The taste of power makes people intoxicated, it makes people lost, and it also makes people go from wisdom to mediocrity, from sobriety to empty eyes.

Li Fushou witnessed the collapse of the four traditional empires in Europe, knew that the democratic process was an irreversible and powerful trend in the world, and although it was difficult to give up the absolute power that could not be checked and balanced, he still made the right choice.

If he did not implement democratic constitutionalism, he feared that he would regret it.

For decades

Li Fushou led the big ship of the empire through storms, thunderstorms, and rapids, and now he is sailing on the vast sea, and the future is bright, and he doesn't want to be sideways.

The end of the world war

The Ocean Empire has the opportunity to make up for its shortcomings in Europe and North Africa, and to improve its empire and global layout before the tide of the awakening of world nationalism.

Today

The ocean empire has no desire for territory, and Libya is not a colony that is bound to be acquired quickly, but a piece of oil-producing land in the Persian Gulf, which is in line with the future interest plan and is bound to be included in the bag.

And all this needs to be negotiated with Britain, France, and other countries at the Paris Peace Conference, and finally determine their respective spheres of influence and the boundaries of their interests.

Until the dust settles, Libya is the most powerful bargaining chip, and there are many things that can be exchanged for it, including the recognition of the sovereignty of the Republic of Crimea by major European countries such as Britain and France, and the tacit integration with the Oceanic Empire.

Concessions were made in Western Asia to acquiesce that Kuwait and the Kingdom of Najd were colonies of the Ocean Empire.

On the North American issue, China promised not to support the United States by force, not to form an alliance with the United States, and not to infringe on the traditional interests of the Ocean Empire in South America.

On the African question, substantial concessions were made to the demarcation of the German East African territory in order to meet the needs of the oceanic empire.

On trade and tariff issues with Europe......

On the Far Eastern question......

The power of the Ocean Empire expanded to the whole world, and there were many deals to be negotiated with Britain and France, which were far more important than a port in Tripoli in the southern Mediterranean, and much more important than the colony of Libya.

With Libya in its hands, the North African colony of the Ocean Empire is in an extremely powerful negotiating position, which will force Britain, France, Italy and other countries to offer interests that are not inferior to those in the region in exchange.

Otherwise, the Ocean Empire categorically would not give up the fat to the mouth.

An unprecedentedly tragic world war caused the belligerent countries such as Britain and France to change their national character, which had a far-reaching impact and made them fear war from the bottom of their hearts.

Before the Great War

France was full of anticipation for the fateful war in Europe, hoping to recreate the glory of the Napoleonic era after the humiliation of the Franco-Prussian War, which was fought very hard-fought and not coerced at all.

However, the unprecedented severity of the world war cost France a large number of people, and almost a generation of young men died in the battlefield, which was too costly.

This made the French deeply afraid of war, lost their original blood, and the overall tone turned to compromise and appeasement.

On the French side, any officer who advocated war would be removed from the army without hesitation, and the overall thinking of the French army turned to defense and tried to avoid war against Germany.

This situation also appeared in Britain, Britain and France after World War I, and other countries, with appeasement as the mainstream ideology, is not groundless for no reason.

In this case, no one wants another war with the Ocean Empire.

Exchange of interests!

Anyway, as old colonial countries, Britain and France and other countries have bargaining chips in their hands, which are enough to make the ocean empire tempted.

For countries such as Britain and France, the Mediterranean perimeter is a core interest.

For the Ocean Empire, Libya in North Africa is a marginal interest, and there is no need to make a big move.

After the summoned ministers retreated, Li Fushou returned to the imperial study, and there were more than a dozen secret letters on the rosewood table, which were all private messages from the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, the United States and other countries, privately coordinating policies and communicating in advance.

The letters from the heads of state of Britain and France were mainly focused on the Libyan issue and the Tsarist Russian issue, leaving aside the Libyan issue for the time being, and Tsarist Russia was the issue of the unified action of foreign intervention forces.

