Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 276 War on the Western Front
Guan Xuqing sneered. It seems that this uncle is really greedy. The outbreak of the Sino-Russian War has already held back a powerful opponent in the East for Germany. Unexpectedly, William was not satisfied and wanted to involve China in Europe. in the vortex of war.Sooner or later, the European battlefield will go, but now is not the time. Guan Xuqing has a longer-term plan for this than anyone else.In order to reply cautiously to the Kaiser, he immediately ordered Li Hongzhang and Wu Tingfang to be recruited to ask them about the current war situation in Europe.

Germany's current war strategic guidance plan was basically laid out before and after Schlieffen became the chief of the general staff.During this period in Europe, German-French relations were to a considerable extent similar to Sino-Russian relations in East Asia.It's just that France is stronger than Russia.The rise of the German Empire almost stood up on the shoulders of France. The Franco-Prussian War not only led to the collapse of the Napoleon III dynasty, but also caused Germany to capture the French Emperor Napoleon III in Sedan in one fell swoop. The whole of Germany also defeated the mighty France. And entered the golden period of development.The ensuing conflicts of various interests led the two countries to forge an abyss of hatred.

The cession of Alsace and Lorraine is a shame that the French will never forget. This is why the French fought fiercely with the German border guards in this area as soon as the World War began.At the beginning of the war, the French General Staff formulated more than ten kinds of combat plans against Germany. Without exception, Alsace and Lorraine were the biggest goals in the minds of the Gauls.The creator of the latest Plan 17 is General Joffre, the current Chief of Staff.

Plan No. 17 was well implemented after the war. The first and second French armies took the lead in launching a strong attack on these two areas. In the continuous border war, the French did not reap any good results. On the contrary, they and the British Expeditionary Force who fought together were beaten by the German border guards in Saarburg and Moranges, and suffered heavy casualties.

When the Germans began to show interest in Belgium and issued ultimatums, neither France nor Britain realized what the Germans were up to. It was not until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the German conquest of Belgium that Paris began to find itself in The German troops encountered by Alsace and Lorraine were only the left flanks of their two armies.And their real main force did not serve as a reserve team as expected, but as a right wing, heading towards the French-Belgian border.

But thanks to the stubborn resistance of the Belgians, the French won a chance to breathe.Although Belgium is a dwarf in front of Germany in terms of national strength, from their King Albert to the whole of Belgium, they have decided to resist Germany and use this method to maintain the dignity of Belgium.Of course, it is impossible to expect Belgium to block the German tanks.Fourteen days later, the important fortress of Liege was captured by the German army, but the Germans also paid more than 3000 casualties for this.Two days later, German troops occupied Brussels.It was also Belgium that gave the French more than a dozen days, allowing General Joffre to make up for the shortcomings in France's military focus.

The French dispatched the third, fourth, and fifth armies to the Belgian-French border as quickly as possible, together with tens of thousands of British expeditionary forces, to complete the establishment of the initial line of defense.They are facing each other.It is a huge force of five German armies and nearly one million troops.It was precisely because China held back the huge Russians that Wilhelm II dared to make a big gamble on the Western Front, putting almost all of the entire army on the Western Front, with the Franco-German border on the left and the German border on the right.The goal of the Germans is not to conquer any important city, their goal is to drain the blood of France.In the vision of Xiao Moqi and his predecessors, the coordinated movement of the two wings will force the French army to drive the main force to the center of the pincer offensive, and finally complete the strangulation battle. When most of a country's army is destroyed, it will be destroyed. Conquest is a matter of time.

Although in terms of logistics, the excessive concentration of the German army on the Belgian-French border has caused considerable workload and difficulty for the logistics department, but this problem has not yet come out. After occupying most of Belgium's territory, the French and British troops The resistance on the border delayed the advance of the German army, and the two sides started intensive and short battles on the border, with casualties.

On the other hand, it seems that the battle at sea has not yet been carried out. Although the German navy has gradually caught up with the British in terms of hardware, psychologically speaking, apart from moderate pride and a little confidence in the future, the navy's generals still They are all looking forward to the British attacking themselves.After all, traditionally speaking, the Royal Navy has superior strength and advocates offense. There are also famous generals in the navy. The German Navy takes it for granted that the Royal Navy will take the lead in launching a war of conquest against the German Navy.Therefore, in addition to sending some warships to overseas for reconnaissance, William II's Atlantic Fleet only began to deploy a large number of gunboats and mines in Helgoland Bay, trying to rely on such a defense system when the Royal Navy fleet attacks in the future. , and combined with the attack of the upper fleet, it can consume the advantages of the British Empire and tilt the balance of strength to our side.

In the British Admiralty, since Lord Fisher stepped down due to the defeat of the Malacca War, Sir Jorah Callaghan, who succeeded him, and Admiral Jellicoe, his deputy commander of the Home Fleet, were not very adventurous people. He was old, so when the whole of Europe began to enter the war, Sir Callaghan handed over the actual command of the Grand Fleet to Admiral Jellicoe, who was more conservative than him.

