Chapter 459 Train Negotiations

Although Germany has announced a comprehensive ceasefire, it does not mean that the war is completely over.

Before the German representatives formally signed the peace treaty, Germany and the Allies were still at war.

If the theme during the war was how to defeat Germany, then the theme after the temporary ceasefire is to discuss how to divide Germany.

Although the goal of each country is to obtain sufficient profits and teach Germany a profound lesson.

But different countries have different attitudes towards Germany. For example, the French want to weaken Germany as much as possible, annex more land, and even completely eliminate the possibility of Germany competing with France again.

But the British will never agree to do so. Weakening the Germans is okay, but it must be within a reasonable range.

Otherwise, France, which has stood up again by exploiting Germany, will be Britain's biggest rival in Europe. At that time, France will have no rivals on the European continent, and the British can only compete with France in person.

This is unacceptable to the British. It runs counter to the continental balance policy that the British have always implemented, and will also greatly endanger Britain's position on the European continent.

Therefore, it can be expected that the next peace talks will become a competition within the Allies.

Germany, which has already lost all its territory, will have no power to resist, but the disputes between the countries within the Allied Powers will make this peace talk more exciting.

On December 15, 1917, three days after the official armistice, all representatives of the Allied Powers gathered together to discuss the specific matters of the contract with the representatives sent by Germany.

It is worth mentioning that the first unconditional surrender agreement of Germany was signed on a train, one of the carriages of which was once the exclusive carriage of French Emperor Napoleon.

Because Germany was almost established on the heads of the French at that time, the French have been resentful until now, and decided to take revenge when the contract was signed.

This carriage of Napoleon, code-named 2419D, was directly collected by France after Germany signed the armistice agreement and placed in a museum.

The French used this method to avenge the humiliation of decades ago, but this did increase the contradictions and hatred between Germany and France.

When the news that Germany officially signed the unconditional surrender agreement spread all over the world, it also officially represented that the world war that lasted for three years and four months was finally over.

It was also on that day that Kent, the Prime Minister of Australasia, met Arthur with an excited face and couldn't wait to say: "Your Majesty, Germany has officially surrendered unconditionally!"

Arthur finally breathed a sigh of relief and ordered the maid to open a bottle of red wine and celebrate with Prime Minister Kent.

Such a scene was staged all over the world at the same time, and most of the Allied countries were caught in a carnival and celebration.

Suppressed by the long-term war, these people urgently need to release their emotions. Whether it is screaming, shouting or getting drunk, or taking to the streets to celebrate with their relatives and friends, or strangers who don't know, it is a good way to vent emotions.

While Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, his heart couldn't help but become a little heavy.

Under the influence of Arthur and Australasia, this world war that originally lasted for more than four years in history only lasted for three years and four months and ended hastily. The consumption of Britain and France, especially the consumption of the British, was not as serious as in history.

Although Americans also participated in the war, their contribution to the war was not great, and even participated in it for only half a year at most.

Even before the victory of the war, the American Expeditionary Force had no more than 200,000 troops in Europe, which meant that the Americans would not get much benefit.

This also led to the fact that the war was not as tragic as in history. The total mobilized army of the Allies was less than 30 million, with more than 14 million casualties and more than 5 million deaths.

The total mobilized army of the Allies was more than 15 million, with 9.4 million casualties and 4.1 million deaths.

The situation of the Allied countries was much better than that of the Allies. Even France and Russia, which suffered heavy casualties, were far less serious than in history.

Even Russia is still able to maintain a constitutional monarchy, and the capitalist government has even suppressed the workers' union, which is completely different from the situation in history.

Arthur even doubted whether the country in history would appear again, and whether Russia could still grow into a world-class country?

These different changes in the situation made the future World War II unpredictable, and it was even uncertain whether Germany would launch World War II as it did in history.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not disintegrated after the war as it had been in history. It still retains the main areas of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, so it is still okay to be a minor power.

In a word, the post-war world seems to be a bit messed up, and the difference from the original history is really huge.

Arthur's proud future experience has become a bit useless in this context, and he can only promote the development of Australasia more vigorously to ensure that Australasia can protect its own territory and citizens at any time with its own strength.

On the premise of celebrating the victory, Arthur did not forget to let the government actively strive for the interests of Australasia.

All of Germany's Pacific colonies are certain, and no country can take them away from Australasia.

In addition, Arthur also issued instructions to vigorously strive for German scientific and technological talents, technical workers and scientific research and military enterprises, including more important industrial enterprises.

Post-war Germany is bound to experience a long period of chaos. There was also the famous 500,000 mark bread incident in history, which proved that the situation of Germans after the war was not good.

