Verdun, after more than a month of bloody fighting, the Entente and the Central Powers paid nearly 200,000 casualties on this land, the land was stained dark red with blood, and the whole land was smashed by cannonballs.

Perhaps because of the blood they drink, even the petals of the flowers that grow here are blood-red to symbolize blood—————— although very few flowers usually survive in this land that is often baptized by shelling.

In the cold and damp trenches, both the Allied and German armies were curled up in the trenches like shrimps, enjoying this hard-won time of peace. For them, there is nothing more to cherish.

So the whole battlefield was enveloped in a deathly silence, and in the absence of orders, even the most warlike soldiers looked lazy, and did not even want to move their fingers.

In the depths of the fortress, Cai Ye was half-lying on the bed, holding an unknown book in his hand and looking at it, coughing lightly twice from time to time. Compared with when he first arrived in France, Cai Ye at this time was obviously much haggard, and even his skin revealed an unnatural paleness...

This is due to physical reasons, as well as the fact that they often hide in the fortress and are not exposed to the sun.

After holding out for more than a month, Verdun was already a large army.

Whether it's on the defensive side or on the offensive side.

However, the bloodiness of the war has not diminished in the slightest, and the casualties of the coalition forces have reached nearly 100,000 since the battle. The expeditionary force, which played a pivotal role from the beginning of the campaign, now has only more than 30,000 people left. The German casualties were one and a half times that of the original defenders. Gradually, it became the one to one it is today, and this ratio even continued to climb under the shelling of the Germans.

Whenever I think about it. Cai Ye couldn't help but feel a burst of distress and guilt.

After all, they died under their own command.

This guilt, coupled with the high-intensity combat for more than a month, has made Cai's already not good body even worse. For this reason, Cai Ye had to give more responsibility to Liu Guangyuan, Petain and Leonard and others, fortunately, neither Liu Guangyuan nor Petain nor they made Cai Ye feel disappointed.

It also gives him, the 'hero of Verdun', more time to rest, and his body does need more rest...

"Wow..."

A slightly dull knock on the door made Cai Ye lift his head from the book.

"Commander...", the voice of a guard came from outside the door. Just got the news. They're almost there..."The guard outside the door was young, only in his early twenties, but because of the door. The voice was very dull.

"They should have arrived a long time ago..."Hearing the guard's words, a trace of flushing appeared on Cai Yi's originally pale face, and then he rolled over from the bed with a very inflexible movement. Inform them that I'll clean up and go down..."

"Yes!"

Get orders. The guards outside the door turned to leave. Cai Ye took out a relatively new military uniform from the wardrobe and put it on. More than a minute later, Cai Ye, who had changed his clothes, stood in front of the mirror in a pure black military uniform, although his face was still a little pale, but he looked very heroic against the background of the military uniform...

"I hope those young men who just arrived can adapt to the environment here...", muttered, Cai Ye turned away from the mirror, opened the door, and walked outside.

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The rear of the Verdun fortress. While a large number of Allied soldiers were guarding the German army on the opposite side of the front, they passed through the Verdun road, which is currently the only one still connected to the outside world. Several military off-road vehicles are heading towards the fortress surrounded by a large number of military trucks ...

These off-road vehicles are the latest products of Yushi Group. It was done on order from the military, and the shape is somewhat similar to the 'VW82 barrel car' that the German army once equipped with in history, this car is currently only one model, except for the sloping nose similar to the VW82, and the roof is fixed.

This is also caused by China's environment, China's environment is too complex, it can be said that the geographical phenomena of the whole world, such as deserts, deserts, grasslands, plains and even forests, can be found in China, especially in the northern region, you can enjoy the cold of the ice and snow, compared with the design of the folding windshield and canvas roof, or the design of the fixed roof is more in line with the Chinese environment.

After all, whether it is facing the ice and snow in the cold winter, or the downpour or even the wind and sand on the desert, this fixed type is much more reliable than the folding windshield and canvas roof.

Of course, limited to technical issues, similar only appearance.

