Chapter 425: May Fourth Summer (4)

Nationalist sentiment in Beijing reached a climax on March 16 when Zhang Zuolin ordered the repossession of the Eastern Railway.

At the end of World War I, the February Revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, the Russian Empire collapsed, and the Provisional Government of the new Russian Republic was formed, but it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution soon after. After the October Revolution, a Soviet government was established in Russia, during which no country recognized Soviet power. On March 6, 1918, the Bolshevik government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the German Empire, declaring its withdrawal from World War I and an armistice with the German Empire. This angered various anti-Bolshevik nationalists, both at home and abroad, and Russia lost much of its territory as a result of the treaty. After the signing of the Soviet-German armistice, British and French troops occupied some ports of the former Russian Empire. In the spring of 1918, more than 30,000 members of the Czech Corps, mainly composed of Czech- and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war from the former Imperial Russia, mutinied, and in July, took control of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Lake Baikal to the Ural Mountains. On November 18, the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary governments were overthrown by a coup d'état by former Imperial Russian Admiral Kolchak. Kolchak proclaimed himself "the supreme commander of all Russia". In March 1919, Kolchak organized 400,000 White Russian troops to cross the Ural Mountains and launch an offensive towards the Volga Valley. As a result, only the troops of the White Russian Semenov remained in the Far East.

Semenov was a native of Transbaikal, Russia. In 1911, Semenov graduated from the Orenburg Military School. He fought in the First World War and became a yesaul. In July 1917, Semyonov served as the representative of the Provisional Government in the Baikal region, where he was responsible for recruiting Cossacks. After the October Revolution, Semyonov launched a rebellion against the Soviet Union, fled to China after the defeat, and on April 6, 1918, he recruited 4 battalions of volunteers from Hailar and Angangxi along the Middle Eastern Railway, and went to Manchuria to establish the "Transbaikalia Local Provisional Government". In August of the same year, with the help of the Czechoslovak Corps, he captured Chita and moved the "Transbaikal Local Provisional Government" there. With his ruthless rule, he consolidated his position in the Baikal region. During his reign in the region, he was portrayed as a "steppe robber, intercepting trains and robbing property, no matter whose goods it was" The Provisional Government of the Siberian Autonomous Government appointed Semyonov as commander of a detachment based in Chita. Initially, General Kolchak refused to recognize Semenov's authority, but later he was forced to accept this fact and appointed Semyonov as commander-in-chief of the Chita Military District. At the beginning of 1919, Semyonov declared himself the ataman of the Transbaikal Cossacks and was supported by the Japanese intervention forces.

But now the Japanese used their usual methods, and Wu Junsheng, the army that supported Zhang Zuolin, unceremoniously took over the China Eastern Railway Company and drove out the Russian employees. Semenov was so angry that he immediately wanted to organize an army to fight back, but he was opposed by the intervening army, and more importantly, Zhang Zuolin's army did not look like it was easy to provoke, so the Middle East Road was taken back by Zhang Zuolin for no reason, and for a time in the Beijing-Tianjin area, Zhang Zuolin was named a patriot by various big newspapers and tabloids.

Although the Belarusian side was extremely angry about Zhang Zuolin's behavior, at this time the Russian civil war had entered a critical moment, and they had no good way but to protest. Britain and France are deeply worried about this, the United States has no attitude, and Japan has not opposed it this time and is even secretly supporting it, and these little dwarfs are thinking about how to get the right to operate this railway into their own hands, which is not a difficult thing for them.

And Zhang Zuolin is happy, he can now be said to be fame and fortune, not only can he get enough income from the Middle East Road (a large number of materials for interfering in military aid to Russia have to take this railway), but also gain enough political fame, at this moment, the little flame in his heart to unify the whole country began to jump again......

In the following month, Zhang Zuolin on the one hand accepted 10 million oceans of taxes (about 100 million Chinese yuan) paid by the Nationalist Government, and on the other hand, he created public opinion in the Congress, agitating for the abolition of the Nationalist Government, a local government, and the completion of national reunification.

Historically, the Feng Department was beaten all over the ground by the Soviet Red Army in order to recover the Middle Road, and such a smooth recovery in this time and space also made the patriotic students' expectations for the Paris Peace Conference in the Beijing-Tianjin area further raised, which can be said to be already high. Wang Zhenyu looked at the map of the country, took a deep breath and said, "Let you Zhang Zuolin be proud for a few days!" ”

In April, the Paris Peace Conference entered a critical juncture, and the Chinese delegation, composed of Lu Zhengxiang, Minister General of Foreign Affairs of the Central Government in Beijing, Shi Zhaoji, Minister to the United Kingdom, Wei Chengu, Minister to Belgium, and Gu Weijun, Foreign Minister of the Nationalist Government, formally submitted China's seven-point request to the Peace Conference:

1. Abolish spheres of influence; 2. Withdraw foreign troops and patrol police; 3. Abolish foreign post offices and cable and wireless telegraph agencies;

4. Revocation of consular jurisdiction; 5. Return of the leased land; Sixth, the return of the concession;

7. Freedom of tariffs;

The Paris Peace Conference was conducted from beginning to end under the manipulation of the victorious imperialist powers.