Under this premise, if some outstanding German talents can be attracted to immigrate to Australasia, it would be much more useful than striving for some reparations.

If Arthur remembers correctly, the reparations owed by Germany in World War I seemed to have not been paid off until the 21st century.

Instead of striving for the proportion of those reparations, it is better to get some practical benefits, such as equipment, talents and technical workers of German military factories and chemical plants and some industrial enterprises, including talents in the German education system, etc.

Australasia's policy of attracting talents adheres to the principle that if it cannot get it, it will never let other countries get it. It is not unacceptable for German talents who are unwilling to go to Australasia.

But these people will be closely monitored by the Royal Security Intelligence Service. If they have the intention to go to other countries, especially to the United States, these talents will be assassinated by the Royal Security Intelligence Service.

At present, the Australasia side sent the French ambassador Carles Pujol to the peace talks. The real peace representative, Prime Minister Kent, is about to leave, and will be responsible for future peace talks and fighting for interests.

There is no other way to send the prime minister. After all, the French president has decided to personally participate in the peace talks in order to vent their anger.

The British side is not far behind, and sent Prime Minister Asquith as a representative.

In this case, if other countries send representatives of lower positions, it is inevitable that they look down on the heads of the British and French heads.

After comprehensive consideration, the Australasia side decided to send Prime Minister Kent as the final representative.

Although it will take a month for Prime Minister Kent to go to Europe, this meeting on the distribution of interests is destined to last a long time. After all, dividing Germany is a big project.

Of course, Prime Minister Kent is not the only one going to Europe. Because this distribution of interests involves all aspects of the country, almost all departments will send personnel, and even department ministers or deputy ministers will go in person.

Before going to Europe, the ministers of each department also need to have some plans for the benefits they need, so that they can better ask for their needs after arriving in Europe.

When Arthur saw the war losses and claims lists submitted by the ministers of each department, he understood why Germany had a debt of 226 billion marks after World War I. (It was reduced in 1921 because it was too much)

The cost of each country in the war is indeed not small, but everyone wants to use the war reparations to get all the expenses back at once, and even make some profits.

For example, the actual cost of Australasia in this war is not more than 300 million pounds in total.

But the total value of the claims list given by the Ministry of Finance is as high as 1.7 billion pounds, plus the technology, factories, technical talents, etc. that Germany needs to transfer, the total value of the claims is as high as more than 2 billion pounds.

Arthur couldn't help but take a breath. He didn't expect the Ministry of Finance to be so good at lying.

But after all, it is also seeking more benefits for the government. Arthur didn't say much and agreed to this claim form.

It would be best if we could get so much, but it would not be a loss for Australasia if we could not get it.

It is estimated that other countries have a bigger appetite than Australasia. After all, the historical reparations of more than 200 billion marks are not so easy to collect.

In addition to asking for reparations, Arthur also issued another order to the Ministry of Finance, which is to use this opportunity of reparations to transfer Australasia's foreign debt as much as possible.

Although Australasia's finances are very healthy, it has also borrowed a large amount of foreign debt from countries including Britain, France, Germany, and the United States in the past ten years.

Needless to say, Germany can completely offset its foreign debt with reparations. And the remaining foreign debts of Britain, France, and the United States can also be offset by German reparations. Let the Germans help you pay off your debts, which can also reduce your pressure.

At first, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kevin was still reluctant to hear Arthur's request. After all, all Australasia's foreign debts will not be repaid until around 1925 at the earliest.

And except for the United States, the foreign debt owed to other countries is not much, about 10 million pounds owed to Britain and 15 million pounds owed to France.

The biggest part of the government's foreign debt is actually the royal family and the United States. The government owes the royal family 110 million pounds and the United States 2.2 billion US dollars, which is about 440 million pounds in pounds.

Although the government's foreign debt is as high as nearly 580 million pounds, the government's available funds have exceeded 750 million pounds, so there is no need to worry about the pressure of foreign debt.

What's more, foreign debts like the United States have only been owed for just half a year, so there is no need to rush to repay them. After all, it is an interest-free loan.

However, Arthur's next words instantly changed the mind of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kevin.

Arthur looked at Kevin, who was obviously reluctant to give up the German reparations, and asked with a hint of meaning: "Minister Kevin, are you really sure that the Germans can repay all the reparations?"

If it was just the 2 billion pounds that Australasia wanted, Germany would not be unable to repay it.

But there are more than a dozen countries demanding reparations, and the total reparations figure is definitely an astronomical figure.

Even if countries give Germany some relief as appropriate, it will definitely not be less than the actual losses of each country.

