400 million marks is basically a year's military expenditure of the German Navy, perhaps this figure is not much for the German naval bills, but for a country like China is already astronomical. And, at the cost of dreadnoughts, 400 million marks could build about eight to nine dreadnoughts. If the construction period is properly extended, it is very likely that these dreadnoughts will be integrated into the German fleet in wartime, and if so, the combat effectiveness of the German Navy will be nearly doubled...... Prince Henry's eyes lit up, and his mind only stayed on the eight or nine dreadnoughts accumulated by the 400 million marks of ship construction fees, completely ignoring what Yang Rui said was that all he wanted to build were small ships.

The traverser can predict the prophet, but the development of anything has a trajectory to follow, and the political acumen throughout Europe know very well that the war will break out in a few years, and the difference is only that everyone judges the time point is different - in the eyes of Britain, France and Russia, the best time to start the war is the completion of the expansion of the Russian army in 1917 and the completion of the railway network in western Russia (Germany expects the railway network to be completed in 1916); In Germany's view, the best time to go to war was in 1914 when the Kiel Canal expansion was completed, the strategic border railway was completed, and before the death of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph I, who was already 82 years old and would have collapsed Germany's last ally, Austria-Hungary.

Yang Rui knew the exact time of the war, while Prince Henry knew the approximate time of the war, that is, between 1914 and 1916. During this time, the mobilization time of the German army took only two weeks, while the mobilization time of the Russian army took six to eight weeks. In the judgment of the General Staff. It would take six weeks to defeat France, that is, Germany could take out France in six to eight weeks of Russian mobilization. Thus, after settling the Western Front, the army was quickly transferred eastward and then fought a decisive battle with Russia. This was the strategic logic of Germany, and the Schlieffen plan was a six-week plan to solve France, but once the Russian military expansion and the western railway network were completed, then Germany would be attacked on both sides, so the war must be launched before Russia was fully mobilized, which became a sufficient and necessary condition for Germany to start a war.

Fantasizing about eight or nine dreadnoughts joining the German Navy, Prince Henry suppressed his excitement and said, "Your Excellency, Chancellor. If I understand correctly, only dreadnoughts need such a large sum of money. Judging by the current situation in China, it is natural to build a fleet of no less than six dreadnoughts. And as far as I know, Japan has already decided to build four Kongo-class dreadnoughts, plus its own inherent fleet, there are not six dreadnoughts. It is difficult for China to gain an advantage in naval warfare. ”

"Nope. Your Highness. I'm not going to build a dreadnought! Yang Rui looked at his concerned appearance very unhappy, the slipway period of the dreadnought takes two years, and two years later it will be World War I, others don't know the time, Prince Henry can't not know, he fooled himself to build a dreadnought, it is simply a trick for China to spend money to build a ship, and then give it to Germany for free use. Although Germany would definitely return the ships after the war, they used the real money for a few years. The interest is innumerable. Not wanting to be polite to the Germans anymore, Yang Rui said coldly: "Your Highness, if you don't mind, I hope to see your power of attorney." ”

"Of course!" Henry replied politely, and the accompanying servant handed the power of attorney to Li Zilong beside Yang Rui. And Yang Rui, because he is the prime minister, can sign on behalf of the country, so it doesn't matter if he is authorized.

The German power of attorney was written in both German and Chinese languages, and the Germans were well prepared, and the power to grant Henry had been fully granted, but the Chinese version of the power of attorney did not have Kaiser Wilhelm's signature and seal. When Li Zilong told Yang Rui this information, Prince Henry also discovered this problem, and he said calmly: "I'm sorry, because I came in a hurry, so the Chinese version of the power of attorney does not have the signature and seal of His Majesty the Emperor, but I can draft a statement as a plenipotentiary to guarantee that the Chinese power of attorney is fully valid." ”

"If that's the case," Yang Rui said...... "I can accept this statement and consider the power of attorney valid." Your Highness, in that case, we can begin formal negotiations. But before I begin, I want to explain that because there is no own transoceanic submarine cable, the telegrams sent from China to the Americas and Europe are not safe, and the British are monitoring a qiē, which is why I hope that His Royal Highness will get full authorization from His Majesty the Kaiser. ”

"I understand, I understand!" Seeing that Yang Rui was so careful to be wary of the British, Prince Henry was very kind, and several German submarine cables in the Atlantic Ocean were set up for this purpose. "If I really need to tell my majesty, I'll contact Berlin by radio."

