The First World War, or more precisely the war in Europe, is better, whatever you call it, the war is over anyway, and all that remains is the full distribution of the world order!

As early as the end of World War I, US President Wilson proclaimed in the US Congress the 14-point principle for protecting human rights.

The Yanjing political axe selected Lu Zhengxiang, Gu Weijun, Shi Zhaoji, Wei Chen, and Wang Zhengting as Chinese delegates to form a delegation to attend the Paris Peace Conference.

The president of the Paris Peace Conference was Clemenceau, the head of the French delegation. The vice-presidents were Lan Sin, the head of the American delegation, Lloyd George, the head of the British delegation, Orlando, the head of the Italian delegation, and the Marquis of Xiyuan Temple, the head of the delegation.

On January 18, the 8th year of the Republic of China, the Paris Peace Conference officially opened at the Palace of Versailles, and on the 27th, the Supreme Conference of France, the United States, Britain, Italy, and the Five Powers was opened to discuss the disposition of the German colonies and the occupied territories in East Turkey. The German colonies included, of course, Tsingtao in China. US President Wilson proposed that all the German colonies and the occupied territories of Eastern Turkey be jointly administered by the international community, but France, Britain, Italy, and the four countries opposed it, and after a week of compromise discussions, it was finally decided to use the system of mandate rule, and the League of Nations would appoint appropriate countries to rule on behalf of each colony according to their educational level and length of rule, and according to the needs of each colony. This was tantamount to the division of the German colonies by the five powers.

There was only one Qingdao left to be discussed, because Qingdao was a land leased by Germany to China, and strictly speaking, it was not a real territory of Germany, so when the Qingdao issue was discussed at the top meeting of the top five on the 27th, the French Foreign Ministry notified the Chinese delegation to attend, and China was attended by Gu Weijun and Wang Zhengting. At that time, the representative put forward a request for the political axe, which roughly read: The political axe should be unconditionally ceded to the land leased in Jiaozhou Bay, the railway, and all other rights of the Germans in Shandong

Unfortunately, the Chinese delegates did not prepare an explanation on the Qingdao issue, so when the Chinese delegates put forward their request to invade and occupy Qingdao, the Chinese delegates were greatly embarrassed, and Gu Weijun stood up and issued a statement, saying:

"The Qingdao issue is of great importance to China, and it is hoped that the Conference will give the Chinese delegation a time to put forward concrete views before discussing them. The meeting agreed that the delegates would put forward detailed opinions before submitting them for discussion. ”

The Chinese delegation returned to the League headquarters in the evening to prepare a detailed statement on the question of Qingdao, namely, China's proposal for the direct return to China of the leased land of Jiaoji, the Jiaoji Railway, and other German rights in Shandong Province.

The Chinese delegation's statement to the Paris Peace Conference was divided into four items: A, B, C, and D. Item A states the origin and scope of Germany's Lend-Lease and other rights in Shandong Province, Item B states the origin and scope of the military occupation of Shandong, and Item C explains the reasons for China's demand for the return of Jiaoao; Item D explains the reasons why Jiaoao should be returned directly to China.

Gu Weijun said at the peace conference: "As for the Qingdao issue, which concerns 40,000,000 people, this plenipotentiary responsibility is also extremely heavy, saying that China has expelled German power from Shandong, and Britain has done its best to provide assistance in spite of the danger of the war in Europe, and to confront Germany and make Germany unable to send troops to the east to aid the United Nations. However, ceding the natural rights of the Chinese people as reward, and leaving behind the seeds of future disputes, is the one who has to fight for it. This is not only sincerity to China, respect for China's fundamental rights to political reading and territorial integrity, but also a belief in China, and sincerity for peace. ”

Makino immediately said: "The reason for the proposal has been explained in detail yesterday, and after the occupation of Jiaozhou Bay, it has been said that it has in fact been a subordinate so far. However, China said that there was an agreement between the two countries to exchange Jiaozhou Bay and return it, and there was also a treaty on the railway. These official documents are also considered to be of great value to the four countries. ”

Wilson mediated: "Does this representative have any intention to put forward the preceding document at the meeting?" ”

Makino didn't have time to think: "I said that this political axe will never oppose this matter, but it needs to be trained." ”

Gu Weijun immediately said: "China's political axe is very willing to put forward. ”

Then Gu Weijun said: "China's views on the Jiaoji Railway are different from those of Baron Makino. He said that China did not refuse to return the leased land and other rights in Shandong from Germany at that time, and that he had made a serious statement to China and the world that he did not want to take it for himself, and that China was convinced of it and that China's declaration of war against Germany had clearly stated that all the treaties between China and Germany had been extinguished by the declaration of war, and that if the treaties were extinguished, China would have been the lord of the territory, and that Germany's Jiaozhou leased land and other rights in Shandong had already been legally owned by China. The Lend-Lease Treaty was not annulled by China's declaration of war on Germany, but since the treaty was expressly forbidden to be transferred to other countries, Germany had no right to transfer it to other countries! ”

At the Paris Peace Conference, he did not expect China to be so tough on the Qingdao issue, and he was very annoyed that he had planned to devour Qingdao, but he did not expect it to encounter great resistance. The Chinese delegates did not at all flinch from his arrogant attitude.

