Chapter 146 145. The end of the First World War

On November 11, 7th year of the Republic of China, the Allied Powers and Germany signed a truce, ending the First World War. This war lasted for four and a half years. It began in June of the 3rd year of the Republic of China. Austria and Serbia declared war, and Imperial Russia sent troops to help Serbia. Germany sent troops to assist Austria, and first attacked France, which was allied with Imperial Russia.Because Germany violated Belgium's neutrality, Britain assisted France in resisting Germany.Britain, France, Russia, etc. are called the Allied Powers, and Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria are called the Allies.The countries and dates of entry into the war on the Allied side are as follows:

Russia declared war on August 1, 1914. (i.e. 3 years of the Republic of China) France declared war on August 3, 1914. (same as above) Belgium declared war on August 3, 1914. (same as above) England declared war on August 4, 1914. (same as above) Serbia declared war on August 6, 1914. (same as above) Montenegro declared war on August 9, 1914. (same as above) Japan declared war on August 23, 1914. (same as above) Portugal declared war on March 9, 1916. (that is, the 5th year of the Republic of China) Italy declared war on August 28, 1916. (same as above) Romania declared war on August 28, 1916. (same as above)

The United States declared war on April 6, 1917. (that is, the 6th year of the Republic of China) Cuba declared war on April 7, 1917. (same as above) Panama declared war on April 10, 1917. (same as above) Greece declared war on June 29, 1917. (same as above) Siam declared war on July 22, 1917. (same as above) Liberia declared war on August 4, 1917. (same as above) The Republic of China declared war on August 14, 1917. (same as above) Brazil declared war on December 16, 1917. (same as above) Haiti declared war on April 22, 1918. (that is, the 7th year of the Republic of China) Guatemala declared war on April 23, 1918. (same as above)

In addition, countries such as Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, and Ecuador have also severed diplomatic relations with Germany and Austria. At the beginning of the European War, due to the strong German army, it occupied Belgium, Serbia, Romania and northern France in one fell swoop.Britain and France tried their best to resist and blocked their harbors. Germany dispatched planes to attack the capitals of Britain and France, and sank merchant ships from various countries with submarines. Although neutral countries were also unavoidable, Germany's colonies in Africa and the Pacific Ocean were captured by Britain, France, and Portugal. Japan It also took the opportunity to invade and occupy Qingdao and the islands north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. In 1917, American merchant ships were repeatedly sunk by German submarines, and the protests were invalid. They joined the Allied Powers and declared war on Germany.That year, Russia overthrew the Tsar, withdrew from the war, and negotiated peace with Germany. Germany then moved to the west and attacked Britain and France with all its strength. Britain and France, with the backing of the United States, fought hard to resist. In the autumn of 1918, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria were unable to continue fighting, and first negotiated peace with the Allies.Soon there was a revolution in Austria, the country collapsed, Germany also declared a republic, and peace was realized.The war lasted 1,566 days, 9.9 million people were killed, about 20 million were injured, and the war cost 400 billion U.S. dollars.

After the end of the European War, the North-South peace talks gradually became a reality. The behind-the-scenes struggle between Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui seemed to have the upper hand, but Duan was not weak. He had already defeated the two presidents. He can't lift a stone to shoot himself in the foot. Cao Kun came to Beijing reluctantly. Duan and Anfu tried their best to win him over. On the one hand, they expressed their support for him as vice president, and on the other hand, they persuaded Zhang Zuolin to support Cao. Cao's ticket.Cao knew that the former vice president election meeting was caused by the old transportation department, and the old transportation department colluded with Lao Xu, so he hated Xu and Liang Shiyi to the bone.Zhang Zuolin patted his chest and said to Cao that he would deal with Liang, which made Liang dare not return to Beijing, and the Anfu Department also concentrated their firepower to attack Liang.Xu Shichang planned to ask Liang Shiyi to form a cabinet before the warlord meeting, and Jin Yunpeng, a moderate faction from the Anhui faction, was the chief of the army. Due to the fierce opposition from the Anhui and Anfu factions, this did not happen.So Xu Nai planned to send Qian Nengxunzhen to remove the Prime Minister, and the Anfu Department proposed conditions, and wanted to exchange the Qian cabinet for the vice president.Xu Shichang was quite distressed by this, but he didn't care at all on the surface. He said: "If you don't pass the Qian cabinet, I won't be troubled. When it comes to a cabinet prime minister, I can propose ten prime minister candidates, can they veto ten times?"

