Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

But for China's move, the British have some doubts and even some resistance.In the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street in London, England, the new prime minister, the leader of the Conservative Party, Arthur Balfour, held a cabinet meeting at the highest level for this matter. , Whether to participate in the head of state meeting organized by the Chinese, Belfort immediately said: "This is a trap set by the Chinese, and only stupid French people will be fooled."

Soaring Front: World War I Chapter 374 Quota Quota

General Betty of the British Army Headquarters is a typical hawkish representative of the British high-level, but through a series of encounters with the imperial cavalry, he, who was originally extremely tough, had a lot of concerns about the Chinese army. He hesitated and said: "Your Excellency, as a The head of the Imperial Army, I have to remind you that since the Chinese are willing to extend a hand of peace, we might as well accept it. If the peace agreement is not concluded as soon as possible and the war continues, who will be the final winner? Or, it’s still hard to say. Many times of war experience tells us that China is definitely a terrible opponent, much more terrifying than we imagined! Don’t forget, they have the world’s most powerful land tanks and powerful firepower Although their navy has never disclosed their true strength to the public, according to a series of intelligence reports, the strength of the Eastern Navy has already caught up with ours, which is an unoptimistic reality.”

Betty is a representative of the British military, and his views can almost represent the thoughts of the entire British Army. As soon as these words were uttered, a series of subtle changes occurred in the hearts of the people present.At this time, Foreign Minister Soth stood up and said: "France has been pushed to the edge of the cliff by the Chinese. This peace conference is a life-saving straw for them. Today, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged us five times. The final decision, I hope we are in the perspective of a strategic alliance, we must participate in the Beijing Peace Conference. I think participating in the Beijing Peace Conference is an opportunity for the British Empire to show a peaceful gesture. If we do not participate in this conference, we will go to The opposite of the whole world!"

Belfort took a deep breath and said heavily: "The Chinese are so cunning! They pretended to be the peace messengers of the world, and packaged the Beijing Peace Conference as a gathering of peace-loving countries all over the world. Anyone who does not participate in this meeting, whoever wants to continue to wage war, will be spurned by people all over the world. Chinese people, this is not what it used to be."

After receiving the telegram from the British government, France sent a government delegation impatiently. But before going to Beijing, the French representatives learned that China had only sent three delegates to themselves, and the official notification that they received later was only two delegates. .The French originally hoped that China could look at the trade dependence between China and France, and the United States would negotiate peace to win 5 representatives for their country.Now not only is there no hope for 5 places, but even 3 places cannot be kept.China, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary and other countries that dominated the Beijing Peace Conference divided the Allied Powers into three categories according to the degree of dominance of each country in the war.The first category is "leading belligerents", that is, the main allies of Britain and France, with 5 seats for each country; the second category is "partially dominant belligerents", which refers to countries that mainly engage in local operations in the war, with 3 seats for each country; The third category is the countries in the camp of the Allied Powers that have broken off diplomatic relations with China and Germany, with 2 seats for each country.According to this principle, France was originally the absolute dominant party in the war and should have won 5 seats.

All of this is caused by Italy.In fact, countries such as China and Germany originally included France in the first category of countries.However, in order to weaken France's position in the Beijing Peace Conference, Italian representatives actively lobbied other major powers to reduce the number of French representatives to two.This proposal was immediately supported by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who disliked France.At the tea party of the five major countries, William put forward this proposal as the leading party, and the other four major countries agreed, and the number of representatives of France changed from 2 to 5, and then to 3.

The French government launched an aggressive diplomatic effort to increase French representation.He sent envoys to China and Germany to visit the Chinese and German delegations, as well as Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Tingfang and German Chancellor Bismarck.The results were dismal, however, with sympathy from the Chinese, lukewarm reaction from the Americans and worse from Germany.

When the news reached the country, it immediately caused an uproar in French domestic public opinion.At the critical moment, France pointed all the finger at Italy and strongly protested to the Italian embassy the practice of reducing the number of French representatives, saying that the leading party had broken its promise. There will be a loss of trust and the inability to have conversations later on and so on.Later, under the intervention of the United Kingdom, the final meeting of the leading party decided that France and Brazil would have 3 representatives.

