After the arrival of the Chinese delegation in Paris, the countdown to the peace conference had begun. In fact, when the German Foreign Minister and the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Foch, signed the armistice treaty, it was already stipulated what price Germany would have to pay to stop the war.

At 5 a.m. on November 11, 4616 (18) of the Yellow Emperor's era, Leitong station in the forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris. A German delegation headed by the Foreign Minister boarded the train of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, Marshal Foch, and signed the armistice treaty of World War I. The armistice treaty was very harsh, and it included: the withdrawal of German troops from the territories occupied in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg in this war within 14 days, as well as the Alsace-Lorraine region occupied in the Franco-Prussian War; German territory on the west bank of the Rhine was occupied by the Allied forces for 15 years, and Germany was not allowed to defend within 50 kilometers of the east bank; Germany abolished universal compulsory military service, and the army should not exceed 100,000 people; handed over 234 cruisers, battleships, destroyers, submarines, all air force aircraft, 500 cannons and a large number of guns and ammunition; Germany will hand over $31.68 billion in war reparations; Germany will hand over 5,000 good locomotives, 150,000 wagons, and 5,000 trucks; and Germany will hand over all its colonies to be divided between Britain, France, and other countries.

In total, Germany lost a third of its territory, a tenth of its population. The upcoming Paris Peace Conference will be a grand meeting to divide up Germany.

On January 13, 4617 (19) of the Yellow Emperor Era, Britain, France, the United States, China, and Italy held a preparatory meeting for the peace conference in Paris. The rules of procedure of the Peace Conference will be decided by several countries. In the history that Wu Haoxuan is familiar with, Japan participated in the preparatory meeting for the peace conference. It's just that in this time and space, Japan has long been beaten down by China. If it weren't for the support of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries, Japan would not even be a great power. So. Naturally, China should replace Japan as one of the giants at this peace conference.

"Gentlemen, we are five countries, some of the most important powers in the world. This peace conference involved the negotiations between the entire Entente and the Central Powers. Therefore, we have to establish the rules first. French Prime Minister Clemenceau said.

"I propose. The five of us are 'belligerents of general interest' and may participate in all the meetings of the Peace Conference. Belgium, Japan, Serbia and other countries are 'belligerents with individual interests' and can only attend meetings related to their own countries. Countries that have severed diplomatic relations with Germany, such as Bolivia, are only allowed to present their views orally or in writing when the five major powers deem it necessary. In addition, the number of plenipotentiaries for the countries concerned attending the meeting shall be five from each of the five major countries, three each from Belgium, Serbia and Brazil, and two from Japan and Poland. A total of 70 people. Prime Minister Clemenceau continued.

"Gentlemen, I think that the Japanese Empire is also one of the great powers in the world, and they still have 200,000 troops fighting against Soviet Russia. Therefore, Japan should be made the sixth power," U.S. President Wilson proposed.

"I agree with President Wilson." British Prime Minister David Lloyd George immediately chimed in.

Imperial Prime Minister Yang Du and Foreign Minister Tang Shaoyi's face suddenly became unsightly, the Americans and the British clearly want to make peace with China and find trouble with China! While the world war was still going on, the nations were able to unite in order to defeat the Allies. But. After the end of the war, the conflict of interests between countries undoubtedly became apparent. The Americans and the British in order to contain China. Action has already begun.

"This peace conference is a peace conference that will judge the Allies. In the midst of the world war, Japan did not send troops to participate in the war against the Allies at all. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to make Japan the sixth great power. Imperial Foreign Minister Tang Shaoyi retorted.

The Japanese Navy participated in the interdiction of the Far East Fleet of the Equal Navy, and in addition they provided large quantities of war materials to the Entente powers. It can be regarded as doing a part for the Entente to defeat the Central Powers. British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour said.

"Humph! Are you reversing black and white? At the very beginning of the war, the main forces of the Japanese Navy were destroyed by provoking the Imperial Navy. What area did they take to intercept the German Navy? If Britain and the United States insist on making Japan the sixth great power, then the Chinese Empire will be regarded as an insult to the Chinese Empire. We will withdraw from this peace conference and will not recognize any treaty signed at this peace conference. Imperial Prime Minister Yang Du said toughly.

