Chapter 59: Du Yue's Report

  "This report is for your eyes only!"

  When Zhang Yu was bored on a business trip, he remembered the red file that his brother had handed over to him before departure. But when he opened it, he found an additional note on the first page of the report: "What's so important!" Zhang Yu knew that even if it was a top-secret document, his brother wouldn't have emphasized it so much, so this time it must be something troublesome. He quickly put the file in his pocket and rushed back to his car to read it, where he could ensure absolute safety and confidentiality.

  "Alright, you two go down! I want to be alone for a while..." After opening the file, he saw that sentence written in red pen again. Zhang Yu immediately let Yu Ran and the others retreat, and he wanted to see what kind of thing would make Zhang Yu have to personally travel all the way to the United States.

  The two of them quickly got out of the car after they came to an understanding, and of course, didn't forget to close the doors and windows. The small sedan immediately transformed into Zhang Yu's temporary office. It was only then that Zhang Yu felt at ease and boldly opened the file bag, pulling out a thick stack of report papers that made up the special file report. After scanning through the red sentences, he finally noticed the special name, "On the True Nature of the First War". The general content of the report was as follows:

  June 28, 1914, was destined to be a special day, with good weather as usual. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, arrived in Sarajevo, Bosnia, which had been annexed by Austria in 1908, and was assassinated by a young Serbian assassin.

  If, as later accounts would have it, this was originally just a simple revenge plot by a terrorist organization, perhaps at the time no one realized that this was a profoundly meaningful "terrorist" action. Who exactly planned this action and for what purpose has become irrelevant with the passage of time, but in any case, this event did allow certain people to achieve their special goals.

  Putting aside the impact of Archduke Ferdinand's assassination, slowly reviewing the course of history can gradually reveal the truth about the war.

  After the Franco-Prussian War, France and Germany became sworn enemies. Britain, having long since abandoned its position as the dominant power in European politics, quickly befriended France on the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". The powerful German Empire was a formidable opponent for anyone, especially for Tsarist Russia, which shared a border with it. England soon took the lead in forming an alliance between France and Russia, ultimately leading to the formation of the Triple Entente, a mutual defense pact.

  The opponent of the Triple Entente, Germany, soon won over Austria and quickly formed an alliance with it, becoming a coalition organization opposed to the Triple Entente. The two major military power groups in Europe were thus formed, and a fierce arms race was inevitable. However, as the two camps continued to expand their armies and prepare for war, the high military expenditures of both sides reached tens of billions of dollars per year, leading to financial crises of varying degrees in each government. Yet no one dared to back down easily, so they continued to compete, and the power of time was endless. In the end, many countries became deeply mired in a quagmire of financial difficulties and were unable to extricate themselves.

  "War may come at any moment, the uneasy peace is precarious, but we have no idea when war will actually break out. The expensive military expenditures have already led to a mountain of government debt, and if war does not erupt, there is only one outcome left for each government: bankruptcy..." A French Ministry of Finance official who wished to remain anonymous thus stated the inevitability of war.

  The exorbitant military expenditure has finally become unbearable for the governments of various countries, and it seems that they have decided to put an end to this painful stalemate in a special way, making war seem like the only choice. However, all governments are worried about whether it is worth launching a war. What scale of war can resolve the sharp contradictions between the two sides, most importantly, consume the accumulated military supplies and win the victory? Of course, what they worry about most is whether they can gain benefits and dignity from this uneasy and extremely costly arms race, at least not losing money.

  What's most worrying is that both sides have been preparing for so long, the war machines are fully powered, and once the war starts, it will inevitably be a difficult-to-predict war of attrition. Does the government have the financial resources to support the war until victory? Even if they win, the opponent has likely spent a fortune on this war as well. A penniless loser won't bring any benefits to an equally exhausted winner, and may even become a burden. At that time, both sides will be like what Chinese people often say, "easy to get on stage but hard to get off".

  Between vacillation and endurance, time flew by like flowing water, and twenty years passed quickly, bringing us to 1914. The unstable and extremely costly peace on the European continent continued to stagnate, but the highly armed parties behind it, namely the governments, were already approaching the brink of bankruptcy. Each government had a large army and the most advanced weapons, and had established a complete war mobilization mechanism, but they simply did not have the ability to continue confronting each other - either war would break out or they would go bankrupt directly. The governments continued to hover between these two options, but at this time they clearly lost enough patience.

  However, on the other side of the Atlantic, there was an emerging industrial nation with industrial strength comparable to that of Germany. The huge industrial production capacity and rich resources made this country composed of adventurers begin to become restless, it is the United States of America.

  The tense situation in Europe has made adventurers smell the strong smell of gunpowder, but they cannot intervene in this strong dialogue between the two sides to participate in the game and gain huge benefits. Of course, all of this is just a means to make the war bigger. They are far from satisfied with a small war triggered by an assassination incident. If they fight, they will fight a big battle, which is their purpose.

  After the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, international financial adventurers were finally able to mobilize the funds they needed to intervene in European affairs. As a result, Morgan Bank's loan to France soon followed, with a loan amount of $100 million. The then US Secretary of State Bryan indignantly condemned this transaction as the most heinous crime against humanity, but in fact, the money really worked. The French government suddenly had $100 million in wealth available for purchasing American supplies or continuing war preparations. This event was dated August 3, 1914, the day Germany declared war on France, just eight days before England and France formally declared war on Germany-led allies.