At the beginning of taking office, Admiral Jellicoe deployed all the main fleet to Edinburgh, Dandy and Aberdeen at the northern tip of Scotland to firmly guard the mouth of the North Sea, so that the oceanic fleet of the German Empire could not rush out of this area. Do not guard the defense line of the North Sea.

For the adventurous William II, his views on naval warfare were surprisingly calm. He still did not want to directly engage in large-scale naval battles with the British Royal Navy.He hopes to reach a peace agreement with Britain as soon as possible after the army completes the task of conquering France, and obtain the right to redistribute the interests of the world under the premise of superior power.so.When the naval officers were agitated by the "show of weakness" of the British, the Kaiser's order showed a considerable degree of caution.

After the Chinese showed their military strength to the world's powerful countries time and time again, William put more and more hopes on this big eastern country. Now he can't wait for the moment when China will defeat Russia, and he is eager to see that talented and roughly The emperor's brother-in-law sent troops to help the German army, and now he has even more confidence in the Chinese army than his own army.

But the answer from the emperor's brother-in-law made him very embarrassed. The telegram clearly stated: Now that the Russians are aggressively invading our country to the south, the country is still too busy to take care of itself, and there is no way to spare any troops to support the allies. Strong men and horses assist you.There are good reasons for such an answer, nothing is more important than defending the country's territorial sovereignty, but William always feels that the emperor's brother-in-law seems to be hiding some secrets.

Doubts are doubts, and William believed that before the Battle of the Marne, it was impossible for the wise Chinese emperor to be easily involved in the European battlefield.If the German navy cannot break through the British defense line, if the German army cannot achieve decisive results, even if China enters the war, it is impossible to devote all its efforts to help Germany. At the same time, a little fulfillment of the obligations of nepotism.

Now the entire northern hemisphere is almost in winter, which has also brought a lot of trouble to the German, French, and British troops who are fighting. The British, French, and French troops fought against the Germans on the French-Belgian border for three consecutive days and three nights. The Germans, full of self-confidence and passion, began to enter France on a large scale. The German troops headed by the Kluck Pro-Regiment entered France one after another, while the British and French coalition forces commanded by their enemy General Joffre It has been unable to resist the fierce German offensive and retreats to the south.

On the German side, with the exception of the Kluk Army, the other German troops began to follow the established strategy. After a short assembly and rest, they began to march southeast to complete the encirclement of the iron pincers.

At this time, Britain and France are facing huge threats and challenges.As another important member of the Allied Powers, Tsarist Russia saw the huge strength of the German army on the western front. After simple addition and subtraction, it is easy to estimate how many troops Germany has on the eastern front. However, Russia is now caught in a war in the Far East. In the huge vortex of the empire, Nicholas II always reminded himself that there is still a lingering nightmare in the southern part of the empire, China.After suffering successive setbacks, Nicholas II no longer had the ambition and confidence he had at the beginning of his accession to the throne.But the large military force he retained in the European part could still guarantee some necessary interference with the Western Front and make contributions to the two tortured allies on the Western Front.

The itchy Nicholas finally ordered the European Front to attack Germany.Their opponent was the Eighth Army of the German Reich, commanded by General Prittwitz, and General Zhilinsky, commander of the Russian Northwest Front, had received orders from St. Petersburg to annihilate this German army and enter East Prussia.On the third day after the British and French allied forces began to retreat southward, the Russian army launched an attack in the direction of Germany.The Battle of Masurian Lake officially started.Opposite them is a mixed old and new Eighth Army, including seven infantry divisions of the standing army and one cavalry division, plus eight dissatisfied divisions that have not yet been recruited, and more than 100 artillery pieces, with a total strength of nearly 12. people.

On the first day of the war, the Russian First Army took on the task of attacking the Masurian Lake area from the north to attract the main defensive force of the German army, while the Second Army took on the task of attacking the area from the west and blocked The retreat of the Germans fleeing to the Vistula River.When the two armies joined forces, it was the moment when the Germans were wiped out.

No one expected that on the second day of the war, the Russians achieved impressive results. The three armies of the First Army launched an attack on Stalubernen, and on the second day they forced the defenders to attack. The German First Army was defeated from the battle.At the same time, the main force in the center and the right-wing offensive force of the First Army also resisted the frontal attack of the main force of the Eighth Army who came to reinforce it. The 17th Army, which was the main attacking figure of the German army, suffered heavy casualties and led the entire support army to retreat.Since then, the Russian army has firmly controlled the front line of Kumbinnen, and the First Army has won an enviable victory because they defeated the German Army, which is known as the number one in the world.

The defeat of the German army in the past two days caused a sense of crisis in Berlin. The anxious Wilhelm II hesitated whether to ask China for help, but was stopped by the newly appointed chief of staff, Mao Qi, who said confidently : "I can guarantee that within a week, the Russians will take the initiative to withdraw from the European battlefield."

"Why?" William asked puzzled.

Little Maoqi smiled and pointed to the military map on the wall. William could see clearly that Little Maoqi's finger was landing on the location of Beijing, China.

(End of this chapter)