Chapter 1357 London Naval Conference

Although Serbia's defeat was mainly caused by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria's behavior made the Serbs even more disgusted. Of course, the more important reason was that Bulgaria was not as strong as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia was discouraged by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it still refused to accept Bulgaria.

But even so, Serbia can only vent its anger secretly. As the clear loser of this war, Serbia can only be angry but not speak out.

London.

"Mr. Prime Minister, do we need to follow up on the situation in East Africa and France? According to the East African government, related cases have appeared in our country and have been detained and isolated by East African customs." The British Secretary of Health asked the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister David said: "There is no need. It's just a small flu. There is no need to make such a big fuss. People are already quite dissatisfied with the government. Now is not the time to add fuel to the fire."

After the war, British Prime Minister David was significantly less affected than French President Clemenceau.

After all, although Britain suffered heavy losses in the war, its homeland was hardly damaged and its population loss was almost negligible. The population lost in World War I could be recovered in two or three years.

Of course, the casualties of colonial troops such as India were enormous, but for the British government, the death of Indians was the death, and it was not a matter of concern at all.

Moreover, to a certain extent, Britain has achieved its goal, unlike France which gained nothing. If the World Naval Conference led by the British government goes smoothly after a period of time, there is a high probability that Prime Minister David's support rate will see a wave of growth.

This is also an important reason why Prime Minister David is unwilling to learn from the French and East African governments' response to the plague at this stage.

Prime Minister David said: "What the people need now is celebration and rallies to vent the grievances accumulated during the five years of war. If we take tough measures at this time, it will be tantamount to rejecting the will of the people."

"Besides, I suspect that the East African government is completely exaggerating. We have not received any information about the outbreak of local plague. Has your Ministry of Health recently issued any relevant reports?"

The Minister of Health shook his head and said: "According to the feedback from lower-level agencies and medical institutions, we have not received any information about a large-scale outbreak in the country."

"Although the UK's medical resources have been relatively tight recently, our consultants believe that this is normal. After all, the war in Europe lasted for five years, and it is normal for the number of illnesses to increase during and immediately after the war."

The reason why British medical institutions and experts came to this conclusion is actually related to the location of the UK. After all, the UK is an island country, which to a certain extent isolates the flow of people between the UK and the European continent.

If the plague originally originated in continental Europe, then Britain would be affected with a lag.

After hearing the feedback from the health department, Prime Minister David said with more certainty: "It seems that at this stage we should not stand against the people."

"Controlling the epidemic will waste a lot of administrative resources and is unpopular. At least in the three weeks before the World Naval Conference, we should not impose too many restrictions on our people."

"After the World Naval Conference is over, even if there are problems, we will have time to deal with them. Besides, the situation may not happen."

All in all, Prime Minister David did not intend to make any big moves before the World Naval Conference, nor would he learn from Clemenceau's relevant policies.

Far across the Strait on the European continent, in the German capital of Berlin, Wilhelm II was also discussing related issues with his subordinates.

In the royal estate on the outskirts of Berlin.

"What do you think of the tricks played by the French?" William II asked his cabinet members.

Prime Minister Hermann said: "Your Majesty, since Clemenceau's hometown has treated this virus with such fanfare, perhaps we should also follow up. If the situation really worsens, we can reduce the losses."

Someone objected: "Your Majesty and Prime Minister, I do not agree with this view. What we should do most now is not to deal with a plague whose specific situation is unknown, but to speed up the liquidation of the Labour Party and Jews in the country."

"It can be said that since the end of the war, we have discovered that the Labour Party's infiltration of the Empire has reached an alarming level. If the war had not stopped, the Empire might have followed in the footsteps of the Russians."

"There are simply countless civilian labor organizations. They can be found in newspapers, factories, and governments. They have even infiltrated powerful institutions such as the military and police stations, and have a lot of say in society."

This is not alarmist talk, but the actual development of the Labor Party in Germany. After all, Germany is a region where the Labor Party is active, and it can even be said to be one of its birthplaces. Before the war, the Labor Party had already become a force that cannot be ignored in German politics.

