The Russians and Austria-Hungary are still fighting, and the amount of money involved is too large, and neither side is willing to let go, Britain, France, and Bulgaria are in the middle of the mediation, and everyone has different positions, and it is impossible to force either side to make concessions.

On October 30, 1917, the Paris Peace Conference once again began negotiations on the German question, and French Prime Minister Clemenceau once again reiterated his opinion on the handling of Germany, and the three essential contents remained unchanged. Namely:

1. Disarm the Germans and prohibit the possession of troops;

2. The dismemberment of Germany, divided into four parts, including the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine by France, the eastward movement of the French borders to the Rhine, and the merger of the German provinces on the left bank of the Rhine into one independent state;

3. The German government must pay 800 billion gold marks in war reparations.

The other demands of the French can also be said to be in the service of these three articles, but these three were precisely the ones that the British could not agree to, and the meeting was at a stalemate from the beginning.

Not only Britain and France are in a stalemate, but other countries are also in a stalemate because of conflicts of interest, such as the Far East!

There is no way, there are too many countries claiming compensation against Germany, and there will naturally be many conflicts of interest for everyone, and some of them are still conflicts of core interests, and if they want to sacrifice the interests of the Germans, everyone supports each other's demands, and then the exchange of interests obviously does not work, and the great powers and small countries are never equal to each other!

Konstantin knew that there was no way to go on like this, everyone was the head of a country, and it was impossible to pounce on the Paris Peace Conference all the time, and there were still domestic things that they needed to go back to deal with? If it drags on for a few months, no one will feel good!

So he consulted with Lloyd-George and Poincaré: "It is better to collect the demands of the countries, and we will come down to discuss them, and then let them talk about the results, otherwise when will such a mess be a head!" ”

There is no doubt that this is a complete excuse, and with such a mess, the Committee of Nine no longer exists, and has become a Committee of Six composed of three countries.

As an old imperialist, no one will oppose any proposal that is in line with its own interests, and anyway, the unanimity of the position of the three countries is enough to suppress all opposition voices!

Now that the three bigwigs have decided to put aside them and go it alone, as the host of the meeting, French Prime Minister Clemenceau is naturally going to announce this resolution.

In order to improve the efficiency of the meeting, the presidium of the conference decided: the delegates of various countries will organize their respective requirements into documents and submit them to the presidium, and after the presidium deliberates and approves, they will be discussed at the conference!"

Well, everyone knows that the reason for this is nothing more than to kick Japan, Belgium, and the Russian Empire out of the decision-making group, otherwise it would be the Committee of Nine that is deliberating, not the Presidium!

No matter what everyone is talking about, anyway, the three giants have already been formed, and if you want to get a piece of the pie from this peace meeting, you must abide by the rules formulated by the three bigwigs!

But not everyone intended to give in, for example, the head of the Russian delegation, Sasonov, objected: "Protest, as one of the founding members of the Entente, we, the Russian Empire, are eligible to join the Presidium!" ”

Lloyd-George smiled and said: "Of course, as one of the founding members of the Entente, the Russian Empire was eligible to join the Presidium, but now there are three delegations of the Russian Empire in Paris!" ”

Sasonov complained: "They are all traitors and cannot be a delegation of the Russian Empire!" ”

After saying that, he decisively chose to shut up, and it was clear that on this issue, it was not yet recognized by everyone which government was legitimate, and which delegation was able to represent the Russian Empire. If they provoke Britain and France, and they do not recognize the legitimacy of the government of Nicholas II, then they will be blind!

Lloyd George made a decisive move to level the Russians, but he didn't expect the Japanese to come out again, and Japanese Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang jumped out again, only to see him say angrily: "I strongly protest on behalf of the big ~ Japanese ~ Ben ~ empire!" This seriously harmed our national interests, and as an important member of the Entente, we made an important contribution to this world war, and we must become a member of the Presidium! ”

Poincaré thought for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, but what are the important contributions of your country?" How did I not know? ”

was jumped to his feet angrily by the general's Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, and before he could refute it, Konstantin made up another knife: "Mr. Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, the important contribution you are talking about should not be to invade the land of the allies and make the alliance dark, right?"

