"This smell is really..."Standing in the courtyard, fanning the air around her vigorously, a middle-aged aunt who was sweeping the floor with a broom in the yard couldn't help frowning.

"Okay, don't complain," another man who was busy with other things next to her smiled wryly when he heard her complaint. This is also something that can't be helped, you don't know, now that flu has come out again, I heard that many people have died all over the world, if we are not careful, who dares to guarantee that we will be fine? You know, this thing doesn't recognize people..."

That being said, but to be honest, even he himself couldn't stand the smell.

No way, the smell of disinfectant is not very good, let alone such a wide range of use? Even if it's across a wall, just standing in the courtyard has a breathless feeling.

You can imagine how uncomfortable it must be to smell such a smell every day.

However, the residents inside have no way to complain, because the reason why the death toll in China is so low under the threat of the Spanish flu is entirely because of this seemingly simple method. If this is not the case, although the medical environment in China has improved a lot after a few years of stable development, it is still very difficult to reach the level of Europe.

Taking into account the number of people and population density, even if the death toll does not reach the terrifying Cheng dù of India, more than one or two million is appropriate―――――― by the way, Yan Shao did not even dare to stop the ship in India on this voyage back to China. There is no way, the epidemic in India is too strict, and the death toll has even exceeded 10 million. No one can guarantee that there will be no major trouble after the ship is parked in India.

Therefore, the cruise ship that Yan Shao took returned directly to China under the escort of several warships.

And under the escort of several battleships, there will be no trouble along the way.

Naturally, the use of battleships to escort ships is somewhat extravagant, especially the three ships of the Ocean Fleet in the process of this return voyage. At the same time, it is also the only three dreadnoughts to be dispatched, and their overall combat effectiveness is almost equivalent to half of the combat power of the Wehrmacht.

But in this regard, except for some boring parliamentarians who made a noise. No one said anything. After all, even when the President of the United States went to the summit, he took a battleship, and it was not strange for Yan Shao to escort him with a battleship.

What's more, the Ocean Fleet sent out three capital ships this time, as well as several other warships. It's not just an escort, either. They also had the task of communicating with the Allied navies.

Although the strength of the Wehrmacht is not far from the great powers, the only thing that may have a gap is artillery, after all, the Wehrmacht has only been established for a few years, and a few years of time is enough for the Wehrmacht to have the strength comparable to the powers, but thousands or even tens of thousands of artillery pieces are definitely not something that can be accumulated in just a few years...

Not to mention that in the armies of the Entente, large-caliber artillery was not uncommon ...

But the number of artillery does not represent a qiē. At least not representative of many problems, after all, on the Western Front the Allies have always had fewer artillery than the Entente. However, the Allies never fell behind on the Western Front, and even at the time of surrender, the Allies remained in northern France.

Therefore, in terms of real strength, Yan Shao believes that his national defense army will definitely not be inferior to the great powers.

But the words of the Navy ...

This is not something that can be caught up in a short period of time...

After all, the Navy needs to accumulate over a long period of time, and in addition, the gap in equipment is also very important. It can even be said that the importance of the navy in terms of equipment is much higher than that of the army―――――― if it is a few years later, that is, before Yan Shao's crossing, the importance of equipment at sea can even be said to be higher than that of a qiē.

Of course, if it's too two hundred and five, and can't even use radar or other scum, then it's useless to give them good equipment.

These capital ships only came to Europe, on the one hand, to escort Yan Shao, and on the other hand, to take this opportunity to have some exchanges with the navies of the European powers, limited exchanges.

Although it was only a limited exchange, it still taught the Navy a lot of useful things. That's just it, even if this trip wasn't in vain―――――― at least in Yan Shao's opinion.

Moreover, in addition to the above reasons, there is another thing.

At the beginning of the First World War, in order to quickly improve the strength of the navy, Yan Shao sent many young naval officers and some more potential soldiers to serve in the British Navy and learn the advanced experience of the British Navy within the British Navy.

At least at this time, the experience of the British Navy was advanced for the Commune government.

When these soldiers served in the British Navy, the environment was relatively good. After all, at that time, the army had already fought a bloody battle with the Germans in Verdun and proved its strength, so with the efforts of the army buddies, they also gained a certain respect in the British Navy.

Naturally, discriminators are certainly indispensable, but at least the environment is much stronger than when they first arrived.

But because of this, their pressure is much greater. After all, the Army has proven itself in Europe, but what about them, how can they prove it? Although China's army and navy are much more harmonious, a certain amount of competition is inevitable.

