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At the foot of Yin Mountain, Baiyun Obo.

"Trapezoidal targets 300 meters in front of you, rapid and short shots."

After the officer held the telescope and reported the target parameters, a white wooden target suddenly rose on the horizon in the distance, and these wooden targets were not lined up, but in an irregular staircase. When the wooden target appeared, the machine gunners lying on the ground pulled the trigger one after another. The guns rang out continuously, and more than 20 new machine gunners from the mainland fired short shots at the target, and mud debris flew on the rammed earth pile behind the wooden target.

An Guoliang walked behind them with the officer, nodding from time to time.

There were no professional cavalry like the Cossacks in the Wehrmacht, so the cavalry also needed to undergo the most basic infantry training. At present, the most tested skill of the infantry of the world is the machine gunner. It is precisely the machine guns, grenadiers, and mortars that are particularly critical in all the infantry tactics of the Wehrmacht, and all tactics revolve around them, so there is a saying in the army: "Run along the crater, follow the machine gun, you can't blow up when you pull it apart, and you must rush through the cross-fire." That's what I'm talking about. After four years of hard work, the Wehrmacht machine gunners are no longer the wild ones who rushed into battle in Xinhai, thanks to the first machine gun manual written by Yang Qiu, they have been ahead of Europe and even Germany in tactics and use. Just like the new batch of machine gunners in front of them, they have all undergone at least 2,000 rounds of ammunition and 250 hours of professional training, so from the data fed back by the wooden target, they have reached or exceeded the basic level, and the machine gunner's individual tactics and the tactics of the third and third squads are one of the most core secret tactics in the army.

Since Yang Qiu inspected Baotou in August last year and decided to speed up the reconstruction of the Zhengtai Railway to Baotou, and at the same time start the construction of the Baotou-Kulun Railway, this northern town has undergone earth-shaking changes. Tens of thousands of construction workers from the interior have paved the area, and the construction of mines, light railways, basic roads, factory bases, reservoirs, waterways, docks, factories, etc., has begun ahead of schedule, and although no one knows where the necessary industrial equipment and workers will be transported, the officials are still carrying out the tasks of the Reform and Development Committee. The reason is simple, this power is enormous, and the State Commission for Commerce, Industry and Social Reform is under the personal jurisdiction of the Commander-in-Chief. Even the Prime Minister and the President have to consult the Committee on issues related to the construction of the country and society.

He was also officially appointed as the commander of the 122nd Mixed Division after the meeting, and the former division commander Shi Xiaolou began to concentrate on serving as the commander of the Northwest Theater. In addition to the original 6th Infantry Division and the 121st Division, his 122nd, 123rd, and 124th mixed divisions were all under the command of the Northwest Theater. With the intervention in the European war time determined. The army commander and the 6th and 121st divisions have already gone to Tongliao to temporarily station, so that once they get the news, they can take the Eastern Railway to the west of the Ural Mountains as soon as possible to support Russia, where only the 122nd and 124th divisions are stationed, and the 123rd division has been divided into two divisions and stationed at Yumen Pass and Uriya Sutai respectively.

Speaking from the bottom of his heart, he has no good impression of Russia, and no one in the whole army likes to help the Russians fight, and there are a lot of complaints in the troops. However, the telegram sent by the General Staff a few days ago made everyone feel a little relieved, because no one expected that Britain and France would directly spend one billion yuan a year on military expenses in order to exchange troops! It also provides a loan of 5 billion yuan in one go! 5 billion. Not to mention turning a small Baotou into an industrial city, even if it is a large industrial zone in the northwest, it is very possible! The northwest has always been inhabited, and if a few industrial cities can be formed, how much will it be driven.

It's just that this kind of thing is not something that soldiers need to care about, everyone just needs to train and prepare for the army. So An Guoliang and the officers turned around and walked to the camp after watching the training, but as soon as they walked out of the training ground, they saw a war horse rushing towards them. Xu Shuzheng jumped off the horse quickly and shouted happily: "Brother Guoliang! Brother Guoliang! ”

After Shi Xiaolou and Wu Peifu left, he and Xu Shuzheng were in charge of Baotou. So the two have also become familiar with each other during this time, but compared with Wu Peifu and Peng Shouxin, he doesn't like Xu Shuzheng very much. Because this man always gives him the feeling that he has no eyes left. He has the ability, and when he returned to the General Staff Headquarters last year to participate in the evaluation of the staff officers of the whole army, even Yang Qiu praised him for doing well in his plan, but not everyone can stand that arrogance.

