Chapter 395 Real Cooperation

The busy workers come and go in the military port. While the sun is only rising and the weather is not too hot, we should try our best to do more work today.

The workers were in groups of two, and because of insufficient transportation capacity, the soil and rock excavated from the shore required them to transport them away little by little with manpower.

Liu Shuren, who came to Wuchang to make a living from Xindi, and his other fellow countrymen, were two of them. They were carrying a bag of earth and stones on one end and headed to the distance. Suddenly, they saw a team of fully armed soldiers coming over. The two were stunned, but as a result, they slowed down and were hit by the workers who were still moving forward behind. As a result, a load of earth and stones were all scattered on the ground!

When they started to make trouble, the guard who was thinking about who to ask for a question immediately saw the two of them, so they walked over here.

"Hey, you two come with us!" The guard pointed at Liu Shuren and his fellow villager who had just made a mistake.

Unexpectedly, the two of them were so panicked that they knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Mr. Jun. You are kind, Jun. You are kind, we didn't mean it!" When the workers next to them saw something seemed to have happened, they all followed them and pleaded for them to plead for mercy. They said they had been working here for a long time. This was the first time they made a mistake. I hope the military masters would be kind.

Several guards looked at each other, then laughed and said, "Okay, okay, don't make any mistakes, two little masters, it's our strategy caller who is here today. I want to find the two little masters to ask questions and see if there is any problem with the treatment of this construction site. You all have dispersed!"

As soon as the guard finished speaking, the crowd started to make a noise. These honest and honest workers did not expect that they would encounter such a thing today, and they were immediately shocked!

"What's going on? Didn't you just go and invite a few workers here? Why did you delay so long?"

Just when the crowd was shocked, an unhappy voice suddenly came. Several guards turned around and saw that Li Han had waited for them for a while and had not come back. I felt that this place was a military-controlled area. There should be no criminals who wanted his life sneak in, so they simply took Gong Chuntai and others to come over.

"Xiaomin, please come and see the master!" Seeing that the Port Authority was standing respectfully beside Li Han, and the ordinary Lord Gong, who had only been here for a while, was waiting. He was smart and immediately guessed that Li Han was the Southwest Marshal, and quickly knelt down to pay his respects.

"Everyone... Masters, don't do this. Now it's the Republic of China, everyone is equal. We are all parents who raise them and kneel down. Everyone should get up quickly." There are less than a hundred people in front of us who kneeled down at the same time. Li Han was really shocked and quickly helped him up with a smile.

"Sir, Lord!" The workers stood up one after another, and found that the Southwest Marshal, who was called the Southwest King, was so young that Li Han was terrifying, but no one dared to speak.

Li Han smiled and was about to ask, but suddenly he saw his adjutant not far away hurriedly dropping down from the dock. Cai Qing was sent by him to check if the people from Austro-Hungary had risen. Now that he has come back, he must have already risen. It is not a matter of asking Austro-Hungary to wait for a long time. His plan to walk around the military port seemed to be ruined!

He was a little disappointed and could only talk to the workers for a short time, ask about the treatment here and the situation of work when they were hot, and then leave.

"Old friend, long time no see us!"

"His Excellency General, long time no see!"

After a long time no see, Li Han found that this young white man, who was a few years younger than him, had improved significantly better than before. Judging from his ostentatious spirit, it was obvious that he had a good life during the period of return to China!

In fact, as he thought. Because he performed very well in the Far East, during this return home, he was not only praised by Grand Duke Carl Ludwig, but also received personal reception from Emperor Joseph, who named him Earl of Brand, and allowed him to inherit the identity of Grand Duke Ludwig from his grandfather in the future. Not only that, he also won the favor of the domestic military industry and military because of the large number of mechanical and arms orders he obtained from the Far East.

So much so that after the newlyweds, he received many visits from the Crown Prince Ferdinand. Compared with the elderly and lacking energy, the young Duke Ferdinand not only had strong energy, excellent ability and vision, he clearly saw that the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe had reached its limit. If the empire wanted to continue to expand into the Balkans, it would inevitably fight a great power war with Russia, which would likely cause a full confrontation between the two countries. This would undoubtedly harm the fundamental interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore, although Carl was on a honeymoon trip to the Far East with his newlywed wife Princess Palma, he was in a timely manner with the ambition of the Crown Prince Ferdinand to expand his influence in the Far East. Behind it, Carl clearly replaced Gu Censky and became the current head of the Austro-Hungarian delegation in China.

Li Han was looking at the young man in front of him, and Carl was also looking at him. To be honest, he never expected that Li Han, who had just occupied several county towns and a piece of land, had become the leader of a Far Eastern power with a territory equivalent to an empire and a population of tens of millions. He is still fighting a big battle with the British head-on. Although the situation of the *** is not very clear so far. Although the Western Expedition Army cleared all the strongholds around Lhasa, it has not been able to break through Lhasa, which is heavily guarded by Lhasa. However, anyone could see that the young Far Eastern general in front of him was also suppressing the expansion of the war, so he did not mobilize any troops to Tibet, but he stationed a division's troops in Sichuan next to the ***.

