In terms of war potential, the Entente is undoubtedly greater than the Allied Powers, even if Japan joins the Allied Powers, unless Japan can occupy the Allied colonies in the Pacific region, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia in a very short period of time, and cut off the blood supply of these colonies to the Allied Powers, so that the Allied Powers can defeat the Entente Powers.

While Xiao Zhenlei and others were analyzing the impact of Japan's accession to the Central Powers, Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital of the Balkan region of Europe, was secretly planning an operation. Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908, and there are countless people on this side of the land who are full of hatred for Austria-Hungary, and this operation was planned because of the nationalist revenge of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tomorrow is Serbia's National Day, and in celebration of this national day, an ultra-nationalist secret organization called "Black Shadows" in the Serbian army decided to plan an operation.

The reason is that the "Black Shadow" organization received a message that tomorrow the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, will come to the military camp on the outskirts of Sarajevo to review military exercises, and Serbian nationalists believe that the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince's military parade in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Serbian National Day is a provocation, so the "Black Shadow" organization immediately began to plan, and finally the "Black Shadow" organization selected its peripheral organization "Young Bosnia" to carry out this mission.

The Young Bosnian organization is a peripheral organization of the "Black Shadow" organization in Bosnia, and its members are all nationalists, who are extremely angry and dissatisfied with the annexation of the Polish Black Region by Austria-Hungary, and when they receive this task, they are not afraid of it, but are very excited.

After a series of intense activities, Young Bosnia was able to obtain the itinerary of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. They decided to deploy a total of seven Assassins on the street where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife passed through to carry out a series of assassinations, in short, they would not stop until they killed the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince and his wife.

Just when the Shadow Organization was actively planning the assassination. The protagonists of the assassination, the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were completely unaware of the arrival of death and were still rushing towards Sarajevo.

The reason why Archduke Ferdinand was going to the military parade in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was not a deliberate provocation as imagined by the Serbian nationalists, but in essence because his wife, the Grand Duchess of Sofia, was from a humble background, and the annual birthday celebration of the Grand Duchess was very embarrassing. In order to please his wife, the Grand Duke simply took the initiative to ask the emperor for the parade task, and was ready to take his wife to Bosnia and Herzegovina under this name, but he didn't expect to enter the ghost gate.

The Serbian government had prior knowledge of the military's plans to secretly organize the Black Shadows. However, Serbian Prime Minister Basiqi was afraid of the "Black Shadow" assassination of the king in 1903 (due to dissatisfaction with the king's cautious policy, the Black Shadow members rushed into the palace and cut the king and his wife into meat sauce), did not dare to stop it, and only secretly notified the Austro-Crarian border customs to be on guard, but it was to no avail, the "Black Shadow" organization in the Serbian military was too powerful, and Prime Minister Basić could only choose to endure in order to protect himself.

On the afternoon of June 28, Yang Du once again pushed open the door of Xiao Zhenlei's office with a telegram like a wind. and reported to Xiao Zhenlei: "President, the powder keg in Europe may be about to explode, and I just received an urgent telegram from the European branch sent by the Iron and Blood Investigation Bureau. The telegram said that just three hours ago. The Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, both of whom were killed, and the killers have been captured. However, our intelligence officers have not yet obtained the true identity information of the murderer, but they have learned the apparent identity of the murderer. It is a Serbian student, and I believe that the follow-up report will be sent soon! ”

Xiao Zhenlei Huo Ran got up and took the telegram and read it. After thinking about it, he said: "The most important thing for us now is not to do anything, wait until the news is announced and see how countries react before making a decision!" ”

Very well, in just a few months, two crown princes were assassinated in a row, first the crown prince of Tsarist Russia, who was less than ten years old, was assassinated, and only more than three months later, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary was also assassinated, and these two crown princes were from two camps. No matter how the Central Powers looked at it, it looked like the Entente was waiting for an opportunity to retaliate.

