Chapter 442 Pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger

Chapter 442 Pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger

Chapter 442 Pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger
Maria was not around and Isabel did not speak German, so the conversation between Shao Quanzhong and Hertz was translated by Evan.

When Shao Quanzhong heard Hertz's name, he said he had never heard of it.

Well, it doesn’t mean that this person is not good. Shao Quanzhong has never even heard of Einstein.

He had heard of Edison and Newton. Edison invented the light bulb.

I have heard about Newton from professors at Northeastern University. I only know that he is a famous scientist, but I don’t know what he did. At least he was not a cattle farmer, but probably an apple grower.

This young man named Hertz might become a great figure like Maxwell in the future. Of course, Shao Quanzhong didn't know what made Maxwell so great.

Shao Quanzhong was very polite and invited Benz and Maybach, the two gods of wealth, to have a meal. He also brought Hertz and Evan along, and the five of them took a group photo.

This photo was later spread everywhere by "Shao fan" Evan, who said that Hertz was a talent discovered by Shao.

Marshal Shao was a key figure in the great development of science in the 19th century. I played a small role in it. Well, my contribution was second only to Marshal Shao.

After seeing off the four Germans, Isabel came to report on the latest situation of the European war, and was unexpectedly followed by her sister-in-law Sophie.

The only two Central Powers left are Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany is fighting Britain and France on the Western Front, while forming an alliance with Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front to fight Russia and attack Serbia at the same time.

While Austria-Hungary joined forces with Germany to deal with Russia and Serbia, it fought with Italy in the Alps on the southern front.

At present, all fronts are in a stalemate, and only Serbia is finished.

Serbia mobilized 42 people across the country and joined forces with Montenegro. After a year and a half of fighting and three battles, it dealt a heavy blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was quite effective.

Then, the German army joined the attack on Serbia, and then, nothing happened.

As soon as the powerful German army joined the Balkan battlefield, Serbia's comrade Montenegro was instantly destroyed. Serbia lost troops and territory and retreated to Kosovo with only 30 people left.

30 people may seem like a lot, but they were all defeated soldiers who had lost their heavy weapons and had no morale. They were about to be annihilated. So the defeated Serbian soldiers turned around and ran into neighboring Albania.

Albania is a weak country that was established not long ago. When the big powers fight, it is so scared that it huddles aside and remains neutral.

However, weakness is the original sin. Greece took half of Thrace from Turkey, and after taking advantage of it, it found that the assembled army had nothing to do. It hit the neutral country Albania in the face and occupied the southern part of Albania.

Then, Serbia's 30 troops occupied the northern mountainous areas, and Albania was lost in a blur.

The German-Austrian coalition forces chased the Serbs and invaded Albania. The French-Italian coalition forces landed to support the Serbs. The small territory of Albania was occupied by the armies of six countries.

The Albanians were extremely depressed. They didn't get a single piece of cake from the Allied Powers or the Central Powers. They formed their own guerrillas and attacked the armies of six countries at the same time. Then, the guerrilla leader was captured by the French and hanged...

——There is no just war in Europe.

The Serbs were unable to defeat the Albanians, and the German-Austrian coalition forces came after them and were immediately defeated.

After suffering heavy casualties in the cold mountainous areas of northern Albania, the French and Italian fleets finally fled to the island of Corfu in the Adriatic Sea, leaving only less than 15 demoralized and ill-equipped remnants.

By the way, the French fleet here is the Spanish navy led by Liu Buchan, which is now rampant in the Mediterranean...

"Brother, Serbia is finished now. Quan Xiao asked me to ask you when Bulgaria will take action to retake Serbia and Montenegro."

"We now have an army of 800,000 people, and we are confident that we can defeat the German-Austrian coalition forces that invaded the Balkans, push back, seize and hold Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, and unify the southern Slavic region."

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand, "No hurry, no hurry. Fighting the German-Austrian coalition now is not worth the loss. Even if we win, the loss will be too great. Bulgaria needs to play it safe for a while."

"First, we need to wait until Germany, Austria, Britain, France, Austria and Italy become weaker after exhausting each other, so that we can fight them. Second, we need to let the Austro-Hungarian Empire bully the occupied areas of Serbia and Montenegro."

"Before they suffer a great loss, you saved them, but they don't think you're good, and they might even chase you away. Wait until they are desperate before you make a move, and then you will have a secure foothold."

The righteous Sophie couldn't bear to see her fellow tribesmen suffer. Shao Quanxiao was a pure and passionate soldier. If they were to make the decision themselves, Bulgaria would have taken action long ago.

That is to say, it was Shao Quanzhong, who was full of evil intentions, who came up with bad ideas behind the scenes, so Bulgaria could secretly play the role of a pig, and when the time came, jump out to eat the tiger and win big.

In fact, after several years of rapid industrial development under the guidance of Zhang Siwen, although Bulgaria is still very poor and its light industry is backward, its heavy industry is quite strong, and it has 800,000 veterans trained during the period of resisting the Ottoman invasion.

They are the kind that are poor and strong, but have ideals and beliefs, and are extremely combat-ready. You can use them as a reference - ahem, don't use them blindly as a reference.

"Report, Hurd wants to see you."

Hurd remained graceful as ever, and came over to hug Shao Quanzhong, "Shao, it's a pity that your country is divided. If the European war had not happened, Britain would have certainly helped you and allowed you to unify China by force."

