On the streets of Beijing, almost every street and alley is full of joy, because the government has just announced a piece of news. The submarine force, which had annihilated most of the main ships of the Japanese fleet in Longkou Bay, ambushed the Japanese transport fleet on the route between the Japanese mainland and the Shandong Peninsula, including a large number of escort ships, and the entire escort fleet was almost completely wiped out.

Even according to the conservative estimates of the government itself, the Japanese fleet still suffered losses of more than 30,000 men this time, not counting the equipment mounted on the ships.

In this single battle, the Nationalist government wiped out two divisions and dealt another heavy blow to the Japanese fleet, which had suffered heavy losses.

And because of this, the winner of the Shandong war seems to have been determined.

Even those who have the most confidence in Japan do not think they can win at this point, let alone those who are neutral and support the national government.

On one of Beijing's main thoroughfares, the crowd of celebrants carried flags and strode forward like a parade―――――― if this kind of scene had been set aside a few years ago, or a few years later in the original history, there would be only one possibility of such a scene, that is, the government had signed some kind of treaty that humiliated the country and humiliated the country.

This time, however, it was the starting point of victory.

The majority of the people celebrating the march were young students, and many workers and ordinary residents also participated, and on both sides of the road, many residents stood by and applauded, although they did not participate...

Although most of the Chinese people at this time did not understand the concept of the state, they also knew it. The country has not won a war in many years.

Naturally, since it is a victory parade, there must always be some slogans. Among these slogans, Yan Shao's name is undoubtedly the most prominent, and some of the young students even carry huge photos of Yan Shao―――――― a treatment that is usually reserved only for deceased leaders.

The march is likely to be in the thousands, but the gathering of so many people can cause some problems, such as traffic jams. But on such a joyful day, not many people would be disgusted by it, and even the Beijing municipal government was accommodating. Turn a blind eye to this activity that is clearly detrimental to traffic.

In fact, this is also the reason why Yan Shao has taken care of it, for Yan Shao, the most distressing thing is how to stimulate the self-confidence of the nation. To this end, he asked Wang Xuan to design and supervise the construction of the 'Empire State Building', the tallest building of his time. I want to make the Chinese people more confident.

But this thing is too difficult, and I'm afraid it won't be effective in a short time.

Fortunately, foreign wars are also a way to gain self-confidence (for now, if you win), even if those students don't make such an event. I'm afraid that Yan Shao will also let the Special Affairs Bureau secretly launch some. After all, only in this way can this victory be better publicized.

But since the students are willing to hold such an event on their own, it is naturally great...

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As mentioned earlier, such a large-scale celebration is sure to jam traffic.

Although on such a festive day, there are not many people who will feel disgusted. And at this time, although there were many rich people in China, there were not many, and the number of things like cars was still very small, after all, the price was too expensive, and most of them were horse-drawn carriages or something. Ordinary people are still at the stage of walking on their feet―――――― in fact, the city government has begun to build trams in the city, but it has not yet been opened to traffic.

But no matter how little. There's always some.

“……… These Chinese have not yet won the final victory, but they are so happy............... What's more, even if they win, they will only win against Japan..."

Sitting in the seat of the car, looking through the window at the celebratory crowd outside, James said with some disdain.

"You can't say that...", he shook his head slightly, and Zhu Erdian, who was also looking outside, looked a little gloomy.

Zhu Erdian had always felt that China was a greater threat to the empire than Japan, as evidenced by the cars they were in and the roads they traveled.

'Ryuran'

At present, one of the most popular high-end cars in the world, due to its extremely high performance and comfort, coupled with a beautiful and atmospheric appearance, and a large price compared with other similar cars. Nowadays, 'Liulan' has been sold all over the world, and it can be said that in all other continents where there are people on the earth, except for Antarctica, there are 'Liulan' figures, which shows the popularity of Liulan.

Naturally, this alone does not make any comparison to the cheaper 'Raindrop' and 'Raindrop A'. After all, the performance of both cars is very good, and the price is much cheaper than Liulan.

In particular, 'Raindrop A', as an improved version of 'Raindrop', although the price of 'Raindrop A' is higher than that of 'Raindrop', but the sales boom is even more popular than 'Raindrop'―――――― who calls 'Raindrop A' the price is only a little more than Raindrop, but the performance is not only a little higher.

Today's China, with the development of Yushi Group, has become a major exporter of automobiles, and more than half of the world's cars are manufactured by Yushi Group.

