Chapter 211 Regrets and Gains in Germany

The stay in Europe has been too long, and the domestic political infighting has already become a mess. Some people even proposed that the Empress Dowager Cixi come out again to "watch the government" and "train the government".

Hu Chuyuan did not ask. He knew that although Zhang Baixi would be too hasty in some things, he was definitely not a political idiot like Kang Youwei. Zhang Baixi could definitely control the situation, but... the situation would still be a little messy.

Especially in the absence of Hu Chuyuan, the governor of Zhili and the prime minister and the senior minister, the Manchus are even more unscrupulous.

Zhang Baixi sent power several times, hoping that Hu Chuyuan would go back soon. Today, even Emperor Guangxu himself sent a message, but Hu Chuyuan did not leave Berlin.

He continued to wait for new opportunities.

Berlin in November was cold. It snowed a little yesterday. Hu Chuyuan put on a German cashmere coat, black, with a thick and wide hat with a cashmere texture.

Occasionally, he will smoke a cigar and stand in the courtyard in a decent way, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky.

He is not a smoker. The reason why he smokes cigars is purely because Prudente de Morais, the first elected president in Brazilian history, gave him a box of the best Brazilian cigars and promised that if he likes Brazilian cigars, Brazilians are willing to supply them for free forever... What the fuck is this gift? Things.

smoking a Brazilian cigar, Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly in his heart.

He doesn't care about the nicotine in it, he just likes the spicy fragrance.

The snow is getting bigger and bigger.

Pan Limei, who was walking out of the room with two children, warmly put on a thicker coat for Hu Chuyuan, stood silently behind him and leaned against him.

Hu Chuyuan laughed happily, turned around, held her in his arms, and looked at the snow in the distance together.

Out of special courtesy and respect, William II provided a medieval castle owned by the Hohenzollern royal family on the outskirts of Berlin, and also allowed Hu Chuyuan's guards to be responsible for security work.

It's getting late, and the chefs have prepared the dinner. The original chef of the ancient castle prepared a roast suckling pig, including German-style western food and traditional Chinese food, but limited by the material, there are not many kinds of dishes.

Hu Chuyuan was about to take his family to dinner and asked people to invite Princess Kaorani as usual. At this time, the iron gate of the castle was opened, and a black carriage drove in.

Soon, three people came down from the carriage, all wearing very common black suits and coats and hats.

When they got closer, Hu Chuyuan found that it was Prince Hornloe Heathlingfest, the third chancellor of the German Empire. The old prince, who was nearly 60 years old, looked proud, firm and powerful.

The two people accompanying him are diplomatic officials and are also familiar to Hu Chuyuan. One is Count Bernhard von Pilov. This man has a famous saying that let other peoples divide the continent and the sea, and the era when we Germans are satisfied with the blue sky has passed, and we also want to Seek the territory under the sun.

As the most trusted diplomat in Germany at present, it was he who bought the ownership of the Marshall Islands and transferred the ownership of the island to the Qing Dynasty.

The other is Gustav Krump, the controller of the Kryp family. Because Mr. Alfred Kruff has no son and only a daughter, in order to avoid the Kryp company being controlled by foreigners, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally mediated a person who is proficient in industry. Gustav, a young diplomat, introduced it to the Krub family and contributed to the marriage.

Since then, Gustav changed to the surname of the woman's family and became the manager of the family.

Three people came over on the snow, led by Prince Hornlowe Heathlingfest, the chancellor of the empire. His step was very big, as if he was when he was in the army, and his expression was particularly resolute.

There was no sign or appointment in advance, which made Hu Chuyuan somewhat surprised.

Of course, he won't refuse these people.

Hu Chuyuan made a small arrangement for Pan Limei and the children to have dinner first. He met three guests alone in the living room and temporarily arranged a small dinner party. Only the four of them and Shang Dequan, a German translator, and Rui Nair, a Chinese translator.

It surprised Hu Chuyuan. At the dinner, they didn't talk about any important topics, but they didn't wait until the dinner was completely over. Prince Hornloe Heathlingfest proposed to talk with Hu Chuyuan alone.

Hu Chuyuan did not refuse.

Germany is a hierarchical society. Others seem to have been issued an expulsion order and quickly get up to leave. This oppression gives Hu Chuyuan a unique sense of depression.

