Chapter 1038: Passive Compromise

  Chapter 1018 – Passive Compromise

With the continuous unfolding of labor dispatch, the wave of unemployment was effectively curbed, social security gradually improved, and the situation on the European continent gradually stabilized.

Facts once again proved that: solving the problem can’t be solved, and solving the people who create the problem is the same.

Everything is moving in the right direction, and with such results, all sectors of society, except the ambitious, are satisfied.

Only the Japanese are not satisfied. The stabilization of the situation in Europe shattered all their illusions. Counting on the explosion of Spain became a bubble.

Not only is Spain unable to blow up, but there are signs of an explosion in Japan instead.

The “rice riot movement” has spread from Tokyo to the whole country, and millions of people have participated in this “rice grabbing” movement.

Although the Japanese government decisively sent troops to suppress and control the situation, but the blood can not stop hunger.

As long as the problem of the people’s stomachs could not be solved, the “rice riot movement” could not really stop.

The problem was that the economic blockade by the European Union had really begun. The Spaniards, under the banner of the Union, went around arresting “merchant ships to Japan”.

In order to deter capitalists, the Spaniards even created a blacklist of collaborators. No matter which country merchant ships, as long as it is proved to the Japanese government to transport materials, will be on the blacklist.

This is not a momentary anger, but really written down in a small book. In the future at sea when traveling, not encountered the Spanish Navy even if, encountered that will be waiting for the newspaper it!

Sea storms, pirates, the mystery of the disappearance of the Devil’s Sea, can be arranged on. These routines, as early as in the Anglo-Spanish maritime hegemony when the Spanish learned.

A profit of three hundred percent would be able to induce a capitalist to risk his head and commit any crime; but the Japanese government would have to be able to afford to give a profit of three hundred percent to do so.

Food was a major commodity, not just other goods. If we really give 300 percent profit, even if the food is shipped in, the Japanese people can’t afford to eat it!

Against this backdrop, continuing to stall for time is obviously not a good choice. Especially from the European Union to give the final withdrawal time is getting closer and closer, Ito Hirobumi’s pressure is even greater.

The bottom line is never meant to be breached.

Initially, the Tokyo government still wanted to leave a few small islands in the South China Sea area, and it was not in vain that they had traveled south.

Later found that it can not, Japan and the West hate knot big. Even if you leave a few small islands, once the main force of the Japanese army withdrew, do not want to be able to keep.

Cession can not be done, the Japanese government will target on the demand for compensation, that is: redemption fee.

Unfortunately, the Spaniards are also poor, can not expect them to lend money to the Japanese as a redemption fee, right?

Even if the government in Madrid was willing to compromise, the government in Vienna, which was the mastermind behind the money, was not willing to lend the money.

Bottom line, there is only a difference between once and countless times. As long as you break through the first time, you will be able to keep breaking through later.

By now, Ito Hirobumi no longer has the luxury of claiming reparations. As long as the Spaniards do not make trouble, so that they will be able to transport the scavenged wealth back smoothly on the line.

The Philippine Islands is a rich place, the Japanese army in the islands of wealth, may not be able to fill the war expenses, but fill half of the hole is still hopeful.

I can’t guarantee anything else, at least the food crisis in the country can be overcome safely. As for what the people on the islands will eat after the raids, that is not in their consideration.

The more critical the moment, the heavier the smell of gunpowder on the negotiation table. Every concession was accompanied by a large amount of lost benefits, which neither Japan nor the West was willing to accept.

As for the countries involved in the mediation, although each of them has made their position clear, but we still want to save face, mediators have a tendency to be just, directly down to participate in the tearing, that would be the next best thing.

The war between Japan and Spain involved the interests of many countries, help Spain is more out of political needs, want everyone to go all out is impossible.

A penny for a penny, Spain can come up with the interests, only enough to help everyone to wave the flag.

It was only through the good offices of the Vienna government that Japan was forced to give up the Philippine Islands. If you want to get more benefits, you have to fight for them by Spain itself.

Britain’s attitude is similar, to protect Japan’s nominal little brother not to be killed on the line, as for other details, that and the London government has nothing to do.

In a sense, to be able to do this step, Britain has been very interesting enough.

The British government led Japan south is to relieve the pressure for the French, to deal with the Austrian South Seas, but did not let the Japanese invade the Philippines.

Although after creating the established facts, the British government acquiesced in the result. But self-assertion is self-assertion, although the British did not say anything, but the heart of discontent is certainly there.

In a sense, the Japanese government’s self-assertion also disrupted Britain’s strategic deployment.

