Prosperous antiques, troubled gold.

It seems that there is no way to verify who said this sentence.

But I have to say that this is indeed a wise saying.

With the end of the First World War, the situation in the world has indeed stabilized. At least after the end of World War I and the Korean War, the possibility of another large-scale war was almost non-existent.

After all, there are only a few hot spots in this world where there will be wars, and the biggest hot spot is the original World War I, that is, the contradiction between Germany and the overlords of the old world, Britain, France, and Russia―――――― the original world, almost all the colonies are occupied by these countries, and Germany wants to expand only by defeating them first, which is the biggest contradiction between them.

In fact, there are such contradictions between the United States and Britain and France, but the contradictions between them have not intensified so much.

At least at the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe was the most likely place in the world for large-scale wars. And he did break out, and its scale reached an unprecedented level―――――― the reason why he did not say the end is because it is very likely that there will be a larger World War II later. What's more, there is such a thing as war, which will only grow in scale with the development of mankind.

Although in Yan Shao's time, the Third World War had not yet broken out, and it seemed that no one wanted this war to break out, but who would dare to say that it would not break out?

The only thing that is clear is that if World War III does break out, it will not be possible for human technology to step into deep space at that time. That is, the unexpectedly deep space of the atmosphere, which also includes the outer solar system, both. Humanity has entered the age of the universe.

Otherwise, this war would be a good way to send humanity back to the Stone Age...

In addition to Europe, the two places where war is most likely to break out are Eastern Europe―――――― well, it also belongs to Europe in the traditional sense, but for many reasons, such as the later Soviet Russia. So it's always instinctively to divide it out of Europe.

In such an era, almost all countries were hostile to Soviet Russia. The reason is also very simple, because of the doctrine they believe in. It is absolutely intolerable to other countries. In particular, those countries controlled by the capitalists and aristocrats were extremely hostile to Soviet Russia.

This hostility is even deeper than that of China.

Although they don't like what China is doing, they can't see it well, but anyway. After all, China is one of the capitalist countries. From a certain point of view, it can be regarded as being in the same camp as them, especially the leader of China, who is known to be the largest capitalist in the world, but what about Soviet Russia?

They came to ask for their lives!

Although the First World War had just ended, all countries had to be devastated and had to be silenced. But if one day suddenly the great powers again launched an encirclement and suppression of Soviet Russia, this is something that absolutely no one doubts...

And with the exception of Eastern Europe. Then there is the Far East, where a large-scale war is most likely.

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In the Far East. The contradictions between China and Japan are well known, and similarly, China and Japan are the most likely to clash. Indeed, not long after the end of the First World War, a protracted local war broke out between China and Japan.

Although the battlefield of this war was limited to the Korean Peninsula and was only a war on land, it did not evolve into a full-scale war. The huge navies of the two sides were only engaged in a confrontation in the Sea of Japan, and there was no conflict, but even this one, the conflict still brought hundreds of thousands of casualties to both sides―――――― not counting the civilians affected by this war, you must know that Pyongyang alone has almost been burned to the ground.

In any case, in the end, the war ended, and Japan, as the instigator of this war, paid a huge price.

However, although the war is over, this does not mean that there will be no war in the Far East again. Although many commentators believe that war between China and Japan is highly unlikely, at least not in the near future.

But the Far East is still like a powder keg, and the biggest reason for this is...

China's ambitions...

At present, there is more and more talk in China about restoring the power of the past. And the most important point of restoring the strong posture of the past is his own sphere of influence.

In the past, China's traditional sphere of influence was East and Southeast Asia, as well as Central Asia. Almost all of the countries or tribes in these regions are subject states of China. The tributary system established by China also ruled the land for thousands of years.

However, with the advent of the Great Powers, the system, which had been maintained for thousands of years, finally fell into a state of near collapse. A large number of China's original vassal states were colonized by the great powers, and in the end, even China, the most powerful ancient empire in the East for thousands of years, was almost reduced to colonies of the great powers.

It's just because his size is too big, and it's not just the great powers that are eyeing him, so in the end he wasn't really swallowed up by the powers, and was just reduced to a semi-colony.

