The sun never sets

"Ah, this is a good thing. We can go back to our old manor. The last time we went back, the grape trellis was about to fall down. We will tidy it up when we get back..."

Ludendorff was impatient with his wife's nagging, but he did not say anything to stop her. Instead, he began to think about how to write his memoirs, where to start, and what to write about. He had written "Total War" many years ago, so writing a book was not a difficult thing for him. As for his wife's words, they went in one ear and out the other.

He made sounds like "hmm" and "oh" from time to time, as if agreeing with his wife, but his thoughts had already returned to the battlefield filled with smoke and blood.

Germany was exhausted by the World War. After Hindenburg came to power, he had no good way to solve the various social problems. He could only use high-pressure policies to suppress various movements and thoughts. According to economists, if you want to solve social problems, you must create jobs so that workers have jobs. If they have jobs, they have food to eat, and if they have food to eat, they will not cause trouble.

This is a very simple truth, but the problem is that the country had switched to a wartime system in order to fight the war, and it would take time to switch back from the wartime system. Moreover, the domestic industries were in decline, and they had not been able to seize overseas colonies. Even if they produced goods, who could they sell them to?

There is no such thing as "globalization" these days, and all countries prefer to use tariff barriers. It will take a long time for Germany to recover from the aftermath of the war.

While Germany was struggling, the French Commune was not doing much better. The war destroyed agriculture and industry in northeastern France, and all overseas colonies became the territory of National France, which greatly weakened France's strength.

However, the French people did not give up the revolution because of the difficulties in reality. The French Commune used huge profits to carry out a violent purge of mainland France. The Great Purge destroyed the original ruling class in France and took all power into the hands of the trade unions.

Although it caused chaos in France in the short term, it cleared out the corrupt interest groups in France and constructed new production relations.

After hearing about the unrest in the French Commune, Germany was ready to move again and reassembled its army, seemingly wanting to interfere with its neighbor to the west. At this time, the Human Innovation Alliance had reduced its army to 200 million. The troops deployed near the Polish and German borders were only some militias and unarmored police, and the elite field army in Kiev and Minsk was only . If they could suddenly send troops to France, the alliance in the east would probably not have time to react.

But the German people had long been fed up with the war, and the General Staff's move to regroup the troops led to large-scale protests. The massive marches of millions of workers shocked the top leaders, and Hindenburg had no choice but to send troops to suppress them.

The German army slaughtered the leaders of the workers' movement, and a large number of left-wing people fled to France or went to the Human Reform League. Although the workers' movement was suppressed, the German army also lost the opportunity and courage to interfere in the French Commune. The German high-level officials, who were still frightened, focused their attention on the country, fearing that another workers' movement would occur.

The French Revolution was in full swing, Germany was unable to take care of itself, rebellions/revolutions broke out in Italy and Ottoman Turkey, and there were constant frictions in the Balkans. If the war had not left countries without the manpower and material resources to continue fighting, a new war might have broken out.

World wars did not solve problems, but instead created more problems.

While all countries were busy restoring production and developing their economies, the Hungarians within the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared independence. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a "dual system" country with an inherent tendency to split.

The predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Austria, which was ruled by the most powerful Habsburg family in Europe at that time. During its two hundred years of rule, it quickly annexed neighboring countries, increasing its land area.

It tripled in size and became the most powerful state in the Holy Roman Empire.

However, the expansion of the Habsburg family did not rely on force and military, but on marriage. Although this marriage model made Austria quickly strong, it also left many disadvantages.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was established, the "dual system" further increased the instability of the country. Since the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it has been jointly ruled by Austria and Hungary, but this dual system is inherently unstable. As the saying goes, "there can't be two tigers on the same mountain", perhaps the two sides could coexist peacefully at the beginning, but as the status of the Austrians continued to rise, the contributions of the Hungarians were seriously mismatched with their status, so the Hungarians had long since stopped wanting to work with Austria.

