On the second day of the Nine-Power Conference against the Chinese Empire, representatives of the Entente Powers, the Allied Powers, and the United States and Japan discussed plans for increasing the number of troops in the Russian and Indian battlefields.

The focus of the 9 countries is to increase the troops in the Ural Mountains of the Russian battlefield, and the other 8 countries except Japan will send an additional 2.3 million army troops into Russia, so that counting the 3 million troops of the Entente and the Central Powers on the line from Ufa City to the Ural Mountains, the 8 countries can concentrate 5.3 million troops on the front line of the Russian battlefield.

After the Battle of Ufa City, the allied forces of the Entente and the Central Powers exceeded 7 million allied troops, and in the end only 3.5 million remained, including 670,000 German Army, 560,000 French Army, 1.29 million Russian Army, 180,000 British Army, 200,000 Italian Army, 320,000 Austro-Hungarian Army, 210,000 Ottoman Turkish Army, including hundreds of thousands of wounded, about 100,000 in Germany, about 80,000 in France, more than 220,000 in Russia, and nearly 25,000 in Britain. There were also around 25,000 in Italy, 35,000 in Austria-Hungary, and 25,000 in the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

If the eight countries had sent troops to the front line of the Russian battlefield in the Ural Mountains as agreed, and had removed the wounded hundreds of thousands of allied wounded, Hindenburg would have commanded 870,000 German Army, 780,000 French Army, 1.57 million Russian Army, 255,000 British Army, 275,000 Italian Army, 385,000 Austro-Hungarian Army, 285,000 Ottoman Turkish Army, and 800,000 U.S. Army.

It took almost a whole day for the delegates of various countries to gather an army of 5.3 million troops from the Russian battlefield from Ufa City to the Ural Mountains. After all, the seven countries of the Entente and the Central Powers all suffered too heavy losses in the Battle of Ufa City. Many countries are reluctant to send more troops into the Russian theater, and they all want other allies to send more troops into this meat grinder. Send less to your own country.

After discussing the plan for the Russian battlefield to increase troops again, and deciding to send 300,000 British troops, 100,000 French troops, and 100,000 German troops to India, the next day's nine-nation meeting was also over.

On the evening of the end of the second day's meeting, the representatives of the nine countries still gathered together to push cups and change lamps, and there was no sign of the tension during the day when discussing the number of troops to be increased by each country.

On February 12, 1909, the third day of the Nine-Power Conference, the representatives of the nine countries gathered again in the conference room of the German Foreign Office in Berlin. For our 9 countries, it is very successful, we have spent 2 days, we have already formulated the next national navy and army battle plan, I believe that as long as our 9 countries are sincerely united, the final victory of this war will definitely belong to us! The main content of today's meeting is to discuss the distribution of interests after the war, and we nine countries must discuss a result that everyone agrees on, once the Chinese Empire chooses to surrender. We need the Chinese Empire to agree to the outcome that we have negotiated today. ”

The representatives of the other eight countries all nodded without controversy, and in addition to the military plans for the Chinese Empire, this nine-nation meeting also had an important topic. As for the distribution of benefits after the war, the nine countries all hoped to gain huge benefits through this war. To make up for the losses in the war, but the Chinese Empire is a big piece of fat. I can't stand the snatching of 9 hungry wolves, and I have to discuss which country should bite this big fat meat and where.

German Prime Minister Hohenlohe just wanted to continue talking. At this time, the representative of the United States, Vice President William? Howard? Taft stood up and said: "Before discussing the post-war distribution, there is unfortunate news to tell you, I received a telegram from China early this morning, a few days ago a passenger ship from Sydney, Australia to San Francisco, was attacked by torpedoes in the sea less than 500 nautical miles from Sydney, 726 passengers on board, including the crew, and finally only 24 people were rescued by a passing Belgian cargo ship, and those passengers on the passenger ship went to Los Angeles to escape the ongoing war in Australia, According to the list of passengers on board in the port of Sydney, among the passengers killed, we Americans were 310, Australians 212, British 144, French 13, Germans 12, Russians 6, 3 Dutch and 2 Spaniards, and all indications indicate that the murderer of this tragedy was a submarine of the Imperial Chinese Navy. ”

U.S. Vice President William? Howard? As soon as Taft's words fell, the delegates in the conference room suddenly became excited, this was the first time they had heard the news, this American passenger ship from Sydney to San Francisco, there were not only Americans on board, but also many people from other countries.

"Those bastards of the Chinese Empire, even the civilians will not let go, it is really shameless, they should hang all the officers and soldiers on that submarine of the Chinese Empire!" Jeannontro, the Minister of the French Representative for the War Department, shouted loudly.

"Revenge! Be sure to get revenge! There were 6 citizens of the Russian Empire on board the sunken passenger ship! Russia's representative of War Minister Korrosky chimed in.

After hearing this, Lambertst, chief of the general staff of the British Army, suddenly felt that the sinking of the passenger ship was a little strange, the Chinese Empire had no reason at all, to attack a passenger ship carrying civilians, according to British intelligence, the Chinese Empire is now planning to expel people of European origin in Australia and New Zealand, and those who are willing to take the initiative to leave Australia and New Zealand with European ancestry, the Chinese Empire allows them to bring all their property, and also provides free tickets, Since the arrival of the troops of the Chinese Empire in Australia and New Zealand, hundreds of thousands of people of European descent have left these two countries, most of them to the United States.

It is really unreasonable for the submarines of the Chinese Empire to attack passenger ships carrying civilians at this time, is it ...... Lambertst, Chief of Staff of the British Army, looked thoughtfully at the Vice President of the United States, William Brown. Howard? Taft. After a moment's hesitation, he said: "Our nine countries should uphold justice and ask for an explanation from the Chinese Empire for the 702 civilians killed." ”

German Prime Minister Hohenlohe also looked at Vice President Wilhelm of the United States at this time? Howard? Taft. And he didn't say anything, and Hohenlohe also thought that the sinking of the passenger liner was not so simple. However, he will not raise any objections, which will affect the overall situation of the nine countries coming together.

