Until he left the presidential palace, Zhu Erdian's head was still dizzy. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

He never imagined that Yuan Datou would suddenly release such a big piece of good news, not only guaranteeing that at least 500,000 highly trained elite troops would be sent by May 1918 next year, but also that from March 1917, a large number of preliminarily trained workers would be sent to Britain at a rate of at least 50,000 per month to serve the war of the British Empire!

This huge good news stunned Zhu Erdian at once.

There is no need to say too much about the army, what Britain and France lack most now is people who carry guns to the battlefield, especially trained elites. In the two and a half years since the war began, the British and French had already died too much, and even though the colonies had an almost inexhaustible supply of soldiers, what could those men do on the battlefield but let the Germans kill or capture? On the other hand, although the quality of the Beiyang army is not as good as that of its own soldiers, after all, it has undergone strict training and uses the weapons of the Huntelaar consortium, which basically belongs to the kind that can fight.

And in addition to the soldiers, there are also a large number of laborers!

Zhu Erdian deeply knows that the more the war goes to the end, the more it is a time to compete with the national strength of the two sides. A large number of young and middle-aged people went to the battlefield, and there was certainly a huge shortage of workers, especially skilled workers, in the factories in the rear. However, in this unprecedented war, the production of the rear is the guarantee of the front line, and it must not be neglected. Although he has some disdain for China's industrial workers, if the number is large enough......

"The only thing that needs to be considered is the harsh conditions of the Chinese!"

After pondering for a long time, Zhu Erdian decided to send a telegram to the country as soon as he returned, seeking a bargaining weight.

If you pay, you will inevitably seek returns, which is the iron rule of the capitalist world, so Zhu Erdian is not surprised that Yuan Datou will put forward many conditions. Of course, more importantly, Zhu Erdian also believes that the Chinese have the qualifications to obtain these rewards -- the 500,000 trained elites and countless human resources are where the confidence of the Chinese lies.

The key now is to see how much the country is willing to give.

After all, even judging from Zhu Erdian's mentality, Yuan Datou's requirements were too much, even to the point where he felt that he was taking advantage of the fire to rob! It's just that thinking about the cruelty of the European battlefield, thinking about the countrymen who died on the battlefield and the factories in the rear where manpower was tight, Zhu Erdian had to forcibly suppress the anger in his heart, and carefully weigh which of these conditions could be agreed to at home and which could not be agreed......

In the negotiation between you and me, a month has passed.

In February 1917, when the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, John sent another telegram to the Far East while frowning and distressing about the freighter his company had lost at sea. After receiving this telegram, his secret envoy and Yuan Datou negotiated for two days, and Yuan Datou finally nodded in another negotiation with Zhu Erdian.

On February 28, 1917, the last day of the month, China and the Entente signed an agreement. In this agreement, China's obligations to enter the war and the benefits to be obtained were laid out in detail.

China has many obligations, but the Entente values only two things:

By May 1918, China would send at least one million troops to Europe to fight against Germany. If the war is not over by then, China will continue to send troops until the war is over. China has assured that the servicemen have received at least one year of regular military training.

Since March 1917, China has sent at least 50,000 young adults aged 18~35 to Britain every month to accept deployment to participate in rear production. By February 1918, the total number had reached at least one million. China guarantees that these laborers will be able to undertake primary industrial production after half a month of training.

However, under the insistence of Yuan Datou and the harsh situation in Europe, the Entente agreed to many Chinese's conditions.

After the end of the war, China recovered all the privileges of the Entente and the Central Powers in China, abolished its spheres of influence, and recovered all the concessions in China except for Hong Kong of the British.

After the end of the war, the right of consular jurisdiction was abolished and the freedom of customs duties was gradually withdrawn for a period of ten years.

With the exception of Japan, all Allied loans to China were no longer required to be repaid, and all loans to the Central Powers were cancelled.

All the weapons and equipment of the Chinese army were provided by the Entente powers, and they had to be Huntelaar weapons. In addition to airplanes, heavy equipment such as artillery, trucks and tanks had to be equipped on an equal footing with the British and French armies. After the war, these weapons will be returned to the Far East with the Chinese army, where they will become the legitimate property of the Chinese government.

