135 Collapse (23)

As the Commander-in-Chief of the march into the Northeast, Pu Guanshui discovered that perhaps he should be called the Commander of the General Logistics Force instead. Pu Guanshui used to think long ago that national strength was directly linked to how many arsenals one had. Later he thought that a complete industrial system and a strong and perfect agricultural system represented national strength. Now he believed that merely being able to produce things was only one aspect; transportation and the allocation of material flows were the true embodiment of national strength.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had a total of 10 reorganized corps along the line of Beijing, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, and Panjin. Except for the 18th Corps conducting the war, the other 9 corps were all in a state of defense cum logistical transportation. To allow these 10 corps to fully exert their strength, the Beijing-Harbin Railway had to be cleared.

The Beijing-Harbin Railway started from the capital Beijing in the south and reached Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in the north, passing through four provinces and two cities: Hebei, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. It mainly passed through cities such as Tianjin, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Shanhaiguan, Huludao, Jinzhou, Shenyang, Siping, Changchun, and Harbin. The total length was 1,388 kilometers. There were 171 stations in total. Construction started in 1881 and was completed in 1912. It was China's first standard-gauge railway. The Beijing-Harbin Railway connected North China and the Northeast region of China and was the core railway trunk line of the three Northeast provinces. As long as this railway could be cleared, theoretically, the People's Party's supplies could be transported from Wuhan all the way to Harbin without changing trains.

The biggest problem Pu Guanshui faced was that an extremely important station on the Beijing-Harbin Railway, Tianjin Station, was still controlled by the Beiyang remnants. Tianjin was also where the headquarters of the garrisons of various countries in China were located. The Central Committee of the People's Party could not be completely sure what result seizing Tianjin immediately would lead to.

If the Northeast issue didn't exist, the People's Party could have implemented land reform in Hebei step by step and recovered Tianjin after the land reform ended. At that time, even if Japan came out in full force, they wouldn't be able to gain the slightest advantage in Hebei. This timetable wouldn't take long, at most until the beginning of 1916. With the current embarrassing state of the Beiyang defenders in Tianjin, it probably wouldn't even take that long before the Beiyang defenders collapsed on their own.

However, the war in the Northeast required the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to immediately and completely master the entire Beijing-Harbin Railway, at least the section from the Beijing-Harbin Railway to the Panjin area. At this time, the Party Central Committee felt that Britain and other countries were very likely to start biased mediation now.

Pu Guanshui recently not only had a different understanding of "national strength" than before, but also had a deeper understanding of national interests. The British fleet always "maintained presence" in Wuhan. This fleet definitely had a military plan to shell Wuhan. Similarly, the People's Party's military plan to sink the British fleet and even military training did not stagnate in the slightest. Just when swords were drawn and bows bent like this, various materials sold from Wuhan to Britain were still continuously loaded onto freighters. These freighters sailed east along the river past the British fleet, turning a blind eye to the military confrontation completely.

This was national interest. Whether struggle or cooperation, there was never only one standard. The military confrontation between the People's Party and Britain revolved around the struggle for China's sovereignty. Doing big business with Britain revolved around the realization of China's commercial interests. The same applied to Britain. While trying to maintain Britain's privileges in China, Britain also had to maintain large imports of various materials from China due to the European war.

Against this background, Britain would definitely support Japan in the Sino-Japanese War. Even offending the People's Party would not be hesitated. This was the diversity of interests. If one classified the world single-mindedly into enemies or friends, such a person should live very happily spiritually, but only spiritually.

Facing such a choice of interests, Pu Guanshui felt a headache. There was currently no direct railway connection between Beijing and Tangshan, and land transportation of bulk materials was simply a nightmare. No matter from which angle, recovering Tianjin was already imperative.

In this regard, the Central Committee seemed to have been planning something all along. Pu Guanshui was very anxious about this but completely helpless.

Chen Ke was indeed planning some things. In the history he knew, the United States joined the European war in 1917. But as early as 1916, the United States had already determined that if the United States did not participate in the war, the Entente Powers would very likely fail. If the Entente Powers failed, the huge funds the United States lent to Britain would be wasted. So the United States had to participate in the war. As for what excuse the United States used to participate in the war, it was completely unimportant.

