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At night, 370 nautical miles west of Bordeaux, a small fleet of ships was heading towards Nantes at full speed.

Due to the rampant activity of German submarines, the two British destroyers escorting the escort were filled with wide-eyed sailors, and the spray of dead branches, seabirds, and even fins would cause a riot and shelling. In addition to the nervousness, they were also surprised by the fact that the center of the flotilla had joined the Chinese Red Cross hospital ship on its way to Gibraltar and was preparing to go to the Western Front, because no one expected that a semi-colonial country would send a medical team to the civilized world of Europe. But they won't exclude anyone who comes to their aid, because they're not well-dressed politicians who even go to bed, and a fleet full of medicines can save thousands of Army mates, so it's important to let it in as soon as it's identified.

Major Barnes held up his binoculars, and in the afterglow of the searchlight, the Chinese schoolgirls chatting on the deck of the ship were very charming, could it be that she was captivated by the charm of the East? He laughed self-deprecatingly, and when his eyes turned to the other side, his eyeballs suddenly exploded in pain! The periscope showed two snow-white tracks in the searchlight, but Major Barnes's fleet did not escape the doom, and a torpedo passed by his destroyer, accurately hitting the slower Red Cross. He saw that the few schoolgirls who he "admired" very much had disappeared without a trace, and the whole ship was sinking rapidly! Shoot and kill the forced Germans! Violent explosion, Barnes and the sailors were furious, and the flames and shells swept down from the destroyer in an instant, but it was still in vain, and as one torpedo after another appeared, the flotilla from South Africa was horrificly slaughtered!

But when the massacre is over. The German captain in the periscope, however, did not feel the excitement of sinking the enemy, but frowned at the sudden appearance of the Red Cross and the Republic of China flag on the sinking ship that was being hit by himself. Chinese? How could they appear in the British fleet! Have they already joined the Entente?

Lloyd George ponders the impending secret pact with China under a lamp. For him, the trade-off now is not whether it's worth it, but what to do next. As a quartermaster, he knew very well that Britain could not come up with weapons and equipment to arm at least 400,000 troops at the moment! So every time he thinks about the young man who went from a partisan dictator to a leader of the free world, and then left behind his assistants named Hu Weide and Wang Zhengting to continue the follow-up negotiations, he secretly went to Paris accompanied by Foch and military officers to see the war up close. Judging by that young man's decisiveness and code of conduct, I am afraid that he will be a very difficult opponent in the future! Is it a good thing or a bad thing for such a person to appear in the Far East, where the interests of the empire are enormous? He exhaled, shook his head and temporarily abandoned the bad idea, no matter what, the 600,000 squadron was still beyond everyone's expectations, so he was afraid that Yang Qiu would regret it after seeing the cruel scene on the front line, so at his suggestion, he immediately persuaded the navies of the two countries to allocate a light cruiser each. Even the sailors above hung up the naval flag of the Republic of China without being replaced. Join the Republic of China Navy's European Escort/Observation Squadron temporarily led by Qiu Baoren.

A fait accompli is the favorite tool used by politicians, and he is no exception! I believe that Germany should be able to see these two warships now, will it immediately break off diplomatic relations? In addition to the two light cruisers, the United States has also agreed to sell all 21 Paulding-class destroyers to China. These destroyers were all made by the United States before the war. The standard displacement is 742 tons, the full load is 835 tons, all of which use navy-type small-tube oil-fired boilers and Parsons steam turbines, with a maximum speed of 32 knots, three 127-mm naval guns and three 18-inch torpedo tubes. The main focus was on the installation of firing rails, which were said to be a new type of weapon for anti-submarine use, and the addition of four 37-mm rapid-fire guns. Moreover, the Chinese Navy has decided to temporarily take over these warships by more than 2,000 officers and men who have been training in the United States for more than a year and were originally prepared to accept two large Anhai-class cruisers. Until a new intake is sent from within the country.

Of course, for these destroyers, the British government needs to pay half of the cost, which is also 840,000 pounds at 40,000 pounds each, and also helps the Chinese Navy save the time it needs to build itself! Thinking of this, Lloyd George wondered if this was deliberately arranged by Yang Qiu, and even the personnel training was trained in advance! One ring is more precise. If that were the case, his mind would be terrible!

