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Soon the French government discovered that as the army became more and more famous, there were French civilians who were reluctant to serve in the French army and tried to join the army instead. Jerome, on the one hand, was reluctant to reduce the strength of his army, and on the other hand, because of his personality, welcomed these French citizens who had come to him on their own initiative. As a result, the Napoleonic Volunteers were not exhausted in the fierce battles, but fought more and more, and the number of casualties had already exceeded 200,000 a year later, but their strength increased from the initial 150,000 to 300,000.

This is a headache for the French government, Jerome's recruitment of French civilians is beyond the bottom line of the French government, but at this time there is no way to take him, the war is not going well, Jerome is fighting quite well, disbanding this volunteer army, will make the government criticized, and will also make overseas French dissatisfied, now the French government not only needs overseas French to join the army, but also needs them to buy French bonds. It is not easy to remove Jerome from his post, first of all, he did not make a mistake, the French people took the initiative to join his army, not forced by him, since overseas French can volunteer to join the army, in France, where power is highly emphasized, who dares to say that French citizens do not have this right. When the war was not going well, a large number of Bonapartist elements stirred up public opinion, which made the French government even more worried.

It was not until the news of Egypt's entry into the war appeared, and after the British negotiated with France, Britain strongly demanded that France, which had rich experience in fighting in North Africa, send troops to attack Egypt by land, and Britain could provide protection at sea as much as possible, but given the pressure from the Chinese navy, the British believed that they could not maintain the supply of the French army from the sea.

The British idea is actually that the French North African Army has been fighting colonial wars in North Africa for more than 30 years, and the Berber tribes in Algeria, some of them were surrendered by France, and some accepted French rule, but there are always tribes who rebel from time to time, and for more than 30 years, the fighting has not stopped, of course, the scale of this colonial war is not large, and the French army rarely dispatches tens of thousands of people when it is the most.

But the French president came up with a way to get rid of Jerome, he did not send the Afrika Korps to fight, the Afrika Korps was not large in number, and he was not even transferred back to France to fight, but continued to stay in North Africa to maintain law and order, and the resources of North Africa were important strategic materials in the war.

Jerome was reluctant to go to Egypt, although he did not know the harsh climate of North Africa before, he just did not want to leave France, passionate people like to chase fame, and when he left France, there would be no fanatical crowds cheering for him, no kisses from French girls who admired him, and no fearless French warriors who were called by Napoleon's banner.

So when the French General Staff sent him to fight in North Africa, Jerome ran to the president to quarrel, and he firmly disagreed to go to North Africa, although this may make him bear the reputation of disobeying orders, but it doesn't matter, they are volunteers, to put it bluntly, they are militia, and they do not need to absolutely obey the French General Staff.

But the president has the president's way, and the president has a huge think tank behind him, and there are ways to let him go.

The French government was unable to deal with Jerome because it was difficult to explain to public opinion, and because of Jerome's reputation, the French government was jealous, and the French government simply used its reputation to force Jerome to North Africa.

After Egypt declared war on Britain and France, the government launched a propaganda machine to hype up the threat of Egypt's entry into the war, telling the French people that once the Chinese army entered Egypt, tens of millions of Chinese troops would invade North Africa through it, and then use North Africa as a springboard to land in France.

Although this is somewhat alarmist, the people have long lost their judgment in the war. The French government said that it attached great importance to the North African campaign and that it was necessary to conquer Egypt in a short time so as to keep the Chinese in Egypt and not allow them to approach Europe. This requires the dispatch of a most competent commander-in-chief, and one of France's most famous commanders is Jerome, if not Jerome.

Therefore, when the French government publicly stated that it would send Baron Jerome, a member of the Napoleonic family, to fight in North Africa, public opinion was supportive, and public opinion began to ferment itself, linking Napoleon's glory in conquering Egypt, believing that Jerome would occupy Egypt in two or three months, not only blocking the Chinese, but also cutting off the Suez Canal, so that China's huge navy could not enter the Mediterranean, thereby helping France's ally Britain.

Seeing that public opinion was so supportive of his conquest of Egypt, Jerome had no choice but to refuse the mission, which would have an impact on his reputation.

So despite his displeasure, he marched into North Africa with his Volunteers, landed from Tunisia, and advanced along the Mediterranean coast towards Egypt.

It was a catastrophe, since the British could not provide support from the sea, they had to march on two legs.