Because of the private transactions between the Ocean Empire and Russia, the 2nd Army of the Ocean Empire stationed in the Republic of Crimea will not participate in interference with Russia, which makes Britain, France, Italy and other countries very dissatisfied.

The new Russian government was also not satisfied with the actions of the Oceanic Empire, although the 2nd Army withdrew from the Ukrainian region, but the power gap left after the withdrawal of the region was quickly occupied by foreign intervention forces and white bandits, forcing the new Russian government to send troops from eastern Ukraine, and the two sides became a pot of porridge in the area around Kiev.

The Ocean Empire had only one mobile brigade in Tsarist Europe, and it was no longer willing to send a single soldier.

And in the Tsarist Far East

The military presence of the Ocean Empire was reduced from two divisions to one, and it was firmly entrenched in Vladivostok and several surrounding Far Eastern cities, and did not set foot in Central Siberia.

On the other hand, in order to regain the trust of the British Empire, Fuso increased its military strength in the Russian Far East from more than 10,000 to more than 60,000, and advanced westward along the Trans-Siberian Railway, reaching the area around Yekaterinburg, making it the largest contributor of foreign intervention forces.

Why was Fuso able to commit troops in the Far East?

This is because under pressure from Europe, the current war in North America has stopped, which means that the second war between the United States and Japan has come to an end.

The two sides did not sign a formal armistice, but the war had ceased completely.

Fuso occupies the vast Great Plains of Central North America, which is the world's most famous black soil region, with the most conducive humus soil for crop growth, and countless factories and towns, which has made its comprehensive strength grow to a great level.

How big the benefits are, speak with data;

Occupying part of the industrial areas in the Great Lakes region of North America, Fuso's annual national economic output increased by 133%, tax revenue increased by 276%, made up for more than 37 industrial production shortcomings, and steel production increased by 1,122%. From the original annual output of more than 200,000 tons of steel, the annual output of steel increased to 2.244 million tons, close to the level of France (post-war). The area of arable land increased by 421 percent, and the output of agriculture and animal husbandry doubled.

This is a bite of fat and oil, compared with a one-time war reparation, the benefits of Fusang's fall are greater.

The population of the United States today is at best more than 3,200,000 (about 4 million in the occupied area of the Great Lakes, and nearly 3 million people have been lost after more than two years of war), which is almost half the level of Fuso.

The trade-off of each other gave Fuso more confidence to colonize North America.

President William Taft is visiting Europe, bringing in a large number of retired and unemployed officers and soldiers from Germany, signing more than a dozen contracts for the authorized manufacture of advanced weapons, receiving training and technical support from Britain and France, strengthening intergovernmental cooperation and exchanges with Britain, France, Italy and other countries, and reopening immigration channels......

The British had unequivocally told Fuso that any further military action in North America would greatly damage the foundation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance and exert strong pressure on the Japanese side.

France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and other European countries have expressed similar demands and jointly put pressure on the government of Fuso to prevent it from starting a war in North America.

The pressure from Europe balanced the power of the Ocean Empire, and although the Japanese side expressed strong dissatisfaction with this, they disembarked and completely stopped military operations in North America.

Li Fushou has nothing to do about it, so he can only take one step at a time.

There are two main aspects of the Ocean Empire's pressure actions against the United States; On the one hand, it urged the repayment of arrears, and on the other hand, it demanded that the United States fulfill its promise to suppress the number of standing armies below 100,000.

During the war, the Mi Guoyan expanded the number of militias, and the total number of troops once reached more than 1.7 million, and the Ocean Empire turned a blind eye.

Now that the war is over, then it is necessary to resume the "wool war", and the arms limitation treaty stipulated in the "Canton Treaty" is not allowed to be exceeded.

