May. Under the bright sunshine of Spain, the sea breeze blew across the pale yellow sandy beach and into the hotel balcony, making Sir John Jordan feel very peaceful.

Compared to the air in large British cities mixed with the smell of industrial pollution, and the scent of seawater mixed with industrial wastewater, industrially underdeveloped Spain was truly relaxing. Here, there were the minimum services provided by an industrial society, yet also a pastoral landscape. Moreover, there was ample sunshine here, unlike the damp cold of the British Isles.

At this moment, a messenger riding a mule passed in front of the hotel. Seeing Jordan sitting at the table on the hotel balcony, the messenger raised his hand to greet Jordan. Jordan also waved to greet the simple rural messenger.

The messenger stopped in front of the hotel, took a few letters, and walked up to the balcony. "Mr. Jordan, these are your letters."

Jordan invited the messenger to sit down and poured him a glass of wine. He put on his glasses and picked up the letters; some were from his hometown, and some were from the university that accepted his donation of collections. Opening the letter from the university, the university library expressed gratitude to Jordan, thanking him for donating a portion of the materials from when he served in diplomatic posts in the Far East, which gave great help to the university's research on the history of this period, so...

A sound of a car engine came from the distance. This was not common in the rural areas of the Spanish seaside. Both Jordan and the messenger turned to look, only to see a car heading straight for the hotel, kicking up a trail of dust behind it. It stopped in front of the hotel, and two guys who were obviously civil servants stepped out of the car. They were British.

Jordan probably guessed it; his leisurely retirement was over.

The visitors were British Foreign Office personnel. Taking the documents they delivered, Jordan flipped through them for a moment, then looked up. "Does the Foreign Office want me to return to China again?"

"Your Excellency, the Foreign Secretary asks you to return to London." The Foreign Office staff respectfully conveyed the order to the senior predecessor.

Jordan did not answer immediately. If he was unwilling to come out of retirement, the British Foreign Office could do nothing. No normal country would use coercive means to force a seventy-year-old man to fight on the diplomatic front line.

As for whether Jordan himself was willing to come out, that depended on what situation he was facing. Jordan continued to read the documents. The first one was an assessment report written by several British units in China regarding the current war between the Northeast and Japan.

'...Given the current situation, there is no possibility of the Japanese government winning the war. Similarly, since the Northeast Government has no navy, Japan will not be defeated either. Therefore, the Japanese government has the opportunity to choose peace.

In the current war situation, the Japanese government needs to maintain a transport line 1,000 miles (about 1,500 kilometers) long. Every day, the Japanese government is paying huge expenditures. The greater the expenditure, the less likely the Japanese government is to choose peace, rather than the opposite. This war has already become a huge burden for the Japanese government and will likely lead to disastrous consequences for the Japanese economy.

...

The Northeast Government is the provoker of the war and has conducted detailed research and preparation for every step of the war. Especially the Yalu River defense line; after invading Korea and annihilating a large number of Japanese troops, making it impossible for Japan to actively sue for peace, they used this solid defense line to force the Japanese army to deploy over a million troops along the Yalu River, unable to advance or retreat.

Recently, the Japanese army and the Northeast Army have engaged in artillery duels between siege cannons and fortress cannons, making the situation even more dangerous and unpredictable. Up to now, the Northeast Government has announced that they have 80,000 dead and missing, and 170,000 wounded. The Japanese army has over 750,000 casualties. Interestingly, the figures announced by the Japanese side are similar to those of the Northeast Army, only swapping the title of the losing side.

According to judgment, our country is more inclined to agree with the figures published by the Northeast Government.

...

Japan's population is about the same as France's, but its industrial strength is far inferior to France's. Its capacity to withstand war is also inferior to France's. France belonged to the Entente side during the Great War and could receive support from the Entente Powers. Currently, Japan does not have such military allies and must deal with the war alone. According to analysis, Japan's limit of endurance is roughly one-third that of France.

France mobilized 7.9 million people to participate in the Great War, with 1.24 million killed in action and about 3.8 million wounded. According to the assessment, the limit of casualties the Japanese army can withstand is 420,000 killed in action and 1.3 million wounded, totaling 1.72 million casualties.

