Chapter 755: Summit Gathering
At the insistence of Britain and China, the summit did not significantly weaken Germany, which retained all the lands it had before the war and allowed Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and other regions to establish states, which had in fact already been established, even the administrative departments and the army.
All of Germany's overseas colonies were partitioned, and all the German islands in the Pacific Ocean were taken over by China, which gave up its claim for war reparations against Germany. All of Germany's colonies in Africa became independent and free countries, and the United States itself made a lot of money, and it was not uncommon to pay war reparations, and it also gave up its claims for German war reparations, and only Belgium, Greece, Serbia, Romania and other small countries demanded reparations from Germany, and France did not give up its claims against Germany.
The French originally wanted to obtain a large area of land in the south and southwest of Germany and the industrial areas of Germany, but they did not expect that Britain and China would unite to oppose the partition of Germany, and France was weak and could not influence the decisions of the conference, and finally failed to achieve what they wanted, but only received a certain amount of reparations from Germany, and Germany was given a respite to create conditions for a re-emergence in the future.
On the day of the end of the Geneva Conference, the heads of state did not leave immediately, and at Xiao Zhenlei's suggestion, everyone continued to discuss how to deal with Soviet Russia.
After two days of talks and discussions, the heads of state unanimously agreed that it is necessary to resolutely curb the development of Soviet Russian forces, and to vigorously encircle and suppress Soviet Russian forces, to encircle and suppress Soviet Russia militarily and politically, to isolate Soviet Russia diplomatically, and that all countries must unite and refuse to engage in any form of trade with Soviet Russia. Not a single commodity was allowed to enter the territory of Soviet Russia.
When Soviet Russia was not yet founded, it aroused strong attention and all-out encirclement and suppression by Western countries, and the vast majority of countries did not allow the Russian Revolutionary Party to operate in its own country. Since the founding of Soviet Russia, it is said that it has shown a terrifying power. It also frightened the countries, believing that it was necessary to help Kolchak resist the attack of the Soviet and Russian sides. Representatives of various countries have held relevant meetings in China and reached some agreements on the one hand, to support Kolchak in terms of weapons, equipment, ammunition, and war materials, and on the other hand, to send a large amount of food and medicine to the past, to relieve the pressure on the survival there, and to directly participate in the war if necessary.
After reaching an agreement, the countries decided to use a part of the reparations from Germany and Austria-Hungary to purchase weapons, ammunition, and other war materials to be transported to Kolchak's defense zone in southern Russia, and at the same time, each country sent a troop, and the United States and other Western countries sent a total of 1.2 million troops. The Chinese army sent 1.3 million troops, including 200,000 troops from France, 200,000 troops from Britain, 200,000 troops from the United States, 50,000 troops from Italy, 50,000 troops from Belgium, 50,000 troops from the Netherlands, 50,000 troops from Austria, 50,000 troops from Greece, 50,000 troops from Serbia, 50,000 troops from Romania, 50,000 troops from Bulgaria, 100,000 troops from Turkey, 50,000 troops from Poland, 50,000 troops from Estonia, and 50,000 troops from Lithuania, while the Chinese army consisted of 1.2 million troops from the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Army Corps.
The 1.2 million men of the four corps of the Chinese army were already in Europe, and they only needed to go to the western border of Soviet Russia, and there was no need to make other preparations. By September 1, the armies of various countries must rush to the borders with Soviet Russia in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and other places.
On the question of command, the heads of state quarreled at the meeting, and half of them refused to relinquish command of the army. On the contrary, the heads of state of China, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, and other countries know the advantages of unified command, and they all know that with so many armed forces, it is necessary to have a unified command command to command and coordinate the armies of various countries. Thus there was a favour of centralizing the command of all armies, but the question of this supreme commander was disputed by the States.
This evening. The heads of state of China, Britain, France, and the United States held a small private gathering in the presidential suite where Xiao Zhenlei was resting.
The heads of state of the four countries sat in a circle on the sofa. Next to each seat is a coffee table with a humidor, ashtray, lighter, scissors, an open bottle of red wine and a glass full of red wine.
Xiao Zhenlei shook his wine glass, and said while shaking: "Gentlemen, the question now is not who will command the 2.4 million troops, but the question of making other countries willingly surrender their commands. Getting the heads of state to hand over command has become our most important issue at the moment, and only after solving this problem can we consider the question of who will command the coalition forces! ”
At this time, Wilson said: "Our country is in favor of unified command!" George, what do you mean? ”
British Prime Minister Lloyd's? George was forced to ask by Wilson like this, so he had to say: "Of course I am also in favor of unified command!" ”
"And what do you mean, Monsieur Clemenceau?" Xiao Zhenlei turned his head to look at the French Prime Minister, and his face was always the same smile.
