The Battle of the Balkans ended with the victory of the Chinese Empire, or rather, the Peace Alliance. In this battle, the Peace Alliance and the Holy Alliance invested more than 6 million troops. The last two million troops of the Ottoman Turkish Empire were all lost. The 1 million men of the German Army, seeing that the opportunity was wrong, retreated ahead of schedule, and only then did they evacuate about 500,000 people, and they were not completely wiped out.

After the Germans retreated to the north bank of the Danube, they built a defensive line along the river. And urgently transferred two million troops from the country to reinforce them. This stabilized the Danube line. Overall, the two sides have once again entered a phase of confrontation. Of course, this is only temporary. As soon as the weather warms up and the troops on the front line complete their rest, the war will inevitably resume.

After the Balkans, one of the great powers of the Holy Alliance, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, had fallen. As a result, the German Empire was on the verge of being left alone. The only country that could continue to assist the German Empire in its war was Russia, which was isolated overseas. As for the three Nordic countries, they were not willing to participate in the war at all. Especially when the situation was extremely unfavorable for the Holy Alliance, they were even more reluctant to send troops to their deaths.

As for Russia and Great Britain, these two countries are also in complete crisis. Russia has lost more than three million troops in the war. The remaining army, though still three million. However, they are all garbage troops with low combat effectiveness, and it is simply impossible to expect them to confront the elite Imperial Army. Therefore, the main force on the battlefield of the Eastern Front. It's still the German Army. The British offensive on the island of Great Britain had also been halted. The Chinese Empire, although only one army group, was on the island of Great Britain. But it played a major role. Now, the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Scotland have begun to fight back. With the overall tide of the war very unfavorable to the Holy Alliance, the performance of the British Army. It's not as brave as it was before the war. After all, it now looks like the Holy Alliance is going to lose the war.

The crushing defeat in the Balkans angered Kaiser Wilhelm I. The battle not only cost Germany an ally, but also half a million elite troops. What's more, the Ploiesti oil field, which is also threatened by the Chinese* army. Just hit the Danube. A few dozen kilometers further north would threaten the Ploiesti oil fields. You know, the oil produced by this field. It already accounts for 60% of the oil used in Germany today. The other forty percent were able to survive only on the oil reserves that Germany had built up before the war.

If it weren't for the fact that Germany had hoarded a large amount of oil before the war and built up a national oil war reserve, I am afraid that Germany would have already had an oil shortage. With the German Army heavily equipped with cars and tanks. makes Germany consume oil every year. It's also increasing day by day. If these armored weapons were not used, the combat effectiveness of the German Army would not be guaranteed, and if a war broke out, it would inevitably be defeated by the Chinese Army. As a result, the Germans were also very entangled, they could only get as many oil fields as possible, and use as much oil as sparingly as possible.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Army has deployed half a million men on the Ploiesti front. We are more than capable of keeping the oil fields. In addition, on the entire Danube defense line. We have deployed two and a half million troops. If the Chinese want to break through the Danube line, it is impossible. "Said the Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, Count Moltke. After the defeat at the Battle of the Balkans, the Germans were able to retreat to the north bank of the Danube. The situation is becoming more and more unfavorable for Germany. Count Moltke could only try his best to preserve Germany's interests.

"Well, we must find a way to ensure the safety of the Ploiesti oil field." Kaiser Wilhelm I admonished.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Count Moltke nodded heavily. At present, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of the German Army, the German Army is distributing tanks, armored vehicles, and automobiles to its troops on a large scale in order to improve the troops' breakthrough and mobility capabilities. In view of the performance of the German armored forces on the battlefield, the German Army planned to eliminate the No. 1 tank on a large scale and assign the No. 1 tank to the infantry and use it as an infantry support fighting vehicle. Later German Panzer Divisions, in addition to tank No. 2, will be armed with the more powerful tank No. 3. The combat power of the No. 3 tank is already comparable to that of the Imperial Army's 'Panther' tank. It's just that the Germans worked so many hours on the production of tank No. 3 that there was a serious shortage of production. Even in January, only 500 tanks were produced. It seems like a lot, but once the war starts, this bit of tanks will not be enough at all. You must know that the Chinese Army alone has 1,000 'Leopard' tanks in 5 armored armies. In addition, the Chinese Army plans to form two more armored corps. At the same time, the more advanced 'Tiger' heavy tanks have also begun to be mass-produced, which will make the gap in the armor strength of the two sides widen.

