Huaguo Jingcheng, Presidential Palace.

Jiang Baili came to Xiao Zhenlei's office, Xiao Zhenlei looked up and greeted him: "Baili, why did you come here today?" ”

"President, Austria-Hungary sent someone to contact us, they want peace talks, because it is a secret contact, and they don't want this matter to be known to the world, so they contacted us through military channels, the person who came is Empress Zeta, the wife of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I, she is currently at the headquarters of the 89th Division on our front, Zhou Chuandong, the commander of the Fifth Army Corps, has already met with her, and now he is also there, Cai Guodong sent a telegram to report the matter."

Xiao Zhenlei lit a cigarette after listening to Jiang Baili's report, thought for a while and said: "Since the American authorities interpreted Wilson's fourteen-point principle, the blow to Austria-Hungary has been very great, when Wilson did not mention the fourteen-point principle before, the national forces in Austria-Hungary did not dare to move, but since Wilson mentioned the fourteen-point principle, the minds of the various national forces in Austria-Hungary began to live, they began to move, everywhere to contact in series, Karl I was a smart man, He knew very well that if the Austro-Hungarian Empire was disposed of according to Wilson's fourteen-point principle, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire would cease to exist, his throne would be lost, an emperor without the throne and power, others were worried that he would come to power again, and they would definitely find ways to kill him, and the fate of their family would not be much better than that of Nicholas II. It makes sense that he secretly made peace with us! ”

Jiang Baili asked, "That?????? Are we going to make secret peace with Austria-Hungary? How did Cai Guodong reply? ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought about it and raised his finger and said, "This matter is not in a hurry, so let's do it, you can come over again at two o'clock this afternoon." I'll convene a meeting of the staff group, and you and Cai will come over to provide military advice."

"Okay. If it's okay, I'll stay and go back first! ”

As a matter of fact. Whether or not to dispose of Austria-Hungary in accordance with Wilson's Fourteen-Point Principle will have little impact on China, but one thing is certain, if Austria-Hungary is disposed of according to the intentions of Britain and France, then Britain and France will definitely demand that Austria-Hungary cede territory or pay a large amount of reparations, so as to achieve their goal of increasing their sphere of influence and influence in Europe, and if it is carried out according to Wilson's Fourteen-Point Principle, the autonomy of all ethnic groups in Austria-Hungary will be allowed. Then let the British and French attempts to acquire colonies from Austria-Hungary and increase their sphere of influence in Europe be frustrated, although China and the United States have nothing to gain from this. However, it can make Britain and France fail to achieve their goals, and also weaken the strength of Britain and France.

However, if there are secret peace talks with Austria-Hungary, then China will definitely be able to get certain benefits, but it will have to bear certain risks to conduct secret peace talks with Austria-Hungary, after all, Wilson has put forward the fourteen-point principle, and other Entente countries such as Britain and France have explicitly agreed to negotiate and deal with the Allies on the basis of these fourteen-point principles, that is, Xiao Zhenlei also contacted Wilson by telegram some time ago, and he has no objection to dealing with the Allies in these fourteen-point principles so as to maintain world peace. If China wants to make peace with Austria-Hungary in secret. Once the news spreads, it will certainly be condemned by various countries, and this will take a great risk, and China will be extremely passive in international relations in the future.

When this issue was discussed at the afternoon meeting of the staff group, there was an impasse for a while. No one dared to guarantee that secret peace talks would be leaked before the end of the war, and one of Wilson's Fourteen Principles was that countries could not negotiate secretly with each other. Everything has to be done on the bright side that everyone can see.

The atmosphere in the conference room was dreary and smoky. The air is a little bad. The staff knew that Xiao Zhenlei did not want to give up some benefits from Austria-Hungary, and proceeded according to Wilson's fourteen-point principle. No one will benefit from anything, but only the careerists of the various nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After a few minutes of silence, Yang Shiqi spoke: "President, I think we can send someone to meet with Empress Zeta, please don't forget, what is the identity of Empress Zeta, although she is the wife of Karl I and the queen of Austria-Hungary, but she does not hold any public office in Austria-Hungary, so she cannot sign treaties with any country on behalf of Austria-Hungary, even if we are found to meet with her, countries will not have any handle, but if we want to sign a treaty with Austria-Hungary, Then Austria-Hungary would need to send someone else, and if we were to be on the safe side, we would not be able to keep a treaty on paper, and we would only be able to get some practical benefits that we could get now! ”

When everyone heard this, they suddenly realized, isn't it dark under the lamp, why did they forget that Queen Zeta did not hold a public office?

Xiao Zhenlei also remembered after listening to Yang Shiqi's words, Empress Zeta really did not hold a public office, he slapped the table and laughed: "Yes, yes!" Now the countries will not be able to hold our handle, so they will agree to make peace with Austria-Hungary, so what benefits can we gain from it? If you want to get the actual benefits now, don't sign any treaties, the treaties can't be made public, we can only want the actual benefits! Now everyone is deliberating and deliberating."

