After receiving the news from the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French government was also furious, and seeing that the Italians were about to finish, John Niu jumped out to do things again.

In the eyes of the French, Bulgaria's previous proposal to partition Italy was a very good choice. It can kill a competitor and enhance its national strength, which is really a double win.

But from the point of view of the British, this is the worst-case scenario. Even if the three kingdoms divide Italy, what use do they use with Italian land?

With the exception of Sicily and Sardinia, John Bull has expressed no interest. It's okay if they're not interested in it, but they can't let their competitors get it?

If France and Bulgaria had carved up the Italian peninsula, the French would dominate the continent, and at least Central and Western Europe would tremble under their wings; Bulgaria, on the other hand, had mastered half of the Mediterranean, but the British did not gain much.

They were already the bosses of the Mediterranean, and even if they could get the two islands of Sardinia and Sicily, they would not change anything.

As for the possibility of carving out a piece of land from the Italian peninsula, they are even more disdainful, bordering two army powers as neighbors, John Bull has not gone crazy yet!

President Raymond Poincaré asked coldly: "Has the accuracy of the information been determined?" ”

The French Foreign Minister shook his head and said: "Not yet, but it is already certain that the Bulgarians will not joke about this kind of thing, and in terms of motives, the British can do it completely!" ”

There was silence for a while, and then Raymond Poincaré spoke: "Be sure as soon as possible, if the information is accurate, we will cooperate with the Bulgarians, and it is time to let the British know that their decision is not equal to that of the Entente!" ”

The French Foreign Minister sighed and said: "Mr. President, the British have made small moves one after another, so disregarding the overall situation, we must take action!"

Otherwise, in the end, it will really be us and the Germans fighting to the death, and let the British pick up the cheap on the side! ”

Raymond Poincaré said with some hesitation: "In this way, in the name of convening a joint conference of the Entente against Germany, we will invite the representatives of all countries together to jointly protest to the British!"

As long as we are on the same page with the Russians and Bulgaria, the British will have to make concessions as well. ”

When he said this, Raymond Poincaré was obviously a little lacking in confidence and had to pull Russia and Russia together. The French are still inseparable from John Bull, and even if the British behave out of line, they can only remember it first and then liquidate it later.

By the time the French acted, it was too late, and on 8 September the Italian government issued a diplomatic proclamation announcing its withdrawal from the world war.

The next day, John Bull, on behalf of the Entente, agreed to the Italians to withdraw from the war and invited the Italians to join the Entente.

On the same day, the Bulgarian and French armies began to storm Rome, and the Italians were celebrating the end of the war.

The world public opinion was in an uproar, condemning the shameless acts of the Entente Powers, while the newspapers of the two countries highly praised the efforts made by the British for the great cause of the Entente, and the pressure of public opinion on John Bull suddenly increased.

In the eyes of those who are not in the know, this is all a conspiracy of the British, who deceived the Italians with diplomatic means, made the Italian defenders relax their vigilance, and thus allowed the Entente troops to break Rome in one fell swoop!

The British Empire's international reputation had been devastated, and the loss of this invisible loss was even more serious than the actual loss, and John Bull was furious, but there was nothing he could do about it!

Because they had carried out the operation in secret and had not informed the other Entente members, by the time they made the announcement, the Royalist forces were already parading over the city of Rome.

The Italian government, which fled in a hurry, is now arresting the British for a fierce criticism, demanding that they give an explanation, and constantly building momentum through public opinion, hoping to make the Allies retreat in the face of difficulties.

George V, who received the news, was directly angry and vomited blood, and for the first time expressed doubts about his renunciation of power and transfer to the cabinet.

At the Prime Minister's official residence at No. 10 Downing Street, a group of British dignitaries are gathering together, the atmosphere is very serious, and Prime Minister Alquez's face is already full of gloom.

Foreign Minister Gray said angrily: "This time we were pitted by the French and Bulgarian alliances, otherwise the time could not be so coincidental, why did Italy just announce its withdrawal from the war, why did they attack that night?"

We just announced an invitation to Italy to join the Entente, they were parading on the walls of Rome, and now the whole world is watching our jokes! If we fail to deal with the Italian question, our diplomatic credibility will be ruined! ”

The Minister of State sneered and said: "Having said all this, it is not all the result of the private actions of your Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if you had informed the two countries of the news in advance, there would not have been such an embarrassing situation!"

Don't tell me that you don't have time, even if you inform the Italians on the day they announce their withdrawal from the war, they won't be able to storm Rome.

