The unsalable wheat did torment the Americans to the point of madness, but compared to the situation the Germans now faced, they were happy. At the Dragon Gate Inn in Paris, the dying former Second German Reich's envoy to China, Freihair. Feng. Rutte and Baolong, the founder of Tongji University, have gone crazy several times, especially when they heard that France was going to dismember the left bank of the Rhine and planned to establish a Rhine Republic, and Britain was bewitching Hamburg merchants to prepare for the establishment of a Lower Saxon Republic, Rutte, who was supposed to be on crutches to stand up, actually stood up on trembling legs, but in less than three seconds, he fell down again.

"Your Excellency, you can't let them do this, they're destroying Germany!!" Rutte, who fell into Baolong's arms, burst into tears, and there was nothing more cruel than such a dismemberment of Germany.

"Sir, China has been a member of the Entente since its entry into the war, and unlike the United States, which is independent outside the Entente, I can only put forward some opinions in favor of Germany when discussing these issues within the Entente, but do not forget that China has almost no say in European questions; At the same time, I can't reveal the content of the internal meeting of the Entente to you or anyone else, so I'm sorry......" Yang Rui suddenly felt inexplicably melancholy, Germany is extremely excellent in many aspects, not to mention science and technology, even philosophy, no one in the entire twentieth century has surpassed the Germans in philosophy, but this nation and China are at both ends of the seesaw, and if China wants to rise, Germany is bound to be destroyed.

"Your Excellency, is there no other way?" Erich. During the war, he spent time at Tongji University and Tongji Hospital in Shanghai, and the government did not hold him as a prisoner of war, Baolong said. After the armistice was signed, he returned home.

"Germany's final problem was blockade by the Entente. Lack of food and fuel. The workers will revolt, and the army will not be able to fight. If you can't fight, you can only negotiate peace; However, it was visible to all that the German army could not fight because of the turmoil in the rear, so that Germany, given the losses of the various countries in the war, was bound to face an extremely harsh peace treaty. Yang Rui described the German predicament, shook his head and said: "I really don't know what the German generals think, do they really think that they can win the war?" ”

In the face of Yang Rui's questioning, Rutte and Baolong looked at each other, not to mention the German general. Even they were convinced several times that Germany would win the war, but the result was ......

"The most important thing for Germany now is to quickly stabilize the situation at home, no matter what way it is used, no matter what way it is used. As long as the German Army retains its war potential, you will have the strength to bargain for peace negotiations. Yang Rui said. In addition, in order to maintain the friendship between China and Germany, China will demand reparations from Germany in the peace treaty, but the indemnity paid by Germany will be more than the actual losses caused to Germany by the Boxers. It will be returned to Germany in full in a flexible way, so that no one suffers. In the face of famine in Germany, we are trying to find a solution, but the biggest problem is the blockade of the Entente. Grain could only be transported through Russia, but the Baltic Sea was soon also under blockade, and Poland was at war with Russia. It's really distressing. ”

"Your Excellency, thank you for everything you have done for Germany!" Lu Te, who was supported by Baolong, bowed deeply to Yang Rui.

"Nope! When the Chinese government was just formed. Germany has also done a lot for China. Yang Rui also stood up and saluted back. But when he thought the Germans were going to take their leave, Rutte asked again. "Your Excellency Chancellor, although the German Constitution of the Republic has been formulated, there are still many voices of opposition, and many people think that the Kaiser can be reserved for a vacant position like the Chinese Constitution, making it a spiritual symbol, and we are hesitating to do so......"

Germany has become a democratic form of government, and the only forms of government that can be accepted by the Germans are the American model and the Chinese model, and Yang Rui's first reaction is that it is obviously not possible for Germany to adopt the federal system of the United States, and Germany is precisely composed of a lion, six sheep, and 20 rats, and once the federal system is adopted, the rights of sheep and rats will increase dramatically, which will inevitably cause contradictions between the local and central governments. He would be like the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, with governors and warlords everywhere - in the case of Germany, state assemblies, who would govern on their own and not take the central government of Berlin into account at all.

In the past, the Prussian lion roared, not to mention the mouse, the Bavarian sheep also had to be obedient, but the federal form of government could be adopted, then the status of the mouse and the lion was equal, the rights and interests of the mouse must be protected, and the lion could not bully the weak, and the result was that the decree could not come out of Berlin. If everything had gone well in Germany, the situation might have improved in a few decades, but now, with a defeated country still in disarray and a chaotic and sluggish economy, the political situation is certainly in turmoil.

