After the dinner, the commanders left the hall with some unfinished eyes.

The attendants were busy cleaning up the table, while Chen Tian and the others returned to the legion headquarters, where there was already a stack of information waiting for them to read.

"Our army found the body of General Gariani in the French command in Paris, and judging by the situation at the scene, he died by suicide!" Hoffman picked up a telegram and read it, "So far, the armored forces have occupied the parliament building in the center of the city, and the French are still resisting in parts of the block." It is expected that by dawn tomorrow, our flag will be planted all over Paris! ”

Chen Tian shook his head with a little regret, and said softly: "Poor Gallieni, he was supposed to be a hero of France, using the taxis, buses, trucks and other vehicles of the citizens of Paris to form the first and greatest mechanized transport team in history, transporting a large number of French soldiers from the rear to the battlefield on the Marne, thus creating a miracle on the Marne, so that the German army was fatally blocked in the Marne area, and the entire Western Front would also take a big turn there." It's a pity that this tragic history did not repeat itself! ”

"The Marne? History repeats itself? Your Royal Highness, I don't quite understand what you're talking about? Although Chentian's voice was quiet, Hoffman heard a few words.

"Map of France!" Chen Tian did not intend to avoid this question, but asked the staff officer to spread a large map of France on the table, "Actually, it's nothing, it's just a speculation about the situation on the Western Front before!" ”

Chen Tian has become accustomed to saying that what originally happened in history is his previous speculation, so in the eyes of his generals, their prince always has some strange and surprising "speculation".

"To the east of Paris, here! It is the long, winding Marne River, which resembles a natural trench guarding the east gate of Paris. At first I expected that there would be a fierce battle between the French and our army on the Western Front, but fortunately what I feared did not happen! The French did not launch a campaign here, to be exact, they did not have time to gather enough troops here for a battle! Chen Tian pointed to the blue line east of Paris on the map, and Mackensen, Olge, and Hoffmann were puzzled.

"In late August, after the battle of the border, the right and center forces of our army on the Western Front rushed out of Belgium, and the powerful right flank group consisting of the Crouc Army, the Bülow Army and the Hausen Army was like a scythe, the end of which swept across the French coast, and at the end of August the Kluk Army had crossed the Marne from the north of Paris, and the center and left flank were still blocked on the Verdun-Nancy-Tur line. The right flank and center grouping of our troops on the Western Front were actually unfolding along a huge arc from Verdun to Paris. ”

"At this time, the attempt of the Kluk Army on the right flank of our army is to bypass Paris and cut off the French rear, so that our army can completely encircle the main force of the French army, and of course Paris is also in this encirclement; And if the French take the opportunity to launch an offensive through the connecting zone between Army Group Cruk and Army Group Bilow in the area of the Marne, they will be able to cut off the right flank of our army! No matter which side completes its own deployment, the blow to the other side will be fatal! Chen Tian felt that the starting point of the Kluk Army bypassing Paris was good, but because Moltke Jr. did not implement the "Schlieffen" plan to hit the right flank, resulting in a crack between the Kluk Army at the front of the right flank and the later Bülow Army, the French took advantage of the fact that the Kluk Army had not yet completed the outflanking and launched a large-scale battle against this crack, which is the background of the historical Battle of the Marne. The historical result was that the Kluk Army Group was one step slower, and as a result, the French completed their offensive deployment, and then engaged the Germans in a fierce battle along the Marne. Eventually, the two armies fell into a confrontational phase of trench warfare, and for the next three years, neither side advanced or retreated more than 16 kilometers, and the German dream finally ended there.

"The Kluk Army was one step ahead of the French army, and completed the outflanking of the French army, and the French army was only thinking of taking the road and fleeing, and their plan to counterattack in early September was completely ruined! This is thanks to Crown Prince Prince! Because he did a small favor when the Kluk Army attacked the fortress of the Scorching Sun, Kluk's soldiers entered France through Belgium in the fastest time! After this, the main forces of the French army retreated to the Seine line, and Verdun, Nancy-Türgeois and Paris became isolated islands, which were gradually conquered by our army! The fall of Paris was predestined from the Fortress of the Scorching Sun! After explaining, Chen Tian breathed a deep sigh of relief, comparing the past history as his own speculation, it is indeed a very interesting thing, and it can let his generals have a long insight.

Everyone pondered for a long time, and then suddenly came to their senses.

"However, the Crook Army Group was still alone, and after cutting off the rear route of the main French army, it was unable to prevent all the French troops from retreating, resulting in the escape of more than 700,000 French main forces!" Hoffman said with some frustration, "This is the consequence of not implementing the 'Schlieffen Plan', although we won, we can't decide the battle in one battle!" ”

"Yes, after the conquest of Paris, there is still a Seine defense line waiting for us!" Mackensen also lost his previous joy.

"The war will continue! The French lost Paris, but they retained their vital forces, the hopes of the Parisians were dashed, but there was still hope for the French! Olg looked disappointed as well.

