"The French have always been vehemently opposed to us taking over all their overseas colonies. They insisted that the French army had not been defeated and that the Reich could never insult the honor of France with such a harsh treaty. His Highness had already made several threats at the negotiating table, but the attitude of the other side was still surprisingly firm, almost exactly the same as when I first asked for an armistice...... Perhaps we should revisit the situation in order to make a more Imperialist choice. German State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Kidren said in a telegram sent back to Berlin.

On May 5, the Amsterdam peace talks entered their fourth day. Although Germany and France almost talked about the amount of reparations, which fell from the exorbitant price of 50 billion francs to less than a fraction of the initial 20 billion, there was a serious disagreement on the colonial issue. France could not accept the terms of surrendering all its overseas colonies, even if Germany made planned concessions on reparations. Faced with this, Kidren sent a telegram back to Berlin asking for instructions, and at the same time summoned together the representatives of the allies who had been making almost all the way to the war with France, so as to adjust the terms of the armistice according to their needs.

"The Kingdom of Italy made great sacrifices and distinguished contributions in the war against France. From the third month of the outbreak of the war, we launched an attack on southeastern France, and pinned down a large number of the main French forces in the Alps. In the Mediterranean, the Italian Royal Navy played a decisive role: it was our courageous progress that finally won the victory over the French Navy and occupied the sea supremacy of the western Mediterranean for a long time. Therefore. The Kingdom of Italy had every reason to get enough French benefits after the war! ”

Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino, who was obese, was the first to speak at the meeting. It seems to have completely figured itself out as the master of the negotiations: the Kingdom of Italy should receive 35% of the reparations from the French. In this way, we compensated for the concessions we made in the Brest Treaty. Two of the four Kolbe-class battleships were assigned to the Royal Italian Navy, otherwise they would not have filled the hole in the tonnage of ships we had sunk in previous battles. In the colonies, Italy deserves Tunisia and Algeria, which is the bottom line demand of the royal government. ”

Nearby, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Berchdald only looked coldly at the Italians who had spoken first: he had no other feeling in his heart than contempt for this country with a great appetite but a mouth full of bad teeth. In the whole war, the Italian Army's cousin Xiàn was not enough to describe it with the word clumsy; Even the Austro-Hungarian generals who had dragged the Romanian army, dressed like peacocks, to the Alpine front and worked with them on the Eastern Front. They all thought they would play better than the Italians. As for the navy, it is true that the Italians were quite decent, but it was still the four Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts that played a key role in the decisive battle in the Mediterranean. With this kind of war contribution, it is already good to be able to get a mouthful of broth to drink, and now these insatiable guys are still delusional about sitting at the main table with a big mouthful?

"The Vienna government wanted to get Algeria, or a French West African colony on the coast, so that the Habsburg Empire could also have a piece of sunshine outside Europe." Bechdord didn't look at the unkind look of the Italian next to him, but said to himself, "In terms of reparations, we want to get 10% of the total amount." Although our army did not fight with the French. But our fleet has been fighting with the French navy from the beginning of the war to the present; In addition, the build-up of the Imperial Army to the Western Front. It can also be regarded as supporting Berlin's coercion and negotiation of the Bordeaux government from the side. ”

Looking at these two allies with their own plans, Qingying was also thinking carefully about the future he was going to face.

For Germany, Austria-Hungary remained an indispensable and crucial contribution to the post-war period. The dual monarchy, founded by Emperor Franz, is located in the heart of Europe and is an important relay for Germany's tentacles into the Middle East and Africa; And the heavy industry base that is better than France condensed by the integration of hundreds of ethnic groups in Eastern Europe is a sharp weapon that Germany deserves. In other words, only with the stable and strong existence of the Austro-Hungarian regime could Germany, through the hands of the Habsburg royal family, unite all the forces of Eastern Europe, which were like a mess of ethnic, religious, and territorial issues, and incorporate them into its own roaring state machine.

The most advantageous thing is that the Austro-Hungarian sword has no possibility of backing itself after it has been sharpened: not to mention the difference in national income between Germany and Austria before the war, which was more than four times the difference between the national income of Germany and Austria, the national question of Austria and Hungary alone is enough to make Vienna not dare to have the slightest idea of turning against Berlin. After a war against Russia, the shortcomings of modern warfare in which Austria-Hungary with many nationalities were not at all suitable for full mobilization had been exposed: Germany only needed to mobilize a large army to launch a wave of all-out offensive, and the Austro-Hungarian army, which could only rely on the Austrian and Hungarian regiments, would collapse the entire army, not to mention that the Germans among them would most likely eat pot pulp and welcome the arrival of the Berlin king!