Of course, in addition to the fact that the United States was secretly inclined to Britain to reach an agreement so quickly, it also showed that the country was more satisfied with the initial intention reached by Edward Gray and Yang Qiu, because this contract barely saved the face of the British Empire, and it only needed to cancel the original small interests of Weihai, Tianjin and other inland concessions and turn them into Sino-British bonded zones, not to mention that there was a ten-year special protection buffer period. As for the core southern coast, including Shanghai and Hong Kong, they are all safe for the time being, and more importantly, the key clause of the distribution of world interests after the war has been preserved. Although it is still necessary to give some, how much to give and what to give has been completely decided by the British. So in this case, loans, military spending, weapons and equipment, logistics support, and machinery and equipment that need to be provided within a year, etc., are just a game of money and numbers, and it is still worth exchanging money for 600,000 cannon fodder, at least they will come up with nearly 10 divisions of veterans! The only thing that worries him may be whether the Anglo-Japanese alliance can be maintained, and perhaps Japan should make some appropriate compensation so that it can continue to contain this guy who has put gold in his face and said that he is the leader of the free world after the war?

"David."

When Lloyd George began to conceive of the new world order in his mind, Edward Gray was also worried about the follow-up operation, he didn't want to work hard to get 600,000 troops at a great cost but could not play a role because of the delay in weapons, so he walked to the side with a worried look with a list: "The Chinese made it clear that all the weapons and equipment they currently produce are Russian orders, as well as our artillery orders, so they can only ensure that the equipment of 8 divisions is solved, and the remaining 22 are all for us to provide, Five of them need to arrive in Shanghai within two months. In addition, I just asked the country, there are no problems with the equipment of the shipyard, Portsmouth has enough reserve equipment, and we also have old equipment for steam turbines and boilers. Chemicals, trucks, and radios can be provided by the United States immediately, but they can't be provided by the Army. Again, we can't get all the equipment of a large arsenal out of place. ”

Lloyd George rubbed his temples hard, Britain really can't get so many weapons and equipment, you must know that Britain's armament development has been mainly concentrated in the navy since the founding of the country, and it is not difficult to immediately come up with the equipment of a shipyard, but it is impossible to immediately take out an army arsenal that arms 100,000 people and provides thousands of equipment! The situation of the United States is also very bad, because the United States Army was very small before the war, and their geographical advantages made them lack external enemies, so they never thought that one day they would need such a large number of army weapons and equipment, not to mention that their current army production line is almost filled with Russian orders, and Russia purchased 2 million rifles alone (in the parallel world, the United States made a total of 2.5 million rifles during World War I. 2.5 billion rounds of ammunition. However, 2 million rifles and most of the ammunition were sold to Russia, Britain and France, and in the end, they could not find enough weapons when they sent their troops, and had to rely on France. Where is there time to arm 500,000 Chinese soldiers at once.

"France should be able to make up a batch of arsenal equipment, Italy can also come up with a part, and our Wesker cannon factory can draw a batch of barrel manufacturing equipment. I am going to let the Russians provide the rest, anyway, they do not have enough workers at the moment, and it should be possible to transport the two arsenals on the Black Sea coast to the Far East at once within two months, and then find a way to make up for them after the war. As for armament, the French may still have some reserves, and Newcastle has just produced 50,000 Enfister rifles. I asked the designer, the 7.7mm caliber we use can be quickly changed to the 7.62*51 standard used in China without too complicated processes, and I have also telegraphed to the United States that they have made Chinese Type 12 rifles before, saying that they can give priority to the production of 200,000 pieces. It will arrive in three months at the latest, France has also studied the manufacture of Type 12 rifles, and the number of remaining cannons and tanks is not large, so it should be no problem, as for the heavy artillery needed, I remember that the Admiralty has a reserve of 66 L40 12-inch naval guns, so I will hand them all over and ship them back. Lloyd George looked tired and quickly came up with a plan. It has to be said that as the Minister of Quartermaster, he is dutiful. Under his combing, the chaos of the Entente, logistics and military support were gradually becoming clear.

After saying this, he tried to cheer up, put aside his chaotic thoughts, picked up the document, and prepared to go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate assistance to China, after all, no one wants the squadron to be delayed in appearing on the battlefield because of the lack of weapons. But just as he opened the door and was about to call the driver to drive, Viviani came uninvited, and the two almost collided head-on due to the hurried footsteps.

Edward Gray hurriedly pulled him away from the impact and asked, "Lord Seaver, what's wrong?" "Damn the Germans, you just sank four more of our transports." After Viviani finished scolding, he handed the telegram to Gray with a hint of excitement on his face: "But God made them appear in the fleet as well." ”

The two of them had long been numb to the news that the cargo ship had encountered a submarine, but when they saw the contents of the telegram, their eyes were equally bright! A Chinese Red Cross ship God! "Quick, get the news out to the newspaper immediately, and I'll let the whole world know about it!" While Gray and Viviani rushed out of the room excitedly, Lloyd George picked up the telegram on the table and frowned secretly, was it too much of a coincidence?

