Master Yuan, start!

William II laughed out loud with great impudence: "That kind of thing doesn't exist. I really respect my grandmother Victoria. The Boers asked for help several times, but I didn't let the General Staff send troops.

What's more, we have been cooperating happily in Indochina, so they have no reason to object."

William II's idea was very simple. He had already shown goodwill to the British through the Boer War and the Indochina War. If he simply established a bonded area in East Asia, the British would not react much.

Of course, in addition to this, he also prepared more means to improve the relationship between Britain and Germany.

At that moment, William II's secretary hurried forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, the British ambassador has accepted the invitation to tomorrow's breakfast. The Duke of Saxony from England will also be in attendance, along with his daughter, Princess Beatrice."

"Good!" Upon hearing this news, William II made a decision: "Notify little William and ask him to come with me tomorrow morning."

Chapter 526 German Long Skirt

I don’t know if it was because he had already made the decision or was busy building relationships with the British.

For the following period of time, the German Emperor did not go on tour with Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Xiangcheng was also happy and at ease. He directly reached an agreement with the German business community on "agricultural products" worth 1 million marks, about 500 million pounds, and 2500 million taels of silver under the pretext of purchasing food to help the victims.

Of course, this money was also paid by the Germans in the form of loans, advanced from several German banks in the name of "Qingdao construction fees."

In exchange, China will need to provide all the manpower, material resources and construction materials needed for Germany's construction in Qingdao in the future. Germany will not pay any compensation and will only be responsible for solving the most basic food and accommodation problems.

8-695+9 three 89 moves?

As for the so-called "agricultural products" orders, they are also a cover-up to deceive people.

The orders do include projects for purchasing grain, but most of them are concentrated on industrial projects with relatively poor technology in the country, and the rest are for purchasing various scientific research equipment.

This time, there were fewer advanced machines purchased, but instead a lot of books and drawings, with the main purpose of learning technology from Germany.

The targets of procurement are not the current leaders in various industrial fields in Germany. On the contrary, Yuan Xiangcheng prefers those companies struggling on the line between life and death.

For example, the Mannesmann Brothers Steel Company.

For this purchase, Benxi Iron and Steel Works and Mannesmann Brothers Steel Company signed a contract to increase steel production capacity by 10 tons.

According to the contract, Mannesmann Brothers will export a series of equipment to Benxi Iron Works to build a new iron work to increase the production of the original Benxi Iron Works, which has reached a bottleneck.

The reason for choosing Mannesmann Brothers Steel Company is that their current operating conditions are not good, so they are more humble and can accept the conditions for learning technology proposed by China.

Germany's steel industry leads Europe, so competition is naturally fierce.

In 1899, out of Germany's crude steel production of more than 600 million tons, Krupp Steel Company and Thyssen Steel Company accounted for nearly 300 million tons, close to half of the share, and the share was still expanding.

The Mannesmann Brothers Steel Company started late and was originally a private steel plant in the Ruhr area. It was not until 1890 that the company was officially registered and established thanks to the brothers' continuous expansion of production.

However, as their business scale expanded, they faced enormous competitive pressure.

If it weren't for Yuan Xiangcheng's order, they would have been struggling and almost bankrupt, just like in the original time and space. It was not until before World War I that they found a new way and found a niche track in producing "seamless steel pipes" that they finally survived.

Therefore, after investigation and combining his memories of his previous life, Yuan Xiangcheng chose this company.

Although the technology of Mannesmann Brothers Steel Company is not considered advanced in Germany at present, it is definitely more than enough for use in China.

In order to expand the market and keep the company, the Mannesmann brothers naturally welcomed orders from China.

At the end of the 19th century, governments around the world had not yet developed a strict awareness of technological blockade. It’s not that they didn’t have it, but most of them still maintained the seller’s concept of “if you dare to ask for it, I dare to make it.”

Apart from the relatively scarce chemical technology, the rest of the heavy industries, such as warships, cannons, rifles, machines, and factories, will be given away as long as anyone is willing to pay.

As for whether what is given is advanced, I don’t know. It is often a technology that lags behind by half a generation or even a generation.

However, China is different. These are the things it needs.

Therefore, seeing that Yuan Shikai was willing to help the country deal with backward and excess production capacity, the relevant German officials in charge of the review did not stop him.