The famous butterfly effect theory finally happened again and again under the influence of Guan Xuqing, but Guan Xuqing still believes that history is like a river, no matter how the river changes its course, it will eventually flow to the sea.The general trend of the world is mighty and mighty, if you follow it, you will prosper, and if you go against it, you will perish.Great men can speed up or delay the course of history but cannot change it.Even if a river flowing eastward is temporarily forced to flow southward, if the terrain does not change, it will eventually break its embankment and go eastward.

Guan Xuqing was thinking about something on his mind when Wang Shang came in and said, "Your Majesty, there is a Russian representative who wants to meet you."

Guan Xuqing was being entangled in a bunch of trivial matters, and his mind was like a mess. He couldn't even care about meeting the Russian representative, so he waved his hand impatiently.Wang Shang immediately understood, turned around and was about to leave.Guan Xuqing seemed to have thought of something suddenly, and hurriedly called Wang Shang: "Wait! What's the name of the Russian representative?"

"Returning to the emperor, the names of Russians are quite long, and the slave didn't remember them clearly for a while. It seems to be called Lenin."

"Lenin!" Guan Xuqing was shocked when Lenin, the representative of communists, finally appeared on the stage of history. "Xuan Jin! Xuan Jin!"

Entering was a curly-haired young man with a particularly striking beard and deep eyes that looked more like a Caucasian.The man bowed deeply to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, I am Joseph; Vissarionovich; Stalin, appointed by Vladimir; Ilyich; Lenin, to attend the Congress Your Majesty the Emperor, I hope to have a consultation with your country on the Beijing Peace Conference."

"Negotiation? Stalin, I'm afraid your purpose here is not about the peace conference, but about eliminating the White Russian forces in Russia?"

"Your Majesty, Russia is under the wings of China. As far as I know, the organizers of this peace conference will establish a new international order. What we worry about is whether Russia will be squeezed into the cracks of many interest groups. There are also many supporters of communism in your country. I heard that collective farms in the budding state of communism have appeared in the northwest. This is a common place for us. This time, China’s military operation to wipe out the remnants of Belarus in Russia, we I believe it was instigated by German militarism. As long as your army can resolutely get rid of the shackles of militarism, there is still a lot to talk about between us!" Stalin said calmly.

"Now the white army is gathering from all walks of life. Communism is dying. Without political power, everything is empty talk. I don't know what is the meaning of everything we talk about today? Maybe we finish talking today, and tomorrow communism will no longer exist. What do you think?" Guan Xuqing said flatly.

Stalin blushed: "Your Majesty, what we mean is that as long as your army does not participate in this battle, we are still capable of defeating the White Russian Army. That is why I am here today."

"What are you going to use to persuade our army to withdraw? What else can you exchange in your country now? Your country doesn't even have enough manpower, and everything is in short supply. Without China's support, everything has to start from scratch. "

"Your Majesty, we have a vast land and abundant resources in Russia, and we can provide all kinds of raw materials!"

"Apart from the land, what is left of Russia? Besides, these lands belong to each nation. Even if you defeated White Russia, you should not inherit the bloody legacy of the Tsar. You must return these to the people of Asia!"

Stalin lowered his head and remained silent. He raised his head helplessly: "Please give me some time, I will report to Moscow."

Guan Xuqing said with a smile: "I'm not in a hurry, anyway, the White Russian army will attack you in three days at most."

The time has just entered April, and delegations from various countries have arrived in Beijing one after another.France was one of the first delegations from major countries to arrive. This time, the French sent an unprecedentedly strong delegation, including Prime Minister Briand, ministers of various cabinet departments, and even General Foch of the French Army Command. As well as General Joffre, Chief of Staff of the French Army and Supreme Commander of the Marne River Front, this shows how much the French government attaches importance to this meeting.

On the other hand, the heads of several major countries that arrived earlier came to greet the French representative at the same time, which also showed the respect that world powers have for France, a former power.American President Theodore Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, Italian Prime Minister Orlando, and Chinese Emperor Liang Qichao arrived earlier. Only the old enemy of the French, Germany, did not send representatives to greet them. The four giants came to the airport to welcome China and the world. It can be said that the four most powerful giants came together to meet the nearly defeated French, which can be said to have given the Gauls enough face, but everyone knew in their hearts that this was nothing more than for others to see.

