Russia's defeat at the Battle of Warsaw was, in a sense, a milestone in the Russian Revolution. Poland itself claimed to be destroyed, but in fact the Kingdom of Poland still existed in theory, except that the Russian Tsar also held the position of King of Poland. If it is really completely divided, the former Polish region will become a province of Prussia, Austria and Russia, and Poland will not be able to successfully recover from the complete destruction of the country after 123 years.

After the restoration of Poland, Poland completely revealed its own insotive nature, and the then ruler Pilsudski launched an attack on Soviet Russia in an attempt to restore the border between Poland and Russia in 1772. With the support of the Entente, the Polish strikers hit all the way to Kiev. The Russian Red Army launched a full-scale counterattack against the Polish invading army and drove the Polish army back to Poland.

After resisting the attack of the Entente, the Russian Communist Party led by Lenin also believed that it was necessary to change its original policy, and if it could get rid of Poland, the biggest lackey of the Entente, it would not only recover the lost territory, but also completely change the situation in Europe. The workers of Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia refused to load the trains with military supplies for Poland, and the workers of the British docks demanded that the British government immediately end the war with Soviet Russia.

Of course, the Entente knew of this terrible result, and Britain and France desperately sent supplies to Poland through the port of Danzig, and Poland's strong spirit of second cargo also played a positive role at this time.

The Russian Communist Party also encountered its own problems at this time, Comrade Lenin was not in good health, and there was a fierce "discussion" in the party about the position of the successor. Comrade Stalin had a tough personality and was really not very popular in the party. So Comrade Stalin, who had distinguished himself in the early stage of the Polish campaign, was later taken over by Tukhachevsky, which laid the foundation for the defeat of the Polish campaign.

Tukhachevsky was indecisive and full of plans to fight a good fight. A few years later, when analyzing the defeat of the Polish campaign, the Central Military Commission of the People's Party summed it up as follows: "A perfect battle is never the same thing as a victorious battle, perfection is an after-the-fact evaluation, and victory is always the full use of the conditions at hand." Tukhachevsky's performance in the Polish campaign proved that he was not a good front-line commander, and when a military commander fell into the trap of wanting to fight a good battle, he deviated from the pragmatic mindset......"

Pilsudski did not have the problem of Tukhachevsky, this soldier from the wild road was only thinking about how to effectively use the cards in his hand, and he did not even have any illusions about the combat ability and morale of his troops. So in the face of the steel Stalin, Pilsudski was repeatedly deflated. On the contrary, Tukhachevsky discovered all kinds of "disadvantages" of the Russian Red Army, and tried to eliminate the negative effects caused by the disadvantages before fighting a textbook "perfect victory."

Pilsudski, who had experienced all kinds of hardships and hardships, was overjoyed when he found that the Polish army still had the will to fight. He immediately drew up a military plan for the current situation of the war, taking great risks and striking hard at the troops commanded by Tukhachevsky. Tukhachevsky's troops were defeated, and the Russian Red Army had to withdraw from Poland. Russia's attempt to change the situation in Europe through war failed.

Throughout 1921, the world's leading countries struggled to clean up the post-World War I situation. The Polish campaign ended, and the Russian border line was largely stabilized. In the vast seas, the competition has intensified.

Britain pursued the idea of the First Navy, that is, the British fleet was to overwhelm the Second and Third Navies combined. The United States, relying on its burgeoning industrial and financial power, challenged Britain, the world's leading naval power. US Secretary of the Navy Daniels announced that he would build 137 warships within five years to "build the strongest and best navy in the world."

Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Lloyd 61 George said: "Great Britain would rather spend every last penny to maintain naval superiority over the United States or any other country." ”

In order to compete with the United States and Britain, Japan ambitiously formulated the 861 Eighth Fleet Plan, that is, to have two powerful fleets, each with eight capital ships, which will be renewed every eight years.

Soon after, France and Italy joined the race in high spirits. In this way, the great powers, you build one, I build two, from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean to the Pacific, an invisible arms war is becoming more and more intense.

But it wasn't long before the great powers began to taste the bitterness of the arms race. With the launching of warships one after another, military spending has increased sharply, and the finances of various countries have been stretched.

Britain can't afford to be accompanied. It has long been financially deprived of resources by the war, and it is really miserable to be forced to join the arms race. Japan is also unable to do so, and in order to implement the 861 8th Fleet plan, the Navy has allocated one-third of the entire state budget. Although the United States has a lot of money, it will not be easy for it to truly overwhelm Britain and Japan.