"Your Highness, the radio is also within the range of the British, if you really want to contact Berlin, please be sure to encrypt it many times, preferably one at a time." Yang Rui said sincerely, "This is a matter of China's national security, and if the matter of ordering ships is known to other countries, then China will be under tremendous pressure." ”

"Of course! I was ready when I came," Henry finally remembered the advice of the Chinese minister to Germany, and it was evident that the business to be discussed was not only of great importance, but also of the already tense situation in the Far East.

Seeing that the Germans began to be strict, Yang Rui finally began to cut to the chase, "The cooperation between the Revival Society and your navy has been since 06, although there are some twists and turns in the middle, but now the situation is better than imagined." A few months ago, the naval staff at the port of Kiel reported to me that the type of submarine could be finalized after years of testing, so we wanted to order a batch of submarines for coastal defence. However, in line with the principle of secrecy, I also hope that the matter of ordering submarines will not be known to third countries, and if the secrets are leaked, I would rather build them myself or put part of the construction work in other countries.

It can be said that it is the joint efforts of Chinese and German technical engineers that the submarine technology that is now mature and usable, and I hope to hand over all the orders for submarines to your country, but I am worried that your country will not be able to deliver them on time, or that you will not be able to strictly observe the secret ...... of the order."

When Yang Rui rejected the dreadnought, Henry had already guessed that Yang Rui would order a submarine, something that had been heavily invested before the success of the Revival Revolution. Although he didn't understand why the Chinese's ship-building ideas were so strange and useless, Henry Ninja exhorted and asked. "Your Excellency Prime Minister, how many submarines do you want to order?"

"There are a total of 250 650-ton Class A submarines and 20 1,700-ton Class B submarines." Yang Rui didn't care about the huge earthquake of the Germans. Instead, he handed him a sketch of the two types of submarines, A and B, and said: "These submarines will be delivered in two stages, one is the first stage from the signing of the contract to July 1914, which is about two years, and one hundred and fifty Type A submarines and ten Type B submarines will be ordered in these two years; The other stage was the end of 1914 or the beginning of 1915, and by the end of 1916, 100 Type A submarines and 10 Type B submarines would be delivered. ”

As an admiral, Henry knew the cost and role of submarines. Although submarines have been improved with huge sums of money from the Chinese, he, like Tirpitz, sees such small boats that cannot keep up with the Grand Fleet useless. He gasped and said, "Your Excellency, two hundred and seventy submarines are worth more than five hundred million marks. If you use this money to build dreadnoughts, then you can oversee the construction of a whole fleet, please forgive my ignorance, why can't you use this money to build dreadnoughts? ”

"Your Highness. More than half a billion marks is possible to build a fleet. However, China does not have so many people to drive this fleet, although our fleet and naval school are being reorganized, but there will be no combat effectiveness in ten years; In addition, once so many dreadnoughts are built, then China will cause hostility from other countries, which we do not want to see. China prefers submarines, and I myself prefer submarines. Although such small ships are inconspicuous, what we need at the moment is coastal defense. I don't want anyone else to put a few cannons on the coast and make us bow our heads and sign a treaty. Yang Rui looked at the Germans who were still full of confusion and said, "The dreadnought is to attack, and what we have to do is to defend, to protect the limited defense under the coast, and only such a fleet can be allowed by the greedy moths of Britain and their allies." ”

"But why can't China and Germany form an alliance against those damn moths?" Henry persuaded Yang Rui with a needle, he knew that the members of the Revival Society had only made friends with the British after Germany had become close to the Manchus, and the Kaiser and he both hoped that China could lean towards Germany or even form an alliance.

"Your Highness, China and Germany are too far away, even if we form an alliance, how can we help your country? Moreover, before the expansion of the military factory is completed and more than 200 submarines are delivered to China, we will not have the ability to protect ourselves at all, and any country can sail its warships to the coast or the Yangtze River as long as it wants. Yang Rui said the excuse that had been prepared a long time ago, "Although China and Germany have a common neighbor, Russia, for China, the most important enemy is Japan and not Russia, and for your country, whether it is Russia or Japan, they are enemies rather than allies, and it is beneficial for your country for us to go to war with any of them." ”

"But after all, Russia is in the east of our country, and if there is a war, I would prefer your country to attack Russia rather than Japan." Speaking of which, Henry was not polite, although he did not say that he hoped that China would cooperate with the Schlieffen plan, but the meaning was already obvious.

"But for us, the Japanese army in South Manchuria could attack Beijing directly, while the Russian army in North Manchuria would only be limited to the north of Siping, and once we went to war with Russia, we would have to face two enemies, Russia and Japan; To start a war against Japan, you only need to face one enemy, Japan. Your Highness, do you think I can convince my comrades and Congress to bring the country into a war against two enemies? Yang Rui looked at the German and asked rhetorically.