This smiling face made the other three heads of state panic when they looked at it, they all knew that Xiao Zhenlei had a smile on his face all the time, but in fact, he was poisoned in his heart, and now no one knew what idea this guy had in his heart, and if he was not careful, he would suffer a big loss in front of him.
The old French man Clemenceau took a sip of red wine and said: "I agree with the unified command, only the unified command can give full play to the maximum combat capability of the army, I am still very clear about this, but this time I will definitely not agree to the British as the supreme commander again, absolutely disagree!" ”
George's face changed when he heard this, and he immediately pointed his cane at Clemenceau and was furious: "You old thing, what do you say? What's wrong with us British? Why not agree to have us British as supreme commanders? Are you French commanders? Do you French go to war? ”
"Good, good!" Clemenceau stomped on the ground with his cane and said angrily: "Yes, we in France will not fight. Are you British going to war? If it weren't for the blind command of you British field marshals, how could we French boys have lost more than four million people in the course of the entire war? ”
George said angrily: "You France have a lot of deaths. Didn't we British boys have any casualties? Our British boys also lost more than two million in battle, close to three million ??????."
Clemenceau immediately fought back: "That's right." What does this mean? It shows that you British will not command a war at all, and this time I will definitely not agree to have your British general as the supreme commander, don't harm others and yourself at that time! ”。
"You ??????" George's face turned blue with anger, and the red wine glass in his hand trembled all the time.
At this time, Wilson hurriedly came out to play a round: "Enough is enough, gentlemen, this is not a vegetable market, please maintain a gentlemanly demeanor!" ”
When the two old men heard Wilson say this, they immediately stopped squeaking, although the two old men did not accept anyone. No one looks at anyone who is not pleasing to the eye.
Wilson continued: "I also know that with the background of our country, the generals' ability in command is certainly inferior to yours, and I think that if this is not the case, we will determine who will be the supreme commander according to the results of the war, and in this regard, I think that the generals of the Chinese country are not only very capable of commanding operations, but also have a lot of experience in commanding operations, especially large-scale operations. This can be seen in the results."
Xiao Zhenlei stood up with his wine glass and asked the two old men: "Mr. George, Mr. Clemenceau." I wonder what you guys think of President Wilson's opinion? Gentlemen are all heads of state, we should be responsible for the lives of our soldiers, and having a commander with strong command skills can make our soldiers die a lot less, gentlemen. We died enough in the last war, we can't afford to die a few million, we can't afford to die! Do you agree that our country should appoint a general as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces? ”
The two old men looked at each other the same. At the same time, he sighed and nodded at the same time: "Okay." We agree! ”
At this time, Wilson asked, "Mr. Xiao, I don't know which general of your country you plan to make the supreme commander?" ”
Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and said, "To say that Cai Guodong is the most suitable for being the supreme commander. But he has been in the European battlefield for too long, and he also needs to return to China to recuperate, and the supreme commander will be General Cai Yi, I don't know what you think? ”
Wilson and the other three old men looked at each other, and Wilson said, "General Cai Ye is the supreme commander, I agree!" ”
The other two old men said, "We also agreed!" ”
"Well, thank you, gentlemen!" Xiao Zhenlei was relieved, but after changing the topic, he continued: "But I have to put forward two requirements: first, on the issue of command, it must be highly unified, and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces will be established by General Cai Yi, after the establishment of the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces, the command of the armies sent by various countries will not be in each country, but in the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces, that is to say, before the end of this war, all countries have no right to give orders to the troops sent, and they will not and dare not carry out the orders issued by various countries, Otherwise, the Allied High Command has the right to sanction them, I will blow the wind to you first, this is definitely not a joke, lest someone lose their heads at the time, don't blame me for not reminding you in advance, if this kind of thing really happens, don't ask me for a lawsuit, I will definitely not help you! ”
"Secondly, there must also be unification in logistics, for we have agreed in advance that the military expenditures to support this war shall be paid from the German war reparations, and each country shall first spend 20 per cent, and if the war is not over, additional military expenditures shall be determined later, as the case may be, and this military expenditure shall not be allocated by the finances of each country, but must be set up in a special bank account by the Allied High Command, and then Germany shall directly transfer 20 per cent of each reparation to this account, Of course, it is impossible for Germany to pay all the reparations at once, the military spending in the early stage may be very tight, and the insufficient part can be borrowed by the Allied High Command from the world's major banks to support military spending, and the Allied High Command has military expenditures without going through any country, directly placing orders to the military factories of various countries, and the logistics are directly responsible for the Allied High Command, and the countries can no longer meddle in anything with the Allied Forces, and the Allied High Command has the responsibility and obligation to inform the countries of the war situation every once in a while, Countries can send battlefield observation groups to the front line for military observation, but all this must be agreed by the Allied High Command! These are my two requests, do you agree? ”
Wilson and the others nodded at the same time: "Okay, we agree!" (To be continued......)