London

The official residence of the Prime Minister on Downing Street

Seeing the reports of the urgent consultations between the foreign ministers of various countries, Prime Minister George's head was dizzy for a while, and his face changed uncertainly.

Half an hour later

He gritted his teeth and said; "It's too much, it's shameless blackmail, what do the French say?"

"The French side has not officially stated its position for the time being, and the monstrous changes caused by the great changes in Tsarist Russia have not subsided so far. The French have invested too much in Tsarist Russia, and now is the time to be anxious. Foreign Secretary Smith sighed lightly and shook his head with a deep brow, and could see that he was under great pressure.

The French are like this, and the British are not grasshoppers on a rope?

After the new Tsarist regime came to power, it not only announced its withdrawal from the First World War as soon as possible, but also announced that it would not recognize the huge debt of more than 60 billion francs owed by the tsarist regime, and that not a single eldest son was ready to repay it.

This huge thunder stunned both Britain and France, and they have not recovered until now.

The war was not over yet, and Germany had freed up its hands on the Eastern Front, and now it was possible to transfer more than 40 German divisions to the Western and Southern Fronts in Europe and to the Middle East, and the situation facing the Allied military bloc was even more severe.

At this critical moment, the Tang Empire's valuable help is even more needed, both in terms of materials and troops.

The ministers of the British wartime cabinet in the conference room of the Prime Minister's official residence had serious expressions and a deep sorrow between their brows, which made the atmosphere particularly solemn.

Chamberlain, the Minister of the Colonies, coughed lightly, and only then did he speak after the attention of the crowd had turned;

"Gentlemen, we must make a decision as soon as possible and tie Datang tightly to the chariot of the Entente.

The immediate priority is to defeat the Germans and win the war, which is the highest priority, and without defeating the Germans there is no future.

All focus must be subordinated to winning this particularly difficult war, the Eastern Front is completely erosive, and the collapse of the Tsarist Empire is irreparable.

In this case

We need more support from our allies in the Tang Kingdom, everything from finance to supplies, weapons and equipment, and the army......

I agree with His Excellency Prime Minister George that at this extremely difficult time for the Entente bloc, Tang's request for additional is tantamount to blackmail.

But what I would like to remind my colleagues to pay attention to is

According to the signed "Bordeaux Treaty", the 600,000 troops and material and financial support provided by the Tang government were fully fulfilled to the letter.

Millions of tons of high-quality flour and weapons and ammunition are being brought in, as well as coffee, toffee, canned food and everything else we need, which plays an important role in stabilizing the social order of the participating countries.

The joint patrol of the Royal Navy of Britain and Tang reduced the damage of Germany's frantic unrestricted submarine warfare by more than 80 percent and curbed the huge destructive power of German submarines.

On this basis

We hope that the number of troops sent by Tang to Europe will increase from 600,000 to 3 million, which is not a small change in numbers, but a huge effort.

So when blaming them, I hope that there will be more calmness, more wisdom and tolerance, and we need to gather all the forces that can be gathered to deal with the Germans together.

In this war, we cannot do without the help of our allies of the Tang State.

As long as the final victory of the war is won and the unshakable maritime supremacy of the British Empire is maintained, then everything is still under control. ”

Chamberlain's speech drew a burst of whispers from wartime cabinet ministers, and a number of heavyweight cabinet ministers expressed their approval.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George also gradually calmed down from his initial anger, he thought for a moment, turned his head to look at Foreign Secretary Smith, and asked; "Tell me, what does our desperate ally need?"

Foreign Secretary Smith replied;

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister

The Don wanted the Entente bloc to compensate for its obligations beyond the fulfillment of the Bordeaux Treaty by offering to include Syria, Crimea, and central or southern Ukraine in its sphere of influence.

After the efforts of the British and French diplomatic departments, the Tang side gave in to its attitude and was willing to co-administer the Syrian region with Britain and France, and not directly incorporate it into the rule of the overseas colonies and overseas provinces of the Tang Empire.

But the Tang side needs to have a military presence in Syria and share administrative rights, including Lebanon and ports along the Mediterranean coast.

Meet the above requirements

The Tang State was willing to increase the total strength of the European Expeditionary Force to 1.2 million men, and bear the cost of weapons and equipment and casualties.

In terms of Europe's claims to Crimea and central or southern Ukraine, the Tang side is willing to make further concessions, and only retains the demand for ceding Crimea and the area around the port of Odessa in southern Ukraine.

Meet the above requirements

The Tang State was willing to increase the total strength of the European Expeditionary Force to 3 million men, and bear the expenses of military deployment, weapons and equipment, and casualties.

Even if these additional demands could not be met, the Tang was still willing to fulfill its Allied obligations under the Treaty of Bordeaux, but the size of the expeditionary force was limited to about 600,000 men. ”

"It sounds like doing business, it's ridiculous."