After the end of the World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not try to resolve the various contradictions in the country, such as religious chaos and language differences. Instead, it wanted to squeeze more surplus value from the Hungarians to make up for the losses in the war, which aroused the long-standing anger of the Hungarians.

Then, the Hungarians declared independence, and some other ethnic groups also declared independence, unwilling to be exploited and oppressed by the Austrians.

Multi-ethnicity, multi-lingualism, and multi-religion, any one of these three can increase a country's tendency to split. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had all three and suffered heavy losses in the world war, so it was not surprising that it exploded.

In the eyes of many people, the Human Innovation Alliance is just an enlarged Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it might explode at any time.

Chapter 692: Unbreakable Alliance

“If the ethnic and religious issues cannot be resolved, the alliance is likely to follow the path of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.”

After establishing the Human Revolutionary Union, Lin Yongchang "wrote" the song "Unbreakable Union" as the national anthem of the Human Revolutionary Union. "Unbreakable Union" is also known as "The Holy Union". In another world, the Soviet Union, which used this song as its national anthem, eventually fell apart.

Lin Yongchang does not feel unlucky because of this. If he did not do a good job, it is natural for the alliance to disintegrate. If the newcomers did not do a good job and caused the alliance to disintegrate, that is also natural. If the alliance no longer serves the people, it should disappear in the dust of history.

"How can the alliance, which is so powerful, disintegrate like the Austro-Hungarian Empire? No! It definitely won't!"

Comrades did not believe that the People's Revolutionary League would repeat the mistakes of Austria-Hungary. They listed many reasons, such as democracy, freedom, and so on. Lin Yongchang did not believe these words at all. Without the support of power, any sacred value was just a castle in the air. Therefore, the alliance must have trade unions and farmers' associations, and workers and farmers must have their own armed forces.

Politics is about compromise and game-playing. If there is no power, why should other forces compromise? Isn't it good to just take advantage of others and then put all the blame on them?

Lin Yongchang turned to look at Comrade Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and asked, "Comrade Lenin, what do you think?"

Because of his good attitude, Comrade Lenin no longer had to study and reform on the farm, but was directly appointed as a member of the Central Standing Committee and the Political Bureau of the People's Revolutionary League, and was able to participate in all the work of the league.

As for Comrade Lev Davidovich Trotsky, he also left the state farm with Comrade Lenin. However, Comrade Trotsky did not come to Chang'an to become a member of the Central Committee of the People's Revolutionary League, but left Russia and went to Paris. The revolutionary activities of the French Commune were in full swing, which was a good opportunity for Comrade Trotsky to show his talents.

According to news from the embassy in France, industrial and agricultural production in the French Commune recovered quickly and emerged from the difficulties faster than Germany.

Lenin looked around with a serious expression, and then said: "Chairman Lin is right, comrades, our situation is not optimistic."

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's Chinese was not very fluent, and it had that strange accent that only foreigners have, but everyone present could understand him.

"Comrade Lenin, do you have any evidence to support your view?"

[Human Reform Alliance] has 11 Central Standing Committee members who handle the administrative, military and diplomatic affairs of the alliance. Although in theory the National People's Congress is the highest authority, in reality all power is in the hands of the Central Committee members.

Among the 11 members of the Standing Committee, three were from Russia, and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was one of them. This made many people unconvinced. How could such a half-bald Bolshevik, who was once a reactionary, enter the Central Committee?

In the eyes of most Chinese comrades, Lenin is about the same as Yuan Shikai. Well, he is still better than Yuan Shikai, but not much better.

Therefore, whenever there is a chance, someone will attack him. The People's Party values seniority, but it values ability even more. The capable are promoted and the incapable are demoted. This is the tradition of the People's Party. If Vladimir Ilyich Lenin cannot prove his ability, others will not mind pulling him down from the position of the Central Committee Standing Committee.

Comrades all know that Chairman Lin encourages orderly competition within the Party.