But after all, everyone is colleagues, and if a soldier is not a little arrogant, he will not be a soldier, so An Guoliang still smiled and asked: "Brother Zheng, what is so happy, everyone is happy to say it." ”

Xu Shuzheng still had the heart to joke at this moment, rushed to the front and stuffed the telegram to him: "Declare war and declare war!" An hour earlier, the President had officially declared his accession to the Entente in Nanking, declaring war on Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, and Bulgaria! ”

"Really!"

After the severance of diplomatic relations between China and Germany five days ago. The whole army knew that the battle was going to begin, so everyone even slept with their eyes open and waited for the Nanjing telegram. Now that the telegram suddenly appeared in front of him, An Guoliang and the officers were a little dazed. "In fact, the declaration of war is long overdue, and it is the Kuomintang and Republican members in Congress who are pushing and procrastinating, saying that war is not good, and that the country comes first. Take advantage of the vice president's absence in the country to make a noise! What is for the country and the people, who doesn't want a 5 billion loan for nothing? To put it bluntly, it's not like trying to show your face for political opportunities! ”

These few words made An Guoliang frown, he didn't like to discuss politics, he felt that a soldier should look like a soldier, as long as he obeyed orders, unless he took off his military uniform, don't ask about politics, as for why Yang Qiu kept the Kuomintang and the Republican Party, he didn't want to ask. Xu Shuzheng saw that he didn't pick up the stubble, and he didn't want to say much about this aspect of the matter, so he ran back, An Guoliang smiled in surprise: "Brother Zheng, what is this doing?" If they want to dispatch, it is the commander and Wu Xiucai who will go first, and it is not our turn yet. ”

"Hey!" Xu Shuzheng saw that An Guoliang was not enlightened, and stomped his feet with a look of hatred for iron and steel: "Brother Guoliang!" How did you forget Cullen! ”

After the Sino-Russian friendship agreement, Kulen and Mongolia have been unresolved, Russia only recognizes Chinese territory but is not allowed to station troops, and the General Staff has not made a plan to send troops to Kulen, so the Northwest Army put the main offensive target on returning to those families, and after killing them almost enough, they began to prepare to send troops to help Russia, so they really didn't react for a while.

Xu Shuzheng said eagerly: "Since the war has been declared, troops will definitely be dispatched soon, I estimate that the 6th Division will be the first to go to Russia in half a month at the latest, and the south will definitely leave at about the same time!" We can't control them there, but Cullen is a good opportunity! Brother Guoliang, do you think that Russia itself is difficult to protect now, even if we send troops to Kulen, what can we do? Besides, don't you think? Seeing that the country is stable, there are still some ethnic rebellions in Xinjiang, but the National Guard has already gone to two brigades. **The 16th Brigade also went to Urumqi after the New Year, and there is only such a great credit left for Kulun to look at the whole country! ”

An Guoliang was a little moved by what he said, but he still insisted on asking his superiors first: "Let's ask the General Staff Headquarters about this matter first." Xu Shuzheng's face fell suddenly, but he was just a staff officer and had no real power. Stubborn, but he had to send a telegram to ask if he would send troops to Cullen.

When Xu Shuzheng was planning to attack Cullen for the sake of meritorious service, people from all walks of life in the United States were also very concerned about China's announcement of joining the Entente and declaring war.

Washington.

The elegant and handsome President Wilson was full of sorrow, and the pressure on his shoulders during this period was unimaginable to anyone, because Britain and France were both explicitly or implicitly forcing the United States to enter the war, and domestic public opinion and parliament were also examining whether the emergence of a Europe with Germany and Austria as the core was in the interests of the United States. At this critical juncture, however, news of China's rapid proximity to Britain and France came out, although this largely eased the pressure on the United States. can allow the United States to continue to reap the benefits of the fisherman, but when the news finally turned into a declaration of war, he still felt that his favorite toy had been snatched away.