The current casualty figures of the Japanese army are approaching the upper limit.

...

Over the past few years, the Northeast Government has opened up a huge number of farms and pastures. Even with the continuous war on the front line, the Northeast Government can actually obtain a certain degree of support from the entire China, especially labor support. Due to the terrible management capabilities of the rulers in North China and South China, over 400 million Chinese people live in hardship. The large number of employment opportunities provided by the Northeast Government can change the living conditions of these Chinese people.

In the long run, as long as the Northeast Government does not fail militarily—that is, holds the Yalu River defense line and does not take military risks to counterattack Korea—the balance of power between the Northeast Government and Japan will gradually favor the Northeast Government. Especially since the Japanese government must achieve victory in the war, the Japanese government has to conduct military adventures for the sake of victory, carrying out large-scale attacks on the Yalu River defense line. Once the large-scale attack on the Yalu River defense line fails, the Japanese government's prestige and capacity to endure will be pushed to the limit of wavering.

...

Based on the analysis, we have reached the following conclusion. This war will likely last for two years, but it is unlikely to go into the fourth year. The Japanese government is unable to sustain such a high-consumption war.

Once the war ends, the Northeast Government led by He Rui will surely gain huge prestige, and subsequently quickly unify North China.

If the situation in China develops to this stage, the interests of the British Empire in China will be challenged. Especially on the issue of whether the He Rui regime will accept the Boxer Protocol, no optimistic judgment can be made.

The Boxer Protocol is the current diplomatic foundation between Britain as well as the Western world and China. The signing of the Boxer Protocol was based on the extreme political and military weakness of the Manchu Qing government. There is a huge gap between that and the current situation. Whether the Northeast Government can be integrated into the world order through diplomatic efforts based on the Boxer Protocol is a task that must be considered starting now.

...'

After reading the report, Sir John Jordan felt that his energy had been consumed a lot. However, Jordan forced himself to cheer up and read some other reports. these reports were analyses in the political, economic, and military fields. It could be seen that that summary report was derived based on the analysis of these professional fields.

Jordan put down the documents, took off his glasses, rubbed his somewhat sore eyes, and then asked, "I think that the current Minister to China being able to write such a report is enough to prove that Minister Alston has outstanding diplomatic ability. What is the reason for the Foreign Office sending you here?"

The two British Foreign Office personnel who came to persuade Jordan to come out of retirement looked at each other with some difficulty. The leader said, "Your Excellency, the Northeast Government currently actually refuses to conduct any negotiations regarding the political aftermath with Minister Alston. Minister Alston requested London to have you go to China as a Plenipotentiary Special Envoy to coordinate."

Jordan really didn't want to go. As long as he recalled the various things about that little fox He Rui, Jordan felt a headache. All means against traditional Chinese power holders were useless in front of He Rui. He Rui didn't even look much like a European monarch; European monarchs themselves did not possess professional and excellent political, diplomatic, and military capabilities.

Seeing Jordan's expression, the British Foreign Office staff member who came to persuade him simply said, "Your Excellency, recently inflation in Germany has reached an appalling level. The government is contacting the United States, hoping to curb France's extraction of Germany."

Jordan had intended to completely detach himself from politics and spend his remaining years in peace. Hearing this, he had to cheer up. Sir John Jordan, who had been detached from the mundane world for a few months, braced himself and asked, "How bad is the situation?"

"Inflation in Germany is already between several thousand and several tens of thousands of times," the diplomat replied.

Jordan thought he heard wrong. The old man who had stayed in a small town in the Spanish countryside for a few months laughed, "Is it several thousand percent? Or several tens of thousands of percent?"

The two British Foreign Office staff members looked at each other with difficulty again. The leader emphasized again, "It is several thousand to several tens of thousands of times. Not several thousand percent to several tens of thousands percent."

Jordan was stunned. He never expected the changes in the world to reach such a crazy level.

August 14, 1923, the cruise ship Jordan took finally arrived in Tianjin. On the cruise ship, Jordan paid attention to the latest world news every day, hoping that nothing more outrageous would appear.

