the meeting.

He now introduced Zeppelin's latest design, a 152-meter-long, 14-meter-diameter, 22,500-cubic-cubic-meter cigar, which would carry nine tons, travel at speeds of more than 70 kilometers per hour, and be able to sail for twenty-four hours. An airship with such performance is expensive, and Zhong Guanguan believes that it will cost more than 600,000 marks without hydrogen, and if you add in the freight, assembly costs, hydrogen costs, and Zeppelin's meager profits, the cost of more than four ships will exceed 900,000 marks. Although this is within the affordable range, Zhong Guanjian can sign a contract with Zeppelin first and build one or two ships first, because he has just gone bankrupt, this is the best time to sign the contract, and then deliver it one by one, after all, there are only two base areas in Liaoxi and Yanzhou, and wait for two years later, when the base areas in various places are established one after another, then increase the number of airships.

Although the transoceanic telegraph is extremely expensive, but the airship is even more expensive, Zhong Guanguan discussed his point of view very comprehensively, Yang Rui transferred the telegram to the Northeast after reading it, and on the third day, the return call from the Northeast was to build yì to buy four, deliver two ships next year, and deliver the latter two ships in 09 and 10 years.

All the news was summarized on Yang Rui's side, but he didn't agree with everyone's opinion, from the point of view of the government, the huge airship was very exciting, so the one hundred and fifty-meter airship was still a little smaller, and it should be a bigger and faster airship. As for the number, four is too little, and at least six ships are needed to ensure the replenishment of the various base areas. Nine tons of cargo seems like a lot, but with a rifle bullet of 26 grams, a maximum of 360,000 rounds of ammunition can be transported, or 15,000 grenades weighing 600 grams, these things can only support more than 3,000 people in a regular battle, he hopes to have two airships to replenish together, so that not only the supplies are abundant, but also in case of any accidents, it can also be reported in time, so as not to scare the people with airships and ammunition falling from the sky. As for the cost, even if six ships cost six million marks, it is only one and a half million dollars, which is nothing more than selling a little more stock in New York, and these are all the money of American stockholders.

In line with this idea, Zhong Guanguan's final plan was to deliver a nine-ton airship in the first half of next year, another larger airship in the second half of the year or in the spring of '08, and two larger airships in '09 and 10, so that a total of six airships, and the cost of purchasing an airship would be less than six million marks. After reading the telegram, Zhong Guanguan only thought that Zeppelin was going crazy this time. (To be continued......)

PS: Note: The cost is from page TheInfluenceofAirPowerUponHistory-p25