Expedition to Europe

In Germany, Crown Prince Wilhelm, who has the most power, is in charge of the current reform of the German government. He wants to transform Germany into a democratic country in order to obtain the qualifications for peace talks with the Allies.

At least, it should be a democratic country recognized by the Allies.

In September, Prince Marx, who succeeded Heutling as German Prime Minister, sent a diplomatic note to US President Wilson to accept the peace treaty proposed by Wilson at the beginning of the year.

Wilson immediately responded, urging Germany to accept the "Fourteen Points" in an almost friendly manner.

This was the first time that Wilson's "Fourteen Points" were recognized by a world power. Wilson had reason to be friendly to Germany, even though the two sides were in a state of war.

In fact, everyone understands that peaceful coexistence is the norm between countries, and the state of war cannot continue forever. Perhaps the war will end tomorrow, and Germany and the United States will resume trade the day after tomorrow.

When the news that the Germans agreed to the "Fourteen Points" reached the Elysee Palace and Buckingham Palace, it immediately caused strong dissatisfaction in Britain and France.

The focus of the contradiction is still on the self-determination of private capital.

Germany had lost all its overseas colonies in the war, so of course it agreed to the "Fourteen Points", but this was simply a deliberate disgust for Britain and France, who were about to win a great victory.

But "peace" was already a consensus among everyone, and Britain and France could not go their own way, so Britain and France refused to negotiate with the German government on the pretext that Germany was still in a state of ****.

While rejecting the German government's peace proposal, Britain and France launched another large-scale attack on the front line, trying to break the Hindenburg Line, push the front to German territory, and force Germany to surrender unconditionally.

It was already October, and the Americans finally drove the Germans out of the Argonne Forest, but the Americans paid the price of 26,000 deaths and 95,000 injuries. Haig's offensive still made no progress, and the British suffered as many as 180,000 casualties in these two months.

Perhaps knowing that they had been forced to the edge of the cliff, the Germans showed a tenacious will to fight, and their casualties were less than those of the Allies, but at the same time, their total force was far behind that of the Allies.

The Allies at this time - perhaps after the Americans joined, it would be more appropriate to call them "Allies".

At this time, the Allies had nearly 6 million troops, and the advantages of aircraft, tanks and artillery became more and more obvious. The new generation of Allied generals represented by Qin Zhiyuan, Monash and Patton no longer used human wave tactics, but used steel to consume the lives of Germans.

In early October, the Canadians finally broke through the Hindenburg Line. They used a total of 940,000 artillery shells, while there were only 100,000 German defenders opposite them.

In the subsequent battles, the Allies fired 12,000 tons of artillery shells every day, including 280,000 Miss 75 artillery shells.

The German artillery was no longer able to fight back at this time. They could only passively defend and lived in fear every day in the shadow of the barrage created by Bruchmuller.

In mid-October, more and more areas achieved breakthroughs. Although the German army suffered heavy casualties, if the Allies deployed ground combat troops, the German counterattack would still be fierce.

The Marines were resisting, the Bavarian troops were resisting, and even the infantry divisions that had been beaten to incomplete were resisting.

In some positions, the Germans fought until only officers and machine guns were left, but the officers would turn themselves into machine gunners and resolutely resist the Allied offensive as long as they could move.

In mid-October, the rainy season finally arrived, the roads became muddy, and transportation was extremely difficult. The Allied artillery was still a lot, and the shells were piled up in the port, but they could not be transported to the front line.

Because of the continuous rain, the fighter planes could not take off, and the tanks were stuck in the mud. In the distance, the German machine guns were still rattling, intermittently, and it sounded like they would stop at any time, but they never stopped.

The Allies finally realized that Germany, which was trapped and fighting, still had the ability to resist. They were not the Austro-Hungarian Empire that could be slaughtered at will.

At the end of October, a report was submitted to Raymond Poincaré's office. The War Committee evaluated the military potential of the German army and estimated that if the war spread to the German mainland and the Germans were completely conquered by force, the war would continue until the year after next, and France would suffer an additional 500,000 casualties.

After reading the report, Raymond Poincaré wrote "Stop it now" on it, and then sent someone to pass the report to Clemenceau.

Raymond Poincaré understood that stopping the war now would lay hidden dangers for the future, because the fact that the war did not spread to the German mainland would make the Germans think that they were not really defeated, but they were defeated because of the lack of allies.

Then in the future, the war might break out again.

But Raymond Poincaré had no way to continue the war. The French government's finances had been exhausted, and even the Americans were unwilling to lend money to the French government.

The Americans wanted to be the savior and save Europe from the water and fire by themselves.

In September, Poincaré tentatively proposed to Wilson that he did not want to repay the loan, but was rejected by the United States.

Then the money can only be transferred to the Germans, and if Germany is to retain its repayment ability, then Germany cannot be reduced to ruins.

Lloyd George obviously thought so, because just after the special envoy sent by the Pope arrived in London, Lloyd George also agreed to an armistice.

On November 8, the negotiation team led by Matthias Erzberg of the Catholic Central arrived in Compiègne and met with the Allied Commander-in-Chief Foch to request the start of armistice negotiations.

