Chapter 465: The Great Power System
In addition, the Grand Duchy of Sail, the Kingdom of Amterdam and the Grand Duchy of Hagen, which were annexed by the Yaman Empire during the war, were declared to be incorporated into the Yaman Empire, the Kingdom of Grad, which was annexed by the Habfsburg Kingdom, was also annexed, and the Nantes Empire ceded the three most developed industrial regions of Lorraine, Verdun and Toulon to the Yaman Empire, the Habfsburg Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Sardinia respectively.
The Monte Empire, the Wa Kingdom, the Kokand Kingdom, the Stanya Alliance, and parts of the former Cossack Empire were incorporated into the Chinese Empire. Since the Chinese Empire occupied the most new territories, after the consultations, Wu Qiong stated that the Chinese Empire would not participate in the distribution of the reparations.
In the treaty's indemnity bill, the Sahr Empire and the Nantes Empire would pay an indemnity of one billion sar pounds to the five countries, and if the pre-war price was used, one billion sar pounds could be exchanged for 50,000 tons of gold. Such a large amount, if it was the heyday of the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire, it could still be paid by installments, but now that the gold reserves of the two countries have been taken back by Fang Xiaoyu, these two impoverished countries can no longer afford it.
As for the final outcome of the reparations, Fang Xiaoyu can be very sure that the final way for the two countries to pay the reparations is to abandon the gold standard and devalue the currencies on a large scale, so that the funds that need to be paid will be greatly reduced, and the other five countries will definitely not take much advantage in the end.
Due to the large amount of this indemnity, after negotiation between the two sides, the Boston Empire decided to guarantee them and give them a loan from the National Bank, which could be paid in thirty years, of course, because the Nantes Empire ceded three native industrial areas, and did not cede the native Saar Empire to bear a larger part of the reparation.
The five main belligerents formed a joint force to be stationed on the island of Ireland of the Saar Empire and the Amiens region north of La DΓ©fense, the capital of the Nantes Empire, as a guarantee for the payment of reparations by the two countries, and the joint force was stationed for a period of ten years, after which the five-nation coalition would withdraw from these areas and return them to their countries, but the Amiens region of the Nantes Empire would not be allowed to garrison troops as a buffer zone with the Yaman Empire.
In addition, in order to prevent the resurgence of these two countries, the Yaman Empire also set very strict conditions, including that the two countries are not allowed to possess aircraft, submarines, and combat vehicles, the total displacement of the navy is only allowed to be kept below 50,000 tons, and the existing warships must be used for more than 20 years before they can start building new ships, and the main guns of the new ships must not exceed 203 millimeters, and the displacement must not exceed 15,000 tons, and the size of the land forces of the two countries must not exceed 100,000 people.
Originally, depending on the Yaman Empire, it would be better for these two countries to be dismembered and incorporated into their own countries, but with the joint resistance of the Chinese Empire and the Boston Empire, they had no choice but to give up.
The sanctions against the Kingdom of Cerro and the Grand Duchy of Rees were completely decided by the Chinese Empire, after all, according to the pre-war agreement, although the Chinese Empire would not garrison troops on the Western Continent, the areas occupied by the Chinese Empire were completely up to them.
What the two countries did not expect was that the Chinese Empire did not give them any severe sanctions, except that they were deprived of all overseas colonies, and even the indemnity was symbolic, and the plundering of the Chinese Empire was secretly blamed on the Central Powers and the Boston Empire, causing the two countries to have a lot of good feelings towards the Chinese Empire, and they soon became the invisible allies of the Chinese Empire in the Western Continent.
Under such harsh terms as the Treaty of Essen, the governments of the Saar and Nantes empires, although unwilling, had no choice but to sign the agreement.
The contract had been signed, but the meeting was not finished, because in the war, the Yaman Empire used poison gas attacks, which caused great losses to the Entente countries, and the Boston Empire was terrified, especially after they knew that the Chinese Empire might have more advanced chemical weapons, and they hoped to stifle this weapon, so at the mention of the Boston Empire, all the countries of the world continued to hold an international peace conference in Essen.
There is now a call from the five strongest powers in the world, and all the countries of the world are sent to hold a conference in Essen on the limitation of the war situation, but at the beginning of the meeting there are discordant voices.
While the delegates were still on their way, the representatives of the five countries convened a meeting in advance to determine the lead country for those meetings. "I think that after the defeat of the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire, the ranking of the world powers should be redefined, and our country, as the world's first industrial power, deserves the position of the chief power." Wiedmann was the first to speak, this time because he wanted to rely on his country's strong industrial capacity to gain world dominance in one fell swoop.