Hu Chuyuan tried his best to make a pot of Qimen black tea for himself and the serious and arrogant chancellor of the German Empire opposite him.

The tea hasn't been made yet...!

Prince Hornwell was very direct and arrogantly asked Hu Chuyuan intermittently in slow English, "Your Excellency, in your opinion, what is the political situation in the world?"

Hu Chuyuan was very strange and simply replied, "Complex."

"Yes...!"

Prince Hornwell replied implicitly, "It's really very complicated. To be precise, France is the source of all this chaos. They provoked the war on the throne of Spain and finally triggered all this."

Hu Chuyuan raised his eyebrows, thought for a moment, and continued, "Obviously it is more complicated than this. Especially in terms of the interests and needs of major powers, with the gradual recovery of China, the contradictions between us and Russia and France will continue to expand, and even there will be more contradictions with the United Kingdom... The same is true of Germany. The United States is a neutral country. As it further expands its maritime advantage, there will be more and more battles between them and Spain. Britain will one day give up its glorious and isolated policy. At that time, the situation will become more complicated. For me and my country, the situation in Asia is relatively simple. We need to deal with Russia and force Russia to no longer be an arrogant country without boundaries in the Far East.

Prince Hornwell reminded him powerfully: "If you want to deal with Russia, you must face the threat of France, which is Germany's biggest enemy. At this point, we do have more room for cooperation. We can assure you that if China and Russia go to war, we will not hesitate to push the front line of the army to the French border and prevent the French from sending more troops to the Far East.

Hu Chuyuan thought and thought.

This is a good condition. The problem is that the price is too high and the connection with Germany is too close, and he is bound to be retaliated by Britain.

At present, Britain still gives China certain preferential treatment and preference. The important reason is that China and Germany are not allowed to form an alliance. Although the interests of the Sino-German alliance are the greatest, the two sides have almost all the common enemies.

Considering that Germany, Austria and Italy have concluded an alliance, and the French-Russian treaty is also unbreakable, which side China joins will cause strong opposition from Britain, just like the original intention to join the French-Russian alliance.

weighing this problem in his mind, Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything.

Prince Hornwell waited indifferently, drinking tea.

After a while, Hu Chuyuan replied, "China and your country do have the possibility of further alliances, but it is definitely not now. In fact, I personally have a concern that with the further development of countries and each other's further thirst for raw materials, a large-scale war will inevitably break out. The problem is that Britain can never tolerate the further expansion of Germany, as can France, and no one, even the United States, is willing to accept a near-unified European continent. In a word, this is an unsolved problem and my biggest concern.

Prince Hornwell was silent and couldn't see what kind of attention he was calculating in his heart.

The German Empire is like a high-speed train, either crashing into all the old blockades or falling apart. The problem is that it can't stop.

War may be avoided. In advance, Germany itself gave up its dream of becoming a world hegemon.

In fact, this is absolutely impossible.

The two of them were silent to each other for a long time.

After thinking for a moment, Prince Hornwell asked, "So, under what circumstances is your country willing to attack Russia?"

This is a cunning diplomatic issue.

Once China wants to fight with Russia in the Far East, it means that China will face the threat of Russia and France at the same time, which means that it is necessary for China to form an alliance with Germany.

Hu Chuyuan replied, "For the time being, China should continue to strengthen domestic construction."

Prince Hornwell said: "On this point, the German Empire is fully willing to give more support. In private, His Majesty the Kaiser appreciates your ability and courage very much. If you want, His Majesty the Kaiser is very happy to see that your industry in Germany has better development... especially in the shipbuilding industry.

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly in his heart, nodded his head indifferently and pinched in moderation.

His agreement with the Germans has not been fully reached, and it is still in a stalemate. There is no doubt that Prince Hornwell just wants to solve this problem quickly.

Hu Chuyuan agreed to transfer steam turbine technology on the condition that he was allowed to establish a steel, shipbuilding and chemical enterprise across China and Germany through the links between BASF and the rich countries.

It is too early to talk about the Sino-German alliance treaty. Hu Chuyuan will continue to wait and see. China also needs to continue to wait and see, but in terms of technical cooperation and capital operation, the space between the two sides is still huge.