No matter how developed Germany is, it has no ability to repay the expenses of the six major powers and many Balkan countries in this war, not to mention that the current situation in Germany is not very good.

Germany will definitely repay the reparations, but how much it can repay is uncertain.

It is definitely not a loss for Australasia to use the reparations that may not be fully obtained to repay the foreign debts that Australasia has already received.

In particular, if the German reparations can be used to repay the foreign debts to the United States, it is equivalent to Australasia getting $2 billion in funds for free.

After receiving the task assigned by Arthur, Prime Minister Kent and his party made preparations for a few days and hurriedly boarded a warship to Europe.

This time, Prime Minister Kent took a battlecruiser, which is much faster than a normal battleship. Anyway, it is not a war period, so there is no need to worry about harassment from enemy warships.

If you take a super dreadnought, it may take a month to go to Europe. But if you take a battlecruiser, you can reach Europe in about 25 days.

In order to celebrate the victory of this war, Arthur ordered the Royal Consortium to distribute a batch of supplies to the people for free, so that the people can spend this year's Christmas better.

Some canned food and meat products that were originally to be transported to Europe were generously distributed to the people by Arthur since the war was over.

At the same time, the rewards and rewards for the combat soldiers, that is, the rewards and rewards for all the people in the country who have contributed to the war, are being prepared intensively.

After Christmas, when all the troops in Australasia return to the country, Arthur will hold a grand celebration ceremony and reward all the meritorious people.

This war is a good opportunity, an opportunity to quickly expand the Australasia aristocracy.

If nothing unexpected happens, after the enfeoffment ceremony, Australasia will have a group of new nobles to strengthen the entire Australasia aristocracy.

In addition, Arthur will not be stingy with the three major medals and various rewards. Even the Royal Consortium has already prepared up to 20 million Australian dollars to reward these soldiers, and there will be a sum of money as a pension to be distributed to the families of all the fallen soldiers.

Because airplanes and tanks have already appeared in the war, the designers who studied airplanes and tanks will also receive the rewards they deserve at the enfeoffment ceremony.

Because Arthur attaches the most importance to soldiers and scientific researchers, these people are also the most likely to receive the title of nobility.

The noble hierarchy in Australasia is somewhat different from that in the United Kingdom, but it is basically similar in general.

The lowest level of nobility is the knight, which is more of an honorary title, followed by the real nobles, the lowest level of baron, then viscount, earl, duke, and then the king at the top.

The status of the marquis in the United Kingdom is actually very embarrassing. At first, this title referred to the earl near the Welsh area, and finally evolved into a first-level title above the earl and below the duke.

But there are very few marquises in the United Kingdom, and they are also the least visible among the five levels of nobility in the United Kingdom.

The nobility hierarchy in Australasia directly merges the marquis into the earl. Anyway, all the nobles in Australasia are new-style nobles, that is, nobles with only titles but no territories.

The way these new-style nobles gain benefits is to join the noble consortium, which is controlled by the royal family and distributes dividends to all nobles every year.

Although they do not have their own territories, the nobles will obtain some castles and manors to ensure that the new nobles in Australasia can live a luxurious life.

By creating a noble consortium, these nobles can be better tied to the royal chariot, so that the interests of all nobles and the royal family can be more closely united.

The status of these new nobles all comes from the king and the royal family, and all their income comes from the noble consortium controlled by the royal family.

In this way, it is impossible for the new nobles to betray the royal family, let alone Arthur.

Due to historical reasons, Australasia has too few nobles. In order to consolidate its own and the royal family's status, this enfeoffment must have at least hundreds of nobles, and more nobles will be added in the next few decades to ensure the power and status of the next generation of monarchs, and even the Australasia royal family in the future.

Through the statistics of casualties by the Ministry of Defense in recent days, Arthur finally got the total casualties and specific list of Australasia in the war.

Through the rotation system of the army, almost all the regular soldiers of Australasia went to the battlefield, which effectively trained the combat effectiveness of the army and made the soldiers see blood.

Of course, casualties cannot be avoided, especially under the premise that each division must persist for at least half a year.

Australasia has two guard divisions and four regular divisions with more than 100,000 main forces, with a total casualties of more than 25,000 and a death toll of more than 8,000, which is acceptable.

The real casualties are the more than 1 million indigenous troops. Australasia has transported more than 80 colonial divisions to Europe, nearly 1.6 million indigenous troops.

The casualties of these indigenous troops are as high as 900,000, and the death toll is more than 400,000, making Australasia directly one of the countries with the heaviest casualties, and the total casualties even exceed Italy.

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