Beiyang 1917

[Text]Chapter 180 VIII Financial and Military Expenditures Are Under Huge Pressure

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The envoys of the four countries are facing the sincerity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to supervise the negotiation of the five countries. Although this young man named Wang Geng has countless halos and titles on his head, even though he has the cabinet, the prime minister, and the president on top of him, even though the members of the parliament More than 800 congressmen may not all buy this guy's account.Read novels please keep in mind

However, it is undeniable that they single-handedly promoted China's participation in the war, and with the loan and arms support from the U.S. and Japan, in just half a year, they trained and armed 40 reorganized divisions with 10 model troops participating in the war, directly controlling Beijing, Tianjin, Zhili, Shanxi, and Sui Yuan, Chahar, Rehe, Henan, Shandong, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and the newly-recovered Outer Mongolia, including the war supervisor Wang Geng, is currently the most powerful political leader in China's power list!

China has taken back Outer Mongolia, China has taken back the Middle East Road, China has drilled two high-yield oil wells and the annual output of crude oil is expected to be as high as 100 million tons, and the annual consumption of crude oil in France is only 100 million tons, and all of them have to be imported !

China, which has produced high-yield crude oil on the North China Plain, has never been so important in the Allied camp at this moment in 1918. China's political and economic status in the world obviously needs to be re-evaluated. Under the circumstances, Wang Geng's 40 troops armed to the teeth were not as shocking as oil in the eyes of Britain, the United States and France.

Of course, the staffing and firepower of the reorganized divisions of the model army far surpassed the current main divisions of the United States, Britain and France, but after all, there were only 40 people, and there were only [-] divisions after all. After all, it looked more like a uniformly gorgeous guard of honor. The days of becoming an army are short, they have never fought a tough battle, and they sweat more than they shed blood.

The model army who participated in the war spent more time digging earthworks on both sides of the Yongding River than military training. The 40 model army participating in the war was just a young new army in the eyes of the foreign powers. In the same six months, the number of American recruits exceeded 180. Ten thousand!Not to mention that the coal, steel, oil and military industry system that Wang Geng painstakingly built is still in its infancy, but China Airlines is eye-opening. Inspired by Wang Geng, the United States has also established a civil aviation company, and the aircraft has also entered the ranks of commercial use in the United States. .

"Gun, you Chinese can't just talk but don't practice. Who was the one who patted his chest and said that he would prepare and train 300 million troops to follow the U.S. military to join the war in Europe? Now the U.S. has recruited 180 million troops, and you Chinese are only 40 Ten thousand people, and there is only an advance detachment of 500 people sent to Europe, if you can’t take actual actions to participate in the war, it’s impossible to borrow money from the U.S. government!”

U.S. Minister Rui Enshi yelled half-truthfully!But I feel guilty in my heart. The mess in Russia seems to be a big mess. After private discussions between the United States, Britain, France, and Japan, the powers of the United States, Britain, France, and Japan suddenly discovered that there is nothing else that can interfere in Russia's domestic situation at the moment except Japan and China, and Japan, which is an island country, obviously The Japanese-Russian War suffered a dark loss, and I was a little apprehensive about fighting with the old man on land.

What can really play a role, maybe it has to be China. The Chinese army took down Kulun with only 2 brigades in Outer Mongolia. At this moment, it quickly eliminated the Tsarist Russian garrison in Outer Mongolia and occupied all the key points. , and the policy implemented is said to be very humane: respect the life and property safety of all Russian nationals in Mongolia and inviolate, protect the legitimate industries and investments of Russian businessmen, and even accept local Russian nationals to apply for Chinese nationality!

On the Eastern Front, China deployed three divisions and nine brigades to disarm the Tsarist Russian road guards. The appeasement policy adopted was the same as in Outer Mongolia. The safety of the lives and properties of Russian overseas Chinese was guaranteed, and they could apply for Chinese citizenship at any time. Investments in legal factories and mines along the Middle East Road are still recognized and protected!

Does this require the use of three divisions, nine brigades and 9 troops?Above the head, there are two-plane and four-plane formations of the air force of the participating army showing off their power every day.

What the Chinese are planning is not just the Middle East Road, and what they are defending against is not only the road guards of Tsarist Russia or the Siberian military region. Behind the killing of chickens, the Chinese may have a greater appetite!

