"Yang Qing, regarding Niu Kaixuan's request for the Northwest Front to attack Somalia and other places, I have approved. But leave the issue of Ethiopia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! Even if Ethiopia does not agree to our conditions, do not move Ethiopia for the time being, after all, our main enemies now are Britain and the United States, and at this critical moment, there is no need to add one more enemy, even if this enemy is not strong. Ren Chao said with a stern face.

"Your Majesty, obey the order!" Yang Jichang said respectfully.

In March 1917, the Western Expeditionary Force launched another large-scale attack on the Anglo-American forces in Egypt, and the Chinese Imperial Naval Expeditionary Fleet went north to assist the Western Expeditionary Force in attacking the Suez Canal area. The British and American coalition forces were afraid that the hundreds of thousands of troops on the east bank of the Suez Canal would fall into the encirclement of the Chinese army, so they ordered the coalition forces on the east bank to withdraw to the west bank of the Suez Canal on their own initiative and build a new defensive line along the Suez Canal, in an attempt to block the Chinese army in the area east of the Suez Canal.

In order to ensure the smooth outcome of the war, the Entente side increased Egypt on a large scale, and the United States alone urgently recruited more than 1 million troops from within the country to rush to Egypt's aid. Britain, France, Italy, and other countries also massively increased their troops to Egypt, and by mid-April, the Allied troops gathered in Egypt had exceeded 2 million.

At the same time, the Chinese Empire also greatly increased its troops to the Asian and African battlefields, and soon the total strength of the Western Expeditionary Army exceeded 3 million, of which about half were the servant armies of the vassal states.

In late March 1917, Niu Kaixuan led the 600,000 troops of the Northwest Front to land in Somalia across the Gulf of Aden. In early April, the North-Western Front marched north to attack the Eritrean region.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China signed a secret agreement with Ethiopia after consultations. In accordance with the agreement, Ethiopia declared its membership in the Central Powers and declared war on the side of the Entente. At the same time, the Chinese Empire obtained privileges such as mining and road construction priority and one-sided most-favored-nation treatment in Ethiopia, allowing the Chinese Empire to build docks and station troops in Eritrean coastal ports. In return, the Chinese Empire agreed to hand over Eritrea to Ethiopia after the war.

According to the secret agreement signed between the two sides, during the war, Ethiopia will send troops to assist the Western Expeditionary Army, and will recruit no less than one million laborers in the country to assist the Chinese army in the war.

After Ethiopia declared war on the Entente, it immediately sent 100,000 troops to assist the Northwest Front in attacking Eritrea. These 100,000 Egyptian troops were immediately included in the battle sequence of the Northwest Front Army and accepted the unified command of the Northwest Front. With the assistance of the Egyptian army, the North-Western Front succeeded in capturing the Eritrean region in just two days.

However, the offensive of the North-Western Front did not stop, after capturing Eritrea, and then attacking the coastal areas of Sudan in the north, and on April 11, with the assistance of the navy, the North-Western Front successfully occupied Port Sudan, and on the 14th, occupied all the coastal areas of Sudan, and entered Egypt from the south.

"Niu Kaixuan, this guy did a good job! So quickly hit Egypt. Zhao Bin said with a smile in the General Headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army.

"Yes! General Niu is worthy of being a member of my Chinese Empire, a tiger general! Song Zhen said with a smile.

"Tiger General? I think this guy is a brute cow! Zhao Bin said with a smile. Zhao Bin and Niu Kaixuan were both old men who followed Ren Chao at the beginning. The relationship is naturally quite good, so Zhao Bin is not so polite when he speaks.

Song Zhen smiled slightly, pointed to the sand table in front of him and said, "At present, the Entente side has concentrated all its main forces on the Suez River. The first line of the Gulf of Suez is trying to use this natural barrier to block the offensive of our Chinese Empire. If we launch an offensive on the northern front, it will be very difficult to break through this natural barrier. Now that the South Road is progressing smoothly. Therefore, the main direction of attack was placed on the south road, so that under the attack of our army on both sides, the enemy army would be defeated. ”

Zhao Bin looked at the sand table in front of him. He smiled and nodded, and said, "Judging from the current situation, this is the best way, if we launch the main attack from the south and insert it directly into the heart of Egypt, then this defensive line carefully constructed by the enemy along the Suez River and the Gulf of Suez will be useless." ”

"The commander-in-chief is right, Sun Tzu's art of war has clouds, the shape of a soldier, avoiding the real and attacking the false. In this way, you will be able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. Song Zhen said with an approving face.

"Not bad! I decided to put the 12th Army, which had just been replenished, and the 26th Army, which had just been transferred, all the strength of the two armies under Niu Kaixuan's command. In addition, the 700,000 servant troops newly transferred from Vietnam, Burma and other places were all assigned to Niu Kaixuan, so that Niu Kaixuan had 1.8 million troops, forming a huge iron fist and smashing it into the enemy's heart. Zhao Bin said with a stern face.

"Good! I'll give the order right away! Song Zhen nodded and said briskly.

In the headquarters of the Northwest Front in Port Sudan, Niu Kaixuan was discussing the next battle plan with several generals under his command, when a staff officer strode over and said with a stern face, "Report to the commander-in-chief, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army has sent an urgent telegram, Commander-in-Chief Zhao ordered the 12th Army, the 26th Army, the Vietnam Army, the Burma Army, the Lao Army, the Cambodia Army and other units to be placed under the command of our Northwest Front Army, form the African Front, and appoint Niu Kaixuan as the commander-in-chief of the African Front." ”

Niu Kaixuan was shocked when he heard this, snatched the telegram, read it carefully, and couldn't help but say in surprise, "I have to be that obedient, and I will allocate 1.1 million troops to my old cow at once, Zhao Bin, this kid is interesting enough!" Hey! ”

After Niu Kaixuan took the telegram and sighed, he suddenly turned pale and said with a stern face, "Everyone, this time Commander-in-Chief Zhao allocated so many troops to us, but he didn't make a fun of it for us. Commander-in-Chief Zhao ordered us to launch a general attack on the Allied forces in Egypt from the south road, and our 1.8 million troops should form an iron fist, smash the enemy's heart with one punch, and directly smash them to death. ”

"Great!" The generals shouted excitedly.

Only the commander-in-chief of the Ethiopian Army Group, Tafari, looked at the excited Chinese generals, with a blank expression, and the translator next to him hurriedly translated what had just happened to Tafari, who was also excited after hearing it, and hurriedly said, "Great!" Our Ethiopian army is willing to fully assist the friendly forces of China and defeat the Allied army in one fell swoop! (Tafari is the famous Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, but he has not yet ascended the throne, and is currently the regent of Ethiopia, and the name Hail Selassie only appeared after he ascended the throne) (To be continued......)