Of course, Germany did not lose anything. Although China learned the technology, it made a real profit of 1 million marks.

The money borrowed from the German bank simply made a turn and returned to the bank.

The Orientals took on the loan and also brought back a batch of outdated equipment from the country.

This was another assist for the Germans who were in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution and needed to update various types of equipment.

Although the proportion is not large, the old equipment always has a place to go.

Otherwise, who would I sell it to?

The French won't want it; the British and Americans don't need it; Russia does want it, but since they have taken the French money, most of the restrictions are on purchasing French equipment.

Originally, only the Ottomans and those small Balkan countries needed these backward production capacities, but their demand was too small. Now there is another place for demand in the East, which is really the best place.

In addition, a contract was reached with Germany to exchange manganese ore from Hunan and other places for technologies such as explosives and fertilizers.

Because manganese is an important alloying element in steel smelting, it can improve the hardness and wear resistance of steel. Germany is a major military power, and German military companies such as Krupp have a strong demand for manganese ore to produce high-quality armor steel and weapon steel.

But Germany is a manganese-poor country and most of its manganese ore needs to be purchased from abroad. Although the Ruhr area produces a lot of steel, most of it is conventional civilian steel and does not reach military grade.

However, China's manganese ore resources are very rich and are distributed in Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and other places. After Yuan Shikai promised to develop manganese ore with the help of the Germans and to supply it to German steel companies first, the two steel companies, Krupp and Thyssen, readily agreed.

This cooperation model is also a breakthrough, which means that the newly born Republic of China only needs to pay a tuition fee to borrow German technology in steel casting and metal processing to catch up with the world's second-class level and make up for the shortcomings in the upgrading of heavy industrial manufacturing.

Compared with the 4000 million pound order in the UK, 1 million marks, equivalent to about 500 million pounds, is just a drop in the bucket, but it is invaluable to the German business community. You must know that in the past ten years, except for military purchases, the total trade volume between China and Germany has been almost zero.

This is a good attempt and can help German retail companies open up the East Asian market.

The Germans had just invented the "synthetic indigo" technology in 1897 and applied for patents worldwide. They are using this technology to gain a foothold in the global dyeing and printing market.

Historically, this technology led to the collapse of the British and Indian markets, which mainly relied on extracting natural indigo, and the textile industry was in mourning.

Even the United States had been importing dyes from Germany, and it was not until World War I that it gradually cracked this technology.

It was precisely by relying on this technology, coupled with subsequent continuous improvements and inventions, that Germany was able to almost monopolize the global dyeing and printing market before World War I.

Therefore, as long as they can open up the Chinese market, the Germans believe that they will be able to quickly gain a leading position in the printing and dyeing market by relying on advanced technology.

In the next few days, Yuan Xiangcheng visited industrial German centers such as the Ruhr and Bonn.

During these days, after receiving the news that "the Orientals are constantly picking up junk", William II was overjoyed and specially instructed Prime Minister von Bülow to give Yuan Shikai a gift.

This gift is an oil painting, just like the Yellow Peril picture.

It generally presents a rough outline of a world map, but the territory of China is outlined as a woman in gorgeous clothes, dancing with her right hand extended.

And what she was wearing was a blue-purple dress with the word "Germany" written on it.

This painting is named German Girl in a Long Dress.

The blue-purple clothes represent Germany's latest "synthetic indigo" technology. William II's way of expressing his emotions is still so straightforward.

When Yuan Xiangcheng received the painting, he immediately understood its meaning and felt a little amused and helpless, but he still expressed his gratitude to German Chancellor von Bülow.

Finally, Yuan Shikai ended his visit to Germany.

Under the watchful eyes of thousands of Germans in the port of Hamburg, he boarded the Hai Feng and headed for New York, USA.

At this time, a cargo ship was also docked not far away in the Port of Hamburg.

Domestic officials responsible for purchasing in Germany have completed the preliminary task and loaded instruments and drawings worth 2000 million marks onto the freighter.

As soon as the Germans select the exploration personnel to go to the Far East, the freighter will set sail and head for its destination this time, Qingdao, Shandong!

Chapter 527 Congressional Medal III

In late autumn of 1899, the cold grew stronger and the last winter of the 20th century was about to arrive.