"Well, my Chief of the General Staff and commanders, let's not be too pessimistic, everything is going in a good direction! The fighting on the Eastern Front seemed to be coming to an end soon, and everyone said that we should join the forces on the Western Front to attack the Seine Line, or land on the British Isles to repair the British? ”

"Fix the British!" The other three said in unison, and then laughed heartily.

At this time, the Austrian commander Grand Duke Friedrich and his generals were also laughing, and in just one day, they occupied a large part of the territory of the Belarusian region, and the Russian army did not resist at all.

"Today is just the beginning, tomorrow we will occupy more land, all of Belarus, then Ukraine, and finally Moscow! Our empire will re-answer in our hands the most glorious of times! The Grand Duke raised his glass, "Cheers to the Empire!" ”

The Austrian generals also toasted each other, unaware that their road ahead was not smooth.

With the outbreak of the revolution, the still Russian-controlled part of Finland was also in turmoil, and the Finnish people, who had been oppressed by the tsarist government, took up arms to respond to the revolution. As the capital of Finland, the heavily fortified city of Helsinki is ostensibly stable, and officials are busy preparing for the arrival of the Tsar. The Russian garrison had also entered the city to ensure the absolute security of the tsar and the royal family.

However, under this superficial calm, there is an even more turbulent undercurrent.

The Pokhara naval base, once an important Russian naval base in the Gulf of Finland, once housed the large warships of the Russian Baltic Fleet, but the hustle and bustle of the past disappeared with the Baltic Fleet, which went to the Far East for revenge. At present, only a small number of light warships and thousands of naval officers and men are stationed here, and three lonely batteries stand on the hills on either side of the harbor.

Bands of Russian sailors with rifles patrolled the wharf, the docks were swept clean, and the few warships in the harbor were neatly moored on the side of the pier, where everything was prepared for the fleet that escorted the Tsar.

Near a storehouse in the camp, a group of dark shadows were quietly approaching the sentinels. The cool sea breeze chilled the sentinels, unaware of the deadly danger behind them. Ten seconds later, the four sentries fell silently almost at the same time, just now those black shadows quickly stepped over the sentinels' bodies, the door of the warehouse was quickly opened, and rows of rifles were neatly placed inside, but the black shadows did not seem to be satisfied, after taking all the weapons inside, they went to the other warehouses.

In several rows of barracks on the east and west sides of the naval base, nearly 1,000 officers and men of the garrison of the fortress had just fallen asleep, and the snoring in the barracks came and went. Colonel Karachev suddenly felt a pang of discomfort in his abdomen, he rubbed his sleepy eyes, staggered out of the barracks, and moved towards the latrine not far away. Suddenly, he heard footsteps not far away, "Who?" It's so late and you don't sleep! ”

"Who? It's so late and still tossing! "On the destroyer" Toumat", the officer on duty, Captain Mognov, asked the same question.

Soon, they all received a satisfactory answer, and they were both knocked unconscious with the butts of their guns.

"Don't move! We are the revolutionary armed forces of the people, people from poor backgrounds, people who want to turn over and become masters, people who are willing to participate in the revolution, please stand up! Those who dare to oppose the people will never end well! Looking at the muzzle of the black hole, many sleepy-eyed soldiers did not understand what was going on, and it took a while for someone to shout: "Revolution! It's revolution! Down with the Tsar! Down with the landlords! ”

In this way, many soldiers joined the ranks of the revolution in a vague way, and some officers who tried to resist were either killed on the spot or detained. By 12 o'clock in the evening, more than 2,700 soldiers supporting the revolution had occupied the weapons depot and all the batteries at the Pokhara naval base, with only sporadic gunfights taking place.

Of the 14 warships anchored in the harbor, the two largest destroyers were soon taken over by the revolutionaries, who held the Tsar's pro-tsar officers in their cabins. The searchlights on the warships were on, and their main guns slowly turned, and the muzzles of the guns scanned back and forth over the other warships in the harbor, and any generals with bad intentions would be their targets. Under this deterrence, the other warships quickly made a wise choice, and the entire naval base quickly fell into the control of the revolutionary party almost without bloodshed.

The fleet escorting the tsar had no idea what was happening in Pokhara, and they did not know what was happening in the command room of the battleship "Gangut".

A group of officers, including the captain and first officer, sat silently on one side of the command room, and they were faced by a large number of armed and eager rebel sailors.

"Captain! We started serving under you 10 years ago, and we respect you as a person! Now I ask you, will you join us in the revolution? If so, you are still the captain of this ship, and we will absolutely obey your orders! If you don't, we won't bother you, but you must stay in the cabin under our protection! The rebel sailors elected the speaker Zakhwagki as their temporary commander, but he had no experience commanding a warship, so he still had expectations of the old captain who was still upright.