The French delegation who were still on the train looked at the grand welcome team through the windows. After the train stopped, the crew lowered the hanging ladder. The first to go down the hanging ladder was French Foreign Minister Sousse, and then the commander-in-chief. General Foch, and finally Prime Minister Briand.When Bai Lian got down, he kept waving his hands to salute the welcoming crowd.The friendly Chinese people also put up slogans, which read: Welcome the French delegation to Beijing as a guest.Members of the delegation felt inexplicably moved.

As the host, Liang Qichao was the first to meet Brian who had already stepped down the hanging ladder.Brian also walked over, and the two smiled and held hands. "Welcome, welcome to China." Liang Qichao, as the host, still had to do his best, and his performance was also very warm and generous.

Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 375 Encounter with the Enemy

"The French people are peace-loving, and the Chinese people are also peace-loving. I hope we can continue our friendship." Briand's words are not wrong, the people do not desire war, but the leaders of those countries hold power Talented people always think about waging war.

At this time, British Prime Minister Balfour held Briand's hand from the side: "I hope that your Excellency can visit the UK and take our cooperation to another step."

"I am always eager to visit the UK to discuss international forms and cooperation between our countries. When I have time, I will definitely lead a delegation to the UK." Briand responded enthusiastically. In fact, the whole world knows that Britain and France He is the closest ally, and saying such things is obviously acting.

US President Theodore Roosevelt (the one in World War II was called Franklin Roosevelt) walked over with a smile and hugged Briand: "Our two countries are old friends. I didn't expect to meet this time in the great imperial capital of China... ..."

After meeting with Roosevelt, only Italian Prime Minister Orlando remained.But Briand didn't have a good impression of Italy and Orlando at all. Italy would only be a fool in the World War, and he really didn't want to deal with such people.After a brief diplomatic greeting, they boarded a Chinese car.All the members of the delegation needed to take a break. Guided by the members of the embassy who greeted them, the delegation came to live in a luxury apartment arranged by the Beijing government.Some live directly in their embassy.Everyone was very tired and collapsed in their own rooms as soon as they arrived at the station.However, the imperial guards outside the embassy stood ready and arranged a tight guard circle.

Outside Xuanwumen, there are embassies from more than [-] countries gathered here, and there are many special attractions.From the French embassy, ​​you can see the ancient Fayuan Temple, and to the west is the former residence of Ji Xiaolan, a celebrity in the Qing Dynasty.The facilities here are well-equipped and the living environment is good. It is a relatively high-end residence.The members of the delegation got up from the bed in a daze the next day.Gu Weijun, a Chinese receptionist serving the French embassy, ​​is arranging breakfast for everyone in the restaurant. The chef is arranged by China. The breakfast is the most characteristic of old Beijing, such as wonton, tofu nao, soybean milk, and fried dough sticks.It was the first time for Bai Lian and others to eat this kind of food. They were a little strange and cautious at first, but it became more and more delicious later on, especially General Foch who ate three catties of deep-fried dough sticks and a bowl of tofu nao.

After breakfast, start planning your day.At present, the preparations for the Beijing Peace Conference are almost done, so there is nothing for everyone to do during the few days waiting for the conference.So everyone thinks that we should take a good look around Beijing and get to know this ancient and mysterious oriental country well.

"Mr. Gu, what is the itinerary for us today?" Foch stuffed the last fried dough stick into his mouth, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and asked with a full belch.

Gu Weijun pondered for a while, looked at Foch and said: "This morning, go to Dashilan for fun. After eating there, go to visit the Great Wall in the afternoon." Well worth the trip.After getting a satisfactory answer, Foch couldn't help but grabbed another fried dough stick and brought a bowl of soy milk.Gu Weijun who was watching was really clicking his tongue.

The three members of the delegation, including Briand, and their entourage stood on the Badaling Great Wall overlooking the beautiful mountains of China.

Briand looked at Foreign Minister South and said, "Do you know the history of this great building? If you want to understand China, you must understand the Great Wall."

Sous nodded and said with a smile: "Although I have never been here, I still have some understanding of the history of the Great Wall. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods in China, the princes of various countries built beacon towers and connected them with city walls in order to defend against the invasion of other countries. This formed the earliest Great Wall. Afterwards, the kings of all dynasties almost reinforced and expanded it. It is also called the "Great Wall" because it is tens of thousands of miles long. One-twentieth of the population. But there was no machinery at that time, all the labor had to be done by manpower, and the working environment was very difficult with high mountains and steep cliffs and deep ravines. The Great Wall stretches from the Yalu River in the east to Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west.” Then he looked at Gu Weijun said: "Mr. Gu, am I right?"

