On April 1, 1937, history changed a lot here. In the original history, Kong Xiangxi was going to England by ship to attend the coronation ceremony of the British royal family. However, at this time and space, because General Jiang Cheng
The list of Japanese spies lurking around Jiang Jingyi was provided to him, which made Jiang Jingjie's historical judgment that the war would not break out within a year become a war that was about to break out. Sato's diplomatic efforts had become out-and-out in the eyes of Jiang Jingjie.
The acting and the calm before the storm. Therefore, the Chiang Agency secretly ordered Dai Li and others to jointly perform a big play for some special spectators around them.
I don’t know whether it is intentional or unintentional, but today happens to be April Fool’s Day in the West. Jiang Jie, Lin Sen, Song Ziwen and others came to the train station, preparing to send Kong Xiangxi and his party to take the train to Shanghai and then to the UK. Countless reporters gathered here, Jiang Jie
Giving a speech on a high platform, he spoke highly of Kong Xiangxi's outstanding contributions to finance and banking. Kong Xiangxi kept smiling and bowing his head, as if to express his humility. Kong Lingkan and others were by his side, and everything seemed so normal.
What's strange is that Kong Xiangxi is actually wearing sunglasses today, which is a bit different from his usual image. The title of today's declaration is - Minister Kong is about to visit the UK to discuss a new Sino-British trade agreement.
On the other side of the Nanjing Airport, things were tight on the outside and tight on the inside. Soong Meiling accompanied a group of people and said, "Yongzhi, I'll thank you for your hard work on your secret visit to Germany this time."
Kong Xiangxi smiled and said, "Madam, why did you say this? We are all our own people, and we are going this time for the sake of the party and the country. It is normal to take some risks."
Dai Li, who was standing next to him, said, "We have arranged everything. We will fly to Yunnan first, and then to India. It will take about five or six flights to reach Berlin. However, planes are more dangerous after all. It is best to bring a parachute to be prepared."
Kong Xiangxi laughed and said, "Yunong, look at me, isn't it a sign of good fortune?"
At this time, an old man with a Western face standing next to Kong Xiangxi said, "We in Germany are also ready for everything. Please rest assured, Mrs. Song, that this secret operation will go smoothly."
Looking at all this, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but admire the way that Jiang and Dai Li played the plank road and secretly crossed Chencang. Kong Xiangxi and his party will secretly fly to Berlin, Germany, to discuss arms purchases, while Dai Li sent someone to pretend to be Kong Xiangxi and his party to go to England, etc.
The ships will be exchanged when they arrive in Europe, so that China can avoid Japan's eyes and ears, quietly carry out war preparations, and try to delay the outbreak of all-out war. After all, the Chinese army has just begun to integrate. If a war starts now, the hope of victory is too high.
vague.
Passenger planes in 1937 were not as comfortable and fast as later generations, so everyone had to try their best to sleep and talk to force themselves to forget their physical discomfort.
Kong Xiangxi knew that Jiang Cheng came this time because Chiang Kai-shek's intermediary wanted to win over him, so he took him with him to discuss many things. The foreigner was Alexander von Falkenhausen, the former principal of the Infantry School in Dresden, Germany. Although he was German,
However, he was extremely trusted by Chiang Kai-shek. Although he was not known as the "Generalissimo's Trustee" like his predecessor, General Hans von Seeckt, he assisted China in developing a self-sufficient arms industry and helped establish a military base south of the Yangtze River.
defense system. It can be said that the subsequent Anti-Japanese War was able to successfully resist and turn into a protracted war, which was partly due to his contribution. Let him go with us this time just to use his knowledge of European countries and contacts in the military circles, and wanted to
Choose cheaper and more appropriate preparations for military purchases. As early as last year's military purchase, he purchased a large amount of equipment that was extremely suitable for China without considering whether it was German goods.
Kong Xiangxi asked Falkenhausen, "Fackenhausen, what kind of equipment do you think we should buy this time?"
Falkenhausen raised his eyes and said, "We in China (I have to say that these Germans have really deep feelings for China after becoming Chinese instructors) have insufficient financial resources, but they are also a large country with a large population and a vast territory. Our
The enemy Japan's soldier quality and weapons and equipment far exceed ours. Although we have equipped and trained German weapon divisions, only three divisions have been truly trained so far, and the other 17 divisions have just begun training.
