After looking at it for a moment

Richard put aside the internal reference in his hand, raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, as if he could shield himself from the complicated affairs of the world.

Although the Entente won the First World War, the troubles did not decrease at all, and all kinds of contradictions emerged one after another, and no amount of energy could be dealt with.

The most realistic thing is that as soon as the armistice treaty was signed, a large number of military orders were cancelled one after another, some were loaded, weapons, ammunition and ships, and some were canned food, blankets, military rations and other materials related to the supply of military supplies.

All countries have coincidentally covered their money bags, and they can save a little if they can.

This will inevitably have an impact on some of the export industries of the Tang Empire, although it is only partial, but it has already shown bad signs.

What is the final form of war?

It is nothing more than a competition of national strength, in which both sides invest a large number of soldiers, weapons and resources into the bloody meat grinder of war, bringing nothing but destruction or destruction.

It is a lot of money that burns, and what stimulates it is additional demand.

Millions of young lives, ships of arms and ammunition, and all the supplies needed to sustain the war were wiped out in one fierce war after another.

When the war is over, these additional needs will naturally cease to exist.

In order to cope with the new situation in the international market, the government of the Tang Empire also took action. Orders were placed on some military enterprises with large output, and the order cycle was extended to 2~3 years, and a step-by-step reserve purchase was carried out.

The war lasted 5 years

Most of the more than 2,700 reserve depots of the Tang Empire were empty, and all the reserve materials were transported to the European battlefield, and the amount stored was very small.

In particular, last year, more than 2.2 million European expeditionary forces were equipped, and a large number of munitions reserves were almost wiped out, and all major military enterprises worked overtime 24 hours a day.

It took a lot of effort to basically meet the needs of the military.

Now that the war is over, the excess production capacity of the military-industrial complex has begun to shift to strategic reserves, which is a large demand.

Of course, such orders are far from being able to compensate for the sharp decline in international demand.

However, at the very least, it can ensure the low-speed production of some backbone military industrial enterprises for a period of time, so that they will not fall directly from mid-air and hit the ground with their faces.

From the beginning of the new year

Many factories have dramatically adjusted their production schedules, moving from three shifts to two or even one shifts, and have begun to lay off workers to adapt to the sudden change in wind direction in the international market.

This is just a new problem in the operation of domestic economic development, and although it has a considerable negative impact, it is not enough to drag down the overall economic development.

At today's Paris Peace Conference, the focus of contradictions on international issues was the fact that the representatives of the 19 victorious countries quarreled over the struggle to reap as many post-war benefits as possible.

In particular, Clemenceau, the chairman of the General Assembly, after proposing a staggering amount of war reparations on behalf of France, also hoped to be able to greatly reduce the German power.

So the French side argues;

France was not only to recover Alsace and Lorraine, which had been lost in the Franco-Prussian War, but also to move the French borders east to the Rhine, merging the German provinces on the left bank of the Rhine into a single independent state.

This proposal has been opposed by Britain and Tang, neither of whom wants to see France dominate in Europe, which is not in the interests of both countries.

Now that the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires are divided, Tsarist Russia is mired in a deep civil war.

If Germany is abolished, won't France be the only one left in Europe?

The core of Britain's foreign policy is the "European balance policy", and the core of the Tang Empire's policy toward Europe is the "balance of power policy", which is actually the same thing.

Tang and Britain wanted to maintain the balance of power between Germany and France, and they also wanted to use Germany against Soviet Russia, so they both opposed this proposal to weaken Germany too much.

In exchange, the two countries proposed;

Tang and Britain joined forces to secure France's eastern border. Once France is violated, Tang and Britain will keep their promise and provide immediate assistance.

Under strong pressure, Clemenceau was forced to abandon the demand for the creation of the Rhine.

In exchange, however, he offered to occupy the left bank of the Rhine for 30 years with Allied troops and hand over the Saar mines to France.

By this time

Lord Hu Yongtang, the prime minister of the Tang Kingdom, was extremely annoyed by France's endless excessive demands, and said impatiently with a sinking face; "I'm sorry, I never knew of any other Salar issues, and Datang wouldn't consider them."

This attitude

made French Prime Minister Clemenceau so angry that his face changed color and said in a counterattack;

"Mr. Prime Minister, this is unfair to France, which has made great sacrifices in the war, and no French prime minister will sign a treaty that does not annex Saar to France.

I am deeply suspicious of your position, those hysterical German Junker military aristocrats are the main culprits who started the war.

And your repeated accommodating attitude towards them, sending a message that is extremely unfriendly to the outside world, will undermine the friendly chemistry between the current allies.

I don't know whether, on the basis of his own political interests, the Prime Minister is trying to curry favor with the country's 12 million Germans.

