Richard did not stay long in the lavish palace banquet, and after showing up and having a few cordial conversations with the prime minister and others, he quickly left.

Prime Minister Lord Hu Yongtang and a number of military and political ministers also had no intention of attending the palace banquet, and after meeting His Majesty the Holy Emperor Taizu and receiving important holy edicts, they also left one after another without stopping.

They have a lot of things on them, how can they be in the mood to play here?

After these top figures of the empire left one by one, the originally somewhat oppressive atmosphere at the palace banquet immediately became cheerful.

The ladies dressed in beautiful Han and Tang costumes danced with the noble men, and the melodious music echoed in the colorful court, which was a luxurious night banquet in the prosperous world.

Return to the harem

The palace under the shade of green trees is deep and quiet, only a few huge pet beasts around the dormitory, and the terrifying giant eyes in the night show a miserable green light, which makes people's hearts tense when they see it.

Without the permission of the Holy Emperor Taizu, no one is allowed to enter the forbidden place of the palace without permission.

It was still early when he returned, and Richard didn't feel sleepy, so he came to the study with confidence.

On the imperial table, carved from a single piece of rosewood slabs, there are 9 Easter eggs from the Russian court, and the enamel vase and lantern are filled with blurred light.

Next to the palace lamp, there is also a co-worker who broke the jade ornament of Buzhou Mountain, which exudes a green hazy brilliance under the light.

Every piece of furnishings in the imperial study is worth a lot of money.

Even if it is a bone china tea cup for daily use, because the bottom seal is engraved with the "Holy Emperor Imperial System" style, it is a forbidden item in the private market, and no matter whether it is bought or sold, it will be punished with the felony of "contempt of the imperial court".

Richard didn't care about these details, he walked to the dragon chair behind the royal case and sat down, his eyes fixed on a large globe, and he reached out and turned it slightly, and then stopped.

His gaze shifted from Syria to the Crimean peninsula, and there was a hint of joy in the flicker.

Some of the wounded and sick of the expeditionary force evacuated from Europe will be resettled in Syria, where the warm climate is conducive to the recovery of officers and soldiers.

The Tang Empire will have nine sea and land bases in Syria and a substantial garrison, while opening up the process of migration to the region.

The empire had no plans to include Syria as an overseas province, but it was necessary to increase the proportion of the ethnic Chinese population and gain vital influence.

This will be the bridgehead for the goods of the six provinces of the Arabian Peninsula to go to Europe in the future, and it will have an important weight in the regional economic map, and it must be firmly grasped in the hands.

There were also some calls for independent statehood among the local Arab tribes, but they were soon severely suppressed.

If this happens

The empire will take the initiative to intervene in the situation in Syria, and at the worst it will be divided, and the ports and surrounding areas near the Mediterranean, where the Chinese population has significant influence, will be separated.

Richard had no worries about the Crimean peninsula and eastern and southern Ukraine, which would become the first European territories to become ethnic Chinese.

The Tang Empire included this part of the region directly under the overseas provinces, and will establish the provinces of Crimea, Odessa and Kerch respectively, and implement orderly development under military control.

470,000 Tatars are currently being relocated from Crimea and will be resettled in central Ukraine as a barrier to the Russians.

The Tatars have a feud with the Russians, and the Tatars are a nomadic steppe people of Mongol descent who originated from the western expedition.

From the 15th to the 18th century

The once thriving white slave trade was mainly supplied by the steppe cavalry of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman cavalry, who mainly plundered human trafficking from Tsarist Russia and Ukraine.

Backed by the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, the cavalry of the Crimean Khanate plundered countless times, causing deep disasters to early Tsarist Russia, and the two sides had a bloody feud.

Moreover, the Tatars are Turkic and follow the Ishna religion, and the Ukrainians and Russians believe in Catholicism, and the cultures, customs and beliefs of the two sides are incompatible, and there is a deep estrangement.

The Tatars are a typical East Asian race, more similar in appearance to the Chinese, and if you don't speak, you can hardly see the difference.

But after all, it is an alien race, and it is necessary to expel it from the heart of the Crimean peninsula.

Fortunately, the Tsarist Empire suffered huge casualties during World War I, because of the war, hunger and disease reduced tens of millions of people, especially in Ukraine.