"But what if, when China and Japan go to war, Russia also joins the war? Your Excellency, they are allies of the British, and you are not worried about that. Henry also asked rhetorically.

"I can only try to avoid Russia's entry into the war." "If he does go to war, it will be unfortunate for China." Do you know, Your Highness, the Japanese already intend to expand seventeen divisions to twenty-four divisions, and in wartime they will be further expanded to fifty divisions. In wartime, Russia can expand to at least 100 divisions, even if Europe needs 17 divisions, Central Asia needs 15 divisions, and China needs 13 divisions, then minus these 45 divisions, he can send no less than 50 divisions to the Far East. Japan and Russia had 100 divisions and 1.2 million to 1.5 million troops participating in the battle, and this battle was lost without fighting China.

Russia may become China's enemy, but this can only be after we defeat Japan, and I believe that His Highness already knew about the fact that former Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro borrowed money in Europe when he was in Europe. Japan's debt to be returned at maturity is only 500 million yen, but Katsura Taro wants to borrow 1 billion or even more than 1 billion yen. The Japanese were already preparing for war. The reason why I want the submarine construction to be kept secret is that I hope that war will break out in 16 years, when we may be able to fight Japan. ”

In the position of Yang Rui and Prince Henry. There is not much information in the world that is not known. China borrowed $200 million from the United States and 100 million rubles from Russia, and relied on this money to build shipyards and naval ports, and also introduced American influence into the navy. Now that the Americans are actually meddling in the Chinese Navy, this is already the rhythm of China and the United States to jointly contain Japan. This is unacceptable to any Japanese. It was only a matter of time before China and Japan went to war, which is why Katsura Taro borrowed money from Europe, and why China wanted to keep the submarine secret from ordering.

Thinking about the situation in the Far East, Henry wanted to persuade Yang Rui to start a war against Russia in order to reduce the pressure on Germany in Europe. But he only felt that there was no way to persuade him. China is simply a weak country. Last year's victory over Japan was also caused by the floods, otherwise China would not have had to cede the Anbong Railway and an iron ore mine during the peace talks. He looked at Yang Rui, who looked calm, and persuaded for the last time: "Your Excellency, I still think that it is a waste to build a submarine with money, the speed of that kind of small boat is only fifteen knots, it is impossible to do effective maneuvers, even if it can dive to the bottom of the sea, its underwater activity time is very limited." Only a few hours, as long as there are enough destroyers. Then they will be useless. ”

"That's why we need to order more than 200 submarines." Yang Rui insisted, "Your Highness, I hope to know if your country can deliver such a number of submarines on time, and how much will it cost to have such a number of submarines?" ”

Sensing Yang Rui's insistence, Prince Henry asked, "Then how will your country pay this fee?" Such a large amount of money is easy to leak. ”

"I want to pay part in dollars, then part in silver, and I want to have the rest in your country for a loan, and then we can repay it in installments." Yang Rui said. The Germans understood everything, but they didn't know if they could get some loans.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I beg your pardon. There is no precedent for such a large amount of loans in our country, and special contracts need to be kept secret so that bonds cannot be issued to the public......" Prince Henry unsurprisingly refused to take out a loan, Yang Rui had to sigh deliberately, and he finally said when he heard it: "Within the scope of my authority, I think it is appropriate to give your country a loan of one-tenth of the payment for goods, but if it exceeds this ratio, it will definitely cause unnecessary trouble." ”

"A tenth? That's just too little, and I'd like to have a three-tenths loan. Yang Rui said. The Germans are trying to get a 10% discount. According to the 160 submarines of the first stage that he wanted, according to the total nuclear price, the A-type submarine was 2 million marks, and the B-type submarine was 6 million marks, and the total price was 360 million marks, or 90 million US dollars and 128 million taels of silver. "And how much does it cost? Can the delivery date be satisfied? ”

"Three out of ten loans are impossible." Henry politely rejected Yang Rui's counteroffer, "But we can give appropriate discounts on the cost, and there is no problem with delivery, the submarine is just a small boat of several hundred tons, and German shipbuilding is not busy now...... Your Excellency, I'm curious, how do you get these submarines back to China, there are just too many of them. ”

"We believe that a batch of thirty ships, one hundred and fifty ships of the first phase of the order, will be delivered in five batches of thirty ships. These submarines all had a range of more than eight thousand nautical miles. After departing from Germany, they either took the North Sea or crossed the English Channel directly, and then settled in the German colony of South-West Africa (Namibia), where the fleet rested before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and resting again in German New Guinea. With these two breaks, then they can sail back to China. Yang Rui said.

