After several days of discussions, and strong pressure from the Chinese and American sides, the representatives of the envoys of the various countries had to compromise, and after consulting their respective governments, the representatives of the envoys of the participating countries agreed to allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to retain the Duchy of Carinthia, the Duchy of Salzburg, the Duchy of Styria, the Duchy of Austria and the Tyrel, as well as the former Alps, to allow the peoples of the other principalities and kingdoms to be self-governing, and to form their own independent and sovereign states, and the total war reparations demanded by each country amounted to one billion pounds. These war reparations were borne by all the governments of the Austro-Hungarian nations.

On 9 December, Karl I, who received news from China, announced that he had renounced the throne of Austria-Hungary and became King of the Kingdom of Austria, and appointed himself Supreme Commander of all the Wehrmacht forces in the Kingdom of Austria, which consisted of Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Austria and Tyrrell, as well as the former Alps, which would be divided into a number of provinces under the direct jurisdiction of the Cabinet of the Kingdom, and in addition, the other kingdoms, principalities, regions, free cities, and provinces of the former Austria-Hungary would be allowed to govern themselves.

These decisions of Karl I can be said to have been promulgated in full accordance with the results of the deliberations of the Entente countries, and thus won the support of the Entente countries, especially the two emerging powers of China and the United States.

After the declaration of Karl I, the Chinese on behalf of the Entente then issued a statement agreeing with Karl I's decision and announcing the decisions of the nations against Austria-Hungary, in addition to those declared by Karl I, also demanding that the Kingdom of Austria and all other new governments that were subsequently formed jointly bear the war reparations of one billion pounds, of which China and the United States gave up their demands for reparations, while some of the Entente countries such as Great Britain, France, Belgium, Greece, Serbia, and Romania demanded a total of one billion reparations.

Subsequently, with the exception of the territories of the Kingdom of Austria. Ethnic forces in other parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire began to organize themselves into political parties, as they were now under the control of the Chinese army. The attitude of all Chinese troops played a crucial role, and without the consent of the Chinese side. It is basically impossible for local forces to come to power.

In response to this, Xiao Zhenlei specially sent Yang Shiqi to fly to Europe by special plane again to hold secret talks with representatives of various ethnic forces in those regions, and this matter will not be mentioned for the time being.

After the surrender of Austria-Hungary, Germany was left alone, truly isolated. Wilhelm I already had a premonition that Germany would not be able to do so, and the anxiety and panic in his heart could be imagined how serious it was, but at the same time he did not despair, Germany still had strength, and the end of defeat was too heavy for Germany, and he did not want Germany to bear the charge of defeat. At this time, Germany was no longer under his control, and although Hindenburg and Ludendorff still respected him and followed his instructions on many issues, Wilhelm II did not know how to decide on many issues, but had to ask their opinions and then order according to their opinions, and to some extent, he was controlled by the minds of Hindenburg and Ludendorff.

The war was fought for more than four years, due to a number of battles in the early stages. The Germans fought very smoothly, not only suffered very few losses, but also crushed the main force of the Anglo-French army in the shortest possible time, and drove the remnants of the Anglo-French army to the British mainland. Germany occupied the entire territory of France and more than 80 percent of Europe, including Russia, the Balkans, and Belgium. Plundering vast amounts of wealth and untold resources for war, they used the 1.8 million British and French captives they had captured to work. Producing war materiel for them day and night, Germany used the vast quantities of strategic materiel that had been plundered to boost the German economy not only in the early stages of the war. And it has been preventing Germany's economic downturn to this day.

At this time, Germany had actually become a military dictatorship composed of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and the military headed by Ludendorff implemented a military dictatorship in the country, strictly restricted gatherings, and mobilized idle people throughout the country to actively engage in production activities, even teenage children were engaged in various jobs, and there was not even a single person wandering on the streets on weekdays, and everyone walking was in a hurry.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff are an excellent pair, their cooperation is very tacit, Hindenburg is the chief of the General Staff, and Ludendorff is the chief quartermaster and Hindenburg's deputy at the strategic command level, before Ludendorf has been in full charge of the war on the Eastern Front, Russia was defeated and retreated, and the heavy casualties are his credit.

December 10, Belgium, German military-political summit.

The atmosphere of the meeting was somewhat dreary, and the marshals and generals all held large pipes and some smoked cigarettes in their mouths.

