Battle of the Third Reich

Of course, the dinner will not be set in the Metropolitan Hotel where the guests stay, because it does not meet the diplomatic etiquette. In order to let the visitors feel the generosity and hospitality of the French, the Governor’s Office of Degussa has packaged a restaurant called Xiang A high-end French restaurant in the Champs Elysees. $f. The dinner time of ￥f　 is set at 8 o'clock in the evening, because it is darker in summer and autumn in Vietnam.

Due to the development of modern transportation and information industry, the culture and life of French Indochina are not too far from the French mainland. Any fashion that is popular in Europe will definitely appear on this land in a few weeks. In a month, a large number of French and German troops have arrived locally, completely calming the local people’s hearts. The worries and fears of the people have been wiped out, and the rulers of the colonies can continue to indulge in the life of comfort and luxury .

The development of the European War made all French expatriates psychologically ride a roller coaster. Until now, many officials are still worried about the situation at that time. Compared with Japan's aggressive and explicit performance, the movement of the Siamese Kingdom's troops on the border line made them more worried. The French colonists could tolerate their choice to withdraw under the strong force of the Japanese, but letting them seek a compromise from a South Asian country beaten by themselves more than thirty years ago would seriously hurt the French’s strong self-esteem .

Now the French Indochina is strong, the French regular army that has arrived one after another has reached three infantry divisions, the colonial air force has been supplemented by 120 of the latest French fighter jets, and all are handed over by pilots transferred from the locals. People have fought in the European War. Although few of them have performed in the war, they can be regarded as having some actual combat experience. They are much stronger than the original soldiers who only circle around the airport.

The expatriates also saw the French heavy tanks that landed in Haiphong Port. The huge and heavy steel car body made those ignorant colonial civilians feel the greatness of the French Republic. Hundreds of medium and light tanks arrived at the same time, all of which are the main equipment of the French army in active service, and even the paint is new, reflecting in the sun. This led to the application of the only armored company in the colony on the same day, requesting the scrapping of the twenty Renault tanks that they had originally regarded as treasures.

The French Indochina Federation is now a strong army, especially when a group of German Army, Navy, and Air Force troops are stationed in it, it has given all federal officials a little more confidence, and now they no longer have to be careful with their tails around. Many people even began to hope that the Kingdom of Siam would best initiate an armed provocation immediately, so that the great French Republic could once again teach the monkeys in the jungle how to behave.

Official emotions can easily affect the people of the world. Kong Xiangxi and his colleagues clearly felt the change in attitudes of those around them. Not only those French expatriates, but even Annan natives are now full of confidence and expression. The spiritual outlook in society is very different from what I saw earlier.

"Look, this is the heritage of the great powers." Tan translator leaned against the window of the car and looked at the endless stream of pedestrians on the street. This is already the most prosperous area in the city center, with a large number of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues, including theaters, nightclubs and various senior member clubs.

"Compared with Shanghai Beach, there is still a big gap." Secretary Xia returned from the UK when she got off the boat in Shanghai. For the extravagance and modernity she witnessed in the grotesque Far East's largest metropolis, then His feelings still made him remember.

"Shanghai is prosperous, but it hasn't fallen into the hands of the Japanese, but the days in the concession should be much better than in the previous two years." Tan Yiyi spent a period of time in Shanghai in his early years, but he did The impression is not so good.

"You have to think about what you should do at the banquet now. In addition to letting the Germans eliminate misunderstandings and let go of the blockade on our country's transportation lines, it is better to try the Germans about the two countries if possible. The idea of ​​cooperation." Kong Xiangxi put his eyes away from the window, he said seriously to the two subordinates.

"Sir, the specific content of the previous letter of intent submitted by Germany is relatively vague, and it should be that they do not want to expose their intentions prematurely." Sharp Bear replied.

"The current situation of the National Government should be very clear on the German side. I think that at most it is the continuation of the Hefei Building plan, and there will not be too much breakthrough." Tan Guang replied, although he was working as an interpreter on this trip, But he is also the regular secretary of the official residence secretariat.