"Oh...... Oh, God. "Prince Henry followed Yang Rui's words around the world once, he now believes that the Chinese in front of him are not crazy, the submarine has a range of more than 8,000 nautical miles, is this really offshore defense?

Prince Henry ended the first negotiation with such a question, and when he returned to the legation, he quickly summoned the former Minister to China, Lex, the new Minister to China, Hahausen, the Krupp General Office, and Colonel Hainel of the East Asia Detachment to discuss the matter. What kind of country is this new country now? If there is a war between China and Japan, can the Chinese win? ”

Prince Henry's series of questions made Rex not know which one to answer, so he had to say in the order of his questions: "Yang Jingcheng is not at all like the previous bureaucrats in China, he does not pursue illusory things, he is very pragmatic, and he is very powerful, so he is very tough, in addition, he and his government are very clean, here, every official has to disclose his assets, and once he spends more than his income, then the 'Jinyiwei' will come to investigate."

The whole country was a tight pyramid, and there was an organization called the peasant council, which allowed the government to bypass the former gentry and govern the countryside directly, and the peasants were invited to the Parliament, at least half of the six hundred seats, and although they were illiterate, the Congress gave each of them a secretary, who could convey to them the agenda of the meeting. But in Congress, whether they are literate or not, Yang Jingcheng's order is their mission, according to their own words - unity is strength! On several occasions, these peasant councillors sang this song in the Reichstag, and the loud voice could be heard in half of the city.

Yang Jingcheng has 100 percent control over the parliament and the government, the only exception being that Guangdong and Guangxi are not his sphere of influence, but these two provinces are in the far south, and as long as he firmly controls the other 20 provinces of the country, he can defeat the Japanese. Yes, I'm sure of that! Last year he was at its weakest, but now it is different, with the establishment of the peasant association, the power of the revival will penetrate into every corner of the country, and with the implementation of the land rent reduction bill, those farmers will trust the revival society to give them a good life......"

Rex was really touched by the changes in China for more than half a year, and after talking for a long time, he only felt that the more he said, the more biased he became, he immediately corrected this verbosity, and said concisely and clearly: "Your Highness, Yang Jingcheng is a pragmatic and powerful person; This country is a country that is gradually united, and it is becoming more and more powerful; If there is a war between China and Japan, as long as the battlefield is on land, then China will surely win and Japan will lose. ”

After Rex finished speaking, Henry looked at Hahausen again, and he replied, "Yes, I fully agree with Arthur's statement. Things are getting better in China, and this can be seen in the order of the city of Beijing and the growing tax revenues. Yang Jingcheng's cabinet is the most powerful cabinet in the country, and he can influence this without being doubted by the people. Your Highness, I think we should do our best to recognize his government and fully tilt to the side of China in the Sino-Japanese confrontation, so that we can maintain a good and close relationship with it and safeguard the interests of the empire in the Far East. ”

At the same time, Hahausen also learned that the cooperation between the Revival Society and Germany in the past few years was actually the first breach of contract by the German government, which could not help but make Hahausen very worried about what kind of chaos the emperor would make on a whim, and the Revival Society was no longer hiding in the ravine, it now ruled China.

Seeing that the two envoys to China both affirmed the current rulers of China, Prince Henry said: "I will report your construction to His Majesty, and he will do his best to recognize the Chinese government." I also hope that Germany and China will establish a strong friendship, but I would prefer that China will go to war with Russia when Germany needs it, so as to relieve our pressure in the east. Now that China is so close to the Russians that they have even brought the Russian power into the Great Wall through the Guò-Mongolian Railway, which is an extremely important landmark for the country, I fear that they will ally with the Russians to exclude Japan and us. ”

Feeling Prince Henry's concern, Rex said with certainty: "Your Highness, Yang Jingcheng will not surrender to anyone, after driving out the Japanese, the next thing they want to drive is probably the Russians." The Mongolian Railway not only allowed the Russians to bring their strength into the Great Wall, but also allowed China to quickly increase its troops on the Mongolian Plateau. Think about the unification war last year, the occupation of Kulen was actually synchronized with the occupation of Beijing, which means that the army that entered Mongolia began to act several days ago, from this, it is not difficult to see that Yang Jingcheng attaches great importance to Mongolia and is wary of Russia. (To be continued......)