In any case, we will not back down. ”

In the face of the fierce rhetoric of the French, Lord Hu Yongtang, the prime minister of the Tang Kingdom, was not used to him, and said in a cold tone;

"You mean to say...... If France does not get what it wants, will it refuse to cooperate with us? So you want me to go home. ”

This is a naked forced palace.

If the French continue to hold this attitude, then there is nothing to talk about.

Clemenceau's face was swollen red, and the green tendons on his forehead were exposed, and after glaring at Lord Hu Yongtang angrily for a while, he saw that the other party glared back at him without giving in.

Clemenceau's momentum weakened first, and he had to lower his posture, because France could not afford the serious consequences of the breakdown of peace talks with its allies.

Say something nasty

It was now the Tang and British expeditionary forces that were holding up the scene in France, and if they were to withdraw, the Germans would be able to rearm themselves in a very short time.

Facing the Germans alone, it is not an exaggeration that those Germans can beat out all the of the French.

After the defeat, Germany still had a population of more than 61 million, a quarter more than France, and more than 4.5 million elite veterans who had been honed over the years of the war.

As long as someone ascends to the heights and shouts, the servants gather.

In desperation

French Prime Minister Clemenceau had to lower his voice and replied: "I don't want you to go home, I want to go back, and I'm missing." ”

With that, he left the office in a rage.

Lord Hu Yongtang looked at his departing back, shook his head helplessly, and said to British Prime Minister David Lloyd George who was sitting on the side; "Next time it's your turn to play the role of a villain, I don't want to always rush to the front, after all, this is your European trouble."

"It's a common problem for all of us, and London will work with you as much as possible to achieve our common goals." Prime Minister George said a tongue twister and smiled with satisfaction.

It is completely impossible to establish any Rhine state, it is too much to take for granted.

As long as Tang and Britain join forces, it is impossible for the French to pass any resolution over the two sides, and they will inevitably make substantial concessions.

The so-called international politics is all about constantly striving for ...... Compromise, then fight for ...... The process of compromise is impossible for Clemenceau not to understand.

The Frenchman's wishful thinking crackled, so it depends on whether the other two are worthy or not?

Otherwise, everything is a floating cloud.

The Paris Peace Conference has been bickering for more than three months, and has reached an impasse from time to time, but the negotiation process is still moving forward with difficulty.

The war reparations against Germany and the current Saar issue were both difficult points, but the British had been persuaded by Lord Hu Yongtang to form a joint Anglo-Tang front to put pressure on France.

The purpose is to preserve the vitality of Germany, and not to be overly pickled.

The Big Three also agreed at the Paris Peace Conference;

That was to basically establish the plan for the restoration of Poland that France strongly advocated.

The plan for the independence of Ukraine advocated by Tang Guoli was established.

The plan for the multinational joint armed forces led by Britain, France, and Tang to intervene in the internal affairs of Tsarist Russia was basically established, and it was planned to send 12-15 divisions to southern Russia to attack Moscow together with the German troops stranded in Ukraine.

Among them

Datang sent 5 divisions, France sent 5 divisions, Britain sent 2 divisions, Italy sent 1 division, Belgium, Greece, Poland and Romania and other allies jointly sent 1~2 divisions.

In addition, the preparatory meeting for the Paris Peace Conference adopted a plan for the division of the Crimean peninsula, the province of Odessa and the principality of Kerch.

Support France in recovering Lorraine and Alsace.

The Republic of China adopted the resolution on recovering the 64 tuns of Outer Northeast and Jiangdong occupied by Tsarist Russia, and so on, and made considerable progress on various agendas.

The concerns of the three major countries have been taken into account as a priority, and the voices of some small and weak countries have been directly ignored.

And the defeated countries could not even enter the door of the Paris Peace Conference, so they could only let the victors write their own fate.

This was the cruel reality of international politics at the beginning of the 20th century, when the three giants of Britain, France and Tang divided the world behind closed doors, and the delegates of the 19 countries at the Paris Peace Conference were reduced to decorations.

When needed, take it out to decorate the façade, in fact, the little voice can be ignored.

basically

The main issues will be passed at the preparatory meeting, which is the result of the compromise between the three giants of Britain, France and Tang, and a tacit understanding has been formed internally, which cannot be changed at the formal meeting stage.

Another important significance of the Paris Peace Conference is that it formally established the status of Britain, France, and Tang as the three top powers, and the world entered the stage of the two great powers of Europe and the Americas.

This is the inevitable decline of the British Empire, and the rise of the Tang Empire from the top of the world from quantitative to qualitative change.

The 2.8 million expeditionary force of the Tang Empire landed in Europe, which was the largest expedition in human history so far, and the sensational effect caused by it was difficult to calm down for a long time.

Lord Hu Yongtang, Prime Minister of the Tang Empire, fought for the defeated countries Germany and Austria-Hungary in a closed-door meeting of the Big Three, and also won the reputation of these countries.