How can we stabilize the political situation in Germany? Yang Rui turned this thought in his mind, and then said with a smile: "I am deeply honored that your country can agree with the Chinese Constitution, but what is the opinion of the German people on the Kaiser now?" ”

"Very bad, but we are ready to appoint His Royal Highness Crown Prince Wilhelm as the new Kai......ser," Rutte, who had thought about the Chinese form of government, also knew that Wilhelm II had lost the support of the people, so he did not intend to restore it at all.

"Your Social Democrats and President Wilson of the United States certainly do not want to see this," Yang Rui said: "Although the newly established country is only called the 'German State' and has no meaning of a republic, in the propaganda of the Social Democrats, Germany is already a republic, and the basis of negotiations with the Entente is the German democratic government, and according to the American view of our country, they have never regarded China as a democracy, but an autocratic government." Therefore, I believe that the use of the new Kaiser as the spiritual symbol of Germany will make the internal and external situation in Germany even more chaotic. You may ask President Wilson about this proposal, if he agrees......"

"President Wilson is totally against this." Rutte said regretfully. "Yang, although I can't say why, I have a hunch that after becoming a republic, Germany will face an even greater crisis. The people used to believe in the emperor, but now that the emperor has abdicated, they really don't know what to believe, and everyone is worried that the populace will fall to the Bolsheviks......"

"Mr. Rutte, perhaps the Bolsheviks are Germany's only bargaining chip." Yang Rui interrupted. "However, the famine in the country is really unbearable, and this bargaining chip should be used with caution. I can admit it here: once the peace treaty is signed. Germany will get an endless supply of Chinese food, and I promise it will be all low-cost food. If the Germans cannot afford to buy food, His Royal Highness King Min will donate no less than 100 million yuan of food to help Germany survive the crisis. ”

"His Royal Highness King Min?" Rutte and Baolong are a little strange.

"Yes. His Royal Highness King Min. Yang Rui said with a smile, "China's national policy is: all bad things are done by the Prime Minister's Office, and all good things are attributed to the royal family, so that once a crisis occurs, then by replacing the government that has been doing bad things, the people's anger will be calmed down, and the country can be stable." After all, there must always be an outlet for anger. ”

The Germans were a little dumbfounded by such logic. "But there will also be another crisis, if the people support His Royal Highness King Min to ascend the throne or even take power, then the country will return to the imperial era, just like Japan......"

"No, it can't be." Yang Rui shook his head, "It is impossible for those who have already grasped the power to return the power to the emperor, and restoration will only be the fantasy of a few people." In the case of Japan, he also did not return power to the emperor. Rather, it concentrates power in the hands of warlords and chaebols. In fact, even if we don't do this, the people will habitually attribute the good things to the emperor and the bad things to the government. If the people really think that even the emperor is bad. They will think about changing the dynasty, and in general, the cost of changing the emperor is definitely higher than changing the government. ”

Yang Rui didn't want to talk about anything else with Germany. He quickly ended the topic and turned around: "Mr. Rutte." Please tell China that China will not violate the treaty and international principles. Do everything in your power to help Germany secure a decent peace. However, you should not have too much hope for this, and it is clear that China and Japan are not qualified to speak on the European issue. ”

Hurriedly sent the Germans away, and returned to the inner room, Xie Jintai, who had avoided before, smiled, "It's actually you cheating on the Germans again." ”

"Where am I a pit, I am ......" Yang Rui blushed, a little embarrassed, but after all, he said: "If China's rise must step on the corpse of Germany, then I will be merciless!" ”

"But the question is, where does your logic come from?" Xie Jintai has long seen the true connotation of Yang Rui's policy towards Germany, and he has never understood why he, who can speak German, is so hard to pit the Germans.

"That's you, the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is very unqualified!" Yang Rui took out a cigarette and lit it, looking at the confused Xie Jintai, he pointed to the world map on the wall and smiled: "Why did you come to this logic, there is an answer on the map, why don't you look at it?" ”

"Got the answer on the map?" Xie Jintai looked at the world map blankly, and asked puzzledly, "China and Germany are on both sides of the Eurasian continent, and it is absolutely impossible for a war to occur. Why is it not so ...... for Germany?"

Attention to detail is Xie Jintai's strength, but his problem is that he can only see the trees and not see the forest, Yang Rui saw that he couldn't say anything for a long time, so he couldn't help but stand up and find a pen, and drew three horizontal lines on the map, and the second half was joking and half solemnly said: "Give you three auxiliaries, and if you can't see it, then report and resign." ”

Hearing Yang Rui say this, Xie Zhangtai was very serious about these three horizontal lines, but after half a minute, he still shook his head, "The top one seems to be the Trans-Siberian Railway, this one is ......" Xie Zhangtai couldn't go on, the middle one is connected to Europe through Persia and Turkey, some like Germany's 3B railway, but it is not exactly 3B railway. "This is the Asia-Europe Railway, right?" Xie Zhangtai asked, seeing that Yang Rui didn't answer, he continued to look at the next one, he really didn't know what this one was.

