1890 King of Southeast Asia

May the South China Empire consider joining the Allied Powers?

The Huaxia Empire has not yet been recognized. Although Britain and France also ask Liu Yiming's government to handle matters in the Huaxia region, they do not recognize Liu Yiming's government as the Huaxia Empire government and still call it the South China Empire government.

It sounds a bit confusing, but just like the division of all actual control areas and internationally recognized areas, non-recognition means that the interests are not in line, but there is no ability to intervene for the time being, so leave a tail first.

In any case, the emperor of the South China Empire summoned the ambassadors of Britain and France and claimed that he was considering joining the Allied Powers, which made Britain and France very concerned.

At this time, Britain and France needed allies too much.

It was not for fighting. At the beginning of the war, Britain and France could still hold on, but for strength.

The war lasted for more than seven months. France, one of the land forces of the Allied Powers, lost a large area of ​​territory, and the front line was once pulled to the city of Paris.

The Russian Empire, the second land force, lost its armor all the way in East Prussia, lost more than 200,000 people and hundreds of cannons, and lost its offensive capability.

The most important thing is that the cause of the war, the Kingdom of Serbia, directly became a lost country.

On the surface, this war was caused by the Kingdom of Serbia. Britain, France and Russia did not hesitate to start a war, but failed to save it and lost face.

At this time, the morale-boosting effect of a regional power, which is also another maritime power, joining the Allied Powers must be obvious.

Therefore, London and Bordeaux attached great importance to giving Cyril and Bi Sheng very high authority, asking them to pull Nanhua and Huaxia into the Allied camp.

On July 15, the negotiations began.

The negotiating representative on the Nanhua side was still Lin Anmin, but the first document Lin Anmin took out surprised Cyril.

"Your Excellency, what we are discussing should be political issues or certain interest issues, but this is a trade document?" Cyril flipped through it again and again, put down his glasses, and his eyes revealed confusion.

"But I am more optimistic about this proposal. The hard currency for purchasing materials is indeed a big pressure for us." Bi Sheng smiled aside.

"Yes, to be honest, the country is reserved about joining the war. After all, we are at war with Japan. If we don't solve the problem of Japan and then throw ourselves into the next war, the country will have doubts."

"Your Majesty and I have thought about it for a long time. The only way to help our allies as soon as possible is to provide some material support."

"Of course, we are different from that vampire America. You will know after reading this document."

Lin Anmin smiled aside. In his heart, he had no idea how many times he had admired Liu Yiming's foresight in launching the South Japan War.

The price of only one battleship sinking gave Nanhua enough reasons in a short time.

And what about Japan? According to Nanhua's investigation, because the materials were concentrated on the manufacture of guns and ammunition, the combined fleet had not repaired all the battleships due to the lack of necessary materials and production capacity.

Bi Sheng nodded as he read. Cyril was curious about what he nodded. After listening to Lin Anmin, he also read it carefully.

This is a trade preferential plan. The Huaxia Empire will subsidize part of the strategic materials transported to the British and French fronts to reduce export prices.

The subsidy varies from 5% to 50% depending on the category. This is already a big discount for bulk transactions.

Of course, the categories with the highest subsidies are all in conflict with the United States. The categories with little conflict or where South China has a clear lead have very little subsidy.

This is attractive, but not much. What attracted Cyril was another clause of South China.

"Accept the foreign exchange of the contracting countries as currency, but the gold content and fixed exchange rate of the currency should be anchored. The Huaxia Empire will provide low-interest loans and interest-free loans to the contracting countries as appropriate."

This sentence is short, but it is valued by Cyril.

Where does the financial hegemony of the pound come from? Just two words, gold.

The hard currency attribute of the pound also comes from the fact that the United Kingdom has most of the world's gold reserves and absolute gold production capacity.

From the war to now, the British have imported a large amount of materials from the United States for psychological reasons and political considerations.

However, the United States does not have these considerations. The United States, which pursues isolationism, has no use for so many pounds and chooses to collect hard currency.

This practice is very annoying to the British, although this is the normal practice.

It must be known that in international trade, the normal way of trade is of course to use the country's currency to buy the country's goods.

Just like buying American goods, people accept US dollars, buying British pounds, French francs, and German marks. It doesn't mean that you can go directly to the United States to buy things with francs.

If you don't have it, go to the bank to exchange it. Most banks have this service, but this is in peacetime and the number is not large.

In peacetime, paper money has a specified gold content and can be directly exchanged for gold, of course, it can be exchanged at will.

However, the United States is not sure who will win, so it does not accept huge paper money payments. At the same time, the United States also hopes to improve its position and enhance its financial hegemony, so it proposes to pay with hard currency, that is, gold.

Otherwise, if a huge amount of pounds is received, but Britain is gone, where can it be justified?

Liu Yiming was casual, he knew who was the winner, and there was no worry about foreign exchange not being able to be exchanged.

