Chapter Seventy-One Is Not Here

  China, an oriental giant with a long history of civilization, has always played an important role in the development of human beings and has made its due contribution to major world events. The global war that swept across the globe, as the most extensive, most participated and most destructive war in human history, China, as a world power, also took part in it and played a certain role. Whether modern China is strong or weak, a big country remains a big country.

  Despite the war's beginning and end, China was still in a state of utter chaos, with political turmoil, economic backwardness, loss of sovereignty, warlordism, and people struggling to survive. It was an unqualified semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, a backward society. However, hardworking and simple-minded Chinese sons and daughters still participated in the war in various ways and played an important role.

  There were Chinese laborers' busy figures on the logistics transportation lines of various battlefields in Europe. The victory of the Allies could not be achieved without their hard work and sweat. In enterprises and factories of various European countries, there were also Chinese laborers' coming and going figures, they earned returns through their own efforts while providing the greatest support to the war...

  Even if the Chinese did not make achievements on the battlefield, they made positive contributions in the rear. Even though the so-called central government did not participate in the war and did not join the Allied Powers, China was still one of the victors of the war and should receive fair treatment and enjoy the rewards that the victors deserve.

  After the war, in order to punish Germany for launching the war, the Allied Powers prepared to draft a treaty with Germany to establish a stable post-war peace. For this grand goal, the Allied Powers decided to hold a conference in Paris, and all members of the Allied Powers, except Russia which had already been replaced by the red regime, received invitations, including China. However, before the Paris Conference, the three main Allied Powers, Britain, France and the United States, had already expressed their different purposes for the conference, or rather their own hopes.

  France, as Germany's "friendly neighbor", has long been taken care of by the Germans. The two countries are like lovers, often quarreling, with the stronger German being like a man and France being like a woman; when they disagree, the hot-tempered man will severely punish the woman.

  So, in this great war, the French were beaten as usual, but unexpectedly they were beaten by the Germans to the point of being half-crippled, and almost lost their capital and were destroyed. So, the French who had suffered greatly from bullying thought deeply about breaking up completely, and it would be best if their "boyfriend" could never become powerful again. Therefore, their goal was to use the most severe treatment to govern Germany, and severely weakening it was their bottom line.

  They put forward such an opinion, which is reasonable and worthy of sympathy.

  This war, the Gallic rooster paid a huge and painful price for the war, with nearly 80 million military and civilian casualties, tens of millions of people displaced, especially on the Western Front, which was largely in France. The war raged for more than five years, leaving the combat areas almost back to the Stone Age, the land as barren as after a slash-and-burn, and pockmarked with trenches and craters, and desolate areas that would take a long time to regain vitality.

  What is even more painful for them is their industry, the war has brought ruthless harm, and the long-term wartime system has led to the distortion of industrial development. The war also resulted in a large number of young and strong men dying, leaving countless women and children to work as laborers, so that in the future, within a certain period of time, France will be plagued by a lack of men, sickly women, heavy social burdens, and stagnant agricultural and industrial development, making recovery an enormous problem. It can be said that France is one of the countries most deeply harmed, and it will be difficult for them to calm public outrage and restore themselves without taking flesh from Germany's body.

  The UK and France are two countries separated by the sea, who understand the principle of "when lips are gone, teeth will be cold". This war reflects the common hatred of the two nations.

  The Germans gave the French a dose of eye medicine, and Britain couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Whether or not it was to help France, as the empire on which the sun never sets, they were the world's number one power, and Germany's attempt to challenge their authority and prestige was something that John Bull could not tolerate. For this reason, they had to help France defeat the ferocious Germans, and they did a very good job of it.

  But the cost was also painful, the medical expenses for healing wounds and spiritual losses, must still be asked to Germany. Because the war caused more than a million British soldiers to die abroad, if a man is the pillar of a family, then this war undoubtedly led over a million families in England to decline, apart from suffering the pain of losing loved ones, they will also face the tragic life of losing their family's pillar in the future.

  Moreover, in the war, Britain paid an extremely high military expenditure, with hundreds of billions of pounds in military spending that cannot be wasted. If no benefits can be gained, it will have a huge impact on the stability and development of the entire society. Therefore, both Britain and France want to make Germany pay a heavy price, but the British are not as ruthless as the Gallic rooster.

  The British high-level view is between the high and low requirements of the US and France, Germany and France are neighbors, one side's prosperity is absolutely established on the other side's suffering. If France becomes stronger and Germany weaker, then France will become the most powerful country in Europe, and Britain will also lose its voice in continental Europe.

  The UK and France are not close brothers, so it is necessary for the UK to find a guardian for this neighbor to prevent France from dominating the European continent. Moreover, before the outbreak of war, Germany had very good trade relations with the UK, so the British high-level advocated: should be impoverished Germany rather than weakening Germany, on the premise that ensuring the balance between Germany and France, must ensure that Britain's future maritime hegemony remains strong, of course, letting Germany lose its colonies is also a good idea.

  The British just wanted to make the Germans bleed a bit, but not too much that they would die. They still needed Germany for trade and to keep France in check. The French were different, they wanted to get rid of Germany once and for all, and swallow it whole if possible.

  The attitude of the Americans is a bit ambiguous, and the great war in Europe was originally none of their business. Moreover, the United States had already gained very good benefits from the war through multilateral trade, especially in the later period and precise cooperation with the Allied Powers, which made it take off the hat of a debtor country and suddenly become a creditor country. It is already certain that America will surpass England and even the whole of Europe to become the world's number one economic power.

  Although the war also caused the United States to lose a lot of soldiers, it was not that they lost many benefits. On the contrary, they can use those efforts paid for the war as a bargaining chip, and the country evolved from a group of criminals will never let go of the fat meat in their mouths, even if it's not at the mouth edge, they must strive to get it to the mouth edge.