Representatives of the United States and Great Britain. It seems that China did not expect such a strong reaction, and even did not hesitate to withdraw and threaten to meet. You must know that the Chinese Empire is one of the top powers in the world, and the Chinese Expeditionary Force has made great achievements in the world war, and now China still has hundreds of thousands of troops on the Russian battlefield. If China withdraws from the peace conference, then the peace conference will be a joke at all. Without the participation of the Chinese Empire, the world system would be an incomplete world system.

"Your Excellency Yang Du, please calm down. This is nothing more than a proposal by the representatives of Great Britain and the United States. Since China strongly opposes it, this proposal will not be adopted. French Prime Minister Clemenceau hurriedly persuaded.

Yang Du nodded and said no more. Anyway, if these foreign devils want to find trouble with the empire, it is impossible. They will have the Empire's toughest counterattack.

The representatives of the United States and Britain also looked a little ugly. However, they also know that they can no longer overstimulate the Chinese representatives. Otherwise, I am afraid that this peace meeting will not end well.

"I propose that the ten of us here form a committee of ten people, and that all major issues of the peace conference should be discussed by the ten of us first." French Prime Minister Clemenceau proposed.

None of the others objected, which would have been the prerogative of the five powers.

Next, the five major powers took a position on Germany's disposition.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Germany inflicted heavy losses on France during the war, and therefore we believe that Germany should pay war reparations for the losses suffered by France during the war (including personnel, property, etc.), reduce its military strength to the point that it no longer poses a threat to France, symbolically punish German militarism so that Germany can no longer return to the political structure before 1914, and execute the German Emperor in public. France recovered Alsace-Lorraine and established the Demilitarized Zone of the Rhine, with the victorious powers dividing up Germany's overseas colonies. Reducing the German military to a low level. In addition, we wanted to conclude a secret treaty blockading the German coastline, so that France could control Germany's import and export trade. French Prime Minister Clemenceau laid out a series of harsh conditions and dispositions.

The conditions put forward by the French side undoubtedly made everyone look sideways. This is clearly an attempt to completely plunge Germany into a state of no return! If it is true that Anzhou France is slaughtering Germany, then France will become a well-deserved hegemon on the entire European continent.

The conditions of the French were too hard, and the other major powers attending the meeting naturally could not agree.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George immediately made a request, the main purpose of which was to ensure British maritime supremacy and to carve up Germany's overseas colonies to strengthen Britain; weakening the German military to a lower level; Germany made war reparations, but not excessively, so as not to provoke German revenge; Help Germany rebuild its economy.

The British did not want Germany to be weakened too much to avoid a situation in which France would dominate the continent.

As for the Americans, who benefited from trade in World War I and became the number one economic power, the government tended to appease Germany and guarantee equal trade opportunities and a smooth recovery of war debts. Before the end of the war, President Wilson put forward a fourteen-point proposal, which was more lenient and more acceptable to the German people than in Britain and France. The American people generally did not want another world war, and President Wilson felt that the excessively harsh terms would cause Germany to take revenge and that war would be inevitable. Therefore, he proposed the establishment of a League of Nations to maintain the international order, that is, the international community would provide guarantees to protect weak countries from aggression by powerful countries. However, the European powers generally believe that this idea is too idealistic and does not correspond to the realities of European countries. Moreover, such a policy would lead to the excessive involvement of US military forces in international affairs. Wilson realized that his fourteen-point proposal required compromise in order to achieve the goal of building the League of Nations. And he adhered to a policy of "national self-determination", as in the case of Poland, which had just regained its independence from Germany and Russia after World War I. At the same time, he strongly opposed the establishment of secret treaties, such as secret military alliances. However, he agreed to weaken the German military to a lower level.

Both the British and the French were opposed to the "national self-determination" policy proposed by the United States because of their vast overseas colonies. The Americans' policy of "national self-determination" is clearly digging into their corners! Of course, they will not agree to this. Colleague, Britain and France have also become more wary of the United States. Although they agreed to form an international coalition, they joined forces to limit the interests of the United States, which made the Americans very annoyed by this.

As for the Kingdom of Italy, they did not care what to do with Germany, they wanted to get some of the German colonies in Africa, as well as parts of the territory that originally belonged to Austria-Hungary, such as the Fum region. Typical self-care.

From the very beginning of the preparatory meeting for the peace conference on January 13, the parties engaged in fierce quarrels in order to ensure their own interests. On the contrary, the Chinese delegates, because they have already determined their own bottom line, can sit back and watch the quarrels of the representatives of various countries without any care. It is indeed very ridiculous that the delegates of various countries are bargaining as if they were street vendors. (To be continued.) )

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