On August 3, 1916, when Yang Qiu secretly arrived in Paris to inspect the front line, a piece of news suddenly detonated the whole world under the deliberate propaganda of Britain and France. A hospital ship full of members of the Red Cross Society of China was sunk by a German submarine 370 nautical miles southwest of Podol as it crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the west coast of France. Because the incident happened suddenly and at night, only 52 people were rescued, and the remaining hundreds of people and millions worth of medicines were all sunk, and the sight of the sea full of "Chinese" corpses shocked the whole of Europe!

In the face of this "sudden" news, Yang Qiu, who had just returned to Bordeaux after inspecting the brutal battlefield on the Western Front, looked sad in front of reporters from Britain, France and other countries: "We came with a good wish to relieve the wounds of the war, and when we tried to make the two sides stop, someone deliberately treated our kindness maliciously. Suffice it to say that through my observations and visits during this time, I have seen a lot of things that make me sad! So it's time to end the war by all necessary means! ”

After his words and the news of the shipwreck quickly spread back to China, the Republic of China was also in an uproar. Fueled by well-intentioned people, the accident was suddenly implied that Germany wanted to take revenge on China, which was getting closer and closer to France, and warned China not to meddle in European affairs. "Your Excellency, I'm afraid things are going to get bad!" Inside the German Embassy in Shanghai, Traun, standing by the window, looked out at the protest march with a tsunami. The heart slammed to freezing point! By this moment he could already be sure that China was far from Germany, and that the most scarce human resources of the Entente would be gone.

"Let's go. Go and prepare the car. Traun, as if he had aged many years at once, picked up his top hat and patted the ashes: "No matter what, as a diplomat, I have to fight for it." ”

As his sedan drove toward Nanjing, the newly built General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense at the foot of the Purple Mountain was full of people, and the phone calls were busy almost from morning to night. When the news of the sinking of the Red Cross ship reached home, everyone understood that participation in the war was inevitable. Under these circumstances, the previously concealed transfers were gradually made public, and as soon as the three reserve divisions had completed their initial training, the General Staff again submitted to the Presidential Office and the National Assembly a draft for the formation of 15 reserve divisions in case of changes in the world situation, thanks to the Compulsory Forces and Reserves Act adopted in 1913. It took only a few days for the government of the Republic of China, which had abundant human resources, to determine the scale and number of conscriptions in the lower provinces.

Once the state apparatus turns. Any force or individual that stands in its way will be ruthlessly crushed. So when Jiang Fangzhen arrived at the General Staff Headquarters just now, his eyes were full of generals and crowds. Especially the Navy is particularly active this time, 2 light cruisers and 21 destroyers (the British gave all the Paulding class to the Republic of China) are too important for the Navy in transition! In order to make good use of this half-sold and half-sent aid and train the troops, Sa Zhenbing almost immediately came up with a plan to transfer more than 200 officers and more than 1,000 sailors originally prepared for the self-built Anhai class from the front line, and went to France on five 10,000-ton ships to take over two light cruisers donated by Britain and France. It also brought enough depth charges and 50 of the latest 15-year-old Storm thermodynamic torpedoes, imitating the German H8 with the addition of a thunderhead cap. At the same time, for the first time, 3,000 naval reservists were recruited to Britain and France for training in Britain and France for the first time through the Socialist Party of the National Society, which also had great influence overseas, such as the National Society and the Zhi Gong Tang, and for the first time for overseas Chinese children living in Europe and the United States.

In the conference room of the General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense, Li Zongren handed the plan to Li Yuanhong and Jiang Fangzhen, who had just arrived, and others, and on the podium, Bai Chongxi took a teaching whip and pointed on the blackboard to introduce it to everyone: "According to the commander-in-chief's suggestion, the navy's escort fleet to Europe will be commanded by Ye Zugui, and Hairong, Haitian (Caroline-class), Haihua (French-sent De-Aschans-class), and 2 Changfeng-class, 2 Yongji-class, and 21 Paulding-class destroyers purchased from the United States. The mission will be to undertake escort from the country to Marseille, France, and anti-submarine escort on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Air Force to Europe will dispatch 48 Haidongqing and 12 Dapeng bombers, and more than 300 flight cadets will be incorporated into the Allied Air Force.