In terms of actual performance, aside from the spacious interior, the comfort of the new off-road bike is even slightly worse than that of the 'Raindrop', not to mention the 'Raindrop A' and 'Liulan'...

In fact, even with cheap labor and the help of the 'assembly line', the cost of this off-road vehicle is still as high as seven or eight hundred dollars, and the cost of 'Liulan' is only six hundred dollars.

Almost all of this high cost is used to improve the performance of off-road vehicles.

In order to meet the requirements of the military, the car itself adopts the latest technology, which makes its performance better than that of 'Liulan' in the wilderness. In addition, the key parts of the body have also been reinforced with steel plates, especially the position of the side of the body, even the glass is bulletproof, ordinary pistols, rifles and even small-caliber machine guns have nothing to do with this kind of car...

Of course, glass will definitely not be able to block dense shooting, even bulletproof ones are useless.

But if you are attacked, as long as you hide in the car and keep your body down, there will basically not be too many problems. Although this increases the weight of the car and weakens the performance of the car itself, it is nothing less than safety.

After all, this is a military vehicle after all, and the most important thing is safety...

Speed is also crucial, but at the moment these vehicles can drive faster than the infantry, especially when contemporaneous tanks are usually only 10 to 20 kilometers away.

This time, the cars were all just off the assembly line. Except for a group that remained at home and abroad, all the rest were sent to Europe, and the officers of the expeditionary force used —————— not all. This time, the expeditionary force will be accompanied by a few technicians from the Rainstone Company, who will work with the group's branches in Europe to sell the car to the Allies.

In fact, the sales pitch had already begun, and in a way, the Entente had a good impression of the car. After all, the off-road vehicle that inherited the VW82 design in appearance is very good in terms of appearance, and the safety and driving performance of the car in the wilderness are also good (this period). In addition, there is the face of the Chinese government in it, and Britain, France and other countries are already considering whether to order some for the use of field troops...

Of course, this part of the export is used for cars. The price is relatively high...

At least it's more expensive than 'Ryuran'...

This obviously also brought great profits to Yushi Group...

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On the front of these off-road vehicles are hanging the red dragon flags belonging to the national government, and these flags are also clearly indicating the identity of these troops.

The Chinese Expeditionary Force...

In France, in addition to diplomatic missions. It is only the people of the expeditionary force who will fly this kind of flag. In the beginning, the French and British were a little unfamiliar with this kind of flag. But after the Battle of Verdun to the present, this flag is already known to everyone on French soil ...

Of course, it was the Germans on the other side who were most impressed by the flag.

At the entrance to the fortress, Cai Ye and the generals of the coalition forces, such as Petain and Liu Guangyuan, had been waiting here for some time.

"Commander..."Jumping out of the off-road vehicle, Xiao Yongyan and several other generals wearing the rank of major general walked over, and then saluted Cai Ye and Petain and others behind him.

"I've finally waited for you..."Coughing lightly twice, a smile appeared on Cai Yi's face.

"I encountered some trouble on the way, otherwise the time could have been advanced..."Cai Yi, who looked a little sickly. Xiao Yongyan's face showed a look of concern. "Commander your body..."

"I'm okay, I'm just a little tired," Cai smiled. But you're here. I should be able to make it easier..."

"Please rest assured, Commander, we will definitely not embarrass the president or you..."When he said this, Xiao Yongyan and the group behind him were full of confidence. In fact, they are indeed qualified to say so, after all, compared with the first army, the second army is much stronger in terms of equipment and training, and all it lacks is experience.

After some greetings, Cai Ye looked at Petain and the others, and then introduced. "Guangyuan them, you should all know each other, as for these people, this is Lieutenant General Bei of the Second Army, this is Lieutenant General Leonard, and this is..."

Under Cai Yi's introduction, Petain and others stepped forward one by one.

After more than a month of bloody fighting, Petain and the others no longer had the contempt and even discrimination against the expeditionary force as they did at the beginning. They even admired it slightly, for no other reason, they had already seen the good fighting of the expeditionary force in the bloody battle for more than a month.

It is precisely because of this that they are extremely welcome to the arrival of Xiao Yongyan and others. After all, at this moment Verdun welcomes any combat-ready troops, and these armies from the East have already proven themselves in Verdun ...

