"The conditions offered by the British to Chile were not only to share the disputed territories with Argentina after the war, but also to recognize all the territories they captured during the war. In addition, the saltpeter mines held by British businessmen could also be transferred to the British government.
Provide money in the form of financial assistance to let them buy it back, the last one is the most important." Zhang Quan said.
"It's so shameless. After the war, everyone was playing with ammonia and petrochemicals. Who would want their saltpeter, which is difficult to mine and expensive to transport? The British are just fools!" Emperor Yang was almost amused, but after all, the Chileans were not as good as him.
With their foresight and foresight, nationalizing the saltpeter mines has been their dream for many years. Now that Britain has even offered such conditions, they cannot help but be tempted.
Zhang Quan couldn't help but smile. He naturally knew this. Now China's synthetic ammonia industry can already meet domestic demand. Once the war is over, it will be diverted from military use and it will overwhelm the natural saltpeter market, especially Chile's.
Saltpeter is not only far away but also has a harsh mining environment. It is impossible to compete with China's ammonia industry.
And it's not just China. Germany's synthetic ammonia industry is now as good as China's. Once the war ends, the natural saltpeter market will definitely plummet. The British understand this and know that the saltpeter mines will go bankrupt after the war, so they take this worthless benefit.
Seducing Chileans.
Now they succeeded.
"What should we do next?" Zhang Quan asked. Chile's participation in the war was just a small episode. It would not affect anyone else except the Argentines. As for the Argentines, their 300,000-strong army had a place to play.
What Zhang Quan means is how China should react to the changes in the European war situation now. After all, China is still followed by a group of younger brothers. Sweden and Spain are not in a hurry. Sweden has already determined that no matter who loses or wins, it will not participate in the war.
According to the principle, Spain has long lost its ambitions for European hegemony. Now they are only focused on running their American colonies, and they are not much different from China's vassals. No matter what choice China makes and when it makes a choice, the Spanish government can only
Just wait patiently.
But Hamid II was already scratching his head.
He was still waiting to revive the Ottoman Empire. Some time ago, he was thinking about joining the Allies so that he could retake Egypt from the British or the Caucasus and Crimea from the Russians. Now that he saw something was wrong, he immediately changed his goal and joined the Allies to retake it.
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Or simply destroying Greece would be a good idea.
"Our royal family and government should not make any biased statements. However, the people can increase their efforts to be friendly with the Allied Powers. Congress can also organize some members to visit the UK. In addition, the customs can strengthen supervision on the supply of materials to the Allied Powers.
, of course it must be moderate, and it must be on the premise that it will not have a substantial impact on the allies." Emperor Yang said.
"In this case, what if it causes panic to the Allies?" Zhang Quan said, his concerns are not unreasonable. After all, China is too big now, and everyone knows which side China joins and which side will basically win.
If China's performance against the Allied Powers is too obvious, it will easily cause panic among the Allies. At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military morale is already unstable. What if it is frightened and disintegrates? You must know that the Czechs have always been thinking about it.
People in Hungary have also had a change of heart recently.
In addition to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the other small countries that participated in the Allied Powers, especially Greece, which also had the Ottoman Empire next to it, would have a hard time not being careful. If Hamid II joined the Allied Powers, he would be the first to be sure
It is to destroy Greece. In this case, it is entirely possible for Greece to withdraw from the war as early as possible or even fight back.
This is indeed a problem, and Emperor Yang did neglect this point.
"Let's do this. The cabinet is in secret contact with Germany and Austria and other countries. For example, if China joins the war, how will the world be divided after the war? The other countries, including the Allied Powers, can also sit down and discuss together. Let them eat first.
As a reassurance, tell them that we will definitely help them in the end, but the issue of profit distribution has not been settled yet, and the military preparations have not been completed. They must hold on and continue to fight no matter what. Victory will come.
The day is not far away." Emperor Yang said with a smile.
"That's all we can do under the current circumstances." Zhang Quan nodded and said.
In this way, while the Chinese people and Congress were increasingly inclined to join the Allied Powers, the Chinese government began to secretly discuss with the Allies in Berlin how to carve up the world after the war.
In fact, no matter which party is trying hard to lobby China during this period, a large number of diplomats and even members of the royal family from various countries are dedicated to building relations in China. William even sends his son to visit China, and the British crown prince and his wife often fly to China by airship.