There are a large number of sparsely populated or even uninhabited villages and towns that can be used to house Tatar immigrants.

Today, there are still a large number of disarmed German troops and their families in the Ukrainian region, and the armed forces of Belarus are rampant, as well as some Balkan peoples and the old Austro-Hungarian army, and the situation is quite chaotic.

The new Russian regime was mired in civil strife and could not be taken into account for the time being, and the German and Austro-Hungarian armies would not surrender to the Russians, maintaining a minimum degree of autonomy for the time being.

With the successive entry of British, French, and Tang troops, Greater Ukraine and Belarus will fall into the hands of the Entente bloc one after another.

At present, the international forces headed by Britain, France, Tang, Italy, Japan, Germany, and Austria are extremely hostile to the new regime of Tsarist Russia, and have more or less sent troops to occupy the territory of Tsarist Russia.

Thousands of British troops occupied Baku and joined forces with Belgium in the Caucasus, where they were quite active.

In Siberia.

The area occupied by the Japanese was the widest, and the front reached Lake Baikal to the west, and all the villages and towns east of Lake Baikal were garrisoned by soldiers of the Fuso Army.

From Vladivostok to Chita, whether it is the Trans-Siberian Railway or the Eastern Railway, the Fuso flag is hung at every station, and some happy Japanese families accompany them.

Fuso actively supported Kolchak's White Russian army, supported the Seminov puppet regime, and planned to connect eastern Siberia with "Manchuria" and North Korea to create a super colonial circle.

This is a typical small Karami strong elephant, and he has taken more than 7.2 million square kilometers in a circle, and his appetite is amazing.

Therefore, Fuso is actively increasing troops to the north, planning to increase the number of troops from the current 50,000 to more than 80,000 in the first half of next year, and start the plan for Japanese people to migrate north.

These tricks of foreign colonial expansion were all learned from the suzerain, the Tang Dynasty, but they were just absurd.

These greedy island people always want to eat a big fat man in one bite, and they are not afraid of being strung to death.

Richard smiled knowingly when he thought of this, he was not in a hurry at all, after a year and a half, the ice and snow land in the north would always leave the imprint of the Tang Empire.

His confidence came from the greed of the Fuso people, from the huge opposition of White Russia in Tsarist Russia, and from the marriage between the imperial royal family and the Tsarist princess, who would be justified in name and in accordance with the law, and would receive widespread international support.

With the support of the Tang Empire's strong financial strength, he was very interested to see what would happen here in the future?

As an island country in East Asia, Fuso's foundation is weak and its national strength is weak, and the military power that can be used for foreign expansion and colonization is limited, not endless.

An unprecedentedly fierce Russo-Japanese war that took place at the beginning of the 20th century left Fuso with heavy war debts and disappeared from the international scene for 15 years.

What are you doing?

In the hard industrialization, he is desperately squeezing the people to repay their debts, and even letting millions of Fusang women go overseas to sell prostitution and return a little blood for the country.

Fusang's resources are poor, the industrialization base is extremely poor, and the steel output so far is less than 200,000 tons, which is only 1/63 of the Tang Empire.

At this point, the steel production still relied on the coal and iron resources plundered from North Korea, and it was only after many difficulties that it was able to form its own steel industry.

The steel produced in China is of poor quality, low output and high unit price, which is far inferior to the large quantities of high-quality steel imported from the Tang Empire.

Most of the coal used for heating in Fuso in winter is imported from the neighboring province of Beihai, and more than ninety percent of the other resources needed for industrial development such as copper, iron and tin, aluminum, and petroleum are imported from the Tang Empire.

The lifeblood of the industrialization of the entire island country was in the hands of the Tang Empire.

Such a status quo

So that the island country of Fusang has never been able to straighten up in front of the suzerainty of the Tang Dynasty, its military strongman Shan Shan Youpeng once lamented; "The barrenness of national resources cannot be recovered by manpower, and only by hoping for the help of the suzerain, can we feel that we can live with some dignity!"

It is precisely because of the bottleneck of resources that the military and political strongmen in Fuso generally have a strong impulse to expand and colonize abroad.

Should I say it or not, the indomitable stubbornness of the Japanese people, but unfortunately the heavens will not fulfill people's wishes after all.

