"It's finally time to fight!" Ren Chao looked at the report in his hand and said excitedly.

"Your Majesty, now that the European war has broken out, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my Chinese Empire. Should we, the Chinese Empire, also participate in the war as much as possible to seek greater benefits for the Empire? Yang Jichang said respectfully.

"There's no rush to this." Ren Chao smiled and shook his head and said.

"What does His Majesty mean is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and when they are both defeated, we will join the war in Huaxia?" Yang Jichang asked tentatively.

"If my Chinese Empire participates in the war, it will inevitably face a two-front battle or even a three-front battle. Our Chinese Empire is not as good as Germany and Austria, our territory is vast, and the battle line is too long, which is also a great burden for us. Therefore, I decided to deal with Tsarist Russia in the north first, but for the European war, our Chinese Empire is still in a neutral state, and our war against Tsarist Russia is entirely to recover the territory occupied by Tsarist Russia, which can be said to be justified, although Britain and France are allies of Tsarist Russia, they can't say anything. After the defeat of Tsarist Russia, depending on the specific situation of the European war, we will decide when to enter the war before it is too late. ”

"Your Majesty! When does His Majesty think it is better to declare war on Tsarist Russia? Yang Jichang nodded approvingly and said.

"Waiting for a few months, aren't the Tsarist Russians attacking Germany and Austria-Hungary at the moment? Let the Germans first wear down the strength of the Russians, and then we will not be too late to enter the war. Ren Chao frowned and thought about it before saying.

"Did you wait until the Germans had defeated France, turn back to Russia, and then launch an offensive against Tsarist Russia from the Far East?" Yang Jichang then asked.

"Does Yang Aiqing also think that the Germans will be able to defeat the French quickly?" Ren Chao asked with a smile.

"Now that the Germans are making good progress on the Western Front, if nothing else, defeating France should not be a problem." Yang Jichang replied.

On July 28, 1914, World War I officially broke out with the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, citing Russia's mobilization for war. August 3rd. Germany declared war on France on the pretext that France did not accept the conditions of "neutrality" it had proposed.

Germany's war plan was formulated by the former chief of the General Staff in 1905, Schlieffen, and its core was to concentrate strong forces on the Western Front, pass through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which were empty in defense, encircle the French army from the flank, and defeat France in a quick victory. Then move eastward and then deal with Russia. After the outbreak of the war, Moltke the Younger, the chief of the German General Staff, followed the plan of his predecessor and used only 9 divisions to monitor Russia, while on the Western Front 7 army groups were concentrated. A total of 78 divisions, with Metz as the axis, are divided into left and right wings. 2 armies on the left flank, with a total of 23 divisions, guarding the positions in the Alsace and Lorraine regions on the Franco-German border south of Metz; Five armies on the right flank, with a total of 55 divisions, broke through the northern border of France through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

On August 4, 1914, the right-wing German army invaded Belgium, met with stubborn resistance from the Belgian army, and was blocked at the fortress of Liège for three days. Brussels was not occupied until the 20th. At this time, several main French armies were launching an offensive on the left flank of the German army in accordance with the "Plan No. 17". However, the initial battles showed that "Plan No. 17" was bad. In Greene. The French 1st and 2nd armies were overwhelmed by the attack on the German lines at Saarburg and Moranges. After the occupation of Belgium by the right-wing German army, the nearly a million men and horses of its 5 armies were like a wielded sickle. Diagonally inserted from Belgium into France. Walking on the far right was the 1st Army under the command of Kluk, about 300,000 men, which was seen as the main force of the right flank and the main attacking force of the march to Paris. The army group entered France from Belgium on 24 August. August 25th. The Germans captured Namur. In order to hinder the advance of this German right-flank force, Xia Fei mobilized troops from the Grimm battlefield to form the French 6th Army, which was commanded by Mao Laoli.

On 2 September 1914, the vanguard of the German Army Group Kluc had advanced to only 15 miles from Paris, and the main French forces under the command of Chauffeur had failed in their efforts to hold back the German right flank. The Parisians panicked, and the French government moved to Bordeaux.

In Berlin, everyone from the Kaiser to the common people believed that the French army was about to be completely wiped out and that German victory was imminent.

Even some military strategists in other countries have concluded that France may soon be defeated, and Yang Jichang also thinks so, because the war situation at this time is quite unfavorable for France, unless the German army itself makes some major strategic mistakes, otherwise France's defeat is already a foregone conclusion.

But Ren Chao doesn't think so, of course, Ren Chao's foresight mainly comes from the memory of later generations. Although Ren Chao is not very clear about some of the specific details of the First World War, he still understands the general process. According to Ren Chao's memory, although Germany beat France very badly in the early days of the battle, it did not completely defeat France, otherwise the outcome of the First World War would have been rewritten. Historically, the German army failed to quickly defeat the Anglo-French forces on the Western Front, but the Anglo-French forces were unable to launch a large-scale counteroffensive against Germany, which led to the fact that the Western Front was in a stalemate stage for most of the time, and it was not until the United States entered the war that the tide of the war changed. It was precisely because of this that Ren Chao concluded that France would not be defeated so quickly.

"After all, France is an old power, and the so-called emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, and I don't think it will be so easy for the Germans to defeat France. And now Germany is empty on the Eastern Front, with only more than 200,000 troops, while the Tsarists have gathered a million troops on the Eastern Front and launched a fierce attack on the German army. In order to ensure the security of its homeland, Germany will inevitably transfer troops from the Western Front to reinforce the Eastern Front, so the French only need to hold out for a while before they can usher in a turnaround. In this way, the French will have a chance to breathe, and the war will most likely enter a stalemate phase. Ren Chao opened his mouth and said his judgment.

"Hmm!" Yang Jichang thought for a while and nodded and said, "Your Majesty is reasonable, the more fierce the battle between the two warring sides, the more beneficial it will be for us." ”

A treacherous smile appeared at the corner of Ren Chao's mouth, indeed as Yang Jichang said, the more intense the fight between the two sides, the more beneficial it was for Huaxia. First of all, the war will inevitably consume the strength of these old powers, and China is temporarily in a neutral position, but it can take the opportunity to make a war windfall. Isn't that what the United States rose from in the first place? And now, as in the past, the United States has taken the opportunity to sell weapons to the warring sides in order to make war money. However, in this time and space, they have one more powerful competitor, and that is Huaxia. However, in this competition, the Chinese Empire is clearly at a disadvantage. After all, these powers are still wary of China, and in terms of blood, they are also relatively close to Lao Mei. But even so, Huaxia can still reap a lot of benefits, after all, such a large-scale war, the various strategic materials required are undoubtedly astronomical. (To be continued......)

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