Foch clearly pointed out that there was no possibility of any negotiation and the German army must surrender unconditionally.

Foch also pointed out that the premise for the Allies to agree to a one-month ceasefire was that the German army would withdraw from the east bank of the Rhine within 14 days, abolish the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, retreat to the eastern border line of August 1, 1914, hand over 5,000 cannons, 3,000 mortars, 30,000 machine guns, 2,000 aircraft, and give up Germany's territories in East Africa.

Erzberg did not agree to these conditions immediately. After three days of negotiations, Erzberg finally agreed.

So the "Armistice Agreement" officially took effect at 11 o'clock in the morning of November 11.

The one-month ceasefire was not to avoid the rainy season, but to discuss the conditions for negotiations.

In other words, although the "Peace Agreement" had not yet been signed, the world war was over.

After the news spread, some people were ecstatic, some were sad, some cried bitterly, and some accepted it calmly. In any case, on November 11, 1918, the World War ended.

Not everyone was happy. When the "Armistice Agreement" was signed, Man Jing was extremely dissatisfied. He exclaimed: No, no, no! We must attack the heart of Germany, and the armistice agreement must be signed in the heart of Germany. Now with this agreement, the Germans admit defeat. The war cannot be ended like this... This is a fatal mistake, and France will pay the price for it!

From Qin Zhiyuan's point of view, Man Jing said very much.

But at the same time, because this was said by Man Jing, it has no weight.

After the signing of the "Armistice Agreement", peace talks followed. This was a feast. Qin Zhiyuan did not want the Republic of China to be absent, so Qin Zhiyuan sent someone to invite Lu Zhengxiang.

In the Black Swan Castle in Paris, Lu Zhengxiang had a bitter expression: "... I know that the peace agreement has been signed, and I also know that the world war is over. The country should indeed send a delegation, but who can send it? Who can represent our Republic of China?"

The original text can be read in Liu # 9 @Shu/Bar!

Lu Zhengxiang's voice was heavily nasal, and his eyes were red, as if he would break down and cry at any time.

Just three months ago, the Anfu faction in the country won the general election, and the new parliament was established in the House of Representatives. The prime minister and the president of the Republic of China announced their resignation on the same day.

Then the Anfu Congress began to argue over the presidential candidate. The support rates of the former prime minister and the former president were comparable, and this dispute lasted for three months.

In other words, the current Republic of China has no prime minister or president, only an Anfu Congress that quarrels all day long in meetings.

And sending a delegation is definitely not on the agenda of the Anfu Congress. For them, the most urgent thing now is to elect a president who can represent their interests. As for the peace talks that are about to begin in Europe, whoever wants to go can go.

Lu Zhengxiang has called the country several times, asking the country to pay attention to this matter, but it has not attracted any attention, because no one has the right to make a decision.

Lu Zhengxiang has no choice but to send a telegram, because even the current operating funds of the embassy are sponsored by Qin Zhiyuan.

"What should we do? Are we just going to watch others make a lot of money, but we get nothing?" Qin Zhiyuan was dissatisfied.

To be honest, if it were not for the critical stage of "dividing the spoils", Qin Zhiyuan would have the idea of ​​returning to China now.

Qin Zhiyuan really wants to ask the congressmen of the Anfu Society in person: Do you want to do this?

If you don't want to do it, leave quickly, and those who want to do it are waiting in line.

"The country has no peace, and the dragons are leaderless. What can I do, what can I do!" Lu Zhengxiang was full of worry and indignation.

During World War I, the Western powers had no time to look east, which was a good opportunity for the Republic of China to take the opportunity to strengthen its own development strength. But unexpectedly, the country began to fall into war after the "Hongxian Dynasty", and this fight lasted for four years. The country was still unwilling to calm down after the world war was over.

How bellicosity should you have?

Why did no one want to come when we proposed to send troops to Europe?

But the national conditions are like this...

"How about we form a group to make up the numbers?" Qin Zhiyuan found another way.

Lu Zhengxiang is a literati, and literati like to do things according to the rules, because they are afraid of breaking the rules, which will make them lose their living space.

Qin Zhiyuan is different. Qin Zhiyuan is a warrior. Of course, the warrior is best at force. Any strategy is futile in the face of absolute strength.

"How do we... form a group?" Lu Zhengxiang is not a pedantic scholar. As long as someone supports him, Lu Zhengxiang is not incapable of doing anything.

"You find a few people first, let's form a delegation, take the name first, and if there is any good thing, we must go up and make up for it, and we can't fall behind others." Qin Zhiyuan never suffers when he can take advantage.

"Hiss... What if the country sends people over?" Lu Zhengxiang hesitated, but his hopeful eyes revealed his true thoughts deep in his heart.

"We'll talk about it later. If the people are suitable, let them come. If they are not suitable, let them stay where they want." Qin Zhiyuan cut the Gordian knot.

"Okay, let's follow Governor Qin's idea." Lu Zhengxiang smiled with wrinkles all over his face. His skill in changing his face is also profound.