The Tang Empire's positioning of Fusang was very clear, and it was personally criticized by the Holy Emperor Taizu Richard;

This is a white-eyed wolf that cannot be raised.

Its strategy of colonial expansion nakedly included Korea and Manchuria, as well as Central Siberia and West Siberia of the Russians.

This aroused the vigilance and dissatisfaction of the middle and high-level of the Tang Empire, and they habitually beat each other, which deepened the distrust between the two countries.

It's like the owner leading a vicious dog to walk around the street, and the vicious dog always wants to break free from the chain and bite the pedestrians around it, making it more and more difficult to control.

Retracting his gaze from the globe, Richard naturally leaned back, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

He is reviewing the situation in the Ukrainian region in the future and considering the prospects for the competition of forces between several parties.

After the defeat of Germany, the new government of Tsarist Russia immediately announced the abrogation of the provisions of the "Brest Treaty" and the recovery of the ceded Ukrainian and Belarusian regions, with a total area of more than 3.3 million square kilometers.

This area has cost Tsarist Russia nearly 50 million inhabitants and accounts for 90% of the country's coal mining, 73% of iron ore, 54% of industry, and 33% of railways.

This move by the new Russian government will make it necessary to have a war with the Tang Empire in the future, because Crimea and eastern and southern Ukraine are also included in this defeated ceded area.

Now people don't admit it, that's only a beat!

It's just that the new Tsarist government can't spare its hands now, and the White Russian rebels are rampant in its country, and the opposition in the party is detached.

The area controlled by the new Tsarist regime was only a quarter of the country's area, and the rest of the area was occupied by other forces.

The biggest threat to the Soviet regime was the White Russian forces such as the Kolchak rebels and the Denikin rebels, as well as thousands of rebels, large and small.

The Cossacks alone had more than 130 rebel units.

If you go outside, you must first settle inside

Now the foreign intervention army is a disease of ringworm for the new Tsarist regime, and the White Russian rebels at home are the main problem.

The current situation shows

Tsarist Russia is still in chaos for a few years, so there is no need to rush to the end at all, let the bullets fly for a while.

In the Tang Empire, France actively supported the restoration of Poland and the independent establishment of Ukraine, which was specifically to block Tsarist Russia, and then put them on the agenda of the Paris Peace Conference one by one.

Prime Minister Clemenceau of the French government suggested through secret channels that 17~20 divisions should be transferred from the battlefield on the Western Front, mainly with the strength of the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force, and with the remnants of the German army stranded in Ukraine and Belarus to form an armed intervention army to attack and eliminate the new Tsarist regime.

Later, the former princess of Tsarist Russia returned to China to succeed to the throne and became the female tsar, which was obviously to tempt the Tang Kingdom with sweet fruits and participate in this muddy quagmire.

The government of the Tang Empire decisively rejected this tempting offer, saying that it was not interested in sending troops to Tsarist Russia for the time being.

Please note that this "no interest for the time being" is a statement that clearly leaves room for the British and French not to ignore.

The army of the new Tsarist government has swelled very much, from 112,000 in the early days of its establishment to more than 860,000 at the end of August, and then to more than 1.4 million at the end of the year, and it is still expanding rapidly.

Although this army lacks medical treatment and is not fully equipped with weapons, after all, the number of people is there, not two or three big cats and kittens.

The best way now is to let the White Russian forces such as the Kolchak rebels and the Denikin rebels go first, and in the domestic chaos, they will consume each other.

After 1~2 years, he struck again during the weak period of the new Tsarist regime and laid a victory in one fell swoop.

The Tang Empire's demands were not high, nor did it seek to eliminate the new regime of Tsarist Russia, but only demanded that the Tsarist side recognize through a written treaty the reality of the Tang Empire's division of the Crimean Peninsula and eastern and southern Ukraine.

At that time, depending on the specific situation, it may be necessary to add an article;

The Tsarist side should recognize the reality of the division of the country, perhaps in Central Siberia, perhaps in the Caucasus, and it is not yet clear where to start.

Butterfly wings have changed history a lot, but the general situation in Europe has been stubbornly preserved, but Tsarist Russia will be much weaker than the original historical time and space.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, more than a dozen new states became independent, creating a new situation that became more and more complicated, closer to the Europe that Richard was familiar with.

