Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 221 Grain for Technology

When Cheng Nuo was still feeling emotional, Gustav came slowly from the back door, crossed his hands in front of him, looked at Li Zhongtang's group photo and said with a slightly proud tone: "This is Li Zhongtang from the Far East Qing Empire." There are not many people in Germany who can have such an honor to take a photo with the elders in the family."

"Really?" Cheng Nuo was a little surprised. He really didn't expect this Li Zhongtang to be so popular in Germany.

Gustav took down the photo, wiped it carefully with a towel, and recalled all over his face: "I still remember that when this Mr. Li first arrived in Germany, I hadn't joined the Krupp family, and I didn't even have the chance to shake hands with him. The closest I got was the crowd ten meters away..."

In fact, as early as when Emperor Tongzhi was still alive, Germany had already started arms trade with China, from artillery to ironclad ships, to torpedo boats, forts, etc., and there are still Krupp coastal artillery in our country.

At that time, in order to sell arms, Li Zhongtang, who was in his twilight years, had already been neglected by the Qing court, but he still received unprecedented attention when he visited Germany. Its preferences are specially placed.

Even the cigars he often smokes and the thrushes he likes to play with have to find some similar products and display them according to the layout of Li Zhongtang's home, which is quite rare in terms of attention.

And this is not over yet. In addition to the German Foreign Minister Bi Bocidan, the Minister of Shipping, the Minister of Shipping, etc., came to accompany the guests. If you want, you can only accompany the guests in the last seat.

In the end, when the German emperor personally received Li Zhongtang, he even gave him a national gift, wearing a jade crown on his head, holding a Jiegui, and wearing a sword on his waist. You must know that wearing all three at the same time on this day is the only way to dress like this at a national ceremony. You can see that Li Zhongtang It has an extraordinary status in the minds of Germans.

Of course, these efforts of the Germans have been richly rewarded. After returning to China, Li Hongzhang gave priority to Krupp products in all aspects of weaponry, and stipulated that the Huai army's artillery fleet should be equipped with Krupp guns, coastal forts and Beiyang guns. The guns equipped by the navy also use Krupp guns as the first choice.

Seeing Li Zhongtang smiling brightly in the photo, Gustav said proudly: "Mr. Li is the closest and highest-ranking Far East official of our Krupp company. Facts have proved that this friend is worthy of our deep friendship."

After Gustav finished speaking and hung the photo on the wall, he turned to look at Cheng Nuo and said seriously, "But for you Japanese, I'm afraid we don't have any friendship to talk about."

Cheng Nuo rubbed his nose and said expressionlessly: "It doesn't matter friendship, as long as the profit is enough, I believe this bond is stronger than any emotion, don't you think so, Mr. Gustav?"

Gustav narrowed his eyes slightly, and threatened: "If you really want to do business with us Germans, do you need to release the soldiers you detained us in Qingdao, China, to prove your sincerity?"

Cheng Nuo shrugged and spread his hands: "I'm sorry, I'm just a businessman, and some things are beyond my control, but I'm doing business with your Krupp company, not the German government. Do you say so, Monsieur Gustav?"

Gustav looked at Cheng Nuo carefully for a while, and then he laughed loudly: "Yes, yes, yes, money or something, it would be a pity to be contaminated with politics, the taste is not pure."

He waved to Cheng Nuo and pointed to the seat next to him: "Please sit down, my dear young friend from the Far East. I wonder what business you want to do with me this time?"

This is not because Cheng Nuo is arrogant, but because of his understanding of Krupp's nature, he dared to say so.

Before the outbreak of World War I, German companies represented by Krupp were generally unwilling to accept the mass production system, and these industrial companies were not active in adjusting their products to military products.

As early as 1915, Krupp began to consider whether wartime military orders would last, worrying that there would be no demand for large-scale production of daily life products after the war.Therefore, even Krupp, the leading company of German industry, only turned to the production of artillery with interchangeable parts during the war.

