Chapter 290: Aftertaste

"Under the wise leadership of the French government, under the correct command of the new commander-in-chief of the French army, Generals Henry, Philips, and Petain, and with the strong support of the French general headquarters, 300,000 soldiers of our expeditionary force launched a counterattack in the early morning of June 25, which lasted 97 hours before and after, and surrounded and annihilated five German infantry divisions on the banks of the Orb River. The battle mission assigned by the French General Headquarters was successfully completed, and the rapid momentum of the German army's southward movement was completely curbed. Excerpt from the telegram from the First Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to the General Headquarters of the French Army.

When such news appeared in the official newspapers, the whole of France boiled. As the comments that followed: Since June, bad news has been coming from all the Allied fronts, the troops have been retreating, Reims has been lost, Paris has been lost. It is no exaggeration to say that this was the longest and darkest month on the French soil since the beginning of the war. There were many reasons for the defeat, but the French government never gave up on the fight for victory, and neither did our ally, the Chinese. We've been fighting, we've been persevering. Hold on until the plane appears, and even though it is a less obvious one, the new commander-in-chief of the French army, General Petain (who is said to be promoted to marshal), is keenly grasped. When General Pétain needed a force to fight back, he found that the vast majority of the French army could not accomplish this difficult task after a long battle. The fighter plane was fleeting, and at the critical moment, the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the closest comrade-in-arms of the French Republican ** team, stood up.

Although in the previous battles, they had been holding back the Germans on the retreating lines and had paid a huge price for this. But when the allies needed them, they still stood up and accepted the task of counterattacking despite their own great difficulties. And what they asked for was only some shells and bullets. According to a high-ranking officer of the French army out of righteous indignation. For a long time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has been treated unfairly by some military leaders, and their artillery has not been fully in place.

When General Petain learned of this, he immediately met their needs with a single means and drew troops from the strained forces to support our allies in the fight. ............, the victory came so hard, and our closest comrades-in-arms paid the price of more than 30,000 casualties. Their great sacrifice came at the end of June, this darkest hour. In the sky over France, the most brilliant lightning bolt that swept through the long night.

In the face of a great victory, what reason should we not rejoice: long live the Chinese Expeditionary Force! Long live France! Long live China!

In an interview with reporters, French commander-in-chief Petain said: The significance of this counterattack at the end of June was not only to encircle and annihilate more than 70,000 German troops. This time the victory. The Germans were forced to retreat to the Champagne Beach and Baledijk front, stabilized the entire eastern front, and created favorable conditions for our army to regroup. In this sense, it is impossible to overestimate this victory. But beyond the victory, we need to reflect on why we have suffered such a huge defeat before.

Petain's words, after they were published in the newspapers. Soon the French government made a heavy decision. Petain was promoted to the rank of marshal and officially assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the French army. And it is clearly stated that before that, the French government was on the appointment of military leaders. There are indeed some problems. Individual French high-ranking officers are very irresponsible to our allies, and they can't even meet the needs of our allies with artillery.

Such a decision meant a purge at the top of the French army.

This was stated by French Prime Minister Viviani. Urgent consultations are underway between France and China, and an agreement is about to be reached on the expansion of the size of the Chinese expeditionary force. After the news was published. The whole of France is boiling again.

In fact, the biggest beneficiary of the victory of the Chinese expeditionary force's counterattack was the current French government, and the loss of Paris led their political enemies to watch. Like a rat in the water grasping a life-saving straw, the current leadership of the French government cannot pay too much attention to the Chinese Expeditionary Force. As for the Americans, they are still far away, and they will not enter France on a large scale until next spring at the earliest. Besides, the devil knows how effective the United States is? The squadron, which has proven itself many times on the battlefield, is obviously more trustworthy. As for the United States, it would be best to provide a little more arms, and of course the US military is also very welcome.

After more than two months of deadlocking negotiations, the latest cooperation agreement was suddenly reached in early July at a dizzying pace. China and France officially signed a cooperation agreement on July 5. The French government will work closely with China on more than 60 projects in metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, chemical industry, optical manufacturing and other fields, and provide technical support.

When Tang Hualong took a group of cabinet ministers to the palace with a new brand of "Fang Mansion", he suddenly felt that the atmosphere here was not right. Tang Hualong's expression froze, his excited pace slowed down, and when he walked into the gate, the shoulders of the guards

A small piece of black cloth was embroidered on it. Occasionally, female soldiers pass by, wearing white flowers on their chests.

