When he arrived at the Japanese Embassy in China, Soichi Deanuchi found that the Japanese ambassador to China was now in trouble and worry.

"I've seen your magistrate!"

"Your Masahira needs no politeness. There are no outsiders here, just let us get along with each other!"

Although Teraunuchi was just a Nakasa officer in the General Staff Headquarters (just promoted after returning to China), his father was not only an army general but also an Earl of the Chinese, but also the title of Governor of North Korea. Hirai was just a diplomat from an ordinary family, so he didn't deliberately please him.

There was another person in the house. As soon as Shou Shinoyuki entered the house, he recognized him. The man was named Sakashi Rihachiro, a second-generation military intelligence giant in Japan. After his teacher Aoki Nobusu was transferred to the country and then transferred to the northeast, Sakashi Rihachiro took on the important task of advocating all military intelligence channels in China. More than a dozen people in his Sakashi Mansion once entered the Yuan Shikai government. He himself, as Yuan Shikai's adviser, indirectly influenced the Yuan Shikai's government's decision on Japan. I don't know how much high-level intelligence has been stolen.

Teraunuchi was an assistant to the intelligence department at the Japanese General Staff Headquarters before heading to Europe. At that time, Sakashiri Hachiro had to go through a lot of information about his exchanges. Although the two had never met, they were not unfamiliar.

He stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Sakanishirara, "This person must be Sakanishi. I, Tochichi, worked in the intelligence department of the General Staff Headquarters. He is well-known for Sakanishi's reputation, but unfortunately he has never met him. I am lucky to see him today, and I am so lucky to see him for three lives!"

Sakanishira Hachiro kept his face in front of him until Shouyi of Teraenuchi took the initiative to show his goodwill. He squeezed out some smiles and replied, "Tianuchi's words are so serious. You have just come from Kanto Prefecture. Have you ever visited my mentor through Lushun?"

"Hi, General Aoki is in good health. The old general asked me to send a message to Sakanishikun. The current president of China is very difficult. Sakanishikun has a heavy responsibility and he will never be neglected to prevent Chinese conspiracy!"

"Hi, remember it!"

The few chatted for a few words and each sat down. Soichi Tekanuchi handed the briefcase he carried with him carefully to Hirai and said, "Mr., this is the order I have handed over to the Minister in China. Please make sure to choose the time to read it as soon as possible!"

"Hi!"

Rizhiyi took the briefcase away. He was not sure whether the information inside was confidential, so he did not dare to watch it in front of others, so he had to take it first and put it next to him, preparing to wait until he was alone later before watching.

"I delayed on the sea for a day and was not stranded in Tianjin. I don't know many situations. I didn't buy a newspaper nearby until I arrived in Beijing. The situation in Europe was unclear. Will the country's rapid annexation of Belgium have an impact on our actions!" asked Soichi Teraunuchi.

"Talunuchi, the impact is certain." Hinai's beard trembled a few times. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just sent a telegram from China this morning, asking the newspapers under my embassy to not act for the time being. The anti-German plan to mobilize newspapers to incite the Chinese people in China has temporarily stopped. Obviously, there are some concerns in the country."

"That was the cabinet that was shaken. The army would never be afraid of anything for the victory of the independent people. We are willing to be broken for the empire forever!" This was naturally the person who spoke Sakasai Hachiro. Now the victory of the Germans in Europe not only made the top leaders in Japan hesitate, but even the Japanese civil and military officer group in China also had different opinions. For example, many cautious officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs naturally hoped that the government could wait and see carefully, while the Army Department and even the Navy hoped to profit from the war, so they continued to maintain toughness, hoping to maintain the agreement of the original government and declare war on Germany to gain more benefits.

No wonder this difference is the beginning of the European situation, and the allies performed so well. In the original time and space, Germany underestimated the Liege Fortress at the beginning, but was blocked by the small country Belgium for half a month before the Liege Fortress, which made France and Britain calmly transfer the troops, which made the Germans in trouble at the beginning of the war. The same was true for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the equipment and training of the Austro-Hungarian army were better than Serbia, the soldiers were tired from the distance, and the Serbian army fought on its own territory to defend their country. With the desperate death, the limited advantage between the Austro-Hungarian army and Serbia was offset. As a result, the Serbian army was driven out of the border by the Serbian army a few days after invading Serbia.

