Chapter 361 US-Japan Alliance

In order to scare the Argentines completely, all the Allied forces did not save weapons and ammunition this time, and assembled hundreds of artillery to bombard the Argentine front line, turning the lush forest into wasteland and flattening the peaks on the border.

The bombing on the 11th alone consumed more than 40,000 artillery shells from the Allies, with an average of hundreds of shells fired by each artillery.

It is not clear how many casualties were caused to the Argentine army, but from the position conditions on the Argentine front, it can be seen that the casualties of the Argentines were definitely not small.

After two rounds of shelling, the Argentines could no longer bear it. On November 13, 1913, Argentina again requested an armistice.

The good news is that because they knew that Argentina could not hold on for a few days, the peace talks representatives of the Allies and Chile were still staying in Sydney.

As for Argentina, there was not much thought in the country to withdraw the peace talks representatives, which also led to the smooth peace talks and a quick restart in Sydney.

Perhaps it was because they understood their current situation that the Argentines became very obedient in this peace talk.

After two days of peace talks and consultations between the two sides, on November 15, the amount of compensation for Argentina was finally determined, a total of 11.83 million pounds.

Among them, a total of 8 million pounds was paid to the four major powers of the Allied Powers, and Australasia received 2 million.

And the remaining 3.83 million pounds, 2 million pounds as war reparations to Chile, and 1.83 million pounds as compensation to the Chileans and the Chilean government who suffered losses in this war.

For Argentina, nearly 12 million pounds of compensation is not a small number.

Even with the help of the Americans, it may take several years to pay off this compensation completely.

More importantly, this is also a big blow to Argentina's national self-confidence. It is probably not an easy task for Argentina to restore its status as one of the three major hegemons in South America.

You know, Chile can get a total of more than 3 million pounds in compensation, which will greatly alleviate Chile's current economic weakness.

This will also indirectly lead to the widening of the gap between Chile and Argentina, and Argentina will cultivate a difficult enemy for itself.

Of course, Chile is not the primary target of the Argentine government. After the complete contract is released, the first thing the Argentine government will have to face is the angry Argentine people.

As for the Chileans' request to cede the entire Tierra del Fuego Province, the Argentine government will definitely not accept it.

Once the Chileans' request is accepted, even if Argentina does not perish in this war, the Argentine government will be overthrown by the angry Argentine people.

For any country or any nation, ceding national land is a great shame. And the person who agrees to sign the treaty will generally be nailed to the national pillar of shame.

Of course, the final decision maker of this matter is still the four major powers of the Allied Powers, to be precise, the British Empire.

Including Australasia, they are not very interested in this matter, so the attitude of the British Empire becomes very important.

Although the British Empire is an ally of Chile and the relationship between Britain and here is very friendly. However, the British Empire's consistent continental balance policy still makes the British government somewhat embarrassed about this matter.

Argentina cannot escape the compensation after the defeat, but how much compensation should be paid and what kind of restrictions should be imposed on Argentina are also a headache for the British Empire.

If Argentina pays less, Chile will inevitably be dissatisfied. But if Argentina is weakened too badly, Chile in the south of South America will no longer be an obstacle.

When Chile digests the fruits of the war, South America will directly become a confrontation between Chile and Brazil.

Judging from the current situation, Chile has an advantage and it is not impossible to become the overlord of South America.

Even if it cannot fight against Brazil in a short period of time, Chile can continue to oppress Argentina and accumulate foundation for its own rise.

This is not allowed in the eyes of the British Empire. Chile has saltpeter mines that are very important to the British Empire, which also means that the strength of Chile cannot be too strong, otherwise it is likely to exceed the control of the British Empire.

The Argentine representative seems to understand this. Since the territorial negotiations have been deadlocked, the Argentine representative has repeatedly asked to meet with the British representative and talked secretly for a long time.

Finally, on November 20, 1913, under the advice of the British Empire, Chile and Argentina each made concessions and changed their demands.

The final result of the peace talks was also very smooth. Argentina agreed to cede the land east of Caron and north of San Sebastian, plus islands such as Estados Island and San Diego Island, and gave up sovereignty over all disputed areas.

Although Argentina finally ceded land, it ceded small islands and soil, which was acceptable to Argentina.

Although the Chileans were somewhat unwilling, they had no choice but to face the British Empire's decision.

