Washington, D.C., June 1931. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The so-called secret meeting is a secret meeting that avoids the eyes and ears of the people, and the other is a meeting that keeps the content and results secret. Britain, Japan, and Soviet Russia have all sent heavyweight diplomatic and military officials to the United States, and reporters have already learned the news through their own channels, and many people have been squatting in front of the White House day and night just to get popular news that the people are concerned about.

Although the Allied bloc led by Germany paid great attention to the four-nation meeting held in Washington and learned some inside information close to the core, it was unable to put positive pressure on these four countries, but instead took Emperor Karl I as the initiator of the initiative and called for the convening of an international disarmament conference, in an attempt to create an atmosphere of anti-war disarmament and peaceful development in the international community. Disarmament is only the good will of some officials, scholars and some ordinary people, the industry of many countries is reversing the decline with the active expansion of armaments by the government, and radical nationalism is prevalent in Europe and a considerable part of Asia, the United States and Africa.

From 14 June to 24 June, representatives of the four parties met intensively for more than a week, but from 25 June, important officials from Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union no longer entered the White House by car and disappeared from public view without warning or explanation. The delegates of extraordinary status were engaged in more in-depth negotiations in that place with beautiful scenery and fresh air, and a treaty-like alliance against the Allied camp was about to emerge.

Argentina and Paraguay against Chile and Bolivia broke the traditional pattern of the United States and Britain dominating the situation in South America, and Argentina, which was ruled by the military strongman Uriburu, provided Germany with an excellent stepping stone to gain a foothold in South America and expand its influence, and soon after the end of the war, the German government ignored the strong protest of the United States and officially approved the proposal to build a large naval and air base in Puerto de La Plata, Argentina, which directly affected the position of the Uruguayan government in international affairs. The political winds in Brazil have also quietly changed.

The mouth of the Rio de la Plata, which is more than 10,000 kilometers from the continental United States, is farther than the Azores to the United States, but the establishment of a naval and air base in La Plata poses no less threat to American strategic interests than the occupation of the Azores, and it reflects a very disturbing progressive relationship: Germany's military power expanded first from Central Europe to Western Europe, then from the east coast of the Atlantic to the middle of the Atlantic, and now it is firmly established on the southeast coast of South America. It is to straddle South America, extend its tentacles to the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, form a strategic chain with a series of islands located in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, echo the military and political presence in East Asia, and then form a huge territory with absolute dominance in Europe, Africa, and West Asia, and can attack and retreat in the two oceans.

Today's Germany is no longer as immature in its political and diplomatic affairs as it used to be, and its military strength has reached the point of reaching its peak, and it is impossible for them to take the initiative to slow down or even stop the pace of expansion. Countries with conflicting interests could easily be defeated one by one by the German-led Allies if they fought on their own. After the collapse of the Entente system between Britain, France, and Russia, only the United States, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union, the four militarily stronger powers, could unite to counter Germany's aggressive pace of global expansion.

On June 28, the anniversary of the assassination of the former Crown Prince Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, hundreds of thousands of people in distant Europe took part in the memorial service, and the Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister delivered a moving speech in front of the assassination memorial in Sarajevo, which moved almost everyone who came to the scene. At this moment, even the Serbs, who were dissatisfied with the rule of Austria-Hungary, preferred to give up their dream of establishing a greater Serbian state in order to avoid another bloody war, but thousands of kilometers away in Washington, D.C., in the quiet and peaceful lakeside villas, the ministers, ministers and envoys of the United States, Britain, Japan and the Soviet Union were close to reaching an agreement that would push the world to the brink of a major war.

On this day, in the "Forest Palace" in Limerick, Natsuki spent a long time alone in the office. He turned out the letters written by Archduke Ferdinand to himself and a photo of the two in their early years, silently remembering this old friend who was obsessed with love and tried to resolve ******** with a policy of tolerance. The tragedy that happened in 1914 was inseparable from his marriage that was not accepted by the royal family. Luck and misfortune are compared, after overcoming many hardships and dangers and finally achieving positive results, Natsuki cherishes the current possessions, and after recovering the northern Belfast region from Ireland, Ireland's international strategy rarely shows aggressiveness, but participates in international competition through normal business methods, and the relatively relaxed domestic environment gradually resolves the various contradictions brought about by religious beliefs and class antagonism that occurred in the mid-to-late 10s. Today's Ireland, the old and new aristocrats coexist in harmony, the rich and the common respect each other, the population of the whole country has increased from more than 4 million at the beginning of the founding of the country to 5.2 million, from a single nation and a single culture to an international pluralistic pattern, becoming the most dynamic country in Europe and even the world.

