Years of the Republic of China 1913

The European War, or World War I, which caused 6100 million casualties in Europe, nearly 2000 billion U.S. dollars in economic losses, and led to a serious decline in the political, military, and economic strength of European countries has finally come to an end.After the German provisional government signed the armistice agreement, a long negotiation process followed, which was similar to what Fang Zida expected. From the beginning of the negotiation, Britain and France could not wait to push all the responsibilities to Germany, and at the same time ordered the troops to seize and Control several important cities in the Ruhr area, an important industrial area in Germany, and transport the steel, coal and other materials stored in these places to the country by rail.

When the French Prime Minister Clemenceau signed the armistice in Germany, he pointed out that Germany must be required to compensate France for all losses suffered in the war, weaken its military power so that Germany could no longer threaten France, and proposed to execute the Kaiser who had fled to the Netherlands in public William, France took back Alsace-Lorraine, established the Rhine Demilitarized Zone, and the victorious countries carve up Germany's overseas colonies.At the same time, he also hoped to sign a secret treaty to block the German coastline, so that France could control Germany's import and export trade... .

This series of extremely demanding requirements caused a great uproar in Germany, and the French unscrupulously rushed to transport supplies in the occupied areas, causing a large number of German residents to be homeless.For this reason, the German railway workers organized a strike in the French-occupied area to protest the French occupiers. After hearing the news, Clemenceau immediately ordered the troops to brutally suppress them. The strike was quickly suppressed, and the French occupiers even executed More than 200 of them, in order to achieve the purpose of killing chickens and scaring monkeys.

To be honest, France, as a victorious country, is really ugly, but with the acquiescence of its staunch ally Britain, the French government has completely disregarded international public opinion, and put on a posture to completely kill Germany.

The French's attitude towards the post-war period was worrying, so formal negotiations were not smooth from the very beginning.Although Britain also suffered huge losses in the war.But for the United Kingdom, although the British government hopes to weaken Germany, it is not willing for France to become a European superpower while seizing all the benefits of Germany.Therefore, during the negotiation process, the attitude of the British was extremely ambiguous. On the one hand, the British acquiesced in France's use of various means to deal with Germany, which had put down its arms and surrendered.But on the other hand, the British government also tactfully reminded the French not to backfire. Excessive persecution of Germany will arouse Germany's strong sense of revenge, which is not conducive to long-term peace.At the same time, Germany is also the second largest trading partner of the United Kingdom, and excessively weakening the German economy will also damage the British economy.In addition, the rise of the United States after the war has become irresistible, and the main future competitors of Britain, France, and Germany, which are also European countries, may be the United States. Excessive suppression of Germany does not have much political benefit.

Long before the end of the war, Fang Zida began to prepare for the post-war affairs.When the news of Germany's surrender came, the negotiating team headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Cao Rulin and Minister of Justice Zhang Zongxiang immediately set off for Europe.At the same time, Fang Zida in Beijing paid close attention to the progress of the negotiations.After learning about the outrageous demands made by the French, Fang Zida contacted Cao Rulin by secret telegram after consideration, asking him not to place too much emphasis on the peace talks formed by the Allied Powers during the negotiation process. Signed a series of treaties with Germany.

As for Britain and France, Fang Zida has already made arrangements.As Fang Zida's special envoy, Yang Du went to Europe with Cao Rulin and others, but his mission was more important than Cao Rulin's.At the same time, when the French army seized several major cities in the German industrial zone.Fang Zida also sent a telegram to order the European Expeditionary Force to march towards Germany in the name of "controlling law and order", and occupied Oberhausen and surrounding areas with lightning speed.

compared to the French.The Chinese are much more "cute". Except for setting up cordons in important areas of the city, such as railways, highways, mines, factories, etc., and sending military police to maintain order, the squadrons in the civil affairs of other cities did not intervene at all. Even general law and order is handled by the local police.

Not only that.Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Feng Guozhang summoned the mayor of Oberhausen and asked Oberhausen to operate normally as before, whether it was factories and shops that should work, and those that should open should continue to open, and he assured the citizens of Oberhausen.The Chinese Expeditionary Force will not destroy or dismantle any Oberhausen property, and guarantee the safety of everyone's life and property.

In the beginning, how could the Germans believe the words of the Chinese? In the eyes of the Germans, China, as a weak country, was simply a target of bullying by the great powers. Compared with countries such as Japan, France, etc., even the short Japanese are incomparable.The promises of the Chinese cannot be counted at all. If the French come to occupy Oberhausen, the Chinese who are arrogant will probably give it up.

