In the office of the matchmaker in the Rouge Pavilion, two young officers in traditional German military uniforms sat on chairs. Their eyes were filled with curiosity and admiration as they looked at the young man who was much younger than them.
They couldn't help but admire him. This person was a famous legend in Shanghai. He had come to Shanghai alone. In just a year or so, he had taken over half of Shanghai's territory by himself. He had even firmly grasped it in his hands without any mistakes. The power of his methods was simply shocking and terrifying.
Although the two military officers who were born nobles had the same ability (the Qing government at that time did not resist these foreigners at all), it was impossible for them to achieve what Li Yi had achieved without any backing. As young officers sent by Germany to China, they admired and worshipped this young man in front of them.
Li Yi looked at them and smiled." Hello, I'm Renaissance Society's president, Li Yi. From the looks of it, you should know me, right? Hehe, can the two of you introduce yourselves?”
The two officers on the opposite side immediately nodded affirmatively and said," Hello, my name is Achim van Trumps. The person next to me is Falk van Solent. They are also members of the Young Military Officer Regiment sent by the German Empire to China. It's an honor to meet a legendary figure like you.”
Li Yi smiled and waved his hand." What's there to be legendary about? Hehe, it's just half of Shanghai."”
Achim and Falk were stunned and shocked at the same time, thinking, Only half of Shanghai? There was a lot of meaning in these words. It seemed that his ambition was not only this little.'They looked at each other, and a glimmer of light flashed in their eyes at the same time.
Li Yi said," Alright, let's cut to the chase. I like to get straight to the point. I invited you here today mainly to form an alliance with Germany.”
The two of them were stunned and felt a little inexplicable. They looked at each other and said," Alliance? What do you mean?"
Li Yi smiled and said," Do you guys think I'm too arrogant? I only have half of Shanghai's underworld forces and I dare to say that I'm allied with a country? Hehe, do you think that my ambition is only limited to this half of Shanghai? To be honest, I want to occupy the entire Celestial Empire. There were many people in China, and many places were in dire straits. As long as there was money, there would be no shortage of soldiers. However, you should know the current situation in China very well. China lacks excellent officers and weapons. That's why I came to you. I hope that you can send your young officers to provide me with the best weapons in Germany to help me build a strong army.”
Achim and Falk immediately understood and thought to themselves, As expected, this young man only got half of Shanghai and is not satisfied at all. He has even greater ambitions.'
Achim nodded thoughtfully. Falk asked," Mr. Li Yi, although we think that our German military is very strong, in comparison, it seems that England and France are stronger. May I ask why you came to Germany directly instead of the stronger England and France?”
Li Yi nodded and said," You're right, but the main strength of England and France is still at sea. Now, I am preparing to unify China, not to occupy the world. The German army was much stronger than the British and French. I believe that the two outstanding members of the Young Officers Regiment would not deny this, right? Since the German army is so powerful, why should I find those who are weaker than you?”
The two of them looked at each other and nodded." Mr. Li Yi, we believe that you have the ability to unify China, but since it's a partnership, it must be mutually beneficial." You need our officers to help you train your soldiers, and you also need our weapons to support you, but you didn't mention your price. Isn't that a little inappropriate?”
Li Yi smiled and said," Can the two of you make the decision? Shouldn't he report this to Kaiser Wilhelm II?”
Upon hearing the words " Kaiser Wilhelm II," Axim and Falk immediately sat up straight and said," Of course, we need to ask His Majesty for his opinion, but we need to at least negotiate the conditions first. Don't you think so?”
Li Yi nodded and said," Yes, I heard that Europe recently produced a steam locomotive for transportation, right?”
The two of them could not help but be stunned by his sudden change of topic. They nodded and said," Mr. Li Yi sure is well-informed."”
Li Yi smiled and said," This kind of motorcycle probably needs a railway to run, right? If I said that after I occupied China, I would hand over the construction and operation of the railway to Germany, what would you say?”
The two of them looked at each other and stood up at the same time." If that's the case, then I wish both of us a happy cooperation."”
Li Yi said," Don't get too excited. What I need is complete support, not just weapons and an officer training group, but also an excellent medical team and a doctor training system. You have to think about this clearly.”
" We are very clear about this. The reason why we wish us a happy cooperation in advance is because we think the conditions you have given are completely reasonable, and you are worthy of our investment. Of course, we need to call our emperor immediately. I think our emperor will be very willing to form an alliance with you.”