"I became a brother, please don't hesitate to give advice, Xiaosheng is grateful!" Xie Zhangtai, who was covered in sweat, said.

"The one you said is indeed the Asia-Europe Railway," Yang Rui nodded, "However, we can't reveal any idea of building the Asia-Europe Railway now, and even the word 'Asia-Europe Railway' can't appear in any newspapers and media, because ......,

The British now occupy Baghdad and Istanbul, and the 3B railway has 2B already in their hands, which is one; Second, the British in Persia were not small, and although they were disgusted by what they had done, and we welcomed the Persians with food aid and support for their Persian recovery of Turkmenistan, there was still much to be known, and a revolution could undo all our previous efforts.

The most important point. The Asia-Europe railway and maritime transport are in competition with each other, which is actually the meaning of the horizontal line at the bottom. That stands for sea freight. Although now the cost of sea freight is much lower than that of rail transport, but militarily speaking. Railways are much faster and more efficient than sea transport. The war in Europe was essentially a railway war, and all the war revolved around the railway. Once the Asia-Europe railway is completed, the Renaissance Army will be able to reach Berlin within 10 days, and the French and Spanish coasts in the Atlantic Ocean within half a month.

The Trans-Siberian Railway at the top, the Asia-Europe Railway in the middle, and the maritime transport at the bottom, these three passages determine world hegemony. The bottom one, from Yokohama or Shanghai, passes through the South China Sea, the South Sea, Singapore, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. The direct shipping route to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic side is the main route for world trade. The reason why Britain is willing to share the sea power of the Americas with the United States is that the lowest sea route is the lifeblood of the British Empire.

Before the rise of Russia, that is, before the advent of the Trans-Siberian Railway, there was only competition between the sea and the intermediate passage, and there were no railways, only camels. Why was the Tang Dynasty able to expand its influence to the Western Regions? Thanks entirely to the Silk Road. Before the boom in shipping, the Arabs controlled the world's trade, and after the boom in shipping, whether it was Portugal, Spain, or the Netherlands. Britain is still the border country of the whole continent, and then the seaside began to prosper. The interior began to decay. But during the Silk Road period, it was completely the opposite, when the northwest was the land of fish and rice. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huguang, which is connected to the Yangtze River, are all wild places.

The development of navigation technology and the excavation of the Suez Canal have given maritime transport the upper hand for hundreds of years. The Silk Road declined. But now the railroad has made land power -- I used to be very confused about the sea power and land power that the Westerners were talking about, but now I understand it. What is sea power? What is land power? Power is the mastery of the world's trade routes, and if you master trade, you will naturally master finance, and trade and finance will be in hand, so any country must submit, which is the real power.

Maybe a country that doesn't buy anything and is self-sufficient, but how much industry can such a country have? How much steel can there be? Trade becomes a decisive force when the world's commodities are integrated into a trading system. The British relied on the fleet to ensure their mastery of the sea route, and the mastery of this sea route allowed the British to gain great benefits, but like the Arabs who originally mastered the Silk Road, the empire was weakening, but the difference was that the Arabs - to be precise were actually the Ottomans, they were in the era of sea power instead of land power - because sea power replaced land power, so it was weakened;

Britain's weakness now lies in its financial decay, its lazy people, its uninnovative business owners, and its competitor, the United States. Numerous reports from the Intelligence Agency and the Commercial Intelligence Agency show that although the British government is not happy, the forces behind the United Kingdom, especially the financial power, are willing to transfer world hegemony to the United States. If we sit idly by and watch the Anglo-Saxons complete this transition smoothly, then the world empire will once again appear, which is extremely detrimental to us.

Our strategy is not to go to war, what we really want to do is to rebuild the Silk Road, that is, the Eurasian Railway. But the problem now is that compared with the old Silk Road, there is already a land passage above it, and there is a huge empire, and the whole world pattern is now divided into four parts: southeast, south, northwest, and north. We are the east, Germany and France are the west, Russia is the north, and the sea route at the bottom of the continent is the south.

