Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 390 The biggest victim

William laughed loudly, turned his head and said to Little Moltke: "My chief of staff, it seems that you need to work hard next time, and use our cannons and airships to prove to the French." In such a serious diplomatic occasion, William's words were extremely rude, and it was like an open challenge to the French side.

The gentle and refined Briand turned pale with anger at this time, and was about to speak back when the Chinese emperor chuckled and said, "Calm down, deputies, only when you calm down can you solve the problem. Don't forget, we here The ultimate goal of the meeting is peace, although there will be twists and turns in the process of achieving this goal, as long as we all calm down and step back and think about it, all problems can still be solved.”

Although Guan Xuqing didn't talk much, no one dared to publicly refute the Chinese emperor, even the aggressive William II sat down.

Guan Xuqing quietly watched the farce performed by William and others, and was very dissatisfied with this reckless German emperor. It seems that he is still a friend who lacks strategy, but facing such a situation, Guan Xuqing couldn't find a better way for a while Come to reconcile, because as long as he expresses his position, he will inevitably show his inclination towards a certain party. Now that the eyes of the two parties are red, if they intervene rashly at this time, it is very likely that they will all point their fingers at him.

Due to the persistence of the German side, the peace talks reached a deadlock.No matter what the French side and other allies say, William's side strongly opposes it and insists on using the current line of control of the German army as the boundary.

The whole morning was spent in the quarrel of everyone, and no agreement was reached.Then there is a 3-hour break.The other representatives went to dinner together and discussed the talks, while William and others went directly back to their place of residence.

"Hmph! That guy William is really disgusting." Sous sat on the sofa with a face full of indignation. "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, don't you just ignore it? His territory is within the range of the cannon. Isn't he too arrogant?" Sous gasped and said angrily.

Briand glanced at British Prime Minister Balfort. At present, only the United Kingdom is France's biggest reliance.Belfort smiled helplessly. William's words were a bit arrogant, but earlier, the British Empire also shouted the same slogan: the territory of the British Empire is within the range of naval guns.At that time, the Royal Navy of the British Empire was invincible, but now, the Royal Navy has been defeated by the Chinese fleet many times.After being defeated by the Chinese United Fleet in the battle for the Strait of Malacca that year, in several confrontations, it all ended in the failure of the British Royal Navy. "No. [-] in the world" is now nothing more than a meaningless pretense for the British Empire.

"Your Excellency, I think you should bear with it for a while. You know that now China wants to end this hateful war as soon as possible, and the Germans don't want us to spend more financial and material resources. The British Empire has never been afraid of German tanks. , but only for China, I have to think more. There is no need to start a war if it can be resolved through diplomatic means. Let me ask you, if there is another fight, how sure is France that it can defeat the imperial cavalry? Belfort persuaded, he said these words, of course, out of the consideration of the interests of the country, if this peace talks can be successful, then the status of the conservative forces represented by him in the British government and opposition will be greatly reduced. more stable.

The British are really capricious villains. At first they advocated war, and now they strongly advocate peace talks.Briand cursed in his heart, but he didn't dare to express his thoughts, because if France wants to stand up, it must rely on the power of Britain. "But Your Excellency, Prime Minister, should they just carve up half of France for nothing?" Briand asked a little unwillingly.

"Of course not! The Germans now control most of the Allied countries. I believe that other Allied countries will feel uneasy like us. There will definitely be a war between us and Germany, but not now. Wait for the national strength of each country When it recovers, it will be the time when we declare war on Germany again. At that time, the power of all countries will not be enough to defeat him?" Belfort said confidently.

Briand nodded helplessly, he had already talked about this point, and he also understood that under the current situation, France had to make a compromise with Germany. As for the future, it is difficult to say clearly.

In another room, the emperor of Austria-Hungary, the kings of Bavaria and Saxony and other allies and their subordinates also started a discussion.

"Your Majesty, the tone of the German side is very tough now. If they insist, what should we do? It is impossible for everyone to drag on forever?" King Saxon and King Bavaria pinned their hopes on the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Lanz body.

