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Volume 1, Urban Management¡¯s American Strategy 163. The Terror of the Imperialist Powers (Part 2)

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    England will never be allowed to retreat easily!

    Because when the national strength is weak, even a small step back may trigger a chain reaction and lead to the collapse of the entire colonial empire building - this is the dilemma the British Empire currently faces on the Far East battlefield.

    In this era, the United States is still a hard-working productive country with very low dependence on foreign countries. Foreign trade only accounts for 2% to 3% of the United States¡¯ national income. As long as it adjusts its domestic policies, it can escape the economic crisis.  However, European countries have already enjoyed huge profits through the first-mover advantage of global maritime colonization, and the proportion of foreign trade income is as high as 20% to 30% of the entire country's income.  For the island country of Britain, the proportion of overseas trade income is even higher.  If the vast international trade market cannot be opened and maintained, domestic economic recovery will be impossible.

    It just so happens that in this era of economic depression, the world's major powers are beggar-thy-neighbor, blocking markets, and erecting high tariff barriers. Only in their own colonies and semi-colonies can major European industrial countries dump large quantities of goods and pass on the economic crisis.  For Germany, which has no colonies, there is really no other "institutional" solution other than "cannons instead of butter" and expansion of arms and preparations for war at all costs.

    Fortunately, compared with the extremely poor Germans, the English gentlemen had the largest colonial territory in the world.

    ¡ª¡ªThe United Kingdom in this era is known as the Empire on which the sun never sets. One-quarter of the world¡¯s population is a subject of the British Empire, and one-fifth of the earth¡¯s land area is covered by the British Empire.  Spreading from the British Isles to Gambia, Newfoundland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Malta and countless islands, the British Empire exists in 24 time zones on the earth  territory.  The international order under British hegemony was known as the Pax Britannica, giving a clear picture of the global influence of this vast empire.  If you include Britain's major trading partners, such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland in Scandinavia, Portugal and Greece in Southern Europe, Iraq in the Middle East, Egypt in Africa, and countries in Asia and South America, the British Empire has  The market size is huge, the territory is vast, the population is huge, and the resources are abundant.  They are all No. 1 in the world and can handle any of the toughest challenges.

    British economist Jevons once proudly described the economic influence of the British Empire: "the plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields, Canada and the Baltic Sea are our lumberyards, and Australia is our  of our pastures, Peru our silver mines, South Africa and Australia our gold mines. India and China our tea base, the East Indies our sugar cane, coffee, and spices, the American South our cotton plantations¡­  "Even after entering the 20th century, most of the new core strategic resources, such as raw material production bases for oil, iron, aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, rubber, etc., were controlled by the British Empire.

    so.  Simply relying on the vast colonial and imperial preferential system, which is a system of mutual preferential treatment in trade between the UK and other members of the Commonwealth, the UK is able to maintain a large enough dumping market for goods and a global pound usage area.  While dumping goods, they also levied seigniorage on the heads of hundreds of millions of colonial second-class people, thereby gradually saving the local economy from the quagmire of the Great Depression.

    But here¡¯s the thing.  For the British Empire, its vast colonies around the world were both the source of endless wealth and the source of all troubles. In the 20th century, when nationalism was sharply awakening, every corner of the world was filled with increasingly violent anti-colonial movements.  .

    The dumping of goods and intensified exploitation by the metropolitan countries have also caused serious disasters to colonial and semi-colonial countries - for details, you can refer to the realistic novel "An Overcharge of Three to Five Dou" This is how it treats semi-colonial China, which cannot be fully controlled, India,  The colonies in Burma, South Africa, and West Africa were levied and expropriated by the British colonists to an appalling degree, and various flames of resistance rose one after another and were never extinguished.

    to this end.  With its national strength relatively weak, the UK had to embarrass itself and use force mercilessly to suppress any colonial resistance. It must not flinch or hesitate - if the anti-colonial movement in any place succeeded easily, there would be  It may cause a chain reaction, causing various colonies to burst into flames and smoke one after another, making the situation unimaginable.  And the seemingly huge colonial empire will be annihilated and collapsed in an instant!

