At the end of August 1916, a brand-new steam locomotive was quietly parked on the tracks at the Hankou Railway Station, and on the platform next to the steam locomotive, countless people, military and political officials, and foreign embassy personnel were also standing on it.

Of course, the object of all attention at this time was not the steam locomotive on the rails, even if it was a new domestic locomotive just produced by the Shanghai Locomotive Factory.

At this time, what attracted much attention was the long series of freight cars behind the locomotive...

In this long series of wagons, ammunition and other supplies were loaded with the most urgently needed ammunition and other supplies for the Caucasian coalition and Russia. Later, the train will arrive in Sichuan via the Sichuan-Han Railway, then from the Chenglan Railway to Lanzhou, and finally from Lanzhou to Dihua (Urumqi) via the Landi Railway, and to the eastern front of the Caucasus and Russia via the Central Asia Railway, which is already connected to the Landi Railway.

The 40 carriages pulled by this steam locomotive are definitely a rare booster for Russia, which is almost exhausted, and this is only the first train.

Behind this train, there are countless trains waiting for the supplies to arrive in Hankou from the Yangtze River, and when they are unloaded from the docks and loaded onto the train, they will depart for Russia like this train.

In fact, at this moment, more than a dozen freighters are already docked at the Yucheng wharf, unloading the materials carried on the freighters, and then loading them onto the train at the Yucheng railway station, and then transporting them to Russia.

The reason why the freighters in Hankou did not go directly to Yucheng was only because the water depth of the Yucheng section of the Yangtze River was too shallow to sail ships with a displacement of more than 500 tons. If the water depth is enough to sail a cargo ship of more than 1,000 tons, I am afraid that the wharf in Yucheng will already be crowded with cargo ships unloading materials...

"In any case, now that the railway has been opened, then Russia will be able to support it for a little longer..."

Looking at the train that stopped quietly, Zhu Erdian, who had already been promoted to ambassador, said to the French ambassador beside him.

The Dilan Railway and the Russian Central Asian Railway were opened, as the first train to Europe, this time Zhu Erdian and the French ambassador MadeMartel (really called Made, French name Damien de Martel, historically served as the first counsellor of the French Embassy in China in 1913, and served as the chargé d'affaires of the embassy from 1916 to 1918. They were all invited to the ceremony.

But to be honest, in fact, Zhu Erdian's own mood is still quite complicated, after all, ten years ago, Russia was the object of Britain trying every means to clamp down, and for this reason, Britain even formed an alliance with Yu Ben, and made various contributions behind the scenes. But now Russia has become an important ally that Britain and France have to rely on, and it is really impossible not to sigh that the world is unpredictable.

Fortunately, although they are very entangled, Zhu Erdian and Madet are still very aware of Russia's important surnames on the Eastern Front, and they also understand that if Russia collapses on the Eastern Front, then Britain and France on the Western Front will definitely not be pleased, which is one of the reasons why the two were invited to attend.

"In any case, let the Russians hold out until the defeat of Germany..."

"That's right, in the past, the Dardanelles Strait was blocked, and there was only one Trans-Siberian Railway that could give Russia a blood transfusion, but now there is an additional Dylan Railway, and the Russians can always hold out for a while longer..."

While the two were talking there, the whistle of the train on the tracks had already sounded once.

"Let's go!"

Under this order, the steam locomotive, which gradually became active, pulled a full 40 carriages and slowly moved forward, and on the stands on both sides of the tracks, the people, military and political officials, and envoys of the Entente countries who came to watch the ceremony also applauded...

――――――――――

The connection and opening of the Dilan Railway and the Central Asian Railway has a huge influence that ordinary people can hardly imagine. At least on the day it was opened, almost all the larger countries in the world expressed some concern about the railway.

After all, the existence of the Dilan Railway is equivalent to adding a new blood transfusion line to Russia, and the existence of this blood transfusion line is even likely to change the situation of the entire war. In the eyes of some, such as the United States, the opening of the Dylan Railway is even more important than China's entry into the war...

On the occasion of the opening of the Dilan Railway and the Central Asia Railway, the heads of state of the Entente countries also congratulated Yan Guang. In particular, the heads of state of Britain, France and Russia praised the opening of the Dilan Railway and the Central Asian Railway as "a great initiative"...

However, this "great initiative" in the eyes of the Entente may not be the case in the eyes of the Allies. At least after learning the news of the opening of the Dilan Railway, Kaiser Wilhelm II was also a little worried.

The media and newspapers in the Allied countries also exposed all the bloody inside stories during the construction of the Dilan Railway. The aim was to tarnish the image of the Entente and to undermine the overall morale of the Entente.