The Russians want to prosper the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the British or the Americans want to block any land power that can challenge sea power, especially unlike the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is built on the snowy fields, the Asia-Europe Railway passes through areas that are extremely dense in resources and populations, and these regions and countries directly or indirectly control some key ports and bays, and no one can guarantee that these countries will be strung together by the Asia-Europe Railway. Will he do something crazy, so the completion of this railway is likely to subvert the previous pattern of sea power greater than land power, which is equivalent to directly disintegrating the maritime empire, whether he is Britain or the United States.

The four forces of the southeast, northwest, and northwest may not necessarily lose two against two, but the problem is that the whole continent is long and narrow, and the German army must not arrive in Constantinople as fast as the Russians, and then we and Germany and France will face a sea and land attack from the north and south. The only solution to this dilemma is to push Russia into Europe and turn the four-way rivalry into a three-country rivalry. When the Russians were in the position of the Germans, he would have the same mindset as the Germans, that is, to build the most economical high-speed railway connecting the entire continent to deal with the threat of a maritime empire.

Why do we want to pit Germany, and keep pit Germany, is to complete this idea, of course, if the Germans are angry, I don't mind strangling Russia with them, but for now, ......"

It's rare to have such a tirade, and Xie Zhangtai listened stupidly directly. This is actually the result of Yang Rui's thinking with the experience of later generations - the United States imperialism, the European Union, Russia, China, and combined with the current world situation. If Germany wins World War I, China and Germany can unite to dismember Russia, but the problem is that China's rise must step on Germany's corpse, otherwise it will not be qualified to end up at all. Since Germany died once, although she will be resurrected by the Nazis, she is only a strong outsider, and the Reich is fundamentally extremely weak.

"Even if the Russians can occupy Europe, it will not be long-term." Xie Jintai said, who came back to his senses.

"Of course, I don't plan that this is long-term, but using Europe as a bait to make the North and South forces collide and consume, and in the process of collision and consumption, we, Persia and Turkey will have time to grow calmly; Russia, which withdrew from Europe, would have exhausted its last drop of blood for the illusory ideals of communism. At that time, Europe will still be Europe, and they, like us, will fundamentally support the Eurasian railway, and Russia, a weak Russia, will repeat the fate of Tsarist Russia and move towards division, at which time the two forces of East and West will be greater than the combined forces of North and South, and no one will be able to prevent the revival of land power. ”

When Yang Rui said this, he looked at Xie Jintai and smiled: "Foreign policy must be in line with the overall national strategy, so you must know these things." But just you, as soon as the Europeans and Americans know that we will play like this, they will shout God again. ”

Yang Rui warned to keep it secret, Xie Jintai glanced at Yang Rui and shook his head vigorously, "If these words are not from your mouth, no one will believe that this will be a national strategy." Russia occupies Europe, it is still unknown whether Russia can stand firm now, maybe they themselves will have civil strife, maybe they were exterminated by Dunkinny and Krasnov, funded by the Entente, and the British sent a large number of chariots from the Black Sea to Odessa, the Don River, and Transcaucasia, and the Russian war really does not know how long it will last. ”

"That's the vision. The higher ones thought that the Bolsheviks could not rule Russia, and I was just the opposite. You think that Russia will not be able to occupy Europe, and my judgment is just the opposite. Yang Rui smiled. However, he obviously didn't want to discuss anything about the country's grand strategy, and only asked: "How are you going to talk about it tomorrow?" ”

"Still just listening, not talking." Xie Zhangtai said. Although Yang Rui was the head of the delegation, he was not in a hurry to show his face at the peace conference, and as soon as he arrived in France, he first went to Nancy to visit the expeditionary force to pay tribute to the dead of the expeditionary force, and then rushed to Paris. At this time, the peace talks actually began, and he and Yang Du attended the meeting as the chief and deputy representatives.

"Is that the same with Makino in Japan?" Yang Rui nodded, now the discussion is how to deal with Germany, the yellow race has no right to speak, although Wilson has always hoped that China and Japan will help each other to reduce the harm of the peace treaty to Germany.

"You're talking about Nobuaki Makino," Xie smiled. Like Yang Rui, the head of the Japanese delegation, Noboru Saionji, did not attend the peace conference, and only appointed Nobuaki Makino as plenipotentiary. "He will only help the British, and he will approve of whatever the British say. Hey, I don't really know what we're doing here. ”

"What? What else can you do? Isn't it to pull Japan together and raise the status of the yellow race? Yang Rui said: "The status of overseas Chinese and the status of Chinese commodities, these two are actually one. A third-rate country like the Netherlands, if it dares to provoke the indigenous people to make trouble, the navy will definitely bomb the damn! (To be continued......)