Chapter 1357 London Naval Conference

Although Serbia's defeat was mainly caused by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria's actions disgusted the Serbs even more. Of course, the main reason was that Bulgaria was not as powerful as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia was defeated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it was still dissatisfied with Bulgaria.

But even so, Serbia can only vent secretly. As the clear loser of this war, Serbia can only dare to be angry but dare not speak out.

London.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, do we need to follow up on the situation in East Africa and France? According to the East African government, relevant cases have appeared in our country and were detained and quarantined by East African customs." The British Minister of Health asked the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister David said: "There is no need. It is just a small flu. There is no need for such a big fanfare. Now the people are already complaining about the government. Now is not the time to add fuel to the fire."

After the war, British Prime Minister David suffered significantly less turmoil than French President Clemenceau.

After all, although Britain suffered considerable losses in the war, its homeland was almost undamaged and its population losses were almost negligible. The population lost in World War I could be recovered in two or three years.

Of course, the casualties suffered by the Indian and other colonial armies were huge, but for the British government, if the Indians died, they would die and it was nothing to worry about.

Moreover, to a certain extent, the United Kingdom has achieved its goal, unlike France, which has achieved nothing. If the World Naval Conference led by the British government proceeds smoothly after a while, there is a high probability that Prime Minister David's support rate will usher in a decline. The wave grows.

This is also an important reason why Prime Minister David is unwilling to follow the French and East African governments' response to the plague with great fanfare at the current stage.

Prime Minister David said: "What the people need now is celebrations and gatherings to vent the grievances accumulated during the five years of war. If we take strong measures at this time, it will be tantamount to rejecting the will of the people."

"Furthermore, I suspect that the East African government is completely alarmist. We have not received any information about the outbreak of local plague. Has your Ministry of Health made any relevant reports recently?"

The Minister of Health shook his head and said: "Based on feedback from lower-level agencies and medical institutions, we have not received any reports of large-scale local outbreaks."

"Although the medical resources in the UK have indeed been relatively tight recently, according to the opinions of our consultants and experts, they think this is a normal phenomenon. After all, the war in Europe lasted for five years, and during and just after the war, The increase in the number of illnesses is normal.”

The reason why British medical institutions and experts came to this conclusion is actually related to the location of the UK. After all, the UK is an island country, which to a certain extent isolates the exchange of personnel between the UK and the European continent.

And if the original source of the plague was the European continent, the UK would be affected with a lag.

After hearing the feedback from the health department, Prime Minister David said more confidently: "It seems that at this stage we should not be on the opposite side of the people."

"Controlling the epidemic requires a lot of administrative resources and is unpopular. At least in the three weeks before the World Naval Conference, we should not impose too many restrictions on our own people."

"When the World Naval Conference is over, even if there is a problem at that time, we will be in time to deal with the relevant issues, not to mention that the situation may not happen."

All in all, Prime Minister David does not intend to make any big moves before the World Naval Conference, let alone learn from Clemenceau's relevant policies.

Far across the strait on the European continent, in Berlin, the capital of Germany, William II was also discussing related issues with his subordinates.

In a royal estate on the outskirts of Berlin.

"What do you think of the tricks played by the French?" William II asked the cabinet members.

Prime Minister Hermann said: "Your Majesty, since the virus in Clemenceau's hometown can be treated with such great fanfare, perhaps we should also follow up, so that if the situation really worsens, we can reduce our losses."

Some people objected: "Your Majesty and Prime Minister, I don't agree with this view. The most important thing we should do now is not to deal with a plague that we don't know the specific situation, but to speed up the liquidation of the Labor Party and Jewish elements in the country..." ”

"It can be said that since the end of the war, we have discovered that the Labor Party's penetration of the empire has reached a shocking level. If the war had not stopped, the empire might have followed in the footsteps of the Russians."

"There are countless private labor organizations. They are present in newspapers, factories, and governments. They have even infiltrated into powerful institutions such as the military and police stations, and they also have a considerable say in society."