Their captain, the 61-year-old Admiral Kudrin, was a man who did not like his superiors, and for this reason, he had been a general for more than a decade, but he had been the captain of an old cruiser in backward conditions. It was only when the battleship was launched that the Russian Navy, which was really short of manpower, transferred him and his men, and the old general got rid of the poor wooden-hulled battleship.

The old captain was staring at his delicate wooden pipe, not as stern and mean to his subordinates as other Russian officers, but still in his head there was a fierce battle of ideas.

The first officer did not make a sound, the second officer did not make a sound, and the chief engineer did not make a sound, they were all old subordinates of General Kulind, just like Zakhwagki, and they had already made up their minds to pay attention: follow the old captain!

"I wonder what you're going to do with this warship? Are you planning to attack the battleship 'Sevastopol' where the emperor is located? The old captain lit the tobacco in his pipe, took a slow puff, and the strong smell of tobacco quickly spread.

"This ......" Zakhwagi hesitated, he was only a small group leader of the development of the revolutionary party on this ship, he did not have much idea about what to do, his original plan was to bring the ship back to St. Petersburg and bring it under the control of the revolutionary party.

"My superiors have no instructions, but if I can kill the emperor, I think it will be beneficial and harmless to the revolution!"

Kudrin spuffed out a cloud of smoke from his mouth, and then coughed lightly twice, "Young man, the full strength of our battleship is 1322 people, and now there are only 755 people including you and me, and our B turret is a little malfunctioning, and so is the rangefinder!" So you don't expect how strong our combat power can be, not to mention that there are three battleships of the same tonnage as us in the fleet, and the torpedoes on those destroyers are not decorations! Do you know what our chances are if we attack them or run away? ”

Zakhwagki was surprised, but the captain didn't seem to be against the revolution, which made him feel a little more reassured, "Captain, then you are willing to join our uprising?" ”

"Don't say that, I'm old, I just want to be able to bring this battleship back to the motherland intact, whether our country is ruled by the emperor or your revolutionary party! After that, it's time for me to retire and go home to my family! The old captain's tone was full of deep helplessness, he had already witnessed the rise and fall of the Russian Navy for more than half a century at his age, and perhaps he had already lost confidence in this navy.

"Thank you, Captain!" Zakhwagki motioned to the other sailors to put away their weapons, "Our lives and this battleship are entrusted to you!" ”

Kulinde looked up at the first officer and the chief engineer, who also nodded firmly.

"Alright! First mate, slowly reduce our speed and signal to the 'Sevastopol' that our boiler is out of order, that we need to spend two hours overhauling it, and that they will go to Pokhara first, and that we will be there as soon as possible! The old captain said and walked to the window, and in the night he could only see the faint flickering heading lights on the battleship ahead.

On the battleship "Sevastopol", General Kolchak did not dare to slack off after receiving the telegram, went straight to the cabin where Grand Duke Nikolai was located, and gently knocked on the door of the Grand Duke's room.

"Who?" A hoarse, tired voice came from the room.

"Your Highness, it's me, Brigadier General Kolchak!" The battleship Gangut' sent a signal that their boiler was out of order and needed 2 hours of overhaul! ”

Half a minute later, the hatch creaked open, and the Grand Duke looked very weak. He took the report and glanced at it, "After all, it is a battleship that has not yet been served, and there are so many problems!" ”

"Yes, His Highness! There is no need to disturb His Majesty the Emperor! Do we have them come on their own later? Kolchak also felt that there was nothing wrong with it, it was true that the battleship would not be commissioned for two months, and the crew on it was not uniform and unskilled enough, so it was not surprising that it broke down.

"Hmm......," the Grand Duke was about to turn around, "wait, send a company of guards to that ship, do you need help, and leave another destroyer to escort you!" ”

"Yes!" Kolchak walked away quickly.

After receiving the signal from "Sevastopol", Kudrin's brow furrowed, "It seems that the emperor is not stupid!" ”

"Captain, what's going on?" By this time, most of the sailors had left the command room, and they began to patrol the ship with their weapons, while Zakhwagki and several other sailors stayed behind to take care of the liaison and care.

"The Emperor sent a company of guards and a destroyer to 'protect' us!" Kudrin's weather-beaten face didn't have much of a wave, "Mr. Revolutionary, it seems that you and your men have to put away your weapons so as not to be seen by the Guards soldiers!" We can't show any horses until the other ships leave, understand? ”

"Captain...... I understand! You'd better call me Sergeant, as you always would! I was so offended to you just now, I hope you don't mind! From now on, I will still be your soldier! Zakhwagi gave a serious salute, and then asked the other two sailors to go down and inform the others.

In the darkness, it took a full hour for the soldiers of that company to board the battleship Gangut, while another 900-ton destroyer, the Nantara, was ordered to "escort" next to the Gangut.

Not far from the battleship "Gangut", the German submarine that had been following them also slowed down, and soon the telegram was transmitted by radio waves to the flagship of the German Baltic Fleet.