Lenin calmly began his performance... speech. Comrade Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was very eloquent, and even better, he could often see the essence through the phenomenon and summarize various phenomena. When he led the Bolsheviks in the revolution, before each major action

, Lenin would engage in heated debates with his comrades.

Compared with Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev, the comrades of the People's Party are much easier to deal with.

Looking at Lenin talking eloquently, Lin Yongchang thought it was a good idea. In the future, he could let Comrade Lenin take on more responsibilities. This way, he could be more relaxed and would not have to be busy with specific things all day long. Instead, he could focus his time and energy on more important things.

But that will take some time, until Comrade Lenin has a sufficient understanding of Asian affairs. Both Marx and Lenin lack sufficient understanding of Asian history and culture. But if you want to do your work better, you must have some research on these things. You don't need to be very in-depth, but at least you need to know.

Lin Yongchang recommended many books to Comrade Lenin, mainly about the changes in Chinese history, politics and economy since the late Ming Dynasty, the impact of the two Opium Wars on China and Asia, and Japan's Meiji Restoration.

[Human Innovation Alliance] The biggest contradiction now is still the contradiction between the people's growing material and spiritual demands and the backward productivity. Therefore, as long as we continue to maintain high-speed development, we can solve some of the current development problems.

This is the official statement. In fact, religious and ethnic conflicts are also very serious. As for class conflicts, they have been suppressed. Workers have trade unions, farmers have farmers' associations, and they all have militia organizations. Class conflicts do exist, but they have been weakened a lot.

China does not have a theocracy tradition. Both Buddhism and Taoism have launched rebellions many times, trying to establish a kingdom of God on earth, but were suppressed. Later, Hong Tianwang learned Catholicism and raised an army in the name of God's second son, Jesus Christ's younger brother, but was also defeated.

In China, since the end of the Shang Dynasty, theocracy has never been a rival to secular regimes, and there has been no religious conflict. But this is not the case in the West, where the Vatican once pressed the royal power to the ground. There was once a French king who was excommunicated and had to kneel outside the Pope's door to beg for forgiveness.

If it were China, the Pope? How many teachers would he have? The Three Wus and One Zongs were very happy to destroy Buddhism. The [People's Revolutionary League] was also ruthless to religious forces. However, in just a few years, it is impossible to change the religious traditions of Russia and other ethnic groups.

Grand Duke Nicholas had no objection to any of the policies of the People's Revolutionary League, except for the one prohibiting the spread of Orthodoxy.

There is not only the Eastern Orthodox Church in the alliance, but also the Muslims and Catholics. These are stubborn and not as honest as Buddhism and Taoism. God and Allah are one and the same, both are monotheistic religions, have a tradition of fighting against pagans, and their headquarters are all outside the alliance.

Because the People's Revolutionary League suppressed religious forces, it encountered many troubles in both domestic and foreign affairs. Lin Yongchang would certainly not back down on such a fundamental issue, but he also wanted to know whether Comrade Lenin could find a better way to deal with it.

Comrade Lenin's ethnic policy had many side effects in history, but his handling of religion was relatively good. If the Soviet Union had not been in a very difficult situation during the Great Patriotic War, Comrade Steel would not have brought up the Orthodox Church again.

Chapter 693: Deism

Lin Yongchang did not think of completely eliminating religion, because that was impossible. As long as humans were bound by gravity, they would not be able to do that. After entering space, humans might even be more likely to seek comfort from religion.

People's Party members should seek truth from facts. If it is impossible to do it, it is impossible. Since it is impossible to completely eliminate the influence of religion, then limit it to a mild and harmless level. For example, Buddhism and Taoism in China are very good. Monotheistic religions also study philosophy or cultivate immortality instead of thinking about launching holy wars all day long. Isn't that good?

But Lin Yongchang also knew that even if he just wanted to suppress Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam, it would not be so easy. Orthodoxy was easier to deal with, but what about Islam and Catholicism?

That can only be done by turning both the Vatican and Istanbul into territories of the alliance, right?