If it's France, there's always a destination to reach when you look at the pleasant French countryside. But what is the place in North Africa, the Mediterranean climate makes it rainy in winter, extremely dry in summer, and the coastal areas with the most rainfall are only five or six hundred millimeters, which can only ensure that these places are not deserts at most, and a little deeper inland, it is a continuous desert, with annual rainfall of only twenty or thirty millimeters, which is simply the driest place in the world.

Luckily, there is a railway, and it's in pretty good shape. The railway from Tripoli to Cairo was not owned by the British, but was built by a government with little economic value, intended to strengthen Egypt's ties with Tripoli. The builders were Chinese, and the Chinese had no interest in running the railway, so they were paid to work, and the only investor was the Egyptian government.

The technology of the Chinese is no problem, because they have built railways in various geographical conditions, and if the French were allowed to operate this railway, it may have been abandoned long ago, because they have crossed deserts and oasis areas along the way, and although they have been along the coastline, there is no guarantee that all places are normal land, and some deserts are directly connected with the beach.

The Chinese have a good idea, they planted street trees along both sides of the railway, built ponds to store water, and opened up a green corridor along the railway line. This green corridor was also the route of Jerome's army at this time, and it was because of this railway that they would not be able to trek on foot in the Cyrenaica heath.

But the railroad was not always available, and the Egyptians kept destroying it when they retreated. If Jerome can't catch up with the Egyptian army and protect the railroad before the Egyptians can destroy it and retreat, he will have to march on his legs or wait for the engineer to repair it.

So Jerome's main force had been transported by train, but the vanguard was on horseback, and in addition to the cavalry he had brought with him from North America, there were also cavalry from the North African Legion, and the Berber herdsmen recruited in Algeria or after entering Tripoli, some on horseback, some on camels, and with a large number of donkeys, which were responsible for transporting their provisions, and the heaviest burden was water.

At the beginning, Jerome was still interested in riding a horse in the wind and sand, feeling the heroism between heaven and earth, after eating too much sand, especially after feeling that the wind and sand here were endless, he also lost interest and began to follow the main force forward, taking the train, he could enjoy sufficient provisions. As a commander, he was even able to drink Bordeaux wine and eat tender veal steaks.

Even ordinary soldiers can be guaranteed to have enough to eat. As an old empire, although French agriculture is a small peasant economy, the agricultural conditions are very good, and the food supply of the country can always be guaranteed, during the First World War, when the German soldiers were no longer able to supply black bread, they invaded France and found that many of the food in the French shops was unlimited.

Moreover, in this era, France developed North Africa very early, opening up hundreds of thousands of agricultural settlements in North Africa, where millions of French people run farms, not as large as British and American farms, but much larger than small farmers in France, and France has always been a grain exporter.

Here is close to North Africa, there is rail transport, it is impossible to starve.

The only difficulty, the damn sandstorm, Jerome felt was more difficult than his ancestor Napoleon, at least Napoleon had landed in Egypt by sea. But Jerome believed that once he arrived in Egypt, he would be able to conquer Egypt as easily as Napoleon did, and he would engrave his name on the pyramids.

He didn't pay attention to the Egyptian army at all, because the other party had never shown any combat effectiveness, or compared with the American Civil War and the German army that had fought on the Paris Line, the hastily formed Egyptian army was really not a level.

The only worry is that when the Chinese return, the railway is open, the telegraph is open, and the intelligence is naturally open, and the intelligence Jerome received from France has always shown that the Chinese are still in Syria, they are rushing to repair the Syrian railway, and the progress is very fast, maybe in a month or two to ensure unimpeded.

The French staff demanded that Jerome must enter Egypt within a month, otherwise he would have to fight the Chinese army. Jerome was also asked to take control of the railway line and fortify important ports in case of a Chinese landing by sea while advancing rapidly.

Jerome felt that the staff was a psychopath, how to fight, and he didn't need to be taught by others. He felt that as soon as he went to Egypt, then the battle would be over. He even hoped to have a confrontation with the Chinese army, which had won many victories over the years, but unfortunately he had heard that the Chinese army was not a regular army of his country, but a mercenary group formed by their overseas company.

As for the control of coastal ports required by the General Staff, of course he will do it, this is military common sense, but he does not think that the Chinese will land from the sea, and all the coastal ports he passes through, there is no place suitable for large-scale landing, except for Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk, these ports are small towns, there is no local economic output, of course, it is impossible to develop large-scale ports.

Allowing Chinese troops to land at these ports is simply not possible to transport too many troops in a short period of time.

But what Jerome didn't expect was that the Chinese really landed from their rear, and just after he finally passed through the nasty desert, entered Egypt, and saw the long-lost green, the news of the Chinese landing came.

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