In early August, the siege of the Germans finally ended, with about 60,000 German troops killed and 300,000 surrendered, including 20 German prisoners of war in the Foreign Legion.

Patton and Manking were dissatisfied and helpless to attack the recalcitrant German soldiers, with 70,000 American casualties and 40,000 French casualties, but their results were less than one-third of that of the Foreign Legion.

The Foreign Legion, on the other hand, suffered almost no casualties, a staggering result.

In mid-August, Crown Prince Wilhelm disappeared from the surveillance of the French Ministry of the Interior.

No one could say exactly how Crown Prince William had disappeared from the sight of the Home Office, and a 12-member team tasked with spying on Crown Prince William was investigated, but nothing was found, so they had to take off their uniforms and go home.

These people soon went to United Oil and found an enviable and easy job, supposedly to the New Baku corridor, where, they commanded colonial laborers, and lived on a par with the Kaiser.

At the end of August, Crown Prince Wilhelm appeared in Berlin and, after receiving cheers from hundreds of thousands of people, led a political reform mission that would transform Germany into a constitutional monarchy like the United Kingdom.

This time in France changed a lot for Crown Prince William.

Perhaps it was the sudden change in identity that gave Crown Prince William time to finally pay attention to the lives of ordinary people.

Crown Prince William has received an elite education since he was a child, although this kind of education cannot be said to be raised in the deep palace and does not know the suffering of the world, but it is also far from the life of ordinary people, and Crown Prince William's time is all occupied by learning, and there is no time to pay attention to the lives of ordinary people.

When he grew up, he was even more busy with affairs, and he had unfinished national affairs every day, so he was not in the mood to pay attention to ordinary people.

During his time in France, Crown Prince William finally had no national affairs to worry about, and finally there were no endless meetings and dinners, and Prince William finally had time to set his sights on those ordinary people, the cornerstone of the country.

In fact, just half a year ago, Crown Prince William believed that the elite was the cornerstone of the country, and the ordinary people were just appendages, and they were the tools of the elite to realize their will.

This is the idea that Crown Prince William has been instilled since he was so old, and it is also the consensus of all those who claim to be "elite" at this time, and Crown Prince William once thought so.

I don't know when Prince William's thinking began to change.

Maybe after knowing Qin Zhiyuan, at least Crown Prince William thinks so.

Putting down his body and taking the initiative to integrate into the lives of ordinary people brought Crown Prince William great reputation.

In the eyes of 1 million German prisoners of war, Crown Prince Wilhelm was humble and kind, noble but never proud, he was willing to listen to the voices of the soldiers at the bottom, willing to help the soldiers improve their own environment, if there was one person who could bring Germany out of the quagmire, then that person must be Crown Prince Wilhelm.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Ludendorff, voices for peace in Germany rose to an all-time high, and the Germans began to seek the possibility of negotiating with the Allies through neutral parties such as the Netherlands and the Holy See.

Britain, France, and the United States were caught off guard by Germany's change and took it for granted, they knew that Germany would lose, but they did not expect the day to come so quickly, and it was the Germans who took the initiative to admit defeat.

Just earlier, Karl I of Austria-Hungary had once again sought peace with the Entente, having done so the previous winter, but had been made laughing for his mismanagement, and now it was time for Karl I to sue for peace.

On June 5, the Austrians attacked again. The Italians were already intolerably weak in combat, and they were soon driven across the Piave River, and if it had not been for the British and French forces holding back the Austrians, the Austrians would have been able to reach Rome in one fell swoop.

After the British and French joined in, the Austrians were again defeated, and they were driven back to their starting point the next day, and then retreated.

By the 25th, the Austrians had 142,000 casualties and tens of thousands of prisoners.

This was devastating for Austria-Hungary, which was deprived of troops and some of those who were captured were captured for the second time.

You know, when the Allies released these prisoners of war, they promised not to join the war again.

But now they have broken their promises, so they will be punished by long hours of hard labor.

Not only did the Germans lose faith in Austria-Hungary, but Austria-Hungary itself began to fall apart, Hungary wanted to become independent as a state, and at this time the signs of division, Karl I tried his best to save his empire, and in order to maintain the situation, Karl I declared that the empire would be transformed into a federation, and all peoples could have their own state councils, even small nations like Luthenia.

Karl I's efforts failed again, and instead of rallying the already divided hearts, his ideas fostered more ambitions, with many countries declaring autonomy, non-Austrian units such as Croats, Czechs, and Magyars disbanding, and soldiers throwing away their rifles without bullets and returning home.