Precisely because of such a judgment on China's current strength and role, the words of the American minister are not at all justified. In the past six months, no foreigner can speak arrogantly in front of Wang Geng, and the veteran British minister Zhu Erdian can't. Not to mention the irascible French Minister Kant, even the United States, which has given China the greatest support, has received the most rejections from the American Minister Reinsch.

During the entire process of fulfilling Japanese aid and American aid loans, Japan made the most money, while the United States made huge profits from the arms trade, and at the same time incorporated the Chinese participating troops into its own weapon system through American equipment. It means that with the continuous growth and increase of the participating troops, the United States will completely monopolize China's arms trade. Now and in the future, this is a good investment with great potential for China, a country that is eager to expand its military strength.

In the first phase of the 2 million ri loan to China, the profit that ri grabs is definitely not less than that of the United States. The rails that are used the most in railway engineering are also provided by Hanyeping Company, which is controlled by ri capital, and other factories and mines and equipment Construction contracting has basically become the purse of the Japanese contractors. Of course, the Japanese themselves are also in great pain. Wang Geng, under the exaggerated banner of going to Europe by land to join the war, asked the Japanese contractors to increase the speed of railway construction to the average 1 km per day.

Under the pressure of Wang Geng and the exploration and design of Zhan Tianyou's team of engineers, and with the efforts of Chinese railway workers working in three shifts, the speed of laying the Beijing-Suizhou Railway really reached the requirement of 1 kilometer per day.

The 149-kilometer mileage from Guisui to Baotou, which is being worked overtime, is expected to be completed in mid-February, and the railway from Ulanqab to Erlian will also be completed before the end of March, creating a milestone in the history of road construction in Asia. Miracle!

Looking back at the five-country consultation between China, the United States, Japan, Britain and France before the end of 1917, Wang Geng smiled slightly at the complaints of American Minister Rui Enshi, and didn't take it seriously at all. Americans do not go all the way and continue to support China.

As for Japan, without the nods of the two bosses of Britain and the United States, Japan does not have the confidence to turn against China now, and they are all mixed in the pot of the Allied Powers. Before the Russian issue is resolved, the United States, Britain and France will never accept the Allied Powers Internal strife broke out again.

"Everyone, I don't think it is necessary to waste time on borrowing matters. The Allied countries owe the United States and Japan billions of dollars in loans. At this moment, the first phase of China-government's completed loan is only 1 million U.S. dollars, ri yuan The loan is only 2 million ri. The role China can play depends on how much the Allied Powers support China. The Chinese government is deeply worried about the current situation in Russia. President Feng Da and Premier Duan have already called a cabinet meeting Many times!"

Wang Geng stopped here for a while, took out a cigar and put it on his nose to smell it. Looking at the concerned eyes of the ministers of the four countries, the man smiled and said,

"Since I have promised to prepare and train 300 million troops to participate in the war, it is not a joke. As long as the European War is not over and the Allied Powers are not disbanded, then China will work hard in this direction and continue to organize and form troops to participate in the war. But I want to I would like to remind everyone that the current situation in China is in a state of delicate balance, China’s power is far from being brought into play, the pressure on finance and military spending is huge, and the monthly military pay of 40 troops participating in the war is as high as 1000 million yuan!”

"Gun! We promised China that the Gengzi indemnity will be postponed for ten years! Where did your money go? I know that you have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in Jingsui Road and Zhonghua Iron and Steel Zhongmei Petroleum, but you will not even The Allies have to bear the usual military expenses?" British Minister Zhu Erdian couldn't help but shouted!

"Dear Minister, if the payment is postponed for ten years, don't you have to wait for a year to collect it? Moreover, the customs duties are kept by the General Taxation Department. The total customs duties this year are less than 8000 million. It is not enough to allocate all the troops to the war, not to mention that there are nearly 90 troops from other provinces in the country! There are still so many civil servants of local governments and education, medical and agricultural funds that need to be spent! The land taxes of all provinces are blocked by the local governments and cannot be collected!"

Wang Geng clapped his fingers and explained patiently. If Zhu Erdian hadn't been of great help in the purchase price and delivery speed of the first two batches of British aircraft, Wang Geng really didn't have the patience to explain so much!