Years of the Republic of China 1913

Cao Rulin and Fang Zida exchanged glances tacitly, nodded in agreement, and sat back down again.Before Tsar Nicholas gave a formal reply, the two sides negotiated and reached an agreement on other issues.Soon, two days later, except for the issue of Outer Mongolia, all other aspects have been negotiated and settled, and now we are waiting for the final decision of Tsar Nicholas II.

"Brother Runtian, do you think Lao Maozi can finally submit?" The matter of Outer Mongolia was not suggested by Fang Zida, but by Cao Rulin.During the negotiation, Cao Rulin approached Fang Zida and proposed this proposal to him. Fang Zida agreed after a little consideration.However, Fang Zida was not fully sure whether the Tsarist Russia could really agree to this request. After all, he was not a professional diplomat, but he just felt that the possibility of success in making such a request under such circumstances was very high.

Cao Rulin was confident, took a sip of tea with gusto, and said with a smile: "I, Mr. Cao, have experienced a lot in diplomatic affairs, and I would not make such a decision if I was not sure about it. Zhang Ming, just don't worry. It will happen!"

Speaking of this, Cao Rulin put down the teacup and sighed softly: "Back then, Cao signed the "Russian-Mongolian Agreement" on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Lao Maozi, and he was always angry. But the country is weak and strong, so we really have to do it! But I didn't expect that now that Feng Shui is changing, it has only been a long time, and the old man is begging us. At this time, if you don't bite them hard, how can you be worthy of the country? How can you be worthy of your ancestors?"

At the end, Cao Rulin even gritted his teeth.It can be seen how deeply he was distressed by the agreement of the year and his hostility to Tsarist Russia.Cao Rulin is no stranger to Fang Zida.Long before I met him, the name was like a thunderbolt. Fang Zida had an allusion of burning Zhaojialou in the textbooks he read since he was a child. Cao Rulin was criticized for decades as a villain. When he first met Cao Rulin in the Republic of China, he was influenced by him from childhood Fang Zida has always been wary of this, but since the Qingdao incident, he found that Cao Rulin was not as treacherous as described in the novel, on the contrary, he was a man with profound knowledge, self-discipline, sincerity, witty speech and Very patriotic elders and diplomats, in contrast to those "revolutionary martyrs" who have been despised in history.Fang Zida was indescribably disgusted.Apart from shouting slogans, inciting students who don't know the truth, and bewitching people's hearts, these people secretly intrigue, fight for power and gain, and are lawless.Bribery, assassination and blasting, all kinds of shameless means are used.

"No wonder there is a saying in later generations, 'traitors' defy power and persist in resisting Japan, but the vanguard of the revolution back then became a traitor." Fang Zida sighed in his heart, but he counted, and it was only a few years away from the historical record. , but judging from China's current situation, history has already gone a different way, and perhaps that kind of tragedy will never happen again.

As expected, things were similar to what Cao Rulin had expected, a sudden proposal to China.Although Tsar Nicholas II was very angry, he didn't have much choice when he was trapped in the quagmire of war.For Tsarist Russia, the center of interests of the Russian Empire is in Europe. Although the Far East is more important than Europe, Nicholas II can clearly distinguish which is more important. Moreover, now that the German army is approaching, if the situation cannot be reversed, the entire If the Russian Empire cannot resist it, it will face collapse. Compared with the overall situation, Outer Mongolia is just a pawn of Tsarist Russia and has not been incorporated into the territory.Today, Tsarist Russia's front-line troops are seriously insufficient, and the large-scale deployment of troops in the Far East cannot maintain its interests in Outer Mongolia. In this case, letting go of Outer Mongolia will actually cause no loss to Tsarist Russia.It's just a matter of face.

After thinking about it, Nicholas II finally decided to temporarily abandon Outer Mongolia.to gain support from China.Of course, whether Nicholas II is reconciled to this decision, or whether he intends to wait until the end of the European War to turn around and teach his own China a lesson in order to realize the great Yellow Russia plan, no one knows. knew.

After receiving the order from Nicholas II, Kupensky notified the Chinese negotiating team as soon as possible, impatiently requesting a formal signing. Fang Zida and Cao Rulin were relieved when they heard the news, and replied to the other party that the signing would be formalized tomorrow morning. After the people left, they laughed and drank wine and toasted together.

The next morning, at the original meeting place, all the members of the Chinese negotiating team entered with beaming eyebrows and high spirits.On the other hand, in Tsarist Russia, everyone from Kuponsky down had a sullen face, as if I was dead.After the agreement was signed, the Tsarist Russian side only shook hands with the Chinese side in accordance with diplomatic etiquette, and hoped that the Chinese side could implement the agreement procedures as soon as possible before leaving.After the Russian people left, everyone in the Chinese side cheered, especially Cao Rulin was all smiles, and the anger that had been simmering in his chest for several years finally vented today.

