Expedition to Europe

In fact, the "spoils division" meeting will not open until next year, but Qin Zhiyuan cannot wait until next year to take action. A lot of work needs to be done in advance to avoid being caught off guard.

In fact, for the Republic of China, the key to the problem lies in the Shandong region.

The Japanese defeated the Germans entrenched in Shandong during the World War, and then stayed in Shandong and refused to leave, wanting to create a fait accompli. The latter wanted to get some benefits and see if they could blackmail something before they would withdraw.

In the middle of the year, Qin Zhiyuan talked about this matter with Clemenceau. Clemenceau certainly stood on Qin Zhiyuan's side and demanded that the Japanese withdraw from Shandong immediately.

Clemenceau disliked the Japanese not because the Japanese occupied Shandong by force, but because of the "Anglo-Japanese Alliance".

The establishment of the "Anglo-Japanese Alliance" had certain historical reasons. At the beginning, the British were afraid that the Russians' interests in China would expand and endanger the interests of Britain, so they signed a secret agreement with the Japanese. The British recognized the Japanese's interests in China and their status in Korea, and the Japanese also recognized the British's interests in China. The treaty stipulates that if one of the two parties is attacked, the other party must provide assistance.

It is precisely because of the existence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that during the Russo-Japanese War, France had to watch their allies, the Russians, being defeated by the Japanese and could do nothing.

Clemenceau therefore had no good feelings towards the Japanese.

Of course, Clemenceau did not have a good impression of the Chinese either. Clemenceau spoke in favor of the Republic of China purely for Qin Zhiyuan's sake.

Don't mention any fair and just position. That thing is really worthless in international relations. There was no fairness and justice in the 2020s of the 21st century, let alone the 1920s.

Although Japan currently has a certain status in the world, it is still wary of France. After Clemenceau urged the Japanese to withdraw from Shandong, the Japanese found various interests to delay while asking their allies, the British, to help out.

In the middle of the year, the World War was in full swing, and the role of the Foreign Legion was extremely important. The British did not dare to ignore it. Therefore, although they received requests for help from their allies, the British also hummed and hawed and made various excuses to delay, but did not speak for the Japanese.

Now that the World War is over, this issue has been put on the table again.

Qin Zhiyuan, who returned to Paris, had nothing to do. Every day he went to the Prime Minister's Office to harass Clemenceau and asked Clemenceau to give justice to the Republic of China.

Clemenceau was annoyed by Qin Zhiyuan's entanglement, and promised Qin Zhiyuan that he would solve the matter at the Paris Peace Conference next year, which appeased Qin Zhiyuan.

In fact, Qin Zhiyuan was not worried at all that the Japanese would refuse to return Shandong, because if the Japanese really did that, Qin Zhiyuan would have a reason not to open a penicillin factory in Japan.

In the summer of 1918, the "Spanish Flu" broke out again on a large scale after being silent for two months.

This time the flu was more fierce, and the proportion of young people aged 20 to 35 was particularly high, and the mortality rate was far higher than that in spring.

In fact, penicillin factories in the United States and the United Kingdom have already started production. For every dose of penicillin produced by Americans and British, Qin Zhiyuan will charge ten dollars as patent fees. This item alone will bring him tens of millions of dollars in income every month.

There is no doubt that the demand of Americans and British is really that great.

After the Americans proposed the "Monroe Doctrine", they regarded America as their own backyard. Being the boss always has to look like a boss, so the Americans have the entire American market behind them.

The British have more demand. Britain has the largest colonies in the world and the largest population in the world, so of course it has the largest demand in the world.

Corsica is still producing penicillin, but all the finished products are still purchased by the French government.

Qin Zhiyuan did not raise the price because of the outbreak of the "Spanish Flu", but maintained the original price.

That was already a sky-high price.

After the outbreak of the flu in the spring, Sandy once proposed to study the cause and pathological structure of the "Spanish Flu", but Qin Zhiyuan did not agree.

The "Spanish Flu" is like a malicious joke played by God on the world. It broke out three times in total, and then disappeared without a trace, and never broke out again.

Until the 21st century, a hundred years have passed, and there is still no conclusion about the cause of the "Spanish Flu". It is really meaningless to study it now. It is better to continue to use this time to improve rice varieties.

The Japanese certainly have a demand for penicillin, and because of the large population in Japan, the demand for penicillin is still quite large, but the Japanese are unwilling to accept Qin Zhiyuan's blackmail, because if a factory is opened in Japan, Qin Zhiyuan requires the Japanese to pay a patent fee of 20 US dollars for each dose.

This is blackmail. You must know that the cost of a penicillin is not even five cents.

The Japanese government certainly does not want to pay this money. They even want to purchase relevant patents, figure out the production process of penicillin, and then set up factories in Japan for production.

This has been severely warned by the French government. If the Japanese government really dares to do this, the French government will not hesitate to fight to protect the interests of its citizens.

Clemenceau would certainly stand up for Qin Zhiyuan, because for every ten dollars Qin Zhiyuan collected, the French government would increase its tax revenue by two dollars. Protecting Qin Zhiyuan's interests was also protecting the French government's own interests.

The Japanese had no choice but to have tough negotiations with Corsica on the one hand and seek international support on the other.

