Chapter 276：

In fact, Britain and France are already jumping their feet. They attach more importance to Romania than Edel estimated.

The main reason is that the Soviet Union and Russia signed an armistice treaty with the Allies, which made the British and French who had been fighting very **** the western front extremely scared. The thought of millions of German and Austrian troops vacating their hands from the Eastern Front, how could this not make Paris and London a headache. Now Britain and France are also negotiating overnight on the news from their embassy in Romania.

In Paris, French Prime Minister Clemenceau is calling his cabinet to discuss the matter.

In this war, because the battlefield was in France, it suffered huge losses. According to data from later generations, France’s fiscal deficit reached more than 18 billion francs after World War I. In addition, France owed 16 billion francs to the United States and 13 billion francs to the United Kingdom. In addition to these arrears, what is more important is the loss of population. The war killed more than 1.4 million French people and injured more than 3 million French people, which accounted for 10% of the French population. Although it has not yet reached the end of the war, the number of casualties in France has now reached 3.5 million.

According to Petain, who succeeded Nivelle as the French commander-in-chief at the beginning of the year, the French army is now pessimistic about the war. This year, desertion and war-weariness have spread in the army. No matter how the officers propagate, the soldiers' emotions are not high enough, and some officers are also infected by the soldiers' emotions and resist the military order.

The bad news in the French army made Prime Minister Clemenceau even more interested in Romania's participation in the war.

Clemenceau, as the Prime Minister of France, is known as the Tiger of France. As the leader of the French radicals, he has considerable influence in French politics. This year, the French frontline lost, with heavy casualties and low morale. Russia withdrew from the war. The faction represented by the former Prime Minister Kayo in the French government advocated an immediate peace talks to achieve "peace without victors."

In this emergency situation, President Raymond Puencaré, who was in the main battle, decided to invite Clemenceau to form a cabinet. This year, replacing former Prime Minister Kayo is Clemenceau's second term as prime minister. The first time he became prime minister was in 1906, and he was also Minister of the Interior. He set up the Ministry of Labor in the Cabinet, which was the first time in French history. Several social reform measures were included in his policy agenda, such as the 8-hour work system and progressive income tax collection.

Therefore, as a representative of hardliners, Clemenceau now needs to quickly stabilize the confidence of the French people and the army. In the country, he maintained his own dictatorship and implemented a personal dictatorship while retaining the parliament. He was decisive and decisive in killing and ordering. He went to the front many times in person to restore morale, suppressed the anti-war forces in the country, and denounced them as "defeatists." He also used this as an excuse to violently suppress the labor movement.

Of course, this is not enough. In order to boost people's hearts and morale, we need to see the hope of winning. Therefore, the US military on the other side of the Atlantic became his savior. However, given that the US military is still being formed and trained in its own country, it has not come to Europe. Then Romania is its supplementary measure.

In addition, the Romanian army is not like the American army that has not received the baptism of modern warfare, and its performance in the Balkan wars is also seen in the eyes. Therefore, for Romania to join the Allied Group, Clemenceau means that it is a must.

The leaks of the Russian Embassy that are happening now put Romania in a difficult situation and make Clemenceau nervous. He was afraid that Romania could not bear the pressure and fell to the Allies. This means that Germany can mobilize up to a million troops to strengthen the Western Front, which will make France’s situation even more difficult, or the Germans will seize Paris. This will be a huge disaster for France, so peace talks will no longer be Becomes impossible.

So Clemenceau wanted to prevent this from happening. In the government meeting room, he told the cabinet members present the theme of the meeting. "Now because of the leak of the Russian embassy, ​​Romania is facing a threat from Germany and Austria. We need to find a way to prevent it from succumbing to their demands. What do you think about this."

Klemenceau's voice fell, and the cabinet members present looked at the Foreign Minister Pixion. Pi Xiong, who is only 60 years old, knows that this is what everyone is waiting for him. This matter is completely led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, Pixiong, who is also a radical like Clemenceau, was shortly after entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Minister, but now he must come up with a way for everyone to discuss it, but fortunately he was already prepared before.

"Our Foreign Ministry's view on this matter is that Romania must be wooed, but how to woo it requires skill."

Pixiong asked people to hang up the maps of the Balkans and Eastern Europe while talking. He pointed to Romania and spoke. "Everyone sees Romania's position is quite critical. It is completely surrounded by the Allies. It can be said that Romania will have to pay a very high price to join us. Fortunately, Romania is very interested in joining us, and it is quite good to look at them directly. "

Pixion’s words are well understood by everyone present, and of course they also knew about Romania’s appetite. Pixion continued speaking without talking nonsense. “Although Romania’s appetite is not small, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that it is reasonable at this time. Romania’s location can help us hold millions of enemy troops and prevent them from threatening us when they reinforce the Western Front. And as long as we pay attention It can be seen that Romania’s position is also very important for our future. Not far from the red regime of Soviet Russia to the east, we must consider the possibility of the failure of intervention in this red devil regime Then Romania It can be a reliable guarantee to stop its spread."

No one in the Red Soviet Russia would like it, let alone a figure who could take the lead in the formation of the Russian Intervention Army by Prime Minister Clemenceau, but the battle held them back.

"Then how do we make Romania and Soviet Russia hostile to each other"

A cabinet member asked about Pixiong's plan.

"This is very simple." Pixion said in a gesture on Ukraine. "We can give Romania the territory of Ukraine. I think we can still give the territory that the Allies can give, and we should give them more in Ukraine. For example, we can give them part of it in Galicia."

Pixiong’s words caused other members of the cabinet to discuss, among them, the Minister of Military Supplies Luscher put forward different views. "I have some different views on the views of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pixiong. Under these conditions, Romania will acquire a large amount of territory after the war. How should we check and balance them in the future."

Luscher's words are also representative of many opposition opinions in Britain and France, and they can achieve their current status as human beings. Regarding the conditions and ideas of Romania, they can know the three points without thinking about it. Before, they had too much appetite for Romania and made Russia resolutely opposed. Now Russia has withdrawn from the war, but no one opposes it without a watch.

As long as the discerning person knows, after the defeat of Germany and Austria, the sphere of influence in Central Europe and the Balkans will enter a vacuum, and when the time comes to make a lot of profits, Romania is likely to become a resistance for France to enter the local area, and there are many people who are worried like this in London. Therefore, Luscher's words also represent the views of many British and French officials.

.