In fact, the Germans did do a lot of good in doing so, at least after the Allied newspapers revealed the whole story of the construction of the Dylan Railway, and almost all the people who knew something about the bloody history of the railway, but did not know it very well, were shocked.

It is well known that almost none of the old capitalist countries like Britain are clean on hand when it comes to such things. However, it is also well known that an old imperialist country like Britain is also a hypocrisy.

Therefore, when all the inside information of the Dilan Railway was revealed, it was reprinted by some newspapers in Britain, France and other countries, and a large number of people in Britain, France and other countries could not accept it.

After all, the Chinese National Defense Forces once captured more than 100,000 prisoners in Xinjiang Province, Outer Mongolia and other places, and in the end only 20,000 remained, so at least nearly 100,000 prisoners died on the road to build the railway.

And the Russians, inspired by the Chinese political axe, also got all the enemy soldiers who had been resurrected from the Caucasus and Eastern Fronts to Central Asia to build railways. It should be noted that many of the prisoners of war used by the Russians to build the railway were sent by Jiang Baili, and of course, not many of these free laborers survived.

In other words, in order to connect the Dilan Railway with the Central Asian Railway, China and Russia have at least 100,000 lives on this railway.

More than 100,000 surnames, although the Turks have just set off a massacre of millions of people not long ago, but the British and French people still can't accept this number. At the same time as accepting the inability, these British and French people also began to bombard their own political axes and Sino-Russian political axes, and some parliamentarians even demanded their political axes to expel China and Russia from the Entente.

After all, it is still a time of war, and there are still many places that need China and Russia, and these two countries at this time are not wise, not to mention that they also know about building railways with prisoners, and they can't please them if they really shout out―――――― but when the war is over and Germany is defeated, this matter can not be used as a handle, at least the British think so...

"It's hypocritical, compared to what they've done in the past, what I've done is nothing..."

When listening to the grievances of the British and French from Yue Chang's mouth, Yan Guang said so.

Yan Guang didn't worry about this matter at all, after all, Britain and France had their own places to use at this time. On the contrary, there are other things that make Yan Guang more worried, that is, after learning the truth behind the matter, a group of "love overflowing" guys actually appeared in China, which gave Yan Guang a headache.

Fortunately, the speed of domestic development is quite rapid now, Jiang Baili is also victorious in the Caucasus, and Yan Guang's prestige in China is also as stable as Mount Tai, so there is no need to worry about the overflow of love, and there are some guys who want to take the opportunity to make trouble.

"By the way, have you counted all the costs of building the railway?"

"It's all counted..."Yue Chang nodded, and then took out a document. This time, a total of 81,829,000 silver dollars were spent on the construction of the Dilan Railway, and a total of 1,903 kilometers of railways were built, with an average cost of 43,000 silver dollars per kilometer..."When he said this, Yue Chang also glanced at Yan Guang with a hippie smile. "President, the British have given us almost 20 million in their sponsorship..."

"Yes, there are still 20 million left, enough to buy a battle cruiser for the Navy..."

Saying this, Yan Guang also laughed.

To be honest, he didn't think that the 10 million pounds provided by the British could leave so many ―――――― 10 million pounds, which is equivalent to 100 million silver dollars...

However, the entire railway cost more than 80 million, which is actually not less.

Of course, just looking at it is quite small, but considering that twenty-five million silver dollars can buy a dreadnought-class battleship, and more than eighty-one million, you can buy three battleships and a first-class cruiser.

What's more, the cost can be so low, because in the process of building the railway, more than 100,000 free laborers in China use it. These free laborers are not only hard-working, but also hard-working, and can let them go on even some dangerous and fatal sections without thinking.

It can be said that the entire railway was built by these silently dedicated "warriors" with their own blood and surnames, and almost every kilometer of the railway is buried under the corpses of dozens of laborers...

I wonder if people who pass by by train will have nightmares when they think of those corpses under the tracks?

――――――――――

With the opening of the Dilan Railway, domestic support for Jiang Baili has also increased a lot. The most direct manifestation of this is the change from the reinforcement of only one division in the past month to the reinforcement of at least two divisions in a month.

As a direct result, by the end of 1916, the Chinese army had accumulated in the Caucasus at more than 200,000.

However, the result of such an increase in troops has also brought a hidden danger that I don't know if it is a hidden danger, that is, it is very likely that there will be a shortage of troops in China. You must know that the entire Chinese National Defense Force has only one hundred and twenty-one cavalry, infantry, and artillery divisions, and at this time more than 20 have been sent to the Caucasus――――――. He said that Ben was not sure of winning at all, so he would be so patient.

If one day China's own garrison is running out, it is not impossible to directly send troops to attack China, which is also one of the Entente powers, in the face of the world's condemnation.