In the eyes of the Germans, being occupied by the British or the Americans is far more reliable than the French and Chinese.The French are greedy and the Chinese are cowardly, neither is a reliable country.Although the mayor thanked the Chinese army for their help with a smile in front of Feng Guozhang, he didn't believe that the Chinese could do everything they promised.But within a few days, the development of the situation made him make a big change to these "yellow-skinned monkeys".

The French, who successively occupied several major cities in the Ruhr area, soon arrived near Oberhausen, only a dozen kilometers away from Oberhausen across the Ruhr River.As the commander of the occupying army, the French major general was arrogant. When he learned that Oberhausen had been occupied by the squadron, he was not even interested in a normal meeting. "Order", in which the French arrogantly demanded that the squadron withdraw from Oberhausen within the specified time and hand over the city to the French army.When this order was sent to Feng Guozhang, Feng Guozhang sneered after seeing it. Although his face was calm and he didn't show any expression, the anger in his heart could be seen from his clenched fists.

In terms of military rank, Feng Guozhang is a general of the Republic of China and the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, while the other party is just a small major general and division commander.From the point of view of power, Feng Guozhang holds the command of hundreds of thousands of expeditionary troops, while the opponent has only a few thousand troops.The status of the two is not at the same level, let alone such a teacher Zhima, even Marshal Joseph Joffrey of the French Army is not so domineering in front of him.

Rejecting the other party's "order" straight away, and driving the dung-spitting captain straight out of Oberhausen, Feng Guozhang immediately ordered the army to be assembled to set up a defense line along the Ruhr River, assuming a posture of fighting.

Of course, Feng Guozhang, one of the three heroes of Beiyang, was not a brainless reckless man. While strictly ordering the troops to prepare for a counterattack, Feng Guozhang asked all troops not to fire the first shot, but if the French first attacked the Chinese position, they would resolutely fight back.

At the same time as he gave the defense order, Feng Guozhang sent a telegram to the headquarters of the Allied Powers that "the remnants of the Allied Powers pretended to be the Allied Occupation Forces and tried to launch an attack on the Squadron's area". superior.Then, Wang Jixin, who was at the high level of the Allied countries preparing for the peace talks, was not idle, jumping up and down to win allies for the Chinese. This incident became a big deal. Under the attention of all parties, the French did not eat pork. After eating a lot, in the end, he could only get the unlucky division commander back in the name of deployment, and he had to explain this "misunderstanding" to the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Chinese did everything they promised, which caused a huge change in the perception of the local Germans towards the Chinese Expeditionary Force.Not long after, the large amount of materials that the Chinese government arrived in Europe made Oberhausen recover quickly in the occupied area. The Chinese-occupied area has almost become a paradise.For a time, there were many Germans who ran to Oberhausen from other cities in the Ruhr area, and the Chinese never refused to come. Under the arrangement of the Oberhausen city government, these Germans were properly resettled one by one and won the victory. Great affection from top to bottom in Germany.

Not long after the second batch of supplies arrived, Yang Du also came to Oberhausen.After arriving in Europe, he parted ways with Cao Rulin and others, and left France with some personnel.When they arrived in Oberhausen, Feng Guozhang warmly welcomed Yang Du. After the dinner, the two talked alone for a long time. Feng Guozhang, who was frustrated in domestic politics, clearly knew that his official career had reached its peak. Compared with Duan Qirui, his talent mainly lay in Military and not political.The victory of the European War made Feng Guozhang understand that only by relying on Fang Zida can he maintain his current status, not to mention that Yang Du brought him good news here, that is, when the situation stabilizes after the war, Feng Guozhang will step down from the expeditionary force The commander-in-chief returned to the country to report on his duties, and Fang Zida arranged two positions for him, one as the deputy chief of staff, and the other as the commander of the military region to be established.

These two positions are very attractive to Feng Guozhang. Wang Shizhen, the chief of the general staff, is getting old and not as energetic as before. in front of him.Although the latter position does not look as good as that of the General Staff Headquarters, the power in his hands is not small. In other words, the commander of the military region is almost equivalent to the position of the governor or admiral of the previous dynasty. far beyond.

Yang Du is the one who speaks, and there is no rush on how to choose, anyway, Feng Guozhang still has a lot of time to think about it.The main content of their meeting was about Fang Zida's plan. Among Feng Guozhang's orders conveyed by Fang Zida, the occupation of Oberhausen was one of them. As for the next disposal plan, Yang Du had to decide.

A few days after Yang Du arrived, in addition to understanding the situation, he also made a series of preparations.A week later, Mr. Schroeder, the mayor of Oberhausen, asked to see Feng Guozhang. Feng Guozhang, who was discussing matters with Yang Du, suddenly smiled meaningfully, stood up and said to Yang Du: "Xizi is absorbed in things, and I will see you next." It’s over.” (To be continued..)