Chapter 1661: 18.BABEL(13)

"My country respects Lapland's sovereign independence, territorial integrity and permanent neutrality. On this premise, the two countries will build a partnership of friendly mutual assistance and promote all-round friendly exchanges from the official to the private."
"Thank you very much. May I ask if this includes military aspects..."
"If your country requests it, my country will send military personnel to visit your country and discuss the establishment of an exchange mechanism between the two armies."
Baron Constantine von Bullwright became Santa Claus and generously met every request of Lapland Envoy Lord Ristor Katynde.
The dying lord is a determined patriot who speaks five foreign languages, including elven language, and holds a master's degree in finance and economics from Helsingfors University. What is surprising is that this intellectual also has a wealth of military experience. For a while, he squatted in the bunker near the isthmus of Karelia every day against the principality of the Principality.
Such a person will be sent to the empire as a diplomatic envoy. It is enough to show that Lapland's foreign policy and even national strategy are undergoing a major transformation.
Lapland is actually very entangled in which side it should fall, and even a high level of controversy broke out at this time.
Back to Albion, back to the empire, and maintain independence-the debate surrounding the three propositions did not come to an end until half a month ago. As Albion became more and more clear about his diplomatic attitude, "Neutral, but inclined "The diplomatic strategy has become the greatest common divisor. Then the anti-imperialist voice within the government quickly disappeared, and pro-empire public opinion occupied the majority. The diplomat dispatched this time was a firm pro-imperialist faction. The purpose is to win the favor of the empire, and hope that the empire can take the lead for Lapland.
Lord Katyn is well aware that the current situation is actually a confrontation between the two camps of the empire and the anti-imperialism. Lapland’s geographical location is very embarrassing. No matter which side it is facing, it will intensify the contradiction between the two camps, which will lead to a full-scale war. No matter who wins or loses by then, Lapland as the main battlefield is bound to be a scorched earth.
To prevent this situation, Lapland must remain highly neutral and never fall to any side. It would be better if it could be done side by side. However, considering the movement of the Principality and Lapland’s own national strength, in fact, it can only choose to defend the invasion of the Principality as much as possible, and at the same time try to maintain a friendly but non-aligned relationship with the empire, thereby achieving a terrorist balance and creating a living space for Lapland .
The biggest problem with this strategy is whether the empire is willing to cooperate.
Everyone knows that the empire is a complete realist, and everyone knows that the purpose of the empire's convening of this joint meeting is to reach a compromise with the nations. Supporting Lapland is clearly contrary to this goal. At this time, it is completely a gamble to give your destiny to the empire. If the empire makes up its mind not to go through this muddy water, even if the poor Lapland has the material resources of the country, Unable to win the empire.
Lapland was lucky, they bet correctly.
The empire looked at Lapland's little abacus, but they didn't mind it.
For the empire, Lapland is both an obstacle to the east and a barrier to the west from the principality. If the empire's strategy is to move east and then west, then land and sea, then annexation or actual control of Lapland is an urgent matter. In fact, the empire has already established the west first and the east first, that is, after the war, it took six to eight months to completely level Albian, then swept the east, and used a high intensity blitz of nine to eighteen weeks to completely occupy The heartland of the Principality, and the industrial zone built by the East of the Principality is included in the attack range of medium bombers. After that, rubbing flat or rubbing round is a matter of one sentence.
To realize this strategy, there is a premise that both the defense forces in Lapland and the eastern empire must persist for more than half a year after the war. This makes it practically impossible for the empire to abandon Lapland and at the same time it is impossible to mobilize more precious resources and Troops entered Lapland and confronted the Principality. In this environment, using the transfer of technology patents and investing money to help Lapland, politically guaranteeing Lapland's sovereign independence and permanent neutralization has become the option most in the interests of the empire.
But the empire also knows that even if the international situation and the advice of Albion are concerned, the Principality may eventually sign the convention, but then there will always be an excuse, such as the disappearance of soldiers patrolling, the bombing of the railway, and the appearance of Lapland. The army captured the village on the border of the country, or randomly fired several shells on the territory of the country, and then expanded the situation in one breath and invaded Lapland. In this way, regardless of whether the parties are willing or not, in the end, because of the constraints of the treaty and the protection of their own security interests, the general mobilization will be launched one after another, and the next step is the inevitable war.
The Empire will certainly not allow this to evolve, but they must also ensure the neutrality of Lapland, for which an international convention is essential. After repeatedly weighing between the dilemmas, the emperor finally made a decision.
