The defeat of Russia in the Battle of Warsaw was, in a sense, a milestone in the Russian Revolution. Poland claimed that it had been destroyed, but in fact, the Kingdom of Poland still existed theoretically, only that the Russian Tsar concurrently held the position of King of Poland. If it had really been completely partitioned and the original Polish area turned into provinces of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, Poland could not have successfully restored its country 123 years after its complete destruction.

After restoring the country, Poland fully exposed its nature as a doormat. At that time, the ruling leader Pilsudski tried to restore the border between Poland and Russia in 1772, so he launched an attack on Soviet Russia. With the support of the Entente Powers, the Polish vanguard fought all the way to Kiev. The Russian Red Army launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Polish invaders and drove the Polish army back to Poland.

After withstanding the attack of the Entente Powers, the Russian Communist Party led by Lenin also believed it necessary to change the original policy. If they could eliminate Poland, the biggest running dog of the Entente Powers, they could not only recover lost territories but also completely change the situation in Europe. Workers in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia refused to load munitions aiding Poland onto trains, and workers at British docks demanded that the British government immediately end the war with Soviet Russia. Once the Polish problem was solved, post-war domestic contradictions in various countries were like powder kegs, and tremendous changes would occur immediately in Europe.

The Entente Powers certainly knew this terrible result. Britain and France desperately sent materials to Poland through the port of Danzig, and Poland's strong idiotic spirit also played a positive role at this time.

The Russian Communist Party also encountered its own problems at this time. Comrade Lenin was in poor health, and fierce "discussions" took place within the party regarding the position of successor. Comrade Stalin had a tough personality and was really not popular in the party. Therefore, Comrade Stalin, who performed well in the early stage of the Polish campaign, was later replaced by Tukhachevsky in command, which planted the root of disaster for the failure of the Polish campaign.

Tukhachevsky was indecisive and full of plans to fight a beautiful battle. Several years later, when the Central Military Commission of the People's Party analyzed the failure of the Polish campaign, it concluded: "A perfect campaign and a victorious campaign are never the same thing. Perfection is an evaluation after the fact, while victory is always the full utilization of the conditions currently in hand. Tukhachevsky's performance in the Polish campaign proved that he was not an excellent frontline commander. When a military commander falls into the thinking trap of wanting to fight a beautiful battle, he deviates from the thinking mode of seeking truth from facts..."

Pilsudski did not have Tukhachevsky's problem. This soldier from an unorthodox background thought only about how to effectively use the cards currently in his hand. He didn't even have any illusions about the combat capability and morale of his troops. So when facing the Iron Stalin, Pilsudski was repeatedly frustrated. Tukhachevsky, however, discovered various "disadvantages" of the Russian Red Army and tried to eliminate the bad influence caused by disadvantages first before fighting a textbook-like "perfect victory."

Having experienced various difficulties and hardships, Pilsudski, who only wanted the substance of victory and not the good looks of face, was overjoyed when he found that the Polish army still had the will to fight. He immediately formulated a military plan targeting the current war situation, risking huge risks to fiercely strike the troops commanded by Tukhachevsky. Tukhachevsky's troops were defeated, and the Russian Red Army had to withdraw from Poland. Russia's effort to change the European situation through war failed.

Throughout 1921, major countries in the world were working hard to clean up the situation after World War I. The Polish campaign ended, and the Russian border line basically stabilized. On the vast sea, competition became doubly fierce.

Britain pursued the idea of the number one navy, meaning that the British fleet should overwhelm the sum of the second and third navies. Relying on its rapidly expanding industrial and financial strength, the United States issued a challenge to Britain, the world's number one naval power. US Secretary of the Navy Daniels declared that one hundred and thirty-seven warships would be built within five years to "build the strongest and best navy in the world."

Unwilling to be outdone, British Prime Minister Lloyd George stated: "Great Britain would rather spend the last penny to maintain naval superiority over the United States or any other country."

In order to compete with the United States and Britain, Japan ambitiously formulated the Eight-Eight Fleet Plan, that is, possessing two powerful fleets, each with eight capital ships, updated every eight years.

Immediately after, France and Italy also excitedly joined this competition. In this way, the powers built one ship while others built two. From the Atlantic and Mediterranean to the Pacific, an arms race without smoke became increasingly fierce.

But not long after, the powers began to taste the bitterness of the arms race. With the launch of warships one by one, military expenditures increased sharply, and the finances of various countries were stretched.

Britain was the first unable to keep up. It had long been financially exhausted by the war, and now struggling to join the arms race was truly miserable. Japan was also powerless. In order to implement the Eight-Eight Fleet Plan, naval appropriations accounted for one-third of the entire national budget. Although the United States was wealthy, it was not easy to truly overwhelm Britain and Japan.

