Of course, mediation is not as simple as just words. After summoning the ministers of the United States and Spain to their respective countries and formally inviting the United States and Spain to send delegations to Berlin to negotiate on the restoration of peace in Cuba, the three companies immediately announced
The three warships in the Caribbean will be combined into an international surveillance fleet, and any military supplies will be prohibited from entering the island of Cuba until the two sides officially end the war.
Subsequently, the warships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the Kingdom of Sweden watching the battle also announced that they would join this fleet, which included two first-class battleships, six armored cruisers, four protected cruisers, and a landing ship.
, countries will continue to send additional fleets if necessary.
This move almost made McKinley's nose angry. It was no big deal to Spain. Because they had smooth transportation and sufficient reserves of weapons and ammunition, it was enough to fight on land for a year. But the U.S. military couldn't do it. Some time ago, they relied on Dewey to sneak in.
The transportation there is being supported, and the supply is already very tight. Now that hundreds of thousands of American troops have been cut off, they can only wait until they run out of ammunition and food. To put it bluntly, these bastards are just going astray and taking away the work that the Spanish fleet originally needed to do.
I took it over.
As for the international supervision of the fleet, who doesn't know that those three guys who worked together have just supervised the Philippines into their own hands. If they are still concerned about Cuba and offer Spain a sufficient price, Spain will probably have no choice but to sell Cuba to them in the end.
Spain dares to go to war with the United States for Cuba, but it absolutely does not dare to go to war with these three countries for Cuba. Germany and Russia can crush them to death. Yang Feng is their main sponsor and has stopped supplying arms to them. The Spaniards
And a spanking.
If such a scenario really happened, it would be truly terrifying for the United States. McKinley shuddered when he thought of the German and Russian fleets stationed in Cuba.
He has no other choice now, even if he knows that if he holds on for a few more months, the United States may reverse the war situation, and he can only accept mediation and announce peace talks with the Spaniards, but he also demands a ceasefire first.
The Spaniards didn't have any objections to this, and the gunfire on the island of Cuba soon calmed down. In fact, even now, Schefter and Merritt don't want to fight. Recently, the Spaniards have begun to use poison gas bombs on a large scale.
Although the two groups of U.S. troops can still hold on, they are still suffering unspeakably. So far, the U.S. Army has dropped nearly 30,000 corpses on this island. There are also more than 30,000 disabled people, and a total of 10 U.S. troops have been sent to Cuba.
Of the 80,000 combat troops, there are now less than 120,000 left.
Although there are almost 100,000 Cuban revolutionaries fighting alongside them, the Spaniards are also getting stronger and stronger. Nearly 150,000 Spanish army troops are stationed in solid fortresses, equipped with overwhelming weapons ranging from heavy artillery to submachine guns and poison gas bombs.
It has the advantage of sexual equipment, and because of the continuous victories at sea, the morale is even higher than that of the US military. If we really want to continue the fight, even if we have enough supplies, it will be a long-term war, not to mention that the supplies are now cut off. If there is no ceasefire, I am afraid there will be
The U.S. military would have to surrender to the Spanish within a month.
Of course, the Spanish ceasefire is limited to one month. If the peace talks fail to succeed after one month, the Spanish army on the island of Cuba will continue to launch attacks on the US military until they are all wiped out.
After the ceasefire came the peace talks. In order to hurry up, a German diesel cruiser in the Florida Strait went north to pick up the American delegation headed by Secretary of State Sherman and sailed directly to Berlin. The Spanish delegation was personally led by Canovas, who also
They had set off at the same time. Originally, he had been assassinated at this time in history, but now because of the victory of the Cuban War, he was worshiped in the country, and the assassination did not happen.
Sherman and his party arrived in Berlin more than ten days later. When he arrived, one of the latest diesel battleships and two diesel armored cruisers from Germany, and six Viper-class destroyers also set sail for the Caribbean. The Russians
The dispatched reinforcement fleet is also heading there, and the two ships Haichen and Predator originally stationed in Hawaii have also arrived in San Francisco, preparing to go south through the Panama Canal and enter the Caribbean, completely cutting off all American illusions. If the peace talks fail, then the international
The surveillance fleet will maintain the blockade of the island of Cuba until peace is restored on the island.
In other words, until either the Spanish army or the US military on the island is completely destroyed, it is obvious that they will not let the Spanish army be destroyed.
Just when the peace talks began, the Russian navy stationed in Manila intercepted an arms ship bound for the United States. Until the peace talks between the United States and Spain succeeded, they banned the shipment of these arms to the United States. Of course, if the peace talks failed, they would continue to be detained.