  In short, France was the most damaged by the war and was deeply anxious about Germany's repeated invasions of France in history, so it advocated for severe punishment and weakening of Germany as much as possible; Britain, out of traditional policy considerations, hoped to maintain a relatively strong and economically independent Germany to maintain the balance of power on the European continent and mutual restraint; The United States hoped to establish an international new system that could guarantee long-term peace as soon as possible and eagerly hoped to benefit from this system, while advocating for Germany's war reparations.

  Make a fuss if you want, but things must be done properly in the end.

  The accidental changes in history did not affect the main course of world development. The German Foreign Minister boarded the train where French Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, was seated and signed a treaty to end World War I, thus formally bringing down the curtain on the war that had plagued the world for several years by April 1920.

  The terms of the armistice were harsh, including: The German army had to withdraw from all occupied territories in France, Belgium and Luxembourg within fourteen days; hand over Alsace-Lorraine which was annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War; surrender territory west of the Rhine river and a 30-kilometer-wide strip east of it to be occupied by Allied troops; hand over its entire air force, all submarines, most of its artillery and large quantities of ammunition; pay reparations amounting to billions of dollars...

  At the same time, the main member states of the Allies led by France and Britain began to gather many belligerent countries in the Louvre Palace in Paris, preparing for the most grand peace conference in history. China, as one of the belligerents, also received an invitation, and the list of Chinese participants was quickly transmitted back.

  "Europe has brought together three large carnivores, leopards, wolves and tigers, as well as a pack of vicious dogs, dreamers and pragmatists. Everyone was ready to divide the spoils of victory when they realized that their goals and appetites were different, so they had no choice but to engage in a fierce argument and show of strength, resulting in an endless conference with no outcome."

  After receiving the telegram from Beijing, the autonomous region prepared its own list of personnel in almost two hours, and it was said that there were only three people on the list. Only one member formed a trio with Beijing and Guangzhou to form China's three-man team, which just happened to fully utilize the three seats given to China at the conference.

  The conference required the attendance of six plenipotentiaries, and also required advance reporting of seating arrangements. Without receiving instructions from the "Central" government, Lu Zhengxiang, as the head of the delegation, established a seating chart after receiving the personnel lists returned by the two major regions. The order of attendance for the Chinese delegation was set as: Lu, Wang, Cao, Shi, Gu, Wei.

  "It should be said that Lu Zhengxiang's arrangement is more appropriate. "Lu" represents Lu Zhengxiang himself, especially since he also serves as the Foreign Minister of China, so it is natural and reasonable for him to take the lead. Cao Guichang represents the People's Autonomous Government, and Wang Jingting represents the Guangzhou Military Government. These three are all going to speak, and once Lu Zhengxiang's position is confirmed, our order with Guangzhou will follow in terms of importance."

  "Who are those other few people?"

  "Shi is referring to the Chinese diplomatic community's heavyweight figure, Ambassador Shi Zhaoyi, who ranks fourth and has a good reason. Gu Weijun, this person is a talented diplomat with real power and level, being able to enter the big list is the best proof of his ability, especially now he is still the Chinese ambassador to the United States, I have a good relationship with him, but he does not want to join our team, either he is waiting and seeing or he has no intention of joining us, with different political views, so we had to give up."

  "'Wei' refers to Wei Zhen, he is in charge of drafting Chinese documents and internal affairs of the delegation. In fact, this attendance list is not that important, the Paris Peace Conference's main players are not us Chinese, but those three big imperialist heads. We're just eating radish and being careless, or we should go back and organize our rise properly. A weak country, with no diplomacy." Zhang Yusheng shook his head and put down the telegram, looking at his younger brother with a face full of helplessness.

  "Never mind!" Zhang Yu was about to say something, but after thinking for a moment, he restrained himself. After signing his name on the reply telegram, he handed it over to Yu Ran beside him and asked him to send it to Beijing immediately. Of course, he also reminded the three representatives of the autonomous region to get ready to leave.

  "Right, our three representatives are Cao Guichuan, Xiao Naitian and Wu Donglin. Cao Guichuan is the financial controller of AsiaMe Group you just brought back, someone who can manage a large group's financial system very well, I naturally trust him. Who is Xiao Naitian? It seems he was the first graduate of the Industrial University's Business School, even if he excels in international relations and foreign trade economics, it's impossible for him to be on the list directly. Wu Donglin is even more impressive, just a junior student at the Aeronautical Engineering College, you're sending him to Europe..."

  All along, Zhang Yu's elder brother was in charge of internal affairs, while industry and military affairs were his. So this industrial university is naturally Zhang Yusheng's territory, and the preparation of the list of representatives to attend the meeting is also his business. However, Zhang Yu really can't understand why a company manager, a graduate student, and an undergraduate student should represent the autonomous region as a trio.

  "I'm the dean of the business school, so I naturally want to recommend my students to experience the diplomatic tricks of the strong powers. Is that not allowed? Besides, Xiao Naitian is excellent enough. Wu Donglin was someone I asked Wang Zhuo, the dean of the Aeronautical Engineering College, to bring in. Europe has a large number of outstanding aviation talents, can't we recruit some excellent ones back? And Cao Guichuan, although he's a former minister of the Asia-America Group, he's more suitable for going to Europe than I am."

  The two men, regardless of how heated their argument was, still quickly submitted the Chinese delegation's list to the conference management office. Once approved, these people would set off on their journey. The distant European city of Paris would surely present a great show for the world, but this time there were more main characters, and with more main characters, the show would be even more exciting and varied. Of course, China could only play a supporting role, just like the list of participants arranged by Zhang Yuansheng, which was not the point.