Chinese representative Wang Zhengting threatened reporters on the sidelines of the peace conference:

"As for the secret treaty between China in September 1918, the Chinese delegates can make it public at any time."

On September 24, the 7th year of the Republic of China, Zhang Zongxiang, the Chinese minister to China, replied to the note of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Goto Shinpei, who said that the official government believed that the rights of Shandong should belong to the Chinese government, and that the so-called rights went beyond the 21st article, stipulating that the Jiaoji Railway should be jointly run by the Chinese government, and that the police along the road should hire the Chinese people, and that Jinan and Qingdao should both live in the soldiers. He asked the Chinese political axe to "readily agree," and Zhang Zongxiang "readily agreed" to the Chinese political axe in accordance with the note from the Chinese political axe.

Therefore, Makino, the representative of the Peace Conference, asked the Supreme Council to pay attention to this exchange of letters at the Peace Conference. Outsiders did not know the contents of this exchange of letters, so of course the reporters inquired about the contents, and Deputy Wang Zhengting replied to the reporters as follows.

On 2 February, the Minister of Yenching in Yanjing, Kohata, on behalf of his acting foreign minister, presented his protest to China's acting foreign minister, Chen Zhengaxe, and under pressure from all sides, Yanjing announced the contents of the conversation, but the contents of the announcement concealed the truth and denied that he had made intimidation.

The government and the opposition throughout the country were unanimously indignant at the arrogance of the government, and the United States, Britain, and France also condemned the cowardice and incompetence of the Yanjing political axe against the diplomacy of the country.

After Kohata lodged a protest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yenching sent a telegram ordering the Chinese delegates not to publish the secret treaty, and later, after receiving pressure from home and abroad, it issued a supplementary telegram instructing the Chinese delegates whether to publish the secret treaty or not. When will it be published? It can be decided based on the objective situation.

On February 12, 1919, the Chinese delegates announced the Sino-Chinese Secret Treaty at the Paris Peace Conference.

The Paris Peace Conference was at a low ebb, as US President Wilson returned to the United States and France's Tiger Prime Minister Clemenceau was assassinated, so the Supreme Council was temporarily suspended.

However, the Chinese delegates still made various efforts, and on 15 February they proposed the abolition of the post on the secret treaty in the fourth year of the Republic of China and the post on the Shandong issue. In early March, he continued to make a statement about the peace treaty with Germany. In mid-April, he proposed to abolish the privileges of various countries in China, including giving up the spheres of influence of various countries in China, withdrawing foreign police, abolishing foreign postal and telecommunications organs, abolishing consular jurisdiction, returning concessions and leased lands, and amending tariff agreements.

The sudden departure of the two giants has caused China to lose its support, and all countries are busy drafting peace treaties with Germany, and no one has time to manage China, so the efforts of the Chinese representatives have been fruitless.

Although the Chinese delegates fought hard, they failed under the title of "Treaty Sanctity" and withdrew from the meeting.

In the 8th year of the Republic of China, U.S. President Wilson returned to China after attending the Paris Peace Conference in Paris, he came with full ideals, but returned with infinite disappointment, and the United States was also a wave of opposition to the Paris Peace Conference at that time, and sure enough, the U.S. Congress later vetoed the ratification of the Paris Peace Treaty, and at the same time refused to join the League of Nations, so the United States withdrew from international affairs.

At this meeting, China won and lost.

As it was a victorious power, the Treaty of Versailles stipulated some provisions in favor of China, such as the abolition of Germany's consular jurisdiction in China, the cancellation of China's indemnity to Germany, and the return of concessions other than Shandong. The Austrian Peace Treaty also enabled China to join the League of Nations and was elected to the Executive Yuan of the League of Nations.

However, the failure lies in the fact that China demanded to claim back the sovereignty of the Shandong Peninsula forcibly occupied by Germany, but Britain, France, and Italy advocated transferring Germany's interests to the United States, and the United States proposed to temporarily hand over the sovereignty of Britain, France, Italy, and the United States to the joint management of the five countries, but the United States refused.

The Chinese delegation put forward two proposals to the peace conference: to abolish the privileges of imperialism in China; revoke the "21 Articles" that China has forced to recognize, and recover Shandong's rights and interests; But the proposal was rejected.

On April 11, the 8th year of the Republic of China, Zhang Zongxiang, the Chinese envoy to the country, asked for leave to return to China, accompanied Chen, boarded the train at Tokyo's Chuo Shimbashi Station, and left 10 students to see him off with the banner of "traitor", surrounded Minister Zhang, and the students were angry and asked Zhang, how many traitorous secret treaties were made? How many borrowings are you? The situation is serious!

Soon after, the police arrived and escorted Zhang Zongxiang and his wife to the car. Someone in the crowd shouted:

"Minister Zhang, Zhang Zongxiang, since you have betrayed the country, why don't you sell your wife first!"

After the news of China's defeat at the Paris Peace Conference came, the students were the first to attack, and they sent out a telegram denouncing the traitors.

And all this, for a big president in the south, the time is ripe for the unification of the Northern Expedition by force.

What he had been waiting for was such a political opportunity.

Wang Hengyue!

(To be continued)