On September 19, the day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, British Prime Minister Henry Asquith convened an emergency meeting at Buckingham Palace to discuss the Balkan War.

Almost on the same day, the German Emperor Wilhelm II also made a decision that made all countries unpredictable, and German Foreign Minister Schleier announced that Germany would fully support the declaration of war by the Allied Austria-Hungary, but in view of the fact that Austria-Hungary and Serbia were at war in the first place, considering the friendship between the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, the German army would not intervene in the war for the time being...... Of course, if Austria-Hungary encountered other unexpected circumstances, Germany would not hesitate to support it militarily.

This meaningful diplomatic declaration is obviously aimed at the Russian Empire, which has been militarily intimidating Austria-Hungary before, and the German Army Staff has made a very cautious deduction for the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in Herzegovia, as a large Mediterranean country, Austria-Hungary has a standing army of 500,000 in the country, and can quickly increase its military strength by more than 70 in wartime.

Serbia now has only 120,000 army sizes, and the three army divisions that attacked Herzegovia have accounted for more than a quarter of the total strength, although it has a considerable advantage in the military strength of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, but Serbia's military victories are only a handful, and the earlier military action against Bulgaria, although it has achieved some victories in the early stage, but in the end it still ended in failure, which also exposed the lack of Serbia's military strength from one side.

Therefore, the German side quickly decided that even if Austria-Hungary could not seize all the territory in the war in Herzegovina, it would definitely have a great advantage in military operations, especially the Austro-Hungarian navy, which had seven battleships, could easily give strong support to its own army from the Adriatic Sea, while the Serbian navy only had a few civilian ships.

In the face of Germany's tough voice, European countries are clearly suspicious, and for several days, foreign diplomats have been in frequent contact, but in contrast, governments have been very unanimously silent.

On the 24th, Wang Li, the Chinese ambassador to Germany, met with German Foreign Minister Schleier, and the news from Beijing cautiously raised the question of France's position to him, even Qin Kai could not imagine that World War I would break out several years in advance, although in the past ten years, after the whole country invested in economic construction, the economic shape and financial situation of the whole China have been surprisingly explosive, but the originally planned armament construction has in fact just begun, but the war seems to have been inevitable.

Therefore, Qin Kai warned Zhou Ruidong at the first time that the Germans must face up to the scale of a possible war, and face up to the extreme situation of losing all maritime economic channels...... There is no doubt that Qin Kai warned Schleier of the possible entry of Britain, France, and Russia into the war.

It is obviously impossible for the shrewd Schleier not to understand the problem, and now Schleier, who has become one of the top echelons of Germany, naturally understands the attitude of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German military, a senior officer from the Junker aristocracy, has now almost become the actual controller of the military, and the German General Staff has been secretly planning an attack on France, once the opportunity to start a war, from Kaiser Wilhelm to the General Staff will not hesitate to open the magic box of war.

In the evening of the same day, under the personal leadership of Schleier, Wang Li secretly called on Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Chancellor Hohenlohe, and he delivered a message from Qin Kai to Kaiser Wilhelm II, "Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I have brought a question from China, Chairman Qin Kai and Premier Zhou Ruidong's cabinet are very concerned about the long-standing friendship between the two countries, but we believe through careful analysis that the battle plan that your country is secretly planning to attack France on both flanks may not achieve military success. The military staff officers sent by Beijing are rushing to Berlin, so Chairman Qin is cautious about building a plan to control the scale of the war! ”

The plan calmly mentioned in Wang Li's mouth is naturally the Schlieffen plan that makes future generations full of controversy, in fact, it seems to be completely affected by the butterfly effect of Qin Kai, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, who stepped down three years ago, is still idle at home, this person who originally did not survive the first battle hangs, and now he can see that his plan may be put into practice...... The new Chief of the German General Staff, Moltke Jr., was very satisfied with the rapid battle plan drawn up by his predecessor, and the German General Staff was indeed secretly deploying and making final revisions.