So, should we learn from Robespierre's approach during the French Revolution and replace all kinds of messy religions with "deism" or something similar?

Deism mainly refers to the views of Western Unitarian Deists who have a Semitic monotheistic background and are influenced by it, rather than the views of Deists with a polytheistic background, such as Pandeism.

The religious view of deists is a religious philosophical theory that interprets God as an impersonal cause, also known as rational theism. This idea believes that God created the universe and the rules of its existence, and after that, God no longer has an impact on the development of the world (similar to the Brahmanism's interpretation of Brahma), but allows the world to exist and develop according to its own laws.

During the French Revolution, many revolutionaries were atheists, but the people had a tradition of believing in Catholicism or other gods. Robespierre vigorously advocated deism in order to make the people rational.

But unfortunately, Robespierre was eventually pushed to the guillotine, and Deism was short-lived and soon withdrew from the mainstream stage.

After discovering how much Europeans needed an omnipotent God, Lin Yongchang once wanted to bring out things like [Natural Deism] or [Scientific Religion]. Doing so should be easier than forcing atheism.

some.

But he quickly dismissed the idea because promoting atheism would be more difficult, so he should choose to do so.

There are no shortcuts in governing a country. Anyone who wants to take shortcuts will pay a higher price in the future. In the process of the alliance's development, some shortcuts have been taken, but sooner or later, the pits will have to be stepped on.

Well, it's not so absolute. Maybe some pits can really be jumped over? People don't necessarily have to suffer twice before they can understand the truth.

【Mexico】

The Iberian Trading Company led by Wang Hu has become a giant. Thanks to the World War, the business of the trading company is booming. As the boss, Wang Hu is very generous to his employees and gives them a lot of bonuses, all of which are green dollars.

In order to blend in with the locals in Mexico, Wang Hu gave himself a Spanish-sounding name, Franco, Franco Francisco. In addition, he also married a local Hispanic girl, who was born into a large Mexican family and whose ancestors were said to be Spanish nobles.

Having made a lot of money and married a beautiful wife from a prominent family, Wang Hu should be in high spirits, but he has been feeling depressed for some time.

All of this, money or a beautiful wife, is not what he really wants. Of course, beautiful girls are good, this cannot be denied, but what about ideals?

The order from home was for him to focus on making money and developing connections, and to stay hidden for the time being. Mexico was too far from the alliance and too close to the United States. He could only fight guerrilla warfare here at best. If he wanted to establish a base, he would be surrounded by the US military in minutes. Although Wang's division was defeated by the German army in Europe, it was because they were facing the world's number one army. In America, Wang's division was invincible.

Wang Hu understood this, but he still felt aggrieved. He did not come to Mexico to become a big businessman. If someone had a gun, wouldn't it be easy to make money? The organization gave him tens of millions of dollars in operating funds every year, so even if he ran the business badly, he would not have to worry about bankruptcy.

Doing business was originally just a cover, but now this cover is getting bigger and bigger. He, Wang Hu, a major general of the People's Army, has now become a big businessman in Mexico under the name of Franco Francisco. He has dozens of companies under him and has connections with the guerrillas, government authorities and Americans. But what's the use?

In order to hide his identity, Wang Hu tanned his face, but it was still different from the blackness of black people, so he could barely pretend to be Hispanic. Few people in Mexico knew his true identity, and most of his subordinates were replaced by local residents, which made the company's actions less resisted.

But it was useless. The Mexicans resisted less, but the Americans next door pressed down like a mountain, and the pressure on the Iberia Company was increasing. For example, United Fruit and other companies were almost omnipresent. Wang Hu's company was fine, because he had a backer behind him, so the worst that could happen was to print more dollars.

Life was not so easy for others. Because of the exploitation of the Americans, many local people fell into poverty. In order to make a living, a large number of Mexicans chose to grow "cash crops" such as marijuana and opium. Wang Hu felt that if the Americans were driven out, Mexico would have no future.

