"The British offered Chile the most important terms, in addition to the fact that they would be given a share of the disputed territories with Argentina after the war, that all the territories they had seized during the war be recognized, and that the saltpeter mines held by British merchants could be bought back by the British government in the form of economic aid." Zhang Quan said.

"It's really shameless, after the war, they all played synthetic ammonia and petrochemical, who would want them to mine saltpeter with difficult mining and high freight, the British are playing fools!" Emperor Yang was almost amused, but after all, the Chileans did not have such far-sighted ability as him, and the nationalization of saltpeter mines was what they had dreamed of for many years, and now that Britain had even opened such conditions, they could not be moved.

Zhang Quan couldn't help but smile, he naturally knew this, now China's synthetic ammonia industry can already meet domestic demand, and after the end of the war, it can be transferred from the military to collapse the natural saltpeter market, especially Chile's saltpeter, not only the distance is far away and the mining environment is harsh, it is impossible to compete with China's synthetic ammonia industry.

And not only China, Germany's synthetic ammonia industry is now not inferior to China, once the war is over, the natural saltpeter market will definitely plummet, the British just understand this and know that those saltpeter mines will go bankrupt after the war, so they use this worthless benefit to confuse the Chileans.

Now they have succeeded.

"What do we do next?" Zhang Quan asked, Chile's entry into the war is just a small episode, except for the Argentines, it will not affect anyone else, as for the Argentines, it just so happens that their 300,000 army is useful.

Zhang Quan means that China should now react to the changes in the European war situation, after all, China is still following behind a little brother, Sweden and Spain are not in a hurry, Sweden has already held the principle that no matter who loses or wins, it will not participate in the war, and Spain has long lost its ambition for European hegemony. Now they are bent on running their American colonies, and they are not much different from Chinese vassals now, no matter what choice China makes, when it chooses, the Spanish government can only honestly wait.

But Hamid II was already scratching his cheeks.

He was still waiting for the revival of the Ottoman Empire, some time ago he was thinking about joining the Central Powers, so that he could recapture Egypt in the hands of the British or the Caucasus and Crimea in the hands of the Russians, and now when he saw that the situation was not right, he immediately changed his goal and joined the Entente to retake Bosnia and Herzegovina. Or it would be nice to destroy Greece altogether.

"Our royal family and the government should not do anything tendentious, but the people can increase their friendship with the Entente, Congress can also organize some members to visit the United Kingdom, and in addition, in terms of the supply of materials to the Allies, the customs can strengthen supervision, of course, moderately, on the premise that it will not have a substantial impact on the Allies." Emperor Yang said.

"In that case, what if it causes panic among the Allies?" Zhang Quan said that his concerns were not unreasonable. After all, China is now too big, and everyone knows which side China joins will basically win, and if China's expression of the Entente is too obvious, it is easy to cause panic on the part of the Allies. At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already unstable, what if it was frightened to disintegrate, you must know that the Czechs have always been worried about independence, even Hungary has recently changed people's minds.

Except for Austria-Hungary. The other small countries that participated in the Central Powers, especially Greece, which was still guarding the Ottoman Empire, would probably find it difficult for them not to be careful. If Hamid II had joined the Entente, the first would have been the destruction of Greece. In this case, it is entirely possible for Greece to withdraw from the war as soon as possible, or even to fight back.

This is indeed a problem, and Emperor Yang has indeed been negligent in this point.

"In this way, the cabinet is in secret contact with Germany and Austria and other countries, for example, to discuss how to divide the world after the war if China enters the war, and so on, including several other countries of the Allies, can also sit down and discuss together, first give them a reassurance, tell them that we will definitely help them in the end, but now the issue of the distribution of interests has not been negotiated, and the military preparations have not yet been completed, so they must hold on, and they must continue to fight no matter what, and the day of victory is not far away." Emperor Yang said with a smile.

"That's all it can be in the current situation." Zhang Quan nodded and said.

In this way, at a time when the Chinese people and Congress were increasingly inclined to join the Entente, the Chinese government began to secretly discuss with the Allies in Berlin how to divide the world after the war.

