The armistice of Compiègne was a rehearsal for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and as far as the war itself was concerned, the common people were the real losers of the war, and they paid the greatest sacrifice and suffering in the war, France alone mobilized 7.9 million people, 1.4 million colonists to participate in the war, and the victory was also the result of the efforts of the peoples of all countries (Britain, France, the United States and China supported the front, Germany and Russia were the knockers from power), not the victory of the bourgeois government. The armistice of Compiègne was the beginning of the disarming of Germany and the repartition of the world, in the words of the French Fuxi, who presided over the armistice, at the time, this was a twenty-year truce, not peace, just like Fuxi said in Compiègne, he was willing to continue fighting, maybe he hoped to destroy Germany after twenty years, in short, no great power country took peace as the fundamental purpose of the armistice.

If politics is not taken into account, World War I can almost be regarded as the starting point of the strategic and tactical transition from modern warfare to modern warfare. In the last hundred days of World War I, the British finally broke through the German defenses, and they began to use infantry and tanks and air support to drive the Germans back to Germany. Between the two world wars, J.F.C. Fuller and B.H. Liedel61 Hart used trench warfare to study a new type of warfare. There were also several examples of the use of armor by the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which were noticed by the Germans, and eventually developed into a blitzkrieg.

The great success of the German Blitzkrieg in the early years of World War II showed that fixed pillboxes such as the Maginot Line could be bypassed and ineffective. During the amphibious landing of the Allied forces in 1944, the unfinished German Atlantic barrier was easily breached, and the battle in the bushes of the interior of Europe was far more difficult than the breakthrough of the Atlantic barrier. The combined operation of the various arms (including infantry, artillery, armored forces, and air support) made trench warfare obsolete, and the basis of modern warfare became small forces with sophisticated communications equipment. But this is not to say that the trenches are useless. It is also an effective defensive measure. In the last battle of World War II, the Battle of Berlin, the Germans inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on the Soviets in a trench.

Although military strategists still have to study the First World War for a long time, as far as the war is concerned, the First World War is actually over. While the government of the Republic under the auspices of Wu Chenxuan was making arrangements for the issue of fighting for post-war interests, other countries were also busy with it. In order to establish US hegemony in the post-war world, as early as during the war, US President Wilson appointed his assistant House to form a special agency to study the post-war peace conference issue. The British Foreign Office also organized a group of experts to discuss Britain's countermeasures to the peace conference once the war was over. In January of the ninth year of the Republic, after Wilson proposed the Fourteen Points, House arrived in Paris to consult with the heads of government of France, Britain, Italy, and other countries on the question of convening a post-war peace conference.

On 13 January of the 10th year of the Republic, Britain, France, the United States, China, Japan, and Italy held a preparatory meeting for the Paris Peace Conference. It stipulates that the six major powers, Britain, France, the United States, China, Japan, and Italy, are "belligerents of general interest" and may participate in all meetings of the Peace Conference. Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia and other countries are "belligerents with individual interests" and can only attend meetings related to their own countries. Countries that have severed diplomatic relations with Germany, such as Bolivia, are only allowed to present their views orally or in writing if the six major powers deem it necessary. The rules of procedure also limit the number of plenipotentiaries to the Conference at the meeting, five from each of the six major countries, three each from Belgium, Serbia and the Netherlands, and two from Brazil and Poland, for a total of 73.

On October 7, the ninth year of the Republic, an unexpected and logical change took place in China's political arena, when Wu Chenxuan, Minister of National Defense, was unanimously elected vice president of the Republic by the unanimous consent of the Central Assembly. After serving as a rubber stamp for a while, the central government in Nanjing finally thought of a way to establish the prestige of the central government, that is, to attract Wu Chenxuan into the government, but there were not many posts that could satisfy Wu Daguan, and after a series of consultations between Li Yuanlong's deputies and Xu Shichang, it was decided that Wu Chenxuan would be nominated by the Republican Party and other small parties in the parliament, and the Xinhua Party and the Civic Party unanimously approved the election of Wu Chenxuan as vice president of the Republic and concurrently as minister of national defense. As the third president, Le Yuanlong is still the head of state, of course, in name, but there will be no two governments at the same time.

After Wu Chenxuan took office, the first thing he did was to organize the Chinese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in his capacity as vice president; with all his efforts, the Chinese delegation, headed by Wu Chenxuan, including Lu Zhengxiang, minister general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhang Shaozeng, representative of the expeditionary force, Zhang Nanjiang, representative of the civil affairs department, and Gu Weijun, chief spokesman, and more than 50 attachés from seven or eight departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Justice, attended the delegation. At the beginning of November, he set out from Shanghai and went to Europe to attend the first international conference in China's history as a victorious country. Mrs. Wu Wang Zijin did not make the trip because she had to arrange scientists from Europe and Russia one after another, of course, it was also due to the second son of Wu or the eldest lady of the Wu family in Mrs. Wu's belly. It is said that later historians waved goodbye to Vice President Wu in the video taken at that time, whether he wiped his tears with his sleeve by the way has become an unsolved case, but since several high-profile cannons were called by the Coordination Bureau to drink tea and assist in the investigation, the historical community no longer seems to be interested in studying this.

"Chief Wu, oh, President Wu, is that what we are asking to participate in this peace conference?" Gu Weijun was forced to get on the thief ship by his old father-in-law Tang Shaoyi, so he was naturally angry, but he didn't know that the Wu official in front of him with a gentle smile and a white rabbit appearance had planned to let Director Yu Jian and Yu personally discuss his life with him, otherwise he would never dare to question Wu Daguan with such a hard attitude.