Prince Hornwell suddenly continued to repeat, "Especially in the shipbuilding industry, this is His Majesty's personal promise, and my responsibility for this trip is to convey this promise well!"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a time and said, "What I want to say is a great business, a great industrial empire, and a great dream. Your Excellency, if Germany can allow me to build a complete industrial empire, I am willing to invest more money, from ore to metal, from metal to machinery, from machinery to ships, all of which can operate quickly in the same commercial company. In the future, this company will continue to provide Germany with stronger A large warship. At the same time, this company has the best alliance and bond between the two countries, and perfectly applies technology, capital and production capacity to the two countries.

Prince Hornwell replied simply and indifferently, "I'm sorry, the Germans have their own financial consortium, and we can shape this industrial empire by ourselves. The limit of His Majesty's promise is to allow you to hold no more than 20% of the shares in the new ThyssenKrump company, and then you must use the company's steel and artillery to operate your shipyard... Of course, as His Majesty's previous promise, you still have to read in other industries that are not so important to the empire. The right to operate, as long as you continue to keep your promise.

"Is that so?"

Hu Chuyuan responded coldly.

He began to hate these short-sighted and arrogant prime ministers and Kaiser Wilhelm II, and he began to miss the era of Bismarck unlimitedly.

After all, Bismarck's courage is not comparable to them. After learning that it was extremely likely to rely on the support of France to declare war on China in the near future, Bismarck forcibly ordered the suspension of the German naval shipbuilding contract, and the six Fuzhou-class (called Ansbach-class) ironclas originally produced for Germany itself. The ship contracts were transferred to the Qingzheng Axe Navy.

For Hu Chuyuan's plan to invest in Germany, Bismarck also turned the green light, allowing Hu Chuyuan to be a medium to transfer the superior technology of various countries to its companies.

Bismarck is also an arrogant person, even a little rude, but he always knows what the most correct decision is.

Hu Chuyuan missed Bismarck's era and calmly raised his eyes to look at the Prince Hornwell in front of him.

After a while, he laughed at himself and said, "It seems that the best era is over!"

He speaks Hangzhou dialect.

Prince Hornwell couldn't understand at all, but subconsciously asked, "What?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "It's nothing. In fact, if the two countries want to cooperate, the relationship and methods inside are the same as doing business. Now it seems that China and Germany are not ready to run this big deal. The technology of the steam turbine will be transferred to Germany. My request is only to allow myself to raise funds to create a machinery factory to provide steam turbines for Germany, and to send a technical team to visit the company for two years. Other than that, I won't ask for anything."

Prince Hornwell was a little surprised. He always believed that Hu Chuyuan, a foreign capitalist, had a technology that was crucial to Germany in his hands, and tried to monopolize the German economy as a threat.

In this regard, he laughed contemptuously and looked down on Hu Chuyuan, a foreign capitalist, from the bottom of his heart.

But when Hu Chuyuan completely gave up the original request, he hesitated and had a hunch that there was a new conspiracy in it.

It was so easy to make Hu Chuyuan bend over. Although Prince Hornwell was a little unsteady, he still felt particularly happy and satisfied, and the two immediately reached a verbal agreement.

Gustav wanted to negotiate a new cooperation with Hu Chuyuan to introduce the new rifle of the Auckland military factory to Germany and compete with the Mauser rifle. The problem is that Prince Hornwell is very disgusted with this. The imperial prime minister has a deep sense of German glory and believes in the Germans' own creation.

However, the two sides still reached a compromise, that is, Hu Chuyuan can set up a new firearms factory and introduce the Maxim machine gun patent, which is responsible for the production of such machine guns and various derivatives for Germany.

In addition, the new Mauser rifle uses a 0.3-inch caliber of 7.62 mm to achieve the unification of rifle bullets between the two countries. At the same time, this new bullet will also be applied to the Maxim machine gun.

Compared with the huge plan proposed by Hu Chuyuan in advance, the agreements reached so far are too pitiful.

Prince Hornwell was very satisfied. In the middle of the night, he left Hu Chuyuan's residence with two attendants, Count Bernhard von Pilov and Gustav.

