Wild North America 1846

Chapter 821 Secret Negotiation
In the second half of 1916, when the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme were fiercely fought on the Western Front, the Russian army launched a comprehensive offensive on the Eastern Front, breaking through the southeastern front in one fell swoop and achieving great success.

The Russian army broke through the defense lines of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, killing and wounding more than 13.7 Austrian troops and capturing more than 33 people, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Allies' offensive.

The German high command had to urgently transfer 11 German divisions from the Verdun front to put out the fire on the southeastern front to help the Austro-Hungarian allies stabilize the front.

at this time

Bordeaux is undergoing a secret negotiation related to the future fate of the Allied Powers, that is, the negotiation for the Tang Empire to join the Allied Powers in the war.

In fact, since the outbreak of the war, both sides of the war, Britain, France and Germany, have been desperately trying to win over the Tang Empire and try to bring it into their own camp.

Everyone knows that this is a powerful force that can influence the outcome of the war.

Entering the 20st century
The Tang Empire is increasingly recognized by Europeans, but its influence mainly exists in the economic field, and its influence in the political and military fields is smaller.

This is because across the vast Atlantic Ocean, there is a huge gap in social culture, history, religion and education between white European society and American Oriental people. As a result, ordinary European people know very little about the Tang Empire in North America.

The common impression is that Orientals are nouveau riche from North America and farmers and planters from South America.

They are rich and powerful, introverted and difficult to approach. They like to live together with Orientals. There are sizable Chinese communities in major European cities.

The upper class in Europe had a deeper understanding of the strength of the Tang Empire, but that was all, because Eastern culture was obscure and difficult to understand, which was like a blind man trying to figure out the elephant.

As an emerging world colonial power that could stand alongside the British and French colonial powers, the Tang Empire's military power was more widely used in North America, Central America, South America and the Southwest Pacific.

This place is extremely far away from Europe, and coupled with the traditional arrogant attitude of European powers, the Tang Empire is often called "those cunning Eastern businessmen", "rich rich men" and "vulgar North American cowboys".

but no matter what

No one can ignore the world's largest economic power with a population of more than 2 million. Especially when the war is getting increasingly difficult, the desire for strong foreign aid has become the consensus of the great powers such as Britain and France.

In Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and other countries, affected by biased war propaganda, at the beginning of the war, there was generally strong blind self-confidence among the public.

As the war entered its third year, the heavy casualties on the front lines silenced everyone. Public opinion went from the extreme of blind confidence to the extreme of extreme pessimism, which put tremendous pressure on the governments of the participating countries.

On the front line of Verdun
In the face of the combination of German trenches, barbed wire and heavy machine guns, the counter-assaults organized by the French army often caused a staggering number of casualties, almost equaling a one-sided massacre.

This caused fear to spread among the French army's grassroots troops, which almost led to grassroots riots, which were suppressed with great difficulty.

New weapons such as tanks also did not perform well in trench warfare. In the local counterattack at Verdun and the Battle of the Somme, clumsy British and French tanks encountered head-on attacks.

Of more than 720 tanks that had been put into the war, only less than 60 remained after several rounds of battles. The others were either destroyed or broken down and abandoned, making it difficult to have an impact on the overall battlefield situation.

In order to appease the soldiers' emotions, the French and British troops had to abandon multiple large-scale counterattack plans and just stick to the trenches.

The situation of confrontation between the two armies was completely formed. This was the main tone of the European War in 1916.

Both sides of the war had to drive more soldiers into the trenches, quickly depleting them under artillery fire and confrontation, and falling into an endless cycle of filling holes and money.

The investment costs of the Allied Powers Group and the Allied Powers Group are getting higher and higher, and the sunk costs are getting higher and higher. No one dares to let the front be breached, and no one can afford such a price.

By the end of 1916, the situation was becoming increasingly clear.

The most important thing in this all-out war that affects the whole world is population and money. As long as there is a continuous flow of population and money to fight and drag down the opponent to death, the final victory can be won.

In this regard, the Tang Empire undoubtedly has the greatest potential.

The total population of the Tang Empire was the sum of Russia, Germany, and Britain, and its total economic output was greater than the sum of Britain, Germany, and France. It ranked first among the world's powers in terms of money and population (note, excluding the Republic of China).

As the war progresses, its importance becomes more and more prominent.

Always

The Imperial Government of the Tang Dynasty was in constant secret communication with the high-level officials of the warring countries, and the exchanges under the table never stopped, but on the surface it always maintained a policy of neutrality.

This is very much like Romania. Countries such as Spain and Portugal also hold the same attitude, and they are all waiting and watching between the two major European military groups.

Romania in Europe has always maintained a policy of neutrality, and its purpose is to join the victorious side of the war to ensure its own interests until the war situation becomes clear.

In August 1916, seeing that the Allied Powers had absolute economic and demographic advantages, Romania officially announced that it would join the Allied Powers and declare war on Germany.

Immediately, the Romanian army was defeated by the invading German army, and important cities such as the capital Bucharest were successively occupied, forcing Britain, France and other countries to deploy troops for reinforcements. This is another story.However, the size of the Tang Empire was different from that of Romania, and the benefits it sought were naturally more extensive, covering all parts of the world.