All major issues at the conference of major powers shall be discussed and decided by the conference of the five major powers first. First, there was the "Conference of Ten", which was composed of Wilson and Lansing in the United States, Lloyd's in the United Kingdom? Composed of Georges and Belfort, Clemenceau and Bissing in France, Orlando and Sannino in Italy, and Nobuki Makino in Saionji in Japan. The "Meeting of Ten" is a "regular formal meeting" of the five major powers, and more than 60 times have been held during the meeting. From March 26, 1919, the "Council of Ten" was reduced to a "Council of Four", that is, the heads of state of Britain, France, the United States, and Italy held private consultations on European issues at the peace conference (on April 23, Italian Prime Minister Orlando left the meeting, and the heads of Britain, France, and the United States controlled the situation in the form of a "three-member meeting").

The Preparatory Peace Conference, the plenary meeting of the 27-nation conference, was held only six times during the peace conference and was a formality.

At the formal peace conference, the representatives of the Entente and the former enemy countries met separately, once to present the final draft of the peace treaty, and the other to sign the peace treaty.

Although China's European Expeditionary Force has achieved good results in Europe, and although the Nationalist government in the south has begun to modernize, in the eyes of the great powers, China is still a weak ancient country, while Japan is a regional power in Asia.

Britain still takes good care of Japan, but after the war, Britain has nothing to appease Japan, and what they can do is very simple, that is, to use China to satisfy Japan, and then enable Japan to continue to contain Russia for them, and at the same time not to fight the idea of British and French colonies in the South Seas.

The peace conference initially promised to return the rights and interests of Shandong to China; However, the representative of Japan, Nobuaki Makino, put forward the so-called "Twenty-One Articles", saying that the member insisted that according to this treaty, the interests of the Shandong region should belong to the Japanese Empire. Britain and France almost did not think about transferring this right to Japan.

Gu Weijun immediately asked to renew the request, changing the original seven-point requirement to eight:

1. Abolish spheres of influence; 2. Withdraw foreign troops and patrol police; 3. Abolish foreign post offices and cable and wireless telegraph agencies;

4. Revocation of consular jurisdiction; 5. Return of the leased land; Sixth, the return of the concession;

7. Freedom of tariffs; 8. Article 21 is repealed.

They even separately asked French Prime Minister Clemenceau for support, because the damned British had clearly sided with their Japanese allies (the Anglo-Japanese alliance was an important part of Britain's policy of controlling the Far East and the Pacific and containing Russia and the United States).

However, the Peace Conference still ceded German rights in Shantung to Japan on April 29-30, 1919.

On May 1, 1919, Lu Zhengxiang, China's negotiator and foreign minister, telegraphed the matter to the Beijing government, saying that if the agreement was not signed, it would be detrimental to the abolition of consular jurisdiction, the abolition of Gengzi's indemnity, tariff autonomy, and compensation for losses. Shanghai's "Mainland Daily" "Beijing Newsletter": "The government received a call from the Chinese delegation in Paris, saying that the diplomatic war against Japan on the return of the lease of Jiaozhou had failed.

This involves a political struggle, and unlike in history, the current Anhui system failed early. Today's central government is supported by the Qian Nengxun government, and the government is in power. In addition to Cao Rulin, who originally belonged to the Anhui forces in history, he defected to the south as the mayor of Wuhan, while Lu Zongyu and Zhang Zongxiang took refuge in Zhang Zuolin with the banner of the new transportation department.

On February 16, 1919, the National Diplomatic Association, which was jointly formed by various organizations from all walks of life in Beijing, held an inaugural meeting in Xiong Xiling's house, and elected Xiong Xiling, Wang Daxie, Liang Qichao, Lin Changmin, Fan Yuanlian, Tang Hualong, Yan Xiu, Zhang Jian, and Zhuang Yunkuan as directors. On the 21st, the association issued a seven-point diplomatic proposition: "1. Promote the implementation of the League of Nations; 2. Abolish spheres of influence and determine the methods for their implementation; (3) To revoke all treaties of equality and treaties, contracts and other international documents concluded by coercion or inducement; 4. Periodic removal of consular jurisdiction; 5. Strive for tariff freedom; 6. Cancel the balance of Gengzi's compensation; 7. The concession area shall be recovered and converted into public commerce. ”

Strictly speaking, the news of the failure of the Paris Peace Conference negotiations was leaked out by this institution, and here we have to say that Zhang Zuolin failed to be a man, although Xu Shichang, the great president, was supported by him, but he was not of the same mind as him, and Xu Shichang also had expectations for the Paris Peace Treaty, so if the negotiations failed, Xu Shichang would not and could not sign it. But Zhang Zuolin and the Japanese couldn't be provoked, so he chose to secretly support this National Diplomatic Association.