However, even so, it is a rare shame for this once heavenly state!

Naturally, in the past, because of the number of times they were defeated by the great powers, even the people with them became inferior, and in the end, they even thought that they were really inferior to the great powers, and some of them even began to willingly become second-class citizens―――――― because for them, it seemed that Chinese could only do this.

But then the establishment of the Nationalist government and the emergence of Yan Shao made China once again show its strong posture. The victory in the Battle of Shandong was only the first step, and then the expeditionary force went to Europe to participate in the war, Verdun, the Somme. The Expeditionary Force's appearance made it one of the pillars of the Entente's camp, and completely established its position as a strong country in the Entente.

The subsequent military campaign against Russia with two-thirds of your territory made China the largest contiguous country in the world. And in the total territorial area. It is only slightly inferior to Britain―――――― as an old colonial power, Britain not only has its own colonies in India but also Canada and Australia. In addition, about one-third of Africa is a British colony, and its territory is naturally slightly larger than China's.

Despite this, the successive victories in the past seven years have regained the original self-confidence of the Chinese people. Especially after a patriotic education. There are even many Chinese people who have realized their identity as the former Heavenly Empire...

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As mentioned earlier, a strong country must have its own sphere of influence.

The sphere of influence of the great powers is their colonies. And what about China? The countries of East and Northeast Asia are China's most natural spheres of influence, after all, they were once China's subject states.

At present, however, almost all of it has become a colony of the Great Powers, if they want to return to China. There is only one way―――――― to free them from the clutches of the great powers...

But it's obvious. It is absolutely impossible for the great powers to cede these areas to China so lightly, so the probability of conflict between them in the end is almost as high as 100%.

It is for this reason that many commentators have rated the Far East, especially Southeast Asia, as the most likely region for conflict in recent times.

In the eyes of many commentators and even countries, China today is like Germany in the past.

is equally powerful, and the national strength is also advancing by leaps and bounds. And one thing that China has in common with Germany is that they also need to break the shackles around them...

Then finally. It seems inevitable that China will embark on the path that Germany has taken.

This is one reason why the great powers will be more wary of China.

However, because of the First World War, although they knew this, the great powers, whose strength had been damaged, could hardly come up with any way to deal with China. After all, the China of today is not the China of seven years ago, and the great powers are no longer the great powers of seven years ago.

It can be said that after the end of the First World War, except for the United States and China, almost all the participating countries suffered heavy losses, and at the moment Britain and France simply cannot use the strength to contain China―――――― not to mention that France may not be willing to take action...

Today's Britain is lonely.

However, in the opinion of commentators, China should not be able to take action against the foreign powers anytime soon. Because China also needs time, it needs time to digest the benefits it has gained in this war―――――― for example, Russia and the territory of the Middle East, which China has taken from other countries, and it takes time to digest it.

If it has not yet been digested, it will rashly launch a military operation, and the results can be imagined.

Not to mention anything else, if even these territories are lost, then China will really lose a lot.

Therefore, as long as Yan Shao has not made a fool, even if he really wants to do something, he will definitely do it when these territories have been almost digested.

It also gave the Great Powers time to prepare, and no matter how great their losses in the First World War were, time would wear out, after all, with the passage of time. Their losses in the war will gradually recover, and at that time, it seems that they will no longer need to be afraid of anything.

China will also need time, and in addition to digesting those new territories, it will need to continue to build up its power. Now, with its vast territory and equally jaw-dropping population, China has gained strength that is almost on par with other powers. However, its industrial strength and military strength are still slightly inferior to achieve its goals.

For example, in industry, before the outbreak of World War I, it was said how strong Germany's industrial strength was, and how strong was America's industrial strength.

Germany was able to confront Britain, France, and Russia head-on in the war only because of its industrial strength almost equal to that of the three countries combined. The decisive force of the United States is also due to its strong industrial strength.

If German industry is equivalent to the sum of Britain, France and Russia. Then the industrial strength of the United States is equal to the combined strength of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Japan...

At present, although China's industrial strength has been greatly enhanced, it is even compared with Britain and Germany after the defeat of the war. There is also a large gap, not to mention none.