In the Sino-Russian agreement, China actually took a big advantage. Although Tsarist Russia did not pay much rubles, the free supply of a large amount of industrial raw materials gave strong support to China's booming industry and commerce.With these resources, at least in a few years, the development of China's industry and commerce will reach a new level, and it will also be able to obtain immeasurable economic benefits in various channels such as production, sales, and distribution.What is even more exciting is that since the Qing Dynasty, the evil neighbor—the greedy Tsarist Russia has never stopped his desire to encroach on Chinese territory, ranging from decades to four or five years. For this reason, life and death tore a piece of flesh from China.But this time, it was the first victory for the Chinese. The establishment of the sovereignty of Outer Mongolia and the abolition of the Russia-Mongolia agreement gave everyone hope for the country's rise. All the Chinese people were very excited, especially those diplomats who were often irritated at both ends, like bellows rats, and they puffed up their chests for a rare time. In their view, China can finally say no.

The impact of the signing of the Sino-Russian business agreement is very large, especially the withdrawal of the rights of Outer Mongolia has improved the prestige of Zhong Yang.Immediately afterwards, Nicholas II, who couldn't wait, transported a large amount of raw materials through the Siberian Railway in exchange for war and civilian supplies provided by China.Fang Zida had already prepared for this. Long before the agreement was signed, he instructed his subordinates to start stockpiling materials. When the first batch of raw materials arrived, Fang Zida’s exchange materials were also loaded onto the truck at the same time. Kupensky, who was in his arms, heaved a sigh of relief, and his face that had been gloomy for a long time finally looked better.

The Sino-Russian business agreement has brought great opportunities to domestic industry and commerce.The domestic industry and commerce, which had been stimulated to flourish because of the European War, ushered in the second peak period of development as if it had been injected with chicken blood.Not only those national capitals that have already invested in the construction of factories and obtained the first batch of benefits have increased investment, expanded factories, purchased machinery, and increased production...even some ordinary landlords and nobles who dismissed business as such have also increased their investment. They couldn't sit still with jealousy, and they rushed to invest their money in industry and commerce. Those with a wide path directly built factories, those with technology but no money or those who had money but no technology directly partnered, and some people who didn't make money and had no way out They simply started to make a living in restaurants, car dealerships, etc. For a while, the major cities were bustling with activity. Everyone was proud of doing business and doing business.

"One billion people, [-] million merchants, and [-] million people are waiting to see."

This sentence refers to the reform and opening up 70 years later, but it can also be used today.Of course, one billion people does not exist. At present, China has a population of 5000 million at most. Fang Zida deliberately asked the people below to make a rough calculation. According to the summary of major cities, at least [-]% of the people have entered or are currently Entering into industry and commerce, including business owners, investors, technicians, workers, and related services, transportation industries, etc., this is already an incredible achievement for China today.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Fang Zida's plan to expand the military industry enterprise also started ahead of schedule. In the area near Liaoning, Fang Zida set up a new arsenal, mainly producing standard weapons.In addition to the ordnance and military factories in Shanghai*Shanghai, Nanjing, Han*yang, Tai*yuan, etc., there are now nearly eight ordnance factories and military enterprises in the whole country. It can meet the implementation of the reorganization plan of the National Defense Forces, and even includes the arms orders of Tsarist Russia in the Sino-Russian business agreement, and the total scale has jumped to the first place in the Far East.

Of course, these are the good sides. After the signing of the Sino-Russian business agreement, Germany was extremely dissatisfied with it.After all, when Qingdao was returned, the two sides had a secret agreement that once war broke out, China’s commercial supplies would be given priority to Germany, but now the Sino-Russian business agreement has instead funded Germany’s rival, Tsarist Russia. This is simply a kind of betrayal .

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has long been prepared for Germany's doubts.It was Cao Rulin himself who went out to explain the German side. According to his original words, China, as a neutral country in war, has the right to conduct business independently. China has never forgotten Germany's help and friendship. If Germany needs it, China can To increase commercial exchanges with Germany, of course, this must be a normal commercial exchange, that is, you can buy it with money from Germany.It doesn't matter if you don't have money, you can also exchange materials like Russia, whoever gives more money and more things, we will sell our things to whoever, you Westerners don't always say that friends are friends, business is business what?

These words made the Germans speechless. Now that Germany is fighting on two fronts, how can it care about China, which is simply out of reach?For the benefit of the war, the Germans could only hold back their breath, and reluctantly put forward a proposal to increase commercial cooperation with China, in order to weaken the threat posed by China's aid to Russia to Germany.Of course, the Chinese side would not refuse this proposal. The smiling Cao Rulin agreed without hesitation, and soon signed a business agreement with Germany. Immediately afterwards, Britain and France couldn't sit still, and they found the Chinese government one by one, and each proposed requirements for business cooperation.