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On November 12, 1868, in his villa on the Misgordon Mountain in the Bavarian mountains, Zheng Zhipeng, dressed in military uniform, and the division commanders of the expeditionary force were waiting for Kaiser Wilhelm I to summon him. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Wilhelm I originally wanted to summon the senior officers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Berlin, but because there were many British and French spies lurking in Berlin, he was forced to sneak to the villa on Mount Misgordon in the Bavarian mountains.

Wilhelm I naturally understood that this was the so-called trickery of the Entente bloc, after all, in the international strategic relations, the relationship between the Allies was not the most reliable, although Germany had a very close relationship with the Chinese Empire, but it was difficult to prevent the discord between Britain and France, and other tricks, in the overall international strategic layout, the German Empire, as a newly rising country, compared with the old empires such as Britain and France, there were inherent deficiencies, and this deficiency needed time to slowly fade.

Wilhelm I's greatest concern was that the Chinese Empire did not fulfill its previous promises, and Italy could join the Entente bloc, but the Central Powers could never do without the Chinese Empire, because all the strategies of Germany and Germany were based on the Chinese Empire's participation in the war.

After summoning all the officers of the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force above the division level, Wilhelm I directly said to Zheng Zhipeng eagerly: "Dear General Zheng, since the Führer Lin Haijiang sent his 200,000 elite troops to Germany, this is a trust in the German Empire and myself, and I am deeply honored to do so, but I don't understand why the Chinese Empire has been slow to declare war on the Entente. So that we can legitimately fight as part of the Allies? ”

After waiting for the translation, Zheng Zhipeng smiled helplessly: "Your Majesty, what you are talking about is a problem that needs to be considered by the decision-makers of the German Empire and the Chinese Empire, and I am a soldier, and it is my duty to obey, please give a combat order!" I am confident that every one of them on German soil will defend their honour with practical deeds, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the German Reich for providing adequate logistical support. ”

William I was a little dissatisfied with Zheng Zhipeng's answer, but the other party's answer was extremely rigorous, and William I could only look around at Bismarck and Moltke's Chief of General Staff, Moltke coughed lightly and nodded to Zheng Zhipeng and said: "General Zheng, please don't blame us for being impatient, because all the strategies of the empire are based on the Chinese Empire's dispatch of troops to Russia and contain the main forces of the Russian army, so that my German army can concentrate its absolute superiority to break the main forces of the French army and the British army. After occupying the entire territory of France, in the return to the Russian army for a decisive battle, so that Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries are contained by Austria-Hungary, once France is defeated, our army turns into a strategic initiative, then the Entente bloc alliance will become a piece of waste paper, so we hope that General Zheng can give us enough confidence, otherwise the imperial army can only wait for the Chinese Empire to declare war before launching a general offensive on the Western Front, if the best time is missed, the empire may not be able to completely defeat the British, The French forces were caught in a deep trench battle. ”

Zheng Zhipeng hesitated for a moment and helplessly explained to Wilhelm I, Bismarck, Moltke and others who were paying attention to him: "As a corpsion-level general, I can't know about the strategic deployment of the empire without the face-to-face teaching of the Führer, and I believe that since the empire has signed an alliance with Germany, then Your Majesty should trust the head of the empire, our great head of state has always been true to his words and deeds!" ”

Bismarck smiled and said, "Does General Zheng have something unspeakable?" If there is no exact guarantee, the risk that Germany needs to take is too great, and it is really difficult for us to feel at ease! ”

After Zheng Zhipeng waited for the translator to explain, he knew that the Germans' principles of doing things were rigid to death, and everything had the strength to break the clay pot and ask the end, so he had to guess: "Your Majesty, the Prime Minister and Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff, if you can, as long as Germany can provide sufficient supplies, the entire Eastern Front can be safely handed over to the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force to defend, you must know that in our Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force are the elite divisions of the Chinese Empire, and the firepower is more than seven times that of the same European troops. Will our Führer sit idly by and watch an elite army like ours fall? Obviously impossible, the only possibility is that the empire is ready to go to war without a declaration? ”