This time and space are just the opposite. Under the influence of Li Han, Germany and Austria realized the importance of the air force two years and a half in advance, and equipped them with reasonably planned bombing aircraft one and a half in advance. Their high-explosive bombs against the Liege Fortress from the sky easily tore the fortress that the German artillery shells could not hit. As a result, it took only seven or eight days to take the Liege Fortress, causing an unexpected blow to Britain and France. The same is true for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austrian-Hungarian Army would start planning its naval short foot in 10 years, thus neglecting the construction of the country's army that was not first-class. The appearance of Li Han was accompanied by a large number of German and Austrian ordnance Far Eastern troops in a series of wars, which were transmitted back to the country through representatives sent by the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the request of Carl in the early years, and aroused the interest of the former commander-in-chief of the Austrian army, the Grand Duke Ferdinand, the former commander-in-chief of the Austrian army.

With his efforts, the Austro-Hungarian Empire canceled the shipbuilding plan of two cruisers and two battleships, and squeezed out a lot of military expenses to equip the Austrian army with light weapons such as machine guns and mortars. As a result, the Austrian army's firepower was second only to the German army in Europe, almost comparable to France. The morale of Serbia naturally could not make the Great Wall of Flesh and Blood block a firepower network composed of light machine guns, and its understanding of the Austrian army was still at the Serbian army's high level in 1908.

Under the mistakes of the strait, in the initial battles with the Austrian army, almost all urged the ** team to rush straight to the Austrian position to die. As a result, when the Austrian army captured the capital Belgrade on September 1, the main force of the Serbian army retreated 49 kilometers east of Valevo, the losses of the Austrian army and the Serbian army were 37,000 casualties and 5,418 were captured and missing; while the Serbian army had suffered 120,000 casualties, and more than 50,000 were captured and missing.

The military victory of Germany and Austria not only made European countries frightened, but even the fence-headed Italian king also called Berlin and Vienna to explain that the reason why Italy did not respond to the alliance immediately declared war on the Allies was entirely because Italy was not prepared for military preparations. William II had already seen the essence of the fence-headed Italian, and immediately used the telegram sent by the king to Berlin as good news to encourage the whole country and allies, and ordered people to publish it in the newspaper.

Not only did the Allied countries such as Britain and France have been nervous and accused, but they also restrained some of the troops stationed in southern France. The Italian royal family was embarrassed and could not respond, so they had to deal with the accusations of European countries with silence. After this, the reputation of Italy and the Italian royal family in Europe was completely bad. At least they were ungrateful and the essence of the wall-bearing herbs had made major powers realize that if there was any military alliance in Europe in the future, there would be no Italy anymore.

Because the Allies of Germany and Austria clearly felt uneasy, Britain did not close diplomatic channels because of the declaration of war on Germany. Foreign Minister Gray still sent telegrams to Sweden and Denmark from time to time, hoping to bring Germany and Austria back to the negotiating table through the governments or royal families of other countries. Even after mobilizing the 11th Army to arrive at the Austrian-Russian border, Russia did not immediately take military action, but once again sent a telegram to Vienna to urge the Austro-Hungarian Empire to stop its military operations in Serbia immediately. The implication was to acquiesce to the current annexation of half of Serbia and the Austrian army's occupation of the Serbian capital Belgrade.

Not only were the Allied countries shocked by the military strength of Germany and Austria, but the same was true for other European countries. Since Greece changed its government cabinet, the Greek royal family and government have been constantly confronting and hostile in pro-Germany or pro-British positions. Since its establishment, the Greek kingdom has had three kings. The first king Otto I came from Bavaria, Germany, and was naturally pro-Germany. However, at that time, several of his prime ministers were either pro-French or pro-British. There was even a pro-Russian faction. Only one pro-Germany prime minister appeared and was dismissed when he was in office. The second Greek king came from Denmark. During the fifty years of the rule of this pro-British king, most of the Greek kings were in charge.