But now that Rome has fallen into the hands of the two countries, they will not hand it over easily without enough benefits! ”

Foreign Secretary Gray retorted: "We are doing this for the benefit of the British Empire, which is related to the post-war struggle for discourse, and if Bulgaria and France were involved, they would not agree to let Italy join the Entente!" ”

The Secretary of State still sneered and said, "So now you are happy? Even if Bulgaria and France cheat us this time, what can we do? We can't even protest to them, and now we're at fault!

Don't forget that we are still allies, can't your Ministry of Foreign Affairs save a little worry?

Now our enemies are the Germans, the Allies, and I would like you to put away the old ways, which will no longer work!

Even if you want to limit them from becoming bigger, can't you wait until after the war to take action? Now it's time to get yourself into the pit!

You should read the newspapers, damn it! Now the outside world is saying that the British Foreign Office is a spy for the Germans, specifically responsible for provoking internal contradictions in the Entente! ”

Gray wanted to refute, but he didn't know how to say it, and now everyone in the Entente was not interested in the British, and diplomatic relations were in a mess, although the strategic goals were basically achieved, but hidden dangers were also buried.

If we do not find a way to ease relations with other countries, it is very likely that France, Russia and Bulgaria will jointly squeeze out the British Empire after the war, and then it will be miserable.

Arques interrupted their continued arguing, sighed and said, "Now that things have happened, let's find a way to stop the loss!"

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also change its previous diplomatic philosophy, and we must not make the whole world an enemy.

Now our strategy is to find a way to repair relations with the Entente and find a way to make the Entente work together to defeat the Germans in one fell swoop and strive to end the war as soon as possible!

Do not have the illusion of making peace with the Germans, the consequences of that would be catastrophic for the British Empire! ”

Foreign Secretary Gray did not speak, and it was clear that the Prime Minister was now very dissatisfied with the work of the Foreign Office.

For most British dignitaries, it was more important to defeat the Allies first and end the war as soon as possible, and as for the issue of checks and balances on the allies, it could be postponed.

Faced with the invisible pressure exerted by everyone, Gray had to compromise and said: "Okay, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will find a way to get out of the current embarrassing situation as soon as possible!" ”

Alques added: "Not only that, but we also need to find a way to immediately attack the Allies and divert our attention!"

Originally, the political influence caused by Italy's withdrawal from the war could have dealt a heavy blow to the Allies, but now everyone's attention is attracted to us, and it has not been able to have its due effect.

Now we are almost ready to strike a fatal blow at the Germans on the Western Front, and now the Foreign Office must coordinate the relations between the Russians and let them attack at the same time, and strive to end the war in the first half of 1917! ”

Of course, there is also the well-known problem that he did not say that 1917 happened to be his last term of office, and that winning the war during his tenure would bring him huge political benefits.

What is being done will be the beneficiary, whether it is in the national interest or personal interests, and an early end to the war is what everyone needs.

The Admiralty Chancellor suddenly spoke: "Yes, we must now speed up the course of the war, the Germans are negotiating secretly with the Russians, and once they have come to an agreement and the Russians withdraw from the world war, we will be in big trouble."

As for Italy, I propose a compromise with the two countries, so that we can make deals in other areas, but we must not let Italy perish, and it is better to allow them to preserve some strength.

Our Navy wants to acquire Sicily as our naval base in the Mediterranean, so that our position in the Mediterranean will be further strengthened! ”

Churchill's proposal put a lot of pressure on Gray to keep Italy and occupy Sicily, so what did the two countries have to gain?

If there are not enough benefits, it is obviously impossible to satisfy them! The British Empire also did not have the ability to command the heroes not to dare to disobey, in short, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was busy behind.

Gray thought for a moment and said, "We will do our best to fulfill the Navy's request, but in this case, I'm afraid we will have to give in to them in other areas." ”

Prime Minister Alquez said calmly: "There are concessions that are inevitable, but everything must be premised on protecting the interests of the British Empire, as long as it does not harm our core interests, other places can make concessions!"

I don't want to admit it, but now the British Empire is no longer able to dominate the whole world, and we are exhausted by just one German, so we need allies!

Even after the end of the world war, we still need allies to be able to maintain our supremacy! ”

History has taken another turning point, and the foreign policy of the British Empire, which was originally completely changed in 1918, has now been advanced by two full years!

Gray nodded, acquiescing. With the rise of emerging powers, he has discovered that the power of the British Empire is not unlimited! At least in the face of the Germans, they were somewhat overwhelmed.