Starting in 1920, the economic crisis spreading across capitalist countries broke out, and the call for disarmament from the people of various countries became higher and higher. The naval arms race of the powers fell into a dilemma.

The United States then convened a peace conference, hoping to solve the situation caused by the arms race. Receiving the invitation from the United States, the Chinese side quickly replied to the United States, "China's naval strength is too weak to participate in such a meeting."

This was the truth. China had no plan for large-scale construction of surface warships in the near future. The Central Military Commission of the People's Party formulated the naval development idea of "Air, Submarine, Fast." Aircraft, submarines, and torpedo boats were the future development direction of the Chinese Navy. The construction of large surface ships was all focused on civilian vessels.

Chen Ke never had the romance of a decisive battle with large battleship formations. The goal of the future Republic was a war centered on aircraft carrier formations and large-scale ocean-going submarines. In Chen Ke's thinking, battleships were mainly for bombardment, not decisive weapons. In that case, whether to participate in the naval treaty seemed very meaningless.

But the Americans didn't think so. China did not gain real benefits at the Paris Peace Conference. Regardless of how the People's Party solved problems such as concessions within China, at least in terms of law, the concession and legal issues between China and the powers were still unresolved. To break up the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the support of China must be relied upon in the Western Pacific.

So the United States invited China to join the Washington Conference again. At the same time, it promised that the United States would do its best to help China solve "historical legacy" problems. At the same time, it promised that the United States would strive for a relatively good naval quota for China.

As a last resort, the Chinese side finally dispatched a delegation to the United States to attend the conference.

Gu Weijun attended the meeting as the deputy head of the Chinese delegation this time, and the head was Minister of Commerce Wang Bin. Wang Bin's work was not military negotiation, but trying to lobby various countries to establish a Pacific trade zone.

In November 1921, the Washington Conference was finally convened.

From the seating arrangement at the conference, one could also see the subtle aspects. The United States, the world's number one industrial power, sat with China, the world's number one populous country. Representatives of Britain and Japan sat together. The two emerging major powers, China and the United States, were already the most powerful industrial countries on the east and west coasts of the Pacific. In 1921, the crude steel output of the United States reached the level of 20 million tons, and China barely broke through the level of 5 million tons by holding its breath.

The economic crisis dealt a heavy blow to the industrial strength of capitalist countries. You know, in 1920, the crude steel output of the United States exceeded 42 million tons, and Britain also had a level of 9 million tons. In 1921, the crude steel output of the United States was only half of that in 1920, and Britain simply fell to 3.7 million tons. As a little partner of Britain, Japan's crude steel output increased year by year, roughly 450,000 tons in 1921. This amount was not even one-tenth of China's.

Representatives of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and China gathered together. Looking at the representatives of various countries, Gu Weijun felt quite uncomfortable in his heart. Most of these nine countries participated in the Eight-Power Allied Forces twenty years ago, and China was the object of the Eight-Power Allied Forces' aggression. Now in this meeting to formulate the future order of the Pacific, China still did not have the power to dominate the situation.

Of course, Gu Weijun knew this idea was quite silly. Britain, France, and the United States facing China were all old capitalist countries. If Gu Weijun's goal twenty years ago was to completely abolish unequal treaties and let China obtain its own liberation, today, this goal has basically been achieved.

The rise of China did not make Gu Weijun feel satisfied. He found that his current hope was for China to reach or even surpass the status of these powers, and ultimately exist as a world leader or even ruler. Just like now Gu Weijun completely disregarded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

As a pawn of Britain, plus their petty-minded personality, at the beginning of the meeting, when the Japanese representative spoke, he brought up old matters again, demanding China fulfill the obligations of international treaties. Gu Weijun was a young man after all, and he quickly adapted to the changes in China. If Gu Weijun was still somewhat afraid of Japan's clamor at the Paris Peace Conference, now he didn't care about this at all. If it weren't because the Chinese representative was Wang Bin, Gu Weijun would have immediately demanded tit-for-tat that Japan get out of China's Lushun (Port Arthur).

Wang Bin was not so excited. He said slowly: "Since we are here to discuss the naval limitation agreement, I think the Pacific region should have a more peaceful attitude. For example, simply limit the existence of battleships and cruisers in the Pacific. Let there be no such large warships in the entire Pacific. I think this will bring more peace to the world."

The reaction of other naval powers to Wang Bin's words could only be described in one word: contempt. On the contrary, the Netherlands and Portugal, especially the Dutch representative, showed a smile of approval. The Dutch representative knew that he was here to make up the numbers anyway, and whatever he said was like saying nothing. He simply smashed the broken jar (gave up trying) and said: "I support the view of the Chinese representative."