Regarding the Hebulou project, it should be a result that Kong Xiangxi was very proud of in his early years. Although he has some suspicions of picking fruits afterwards in this matter, he signed the agreement on behalf of the Chinese government after all.

As for Hebulou Company, there are a lot of materials for later generations, but due to the different starting points of the researchers, the information is also mixed with too many personal consciousnesses.

Here we need to briefly introduce that Hans Crane, the founder of Hebulou Company, is a veteran trader. He previously operated import and export business in the East African colony, and he has a lot of connections and relationships. After the war, the East African colony was dismembered and Clan lost most of his local industry and business. With other German expatriates, Krann returned to Germany with his life savings, and after his friend introduced him, he bought a bank called Engelhardt and started a financial business.

I never imagined that this bank had a military background. It has been bypassing the surveillance of the League of Nations and quietly doing arms export business. Crane has since joined the ranks of dead merchants. With his superb business acumen and sophisticated trading methods, Crane's arms business is getting bigger and bigger, with sales in more than ten countries in Eurasia. At that time, his main trading partners were Russia and Turkey, and he sold to two dead enemies with the same killing weapons at the same time. From this, it can be seen how thoroughly the arms dealer understands this industry.

At that time he met the former German Army Commander General Sekt, and through Seket's introduction, he began to engage in trade with China. The earliest Chinese force to cooperate with him was Li Zongren. The Guangxi king was colluding with Chen Jitang of Guangdong to conspire against Jiang. In order to develop armaments, a German army captain Madel was specially hired as a military adviser. When Captain Del returned to the country for business, he met Hans Krann through Setter.

Klan is now interested in expanding his business in the East, and Li Zongren is seeking a stable source of arms, so the two hit it off, and since then Klan has started cooperation with China for more than a decade. After entering the Chinese market, Klein's business and relationship network began to flourish. Some of the twists and turns also occurred. Finally, during the honeymoon period of Sino-German cooperation, he signed a joint building plan with the Chinese government. Trade package.

But at that time he was no longer a weapon merchant with a private banking background, but the owner of the German Industrial Products Trading Company. The backstage of this company is the German Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy. In fact, it is an official institution in a vest of a private company. Clan's status has also risen, and he has become the general agent of German trade in China.

The trade method used by the Hebulou program was very appetizing to the state government at that time. The Chinese government lacking foreign exchange reserves was unable to pay for the purchase of arms. In the first year of cooperation between the two sides, the trade deficit between China and Germany exceeded 22 million. Mark, if you use cash to trade, it will be a burden that the government will be unable to bear.

It happened that Germany was also trying every means to stop the outflow of foreign exchange reserves. Germany’s national transformation was not over, and the full armament of the army was nearing completion. How could Hitler tolerate these foreign traders to come to shear wool and drain the German government’s efforts to accumulate for many years. Wealth. The German Nazi Party did not have the ability to lift the table at this time, so they could only try to use some means within the framework of international trade rules.

Hitler issued an order that Germany no longer trades directly with other countries in cash and foreign exchange, but uses a method called a settlement agreement to complete the trade between the two parties. To put it bluntly, it is a barter. For example, when importing a batch of goods, the importer pays the clearing bank in the domestic currency, and the clearing bank in the country where the trade is made pays to the supplier in the local currency. Finally, at the agreed time, the clearing banks of the two countries reconcile each other. If there is a deficit in the import and export trade, the excess will be compensated in the form of goods.

This is actually beneficial for the industrially developed Germany, because he exports high-value industrial products, and the objects can often only be offset by cheap industrial raw materials and agricultural products. Germany not only maintains foreign exchange reserves, but also has additional Get a lot of difference as a bonus.