"What?" Wilhelm I suddenly stood up and looked at Bismarck and Moltke with extremely surprised eyes, Bismarck also looked at Zheng Zhipeng with unreasonable eyes and said: "The practice of undeclared war seems to be contrary to international practice and chivalry, and the meaning of war is to use large-scale corps to carry out decisive battles from the frontal battlefield, completely destroy the enemy's living forces and will to resist, and shorten the period of war." ”

Zheng Zhipeng said helplessly: "This is Germany's creed, for our Chinese Empire, there is only one purpose to win the war, that is, to kill and injure the enemy's vital forces and destroy the enemy's war potential by any means, for our Führer, declaring war is a ridiculous fig leaf like useless, but if this fig leaf can be used to achieve some goals, I believe that the Imperial Führer will be very happy, and this time Britain and France can not declare war on the Empire, As if to give the illusion that the Chinese Empire can stay out of the matter, this kind of small trick dares to be played in front of the head of the empire? So from any point of view, the possibility that the Führer will go to war without declaring a war is very large. ”

Although William I was a little disdainful that Lin Haijiang might choose not to declare war, he was more inclined to the undeclared war of the Chinese Empire than the cheap tricks made by Britain and France, and William I realized that Lin Haijiang obviously did not understand international conventions, if it was an undeclared war, then Britain and France and other Entente countries could confiscate all the assets of the Chinese Empire in its country, even including the assets of legally operated merchants, and the prisoners of war of the other side did not have to give so-called humanitarian care during the war, etc. The Germans have always had an imperial plot, and in the will of the Germans, the war between nations must be carried out in a dignified manner, and the honor obtained by defeating one's opponent from the front is the real honor, so Wilhelm I regarded the declaration of war as so important.

William I hesitated for a long time to hand over the fate of his empire to a foreign army? This was something that had never happened before in the history of Germany, and could the Imperial Chinese Expeditionary Force effectively stabilize the Eastern Front? It can be said that after three large-scale partitions of Tsarist Russia, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland only has less than 200,000 square kilometers of land left, and the population is only less than 4 million. It is important to remember that the German-controlled Breslau was only a dozen kilometers away from the Russian army in Doryubda, and the Russian army from Kolenheim would have reached Berlin even if it took two weeks on foot.

Since it involves military issues, Moltke, chief of the General Staff, naturally takes the lead, Moltke analyzes that the German army can only invest about ten divisions on the Eastern Front, Austria-Hungary can invest twenty-five divisions, plus the troops of the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force, the total number can reach nearly 500,000 people, but in the face of a long border, it can be said that almost every point of the Russians is likely to attack, although Breslau is a strategic point, but it is too close to the Russians, and there is a lack of a strong defensive line, On the entire border all the way to Berlin, only Gozów had complete fortifications, in other words, only Gozów was a real strategic point, and the rest of the place was not suitable for the movement of large corps and large forces.

According to Moltke's deployment, the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force held the fortress of Gozów, while the 25 divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked in the direction of Prague, while focusing on its domestic support at any time, the enemy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mainly only Italy, according to Moltke's estimate, although the quality of the Italian army was very poor, and the will to fight was not strong, but the fully mobilized Italian army could at least drag the strength of about 30 divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no strength to help the Germans divide their troops and attack the French by leaps and bounds, Therefore, Moltke was forced to draw fifteen divisions from the twenty-five divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacking in the direction of Prague for an attack in the direction of Milan, Italy, through Italy and flanking the French stronghold.

After Zheng Zhipeng listened to Mao Qi's deployment on the Eastern Front, he stood in front of the map and pondered, Mao Qi did not introduce the military deployment of the Western Front, because it was completely unnecessary for Zheng Zhipeng, Mao Qi knew that the Chinese general did not seem to be simple, because the undeclared war of the Chinese Empire led to many uncertain factors, and it was these factors that Mao Qicai temporarily made a revision to the overall strategy, of course, this modification has not been decided, Even as the chief of the General Staff of the German army, Moltke's revision of the strategic plan had to be repeatedly debated by the General Staff, which was a very advanced concept for the German army's perfect staff system.

Zheng Zhipeng said slowly after a long time: "Your Excellency Chief of General Staff Moltke, Gozów can be said to be the first and last line of defense before Berlin, if it is a single fortress group, if the Russian army wants to attack Berlin through Gozów Fortress, then they must completely swallow Gozów Fortress."

(To be continued)