Wilhelm II clenched his fists and slammed them on the table and shouted furiously: "Carl is such a coward, how can he surrender?" How could he choose to surrender when the situation was not completely clear, he was so irresponsible, damn the Habsburgs, their family is all soft eggs! ”

Hindenburg said in a calm tone: "My Majesty, please calm down, Austria-Hungary has surrendered, but we have not yet failed, we still have nearly three million troops, we still have countless strategic materials and strong military production capacity, we still have hope, now the Western Front battlefield Britain, France and the United States have no ability to attack, our only concern is the Chinese army, the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army is beyond our imagination, as long as we can block the attack of the Chinese army, we can force the Entente to conduct peace negotiations."

Wilhelm II said: "But the damned US President Wilson issued a statement demanding that we surrender unconditionally!" ”

"No way, it's absolutely impossible!" Ludendorf stood up and said loudly: "Why should the Americans demand that we surrender unconditionally? They were annihilated by us 900,000 people in the previous battle, and the Americans have lost 1.3 million people before and after, and now the entire United States has less than 700,000 troops, and the maximum number in Europe is only 600,000, the combat effectiveness of the American soldiers is simply scum, the only thing they can praise is their powerful firepower, if we have so many war resources and military industrial production capacity of the Americans, our army can fight the whole world! ”

At the beginning of the war, Ludendorff performed extremely well in the battle of the German army to capture the fortress of the Scorch, for which he was appreciated by the Kaiser, but given his background in the middle and lower classes, he could not be the main commander of the army, and soon after he was sent to the Eastern Front as the chief of staff of the Eighth Army, as Hindenburg's deputy, the two of them cooperated tacitly, fought well on the Eastern Front, drove the Russian army out of East Prussia in the first battle, and also forced the Russian army to abandon Poland, Lithuania, the land west of Riga and the Volyn region, The loss of personnel exceeded 1.7 million people. As a result of this series of brilliant victories, Ludendorff and Hindenburg became icons in the hearts of the German people.

Last October, Ludendorff commanded the Austro-German forces in the Caporetto offensive. The Austro-German army used sixteen divisions against fifty-five divisions commanded by General Cardona, inflicting direct losses of more than 300,000 Italian troops and almost expelling Italy from the war. Also in last year's armistice between Germany and Russia, he played a key role in the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, which cost the Russians dearly. For his distinguished performance in the war, he was made a nobleman and became Erich? Feng? Ludendorff.

Since the beginning of this year, the German army has launched three successive large-scale attacks and counterattacks on the Western Front, using a series of new tactics, including the infiltration tactics of the Storm Force, which played an important role in the previous three major battles and inflicted heavy losses on the Allies.

Hindenburg saw that Ludendorff had another arrogant tendency, and immediately stopped: "Marshal Ludendorff, please don't get excited, excitement will not solve the problem." It is already very difficult to win this war with the overall strength of our Germany, but it is not so easy for the Entente to defeat us, although we have no hope of winning, but there is still hope for ensuring that this chess game becomes a draw! ”

As everyone in the room began to talk about each other, Wilhelm II sat up straight and looked at Hindenburg and asked, "What is your opinion?" ”

Under the gaze of all the other generals, Hindenburg said: "My Majesty, marshals and generals, do we have a conflict of interest with the Chinese state?" ”

Everyone, look at me, I look at you, Wilhelm II said: "We Germany and China are thousands of miles apart, geographically speaking, we simply cannot have a conflict of interests, if there is any other grievance between us, that is, our German army joined the Eight-Nation Alliance to attack China, we have occupied a piece of land in China, but we have returned it to them!" ”

"Not bad!" Hindenburg stood up and said: "We don't have any conflict of interest with China, the reason why China is at war with us is because of the alliance with Britain and France and has to send troops, I think it's time for us to secretly send an envoy to contact the Chinese side, if we can reach a secret agreement with the Chinese side, as long as we can keep the current defense line of China and no longer advance westward, we can free up our hands to deal with Britain, France and the United States!" ”

Ludendorff slapped the table when he heard the words and said, "Well said, well said!" I don't feel ashamed to lose to Huaguo, after all, Huaguo has a long history, but I am not convinced by losing to Britain, France, and the United States, and as long as the Chinese army can guarantee that the existing defense line will not move, I have absolute certainty that Britain, France, and the United States will take the initiative to hold peace talks with us."

All the generals and officials looked at Wilhelm II, who thought for a long time and finally agreed: "Okay, secretly send someone to contact the Chinese side!" (To be continued......)