In the early morning of October 7, 1909, less than an hour after France declared war on Austria-Hungary, the German Prime Minister Prince Hohenlowe held urgent consultations with the British Minister to Germany, Lubet, and after being sure that Britain would abide by the previous terms of neutrality, the German war plane was quickly activated, and at 8 o'clock in the morning, the German Empire declared war on Russia.

Prime Minister Hohenlohe naturally understood that declaring war on Russia would mean completely embarking on the path of war with France, but even the most optimistic Wilhelm II and the German General Staff would not have thought that Germany had accumulated enough strength to defeat France, Russia and Britain at the same time, and that the German government had not yet declared war on France at this moment, and Britain was the biggest obstacle.

The borders between Germany and France, which straddle Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, all of which are European countries that have declared permanent neutrality, are clearly far better off with France than with Germany, and the Belgian Wehrmacht is stationed only on the German side of the border, which has long been the hostility of senior German staff officers against this small country.

Even under China's strong diplomatic mediation, the British made a clear statement of neutrality, but Belgium was also the core interest of the British, once the Schlieffen plan was implemented, the mountainous terrain of Switzerland, coupled with the Swiss tradition of armed neutrality, doomed Germany to make no move in this direction, and the strong right wing of the Schlieffen plan had to choose to pass from the Belgian plain.

Once the time came to reveal the cards, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the outwardly tough German military would not hesitate to face up to the crisis of a possible war with Britain, but now the focus of the whole of Europe was on. And these are just two provinces on the Adriatic coast. Germany declares war on Russia. It was also a necessary means to prevent the collapse of the German-Austrian alliance.

Not only Germany, but all of Europe realized that Russia had already driven the chariot with all its might, but France, which had declared war on Austria-Hungary...... In fact, the French could not directly participate in the battle against Austria-Hungary, and the only reason why the Brian Cabinet, which had just been formed less than three months ago, was separated from Italy, which had close ties to the German-Austrian alliance, was almost entirely based on the needs of the Russo-French alliance.

Late at night on the 8th. When Qin Kai heard the confidential staff officer's report on the situation in Europe in the General Staff Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, he was also surprised! The British Empire, which is militarily strong, has obviously learned the lessons of the Sino-British naval war, and will certainly not make the same mistake again, but this is a strong opponent, and it is also the key to whether China can obtain huge benefits from the First World War.

However, the current military confrontation in Europe has undergone changes that it did not anticipate, despite limited intervention in the situation in the Balkans through diplomatic channels. However, the effect is clearly not perfect. Qin Kai is well aware of the fundamental problem of this competition for European interests, which is actually the new distribution of power brought about by the rise of Germany!

At this point, the old rivals, the French, did not want to see the rise of Germany, and Russia's expansion into the Balkans would inevitably plan for a conflict with the German-Austrian alliance, and the greatest influence would be on the British...... The economic capacity of the British people is deteriorating, but the industrial accumulation of the British Empire in the past hundred years is indeed something that the whole world cannot ignore, and this will be the biggest weight to change the situation of the European war!

"The French are really funny, how good is it to simply declare war on Germany...... Declaring war is still hidden...... Isn't it understandable to be afraid of the Germans! ”

"I'm afraid this battle will take a few months!"

"I don't think the French defense is simple......"

A few small staff officers on the side have begun to discuss the situation in Europe in a low voice, and from time to time secretly look at the generals who are surrounded by Qin Kai in front of the sand table in the back room, the outbreak of the European war is not an accident for the staff department who tosses military strategy and inexplicable confrontation all day long, but the rhythm of the outbreak of the war is so rapid, and several European military powers are so quickly involved in the quagmire of the Balkans, which is still greatly beyond everyone's speculation.

From the first day of the outbreak of the war, the General Staff Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs poured into a large number of staff officers drawn from subordinate regiments, which shows that the country attaches great importance to this important matter, and this also reflects Beijing's attitude from the other side, once the situation in Europe expands, it is obvious that the interests of European countries in the Far East will also face the possibility of reshuffling, which also means that the war is no longer only about Europe!

In addition to the generals of various departments under the command of Song Yunze, commander of the Seventh Group Army, who is sitting on the northern front, the other major group armies, including the navy and the chief of staff of the air force units directly under the jurisdiction of the central government, have rushed to Beijing...... At this moment, the generals were staring at the rearranged sand table of the European war situation in the room.