Unfortunately, no one supported the Japanese.

The Americans supported Qin Zhiyuan's approach because the Americans collected the most patent fees in the world. If the Japanese made a breakthrough with Qin Zhiyuan, it would mean that other countries could also make a breakthrough with the United States.

Compared with the French government's simple protection of Qin Zhiyuan's interests, the Americans protected the entire patent system.

Although the British expressed support for the Japanese under pressure from their "allies", they did not make any statement on Qin Zhiyuan's approach.

Britain is still the largest country in the world, but the British also have their own difficulties. The British are more keen to maintain world order. Moreover, through the comparison of the interests of Britain and Japan in China during the world war, the British felt that they were now at a disadvantage. Seeing that Japan was about to dominate the world's largest market, the British also wanted to do something.

At this point, the Japanese realized that they were isolated and helpless in the world.

And the initiator of all this was Qin Zhiyuan, who watched coldly.

Hate it to the bone?

This is not enough to describe the hatred of the Japanese towards Qin Zhiyuan.

But at the same time, it is also not enough to describe the hatred of Qin Zhiyuan towards the Japanese.

By the end of November, the epidemic of the "Spanish Flu" reached its climax. Nearly 10,000 people died of the "Spanish Flu" every day in Japan, and most of them were young people, which made Japan's fear reach its peak.

In early December, Count Makino Shinken, who had been seeking to reach an agreement with Corsica, no longer delayed and exchanged the local government of Corsica's agreement to set up a factory in Japan to produce penicillin on the condition that Japan would withdraw from Shandong and give up all its rights and interests in Shandong.

Before the Paris Peace Conference began, Qin Zhiyuan had helped the Republic of China achieve an important gain.

In the original history, the Japanese withdrew from Shandong after the Washington Conference in 1922.

The original text is in Liu # 9 @Shu/Bar!

This is not Qin Zhiyuan's biggest gain. After the armistice agreement was signed, a delegation from the Grand Duchy of Lanfang detoured to Germany via Switzerland. They were to urge Crown Prince William to fulfill his promise.

Although Qin Zhiyuan was the king of the Grand Duchy of Lanfang, the Grand Duchy of Lanfang did not declare war on Germany. They were free to go to Germany and conduct any trade they wanted.

On November 12, the day after the Armistice Agreement came into effect, the delegation arrived in Essen, Ruhr Industrial Zone. Their first task was to evaluate the factory of Krupp Company.

Crown Prince William's cousin received them.

In order to welcome the arrival of the Lanfang delegation, the German side put the train station under martial law and drove the carriage all the way to the platform.

Because of the loss of Romania, Germany had no source of oil. All the German machines could not be started, and even the horses pulling the carriages became scarce. Many horses were eaten as food.

"Zhang, welcome to you." Christopher looked bitter.

"Your Highness, it's nice to meet you." Zhang Tianyun was polite.

This so-called "Lanfang delegation" was actually composed of engineers Qin Zhiyuan transferred from Renault Factory and Corsica. They were not responsible for negotiations, but only for evaluating the status of the machines. Qin Zhiyuan and William had also completed the relevant negotiations.

"Let's go, let's finish today's work quickly." As a member of the royal family, Christopher's heart was full of humiliation and sadness.

But so what?

As a member of the royal family, Christopher enjoyed all the glory and benefits brought by his status in peacetime, so when the disaster came, no one could stay out of it.

Since "unconditional surrender" was a decision made by the German royal family, the royal family must bear the humiliation brought by all this.

Christopher had a clear understanding of this. If he felt unbearable, then the feelings of the German Emperor Wilhelm II and Crown Prince Wilhelm would be a hundred times more unforgettable than Christopher.

Thinking of this, Christopher could barely face Zhang Tianyun and others calmly.

But obviously, not everyone thought so.

At the gate of the Krupp factory, the oldest engineer Friedrich Krupp stood alone at the gate, holding up his crutches and blocking the convoy.

Behind Friedrich Krupp are tens of thousands of workers, both men and women, young and old, whether they are white-haired or childish, they all have a common name: Krupp people.

Including Friedrich, his surname is not Krupp at all, but he has been in the Krupp factory since he was 11 years old, and he has been in the Krupp factory for 70 years, so he changed his surname to Krupp to show his loyalty to Krupp.

"Young man, this is not the place for you to come. As long as there is one Krupp person alive, you can't succeed." The white-haired Friedrich couldn't even hold his crutches steadily, but he still pointed at the German captain who was ordered to open the way with his crutches, and refused to give in.

"Sir, this cannot be reversed." The captain had a blank expression on his face. He had been numbed by the torture of war.

"No, we can still hold on. We shouldn't give up like this. There are still 100,000 workers in our factory, the machines are intact, and we can still work..." Friedrich burst into tears.

Friedrich knew that the dismantling of the factory was irreversible, but both emotionally and mentally, Friedrich had to make a final struggle, even if it was futile.

"Yes, if you don't want to fight, let us go!" A worker in work clothes stepped out from the crowd.

"You can't do this, it will ruin Krupp, it will ruin Germany..." A woman was crying.

The two brothers Zhang Tianyun and Xuanyuan in the carriage looked at each other. They had a premonition that this trip to Germany might not go smoothly.