Wu Qiong sneered on the side: "China's industrial capacity is not far from your country, not to mention that the seat of the great powers is not just based on whose industrial capacity is strong, combat effectiveness is also a very important criterion, with your country's slightly stronger combat effectiveness than the indigenous people, who will believe you, I think your country should not even get the seat of the great powers." Wu Qiong sneered, as if giving the Boston Empire a seat of the great powers was already a great gift, and said that Widman was red-faced, but he couldn't answer, the poor combat effectiveness of his country's army was obvious to all, and he couldn't refute it.
Seeing that the conversation between the two sides was full of gunpowder, Hindenburg hurriedly said: "Everyone, don't be impatient, we should let the position of the chief of the great powers go, and it is the right way to determine the seats of the following powers first, and then we will let the eight great powers elect the chief." β
Wu Qiong said: "There is no problem, but I think that if any country becomes the chief of the powers, it should have the consciousness to accept the challenges of other powers." As he spoke, he glanced at the representatives of several countries, and the scalps of several people who watched it felt numb, the military pressure of the Chinese Empire is not something that any country in the world can face alone.
Wiedman also knew that his proposal could not be passed easily, so he could only retreat and win over the three white countries of the Central Powers, so he agreed: "Okay, let's put forward the seats first, I think there should be no problem for the five countries here to enter the ranks of the great powers." β
These five countries were the greatest contributors to the defeat of the Entente, and naturally there was no objection as a great power, but the other three seats were a little difficult to obtain.
"The Empire of Istanbul also participated in the Great War, so they should have a place as the victorious nation." Wu Qiong first put forward her own views. Indeed, although the Iranian Empire completely fought once in the Great War, he was one of the victorious countries after all, and it was also the strongest among the remaining countries, although all countries knew that the Iranian Empire was leaning towards the Chinese Empire, but no one could raise any objections, at least no country could compare with it.
"The reconstruction of the Cossack Empire is now proceeding at a high speed, and they are also strong, and they should be qualified as a great power." Wu Qiong smiled and proposed another country, the Cossack Empire was truce because of the early rebellion, and escaped the post-war liquidation, which made them not have the same constraints as the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire militarily, and naturally they would not suffer too much.
However, the resistance forces in the Cossack Empire were all supported by the Chinese Empire, and once they restored the name of the Cossack Empire, they would definitely fall to the Chinese Empire. If they were allowed to win another seat, the efforts of the Boston Empire would be in vain, so Widman was the first to stand up and object: "How can this be done, the Cossack Empire cannot even keep its own territory now, how can it be a great power state, I don't agree with this." β
Wu Qiong was not the slightest annoyed by Wiedman's opposition, but smiled and said, "What about the Saint Martin Empire?" β
"This ......" Wiedman was completely speechless, he found that the countries that were slightly weaker than the five countries were all friendly with the Chinese Empire, and no matter how they went around the bend, they were all alone in the seats of the great powers, seeing this situation, Wiedman suddenly changed his words and said: "I think the current world pattern is no longer suitable for the seats of the great powers, we should cancel this seat limit, and the major powers should negotiate to resolve international disputes." β
The Yaman Empire and other three countries have long seen the strength of the Chinese Empire, but now they have suffered a great loss of vitality at home and do not have the strength to compete with the two countries, so they have not expressed their opinions. At this time, seeing that the Boston Empire suddenly intended to overthrow the Great Power system, they also felt that if they continued to maintain the previous way, they were destined to be suppressed by the Chinese Empire, so the three countries also agreed.
Wu Qiong has long known that this meeting is Wiedman's desire to unite all white countries and put pressure on the Chinese Empire together, so he will be so aggressive when he comes up, and now seeing that the countries no longer recognize the way the power is distributed among the great powers, he doesn't care, as long as the white countries are not allowed to occupy the dominant position in the seats of the great powers, the Chinese Empire has a lot of room for action.
With the approval of the five powers, the seats of the great powers were finally abolished, and they agreed that the future of world affairs would be negotiated by the Chinese Empire, the Boston Empire, and the Yaman Empire, the boss of the Central Powers, and this conference was also presided over by the three of them.
When the delegates rushed to Essen to attend the international peace conference, they were surprised to find that there were not eight seats on the rostrum, but only Wu Qiong, the representative of the Chinese Empire, Widmann, the representative of the Boston Empire, and Hindenburg, the representative of the Yaman Empire.
At the invitation of Wu Qiong, Hindenburg served as the host of this conference, and Wiedmann had no opinion on this, anyway, his main opponent was Wu Qiong, as long as he would not press himself, so Hindenburg became the beneficiary of the compromise.
"At this conference, we mainly hope to be able to regulate the way of war, war is only a way for us to settle disputes, and there should be no weapons that exterminate humanity, for which our country first apologizes to the victims of gas warfare, and in order not to let the tragedy happen again, we must formulate some measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents." Hindenburg first issued an innocuous apology for the gas war in his country, salvaging the beginning of the bad international image of the Yaman Empire.