Gu Weijun's hand was brought by Wu Chenxuan, and it was determined by the discussion of the "three old and four young" among the Wu officials. These three elders are Xu Shichang, Xu Lao, Xiong Bingsan, Xiong Lao, Meng Luochuan, Meng Lao, and Si Shao, the three leaders of the Xinhua Party, Zhang Nanjiang, the secretary, Zou Rong, the director of the Propaganda Department, and Chen Tianhua, the head of the Organization Department, and Huang Xinpei, the president of the Supreme Court who served as Wu Chenxuan's first secretary.

Although there are many rules and regulations, the text that is more than half a foot thick can be summed up as follows:

"1. Abolish any treaty of reparations for defeat signed by the Qing Dynasty since 1840;

Second, it recognizes China's equal statehood and withdraws the armed forces of other countries stationed in China;

Third, the customs, post offices, ports and other national sovereign organs or facilities will be nationalized, and of course, if foreign countries invest in construction, they can receive reasonable compensation, and China will henceforth restore all its sovereignty, including the right to freedom of tariffs;

4. Revoke extraterritorial powers such as consular jurisdiction;

Fifth, to recognize China's direct (troop contributions) and indirect contributions (imports of labor and materials) to the anti-German-Austrian-Turkish coalition, and China will be entitled to a certain quota of war booty and war reparations;

Sixth, China, as the victorious power, will accept Germany's colonies in the Pacific as compensation, of course, the specific islands and areas need to be negotiated;

Seventh, all countries recognize the return of 1.5 million square kilometers of China's land seized by Russia through war to China with immediate effect, and recognize the legitimacy of the country. ”

"These conditions are reasonable, but I don't think Britain and France are so easy to talk about, and Japan will certainly not stand in the way of our efforts." Of course, Gu Weijun understands that in this seemingly very great and righteous principle, there may be no obstacle to other countries, Britain and France are just a few concessions and a small amount of reparations to give up, but Russia and Japan want to spit out the territory they have eaten, even if Lao Maozi does not even have a government recognized by the international community now, but it has to be said that it is quite challenging to let Japan spit out Kwantung Prefecture and Taiwan. It is conceivable that if the Japanese representatives dare to sign, their whole family will not be far from being condemned by heaven.

"The conditions, it's always asking for a price to pay back. You're a professional at this. "Wu Chenxuan looks lazy that I believe in your professional ability." The contradictions between Japan and China cannot be resolved by a single meeting, so if we really can't do it, we should put aside the disputes, sign appropriate amendments first, and put the Sino-Japanese contradictions for separate exchanges after the meeting. I think Britain and France, in order to get results as soon as possible and make up for the wounds of the war, will also be in favor. Is there still Uncle Sam? Pulling him and Italy is equivalent to half a peace meeting, even Britain and France are not little devils and his own father, when the time comes, it will be difficult for the public to be angry, and it will be good for him to be able to get out of Japan. Huh"

"Besides, we still have a Russian card to play." Wu Chenxuan's smile made the hairs on Gu Weijun's body a little cold. "We also have a lot of surplus arms, and I believe that both Red and White Russia will be in demand, and it depends on whether Britain and France are interesting enough in this regard."

"What if Japan intervenes?" Gu Weijun still didn't give up, he felt that although the strength of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was recognized by the great powers, a country without a navy could not be regarded as a first-class power, and China only had an army and a flying team, which was only more than self-preservation.

"Our only adversary is Japan, but from the point of view of balancing the forces in the Far East, Britain is unlikely to indulge Japan too much, but Japan will not give up the territory and possessions it has plundered from us. However, we should not put our hopes entirely on a single meeting, and if necessary, we can pull the United States into a three-power Pacific region to get Britain to let down its guard. ”

"That's all there is to it." Gu Weijun understands that this is the best way to solve the problem at this stage, and as for the contradiction between Japan and China, I am afraid that in the eyes of other major powers, this is the best situation in the Far East, and I believe that they will be optimistic about it.

After coming to a conclusion, the black-bellied men of the Chinese delegation began to prepare for the upcoming Paris Peace Conference, with at least three things to do. First things first: under the auspices of Lu Zhengxiang: a workable framework was determined. The Chinese have studied a lot of the conventions and precedents of international law, recovered their justifications after the war, and fought for the rights and interests of the nation, which is desk work, but fortunately, a lot of work has been done in China, and in Paris only need to be sorted out and kept, this time the little devil has no chance to steal China's document safe. The second thing is to organize the expeditionary force participating in the war to organize the task grouping. The barrel of the gun is the first reliance, many interests in Europe still have to rely on the guns in their hands to fight, after the assignment of the task book, clear their respective goals, the fourth batch of armored and fast troops, quickly passed through the German defense line that laid down the arms, deep into Germany and Austria-Hungary to loot, but in addition to Chinese cultural relics, the most important thing is the scientific and technological talents of Germany and Austria and other countries distributed in various places, there are many still very inconspicuous college students or young researchers, Fledgling lads like von Braun, even spies from Britain, France and other countries, didn't think there was anything worth paying attention to. The results of this raid are remarkable, and of course this is the reason why there will be a fault in the scientific and technological development of many European countries in the next ten or twenty years. The third thing is to contact the United States, as an emerging power, it will definitely have a say in the Pacific in the future, anyway, there is definitely nothing wrong with burning some cold stoves in advance, plus an idealistic President Wilson, who wants everyone to support the League of Nations to show that he is the boss. Although China, which is inconspicuous among the six major powers, does not expect the axiom of the League of Nations, but its common interests make China still very much hope that the United States can help the brothers after the war, so it is a matter of course to contact the United States and coordinate its position.