All this was not improved until July 22, because on this day, news came out in Japan that Shigetsu Okuma, who was then Prime Minister of the Cabinet, committed suicide at three o'clock in the morning. On this day, they also apologized for their deaths. The former Minister to China, Hiroshi Yi, Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the General Staff Oyama Iwa, and Shibasaburo, the commander of the 18th Division who retreated to Daegu, North Korea.

This series of suicides by military and political officials means that the Japanese military politician forces have sunk from then on.

Just in the afternoon of the same day, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the initiative to contact the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and agreed to hold a before-peace talks in Shanghai before the end of the month. The reason why it is called a meeting is just to give Japan a chance. Whether to negotiate depends on the situation of the negotiation.

In order to make this engagement meeting grand and to further strive for the possibility of peace talks with China, the Japanese government decided to send Nishizotoji Koto as chairman of the diplomatic delegation, accompanied by two royal generals, Prince Saitai Fushimiya and Prince Saiten Shin-miya. This can be said to be the highest lineup of diplomatic missions sent to the outside world since the Meiji Restoration in Japan, and even when negotiating with European powers such as Britain and France, it was not so solemn.

In the eyes of the Japanese government, Nishiyuanji Gonghong's qualifications and identity are almost comparable to Li Hongzhang in the late Qing Dynasty.

After all, Nishimoji Kotoshi is one of the 9 Meiji elders who are as famous as Hirofumi Ito. Although this trip will make Nishimoji Kotoshi Kotoshi very embarrassed, for the future of the country and nation, he can only bite the bullet and drag his old body to China. Furthermore, the failure of this war already means shame, and what else can make people feel more aggrieved than this?

As for the two Japanese royal princes, there is nothing remarkable compared to Nishimotoji Kotoshi, which is entirely to highlight the Japanese emperor's attention to this negotiation.

After receiving this list of contact meetings, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had to admit that it really felt very face-saving.

When China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese government took the initiative to name Li Hongzhang and ask him to go to Japan for peace talks. However, this time China did not say a word. The Japanese government had already taken the initiative to send Nishiyuanji Gongwang and two royal princes to come. It can be seen that if he had not been desperate, he would not have been so self-willed.

Soon, the news of the Sino-Japanese Foreign Affairs Conference was rumored in Shanghai first, and then it caused a considerable reaction in China. Even though the Chinese people were still skeptical of the integrity of the Japanese, the war was not a good thing after all, and it would be best to be over as soon as possible. Not only that, some people in the current political circles believed that China should now focus on South Asia, help small neighboring countries restore their country, and establish new Asian forces led by China.

The public opinion gradually spread to the whole world, and the China-Japan diplomatic relations and diplomatic relations have also had a significant impact on the European battlefield.

The German army had been stalemate with the British and French coalition forces in Paris for eight months, and the Battle of Verdun has made no progress so far.

From a military perspective, the German team was actually in a state of fatigue and never made rapid progress like before taking over the Marne River. On the contrary, the British and French coalition forces successfully blocked the German army's pace and gradually showed some advantages in military strength.

However, for those outsiders who do not understand military, what they saw was only Germany capturing the capital of Paris and swallowing almost one-third of French territory, so they believed that the Allies had the absolute upper hand.

The consciousness of the people will eventually affect political views, so from a political perspective, the allies are indeed in the limelight.

However, with the final conclusion of the Asian battlefield, the entire European political level was once again shaken.

This shake is reflected in the military in a very short time. The morale of the British and French coalition forces on the two fronts of Paris and Verdun was severely damaged. Japan, one of the Allies' camps, was defeated by China, and China is now spreading to South Asia. The French colonies have long been destroyed, and it will be India and the Straits colonies in no time.

Faced with such a big impact, even the grassroots soldiers will feel a sense of crisis.

In contrast, the morale of the allies has increased overall. Whether it is the Ottoman Turkey or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although the scale of these two countries participating in the war is less than one-tenth of that of Germany, and their previous situation has been not ideal. However, after the stimulation of China's great victory, both countries have received a lot of encouragement.

Influenced by this strong atmosphere of dominance in the allies, Italy, which had been holding back its troops, finally responded.