The mouse actually wanted to bell the cat. Wang Bin's "absurd proposal" was immediately rejected by the naval powers.

At such a high-level meeting, what was least needed was "face." Even though the proposal was rejected, Wang Bin didn't have the slightest expression of embarrassment. Since he couldn't bell the cat, Wang Bin began to shamelessly propose the next proposal. "My country's shipbuilding capability is very backward. Since the purpose of limiting the navy is to achieve balance, and it is a balance of force, then my country must guarantee our naval combat balance. On this point, I think it is necessary for my country to declare in advance."

Without Wang Bin's special emphasis, all countries knew that China's shipbuilding capability was very backward. And Wang Bin shamelessly proposed the theory of balance of force, clearly wanting to stake a claim. The British representative said in a mocking tone: "I wonder what level the Chinese side hopes to achieve?"

"The tonnage of capital ships should be at least 120% of the Japanese Navy, and of course, our side hopes it to be 150% of the Japanese Navy." Wang Bin said unashamedly.

As soon as this number was mentioned, the faces of representatives from all countries changed. Even in a shameless interest meeting, Wang Bin's shamelessness had almost broken through the lower limit.

"China already has 5.5 million army troops! We will absolutely not allow China to possess so many naval forces again!" The Japanese representative almost roared.

Facing the frantic Japanese representative, Wang Bin laughed heartily: "There are many countries that know the situation of our China, and I also know that there is an evaluation of the Chinese army in many countries. Our Chinese Army is called a slave army. Among our 5.5 million troops, the number of engineering corps and railway corps exceeds 3.5 million. These troops are responsible for China's railway construction and infrastructure construction. The time for military training is far less than the time for doing engineering work. Even for the remaining troops, at least half a year in a year is engaged in infrastructure construction work. Building roads, repairing canals; every harvest time during the busy farming season, the troops even have to help farmers harvest. I say to you proudly that our army is more like a militia. Their task is to defend the people and build a better life together with the people, not like your motherlands, building a professional army armed to the teeth."

Hearing Wang Bin say this, the British representative couldn't bear it anymore and said: "Then I would like to ask your side to explain why this militia of yours invites so many German soldiers to China for military training. As far as we know, German soldiers have a very high evaluation of your country's army, believing that your country's army possesses extremely high combat effectiveness."

"Not German soldiers, but former German soldiers." Wang Bin corrected immediately. The military cooperation between former German soldiers and China was not too secret. Nearly a thousand former generals, former field officers, and former company officers with rich combat experience formed a simulated German General Staff and command system, which opened the eyes of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. The Germans who could start a world war definitely did not have an undeserved reputation. Military technologies tempered by years of military theoretical accumulation and actual combat gave the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army a lot of inspiration.

Similarly, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which always adhered to mobile warfare, also left a deep impression on the German army. Strong offensive spirit, flexible and varied column tactics—the Germans even rejoiced greatly that the Chinese had no interest in participating in the World War. If such an army of millions appeared on the European battlefield, Germany would inevitably pay a heavy price.

Both sides learned from each other on assault tactics, especially summarizing World War I tactics on assault warfare with high-intensity firepower density. The British obviously collected intelligence on these cooperations.

Participating countries also knew more or less about this intelligence. Japan and Britain publicly threw out this intelligence, which had no impact on China at all. However, hearing about 5.5 million troops and the military training of the Chinese Army by the German Army, other countries changed their faces almost simultaneously.

As a result, the meeting on the first day almost became a verbal questioning and even a verbal crusade against China.

Gu Weijun was still green. When encountering almost unanimous opposition from the powers, his heartbeat still accelerated a lot. Wang Bin acted as if nothing happened, only emphasizing one thing, "We China have had too many experiences in recent decades, and these experiences make us sure of one thing. We must be able to defend China's security."

After the meeting that day, Gu Weijun asked Wang Bin with uncontrollable nervousness how to proceed with the negotiations later.

"Comrade Gu Weijun, we said at the Paris Peace Conference that a country's strength and potential are not the same thing. At the Paris Peace Conference, we had potential at most. Now what Britain and other countries oppose is the strength we possess." Wang Bin didn't waver at all because of being attacked by other countries during the day.

"But doesn't this give other countries various excuses?" Gu Weijun continued to ask.

Wang Bin laughed: "That's because other countries have seen little and regard it as strange. Let's not talk about the total number; let's calculate per capita with them! As soon as per capita is calculated, we can see who among these countries is truly militaristic!"

"Calculate per capita..." Gu Weijun felt a sense of enlightenment.