Chapter 586 Tokyo Earthquake

The successful opening of the National Cinema City was not the best news for Arthur. A month later, on September 1, 1923, a strong earthquake of magnitude 9 broke out in the island country, causing more than 100,000 deaths including Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Shizuoka and Yamanashi, and more than 2 million people were left homeless.

Such a large-scale earthquake naturally attracted the attention of the world.

In order to express its responsibility and commitment as a great power, Australasia also provided several tons of food to the island country, including certain emergency medical supplies.

Not only Australasia, but basically all countries in the world have expressed their concern and support. After all, no matter what the relationship is, it is still necessary to save face.

But behind the scenes, the food of the major powers has been transported to the island country in an emergency. This is not for aid. The price of these foods will only be higher than usual. None of the great powers is a good person, so naturally they can't choose to help the island country for nothing.

Take Australasia as an example. Although Australasia provided less than five tons of food for free, hundreds of thousands of tons of food were sold at several times the price.

In addition to food, the prices of medical supplies, tents, domestic water and other supplies in the disaster area have all increased several times.

Let alone how huge the economic losses brought to the island countries by this earthquake, the national disaster wealth of various countries alone must be at least tens of millions of pounds.

In comparison, what are the thousands or tens of thousands of pounds of materials donated to the island countries?

For the island governments, it is nothing that the powers took the opportunity to double the sale of food. Because if they can no longer guarantee the supply of food and materials in the disaster areas, they will face a more serious cholera.

This is also the experience brought to the island countries by various earthquakes and tsunamis. Such high mortality events often lead to the emergence of plagues.

In particular, there are various continuous aftershocks, and the bodies of the islanders buried under the ruins cannot be handled well at all.

In early September this year, East Asia welcomed high temperatures again. The bodies of those who died in the earthquake are likely to become the source of the plague.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Although the island government has made a lot of preparations for this, it still cannot prevent cholera from spreading in the Tokyo area.

The earthquake only took away more than 100,000 people, but the cholera that spread rapidly in the Tokyo area has taken away the lives of tens of thousands of people, and is still spreading among the more than 2 million homeless people.

For the island country, the earthquake is nothing. The plague brought by the earthquake is the most terrible, and it may even cause the island country's economy to face major losses.

On the third day of the earthquake, that is, September 3, 1923, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government of the island country announced the implementation of martial law in the earthquake area, not allowing anyone to enter or leave the city to prevent the plague from spreading to other areas.

Immediately afterwards, other cities affected by the earthquake also issued such regulations in an attempt to save the areas that are not currently affected by the plague.

There is also bad news for the island country, that is, the Keihin Industrial Zone, a very important industrial zone of the island country, is in the Kanto region.

In addition, on August 24, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet of the island country, Kato Tomosaburo, suddenly fell ill and died. The replacement of the island government had not yet been completed, and it was facing this serious crisis, which made the island country somewhat unprepared.

It was not until the day after the earthquake that Yamamoto Gonbei took office as prime minister, urgently integrated the cabinet of the island country, and took full responsibility for the earthquake and the plague after the earthquake.

At the international level, the earthquake in the island country is a good thing for Australasia.

First of all, in order to quickly deal with this crisis, the island government naturally could not give any support to the United States for the war in Central America.

Even in the next period of time, how to restore the economy and industry after the disaster is the focus of the island country, and the activity of the island people in diplomacy will also be reduced a lot.

Especially after this earthquake, the island country has successively borrowed more than 2 billion yen in foreign debt from the US private and government, which is a huge burden for the island country's economy.

Whether the island country's finances can support such a large scale of the army and navy is a problem, not to mention that it has to take into account the recovery of industry and economy, which is a difficult problem for the new prime minister of the island country, Yamamoto Gonbei.

On September 7, a week later, the damage suffered by the island country in the earthquake was finally counted.

This earthquake was not a single ordeal for the island country, but a series of disasters such as earthquakes, fires, and plagues.

According to the news released by the island country, the damage to houses and facilities alone was as high as 470,000.

In addition to the damage to roads and industrial areas, even if the island country spends a lot of money to repair them, it will not be possible to restore to the pre-disaster situation without two or three years.

This is not over yet. For various reasons, the damage to the island country this time is more serious than in history. The confirmed death toll has exceeded 150,000, and a considerable part of the area is suffering from cholera and tsunamis, and the death toll is still increasing.

It has to be admitted that the island country's cultural output to Asia is still quite successful.

In this earthquake in the island country, many Asian countries have extended a helping hand and sent their own medical teams and relief teams.

As time entered mid-September, the pain of the island country in the earthquake finally eased a lot. But how to eliminate the plague in the disaster area has become the most headache for the island government.

For this reason, the island country urgently asked the major powers for more masks and disinfectants, and ordered that people in the disaster area must not leave the disaster area, and people outside the disaster area must not enter the disaster area, and a strict isolation system was implemented inside and outside the disaster area.

Although the relationship between Australasia and the island country is not good, Arthur will never miss such an order.

Under Arthur's order, major mask manufacturers have tripled or quadrupled their prices, and then gathered a large number of masks to transport to the island country.

Even some of them are Australasia's strategic reserve of masks. But there is no way, facing three or four times the profit, Arthur can't help but be tempted.

Selling these masks can produce several times more masks. Whether it is sold as a strategic reserve or at the original price, Arthur can't lose money.

The island country is not very popular in Europe, and the disaster in the island country has not attracted excessive attention from European powers.