However, just as a 380mm bombshell was dropped in the hearts of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Hohenlohe, the deployment of Schlieffen's plan is also highly classified information within the German General Staff......

Wilhelm II looked a little strange, but in view of the huge interests with China and Wang Li's long-standing cooperative relationship, he immediately decided to let Moltke's chief of staff deal with the leak, and the practice of Chinese to send staff officers on his own initiative aroused his interest somewhat, and before he could turn his head to the side to give Prime Minister Hohenlohe a look, the shrewd prime minister had already spoken......

"Ambassador Wang Li, although His Majesty William is very grateful for your friendship, I am afraid that your country's practice of sending military personnel to cooperate will not satisfy the General Staff!" Speaking of this, the old prince glanced at Wilhelm II, and immediately understood the intention from the small actions of His Majesty the Emperor, "You know, the staff is full of soldiers, and these people don't like to point fingers at others!" ”

Wang Li smiled slightly, he was instructed very clearly at home, to try his best to prevent Germany from declaring war immediately, as for why, it was not that he, a diplomat, cared too much, he only knew that the senior military officers who were rushing in at the same time brought more confidential and important information, and the Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had a somewhat eccentric personality in front of him, was obviously the key point.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Germany is our most important friend, but once your country declares war, we will not be able to provide military assistance to your country due to the principle of neutrality, which is why President Qin and Beijing will put forward our proposal so cautiously!" With that, he reached out and pulled out a small note and handed it to Prime Minister Hornlohe.

Wang Li's words obviously brought too much information, first of all, China will certainly not immediately declare its participation in a war thousands of miles away, but the Chinese side is willing to provide Germany with important assistance written on the paper on the eve of the outbreak of war!

The small note was not written in Chinese, but a line of slightly stiff German, so Hohenlohe obviously understood it effortlessly, he was obviously stunned, and then immediately realized the importance of this line of text, and immediately turned around and handed the small note to Wilhelm II, although the emperor Xià usually has a strange temper, but on this crucial issue, he is obviously not a dumb goose.

"300 mechanical chariots!"

Wilhelm II obviously did not understand what was written on Wang Li's small note, but he knew very clearly that this must have something to do with Jian Yi, which the Chinese side proposed to suspend the declaration of war!

"His Majesty the Emperor, this is a secret development of our country, codenamed tank army weapon, equipped with a 60mm gun, 2 MG heavy machine guns, the armor can withstand 60mm army artillery fire head-on, advancing at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour, which will establish a great battlefield advantage for the German army!"

Hearing Wang Li's introduction, even the layman Schleier understood the terrible nature of this weapon, and Wilhelm II, who was keen on armaments, finally couldn't help but interject, "Ambassador Wang, is your country willing to provide 300 such chariots?" ”

"Parts for 50 tanks and 250 sets of tanks have been loaded onto Chinese merchant ships on the 18th, escorted by the Chinese Navy, transported to the port of Hamburg via the Panama Canal, accompanied by a group of Chinese skilled workers, who will guide the completion of the assembly of the rest of the tanks in the factory provided by your country, and it will take at least 4 months for your army to complete training and achieve initial combat strength, according to military estimates, it will take at least 4 months......"

"Ambassador Wang, please convey our most sincere agreement...... Also, if possible, I hope to be able to do it right away...... Tank...... The transfer of technology is negotiated in secret, and any project of technology reciprocity can be discussed! Wilhelm II made a decision at once, and made a promise with caution and a moment.

When the night was dark, Prime Minister Hohenlohe personally sent Wang Li outside, and on the way, he again proposed that he hoped to establish an alliance with China, but this request did not receive a positive response from Wang Li, and it was obvious that China showed its friendship with Germany, but at the same time, in the face of a war thousands of miles away, it was obviously not easy to let the Chinese take the initiative to stand on the side of Germany.