"Okay..."After letting Xiao Yongyan and Petain get to know each other, Cai Yi smiled. Now that we've all known each other, let's come in quickly, I can't guarantee that the Germans won't give you a few cold blows with heavy artillery, and if one of them lands here, then we'll have a lot of fun..."At this point, Petain and the others also nodded.

Although the front is relatively peaceful now, neither the Germans nor the French mind giving each other a few shots with shells, so cold guns may not be available in Verdun, but cold guns are by no means uncommon.

After speaking, Cai Ye said to Leonard. "General Leonard, I'll leave it to you about the placement of troops, they have just arrived in Verdun and don't know much about the situation here..."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it..."

In Verdun, Leonard had worked with the expeditionary force for the longest time, so he naturally had to be a little more casual in his attitude...

In fact, he, like Petain, was looking forward to the expeditionary force that had just arrived.

After all, the previous expeditionary force had already proven itself in Verdun, as long as this one could exert the same combat effectiveness as the first expeditionary force. will play a vital role in the entire Battle of Verdun...

Therefore, Leonard was very friendly to the newly arrived Second Army, and soon arranged some men to bring the officers and soldiers of the Second Army into the garrison that had been prepared for a long time.

As for Cai Ye and Petain and others. led Xiao Yongyan and his party to the inside of the fortress.

Inside, the banquet used to welcome Xiao Yongyan and them was almost ready.

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"Let's introduce the situation in China..."Sitting opposite Xiao Yongyan, Cai Yi coughed lightly twice and asked. Although we usually have some contact with the country, but from the telegram it is still a little worse..."

Xiao Yongyan said that they came from afar, and Cai Ye and they always had to hold a banquet to welcome them, even if Cai Ye was their boss. However, in times of war, the conditions of the banquet must have been a little rudimentary. Fortunately, neither Cai Yi nor Xiao Yongyan nor others care very much about this.

However, Cai Yi's body did not allow too much drinking after all, so he only drank two glasses and stepped aside, and after the banquet was over. He stopped Xiao Yongyan alone, hoping to get some useful information from him.

As Cai said, the information obtained from the telegram alone is always somewhat inaccurate. Therefore, he hoped to get some useful information from people like Xiao Yongyan who had just come from China.

"But. Commander. Your body..."Looking at Cai Yi's appearance, Xiao Yongyan looked a little worried. "Would you like to take a break first..."

"It's okay, I'm used to it..."Cai Ye waved his hand. And that's exactly what happened.

"That's it..."Seeing Cai Yi's insistence, Xiao Yongyan didn't want to say anything more, so he narrated it according to Cai Yi's thoughts. Your and the First Army's struggle in Europe has given great encouragement to the country, especially the morale of the army and the people. In addition, Britain and France have also promised us more benefits, and now the president is negotiating tariffs with other allies. There are also Allied ships in the Yangtze River, and if they can defeat the Allies. Perhaps we can increase the share of reparations that we may receive, and even the colonies may be larger than expected, and the support for the European war and the expeditionary force has increased a lot, and even the ones in Congress who can only drag their feet have changed their attitudes, and they have turned their faces faster than books..."

When talking about Congress, Xiao Yongyan's face showed a disdainful expression.

In fact, this is also a situation that is prevalent within the Defence Force, which does not look up to Congress very much. It is not surprising, after all, that the role played by members of Congress is not much different from that of vases. What's more, in the past, these guys always played tricks to hold them back.

The most important point is that these guys have a lot to do with the local council, and the members of those local councils used to be local powerhouses, so it is not surprising that they are the emperor of the soil. Although the emperor also has good ones, most of the time they are bad.

During the pre-Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, these guys did a lot of harm to the local people. After entering the national society period, it is even more difficult to change the old habits. Although under the hard work of the Ministry of Police, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Integrity, these guys have converged a lot. But China is so big that the Kuomintang-Socialist Government has only been in existence for more than two years, and many regions have not been able to take care of it. And many people in the Wehrmacht are from local backgrounds and know the local situation very well, so naturally they will not have any good feelings for these guys.

