China's future foreign strategy must be open, which is Yang Rui's basic attitude. Although there are many obstacles in the taxes, the general direction is to open up to the outside world rather than to close the country. Since we choose to open up to the outside world, we must recognize our role in world politics and global economy, and find ways to exert more and more influence in international affairs. Therefore, from this perspective, it is inevitable to participate in the war.

Now it is actually a question of when to join the war and how to join the war, rather than whether or not to join the war. Qiu Jin's view was very common in the Revival Society, and even Yang Rui thought so before. Why bother to bleed for foreigners? But if you don't join the war, you can't participate in the Paris Peace Conference. Germany's compensation is not important, but global rights distribution is extremely important after the war; colonial China does not want, but commercial interests cannot be unwilling to be wanted; the status of a victorious country may not be important, but after the war, the United Nations predecessor, the League of Nations, is very important, how much influence China has in the League of Nations.

Participation in war and not participating in war is not so much a matter of choice of interests, but rather a matter of position and opinion. If you think that China does not need to integrate with the world system and does not need to exert greater influence in the world system, then you do not need to participate in war; if you think that China should actively integrate into the world system and slowly transform from a supporting role to a protagonist, you should participate in war. It used to be a country in the Celestial Empire, but now it has resisted foreign aggression, China is still a small supporting role in the international system. However, many people are unaware of this, and they often advocate the revival of China in political propaganda, so a large number of people became arrogant again.

The main content is that the Revival Army resolutely expelled Russian invaders and recovered lost territory despite the obstacles of the great powers. A brainless book called "China Can Say No" is sold at home and abroad. This book actually sold more than 5 million copies in three months, which is the best-selling book in China in thousands of years. Read this book once and the brain cells are burned out; read it twice more and the IQ is likely to be negative. In the end, only slogan-like words such as "Magic China, the Heavenly Kingdom" are left in my heart.

Is China really strong? Among the world's powers, in Yang Rui's view, China is stronger than Japan, and is inferior to Russia before the war, whether it is economy, steel output, or military scale. China is not as good as Russia. China and Russia really have to go to war normally because of the limitations of regional and transportation conditions. In the Far East, because the scale of the war is not large, it is China's will win, but in Central Asia, it is definitely Russia's will win. How can a country that is not as strong as Russia be called a country in the Celestial Empire? So what if you can say no? Apart from one acre of three points of land. If the whole world is running and rights are distributed, will the Chinese have the right to speak?

The brainless person is simply unreasonable. When Yang Rui's thoughts came here, the discussion between several others had ended. Du Yaquan asked again: "If you participate in the European War, how many soldiers will you need to send and how much money will you spend? Can the General Staff have plans?"

The military affairs were entirely under the responsibility of Yang Rui. After hearing this, he said: "The General Staff actually has two plans. One is that the military expenditure is low, namely: transport the Fuxing Army and its people and weapons to France. Then most of the ammunition supply in the wartime is the responsibility of France. This is a plan with more people dead and less money. According to the expected cost, only one billion taels of silver is needed. All we have to pay is freight and pension;

Another one is American. That is, we have all the command power of the expeditionary force, and we are equal to the British and French coalition forces in terms of status. The combat plan is not that they order us, but that we negotiate together. The advantage of this is that there are few deaths and high status after the war. We can get many benefits, but we spend a lot of money.

Because this army is completely an expeditionary force, shipping from China to France, docks, transportation lines, troop stations, etc. after landing in France, we have to ask France for or spend money to build these logistics facilities. The ports on the Atlantic Ocean are now occupied by Britain, France and the United States, and we send troops from the East. We can only use the three sea ports on the Mediterranean, the Port of Marseille, the Port of Seit, and the Port of Toulon. Although these three ports can support the expeditionary force's operations, there are seven or eight hundred kilometers from Marseille to Paris. In the case of tight railway transportation, our supplies are probably difficult to transport to the front line. The General Secretary even temporarily added three regular railways to ensure the logistics supply of the army.

This is just logistics transportation, and the supply of materials during wartime is also a lot of money. The war has been fighting for several years, and France is short of everything and expensive. We are likely to be in a dilemma. Buying supplies locally in Europe is not only insufficient, but also expensive. If transported from the country, it will take up the tonnage of merchant ships. For 500,000 troops, such a long route requires at least 2 million tons of merchant ships to be responsible for special supplies. We do not count the price of military supplies, even if the losses caused by collecting these merchant ships are amazing. Therefore, if 500,000 troops go to Europe to participate in the war, the military expenditure will be at least 5 billion Chinese yuan, which is still..."

