PS: The first update has arrived! Ask for a subscription, ask for a monthly pass! Thank you for the wordless reward from the book friend! Thanks to the book friend Jiangnan Ranger NEC, handsome and wanting to die, and wolf no monthly pass!

"Your Majesty, the results of the Battle of the Marne have come out, and the Germans have lost more than 200,000 men in the 1st and 2nd Armies, but the Anglo-French army has lost almost twice as much. The Germans won tactically, but strategically, they still failed. The Germans were still unable to take Paris and end the war quickly. War is bound to move in the direction of a protracted war! Cai Yun, the new chief of the General Staff, said to Wang Yuze.

At the end of August, Xiong Wu, who had served as chief of the general staff for more than 20 years, stepped down and went home to recuperate, and Cai Yun, minister of the army, took over the post of chief of the general staff, and General Zhao Bo, deputy chief of the general staff, took over the post of minister of the army. It's just that now General Zhao Bo is still in Germany, and Cai Yun is still in charge of all the War Departments for the time being.

The core of Schlieffen's plan was a time lag, the German army used the superior mobilization mechanism to quickly gather forces, defeated France in the shortest possible time, captured Paris, and forced France to withdraw from the war. Then the troops on the Western Front were liberated and transported to the Eastern Front using the perfect railway network to defeat Russia. By that time, the Germans would occupy almost the best part of the European continent. In that case, it will have enough strength to stalemate with Britain, or even defeat Britain. It's just that Moltke Jr. shouldn't have made adjustments to the Schlieffen plan to weaken the right flank of the German army! Otherwise, this time the Germans would have enough forces to take Paris! Wang Yuze sighed. This battle was undoubtedly very regrettable for the German army. However, for China, this is not necessarily a bad thing. If Germany defeats France quickly. Then China's intention to deplete Germany's national strength in the war could not be realized. Fortunately, although the British and French forces have suffered heavy losses, they are still able to continue to hold on. Coupled with the Russians' containment on the Eastern Front, Germany will inevitably fall into the quagmire of war!

"Yes! Moltke Jr. was too cautious, so that the German army failed this time! "Defense Minister Jiang Xingguo also sighed. The Schlieffen Plan was undoubtedly a perfect plan, with a high probability of defeating France, which was not ready for war. You know, in this battle of the Marne, the Germans were only fifteen kilometers away from Paris, if the right flank of the German army had not been weakened. Maybe Paris has already been conquered!

After the Battle of the French Frontier in August 1911, the French 4th and 5th Armies and the British Expeditionary Force withdrew south of the Marne at the end of August and deployed on the line from Paris to Verdun. The Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, General Chauffeur, formed the 6th and 9th Armies, which were deployed on the outskirts of Paris and between the 4th and 5th Armies, respectively, to prepare for a counteroffensive. The German 1st and 2nd Army Corps were the 5th Army of the French Army. Deviation from the original direction of the attack to the east of Paris exposed the right flank of the 1st Army. When Moltke the Younger, chief of the German General Staff, learned of the imminent French counteroffensive, on September 4, he ordered the 1st and 2nd Army Corps to go on the defensive east of Paris, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Army Corps to move south to join forces with the 6th Army Corps, which was attacking from the east, to encircle the French army south of Verdun. However, the commander of the German 1st Army Corps, General Crook, refused to carry out the order and continued to lead his army south, forming a situation conducive to the counterattack of the coalition forces. Same. Xia Fei ordered the French 5th and 6th Armies and the British Expeditionary Force to carry out the main assault on the German 1st and 2nd Army Corps, the French 9th and 4th Armies to pin down the enemy's 3rd and 4th Army Corps, and the French 3rd Army to carry out an auxiliary assault west of Verdun. At this time, on the line from Paris to Verdun. 10.82 million men in 66 divisions of the Allied Army against 900,000 men in 51 divisions of the German Army; In the direction of the main attack, the Allied forces were twice as strong as the Germans.

On 5 September, the vanguard of the French 6th Army and the German 1st Army met on the west bank of the Orke River. For the first time, the French used 1,200 cars to transport the 6th Army from Paris to the front. Aware of the threat to the right flank and rear, Crook ordered all his troops to withdraw to the north bank of the Marne on the 8th. A defensive gap of 50 kilometers wide appeared between the 2nd Army Corps and the 2nd Army. On the 6th, the French 5th Army and the British Expeditionary Force penetrated from the gap in the German defenses. On the 8th, it approached the Marne, forming an encirclement posture against the German 1st Corps. At the same time, the exposed right flank of the German 2nd Army was in danger of being surrounded. On the 9th, the German 1st and 2nd Army Corps were forced to retreat. Although the Germans had a slight upper hand in other areas, in view of the situation faced by the 1st and 2nd Army Corps, Moltke ordered on the 10th to stop the offensive on all fronts and withdraw to the line from Noyon to Verdun.