"On the contrary, I feel that I can accept it, and I will get more if I give, is there anything wrong with that?"

"Those cunning Orientals, who always use one kind of opportunity or another to make us back down again and again, have occupied almost all of America. It is unbearable to expand its influence into the Southwest Pacific and the Middle East, and now it wants to extend its black hand into Europe. ”

"Wake up man, we must admit that the foundations of the British Empire's domination of the world have been shaken, and we cannot do without France and the Tang allies in the current European war and world affairs."

"Having lost Tsarist Russia, we now need the Tang State even more, and we must win this war. As long as the supremacy of the Royal Navy of the British Empire in the Seven Seas is unshakable, the future will remain ours. ”

"Seconded, the main thing is to defeat the Germans."

"Seconded."

"Seconded."

The British wartime cabinet was very efficient in decision-making, and after a simple vote, London's official policy was introduced.

Next

A new annex to the Bordeaux Treaty, namely the relevant resolution on post-war arrangements for Syria and the cession of the Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea port of Odessa, will be reached through an urgent consultation process among diplomats of various countries.

It was formalized in the form of an annex to the treaty.

Britain, France and other countries were extremely eager for the large number of troops in the Tang State, and no one chose the plan of sending 1.2 million troops, but directly chose the final plan of sending 3 million troops.

Today, Britain and France have reached a point where they are unsustainable due to the large number of troops lost in the previous three years of war, and the reserve resources have been depleted.

Today, on all fronts, the total strength of the French army has exceeded 4.7 million, the total strength of the British army has reached 3.3 million, and the total strength of the Italian army has reached more than 1.6 million.

Among them, the French army has suffered more than 1.5 million casualties, the British army has suffered more than 1.17 million casualties, and there are tens of thousands of casualties every day, which needs to be replenished by a steady stream of new soldiers.

The huge gap caused by the collapse of the Tsarist army on the Eastern Front could not be made up by Britain, France and Italy, and only the Tang State on the other side of the Atlantic could hope for it.

It is in this context that Britain's geostrategic red lines have been retreated again and again.

There is a saying that people are poor and short-minded, and horses are thin and long-haired.

When the stomach is not full, the Germans are about to hit the door, what are you talking about insisting?

The great changes in the northern Tsarist Russia, which not only announced its withdrawal from the war, but also did not fulfill its debt repayment obligations of up to 60 billion francs, made Britain, France, Italy and other members of the Entente embarrassed, and produced a deep sense of vigilance and revenge.

In their opinion

Now Tsarist Russia is a dangerous country second only to Germany, and if necessary, it will organize multinational armed intervention in order to defend its national interests.

In order to win over the giant pit of Tsarist Russia, Britain, France and other countries have paid too much.

France accounts for about half of the total 60 billion francs of public and private debt, Britain accounts for a little more than 20%, and the rest is loans from Germany, the Netherlands, Tang, Belgium, Denmark, Austria-Hungary and other countries, all of which have accumulated over the years.

So when Tsarist Russia defected, the hearts of the French were dripping blood, and why not the British?

From the second half of 1916, Britain had to pay more than 26 million pounds in financial aid loans to Tsarist Russia every month, most of which was borrowed from the Tang Empire consortium and then given to Tsarist allies.

Only the years of the war

The international community, led by Britain and France, gave 6.6 billion rupees, or about 26.5 billion francs, to support the corrupt Russian imperial government to fight the war and share the pressure on the Western Front.

Now that the old man of Tsarist Russia has turned his face and refused to admit his account, how can Britain, France and other countries not be angry?

Under the current situation that the war is still fierce, there has been a loud public opinion in France, calling for the organization of international intervention forces to strangle the fragile new regime of Tsarist Russia from the source.

And this kind of voice is also coming and going in the UK, so how big is the response?

Think about it, too

Britain, France and other old powers colonized the world for hundreds of years, and the foundation they had worked so hard to accumulate was a world war and a great change in the north, and basically lost all their money.

How much does it add up to 200 billion francs that France has lost in the total war that has ended and more than 30 billion francs on Tsarist Russia?

If Huo Huo goes down like this, no matter how thick the family foundation is, it will have to be drained.

A military bloc of the Central Powers and a new regime in Tsarist Russia have become the two major enemies of the European world, dominated by Britain and France.

In order to deal with them, Britain, France and other countries had to pinch their noses to win over the Tang State, and the geostrategic red line was broken again and again, which was a last resort.

After receiving positive feedback from its European allies, the Tang Empire also quickly responded positively.

From the end of 1917 to the beginning of 1918, in just over two months, through the large fleet escorted by the Royal Navy, the Tang Empire once again transported nearly 500,000 troops like Europe, effectively consolidating the battlefield situation.