This is not alarmist, but the real development of the Labor Party in Germany. After all, Germany has always been a region where the Labor Party is active, and can even be said to be one of its birthplaces. Before the war, the Labor Party had become a force that cannot be ignored in German politics.

During the war, especially in the later stages of the war, the German Labor Party was very active, because at this time all the attention of the Wilhelm II government was on the front line and was unable to take care of these members of the Labor Party organization who were hiding in the dark.

This also led to the expansion of the labor organization in Germany's rear, especially workers in factories. The sick and wounded who had been removed from the front were the most vulnerable to incitement.

If it was before, William II actually didn't care about these German labor organizations. After all, there were many political groups in Europe that opposed the monarchy, and the Labor Party was not even on the list before.

However, since the Russian Labor Party seized power, the situation has changed. Before the Labor Party successfully subverted a country's political system, it naturally would not attract much attention.

However, the bad thing is that the Russian Labor Party succeeded, and they also killed Nicholas II of Russia, which is even worse. This is intolerable for William II, after all, he is also a monarch.

Before that, the understanding of the Labor Party by autocratic monarchs like William II actually stayed at this group of people mainly targeting capitalists. After all, this is indeed the main political slogan of the Labor Party.

However, what happened in Russia clearly told William II that this group of Labor Party members were also the mortal enemies of the monarchy, and even if the monarch fell into their hands, the end would only be worse.

So William II said: "Yes, at this stage, the most important thing for the government is to eliminate the domestic labor party organization. This matter is prioritized first, followed by solving the empire's financial crisis and clearing and confiscating the illegal gains of domestic illegal businessmen during the war."

The so-called solution of the German government to the empire's financial crisis is naturally to solve the empire's debt problem by "fighting the local tyrants" and obtain funds for the country's economic recovery after the war.

The Junker nobles must not be moved. In addition, the richest group in Germany is also obvious. The Jews are worthy of being the richest group in Germany. Through the liquidation of this group, the German government has collected a lot of wealth.

This is a feast of spoils for the Junker nobles. Under the leadership of the government, many people easily obtained a large number of banks and factories opened by the original Jews.

This is also the mainstream practice of European countries at present. Because the war ended suddenly and there was no real winner, it was impossible to make up for the previous losses through war reparations. In this case, European governments can only take the rich people in their own countries.

And it just so happens that there is a special group in Europe that is very rich and made a fortune during the war. At the same time, they themselves are not well-liked by ordinary Europeans, and they just become the vent for the grievances of people from various countries.

When Prime Minister Hermann saw what William II said, he still wanted to fight for it: "Your Majesty, the liquidation of organizations and groups such as the Labor Party and the Jews... does not prevent us from responding to possible plagues."

"Our infectious disease research experts agree with the views of the East African government, and from historical experience, it is an eternal truth that after a major disaster, there must be a major epidemic."

"So we should actively respond, instead of ignoring this work for other reasons, and we can also take this opportunity to learn from France to block the border and control population movement, so as to prevent Jews and Labor Party members from fleeing abroad."

William II ignored the previous words directly, but the last sentence made him brighten up. He said: "In this way, we can arrest these criminals more legitimately and avoid the loss of state-owned assets and the wealth of the German people."

"Hermann, your idea is not bad, then we can learn from Clemenceau's practices. At present, the most important thing at this stage is to make up for the hole in the government's finances."

This made Hermann feel relieved, but it was also a success in persuading William II to pay attention to this flu.

The reason why Prime Minister Hermann was so vigilant about this flu was due to the lobbying of relevant German institutions and experts.

This also started with Germany's developed medical industry. Since the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany's education level has been greatly improved, and the field of science and technology is also in an explosive period.

This also made Europe a new medical center in Europe, especially with the help of chemistry and biology, the concentrated outbreak of the medical field, Germany ranked first in Europe in terms of theoretical research on health and disease and industrial scale.

Of course, this is not without disadvantages, for example, Germany has become a country with serious abuse of chemical agents.

It can be said that the birthplace of the modern pharmaceutical industry is Germany. Germany's Agfa, Bayer, and Hoechst are all world-renowned pharmaceutical companies.

