Chapter 477: Diplomatic Battles (6)

"It's asking us for mercy! very arrogant for it. When the German consul went to the rostrum to receive the award, the French consul Giratino, who was sitting on the viewing platform, said indignantly, and did not deliberately lower his voice so that several other consuls around him could hear, "We must fight back, otherwise the order in East Asia will completely collapse." ”

At present, 16 countries have set up consulates in Qingdao, of which 10 are in Europe, 2 in North America, and 4 in South America, and after the East China government entered the war, the Japanese and Russian consulates were closed and left, and now there are only 14 consulates left.

"Well, it seems that overseas Chinese will not stop the war. The British consul Scholes did not respond positively to his words, saying: "And we must also take measures to make it clear to overseas Chinese that force alone cannot solve everything." ”

"No, gentlemen, I don't think so. George Wilson, the U.S. consul, said: "If I were an overseas Chinese, I would not have stopped the war at this time, if Russia and Japan refused to make reparations." Because overseas Chinese have also spent a huge amount of money for this battlefield, in fact, it is very simple to want a truce, as long as Russia and Japan are willing to pay part of the compensation costs. ”

"Mr. George, we will convey this opinion to Japan and Russia. Scholes said: "However, Japan and Russia are both sovereign countries, and I think they have the right to decide for themselves whether to pay compensation to overseas Chinese." ”

"So Britain's attitude is not to support the payment of reparations by Japan and Russia to overseas Chinese?" Wilson said: "If this is the case, I am afraid it will be difficult to stop the war, and I think Japan and Russia will lose more and more." ”

"What is the attitude of the U.S. government?" Scholes said, "If the overseas Chinese completely defeat Japan and Russia, it will probably not be a good thing for the U.S. government." ”

"We certainly want an immediate truce now, because it is not in the interest of the United States to continue. Wilson said lightly: However, mediating the war also requires objective conditions, and now that the overseas Chinese have indeed won the war, and they are demanding that the overseas Chinese give up the fruits of victory they should enjoy as a condition for a truce, do you think the overseas Chinese can accept it? If the overseas Chinese refuse to stop the war, can peace be achieved?

"Hmph! Overseas Chinese have only temporarily gained a slight upper hand in the war, and if the war continues, overseas Chinese may not be able to maintain their superiority. Although Giratino knew that what Wilson said was true, the position of the French government was to prevent the East China government from gaining greater benefits in this war, and he could only hold on to the end, saying: "Therefore, the demands of the overseas Chinese are too much, and when their advantage on the battlefield is exhausted, I am afraid it will be too late to stop." ”

"But overseas Chinese may also expand their advantage, if the war continues, anything can happen, and at that time the overseas Chinese may offer a higher price. Probably thinking that Scholes was more reasonable, Wilson turned to Scholes and said: "We believe that if we want to promote an armistice, the demands of overseas Chinese cannot be ignored, and we should appropriately let overseas Chinese get certain fruits of victory, otherwise if the war continues, the situation will be in danger of getting out of control." ”

Britain and France are bent on containing the rise of the East China government, so they are trying their best to prevent the East China government from profiting from this war, but the United States believes that since the East China government has won the war, it must consider their interests, otherwise the East China government can only take risks and launch a larger-scale war to achieve greater results, so as to force Japan and Russia to accept its own conditions. Although Japan and Russia still have the strength to fight again, if the war continues, it will still be greater than the victory of the East China Government, and at that time the East China Government must offer a higher armistice price, after all, the price paid by the East China Government to expand the war will eventually be reaped from Japan and Russia.

Rather than risking the war expanding or even getting out of control, it is better to consider letting the East China Government gain certain benefits, which of course are not enough to enable the East China Government to rise rapidly, and it is the best choice for Japan and Russia to maintain a certain vitality and continue to maintain a three-legged situation in the Far East.

The economic interests of the United States in the Far East are second only to Britain, so it is not in the interests of the United States to have a prolonged war in this region or to have a sole regional hegemon, but at present the United States is still in the stage of being big but not strong, because its military strength is not strong, and it is not as aggressive as Britain, France, Russia, and Germany in handling international affairs, and only considers the maximization of its own interests, regardless of whether the other side can accept it or not, but is more inclined to put itself in the other side's position and put forward a plan acceptable to both sides.