Tang Hualong carefully tugged Yang Yongtai in front of him and asked in a low voice, "Changqing, what's wrong?" ”

Yang Yongtai glanced at him expressionlessly, and said lightly: "Nothing happened, everyone will follow up and see." ”

In a large room in the backyard, Tang Hualong and the others saw Fang Jianxiong, Jiang Fangzhen, and Huang Xing, and at this moment the three of them were offering incense to a huge spirit tablet. The spirit card reads: The spiritual seat of the fallen soldiers of the expeditionary force. The group immediately put away the relaxation on their faces and became solemn. Tang Hualong didn't say a word, picked up the incense from the guard's hand, stepped forward to kneel and knock three times to the spirit card, and after inserting the incense, he stepped back and stood aside. Then Minister of Finance Zhang Jian, Minister of Education Cai Yuanpei, Minister of the Interior Xu Shichang, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Zhengting and others stepped forward to pay homage to the incense.

After finishing, I went out of the room and saw three military bigwigs waiting in the pavilion in the courtyard, so I walked over together.

"Fushuai, the negotiations in Shanghai are over, and the French have agreed to all our conditions." Tang Hualong handed over the telegram, and Fang Jianxiong sighed without even looking at it: "It's not easy, the Obu River counterattack, the direct casualties in the two battlefields are more than 8,000." The Seventh Division suffered more than half of the casualties, and the Seventh Army suffered a quarter of the casualties. It was only through the great sacrifice that we took the initiative at the negotiating table. Ladies and gentlemen, this agreement is not easy to come by, and Jianxiong here asks you to implement the benefits that the officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force have exchanged for blood. ”

As he spoke, Fang Jianxiong bowed to the cabinet members, Tang Hualong and the others were solemn, and said with a straight face: "Please rest assured, all departments of the cabinet will definitely cherish this hard-won cooperation." ”

Huang Xingdao: "Jiwu, according to the cooperation agreement, the second echelon of the expeditionary force boarded the ship from Tianjin on July 10, with a total of ten infantry divisions and 50,000 recruits, so that the total number of expeditionary forces will reach 500,000. The next bereavement work must be done well. The Cabinet must attach importance to and send personnel to supervise local governments to fully implement the bereavement work. Whenever a family is not taken care of and the certificate is handed to the Ministry of National Defense, Huang agrees, but the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the expeditionary force cannot agree. ”

Xu Shichang immediately stepped forward and said: "Brother Keqiang, this matter is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, here in front of the country, I guarantee that the Ministry of the Interior will be serious about the work." Anyone who neglects the local government will be severely punished and will not be loaned. ”

Fang Jianxiong took a step forward and said lightly: "There is no need to severely punish or lend, directly remove from office and investigate, and deal with it according to the crime of dereliction of duty and corruption." Governors at the provincial level are accountable, and the governors of the various government departments below are accountable. According to this meaning, send a text jiàn down. ”

Everyone felt a pang in their hearts, knowing that this time it was real, and they couldn't be sloppy. Fang Jianxiong has basically not asked about the affairs of the cabinet, and this time he made a clear statement. The governors of the governments everywhere will not be clean under any buttocks, and if they really want to be more serious, they can take it.

The military column stopped at the Maasai station, opened the iron door of the stuffy tanker, and after a burst of swearing, the car was full of slightly wounded. Yang Zui was also among the wounded soldiers who got out of the car, the difference was that he was followed by an orderly.

"Don't be verbose, hurry up and let the brothers line up, the wounded can't lose the face of the expeditionary force." Yang Zui gave an order to Zhang Jingyao, who got out of the car later, and Zhang Jingyao, who asked the Germans to cut off half a catty of meat with a mortar shell in his right hand, hurriedly beckoned his brothers to get out of the car.

When the two officers in black uniforms appeared, the scene immediately fell silent. The wounded soldiers looked at these two men with friendly eyes, the General Affairs Office of the Expeditionary Force, a department dedicated to handling all kinds of miscellaneous affairs of the Expeditionary Force. For example, if you get into a fight with a local, they will go to the police station to get people. For example, what condolence groups came from the country, they also received them. Anyway, it's a department that wipes the ass and engages in service for the brothers.

The status of the expeditionary force in France is now rising and very welcome. In particular, it was very popular with French women, so there were many accidents. The logistics of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were done and in place, and the materials sent by the transport fleet from China were paid for by the French, but the Chinese Expeditionary Force was given priority. Domestically produced cigarettes, canned goods, biscuits, ham and other supplies are the most popular commodities on the French black market.

An important sign of war is the shortage of materials. The Chinese government will never allow the expeditionary force to be short of supplies, and every month there is a fleet of ships transporting large quantities of supplies purchased by Britain and the United States from China. And these materials, when they get off the ship, are in the hands of the General Affairs Office, and then they are sent to the life guidance offices of the troops.

The major officer led by him walked up to Yang Zui and saluted, "I've seen the chief." ”

Yang Zui was pierced by shrapnel from the Germans on his buttocks, and he had to hold on to crutches when he walked, otherwise he would not be able to exert his strength. Seeing this person, Yang Zui smiled and said, "What are you doing so formally?" You're a good mix, boy, major. ”