Britain had suspected that the close relationship between the Northwest and Germany was not only economic, import and export, but also in-depth military cooperation, and if the Northwest Army was created by Germany, it is very likely that the Northwest Army has similar strength to Germany, even if it is a little worse, but China's huge population is enough to make up for the difference in strength, in this sense, the Northwest has a more terrible mobilization capacity and future war prospects than Russia, such a powerful country, and Germany has a close relationship. This is definitely not a good thing, it is something that Britain has always tried to avoid, and now it seems that it is a little out of control.

Britain has always avoided the Northwest from joining the Entente, and even did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to support Japan, in order to drag the Northwest and disrupt the arrangement of the Northwest.

Britain, which was deeply dragged down by the European battlefield, did not have many strong means for the situation in East Asia, and had pinned its hopes on Japan, but now that its hopes have been dashed, the situation in East Asia may be corrosive or even out of control.

Relying on the available information and some intelligence, the think tanks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after many deductions, came to such a result, which made the foreign minister almost unbelievable that the Japanese army would be defeated, and that it would not even be able to occupy Shandong, but only cause an impact outside Shandong, and Germany, which could still be supported in the northwest, and even join the camp of the Allies.

This conclusion is disappointing, but on closer examination, it may be the most likely to happen. This is not only related to the situation in Asia, but even affects the war in Europe. If China swept through Asia, it would be the Guò 3B railway. Transporting millions of troops over was no less than a catastrophe for Britain and France. The foreign minister knew very well that this matter was not trivial, and immediately took this prediction and went to the prime minister's official residence, ready to present his case to the prime minister, attach importance to China's role as soon as possible, and make plans early, but unfortunately the current Prime Minister Henry? Asquith didn't have the time to see him. He was meeting with French President Raymond, who had come to talks with the British? Poincaré. The current situation in France can be said to be precarious, a third of the country has been occupied, and Paris is in danger of being attacked.

But Raymond is still very calm bargaining with the British, just like this, France, which may be occupied by half of the country, or even destroy France, Raymond has always had confidence, and even still has spare strength. The key reason for even being able to support Japan in the Far East is the advantage of the colonies, and it is the colonies that provide continuous support. It gave France the confidence to open another battlefield in France and rely on Paris to weaken Germany. Victory is still for France.

Britain and France occupied the largest colonies in the world, and the population of Britain and France was not comparable to that of Germany. Not as much as Russia, but a huge colony and a huge mobilization capacity of more than 1.5 billion people. It is the heritage of Britain and France, as long as they resist the three-plank axe of Germany, they can draw blood from the colonies to resist the current situation.

The war did not start for a long time, only a few months at most, but Britain and France are sure that this war will gradually be long, it seems that Germany has the advantage, but it is difficult to say what will happen next, Germany has no colonies, can only rely on its own strength, this strength can be held on at the beginning, if the war is protracted, without the blood transfusion from the outside world, it will definitely turn from strong to weak, at that time, it is the opportunity for Britain and France, this point, both sides are convinced.

However, there was a disagreement between Britain and France, that is, Britain hoped that France would hold out a little longer and drag out the fatigue period of Germany as much as possible, but France confirmed that Britain should take a more aggressive approach to help France, drive German troops out of French territory, and reduce French trauma.

This is the third meeting between Britain and France this month, and the discussion is not about supporting Paris, Paris has now done a good job of doing it, the air route formed by airships, so that the Paris army, the deployment of defense has reached an excellent level, especially 200 large airships and 600 small airships, this is the confidence of the British and French forces, under the premise of air combat superiority, Paris should be able to defend.

Raymond's purpose is very simple, even if Paris is defended, but let Germany attack, digest Belgium and northern France, which is very unfavorable to the Entente, in that case, Germany will become stronger, and the south of France is not stable, Italy in the south, inspired by the German victory, frequently attacked France, and even sent a navy to attack the entire southern part of France, which has affected the security of France, the Entente must come up with strong means, can not let the Allies go on like this, If this continues, the losses of France will be too great.

