"In Pu Guanshui's letter, it sounds like a socialist revolution is about to break out in Germany," Tang Shaoyi said in a somewhat skeptical tone after reading Pu Guanshui's letter. Both Tang Shaoyi and Gu Weijun had taken the civil service exam and were hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after passing the exam. This time, the two arrived in Paris as members of the People's Party diplomatic team.

"Germany now is similar to our late Qing Dynasty; the emperor has fallen, and the new order has not yet been established." Zhang Yu replied.

Seeing Zhang Yu answer very relaxedly, Tang Shaoyi did not continue the conversation. After all, China had been pinned down and beaten severely by foreigners for sixty years starting from 1840, and this situation was not reversed until the emergence of the People's Party. Tang Shaoyi knew that Zhang Yu and other People's Party members upheld the struggle philosophy of the People's Party; they could accept bloodshed and sacrifice anytime and anywhere, and enduring hardship and fatigue was even more common. This fearless attitude allowed Zhang Yu to look down on foreigners. Tang Shaoyi, who almost instinctively avoided struggle, knew deeply that he could not do these things.

After becoming an "official" of the People's Party this time, Tang Shaoyi found that the People's Party was vastly different from the Manchu Qing, and even from Chinese tradition. Government officials were just employees; they were employees of the People's Party, or rather employees of "people's power." Although Tang Shaoyi didn't believe at all that the latter could be truly realized. For Tang Shaoyi, it was best for the world to have clear hierarchies; the higher the status, the less one should suffer, and the hard work paid should be rewarded more. The longer he stayed in the People's Party, the more Tang Shaoyi doubted whether his choice to "be an official" in the People's Party was correct.

"Are we going to intervene in the revolution in Europe?" Gu Weijun asked. As a young man, having not worked long in the People's Party, Gu Weijun showed signs of evolving towards imperialist diplomacy. Powerful countries relying on their own strength to interfere in anything that can be interfered with is undoubtedly the norm of this world now.

Seeing that the things discussed were getting more and more outrageous, Shang Yuan, as the head of the delegation, began to control the direction of the topic, "We came to attend the Paris Peace Conference not to participate in dividing up the world, but to see the situation. Let's solve our own problems first. The Entente Powers are now taking action against Russia, and it is not too surprising for them to take action against our China. Maybe we have to wait for others to attack us when we go back."

Hearing that the foreign devils might attack China again, Tang Shaoyi and Gu Weijun's faces became a little nervous, while the comrades of the People's Party couldn't help showing smiles of various emotions, or simply had no reaction to this.

"Leaving aside whether a revolution will break out in Europe, will a revolution break out in Japan?" Shang Yuan changed the topic.

"Why don't we ask them tomorrow?" Zhang Yu said jokingly. Shang Yuan also snorted slightly upon hearing this. These days, every time the representatives of the six major powers of the Paris Peace Conference—Britain, the United States, France, Italy, China, and Japan—discussed issues, the People's Party representatives could see the grim faces of Saionji Kinmochi, Makino Nobuaki, and other Japanese representatives as soon as they looked up.

"What is there to talk about with these old guys?" Even as a relatively older one in the People's Party, compared with the foreign old guys, Shang Yuan was unusually young.

"Then what are you, big brother, going to tell us?" Zhang Yu asked.

Shang Yuan said: "Having attended this peace conference until now, I finally understand what national strength means. No matter what kind of superficial reasoning, it is an interpretation of the strength a country already possesses and has been proven. Potential cannot be put on the table. Materialism is this cruel."

Originally, the young comrades still had the mood to joke around, but after listening to Shang Yuan's words, everyone's expression became serious.

"It is not just Comrade Pu Guanshui who encountered setbacks in Germany this time. Our suggestions to seek technical cooperation from France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries have all encountered big problems. These countries simply didn't take our request seriously." Shang Yuan summarized the recent work, "We don't possess presentable industrial strength, so no one takes us seriously. Chairman Chen emphasized before this trip that we indeed have potential, but we lack strength. We ourselves cannot confuse strength with potential; the world will not accept such a view."

"Does that mean our work this time is completely preliminary?" Wu Xiangyu asked.

This question didn't even need special emphasis. Many comrades in the delegation were visiting the United States and Europe for the first time. After seeing with their own eyes the strength possessed by these industrial countries, especially the power possessed by the ruling classes of these countries, the comrades had already seen the gap between the Republic and the world's first-class powers. Domestically, the People's Party worked so hard on a large number of infrastructure projects that they almost vomited blood, and was proud of the earth-shaking changes in the country. They were even more excited about the bright future of the Republic on the blueprint. However, what the delegation saw in the United States and Europe were a large number of existing cities, factories, and spider web-like railways and highways. To bring the entire China to the level of the United States and Europe was by no means a simple task that could be completed in one or two years; it required more than ten or even twenty years of arduous efforts.

"Premier Shang is right. We indeed cannot pursue more things this time. As long as we can recover what belongs to China, it is enough. Efforts to seek larger goals stop here. What we are doing now is the layout for the future."

Unifying thoughts in time and adjusting work direction is the tradition of the People's Party. Even so, the work of the People's Party was only one day ahead of the situation.

On February 17, 1919, even before the peace conference fully established the disposal of the defeated, the Japanese representative impatiently proposed that China fulfill "international obligations" and recognize international treaties.

The "international treaties" mentioned by Japan referred to the treaties signed between Japan and the Manchu Qing. Japan believed that the government of the Republic had reasons to fulfill international treaties.

Looking at the grim old face of Makino Nobuaki when he spoke, Zhang Yu suddenly felt that war is sometimes much simpler than peace. What they couldn't get on the battlefield, the Japanese wanted to get from the negotiating table.

It was absolutely impossible for Japan to get the Chinese interests reclaimed by the People's Party from the battlefield. Zhang Yu wanted very much to ask frankly, "If we don't give it to you, what does Japan plan to do?"

In future strategic planning, China must launch a military strike against Japan and drive Japan out of Korea. After losing Korea, Japan and China are only separated by the Tsushima Strait, and the planes of the People's Party can fly across this strait in less than an hour. Even knowing that the Japanese side could absolutely not declare war publicly at the Paris Peace Conference, Zhang Yu almost couldn't help saying that the Republic welcomed Japan to declare war.

It was absolutely impossible for Japan to raise this issue alone. As soon as the Japanese representative finished speaking, the British side immediately proposed that the Republic had the obligation to fulfill international treaties. What Britain referred to was the money Yuan Shikai borrowed from Britain and other countries.

"We also believe that it is necessary for China to fulfill international obligations." French Prime Minister Clemenceau, who was already 78 years old, though full of white hair, was still as fierce as a beast, truly worthy of his nickname "Tiger Prime Minister."

Chen Ke used all his strategies to take great advantage at every stage, especially earning a large amount of money in the First World War. Now the Entente countries were all in a post-war financial crisis, with terrible losses of manpower and material resources and astronomical bonds. To solve these problems, money was needed.

China had already demonstrated the war power to defend its own interests. Britain, France, and Japan all knew that it was impossible to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. So when they could make things difficult for China, they absolutely refused to let go of any opportunity.

The seemingly enthusiastic performance of the previous few days was gone. The strife among allies who were once in the "same trench" instantly became fierce. France even publicly stated that the agreement signed with the People's Party regarding Indochina must be considered for continued performance only after China assumed "corresponding international obligations."

Hearing this, it was obviously a step to renege on debts. Even with sufficient mental preparation in their hearts, the young comrades of the People's Party were still full of anger. Changing face so fast, this is the essence of imperialism. This is the diplomacy of imperialism.