Dzerzhinsky's demands were summed up in one sentence - to provide a possible technical support to transform and upgrade the United Rus' principality from a backward agricultural country to an advanced industrial country.

Let the elves, who are contemptuously called "rabbits", send all kinds of experts, unreservedly open technology, and help the woolly bear become an industrial country?

Mr. Dzerzhinsky is very good and not bad, but his abilities and specialties are not in the field of technology, and he cannot understand the technical issues related to politics and strategy. Of course, this was his limitation, and he did not know history - the history of another world - and it was not clear how difficult the work of the cooperation he had proposed. If he also wants to add "world-leading" to his quest slot, the difficulty will be even more difficult.

History has proven this twice in a row. The first was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which, after paying a huge price through the economic crisis and hard-handed administrative measures that swept the entire capitalist world, ended up with a flawed industrial system, and the second was the People's Republic of China. With the aid of the Soviet Union, in the shortest possible time it had a weak but relatively complete heavy industrial system, and after the end of the 10-year convulsion, it hooked up with the imperialist hooligans and introduced technology from the new base friends to further improve the industrial system.

Both of these examples are very special and difficult to replicate, at least not for His Majesty and his courtiers to do so. The ruling class of the United Principality of Rus' did not have the political ability and skill of the great Comrade Iron and the first generation of state leaders of New China to do what they could. Moreover, there is no economic crisis that almost pushes the world into hell at the moment. There is no leader like Comrade Cornhead, who is willing to help a potential opponent build a complete industrial system.

Li Lin is not a good person who responds to requests and is willing to give, and will not do things that are unprofitable or even loss-making.

But it's not a good thing to explicitly reject customers and allies at this time, after all, Alfheim and V.E are not strong enough not to take the principality seriously, and the price of losing this help is beyond their ability to afford at the moment.

Luckily, there is no shortage of excuses, and they all sound plausible.

"Your Excellency, I am willing to provide the Principality with the necessary technology for the modernization of the Principality, and to send technical experts. But ......"

Li Lin dragged out a long voice, looked at Dzerzhinsky, and said unhurriedly:

"You know. I'm a businessman. Business is the means, and profit is the goal. So, I wonder what kind of benefits selling technology can bring to me and my company?"

Technology is an asset, and it is a fundamental economic principle to sell one's own resources for profit. But unless compelled to do so. No one will sell the assets that the other desperately needs. The Principality wanted technical assistance. Then he should give a reasonable price.

"A legal license to operate your company, which is recognized by our country, can provide many conveniences compared to smuggling like a chicken and a dog. I think. You should know about this. ”

"Of course I know this very well, Your Excellency. But you must know that a legal license is far from enough to compensate for my losses, nor does it do anything practical to the industrial construction of your country. ”

The hand holding his chin was lowered, and the head of the secret police stared at Li Lin, sending out a warning word by word.

"I know you're a pure animal of profit, but don't let greed blind your eyes, that's the root of a tragedy. ”

"I'm not greedy, and I'm not joking. Your Excellency, I'm just telling the truth. ”

Picking up a piece of halwa sugar cake and placing it on a plate, Li Lin continued:

"Take this sugar cake as an example, the raw materials of this sugar cake include high-quality sugar, chocolate, flavors, etc., these raw materials come from different colonies, are transported by merchant ships, screened, purified, combined, and packaged through different processes, and finally when they are brought to you, they have gone through factories, quality inspections, sanitation, transportation, customs and other departments, and I am afraid there will be more if they are further refined."

"So what?"

"To put it simply, Your Excellency, the establishment of a complete production system is not only about resources and factories, but also about the establishment of supporting facilities, at least the Principality must first have a railway system connecting the major cities of the country with the sources of resources. You must know that this alone costs a lot of money. ”

Restraining his smile, Li Lin ended his explanation with a long sigh, and Brunhill on the side found that Dzerzhinsky's expressionless face finally became a little unnatural at this moment.

When Li Lin mentioned the railroad, the chief of Oklana was sincerely envious of Charlemagne and Albiang.

In Charlemagne, not only did the government encourage the construction of railways, but people were also willing to buy railroad stocks, which were always well funded, even though they were intended to make a profit, and the huge private financing that made him jealous; Albion developed the railroad later than Charlemagne and was relatively backward in technology. But Queen Elizabeth said, "I want a railway," and Albion was in full swing building a railroad on his island. There was a similar situation in cannon casting and shipbuilding, the only difference was that the two countries were leading Cheng dù.

It was only in the United Rus' Principality that the ruling class became the most powerful and stubborn enemy of state-building. Even if some people of insight smell the danger and desperately demand more investment in public facilities and industrialization, the situation has not improved. The harsh natural environment, the fanatical nature of the people of the Principality for alcoholic beverages, and the unanimous wall of corruption are all pulling back the country's transformation.

Unless they are replaced by a leader called "Steel", plus a powerful institution called "Cheka" or NKVD, the principality is destined to be unable to overcome these difficulties and embark on the road of industrial upgrading. But at the moment they only have half a life of "the supreme emperor and despotist of all Rus", the ignorant and cowardly crown prince, and a group of incompetent and maddening aristocratic bureaucrats.

Oh, and we must not forget the peasant from the other side of the Ural Mountains, called "Holy Monk" and "Demon Monk" by the aristocratic circles of St. Petersburg, called Grigory Rasputin......

In any case, it is better to expect these people to spend money on infrastructure construction, not to be corrupt and not to engage in tofu scum projects, than to count on the Mother Goddess to favor the principality. To make matters worse, some of the resources that were essential for industrialization, such as rubber, were not produced in the Principality, but were imported from abroad. But how could Charlemagne and Albion, who were expanding their armaments and increasing their production capacity, allow a bear paw to divide their cheese? In the face of the powerful human sea power, it is a miracle that the weak navy of the principality can hold out for 15 minutes without being completely destroyed.

A fierce anger churned through Dzerzhinsky's body, so intense that he wanted to smash or throw something out. But this is not his office in St. Petersburg, and there is no point in getting angry at Li Lin, or even the anger itself - it can neither change the status quo nor have an impact on the future. Every time he takes out some incompetent fool, a new fool will always take over, and the situation will not change. It would be a different matter if he got rid of all the corrupt and incompetent ruling class and sat on the throne of the tsar himself. But the director did not have such an idea, and he did not want to drag the country and himself into the abyss of civil war.

So he can only rely on self-control to suppress anger in his body, and then endure it desperately, waiting for calmness and reason to regain the commanding heights.

Since all his attention was on this matter, he didn't notice that there was a knock on the door of the reception room, and a female secretary handed Brunhill a note, and after a hurried glance, Brunhill, who had a strange expression, hurriedly handed the note to Li Lin. After reading what was written above, Li Lin, who has always been known for his calmness, also stared at him.

The note was very brief - in the early hours of this morning, a destroyer of the United Principality of Rus' sank and rammed and sank the cruiser Albion, commanded by Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak.

The world is crazy. (To be continued......)