There are few pro-German or pro-Austrian factions; after the third Greek king Constantine I ascended the throne, he showed a strong pro-German position because he was educated in Germany and married the German emperor's daughter Sofia, so he showed a strong pro-German position and refused the pro-German Prime Minister Elefsarios Venizelos' proposal to participate in the Three Kingdoms Agreement. The Greek government is now joining the Allies, and the proposals of the Allies or neutrality are swaying. It was originally recently that King Constantine had just suppressed the Prime Minister's proposal to join the Allies and was about to declare Greece neutrality. At this time, news of the great victory of the German and Austrian armies in Europe came, and King Constantine was naturally inspired, and the domestic calls for joining the Allies suddenly increased.

Also in a re-choice are Bulgaria and Turkey. These two countries have always been swept by the allies, and they have territorial disputes with Serbia. At this time, seeing the Austro-Hungarian army swept Serbia, the Serbia army was unstoppable, and both countries were thinking, and the calls for joining the allies became increasingly fierce.

These latest European intelligence was poured out from the mouth of Sakasaihachiro. Japan has a complete intelligence network in Europe. It can be seen that Japan, a country, has made a very small goal since the Meiji Restoration. It is not just to become the strongest country in Asia, but to compete for world hegemony. When Teraunuchi heard it carefully, he sighed for a long time, "The Austrian army started a new army plan at the end of 12. It has spent tens of millions of pounds in more than two years and produced a large number of machine guns to supplement the army. I once made a report to the country last year, but it was just that my country's finances were limited, so it was difficult to learn from the Austrian army. From this, it can be seen that our country's national power can only be considered second-rate among the European countries!"

After a moment of silence in the room, Sakashi suddenly stood up and said sternly: "It is precisely because our country's power is weak, and it is a good opportunity for the gods to be the time when the empire has made some achievements. China has been vast and vast in ancient times, but since the Ming Dynasty, foreign thieves and Tartars invaded, and rulers of all generations have been worse than those of the generation. Now it is vulnerable. Our great Japanese Empire should seize this secret. If we want to conquer China, we must declare war on independence, take over Shandong, and annex Manchuria and Mongolia. If we want to become the second in Britain, we must first conquer the Far East. If the empire seizes this opportunity to develop, we can continue to plot against China in the future. At that time, other people such as Asia, Central and Minor, and India and South Asia, will definitely surrender to me and surrender to me. The world knows East Asia as my great Japanese Empire, and will never dare to invade me."

"Hi, what Sakaniki said is deeply loved by my heart!"

Teraunuchi also stood up with a fanatical look and waved his hands to respond. Although he was affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before, he was an absolute young military faction. Naturally, he also hoped that the empire could take advantage of the European warfare and achieve significant expansion in the Far East.

Next to the two, the Minister to China, Hirai Yi had no choice but to frown. As the highest diplomat in Japan in China, he naturally knew that China's strength has developed rapidly in recent years. And he also had a concern in his heart. Recently, he received rumors that China seemed to have reached some secret discussions with the United States, which seemed to be related to railways. Indeed, European powers are indeed involved in the European war now, but it does not mean that there is no country in the Far East that can affect the decision-making of the Japanese government. For example, the Russian Far East garrison, and for example... the United States!

Japan was able to take advantage of the opportunity to expand when the Western powers were unable to take care of it. He was really not confident in his subordinates to the Foreign Affairs Department.

I don’t know what the orders the country has written after mobilizing many troops and following such a big circle!

Rizhiyi felt in his heart that there were probably not many days for the peaceful days in the Far East!

After the European War began, Chinese citizens soon discovered that the European War broke out. The European powers that have been bullying China in modern times have been involved in the European War. It seems to be a great thing for this country.

After the European War began, as the fifth Far East power in the world with more than 600,000 regular army and second largest land area in the world, China's actions have also begun to affect the European war situation. For example, due to the establishment of the Bandit Suppression Army Command of the Three East Provinces, nearly 100,000 elite National Welfare Army were in charge of the Northeast to suppress the ground. Since modern times, more than 100,000 Russian Far East troops, which have been expanding unremittingly to the Northeast and illegally invading China's massive territory, will not be able to move, for fear that once Russia draws troops to Europe, this Far East military power will take the opportunity to regain the territory occupied by Russia.