At this time, the German Emperor Nicholas II, who was vacationing on a yacht off the coast of Kiel, immediately stopped browsing when he learned of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. He lived like a gambler who had placed a bet, and kept shouting: "1914 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" ”

Some pro-German cabinet officials and parliamentarians in London, England, knew that it was going to be worse when they received the news, and this was definitely bad news, and the authorities in London, England, did not reveal their intention to enter the war after receiving this news, because they were afraid that Germany would pull back from the precipice and that they would bear the responsibility for starting the war first. At the same time, 12 members of the British cabinet did not approve of the war, and many in the upper and lower houses did not agree to go to war. The working class as a whole and the majority of the Liberals were opposed to going to war. Mass rallies in Trafalgar Square demanded that Britain declare neutrality. Under the pressure of the vigorous peace movement, British Foreign Secretary Gray told the German ambassador to Britain that Britain had no alliance with Russia and France and was not bound by any obligations, and repeatedly stated that Britain's attitude was to "do everything possible to prevent war between the great powers."

The internal atmosphere of the Tsarist authorities is also extremely tense, because the Balkan Alliance was established with the efforts of Tsarist Russia, which has repeatedly shown its position in the Balkans to the outside world, but Austria-Hungary has repeatedly opposed Serbia's expansion, and now the Austro-Hungarian crown prince has been assassinated, Austria-Hungary is bound to take action against Serbia, and Austria-Hungary's military action against the Balkans violates the interests of Tsarist Russia, in order to protect its interests and influence in the Balkans, Tsarist Russia would never let Austria-Hungary invade Serbia.

The rest of the country remained on the sidelines in the capital, notably the French authorities, who called on Austria-Hungary to exercise restraint and that the assassination should be cleared up before a decision was made.

The next few days were ostensibly calm for the European powers, but in reality there was an undercurrent of turmoil, which lasted from June 28 to July 4. The Austro-Hungarian authorities sent their strongest team to investigate the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, within a week. The case was quickly revealed.

The assassin of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was Princip, a young Serbian man. He was caught red-handed by the police after shooting and killing both Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, and confessed to his true identity.

The Austro-Hungarian top brass received the results of the investigation, and two days later, on July 5, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Germany, Cho Kiyi, was ordered to put Franz? Emperor Joseph's personal letter to the German Emperor Wilhelm II stated: "The assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince was the result of direct agitation by the Russian and Serbian Great Slavists; Their only purpose is to weaken the Triple Alliance and divide my empire...... If we allow this to continue, it will mean that my court and my territory will be in danger for a long time...... In the wake of the recent terrible events in Bosnia. You must also think that an amicable solution to the hostilities between Austria and Sei is impossible; As long as this source of incitement to the crime in Belgrade (the capital of Serbia) goes unpunished, the peaceful policy of all European monarchies will be threatened. "The so-called punishment of Serbia in the letter is to start a war of aggression. Franz? Joseph pleaded with Wilhelm II to show support for his war efforts.

After reading the letter, the German Emperor Wilhelm II said on the spot to the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Germany, Drokie, that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could certainly count on Germany as an ally and a friendly country to support it, and that Germany would give its full support to Austria-Hungary in military action against Serbia, and that it would be a pity if we let go of such a favorable opportunity.

On 5 and 6 July, Kaiser Wilhelm II convened a meeting of senior generals and government ministers at Potsdam Palace. He informed his ministers and generals of the possibility of war. The generals replied to the emperor that preparations for war were ready. The chief of munitions of the General Staff reported to the emperor: "I have nothing to do after this visit. The mobilization plan was completed by 31 March. The army, as usual. are all ready". So Germany made the decision to go to war.

Having received an affirmative reply from the German Emperor Wilhelm II, the Austro-Hungarian authorities also began active preparations for war and were ready to take the lead in instigating war. At the same time that Germany and Austria were preparing for war, Russia and France were also actively preparing for war.