Had it not been for the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Spain would not have made up its mind to join the anti-French alliance; without Spain’s joining, the anti-French alliance’s strategy of siege on all sides would not have succeeded.

Without the convergence of strategic momentum, Napoleon IV would not have despaired, much less hastily dumped the pot and ran away.

If Napoleon IV did not run, France would not have surrendered so quickly.

If the French chose to die to the end, even if they could not turn the tide, then they would be able to drag on for a year and a half.

A year and a half may not seem like a long time, but it can do a lot of things. If the French had not surrendered so quickly, the British government would not have been so passive after the war.

Although this is a somewhat idealistic reasoning, some people can’t help but think so. At least in the London newspapers, there was no shortage of similar reports.

……

Ito Hirobumi said solemnly, “If your country continues to attack our fleet, then we will not be able to ensure that the handover is carried out in an orderly manner, and the consequences of this will all have to be borne by your country.”

Showdown.

The Japanese government’s biggest bargaining chip right now is this: the Japanese army occupies most of the Philippine Islands.

If Spain wanted a relatively intact Philippines, there would be no shortage of Japanese cooperation.

It is always easier to destroy than to build, and if the Japanese were given free rein, Spain would be left with a blank slate even if it recaptured the Philippine Islands.

Infrastructure aside, the hundreds of thousands of Hispanic hostages in the hands of the Japanese alone were enough to make the Spanish government throw in the towel.

European countries are watching, the Japanese naturally do not dare to play directly massacre. Do not dare to personally play massacre, does not mean that they do not have the means to lay their hands on the black hand.

The power of the European Union can be used to suppress the Japanese, but not to intimidate the indigenous tribes living in the jungle for many years.

Ignorant people have no fear, the Japanese as long as the provocation to fool a little, can borrow the hands of the natives to play a massacre.

As long as their hands and feet are a little cleaner, and they take themselves out of the massacre, the Japanese government will be able to get away with it.

To put it bluntly, it’s still not in everyone’s interest for the Continental Union to start a war for Spain’s benefit. As long as the facade is passed, no one will look deeper.

There’s another deeper reason why this can’t be pursued, and that’s this: when it comes to colonies, countries don’t have very clean hands.

It doesn’t matter if the people who died were indigenous, or Hispanic, there is no essential difference to the European countries.

In Spain’s current situation, it’s obvious that it can’t afford to be tossed around like this. If more than two hundred years of hard work were to be destroyed, it would be very difficult to regain its rule over the Philippine Islands.

Once the hands of the natives are filled with Hispanic blood, there will be no room for détente between the two sides. Even if it is just to give an explanation to the nationals, the Spanish government must retaliate.

As you go on killing each other, the Philippine Islands, which were originally able to contribute millions of guilders in revenue to the Spanish government every year, became a heavy economic burden.

Not only could the government finances not stand it, but the Spanish noble lords who were cut off from their finances, likewise could not stand it.

Of course, if a massacre really happened, the Japanese government would not want to feel good either.

Not only would it have to make a bitter enemy out of Spain, but also its international image, which had just begun to improve, would be destroyed. The notoriety of “brutality” and “barbarism” would make them “die alone” in politics.

Old Great Britain, too, would not hesitate to abandon them. No country in the European world will associate with them, at least for a short time.

In a sense, it was another big gamble. Ito Hirobumi was betting the future fortunes of both countries that the Spanish government would give in.

“It’s impossible!”

“It has never been the case that a robber robs something in his own home and his master cannot stop him. Every shipment of goods that your country now carries away is our wealth.

As a sovereign nation, the great Spain can never tolerate national sovereignty being trampled upon in this way, and we will not accept this threat.

Likewise, the righteous people of the world will not tolerate this.”

It could be heard from Federico’s slightly trembling voice that he was not at peace at this moment.

The Japanese government was crazy enough to gamble; however, the Spanish government was perfectly sane, and there was no way the country would take such a big risk.

At least the aristocrats and capitalists as vested interests will not allow this kind of thing to happen.

Federico, who is not strong enough, can only continue to pull the tiger skin of the Continental Union. Hoping that the intervention of the countries of the alliance, to eliminate the possibility of the Japanese desperate.

“Your Excellency has misunderstood, I am just stating the facts and have no intention of threatening.

We have a limited number of troops, and with the need to guard against your country’s sneak attacks, as well as dividing our troops to maintain the security of the island, we are really a bit out of our depth.

In particular, your navy’s constant attacks on our merchant ships have caused prices on the island to skyrocket, and the social order is on the verge of collapse.

