In fact, the spoils sharing conference will not open until next year, but Qin Zhiyuan cannot wait until next year to take action. There is a lot of work to be done ahead of time to avoid being caught off guard.
In fact, for the Republic of China, the key to the problem lay in Shandong.
The Japanese defeated the Germans entrenched in Shandong during the World War, and then stayed in Shandong and refused to leave, hoping to create an established fact. The latter wanted to gain some benefits and see if they could blackmail anything, and then they would
Back away.
In the middle of the year, Qin Zhiyuan once talked about this matter with Clemenceau. Of course Clemenceau was on Qin Zhiyuan's side and demanded that the Japanese withdraw from Shandong immediately.
Clemenceau disliked the Japanese not because they had occupied Shandong, but because of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.
The establishment of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance had certain historical reasons. At first, the British were afraid that the Russian interests in China would expand and endanger British interests, so they signed a secret agreement with the Japanese. The British recognized the Japanese interests in China.
and status in Korea, the Japanese also recognized the British interests in China. The treaty stipulated that if one of the two sides was attacked, the other side must provide assistance.
It was precisely because of the existence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that during the Russo-Japanese War, France had to sit back and watch their ally the Russians be defeated by the Japanese without being able to do anything.
Clemenceau therefore had no favorable impression of the Japanese.
Of course, Clemenceau did not have a good impression of the Chinese. Clemenceau would speak to the Republic of China purely because of Qin Zhiyuan.
Never mention a fair and just position. That thing is really worthless in international relations. There is no fairness and justice in the 2020s, let alone the 1920s.
Although the country Japan now has a certain status in the world, it is still wary of France. After Clemenceau urged the Japanese to withdraw from Shandong, the Japanese sought various interests to delay while asking their ally Britain.
People help out.
In the middle of the year, the World War was raging. The Foreign Legion played an extremely important role, and the British did not dare to ignore it. Therefore, although they received requests for help from their allies, the British still found various excuses to delay, but did not help Japan.
People talk.
Now that the world war is over, this issue has come to the fore again.
When Qin Zhiyuan returned to Paris, nothing happened. He went to the Prime Minister's Office to harass Clemenceau and asked Clemenceau to give justice to the Republic of China.
Clemenceau was extremely annoyed by Qin Zhiyuan and promised Qin Zhiyuan that he would resolve the matter at the Paris Peace Conference next year, thus appeasing 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 reason not to open a penicillin factory in Japan.
In the summer of 1918, after two months of silence, the Spanish Flu broke out again on a large scale.
This time the influenza pandemic is more severe, with a particularly high proportion of young people aged 20 to 35 suffering from the disease, and the fatality rate is far higher than that in the spring.
In fact, penicillin factories in the United States and the United Kingdom have been put into production. For every dose of penicillin produced by the Americans and British, Qin Zhiyuan will charge ten dollars as patent fees. From this alone, the monthly income is tens of millions.
Dollar.
There is no doubt that the demand from Americans and British people is really that great.
After the Americans proposed the Monroe Doctrine, they regarded the Americas as their own backyard. Being the boss must act like a boss, so the Americans have the entire American market behind them.
The British have more needs. Britain has the largest colony in the world and the largest population in the world. Of course, it also has the largest demand in the world.
Penicillin is still produced in Corsica, but all finished products are still purchased by the French government.
Qin Zhiyuan did not increase the price due to the Spanish flu outbreak, but maintained the original price.
That's already a sky-high price.
After the influenza outbreak in the spring, Sandy once proposed to study the causes and pathological structure of the Spanish influenza, but Qin Zhiyuan did not agree.
The Spanish Flu was 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 later, there is still no conclusion on the cause of the Spanish Flu. It is really meaningless to study it now. It is better to use this time to improve rice varieties.
Of course the Japanese also have demand for penicillin, and because Japan has a large population, the demand for penicillin is still quite large, but the Japanese are not willing to accept Qin Zhiyuan's blackmail, because if a factory is opened in Japan, Qin Zhiyuan requires the Japanese to pay for every dose
Pay the $20 patent fee.
This is blackmail, considering the cost of a penicillin is less than five cents.
Of course the Japanese government 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 to produce it.
This has received a serious warning from the French government. If the Japanese government really dares to do this, the French government will not hesitate to fight to safeguard the interests of its citizens.
Of course Clemenceau would stand up for Qin Zhiyuan, because for every ten dollars Qin Zhiyuan collects, it will increase tax revenue by two dollars for the French government, protecting Qin Zhiyuan's interests and at the same time protecting the French government's own interests.
The Japanese were helpless. On the one hand, they were conducting arduous negotiations with Corsica, and on the other hand, they were also seeking international support.
It's a pity that no one supports the Japanese.
Americans support Qin Zhiyuan's approach because Americans collect the most patent fees in the world. If the Japanese make a breakthrough with Qin Zhiyuan, it means that other countries can also make breakthroughs with the United States.
