Before the end of the year, several things happened that could have an important impact on the future.

On December 28, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson put forward the far-reaching "Fourteen Points" in a speech to the U.S. Congress.

Some of the contents of the "Fourteen Points" were welcomed by the Entente powers, such as the withdrawal of German troops from Belgium, the guarantee of Belgian independence, the return of Alsace and Lorraine by the German army to France, and the return of occupied Italian lands by Austria-Hungary, etc., which were in the interests of the Entente members.

Others have sparked great controversy, such as the removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal conditions for trade; and that the colonial question should be dealt with impartially, taking into account both the interests of the colonial people and the legitimate demands of the colonial Government.

Everyone knows that the current international order is established with Britain and France as the core, Britain and France have vast colonies around the world, and the role of these colonies in the British Empire is undoubtedly shown in the world war.

The same is true of France, after the outbreak of the world war, France's colonies in North Africa and Central Africa have formed servant armies to go to France to participate in the war, although the behavior of these servant armies has caused some controversy, but on the whole, the colonial servant army is still a huge role, and now Woodrow Wilson's frivolous suggestion, like a "just" solution to the colonial question, the mood of the British government and the French government can be imagined.

The strong dissatisfaction of Britain and France was the removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal conditions for trade.

The main reason why colonies are important is that they can provide cheap raw materials for production and become a market for the overlord's goods.

There is exclusivity in raw materials and markets here, such as southern Africa, after the establishment of the federal government of southern Africa, American businessmen have always wanted to sell goods to southern Africa, but the British government has opposed it, thus winning the space for southern African enterprises to develop smoothly.

If Woodrow Wilson's proposal were to materialize, British industrial products would lose their monopoly in the British colonies, which would be tantamount to the complete abolition of British privileges in the colonies.

Needless to say about Britain and France, Roque did not approve of Woodrow Wilson's proposal.

Although on the surface, Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" is very beneficial to emerging economies such as southern Africa, but in fact it is not, because southern Africa is also part of the British Empire, so the goods of southern Africa can be sold to Canada, Australia, India and other overseas territories and colonies at the same time, they can also be sold to the United Kingdom without restrictions, and at the same time, there is no need to face the competition of American goods, which is an unparalleled huge benefit for southern Africa, once this benefit disappears, Then the profits of southern African companies will immediately fall by a notch.

Therefore, Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" is a typical applause, and they all praise Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points", but when it comes to implementation, no country responds.

On the same day that Woodrow Wilson proposed the "Fourteen Points", the Brest-Litovsk Peace Agreement was concluded between the German-led Central Powers (the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Bulgaria) and the new Russian government.

The agreement was an outright humiliation of the new Russian government, which relinquished all sovereignty over Courland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Livonia, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus.

The "renunciation" here is not to cede the said land to Germany, but to allow Germany to set up a puppet government to rule over the said places.

After the Peace Accords were signed, Russia lost 55 million people, equivalent to one-third of the total population of the Russian Empire, and also lost hundreds of thousands of square miles of land, 90% of the country's coal mining, 73% of iron ore, 54% of industry, and 33% of railways.

It can be said that after the signing of this agreement, the basis for the existence of Russia as a powerful country no longer exists, and the new Russian government paid a huge price for withdrawing from the war, and some people did not agree to this "Peace Agreement", but it could not change the reality, and after getting the above-mentioned areas, the Allies, who were in dire need of blood transfusion, were finally able to breathe, but this was a great disaster for the Entente.

After the news reached Paris, the Allied high-level leaders held a meeting to discuss countermeasures, and it was already January 1917.

Both Winston and Clemenceau attended the meeting, along with King Albert I of Belgium, Vittorio Emmanuel Orlando, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Alexander I of the Kingdom of Serbia in exile, and Edward House, a senior adviser to US President Woodrow Wilson.

On January 10, Winston arrived at Roque's headquarters in Alumon to attend a high-level meeting of the Allies in Paris on January 14.

As the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Roque did not need to attend this meeting, Winston attended with full powers on behalf of the British, and if there was any result, it should be discussed in the British Parliament, and then submitted to King George V for approval.