As for plundering your country’s wealth, that is complete nonsense. We only transported our own luggage and supplies, and did not touch a single cent of your country’s.

Your country’s attack has seriously affected the progress of our troops’ evacuation, and the peace and stability of the world.

For the safety of the people on the island, for the traditional friendship between the two countries, and for the early elimination of misunderstandings. It is out of humanitarian considerations that I am reminding Your Excellency.”

Ito Hirobumi, who had entered the state, was clearly not a good master to deal with. Utilizing the art of sophistry, he took off the responsibility of the Japanese government.

In his mouth, the war of aggression identified by the international community turned into a trivial misunderstanding; the blatant plundering of wealth turned into a response to the withdrawal of troops from the European Union; and the naked threat was able to be turned into friendship between the two countries.

This kind of friendship, probably normal people can not afford. However, Ito Hirobumi still said it without changing his face.

British Representative Klaus: “The reason we are able to sit here today is to solve the problem. The core of the Philippine War is actually still the ownership of the Philippine Islands.

Now that the issue of the belonging of the islands has been agreed upon, the rest of the disputed issues are just minor matters of detail.

In order to be able to better advance the negotiation process and avoid another outbreak of conflict, I propose that both sides first sign a comprehensive ceasefire agreement.”

One had to admit that the charm of the British pound was just great. Even as the consul of Britain, Klaus still broke his back for “half a million bucks of rice”.

Thick skin is not the same as being able to solve the problem. Aggressive sophistry, of course, can prevail in the debate, but this is not a debate competition.

Ito Hirobumi, while suppressing the momentum of the Spanish delegates, also triggered the dissatisfaction of the representatives of European countries.

It is true that if a massacre had really occurred, we would have looked the other way, but you can’t talk about it. Not even if it’s just a hint. We don’t want to lose face!

“There are only interests between nations” is not always true. The governments that dominate countries are made up of people, and people have emotions in addition to reason.

If the representatives of various countries get too excited and become emotional, the Japanese government will be in trouble. In this regard, Ito Hirobumi was playing with fire at this time.

In this context, Klaus’s speech is very valuable. Clearly told the representatives of various countries: we have made concessions, the Philippine Islands to Spain, you can go back to the work.

As for the details of the problem, that is Japan and Spain’s own business. It doesn’t affect your interests, so don’t get involved.

Coupled with the heavy gifts sent out by the Japanese government, it is even more convincing.

Although it is “eat the upper, eat the lower”, but that is also to do things. Do not ask you to come out to support, the key moment to take a walk can always be right!

See Federico cast a look of help, Governor Chandler frowned, slowly said: “Signing an armistice treaty is no problem. But Sir Federico’s raising the issue of the Japanese army’s suspected plundering of wealth cannot be left unguarded.

I think it would be better to limit the number of ships that navigate each day, and then have everyone send representatives to form a supervisory group to ensure that vicious wealth plundering does occur.”

There was no way around it, the Spaniards were too underprivileged to go to the same gambling table as the Japanese. Completely pinning their hopes on Shinra’s intervention, Governor Chandler naturally had no choice but to propose a compromise.

If not, it can’t be that if Shinra comes out to Spain as a guarantor, the Japanese government must not dare to fish to death, right?

International politics doesn’t work like that. If you don’t strive for it yourself, don’t expect others to help you fight for it.

If the Spanish government is really bold, then at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives on the island and the ruins of the Philippine Islands, bet on the Japanese government not to dare to move.

Winning is a blood moneymaker, losing is an economic loss but a strategic gain.

Even if the Philippine Islands were in ruins, Spain would only suffer economically, and anyway, the economic crisis had broken out, so it couldn’t have been any worse.

In exchange for Japan, the enemy is rejected by the international community, and may even decline, strategically Spain is not a loss.

An uncompromising country that dares to fight to the death in defense of its own interests can definitely be viewed in a favorable light. It would also be a deterrent to other countries with ambitions for Spanish colonies.

Unfortunately, the Spanish did not dare to gamble. No matter how good the reasons are, the end result will be the same.

In the short term, perhaps this compromise was more favorable to Spain; but in the long term, this compromise was shaking the Spanish Empire’s position as a power.

The bottom of the list is still a list. By virtue of its position as a great power, Spain was able to make a living in international activities.

Once the loss of the status of the Great Powers, can not maintain the colonial empire is an unknown. Unlike the Netherlands and Portugal, which were able to maintain their colonial empires through diplomacy, the countries that spied on Spain’s colonies were not in Europe.

(End of chapter)