"Thank you for your kindness, Brother Britain."

"The Qing Dynasty is no longer viable, and my career as a customs officer has come to an end. I am here to say goodbye to you. Don't worry, we will continue to support you after the European war is over."

"By the way, we are very interested in your newly built airships. We want to buy two and try them out."

Shao Quanzhong patted his chest and said, "If the British want to buy it, we will have it immediately. Isabel, inform Yongxian that the 'Daxia' and 'Fuxing' ships that are currently delivering oil refining equipment to Babylon should not return, but fly directly to the UK to support the British as soon as possible."

"Shao, you are still our good friend in the UK. Most of our factories have switched to military production of weapons and ammunition. We hope you can give priority to the production of auxiliary military orders such as biscuits and canned goods." "Of course. Isabel, tell Yongxian to give priority to the goods that the British brother wants."

"By the way, do you want our newly developed M18 submachine gun, British brother? We sell it cheap."

"Also, the airship was developed by German experts. I had no choice but to sell some submachine guns to Germany in exchange. I hope that big brother Britain will understand. Otherwise, we don't have airships either, so the Germans are the ones who are wrong, right?"

"However, we got the Germans' high explosives, which we used to make various types of artillery shells. The quantity was large and the price was low. The British big brother took care of the business."

Hurd nodded. "Yes, Shao, you have made another contribution to the Empire by making Germany lose its leading technology."

"I'll buy fifty submachine guns and let the generals test their power. They will decide on the military needs. We have enough artillery shells for now. I will convey your sincerity to the empire back home."

Hurd said goodbye and left. Shao Quanzhong instructed Isabel, "Tell Yongxian to increase the price of the airship sold to Britain by 50%."

Shao Quanzhong was still very responsible. He immediately went to inspect Wen's Logistics Company to see how the production of Hedeti's biscuits and canned food was going.

Wen's Logistics Company is one of the earliest companies established by the Wen Group. It started out by providing clothing to 600 militiamen and now has grown to an astonishingly large scale.

Shao Quanzhong inspected the site wearing a woolen coat, accompanied by Wang Yongxian.

When they arrived at the biscuit production line, both of them put on white coats.

Wow, the huge steam main shaft turns, driving the conveyor belt, and hundreds of production lines start running at the same time.

Thousands of female workers constantly pack the biscuits on the conveyor belt into brown paper bags. With a "click", the packaging machine automatically seals the bags, which is quite modern.

Shao Quanzhong picked up a biscuit and took a bite, almost breaking his teeth.

"Yongxian, this won't do. This won't fool Brother Britain."

Wang Yongxian smiled bitterly, "This is a request made by the British themselves. The biscuits we made before were crispy and delicious, but they were not durable in storage."

"Britain in Europe mobilized 9.5 million people to participate in the war. The mainland sent 6 million people to the European continent, the colonies sent 3.5 million people, and India alone sent 1.5 million people."

"The logistics of so many people had to be transported by sea from the UK, and weapons and ammunition had to be transported at the same time. The English Channel was filled with cargo ships. The logistics of the British were a disaster."

"Most soldiers on the battlefield are often hungry, so precious transportation capacity must be transported as long as possible. Therefore, the British do not want easy-to-digest delicacies, but hard compressed biscuits that can be preserved for a long time."

Well, well, poor British soldier, if you want to eat this biscuit, you probably have to smash it with the butt of your rifle first...

There's no need to look at the cannery, I guess the situation is similar.

"By the way, Yongxian, I haven't seen Zeng Xiaoyi for a long time. Is he on a business trip?"

"Well, he took his wife to Gejiu, Yunnan to monitor tin production. Europe needs too many canned goods, and tin has now become a strategic material."

"The tin mines in Gejiu are making a lot of money now. We will also invest to help transform the equipment and increase production capacity. That will all be counted as Zhang Zhidong's achievements."

"It doesn't matter. We can make more money from selling our canned products, right? Eh? Zeng Xiaoyi got married? When did it happen? Why didn't you inform me?"

"Yesterday. Elena came from London with her godmother to help take care of Jiying."

"There is no church in Hailing either—"

"Elena is not religious, so the two of them went to get a dragon and phoenix wedding and held a simple 'Bulgarian-style' wedding. Uncle Sven was too busy to go."

Alas, Shao Quanzhong shook his head and sighed, Xiaoyi did learn from Huier and me in this regard, but I re-held Huier's wedding, while Xiaoyi just kept it simple.

I got married yesterday and went on a business trip to Yunnan today. I believe that none of Zhang Zhidong's subordinates would have this much enthusiasm for work. From this point of view, I have already won.

Elena is such a good kid, supporting Xiao Yi's work so much, "Isabelle, send a check for 20,000 silver dollars to Xiao Yi's family as a gift. At least they can call me uncle."

The check was not sent out, there was no one at Xiao Yi's house, and no housekeeper was hired.

…………

Two months later, Xiao Yi and his wife went around in circles and finally received Shao Quanzhong's gift in person.

In fact, what this couple lacks is not money, they are "time-poor".

Shao Quanzhong patted Xiao Yi on the shoulder and said, "At first I thought you were too cunning, so I confiscated you. I didn't expect Siwen to have better vision than me—"

"report!"

Isabel came over to report with an excited look on her face, "New intelligence on the European war, a large-scale battle has taken place!"

(End of this chapter)