There is no psychological preparation for war, and no psychological expectation of a long-term war.

Even when the First World War started here, the German industry forced the government to return export control to the industrialists, so tons of German steel were shipped to France and Italy through Switzerland, which is the enemy of Germany .

What is even more exaggerated is that because the United Kingdom issued a policy to ban steel exports in order to expand its own military production, the price of steel in the international market soared, and more and more steel was exported from Germany. The chaos in the German domestic market not only skyrocketed steel prices, And the delivery of military orders was greatly delayed.

In other words, as long as there are enough profits, companies like Krupp don't mind pushing the country's bottom line down.

After receiving the coffee handed over by the waiter, Cheng Nuo took a sip: "Actually, we are here to do the grain business. To be precise, we are exchanging grain for your industrial equipment and technology."

After hearing this, Gustav laughed loudly, and couldn't help crossing his legs: "Little friend, are you kidding me? Our German Empire is one of the most industrially powerful countries in the world today. With our Synthetic ammonia technology, our food production is so high that we can't finish it.

But because you are a friend of Professor Haber, I am willing to make a deal with you, but the price..."

Gustav shook his legs and said with pain on his face: "What price was in the international market before the war? On behalf of Krupp, I am willing to buy all of them, and even [-]% higher than the average price. Don't let our Krupp friends Suffer."

Cheng Nuo laughed dumbfounded, and said meaningfully, "Well, it looks like we've made a lot of money?"

Gustav said boldly: "Of course, it's not for anything else, just to make friends in the Far East."

Cheng Nuo shook his head and said to himself: "But I heard that Germany is suffering from a famine right now. It is no exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of residents in Berlin fighting every day for a little meat or a small piece of lard. At this time At the pre-war price, isn't this friend a bit...well, a failure?"

Gustav immediately put away Erlang's legs, with a fierce look in his eyes: "So you know all this, and you still use it to make fun of me?"

Although Germany currently has the technology to synthesize ammonia, the shortage of feed and fertilizers caused the shortage of raw materials, which led to a poor potato harvest in the summer of 1916 and made the German winter of 1916-1917 a difficult "winter of turnips".

Of course, the agricultural plight prompted Germany to make a decision to launch unrestricted submarine warfare, and unrestricted submarine warfare brought the neutral country the United States into the war, which accelerated Germany's defeat.

Cheng Nuo didn't take Gustav's impolite words seriously. Instead, he took another sip of his coffee and said slowly, "There is a sage in the Far East named Confucius. He has a very good saying called 'Foot Food, sufficient soldiers, and people's trust."

Although in the past few years you defeated the eastern agricultural countries with strong ships and sharp guns, and warned the world that industry has replaced agriculture as the industrial basis of modern warfare, however, the basic status of agriculture has not changed. "

Gustav remained silent, but seeing the flashes of light in his eyes from time to time, he obviously listened.

Cheng Nuo opened the briefcase he was carrying with him, took out a document from it, and spread it out on the table, and there was a map of Europe, which showed the situation of the countries on the battlefield of the current war.

Pointing to Germany above, Cheng Nuo said: "For industrial countries, to maintain a large number of non-agricultural populations, they must either rely on their own agricultural productivity, or they can only make up for the shortage of their own agricultural production by importing agricultural products.

Once the guarantee of agricultural products in industrial countries has to be supplemented by imports, cutting off this supplementary channel during wartime will cause a major blow. Is this what Germany is like now? "

Although he doesn't want to admit it, Gustav understands the dire situation in Germany better than most people. Although German agriculture has achieved a relatively large degree of capital accumulation and technological progress, it still shows a certain level of improvement compared to natural forces. vulnerability.

However, Gustav still wanted to continue to struggle for a while, and said firmly: "Yes, I admit that food imported from Germany has always maintained a high share of imported goods. The current situation of the people is indeed not optimistic, but there are also primary products in the UK. Supply weakness.

