Back to the Republic of China as a commander

In the sixth year of the Republic of China, on May 1917, 5, with the Chinese European Expeditionary Force Commanded by Bai Chongxi, the Third Division Xia Wei Division and the Fifth Division Ye Kaixin Division inserted the tiger flag representing the Youth Army on the roof of the tallest building in Metz At that time, the entire historical trend of the First World War changed subversively.

When Bai Chongxi and de Gaulle inspected the warehouse of the German army together, he immediately realized that he had stabbed a hornet's nest.Mace's geographical location is not only important, but Bai Chongxi is stunned by the various materials and equipment it reserves. It is estimated that the whole of China's ammunition piled up is not as good as other people's.

And the more ridiculous thing is yet to come. A German lieutenant colonel named Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst and his troops were brutally attacked by Shaw's troops. captured.And a local man bravely told the Chinese people that this German military official with a long name is the crown prince of Wilhelm II of Germany, and by Chinese standards, he is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.At that time, Wang Tianpei, the head of Xia Wei's team, was taken aback for a moment. The thin German in front of him is the future emperor of Germany. Haha, he has made a great contribution this time. . .

When he heard the good news, Bai Chongxi smiled at de Gaulle in a slightly teasing tone: "Charles, I don't think we need to march towards the German mainland to attract the Germans to return to the army, because we have already provoked a big enough The trouble is so big that if we stay where we are, they will come to us. Tell Paris the damn good news, now we need their help."

De Gaulle almost jumped to the world when he heard the news. You must know that the most shameful thing for the French in the Franco-Prussian War was not the cession of Lorraine and Alsace, but the capture of Napoleon III.But this time the bold action of the Chinese not only allowed him to appear in Lorraine, but even more amazing was that he actually captured the German crown prince. Such a good deed is almost equivalent to winning a 500 million lottery jackpot.

After de Gaulle was happy for a while, he still told Bai Chongxi calmly: "In any case, we should give His Royal Highness the corresponding prisoner of war treatment."

Bai Chongxi nodded and said: "Yes, then please take someone to bring this Friedrich William Victor O... It's too long, please bring it to the headquarters."

De Gaulle happily took Bai Chongxi's guard company over to pick them up, but Bai Chongxi frowned and thought for a while: "Record!"

The three staff officers immediately got up and prepared to record.

Bai Chongxi walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back and said: "The first order is to order General Jiang Baili to launch the plan in advance. Our expeditionary force will recover the abandoned line of defense as soon as possible, and attack and consume the retreating German troops, especially ammunition. Consumption; the second order, order Liao Lei's first division and He Yingqin's fifth division to move closer to Lao Tzu immediately, don't go to Nancy, you can give up the heavy equipment, just come here in time; the third order, to the staff Chief of Staff Zhu Zhixin gave a briefing on the battle situation, saying that we captured Metz, captured the German crown prince, and asked him to go to Petain, and now it is the French's turn to contribute."

Bai Chongxi's thinking is very straightforward. In this situation, even if there is no German crown prince, the Germans must retreat.The reason is simple. After two days of fighting, the Germans must have lost a lot of supplies. Looking at Metz's warehouse situation, it is estimated that these Germans are about to jump now.If you were the supreme commander of the German army, the most correct approach at this time should be to withdraw quickly while the troops still have some supplies in their hands, so as to block the possibility of your army entering the hinterland of Germany through Luxembourg.But now that the crown prince has also fallen with Metz, it is estimated that what the Germans who admit death can do is to attack Metz at all costs, unless the hot-headed William II suddenly feels that he has many sons, the crown prince can do it More or less.

Bai Chongxi looked at the map seized from the German army, which was much clearer than the map drawn by the surveying and mapping soldiers of the expeditionary army.

The German army will definitely retreat in a hurry, and those who are good at leading troops know that in military operations, organizing a retreat is much more difficult than organizing an attack. That is to say, this time is the most vulnerable time for the nearly 50 German troops on the front line.If you can severely damage this German army, how many troops does Germany have?According to the estimates of the coalition forces, the current German armed forces are roughly 150 million. Once one-third of the army is lost at once, it is estimated that the war will end.So a very bold plan slowly emerged from Bai Chongxi's mind. . .

In East Lake, Wuhan, at 5 o'clock in the evening on May 17th, east eighth district time, the news that Bai Chongxi commanded the expeditionary force to capture Metz finally reached Wenlu, the core of the youth army, after being forwarded by dozens of radio stations.