The time for peaceful development is beautiful, but it is like a good sunny and warm weather, which must alternate with bad weather such as cloudy, rainy, snowy, and windy, and the arrival of the economic crisis has only stimulated the tendency of countries to use extraordinary means to stabilize their own interests. In this turbulent era, Ireland is only a small European country after all, and its comprehensive national strength and military strength determine its international political status. The signing of the Limerick Naval Treaty, which appears to have been the result of the efforts of the King of Ireland and his diplomatic and military officials, was in fact the result of a temporary compromise between the two camps, and Ireland's appeal would have had no effect without a response from Germany and the United States.

Knowing that the United States, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union held a heavyweight meeting in Washington, Natsuki felt more and more that war was approaching. After the crisis in the Azores, he had completely given up the illusion of staying out of the situation in wartime, and let Ireland make military preparations in advance, but this move was not to preemptively strike, but to make the American and British camps who wanted to take Ireland have scruples about invading Ireland. In times of war, if the hostile countries only adopted a passive blockade strategy against Ireland, the fruits of economic development over the years could still be preserved to the greatest extent, and it was not in vain that Natsuki took great pains to manage it for more than ten years, and if the island of Ireland became one of the battlefields, no one could guarantee that Limerick would still retain its former prosperity at the end of the war.

At dinner, Natsuki invited Horders, Perev, Grienz and other German ministers, as well as German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Turkish ambassadors to Limerick, to gather together, not only to mourn the death of Archduke Ferdinand, but also to pay tribute to the millions of soldiers and civilians who lost their lives during the war. The next war will come sooner or later, if the Allied camp needs to confront the United States, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union, then the duration of the war and the number of casualties will probably far exceed the previous war.

It was dusk in Washington, and it was late at night in Limerick. The chamberlain knocked on Natsuki's door and handed him a coded urgent telegram from Washington, which was interpreted in just one sentence: the four countries may have reached an agreement to form a military alliance against Europe.

The information obtained by the Irish military attache in the United States was very valuable, and Natsuki ordered to send telegrams to the Kaiser and Crown Prince Wilhelm, reminding them that the meeting between the four countries was sufficient, and that if they wanted to get in the way, they would only have the opportunity to seize the last day or two or even a few hours.

Although the United States, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union had the strategic need to jointly confront the forces of the Allies, in addition to the close relations between the United States and Britain, they were wary of each other and lacked trust, and the ideological differences between the Soviet Union and Russia needless to say were not to mention that the United States and Britain had been curbing Japan's expansion into Southeast Asia and the central Pacific since the Russo-Japanese War, and had even connived at Japan's war of aggression against China, but they had always maintained vigilance against the powerful Japanese navy. In order to ensure that each country is on the same page at a critical moment, it is necessary to gradually readjust the strategic orientation of each country through an entente, even at the expense of some vested interests, and the best way to destroy the alliance between them is to exchange interests for interests -- the object that Japan, especially Germany, can actively strive for or even plot against them. If Japan can be allowed to monopolize East and Southeast Asia, it will certainly be more tempting than the conditions offered by the United States and Britain!

In response to Natsuki's suggestion, the elderly but still energetic German emperor gave a vague and empty reply, and Crown Prince Wilhelm confidently stated that everything was under control and there was no need to panic.

Unlike Japan's hesitation, the contradictions between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers were irreconcilable, and it was eager to recover Belarus, Ukraine, and even the Baltic coast, but Germany could not make concessions to the Soviet power, let alone give up rich Eastern Europe, and there would be a fierce battle between the two sides. As the only big country bordering Germany on land, the Soviet Russian army has long since completed its reorganization, and the fighting quality and morale of the officers and men have been proved in the military conflict in the Caucasus, but the Soviet and Russian troops are still equipped with a large number of old-style weapons from the last major war, and seriously lack machine guns, heavy artillery, combat vehicles, aircraft, and other technical equipment.

(End of chapter)