Total war enters 1916

In order to break the British Royal Navy's blockade of the North Atlantic, the German High Seas Fleet took the risk of attacking the British Royal Navy's blockade fleet on May 5, kicking off the Battle of Jutland.

The duel between large ships and heavy artillery took place in the turbulent waves of the North Atlantic. Although the German High Seas Fleet dealt a heavy blow to the British Royal Fleet, its strategic concepts of defeating each one were also shattered.

After this battle, the German High Seas Fleet never dared to challenge the British Royal Navy's maritime supremacy until the end of the war.

However, life was not easy for the British. The Germans launched "unrestricted submarine warfare" and frantically attacked any cargo ship on the North Atlantic route. The highest number of cargo ships sunk per month reached 130 million tons in one month.

This caused a huge amount of cargo to sink into the icy seabed. The fleet, dominated by British and French freighters, suffered a major blow. The price of imported materials increased while the import volume decreased sharply.

In order to avoid the risk of war, exporters from the Tang Empire basically adopted offshore settlement trade methods.

All goods leaving North American ports must be paid in full, otherwise they will not be released or delivered.

As for the Tang Empire freighters that dared to carry out the North Atlantic route, the transportation charges were sky-high. Basically, two voyages were enough to buy a new ship.

All these factors led to a sharp increase in war expenditures by Britain, France and other countries. By the end of 1916, they already owed huge debts, with the Allied Powers totaling more than 200 billion Tang Yuan.

Britain, the old world hegemon, had gone into decline during the Boer War, and after the outbreak of World War I, its decline became increasingly obvious.

Unrestricted submarine warfare caused the British merchant fleet to lose up to 70%, and had to rely on the freighters of the Tang Empire to replenish its transportation capacity, paying a high price for this.

All the steel plants and shipyards in the Tang Empire were working three crazy shifts 24 hours a day. Huge orders were pressing on every shipyard, making them rich and happy at the same time.

The war was the time when Britain's weaknesses as an old imperialist country began to emerge.British ports were tightly blockaded by German submarines, causing a shortage of raw materials for British industry, which was heavily dependent on foreign countries, and a sharp shrinkage in export trade.

British industry fell by 17.2% during the war, and consumer goods production fell by 26.3%. This was even when the war did not affect the British mainland.

A serious "commodity famine" triggered a violent rush to buy.Long shopping queues on the streets from morning to night every day have become a major sight on the streets of London and Paris, and prices have skyrocketed.

Looking at France, it's even worse. The total industrial volume has only reached 57% of the pre-war level, and agricultural production has dropped sharply by nearly half. The huge gap needs to be filled by imports.

More than [-]% of these European job opportunities were transferred to North American countries on the other side of the Atlantic, especially the Tang Empire.

这促成了大唐帝国在战争期间的工业和农业经济高速发展，在1915年国民经济总量增长22.1%的基础上，1916年第1季度，第2季度和第3季度继续保持两位数的迅猛增长。

This mile and one outside, the gap came out.

By the end of November 1916
Britain owed a total debt of 63 billion Tang Yuan to the Datang Empire, France owed a total debt of 56.8 billion Tang Yuan to the Datang Empire, and the two countries owed a total of 119.8 billion Tang Yuan.

In addition, there are Italy, Belgium, Russia (note, guaranteed by France), Greece, Romania of the Allied Powers Group, and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, etc. of the Central Powers Group. The total war debt exceeds 200 billion Tang Yuan.

on economic
The pound sterling and the franc have lost their original dominance and were quickly replaced by the Tang Yuan. As a result, the Tang Yuan has become the strongest currency in the world, and is the most popular in both the pound area and the franc area.

This is because the purchasing power of the pound is 2/3 lower than before the war, the purchasing power of the franc is 4/5 lower than before the war, and the purchasing power of the Tang Yuan is only reduced by half.

There is no worst, only worse.

The consequences of crazy money printing were serious. The purchasing power of the Russian gold rupee was not even 1/10 of its pre-war value, and it was still depreciating rapidly.

Looking back in this way, only the Tang Yuan issued by the Tang Empire is the most trustworthy, so the emperors of the Tang Dynasty printed on the banknotes have become the cutest people.

France has now become a person lying on the operating table, and Britain is also dying. The situation of the Germans is not much better than the first two, but at least they still hold their heads high.

Various circumstances contributed to the formal contact in Bordeaux in southern France. High-level officials of the Allied Powers including Britain and France tried their best to win over the representatives of the Tang Empire and made substantial concessions on many interests.

However, because the areas involved are relatively wide and sensitive, it will be difficult to reach a real covenant for a while.

The representatives of the Tang Empire government were not anxious at all. On the one hand, they listened to the arrangements of the empire, and on the other hand, they accepted the guidance of the Holy Emperor Taizu nearby.

The negotiation venue was arranged in Bordeaux to facilitate His Majesty the Holy Emperor Taizu, who was visiting secretly, to inquire at any time.

On such a major political policy, no one in the entire Tang Empire made the final decision more than the Holy Emperor Taizu.

(End of this chapter)