When Yang Yongtai saw the American Minister Tom coming over, Tom also looked at him, and made a "V" shape with his fingers, seeing this gesture, Yang Yongtai was relieved.

After the envoys of all the countries were seated, Yang Yongtai looked at the pocket watch, the time was just right, put away the pocket watch and said: "Everyone, you are gathered here today to discuss how to deal with Austria-Hungary, all countries that participated in the war against the Central Powers and sent troops have the right to put forward their own demands, now please ask the representatives of the envoys of various countries to put forward their own opinions and requirements!" ”

In the Balkans, in addition to Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and the European part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the rest was the territory of Austria-Hungary, and after the Ottoman Turkish Empire surrendered by the Chinese army, Turkey was left in the European part of Eastern Thrace, that is, a small strip between the east of Elne and the Turkish Strait, and the remaining part formed two new states, namely Algeria and Macedonia.

The territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire near the Adriatic Sea was mainly in the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia, the Primorsky Provinces, Carinthia, and the Free City of Yast.

The representative of the Italian envoy was the first to stand up and said: "Our country believes that our country has paid a great deal and suffered extremely heavy losses in this war, so we demand that the Tyrolean region and the Duchy of Carinthia be assigned to our country, and that Austria-Hungary must pay us an indemnity of 500 million yuan!" ”

The representative of the Belgian envoy also stood up and said: "On behalf of my country, I believe that my country was the first country to be attacked, the whole country was occupied by the German army, the high officials of our royal family and government were forced into exile, the production of the whole country and the lives of all the people simply came to a standstill, and countless people died in the war. Our country demands that the entire territory of the Duchy of Bohemia be transferred to our country, and Austria-Hungary must compensate our country with 700 million yuan! ”

After the Belgian representative sat down, the Greek representative also stood up and said: "Our country demands that the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina be handed over to our country, and in addition, Austria-Hungary must compensate our country 600 million yuan!" ”

"No, the majority of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is us Serbs, so Bosnia and Herzegovina should be handed over to our country. In addition, we must hand over Croatia to our country, and Austria-Hungary must compensate our country for the war reparations of 700 million yuan! The representative of the Serbian envoy stood up and glared angrily at the Greek representative.

Not to be outdone, the Greek representative retorted: "Have you forgotten how this great war started?" It was because you Serbs assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince that Austria-Hungary declared war on you Serbia, and what would happen to you if someone else killed your wife and children? Austria-Hungary beat you, you deserve it, who made you do that? ”

The representatives of Serbia and Greece were in a mess over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seeing that the order of the meeting was disrupted, Yang Yongtai had to stand up to maintain order, and he said loudly: "Enough, gentlemen, we are discussing now, not to quarrel, and this is not a vegetable market, I hope you can understand." All right? If you don't agree with someone else's opinion and proposal, you can say your reasons. But please don't make a lot of noise, okay? Since there is a dispute between the two countries over the ownership of the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, then this matter will be put aside for a while and we will discuss it later, do other countries have any demands and opinions? ”

The representative of France immediately said: "It is well known that our country has asked to hand over to us the Duchy of Caniola and the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Kingdom of Dalmatia was ruled by our country before, and now it is only natural that our country wants to take it back, and in addition we demand that Austria-Hungary compensate us two billion francs! ”

The British representative Zhu Erdian was very angry that these countries had picked up all the good places, and what was left was not poor and remote. It was where the birds didn't, and he only hated himself for not bringing it up sooner for the sake of face, and then he said: "We demand that the Duchy of Styria, the Duchy of Salzburg, and Moravia be handed over to us, and that Austria-Hungary must pay us a billion pounds in reparations!" ”

The Americans had already made a lot of money in the war, and the United States itself was not attacked by any Allied powers, only a few merchant ships were sunk by German submarines, and the Americans were not embarrassed to ask Austria-Hungary for reparations, Tom said: "Ladies and gentlemen, our country does not make territorial claims, nor does it make claims for reparations, and I am here to remind you on behalf of the United States Government, Two months ago, the countries you represent made a clear statement agreeing to negotiate with the Central Powers on the basis of the Fourteen Points of Principles issued by President Wilson in order to achieve the goal of maintaining world peace, and the tenth of these Fourteen Points is to allow the peoples of Austria-Hungary to exercise self-government. Did Austria-Hungary get it? Besides, Austria-Hungary is not the only country that caused this catastrophe, and I advise you to be practical and propose a reasonable amount of compensation based on the actual situation of Austria-Hungary and your own losses! ”