U.S. Vice President William? Howard? Taft said: "We, the United States of America, have decided to formally declare war on the Chinese Empire on February 14, 1909, that is, the day after tomorrow, a little earlier than we had originally prepared. ”

The United States is going to declare war in advance. It is only a small episode of today's nine-nation meeting, and the distribution of post-war benefits among the representatives of the nine countries is the highlight of today's meeting.

Russia's representative Minister of War Korrowsky was the first to stand up, hoping that after the war, all the lands occupied by the Chinese Empire over the years would be returned to Russia, and at the same time, after the war, the four northeastern provinces of the Chinese Empire, Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi would be allocated to Russia.

As soon as Gorrosky finished speaking, the representatives of other countries were stunned. This Russian appetite is also a little too big! In this way, the Russians themselves swallowed more than two-thirds of the more than 24 million square kilometers of land in the Chinese Empire.

Immediately after that, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimoto Tomobayashi stood up and said that Japan hoped to return the land seized by the Chinese Empire to the Great Japanese Empire and the Yalu River Province of the four northeastern provinces after the war. Half of the territory belonged to Japan, and Japan hoped to receive the entire four northeastern provinces, Taiwan and Luzon provinces of the Chinese Empire after the war.

As soon as the representatives of the two countries, Russia and Japan, finished speaking, a contradiction arose. Both Russia and Japan wanted the four northeastern provinces of the Chinese Empire.

Lambertst, the chief of the British General Staff, also spoke of the post-war benefits that Britain hoped to obtain, including Burma, Nepal, and Bhutan, which were occupied by the Chinese Empire. and territory in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Hong Kong, the British Concession in Shanghai, Malaysia, Singapore, Penang and Malacca, which were snatched by Lin Daxin a few years ago. It was returned to Britain, and the provinces of Lanfang, Luzon, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hainan in the Chinese Empire were all allocated to Britain as war reparations.

After the British representatives finished talking about the territory they hoped to get after the war, there were some conflicts with Russia and Japan, Xinjiang Province and Qinghai Province, the Russians wanted it, the British also wanted it, and Luzon, the Japanese wanted it, and the British wanted it too.

The Germans then hoped to recover German New Guinea after the war, and at the same time to give the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces of the Chinese Empire to Germany after the war.

The French wanted to reclaim Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, which had been forcibly occupied by Lin Daxin in the previous war, and at the same time to give the seven provinces of the Chinese Empire, namely Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, and Taiwan, to the French after the war.

Italy hoped to get Taiwan and Luzon provinces of the Chinese Empire after the war, Austria-Hungary wanted Fujian Province and Guangdong Province of the Chinese Empire, the Ottoman Turkish Empire wanted to get the Lanfang Province of the Chinese Empire, and the United States wanted to get Luzon, Lanfang and Guangdong Province of the Chinese Empire after the war.

The nine countries in the face of the Chinese Empire's big fat meat, all showed an unusually greedy appetite, and the land compensation demanded after the war was equivalent to directly dividing up the entire Chinese Empire, but the benefits that many countries hoped to get after the war overlapped, so that on the third day of the Nine-Nation Conference, the delegates were still fighting with each other, fighting for their own interests in the post-war period, so that the third day of the Nine-Nation Conference ended in a quarrel, but the representatives of the nine countries did not agree on the issue of post-war distribution.

So on February 13, the representatives of the nine countries quarreled together for almost a whole day, and finally reached an agreement on the distribution after the war.

This agreement stipulates that if the Chinese Empire is defeated, it must surrender unconditionally to 9 countries at the same time, and compensate 9 countries for war reparations of more than 3 billion pounds, and the specific share of each country will be studied separately after the defeat of the Chinese Empire, and the share of compensation will be reasonably distributed according to the amount of contribution in the war.

None of the nine countries allowed to negotiate with the Chinese Empire alone to end the war, otherwise it would be considered a declaration of war against the other countries.

The number of land forces of the Chinese Empire is limited to less than 500,000, the total tonnage of the navy shall not exceed 150,000 tons, warships with a caliber of more than 200 mm guns shall not be had, and the full load displacement of a single warship shall not exceed 15,000 tons, the establishment of the air force of the Chinese Empire shall be abolished, and the army of the Chinese Empire shall not be allowed to have flying machines.

According to the opinions of the four countries of the nine countries, Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, they were not ready to destroy the Chinese Empire, so the land compensation demanded by each country was greatly reduced.

All the lands forcibly occupied by the Chinese Empire over the years were returned to these five countries, including the former South Korea.

In addition, Britain would get Tibet, Lanfang, and Yunnan provinces, Germany would get Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, France would get Guizhou and Guangxi provinces, Russia would get Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, the United States would get Luzon, Japan would get North Korea, Guam, and Wake Island, Italy would get Hainan Province, and Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Turkish Empire would divide Taiwan Province.

These are the most basic post-war land compensation demanded by the nine countries, if they can scrape some more flesh from the Chinese Empire, and then continue to negotiate the distribution after the war, but in principle, the Chinese Empire cannot be directly dismembered.

Nine countries have the right to station troops in important cities in the Chinese Empire and important areas along the railway, and at the same time, the embassy area in Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing is demarcated, and people from the Chinese Empire are not allowed to live in it, and all countries can station troops in the Beijing embassy area.

The Chinese Empire also needs to hand over the war criminals led by Lin Daxin to be tried by the joint tribunal of nine countries. (To be continued.) )