The silver lining in the misfortune was that the current world at least maintained the basic status quo. The misfortune was that the chaos of the current world had not changed.

The cause of this crisis came from the Treaty of Versailles. France hoped to completely crush Germany through the Treaty of Versailles, making Germany's territory and political structure return to the appearance of 1860. Britain did not want to see France dominate alone, so it pulled in the United States, which was trying to have its own place on the world stage, to join together, and finally came up with the Treaty of Versailles in 1921.

Since the positions of Britain, France, and the United States were different, they could only seek common ground. So they found the final common ground: "Make Germany pay money."

Germany was saddled with heavy debts by the Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar government did not have the ability to repay the debts and began to let things rot in 1922, defaulting on debts by realizing inflation. It not only defaulted on the huge debts imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles but also defaulted on the debts to be paid when the bonds issued domestically during the war reached their redemption period.

Thus, Germany's inflation was no longer a runaway wild horse, but shot straight into the sky like the Northeast Army's aircraft.

The German marks needed to buy a loaf of bread already required a wheelbarrow to push a cart of banknotes. The officials of the German Weimar government, on the other hand, displayed the rigor and efficiency of Germans. They did not waste resources to produce a large number of banknotes but directly stamped the back of the banknotes. Each stamp indicated that starting from Year X Month X Day X, the use value of this banknote increased by XXXX times.

Apart from the crisis in Europe, the situation in Asia did not improve. The Japanese shelling obviously did not destroy the Northeast's Yalu River defense line. Japan organized another attack. Although this attack was initially propagated very grandly in the newspapers, it ended anticlimactically with no follow-up. Presumably, its effect was very terrible.

Jordan understood that this attack made Japan take another big step towards the direction of being unable to hold on.

After disembarking in Tianjin, Jordan met the current Minister to China, Mr. Alston, at the pier. Jordan was not reinstated to his original post but served as the British Plenipotentiary Special Ambassador. In terms of rank alone, he was higher than Minister Alston, but there was no subordinate relationship between the two. Jordan came for a special mission.

Right at the port, Jordan gave Alston a task, "Please immediately telegraph the news of conferring the title of Knight Bachelor to Mr. Morrison. I will represent the British government to personally go to Shenyang to confer the honor on Morrison."

Britain is a country that pays attention to titles and honorifics. Therefore, in interactions with British people, or in our English practice, understanding some knowledge about British aristocratic titles and honorifics is undoubtedly very necessary.

According to British tradition, the Queen (or King) can confer a certain noble title on someone based on the proposal of the Prime Minister, but the number of people receiving the title is limited, about within 20 people per year.

Once he had the title of Knight, Morrison would be a British noble, which could be inherited by his descendants. (Only after 1958 was it allowed to confer non-hereditary "life peerages" on a certain individual.)

Minister Alston went to arrange it immediately. On August 19, Jordan finally arrived in Shenyang. Compared with earlier years, Jordan did not receive any reception specifications exceeding his status. Even regarding the reception specifications, the Northeast Government chose a specification slightly below medium within a reasonable scope.

Jordan did not expect that he would be forced to return less than a year after leaving China. He had mixed feelings in his heart. After several layers of reception procedures, Jordan finally met He Rui. He Rui looked somewhat different from when he last saw Jordan. There were already a few white hairs in his black hair, and there was also exhaustion in his expression.

But overall, this haggardness was unexpectedly quite fitting for He Rui's status and position in the Far East at this time. Shrewd yet weary, noble yet facing difficulties.

Jordan had wanted to say something to He Rui, but seeing He Rui sitting calmly opposite him, thinking that whatever he wanted to say was within He Rui's expectations and calculations, Jordan actually couldn't speak.

After two minutes of silence, seeing He Rui remained composed, Jordan finally forced himself to break the silence, "Your Excellency He Rui, how have you been recently?"

He Rui revealed that kind of seemingly very innocent smile, "Mr. Jordan, I have always been very well. You came from Europe; I would very much like to ask, how is the situation in Germany recently?"

Jordan sighed in his heart. Just as he expected, He Rui knew the world situation very well.