Recently, your country's approach has been very immoral, which has seriously darkened the image of our Entente, and I personally suggest that you still be more restrained, this is not the Far East! ”

There is nothing strange about it, because of the relationship between the Russo-Japanese War, the relationship between Bulgaria and the Japanese has not been very good, even if it has eased later, everyone has still not been able to become friends, Konstantin naturally does not have to save face for him!

As for what will happen if you offend the Japanese? The answer is nothing! Under the principle of the unanimous position of Britain, France, and Bulgaria, the current Japanese government can only endure it!

After the first two monkeys jumped out were suppressed, naturally no chickens pounced on them again, and the effect of killing monkeys and chickens was not ordinary.

Of course, this is without the Americans as the leading big brother, and the Americans have tossed a lot of things in history, which has greatly damaged the vitality of the British and French colonial empires!

……

At the beginning of the Giants Conference, the Paris Peace Conference entered its core stage, and the British Prime Minister said cautiously: "In view of the actual situation of the Germans, we do not consider it necessary to dismember Germany; and they should also be given the ability to retain a certain number of troops and maintain social order; At the same time, the amount of reparations for the Germans should be within what they can afford! ”

French President Poincaré immediately retorted: "It is a crime to make any tolerance for a country like Germany that undermines world peace!" If we can't deal with the Germans harshly and set an example for those who come after us, then new challengers will emerge one after another in the future! ”

Konstantin waved his hand to stop the two from continuing to argue, and said: "Let's break down the issues and discuss them, and we will discuss them one by one, and strive to reach a consensus as soon as possible."

Now I would like to state Bulgaria's position first, on the issue of Germany, we are only interested in war reparations, I will directly show my cards, Bulgaria will receive an indemnity of not less than 12 percent of the total reparations, and all other issues are open to discussion! ”

Obviously, Konstantin did not play according to the routine, and directly diverted the attention of both sides, and first began to discuss the distribution ratio of war reparations!

This is also the amount of reparations paid by the Germans is too large, if the total amount that the countries want is added up, it is estimated that it is more than 100 billion pounds, so don't say that the Germans, even if all the countries in the world are tied together during this period, they can't come up with 100 billion pounds!

Seeing that Bulgaria showed the reparation ratio, although they felt that it was too high, they still did not directly oppose it, but were thinking about how much this ratio should be reported. If you have less, you will suffer, and if you have more, others will not be able to accept it, and you will continue to quarrel!

French President Poincaré was the first to speak: "The French Republic, as the main force in this war against Germany, wants 61 percent of the reparations from the Germans!" ”

British Prime Minister Lloyd-George also said-for-tat: "The British Empire also made an indelible contribution to the war against Germany, so we demand 50% of the war reparations from the Germans!" ”

Konstantin rubbed his forehead, the ratio of the three countries of light, Britain, France and Bulgaria had reached one hundred and twenty-three, and he knew that this problem was troublesome.

However, Konstantin still had to say patiently: "Both, you see if this compensation ratio can drop a little, you can choose to get compensation elsewhere, there are still more than a dozen delegations waiting outside, why do we have to leave them ten points?" ”

Lloyd-George thought for a moment and said: "We get all the naval warships of the Germans, and the proportion of reparations can be reduced by ten points!" ”

Poincaré hesitated for a moment, then said: "If you can agree to dismember Germany, we can reduce the reparation ratio by thirteen points!" ”

Konstantin shook his head secretly, this condition was still far from it, he had to be a peacemaker again, and said: "Regarding the request of the two, we all agree to the choice, but please show sincerity, otherwise our Christmas will be over at the meeting!" ”

Well, in principle, all agreed, in fact it was, and now the demands of the French are very obvious, as long as they agree to dismember the Germans, everything is negotiable!