At least until we have almost the same industrial strength as Germany back then, it is better not to start a war lightly. In addition, although China's army is strong, there is still a big gap between its navy and the great powers, and in Southeast Asia, other regions are also counted. But the islands in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines or Indonesia, need a strong navy...

Yan Shao hopes that Japan can become a 'lackey' for China. But this wish will not be realized in the short term. And if Japan does not have a navy, China will need to have its own strong navy if it wants to achieve this goal. And even if Japan is willing to help, a strong navy is extremely necessary for China ...

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This qiē mentioned above. You can see it. Today's world is not a peaceful world.

Fortunately, after the end of World War I, most countries except Japan, which is prone to hot-headedness, had little interest in war.

So with the end of the First World War, the melody of war gradually stopped...

Except for some insignificant skirmishes in remote areas, unless an accident occurs, it is unlikely that a large-scale war will occur in this world for at least ten years.

Generally speaking, if the story develops to this point. Then it seems that the world should also enter a state of peace. At least the original war wounds should have been healed, beyond that. Those who have suffered a lot in the war seem to be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

But in reality, it's not...

Prosperous antiques, troubled gold...

Even for the victorious countries, the scars of this war are deep and visible, let alone for the defeated countries.

Because of the defeat in the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided into several parts―――――― although the Austro-Crarian Empire was very 'pig' throughout the war, almost like a pig teammate, but in fact Austria-Hungary was a very powerful country in Europe.

Before the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the five major European powers (Germany, Britain, France, Austria, and Russia), and a vast country spanning Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe. At that time, it was second only to Russia in terms of land area and second only to Russia and Germany in terms of total population. At the same time, Austria-Hungary was the fourth most advanced in the world in terms of machine-building and munitions industry, after the United States, Germany and France. At the same time, the total reserves of resources and the abundance of total mobilized troops in Europe were only less than those of Russia, the output of agricultural products and crude oil was the highest in Europe, and the quality of heavy artillery units was far ahead of the rest of the countries and ranked first in the world.

In the end, however, Austria-Hungary was defeated, and in the midst of the war it was very...

It's disappointing, at least his cousin Xiàn is definitely sorry for his huge name. And the reason for this is also very much related to the corruption and incompetence of Austria-Hungary, and at the same time the wave of independence in its country.

It is important to note that the division of Austria-Hungary was not the aim of the Entente, and it was not supported until later in the war. On the contrary, many believe that the division of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not solve the local national problem, but only made the region more unstable.

Eventually, after the end of the war, the divided Austro-Hungarian Empire turned into a number of states.

At the same time, it was precisely because of the division of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that the independent regions that originally belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire became chaotic and attacked each other, which eventually gave Soviet Russia and later Germany an opportunity to take advantage of.

And in addition to Austria-Hungary, there was also Ottoman Turkey.

If after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at least there was a chance to establish many states on the original lands, then Turkey did not have such an opportunity. After its disintegration, almost all of its territory has become colonies of other countries, for example, Syria was divided to France, and some areas of the Caucasus have also fallen into the hands of Soviet Russia, and its Iraq, Kuwait and other places in the Middle East have directly become Chinese territory. If it weren't for Kemal, I am afraid that even today's Turkey might not have survived.

In addition, there is Germany, which was once strong, but the end was also very miserable because of the defeat.

After the defeat, some of the nobles who originally belonged to these places were also affected by the defeat. Many aristocratic families have become depressed, not to mention the original luxurious life, even if they want to fill their stomachs, it is not an easy task for some nobles.

This is especially true in Turkey and Austria-Hungary, and this is the best time for antique dealers to climb aboard.

Because at this time, many aristocrats are very willing to sell their treasured antiques cheaply, and all they want is some money that they will not even look at in the past...

And these things just need to be left for a little longer, and in the heyday, they can easily become priceless things...

Prosperous antiques, gold in troubled times is like this...

In troubled times, only gold and food are the most valuable, and of course, there are weapons to protect or plunder these things.

And in the heyday, these originally worthless things can easily be favored by many poor guys who only have money left... (To be continued......)