The meeting lasted for more than two hours and did not end until more than four o'clock, after which Xiao Zhenlei left Yang Shiqi behind and called him to the office.

"Mr. Yang, I want you to stay, I mean I want you to negotiate with Queen Zeta, you have been to Europe, you know some about the situation in Europe, and you also know how to negotiate with foreigners, this matter, I want to please sir, I don't know if Mr. is willing to go?"

Yang Shiqi bowed and said: "Thank you for the president's trust, Yang will never give up!" ”

On November 21, Yang Shiqi took a special plane to the Balkans again, and after arriving in Sofia, he took a special bus to Budapest again.

At the headquarters of the 89th Division, Zhou Chuandong took the guards to the small courtyard where Empress Zita was staying, and soon saw Empress Zeta and asked, "Your Royal Highness, have you had a good time in the past two days?" ”

Empress Zeta smiled: "Yes, Your Excellency General, this place is very quiet, if it weren't for the smoke of artillery fire, this would definitely be a place with beautiful mountains and rivers!" Did the general come today to tell me about your government's reply? ”

Zhou Chuandong said: "Yes, Your Majesty the Queen, our government has agreed to hold secret peace talks with your country, and now the negotiators sent from here have rushed to Europe, the conditions here are too bad, and the negotiations are not negotiated in a day or two, we consider that Her Royal Highness may not be used to being here for a long time, and the conditions here are also limited, if Her Royal Highness agrees, we can set the negotiation venue at the Grand Budapest Hotel, and the living conditions in Budapest are much better than here, I wonder what Her Royal Highness thinks of her? ”

Empress Zeta nodded and said, "Everything is subject to your arrangement, I have no opinion!" ”

Zhou Chuandong immediately said: "Okay, I will return to Budapest today, and by the way, I will also escort Her Royal Highness the Empress over, if I leave in an hour, I will arrive at about nine o'clock tonight, and you and your entourage can also have a good sleep in Budapest!" ”

After arriving in Budapest, Empress Zeta and the other three were arranged to stay in the VIP room of the Grand Budapest Hotel, Yang Shiqi was on the way at this time, and had not yet arrived, so Empress Zeta could only wait for a day or two.

Zeta stood in front of the window of the hotel room and looked at Budapest in the night scene and felt deeply sad, this was once the eastern capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, she was not only the queen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but also the queen of the Kingdom of Hungary, she used to be the mistress of this beautiful city, but now she has lost her identity as the mistress of the city, the city is now being ruled by the Chinese army, she never thought that this kind of thing would happen, but this thing really happened.

"Her Royal Highness the Queen, pack up, you can rest early, and we will accompany you to go shopping tomorrow!"

"Good!"

After Yang Shiqi arrived in Sofia, he took a special car on the road for two days before arriving at Budapest, although the traffic was not very smooth, but it was safe, the bunkers were all the sphere of influence of the Chinese army, the remnants of the Austrian army had been cleaned up, and under the strong power of the Chinese army, some ethnic forces in various places also dared to touch the mold of the Chinese army.

Yang Shiqi also stayed in the Budapest Hotel after meeting Zhou Chuandong, and visited Queen Zeta in winter, which was regarded as meeting and getting to know him, but now is not the time to negotiate, he is tired along the way, he is really tired, and he needs to take a break.

Yang Shiqi also knew that the negotiations must be carried out as soon as possible, the sooner the negotiations were settled, the better, and it was easy for the news to leak after a long time, which might cause the intervention of external forces, so after meeting with Empress Zeta, the two decided to negotiate immediately after a day of rest.

On this day, Zhou Chuandong booked a table at the Grand Budapest Hotel to invite Empress Zeta and Yang Shiqi to a banquet, and invited the two to participate, and the two naturally couldn't help but give face, after all, this Budapest is Zhou Chuandong's territory now.

Queen Zeta was eating food at the banquet, with a smile on her face, but she was very unhappy in her heart, she turned out to be the hostess of the city, and it stands to reason that she should have invited Yang Shiqi to a banquet, but now she is not qualified. However, Yang Shiqi and Zhou Chuandong did not embarrass her, nor did they give her any domineering feeling, which made her feel a lot more comfortable, and she also sighed.

At the banquet, Yang Shiqi asked: "Her Royal Highness the Queen, negotiations will start tomorrow, is there no problem on your side?" ”

Empress Zeta smiled: "No problem, I'm all ready, but you have just arrived, do you want to rest for two days before starting?" ”

Yang Shiqi smiled: "No, no, after yesterday's rest, I have recovered my spirits!" (To be continued......)