In society, that is, Germany and Austria and other countries like the freedom of the officers and soldiers of the expeditionary army of the Tang Empire, there are countless foreign couples, and even more than 400,000 oriental laborers are particularly favored.

Left bank of the Rhine

Koblenz, Westphalia.

Koblenz is an important town on the left bank of the German Rhine, also known as the Rhineland, with a population of about 570,000 people, and is a traditional German industrial city.

Now occupied by the Tang Empire, the entire city is under military control, and a large number of imported goods have poured into it, and the city is also one of the first German cities to restore its former prosperity.

In the city

Everywhere you look, you can see soldiers of the Tang Dynasty wearing crisp woolen coats or military uniforms, who do not carry guns, but swagger through the city with their beautiful German girlfriends in their arms.

In defeated Germany, the soldiers of the Tang Empire were very popular.

After the war, there was an urgent shortage of young and middle-aged men in Germany, and these generous North American soldiers became the object of German women's attention.

Although Koblenz was not destroyed by the war and the town was well preserved, after the war German financial collapse and soaring prices, the gold mark had become as worthless as papyrus.

There is an urgent shortage of supplies on the streets, and many people are hungry.

The Tang Empire had no historical grievances with Germany, on the contrary, it had extremely harmonious relations before the war, and its position after the war tended to support Germany, thus winning the unanimous favor of the Germans.

The Tang Empire is not short of money, and these expeditionary officers and soldiers enjoy overseas garrison subsidies, service subsidies and other miscellaneous subsidies during their overseas service, and the officers and soldiers are paid in the strong Tang Yuan.

And there is a monthly ration of cigarettes, chocolates and canned food, and the benefits are quite good.

In the current depression of Germany, the purchasing power is quite amazing, and it can be used as hard currency.

More than 31,000 officers and soldiers of the 203rd and 211th Divisions of the 2nd Army of the Tang Empire stationed in Koblenz found girlfriends in the city and surrounding towns after a few months of garrisoning.

And in this city where the Tang Empire troops were stationed, the atmosphere was also extremely relaxed, and there were few vicious incidents of smashing and looting, and the market quickly returned to prosperity.

After the defeat of the Germans, they were very obedient, and they tended to suffer hunger and discontent in silence, at most they drunk themselves in taverns.

They will not take to the streets to rally or march to complain loudly about the atrocities of the occupying forces.

Koblenz is one of the few places in Germany today that has a particularly friendly atmosphere.

The young soldiers of the Tang Empire would not patronize themselves and be happy, but would take care of their girlfriends' families, and take out some money to help them buy food, chop wood and carry water, and do what they could.

Although the language is different, you can understand the meaning of both parties and make the other party feel goodwill.

The Imperial soldiers on duty did not treat the Germans harshly, rarely beat and scolded, and mostly absentmindedly coped with errands.

When he was on vacation, he went his separate ways to find his German girlfriend.

When the war is over, it is time to be happy, and there is no need to continue the hatred between each other.

I am afraid of comparison

Unlike the relaxation of the Tang-occupied areas, the Germans of the French occupation were much more miserable, and were always under the high-pressure military control of the French officers and soldiers full of hatred.

Every French officer and soldier had relatives and brothers who died at the hands of the Germans, and the two sides had a feud of deep blood, so how could they give the Germans a good look?

In the French-occupied areas, there were frequent incidents of lawbreakers being shot in the streets, and French officers and soldiers wantonly beat and tortured innocent people, let alone making things difficult at will.

The Germans in the French-occupied territories lived under a bitter and oppressive military rule.

Women were raped, men were beaten and persecuted at will, property was looted as a daily occurrence, and the French occupation forces wantonly vented their hatred.

The Germans were also bloody, and this led to further instability and frequent attacks, which led to a vicious circle.

(Dear readers, you must have also seen that the book was originally planned to end, and it ended in the previous chapter.)

The results of this book are acceptable so far, and not many readers say hydrology, which is where the author Grape Jun feels particularly gratified, thank you again for your support!

Some readers and friends want to write more in the comments, which makes me feel encouraged and at the same time, I can't help but feel hesitant.

The results of the newly opened book are not good, so I want a eunuch.

In the absence of the pressure of a new book for the time being, it is not impossible to continue writing for ten days, which is my original intention to continue to update, and I plan to end it around the 10th of next month.

The next new book, the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, is now slowly being conceived to take a completely different narrative from the book, focusing on the resurgence of the Obsburgs in the early 19th century.

It was a story of shame and courage after being forced to remove the title of Holy Roman Emperor in the Napoleonic era, when the Austrian Empire was defeated again and again.

It is planned to use storytelling methods to replace large paragraphs of political commentary, without a system, and use stories to promote the development of the plot, is there anything interesting about such a story?

I hope you will express your valuable opinions, and we would like to express our gratitude again here, and thank you very much for your support. ）