Germany also moved this method to the payment of a portion of the arrears. They used the liquidation mark of the same value to repay the loan. This mark can only be used to buy German products, which means that the other party’s money has been turned around and returned again. In the hands of Germany, those big investors finally got only a bunch of industrial products made in Germany, and they could only increase their investment in German companies again in order to compensate for the losses caused by the trade process.

For some western developed countries, this kind of means by Germany is somewhat too rogue, but for China, which is in a state of utter waste, this is simply a pie that has fallen from the sky.

China's national conditions are different from those of European and American countries, or the vision of Chinese rulers is different from that of European and American countries. China has the most labor force. The cost of manpower in the mining of minerals and raw materials is the cheapest. Looking at the Chinese government, this is definitely a huge profit. As a result, both parties felt that they had made a bargain.

However, the problem before Kong Xianxi is that even if China wants to trade things for things at this time, I am afraid that it will not be able to come up with items of sufficient value. After the cessation of Sino-German cooperation, the government placed the hope of foreign aid on Britain and the United States, and then signed a large number of arms trade agreements and loan agreements with the United Kingdom and the United States. The means of payment and collateral are the "strategic materials" that were previously traded with Germany. ".

The industrially backward China does not have any products that can attract these developed countries. In addition, a large number of territories are occupied, and many high-value commodities have lost their raw materials. In 40 years, the national government was able to get hard currency, only tung oil, bristle and tungsten sand deposits, and 80% of these shares have been booked by the United Kingdom and the United States. Now even if Germany wants to trade with the national government, it can only get The remaining shares are gone.

"If those things didn't happen before, I originally planned to obtain a loan from the German." Kong Xiangxi rubbed his brows and sighed. His baby girl was really a pit father.

"Germany has just won the European War and obtained a lot of war reparations and loot. If they are willing to lend us a sum of money and let the state government turn around a bit, our days will be much better next year." Kong Xiangxi said in a deep voice.

Before, he was full of hope for obtaining German loans. At this time, even if the German empire was rooted, it would be enough for the state government to overcome the current difficulties. In addition, the talent of the Song family is said to have made some progress in the United States. If he can get an overseas loan before the other party succeeds, it is equivalent to directly smashing the little uncle’s face. Look at yourself.

However, all this was messed up by her baby girl. If her little maid had always spoiled her, Kong Xiangxi could not help but drove the troublemaker out of the house.

"This child is so uncomfortable. I only know that every day I provoke annoyance outside, and I don't wear men or women, it is a corruption of Kong's style. Or go back this time and simply find her to live with her. She got married, but her reputation has stinked, and now there are still warriors who dare to marry her. There is no way, it is a good way to send her to study abroad to harm foreigners, but Who is responsible for the management of the business she is responsible for? This girl has a good mind, and her business is better than her elder brother." Kong Xiangxi was sitting there full of brains and thoughts, and the car he took slowly turned into a garden on the street, Stopped in front of a beautiful Baroque building.

"Sir, we have arrived." Secretary Xia reminded.

A German army captain quickly stepped forward and opened the car door. Kong Xiangxi took the top hat and stepped off the car.

This time Kong Xiangxi's visit secretly met with the German special envoy in a private capacity, so the French side did not notify the local reporters and media, nor did they arrange a special grand scene.

Of course, basic security is a must. Just because Blumberg and Jean Degu are present, the highest level of security is needed. The restaurant has been chartered, except for the staff who prohibits the appearance of any idle people, armed guards with military dogs can be seen everywhere on the paths around the garden, a strict sentry is set by the fence, and a wheeled car is also parked on the lawn Armored vehicles, angular turrets pointed to the garden gate.

Blumberg and Jean Degu dressed in gorgeous military gowns, greeted by the staff and subordinates standing at the door of the restaurant with a serious expression. When he saw Kong Xiangxi walking towards the gate under the captain's guidance, Blumberg stepped forward to meet him, and took the initiative to reach out to the other party.

"I haven't seen you for a long time, my old friend." Looking at the face that hadn't changed much in memory, a smile appeared on Blumberg's face. To be continued.