, No one knows whether there are other hidden tricks. In short, because of his tough attitude on the issue of ***, some time ago, he had a decision to drive away the British, recover the concession area, and even fight a national war with the British, which completely shocked Britain, which has not yet been able to emerge from the shadow of the "Boer War". The British country is very uneasy about being pulled into another Boer War, although the whole country believes that once the Republic of China chooses to punish the Republic of China, the final winner will definitely be Britain. However, the power of the Republic of China is still above the two small republics of the Boer people, and it is the largest country in the Far East. The local powerful warlord Li Han was not afraid of the threat from the British, which led to the deterrence measures that Britain has always used on the China issue that did not work, and then the only way to war is left.

Carl has heard the news that the Battle of Lhasa will be a key battle that determines the situation. The British have warned India and the Embassy in China to disperse their energy in the Far East at this time when they are unable to separate their energy. As expected, no British troops will be sent from India again.

Li Han's power is developing too fast now. After Karl arrived in Hankou, Gu Cinsky handed over the information about Li Han's major actions collected in the past few months to him. It is obvious that he had seen the ambition of this young man. When the whole country was making trouble in politics, only he, the local warlord, was willing to pay high interest rates to find industry, especially steel and military industries. Once he had a few years of development time for him, when the railways under construction were completed and the military and heavy industries in Sichuan and Hubei provinces reached a certain level, the future owner of this country had been confirmed!

Perhaps most people in China only know that it is very costly in heavy industry, and general power cannot afford to make trouble. However, from the fact that Karl grew up in a royal family, he understood that the industrial and military power of a country is the country's industrial and military power. As long as these two pillars are strong, even if your national economy is poor, no powerful country dares to take your ideas. This is also the time when he came to see Li Han, he not only put him in the position of a quasi-ally who can cooperate with him in his attitude, but also clearly gave him enough respect!

"Your Excellency General, we are very sorry for the fact that our country temporarily suspended its continued loan provisions some time ago. We hope you can understand!"

This time Carl was completely prepared, so he went straight to the point and apologized for Li Han's possible dissatisfaction, "In order to express our mistakes in this matter, we are willing to purchase your country's three million yuan government bonds as compensation! And here I promise that such a thing will not happen again in the future. The third loan will be delivered to you five months in advance with the second loan!"

Li Han was a little surprised, but he smiled and said, "On behalf of the military government, I am very grateful to your government for its support!"

***'s asking price was as expected, and the question was how to convince the members of the government to agree. Maybe this would be a big bomb that would blow the government's prestige and unity to pieces. While thinking, He Feng had accompanied Gulf in.

"Sir, please sit down!"

"please!"

Carl's enthusiasm for Li Han was also clear. He said with a smile: "I haven't seen the situation in your country has changed a lot, especially in Hubei and Sichuan provinces, which surprised the empire. There is no need to question the ability of the general. Our country is even more impressed by the youth of the general. I hope that the empire can reach cooperation with the general on more covers in the future!"

"That's the point." Li Han replied with a smile.

After entering the theme, Carl suddenly became serious. "The empire attaches great importance to cooperation with you. Before I came, His Highness Ferdinand, the crown prince of our country, personally asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to upgrade the newly built consulate in Hankou to the third hall in Shanghai second only to Tianjin and Shanghai. Mr. Gu Censky will be responsible for cooperation with His Excellency General. This is the appointment letter submitted by our country. Today, I will be handed over to His Excellency General for review by Mr. Gu Censky instead of Mr. Gu Censky!"

Li Han didn't look at it and said with a smile: "Thank you for your support, how is Your Highness the Crown Prince going to be recently?"

Carl smiled: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is all right, thank you for your concern!"

"Mr. Carl has any requirements, even though we have always had a good cooperative relationship, I believe that this time I will not disappoint me."

"In view of the good relationship with you, our country has decided to restart its trade business with China from today, including arms that were originally restricted for sale, heavy weapons, artillery machine guns, etc., among them. In addition, if you need it, there is a light cruiser in the empire that will be retired, which can also be sold on orders! However..."

Li Han's eyes narrowed, "But what? What price do we need to pay?"

"Mr. General is so frank, no price to pay." Carl smiled sly, "We just hope to continue to maintain and expand our cooperation."

"What do you mean specifically?"

"For example, my country heard that your side promised German capital to invest and jointly organize an armed enterprise with your country. Many domestic bank capital and industrial giants are very interested in this, hoping to get the same treatment as Germans... I wonder what your Excellency General thinks?"

With a chuckle, Li Han did not nod or refused, but instead asked back: "Your Excellency, a few months ago, when my army exchanged fire with the British, there was only one country that stood up to support me... Germany is very sincere, and when the military government needed it most, it provided me with dozens of heavy artillery fortresses that could *** the Yangtze River, and purchased millions of war bonds from our military government. As for your government...haha..."

