Chapter 275 Another year of wonder

The Battle of Jutland was an attempt by the German main fleet to break through the blockade, and it was also the largest naval decisive battle in human history in which battleships played the main role. As a result, the British fleet lost 3 battle cruisers, 3 light cruisers and 8 destroyers, with a combat tonnage of 115,000 tons and 6,945 casualties, while the German fleet lost 1 old battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 4 light cruisers and 5 destroyers, with a combat tonnage of 61,000 tons and 3,058 casualties. The loss ratio between Britain and Germany was nearly 2 to 1. In terms of tactics, the Germans were indeed the victors of the naval battle, and the Ocean Fleet challenged the mighty British main fleet, and the Hipper fleet inflicted heavy losses on the Betty fleet, and Schell's accurate judgment and excellent seamanship enabled him to escape the pursuit of Jellico, who had a great advantage. However, in terms of strategy, the German Navy failed to break the British naval blockade, and the global sea was still the domain of the British Navy, and the Ocean Fleet was stuck in the harbor and was useless, still a "survival fleet". As the American newspaper The New York Times commented: "The German fleet attacked its prison guards, but remained in prisons. ”

Since then, the German Navy has not made any further attempts, and the stage of the sea has been ceded to the powerful submarines. German submarines haunted the Atlantic Ocean like ghosts, attacking British and French fleets everywhere, and finally went down the wrong path of "unlimited submarine warfare", giving the Americans an excuse to enter the war.

Of course, that's all for later!

The hot summer has just come to an end, and the autumn tigers have begun to wreak havoc again. The Battle of the Somme was finally over, and the Anglo-French forces paid huge casualties, but failed to achieve the corresponding results and failed to achieve their strategic objectives. As a result, Xia Fei stepped down and Nivelle took over.

The battlefield on the Western Front was once again in the torment of a stalemate. The upper echelons of the battle are all gasping in the corners, licking their wounds, waiting for the next opportunity to deliver the fatal blow to their opponents. In the second half of 1916, the Russian army again concentrated 2 million troops and 1,500 artillery pieces to storm the German-Austrian East Prussian front. This time the attack, because the German-Austrian forces got the intelligence in advance, the Russian army's offensive effect was extremely poor. Instead of breaking through the opponent's defense, they paid the price of 500,000 casualties in the attack.

Because of the fierce attack of the Russian army, Hindenburg urgently transferred troops from the front line of Verdun to help. Ludendorff was once again entrusted with the task. After the command replenishment, the German Fifth Army and the assault group equipped with more than 800 tanks, after the Russian offensive was frustrated, Ludendorff resolutely launched a fierce counterattack.

Bob, the German general, once again staged a wonderful assault battle. Ludendorff gave Bob all the tanks, cars, and cavalry he could find, and he commanded the assault group. After breaking through the Russian army's defense head-on, it made a great detour and interspersed more than 100 kilometers behind enemy lines. The German army once again staged a beautiful encirclement and annihilation battle, and the Russian army, which had been fighting fiercely for three months, was already exhausted, and in the face of the powerful all-out counterattack of the German army, the Russian army quickly collapsed.

This counterattack began at the end of November. By mid-December, the German army had divided and surrounded the Russian army, eating the Russian army bite by bite, and finally the German army achieved the most brilliant results since the start of the war. From the launch of the Russian attack to the end of the German counterattack, the result of the so-called Second East Prussian Campaign was that the Russian army was annihilated by 1.2 million, and 600,000 were captured by prisoners alone.

Once a European roller. Industrialization was completed with the help of France, and it should have been stronger. But now he was beaten like a dead dog in front of the German army. Bob standing on a tank. Dressed in military uniform, he applied solemnly, overlooking the Russian prisoners walking on the road. The Russian army was completely defeated, and thousands of Russian troops laid down their arms and surrendered after running out of ammunition and food. The Russian prisoners on the main road were all staggering and dejected, and the long line stretched with no end in sight.

Bob clenched his fists and whispered to himself, "Boss, I did it." You write in a small notebook that as long as you have enough tanks and use them intensively, you will definitely be able to create a miracle of war. ”

This unprecedented result had a huge and far-reaching impact on the entire European War. If it weren't for the lack of sufficient strategic depth and Germany's pig teammate Austria-Hungary to delay the fighters and fail to cut off the retreat of the Russian army in time, the Russian army would probably be completely annihilated and withdraw from the war. Even so, the Russian army suffered heavy losses on the Eastern Front, and in less than a year and a half, it was difficult to pose a threat to the German-Austrian forces again.

Faced with this result, the whole world was dumbfounded, and two million Russian troops took the initiative to attack, but they actually fell into such a result. Britain and France, who had no choice but to cheer up Russia on the one hand, borrow money and support arms, and on the other hand, constantly urge China to increase its troops in Europe. It is a pity that this time the Chinese government is not very interesting, and has been delaying and delaying again and again under the pretext that domestic defense is tense and recruits need to be trained, and there is no final letter for a long time.