Fortunately, they also obtained new land, and they also gave an explanation to the people and the media.

The only remaining issue in this peace talk was the black soil area in northern Argentina required by Australasia to establish a four-country co-management zone.

The reason why Australasia agreed to send troops this time was for the black soil in Argentina.

In addition, Australasia had previously reached an agreement with the British Empire, so Australasia's request was supported by the other three powers of the Allied Powers.

Faced with the common demands of the four powers of the Allied Powers, Argentina had no ability to resist at all. After a long negotiation, it finally agreed to the demands of Australasia.

Argentina's black soil is mainly concentrated in the Pampas Plain. The black soil here has a characteristic, which is basically reddish black soil.

The surface of this black soil is red soil, and the real black soil is under the red soil. The disadvantage is that the soil is not as fertile as normal black soil.

Moreover, if such black soil is used for agricultural development, it is easy to cause soil erosion and damage the soil.

This is not a problem for Australasia. Arthur wanted to obtain this land in order to build a granary in a short period of time to prepare for grain storage for the two wars.

After the end of World War II, this land must be returned to Argentina.

As for the scope of the co-managed black soil, it is located on the coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, with Blanca Port as the center. The land of dozens of square kilometers was officially leased by the Allied Powers for a period of 45 years.

During this period, the four great powers of the Allied Powers can carry out various economic operations including agriculture and animal husbandry on this land, and Argentina shall not interfere in any way. And all the results obtained belong to the laborer and have nothing to do with Argentina.

This also means that in the next 45 years, this land can be used as an overseas farm of Australasia to grow a large number of crops for Australasia.

The local Argentine people can also serve as cheap hired farmers, and Australasia can get a large amount of food by just sitting back and enjoying the fruits of their labor.

As for the soil erosion and soil fertility damage caused by large-scale planting on this land, this has nothing to do with Australasia 45 years later.

Of course, in order to protect its own interests in this land, Australasia specifically requested to send garrisons to this land to protect the safety of Australasia enterprises and Australasia people.

At the same time, the garrison can also deter the Argentine government and let the Argentine government restrain the Argentine people.

On November 27, 1913, the Sydney Treaty was officially signed in Sydney, the capital of Australasia, which also represented that South America officially entered the peace stage.

Witnessed by many media and the public, representatives from Britain, France, Russia, Australasia, Chile and Argentina signed the contract, which also marked the formal implementation of the contract.

According to the agreement between the two parties, the high compensation of the Argentine government needs to be repaid within a maximum of five years.

Once the compensation period exceeds five years, an interest of 10% will be paid to the victorious country every year.

Considering the financial situation of the Argentine government, even if the Argentine government can pay these compensations within five years, Argentina's financial situation will become very bad.

Perhaps in order to save this ally that is about to be lost, and to express its apology for not doing anything in the war, a few days after the Sydney Treaty was announced, the US government contacted Argentina and claimed that it could help Argentina pay compensation.

Although the Argentine government no longer trusts Americans, this is also one of the few options for Argentina at present.

Fortunately, the Americans are sincere in wanting to save Argentina, their ally. A few days later, the United States and Argentina reached a new agreement. The United States provided Argentina with 3 million pounds of free aid and 15 million pounds of low-interest loans to help Argentina restore post-war order.

The two aids totaling 18 million pounds finally calmed the Argentine government.

At least after paying off the war reparations, there will be about 5 million pounds left to save the domestic situation in Argentina.

In fact, the Americans have already felt the pressure from the Allies at this time. The four major powers of the Allies joined forces, even Germany could not support it, let alone the United States, which is not militarily strong at present.

In order to ensure that their own security will not be threatened, the Americans announced a new round of naval expansion bills in early December 1913, using the way of expanding the navy to express a message to themselves and the people that the United States is still safe.

After all, the United States is rich and powerful, and the naval expansion bill looks very exaggerated.

According to the naval expansion bill announced by the US government, from 1914 to the end of 1916, the United States will build three super dreadnoughts and two battlecruisers every year for three years, and a total of nine super dreadnoughts and six battlecruisers will be built.

If the U.S. naval expansion bill can be smoothly implemented, the number of U.S. main battleships will reach the top three in the world by the end of 1916, greatly improving its naval strength.

The reason why Americans have such an exaggerated naval expansion plan is due to the joint action of the four great powers of the Allied Powers.

