Years of the Republic of China 1913

The Chinese did not break their promises. On the same day, the Logistics Department of the Chinese Expeditionary Force handed over a large amount of materials to the Oberhausen City Government. Mayor Schroeder, who went to receive them in person, saw with his own eyes that as a large amount of materials were shipped out, the warehouse that was originally full become empty.The Chinese colonel in charge of logistics comforted Schroeder in a very ashamed tone when handing over the signature, saying that if it wasn't for ensuring the needs of the soldiers, he even wanted to defy the orders of his superiors and hand over all the supplies to Mr. Mayor These words made all the Germans who came here with him very grateful.

On the second day, as the president of the Bank of China, Yang Du mobilized the maximum funds he could mobilize as quickly as possible, and entrusted the Chinese mission in Paris to purchase a batch of materials with the funds.Through the railway, these materials arrived at Oberhausen Railway Station in just a few days and were handed over to the city government immediately.

The kindness and selfless help of the Chinese made all the Germans in the Ruhr area burst into tears. Recalling the incident in Qingdao, China, the Germans privately praised the former Kaiser Wilhelm II who launched the war and plunged the whole of Germany into an air disaster. Shi finally did a good thing in his reign, that is, he returned Qingdao to China unconditionally before the war.

"Gentlemen, the Chinese have done enough for us, but the crisis still exists. These supplies cannot last long for us Germans. Now, it is time for us to make up our minds!"

In the city hall, Mayor Schroeder said to the city councilors present. He waved his hands and looked very excited: "Instead of letting the greedy Frenchmen plunder our wealth, it is better to give these things to the Chinese. At least, Their deeds have won our friendship. And we have already lost the war. With the personality of the British and the French, they will never let go of the great Germany. Cooperation with the Chinese is our only way out."

"I agree!" An elderly congressman stood up tremblingly with a cane. His hair was all gray, and his face was narrow and sunken due to the shortage of food, but his eyes were still piercing.

"The purpose of the Chinese is very clear. As a backward country in the Far East, if they want to rise, they need our German technology and equipment. Especially these factories that can lay the industrial foundation. However, they have also given us great help. If I am afraid that countless people have died of starvation because the supplies are not from the Chinese, so I agree with Mr. Mayor’s suggestion.”

"Agree!"

"I have no opinion!"

"I agree too!"

Everyone voted in favor one after another. The Germans are rigid, but they are definitely not fools.The tricks played by the Chinese Mayor Schroeder and his congressmen are very clear in their hearts. They know what the Chinese are up to.But, like Mr. Schroeder and the old MP said.Under the current circumstances, in the face of the crazy plunder of other countries of the Allied Powers, such as France, they are willing to hand over these things to the Chinese, at least they can exchange the materials and hard currency necessary for the Germans from the Chinese, so as to Save poor people.

The motion of the municipal government was passed, and starting with Mayor Schroeder, the dismantling and transfer of various factories began.in this work.At the same time, Schroeder secretly contacted his colleagues in the French-occupied area of ​​the Ruhr area, asking them to dismantle valuables to Oberhausen as soon as possible before the French.And Oberhausen will use their much-needed supplies to trade.The news spread throughout the entire Ruhr area in a very short period of time, and a rescue operation under the noses of the British and French was in full swing.

A week later, Yang Du signed a commercial loan agreement with Oberhausen in the name of the Central Bank of China.The Central Bank of China will purchase a large number of German machinery, equipment and even entire factories at a price of 1200 million silver dollars.These things include almost all basic industries and high-end industries. They will be shipped at Oberhausen Railway Station controlled by the squadron, and then transferred to Hamburg through the railway network, where they will be loaded on Chinese cargo ships and shipped back to Asia. .

The Oberhausen municipal government, which received a large amount of hard currency, did not directly use these funds because of the defeated country.They were afraid that the Allies would use the funds as an early part of war reparations.Therefore, after discussion, the Oberhausen City Government entrusted the Central Bank of China to escrow the funds and use them to purchase materials urgently needed by the Germans.

Of course, China will not refuse this request, because of the Chinese people's dealings.Use this money to buy supplies from the Allied countries.The sources of these materials are, as Yang Du once said, from Britain, France and the United States, and of course some of them are from China.

However, the Oberhausen municipal government never imagined that, except for a very small part of these materials that nominally come from various countries, most of them are produced in China.The Chinese government, which has long been hooked up with the Americans, has made arrangements before, transporting huge amounts of supplies to Europe.The Chinese government will cooperate with the Americans to sell these materials in the name of the United States, and the American Expeditionary Force will also earn huge commissions without spending a penny. Who would refuse such a good deal?