After a long sea voyage, the fleet finally entered the port of New York on the east coast.

There were no unexpected surprises on the trip to the United States. When Yuan Shikai arrived in New York, the weather had begun to turn cold. When land emerged on the sea, all the soldiers on the ship rushed to the deck and cheered.

"We're finally here!" A young European sailor leaned against the railing and breathed a sigh of relief. His palms were calloused from holding the ropes tightly for so long. "These waves in the Atlantic are really killing me."

The reason why everyone cheered was simply because the voyage was so bumpy.

Compared with the waters near Europe, the wind and waves in the Atlantic are undoubtedly much stronger. The huge cruiser Haifeng sailing on it is like an inconspicuous leaf, being blown around in the turbulent waves.

We encountered severe storms many times, but domestic sailors have been operating in the coastal waters of the western Pacific for a long time and have no concrete concept of storms in the Atlantic.

If it weren't for the crew and sailors recruited from Britain and Germany to help stabilize the course, the arrival in New York would probably be delayed by ten days or half a month.

"Look! That's the Statue of Liberty!" Someone suddenly exclaimed, pointing into the distance.

As the ship approached, the outline of the Statue of Liberty became clearer. She held the torch in her right hand and the Declaration of Independence in her left hand, her eyes looking firmly at the sea.

This scene made many European soldiers on the ship open their eyes wide. They had never been to the United States, and ordinary Europeans were full of longing for this "country that has become rich overnight" that often appeared in newspapers.

Europeans are indeed reserved, self-proclaimed cultured, and look down on American nouveau riche.

But that was just a way to save face.

It is just like the attraction of the southeastern coastal areas to the inland areas after the reform and opening up in the past. Although people look down on those who engage in small businesses and think that they are not decent, after seeing how much money they can make, who would not want to "go into the sea"?

This is truly a city in human history that cannot be ignored. It opened the era of skyscrapers.

New York's concept of vertical expansion changed the logic of urban planning and laid the foundation for the development of global metropolises in the 20th century.

Park Lane Building, World Building, Manhattan Life Building, American Assurance Building, St. Paul Building. In 1899, there were many commercial buildings in New York that were over 100 meters high.

Although due to the height restrictions set by New York regulations, there are currently no high-rise buildings in New York that exceed 120 meters, but this is enough to demonstrate New York’s strength!

After 1899, when the height limit for skyscrapers was lifted, various 200-meter and 300-meter-high buildings began to emerge like mushrooms after a rain.

However, for Yuan Xiangcheng, who had witnessed various world-class skyscrapers in his previous life, the scene before him did not shock him too much.

He stood on the deck, his hands behind his back, a faint smile on his lips, his eyes calm and deep.

In contrast, others seemed more excited, especially the soldiers at home. When they saw the prosperous, modern and busy New York Port and the Statue of Liberty, they were all dazzled and talked about it.

The welcome from the U.S. government and local Chinese people was beyond the expectations of all the visitors.

The scene at the New York docks was so crowded that the streets were deserted.

People from New York City and surrounding cities rushed here from all directions, riding horses, driving cars, boats, and walking.

Gentlemen and ladies wore top hats or held white parasols, porters and coolies wore coarse clothes, people of all colors, white, black, brown and red, countless people came and went, some even brought picnics. It seemed that they didn't know how long the welcome ceremony would last, and they were thinking that it would be a protracted battle.

Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt stood at a makeshift podium, a burly figure with a bushy mustache and a confident glint in his eye.

群一

He presided over the welcoming ceremony on behalf of the US government. Drums and music played, and the red and blue American flag and the twelve-star flag with a yellow sun and red and yellow dotted lines fluttered in the roar of the salute.

Of course, there was also a blonde woman in a loose long skirt presenting flowers to President Yuan, who was wearing a republican suit and leather boots.

The local Chinese, especially the elderly, were extremely excited. Many of them burst into tears on the spot, saying, "It has been decades since we mistakenly entered America. We haven't seen the customs of our homeland for a long time. Now we see the might of the Chinese military overseas. Even if we die now, we will be at peace."

Some old men who hadn't cut off their braids held the Citibank bill in their trembling hands and put it in Yuan Xiangcheng's hands, saying that