  The US government was so opposed to this transaction because at that time, isolationism was prevalent, and Germany and the United States had no past conflicts in politics and economy, while Britain was once a sworn enemy of the United States. There were millions of German descendants in the United States, accounting for about 10% of the total population, who joined forces with Irish descendants who hated England, giving some influence to the US government, so the US government thought that everything happening in Europe had nothing to do with them and stayed out of it. However, greedy adventurers were not content with peace and insisted on joining the war to gain benefits for themselves and the United States, but in fact, everyone knew they were doing it for their own interests rather than for the country.

  The money-supreme America has long been a country controlled by many trust enterprise bosses, bankers and others. When economic strength and desire collide with political power, politicians have to make concessions because their political fortunes are inseparable from the invisible hand behind them, a pair of hands that can push the waves and help the rain.

  "On December 16, 1914, a man named Davison had a secret meeting with British Prime Minister Asquith, and they discussed for a long time... The result of the discussion was that on January 15, 1915, Morgan Bank formally signed a ￡10 million credit agreement with England, which was just the first loan! A British official who also refused to reveal his name revealed part of what happened."

  At this time, the European war has indeed developed in the direction that those Americans had hoped for. The Battle of the Marne quickly showed the world what a war between industrialized nations would look like and what kind of destructive power it would have. The tens of thousands of corpses left behind by both sides gave the best answer.

  The spring of 1915 brought no beauty, nor any hope to the people of the warring nations. Instead, after being pushed and pulled, Britain and France finally summoned up great courage, their joint forces bravely launching an attack on Germany's powerful army. The reason was that at this time, the French government had also obtained a large loan, "the cannons roared, gold poured in", with enough money, why fear the cruel war? Of course, this was also related to their own strong strength.

  The war had reached a point where, under the invisible hand of fate, adventurers had already provided nearly four billion dollars in loans to the Allied Powers. However, before this, in early June 1916, the British government mistakenly believed that the war had entered its final stage and that the Anglo-French army only needed to launch one more effective counterattack, inflicting heavy losses on Germany, which would inevitably lead the Kaiser to decide to end the war. Moreover, the great Royal Navy had gained a huge strategic advantage in the Battle of Jutland, and the army might just need to add a bit more effort.

  After a period of preparation, the Anglo-French army launched a counterattack on the Somme River. Whether it was to avenge the German army's atrocities in Verdun or to maximize enemy casualties and force the Germans to surrender, whatever the reason, the fact that the Anglo-French army conducted 7 days of intense artillery preparations is undisputed. In fact, the Anglo-French army set a world record in this war, firing nearly 1.2 million rounds per hour, exceeding the German army's record of 100,000 rounds per hour, and consuming nearly 20 million rounds of ammunition, only to end up in another stalemate with both sides.

  The failure of the Somme River campaign was equivalent to saying that the Anglo-French coalition had wasted billions of dollars in military expenditures, and also indirectly reminded their opponents that they had grown stronger and needed to be defended. This made future attacks even more difficult. Especially this war caused the Anglo-French coalition to consume a lot of fuel reserves for a long time, scrapped many vehicles, and did not achieve the expected results, but instead carried a heavy logistical burden on themselves. As a result, the two countries had no choice but to seek help from the United States, oil, cars, materials, nothing could be less.

  The theatrical performance of the Anglo-French coalition suited some people's needs, so when the war became even more frantic, they were the only ones dancing with joy, and at that time, the entire American nation was also going crazy because of a deal that had been despised not long ago. The snowflake-like orders shut up the government and changed the attitudes of many who initially opposed intervening in European wars, as interests had already brought about tremendous changes to everything.

  Good times do not last long, the British Empire that had been rampant in the world for many years and the Gallic Rooster that had dominated Europe for a long time could no longer withstand the continuous large-scale wars. The Battle of Verdun had already made the Gallic Rooster lower its head completely, and the Somme River would soon make the British gentleman lose his former pride. The war was already at a disadvantage to the Allies, and in order to continue the madness of the war, new blood must be added to the war, and this newcomer must have enough ability. Looking around the world, only America was left.

  England and France, two difficult brothers have been played out. To get more money, the British government announced that it would tax the interest income of US bonds held by British citizens, so almost all Britons immediately sold these bonds at a low price.

  The Bank of England was soon flooded with American bonds, and the British government immediately had the invisible hand convert them into a large amount of cash. The American people were naturally very enthusiastic about their country's national debt, so the British government again won tens of billions of dollars in relief. However, they did not realize that this small event had already changed the relationship between the two countries. England completely lost its creditor relationship with the United States, which it had held for over a century. Later, France followed suit, and America thoroughly recovered all US bonds controlled by Europe.

  It was then that America became truly independent, in other words, America could completely ignore the war at this time, because they owed no one and had no obligation to help anyone, but some people were unwilling to do so, fresh blood must be injected into the war.

  Excessive involvement in the war has already made America inseparable, and in the vast credits and trade, America has invisibly tied itself to the Allied Powers. The factories were originally limited in scale, but after being hyped up by huge orders, they must continue to need a large sales channel. Once any problem arises, many factories in the United States will inevitably face the danger of bankruptcy.

  Robert Lansing, Secretary of State at the time, publicly warned President Wilson and a large number of Congressmen: "If the Allied Powers led by Britain and France do not continue to receive loans and supplies, they will inevitably lose the war. And if they fail, we will not only lose all our loans, but also face production restrictions in our own industry, followed by industrial decline, idle capital and labor, large-scale business bankruptcy, factory closures, unemployment of the people, government financial crisis, and finally, what else will happen, I dare not imagine..."