Seeing Xiao Yongyan's dislike for the Congress, Cai Yi shook his head helplessly. "Don't be prejudiced against them, not every congressman is a bad person..."Although Cai believes in strongman politics, it is not completely so, at least the 'republic' in his early years also had some influence on him.

So his idea is actually the same as Yan Shao's, which is to make the country strong through strongman politics first, and then slowly carry out reforms. The process may be simple, but it will work out in the end.

On the other hand, if you come directly to the 'republic', you may not need to reform, but if you want to become strong, I am afraid it will take many years, or even a lifetime...

"Perhaps..."Xiao Yongyan smiled and continued. But when I was on the ship, I got some news from home that the congressional guys were going to support the expeditionary force simply because some of the supplies needed by the expeditionary force were purchased from their factories or factories in which they had shares, and the expedition brought them a lot of profit. Even the councillors who didn't have factories under their hands were given the benefit of some merchants, which is why they supported the expedition so much, which also shows why these guys changed their attitudes so quickly..."

"Where did you hear that?" Heard Xiao Yongyan say this. Cai Yi frowned, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was very possible. But if that's the case, then he's too disappointed in Congress.

At the same time, hearing Cai Yi's words, Xiao Yongyan said with a smile. "I heard it from a friend, and it is said that many people know about it..."

"What about the Ministry of Integrity? Didn't the Ministry of Integrity take action? In Cai Yi's impression, Song Jiaoren is a jealous and hateful character. There is simply no way that will be allowed to happen. Judging from Xiao Yongyan's words, it seems that the matter is still spreading widely, and it is not a secret. Naturally, I don't understand.

"You also need evidence to do it, those guys are very careful, although Minister Song has started the investigation, but he has never been able to get the key evidence. So..."Xiao Yongyan spread his hands. "You know the way..."

Speaking of which. Xiao Yongyan suddenly lowered his voice and said to Cai Yi. "I heard that the reason why Minister Song and they couldn't find the information is because they don't know what the special bureau has been doing this time..."

"Special Affairs Bureau..."I was still stunned at first, but after thinking about it carefully, Cai Ye seemed to understand something.

"Yes, in the past, Minister Song, the reason why they were able to go so smoothly was because of the support of the intelligence network of the Special Affairs Bureau, but this time, I don't know why, the Special Affairs Bureau has not taken action, although the Ministry of Integrity also has its own intelligence system. But compared with the Special Affairs Bureau, it is far from the Special Affairs Bureau, and now the Special Affairs Bureau is standing idly by. Naturally, they followed suit..."

Hearing this, Cai Ye narrowed his eyes. “……… I don't think the director of the Special Affairs Bureau has been replaced..."

The corners of Xiao Yongyan's mouth curled slightly, revealing a hint of a smile. "Of course it hasn't been changed yet..."

"That is to say..."

"That's probably it..."

Speaking of which, the two of them don't need to say anything, because the situation seems to be obvious.

As the head of the Secret Service, Katerina has always been famous. After all, she is not only Yan Shao's wife, but also a Spaniard. It is difficult to be in charge of such an agency as a foreigner without being famous.

For this reason, I don't know how many people in China have opinions, after all, it is ridiculous to let a foreigner take charge of such a department. However, in the same way, more people understand Yan Shao's actions, because there are too few trustworthy people in this world, let alone such a key department...

If the Chinese people were struggling at this time, perhaps some people would have made a fuss long ago. However, under Yan Shao's leadership, China's national strength is thriving, and now it is called the savior of Verdun, and it is on a side with the British and French powers on the Western Front, and the troubles and other things will naturally disappear without a trace.

Similarly, Yan Shao and the National Assembly have always been at odds with each other, and under Yan Shao's control, the National Assembly and his members have almost all become vases, and now the Special Affairs Bureau has actually chosen to stand by instead of falling into the trap, and the reason seems to be somewhat intriguing...