Not only Russia is worried, but Britain is the same. For the new Chinese government that dares to ignore the blackmail and threats of the British and even fight against the British and Indian troops, the British and Indian troops, the British are obviously worried that China will risk joining the German Allied Group, and then take advantage of the fact that Britain cannot make any moves in Europe, which will harm the interests of Britain in the Far East. For this reason, when the top Chinese leaders have not yet expressed their attitude towards the European war, the British have made concessions on certain issues in order to win over the new government, such as tariffs!

The tariff issue is the most sensitive, difficult to solve and the most need to be solved. Since the great powers have tried every means to seize the administrative power and tariff collection rights of China in order to protect the unequal treaty provisions on tariff privileges, in order to develop the import trade of foreign merchants in China and monopolize the Chinese market. However, no matter in the provisions of the treaty or in actual work, in many years after the establishment of the foreign tax department system in the Qing Dynasty, they have not obtained the right to custody of customs taxes. In terms of the right to collect, it is limited to the power to assess the tax, and the results are subject to the customs bank number under the supervision and management of the customs. For example, in the "Tianjin Treaty" signed in 1858, the Qing government promised to "inviting legal persons to help with taxes, but it is limited to "how to strictly prevent leakage of taxes from being collected by trade" and the "Beijing Treaty" of some port facilities management issues. In particular, l

After the signing of the "Xin Chou Peace Treaty" in the year of Shimonoseki Treaty in 895, although China's customs gradually became an agent of the creditor's state, it only tried hard to expand the power to collect tariffs and increase the source of tariffs to compensate debts and compensations secured by tariffs as scheduled, and never made any demands on the tax custody rights. Even in the text, whether it is a treaty, letter or other documents, the Taxation Department is in the customs clearance.

The power in taxation is limited to the right to collect tariffs and never involves the right to store taxes. The taxes they collect are all collected by the bank designated by the Qing government; the custody and expenditure of the taxes are entirely handled by the customs road or customs supervision assigned by the Qing government. The Taxation Department or other foreign forces have no right to intervene. Therefore, in theory, the Qing Dynasty, although China lost some of the right to collect customs tariffs, it still retained the right to store taxes.

However, this fragile balance was interrupted by the Revolution of 1911. With the sound of gunfire from the Wuchang Uprising, Anglian, a British man who had just been formally appointed as the General Taxation Department, deprived the customs tax custody rights on time to ensure the repayment of due foreign debts and compensation as a reason. He stepped forward in the name of the General Taxation Department and forced the customs tax revenue from various customs to HSBC Bank, and emphasized that no one could use it without the instructions of the General Taxation Department. Because the Qing government was in the storm of the revolutionary storm at that time, in exchange for illusory "international interference", not only agreed to transfer the customs tariff custody rights in the south to the Taxation Department, but even in the north, the remaining customs tariff custody rights (such as Tianjin) that were still under the control of the Qing government were handed over to the Taxation Department. The mission group led by Juerdian was supported by Anglian.

There are always exceptions in everything. After Li Han captured Hubei and Sichuan, although the customs duties of the two provinces were still under the control of Jiang Customs, the subsequent military government's tax exemption, tax reduction and cooperation with Austria and Germany all used tax evasion and tax evasion and other means to strongly fight back against the control of the General Taxation Department of the Customs. In the Sino-British conflict caused by the Battle of **, he even cited regulations by law and determined that the General Taxation Department of the Customs under the control of Anglo-UK was not qualified to keep Chinese taxes, and refused to

The tax authorities in various places handed over the new taxes. After that, the provinces under his control were like this. Although they did not explicitly oppose the British tariff control, they deprived the British of their custody and always existed in the Western Reserve Bank. It was also because of this that she offended the British and caused the UK to lose the tariff control of the ten provinces along the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The power of the Jiang Customs has greatly reduced a lot. This is what the General Tax Authority does not want to see.

After Li Han arrived in Beijing as the interim president, he was newly appointed to the stage of China's highest power because of his lack of strength. He finally accepted the mediation of British envoy Barth. The General Taxation Department and more than ten provinces under his control also achieved understanding. Li Han admitted that the General Taxation Department has unified leadership over the customs in the mainland, while the General Taxation Department admitted that it has free control over the areas it controls, so it does not have to deposit it into HSBC. He also relaxed and appointed many Chinese to join the senior management of the General Taxation Department, allowing the British to control it.