Beginning in 1920, the economic crisis that spread to the capitalist countries broke out, and the calls for disarmament of the peoples of all countries became louder and louder. The naval arms race of the great powers is bogged down.

The United States then convened a peace conference in the hope of resolving the situation created by the arms race. At the invitation of the United States, the Chinese side quickly replied to the United States, "The Chinese navy is too weak to participate in such a meeting." ”

This is true, China has no plans to build large-scale surface ships in the near future. The Central Military Commission of the People's Party has formulated the idea of "flying and diving fast" for the development of the navy. Aircraft, submarines, and torpedo boats are the future development direction of the Chinese Navy. The construction of large surface ships is all placed on civilian vessels.

Chen Ke never had the romance of a decisive battle with a large formation of battleships, and the goal of the future republic was a war centered on aircraft carrier formations and large-scale ocean-going submarines. In Chen Ke's thinking, the battleship was mainly shelling, not decisive weapons. That being the case, it would be very pointless to participate in the naval treaty.

But the Americans do not think so, and China did not get real benefits at the Paris Peace Conference. No matter how the People's Party solves the concessions and other issues in China. At least on the legal front, China's concessions with the great powers and legal issues remain unresolved. If the Anglo-Japanese alliance is to be dismantled, it must rely on China's support in the Western Pacific.

So the United States again invited China to join the Washington Conference. At the same time, he promised that the United States would do everything in its power to help China solve the problems "left over from history". At the same time, he promised that the United States would strive for a better naval quota for China.

As a last resort, the Chinese side finally sent a delegation to the United States to attend the meeting.

Gu Weijun has attended the meeting as the deputy head of the Chinese delegation, headed by Wang Bin, minister of commerce. Wang's job is not to negotiate militarily, but to try to lobby countries for a Pacific trade zone.

In November 1921, the Washington Conference finally convened.

The subtleties can also be seen from the seating arrangement at the meeting, where the United States, the world's largest industrial country, and China, the world's most populous country, sit together. The representatives of Britain and Japan sat together. Two emerging powers, China and the United States, are already the most powerful industrial nations on the east and west sides of the Pacific. In 1921, U.S. crude steel production reached the level of 20 million tons, and China barely exceeded the level of 5 million tons.

The economic crisis dealt a heavy blow to the industrial strength of the capitalist countries, considering that in 1920 the United States produced more than 42 million tons of crude steel, and the United Kingdom also had 9 million tons. In 1921, U.S. crude steel production was only half of what it was in 1920, and Britain simply fell to 3.7 million tons. Japan, as a small partner of Britain, has increased crude steel production year by year, with about 450,000 tons in 1921. This amount is not even a tenth of China's.

Representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and China gathered together, and Gu Weijun looked at the representatives of various countries, feeling quite uncomfortable in his heart. Most of these nine countries participated in the Eight-Nation Coalition 20 years ago, and China was the target of aggression by the Eight-Nation Alliance. In the current meeting to shape the future order of the Pacific, China still does not have the power to dominate the situation.

Of course, Gu Weijun knew that this idea was quite stupid, and the Britain, France and the United States that China faced were all old capitalist countries. If Gu Weijun's goal twenty years ago was to completely abolish the unequal treaties and allow China to gain its own liberation. Today, this goal has been largely achieved.

China's rise has not satisfied Gu Weijun, who now finds that his hope is that China can reach or even surpass the status of these powers, and finally exist as a world leader and even a master. Just like now, Gu Weijun doesn't take Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal to heart at all.

As Britain's pawn, and because of their personality of taking advantage of small advantages, the Japanese delegates brought up the old matter again when they spoke at the beginning of the meeting, demanding that China fulfill its obligations under international treaties. Gu Weijun is a young man after all, and he quickly adapted to the changes in China. If at the Paris Peace Conference, Gu Weijun was still a little afraid of Japan's shouting, now he doesn't care about it at all. If it weren't for the fact that the Chinese representative was Wang Bin, Gu Weijun would have immediately demanded that Japan get out of China's Lushun.

Wang Bin was not so excited, he said slowly: "Since we are here to talk about the agreement on restricting the navy. I think the Pacific region should be more peaceful, for example, by simply restricting the presence of battleships and cruisers in the Pacific. Don't have these big warships in the whole Pacific, I think it will bring more peace to the world. ”

The reaction of other naval powers to Wang Bin's words can only be described in two words: contempt. On the contrary, the representatives of the Netherlands and Portugal, especially the Dutch representatives, smiled with approval. The representative of the Netherlands knew that he had come to make up the numbers anyway, and that what he said was the same as if he had not said anything. He simply said: "I support the views of the Chinese delegates. ”

The mouse actually wanted to bring a bell to the cat, and Wang Bin's "ridiculous proposal" was immediately vetoed by the naval power.