In the past, the United States believed that the security of the U.S. mainland could not be threatened by its unique geographical location.

But the joint action of the four great powers of the Allied Powers made the United States understand a truth, that is, no matter how far the distance is, the navy can reach it.

Either have a strong army to annihilate the enemy on land. Although the war may burn to their own homeland, the advantage is that they can kill the enemy's living forces and achieve the final victory of the war.

Or have a strong navy to fundamentally destroy the possibility of the enemy landing on their own land.

As long as the coast of the United States is not threatened, the homeland of the United States will not be threatened.

The current situation in Europe has clearly favored the Allies, which is something that some Americans do not want to see.

If the Germans are defeated, the most threatening country to the British Empire will be the Americans themselves.

At that time, the geographical location that the Americans think is very safe will not be able to withstand the naval blockade of the four major powers of the Allies.

Rapidly improving the strength of the navy so that the US navy has the ability to protect the coast is what the United States is currently doing urgently.

It is precisely because of the pressure from the Allies that the passage of the naval expansion bill was very smooth, and the corresponding financial appropriations were also quickly passed by the US Congress.

You know, before the US government wanted to achieve any visit, it would take a long time to negotiate with Congress for the appropriation.

Now that the US Congress has agreed to the appropriation so quickly, it is enough to show that those congressional gentlemen are also under great pressure from the Allies.

This is actually very normal. After all, the most powerful country in the world has the most powerful navy in the world, plus two top powers with strong continental navies and one power with good land and naval strength. Such an alliance of four countries is unstoppable in this world unless there are four countries of the same size to confront.

The most powerful allied countries that are currently fighting against the Allies are only one of the world's number one land power and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has a pretty good land force.

As for Italy, it could be considered a great power with a pretty good navy before, but it was a bit lame in terms of the land force.

In fact, the actions of the Americans are far more than that.

The strength of the Allies made the Americans feel pressured, and also made them understand a truth, that is, the importance of allies.

But there are not many allies worth making friends with in the world, especially the more powerful countries, which are either in the vortex of Europe or not very strong.

The United States is definitely unwilling to join the Allies and directly confront Britain.

Not to mention whether the Allies can fight against the Allies after the United States joins the Allies, just facing such a powerful Allies at present is a headache for some people in the US government.

After thinking about it, the Americans finally set their sights on the island country on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

This is a country in the Pacific Ocean, and it has a hatred and competitive relationship with Russia, one of the powers of the Allies.

Although the relationship with the British was good before, Britain has temporarily stopped dealing with the island country because the British want to win over the Russians.

The special geographical location of the island country means that if this country wants to rise, it must focus on the continent not far away.

The previous overlord of the Far East was still Russia, which also means that if the island country wants to rise, it must fight with Russia and the Allied Powers behind Russia.

In this way, the island country is suitable to be an ally of the United States. In addition, in order to fight against Russia, the United States has already established contact with the island country, which will make it easier to win it over.

Therefore, the US government has formulated a plan to win over the island country, aiming to ease the pressure from the Allied Powers faced by the United States by winning over the island country and forming an alliance with the island country.

As for the island country, it is naturally overjoyed at the olive branch thrown by the United States. You know, since the suspension of aid from the United Kingdom, the island country seems to have a tendency to fall to the bottom.

The various industries of the island country were severely restricted, and there was no sufficient supply of mineral resources. In addition, the United Kingdom cut off its aid, and the island country not only lost its status as a great power that it had recently obtained, but also may lose the possibility of becoming a powerful country.

After all, the enemy of the island country to become a powerful country is Russia, and Russia is a member of the Allied Powers.

At present, the Allied Powers are so powerful that they are not even as powerful as the Allied Powers, let alone the island country that is not even a great power.

Therefore, after receiving the olive branch from the Americans, the island people agreed to the US inquiry without thinking.

For the island country, an ally like the United States has another advantage, that is, there is no conflict with the United States in a short time.

The United States has not yet fully extended its hand to the Pacific side, and the island country currently does not have much interest in the Pacific.

This also leads to the fact that if the two countries form an alliance, they will be in a honeymoon period in a short period of time and have a closer relationship.

On December 7, 1913, the US government announced that it had reached a cooperation with the island country on the joint construction of dreadnoughts, and the two sides signed a mutual trade agreement, marking the initial conclusion of the US-Japan alliance.

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