In fact, during this time, no matter which side is desperately lobbying China, diplomats and even members of the royal family of various countries have a large number of special relations in China, William even sent his son to China to visit wèn, the British crown prince and his wife often run to China by airship to find their old friends, every time will bring a lot of friendship to the Chinese people, the Austro-Hungarian royal family in order to arouse the Chinese people on the fuse of this war, the assassination of Queen Elizabeth Xià good memories, She even financed the construction of a university in China in her name.

However, just when all parties were doing their best to show the traditional friendship between the two countries to the Chinese people, the European battlefield once again fell into a stalemate, and the effect of the Allies shrinking their forces was extremely obvious, especially in the German army on the Western Front, when the original convex front was reduced to a straight line, the originally tense forces were immediately much more relaxed. Although they had suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, their opponents had suffered even greater losses, with the British paying a full 500,000 casualties for this counteroffensive, and the French, though less than them, suffering 300,000 casualties, and, like the Germans, their attrition was not adequately replenished, so that the ability to attack was greatly weakened.

Of course, the French have run out of shamans again, which is also a very important reason.

The Russian army on the Eastern Front does not have this pressure, although they also paid more than a million casualties in the battle to recapture Ukraine, but the huge number of people allows Nikolai to be very lightly replenished and consumed, and the total number of troops mobilized by Russia is only one-tenth of the total population, and compared with Britain, France, Germany and other countries whose mobilized troops have reached one-fifth, Russia's potential is still early.

At least that's what Nikolai himself thinks.

It's a pity that he ignored the contradictions in his own country, and just when the news of the victory of the Russian army on the front line continued, something happened in their rear.

On a rainy day in June 1907, more than 100,000 workers in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, went on strike and then took to the streets in protest for the simple reason that they could no longer afford bread.

Nearly four years of war have cost Russia nearly 10 million casualties, which are all young and middle-aged laborers in the countryside, the food production of people who lack cultivation naturally declines, and it is also necessary to feed nearly 10 million soldiers on the front line, the most important grain-producing area Ukraine has become a ruin under the tug of war between the two sides, and the Russian government can only do its best to search the rear to supply the front line, resulting in the price of Russian grain rising steadily.

And in order to solve the financial problems, the large increase in the issuance of banknotes, and this situation has been exacerbated, like the countryside is better, the peasants can always find something to eat, but these workers can't, when the wages they earn, even three meals a day can not be maintained, and then there are some people with ulterior motives behind the move, naturally to stand up and express their anger.

In fact, this situation is different in all European countries, especially in France and Germany, which are about the same as in Russia.

These days are stimulated by the news of victory, Nikolai, who is immersed in the glory of the emperor, almost has his nose crooked, Lao Tzu defeated the battle and you protest, Lao Tzu is still protesting when he wins the battle? Isn't it just that life is tense and your stomach is not full? Compared with the soldiers who are charging in the rain of bullets on the front line, this is also embarrassing to complain? It's just a shame.

This guy did not hesitate to order the St. Petersburg city government to suppress it by forceful means, which was also supported by Prime Minister Stolypin, who was as tough as him, but it was clear that the strike was very well organized, and the striking workers did not flinch in front of the police's wooden sticks and water cannons, and even stormed the Winter Palace.

As soon as the cavalrymen wearing bright breastplates, wearing gorgeous helmets and carrying three-meter spears appeared, they did have a certain effect at first, and the sound of horses' hooves and the majestic commands of officers on the streets of St. Petersburg on the stone slabs formed a great sense of oppression, and some timid workers had begun to retreat in the face of this kind of scene, after all, they just couldn't eat enough to starve to death, and it was certainly not cost-effective to lose their lives in order to improve their treatment.

It's a pity that a bullet suddenly flew out of the crowd, completely ruined this beautiful atmosphere, looking at the cavalry next to him who was shot and fell, the officer who led the team did not hesitate to order the cavalry to charge the striking crowd, and then more bullets flew out of the crowd, and the cavalrymen who were not prepared to use guns were not polite at this time, and took off their carbines one by one and began to shoot at the crowd, because of the barbaric character of the Russians, there were even those who directly picked up submachine guns and fired.

By this time, the striking crowd had already been in chaos, and the whole street was crowded with workers crying for their lives, but occasionally a bullet would fly out of the crowd, and then shoot the striking cuirassiers off their horses, and the angry soldiers could not find out where the attackers were, anyway, if they looked at anything unpleasant, a bloody tucil unfolded in the streets of St. Petersburg. (To be continued......)