Compared to the French government which simply safeguarded Qin Zhiyuan's interests, the Americans maintained the entire patent system.
Although the British expressed support for the Japanese under pressure from their allies, they did not express any position on Qin Zhiyuan's actions.
The United Kingdom is still the largest country in the world, but the British also have difficulties. The British are more keen on maintaining world order. What's more, through the comparison of British and Japanese interests in China during the World War, the British feel that they have now fallen behind
At a disadvantage, seeing that Japan is about to dominate the world's largest market, the British also want to do something.
At this point, the Japanese discovered that they were isolated and helpless in the world.
And the initiator of all this was Qin Zhiyuan, who was watching with cold eyes.
Hate to the bone
This is not enough to describe the Japanese's hatred for Qin Zhiyuan.
But at the same time, it is not enough to describe Qin Zhiyuan's hatred for the Japanese.
By the end of November, the Spanish Flu epidemic reached its peak. Nearly 10,000 people died from the Spanish Flu in Japan every day, and most of them were young people. This made Japan's fear reach its peak.
In early December, Count Nobuno Makino, who had been seeking to reach an agreement with Corsica, stopped delaying and made the condition that Japan withdraw from Shandong and give up all its rights and interests in Shandong in exchange for the Corsica local government agreeing to set up a factory to produce penicillin in Japan.
The Paris Peace Conference has not yet begun, but Qin Zhiyuan has already helped the Republic of China achieve an important gain.
In the original history, the Japanese withdrew from Shandong after the Washington Conference in 1922.
This was not Qin Zhiyuan's biggest gain. After the armistice agreement was signed, a delegation belonging to the Grand Duchy of Lanfang detoured to Switzerland to go to Germany. They wanted to urge Crown Prince William to fulfill his promise.
Although Qin Zhiyuan is the king of the Grand Duchy of Lanfang, the Grand Duchy of Lanfang has not declared war with Germany. They are free to go to Germany and conduct any trade they want to do.
On November 12, the day after the armistice agreement came into effect, the delegation arrived in Essen in the Ruhr Industrial Area. Their first task was to assess the Krupp factory.
Crown Prince William's cousin received them.
In order to welcome the arrival of the Lanfang delegation, the Germans sealed the railway station and drove carriages all the way to the platform.
Because of the loss of Romania, Germany had no source of oil. All German machines could not be started. Even the horses pulling carts became scarce, and many horses were eaten as food.
Zhang, welcome. Christopher looked bitter.
Your Highness, it's a pleasure to meet you. Zhang Tianyun is very polite.
This so-called Lanfang delegation is actually composed of engineers transferred by Qin Zhiyuan from the Renault factory and Corsica. They are not responsible for negotiations, but are only responsible for assessing the status of the machines. Qin Zhiyuan and William have also already completed the relevant negotiation work.
Finish.
Let's go, let's finish today's work quickly. As a royal family, Christopher's heart is full of humiliation and sadness.
But so what
As a royal family, Christopher has enjoyed all the glory and benefits brought by his status in peacetime, so when disaster strikes, no one can stay away.
Since unconditional surrender was the decision made by the German royal family, the royal family must bear the humiliation caused by all this.
Christopher had a clear understanding of this. If he felt it was unbearable, then the feelings of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Crown Prince Wilhelm would be a hundred times more unforgettable than Christopher's.
Thinking like this, Christopher could barely face Zhang Tianyun and the others calmly.
But obviously, not everyone thinks so.
At the gate of the Krupp factory, the most senior engineer, Friedrich Krupp, stood alone at the gate, holding up his cane and blocking the convoy.
Behind Friedrich Krupp are tens of thousands of workers, both men and women, old and young. Whether they are gray-haired or childish, they all have a common name: Krupp.
Including Friedrich, his surname was not actually Krupp at all, but he entered the factory at the age of 11. Friedrich stayed in the Krupp factory for 70 years, so he changed his surname to Krupp.
, to show loyalty to Krupp.
Young people, this is not the place you should come to. As long as one of the Krupps is alive, you will not succeed. The gray-haired Friedrich could hardly even hold the crutches, but he still used the crutches tremblingly.
He pointed toweringly at the German captain who had been ordered to clear the way, refusing to give an inch.
Sir, this is irreversible. The captain's face was expressionless. He had been numbed by the torture of the war.
No, we can still persist, we shouldn't just give up. There are still 100,000 workers in our factory, the machines are intact, and we can still work. Friedrich burst into tears.
Friedrich didn't know that the dismantling of the factory was irreversible, but whether it was emotionally or mentally, Friedrich had to make a final fight, even if it was to no avail.
Yes, if you don't want to fight, then let's go and have a worker in overalls step out.
You can't do this, it will destroy Krupp, it will destroy Germany. A woman is crying.
The two brothers Zhang Tianyun and Xuanyuan looked at each other in the carriage. They had a hunch that maybe this trip to Germany would not go smoothly.