As long as we hang on a little longer and fall after the British, we will win the war. "

Cheng Nuo smiled but said, "But don't forget that Germany lacks the naval strength to cut off the British supply chain, and the British are capable of blocking the flow of primary products to Germany through a naval blockade. In the end, the only way to go is failure." Walk."

Gustav was still stubborn: "Don't forget, we still have submarines in Germany. Under the infinite submarine warfare, it should not be too easy to block the routes of the British army.",

Cheng Nuo chuckled: "But the fact is, you have incurred retaliation from the United States for this. How many of your submarines are still available?"

Gustav was speechless: "This... This is indeed something we have never thought of before."

Cheng Nuo spread his hands: "So, this is the basis of our cooperation. We sell food to get technology, and you sell technology to get money. The profit is enough for us to become good friends. What do you think, my dear friend Gustav .”

Gustav sighed, and said the last thought in his heart: "Just now you also said that the current sea is the territory of the British, even if we Krupp agree to the deal, how can you get the grain? Ship it in, ship the product out?"

Cheng Nuo smiled, and said mysteriously, "As long as the profits are rich enough, there are friends everywhere."

Essentially speaking, the outbreak of the First World War was caused by the uneven distribution of profits among the great powers.

Therefore, even during war, as long as the profit is sufficient, anything can be bought and sold.

Even in order to strengthen the blockade against Germany, Britain and its allies also adopted certain blockade measures against neutral countries, forcing neutral countries to change their positions, and successfully suppressed the Netherlands and Norway.

But on the other hand, neutral countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Spain still act on their own.

The chemical weapons brought by Cheng Nuo were brought to Germany through the hands of these people.

As for the subsequent food transactions, they will also be delivered through the hands of these people.

After all, it was a business family, Gustav thought for a while, and understood Cheng Nuo's delivery plan.

"Okay, tell me, what are you planning to exchange grain for? Let me tell you in advance that state secrets will not be exchanged, and the quantity will not be exchanged if the quantity is too large. We are not specialized grain merchants. If there are too many things that attract attention, we will not be able to deal with them." Trouble." Gustav said seriously.

Cheng Nuo put the map away carefully and said, "Two requests."

"Which two requirements?"

"The first one is your steel technology. In detail, it is steelmaking and steel rolling technology. You need supporting steelmaking equipment in the middle, such as iron melting furnace, steelmaking furnace, etc., as many as you need."

"I'll think about this first, and then talk about the second one."

"Actually, the second one is simpler, that is, we want to be your company's only spokesperson for arms in the Far East!"

"What?!" Gustav was taken aback, puzzled: "Although Mr. Li is a major customer of our Krupp company, it was only during the Qing Dynasty, and the Far East is not our company's main arms market right now. You have not directly traded with these countries, and you have no experience at all, are you sure you want to do this?"

Cheng Nuo said seriously: "So for us, this is a blank market."

Gustav hesitated for a moment, but still refused: "At present, we are too busy with the arms orders in Germany, and we really don't have too much strength and energy to open up new markets."

Cheng Nuo smiled: "Don't be so anxious, this is just something to consider after the war. No matter whether your country wins or loses, it will mean that you will lose the country's orders, and the production will shrink extremely. At that time, you will need these orders to continue dead."

Although there are currently 29 arsenals in the country, only 8 of them can manufacture ordnance by themselves, and most of the rest are in the nature of repair factories.

Therefore, German goods have always been the favorite of the major warlords.

And Cheng Nuo wanted to use his status as the sole agent of foreign Piga Krupp to clamp down on the domestic warlords.

In turn, it gave the warlords the illusion that the Academy of Sciences was founded by foreigners. Threats to the Academy of Sciences meant making trouble with arms, that is, making trouble with their own territory.

Such relationships are complex and varied, involving the use of legal or illegitimate political institutions, local and urban authorities, banditry or stragglers, national or international relationships.

In the process of arms trading, it also includes the exchange of military information and staff.

This was also what Cheng Nuo liked.

(End of this chapter)