However, the weapons and equipment are far from those of the real German army, especially in terms of heavy firepower. Therefore, I suggest that this arms purchase should supplement the equipment of these 20 German weapons, especially in terms of heavy firepower. According to our plan,
It is to prepare to hold on to the front line of defense in Nanjing. According to European combat experience, heavy artillery, heavy machine guns and combat defense artillery are the main firepower support points. I think we will try to purchase several hundred heavy machine guns, about 50 combat defense artillery and combat artillery this time.
Not 10 or so heavy guns."
Jiang Cheng, who was listening to the side, couldn't help but feel that the amount was too small and asked, "How much money do we have? Why do we only buy so much?"
Kong Xiangxi smiled bitterly and said, "It can be said that our Republic of China has always been unable to make ends meet. If Ziwen and I hadn't been patching things up, borrowing domestic and foreign debts, we would have been unable to continue operating. We don't get money for the arms purchases between us and Germany.
"
Jiang Cheng thought about his memory and said, "Could it be that we rely on agricultural products and ores to pay off debts?"
Kong Xiangxi nodded and said, "Yes, we have a loan agreement of 100 million marks with Germany. It was reached in April last year. The term of the agreement is 5 years. We can use 20 million marks to purchase arms in Germany every year, but we need to pay 20 million marks every year."
The repayment of ore and other raw materials worth 10 million marks has a repayment period of 10 years, which is equivalent to the annual credit loan of 10 million marks from Germany to China."
Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said, "This won't work. Twenty million marks is too little for what we can buy."
Falkenhausen said helplessly, "Jiang, I also know that we don't have enough equipment, but what can we do if we don't have money?"
Kong Xiangxi sighed, "We are clever women, but we can't make a meal without rice. Now we can only find a way to make good use of the 20 million marks."
Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said, "The war between us and Japan will probably break out this year or next year. I suggest that it is best to spend all 80 million marks at once this time. Even so, I think it is not enough."
Falkenhausen laughed and said, "Unless you can convince Hitler, the last time we bought 150 howitzers, the German government was reluctant because we bought a loan, and the price was also quite high."
Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "We have to think of a way."
Kong Xiangxi and Falkenhausen looked at each other, feeling amused by this young boy's naivety and ignorance. Do you think the German government will help China so easily?
Along the way, Jiang Cheng listened to Kong Xiangxi and Falkenhausen discussing whether they should buy one more machine gun and ten fewer rifles. Hearing this, Jiang Cheng was extremely confused. A country's procurement was actually so small.
, now it is a time of life and death, and it is unimaginable that even the country’s strength cannot be collected to equip more than a dozen divisions. Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but think, he just found a way to improve the equipment of the White Army, what will it do to China’s future?
Will there really be much change? Although I have known for a long time that the Golden Decade is not worthy of its name, the results are so bleak. It is simply unimaginable. You must know that 20 million Reichsmarks are only 6 million US dollars.
——Berlin When Jiang Cheng, Kong Xiangxi and others got off the plane, they felt sore all over their bodies. Planes in this era were uncomfortable and slow, which exhausted Jiang Cheng.
Since this is still the period of comprehensive cooperation between China and Germany, the Chinese mission is still quite polite in Germany. When Jiang Cheng followed Kong Xiangxi off the plane, the person who came to greet him was Hitler's crony Joachim von Ribbentrop.
, Kong Xiangxi walked up and talked happily with Ribbentrop in fluent German. Gallagher was translating in real time, which was just some words of mutual greeting. Since this was a secret visit, not many people came forward.
Come and greet.
Kong Xiangxi wanted to discuss the arms purchase with Ribbentrop. Jiang Cheng just wanted to take this opportunity to meet the employees of Weihua Company who came to Germany first. Kong Xiangxi actually did not want to give Jiang Cheng the credit for this time, so he let him go free.
Action was taken. When Jiang Cheng found the place, he found that it was a large store in the city center with a basement below. The person in charge was a member of the Youth Gang who grew up in Chinatown in Germany, named Chen Nan.
Jiang Cheng looked at the empty basement and felt it was a good teleportation point, so he placed the time and space seal here and said to Chen Nan, "I'm going to contact our people to transport the medicine. You can buy it immediately."
There are two houses on the left and right. We must recruit more people to keep an eye on this place. I will find a way to communicate with the German government and ask them to help us protect this place."