Fang Jianxiong was also dumbfounded, because of the stupidity of the Russian army. The last time I was played like this by the Germans, I was planted under the same means again. After the successive intelligence was gathered, Fang Jianxiong was even more speechless. What is especially ironic is that it is said that the Russian army is equipped with direct-fire guns, but there are no armor-piercing shells. On the other hand, the luck of the Russian army is that the German tank is still a relatively backward thing, closely equivalent to the level of parallel time and space in the history of the last few years after the end of the First World War. The German army, which concentrated 800 tanks, did not have a single tank that could hold out from beginning to end, and it was constantly broken down and repaired. Because of the lack of parts, Bob, who completed the assault, ended up with less than 300 tanks around him.

It is certain that the armaments of Europe after the end of the First World War will be deeply affected by this campaign. I am not sure that Britain and France will be affected, and the United States will definitely carry out targeted equipment for this battle.

For Fang Jianxiong, there is no other way out for the Republic of China, only the crazy development of industry.

At the end of 1916, the cabinet of the Republic of China held a meeting to summarize the work of the previous year and put forward the development plan for the next year. At this meeting, Tang Hualong reported the development results of 1916 to the members of the National Assembly attending the meeting. A landmark industrial indicator, steel production exceeded one million tons, reaching 1.2 million tons. There are 10,835 newly registered enterprises in the country, with a total registered capital of 1.88 billion yuan. The annual revenue recovered by the Customs exceeded the 1 billion yuan mark, reaching 1,16.55 million yuan.

Tang Hualong put forward a three-year plan, the main contents of which were: by the end of 1919, the iron and steel output of the Republic of China reached 5 million tons, the machinery manufacturing industry, machine tools reached 50,000 units, and the petrochemical industry had an annual oil refining of 3 million tons. The annual fiscal revenue exceeded 2 billion yuan. The new plan also proposes to increase investment in education and further withdraw from favorable policies that stimulate industry and commerce.

Since Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and the United States canceled the Gengzi indemnity, not to mention Germany, other countries also directly defaulted on their debts. Anyway, now I have the capital to rely on the account. Since World War I, the industrial and commercial development of the Republic of China has seen a short-term blowout development. This was mainly due to the introduction of various stimulus policies for industry and commerce, as well as the massive orders brought about by the First World War.

The areas of great industrial and commercial development in the Republic of China are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River basin and coastal areas. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui and Hubei are the first groups, which have become the leaders in the industrial and commercial development of the Republic of China. The second group is Guangdong, Sichuan, Tianjin, southern Fujian and other places, and the other provinces have not changed much, and the economic boost is about 5 percent.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue was about 300 million taels, equivalent to 600 million yuan now. During Yuan Shikai's reign, the situation of many provinces being divided led to a large shrinkage of the country's financial revenue, forcing Yuan Shikai to borrow money. In just a few years, the fiscal revenue of the Republic of China exceeded one billion, equivalent to 500 million taels of silver.

This is the best affirmation of the government of the Republic of China and the best affirmation of the Republican Party. The Republican Party has made remarkable achievements in governance, and if the three-year plan can be realized, the results of the next election will be doomed without Fang Dashuai's manipulation.

After the end of the cabinet meeting, the contents of the meeting were reported in the newspapers, and the whole country rejoiced. Newspapers everywhere wrote articles praising the government.

The train is speeding fast, and outside the closed window is a snow-white world, the winter in the Northeast came very early, and just after New Year's Day in 1917, a heavy snow covered the land of the Northeast.

Fang Jianxiong sat in front of the window, staring blankly at the world outside the window, Fang Dashuai, who was heated in the carriage and didn't need to be heavily wrapped, looked solemn. Qi Erzhu, who was standing on the side, looked nervous, and after the half-year family leave, Qi Erzhu seemed to be a different person. This time when he went home, Qi Erzhu's family built a new house, and after he went back, he took care of his family affairs and married a sixteen-year-old yellow flower girl as his daughter-in-law. After the holiday, Qi Erzhu also brought his daughter-in-law back to Beijing, and he didn't want to catch up with Fushuai to inspect the Northeast, so Qi Erzhu left his daughter-in-law and followed.

Fang Jianxiong was very happy to see Qi Erzhu, and naturally asked about returning to his hometown to visit relatives. Qi Erzhu's hometown is in the countryside of northern Jiangsu, and when he went back this time, he saw a lot of changes. The Tenant Act, introduced in 1915, was implemented to a certain extent in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu, but the situation was not optimistic. The "Tenancy Bill" stipulates that the annual land rent shall not exceed 3.5 percent, and the interest rate on private loans shall not exceed 20 percent. Usury is legally prohibited.

However, when Qi Erzhu was at home, he witnessed that his family's land rent was fifty percent, and the usury was still the same at all, and there was no change at all. When he reported truthfully, Fang Jianxiong fell into such a state, Qi Erzhu was very uneasy about this, and stood aside silently without speaking.

Fang Jianxiong was in a bad mood, his face was gloomy, and he fell into a dead silence in the carriage. Until the door was gently pushed open, Alice came in with tea, saw that the atmosphere inside was not right, carefully put down the teacup and said, "What's wrong?" ”