Under the leadership of the United States, some British, French and even Japanese were also involved. For a while, buying and selling in Europe abounded.In the end, the bulk fell into the pockets of the Chinese, and the rest of the countries also shared their own interests, and no one lost a vote.

The Chinese spent a huge sum of 1200 million silver dollars in the early stage. This amount of money may seem huge, but in Fang Zida's eyes, it is almost like collecting waste products.According to the valuation of the facilities sent by Yang Du from Europe, these items cannot be exchanged for 5000 million silver dollars in peacetime.No matter what, this transaction is a huge profit, not to mention that the reselling of materials also makes the domestic factory owners work overtime and produce desperately. Looking at the products sent out and the silver dollars flowing in, they are really happy.

The actions of the Chinese have also affected the countries of the agreement countries.Especially the UK, France and the US.In the occupied areas of various countries, apart from the frantic plundering of France, the British and Americans rarely did such things.However, the things they plundered are almost useless. Even if a large number of facilities are transported back to China, they will be a pile of scrap iron, just like France. It's an act of revenge.The equipment brought back by the French was thrown in the open air and exposed to the wind and rain. It was as useless as garbage and took up space.But now I suddenly learned that the Chinese actually want to buy it with real money. How could such a good thing be missed?

Of course, the top leaders of the Allied Powers are very cautious about this matter. For Western countries, they are not willing to see the emergence of a China that is strong enough to compete with them.But seeing that the business cannot be intervened, this is also a bit unwilling, so the high-level officials of various countries issued an order to allow the occupying forces to exchange money or materials from the Chinese with German things, but the premise Sensitive and important equipment must not be provided.

This paper order is a bit taken for granted. The Chinese have a saying that there are policies and there are countermeasures. In fact, the same is true for Westerners.Who will actually carry out this fool's order?Is it possible to let the following group of people guard the pile of equipment that is willing to become scrap iron instead of changing it into money?Therefore, within the occupying army, although they obeyed this order in name, in fact no one took it seriously, as long as they could exchange money and supplies, no matter what it was.

An interesting situation happened in the zone occupied by the Allied Powers, that is, the Germans and the occupying forces of the Allied Powers (except the Chinese) were frantically collecting all kinds of equipment and pulling them to Oberhausen for money and supplies.This trend started to spread from the Ruhr area, and soon spread to other areas. This happened even in the occupied areas of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Looking at the equipment that is continuously transported in and out by trucks every day , Yang Du was in pain and joy, so busy that he didn't even have a chance to catch his breath.

This incident made the Chinese laugh from ear to ear. Similarly, Britain, France, the United States and other countries also counted their money happily. Only the Japanese were angry and annoyed by this, and watched the Chinese buy up "waste" in Europe. But they got nothing, how can the Japanese sit still?

Not long after this situation started, the Japanese Expeditionary Force hurriedly reported the incident to Tokyo and asked to rob these things with the Chinese with the support of Tokyo.Germany's manufacturing industry is world-renowned. If Japan can get these equipment, it will completely suppress China. Once it is taken by China, it will be Japan's misfortune and sorrow.

But Tokyo's reply disappointed the Japanese expeditionary force. Due to Japan's foreign exchange system, the yen has become a regional currency, and the Japanese government has closed the door to free exchange, which prevents the yen from being officially traded internationally.So it is not practical to buy these devices in Japanese Yen.However, Tokyo also attaches great importance to this matter. They proposed that they will use ships to transport a large amount of materials to Europe in the fastest time, and start a transaction method of exchanging physical objects.However, the Japanese did not consider that the transportation from Japan to Europe also includes the preparation time of materials, which is impossible without 2 months.After 2 months, I am afraid that not even a hair will be left for the Japanese. You must know that the Chinese have made sufficient preparations long before the start of the plan.

In this regard, the Japanese expeditionary force gritted their teeth angrily, but they had nothing to do with the Chinese.Compared with China's huge expeditionary force of hundreds of thousands, the Japanese expeditionary force is so-so except for the size of the fleet, and the army is pitifully small.What's more, when the Allied Powers were eating their mouths full of oil in this feast, who would care about the little protests of the Japanese?The Japanese can only helplessly look at the Chinese "becoming very angry", and their hearts are as painful as knives. (To be continued..)