Under the dim street lights, Hu Chuyuan sent them out of the door, stood in the snow and watched the carriage quietly rolling snow and creaking away. In addition to the strong complacency and exclusion of the Germans, he could feel that there was also a kind of disappointment.

He was disappointed with the Germans.

The plan he wants to build is even clear to the blind man. He wants to combine the whole of Germany's steel, shipbuilding, military industry, machinery and chemical industry through a number of financial institutions to increase production and cost. At the same time, this giant Kang Caien can continue to absorb various international advanced technologies in the fastest and shortest time. Make Germany more terrible.

At that time, whether it is BASF, Fuzhou-Jiangnan General Administration, Wanqi Yangxing, Bell Laboratory, Auckland Military Factory, all military technologies of BASF and the rich countries, and other technologies can be applied to the United States, Germany and China the fastest.

What can Hu Chuyuan say?

He doesn't have to say anything, because he is not German.

Of course, he doesn't have to quit German industry completely. He believes that there will always be a day when the Germans must cooperate with him in an all-round way.

A few days later, he invited his partners in Germany to Berlin to re-negotate new business. In the past few years, he has continued to infiltrate Op, Daimler, Benz, Siemens and other companies through BASF Investment Bank.

No matter how arrogant Prince Hornwell's attitude is, merchants are always the most direct. Capital and technology are the soul of industry. As long as Hu Chuyuan has these two points, coupled with the citizenship granted by Kaiser Wilhelm II, he can design the whole system according to his own needs.

He invited these partners to share shares together to establish the whole system. By annexing the vast majority of shares of Opel and Siemens, Opel controlled Opel and Daimler-Benz, and involved new spare parts companies. He also invested in a new Hansar machinery shipbuilding in Hamburg. Factory, production of steam turbines, engines, boilers and shipbuilding.

In the interest circle drawn by Hu Chuyuan, BASF, OPPLE and Siemens are all giant companies with a very wide range of aspects.

BASF operates around the chemical field, and constantly tries to penetrate into the fields of raw materials such as coal mines, iron ore, and oil, and further penetrates into the steel industry... Regardless of whether the German Juncker class is willing to accept it.

The core of OPPLE is the mechanical industry, especially in automobiles, ships, engines and other fields. It is necessary to get absolute control. At the same time, it also has its own OPPLE lighting company and develops towards OPPLE electrical appliances.

The core of Siemens is electrical and electronic. It not only has a complete electrical industrial system, but also telecommunications, telegraph, telephone and other businesses, and develops into radio, electrical railway and other fields.

In order to better help the development of these three large companies, Hu Chuyuan decided to invest 40 million pounds to merge Munich First Citizen Bank and Ruhr Industrial Bank to build a national German commercial trust and savings bank. At the same time, he merged a number of insurance companies and merged into the German Lianzhong. Insurance company.

With the leverage of these two financial institutions, all three companies will make great progress, which is why Hu Chuyuan can attract these German businessmen together.

In addition, Hu Chuyuan will continue to increase the capital of Zenchen Yanghang, increase the expansion ability of Zenchen Yanghang in import and export business, and assist these companies to carry out business in foreign countries.

Perhaps, in the view of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hu Chuyuan's companies are nothing except for BASF Chemical, which occupies the largest dyes and explosives in Germany.

But in a few years, Hu Chuyuan's influence in the German economic community expanded to the point that the German Juncker class had to compromise.

Considering the xenophobic characteristics of the Germans, Hu Chuyuan is also ready. If it really reaches that point, he will also sell these industries and shares at a good price.

The premise is that he has enough rewards, and he also needs to get enough technology transfer from Germany to ensure the development of rich countries in China.

In this era, Germany's technological innovation ability is indeed very strong, and it also has the best experts in chemistry and physics. Almost all the early Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physics were monopolized by the Germans, which is a proof.

Germany's investment in university education is also the highest among other countries, even higher than the United States, Britain and France combined.

One of the simplest examples is that cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel and Harvey steel were completed at the Auckland laboratory in the United States, but Germany can always catch up in the shortest time. At present, the hot oil-injected Harvey steel proposed by Krup is better than the Harvey steel in Auckland.

From the laboratory to the factory, the Germans also do it perfectly.

The technology of electrolytic aluminum appeared in the United States. After the transfer of BASF to Germany, a new chemical solubilant was soon born, which greatly improved the efficiency of electrolytic aluminum.