Li Yi nodded and said," That's good. Then I wish us a happy cooperation."”He stood up and shook hands with the two of them. Then, he said," Oh right, my army has already started to secretly recruit soldiers and also started some training. I hope that the young officers of the German army stationed in China can transfer some people to help me train my troops in advance. What do you think?”
Falk said," Of course, but the weapons might be a little difficult. After all, the quantity you need should be quite large, and the two sides haven't completely discussed it. This..."
Li Yi smiled and said," We only need the officer training group for now. As for the other weapons, let's wait until we sign the contract."”
" Alright then, we'll leave first. We still need to inform His Majesty the emperor of this news."”
Li Yi knew that the Germans valued efficiency the most. Usually, they could be sloppy when they had nothing to do, but this was a big deal. If the entire railway of China was handed over to Germany, then Germany could earn countless gold and silver in China. This was not a joke. Therefore, he did not persuade them and let them leave.
Li Yi sighed and sat in his office chair, deep in thought.
The matchmaker, who had been standing behind him, suddenly said," President, although I don't know what's going on with the railway, you said that it's related to transportation. This is the most important project of the country. Isn't it a little inappropriate for you to give such an important thing to the Germans?”
Li Yi frowned and turned to look at the matchmaker." You think I'm betraying China's interests by giving all of China's railway to the Germans, don't you?”
The matchmaker hesitated for a moment before nodding." Yes, President."”
Li Yi shook his head helplessly and sighed." There's nothing we can do about it. If we want to gain the support of others, we have to offer something in exchange. It's impossible." Although I am indeed betraying the interests of China, it is still countless times better than the Qing Dynasty betraying its territory. Besides, I didn't say that the railway will always belong to the Germans, do you understand?”
The matchmaker thought for a moment and said," President, you mean that when we have a powerful army, we might fall out with the Germans?”
Li Yi smiled and said," That's not impossible. Just wait and see. There are many countries fighting over this piece of fat meat in China. Sooner or later, they will fight each other because of the uneven distribution. At that time, it will be time for me to chase all the invaders out of the Celestial Empire.”
The matchmaker looked at the high-spirited young man in front of her with some infatuation, but she felt very regretful in her heart. She regretted that she was older than him and why she had to work in such a romantic place. If she was younger and still a virgin, she would definitely take the initiative to pursue him. However…The matchmaker's expression instantly became extremely ugly. She bit her lip, and tears were about to flow out. Her heart was filled with sorrow.
Li Yi looked at her and understood. He could not help but feel a sense of admiration for his own charm. He had actually managed to charm the woman known as the Flirtatious Empress in the brothel. He shook his head helplessly. There was still some conflict in his heart. After a long silence, he didn't say anything in the end and let nature take its course. Even if he really wanted to accept it, he would think of a way to do so later.
On the second day, Achim brought a dozen young officers to Renaissance Society. Li Yi personally brought them to his secret base and instructed them to train the army well. A few months later, Achim came to the Renaissance Society again with the alliance document from Kaiser Wilhelm II. The two sides secretly signed an agreement, and everything began to proceed steadily.
The military training in the army was completely handed over to these German officers. Of course, at the same time, Yuan Ying and Yuan Wu taught all the soldiers military boxing. Li Yi had seen Military Boxing on the Internet before. After learning martial arts from Hoendi, he had also practiced Military Boxing. Now that he had tens of thousands of troops in his hands that needed training, in order to strengthen the offensive capabilities of these soldiers, he taught the Military Boxing to Yuan Ying and Yuan Wu, allowing them to teach their own soldiers.
These soldiers trained every day during the day, and at night, there would be a teacher who would teach them according to the teaching materials written by Li Yi, which was also brainwashing. After half a year of brainwashing, something unexpected happened. The young German officers who had gone to the secret base to train their soldiers had also been successfully brainwashed and were now completely on Li Yi's side. It had to be said that this method was surprisingly powerful. Because it was a secret base, the security was usually very tight. Any news would be blocked, and at the same time, it prevented these German officers from leaking the secrets of military boxing and special operations knowledge.
At the same time, the Renaissance Society was also training in full swing. With the weapons provided by the Germans, the entire Renaissance Society was completely armed. The Renaissance Society was no longer afraid of the Freemasons. After all, the Freemasons believed in fists, legs, knives, and guns. How could flesh and blood compete with firearms? Half a year later, the entire Shanghai fell into the hands of the Renaissance Society. Of course, when the other provinces and cities learned that the Shanghai Freemasons had been destroyed, they wanted to take revenge on the Renaissance Society. However, due to the strict security of the Renaissance Society, not a single fly could get in.