In the face of the strong oppression of the Ocean Empire, the United States knew that its strength was not good, so it had to endure humiliation and hatred and began to reduce the number of active troops on a large scale, and turned into a standing National Guard militia in various states.

The Japanese side was grateful for the measures taken by the Ocean Empire, which greatly reduced the pressure on the North American troops.

At the same time, the Japanese side has also taken practical actions to reduce its armaments, and plans to reduce the number of troops dispatched to North America from more than 770,000 to less than 300,000.

The high cost of maintaining a large-scale army has already overwhelmed the finances of the Fuso government, and it has been on the verge of bankruptcy several times.

meanwhile

The Japanese side launched a large-scale "non-governmental North American Pioneer Group" campaign to strengthen the construction of the migrant fleet, and began to emigrate to North America on a large scale to further consolidate the occupied areas.

After the war, there were many new changes in the world pattern, and under the guidance of Li Fushou's cautious policies, the empire began to achieve strategic contraction, starting with large-scale military layoffs.

The Imperial Royal Army has more than 2.3 million personnel, and the first to be cut is the local garrison, which will be halved from 1.11 million, and it is planned to maintain no more than 560,000 posts.

The overseas expeditionary force and garrisons, totaling more than 1.2 million, will be reduced from the second quarter of '19, and priority will be given to the restoration of those who should be restored, the retirement of those who should be decommissioned, and the rewards of those who should be rewarded, and the officers and men of the empire who are willing to settle in the European or Atlantic islands.

The total strength of the 2nd Army of the Republic of Crimea was about 380,000 people, and 78,651 people were killed and wounded in the war, of which 22,776 were killed and more than 55,000 were wounded.

More than 88,000 officers and men were awarded for meritorious service in the war, more than 70 percent of whom were resettled in the coastal areas with Crimea Island as the core, and about 45 percent of the total number of retired officers and men were resettled on the spot, or about 200,000 people.

In addition, the Belarusian subordinate army also carried out the resettlement of cantonments, which were concentrated in the southern coastal areas of Ukraine in the units of agricultural squad platoon companies.

According to the arrangement of the superior;

In addition to some of the German and Austro-Hungarian occupation forces, the First, Third and Fourth Armies on the Western Front were withdrawn from Europe one after another, and some of the officers and soldiers who were willing to stay in Europe were mainly resettled in the Republic of Crimea, which totaled about 260,000 people (not counting family members).

So

The Republic of Crimea has resettled more than 560,000 retired soldiers of the empire and some Chinese immigrants (mainly engaged in business and real estate), about 500,000 Belarusian affiliated troops (excluding family members), about 200,000 officers and soldiers of the 2nd group, and a total population of about 2.7 million.

The vast majority of them are young men and women, and the proportion of soldiers to civilians is surprisingly high, making it a strong country in Eastern Europe.

The Black Sea detachment of the Atlantic Fleet is stationed in the port of Yalta on the island of Crimea, which is also the most powerful fleet in the entire Black Sea region, including two 40,000-ton "Princess Elizabeth" class battleships, none of them.

On the French battlefield on the Western Front

There were many imperial soldiers who combined with local girls to form families, roughly about 300,000, and these soldiers were strongly wooed by the French after retiring, so they chose to stay in France and not return to China.

Among them, some experienced officers entered the French army, bringing with them the advanced military concepts of the Ocean Empire, and further strengthening the professionalism of the French army.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were also married to English girls and Italian girls, who also stayed in the local area because of various factors.

Lin Lin finally came down

Of the total number of more than 1.2 million imperial expeditionary forces, less than 400,000 were withdrawn to the country, some of them entered the Republic of Virginia for long-term recuperation, some remained in Panama, and some retired and settled in four states under the jurisdiction of the North American Governorship.

Less than 200,000 people returned to the mainland, all of whom were veterans of the war and the backbone of the army, especially the officers and professional non-commissioned officers, most of whom had already started a family before the war, had children to care about, and did not miss the scenery outside. (To be continued)