Gu Weijun smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so proficient in Chinese history and culture, I admire you."

Briand said thoughtfully: "The Chinese can actually build such a great building, what kind of nation would this be?"

At this time, a guard in full armor ran to Gu Weijun's side to report to him, and then left quickly.Gu Weijun's face suddenly became ugly: "About a company of armed men marched towards us. It is still unclear who they are, but judging from their clothes, they should be the Kaiser's guard."

Gu Weijun said in a deep voice, "Have you told others about the activity arrangements of the French embassy?"

The captain of the guard is also quite nervous now, and thought about it carefully: "Germany is also one of the organizers. The Kaiser's office staff came over to ask for a copy of our travel plan. They are also a routine. There is no problem."

"However, we still need to pay attention to it. Just notify the guards and monitor and pay attention." Gu Weijun ordered.

The person who came was indeed Kaiser Wilhelm II. I don't know whether he was on purpose or not. He actually came to the Badaling Great Wall at this time, and he also brought his own guards directly under him.

The guards responsible for defending the French delegation stopped the German guards on the periphery out of their duties, but the Kaiser's guards were by no means ordinary people. Stand up.

The guard regiment will not consider any political consequences, they will only faithfully perform their own defense tasks, and they also occupy a strong firepower point, and even arranged snipers in some inconspicuous places, with the scope facing William II The head of the world!

People all over the world know that the Germans and the Gauls are inseparable old enemies. From Napoleon's sweep of Berlin back then, to the Franco-Prussian War decades ago, to the current European War, Germany and France fought for Europe. The leadership of the mainland has been fought for hundreds of years, and now they meet here by chance. The so-called meeting of enemies is extremely jealous. Who can guarantee that there will be no accidents.On the contrary, Gu Weijun and the guards protecting the safety of the French delegation were caught in the middle, which seemed very embarrassing.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Gu Weijun hurriedly trotted to King William II, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I really didn't expect to see you here. It's a great honor."

William II was still as arrogant as ever. It can be said that with his character, looking at the whole world, no one paid attention to him except Guan Xuqing who was afraid of him.He stroked his mustache on his upper lip, and said lightly, "Is the Frenchman in front? It looks like Briand, right?"

"Hehe, yes, according to the arrangement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I will accompany the French representative to visit here today."

"Well, good. Let the Frenchman come and see me." After saying this, William turned around.

Gu Weijun grinned, here is the Kaiser, and there is the head of the French government. The two countries are still sworn enemies. It is absolutely impossible for Briand to bow his head to William.But William has a high prestige in front of the Chinese emperor. How dare he go against what he said, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and come to Briand, pretending to smile and said: "Your Excellency, the person who is opposite is the German emperor." Your Majesty, he is very happy to meet you here, and very much hopes to have a brief meeting with you, because after all, you are the two most powerful countries in the European continent, and you are also the two closest neighbors. Hehe..." As a For foreign affairs personnel, first of all, they must have the ability to make peace with each other. Up to now, Gu Weijun has no choice but to say this, hoping to avoid incidents.Because he knew that once this conflict happened, the consequences would be incalculable to anyone.

What Gu Weijun didn't expect was that Brian said calmly: "Okay, the Kaiser is a busy person, and it's hard to see him usually. I have a lot of questions and I want to exchange opinions with him."

Under the watchful eyes of the two guards, Briand tidied up his clothes and walked towards William in a grand manner.The two shook hands, hugged, and then walked slowly along the ancient city wall while talking.

Gu Weijun's tense palms were covered with sweat. With his status, it was impossible for him to participate in the conversation between the two giants. He just heard William's meaningful words: "Only here can you overlook the world."

Gu Weijun watched nervously the two heads of state talking, while the guards on both sides were still tensely confronting each other, gradually a suspenseful heart was relieved, the two seemed to be chatting happily, and burst into hearty laughter from time to time.After about 10 minutes, the two shook hands and hugged again, and then left the Great Wall with their entourage.