It was already late at night when Wang Li left the Palace of Versailles, but the excited Wilhelm II immediately summoned the Imperial Chief of Staff, General Moltke, the German general who looked a little wooden, almost immediately understood the message that the Chinese wanted to express after hearing the Emperor's Majesty relay, and on the other hand, the Chinese had apparently heard something about the Schlieffen plan, which made the cautious German general immediately nervous, and once the news leaked, the French were likely to start working now, Massive construction of defensive lines on the Belgian border......

On the afternoon of the 25th, Schleier met with French Minister Brisson and unexpectedly made a statement that surprised the French -- Germany would carefully consider the military dispute between Austria and Serbia, but at the same time hoped that the French government would act as a mediator and propose to the Russians the intention of negotiation, so as to prevent many countries from getting involved in the battle for the Ottoman Empire's possessions.

The French government's position on the Herzegovina War was not clear, but even though Germany favored France on the colonial issue, it was hardly friendly with Germany, and in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany annexed Alsace and part of Lorraine, including the fortress city of Metz, and ceded the land.

You must know that after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on the 19th, the entire French war plane has been immediately activated, and nearly 150,000 troops on the Belfort-Verdun line have entered a state of first-class combat readiness, and the huge system of logistics supply has also been activated.

This means that even if there is no war, the Paris government will have to spend nearly 2 million francs more every day for the impending emergency, which is only the funds needed for pre-war mobilization, and the Republican and Socialist Prime Minister Brian, who has just formed a government for two months, is also under fierce public attack from the opposition parties, and the Radical Socialist Party and other hardliners have condemned the government's poor preparations.

After careful negotiations with Schleier, Minister Brisson was immediately convinced that the German side would not launch a military operation against France for at least a few months...... In fact, earlier Wilhelm II did not point the finger at France, but at the Russian Empire...... If the French were to fight for the contradictions between Russia and Germany, this was clearly not a decision that a sensible person could make.

By the evening of the 25th, Wilhelm II had received the information he needed that the French were willing to propose their proposals to Russia in order to avoid the intervention of Germany and Russia in the war between Austria-Hungary...... However, on the 27th, Germany unexpectedly received two indecisive news!

Austro-Hungarian Third Army Army Infantry General von Brown. Borojevich personally led the most elite 13th Army into the Herzegovia region, and on the 21st made contact with the forward troops of the Serbian 7th Division advancing to Bugino, and after half a day of fierce fighting, the Serbs took the initiative to withdraw from the front, and on the 23rd, General Borojevich surrounded the city of Knitz, 40 kilometers south of Sarajevo, and routed the Serbian army deployed there, and made contact with the 1st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Austro-Hungarian First Army stationed in Sarajevo.

This means that Austria-Hungary has gained a considerable advantage in the race between the two sides to seize Bosnia and Herzegovina, occupying nearly 80% of the territory of the two provinces......

However, the news from the French side was bad, the Russian Empire categorically rejected the message conveyed by France, and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, Count Peter Arkadyvich Stolypin, clearly told the French that Nicholas II was very angry at the war launched by Austria-Hungary, especially the attitude of Austria-Hungary in ignoring Russia!

A series of news obviously made the German top brass realize that in the secret talks with Wilhelm II, Admiral Moltke made it very clear that the Russian Empire could declare war on Austria-Hungary at any time, and once the Russian Empire participated in the war against Austria-Hungary, the German army would have to preemptively attack the Russian-French alliance!

On the 29th, Prime Minister Hohenlohe summoned the British Minister Lubet, and proposed that the British government would intervene to mediate the dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, but did not get a clear response from the British, which immediately put Germany into an embarrassing situation, and on the 30th, Prime Minister Hohenlohe sent a secret note to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph I, proposing to respond to the Serbian military threat with gradual military action, hoping to maintain the confrontation situation in Herzegovia and avoid provoking the Russian Empire to enter the war.

However, this expectation lasted only three days, and on October 2, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, Count Stolypin, announced that the Russian Empire had declared war on Austria-Hungary and would send troops into Serbia to support Serbia's territorial claims to Herzegovia. R1152