In fact, Britain and France are now jumping on their feet, and they value Romania more than Eder estimated.

The main thing was that Soviet Russia and the Allies signed an armistice, which made Britain and France, which had been fighting very the Western Front, very afraid. The thought of the millions of German and Austrian troops freed up from the Eastern Front was not a big headache for Paris and London. Now Britain and France are also negotiating overnight about the news from their embassy in Romania.

In Paris, French Prime Minister Clemenceau is convening a cabinet to discuss the matter.

In this war, because the battlefield was in France, it suffered huge losses. According to later sources, France's fiscal deficit after World War I reached more than 18 billion francs, in addition to 16 billion francs owed to the United States and 13 billion francs to the United Kingdom. In addition to these arrears, more important is the loss of population. More than 1.4 million French people were killed and more than 3 million wounded, or 10 percent of the French population, as a result of the war. Although the war was not yet over, the French casualties now reached 3.5 million.

According to Petain, who succeeded Nivelle as commander-in-chief of France at the beginning of the year, the French army is now in a pessimistic state about the war. This year, desertion and war-weariness have spread among the army, and no matter how much the officers try to publicize it, the mood of the soldiers is not high enough, and some officers are also infected by the emotions of the soldiers and resist military orders.

The bad news in the French army made Prime Minister Clemenceau even more interested in Romania's entry into the war.

As the French prime minister, Clemenceau was known as the Tiger of France, and as the leader of the French radicals, he had a lot of influence in French politics. Losses on the French front this year, with heavy casualties and low morale. Russia withdrew from the war. The faction within the French government, represented by former Prime Minister Cailliaud, advocated immediate peace negotiations and the realization of "peace without a victor."

In this emergency, President Raymond Poincaré, who was in charge of the war, decided to ask Clemenceau to form a government. This year's replacement of former Prime Minister Cayo is Clemenceau's second term as prime minister. His first term as prime minister was in 1906, and he was also Minister of the Interior, and for the first time in French history, he set up a ministry of labour in his cabinet. His platform included several social reform measures, such as the eight-hour working day and the introduction of a progressive income tax.

So Clemenceau, as a representative of the hardliners, now needs to quickly stabilize the confidence of the French people and army. At home, he maintained his autocratic character and exercised a personal dictatorship while retaining parliament. He was decisive in killing and commanding with authority. He went to the front on several occasions to boost morale, forcefully suppress anti-war forces at home, and denounce them as "defeatists." He also used this as an excuse to crack down on the workers' movement.

Of course, this alone is not enough, and in order to boost the morale of the people, we also need to see the hope of victory. Therefore, the U.S. military on the other side of the Atlantic has become the savior in his mouth. However, given that the U.S. military is still being formed and trained in its own country, it has not come to Europe. Then Romania is its complementary measure.

In addition, unlike the American army, the Romanian army has not received the baptism of modern warfare, and its performance in the Balkan war is also seen, so for Romania to join the Entente, Clemenceau means that it must be won.

The leaks of the Russian embassy that have now occurred have put Romania in a difficult situation and made Clemenceau nervous. He was afraid that Romania would not be able to withstand the pressure and turn to the Central Powers. This means that Germany can send up to a million troops to strengthen the Western Front, which will make the situation more difficult for France, and it will be a great disaster for France to seize Paris by the German army, and peace talks will no longer become impossible.

So Clemenceau wanted to prevent this from happening, and in the government room, he told the cabinet members present the theme of the meeting. "Now because of the leaks from the Russian embassy, Romania is facing a threat from Germany and Austria. We need to find a way to keep it from giving in to their demands, what do you think about that? ”

Clemenceau's words fell, and the cabinet members present looked at Foreign Minister Pichon. The 60-year-old Pi Xiong knows that this is the rhetoric that everyone is waiting for him, and this matter is completely dependent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, Pichon, who is also a radical faction like Clemenceau, has not been in the Foreign Office for a long time as a minister, but now he has to come up with a way for everyone to consult, but fortunately he has been prepared beforehand.

"Our foreign ministry view on this incident is that Romania must be wooed, but how to win over this requires skill."

As he spoke, Pichon had the map of the Balkans and Eastern Europe hung up. He pointed to Romania and made a statement. "As you can see, Romania's position is quite critical, it is completely surrounded by the Allies, and it can be said that we need to pay a lot of money if we want Romania to join. Luckily, Romania is very interested in joining us, and we have a good appetite for them in the first place. ”

Pichon's words were well known to everyone present, and of course they knew about Romanian appetites. Pi Xiong didn't talk nonsense and continued. "Despite the fact that Romania has a lot of appetite, we at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs think that this is a reasonable time. Romania is in a position that will allow us to hold back millions of enemy troops and prevent their reinforcements from threatening us on the Western Front. And as long as we pay attention, we can see that the location of Romania is also very important for us in the future. To the east of them, not far from the red regime of Soviet Russia, we must consider the possibility of the failure of the intervention in this red devil regime, then Romania can be a reliable guarantee against its spread. ”

None of the people present in Red Russia would like it, let alone Prime Minister Clemenceau who could take the lead in forming the Russian intervention army, but the war held them back.

"So how do we turn Romania and Soviet Russia against each other?"

A cabinet member asked about Pichon's plans.

"It's easy." Pichon made a gesture in Ukraine. "We can give Romania the territory of Ukraine, I think the territories that the Allies can give, we can still give, and we should give them more in Ukraine. For example, in the Galician region, it is also possible to give them a part. ”

Pichon's remarks caused a lot of discussion among the other members of the cabinet, with Quartermaster Luschel disagreeing. "I have a somewhat different view of Foreign Minister Pichon. On such terms, Romania will receive a lot of territory after the war, and how will we balance them in the future?"

Luschel's words are also representative of the many opposing views of Britain and France, and those who can achieve their current status are human spirits. As for the conditions and ideas of Romania, they can know three points without thinking about it, and before they had too much appetite for Romania, which made Russia resolutely oppose. Now that Russia has withdrawn from the war, there is no objection without a table.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that after the defeat of Germany and Austria, the sphere of influence in Central Europe and the Balkans will enter a vacuum, and Romania, which will be very profitable, will likely become an obstacle to France's entry into the region, and there are many people in London who are so worried. Therefore, Luschel's words also represent the views of many British and French officials.