Unlike the heads of state and foreign ministers who strolled through the gardens and showed friendship, delegations from various countries were nervously preparing the agenda and negotiation materials to advance the topic of the economic reconstruction conference nominally aimed at reviving Europe.

In fact, it was the remaining colonial empires that warmed up and jointly defended each other's collective interests.

However, in fact, because of the different distribution of colonies, the threats faced by the conference are large and small, and although the countries of the conference should be in the same direction in the general direction, there must still be some debate at the conference.

At present, in the case of Britain and France, the question of the colonies is absolutely different.

The attitude of France after the war was of course undoubtedly repressive, as can be seen from the fact that the French army had already set out on the march to Asia again before the conference, and the attitude of France, including de Gaulle himself, was now to hold on to all the colonies.

And Britain, especially Prime Minister Attlee, is no longer prepared to waste time in British India, once the local elite of British India finally loses patience and chooses to rise up, with the current British ability, unless they are not ready to break the jar and break the wartime rationing, it will not be able to stop it.

Crucially, even if wartime rationing was maintained, Britain would not necessarily be able to suppress the British Indian revolt.

In fact, this problem has been around for a long time, and it is not even a problem that has appeared in recent years.

During World War II, Britain fought against the French in West Africa, Syria and Madagascar, the German and Italian armies in Egypt, and the Japanese in Australia and Burma.

The colonial empire itself is not a large empire in the traditional sense, but a group of isolated components that are surrounded by strong enemies, and defending a colonial empire means fighting at the same time with different enemies on all fronts, and the geography is extremely bad.

When Germany declared war, Britain and France were able to gather forces similar to those of the German army and confront them, but after Italy declared war and France defected, the British army was incapacitated, and Japan also declared war.

The British Empire never had the ability to fight on multiple major fronts at the same time with multiple major adversaries, and imperial security depended entirely on the build-up of forces brought about by the so-called Imperial Promises, mobilizing troops from Britain when war broke out in India and Afghanistan, and from Australia and New Zealand when war raged in North Africa.

It is better to face only one enemy at a time, this is what the Germans thought when they were fighting on two fronts, and this is not the idea of the British, to suppress the rebellion of the colonies, and to guard against the prying eyes of other powers on the colonies, to confront Russia in Asia, to intrigue with the United States in the Americas, and to fight with France in Africa.

After two world wars, London finally felt that it was really impossible to play with its current national strength, and Prime Minister Attlee felt that it was necessary to shrink, kick out the colonies with more input than output, and concentrate on running the colonies where the resistance was not strong.

And British India was the burden that Prime Minister Attlee wanted to kick out to complete the imperial contraction and gain respite.

Alan Wilson just hoped that the empire of the British Empire would shrink, not become an empire collapse, all the way to the British Isles. He didn't think it was his life's quest to let Britain be a follower behind the Americans.

If that's the case, it's better to resign and go to the sea to become a rich businessman, which will be more free, and you won't have to be bound by the status of a civil servant, and you will even have to be afraid of being a master in the British-occupied area.

At the meeting within the British delegation, Alan Wilson was also very hard-working, and launched a very fierce attack on the Soviet Union, but the core argument was that the Soviet Union did not have the strength to start another big war.

"According to German generals I found in the British occupation zone and who had experience fighting in the Soviet Union, the German army caused extremely serious damage in the territory of the Soviet Union. No worse than the destruction on the territory of Germany now! I believe that gentlemen have recently learned from the newspapers about the exaggerated ratio of men and women in Germany. ”

At an internal meeting chaired by Alexander Cadogan, Alan Wilson spoke eloquently about the Soviet Union's losses based on the losses suffered by Germany, and that the Soviet Union's casualties should have been more than fifteen million, and that most of the wartime casualties must have been men.

"Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said that we would like to see Germans lying in graves, but we would prefer to see Russians lying on the operating table. We can conclude that this is the fact now. ”

"The Soviet Union has not disclosed its losses in the war until now." A middle-aged diplomat asked, "Isn't the estimate of the Soviet Union too optimistic?" ”

"This is exactly where the Soviets are weak, and they can't be counted? It's impossible, Moscow will not be ignorant of the domestic population, they have done three censuses at one time. It is impossible to come up with demographic statistics now, then it is deliberately concealed. And judging by the insatiable behavior of the Soviets at the Potsdam Conference, the polar bear must have been in very bad condition, so everything from Germany was taken as it was. ”

The diplomats at the meeting nodded approvingly, as did the Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Cadogan. Alan Wilson was probably the most qualified civil servant to question the Soviet Union, and at the Potsdam Conference, he was the one who acted in the shadows on behalf of Britain and the Soviet Union.