Scholes pondered for a moment before saying, "Okay, I'll report this opinion to the country." ”

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On the very next day, the East China Government received diplomatic communications from Germany and the United States, formally proposing to the East China Government that it hoped to send a military observer group to the East China Government to watch the battle.

Military observer missions are a common occurrence in this era, and they are generally dispatched by European and American powers to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; because the war technology, weapons, and tactics of this era are updated too quickly, and because the powerful countries contain each other and are politically mature, it is not easy for war to break out. The weapons used by countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are basically purchased from European and American powers, and they will even hire military instructors from European and American powers to train and guide their own armies; after a war breaks out, European and American powers will send military observation missions to observe the war and understand the performance of new weapons, the effects of new tactics, and so on.

After only a little more than a month of entering the war, the East China government won great victories on both land and sea fronts, and it also caused a great sensation in Europe, even more so than Japan. In fact, Japan's victory over Russia has surprised European countries, and no one thought that Russia, known as the European steamroller and a fighting nation, would be defeated by a small country or the yellow race, but after all, Japan went through nearly one and a half years of bloody battles, during which it fought several meat grinder-style wars to defeat the Russian army step by step, which can be described as a tragic battle.

However, it only took more than a month for the East China Government to defeat the Japanese and Russian armies at the same time, and although the details of the battle are not known, the results achieved are undoubtedly greater than those of the Japanese army in the past one and a half years. Therefore, many European countries are now actively collecting war materials and studying the tactics of the People's Army.

Germany is one of the European countries that has always maintained good relations with the East China government, and the military-technical cooperation between the two sides has been very close in recent years, but it is mainly the East China government that provides military technology, especially the design ideas of weapons, while Germany has achieved this with strong manufacturing capabilities. At present, the German navy and army are equipped with a large number of weapons designed by the East China government, and in the military exercises of Germany, these weapons also have very good performance, but after all, they have not been tested in actual combat, and the tactics that are matched with these new weapons are still being explored, and it just so happens that the East China government is participating in the war, so the German military hopes to send a military observation mission to the East China government to understand the movement effect and tactics of these new weapons in the war.

In addition, Germany is now facing diplomatic pressure from the Franco-Russian alliance, and although the German government is trying its best to break up the Franco-Russian alliance, it cannot but prepare for the worst. Alfred von Schlieffen, the current chief of the German General Staff, in order to cope with the pressure of the Franco-Russian two-front war at the same time, is carrying out the final improvement work on the famous Schlieffen plan in the future, and at this time, being able to understand the combat habits, tactics, and weapons of the Russian army on the battlefield is naturally of great help to improve the Schlieffen plan. Schlieffen even proposed that an alliance could be established with the East China government to counter the Franco-Russian alliance, and with the East China government containing Russia in the Far East, Germany could concentrate on dealing with France.

In contrast, the German Navy has greater hopes for a military observer mission than the Army. Although Germany was building warships on a large scale at this time, trying to build a powerful navy, Germany had always been only a land power country in the past, so it still lacked experience in naval construction, naval strategy, and tactics. After all, a strong navy is not something that can be built just by building more warships. After learning the news of the victory of the KPA Navy in the Battle of Tsushima, Navy Minister Tirpitz had to admit that as far as the navy was concerned, the KPA Navy was enough to be the teacher of the German Navy.

Since the main warships of the East China Government are all made in Germany, and the cooperation between the two sides in the navy is greater than that of the army, Tirpitz also wants to take this opportunity to send a military observation mission to the East China Government to learn about the operations and training of the People's Army Navy, and it is best to participate in the war with the People's Army Navy, which is also the only shortcut for the German Navy to quickly absorb the experience of naval construction.

Both the army and navy have submitted requests to send military observer missions to the East China Government, but of course the German Government cannot ignore them, and given the current relationship between Germany and the East China Government, the East China Government should not refuse Germany's request. In the end, it was Wilhelm II himself who decided to agree to the application of the army and navy, and formally submitted a request to the East China government to send a military observer mission. However, the proposal to establish an alliance with the East China government was put on hold by Wilhelm II for the time being, because he was quite confident in subduing Russia, and naturally thought that there was no need to establish an alliance with the East China government.