Therefore, the Freemasons came up with the despicable method of ambushing and assassinating. However, was Li Yi that easy to kill? After wiping out the Shanghai branch of the Hong Triad, he had successfully accumulated more than 50,000 points. He had finally unlocked the first level of authority and activated the exchange system. Li Yi knew that the Freemasons would not let him off so easily, so he spent 20,000 Points in advance to exchange for a Black Sphere Armor that was only bulletproof.
When he first activated the exchange system, he spent a few days carefully searching through all the exchange options in his room. After seeing things like the Black Ball Battle Suit and the names of many cultivation techniques, he had some strange guesses in his heart. However, no matter what, the Sovereign Ring did not give him an answer. In a helpless situation, he could only take things one step at a time. He believed that he would be able to solve this problem sooner or later. Therefore, he did not plan to rush to exchange for the bloodlines and other things that he had his eyes on. It was better to wait until the questions in his heart were found out before thinking about it. As for Sovereigns, he would just treat them as tools to help him become stronger.
After countless assassinations and ambushes by the Freemasons, they finally understood that the president of Renaissance Society was an invulnerable monster. No one could kill him. They couldn't even kill him at close range with their pistols. Seeing this result, they gradually gave up.
In the future, whenever the Renaissance Society attacked a city, they would even cooperate with the other party to occupy that city. Many people even joined them, greatly speeding up the process of unification. Just like Fang Shiyu's father-in-law in Fang Shiyu said,'I win people over with virtue!'，Li Yi had completely convinced them that he could not kill them.
In March 1885, after eight years of secret preparation, everything was ready. In the past eight years, the Renaissance Society had not only occupied the entire Shanghai, but they had also opened a new martial arts lecture hall in Shanghai. It specialized in training middle and low-level officials, middle and low-level military officers, surgeons, and so on. There were many subjects. On the surface, the army had also trained 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers were still in training. Li Yi also felt that the time was ripe, so he began his own plan.
In May 1885, under the leadership of the Xinghua Army (an army under the Fu Xing Society), Shanghai declared its independence. When the empress dowager, who was sitting deep in the Forbidden City, heard the news, she was furious and sent a large number of troops to Shanghai, vowing to eliminate the rebels of the Renaissance Society. As a result, the hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Nanjing surrounded Shanghai. The battle line between the two sides was very long.
After all, the Qing army still had a shotgun and a broadsword. At that time, German weapons had already appeared like rifles like Mauser, which were countless times better than the Qing army's muskets. In addition, the Qing army had been slacking for many years and had no training. How could it compare to the army trained by the German Army officers? As soon as the two sides opened fire, the Qing army was immediately suppressed. After more than ten days of stalemate, the Qing army suffered countless casualties and gradually began to show signs of defeat. If it wasn't for the Qing army's battlefield supervisor keeping an eye on them and beheading all those who escaped, they would probably have collapsed long ago.
At that time, the Qing government was quite decadent, and the soldiers basically had no training. The real elite troops were Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. Their weapons were much more advanced than those of the ordinary Qing army, and they used the excellent 'three-stage' tactic. Overall, their combat strength was not bad. However, to someone like Li Yi who had a cheat, it was useless.
Li Yi formed an alliance with the Germans and had them transport a complete set of gun-making machine tools and a few technicians. Once again, he used his brainwashing method to make these German technicians all lean towards him. Then, he exchanged for an automatic rifle that was even more accurate than the current Mauser Rifle. He even took out a bulletproof vest for them to study and manufacture. By now, all the troops had been equipped. The advantage was obvious when dealing with firearms that had to hide behind to reload.
In June 1885, the Qing army's first siege ended in failure. The Xinghua Army took advantage of the Qing army's defeat and directly sent troops to occupy Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Nanchong, which had almost no troops stationed there. They even directly blocked off all traffic and closed themselves off. They sent middle-and low-level officials who had been trained in advance to the occupied areas to take full control. In a few months, the situation in these newly occupied areas was completely stabilized.
By the time the news reached the empress dowager, these areas had been completely controlled by the Xinghua Army. The empress dowager flew into a rage again and almost died from a brain hemorrhage. Was the empress dowager that easy to bully? Therefore, they sent the Qing government's most elite troops, the Xiang Army led by Zeng Guofan and the Huai Army led by Li Hongzhang, to attack the Xinghua Army. Of course, the Empress Dowager's 'not easy to bully' was specifically for her own countrymen. For those foreigners, hehe, it was already good enough that they didn't kneel and kowtow. Well, the empress dowager's plan was indeed very clear, but could it really go as she wanted?
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