Italy's problem is over for the time being, and the remaining compensation problem is everyone's private problem, and this time it can be regarded as the three companies taking what they need!

In line with the principle of first making things easier and then making them more difficult, everyone turned their attention to Austria-Hungary again, this time mainly defending Russia and asking Austria-Hungary for war reparations, with Britain and France as witnesses.

In this world war, the Vienna government was not completely without gains, although it lost more than 100,000 square kilometers of territory, but it also weakened the biggest destabilizing factor in the country.

First the world war was used to severely damage the Hungarian kingdom, and then the Germans were used to abolish the Hungarian government, and by the end of the world war, the Hungarian kingdom was no longer able to maintain its rule.

Like Austria, the Kingdom of Hungary was less than half a Hungarian, and after the war they were unable to suppress the local minorities, and the Vienna government took the opportunity to abolish the dual monarchy.

After the war, there was also a slight change in the proportion of the population of each ethnic group, both increasing and decreasing:

Before and after the war

Germanic 24%, 24.8%

Hungarians 20%, 16.8%

Czechs 13%, 12.8%

Poles 10%, 7.9%

Ukrainians 8%, 4.6%

Romanians 6%, 13.6%

Croatians 5%, 4.8%

Slovaks 4%, 3.9%

Serbs 4%, 3.7%

Slovenian 3, % 2.9%

Italians 3%, 3.1%

Although the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has shrunk significantly, the population has not declined too much, and the total population still exceeds 50 million (including the Romanians who have been repatriated), so the national question is still the biggest problem plaguing this old empire!

As far as Konstantin knew, the Viennese government was ready to repatriate the Italians after the war, and if German Poland became independent, they would also repatriate the Poles, and some were even proposing to send other Slavic peoples out of the country, but Ferdinand II rejected them because there were too many of them who supported the Habsburgs.

Everyone is good at learning, but for a multi-ethnic country like Austria-Hungary, Konstantin is still not optimistic, if you can't complete national integration, sooner or later something will happen!

Although Austria-Hungary had jumped ship halfway through, and the Allies agreed not to pursue them for war crimes, Bulgaria and the woolly bear did not agree not to demand war reparations from them!

On October 28, Britain, France, Russia, and Austria gathered together to discuss the issue of war reparations, which had already reached preliminary agreements with Bulgaria and France long before Austria-Hungary defected.

That is, Austria-Hungary took on a debt of 430 million pounds from Bulgaria to the French, offset the war reparations, and Bulgaria released all prisoners of war.

Now it is only a ransom for the Central Danube Plain, but it will not be worth the price after Ferdinand threw in millions of Romanians.

Without much pressure, Konstantin naturally said very relaxedly: "Austria-Hungary joined the Central Powers at the beginning of the war, which seriously endangered world peace, but fortunately, in the end, the Bulgarian government decided not to pursue their war crimes!"

On the issue of war reparations, we had a preliminary agreement before, and now we can withdraw our troops as long as the Vienna government pays a land ransom of 30 million pounds! ”

Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, Bulgaria could not find the owner even if it wanted to pay reparations, and the small country after independence would not be able to pay its debts.

And for the sake of national strategic considerations, the existence of Austria-Hungary also contributed to the stability of southern Europe, so that Bulgaria could concentrate on building the peninsula of Asia Minor!

Prime Minister Leopold von Berchtold said reasonably: "Dear Mr. Konstantin, we have no problem with your request, but the issue of the Middle Danube Plain, as previously agreed, remains to be discussed.

According to our original agreement, as long as Austria-Hungary made a significant contribution to this world war, your country will have the ransom waived.

And in this war, your country has already obtained Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Transylvania and other regions, and we will pay 430 million pounds of war reparations, which is enough to make up for your losses.

Therefore, we ask your country to withdraw the newly increased migrants from the Central Danube Plain and give up the ransom! ”

The controversy over this issue is only 30 million pounds, Britain and France are watching the play, and they have not ended up in person, if Konstantin proposed 300 million pounds, it is estimated that it will not be so simple!

Konstantin thought for a moment and said: "Well, in view of the long-standing friendly relations between our two countries, then we will reduce it by another 10 million, and you only need to pay 20 million pounds!" ”

Leopold von Bechtold cried and said: "Mr. Konstantin, you know that the finances of the Austro-Hungarian Empire may collapse at any time, and it is really impossible to pay this huge amount, otherwise it would be better if this is the case, we don't want the Middle Danube Plain, and we won't pay the war reparations, do you think it's okay?" ”

Konstantin was depressed and wanted to vomit blood, the central Danube plain is very good, but it is a pity that now there are Romanians living there, and Bulgaria has no experience with dualist empires.

After hesitating again and again, Konstantin finally said: "Ten million pounds, this is our final bottom line!" ”

Leopold von Bechtold spread his hands and said, "Mr. Konstantin, you know that our money is going to be used to pay off our debts, so we have no ability to pay!" ”

Suppressing his anger, Konstantin decided to hand over the problem to Metev, this kind of question really didn't suit him.

Metyev smiled and said: "If your country does not have the ability to pay, can we consider establishing a Romanian kingdom in the middle Danube plain, and this kingdom will pay this fee, of course, they are still a member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire!" ”

This is complete nonsense, if this is done, it is estimated that it will not be long before the Austro-Hungarian Empire will collapse, and Ferdinand will definitely not be able to agree.