Although Allen's estimate is overly optimistic and there is no direct evidence, the combination of various factors can also explain part of the problem. For the cruelty and ruthlessness of the Germans, the great destruction caused on the territory of the USSR was real. If the Soviet Union and Germany were to destroy each other on the same level, it would be very reasonable for the Soviet Union to lose fifteen million young people of school age. ”

"Yes, Sir Alexander. The Soviet Union was certainly no better than Germany, and if we could send a delegation to visit the Soviet Union, and select a few large cities for visits, we would be able to communicate with ordinary Soviet people, mention the issue of German aggression, and if the interviewees express hatred, mention that relatives died in the war, we can get a rough estimate by bringing these visits together. ”

"By the way, before coming, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received news from Moscow that the Soviet Union wanted to make an artistic visit to London in the form of people-to-people exchanges, and it seemed that it was going to send a team called the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe."

Alexander Cadogan listened to Alan Wilson's words and nodded, "The Foreign Secretary means that this kind of people-to-people exchange is welcome, and our reply is that we can make an exchange of visits, indicating that the British Empire has no intention of making an enemy of the Soviet Union, and to make a appearance of unity and harmony." Since it is a people-to-people exchange, the team of the return visit can naturally communicate with the ordinary people of the Soviet Union, so that it can confirm whether the Soviet Union really has the strength to start a world war in a short period of time. ”

"That's great!" Alan Wilson couldn't hide his excitement, and he believed that for ordinary people, the British language master in the delegation would definitely be able to get the desired message.

The Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe is the famous men's choir, right? If he had time, he would also like to hear it, after all, the opportunity is rare, and if he misses it, he will not have it again.

Why should we criticize the Soviet Union's foreign strength and let this idea become a consensus, in fact, it is very simple, if there is a war with the Soviet Union, according to the experience of the previous two wars, it will be enough to fight the entire British Empire without leaving a single young man in a few years.

Just as the Soviet Union believed that imperialism would provoke a world war, Britain was also afraid of the Soviet Union, and like the Soviet Union, they all believed that at this difficult moment, they must make the other side dare not raise the idea of provoking a war.

The Soviet Union's method was to establish a buffer zone in Eastern Europe to prevent the invasion of Britain and the United States, especially the United States, and the British method was to prevent the Soviet Union from invading and draw the United States troops in Europe.

If it had been clear that the Soviet Union had no ability to provoke a world war and was lying on the operating table to heal its wounds, the British Empire would not have had to welcome the United States to Europe, at least limiting the right to garrison troops within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.

You must know that the North Atlantic Treaty was actually established by Britain and France first, but the history of Britain taking the initiative to mention the establishment of NATO is not well understood.

What is also unknown is that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Britain's continental equilibrium instinct flinched, and once suggested that Russia join NATO, but at that time the United States was already dominant, and it was very familiar with Britain's tradition of attacking fortresses from the inside, as if it had not heard such advice.

Before the start of the formal meeting, the internal meeting of the British delegation had already come up with a consensus, that is, the Soviet Union was only strong on the surface, and the United States had a nuclear bomb in its hands, and the Soviet Union would not take risks to provoke a world war.

As for the main issue, the colonial issue, which is the real priority, has come from the Far East, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sukarno in Indonesia has declared independence, which has angered the Dutch, who are still on the way.

The Dutch were now the most eagerly awaited countries, but the British delegation was the French first.

When meeting with Nino Bertrand, a diplomat from the French delegation, Alexander Cadogan took the initiative to open his hand and hug him, setting the tone for unity at the Brussels meeting.

"The French army was a little bit faster, and Vietnam was not a colony of the British Empire. We don't have a reason to stay there for long. Alexander Cadogan offered to make a gesture.

"The unity of Europe lies in the relationship between Britain and France." Nino Bertrand gave a positive response, "How to protect the interests of Greater Europe requires the joint efforts of our two countries, and by the way, with regard to the issue of the Saarland, we believe that it should also be resolved at this meeting." ”

"In principle, London will not object!" Alexander Cadogan snorted and said, "Who made Britain and France allies?" ”