The British Prime Minister Lord David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of the Tang State, Lord Hu Yongtang, and the French Prime Minister Clemenceau have been determined;

The Ottoman Empire will be dismembered at the Paris Peace Conference, and the spheres of influence of various countries will be recognized in international law, including the Tang Empire's land in the new six provinces of the Arabian Peninsula, and the joint administration of Syria by Britain, Tang and France.

The Paris Peace Conference was actually a triumph of the victorious powers, led by Britain, France, and Tang, from which the three countries would also gain the most benefit.

Tsarist Russia withdrew from World War I early, and the question of the ownership of the Turkish Straits and Constantinople, which was originally planned to be divided between Tsarist Russia, will surely become the focus of contention at the Paris Peace Conference.

Since the post-war German question was given higher priority than the Ottoman Empire, the issue was disputed for a long time, and it was possible to delay it for a year or two, or even longer.

At present, it is determined that in addition to the land of the six provinces of the Arabian Peninsula obtained by the Tang Empire, there are several others.

Article 1, the region of Eastern Thrace, with the exception of Istanbul, was ceded to Greece, and the region of Izmir was referendum in five years to decide whether to join Greece.

Article 2, which recognizes the independence of Armenia and gives Armenia the Black Sea coast east of Kiresun, west of Al Xinjiang, west of Mushi, south of Bitlis and Lake Van to Armenia;

Article 3, the strait area becomes a demilitarized zone, but the Entente countries have the right of military action in the area, and the six countries of Tang, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia form the strait management committee, which is responsible for shipping, lighthouse management, and navigation in the area.

Article 4, the Ottoman Empire renounced all its territories in Asia and Africa, and was ruled by the British, Tang and French protectorates, of which France acquired the Lebanese region and jointly administered Syria with the British and Tang countries.

Britain acquired Iraq and Palestine, and Tang acquired Jordan, Kuwait and other six provinces on the peninsula.

Article 5, which recognizes Italy's annexation of the Dodecanese Islands (Twelve Islands), was a condition originally promised to the Kingdom of Italy to enter the war, and is now honoured.

And before the First World War

The Ottoman Empire had lost most of its possessions in Europe, including Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania and Herzegovina, and Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and most of the Arabian Peninsula in North Africa.

In post-war treaties

Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Palestine and Lebanon were lost, and the original land area was reduced by 71%, leaving only 410,000 square kilometers of territory.

It would not be an exaggeration to call it a halving of the Ottoman Empire.

The topic returns to Ukraine

The Tang Empire planned to support Ukraine's independence, and this plan was placed alongside Poland's independence as one of the main demands at the Paris Peace Conference.

No matter what the future fate of this new Ukrainian state is, this friendship is going to be decided by Datang.

This is also an additional insurance for the Tang European region, in the face of the danger of Tsarist invasion at all times, the Ukrainians can only hold the big thick legs of the Tang Empire tightly, and there is no second choice.

Due to differences in history, ethnicity, and beliefs, even if Poland is supported for its restoration, this new country will definitely be pro-British, British and French in the future, which is the nature of the womb.

Therefore, outside of Poland, the Tang Empire wanted to foster a pro-Tang regime in Europe, that is, Ukraine, and put it on the front line against Russia.

This may be the fate of Ukraine, and the small and weak countries of Europe have always been unable to control their own destiny and have become pawns in the confrontation between the great powers.

The geographical conditions of Ukraine determine that it has never been able to get rid of the clamps of the Tang Empire.

After the Tang Empire took possession of the Crimean Peninsula and the southern regions of Ukraine around Odessa, the planned new Ukrainian state was a properly landlocked country with no access to the sea of its own.

The vast and fertile black soil of the Great Plain of Ukraine is rich in agricultural products and is known as the "breadbasket of Europe".

But no matter how much grain can't be transported, it's in vain, and the ports along the Black Sea coast are the only lifeline for exporting grain, and now they are tightly grasped in the hands of the Tang Empire.

Unless Ukraine seizes these ports on the Black Sea coast, it will not be able to escape the fate of being manipulated.

If you don't think about winning, you should lose first.

Richard had a well-thought-out set of arrangements in Eastern Europe to keep the overseas provinces safe, and left plenty of back-up for counterattacks.

(End of chapter)