    The reason why Britain had to use its thunderous and huge fleet to rush to Shanghai thousands of miles away to severely suppress the provocations of the Chinese red elements was not only to safeguard its own aggressive interests in China.  Or is it to prove to the colonies around the world that the power of the British Empire is still unmatched, and that all provocations and rebellions are suicidal - once the Chinese proletarian revolutionaries gainAn overall victory would not only mean the total loss of the British Empire¡¯s interests in China, but would also further strengthen the determination of the people in each colony to resist the British colonists, thus causing the foundation of the colonial empire building to loosen: ¡°Any victory by an uncivilized country over a civilized country will  Generally, Europe¡¯s overseas interests will suffer serious losses!¡±

    ¡ª¡ªFor the truly strong, self-confidence and openness are the norm, because they no longer need to deliberately emphasize their strength in front of anyone.  On the other hand, blindly boasting and excessively showing off one's strength can only show that this once strong man is becoming weak.

    Because such arrogance and conquests are not based on true self-confidence and powerful power, but on unexplained worries and fears - fear that this empire, which relies on violence, will be attacked by many challengers.  Suddenly collapsed in front of him!

    To put it harshly, dogs that can bite don¡¯t bark, and dogs that bark the loudest are actually not very good at biting. Wait until this dog can¡¯t even bark, or until this strong man can¡¯t even show off.  After he cannot maintain his strength through force, it is time for him to step down from the stage of world hegemony.

    In this way, when this round of intervention against China suffered repeated setbacks and even led to a huge defeat, which had lost the face and prestige of the British Empire, the gentlemen in Whitehall, London, suddenly fell into a dilemma: with China  If the Bolsheviks continue to fight relentlessly, their future will be bleak, their victory hopeless, and the price will be staggeringly high. But if they compromise and give in who knows whether the sea and the sky will be brighter after taking a step back?

    ¡ª¡ªAlthough it may be calm and business as usual, it may also be a collective uprising in British colonies around the world like a volcanic eruption!

    ¡°If unfortunately it is the latter, it will be a devastating doomsday catastrophe for Great Britain, which is struggling to escape from the economic crisis.

    so.  Although he was very worried, in order to maintain the face and prestige of the British Empire, Prime Minister Baldwin decided to open a battlefield again in Hong Kong - "Before retreating gloriously, at least show the power of England to those damn Bolsheviks!"

    So, Lord Admiralty Churchill took the order and began a new round of troop mobilization and assembly around the world.

    ¡ª¡ªHowever, compared with the British Empire, which still has some useful information in its pocket.  The other leader of this Far East intervention campaign, the French Republic, which is even weaker in strength and has a more chaotic political situation, is almost unable to gather the force that can be used to show off in the Far East

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    Paris, French Chancellery

    The exhausted and listless Prime Minister Edouard Daladier looked up from his chair and looked at the calendar.  It seems that I haven't been home for ten days.

    ¡ª¡ªAs the Prime Minister, you have to be on call around the clock, so you usually can only sleep next to the office like a patrolman on duty.

    ¡°The days at the French Prime Minister¡¯s Office are a repetitive and exhausting day, dragging your exhausted body around, and having to deal with various emergencies urgentlycompared to the president who lives in the Elysee Palace.  It's literally the difference between hell and heaven.

    In this position, the greatest happiness is to sleep at night, when you can forget all your worries.

    But when you wake up again, you have to continue to face various cold and confusing realities.

    Fortunately, the French Third Republic is a product of compromise, and even the prime minister is a product of compromise. The cabinet will always change frequently like a revolving door.  Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War.  The terms of office of most prime ministers of the French Third Republic were sadly short. From 1870 to 1940, the French Third Republic had a total of 108 cabinets, with the average duration of each cabinet being about 8 months.  Among them, the prime ministers with the shortest terms only stayed on the throne for a day or two Many prime ministers have experienced ups and downs, so there is generally no risk of death from overwork.