After mid-September, the European powers have set their sights on the peace talks in London, because this will determine the fate of Russia and whether Russia will become two countries.

September 17, 1923, London, England.

The British Foreign Secretary formally submitted a "Three Proposals on Dealing with the Russian Civil War Situation" at this peace talk, which also represented that the Russian peace talks had reached their climax.

The three proposals were roughly, first of all, to recognize the independence of many countries that had separated from Russia, including Lithuania.

Secondly, it was made clear that Tsarist Russia was the orthodoxy of Russia, and the two countries followed the current border line for peaceful rule.

Finally, Soviet Russia was also recognized as an independent country, but it had to sign a neutrality agreement with European countries and not to wage war against its neighbors, etc.

Although this handling opinion was generally biased towards Tsarist Russia, the British also had selfish motives and did not condone the emergence of a unified Russia.

Although Tsarist Russia was still the orthodoxy of Russia, the independence of countries such as Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland had become a fact, and even Finland was recognized as an independent country. The territory of Tsarist Russia had already faced a huge reduction.

Nicholas II would naturally not agree to such a proposal, but the problem was that those independent small countries would definitely agree to such a proposal.

Although Australasia remained a bystander in this meeting, the British still had a lot of say in this peace talk.

The French had very contradictory opinions. They wanted to see a stronger Russia to share the pressure with them, but they were also afraid that a too strong Russia would become their competitor.

After all, the reason why the Franco-Russian alliance was so sweet was because both sides had a strong competitor, Germany.

But Germany has suffered major restrictions at present, and the two most powerful countries on the European continent are France and Russia.

Perhaps it was because of this mentality that the French recognized the British point of view, but at the same time they also demanded that the Russian territory be retained as much as possible to ensure that the divided Russia would still be a great power.

The British naturally agreed with the French point of view, because according to the current world situation, if Russia can usher in peace, the two countries that divide Russia may even become great powers.

After all, given Russia's high population, neither side can become a mediocre country.

In order to cut the Gordian knot and prompt Nicholas II to agree, the World League directly approved the independence of Finland, Poland and the three Baltic countries, greatly reducing the current Russian territory.

This decision made Nicholas II furious, but there was nothing he could do.

Dissatisfied, Nicholas II set his sights on Arthur and sent a telegram to him, asking for Arthur's consent to change the British mind and refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the other party.

Arthur naturally could not agree directly to Nicholas II's request. After thinking for a long time, he sent a reply to Nicholas II.

September 22, 1923, St. Petersburg, Russia.

"Prime Minister, what do the Australasians say?" Nicholas II sat on the throne, and his anxious movements had exposed his inner thoughts.

"Your Majesty, His Majesty Arthur promised to give us assistance at the meeting, but he said that it was uncertain whether the British would agree. At the same time, the Australasian government is willing to give us more assistance and support, but will not stand firmly behind us." The Prime Minister stood up and said helplessly.

"I knew it!" Nicholas II, who knew the result, was not so angry. He sighed and said in a frustrated tone: "Whether it is France or Australasia, no one will stand firmly behind us."

To be honest, Nicholas II was very grateful for Arthur's support in the civil war. Although Nicholas II also knew that Arthur did not do his best, it was not easy compared to Britain and France, who were still supporting Soviet Russia behind the scenes.

The Russian civil war can continue to this day thanks to the European powers, which also made Nicholas II feel that the former Franco-Russian alliance was extremely ridiculous, and even regretted that he failed to promote the formation of the German-Russian alliance.

"Your Majesty, the current situation is not too bad, and we still have a chance to turn around." The prime minister took a deep breath and said to Nicholas II boldly.

"What chance?" Nicholas II looked at the prime minister impatiently and asked, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"The British will not see the French becoming big alone on the European continent. The French also need an ally to help them resist the British. This is an opportunity for us. At least we are the orthodox Russia and still hope to reunify Russia. ." Seeing that Nicholas II was very interested in what he said, the Prime Minister breathed a sigh of relief and continued.

"With our dealings with Britain and France, we should be able to get more assistance from Britain and France to help us quickly restore our post-war economy and industry. Coupled with the support of Australasia, our development speed will be much faster. More than enemies, we are still the most powerful country in Russia,” the Prime Minister said with a smile.

"When we regain our strength, those small independent countries will still follow our rule. As for the Poles, the worst we can do is divide them with Germany. Who can stop Russia, which has restored its industry and economy? At present, we The most lacking thing is time. With the support of Britain, France and Australasia, we are still the country with the best hope of unifying Russia. It just needs a little time." After saying his entire proposal, the Prime Minister breathed a sigh of relief and said. He looked at Nicholas II, waiting for Nicholas II's decision.

"That's right." Nicholas II nodded in agreement, expressing his support for the Prime Minister's statement.

After all, he was the czar of the once huge Russia. Although Nicholas II was not good at military command, he was still qualified in politics and diplomacy.

Diplomacy between major countries is a constant search for opportunities. No country's diplomacy is eternal, because the relations and interests between countries are constantly changing.

Compared with Russia, which has been depleted by the civil war, the fear between Britain and France is the greatest.

The British need a powerful Russia as an opponent of the French, and the Russians also need a powerful France as their helper. This is also an opportunity that the Russians can find.

"Tell Australasia that I hope to receive more material and technical support after the peace talks, such as the aircraft and tanks they produced in World War I. Also, tell Britain and France that we can accept their peace talks. , But the premise is that they must vigorously support our economic and industrial recovery." Nicholas II was in a good mood after being comforted, and he regained his energy and issued his order.

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