Leopold von Bechtold smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Metyev, are you going to dismember Austria-Hungary?" Then we don't have to pay this war reparation! ”

Metev said calmly: "No, we are just a proposal, don't you have many kingdoms in your country, and it is not a big deal to add another one!" ”

Leopold von Berchtold really wanted to give him a science popularization, and kingdoms were not the same between kingdoms, but he still held back his anger and said: "Three million pounds, this is our bottom line, of course, if your country can get the local Romanians away, this price is still negotiable!" ”

Metev shook his head and said, "Five million pounds, no less, if it is less, we will take care of this area for you, and use the local tax to pay off the debt!" ”

Leopold von Bechtor nodded helplessly on the surface, but in fact his heart was already happy, and Bulgaria's appetite was much smaller than they imagined!

Originally, after seeing the war reparations paid by the Italians, the Vienna government was ready to smash the pot and sell iron, but he didn't expect Bulgaria to let them go so lightly, except for the previous agreement, there was no mention of war reparations, which surprised him very much!

In fact, now Bulgaria has to make concessions, Britain and France will not tolerate Bulgaria weakening Austria-Hungary too much, and even Ferdinand does not want Austria-Hungary to collapse, so they have to let them go.

The Bulgarian problem was easily solved, the head of the Russian delegation, Sasonov, was in a bad mood in an instant, the Bulgarians let go of Austria-Hungary so easily, and it was also very unfavorable to his next negotiations, the most important thing is that Russia now does not threaten the strength of Austria-Hungary, and the only reliance is the support of allies!

Russian Foreign Minister Sasonov said: "The Russian Empire can also renounce the prosecution of your country for war crimes, but the economic damage caused by your country to the Russian Empire must be paid!"

According to our statistics, in more than two years of war, Austria-Hungary caused more than three million casualties to the Russian Empire, and millions of civilians were displaced, with direct economic losses of more than 3 billion pounds and indirect economic losses of more than 5 billion pounds!

Therefore, we demand that your country pay us 8 billion pounds in war reparations to pay for our war losses and to restore the economy! ”

Everyone's faces changed drastically, the Russians proposed that the casualties were real, and Austria-Hungary did not give them in vain, and it was normal to cause such heavy casualties to the woolly bear.

But no one knows about this economic loss, after all, now the Russian Empire is in a mess, not to mention outsiders, even the tsarist government is estimated data, and there is no way to verify it at all.

In terms of military spending on the war, it is estimated that the Russian Empire has spent six or seven billion pounds in the past two and a half years, but at least half of this expenditure has gone into personal pockets.

Leopold von Berchtor's face changed greatly, this is really a lion's mouth, now he has to rejoice that there is a civil war in the woolly bear, and there is not much right to speak, otherwise they will be miserable.

"Mr. Sasonov, don't say 8 billion pounds, even 100 million pounds we can't afford to give, and now we still have millions of poor people in need of relief in our country, and the government has no money at all!

Even if I think the economy is back to its pre-war peak, and in 1914 our gross national income was only £600 million, do you think we might be able to afford it? ”

As soon as Leopold von Bechtor finished speaking, he was supported by Britain and France, and British Prime Minister Lloyd-George said: "That's right, Mr. Sasonov, your demands are too high, and they have exceeded the actual situation!"

I suggest that you still refer to the previous Bulgarian standard, and your country should come up with a reasonable reparation figure! ”

French President Poincaré also stabbed the Russians at this time, and he smiled and said: "Mr. Sasonov, I personally suggest that your country limit the amount of war reparations to less than 200 million pounds, which is more sincere!" ”

Seeing the joint efforts of Britain and France, Sasonov had to ask Bulgaria for help, and now the tsarist government is still waiting to fight the civil war with war reparations!

After a moment's hesitation, Metyev spoke first: "In view of the contribution of the Russian Empire in this world war, as well as the price they paid, I think it must be taken care of when it comes to war reparations.

Of course, the war reparations of 8 billion pounds are indeed too high, but the amount of 200 million pounds of reparations is indeed too low. ”

Sasonov breathed a sigh of relief from Metyev's proposal, he was really worried that he would be betrayed by the Entente, and now it seems that Bulgaria still supports them, so there is something to talk about later.

After a moment of silence, Sasonov slowly spoke: "Okay, everyone, wait a moment, I need to send a telegram back and let the country re-authorize!" ”

Everyone nodded, although everyone is plenipotentiary, but once the bottom line is crossed, it still needs to be authorized again.

In order to help Sasonov buy time, Konstantin proposed: "It's not too early, why don't we adjourn the meeting today and continue tomorrow?" ”

……

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, with the remaining bullet marks, still tells the story of the war that has just passed.

When Nicholas II received a call from Sasonov, his mood was instantly not good, and the negotiations in Austria-Hungary were not going well, and the attitude of Britain and France directly told him that it was impossible to make a big profit.

However, the Russian Empire is now in urgent need of war reparations to quell the rebellion, and even if it knows that it is a loss, it can only swallow this bitter fruit.

Nicholas II asked with concern: "Has Galicinov's gold been returned?" ”

That's right, it was the historical Kazan gold, and now that the world war is over, St. Petersburg has been freed from danger, but there is a possibility of war in Kazan, so it was once again asked by Nicholas II to be transported back to St. Petersburg.

Chief of the General Staff Galysinov said confidently: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, you will arrive in St. Petersburg at noon tomorrow!" ”

Hearing this, Nicholas II was in a much better mood, as long as he had these family backgrounds, he had the confidence to suppress the rebellion.

Nicholas II nodded, smiled wryly and said: "Well, send electricity to Sasonov and activate our Alternative No. 1!" ”

The Russian Empire participated in this peace conference, naturally there was not only one set of plans, and according to different situations, they also formulated different response plans.

Now the situation is clearly bad, but not the worst, at least one Bulgaria is supporting them, there is still something to talk about!

……