Wang Zhenyu went to inspect the Tianyuan Local Building of the Military Commission that morning that was about to be completed. Recently, the layout for the southwest and northwest border areas went relatively smoothly.And it is worth mentioning that Duan Qirui seems to have a lot of courage after receiving a loan from Japan to train 15 participating troops. He has decided to completely solve the intensified Zhiwan war in Beiyang when the Southern Nationalist Government is extremely weak. problem.According to the report of the intelligence personnel stationed in Beiyang, Duan Qirui has decided to kill Lu Jianzhang, the number two person in his immediate family and the number one think tank. That's good, if not, then I'm sorry, our Marshal Cao will probably become the first target to be eliminated by the 15 border guards who have already been organized into an army.

Wang Yaqiao's brother Fang Zhenwu, who is currently in charge of intelligence work in the northern region, is hiding in the Tianjin Concession to control the overall situation. He has received orders from Minister Zhou Lan of the Party Affairs Investigation Department to closely control Lu Jianzhang's whereabouts and is ready to rescue people at any time.In short, it is not necessary to rescue Lu Jianzhang, but it is right not to let Ang Duan Qirui get his wish. . .

When Wang Zhenyu received the telegram of the victory, he suddenly felt relieved for no reason. He found that he was really under too much pressure these days.

It is very risky to push forward to declare war on Germany and make a decision to send troops to Europe when the whole country has not yet completed reunification. On the one hand, sending troops to Europe will inevitably weaken one's own military strength, while Duan Qirui in the north is pretending to join the war The guise is sharpening the knife and waiting to come and destroy itself.On the other hand, not only the anti-war voices of Wang Jingwei and others, Wang Zhenyu also had doubts about the performance of his own army deep in his heart.Will the Expeditionary Force disappear like a shooting star as soon as it shows its face in Europe?Whether he can play, or whether he can win a team bothers Wang Zhenyu.Well now, Bai Chongxi and the 24 officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force have clearly told everyone with the actual results of the battle that we can not only fight, but also win.

Li Zongren, who has become Wang Zhenyu's brother-in-law, Wan Yaohuang, chief of the general staff, Zhao Hengti, secretary-general of the Military Commission, and others have already gone to bed to hug their wives, but I'm sorry, Wang Zhenyu's secretary Chen Bulei called out these leading figures in the army in one round of phone calls , they are all sleepy waiting for Wang Zhenyu in the living room.

"Brothers, I have some good news to tell you. Jiansheng and the expeditionary force captured the German town of Metz." Wang Zhenyu's voice echoed in the living room.

A large sand table made by the staff department was placed in the living room by several adjutants, and everyone stepped forward to see where the so-called Mace was.

Wan Yaohuang, who was the first to react, sighed in amazement: "The location of this city is too critical. If my analysis is not wrong, if this city is captured by our army, it will deal a heavy blow to the Germans." .”

Everyone looked at it, it was true, everyone nodded, and Armament Minister Ma Xicheng thought for a while and said: "If I were the commander-in-chief of the German army, the war supplies would be placed in this city, because in terms of transportation, there is no more suitable city than this city." and safe."

While everyone was discussing, Colonel Wang Huaishi, the communications supervisor, suddenly trotted in. He seemed very excited, said a word well, and handed the telegram to Wang Zhenyu.Wang Zhenyu took it over and took a look: "Everyone, I have some bad news here."

Everyone looked at Wang Zhenyu in astonishment, but Wang Zhenyu smiled and said: "Jiansheng and the others have stabbed a hornet's nest. When they attacked Metz, the crown prince of German Emperor Wilhelm II was serving here, but he was captured by our army. "

Everyone laughed and applauded knowingly. . .

While in Verdun, Marshal Hindenburg yelled at his adjutant very excitedly: "What are you talking about? Isn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in Luxembourg? How could he be in Metz? That bastard ordered him to go to Metz , bastard!"

This time the Germans really panicked. In almost one day, Britain, France, and almost the whole world knew that His Royal Highness the German Crown Prince was captured by the Chinese Expeditionary Army. This was news that made the Germans extremely frustrated. Nothing could be more demoralizing than this news.

Marshal Hindenburg also panicked after receiving the news. He no longer knew what to do. Although he didn't like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who advocated peace, this is the next German emperor after all. It's all right now. Due to his own incompetence, he lost His Majesty the future Emperor of the German Empire.Hindenburg suddenly had a strange thought: "Does the German Empire have a future?"

Ludendorff also seemed to feel the risk of failure. He thought for a long time and said, "Your Excellency, Marshal, I now suggest that we abandon Metz and shrink the whole army to the Luxembourg area. Annihilation, once we are annihilated, there is no glorious peace, and what awaits us is the annihilation of a whole nation."

After hearing this, Marshal Hindenburg took a deep breath and asked, "Then what about His Royal Highness? Are we going to throw it to Your Highness?"

Ludendorff took a deep breath and said, "We still have a chance to exchange him after peace, and if Germany is gone, he won't come back, right?"

Marshal Hindenburg hesitated involuntarily when he heard this, how should he choose?