"Your Excellency Minister, 20 billion Mark is simply not enough to compensate Empire for its losses. One hundred billion Mark is the Empire's Conditions." Feng Kidron Wachth shook his head repeatedly.
This is a good opportunity to blackmail French. How could you let it go so easily? If you let it go, you may never have such an opportunity again in the future. The requirement of the Emperor of the Empire is to squeeze out as much oil as possible from French. Germany Even if the war is won, a large amount of funds will still be needed to restore the domestic economy and digest the newly acquired territory.
For example, most of the large territories Germany acquired from Russia were in places with poor transportation conditions but rich resources. If you want to develop these places and make a strong contribution to Germany instead of becoming a drag on Germany, you have to invest a lot of money. Germany cannot get this money, so we can only find ways to pay for it in terms of war reparations. It is precisely because of this that Germany will try its best to squeeze these defeated countries and get as much war reparations from them as possible.
"Your Excellency, the total war reparations your country received from Russia is only 20 billion Mark, right? Why does France have to pay five times more war reparations than Russia?" Theophile Delcase said.
"Mr. Minister, I can answer this question for you. First, the damage and loss caused by Russia to the Empire is far less than that of France. Second, Russia is much poorer than France. Third, although the compensation Russia paid to the Empire Not much, but compensation was given from other places. For example, Russia ceded a large area of territory to the Empire. If France wants to exchange territory for compensation like Russia, I have no problem with that." Wachth said with a smile.
Theophile Delcasse suddenly stopped talking. The total territory of France is only 500,000 square kilometers. How can it be compared with Russia, which has 20 million square kilometers? If the Germany people were also killed on French territory, their losses would be huge.
"Your Excellency, 40 billion Mark. This is already twice the war compensation your country received from Russia. It is eight times the war compensation Franco-Prussian War your country received back then." Theophile Delcase said through gritted teeth.
"Fourty billion Mark? Not enough, let's do it like this. Sixty billion Mark! Empire has reduced by 40 billion Mark at once. This already reflects Empire's sincerity." Wachth said.
"Sixty billion Mark, this is still too high. French Republic can't afford such a large amount of compensation anyway." Theophile Delcasse said. Germany people are beginning to give in, which is undoubtedly good news for them. He hopes that the price can be lowered again.
The two parties haggled for a long time on the prices of 60 billion and 40 billion. In the end, the amount of compensation was set at 55 billion Mark, which was 5 billion Mark higher than the bottom line required by Oscar.
Even though Theofile Delcasse was unwilling to do so, he had no choice. As Germany's attitude became increasingly tough, he could only choose to compromise. Otherwise, once the negotiations break down, it will be very detrimental to France.
"Your Excellency, the amount of 55 billion Mark is really too big. I am not sure whether the government will agree to it. If French government is not satisfied with this amount, then I have no choice." Theophele Delcasse said.
"Of course, I can understand. However, I think your government will definitely agree. After all, this is the bottom line of the German Empire. If your government does not agree, then the Germany* army will continue to launch attacks." Wachth said.
Theophile Delcasse heard the threat in Wachth's words. However, he had no way to refute it. Who allowed Germany to take full control of the initiative now?
"The second condition is that German Empire requires French government to transfer all overseas colonies to the German Empire. After the defeat, France no longer needs to own those colonies." Wachth continued.
Germany has long coveted those French colonies. Although, the colonies owned by France may not be as rich as the colonies owned by Britain. But if you look at it in terms of area, it is no less than Britain. Compared to Germany, which only owns a few small, barren colonies, these colonies are already very good.
Before the outbreak of World War I, France had large colonies, including a large colony in Africa, a small part of India and islands in Indian Ocean in South Asia, Indochina Colony in Southeast Asia, islands in the Caribbean Sea and part of the colony in South America, as well as a large area of the archipelago in Pacific Ocean.
After these colonies are ceded to Germany, Germany will suddenly become a powerful colony Empire. A large number of overseas colonies will provide Germany with huge raw material production areas and overseas markets, allowing Germany's industry to further take off.
Similarly, these colonies are also very important to France. Of course they would like to keep these colonies if possible. However, French government has long had a consensus on this. Knowing that the war was lost, it became clear that these colonies could not be saved.
"Your Excellency, French Republic is willing to cede our colonies in Asia and Americas to your country. Can we keep the colonies in Africa? Anyway, most of those colonies are deserts and rainforests, and they are very poor. Even if Germany owns those colonies, they are of no use." Theophile Delcasse said.
Wachth shook his head. "The Empire's Demand is France transferring all its colonies to the Empire. There is no room for bargaining on this!"
Africa's colonies appear to be poor. But Emperor Qin Tian of the Empire takes it very seriously. For example, North Africa and the colonies in West Africa are rich in oil resources. They may not need to be mined now, but these resources will be very important to Germany in the future.
"Okay, Your Excellency. Since German Empire must want those colonies, in order to show our sincerity, we agree to transfer those colonies to Germany." Theophile Delcase said.
Wachth nodded, very satisfied with French's understanding.
"The third condition is that French government must cede all territory north of the Loire River and Corsica to the German Empire. There is no room for bargaining on this one." Wachth once again put forward a condition.