It seemed that the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was just around the corner.

Such an Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have any hole cards, so the Entente did not give Karl I the peace he wanted, and Karl I's country was collapsing.

The Germans' message of peace was a sign of peace that everyone had to pay attention to, because Germany still had a fighting force.

Only Pershing was not impressed by the goodwill of Germany, and by August the number of American soldiers in France had reached 1 million, all of them strong and energetic young men, eager to make a mark, and certainly not to agree to end the war with all their advantage.

So the war continued, and Pershing gathered 1 million American troops, with the cooperation of 110,000 French troops and 3,000 artillery pieces, and prepared to attack the St. Mière's salient on the German defensive line.

So far, the French soldiers no longer want to fight, they hate war in their hearts, even if they go to the battlefield, the French soldiers only undertake auxiliary work such as artillery, and few rush to the front line to fight.

In the world war, the artillery of the French army advanced greatly.

Before the war, the French took a detour, they were intoxicated with the excellent performance of Miss 75 and refused to make any modifications.

At the beginning of the world war, France had only 300 medium and large-caliber guns, and by 1918 France had 6,000.

After the assassination of Ludendorff, the command of the German army returned to Hindenburg.

Hindenburg once again stepped into the foreground from behind the scenes, presiding over the already shaky battle.

At this time, the German army, although suffering heavy casualties, still had 100 divisions that could be used for combat, but their defensive line was very long because it was too scattered, which seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the German army.

Hindenburg issued its first order shortly after coming to the forefront, in which Hindenburg ordered its troops to abandon some 200 square miles of French land and 13 miles deep - the entire St. Michael salient.

This was a great disappointment for Pershing, who had planned to attack St. Michael on September 7, but had to postpone it due to the slow movement of the French artillery, and if the French artillery could be in place in time, Pershing was confident that he would fight a battle that would be enough to impress the American army.

Compared to the current strength of the U.S. military and the results they have obtained, this is really a bit unequal.

On 12 September, the U.S. forces captured the St. Michael's salient in one day, but this did not bring any joy to Pershing, as the Germans voluntarily abandoned the area, and the U.S. forces only gained about 6,000 German prisoners of war.

The soldiers also surrendered voluntarily, and they didn't even fire a shot, which made the victory of the American army look like a handout.

So Pershing went on the offensive, and this time Pershing aimed at the highlands near the Moz River and the Argonne Forest, a bone that was not easy to gnaw on, and where the Germans had built a strong defensive line comparable to that of the Hindenburg Line.

Although the opponent had a good position, Pershing decided that he had to be strong, so he asked his troops to complete the preparation of the offensive within half a month.

Just as the sentence was about to attack the Argonne Forest, Haig was also preparing to attack.

With four armies in his hands and the help of the French, Haig had never felt so powerful since the outbreak of the World War, so he decided to do something about it.

Haig's chosen target for attack was the Hindenburg Line.

No way, since Hindenburg came to power, all the salients outside the Hindenburg Line were abandoned by the German army, and the German army stayed inside the Hindenburg Line, waiting for the peace that all sides were trying to promote.

Except for the Americans.

The world war has been fought until now, even if the Germans admit defeat, they are already an indisputable world power, and no one dares to ignore them, and from this point of view, the Germans have succeeded.

Both the British and the French wanted to end the war because Germany had no longer the effort to challenge the British and French colonial systems, and there was a consensus that the Germans had to abandon their nascent navy, and although the brand-new naval surface warships had done little to contribute in the world war, their threat was obvious to all.

Perhaps deep down in the hearts of the French, there was still an illusion of dismemberment of Germany, but in the hearts of the British, they only wanted to maintain the balance of the European continent, and could neither make Germany strong enough to challenge Britain, nor let France be dominant.

It's a really hard balance.

Qin Zhiyuan's Foreign Legion can finally take turns off, and through secret talks with Crown Prince William, Qin Zhiyuan has already obtained what he wants, and there is no need to continue to waste the precious lives of his soldiers to take risks.

Having said that, Qin Zhiyuan is not short of money now, as long as there are no trade barriers, Qin Zhiyuan can buy anything he wants with money.

As for trade barriers, this thing was dominated by the French when it appeared, and it is hard to imagine that it would be used to restrict a Frenchman.

Almost from mid-July, the Foreign Legion withdrew in batches to Paris and Corsica, and part of it was to return to the Far East to become part of the Wehrmacht in Lanfang.

Well, Lan Fang, that place that Qin Zhiyuan has not set foot in yet, will become the home of the Foreign Legion for a long time to come.

(To be continued.) )