During the Paris Peace Conference, Paris could be described as a flurry of demons, with countries colluding with each other and using endless means.

In just a few days, the Bulgarian delegation has been in contact with all the delegations, some of them are very happy, some are angry, and all kinds of people are here!

On October 21, 1917, the Paris Peace Conference officially opened at the Palace of Versailles, and French President Poincaré took the opportunity of his opening speech to deliver a long speech.

Especially the sentence "Born in unrighteousness, you deserve to die in disgrace!" "The atmosphere of peace at the peace conference was completely destroyed, and everyone knew that the French would not let the Germans go this time!

Konstantin's face was also very embarrassed at this time, although the strategy formulated by Bulgaria was to allow the French to expand on the European continent, but the French couldn't make the appearance so ugly, right?

Even if you are dissatisfied with the Germans, you don't want to say it now, you can wait until the meeting to slaughter the Germans, and everyone will be more acceptable if you bring it up again!

Dissatisfied is dissatisfied, and no one is still awkward with the French for this little problem.

As host, French Prime Minister Clemenceau was elected President of the General Assembly in his capacity as head of the French delegation.

Clemenceau said solemnly: "Today's weather is good! The world war, provoked by the ambitions of the Allies, has finally come to an end thanks to the joint efforts of all of us!

But the culprits are still at large, and I propose to give the head of the Central Powers, Germany, the most severe sanctions!

1. Explain all the armies of the German government;

2. Confiscation of all heavy weapons of the Germans;

3. Dismantle the German military facilities and military enterprises;

4. Let Poland and Bavaria become independent;

5. France recovered Alsace and Lorraine, moved the French border eastward to the Rhine, and merged the German provinces on the left bank of the Rhine into one independent state;

6. The Germans must pay 800 billion gold marks in war reparations;

7. Arrest all war criminals and try them by the Allied countries jointly forming an international tribunal;

……”

Konstantin just sat quietly and did not say anything against it, but the meeting room had already exploded, and the delegations were already talking to each other.

There is no doubt that, according to the demands of the French, this time the German Empire is finished, and a Germany, which has been divided into four and at the same time emptied of its wallet, is no longer capable of threatening the French.

At the same time, the aim of the French to re-establish European hegemony was exposed.

There were no Americans who strongly opposed it at this time, and there was not even an American delegation in the venue, and even before the meeting began, Britain, France, and Bulgaria had already restricted their qualifications to participate in the conference, limiting it to members of the Entente countries.

Seeing that there was no objection, Clemenceau set his sights on the British and Bulgarian delegations, as long as they did not object to the Germans this time it was over.

Metev, who was flipping through the list of war criminals, suddenly said: "Mr. Clemensoyan, there is no problem in holding war criminals accountable, but is the list on it a bit excessive?"

According to international law, monarchs have immunity, and we cannot take the German emperor to court, so we propose to remove Wilhelm II and other members of the royal family from the list of war criminals, and only hold others accountable! ”

Kremenceauyan, who originally thought that Bulgaria would oppose it, let go of his hanging heart again, obviously the Bulgarians were showing favor to them.

Of the many conditions put forward by the French, any rejection of any of them would be a trouble for the French, but the war criminals could be discussed, and in any case, letting one of them go would not affect France's interests.

Clemenceaut replied with a smile: "The list of war criminals is only a preliminary draw up by us, and we can continue to discuss and discuss it in the future, and then make a final conclusion!" ”

Then Metyev nodded in satisfaction, and the Bulgarian delegation fell silent again.

This made the British vomit blood in anger, and it was not their family's business to restrict the French from dominating Europe, but they didn't expect the Bulgarians to let the French go like this.

Thinking of this, the face of British Prime Minister Lloyd George suddenly became gloomy, could it be that the Bulgarians and the French had made a deal to join forces to carve up the European continent?

This is the worst possible outcome, they must stop the French from dominating Europe anyway, so who are their allies now?

Russia? Having then given up, the three Russian delegations had gathered in Paris the other day, and the jokes they had made had not yet ended, and they had no strength to stop the French.

And what about Austria-Hungary? This time the Austro-Hungarian Empire offended the Germans miserably, and now they are probably eager for Germany to be finished directly, how can they give the Germans a chance to make a comeback?