After the US military withdrew from Europe, it laid off a large number of troops. But it is still the overlord of America. If you want to clean up the influence of the United States, you can't just rely on guerrillas, you must have a real army.

However, Wang Hu's request to make a big news was once again rejected by the country, and he was asked to continue to lurk and accumulate strength.

"Honey, the food is ready!"

A girl's voice came from not far away. Wang Hu turned around and saw Delia - his wife - waving her arms. He stood up and shouted to Delia, "I'll be there soon."

17-year-old Delia was a beautiful girl. Wang Hu didn't love her, but he didn't hate her either. Since they were already husband and wife, they should just live like this. He looked around and said, "Captain, go to the water pipe and wash your hands. It's time for dinner!"

The man called the captain was a middle-aged man, a little thin, with a big Prussian beard. His name was Diego Alatriste, and he was the captain of the militia under Wang Hu. He did all kinds of work, and did it well.

Chapter 694 Rules

Diego Alatriste wiped his hands on his pants, "No, I won't eat. Boss, I came here this time to thank you, Igoni..."

"Let's not talk about that anymore," Wang Hu waved his hand. "Captain, it's all in the past. Over there... forget it. I'll go wash my hands and then have dinner together. I still have something to ask you."

Igoni Balboa is Diego's adopted son. He was involved in some incidents before. Wang Hu spent a lot of money to get him out and then sent him to Spain.

"But......."

"No buts. Captain, you don't want my brother to teach you how to give orders, do you?"

Diego looked at Wang Hu with his brown eyes for a while, then silently went to the faucet and washed his hands with soap. Wang Hu went to the kitchen to help Delia bring out all kinds of food, while Diego looked a little cramped in the yard.

Latrice was a skilled warrior, but he could never learn the elegant things.

Wang Hu is different. He can lie on ice and chew snow with the soldiers, eat fried noodles with them, and he can also appreciate high-brow works.

Delia was used to her husband inviting people to dinner. Although Diego looked like a dock worker, she was not surprised. She just asked, "Mr. Alatriste, what would you like to drink?"

"Any rum?"

"Yes. In addition, we have whiskey, brandy, and gin at home. Would you like to try some?"

"Bring out another bottle of belly gin." Wang Hu answered for Diego, "The captain should like this."

Delia took out two bottles of wine with brisk steps, put them on the table, and then divided the food between the two men. As she cut the bread, she asked, "Mr. Alatriste, Franco called you captain. Have you ever been a soldier?"

"this.........."

"Okay, Delia, the captain doesn't like to talk about the past, so don't ask. Sit down and eat."

Delia pouted her lips, looking a little unhappy, but she stopped asking questions. Wang Hu patted her palms, and the girl immediately smiled again.

"Captain, I heard that someone is selling opium in our territory recently. Do you know about this?"

Diego paused holding the croissant, "Mr. Franco, I don't know about this, but I will check it out."

"Oh, it's my fault. You just came back from Spain and you don't know about this. By the way, have you ever thought about staying in Spain?"

Diego's face was expressionless. "Spain...Spain no longer welcomes us."

"Well, I won't ask why you are not welcome in Spain. Captain, find out who is selling opium in our docks and factories, and bring me the one the Queen Mother ordered."

"What about the rest?"

"Follow the previous rules."

The old rule was to pour cement on it and sink it into the sea. After the Mexican government army was defeated by the American soldiers, local tyrants emerged and anyone with a gun could be a king. The US government was happy to see a fragmented Mexico, which was beneficial to their colonial rule in Mexico. However, after the proliferation of guns in Mexico, the threat of guerrillas also increased.

The Iberian Trading Company under Wang Hu's command has connections with many guerrilla groups and has thousands of armed forces itself, but he cannot raise the banner of opposing the Americans and can only continue to maneuver between the Americans and local forces.

But as U.S. troops withdraw from Europe to America, can those local forces in Mexico continue like this?