An international convention that guarantees Lapland’s neutral status, but it leaves a gap between the principality and an idea that can be used.
If the previous plan corresponds to the "London Treaty", then Li Lin's current plan corresponds to the "Washington Treaty".
After signing the Treaty on Limiting Naval Arms on February 6, 1922, Admiral Ernest King of the US Navy had a bitter but appropriate comment on this treaty: "In Japan's entire diplomatic history, there has never been Having won such an important and costly overall victory as at the Washington Disarmament Conference. It has gained an international status that it needs to fight for 50 years, and it can be done without bloodshed, even emotionally...not Forget, today Japan has absolute hands in the Pacific and Asia, and this is what we gave him in the treaty of the Washington meeting."
The Admiral's speech was somewhat of a grumble, but against the later history, his remarks were not excessive.
The Washington Treaty forced the United States to terminate the construction of bases in Guam, the Philippines, Aleutian and other frontier posts close to Japan. The safety of Japan’s domestic and surrounding waters was highly guaranteed. This is the first time since the US Perry fleet knocked off Japan in 1853. Japan won the unshakable maritime hegemony in the Western Pacific region. In the later wars, the Philippines and Guam were quickly captured by the Japanese army at the beginning of the Pacific War. It was not until a year before the end of the war that the US military recovered the two places at a heavy cost.
Li Lin will not repeat the story of the American tiger breeding problem, but it is not consistent with his usual style to put such an excellent material without using it.
In the end, Li Lin gave a wonderful mixture of "London Treaty" and "Washington Treaty".
In the new version of the international conventions, all signatories unanimously recognize and respect the independence, territory and sovereignty of Lapland, and abide by the principle of "open doors in Lapland or equal opportunities for business and industry in all countries." At the same time, the three major powers constitute an international bank consortium for Lapland. All loans granted to Lapland are the responsibility of the consortium (in fact, monopoly), and the consortium supervises and partially controls the use of loans.
Li Lin is very clear that the above principles basically meet the Principality's bottom line, especially the slogan "open door"-the Principality will definitely explain it with its own logic. The so-called "gateway development" is the opening of Lapland's doors to the Principality, and the market and resources are really open for them to plunder. With the temperament of the Principality, even after signing a treaty, even the official voice repeatedly guarantees respect for the principle of territorial integrity of Lapland and equal opportunities for open door, but this does not prevent the Principality from eating away Lapland’s territory, expanding its sphere of influence, and excluding foreign industry and commerce.
It is this effect he wants.
"We will not create disputes, but we will create hidden dangers of disputes. We only need the Principality to do things ourselves and throw them directly on Albion’s face. The lords of Albion no longer have to deal with the Principality. Has been arguing noisily for several months."
"Of course, the banking consortium is our dominant, but we can increase Albian's share in it. Once the principality obstructs the operation of the banking consortium and squeezes out foreign industry and commerce, it is actually squeezing out Albian's influence. The nobles with interests will not feel that this is a manifestation of kindness and love, nor will they think that this is the attitude they should have toward allies."
"Covenants are actually very fragile in the face of conflicts of interest."
"As for Lapland, the Empire will of course make every effort to ensure his independence, territory, sovereignty and integrity, and provide the technical patents and various commercial loans they need. In contrast, Lapland will also open the market to the Empire and guarantee that it will not join any. Among the military, political, and economic alliances for the empire."
The emperor's plan was unanimously supported by military and political leaders~EbookFREE.me~The Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed even more confidence than the military. At an internal meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a group of diplomats shouted the emperor's plan.
Is there a more perfect plan than this?
Lapland received a convention guaranteeing independence and permanent neutrality; Albion maintained the alliance and gained access to Lapland’s financial and commodity markets; the Principality was guaranteed
open door, equal opportunities
— Every country seems to get what it wants, but in reality only the empire is the one who really benefits.
The Congress contorted the "open door" and continued to erode Lapland, which is equivalent to pushing Lapland even more to the empire. In addition, the exclusive behavior of the Principality in the commercial field is not only directed against the empire, but is actually directed against all countries, including Albian. Its ultimate goal is to annex Lapland, control all resources in its own hands, and prepare for war with the empire. However, this behavior not only hit Albion's face, but also directly damaged Albion's interests. The accumulation and fermentation of these contradictions will eventually become a wedge to destroy the alliance between the two countries.
As for the empire, all you have to do is to promote the convention, and as long as you act as a leader who faithfully abides by the convention, fulfills the provisions, and is willing to listen to Lapland’s complaints and Albian’s complaints. The rest of these things will be done by these countries themselves.