And in history, although the United States paid a huge price after participating in the war, Britain and France after the war still hoped the United States would be a "responsible major power," that is to say, they kicked the United States out of the ranks participating in dominating the world situation at the Paris Peace Conference. So when China tried to recover sovereignty in Shandong, the United States expressed strong support for China. Plus Britain didn't want Japan to expand its interests in China, China finally didn't have Shandong cut away.

China in history was powerless to protect itself. Even if the United States wanted to pull China into the partnership to pad the scene for itself, China didn't have this national strength to support it. But the current China was no longer so. Although the People's Party didn't completely control China, it had considerable power. Now if the United States could "give a brother a hand," China could provide great support to the United States.

But whether the United States was willing to "give a brother a hand" was extremely difficult to judge. Although there was a "memorandum" between China and the US, Chen Ke could basically not believe that the paper with the agreement printed on it was more valuable than toilet paper, and because this paper was harder, it was not even as comfortable as toilet paper in terms of use.

The United States' judgment of interests was a very troublesome matter; this probably had to rely on God's will. However, Chen Ke still notified the US Minister in advance of the People's Party's intention to use troops against Tianjin. The US Minister was very smart; he hoped Chen Ke could "wait a little longer."

On November 19, 1915, Chen Ke finally waited for the US Minister's request for a meeting.

Everyone was an old friend, so they spoke very frankly. When the US Minister asked Chen Ke who he thought could win between the Entente Powers and the Central Powers, Chen Ke expressed that judging from the current situation, the situation of the Entente Powers was not good at all. Unless a more powerful force intervened, the Central Powers would very likely have a pyrrhic victory.

"Chairman Chen, our US government maintains neutrality now, but we have provided a large number of loans to Britain. We will support Britain to the end," the US Minister said very frankly.

These words made Chen Ke feel "very interesting." Generally, after starting with such words, the US side would propose very harsh conditions. But for Chen Ke, even if the United States made a completely different choice from history and joined the Central Powers' side, the People's Party must also support the Entente Powers to the end. With this bottom line, even harsh conditions could only be accepted while holding one's nose.

The US representative naturally didn't know Chen Ke's thoughts. Before proposing the US side's conditions, he also felt somewhat guilty. After calming himself slightly, the US representative continued: "We hope your side accepts British bonds in trade."

After listening, Chen Ke sneered, "Hehe." The other participants from the People's Party couldn't help but glare at the US representative.

This request, to put it plainly, was for the People's Party to lend money to Britain. Britain was much richer than the People's Party. A local tyrant borrowing money from a poor man sounded indescribably ludicrous.

After sneering for a while, Chen Ke said: "Then what benefits can we get after we get these British bonds? Personally, I think no matter how much money we lend to the British, the British will ask us to maintain the status quo. And what we precisely cannot accept is maintaining the status quo."

"On this matter, we, the United States, can mediate with the British side on behalf of the People's Party," the US representative replied.

"Is it useful?" Chen Ke asked. "The US side asking us to share the bonds shows that the US is not that confident in the Entente Powers either."

The US representative fell silent. The United States was indeed not too confident in the Entente Powers now.

In the spring of 1915, the British and French allied forces took advantage of the main German forces concentrating on the Eastern Front to launch two rounds of offensives in Champagne and Artois. But because of using old tactics and lacking strong fire cover, they were successfully resisted by the German army, and their own side suffered heavy casualties instead. In April of that year, the German army counterattacked and used poison gas for the first time, making the losses on both sides even more heavy. As a result, on the Western Front in 1915, the British and French allied forces suffered millions of casualties, and the German army also suffered 610,000 casualties, but the war remained in a stalemate.

Because the pressure on the Western Front was slightly reduced, the German army decided to concentrate forces to defeat Russia first, forcing Russia to cease hostilities, thereby ending the war on the Eastern Front and avoiding continuing to fall into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. The Eastern Front thus became the main battlefield. In May 1915, Ludendorff planned the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive starting in May 1915. The German-Austrian allied forces, with 18 divisions and more than 2,000 cannons, divided their forces into two routes to attack the Russian army, capturing most of Poland. The German army won a huge victory. The Russian army was expelled from East Prussia and was also forced to abandon Poland, Lithuania, the land west of Riga, and the Volhynia region. Although they failed to force the Russian army into the "Polish Pocket" for annihilation according to the plan. After 6 months of fierce fighting, the German-Austrian allied forces captured Przemysl, Lemberg, Ivangorod, Warsaw, Brest-Litovsk, Vilna, and Riga, and forced the Russian army to retreat to the line from the Gulf of Riga to the Dniester River. The Russian army lost over a million men in total and was beaten back step by step.