The British wanted to get the Germans' navy, and neither Bulgaria nor France objected, but compensation was certainly indispensable, and as long as the benefits were sufficient, there was nothing that could not be discussed.

Lloyd-George pondered for a moment, and finally said: "We can lower the reparations by another three percentage points, but the German navy must go to the British Empire!" ”

Konstantin decisively said: "There is no problem for the British Empire to receive 37 percent of the amount of reparations!" ”

Seeing that the two countries had reached an agreement, which was to suppress the price of France, Poincaré hesitated for a moment and said: "We can also give up three points, but there is no room for negotiation on the question of dismembering Germany!" ”

Konstantin thought about it, and he found that Britain and France had made concessions on the issue of reparations, and waved his hand and said: "Well, the French Republic received forty-five percent of the war reparations from the Germans, and now there are seven points for them to distribute, and if it is not enough, even if they are unlucky!" ”

It's clear that this isn't the bottom line between Britain and France, but what does it matter to him? Do you still expect Bulgaria to be unable to quarrel with Britain and France for the sake of the interests of other countries?

Lloyd-George and Poincaré both set their sights on him, and Konstantin understood what they meant was that Bulgaria had taken too much and had to lower it as well.

Konstantin smiled slightly and said: "We also let out a point and give it to the Russians, as one of the four-nation ententes, if the allocated share is too low, everyone's face will not look good!" ”

The two rolled their eyes, if they really cared so much about appearance, why didn't they let the Russians get involved? It's just that in that case, don't say eleven points, Bulgaria can get six points is the limit, this is the obvious three-country alliance to divide up most of the Russians' share of the reparations!

Mao Xiong is the absolute main force in this world war, if it weren't for their self-sacrifice and the launch of the Eastern Offensive to attract German troops, it would be a question mark whether Britain and France could hold on to the Western Front!

With their contribution, there is no problem at all to take twenty-five or six points of post-war indemnity, provided that the Russian Empire in its heyday can take a fraction of it now!

Of course, these are minor problems, not worth mentioning, everyone participates in the distribution of spoils, and there is no so-called who is cleaner than whom!

Lloyd-George was the first to speak: "The dismemberment of Germany is too much, the division of a whole country into four small ones, to which we, the British Empire, cannot agree!" ”

Poincaré made an expression that a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water, and said: "Anyway, we are going to dismember Germany!" ”

Seeing that the two were about to start tearing up again, Konstantin had to become a peacemaker again, and opened his mouth to persuade: "Regarding the German question raised by President Poincaré, let's split it up!"

Let's start with the first one, the French government's request for Lorraine and Alsace, I think we can still discuss this issue, what do you think, Mr. George? ”

Lloyd-George thought for a moment and said: "The dispute between France and Germany over the border of Lorraine and Alsace has yet to be considered, and we cannot make such an arbitrary decision because the Germans have long inhabited the two regions!" ”

This is simply to say: Phorncaré make a bid, as long as the price is right, these sites are yours!

Of course, in Konstantin's words just now, there is also a meaning in this regard, everyone is a great power, as long as the interests are suitable, there is nothing that cannot be traded!

Poincaré thought for a moment and said, "Well, Monsieur George, the German navy and Sardinia are yours, but our eastern border must be moved to the Rhine; How about I, Mr. Constantine, on behalf of the French Republic, acknowledging your country's inheritance of the entire Ottoman Empire and opening some of the colonial military ports for your navy? ”

Konstantin replied without hesitation: "Deal!" ”

Lloyd-George frowned, but considering that there was not much territory in this area, it was okay to weaken the Germans, so he said: "We can admit that your country has annexed part of the territory west of the Rhine, but the eastern provinces of the Rhine cannot become independent!" ”

Poincaré hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, we can abandon the idea of establishing a Rhine republic, but the national security of France must be guaranteed, so it is necessary to divide Germany!" ”

……