On November 24, 7, Duan instructed the military governor to organize the "Wuwu Tongpao Club", with the purpose of uniting the Beiyang faction, and elected Cao Kun as the president.When Cao Kun became the president, he seemed to be the leader of the Beiyang School.On the day of its establishment, Cao held the "Celebration of Hefei's First Honorary International Honors Conference" at the Anfu Club, and Duan wore a general's dress to participate.He also planned to ask the government to award Duan the honor of "Great Honor", which only the president can have. Because Lu Zhengxiang said: "China has not sent troops to award the honorary ceremony, I am afraid that outsiders will be laughed at."On the surface, the Wuwu Tongpao Society united with Beiyang, but in fact it supported Duan's reorganization of the cabinet.

Due to the great momentum of peace, the main fighters dare not directly oppose peace, but only repeat the principles of the paragraph: oppose reciprocal peace, and oppose the abolition of the Anfu Congress.Ni Sichong said: "Abolish the Congress? Our president is elected by the new Congress. Isn't the abolition of the Congress the abolition of the president!" Both the Yunnan and Guangxi factions in the south and some people in the Kuomintang are eager for peace, but of course what they hope is reciprocal peace talks, which is a prerequisite for North-South peace talks.Cen Chunxuan was originally appointed as the general representative of Southern Yihe, but later because Cen was elected as the chairman of the seven presidents, Tang Shaoyi, who had returned from Japan, was appointed as the representative of Yihe.This is a very interesting change. After the Revolution of 1911, Tang served as the general representative of the North-South peace negotiation, but at that time he was the general representative of the North. He, Xu Shichang and Liang Shiyi were old friends.Especially Liang Shiyi, he was the first to promote and appreciate Liang, and it was easier for him to negotiate with the north if he represented Nanjing.

On November 20, Xu Shichang sent a telegram to Tang Shaoyi, explaining the whole process of Feng Duan's fight not long ago, and finally meeting in the field, and asking him to come out to clean up the situation, hoping that Tang would do his best to promote peace between the North and the South.Tang replied and emphasized that the North and the South must negotiate peace on an equal footing, the number of representatives must be equal, and negotiations must be open.In Tang's reply call, Xu was called "Brother Chrysanthemum". Miss old friends. The prerequisites for peace talks are the number of participants and the location.The Duan faction believes that the north is orthodox, so the peace talks should focus on the north.The number of representatives is higher in the north, and the location is also determined by the north.The South believes that if we want to talk, we must talk on an equal footing.

Xu Shichang and Qian Nengxun, under the pressure of the Duan faction, had to try to avoid the form of reciprocal peace talks. Su Du Li Chun advocated that the place of peace talks be in Nanjing, and Xu Qian proposed to the south based on this, and at the same time advocated that the name of the meeting should not be It is called the North-South Peace Conference and the Aftermath Conference. Li Chun suggested calling it the Nanjing Peace Rehabilitation Conference. Acting Prime Minister Qian Nengxun often exchanged telegrams with Cen Chunxuan and Lu Rongting in the south, calling each other Mr.The southern military government also recognized the Qian cabinet as the de facto cabinet in the north.However, there is also a faction in the Southwest that opposes a peaceful compromise. Tan Renfeng, the veteran of the Kuomintang, sent a telegram of fierce opposition in Zhangzhou.

On November 23, Cen Chunxuan called Xiong Xiling, opposing the form of avoiding reciprocal peace talks. On the 30th, Cen Chunxuan and other seven presidents of the military government jointly sent a telegram to Xu Shichang, advocating holding a peace conference between the North and the South in the Shanghai Concession.The reason is: the peace talks should be in a neutral zone, and the Shanghai Concession is a veritable neutral zone, and holding peace talks can avoid political pressure from all parties.On behalf of Xu Fu, Qian also sent a telegram and said: Nanjing and Shanghai are both national territories, and there is no neutral zone on the national territory, so it is still appropriate to use Nanjing as the place for peace talks.However, each party can have ten representatives.As for the form of reciprocal peace negotiation, it is also difficult to accept. In the year of 1911, there were two different national systems in the north and the south, but it is not the case now, so they cannot be compared. On December 5, Xu replied to the Seventh President that he had no prejudice against the relevant issues of the meeting, and they had been submitted to the State Council for research and reply.