The battle ended in defeat for the Germans. The Anglo-French forces advanced 60 kilometers on a 200-kilometer front, suffering more than 400,000 casualties and more than 200,000 German losses. There were mistakes on both sides in this battle: Moltke was far away from the battlefield, the battle situation on the front line was unclear, the command was improper, the various army groups lacked coordination, and the plan for quick victory was bankrupt; The Anglo-French forces were slow to move and lost their planes, allowing the Germans to preserve their strength.

"Your Majesty, the failure of the German attack will have an impact on the strategy of the Empire?" Prime Minister Wu Tingfang asked with some concern. After all, China and Germany have signed a secret agreement, and if Germany loses the war, then China will be at war with the whole world!

"Don't worry, the full strength of Germany has not yet been brought into play, and besides, they have also paid twice the price of the Anglo-French forces in this battle. Now, it will not be easy for the Germans to defeat the French. But it was even more difficult for the British and French forces to defeat the German army! Wang Yuze said affirmatively. Now the German army has only mobilized two million troops, and the limit of Germany is to mobilize more than four and a half million troops. In the end, Germany was defeated, not because of military reasons, but because of the extreme lack of strategic materials, and after several years of war, Germany's national strength was almost exhausted. This time, although World War I broke out three years earlier, the Germans were much better prepared for the war, and China shared the pressure from Russia and the United States for Germany. As a result, Germany is in a much better position than it was historically. This will also make European countries pay a greater price for this war, and this is exactly what China wants to see!

"Your Majesty, yesterday the German ambassador to China, Auguste von Klinder, met with me, and the German side hopes that China will be able to participate in the war as much as possible." Foreign Minister Tang Shaoyi said.

"Tell the German side that China has its own war plan. We are trying our best to hold back the United States and prevent it from having the energy to participate in the European theater. At the same time, the Imperial Army would also hold back a part of the Russian army for Germany. In addition, we will continue to transport strategic goods for Germany by sea through Guò, and if the sea route is blocked, we can also continue to transfuse blood for Germany by the Guò Baghdad Railway. Wang Yuze said.

"Your Majesty, should we send troops to capture the Suez Canal and take the opportunity to seize this place!" Chief of the General Staff Cai Yun asked.

Wang Yuze hesitated for a moment and shook his head: "It's not necessary for the time being, the Suez Canal is too important, if we capture the Suez Canal at this time, Britain will definitely draw troops to fight with us in Egypt, although we will definitely be able to defeat the British, but if the British can put these military forces into the European battlefield, wouldn't it be better?" ”

"The Empire's main strategy in this great war is to defeat the United States first, and then expand around!" Wang Yuze said. In his mind, he has always regarded the United States as his greatest enemy. The current United States, before it is at its strongest, uses this war to completely kill the United States, so that the crisis can be strangled in the cradle!

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Everyone replied, and everyone was very clear about Wang Yuze's strategic intentions. If everyone was still skeptical about this before, but the United States' increasingly powerful industrial and military strength in recent years has made everyone see the threat of the United States to the empire!

"Is there any movement in the Americans right now?" Wang Yuze asked.

"Your Majesty, the Americans are still preparing for war. They have recruited millions of new troops, are training new recruits, and at the same time, the follow-up mobilization continues, and based on the current population and industrial strength of the United States, the Americans can eventually mobilize more than five million troops. In addition, the Americans have also accelerated the construction of the 'Pennsylvania-class' battleships, and it is expected that by the end of next year at the latest, six 'Pennsylvania-class' battleships will be able to enter service. At the same time, the Americans have six modifications of the 'Pennsylvania-class' battleships that have also begun to be built. However, it is estimated that these battleships will not be able to enter service until three years later. If the war had gone well, we would have already defeated the United States by then! Cai Yun said.

Wang Yuze nodded and said, "Don't be careless when dealing with the United States. Although we have defeated the United States in the first two times, this time is different, we are going to fight a war of annihilation, and the Americans will definitely fight to the death with us. Now, how is the deployment of the war going? ”

"Your Majesty, the Army's Seventh Army has already set off for Mexico three days ago, and it is expected to be able to reach Mexico by the end of the month. In addition, the Second Army, the Eighth Army, will also go to Mexico in the next two months. In addition, the War Department will also transfer 20 divisions from the 40 divisions upgraded from reserve brigades to regular armies to Mexico, so that our deployment in Mexico will reach more than 800,000 troops! Cai Yun said.

"Your Majesty, the capital ship of the Turkish Fleet of the Navy, will also complete its rest within a week, and then it will enter the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean to prepare for an attack on the US Navy!" Navy Minister Zhang Cheng also said.

China's preparations for war are about to be completed, but the Chinese side does not know that the Americans' war preparations have also been completed and will start attacking first, and the third Sino-American war is about to break out!