Since the 1980s, dye companies and chemical plants in the world have begun to establish laboratories to research and develop new drugs, and whether it is dyes or chemicals, this is Germany's strength.

Please...collect 6...books...!

In the past, if it were not for the failure of the two world wars, Germany would have been the leader of the world's medical and pharmaceutical industries for a long period of time, instead of being replaced by Britain and the United States.

This is also easy to understand. The pharmaceutical industry is extremely profitable, but this also means that only powerful countries can grasp this kind of lucrative industry.

In short, Germany's medical institutions and experts have a great influence on Prime Minister Hermann, which led to his advice to William II.

...

Although a terrible plague that is about to ravage the entire world is brewing, diplomatic activities between countries have not stopped.

January 15, 1920.

London.

The London World Naval Conference, led by Britain, was officially held. In addition to European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Austria, foreign powers such as East Africa, the United States, and Japan were also invited.

Except for Russia, which was unable to attend due to special reasons, this World Naval Conference was an internal meeting of imperialism. Even if other countries wanted to attend the conference, they did not have the national strength. After all, only imperialist countries had the strength to engage in naval competitions that could affect the world's ocean pattern.

"Mr. Bruce, why do you East Africans wear masks on your mouths?"

Outside the venue, a group of people from the East African delegation attracted special attention because they all wore masks and stood out from the crowd.

Bruce said: "We heard that there was an outbreak of plague in Europe recently, so this is the suggestion of our medical staff. They said that this might play a role."

"Haha, even if there is really a plague, what role can a piece of rag play? I still suggest that your people take off this eye-catching thing!" said the receptionist.

Masks, or masks specifically used in the medical and health field, have not actually appeared for a long time. In the previous life, it was said that modern medical masks originated from the Far East Empire.

Of course, in Ernst's time and space, the country that invented medical masks is naturally East Africa. Since the colonial period, East Africans have been accustomed to wearing masks when dealing with large-scale infectious diseases.

Medical masks are essential supplies for East African medical institutions. In East African hospitals, medical staff wearing masks is very common.

However, Europe today is different. Many people do not agree that masks can play a role. This is even the view of mainstream European medical staff, or in the past, they have never seen medical practitioners wearing masks.

Bruce was not affected at all. He said, "No, thank you for your concern. Just think of this as a habit in East Africa."

He was too lazy to explain to these people. In fact, if the matter was not important, Bruce and other East African personnel were not willing to attend this meeting.

After all, gathering in this London "epidemic area", there is a high probability that they will be affected by the European influenza pandemic.

Bruce and others still agree with the news issued by domestic medical institutions. After all, this is the experience accumulated in East Africa over decades of history.

In the last century, East Africa was a country where plague was rampant and prevalent. Facts have proved that when the plague breaks out, a combination of hygiene, wearing masks, disinfection, etc. can protect your safety to the greatest extent.

Of course, the behavior of Bruce and others was undoubtedly pointed out by the delegations of various countries, and East Africans seemed to have become a joke for a while.

Many East African participants were so angry that their faces turned green. Bruce comforted them: "Do our work and don't care about their opinions. When I was fighting in Africa, I encountered some plagues. Some comrades were the same as them. However, facts have proved that only by following the reminders of medical institutions can some risks be avoided. Some people who don't listen to advice went to hell early and did not die on the battlefield."

Bruce is a soldier, so it is inevitable to encounter some special situations. After all, there will always be some outbreaks of plague on the battlefield, which was very common in East Africa in the last century.

So, Bruce has sufficient experience in this regard, not to mention that the East African army often encounters some special tasks, such as blocking epidemic areas, dealing with corpses of people who died of unnatural causes such as plague, etc.

So, the East African representatives can only endure the rumors of other countries and ignore the ridicule in their words, which also allows the news media in countries such as Britain to obtain a batch of good materials.

For a time, East Africa became a laughing stock around the world, adding a laugh point to the London Naval Conference. However, after experiencing the baptism of the European flu in the future, they will no longer be able to laugh. Instead, those who laugh at East Africa today will become a laughing stock for future generations.