The Spanish offer is very simple. The United States will withdraw all troops from Cuba, promise not to provide any form of assistance to the Cuban rebels, and pay 50 million pounds in war compensation to the Spanish government. The first item is easy to agree to.
The latter item is more difficult to accept. The Americans do not want to pay a penny. They have probably lost hundreds of millions of dollars in this war so far. If they pay more than 200 million dollars, those capitalists will kill McKinley.
The Spanish's answer was also very simple. If we don't pay compensation, then your 120,000 American troops will wait to die in Cuba. If you don't agree to our conditions in fifteen days, then the Spanish Army will launch another attack until they are wiped out.
, If you want them to return to China alive, then give them 50 million pounds.
Sherman was extremely sad and angry and ran to the mediation team to demand justice. What he didn't know was that there were people in the mediation team waiting to collect their war reparations!
"War reparations are probably indispensable. After all, this war was started by the United States. It would be unreasonable to end the war without paying compensation. Besides, whoever loses the war will have to pay compensation.
, I think we paid a lot of money back then! Of course, if you are dissatisfied with the amount, this can still be discussed, but when it comes to it, I don’t think fifty million pounds is too much." Prince Yang in Fuzhou City publicly expressed his position on the differences between the two parties in the negotiations.
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His views quickly gained support from Germany, Russia, Austria, Turkey, and Switzerland. Under the joint pressure of these guys, Sherman had no choice but to hold his nose and agree to pay compensation. However, 50 million pounds was too much, and the United States could only
The compensation was 10 million, so the two parties began to bargain carefully and carefully on this issue.
This has nothing to do with Yang Feng. Anyway, his loan of 10 million pounds is indispensable. Li Hongzhang, who visited the United States, has returned. Governors and generals from all over the country have gathered in Beijing. Even one of his divisions has
When they arrived in Tongzhou, Yi Kuang also wisely spread the news about preparing for the throne of Zen. Now even foreign newspapers have begun to openly discuss this issue. According to the secret agreement reached between him and Yang Feng, after the throne of Zen, he and his son Zai Zhen
He will retain the title of prince and be made a lifelong member of the House of Nobles. As for the property that originally belonged to him, including land, he will continue to retain it. In addition, Yang Feng will also give him a part of the People's Bank of China stocks, which can basically provide for future generations.
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Even those governors who are not under Yang Feng's system, including Iketanga in the Northeast, have already received Yang Feng's promise, and will basically receive titles and fiefs, as well as the status of members of the House of Nobles. Among them, Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi,
Zhang Zhidong, Xue Fucheng, and Yuan Shikai, Yang Feng's main allies and subordinates, will even be appointed as lifelong members. With these promises, they basically no longer have any objections to Yang Feng's becoming emperor.
What's more, he also prepared a big gift for these governors and officials.
"Reform of government-owned enterprises?" Xue Fucheng was confused by the new term coined by Yang Feng.
"Yes, it's actually very simple. Officials from various places can redeem their own private enterprises by handing over their official positions. Except for railways, telegraphs, and military industries, they can buy everything else. If they are short of money,
Yes, the People's Bank of China can provide loans." Yang Feng said with a smile.
This can be regarded as a drink to release his military power. Those governors who have the army basically also have a few government-run factories and the like. These things are money-losing goods. Originally, they were all supported by the finance, and they need to invest a lot of subsidies every year.
, feeds countless idle people, and he is not in the mood to wipe their butts after taking it over, especially since there are so many moths to clean up. Since this is the case, it is better to give these guys a reward and let them deal with this problem on their own.
"I'm afraid they may not be interested." Xue Fucheng shook his head. Politically speaking, this is indeed a good move, but the governors may not be willing to appreciate it. If they buy these factories, it will mean that they will be responsible for running them in the future and lose their finances.
As it stands now, the subsidy is probably not worth the loan from the People's Bank of China.
"Who will value this thing?" Yang Feng asked with a smile. It was obvious that Xue Fucheng had not yet realized the problem.
Xue Fucheng was not stupid. When he said this, he immediately understood. These people must be responsible for the valuation of those factories. A factory worth one million taels of silver is valued at one hundred thousand taels. Even if it is resold, it can make a big profit. This
It's like giving it to them in another way. With this good condition, it is estimated that no officials will have emotions about Yang Feng becoming emperor. They will happily give up their power and even the army and run to the mountains to call.
Long live Yang Feng.
"It's just that the people will be dissatisfied." Xue Fucheng hesitated and said, but he didn't care much about this issue. This kind of thing is insider trading, and ordinary people have no chance to know about it.
"You don't have to worry among the people. I also have a big gift. I'm going to give every Chinese a piece of gold." Yang Feng said proudly.
"What?" Xue Fucheng's jaw almost dropped to the ground. (To be continued...)