Through the vigorous escort operations of the Royal Navies of Tang and Britain, an astonishing zero casualties have been achieved in the process of sending expeditionary forces to Europe so far.

It turns out

A well-organized and powerful joint convoy operation in the North Atlantic, a powerful weapon to curb Germany's insane unrestricted submarine warfare, has achieved remarkable results.

In the convoy, the probability of a German submarine attack on a merchant ship was reduced by 9 percent, and more than 10 German submarines were sunk each month, reaching 13 in the highest month.

The recruitment plan in the Tang Empire went well, and the new recruitment program increased the meritorious field rewards in the Crimean Peninsula and Syria, which triggered a wave of militants within the Tang Empire to join the army.

Many retired veterans also participated, so that the first phase of the army's million-man recruitment plan was completed in just over a month.

I have to say here that the human resources of the Tang Empire are too rich.

The entire Royal Army's million-strong recruitment plan is divided into more than 230,000 people in South America, more than 140,000 in Central America and more than 380,000 in North America, and more than 190,000 in the Southwest Pacific and more than 60,000 in the Middle East.

That's a small amount

The average number of people in a province in mainland North America ranged from a few thousand to 10,000 people, and in the vassal states of South America ranged from 3 to 8,000, and the situation in overseas provinces was roughly similar.

The largest number of recruits was in Paradise Province, which recruited more than 62,000 people at one time, nearly one-third of the Southwest Pacific region.

According to the recruitment rules of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire

Those who have only children in the family are not recruited, those who have a stable job for more than three years are not recruited, those who are married and have no children are not recruited, and those who have no brothers to worship the high hall are not recruited.

Recruitment is more skewed towards new immigrants, the unemployed at the bottom of society, and more populous areas, and is forced to recruit indigenous people from Central and South America and the Pacific Southwest Islands, such as Colombia and Sumatra.

In South America, more than half of the conscriptions in South America are forcibly recruited from the Viceroyalty of Brazil and the indigenous youth of Colombia, about 100,000 people.

In Sumatra and Java, more than 100,000 indigenous young adults were forcibly recruited, more than half of the recruitment plan.

In the second and third phases of the recruitment plan, the above-mentioned areas were the focus of forced recruitment, which also took into account the young and middle-aged Arab tribes in the six provinces under the command of the Governor-General of the peninsula.

The relevant troops were mainly sent to the battlefield on the Western Front, mainly to take over the defense areas of some British, French and other armies, and would face fierce attacks from the Germans.

The new Fourth Corps and the Fifth Corps of the European Expeditionary Force are under construction, and there are more than two or three hundred high-speed cruise ships, troop carriers, and cargo ships on the Atlantic route.

The Tang Empire began to send troops to Europe with its powerful transportation capacity, and such a move won the praise of the British and French allies, and the original huge pressure was also reduced a lot.

Although the allies of the Tang State have one or another bad, their credibility and trustworthiness are not covered after obtaining relevant benefits, they are really powerful.

The power vacuum created by Tsarist Russia's formal withdrawal from the First World War was quickly filled by the Tang Empire's expeditionary force, forming a new balance of power.

The continuous sending of expeditionary forces to Europe by the Tang Empire also aroused a high degree of vigilance and concern in Germany.

After the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Treaty of Brest was quickly signed between Germany and Russia, and Tsarist Russia won a respite for peace by ceding large territories.

Germany was slow to launch a new large-scale offensive, and the Western Front remained deadlocked, but on the Southern Front there was some action.

In the 12th Battle of the Iszo River

Germany was able to calmly transfer 6 German divisions from the Eastern Front battlefield and crushed the Italian army in one fell swoop, killing and wounding more than 43,000 soldiers, capturing 265,000 prisoners, and more than 300,000 Italian soldiers deserted and fled without a trace.

The strength of the 51 divisions of Italy was completely broken, completely unorganized, and the body of the defeat was incomplete.

Through this battle, the German-Austrian forces completely regained all the territory lost in the 11 battles of the Izo River, and made a large impact on the interior of Italy.

Fortunately, the expeditionary force of the Tang Empire, which was in the second-line position, withstood the pressure and firmly held the battle line after receiving a large number of fleeing Italian troops.

At this time, the German army was also at the end of its strong crossbow, and out of the consideration of prudent use of troops, it also quickly retreated and disengaged, and won a hearty victory.

The expeditionary force of the Tang Empire not only withstood the pressure on the battlefield on the southern front, but also helped the Italians clean up the mess. Moreover, it has sent a steady stream of reinforcements to the battlefield on the Western Front, effectively stabilizing the current confrontation situation.

Objectively speaking, that's really powerful. (End of chapter)