The Englishman Zhu Erdian said in a rather sour tone: "Mr. Tom, you don't have a backache when you stand and talk, you Americans have made a lot of money by selling weapons and equipment and war materials in this war, and you have long been rich, but what about us?" Our British Empire, France, Belgium, Greece, etc., are all devastated by war, and people are displaced. France, Belgium, Serbia and Greece were all occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the havoc was unprecedented. ”

At this time, Yang Yongtai spoke: "Everyone, let me speak fairly, except for Belgium, my country and the United States, I am afraid that none of the other countries here are innocent, how did the war happen?" None of you here are unclear, think that when the Balkan war was in full swing, you Greece and Serbia did not participate? If it weren't for you, the British and the French, competing with the Germans and supporting both of them behind their backs, how could this war have been fought? No one can get out of it, Belgium is a complete innocent, our country has been repeatedly oppressed by Japan, the Japanese not only killed our citizens, invaded our territory and returned it, while the United States was doing business but was attacked by German submarines on merchant ships, I say so, you should not object, right? I'm afraid it's not right for you to completely shift the blame to the allies, both sides have mistakes, both are responsible, I don't think it's better to mention the matter of land cession, you can't slap yourself in the face, since you have agreed to negotiate on the principles put forward by President Wilson, then I'm afraid it's not okay to make territorial claims? In addition, on the question of reparations, you have asked for such a large amount of reparations, when will Karl I pay it off? If you insist on going your own way, Karl I will not do this emperor in a fit of anger, I am afraid that all the indemnities you ask for will have to be wasted, you might as well be practical, put forward a reasonable amount of indemnity, so that Karl I can afford to pay without making him too resistant, here on behalf of my government, I solemnly declare that our country does not have any war reparations and territorial claims to Austria-Hungary, this is our position, and our country supports the fourteen-point principle put forward by President Wilson! ”

The French were still not convinced, stood up and said: "I don't care what other countries decide, I don't care, I only know that Dalmatia used to be my territory, and it must be returned to my country!" As for the war reparations, it is easy to discuss, and we can also propose a reasonable amount according to the actual situation."

Yang Yongtai said: "Mr. Minister, if Dalmatia is a province directly under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if it is returned to your country, we can't say it, and we will definitely support it, but Your Excellency, don't forget, Dalmatia is not without political institutions, it is a kingdom, it just has no army and diplomatic power, and there is no shortage of other government agencies that should be there, give such a kingdom to your country, even if we agree, the locals of the Kingdom of Dalmatia are afraid that they will not agree, do you still have to send troops to make them submit?" Gentlemen, this war has been fought long and tragic enough, but it is better for your Excellency to think about how to rebuild your homeland after the war, and why fight again? Now that Dalmatia is under our control, if your country wants to use force against Dalmatia, you still need to ask us if we agree! ”

Yang Yongtai's words can be said to be both soft and hard, and the French minister listened to it, his face was blue and red, and his lips trembled, but he couldn't say anything cruel, so he could only hum and chirp and sit down.

At this time, Yang Yongtai gave Tom a color, and Tom understood, stood up and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, in order to implement the fourteen-point principle put forward by our President Mr. Wilson, and to prevent Austria-Hungary from provoking another war in the future, our government considers it necessary to weaken Austria-Hungary, retain the Habsburg rule over the Duchy of Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, and Tyrol, and allow the peoples in other regions except the above regions to establish their own political power, and allow the countries they form to have independent sovereignty!" ”

The British minister, Jule, immediately shouted: "No, if Austria-Hungary is dealt with according to this plan, then who will pay the war reparations for our countries?" ”

"Of course, they will bear it all, and it will be apportioned according to the size of the population and the size of the territory!"

Yang Yongtai had to secretly give Tom a thumbs up, he stood up and said loudly, "I agree!" (To be continued......)