The

rapid-fire gun is a complete set of construction and design in France, but the Germans provided better silicone oil as a buffer, which makes the 275mm quick-fire gun very stable and mature.

This is also the reason why Hu Chuyuan continued to use the new gun of all domestic warships. He was unable to obtain this technology until he used the technical research laboratory of BASF Chemical Company to re-extract new silicone oil and transferred this technology to the rich countries.

During his stay in Germany, he hired Heinchs Rudolf Hertz, a professor of physics at the University of Bonn, the discoverer of radio waves, to the Siemens Communication Laboratory.

In BASF Chemical, they also hired Ferritz Haber to engage in new research on synthetic ammonia and urea chemicals, as well as famous chemists such as Kakuler and R-Clausius. Under the research of R-Clausius, BASF Chemical has found a more suitable electrolyte catalyst in the electrolytic aluminum industry. With the help of the deceased German chemist Ogster von Hoffmann, he completed TNT's third-step industrial production method and made new progress in the field of dyes and petrochemicals.

In the field of medicine, they also have more than a dozen German chemists who are engaged in the research of linic acid and other chemical products. There is only one last step left before the birth of aspirin.

In the field of metal materials, better new steels are constantly being born, and aluminum alloys have become more.

Of course, it is impossible for Hu Chuyuan to rely on Germans for a long time. Therefore, in recent years, he also intends to add German majors to foreign language schools in China, send more international students to the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin in Germany, and establish a pre-university school in Hamburg to help Chinese students enter. Transition of language and living habits.

Hu Chuyuan even directly hired some German university professors to teach in German at Nanyang University and Tianjin University.

With the increasing scale and influence of BASF Investment Bank in the German financial community, it faced greater oppression, and the Juncker class began to keep a close eye on it.

This makes Hu Chuyuan's investment a little difficult.

In Germany, Hu Chuyuan stayed for three months before barely establishing the three major industrial systems of BASF, Opal and Siemens. Through Opal, he invested in a new Hanseatic machinery shipyard in Hamburg to produce steam turbines and build merchant ships. He invested in a machinery factory in Hanover, specializing in the production of machine guns and pieces. Bick.

At this time, he had to return to China, and Emperor Guangxu was facing extremely strong conservative pressure.

In March 1896, Hu Chuyuan led a visiting fleet to return. The voyage route crossed the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and returned to China through the Indian Ocean.

Just before the fleet set sail, he received a special telegram.

There are only six words.

The Empress Dowager's view of politics is imminent.

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything. He burned the telegram incomparately and sent a telegram to Lu Guangzumi. Then he led the fleet to officially leave.

This time, the flagship of the patrol fleet has become the Ningyuan and Yangyuan of the Ningyuan class. On the basis of the Junquan class, this ship is more uniquely using eight 305mm caliber main guns provided by Kryup, with a rate of fire of 1.5 rounds per minute, 12 155mm caliber main guns, and the Auckland Military Factory provides There are 12 75mm machine guns, 6 405mm torpedo launchers, four underwater and two underwater stern launchers.

In terms of power, the British's own Junquan level uses more traditional coal-fired technology, while the Ningyuan class uses kerosene mixed combustion boilers. In the ventilated high-pressure state, both Ningyuan and Yangyuan can reach a speed of 18.2 knots, and the cruising mileage is also higher than that of the Junquan level. It is increased by 1.4 times, and the smoke emission is greatly reduced by 30%.

To some extent, it was precisely because of the Ningyuan class built by the British themselves that the British Navy was finally persuaded to use kerosene-mixed combustion boilers in later capital ships.

Picking up Ningyuan and Yangyuan back to China is also one of the main tasks of this visit.

After the new patrol fleet was reorganized, it officially embarked on its way home.

On the way, the patrol fleet passed through South Africa, India and Dutch Indonesia, which was very exciting for the Dutch.

On April 17, 1896, the visiting fleet arrived in Singapore. At this time, Hu Chuyuan had received a telegram - Cixi's comeback and Lu Guangqian mutiny.

A real big thing happened.

There is no doubt that this is the result of Hu Chuyuan's deliberate indulgence.

(to be continued)