After looking around, he found that he had to go up himself, otherwise the purpose of the French would be achieved, and at Lloyd's-George's signal, the British Foreign Secretary Gray opened his mouth to object: "Mr. Clemenceauyan, the conditions put forward by your country are too harsh, and the Germans have no way to do it!"

First of all, once the German government disbands the army, the country will soon be in chaos, and a chaotic Germany is not in everyone's interest.

Secondly, the German Empire was a unified country, and we could not break them apart, which was very inhumane.

In the end, with the reparations of 800 billion gold marks, you just sold all the Germans, and you can't come up with this huge amount of money!

God teaches us to be generous, so why not give the Germans a chance? ”

Clemenceau said-for-tat: "There is always a price to pay for doing something wrong, otherwise not everyone will follow suit?"

Monsieur Grey's fear of chaos in Germany was overly exaggerated, and as a friendly neighbor, the French army could help them maintain order free of charge.

In this way, they will save military expenses and can also use them to improve people's livelihood!

As for worrying about the Germans' ability to repay, don't worry about this, you can let them pay in installments, and you can also use physical collateral, with the economic strength of the Germans, I believe they will be able to pay off the arrears soon! ”

Gray glared angrily and said angrily, "Don't forget that we are here today for peace, not for revenge!" Now your country's demands are completely pushing the Germans to a dead end, please put away the face of the aggressor! ”

Clemenceau sneered and said, "If you say that, who can compare with your country?" Could it be that the tens of millions of square kilometers of colonies in your country have all fallen from the sky? ”

……

Seeing that Britain and France were arguing, and the delegations of various countries directly looked at the joke, Konstantin couldn't stand it anymore, and became a peacemaker: "The two of you calm down first, the Germans are too controversial, you might as well calm down and think about it first, and we will discuss it later, now the time is almost the same, let's repair it today!" ”

Naturally, everyone agreed, and then everyone began to negotiate again, but the result remained unchanged.

For several days, the meeting was all Britain and France quarrelling, plus their little brothers waving their flags and shouting, and the chaotic venue was tireless, perhaps everyone was tired of arguing.

On 25 October, Konstantin proposed to put the question of the Germans on hold for the time being, and to deal with the Italian question first, which was unanimously approved.

Or maybe they felt that the number of people was too large and delayed the progress of the meeting, and finally everyone decided to reduce the size of the meeting, that is, two people from each of Britain, France and Bulgaria, and one person from each of the Russian Empire, Japan, and Belgium, and the discussion was carried out in this group of nine.

The question of Italy, which was undoubtedly only a question of Britain, France, and Bulgaria, was finally discussed by themselves behind closed doors, to the exclusion of the representatives of the other three countries.

The process of this meeting was much faster, because the Italian battlefield was dominated by Bulgaria, so Konstantin was the first to speak on behalf of Bulgaria: "This time I will start first, Italy is one of the culprits of this war, we propose to cede part of their territory, and then divide it among our three countries, and let them pay a war reparation!" ”

This demand was expected by everyone, and it was not surprising that the lost battle was ceded and the land was reparated, which was a European practice.

After a pause, Konstantin continued: "As the party that contributed the most to the Italian war, we demand the Salentina Peninsula and Sicily, and we demand that the Italians pay 3 billion pounds in war reparations!" ”

Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, John Bull jumped out to object, and Lloyd-George objected: "Your Excellency Constantine's request is too much, it has damaged the interests of the British Empire, and we cannot accept it!" ”

Konstantin smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. George, you might as well put forward your own requirements, everyone is discussing, as much as possible to satisfy everyone, if not, you can also compensate in other places!" ”

Lloyd-George is now like swallowing a fly, feeling very disgusting, if you could have discussed it earlier, he still thought that Bulgaria was going to come out and compete with them for domination in the Mediterranean?

Lloyd-George thought for a moment and said, "Well, we, the British Empire, are demanding Sicily and Sardinia, and the Italians are demanding 1.5 billion pounds in war reparations!" ”

Poincaré also spoke: "We, the French Republic, demand the Duchy of Sardinia and Milan, push the Franco-Italian border along the Ada River, and demand that the Italians pay 2.5 billion pounds in war reparations!" ”

Originally, Poincaré still wanted to fight the idea of Sicily, but seeing that the British and Bulgarians were fighting, seeing that there was little chance, he decisively chose to give up.