What this means is that your country’s weight in the military government’s mind is no longer as heavy as Germany!

Carl was not angry and said, "Your Excellency General will soon feel our sincerity. Please rest assured that although our country is much worse than Germany in the navy (Li Han's eyelids twitched, Germany was nearly one million tons, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed to have more than 200,000 tons, and there was no comparison at all), but in terms of the army, the soldiers of the empire are not inferior to Germany. This time, I still remember that you mentioned that you had the idea of ​​ordering a batch of the latest shipbuilding machines from us. So, I wish I could do my own thing.

Zhang, allocated 2.14 million pounds from the loan to purchase a complete set of production machinery for you in China. It is expected that you will be able to arrive in your country in early November. Once built, your country will have the strength to produce 3,500-4,500-ton light cruisers. In addition, I have also invited several ship design technical experts from China who have worked for the navy for many years, and one of them has participated in the construction of our "Joint Force Class Battleship". How do you think this sincerity?"

Li Han, the United Force-class battleship, was not too unfamiliar. During this period, he purchased a lot of Western military information through foreign merchants who came to China. Although it was reported, ordinary people who were a little concerned about military affairs in the West knew about it, but they also had some understanding of the main battleship of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the United Force-class battleship. After the new type of dreadnought was launched in 1906, the Austrian Navy soon decided to build the dreadnought battleship after learning that Italy started construction of dreadnoughts. In 1910, the Austro-Hungarian Navy raised funds without the approval of the parliament to start construction of two dreadnoughts, and was almost abandoned during the construction. In 1911, the Austro-Hungarian Empire Parliament finally passed the budget for the construction of four dreadnoughts, which was produced by the Crown Prince Ferdinand.

However, since the Austro-Hungarian Empire had approved the details of the warships abroad, he only knew the plans of the four battleships under construction, but only knew that the length of the ship: about 150 meters, width: about 25 meters, draft: about 8 meters, and there was no other information at all.

Although he knew in his heart that the battleships were about to be eliminated in the mid-to-late 1930s, China's coastal defense is now poor and has a world-class coastline, so he needs a qualified naval fleet. At that moment, he took a deep breath and was as moved as Carl thought. He only heard him say, "Your sincerity has touched me, so what are your country's requirements!"

"It's very simple, we only have two requirements. First, we hope that the newly established shipyard will be the same as Germany's power to acquire shares; in addition, the Empire is also very interested in Daye Metallurgy. In addition, we also heard that the General will make a big move recently, so..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Li Han’s face chill.

"You know we will have big moves lately?"

Although he was asking with a smile, he felt that he was smiling but not smiling.

Carl nodded, "God General, let's tell me clearly. Some time ago, an expedition member of our country unexpectedly discovered the army of your military government in northern Sichuan. The number of people is probably no less than a few thousand people."

Li Han frowned, Damn, the bullshit expedition team member is probably a spy or military officer from Austro-Hungary. It seems that the incident of him gathering troops in northern Sichuan through the *** war was exposed in advance!

"I didn't expect that your country's news was so well-informed?"

After many thoughts quickly turned around in his mind, he said with a faint smile.

"So, what about your country's request!"

"It's very simple. Our country is very supportive of the expansion of the power of Your Excellency General. If... if the territory managed by Your Excellency General continues to expand, I hope that we can obtain the right to build railways in the new territory!"

After a brief silence, Li Han played with his fingers for a while and finally nodded, "In terms of Daye Metallurgy, you can allow your country to invest in machines and funds, and do not accept any technical investment (I just checked that steel and metallurgical manufacturing in this era do not have that high technical threshold, except for some armored steel for warships); in terms of shipyards, if your country can provide at least 100 technical personnel who are proficient in warship design and are willing to train warship designers for us, we are willing to give up 15% of the shares, in addition to investing through machines and funds; as for the railway construction rights on the new territory, I can only say one thing, we will never give in terms of road rights, but we can choose to give in certain concessions in terms of operation and loan interest! What do you think?"

He did not reject Carl's proposal at once, and Carl's face suddenly smiled: "No problem, we can negotiate with relevant parties. As you said before, our country has no intention of interfering in your country's affairs and just wants to obtain enough benefits, that's all!"

Li Han understood, "Your Excellency, we have had some conflicts on related issues with the UK recently. When necessary, we hope to get your support!"

"God General, you don't have to worry about the British forces. Our country will not stand by. Before I came, our government has authorized me to be equal to the ambassador to China. Any powerful force attempting to interfere in internal affairs of Sichuan and Hubei will be regarded as a manifestation of unfriendliness to the empire."

Li Han and Carl looked at each other and smiled: "Thank you for your government's support."

The Austro-Hungarian Empire dared to make such a promise, which was the beginning of real cooperation.

--
Chapter completed!