And so far, although because of the confidentiality, no one knows how much money Yushi Group makes in the automobile industry every year, but after some people's private calculations, still came up with an astonishing figure―――――― the only regret is that as the world's largest car manufacturer China, the local purchasing power is so weak that people almost want to cry, if at this time Yushi Group's overseas car sales have been close to one million, then now the domestic sales are only less than 5,000 units, This is still the number after counting the government procurement car...

As the British minister to China, Zhu Erdian was supposed to fly in his own country's car brand. The problem is that the cars of their own country have the same performance as the 'Liulan'. Usually the price is exaggerated, and the performance is cheaper, which is a bit embarrassing to see. Therefore, even a foreign minister like Zhu Erdian finally had to buy a car produced by Yushi Group.

The British minister drove a car made in China, if Britain is a weak country, it doesn't matter, but now Britain is one of the most powerful countries in the world, and it can even be called the world's first power.

In addition, the development of other aspects of China has also made Zhu Erdian very vigilant.

Like the road where the car is driving under his ass. It was actually paved with four lanes of gray pavement.

Four lanes, if it were in the afterlife, may not be nothing, but in this era. This is already the top highway. And this is just one of the many roads that are currently being paved according to this standard. Many foreigners who come to China are amazed that China has the most beautiful roads in the world, coupled with the development of industry and other aspects...

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"Speaking of—" Seeing that Jurdian seemed to be a little silent, James looked at him and said. You think. Will the Chinese really win? ”

"If nothing else. There shouldn't be any problems...", almost without thinking, Jurdian replied. "At present, the fleet that the Japanese were originally proud of has lost more than half of it in Longkou Bay and the ambush not long ago, and the remaining fleet is far from the Chinese fleets hiding in Shanghai and Fuzhou on paper, but there is a big gap, if not for the high level of training of the Japanese navy, it is much higher than that of the Chinese. I'm afraid that now the Chinese have gone north to find a way to eliminate them as much as possible, but even so. Each other can only maintain an undefeated streak..."

"And you also heard the news not long ago, the Chinese submarine force is attacking and fighting on the route of Japan's supply to Shandong, and so far it has sunk many Japanese transport ships, and most of the two divisions that were transported to Shandong not long ago were buried at the bottom of the sea, and now the Japanese have less than 80,000 troops left in Shandong, while the opposite Guoshe Army, after drawing two divisions of troops from other regions, has reached 1670,000 troops in Shandong, which is almost twice that of the Japanese..."

Speaking of this, Zhu Erdian had already sighed.

Because he knows very well what will happen to the Japanese army in Shandong now.

If the two divisions reinforced by Japan to Shandong can arrive, then even if a lot of troops are lost on the front line, Terauchi Masashi can still have more than 130,000 troops under his men. As for the Wehrmacht on the other side, there were only 1670,000 troops at most, which was only 30,000 to 40,000 more than the Japanese army.

Thirty thousand to forty thousand may sound like a lot, but in actual combat this number is not very large, and it can bring some advantages to the Wehrmacht, but it is by no means more than their equipment.

So even if the Wehrmacht wants to eat up so many troops, it will definitely not be easy, and if the Japanese want to, they can even afford to evacuate from Shandong―――――― at least most of the troops...

But nowadays...

At present, the strength of Terauchi Zhengyi is only 80,000, which is almost half of the strength of the National Defense Army in Shandong. Moreover, it does not have an advantage in terms of equipment and other aspects, and many times before it was almost the Wehrmacht who had the upper hand, and the number of times that Terauchi Masayi had the upper hand was pitiful.

is not dominant, coupled with the disadvantage in troops, Terauchi Masatsu's defeat can be seen even with his eyes.

"In that case, is it possible for the Chinese to agree to our mediation..." After listening to Zhu Erdian's words, James said after a little hesitation. To be honest, I don't think the Chinese might stop at such a time..."

"I don't think either—" Zhu Erdian smiled bitterly. But that's what we have to do. He glanced at James at this. You should know how nervous Europe is right now..."Speaking of this, Zhu Erdian looked out the window again at the people who were celebrating the victory, and a hint of envy flashed in his eyes.

Not so long ago, the First Battle of the Marne had just ended.

The First Battle of the Marne was a battle on the Western Front of World War I. The battle took place from September 5 to 12, 1914. In this battle, the Anglo-French forces combined to defeat the German Imperial Army. At the same time, the First Battle of the Marne was also a pivotal moment in the First World War. Since the outbreak of World War I, the Germans have successfully invaded Belgium and northeastern France. But on September 5th. The French Sixth Army counterattacked the Germans attacking Paris to prevent the French capital from being occupied by the Germans.