So although there was always some racial discrimination or other external pressure that forced them to work hard, in this state of competition, the people of the Navy were still trying to learn the advanced technology of the United Kingdom during their service in the British Navy.

A considerable number of naval officers were involved in the Battle of Jutland, and although they were assigned only a few destroyers, at most cruiser-class warships, their tenacity and bravery were somewhat recognized...

These people are also the cornerstone of the future Defense Navy ...

This time, in addition to escorting Yan Shao to Europe, the navy also conducted some exercises with the navies of the European powers to communicate. The most important purpose is to bring these naval seedlings back to China.

――――――――――――――――――――

Although the smell of the disinfectant was really bad, thanks to the efforts of the Kuomintang, China was able to survive the Spanish flu epidemic. The number of deaths has been lower than in the vast majority of countries―――――― average number of deaths...

And although the smell of the disinfectant is terrible, considering that this is the government's heart, it is difficult for the Chinese people to say anything. What's more, when using the disinfectant, the government does not levy any additional taxes on the people at all, which makes them unable to say anything.

At the end of the day, the government takes its own money, and you can't dislike that. Don't like that, right?

Naturally, there are also some people who think that the government should get some odorless disinfectant out. But it's a pity that the government doesn't have the ability and the technology...

On the other hand, although the epidemic prevention situation in the country is going very well. But that doesn't mean that will be the case everywhere. At least some places have not yet received this treatment, such as the Middle East, which was recently occupied by the Nationalist government...

While Yan Shao, Elano and others were returning home on a cruise ship, in Iraq, the expeditionary force stationed here was also trying to find a way to stabilize the local shape.

If you really want to find one of the most widespread viruses, the Spanish flu is definitely among them. The virus is circulating on almost all continents of the world, even some islands with very small populations.

Although the climate in the Middle East is very dry and hot, the Spanish flu is still very tenacious here...

Its tenacious Cheng dù. Even to the point where it has to be admired.

――――――――――――――――――――

Baghdad, the core of the Baghdad Military District. At the same time, it is also the headquarters of the Chinese military garrison in the Middle East, where at least more than 100,000 troops are stationed, and...

Even after the end of the First World War, Yan Shao did not mean to withdraw his troops from the Middle East, but showed signs of increasing troops in the Middle East, which naturally made many people feel a little confused. After all, that part of the Middle East is really a wasteland, there is no property at all, although the territory is not small, but basically there is no value to occupy.

If this were not the case, when Ottoman Turkey fought against the Entente, it would not have concentrated its main forces on the Caucasian battlefield and put the Mesopotamian theater in a secondary position.

In the same way, the Entente could not have ceded such a large part of the Middle East to China so lightly, and even if China later sent troops to Russia, they did not think of using it to threaten China―――――― although Siberia is also a wasteland in the eyes of the world, but at least the area is large, not to mention that in addition to Siberia, at least Central Asia still has some importance.

In their view, no matter what they think, China will not be threatened for the sake of those wastelands in the Middle East. At least to the average person.

It is precisely because of this that Yan Shao's intention to increase troops in the Middle East is so confusing.

Especially after that, Yan Shao even issued an order to the Baghdad Military District, asking them to build a defensive line at the junction of Iraq and the Caucasus, and at the same time build a large number of fortifications and batteries in the Gulf region, especially in Kuwait...

People can still understand the words of the former, although the intervention forces of the great powers are still active in Eastern Europe, but in the case of the successive crushing defeats of the intervention forces, I am afraid that even the great powers themselves do not believe that they can still destroy Soviet Russia in Eastern Europe. Therefore, whether it is to prevent the invasion of Soviet Russia, or for other reasons, it has become very necessary to build fortifications at the junction.

But Kuwait...

Could it be that who will take a fancy to this wasteland with only sand?

This is really confusing, but after all, this is Yan Shao's order, so in the end, they can only choose to obey...

So soon the Middle East became a big construction site in full swing, more than 100,000 expeditionary troops after the surrender of the Turkish troops, turned into engineers, began to build fortifications at the junction and Kuwait and other places, naturally, it is impossible for everyone to run to be an engineer, there must be some people responsible for stabilizing the situation in the Middle East...

But even so, the expeditionary force has become the busiest people in the Middle East after the other group, as for that group of people...

――――――――――――――――――――

"It smells terrible," said the military district command building in Baghdad. Fan the air around him, Yang Shande couldn't help frowning.

"Bear with me," Wang Mingke said with a wry smile. It's not that you haven't read the newspaper, it's just that this thing is relied on in China. Only then did most of the people save their lives, and now that the flu is raging, it's better to be careful, after all, those viruses won't trouble you just because you're a general..."