In fact, the United States does not want to enter the war, this point is clearer than anyone else, the key is that the United States cannot enter the war so early, but take this good opportunity to greatly consume the strength of Europe before intervening! Only in this way can a new world order be realized after the war, with the full participation of the United States, unlike the political dwarfs who were always in the minds of Europe with huge bodies and asymmetrical heads, as they were before the war. But China suddenly entered the war, and at one time sent 30 infantry divisions and 600,000 troops! It was so unexpected. So looking at the Secretary of State who had just accompanied Yang Qiu to the launching ceremony, there was a faint worry in his eyes: "Robert, what kind of person do you think he is?" Why did he choose to go to Europe when the country was just stabilizing? For money? ”

"Money? Perhaps. Robert Lansing picked up his coffee, smelled the rich aroma and said, "2.5 billion (U.S. dollars) of low-interest commercial loans is a huge amount for China. Morgan they used to predict. To get it as soon as possible, he needs to get at least $5 billion (dollars) in initial funding and 300 factories that are indispensable. The Chinese themselves can only solve about 1.5 billion, and the number of important factories is less than 50. So this can be considered one of the casus belli. But I don't think that's the real reason! Judging by the trajectory of his rise. This man was very good at taking advantage of various crises, and the war in Europe was also a very important opportunity for him. The export of goods and resources, the export of human resources, etc., can quickly solve the problem of insufficient funds and promote industrial progress, so I am not surprised that he chose this choice. ”

"So what do you care about?" Wilson asked, slowly tucking his body into the couch.

"France!"

"France?" Wilson was obviously very confused at the beginning, but after all, he was a smart person who figured it out in a blink of an eye, and immediately straightened up the body he had just leaned on: "You mean, he will seek an alliance between China and France?!" ”

Robert Lansing was also a little unsure, and said, "I can't predict his thoughts. But France was the hardest country in the war, and they had good reason to need a strong force of external assistance. And a true statesman will never just focus on war, which is always meant to end. Nor can we accept a world ruled by Germany! When France is exhausted, they will need an external market to heal the wounds. Germany lacked colonies, and even if the war was won, reparations would be slow and inefficient, and the British did not necessarily like a continent controlled by France. On the other hand, China has already taken back all the tariffs, and a large market with a population of more than 400 million people can obtain at least hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial benefits every year if the policy is slightly tilted! What's more. After the loss of Germany, he needed a strong partner to counter the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and the differences between France and England would widen with the end of the war. One has a market and needs technology. Britain and Japan need to be balanced, and the other needs profits, so they have the conditions that they need from each other. ”

Wilson agrees with him, but remains unoptimistic about the Sino-French alliance, saying: "France are not easy to get along with, and mind you, they are natural allies with Russia." "Yes, they are far more arrogant and unreasonable than England! At present, it is because of the war that we have to bow our heads, and once it recovers, it may not be a true alliance with a backward country, but there is one thing that you should pay attention to, Your Excellency, if his army helps the French to drive out Germany? What if Russia collapses? ”

"Robert, are you kidding? 600,000 troops who need us to provide weapons to complete their armament can defeat the elite and powerful German army? "The collapse of Russia was very likely, but Wilson did not believe that the 600,000 Chinese expeditionary force could make much of a difference. Lan Sing continued to worry: "Only God knows this problem, I only know that Japan was defeated by their guns!" ”

President Wilson frowned, when the Sino-Japanese war began, the whole world was not optimistic about China, but in the end it was the Chinese National Defense Forces that forced Japan to fully withdraw from the mainland. His head hurts a little when he thinks of this, these East Asian yellow people seem to be born with a great admiration for violence, if they can finally make a name for themselves on the French battlefield, I am afraid that the Sino-French alliance is very hopeful. This situation is what the United States does not want to see, although Yang Qiu actively takes the road of industrialization, but it is not realistic to threaten the United States, because the current threat to the United States from the Republic of China is not even as great as Japan, after all, the latter still has a powerful combined fleet, even if it has recently adopted a strategic contraction because of lack of money, but the strength is still there. For the United States, as long as the Republic of China does not take the big naval route, it will not become a threat, and the real headache is the sudden proximity of China and France, which not only makes the United States want to replace Germany's position in the Republic of China market very delicate, if France can recover quickly after the war, then they will undoubtedly replace Germany as the hegemon on the European continent! This is not in line with the US strategy of ensuring a balanced Europe.

The dominoes of world politics began to quietly change with China's entry into the war, and this change caught the United States, which had intended to consume Europe at war, a little unprepared, and Wilson needed more advice at this time, asking: "Do you have any good suggestions?" ”

Robert Lansing waited for this sentence and said, "You have two days to meet with him, and I think there are only two possibilities, either we have a closer relationship with him, or you need to draw up a declaration of war." ”…… ()