More than 2 million soldiers from both sides participated in the battle. The Anglo-French army suffered about 263,000 military casualties, while the Germans suffered 220,000 casualties. In just one week, the British, French and German casualties approached almost half a million.

Compared with this battle, the battle of Linglong Town between China and Japan in Shandong can only be regarded as a small fight. After all, the two countries have been fighting for more than half a month, but the casualties are only more than 30,000 people, although this is not less, but the gap is still too big compared with Europe.

However, this time the UK will take the initiative to mediate. It is precisely because of the tragedy of the First Battle of the Marne.

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Before the outbreak of the First Battle of the Marne, although there was also a Battle of Liège, the casualties of the normal battle were not very large. It is probably about the same scale as the battle launched between China and Japan in Linglong Town today.

So no one thought that when the two camps collided together, there would be such a big spark...

Even Zhu Erdian and them, although they knew that this war had been prepared by both sides for many years. After the real fight, the scale will definitely not be small. I didn't expect that in one week, more than 200,000 people would be killed or wounded...

That's more than 200,000 people, not more than 20,000...

Moreover, this is the first large-scale battle, and it is not known how many battles will be fought in the future, and it will be too difficult to defeat Germany if Britain and France are alone.

So they came here in the hope of mediating the conflict between China and Japan, and then let them bring them troops that could at least reach the second-rate level in Europe. Get it to Europe...

That way, at least they'll be able to bleed less.

And neither China nor Japan. The capital ships they possessed were coveted by Britain and France. With three Chinese dreadnoughts and the Japanese 'Hiei' battle cruiser, Britain and France could completely overwhelm the German high seas fleet at sea...

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Although it seems that he has a good idea, he is not very sure whether he can mediate this war.

"I still know a little about Yan Shao, he is a person who doesn't like to suffer, and his personality is ......... It's a little awkward, but it's also very good-looking. Speaking of this, Zhu Erdian's face showed a hint of helplessness. I can tell you very clearly, if he is the one who has fallen to the upper hand in Shandong this time, he will definitely not choose to bow his head and pay reparations like the Chinese rulers in the past, but will choose to continue to fight until he can no longer move, in fact, after the outbreak of the war in Shandong, such remarks have circulated from within the Kuomintang government..."

"Isn't he afraid?" James frowned.

However, after listening to James's words, Zhu Erdian laughed. "What is he afraid of, you must know that with Japan's strength, it is impossible to eat China at present, and even the longer it drags on, the more beneficial it will be for Yan Shao, if it drags on for a long time, even if it drags Japan down, it is not impossible to do so, and then talking about the current matter, I am sure that he is thinking about how to make a fortune from the Japanese, and it is not a small amount, if he does not let him get enough benefits, he will never agree to stop the conflict, and the Japanese ......... Their personalities are also very extreme, and even if they have lost on the battlefield now, I am not sure that they will bow their heads, let alone pay reparations for defeat. ”

"In that case, what are we going to do?" Hearing Zhu Erdian say this, James showed a trace of confusion on his face.

"What's the way, who told us to do this, and we always have to ask to know what the price of that Yan Shao is, if the price he offers is reasonable, maybe we will have to help him put pressure on the Japanese..."

In fact, Zhu Erdian was the most reluctant to help Yan Shao, after all, in his heart, Yan Shao's threat was much greater than that of the Japanese. But he was also taken aback by the news that came from Europe not long ago, and in a week, nearly 500,000 people were killed or wounded. Even if he had long thought that this war, which had been prepared for many years, would definitely not be small in scale after it began, he would never have imagined that it would be so big...

And this is only the beginning, with the strength of the Germans, I am afraid that three or two simple battles will not be able to be defeated.

At this time, Britain and France needed to look to the world for help, not only to defeat Germany, but also to reduce their own casualties. Otherwise, if there were such heavy casualties in every battle, even if Germany could be defeated in the end, the losses would probably be too large for Britain and France to bear...

In the same way, if China can be drawn into the Entente camp, it can also reduce the worry of Britain and France. In fact, until now, Britain and France have been worried about whether China will join the Allies, especially since it is clear that Japan will not be able to defeat China in Shandong.

If the Japanese fail in the end, then no country in East Asia will have the strength to contain China. And if China really joined the Central Powers, in order to ensure the security of the colonies, Britain and France would need to draw troops from Europe to Asia.

It's just that if it had been before the Battle of the Marne, it might not have been much of a move...

But after the Battle of the Marne...

More or less, they are a little afraid to act rashly... (To be continued......)