Raymond came this time, did not say much, and directly put forward two requirements, in fact, to put it bluntly, it is an ultimatum, or open up a second battlefield in the Mediterranean, through the Guò naval battle and landing war, to attack Italy, strive to defeat Italy, let Italy withdraw from the war, and solve the threat of France being attacked by the enemy, and the other is to prepare a big battle in France, counterattack the German army, at least let the German army retreat 50-70 kilometers, recover French territory, and strive to burn the war to the territory of Germany.

The first one is aimed at Italy, and there may not be many troops used, and the combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not very good, and it may be almost the same as hundreds of thousands of troops, although it unexpectedly defeated France in the early stage and entered the territory of France, but at a place of more than ten kilometers on the border, there was no inch, and France only relied on the second-line troops to resist their attack.

Unlike the army, the Italian navy is very powerful, not only has capital ships, but the Italian naval tradition is also quite strong. Henry only used a slight estimate to calculate that in order to suppress the sea power of Italy and Turkey in the Mediterranean, it was necessary to call at least 8 capital ships and a considerable amount of water power, at least the standard of a detachment, and the number of troops used was also about 500,000 people, plus the warships and soldiers of the French, it was possible to attack Italy, and in three or four months, defeat Italy and withdraw Italy from the battle.

As for the latter, there are a lot of people needed, the current German army in France, about 1.2 million, and there will be a steady stream of reinforcements, it is expected that by the time the winter passes, it will be able to increase to 1.6 million, in order to gain an advantage over them, it is necessary to use 2.8 million, or even more troops, with the 1.1 million troops mobilized by the French now, the rest may have to be sent by the British, which is also quite a lot of pressure on Britain. In the early days of World War I, the British also lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and although some fled back, it took time to form new troops, train and integrate.

Between countries, it is bargaining, and it is impossible for the French to agree to all the demands, but Britain also feels that the current situation of the Entente is very dangerous, and if it is allowed to go on like this, the whole European situation will be accused of being in the hands of Germany, which has a huge deviation from their pre-war predictions.

Britain will reorganize the Mediterranean Fleet on the basis of the original Mediterranean Fleet, and transfer 4 capital ships, in addition to the 2 ships that came back from Asia, there are also 2 battle cruisers drawn from the home fleet, which is equivalent to 4 battle cruisers, in the Mediterranean, with the naval strength of Turkey and Italy, the role played by the battle cruisers is stronger than the battleships, these 4 capital ships and some heavy cruisers, destroyers, a total of more than 60 large and small warships. Together with the French Mediterranean Fleet, they suppressed the Allied navies in the Mediterranean, preventing them from harassing the southern coast of France and reducing the pressure on France.

As for the idea of landing in Italy and withdrawing Italy from the war, it was vetoed by Henry, and Britain and France should think about how to solve the problems of France, and not Italy, far to the south.

Raymond was also helpless about this result, but fortunately, Henry also agreed to another request, that is, within the borders of France, 600,000 troops would be dispatched within one month, together with the 300,000 troops who had already gone to Bordeaux, to promote a large-scale campaign in the south of France and near Paris, delay the time for Germany to attack Paris, and take the initiative in the Battle of Paris as much as possible. Of course, it was after the harsh winter had passed, and no one wanted to attack at this time, which was a nightmare for war.

Both requirements were agreed, but they were not satisfactory, but Henry's happy journey made Raymond impeccable, whether it was the Mediterranean fleet in the south, or the 600,000 troops temporarily transferred, plus these 600,000, the total number of British troops in Bordeaux in southern France would exceed 1.1 million, which was basically the same as the army that France could mobilize, even if about 100,000 were subtracted, stationed in the south to guard against the Italian army, the two sides could also mobilize more than 2 million troops to focus on attacking the German army south of Paristo engage in a large-scale battle.

After about 6 hours of quarrelling, the intention of reunification was finally reached, the Mediterranean Fleet would be formed within a week, and the Italian Navy would be immediately attacked, as for the 600,000 troops, it would be transported to Bordeaux in batches within one and a half months, and after a month and a half, the earth would rejuvenate, and it was the best time to launch a campaign, and the Entente countries, which had been suppressed to take the defensive, could finally launch an active attack. (To be continued......)