Looking for their old friends will bring a lot of friendship to the Chinese people every time. In order to arouse the Chinese people's fond memories of the assassinated Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth, the fuse of this war, the Austro-Hungarian royal family even invested money in China.
A university was built in her name.
However, just when all parties were trying their best to show the traditional friendship between the two countries to the Chinese people, the European battlefield once again fell into a stalemate. The effect of the Allied forces shrinking was extremely obvious, especially for the German army on the Western Front.
After shrinking the original convex-shaped battle line into a straight line, the originally tense troops immediately became much more abundant. Although they suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, their opponents suffered even greater losses. The British paid a total of 500,000 men for this counterattack.
Although the French suffered fewer casualties than them, their casualties reached 300,000, and like Germany, their reduced numbers could not be adequately supplemented, which greatly weakened their offensive capabilities.
Of course, the French have run out of shackles again, which is also a very important reason.
The Russian army on the Eastern Front did not have this pressure. Although they also suffered more than one million casualties in the battle to retake Ukraine, the huge population allowed Nicholas to easily replenish their consumption. So far, Russia's total
The mobilized troops have only just reached one-tenth of the total population. Compared with countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, which have already mobilized one-fifth of their troops, Russia's potential is still early.
At least that's what Nikolai thinks.
It is a pity that he ignored the many conflicts in his country. Just when news of the Russian army's victory on the front line continued, something happened in their rear.
On a rainy day in June 1907, hundreds of thousands of workers in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, went on strike and then took to the streets to protest. The reason was simple: they could no longer afford bread.
The nearly four-year war cost Russia nearly 10 million casualties, all of which were young and middle-aged laborers in rural areas. The food production of those who lacked farming will naturally decline, and they also need to support nearly 10 million additional soldiers on the front line. The most important product is
Ukraine, the grain area, was reduced to ruins under the tug of war between the two sides. The Russian government could only do its best to plunder the rear to supply the front line. As a result, Russian grain prices continued to rise.
The drastic increase in banknotes issued in order to solve financial problems has aggravated the situation. Rural areas are a little better, and farmers can always find something to eat, but these workers can't. When they earn wages, they have three meals a day.
When things cannot be maintained, if there are some people with ulterior motives behind the scenes, they will naturally stand up and show their anger.
In fact, this kind of situation occurs in various European countries to varying degrees, especially in France and Germany, which is almost the same as in Russia.
Stimulated by the news of victory these days, Nicholas, who was immersed in the glory of the emperor, almost had his nose twisted with anger. You protested when I lost the battle. Are you still protesting now that I have won the battle? Isn’t it because life is more stressful and my stomach is not full?
Compared with the soldiers charging on the front line in the hail of bullets, how dare you complain? It’s simply shameless.
This guy did not hesitate to order the St. Petersburg city government to use tough measures to suppress it. This was also supported by Prime Minister Stolypin who was as tough as him. However, it was obvious that this strike was very well-organized. With the police's wooden sticks,
The striking workers did not flinch in front of the high-pressure water cannon, and even prepared to attack the Winter Palace. Seeing this situation, Nicholas no longer showed mercy and directly ordered his cavalry guards to be used in the streets to expel them.
The appearance of the cavalry wearing bright breastplates, gorgeous helmets, and carrying three-meter spears did have a certain effect at first. On the stone streets of St. Petersburg, the uniform sound of horse hooves and the officers' majestic passwords formed a huge noise.
Feeling of oppression, some timid workers have begun to shrink back from this situation. After all, they just don't have enough to eat and are not starving to death. It is definitely not worthwhile to lose their lives in order to improve their treatment.
Unfortunately, a bullet suddenly flew out of the crowd, completely destroying this beautiful atmosphere. Looking at the cavalryman who was shot and fell next to him, the officer leading the team did not hesitate to order the cavalry to attack the strikers.
The charge started, and then more bullets flew out from the crowd. The cavalry who were not prepared to use guns were not polite at this time. They took off their carbines one by one and started shooting at the crowd, because the Russians were so brutal.
Characters, some even pick up submachine guns and shoot them directly.
By this time, the strike crowd was already in chaos. The whole street was crowded with workers crying and shouting for their lives. However, occasionally a bullet would fly out from the crowd, and then the eye-catching cuirassiers would be shot down from their horses. The angry soldiers
There was no way to find out where the attackers were. Anyway, if you saw someone you didn’t like, just hit them. A bloody murder unfolded on the streets of St. Petersburg. (To be continued...)