During the war, especially in the later stages of the war, the German Labor Party was extremely active, because at that time all the attention of the William II government was on the front line, and it was unable to take care of these Labor Party members hiding in the dark.

This also led to the explosive growth of labor party organizations in the German rear, especially factory workers. The wounded and sick personnel evacuated from the front lines were most susceptible to incitement.

If it were before, William II actually didn't care about these German labor organizations. After all, there were many political groups in Europe that opposed the monarchy, and the Labor Party was not even ranked before.

However, the situation has been different since the Russian Labor Party seized power. Before the Labor Party successfully subverts a country's political system, it naturally will not attract much attention.

But the bad thing was that the Russian Labor Party succeeded, and they also killed Nicholas II of Russia, which was even worse. This was intolerable to William II, after all, he was also a monarch.

Before this, autocratic monarchs like William II actually believed that the Labour Party was mainly targeted by capitalists. After all, this was indeed the main political slogan of the Labour Party.

However, what happened in Russia clearly told William II that this group of Labour Party members were also the mortal enemies of the monarchy, and even if the monarch fell into their hands, his fate would be even more miserable.

So William II said: "Yes, at this stage, the most important thing for the government is to eliminate the domestic labor organization. This matter has the highest priority, followed by solving the empire's financial crisis and clearing and confiscating the illegal gains of domestic illegal businessmen during the war."

The German government's so-called solution to the empire's financial crisis was naturally to solve the empire's debt problem by "attacking the rich" and to obtain funds for the country's economic recovery after the war.

The Junker nobles were definitely not to be touched. Apart from that, the richest group in Germany was also obvious. The Jews were indeed the richest group in Germany. By liquidating this group, the German government amassed a lot of wealth.

This was a feast of spoils division for the Junker nobles. Under the leadership of the government, many of them easily acquired a large number of former Jewish people to open banks and factories.

This is also the mainstream practice of European countries at present. Because the war ended suddenly and there was no real winner, it was impossible to make up for previous losses through war reparations. In this case, European governments can only target their own wealthy people.

It just so happened that there was a special group in Europe who were very rich and made a fortune during the war. At the same time, they were not liked by ordinary Europeans, and became the vent for the resentment of people from all countries.

When Prime Minister Hermann heard what William II said, he still wanted to fight for it: "Your Majesty, the liquidation of organizations and groups such as the Labor Party and the Jews... will not prevent us from responding to possible plagues."

"Our infectious disease research experts tend to agree with the East African government's view. And from historical experience, it is an eternal truth that after a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic."

"So we should actively respond, rather than ignore this work for other reasons, and we can also take this opportunity to learn from France to block the border and control the flow of population, so as to prevent Jewish and Labor Party members from fleeing the country."

William II simply ignored the previous words, but the last sentence made his eyes light up. He said: "This way we can arrest these criminals more legitimately and avoid the loss of state-owned assets and the wealth of the German people."

"Hermann, your idea is good. It is understandable that we learn from Clemenceau's practices. At present, the most important thing is to fill the hole in the government's finances."

This made Hermann feel relieved, but it also successfully convinced William II to take this flu seriously.

The reason why Prime Minister Hermann was so vigilant about this flu was thanks to the lobbying of relevant German institutions and experts.

This has to start with Germany's developed medical industry. Since the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany's education level has improved significantly, and the field of science and technology is also in a period of explosive growth.

This also makes Europe the new medical center of Europe, especially with the help of chemistry and biology, and the concentrated outbreak in the medical field. Germany ranks first in Europe both in theoretical research on health and disease and in industrial scale.

Of course, this is not without its drawbacks. For example, Germany has become a country with a relatively serious abuse of chemical agents.

It can be said that the birthplace of the modern pharmaceutical industry is Germany. Germany's Agfa, Bayer and Hoechst are all world-renowned pharmaceutical companies.

Since the 1980s, dye companies and chemical plants around the world have begun to set up laboratories to research and develop new drugs. Both dyes and chemicals are Germany's strengths.