"The scale of the European war will probably be much greater than we imagined, and this time, it will not be a simple border conflict, but a national war of life and death! I'm afraid this will be a world war that will sweep the whole world! Qin Kai glanced at a room of shining generals, Lu Han, Xu Shoushan, Zhang Kui, Xue Chao, Ma Long...... These old teams, almost all of whom were born in the Nanyang system, have grown up these once high-spirited young people into calm soldiers now, but the scale of the war in front of them has obviously completely exceeded the previous wars.

World war...... Since the reorganization and reform of the army carried out at the end of the last century, for more than ten years, the Chinese National Defense Forces have hardly had any large-scale military operations, only there are some small-scale conflicts between the North Sea and Russia west of the North Sea, but there are no military operations at all!

"Chairman, when are we going to announce our entry into the war?" Ma Long, the commander of the Ninth Army, who had never spoken much, stared at the sand table, and couldn't wait to ask, such a large group of old guys have been recruited to Beijing, and they must be going to fight!

"Probably...... Right away! Qin Kai's answer still surprised everyone, just now Qin Kai still swore that it was a world war, but now he wanted to join the war immediately, although this is more in line with the previous vigorous and resolute style of the Nanyang system, however, this time it may be a big war that will pour the strength of the whole country, and it is so decisive.

Ma Ze, chief of the general staff of the staff department next to him, was immediately focused by dozens of eyes, if he wanted to join the war immediately, it was obvious that it was impossible for the staff department not to make detailed plans, but there were no new changes on today's sand table...... Ma Ze glanced at Qin Kai and Xu Shoushan, the chief of the Military and Political Department beside him, and knew that now it was time for him to play, and the plan to be implemented now was actually not a new plan at all!

"Ladies and gentlemen, what may be fought immediately is not a full-scale war, of course, but a flank attack by the Seventh Army on the Northwest Front, the goal of which is to effectively strike at the Russian Sixth Army, the Tenth and Eleventh Armies on the Eastern Front of the Russian Empire, west of our North Sea to Novosibirsk, and the strategic purpose is to threaten the supply line of the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway and isolate the Siberian territories occupied by the Russians west of the North Sea......"

Speaking of this, Xu Shoushan, who had not spoken, interjected: "Ladies and gentlemen, the long border between the Russian Empire in the north and us is a great constraint on any future military operations in the future. ”

Hearing this, many of the military leaders sitting there understood that the original battle would start immediately, and it was still necessary to beat the old opponent in the north first, and then Ma Ze put several corps symbols on the sand table revealed the purpose of the military operation more clearly......

After the large-scale military exercise in northern Xinjiang a few months ago, in fact, the Fifth and Sixth Army Corps that participated in the military exercise did not return, but continued to move westward into the military zone of the Ubusu River, and the Seventh Army, which was originally responsible for the defense of the north, had not removed its posts west of the Ubusu River, and the main force had already completed the arrangement between Lake Kusugul and Lake Belga.

The Fifth and Sixth Armies formed a stronger fist west of the Ubusu River, and once the battle in the direction of Lake Belga began, this huge fist would strike northward, forming a two-sided attack with the Seventh Army, which had attracted a large number of Russian Siberian Legions, and dealt a fatal blow to the Russian Siberian Legions!

Even today's meeting attended by the top of the military circles, the introduction of the General Staff Department did not involve the core combat plan, however, all the people present are old army heads, and when they look at this situation, they will suddenly press on the three corps, and now it is an extraordinary period, the major corps have doubled their reserves and supplementary troops in the past 24 months, plus Song Yunze's Seventh Army Corps was originally a super-large corps, which means that in this large-scale battle, the Chinese side will invest more troops than ever before 9-10 armies, nearly 500,000 troops.

Unprecedented General Assembly ......

However, another question still bothers the secret generals, the biggest difficulty in the battle between the northern front and the Russians is not actually the strength and combat effectiveness, but the harsh climate in the north and the difficulty of supply and the long front brought about by the advance of the large corps, and the real purpose of this operation, from the perspective of military allocation, is obviously not to completely drive the Russians back to Europe, in terms of military strength and engagement strategy, Qin Kai's combat purpose is only to give Russia a considerable lesson!

At that time, every inch of land will be soaked in blood! But from the perspective of development, Qin Kai is convinced that this qiē effort will be rewarded!

On the 15th, just as European countries were intervening militarily in the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, China in the Far East suddenly broke out in an astonishing move. (To be continued......)