As soon as the 5 billion military expenditure figure came out, even Xie Zhangtai, who was determined to encourage Yang Rui to join the war, was startled and shouted: "Why do you need so much?"

"Many?!" Yang Rui was amused. According to the historical information he knew, more than one million Americans went to Europe to participate in the war, spending more than 21 billion US dollars. Of course, the reason for spending so much was that Pershing was preparing to transport two million troops to Europe to participate in the war; second, the US military was already blank, and it had to expand from less than 200,000 to 2 million, and it was necessary to buy a lot of military supplies. At this time, the price of military supplies was already expensive, and after the United States declared war, it soared; third, the US military was a top-notch, as long as it was needed at home, even bathtubs, toilets, bookshelfs, spittoons, tiles, shutters, lawn mowers were purchased in large quantities and transported to the front line in the rear; fourth, the US logistics management was a mess, and the urgently needed materials that had been purchased in the United States could not be transported to France immediately, forcing the Expeditionary Force headquarters in France to be able to repurchase on the spot.

Although China is not as extravagant as the Americans, it still needs 2.5 billion US dollars in a year of military service. Of course, this figure includes a one-year freight of 1.5 billion Chinese yuan for two million tons of merchant ships.

"War, especially this kind of trans-ocean war, has never been cheap." Yang Rui looked at the stunned people and said, "Merchant ships transport here will cost 1.5 billion. If there are other military supplies, especially the consumption of shells, it will be even more expensive. Fortunately, after spending this money, it will eventually flow back to our hands. For example, after the shipping cost, minus the consumption of coal and freshwater along the way, most of the expenditure becomes the profit of state-owned companies. The five billion will eventually be back more than 3 billion. The only bad thing is that it delays the opportunity to make money. What could have earned foreigners turned into their own money with their left hand and their right hand. The biggest loss is the 1.5 billion shipping.

The loss is small, but one thing is beneficial, that is, we can take advantage of the high silver price now to remove the silver flowers and completely convert them to the gold standard." Yang Rui suddenly felt that he was wrong and corrected, "To be precise, it should be converted to the gold exchange standard. We don't have much gold in our hands, but before we join the war, we can ask France and Britain to exchange some gold and enrich the national treasury again. This is cost-effective. After all, gold is thousands of times better than paper money.

Let’s not talk about gold, but about silver. There are nearly 3 billion taels of silver in China. After the exchange standard is replaced by gold exchange standards, how to use these silver is a big problem. my country is a major silver country. If we all sell silver out, the price of silver around the world will fall sharply. Before the European War, the gold-silver price was 33. After the war started, Europe and the United States deliberately suppressed the silver price. The silver price fell to 39, but now the silver price rebounds and is expected to rise to 1 to 20 next year. The silver price is twice as high as before, but the price, as long as it is not military supplies, is generally not high. Some are because no one buys it and has no ship transportation, which is even lower than before.

The Ministry of Revenue has a plan to take advantage of the high silver price in recent years to export large amounts of silver, but that plan uses too much silver. If there is war, it will be different. In Europe or Nanyang, as long as it is on this route, silver can be used to purchase military supplies when the merchant ship goes. When it comes back, silver can also be used to purchase general supplies. However, the price is, it is better than the sharp drop in silver prices after the war and then exporting silver. So, money is really not a problem, and it is even more so for the goal we want to achieve. You must know that in normal times, even if you spend twice as much money than this, you may not be able to get this profit."

"What money will be spent?" Everyone was confused when they heard that they spent the money and took it back, and then exchanged the gold standard to make silver exports. Only then did they realize that Yu Huizu was not in the Standing Committee, and this meeting was really difficult to hold.

"The preliminary estimate is below 2 billion Chinese Yuan." Yang Rui replied, "This is considering the factors that have plummeted after the war because of the change of the silver standard. If silver output is excluded, participating in the war will cause us to lose about 2.5 billion Chinese Yuan."

Five billion has turned into two or five billion, and everyone accepted this number. Xu Huafeng said: "That is to say, from the perspective of real profit, this money can still be afforded. What we need to consider now is the relationship with Japan?"

"It's basically the case." Yang Rui nodded. Xie Zhangtai said: "After Japan lost to us three years ago, he had to face the reality that East Asian hegemony changed hands. Now European countries are in wartime and have no time to redefine the new order in East Asia. However, after the war, the order in East Asia and the order of the whole world must be re-argued. Although Wilson of the United States wants to play a new set of things, the lean camel is bigger than a horse, and the world is ultimately dominated by Britain and France. It is a good thing that we can confirm the hegemony of the Far East by participating in the war. Otherwise, the more entangled with Japan in the future, who is the eldest brother and who is the younger brother, the sooner this matter is decided, the more beneficial it will be to Sino-Japanese relations."