For this reason, it was necessary for the Qing and British to cultivate the power of Austria-Hungary after the war, so that the most important satellite could play its due role. A sizable West African colony would be given to them, and the Viennese court would be given the benefits of the trade scissors while recovering the Ukrainian territories it had occupied, so that Germany would have an ideal base from which to compete for world domination. As for French Equatorial Africa, the Qing were ready to swallow it all: in this way, together with the Congo of Central Africa, which was not to be returned to Belgium, and the former German East Africa, Germany would form a coherent cluster of colonies in Africa, even larger than the British territory in Africa.

On the issue of reparations, Qingying was not prepared to fight with the Austrians too much. For, according to his plan of negotiations, Germany had not intended to take much reparations from the French; The reason why the high amount of 50 billion francs was initially offered was to allow the French to win the negotiations on the amount of reparations in exchange for concessions on the colonial issue. As for the French reparation ships, Qing Ying, who was considering the enhancement of the strength of the Austro-Hungarian navy, was even more prepared to give the truth to the Austrians in private, so that they would not covet immediate and temporary profits. France's Kolbe-class battleships have long been completely out of touch with the current trend of the world's navies, and they are embarrassed in terms of firepower, protection, and speed: instead of recovering a broken vote now, it is better to empty the tonnage so that they can build more powerful capital warships on their own in the future.

Qing Ying's eyes wandered, and then she looked at the Italian Foreign Minister who was eager to try. In fact, deep down he was very reluctant to deal with these gourmets in the middle of the Apennines: for they were fickle and greedy like jackals, trembling in battle, and running wildly in the midst of their prey. However, Qingying had to face the reality that before the current British and French forces still existed, and Germany had not fully digested the fruits of the victory in this war and completely expanded, Italy, as an ally of Germany, would be far better than the situation that would arise if they switched to Britain and France. The Italian Army, of course, had nothing to worry about, but they had a fairly powerful naval fleet capable of changing the balance of power in the Mediterranean, and now they needed to continue to fight with them.

Tunisia, located in North Africa, was to be given to the Italians. They had been longing for this land across the sea for 30 years, and they would not have joined the German-Austrian alliance in 1882 had they not been preempted by the French. A portion of the reparations from France were also to be given to the Italians, as a source of peace of mind. However, for Algeria, Qingying was not prepared to hand it over to the Italians. With an area of nearly 2.4 million square kilometers, the development process of this land is definitely among the highest in the French colonies. Therefore, the most advantageous situation is undoubtedly in the hands of Germany.

When Qingying euphemistically suggested to Song Nino that the Algerian issue was important and needed to be further discussed, the latter's face could not hide the look of bitterness and disappointment. Although Qingying knew that most of the expressions on the other party's face were pretending to be for himself, he could only pinch his nose and soothe with kind words, and proposed that Germany would support Italy's expansion in Ethiopia and Somalia and establish a piece of Italian East Africa to compensate Italy for abandoning its ambitions against Algeria.

Twenty years ago, due to the tragic combat effectiveness of the Italian Army, it was defeated by a group of natives in the war against Ethiopia, and withdrew its troops with reparations, and never dared to take revenge again. The same is true for Somalia, which has not been fully colonized, although the Italians have extended their tentacles to the land as early as 1885. If Italy could take advantage of the might of the German-Austrian alliance and take advantage of the fact that Britain was now frustrated by the defeat of the war and had no time to interfere in European affairs, it would have been beneficial in this war.

After figuring out the demands of Austria-Hungary and Italy, the Qing Ying's disposition of the French also had a rough outline. If the attitude of the other side remained the same, it would not be impossible to return to the French some of the unimportant colonies that were outside the demands of Austria-Hungary and Italy. After all, the wealth value of these lands is limited, and the French can't squeeze much oil and water out of it, no matter how much they manage it. In fact, he was also a little greedy for all of France's overseas colonies, and there were too many places that Germany needed to receive and digest after the war, and letting some of the colonies go back to appease the wounded hearts of the French did not affect the overall situation after the war. (To be continued......)

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