He didn't know when Britain and France decoupled from gold, he only knew that they decoupled, but it did not prevent Liu Yiming from receiving pounds.

It's very simple. At least Britain and France will not sit idly by and watch their currencies depreciate before the post-war reconstruction is completed. In that case, Britain should not fight World War II and should just surrender.

Think about it, you are a soldier who fought hard and survived World War I, and you go home with the salary you have saved for several years, thinking about giving your wife and children a good life.

Suddenly, the government tells you that the currency is decoupled and cannot be exchanged for gold. Before you can react, your money starts to depreciate wildly.

Then, money is worthless.

What would you do?

Although there are some differences, the United States did have some minor problems after World War I. For details, please refer to the Washington Thursday Big Tusha in 1932.

(By the way, the US dollar was decoupled from gold in 1933.)

Britain is not stupid at this time and will not do these things that damage its foundation. Liu Yiming has enough time to cash in these pounds, so he is so "generous".

"Very tempting, respected minister, you almost convinced me." Cyril rubbed his face with his hands and compared Nanhua and the United States.

"I believe that the president and the prime minister will be willing to sign this treaty. Thank you for your generosity, Your Excellency." Compared with Cyril's implicitness, Bi Sheng was much more enthusiastic.

After all, the war was fought on French soil. France lost a large area of ​​land, and there had been problems with the supply of materials.

Although it was not big, without the help of the British and foreign purchases, France could not withstand such a large-scale war of attrition.

Yes, France has money, but France is the first country to enter the hollowing out of the industry. In addition, part of the mainland was occupied, and there were problems with the industrial chain and production.

Give France some time, he can adjust, but will the Germans give them so much time?

You know, the Germans are not far from Paris, and the French dare not gamble, so they waved francs and bought materials everywhere.

"Then, let's talk about the Huaxia Empire joining the entente. First of all, we require that allies such as Britain, France, and Russia should recognize the Huaxia Empire..."

Lin Anmin smiled. After all, no matter how you look at it, they will not suffer from this treaty. It is a discount and accepts foreign exchange.

Lin Anmin agreed to this bold idea because he was sure that Britain and France would not destroy their own monetary system.

Everything is linked together.

In order to retain more vitality after the war, Britain and France will definitely prefer South China in future purchases. This is not a political factor of the allies, but a matter of interest.

In this way, South China can not only earn a lot of foreign exchange, but also stimulate the rapid development of industry, and can also use this as a condition to exchange technology and equipment.

Moreover, it can also use joining the war as a reason to let Britain and France recognize the legitimacy of the Huaxia Empire. Of course, it doesn’t matter if they don’t recognize it, just drag it on.

Liu Yiming knew that the First World War was not thorough, the distribution of interests was imperfect, and the right to speak was still controlled. The only effect was to destroy Europe and give the United States an opportunity.

One war destroyed Europe, and another war completely transferred hegemony from Europe, thus creating conditions for the decomposition of the colonial system.

The panic caused by the war also made many European scholars choose to leave Europe and go elsewhere. Unfortunately, only some French people chose to come to Huaxia. Liu Yiming wanted more!

When the war continues, Liu Yiming will promote China in Britain and France, and with various industrial products, I believe it can also attract some scholars.

…

"It's basically settled. As you said, Britain and France are willing to make concessions in post-war distribution, or some other interests, but put aside the issue of recognizing our country."

"They hope that we will join the battle as the South China Empire and China, and are willing to provide two benefits."

Lin Anmin shrugged and sat on the sofa.

"Now they are not in a hurry, and we don't have to be in a hurry." Liu Yiming shook his head.

Anyway, Liu Yiming just used this as an excuse. Without this matter, there are other things that can be delayed.

If everyone agrees, it doesn't matter if you join in. Anyway, you don't send troops. At most, you can stimulate the Japanese and make them move. Wouldn't you have an excuse?

Liu Yiming plans to send troops again in the third or fourth year of the war. Of course, the first stop is not to Europe, but to Tsarist Russia.

That's not right. Liu Yiming is ready to send troops immediately, 30 troops, to form a regiment-an observation group, to go to Europe to observe the situation.

Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle. First, let's see how they fight, not only Germany, but also Britain and France.

Liu Yiming never thought that he was in the same group with Britain and France. Now they are together only for the sake of interests.

Observe for a year or two, summarize the "experience", come back and train for a year or two, and you can almost send troops. Of course, it depends on the situation.

If Tsarist Russia is gone, send troops to Tsarist Russia. If Tsarist Russia is still there, send troops from Arabia and push to the Mediterranean coast.

Speaking of Arabia, Liu Yiming suddenly remembered that Winston seemed to have suffered a great defeat in the Ottoman Empire. When was it?

"Lin Hai, bring my notebook, the one on the second layer of the red bookshelf, bring all of them here." Liu Yiming shouted.

If he can remember, there may be records, and I hope it is still there.