Many years before the start of the war, the German General Staff prepared elaborate battle plans for the Great War. Because this plan was completed under the auspices of Field Marshal Schlieffen, this plan was named the Schlieffen Plan. Field Marshal Schlieffen realized that the geopolitical situation in Germany was very bad, and in the event of a war, it would face the problem of fighting on two fronts. And Germany is short of resources, and it will be difficult to hold out if it is engaged in a long-term war. Therefore, if Germany wants to win, it must fight quickly and defeat the enemy in the shortest possible time.

Among the enemies of the Germans, Britain is the most difficult to defeat, after all, Britain is an island country and has the strongest navy in the world, while Russia's territory is too vast, and the capital Petersburg is too far away from the Germans. Moreover, although Russia is large, its national strength is limited, and its mobilization capacity, reaction speed, and the level of equipment and training of the army are far inferior to those of France. Coupled with the close proximity of France's core area of power to Germany's core area of power, France has the world's second largest land force after Germany. Therefore, Field Marshal Schlieffen believed that France was Germany's most important enemy, and that Germany would have to defeat France quickly if it wanted to win a possible war. As long as France could be defeated quickly, Germany would have effectively won the war.

Therefore, on the basis of the principle that all possible forces must be concentrated in the most critical positions, the most important feature of Field Marshal Schlieffen's plan was the extremely uneven distribution of forces, according to which the distribution of forces between the eastern and western fronts was 1:8, and the ratio of forces between the left and right flanks of the western front was 1:8. In this way, according to this plan, the old marshal concentrated the vast majority of the forces of all of Germany on the right flank. According to this plan, once the war began, the German army on the right flank, which had absolute superiority in numbers, would take Paris and defeat the French in one fell swoop through Belgium, and in the meantime, even if the French broke through on the left flank of the Germans and captured a few cities, Germany could fully afford such a price.

After the death of Field Marshal Schlieffen, Moltke Jr. served as chief of staff. In terms of general strategy, he did not dare to change Marshal Schlieffen's plan, but the implementation of the plan was still greatly disturbed. First of all, in order to build a strong navy, the Germans put a lot of power into the construction of the navy. As a result, the development of the army naturally suffered. As a result, by the time it was launched, the German Army did not reach the planned size. On the other hand, Russia, which had been severely weakened in the Russo-Japanese War, was strongly supported by France and Britain because it stopped expanding in the Far East, and its national strength was not only restored, but even developed considerably. Therefore, on the Eastern Front, the originally arranged troops may not be enough. At the same time, in the original plan, the forces of the left wing of the Western Front were already weakened to the point where it could no longer be weakened. Now, because of the lack of total forces, if the original proportion is divided, the left wing will have fewer troops than originally planned, and the left wing will almost inevitably collapse under the blows of the French army. Therefore, Moltke Jr. had to weaken the forces of the assault group, that is, the right flank, to strengthen the left flank and the eastern front.

This, of course, affected the effectiveness of the assault on the right flank, but the use of chemical weapons compensated for this, and for the first time in the battle for the capture of the fortress of Liège, the Germans used mustard gas, which had been highly secretive. This poisonous gas, which can poison people through the skin, was not at all able to be resisted by gas masks alone, and as a result, the Germans captured the fortress of Liège even faster than originally planned.

However, the weather conditions after that saved the lives of the French. When using poison gas bombs, the weather requirements are very high, and wind, rain and so on will seriously affect the use of chemical weapons. The following weeks of rain and wind made it almost impossible for the Germans to use their deadliest weapons.

……

"Are the results of the experiment out? Is it the kind of thing that Americans say? Also, does that thing of the Americans have a protective effect? French President Raymond Poincaré asked a middle-aged man in a white lab coat eagerly.

"Mr. President, based on the results of our animal experiments, comparing the information given by the Americans and the reports on the battlefield, there have been ...... in experimental animals."

"Wait, Mr. Zanetti, it's not an academic report now, you can just tell me if it's or not, and how to prevent it." President Raymond Poincaré interrupted him eagerly, "Every second of our time is precious now, and meteorologists say that the weather will improve at the most next week!" ”

"Ah...... Mr. President, it is indeed what the Americans call mustard gas. Zanetti replied, "It is an erosive gas that can poison people through the skin." So, a gas mask that only defends the respiratory tract will not protect against this gas, and even, Mr. President, because this gas is far more toxic than any we have seen before, so ......" a wry smile appeared on Zanetti's face.

