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Entering December, the battle for the commander-in-chief of the French army on the Western Front gradually became no suspense.

Nivelle and Pétain were on the verge of disrepute, and one or two newspapers were still promoting Nivelle and Pétain's achievements, but they were drowned out by more criticism.

Among the opposition parties, some members of the Radical Socialist Party are preparing to stir up trouble and attack the ruling Republican Socialist Party.

Chauffy's deputy, De Castellau, was transferred to the War Office to take charge of the war on the Swiss side.

There was no war at all on the Swiss side, Switzerland was a neutral country.

Foch became the only candidate for commander-in-chief of the French army, and when Xia Fei left office, Foch would take office.

In this process, Qin Zhiyuan has made outstanding contributions. Qin Zhiyuan spent a total of nearly 50,000 francs before and after, which was used to buy off media reporters. The value of the money spent, for a whole month, news about Foch appeared in the headlines of the newspaper one after another, every record of Foch in the past was bragged by reporters, and even the conservative side of Foch was beautified as old and stable.

Foch has simply become the French god of war.

Qin Zhiyuan is only responsible for formulating the plan, not the specific executor. As the commander of Army Group North, Foch was surrounded by a group of supporters, all of whom were his old friends, friends, and even aides.

They will receive their own benefits when Foch becomes commander-in-chief of the French army, which is the French version: a man who has attained the Tao and ascended to heaven.

Qin Zhiyuan has been staying in the barracks during this time, presiding over the expansion of the First Brigade and entertaining visiting groups from China.

That's right, the Beiyang government sent another visiting group, this time of a higher standard, led by Qin Yunpeng, the former overseer of Shandong.

The Chinese workers who went to Europe were mainly from Shandong, and Qin Yunpeng was the former overseer of Shandong, and he was regarded as the parent official of the Shandong people, so he must have been able to communicate well with the Chinese workers.

At this time, Qin Yunpeng was in the prime of life, and when Yuan Shikai was proclaimed emperor at the beginning of this year, he was dismissed because of his opposition to the imperial system. After Yuan Shikai's death, Qin Yunpeng had not yet had time to arrange a position, but he was not willing to do nothing, so he asked to go to Europe to observe the ongoing First World War.

In Qin Zhiyuan's view, Qin Yunpeng's arrival has another meaning. Because of the appearance of Qin Zhiyuan, the Beiyang government has actually participated in the First World War, and now it is impossible to be neutral, in this case, the Beiyang government will definitely find a way to take the military power into its own hands, so as to conform to the consistent style of those old foxes.

In this regard, Qin Zhiyuan is indispensable. This is not the Far East, but Europe, the relationship and connections in the country have no meaning, Qin Zhiyuan already has Foch as a backing, it can be said that he has taken the lead, even if the Beiyang government sends President Li Yuanhong to come over in person, it cannot shake Qin Zhiyuan's position in Foch's heart.

Calm and relaxed, Qin Zhiyuan entertained Qin Yunpeng and others politely and courteously on the one hand, and personally presided over the expansion of the First Brigade on the other hand.

After the expansion, the first brigade has two infantry regiments and an artillery regiment, the infantry regiment uses a three-three formation, each regiment has nearly 2,000 infantry, and the artillery regiment has added 12 155 mm caliber heavy guns on the basis of the original "75 Miss" to form a powerful artillery regiment.

The artillerymen under Zheng Dali had not yet fully mastered the art of artillery, so Qin Zhiyuan retained the French lieutenant Dinar, who was previously in charge of training, through Foch, promoted him to the rank of captain, and stayed in the 1st Brigade to continue teaching artillery.

In addition to front-line troops, the 1st Brigade has a transport battalion, a medical battalion, an engineer battalion, and a special services battalion. All the combined forces are approaching 10,000 men, far more than the strength of a brigade, and not much less than a French division.

Qin Zhiyuan had a sense of crisis, and set up another training camp next to the Kapi military camp, where more than 5,000 Chinese are now being trained, and in addition to the French, there are also some Chinese who have been disabled in the previous war. This training camp is still expanding, and it is estimated that the first batch of soldiers will leave the training camp after the year and join the first brigade under Qin Zhiyuan, and maybe the first brigade will be expanded again.

Although it is almost the end of the year, Huimin has not stopped transporting Chinese workers, and recently, several cruise ships have arrived in Marseille every other day. Huang Fugui led a dozen people to set up an office in Marseille, and as soon as the Chinese workers came ashore, they would sign a new contract with Huang Fugui.

This contract did not conflict with the previous contract signed by the Chinese workers, but entrusted the resettlement rights of the Chinese workers to the First Brigade of the Foreign Legion, for which Qin Zhiyuan hired a team of lawyers to fight with the British who were dissatisfied with it.

When the contract was first signed, the British and French did not pay attention to it, and there were big loopholes in the contract. The lawyers hired by Qin Zhiyuan did not take much effort to find more than 10 loopholes, and then the Paris District Court ruled that the contracts signed by the Chinese workers were illegal, and the contracts signed by the Chinese workers and the First Brigade in the future shall prevail. Now the First Brigade is directly cooperating with Huimin Company, and the Chinese workers no longer sign contracts with the French or British, but directly sign contracts with the First Brigade.

The Paris District Court cooperated so much, and the old Renault contributed a lot, for this reason, the cooperation between Qin Zhiyuan and the old Renault escalated again, as long as the old Renault needed manpower, Qin Zhiyuan would provide it unconditionally, even if it was drawn out of the army, Qin Zhiyuan would also meet the old Renault's requirements.

Of course, the old Renault still has to pay the salary.

When each batch of Chinese workers first arrived in Marseille, Huang Fugui would distribute them according to the wishes of the Chinese workers. Those who want to join the army are, of course, the first class of treatment, with the highest salary, the best treatment, and the most leave. Those who want to join the factory are the second class, whose salaries and packages are slightly lower than those of the military, and at the same time slightly higher than the previously signed contracts.

The result was a happy hue.

The British were very unhappy about this, and compared with Indians and blacks, the Chinese were more efficient, easier to manage, and more cost-effective. However, compared with the French, the British were the most harsh on Chinese workers, and they did not even treat them as human beings, but exercised military management as if they were prisoners. This is the way the British have always been, and not only with Chinese workers, but also with Indian workers and with black workers.

Because the French treated the Chinese workers well, the British even complained about it, and they complained that the French treated the Chinese workers well, which affected their management of the Chinese workers.

What a shame on you!

The current United States has not yet become the world leader, the British are the world's first brother, and Qin Zhiyuan plans to spend it with the British.

At least before the rise of the Americans.