Winston was not optimistic about the prospects of the meeting, and in front of Roque, Winston unscrupulously expressed pessimism.

"This kind of meeting will not lead to anything at all, the only effect is to waste all of our precious time, and if I could, I would love to have Edward [British Foreign Secretary] come to this meeting, and I would rather go fishing at Woodstock than go from one fog to another." Winston is very poisonous, Woodstock is Winston's hometown, and Winston was born there.

Without Winston's emphasis, Roque could have imagined what would happen in the room.

Looking at these people who participated in the meeting, it can basically be said that this is a Paris Peace Conference that started in advance, everyone who participated in the conference had their own interests, and the purpose of the conference was not how to defeat the Germans, but how to deal with Germany and Austria-Hungary after the war, and the Germans had not surrendered yet, how could such a conference be fruitful.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, you don't have the conditions to attack in winter, and being idle is idle, and going to Paris to quarrel is good for exercising your lung capacity." Roque laughed, watching the Russian Empire, once known as the "steamroller of Europe" and the "gendarme of Europe", fall to the point where it is today, and Roque did not know what to say.

In these years, no one will look at anyone's jokes, although the Russian Empire is miserable, the Chinese are not strong, Britain and France are now seeing victory in sight, but the country has also become a pot of porridge, and it is estimated that it will take more than ten or twenty years to restore the strength before the world war.

Relatively speaking, the Ottoman Empire was even worse, the Ottoman Empire had fallen, because Constantinople was the first to be breached, so the Ottoman Empire did not even have a government in exile, which was worse than the Russian Empire.

Germany and Austria-Hungary are not much better, and after the world war, Austria-Hungary will definitely be divided, and Germany will be dismembered.

It seems that the only benefit is from southern Africa, but southern Africa has also paid a huge price to win this war, since the outbreak of the world war, southern Africa has lost nearly a million people, and almost half of the casualties in the British expeditionary force came from southern Africa, so there is no real winner in the world war.

Another time and space, the United States became the ultimate winner.

But in this time and space, the United States has nothing to gain now, and the rewards that can be obtained after the end of the world war are extremely limited.

"How are you and Petain going to defeat the Germans?" Winston was still concerned with the expeditionary force, and the distribution of spoils was a matter after the war, so it was a bit early to bring up the issue.

"Pétain and I made an agreement that the British Expeditionary Force and the French troops would be supported by up to six divisions in the event of an attack by the Germans." Roque replied to the question, and now Roque still has not changed his strategy, even if Germany can get some supplies from the new Russian government, Roque will consume the Germans alive.

After the signing of the "Brest-Litovsk Peace Agreement", on the surface, Germany made huge profits, but in fact it is uncertain whether it can make a profit, remember the Polish government that Ludendorff strongly organized, Ludendorff has not gotten what he wants until now.

In order to form a Polish puppet government, Germany stationed about 250,000 troops in Poland, and these troops needed about 30 wagons of food per day to meet consumption, and the supplies that Germany obtained from Poland -

Less than three wagons per day.

And that's just Poland, and now Germany has a lot of areas that are on the verge of collapse because of the war, these areas have a complex personnel structure, and there are many contradictions between ethnic groups, and the staff of the expeditionary force estimates that Ukraine alone will need at least 400,000 German troops to stabilize the situation if Germany wants to form a puppet government.

Now Ludendorff simply does not have enough troops to maintain stability, and Austria-Hungary is not enough, Germany can no longer afford to raise more troops unless they are drawn from the Western Front.

And as soon as Ludendorff draws troops from the Western Front, it will look good.

"And then?" Winston couldn't wait for Roque's next words, so he couldn't help but ask.

"What? That's it - "Roque didn't do anything at all, since the defense could consume the German army alive, Roque would not take the initiative to attack the troops."

"Then what do you want to do as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, what's the difference between the dog behind this desk and you?" Winston and Roark are nowhere to be seen, and the analogy is a bit hurtful.

"Winston, it's you behind the desk now—" Roque immediately turned his face, the Prime Minister is amazing!