The strength has dropped a lot. Since Sichuan and Hubei provinces are important places for import and export of goods, and Li Han abolished many harsh taxes and lijins very early, the import and export trade volume of provinces under his control has not only not been affected by years of war, but the continuous increase in the areas he controlled has increased (of course, part of it is caused by the low cost and diversion of tariffs in recent provinces). The reason why the Western Autonomous Government has lived a better life is not only because of the number of heavy industries and industrial production, but also the control of the customs is also beneficial.

Now in order to win over China, the UK is also worried that China will regain tariffs by force after joining the allies and take over the General Taxation Department. So Britain envoys Barth once again as an intermediary, establishing a channel for tariff negotiations for China and Britain. After both sides took a step back, a new agreement was reached. The concession made by China was: "China, the government abolished the permanent customs customs (i.e., inland taxation agencies) within a radius of 50 miles of customs, and incorporated its taxation power into the local customs; China, the government admitted that if the commercial ports are opened on its own in the future and customs are established, it will be included in the supervision scope of the General Taxation Department...", and the General Taxation Department issued a statement: "In view of the fact that the General Taxation Department will be fully included in the supervision scope of the General Taxation Department...", and the General Taxation Department issued a statement: "In view of the fact that the General Taxation Department will be fully included in the supervision scope of the General Taxation Department...", and the General Taxation Department issued a statement: "In view of the fact that the General Taxation Department will be fully included in the scope of supervision of the General Taxation Department..."

China's political situation has stabilized. China and the government has made a solemn commitment to fulfill all international treaties and obligations. From now on, the General Taxation Department will deposit the remaining part of the customs tariffs into the Central Reserve Bank of China, which will be controlled by the Chinese and the Ministry of Finance of the Government. The General Taxation Department also acknowledges the changes in customs personnel in various places since 1911. "On September 3, Anglian issued a statement: "... In order to enrich the customs power, the General Taxation Department decided to hold a special civil servant examination for customs." Both sides also unanimously declared: "Both sides acknowledge that China, the government and its corresponding institutions have the obligation to anti-smuggling, and the General Taxation Department has the responsibility of leadership and supervision of anti-smuggling work."

Of course, the control of customs tariffs is just the tip of the iceberg of China and Britain on the issue of tariffs, and the more critical and fatal point is the issue of tariff rate setting. Since the Qing government defeated the Opium War and signed the "Jiangning Treaty", China's tariff sovereignty began to be infringed: First, from the content of the contract, since the establishment of the five-way tax, China is not allowed to self-levate taxation rules. In fact, the customs import tax is decided by foreigners, and it has always been kept in the order of five per cent; second, the import goods are passed by the mainland and are subject to "no certain points"

The limit is only 2.5 per cent, and the lijin required to pay for domestic goods is much higher than this amount. In fact, it is discriminatory treatment for domestic goods; thirdly, due to the falling silver price, the tariff tax has not been changed for many years, and the real tariff is less than 5, only about 23. Under the dumping of a large number of cheap foreign industrial products, if it were not for the industrial products with higher quality in the western region, which had become increasingly high in production, lower production costs and lower prices, the light industry that had just revealed its budding in the Republic of China would have been dying.

In this way, the old tax rules set in the year were implemented until the conclusion of the Xin Chou Treaty in 1901. It was not revised once in 44 years, and China lost all tariff power. During this 44 years, the Qing government also requested amendments twice, but they were all without results due to weak national strength. China increasingly became a market for dumping goods by the great powers. Until the signing of the Xin Chou Treaty, in order to raise compensation, foreign nationals "approved" the Qing government's request for tax increases, but even so, it was not allowed to change the tax rate. It was only said that the tax that was worth 100 to be drawn by 500 yuan was increased by 200 yuan. Although there have been suggestions for changing tax rules since the establishment of the Republic of China government, the great powers did not take it seriously at all. The British had the most resistance.

Now that Britain nodded, China finally took back more than half of the customs power. The rest of the believe is not far away!
Chapter completed!