Konstantin smiled and said: "Mr. George, it seems that the dispute between us is not big, the contradiction between us lies in Sicily, and the dispute between President Poincaré and you is Sardinia, so even if the other proposals are passed, we only need to discuss the ownership of these two islands!" ”

Poincaré immediately chimed in: "Yes, the dispute between our three kingdoms is the ownership of these two islands!" ”

Lloyd-George reacted immediately, this was a trick, the French and Bulgaria had reached an exchange of interests on the Italian question, mutual recognition of their respective interests.

However, he was not willing to be manipulated like this, if he continued, he would not be able to make soy sauce this time, and immediately retorted: "No, although the Italians have made any mistakes, we can't beat them to death with a stick, we should give them a chance, we suggest that the Italians keep their homeland intact!" ”

Konstantin was very dissatisfied and said: "Mr. George, your approach is a typical harm to others and not to yourself, if we all tear each other down like this, in the end everyone will get nothing, only let the bystanders benefit!"

Rather than this, it is better for everyone to cooperate, we have suffered heavy losses in this war, and we urgently need to make up for it, and if we don't make a fortune from the defeated country now, there will be no chance in the future! ”

Many times, as soon as the window paper is pierced, things become simpler, and Konstantin's meaning is obvious, if the British want to continue to dismantle the stage, everyone will be scattered in two, and no one wants to get enough benefits in this post-war spoils!

And also won the support of the French, Lloyd-George knew that if he continued to oppose, it was estimated that the Bulgarians would have to forcibly divide Italy with the French, and now the Mediterranean is still the territory of the two countries, and they can do it!

Lloyd-George calculated and found that it was good to compromise, after all, Sicily and Sardinia are two pieces of fat, especially Sicily is in the center of the Mediterranean, and their crumbling hegemony in the Mediterranean can be stabilized after getting their hands on it.

But if you want to really get your hands on it, it's not so simple, after all, Sicily's economic value and strategic value are very high, and there is not enough interest exchange, and it is impossible for Bulgarians to let go!

"Well, we can recognize your interests, but the British Empire must get Sicily and Sardinia!" Lloyd-George said in no doubt

Konstantin said calmly: "Then Mr. George will bid, you know the value of Sicily, even ten Salantina peninsulas can't compare!"

If your country wants to get Sicily, you have to pay Bulgaria enough compensation, or we can share Sicily! ”

Lloyd's George's face collapsed in an instant, sharing Sicily, how is this possible? Bulgaria is so close to Sicily that if the two countries really shared it, it is estimated that it will become Bulgarian in a few years!

But it is not so easy to compensate for the benefits, and the value of Sicily is too great for them to let go.

Lloyd-George tentatively said: "All the colonies of Italy belong to your country, including the colonization of Ethiopia!" ”

Konstantin smiled and said, "If this is the case, why don't you give us Sicily, how about your country get those regions, and our colonies except Asia Minor, you can choose one of them?" ”

Lloyd-George rolled his eyes, the meaning was very obvious, the only thing that the Bulgarian colonies had any value was the peninsula of Asia Minor, and the rest of the region was a rotten land, if it wasn't for the British Empire, would you still have your share? As long as he is not stupid, it is impossible to make an exchange with Bulgaria!

After thinking about it, Lloyd-George asked rhetorically: "Mr. Constantine, tell me straight, what do you want?" If we could, I think we could still work together! ”

This will be Konstantin's turn to be dumbfounded, he was not ready for this, he was testing today, but he didn't expect the French to cooperate so well!

Bulgaria and France actually reached a direct agreement on the Italian issue, and this time the British will not be able to make concessions, but what to exchange with the British is another difficult question!

If the asking price is too high, John Bull will definitely disagree, if the asking price is too low, Bulgaria will suffer too much, and I can't think of it for the time being, then I can only drag it!

Konstantin thought for a while and said: "I think this problem, it will be better for our two countries to communicate slowly, now it is better to finalize the Italian problem first!" ”

Lloyd George nodded in acquiescence!

……