"I also know this..."Looking at his old partner, Yang Shande said helplessly. It's just that I can't stand the smell of it. After speaking, Yang Shande couldn't help but sigh. I don't know when this ghost disease will come to an end. ”

"Who knows..."Hearing Yang Shande say this, Wang Mingke couldn't help but sigh. Last year, the disease began to make trouble, and it continued until the end of the year. A lot of people died, I thought it was finally over, but who would have thought that this year there would be a lot of trouble again..."

Speaking of which. Wang Mingke seemed to remember something, and hurriedly asked. "By the way, sent a telegram to the country, right? When will the new batch of disinfectant arrive? ”

"It's gone," Yang Shande said. I sent it yesterday, and the country said that it would take at least a month, so let's save some money..."Speaking of this, Yang Shande was a little helpless. "Aren't we saving yet? Now this thing is only used in the barracks. If it's okay, I don't even dare to let the soldiers go outside the barracks, but fortunately, the rebels here have been almost cleaned up by us, otherwise it would be a bit of trouble..."

Like all regions of the world, the Spanish flu epidemic in the Middle East is very prevalent, killing many people. Sanitizers have proven to work―――――― at least when you don't have any other means. It's just a problem. It's too expensive. If it's just a city or a province, it doesn't matter, but right now Yan Shao needs to face a country. A population of 500 million...

It is almost impossible to meet the needs of such a country.

Even now, the country can only ensure the disinfection of some counties and towns in the city, as for the countryside, this is really a little helpless, after all, China in this era has just entered the industrialization, has not yet reached the point of urbanization, the vast majority of the population lives in the countryside, and the domestic countryside is too many to count, not even including some Taoyuan village storage. Fortunately, there is not a lot of communication between the countryside and the outside world in China, but even so, the virus still takes many lives.

In a situation where even the country can hardly be satisfied, the Middle East, where the expeditionary force is located, is obviously in some trouble...

Although in order to ensure the safety of the officers and men of the expedition, a large number of epidemic prevention tools were also transported from China, but the number was not very large. At present, the expeditionary force can only be satisfied with the various military camps scattered throughout the Middle East, or the construction site where the soldiers who have become engineers are busy, and the rest of the places are really too much to take care of...

And this has led to the high death toll in the Middle East, although places like Iraq and Kuwait certainly do not have as many people as in the country, but they are also a region with a long history.

Similarly, in order to prevent the soldiers from contracting the flu, Yang Shande also ordered that the soldiers were not allowed to leave the barracks at will. After all, if a soldier catches the Spanish flu because he is out and about, it doesn't seem that he is very far from the whole battalion when he returns to the barracks.

At the beginning of the Spanish flu epidemic, there was a similar example in the United States...

Now Yang Shande, the only thing they are glad about is that the rebellion in Iraq has almost been suppressed by them.

As outsiders, the expeditionary force is bound to be opposed by the locals, especially when the locals have been hungry for independence. Therefore, when the expeditionary force first occupied Iraq, it did suffer a lot of trouble, especially on the Arabian Peninsula.

Although Yan Shao signed a secret treaty with the Entente, the Arabs still learned from various sources that Yan Shao had received a promise from the British that he could share a part of the territory of the Arabian Peninsula―――――― according to the investigation of the Special Bureau, the possibility that this news was personally revealed by the British to the Arabs is very high, but there is no evidence for the time being.

So naturally, there are often rebellions in Iraq, and in the Arab region, because of the support of the Arabs behind them, there are vigorous rebellions.

Originally, the government of the State and Social Affairs did not have much interest in these two places, but Yan Shao expressed his ambition for these two areas. Therefore, counterinsurgency was inevitable, especially after the signing of the armistice treaty between the Central Powers and the Entente in 1918, the expeditionary force and the Expeditionary Force devoted almost all their energy to counterinsurgency...

And its means are similar to those in the outer northeast, which are to catch the rebels, either shoot them or pull them to do coolies. And those who dare to hide the rebels, or those who support them, will be relocated to Sakhalin, thousands of miles away...

Under these means, the Middle East has been able to calm down.

In particular, the rebels, most of whom were fooled by this method, fled to Sakhalin. Although there are definitely some fish that have slipped through the net, it is difficult to make any waves with such a small shrimp, even with the support of the Arabs...

On the other hand, while Yang Shande and Wang Mingke were still complaining there, a staff officer suddenly ran in from outside and said to them. "Report to the Commander, Chief of Staff, President, their ship is almost here..." (To be continued......)