The United States naturally knew that the troops defeated by the German army were elite troops built with all of Russia's efforts. Given the Russian Army's combat thinking that rifles were more valuable than soldiers' lives, these elite troops suffering losses of the million-plus level was simply irreparable. Even if the German army failed to eliminate all the Russian main forces and couldn't force Russia to surrender, the Russian army couldn't possibly have any better performance.

At such a time, being able to let China bear a part of the British debt was a very good thing for Britain. And the United States could take advantage of this "achievement" to show its "international influence." Since the People's Party had conflicts with Britain, the United States could also use this conflict to profit from both sides. So the US representative didn't expect to easily persuade Chen Ke.

Seeing the US representative silent, Chen Ke didn't continue to press questions that embarrassed the US representative. He changed the topic, "If it's the current conditions, I absolutely cannot agree. I want to hear what other suggestions your side has."

Seeing Chen Ke express a considerable degree of sincerity, the US representative then said: "If your side is willing to express that you will support the side our US government joins, our government hopes to sign a treaty with your side."

Before the other comrades fully understood the US representative's meaning, they saw Chen Ke's brows frown tightly. After everyone roughly understood the US representative's meaning, everyone's face changed.

The US representative's meaning was very clear; this was asking the People's Party to hand over the power to declare war to the US government's control. This was simply an incomparably absurd request. This meant China admitted to following behind the United States. for the United States, such benefits were naturally extremely great. First, the United States obtained a higher international status. With the People's Party as a little brother, the United States would have great face. Moreover, once the People's Party agreed to the condition of handing over the war declaration power to the United States, then it must also agree to accept the condition of British bonds. Whether from substance or face, the United States would have scooped up all the benefits.

In this matter, the People's Party couldn't get any promise from the United States. The comrades of the People's Party could guess without even asking that in the imminent Sino-Japanese War, the United States would absolutely not stand on the People's Party's side. Except for individual comrades, the other comrades almost looked like their hair was standing up in anger.

Chen Ke still frowned. Whether to agree to such a request was not within Chen Ke's consideration at all. What he was considering now was whether these words from the United States were sincere or a probe. If China and the US reached such a treaty, from Britain's perspective, this European war would inevitably be won. Because Britain didn't need to do anything, just use bonds to buy materials from China desperately.

The People's Party wasn't as wealthy as the United States. In history, a large amount of Entente Powers' gold flowed into the United States. The United States, which implemented the gold standard, experienced relatively serious inflation during World War I. The People's Party now relied on exports to drive employment. What benefit was there for China to get IOUs? Moreover, Britain could use debt repayment to threaten China.

There was a convention of "odious debt non-repayment" internationally, but this first required the victorious side not to have money in others' hands. Britain would definitely count the debts borrowed by Yuan Shikai onto the People's Party's head. At that time, with the People's Party holding a pile of British bonds, wouldn't that be asking for trouble? Chen Ke had made up his mind not to repay those debts borrowed by Yuan Shikai. He naturally wouldn't fall into the trap for no reason like this.

Of course, from the United States' perspective, if Chen Ke could accept British bonds, that would be a perfect result. The British would definitely be extremely appreciative of the US side.

However, sometimes national interests couldn't be calculated from simple short-term losses. Chen Ke naturally didn't want to be excluded from the new international system after the war. From the perspective of the British and French, if they accepted the United States' conditions and had to pull the People's Party into the partnership, then they would have to hold their noses and acknowledge the "fait accompli" created by the People's Party before joining. If there were no corresponding "compensations," Britain and France would definitely make big moves. Because from their perspective, Britain and France were the parties that "suffered a big loss."

Weighing these pros and cons was very difficult. Chen Ke might know well what happened in history, but the situation before him was something that never happened in history. This required Chen Ke to discuss well with the comrades of the People's Party.

"I cannot agree to this matter for the time being. Please wait a few more days," Chen Ke said to the US representative.