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After all, this kind of thing is too sensitive, although Cai Ye and Xiao Yongyan have a good relationship, they are not allowed to talk about Yan Shao without permission. Don't look at Cai Ye as just a soldier, but after all, he is a smart person, and he knows very well that if he talks about Yan Shao, if he says something that should not be said and falls into the ears of others, especially Yan Shao, maybe it will become a big trouble at any time, even if he is now the famous 'hero of Verdun'...

So soon Cai Yi changed the topic and shifted the topic to Xiao Yongyan and his troops.

"We are similar to when you first came this time, and the Second Army is also equipped with three divisions..."Seeing that Cai Yi wanted to know the situation of the expeditionary force under the expeditionary force, Xiao Yongyan hurriedly spoke. One main division, two B divisions, but because of the time, the next two divisions have already completed their training and reached the point where they can be directly put into battle..."

After speaking, Xiao Yongyan continued. "In addition, this time the three infantry divisions have all completed the rearmament, and each division is equipped with a 'Type 15 pump-action shotgun', so there may be some problems with the attack, but the defense will definitely not be worse than others..."

"I believe that the rest of the news, Commander, you also know, although the Verdun First World War Expeditionary Force has made many achievements, but the huge casualties have also taken the country by surprise. In particular, the First Army, which suffered almost half of the casualties, and in order to compensate for the losses of the First Army in the campaign, in addition to the Third and Fourth Armies, which had already begun to be put into training, the government also recruited at least 60,000 reservists from the local area to supplement the losses of the expeditionary force in Europe..."

"These people are already on their way, and they should arrive later than us, but they haven't been trained much, so I'm afraid I'll need to trouble you when we get there..."

"It doesn't matter if this happens...", frowning slightly, and after a deep groan, Cai Ye asked. Forget about the expeditionary force, but if so many people are recruited as a supplement, won't there be a problem with the country's finances..."

The expeditionary force itself is counted, but the more than 60,000 reserves used to replenish it......... Military spending alone will cost about 10 million a year, which is definitely a lot of money for today's national government...

Hearing Cai Yi's words, Xiao Yongyan was also stunned, but after looking at Cai Yi's body, Xiao Yongyan quickly reacted. "Probably you haven't heard the news yet, Commander, Britain and France have promised us an interest-free loan of at least 10 million pounds, and promised that as long as we prove ourselves on the battlefield, we will add 10 million, because Commander, you saved the battle in Verdun, and the next 10 million Entente countries took it out without saying a word, so at least for the time being, we don't need to worry about money, and I also heard when I was at home that the Entente are willing to provide a special allowance for the expeditionary force fighting in Europe, It's about half of a soldier's monthly salary, and so are officers..."

"So these Europeans are bleeding a lot..."Hearing that the Entente was so generous, Cai Yi smiled and said.

"It's not a big hemorrhage..."Xiao Yongyan shook his head. The military salary of the expeditionary force was originally very small, only ten dollars per person, that is, one pound, which is far worse than the military salary of the Entente countries, so even if this part of the allowance was promised, it was nothing to the Entente countries, and on the other hand, if it could motivate us, then they would make a lot of money..."

Indeed, due to financial reasons, the salaries of national defense officers and soldiers are still 10 yuan per month. And the Entente provided half, which is the form of 5 dollars.

5 yuan for 1 person, 10,000 people is only 50,000 yuan, even if it is a year, 10,000 people only need 600,000 yuan. 100,000 people only need 6 million, or 600,000 pounds, and even 500,000 people need 30 million, or 3 million pounds.

Three million pounds, that is, a little more than the price of a dreadnought. However, if the expeditionary force could be used to sell their lives with this money, the British and French would have made a lot of money no matter which way they looked at it...

Seeing that Xiao Yongyan seemed to have some opinions about Britain and France, Cai Yi smiled and didn't say anything, but asked. "Speaking of which, the president promised to send us some secret weapons, how about that? Are you here? ”

To this day, Cai Ye has not forgotten the weapons that Yan Shao once mentioned, after all, the situation in Verdun today is not very good, and there will be thousands of casualties almost every time after the battle. If there's any weapon that can turn the tide of battle, he'll be ready to use it right away. (To be continued......)