Chen Nan expressed his understanding. Jiang Cheng went to Huang Biao again and said, "I'm going to go out to transport goods. Do you understand that you don't want anyone to enter the warehouse?"
Huang Biao had seen Jiang Cheng's magic last time and knew that he shouldn't ask any more questions, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, boss, I'll be guarding you in the store."
Jiang Cheng entered the warehouse alone and immediately traveled back to modern times. When he opened his eyes, he saw a warehouse of medicines. It seemed that Yao Tian had been stacking the goods according to his instructions. Since it was daytime, he found it after leaving the warehouse.
Yao Tian, Yao Tian was a little surprised by Jiang Cheng's sudden appearance, and didn't say anything. He just asked, "Mr. Jiang, do you have any orders?"
Jiang Cheng nodded and asked, "Are the medicines ready? I'll prepare to transport them tomorrow."
Yao Tian nodded and said, "Put them all in the warehouse."
Jiang Cheng thought of something else and said, "Are there any cameras in our warehouse?"
Yao Tian shook his head and said, "It's not inside, it's just a decoration at the door. What's wrong, Mr. Jiang, do you want to check the video?"
Jiang Cheng shook his head and said, "Go and remove all the cameras. From now on, cameras are not allowed in our warehouse."
Although Yao Tian didn't quite understand, he still nodded and said he would do it.
Jiang Cheng felt about the same. He just needed to wait for the 30 hours of cooling time to pass. He also took the opportunity to go back and prepare to take a rest. Yu Na was also surprised to see Jiang Cheng, but she heard that she was just transferring and would go home to take a rest tomorrow.
When he was about to leave, he was a little depressed, but he didn't lose his temper willfully. Instead, he prepared a lot of good food to comfort Jiang Cheng. Since Jiang Cheng didn't go well in the Republic of China, he didn't show too much happiness when he got home.
This actually made Yu Na worried. During the meal, she would persuade Jiang Cheng not to work too hard.
Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "It's okay, it's just that the business talks didn't go well. Okay, don't think about it. I will definitely win the business this time." He hugged Yu Na, saying that I have everything under my control.
.
When the time came the next day, Jiang Cheng immediately traveled back to the Republic of China. When Jiang Cheng returned to Germany with a lot of medicines, Chen Nan was shocked when he saw the medicines and quickly called for 24-hour help.
Keep an eye on the warehouse. Fortunately, this warehouse is an underground warehouse, so just keep an eye on the entrance and exit.
Jiang Cheng looked at the medicines and said, "Now that the medicines have arrived, business can start. Contact the news reporter immediately, Chen Nan, and you will be the one to announce the establishment of the Berlin branch of Weihua Company."
Huang Biao and Chen Nan responded and immediately went to make arrangements.
When reporters outside heard that Weihua Company, which had been listed for almost a week, was finally going to open, they immediately became excited. Chen Nan took the opportunity to stand outside and be interviewed by reporters, constantly emphasizing that the main reason why Weihua Company would open in Berlin was
The reason is because of the long-term friendly cooperation between China and Germany, followed by satisfaction with the German business environment. At the same time, it was announced that there will only be one branch in Berlin selling penicillin and sulfonamides on the European continent.
When not only penicillin but also sulfonamides were sold at the same time, reporters scrambled to inquire about the price and quantity.
Chen Nan took out the inventory given to him by Jiang Cheng and said, "In the Berlin branch outside, we have prepared 300,000 penicillins and 10 million sulfonamides. The price is - 8,000 units of penicillin only cost 20 marks, and sulfonamides are one pill."
Mark, of course, we welcome gold more, and there are early pick-up and discount offers, but the goods are limited, and natural persons are limited to purchasing 5 penicillins or 20 sulfonamides at a time."
A reporter asked excitedly, "Does it mean that your Weihua company no longer accepts gold? Have you started accepting banknotes?"
Chen Nan replied, "Because we need to use the Reichsmarks we receive in Germany to purchase supplies that we urgently need in China, so we also accept banknotes. Of course, if we find that the Marks we receive cannot be used in Germany, then we will still
Only gold is accepted.”
A reporter laughed and said, "If you can't spend it, we will help you buy supplies. You have brought a lot of cheap medicines to our German people. It's not too late for us to thank you."