At such a high-level meeting, the last thing you need is "face". Even if the proposal was rejected, Wang Bin did not have the slightest embarrassed expression. couldn't put a bell on the cat, so Wang Bin began to brazenly put forward the next proposal. "China's shipbuilding capability is very backward, since the purpose of restricting the navy is to achieve a balance, and it is a balance of force. Then our country will have to guarantee the combat balance of our navy. In this regard, I believe that it is necessary for my country to declare in advance. ”

There is no need for Wang Bin to emphasize that all countries know that China's shipbuilding capacity is very backward. And Wang Bin brazenly put forward the argument of balancing force, making it clear that he wanted to enclose land. The British representative said in a mocking tone: "I wonder what level the Chinese side hopes to achieve? ”

"The tonnage of the capital ships is at least 120% of that of the Japanese Navy, and of course we hope that it will be 150% of the Japanese Navy." Wang Bin said unashamedly.

As soon as this number was mentioned, the faces of the delegates of various countries changed. Even if it is a shameless interest meeting, Wang Bin's brazenness has reached the point where he is about to break through the lower limit.

"China already has 5.5 million troops! We will absolutely not allow China to have so many more navies! The representative of Japan almost roared.

Facing the Japanese representative of the mad slave, Wang Bin smiled heartily: "There are many countries that know our situation in China, and I also know that there is an evaluation of China's military in many countries. Our Chinese Army is called the slave army. Of our 5.5 million troops, there are more than 3.5 million engineers and railroad troops. These units are responsible for the construction of China's railways as well as the construction of infrastructure. The time spent on military training is much less than the time spent on engineering. Even the remaining troops spend at least half of the year working on infrastructure. Roads and canals were repaired, and the troops even had to help the peasants harvest during the busy harvest time. I am proud to say to you that our army is more like a militia, and their mission is to defend the people and build a better life with the people. Instead of building a professional army armed to the teeth, as your home country has done. ”

Hearing Wang Bin say this, the British representative could not bear it anymore and said: "Then I would like to ask you to explain why your militia has invited so many German soldiers to China for military training. As far as we know, German servicemen have a high opinion of your country's army. Believe that your country's army has extremely high combat effectiveness. ”

"Not German soldiers, but former German soldiers." Wang Bin immediately corrected. The military cooperation between former German soldiers and China is not too classified. Nearly 1,000 former generals, former colonels, and former lieutenants with rich combat experience formed a mock German staff headquarters and command system, which opened the eyes of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. The Germans who could start a world war were not in vain. The military technology tempered by years of accumulation of military theories and actual combat has given the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army a lot of inspiration.

Similarly, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which always adhered to the war of movement, made a deep impression on the German army. With a strong offensive spirit and flexible column tactics, the Germans even rejoiced that the Chinese had no interest in participating in the world war. If such an army of millions appeared on the European battlefield, Germany would have to pay a heavy price.

The two sides exchanged ideas on assault tactics, especially in the high-intensity firepower density assault battle, and summarized the tactics of the First World War. It is clear that the British have gathered intelligence about these collaborations.

The countries participating in the meeting also knew more or less about this information, and the fact that Japan and Britain openly threw out this information had no impact on the Chinese side at all. But other countries heard about the 5.5 million troops, as well as the German Army's military training of the Chinese Army. Almost at the same time, their faces changed.

As a result, the first day of the meeting almost became a verbal questioning and even a verbal crusade against China.

Gu Weijun was still tender, and when he encountered almost unanimous opposition from the great powers, his heart was still beating a lot faster. Wang Bin only emphasized one thing as if he had nothing to do, "We in China have had too many experiences in recent decades, and these experiences have made us certain of one thing. We must be able to defend China's security. ”

After the meeting that day, Gu Weijun asked Wang Bin with unbearable nervousness how the future negotiations should be carried out.

"Comrade Gu Weijun, as we said at the Paris Peace Conference, a country's strength and potential are not the same thing. At the Paris Peace Conference, we have the most potential to do. Now Britain and other countries are against the strength we have. "Wang Bin was not shaken at all by the fact that he was attacked by other countries during the day.

"But isn't that an excuse for other countries." Gu Weijun continued to ask.

Wang Bin smiled: "That's how rare and strange it is in other countries." Let's not talk about the total, let's count it per capita with them! As long as you calculate the per capita, you can see who these countries are really reckless! ”

"Count the ...... per capita" Gu Weijun felt a little enlightened.