Since the beginning of the European War, although Italy has been the camp of the allies, it has not participated in any military operations from beginning to end. On the contrary, it has been swaying between the two camps of the Allies and the Allies. Today, Italy is the weakest in Europe, and it can even be said to be one of them. In the eyes of European powers, Italy's national strength is not as strong as Serbia and Turkey. Moreover, with most of its territory facing the sea, it can be invaded by the British navy at any time. Italy cannot withstand such a long consumption.

So for Italy, the first thing they need to be sure is not to be enemies of Britain.

In addition, Italy also needs to develop rapidly and expand its national strength through ancient but effective colonial methods. However, because of its lack of national strength, this method of colonial expansion can only be achieved with the help of other powerful countries.

Although this European war is full of crises, there are also many opportunities. It is the time when a poor and weak country like Italy bet on its best fortune.

Before the war started, because Germany first offered a series of conditions to Italy and promised to provide a war fund, it announced its joining the allies' camp. But at the same time, Italy did not forget to secretly maintain contact with Britain and France and bargain with Britain and France. It is precisely because of this speculative behavior that Italy has not been affected by the war since the war started. On the contrary, it received positive responses from Britain and France.

A year ago, Germany began to establish secret cooperation with China. This was because the European War broke out for a year, and Italy did not send any soldiers or soldiers during this period, which made Germany very disappointed.

William II not only gradually began to ignore Italy, but even transferred the war funds that originally planned to fund Italy to China. This incident had a very serious impact on Italy. In addition, Italy had a long-standing conflict of interests with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and at that time, Italy had almost decided to turn against the Allies.

Unfortunately, when the Italian government kept urging Britain and France to implement preferential conditions as soon as possible, due to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Britain had to increase its funding for Japan in an attempt to help Japan defeat China in the shortest time, and then send a fleet to the Mediterranean to participate in the European war. This ultimately led to the suspension of negotiations with Italy, hoping to temporarily keep Italy in the status quo, neither leaning towards the allies nor the Allied countries.

Italy was suddenly ignored by both Britain and Germany, and the whole country was obviously in a very embarrassing situation.

In desperation, the Italian government had no choice but to continue to maintain a stalemate, willing to occupy a place in the camp of the allies, and without sending troops to participate in the war, and continued to wait and see.

When Chinese head of state Wu Shaoting issued a "30-day telecommunication" that shocked the world on December 31, 1915, announcing China to join the Allies' camp and declare war on Japan as the Allies' camp, this had a second impact on Italy.

The reason why "the power on the 30th day" shocked the world is that when the European battlefield was in a stalemate, an originally neutral country chose to stand on the side of the allies, which would inevitably greatly promote the allies in terms of momentum and situation. International public opinion suddenly speculated, and the morale of the allies' camp was also improved.

Italy originally thought that Germany could not win this war, but China's joining and military commentators' analysis of the Korean War suddenly shaking Italy's previous predictions. Since the beginning, Italy has gradually reduced its communication with Britain and France, and has turned to Germany again for assistance and a series of promises.

During that period, Germany used the air force to seriously undermine the logistics of the British and French coalition forces, and then made a strategic breakthrough in the Marne River, so it was more confident that it would increase its investment in the war. On February 24, 1916, William II and Vittorio Emmanuele III secretly signed an agreement because it was Easter for Western countries, so this agreement was later called the "Easter Agreement".

The agreement stipulates that the German Empire will provide a five-year war loan program and a ten-year economic construction aid program. Among them, the war loan program is the first "low interest rate" loan, which means that loans with minimum interest while ensuring a constant exchange rate.

Not only that, the agreement also stipulated that after the war, Italy could divide the island of Ajaccio in the northern part of France, and replace all the colonial and expansion privileges of the Tsarist Russian Empire in North Africa under the protection of all the allies.

Previously, the Allies also offered similar conditions, such as loans, debt reduction and North African colonization, but they have never officially signed it in the form of a treaty. Not only that, the Allies also ignored Italy's emphasis on the two dreams of expansion. One is the Island of Ajaccio, which is close to Italy's territory, and the other is North Africa, which is across the Mediterranean.
Chapter completed!