On December 24, Tang Jiyao proposed to follow the example of the year of 1911 and hold the North-South peace talks in Shanghai. Both sides should send equal numbers of representatives. The pace and attitude of the North towards the peace talks were inconsistent. The reason why Xu Shichang and Qian Nengxun insisted on holding the meeting in Nanjing and did not use the name of the North-South Conference was to avoid the main fighters from making excuses, which was not conducive to the progress of the peace talks. As for the general representative of the Northern Yihe, Xu Shichang originally preferred Liang Shiyi, and Cao Kun's people firmly opposed it. Later, he preferred Li Chun, and the Anhui faction also firmly opposed it.The Anhui faction hopes to use Beijing as the venue for the meeting, and Wang Yitang, the leader of the Anfu faction, as the general representative. Of course, this is too far from the topic. Wang Yitang is the speaker of the Anfu Congress. Using him as the general representative of the peace talks is a gesture of Beijing’s refusal to discuss parliamentary issues. . At this time, there is another compromise opinion, which is to suggest Hankou as the venue for peace negotiations. More and more people are running for peace talks, and even Kang Youwei, the culprit of the restoration, sent a message, calling: "Brother Juren President", "Brother Ganchen (Qian's character) Tongnian." When Liang Shiyi was in Hong Kong before returning to the north, he had a meeting with Tang Shaoyi. At that time, he also talked about the candidate for the general representative of the northern peace talks. Tang said that if Liang could not take the post, Zhu Qiqian would be suitable.Therefore, the North finally decided to use Zhu Qiqian as the general representative of the peace talks. On December 2, the envoys of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan went to the Presidential Palace to submit an official document of peaceful advice. At the same time, another copy was ordered to the consulates of the five countries in Guangzhou to deliver to the military government. The five countries' advice gave Xu Shichang a strong support, which can deter the opposition of the main combat faction in the north, and also has the effect of forcing peace in the south. On December 3, the second day after the five countries' advice, Xu Shichang invited Duan Qirui, Cao Kun, Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Huaizhi, Wang Zhanyuan, Ni Sichong, Meng Enyuan and all cabinet members to the presidential palace for a special meeting.Xu showed everyone the message of the five countries' advice and asked everyone for their opinions. The generals were very cooperative that day and unanimously expressed their willingness to obey the president's order.So Xu Shichang announced that he planned to agree to the South's request regarding the location of the peace talks and hold a meeting in Shanghai.It was also endorsed by the participants.Finally, Xu Shichang asked the participants to clear up the Anfu Congress to pass the Qian cabinet, and everyone was obedient. On December 6, the Bank of the Five Nations handed over the balance of 4.5 million yuan from the salt tax to the Beijing government to maintain military and political expenditures. This was of course to support Xu Shichang. China's north and south can only be realized after the unification. On December 14, the House of Representatives voted to approve the Qian cabinet, and the Senate also approved the Qian cabinet on the 18th. This was a great victory for Xu Shichang, an old Beiyang politician, in his struggle against the Beiyang warlords. This kind of victory was never enjoyed by Li Yuanhong and Feng Guozhang. On December 20, President Xu Yida announced that Qian Nengxun, the special appointment, would be the prime minister. The list of cabinet members was announced on January 11, 2008: Minister of Internal Affairs Qian Nengxun Foreign Minister Lu Zhengxiang re-elected Liu Guanxiong, Chief of the Navy Cao Rulin, Minister of Transport, re-elected Chief Justice Zhu Shen re-elected Minister of Education Fu Zengxiang re-elected Jin Yunpeng, Chief of the Army Finance Minister Gong Xinzhan new appointment Zhang Huaizhi, Chief of Staff Xu Shuzheng went to Japan to watch exercises and returned to China on December 16. He originally opposed the peace talks and Jin Yunpeng's appointment as army chief, but times have changed and he dare not object now. After the new cabinet member took office, an extremely unpleasant incident happened. On January 31st, the Lunar New Year’s Eve, Jin Yunpeng, the new chief of the army, asked Gong Xinzhan, the new chief of finance, for 3 million yuan. What are you doing without money?” Of course Gong couldn’t take it anymore, so he handed in his resignation and went to Tianjin on the same day, Qian Nengxun sent someone to invite him back, and he proposed two conditions for reinstatement: (1) Pay as much as you receive. (2) Warriors are not allowed to swear.Prime Minister Qian promises to fulfill it.Gong and Jin were both from Anhui, and Duan Qirui was afraid that their quarrel would be inseparable, so he ordered Xu Shuzheng to mediate.Gong Xinzhan was known as the Anfu Liangtai, and he was not afraid of Jin. In the end, Gong's conditions were revised to: (1) the military salary should not be handled directly with the chief of the army, and (2) the government expenses should be reduced and paid by the prime minister.Qian Nengxun asked Tian Wenlie, Fu Zengxiang, and Zhang Huaizhi to come forward as peacemakers, and invited the two parties to have a drink to settle their suspicions, but only shook hands superficially.