Thus, after the number of troops in the Caucasus reached more than 200,000, the structure of the reinforcements in the Caucasus has changed.

For example, in the past, those sent to the Caucasus were all domestic divisions. However, after the strength of the Caucasus reached more than 200,000, while the domestic army was less than 100 divisions, and the main division of the first division was not much left, after a series of discussions, the Chinese political axe decided that in the coming period of time, the Chinese political axe would mobilize and form some new troops, and then send these forces to Russia.

At the same time, after some negotiations with Russia, the Chinese political axe finally obtained the consent of the Russians and allowed the Chinese political axe to build several training bases in Central Asia. In the future, the troops sent to the Caucasus will first be trained in several military bases in Central Asia, and at the same time, ammunition and other materials that should be transported to the Caucasus will also be hoarded in Central Asia, etc.

The Russians agreed to these conditions quite readily during the negotiations, because the Russians had never been wary of China at all. Even Russians, who are somewhat guarded, are unable to speak out because of their surroundings.

Moreover, these Russians were only wary of China's growing power, but few of them were worried that China would encroach on Russian territory. Because these people know very well that in the coming years, China and Russia will enter a phase of stalemate, and the British and French, who have been greatly damaged in the European war, will sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and by the way, when one of the Chinese and Russian sides falls into the upper hand, they will support the other side.

Therefore, the Russians did not need to worry at all about China's territorial ambitions against Russia, because when that time came, the British and French would certainly take the side of the Russians. After all, for the British, whether China or Russia is strong, it is not good news for the British, so the British will never allow one of them to overwhelm the other, or even take a piece of meat from the other...

It's just that...

Perhaps the Russians did not think that one day Tsarist Russia would suddenly collapse and be replaced by a new Russia led by the Hammer and Sickle Party, which was hated by Britain and France.

As long as China is willing to send troops to fight against this country that Britain, France, the United States and Germany hate, even if it occupies the whole of Central Asia, it probably doesn't matter...

――――――――――

The results of the opening of the Dilan Railway are absolutely encouraging, at least after the opening of the Dilan Railway, there has been an endless flow of troops and supplies to the Caucasus, and new supplies arrive in the Caucasus almost every day.

And in Moscow, Russia, trains dragged a huge amount of supplies, and also added some new blood to the old empire of Tsarist Russia, which was on the verge of collapse, and also made Russia look a little bloody―――――― if it could win two battles on the Eastern Front, I am afraid it would be better...

In any case, after the number of troops at hand has reached more than 200,000, although all the Russian troops in the Caucasus have been transferred to the Eastern Front by Tsar Nicholas II. When Pasha's 300,000 Turkish troops were in charge, Jiang Baili always looked like he was winning.

"Looks like it's time to take the initiative..."

The direction of this sortie will certainly not be Enville. On the Western Front, where Pasha is located, although Jiang Baili is confident that he can definitely defeat Enver. Pasha's 300,000 Turkish army, but the Western Front is Turkey's fundamental place after all, especially in the Dardanelles area, Turkey still retains a large number of troops, if it really breaks through in this direction, it will definitely be no problem to defeat Enver's troops, but if you want to get any big results...

It was at this time that the British suddenly received news that they hoped that the Chinese would be able to attack from Mosul and go south to Baghdad...

For in August, the British general Sir F.S. Maud had been appointed commander of the British army in Mesopotamia, but upon his arrival, he suddenly found himself demoted to a defensive role. The British War Office and the Indian Army Command debated the pros and cons of the possible withdrawal of British troops from the theater, and after more than two months of restless defense, Maud was finally given permission to resume the offensive...

But although permission was given to resume the offensive, in Baghdad the Turks had a whole corps of troops, and what about the British? Although its own army is not small, two-thirds of it is all Indians...

Indians...

If you let them plan for the future, maybe no one on the whole planet is an opponent of the Indians, but if you let them go to war, it will be really...

It is precisely for this reason that Mao De aimed at Jiang Baili's expeditionary force.

In Maode's opinion, the Chinese expeditionary force was stronger than the Indians, stronger than the Turks, and even a few points stronger than the Russians. If the expeditionary force can send a part of its forces south to attack Baghdad with itself, then taking Baghdad will definitely be a sure thing...

After receiving Mao De's telegram, Jiang Baili thought for a long time, and then sent a telegram back to China, and finally agreed with Mao De's opinion after consulting Yan Guang's opinion.

Finally, according to the agreement reached between the two sides, in early November, Maud will lead the LinkedIn army up the banks of the Tigris River. And Jiang Baili will also send Zhang Shaozeng to lead at least 50,000 expeditionary forces from Mosul to the south and attack Baghdad with the British army...

A big war is about to break out...

(To be continued)