Franz glanced at them and knew what they were planning. He wanted him to put pressure on Germany and France, forcing the balance of interests to tilt to the second front among these allied countries.To be honest, that's what Franz wanted too.Although Austria-Hungary is also the main combatant of the Allied Powers, its economic and industrial level is far inferior to other European powers. The consumption of the war has caused the national power of the Austria-Hungary Empire to be lost to a very terrible situation. The Turkish Empire and the Persian Empire also took advantage of it. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was ready to move when its strength was greatly damaged.Therefore, Franz is also eager to end the war in Europe as soon as possible.

"Do those two mean that we want us to put pressure on Germany?" Franz asked lightly, his tone was very calm, and there was no trace of joy or anger.

Italian President Orlando nodded first. Italy was the most damaged country in the war among several big countries. Although he wished to tear the French to pieces, he had to consider his own national conditions.So ending the war as soon as possible and putting revenge on later has become the best choice for Orlando now.

"Okay then, since you all agree, let's jointly put pressure on Germany and France during the peace talks in the afternoon." Franz said with a smile.As for the other countries, they have no opinions at all, or even if they have opinions, someone will automatically filter those opinions out.

At 02:30 in the afternoon, the peace talks continued.A group of heads of state walked into the Hall of Diligence and Prosperity. William II was the last to arrive, completely ignoring the angry expressions of others. William and his party went straight to their seats and sat down carelessly.

Franz coughed in embarrassment, and then said with a smile: "Now that everyone has arrived, the peace talks will continue, and we will continue to discuss the Kaiser's request for an armistice."

William's side still insisted on the morning's opinion, and their attitude was extremely tough, and there was no possibility of loosening up at all.

Even under the persuasion of British Prime Minister Balfour, Briand was still unwilling to make any compromises with the tough Germans.

As a result, the talks in the afternoon fell into a stalemate again just after they started.

Seeing that the time was right, Franz felt that it was time for him to speak, so he smiled awkwardly and said, "This is how I see it. If you have any different opinions, you can raise them at any time. Just like at the beginning of the meeting, China His Majesty the Great Emperor said that there is no real culprit in this war, and the whole world does not want to see the war, but since the war has already happened, we should face the reality. France has lost many lands that belonged to itself , I deeply regret this, but war is like this. There is a Chinese saying that the winner is the king and the loser, the weak eat the strong. Now that the war has broken out, something will change for it, and someone will pay the price for it I remember there is a very good saying in China that those who know the current affairs are called heroes. If you persist, you will probably pay a more painful price than the current one." Having said this, Franz turned his attention to Briand Waiting for others, obviously these words were addressed to them.Although there was a smile on Franz's face, what he said clearly said that if you French continue to deny the reality of being ceded, then not only Germany, but even the entire Allied Powers may unanimously launch a war against France. It will be difficult to recover from time to time.

Briand is a veteran in the diplomatic arena, how could he not understand Franz's subtext, he was annoyed and helpless, so he couldn't help but look at Belfort who was sitting beside him for help.

Belfort, on the other hand, put on a look of nothing to do with himself, and looked around leisurely, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Franz turned his head and said to William II: "The theme of this Beijing peace conference is peace, and the goal of our negotiations is also based on the theme of peace. If we violate this sacred theme, we will be sorry to the Chinese emperor." Your kindness." As he spoke, he greeted Guan Xuqing with a smile.

Guan Xuqing secretly called Franz an old fox in his heart, and on the surface he also nodded to the other party.

Franz went on to say: "Since we are all for the purpose of peace, for the tranquility of the world, this matter is much simpler. I think we can all take a step back on this issue. The small step we made here today This step will be a big step towards peace for the whole world tomorrow. What do you think?"

The heads of several other allied countries unanimously agreed with Franz's opinion. In fact, this was agreed by them in advance.

Next, William, Moltke Jr., and Foreign Minister Earl Claude discussed in a low voice, while Briand and Belfort discussed Franz's proposal.

In this way, after nearly three hours of back-and-forth, the German side finally made a certain degree of compromise, and the French side had to lower its high head in the face of huge realistic pressure and accept the Allies' disposal of French territory. Became the biggest victim of this war.

(End of this chapter)