However, what Count Moltke didn't know was that when the Germans were trying their best to keep the Ploiesti oil fields, the Chinese Empire was also planning to destroy it. The importance of the Ploiesti oil fields to Germany was well known to the Chinese Empire. If it can be blown up, Germany will no longer be able to replenish its oil reserves, but only deplete its oil reserves. If Germany's oil reserves could be bombed again, it would be able to further deal a blow to Germany's war potential. This made it easier for the empire to win this war.

Just fifty kilometers from the Danube, more than a dozen large field airfields are under intense construction. Not only were the sappers of the Imperial Army working, but more than 100,000 infantry were mobilized to help. The General Staff issued an order that these field airfields must be completed by the end of January. From here, Imperial Air Force fighters would then take off and bomb the Ploiesti oil field, destroying it in one fell swoop.

On 25 January, more than 10 field airfields were completed one after another, and the 7th and 8th Air Force Wings, which had flown from China, were stationed at these airfields. To bomb the Ploiesti oil fields, the Air Force dispatched a wing of fighters and a wing of bombers.

On January 27, the well-prepared Imperial Air Force took off from the field airfield and, having completed the formation, flew towards Ploiesti. The field airfield is only about one hundred and fifty kilometers from the Ploiesti oil field, which is completely within the combat radius of the fighters of the Imperial Air Force.

Because the speed of the 'Hongyan'2 bomber is relatively slow, the maximum speed is only 180 km, and the cruising speed is only 120 km. Therefore, it took the Imperial Air Force more than an hour to fly over Ploiesti. Although, when the Imperial Air Force fighter plane had just crossed the Danube, it was discovered by the Germans. However, the Germans did not judge the intentions of the Reich Air Force at first. They also thought that the Reichsair Force was preparing to bomb German positions. But then it was discovered that the Imperial Air Force fighter planes flew off their heads, and this was not good.

The most important target to the north of the Danube is none other than the Ploiesti oil field. The Germans reacted immediately, demanding that the defenders around the Ploiesti oil fields be ready for battle.

The Germans had long anticipated that the Chinese Empire might send an air force to bomb the Ploiesti oil fields. So, they deployed a large number of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns around the oil fields. In addition, the Luftwaffe deployed hundreds of fighter jets at airfields near the oil fields. After receiving the warning, the German air defense forces and air force immediately entered a state of combat readiness. Fighter jets after fighter jets took off from the airfield to intercept the Imperial Air Force.

The Luftwaffe is now equipped with fighter jets called the Condor 1. Although the name is mighty, there is a significant generation difference compared with the Imperial Army's 'Haidongqing' 2 fighter, and it is far from being comparable to the fighter of the Imperial Air Force in terms of speed and maneuverability. Its combat performance is estimated to be comparable to that of the 'Haidongqing' 1 fighter equipped by the Imperial Air Force in the early days. As a result, the Luftwaffe's 'Condor' 1 fighter was completely in a position of being passively beaten in the face of the Reich Air Force's 'Hai Dongqing' 2 fighter.

The air forces of both sides encountered more than 30 kilometers south of the Ploiesti oil fields. It's just that the fighter units of the Chinese Air Force were the first to spot the German fighters under the clouds. The fighters of the Chinese Air Force immediately swooped down from a high altitude and opened fire on the Luftwaffe fighters. I only saw that the Luftwaffe fighters were hit one after another, turned into aerial turkeys, and faded to the ground.

In air combat, attacking from a high altitude is undoubtedly the best tactic.

The Luftwaffe's fighter unit lost more than 30 fighters in this wave of attacks alone. Subsequently, the fighters of the Reich Air Force began to hunt down the fighters of the Luftwaffe. With the excellent performance of their own fighters, the fighters of the Imperial Air Force easily caught the Luftwaffe fighters and shot them down. Although, the Luftwaffe pilots behaved very bravely. But the fighters are so bad that they can't compete with the Chinese Air Force at all. In less than twenty minutes, the Luftwaffe had already lost most of its fighters. And by this time, the bomber units of the Imperial Air Force had also flown to the wounds of the Ploiesti oil fields.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

The German anti-aircraft guns began to roar first, and shells shot into the sky in an attempt to shoot down the bombers of the Reichsair force.

Then the German anti-aircraft machine guns also rang out, and a dense burst of bullets shot into the sky. It's just that the anti-aircraft fire of the German army is still too sparse. There was simply no way to stop the bombing of the Ploiesti oil fields by the Imperial Air Force. (To be continued......)

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