    However, Prime Minister Daladier still hopes to arrange everything in France as properly as possible before stepping down this time.

    ??In fact, in the 1930s.  Although the French economy has been hit by the global economic depression, it should be doing pretty well compared with Germany and the United States.  As early as 1932, France's economic recession was coming to an end.  Then growth and prosperity continued to resume. Recently, there have been very few troublesome unemployment frenzy and social unrest. Compared with Germany next door, it is like heaven

    Therefore, the French Prime Minister does not have any particularly thorny domestic social problems to deal with at the moment. The main trouble is just to deal with the endless criticism and cabinet rebellion campaigns by various political parties in the Parliament - until the tragic news from the Far East,?All the whitewash of peaceful times has been washed away!

    At this moment, the Minister of Navy and Colonization was holding a report sent from Vietnam: standing in front of Prime Minister Daladier: "according to the latest news from Haiphong Port, 85% of the entire Far East Task Force has  personnel died of sudden illness, many ships became unmanned ghost ships, and the ground troops that participated in the landing operations were completely wiped out. So far, the number of casualties in our army has exceeded 20,000, the entire Far East Fleet has been paralyzed, and there are about  Fifteen hundred people are trapped on Zhoushan Island, in a dilemma. But the battle between us and the Chinese Bolsheviks is not over yet"

    Prime Minister Daladier listened absently to this appalling bad news, while thinking about what kind of rebellion this would set off in the parliament - although a considerable number of these casualties were just worthless Algerian and Annan natives.  There are more than 10,000 infantrymen, but pure French boys This number may not have been a big deal in the past, but now it is enough to arouse the sensitive nerves of the public.

    ¡ª¡ªNo way, during the world war 20 years ago, the French rushed to the battlefield with full patriotic enthusiasm, thinking that they could win a hearty victory and wash away the shame of the Franco-Prussian War.  Unexpectedly, the result was that he struggled in a cruel meat grinder for four years and paid a heavy price in the form of more than a dozen provinces being reduced to scorched earth, more than six million military and civilian casualties, and the loss of an entire generation of young men.  Millions of disabled people were left behind At the end of the day, they were stabbed in the back by the British at the Paris Peace Conference, which basically wiped out the continental hegemony that was once easily available.

    Since then, the entire French society has not only been drained of blood, but also suffered from "war phobia": Since the cost of modern war is so painful and the harvest of victory is so meager, then why should we fight for the victory of a winner?  False name.  And wantonly throwing away the blood of millions of young men?

    "Haha, for a colonial conflict that happened on the other side of the world, tens of thousands of French boys were killed in one breath, half of the French navy was turned into undead ships, and a man who seemed to be a Jules Verne science fiction was involved.  The atomic bomb of the novel content"

    Prime Minister Daladier said with a self-deprecating giggle, "I can already imagine what kind of storm will break out in the parliament tomorrow."

    In the French Third Republic.  Overturning the government is not a part of political life, but the whole of political life. This weird republic accommodates all French political thoughts, left, right, conservative, radical, royalist, Bobanism, republican   Under a multi-party system, all cabinets are coalition cabinets, and the political foundation is extremely fragile. We can only live one day at a time.  It's almost impossible to get anything done.  And the prime minister, who seems to have great power, is just a temporary worker who takes turns. Only God knows how many months or even days their term will last.

    Due to the cowardice and incompetence of successive governments, many French people became increasingly disgusted. In 1935, a French fascist organization known as the "Cross of Fire" was born. The leader of this organization claimed to learn from Hitler.  Carrying out anti-Semitism and dictatorship, but without the ability of the Nazi Party, the result was that except for adding more chaos to the French political arena and further paralyzing the government, it hardly brought about any good changes.

    Amidst such confusion, Prime Minister Daladier led the French Republic and stepped into the pit of colonial war.