"If this is true, then the Japanese will be manic and smashing the officials everywhere and killing people everywhere and setting fires." Qiu Jin smiled. She spent a lot of time in Japan, and every Japanese she had seen was deeply proud of Japan becoming a great power. Now that the hegemony in the Far East has changed hands, how could those extreme and arrogant Japanese people bear the favor?

"There is nothing to do about this." Xie Zhangtai also knew that there would be such a result, but if he lost, he would lose. "We can only hope that the Japanese will recognize the reality. This kind of thing really cannot be delayed. The problems that arise after being delayed will only become bigger and bigger. Only when Japan completely recognizes the reality can China and Japan become allies rather than enemies."

"Recognize the reality..." Yang Rui couldn't help laughing, strong outside and hard on the outside, how could a stubborn little Japan recognize the reality? "If Japanese people want to recognize the reality, it would be better to teach sows to climb trees. Although Japan's economy is more developed than our country, compared with the same social class, their living standards are not much better than our country. These people are hard-working and selling meat abroad for what is the purpose of being the seventh in the world and the steady number of East Asia? Now they have suddenly become the second in East Asia and are suppressed by us. What will happen in China? I really don't know if they can continue playing the trick of the emperor.

This time, Chong'an would be better negotiated with Japan. Moreover, it is best not to publicize the domestic newspapers for sending troops, especially the Imperial Daily's name is Huang Yuansheng. What is the reason for saying things so thoroughly? We should be the number one in East Asia. We should still take into account the sentiment of friendly countries."

Qiu Jin was about to despise Yang Rui and said that Japanese women were "going to sell meat abroad", but they didn't want to laugh before they could speak. The Empire Daily has always taken it as its mission to promote the government to join the Allies and send troops to participate in the war. It has discussed in a long and long way what benefits will be brought to China after participating in the war. One of the most critical reasons is that East Asian hegemony will return to its own hands, from the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to the end of the European War. China has suffered enough in the past twenty years of reincarnation.

Huang Yuansheng's pen not only stirs readers, but also reads his political articles often. It has to be admitted that this person still has a very thorough understanding of many issues. However, if he said so clearly, the Japanese became annoyed. In the eyes of the annoyed and embarrassed Japanese, this was simply a slander. Now when Yang Rui talked about this, everyone understood the smile.

"Did you reply to Britain so early?" Xu Huafeng said. "A few months ago, I didn't I tell Rutt that if Germany chooses to defend, then we won't declare war?"

"According to the information from the Intelligence Agency, the Germans are preparing to build large-scale chariots." Xie Zhangtai said. "Characters are not defensive weapons. In this way, even if Russia withdraws from the war, the Germans will still choose to attack."

"Is that true?" After hearing Xie Zhangtai's words, Xu Huafeng finally looked at Yang Rui.

"I don't know what Germany thinks, but I know what Germany's allies think. At least Austro-Hungarian emperor Carl doesn't want to fight hard with the Allies. Peace talks have begun. Germany may be able to withstand the losses caused by defense, but Austro-Hungarian and other allies cannot bear the war without victory, only peace talks. Germany does not win in the offense, but will perish in the offense! So..." Yang Rui looked at Xu Huafeng and said with regret: "What is waiting for Germany must be a complete failure."

"Oh..." Xu Huafeng had always believed in Yang Rui's judgment. He said so, so Xu Huafeng gave up. However, he sighed: "When I went to Germany, there were many factories, the economy was prosperous, the country was prosperous, and his products were marketing in the world without any rivals. The data also said that Germany had the second largest industrial scale in the world and the first in Europe. He could make the world's hardest steel, the largest caliber cannon, and the best dye. How could such a country... be gone?"

"No country can be an enemy of the entire world system." Yang Rui also sighed, "Although Germany's economy is prosperous, it lacks resources and does not have enough strategic depth. But even if Germany is replaced by China and Russia, the result will be the same. The party that controls the ocean can calmly mobilize the resources of the world to compete with you. Maybe it cannot defeat you in a war, but it can drag you down in decades of Cold War. A larger market must represent higher technology and greater production capacity. A closed and independent small market country will eventually lose no matter how hard it works.

This is what we can tell from the Americas and the biological evolution of Australia. Why can't Native Americans resist the smallpox virus? It's not because the organisms on the American continent are not as complex and diverse as the Asia, Europe and Africa. Although we are also afraid of smallpox, at least many people have smallpox antibodies. People who encounter smallpox will die, but they will not die. It's different in the Americas. Because of the isolation of the ocean, smallpox virus has never appeared in the Americas. Now it suddenly comes, and the result is genocide.