After the end of the war, China had the right to receive part of the ships of the German Navy, and the British were supposed to support the reconstruction of the Beiyang Navy.

The Chinese army obeyed the orders of the Entente, but the specific orders had to be the responsibility of the Chinese generals.

Chinese labourers obeyed the arrangement, but only worked in the UK and were not allowed to be sent to mainland Europe. And the UK must ensure that these workers receive good living arrangements and receive a certain monthly salary. After the war, the British government had to return them safely to China......

A thick treaty that spells out in detail the rights and obligations of both parties. To sum it up briefly, China will pay at least 500,000 soldiers and 1 million laborers in exchange for taking back all foreign privileges except Hong Kong...... By the way, there is also Japan, which vetoed this agreement......

However, the opposition of the Japanese was irrelevant, and on February 28, 1917, the agreement was signed.

A telegram was sent from Beijing to New York, and after receiving this telegram, John ? Huntelaar locked himself in his study for a whole day. Most of the time, he stood in front of the window, looking out the window at the grove that had just pulled out the green shoots, motionless, stunned......

……

Without giving, there is no gain.

In the original history, whether it was the arrogance of the Japanese, the favoritism of the British, or the defeat of the Paris Peace Conference, in fact, it was not without reason. The Chinese like to blame the weakness of the state, the oppression of the great powers, and the weakness of the government, but in John's view, in addition to these reasons, it is also because China did not play much of a role in the First World War.

War was declared late, and no troops were sent.

For Britain and France and other powers, the role of the Chinese in World War I, in addition to providing resources and some simple industrial products, and sending some laborers, may be the biggest role is not on their opposite side. Therefore, when the Paris Peace Conference was held after the war, Britain, France and other countries naturally did not give China any good face......

That's why John sent that telegram, suggesting that Yuan Datou send troops!

This is a real history, in fact, John is not very clear. In his previous life, he had read some texts on the Internet, some words that were not at all different from his inherent impression, such as the timing of Beiyang's declaration of war on Germany, such as the efforts at the Paris Peace Conference, such as taking the opportunity to recover Outer Mongolia later, etc., but after all, it was uncertain. But one thing John is sure of is that Yuan Datou, who had not yet died of illness at the end of 1916, had been struggling with whether to send Chinese troops to the European continent!

The old guy also knows very well that if you want to get it, you have to pay first!

So in the meeting with John? After receiving a series of assurances, after a night of consideration, Yuan Datou resolutely made up his mind: send troops to Europe! And in addition to sending troops on a large scale, he also tried his best to convince the other high-ranking officials of the government to decide to send even larger laborers to work in the factories of Britain and France!

Exchanging the lives of some Chinese for benefits, Yuan Datou thinks it is worth it.

And in John? According to Mr. Huntelaar's analysis, although Germany still has a slight advantage on the European battlefield today, this advantage will not be long in coming. As the Entente began to gain the upper hand, by the time the Chinese army arrived in Europe, it would inevitably move into a strategic counteroffensive phase, and the casualties would not be so heavy. As for those Chinese laborers, as long as there is sufficient supervision and supervision, they will not suffer any harm in the battlefield on the European continent, and in addition to their salary, more importantly, they will be trained in modern industrial production, and they will be qualified skilled workers when they return home......

In John's opinion, this was also a good deal.

Perhaps the Chinese soldiers will suffer a lot of casualties, or even heavy losses, but only after the baptism of large-scale modern warfare in Europe can they truly grasp the laws of modern warfare, master the essence of those modern weapons of the Huntelaar consortium, and play an important role in the subsequent war.

Therefore, thinking about it, John believes that China must enter the war!

The loss is the life of some soldiers, but the gain, in addition to the national benefits such as the repossession of privileges and the cancellation of loans demanded by China, can also cultivate a real elite, a large number of skilled workers, more orders for supplies, and the goodwill of the Entente. John knew very well that it was best for China to enter the war now, because he knew that the time was almost up......