"So what?" President Raymond Poincaré hastened to ask.

"So even a little bit of it gets inhaled into the lungs, or gets on the skin, can cause severe poisoning. In fact, our gas masks only use a little activated carbon, the design is too simple, and the adsorption effect is naturally average, if it is used to fight against general poison gas, it is not bad, but it is not bad to fight mustard gas, and even effectively protect the respiratory tract, but the American sample can perfectly fight this poison gas, which is very heavy. ”

"Are you sure that the products of the Americans can be used to defend against mustard attacks?" This question is so important now that President Raymond Poincaré asked it again.

"Yes, Mr. President." Zanetti replied that "the samples of the Americans can be used against almost any existing, even probable, poison gases." There's nothing wrong with that. ”

"Let the Department of Commerce immediately contact the Americans and ask them how many of these chemical protective clothing they have in their hands and when they will arrive at the earliest. Don't care about the price now, the faster the better. President Raymond Poincaré turned to his secretary and said.

"Okay, Mr. President, I'll inform the people at the Department of Commerce right away." The secretary replied.

"Professor Zanetti, if we have a full set of technical information, will it be technically difficult for us to produce this kind of chemical protective suit ourselves?" President Raymond Poincaré turned to Zanetti again.

"It's not technically difficult, and now some of our military factories, as long as there are enough raw materials, will soon be able to produce similar products." Zanetti replied immediately.

"And what about this poison gas? In the case of knowing the production process. President Raymond Poincaré asked.

"It's probably going to be a lot more difficult." Zanetti replied, "Most of the production of such things requires a lot of specialized equipment, although China's chemical technology is also very advanced, but the design and manufacture of production-related equipment itself takes time, and then it takes time to install and debug." Your Excellency, in my experience, I estimate that even if we have the relevant technology, it will take at least six months to a year for us to produce these ourselves. ”

"What if we import a full set of equipment directly from abroad?" President Raymond Poincaré then asked.

"There are a lot of things that can be involved in this, such as transportation, like some other things, and as a technician, it's hard for me to answer. Maybe Mr. President should ask the other ministers. Zanetti replied.

……

"War is such a good thing!" Carvalho, the first mate of the good man Anderson, said to Captain Roland, "We were almost unemployed, but as soon as the war began, we had a business. Moreover, the salary has risen, and several of the boys in our family have the money to continue their college studies. War is so good! It would be nice if Europe kept fighting wars like this! ”

"Why are you so dark in your heart? Other people's children can't die, right? Captain Roland laughed, and could see that he didn't really disagree with the first mate's statement.

"Alas, Lord, forgive me. But people have to be honest, I really don't care how the children of the European family die. Carvalho grinned and drew a cross on his chest. Then he took out a small flat pot from his jacket pocket, opened the lid, took a sip, and then handed it to the captain: "At this time, the latest thing recommended by the Seamen's Prohibition Association, there has been no money to touch this kind of thing for a while, do you want to take a sip." ”

"No, thank you, I'll try your new goods when I'm resting later, but it's still my time on duty. You know, there are German warships in this area. Although there have been no attacks on American ships by German warships, it is important to be careful. Captain Roland said with a smile. As an old sailor, he certainly knew what the so-called "Seamen's Prohibition Society" was. Basically, this organization and the so-called "peace promotion associations" are engaged in inciting war; or hang a sign like "Association for the Promotion of Democracy", but undermine democracy everywhere; Or other institutions with very nice and nice names are basically the same in terms of style.

"Captain, a merchant warship has been spotted! We're getting closer! At that moment, shouts rang out from the speakers in the captain's cabin.

"Hell!" Captain Roland said, "I'll take a look." ”

"I'll go and see it too." First mate Carvalho quickly put away the flask and followed.

The two of them quickly climbed up to the lookout together, and at this time, they didn't even need a telescope, they could already see that a gray warship was rapidly approaching, it was a slender, huge battleship.

"It's ...... It was the battle cruisers of the Germans! Captain Roland recognized the warship at once.