Germany is a country, and it was still in the world system before, and there was no generational difference in technology. But after just a few years of blockade, he couldn't stand it. If a country is isolated from the world system for decades, it would have to collapse. After all, Germany just believed that its army was invincible in the world, thinking that the competition between countries was simply military competition, without considering political, economic, and cultural factors at all. It was really worth it!”

The discussion meeting seemed to be his own preaching meeting. Although he deliberately suppressed the isolated idea of ​​not participating in the war and participating in the war is to bleed and work hard for foreigners, Yang Rui still felt that he had said too much, so he kept silent after he finished speaking and saw what other people's opinions were. Unexpectedly, everyone believed that if he wanted to participate in the war, he should be unified like the Americans, spending more money, and at least the Revival Army participated in the war as an independent army, rather than as British and French mercenaries.

After this matter, when to send troops and how many troops will be sent is the issue that comes to the forefront. Since the time of sending troops is obviously not judging Germany's face, it doesn't matter much early or late. The key is when the troops are sent to the army are the most cost-effective and the best benefits. As for the number of troops sent, according to the previous plan, it was 500,000, and the current plan is 500,000. However, in order to unite Japan, Yang Rui and Xie Zhangtai both believed that Japan should be brought to the country, and whether he would like to or not, he would always send an invitation. With the current situation in Japan, even if he sent troops, it would only be symbolic, otherwise, the money he earned would not be enough for his military expenditure.

With this consideration, Xie Zhangtai, who pretended to have been thinking for several days, first made an appointment with the British ambassador, saying that China had the intention to send troops, but many details needed to be discussed in detail. Then he made an appointment with the Japanese ambassador to China, Kishiro Tohara, who revealed that Britain invited China to send troops to Europe to participate in the war, and issued an invitation to send troops to Europe if China participated in the war.

Although I had known for a long time that the Chinese government would eventually turn to the Allies and enhance international status by participating in the war, Biyuan was still surprised that Xie Zhangtai officially met with him and talked about sending troops to Europe. From Japan's standpoint, China would be better for hostile to European and American countries, and Japan could serve as a channel for China to communicate with the whole world. Now that China is determined to participate in the war, it would be equivalent to completely opening up and integrating into the whole world. The result would be that Japan would be marginalized. In the past, when seeing yellow people, Europeans and Americans would ask, "May I ask, are you Japanese?", and when you can see yellow people later, they would only ask, "May I ask, are you Chinese?"

Such a result will make Japan lose its pride. Even though the signing of the Beijing Treaty three years ago was destined to be this result, any Japanese who knows this trend still hopes that this result will come later, but the more they hope it will come later, the earlier it will come. Toyhara Kishiro left the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressionlessly, returned to the embassy to sigh, and sent the content to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a telegram.

At home, Foreign Minister Kato Takamyung found Matsukata Matsukata Matsukara Matsukara as soon as he received the telegram. Then, like the Chinese Standing Committee, Japanese veterans also gathered together to discuss China's dispatch of troops and China's invitation to send troops to Europe.

While everyone was thinking about the pros and cons, the more pragmatic Nishiyuanji Gongwang said, "Let the Chinese go, we can send a navy."

"Baga!" After China's defeat, Yutoto Yama County always acted as a human being with his tail between his tail, but this time he heard what Nishienji said, and had to come out to express his objection. Yuto Yama County suddenly stood up, his eyes were red, and he was angry: "Are we just watching China become a strong man in Great East Asia and remain indifferent? Could it be that the empire's countless loyal souls sacrificed to Mount Erling to get this result? Will the Japanese Empire always rely on the breath of the Chinese people in the future??"

"Sit down!" Shan County was so excited that Masayoshi Matsukaya had to worry. He looked at the excited Shan County and asked, "Can we change the current situation of the comparison of China-Japan strength by sending troops? Can we stop the Chinese from sending troops by sending troops by sending troops? In order to suppress China's rise, we have to fill in the entire Japanese island?

Let it go, Shanxianjun! We had made efforts a few years ago, but we failed. After that failure, China was not something we could stop. It was very natural for Greater East Asia to slide from our hands to China. Before, I thought this day would come ten or twenty years later, but the World War advanced it."

Masayoshi Matsukata's rhetorical question was quite powerful at the beginning, but the words afterwards became less and less powerful. Everyone could feel it. This time, the veterans said it was a discussion, rather it was an announcement that Japan would lose East Asian hegemony from now on and become a vassal of China from now on.
Chapter completed!