Leading the French army to support was Qin Zhiyuan's old acquaintance, Bastian Berjamin Garcia.

During this time, Bastian was really proud.

Thanks to Qin Zhiyuan, Bastian's military rank was not only promoted to lieutenant general, but also won a Grand Knight Medal like Qin Zhiyuan.

Bastien now held the post of commander of the 35th Army of the French army.

It seems that the capture of Crown Prince William is really a great joy, and many people are on the rise because of this.

Unlike Qin Zhiyuan's low-key, Bastian enjoys people's admiring gaze very much. After receiving the Grand Knight Medal, Bastian hung the medal on himself all the time, for fear that people would not know that he was a Grand Knight recipient.

Maybe such a flamboyant style is more suitable for Westerners, but Qin Zhiyuan can't learn it.

Qin Zhiyuan's free education is "not to be happy with things, not to be sad about himself", compared with traditional Confucian education, Qin Zhiyuan is already flamboyant enough, but in Bastian's view, this is obviously not enough.

"Qin, you already have two Grand Knight Medals, but you almost never wear them, what do you mean? Don't you look down on the honor of the Grand Knight's Order? Bastian didn't feel that his behavior was inappropriate, but thought that Qin Zhiyuan didn't respect honor enough.

"On the contrary, I believe that honor only represents the past, and we want the future, and we can guarantee the desire for honor by forgetting everything we have gained now." Qin Zhiyuan's reason sounded very good.

"God, do you want to get a third?" Bastian felt that two was enough.

"Why not? I'm afraid that before me, there will be people who ask: Do you want to get a second one? In fact, I've gotten it. Qin Zhiyuan was calm, and he had a natural temperament of not being shocked.

While they were talking, the two of them sat down in the office with Bastian's chief of staff Armstrong and Qin Zhiyuan's chief of staff Pierre, and they needed to communicate briefly for the next battle to reach some consensus.

“…… The basic situation is this, opposite us is the new 18th Army under the command of General Oskar von Hutier, which has about seventeen divisions, and I now have six divisions here, plus your six divisions, we have a total of twelve divisions, and we are at a disadvantage in terms of strength. Qin Zhiyuan briefly reported the situation.

"What's the matter with the Russians? Why were the Germans able to draw a steady stream of troops from their Eastern Front? Could it be that the Germans were already out of pressure on the Eastern Front? "Bastian was unhappy with the Russians.

"Don't count on the Russians, in this war we can only rely on ourselves." Qin Zhiyuan clearly knew the direction of the war and did not have the slightest expectation for the Russians.

In the previous June, Russian soldiers had been thrown into disarray, with pro-Bolshevik soldiers and pro-Korensky government soldiers openly confronting each other, and in some parts there was even an exchange of fire.

At the beginning of July, in order to fulfill his promise to Britain and France, Korensky ordered the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Breshilov, to attack the Germans on a 30-mile front with 200,000 men and 1,300 guns, regardless of the confusion of the Russian army.

The Germans were commanded by Max Hoffmann, Ludendorff's strategist at the Battle of Tennanberg and now Chief of Staff on the Eastern Front, who was determined to use Ludendorff's new defensive system against the Russian attack.

If we say that on the Western Front, the Germans fought on a par with the British and French on the whole. Then on the Eastern Front, it is devastating for the Russians.

In just a week, the Russian offensive was a complete failure, and Breshilov was relieved of his duties. But by this time it was too late, the Germans were attacking very sharply, the Russians seemed to have lost the will to fight, they were routed not only by the Germans, but also by the Austrians, and no matter who they fought against, the Russians were always defeated.

By the time the fighting stopped, the Russians had lost 17,000 men, a figure that was nothing compared to the spring offensive launched by Britain and France, but it had become Russia's "Achilles' heel".

"What a bunch of fools, even if I let my grandmother go, I can't be beaten so badly." Bastian was extremely contemptuous.

"It's not the soldiers' fault, it's the government's problem, internal friction has exacerbated Russia's burden, and they are irretrievable." Qin Zhiyuan's feelings for Russia are complicated.

Whether from the perspective of France or the Republic of China, Qin Zhiyuan did not want Lenin to come to power, only the dead enemy was the best enemy. But intellectually, Qin Zhiyuan hopes that Russia will rise again, because only in this way can Europe's attention be focused on the increasingly strong Russian giant, and Qin Zhiyuan can fish in troubled waters.

"How are you going to fight?" Bastian did not know the future trajectory of Russia, and his energy was focused on the German 18th Army opposite.

"To be honest, I don't want to fight at all." None of the outsiders present were outsiders, and Qin Zhiyuan seemed a little open-mouthed: "Think about it, the British prepared in Ypres for two years, and Haig used 500,000 people to fight 300,000 people in Germany to achieve such a result. As for us, you are a group of soldiers who have just recovered from the chaos, and I have troops under me who have just completed the expansion, and the new recruits even occupy more than half, and the most important thing is that our troops are still at a disadvantage in general, to be honest, Louie's request is a bit difficult. ”

Qin Zhiyuan did not shy away from talking about the problems he was currently encountering, nor was he worried that these would affect the morale of the army, all of them were the hottest generals, and they would not be shaken by a few words.

"Okay......" Seeing that everyone was looking at him expressionlessly, Qin Zhiyuan stopped complaining, picked up the baton and came to the military map hanging in the office.

"Our goal is to capture any of Reims, Agilcul, and Avinicur, and then threaten the Brimont region, or even regain it." Qin Zhiyuan announced the battle goal.

The Brimont region, which was the target of the spring offensive in Nivel.

"Brimont...... With all due respect, General, do you think we will be able to recover the Brimont region? You know, two months ago, General Nivel used a full 1.2 million men without taking Brimont, and now we have less than 200,000 men. Bastian's chief of staff, Armstrong, spoke cautiously.

"It seems difficult, but if we can do it, it will be great." Bastian held the elbow of his other hand in one hand and touched the sparse beard on his chin with the other.

If he can really do it, maybe Bastian will also get two Grand Knight Medals like Qin Zhiyuan.

"It does seem difficult, but that's what the War Department has set for us." Qin Zhiyuan's expression was unwavering, showing firmness and indomitable determination.

In the face of difficulties, there are conditions to go up, and there are no conditions to create conditions! (To be continued.) )