In the past, if it were not for the failure of the two world wars, Germany would definitely have been the leader in the world's medical and pharmaceutical industries for a long period of time, instead of being replaced by Britain and the United States.

This is easy to understand. The pharmaceutical industry is extremely profitable, but this also means that only powerful countries can control this highly profitable industry.

In short, Germany's medical institutions and experts had a great influence on Prime Minister Hermann, which led to his advice to William II.

…

Although a terrible plague that was about to ravage the entire world was brewing, diplomatic activities between countries did not stop.

January 15, 1920.

London.

The London World Naval Conference, led by the United Kingdom, was officially held. In addition to European countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Austria, foreign powers such as East Africa, the United States and Japan were also invited.

Except for Russia which was unable to attend due to special reasons, this World Naval Conference was considered an internal meeting of imperialism. Even if other countries wanted to participate in the conference, they did not have the national strength to do so. After all, only imperialist countries had the strength to engage in a naval competition on a scale that could affect the world's ocean pattern.

“Mr. Bruce, why do you East Africans wear masks over your mouth?”

Outside the venue, a group of people from the East African delegation attracted special attention because they were all wearing masks, which made them stand out from the crowd.

Bruce said: "We heard that there was an outbreak of plague in Europe recently, so this is the advice of our medical staff, and they said it might have some effect."

"Haha, even if there really is a plague, what use can a piece of rag have? I still suggest that your people take off this conspicuous thing!" said the receptionist.

Masks, or masks specifically used in the medical and health field, have actually not been around for long. There was a saying in the past that modern medical masks originated from the Far East Empire.

Of course, in Ernst's time and space, the country where medical masks were invented is naturally East Africa. Since the colonial period, East Africans have been accustomed to wearing masks when dealing with large-scale infectious diseases.

Medical masks are essential supplies for East African medical institutions. In East African hospitals, it is very common to see medical staff wearing masks.

However, the situation in Europe today is different. Many people do not agree that masks can play a role. This is even the view of mainstream European medical personnel. In other words, in the past, they have never seen anyone practicing medicine with masks.

Bruce, on the other hand, was not affected at all. He said, "No, thank you for your concern. Just think of this as a custom in East Africa."

He was too lazy to explain to these people. In fact, if the matter was not important, Bruce and other East African personnel would not be willing to attend this meeting.

After all, people gathered in this "epidemic area" in London are likely to be affected by the European influenza pandemic.

Bruce and others still agree with the news released by domestic medical institutions. After all, this is the experience accumulated in East Africa over decades of history.

In the last century, East Africa was a country where the plague was relatively rampant and prevalent. Facts have proved that when an epidemic breaks out, only a combination of attention to hygiene, wearing masks, disinfection, etc. can protect one's own safety to the greatest extent.

Of course, the behavior of Bruce and others was undoubtedly criticized by delegations from various countries, and for a time, the East Africans seemed to have become a laughing stock.

Many East African participants were so angry that their faces turned green. Bruce consoled them, "Just do our job and don't care about their opinions. When I was fighting in Africa, I encountered some plagues. Some of my comrades were the same as them. However, it has been proven that only by following the advice of medical institutions can some risks be avoided. Some people who didn't listen to advice went to hell early and didn't die on the battlefield."

Bruce is a soldier, so it is inevitable that he will encounter some special situations. After all, there will always be outbreaks of plague on the battlefield, which was very common in East Africa in the last century.

Therefore, Bruce has sufficient experience in this area, not to mention that the East African army often encounters some special tasks, such as blocking epidemic areas, dealing with corpses of people who died from unnatural causes such as plague, etc.

As a result, the East African representatives could only endure the rumors from other countries and ignore the ridicule in their words, which also provided the news media in Britain and other countries with a lot of good material.

For a time, East Africa became a laughing stock around the world, adding a laugh point to the London Naval Conference. However, after experiencing the baptism of the European flu in the future, they will no longer be able to laugh. Instead, those who laugh at East Africa today will become a laughing stock for future generations.

(End of this chapter)