Most of the German newspaper headlines that night were about the flower of Sino-German friendship - Berlin Weihua Company.
Hitler looked at the newspaper and said, "Now they are bringing their company to Berlin?"
Himmler raised his glasses and said, "Yes, they have started to collect marks now, and they also said that they will spend all the money they receive in Germany. I think their goal is this arms purchase."
Hitler put down the newspaper and stood up and thought for a while and said, "Our German equipment is the best in the world. They can buy it if they want. They can sell it as long as it is light weapons, but the price must be increased. You must know that what they spend now is what we loan them."
Money, besides, don’t sell artillery tanks and other heavy weapons to them casually, we don’t even have enough for ourselves.”
Himmler nodded and said, "Even if we want to supply large quantities, I don't think they have the financial resources to buy it. China is not a rich country. According to Ribbentrop's report, this time China mainly relies on Sino-German loans. 2
Ten million marks, but they also mentioned that they hoped to use the remaining 60 million marks in advance, but we rejected it."
Hitler nodded and continued, "Now we already give the Chinese 10 million marks in loans every year. We can't increase it any more. And according to the report, the conflict between China and Japan seems to have eased. We need both China and Japan. We can't be too partial."
China, let this matter be as it is for now, unless they can have better exchange conditions. The most important thing for us now is to revive our army, not only in terms of weapons, but also in terms of the quality of soldiers. We have to find a way to
The yoke placed on our necks by Britain and France. Now you can report on the current situation in Austria."
When Jiang Cheng returned to the Chinese Embassy in Germany, Kong Xiangxi was worrying about the arms purchase again, and he couldn't help but sigh when he saw Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng asked, "How's it going, Minister Kong? How's our arms purchase going? How much arms are the Germans willing to provide us?"
Kong Xiangxi shook his head and said, "There is not much progress. Light weapons are easy to talk about, but the artillery is very stingy. Germany is not willing to provide too many advanced weapons to China for use, saying that it is afraid of being gossiped by the international community. And the price is too low."
It’s very high. We only have so little money, so we really can’t buy much?”
Jiang Cheng asked, "Is there nothing we can do?"
Kong Xiangxi sighed, "What the Germans mean is to either pay or exchange for something else. The situation in our country is that there is no good thing. Oh, your penicillin is the same."
Jiang Cheng knew that Jiang Cheng wanted him to come here just in case, hoping that he could use penicillin to trade with Germany for the sake of the country, but he didn't want to contribute penicillin for no reason, even though he told Yu Qiaqing in Shanghai that it really couldn't be done.
They sent penicillin to Germany, but it has not reached this level now. Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said, "That means they treat their equipment as treasure. What if they knew that their equipment is actually garbage now? They would still treat it like a treasure."
Are you protecting the thing tightly? I’m afraid they would like us to buy it quickly and then equip it with new and sharper equipment.”
Kong Xiangxi nodded and said, "Of course, but Germany's equipment is notoriously sophisticated. How could it be so outdated that they want to abandon it?"
Jiang Cheng stood up and walked around and said, "Give me five days, and I will make Germany's equipment fall behind the world overnight. Minister Kong, are you willing to believe me?"
Kong Xiangxi said in disbelief, "Do you know magic? How is it possible in five days?"
Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "Although so many years have passed since the World War, Europe's equipment development has not relaxed at all. Minister Kong, please invite the central power officials in Germany to have a small dance party in five days. Let me make you look smaller."
Magic."
Kong Xiangxi said seriously, "Gu Quan, you must not be joking. Once this goes wrong, it will become an international diplomatic incident. Now we and Japan are already in trouble. If we lose Germany's friendship again, the two of us will become
National sinner."
Jiang Cheng said confidently, "Don't worry, there is nothing we can do anyway, let's just treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor."
Kong Xiangxi thought to himself, this is okay, anyway, I will get the merit, and you will resist if you have the chance.
"When I come back, I'm going to make some preparations." After saying that, Jiang Cheng left the room, came to the pharmacy, and said to Huang Biao who was guarding us, "Prepare a room for me. I'm going to be in seclusion for a few days. Don't give me anything."
If things come in, don’t allow anyone to come in, do you understand?”
Huang Biao knew in his heart that this magical boss was probably going to disappear again to find the power behind it. He said loudly, "I understand." He took a stool and sat at the door, preparing to guard it.