July 20th. French President Poincarre and Prime Minister Viviani visit Russia. At the summit meeting between the two countries, which took place at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the heads of the two countries assured each other that in the event of a war against Germany. The two countries must fulfill their obligations as allies, and Russia was in the international crises of 1909, 1912 and 1913. There had been three concessions and retreats, and in 1914 it decided that this time it would never budge or back down. Russia and France in the communiqué of the talks between the two countries and in open diplomatic occasions. Both have repeatedly emphasized the "precious friendship" between the two countries, hyped up the "fraternal naval and army forces," and pledged to each other to "cooperate loyally and unremittingly with their allies."

On July 23, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, known as the "July ultimatum". Of the 10 articles of the ultimatum, the Serbian authorities accepted only eight and rejected items 5 and 6.

After the British authorities learned of the content of the terms, British Foreign Minister Edward ? Gray noted that the ultimatum was "the most terrible message ever issued by a country to another country." All countries agreed that the terms of the text were difficult to fulfill, and that in fact they were nothing more than a casus belli used by Austria-Hungary to punish Serbia.

Upon learning of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, the Russian authorities immediately informed Austria-Hungary that an attack on Serbia would provoke a general mobilization of Russia, and that Russia would not allow Austria-Hungary to defeat Serbia and become the hegemon of the Balkans.

On July 26, British Foreign Secretary Grati, Britain, France, and Italy mediated the discord between Austria and Serbia, but the vast majority of politicians in Britain could no longer afford to wait, so Britain secretly instigated France and Russia to fight against Germany and Austria and promised to support them, which emboldened France and Russia. The true face of Britain was revealed only the day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Because the arms race with Germany was already about to bring down Britain's economy, the majority of the Cabinet and the House of Commons believed that it was better to fight late than sooner, and that it would be detrimental to themselves if they delayed any longer. Because Britain saw that Germany was more productive than it was and would soon catch up in the naval race, the British authorities hoped to defeat their dangerous rivals in the war in 1914 while still maintaining naval superiority.

On 28 July, Austria-Hungary saw that Serbia did not accept all the conditions of the ultimatum and immediately declared war on Serbia. Not to be outdone, Serbia immediately declared war on Austria-Hungary. Russia and France, of course, were on the side of Serbia and immediately carried out a general mobilization for the war.

On 31 July, Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia and France to stop their general mobilization, but they flatly refused. In the afternoon of the same day, Kaiser Wilhelm II was furious when he received the news that Russia and France refused to stop the general mobilization, and Germany declared war on Russia.

On 2 August, in order to implement the Schlieffen Plan, the German General Staff sent an ultimatum to Belgium, asking that the German army be allowed to fight against the French army through Belgium and that it should be given a reply within 24 hours. Belgium, with a population of only 7 million, bravely rejected Germany's unreasonable demands and appealed to Britain for help.

On August 3, Germany declared war on France, France on Germany, and Tsarist Russia on Germany.

On August 4, Germany flagrantly broke the 1839 treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of Belgium, and the German army invaded Belgium. Upon learning of Germany's intention to invade Belgium, Britain issued an ultimatum to Germany on 4 August, demanding that Germany unconditionally respect Belgian neutrality. But German Chancellor Batemann told the British ambassador to Germany: "International treaties are nothing but a piece of waste paper. Britain then declared war on Germany under the pretext of Germany's destruction of Belgian neutrality. In just one week, the two major military blocs in Europe appeared one after another amid the clamor of war, and they were involved in the largest war in history, and World War I officially broke out.

On the European side, the declaration of war between countries in just one week was as simple as eating, but the strange thing is that the Entente countries did not declare war on Japan except for Tsarist Russia, Britain, France and other countries did not declare war on Japan, and Japan did not declare war on the other members of the Entente in addition to declaring war on Tsarist Russia.

Xiao Zhenlei knew that the reason for this situation was that Japan was not yet ready for a full-scale war with the Entente, and Britain and France and other countries also believed that they were still fighting against Japan in the Far East, so there was a tacit understanding between the two sides that they did not declare war, and they both hoped to buy themselves some time to prepare for war. (To be continued......) R1292