    Daladier is a standard French man.  Romantic and passionate, but his temperament has been worn away by decades of political struggles. The result is that there is almost nothing left except the heart of a French man - he is not weak.  But he is not tough. He is not radical enough, but he cannot be said to be conservative. He is a political figure who has been experienced in the political arena of the Third Republic, an opportunist like a walleye.

    Historically, Daladier was a steady man who tried his best to avoid taking any risks. Although his policy of compromise and appeasement towards Hitler during his tenure was repeatedly criticized by later historians, it was also a reflection of France's various mistakes during the First World War.  ReflectionAlthough it's a bit overkill.

    ¡ª¡ªFrance was frightened by the last world war and never wanted to fight a second one. This was the general mentality of the whole society at that time.

    Even if you are the Prime Minister, you cannot go against the current, go against the people's fear of war, and force them to another battlefield.

    Therefore, after discovering that the sacrifices on the battlefield in the Far East exceeded the worst expectations, and that a "conventional operation" to suppress the indigenous unrest turned into a meat grinder with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Daladier felt regretful.  He even thought it was the worst decision in his political career.

    Although he is not ignorant, according to the current world situation, retreat from any colonial battlefield may lead to the collapse of the entire colonial systemThere are internal chain reactions, but the world is always so helpless, and the French Prime Minister must first consider the strongest wishes of his own people.

    The French people of this era feared war the most, and longed for peace the most. As for the glory of dominating the European continent in the Napoleonic era, and the ideals of educating the world in the Revolutionary era, they have all been destroyed along with the numerous skeletons in the trenches on the Western Front.  The surviving French were forgotten.

    Therefore, after a brief hesitation, Prime Minister Daladier still picked up the pen: "according to the current domestic situation, after suffering such heavy losses, it is impossible for me to send reinforcements that satisfy the frontline commanders, and it is impossible for me to send reinforcements that satisfy the frontline commanders.  The Congress cannot be persuaded to continue to invest more resources and military expenditures in the Far East - the Congressmen are more willing to spend money to build the Maginot Line of defense on the German-French border So, let the troops from the Zhoushan Islands withdraw! That's all they have  People who live under the noses of red elements can do nothing but worry all day long"

    "This is a rational decision, Mr. Prime Minister. But what about the other battlefield?" The Navy and Colonial Minister continued to ask.

    "Another battlefield? Didn't I already give the order to abandon the concession in Guangzhou and evacuate the overseas Chinese from there?" Prime Minister Daladier blinked in confusion, and then suddenly realized, "Do the red elements actually want to attack Guangzhou Bay?  The idea of ??leasing the land (Zhanjiang Port)?¡±

    "Exactly, Mr. Prime Minister." The Navy and Colonial Minister replied, "The Red Army has just occupied Guangzhou, and it is still about 400 kilometers away from our Guangzhou Bay lease. But the problem is that we are in Guangzhou  The garrison strength of the Bay is extremely weak, with only about two hundred soldiers stationed in total, which cannot withstand a round of enemy attacks. The situation in Vietnam is also unstable, and it is impossible to mobilize troops to reinforce Guangzhou Bay"

    This answer made Prime Minister Daladier frown - in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and sacrifice, giving up a leased land that was surrounded and difficult to defend, even the most picky MP could not say anything.  But to give up a trading stronghold that is still far away from the war would be considered cowardly.

    "In this case, move the troops stranded in the Zhoushan Islands to Guangzhou Bay and use them to strengthen the defense there! Then look at the British actions in Hong Kong. According to common sense, the Chinese Bolsheviks' first target  It definitely won¡¯t be us¡­¡±

    Prime Minister Daladier finally made this decision, "Of course, if the worst happens and there is an irresistible attack, I also agree to authorize frontline commanders to make flexible arrangements, for example,  Declared Guangzhou Bay to be an undefended city"

    ¡ª¡ªFor the European and American powers thousands of miles away, this deadlocked war has given them such a headache.  And the Japanese Empire, which has suffered four nuclear bombs, is going crazy: especially when the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army put forward their negotiation conditions

    PS: Falling out of the top ten of the science fiction list!  Please vote for encouragement!
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