On the part of the Army. The first batch of aid equipment from Britain and France will be used to form five infantry divisions from 224 to 228 (both temporary establishment and reserve start with 2xx), 703, 704, and 705 three ** heavy artillery brigades (the original 2 ** mobile artillery regiments were changed to 701 and 702** artillery brigades after the war, with six battalions and two regiments, and the Ministry of Defense determined that the future ** artillery brigades are determined to start with 7xx, and there will be a separate formation behind the armored train) and the formation of the 501** tank brigade (tank and armored forces ** unit number starts with 5xx). After going to France, Britain and France will continue to provide at least 5 ** heavy artillery brigades (706, 707, 708, 709 and 710 brigades), 502 tank brigades and 18 divisions of infantry equipment. In order to reduce the pressure on domestic logistics. We recommend recruiting in China for 100 days of basic training before going to France for further adaptation training.

According to the requirement of at least five main divisions in the first batch of Britain and France, the first batch to go to France had a total of nine divisions, consisting of the four main forces of the 5th, 8th, 20th, and 103rd and the three reserve divisions of the 221st, 222nd, and 223rd, and then an infantry brigade from the 1st and 3rd divisions, and they and six reserve recruit brigades, as well as the 701st artillery brigade and the 706** heavy artillery brigade formed in France, were organized into the 201st and 202nd divisions. On the Russian side, the main forces will be spearheaded by the 6th and 121st Divisions (starting with 12x mixed divisions) and two heavy artillery brigades, supplemented by three reserve divisions. After Russia agrees to condominium the railway, the National Guard will send two brigades to the four important railway hubs of Chita, Irkutsk, Tomsk and the Urals to participate in the management and monitor all freight from Vladivostok and Changchun to the Urals.

After the dispatch of troops, the domestic side will also be readjusted, ensuring that there are 4 divisions in the northeast, 1 infantry division and 2 mixed divisions in the northwest, and 3 divisions in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shandong. There are 3 divisions in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian, 2 divisions in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guizhou, and 5 divisions in the Central Plains and Hubei provinces. There is one guard division on the Nanjing side, and the defense is basically unharmed under the condition that Britain and France promise to ensure the security of our territory. In addition, the commander-in-chief also suggested that it is necessary to take advantage of the opportunity of this large-scale military aid from Britain and France to lay a long-term foundation for the future equipment and caliber of the army, and to simplify the number of calibers and strengthen the versatility of ammunition as much as possible. ”

"Good guys!" Li Yuanhong didn't care about anything like logistics, but squinted his eyes at the map from Changchun to Chita, the Middle Eastern Railway, and the longer Siberian Railway line behind, and secretly shocked Yang Qiu's abacus was too good! said: "Chen Hua really dares to speak, will the emperor of the two guard brigades agree to Nikolai?" ”

"It's up to him to say yes or no!" Song Ziqing said: "Britain and France are already very dissatisfied with the Russian army, which has been defeated in successive battles, and the domestic situation in Russia is also very bad. So there is no obstruction to giving us the right to command. ”

"Command is important. But the officers and logistics are still in big trouble. Jiang Fangzhen didn't expect Yang Qiu to win a ** command, this thing only an officer will understand how important it is! Especially if you go to the eastern front of the European war, which is complicated, if you don't have this right, it is estimated that you will be dragged to death by the Russian army without fighting, and it can also be seen from this that Yang Qiu sent troops to the eastern front after careful consideration. Still, he felt that it was too risky to go to the Eastern Front, and that the weather and logistics were enough to destroy any elite force. Then there is the issue of officers. The reserve division must also have enough officers to support it, otherwise it will have no combat effectiveness at all, and the time for the formation of the Wehrmacht is too short, and the systematic training of the officer corps is a matter of these two years.

"There is a shortage of about 20,000 officers, and we are ready to first draw qualified veterans from the current main divisions to replenish them, and then mobilize a group of non-commissioned officers and students from several army academies across the country. As for the logistical aspect. Song Ziqing took out the information and handed it to everyone to circulate, and said: "Russia is not short of grain, and the Urals and the Don River valley are both grain-producing areas. This is a report sent back by Li Liejun, and from the data, it can be seen that the Urals region alone has hoarded about 1 million troops with enough food to eat for half a year. More than 200,000 Springfield rifles and a large amount of ammunition ordered from the United States were also stored there, so it was more than enough to supply several divisions. The real problem lies in the chaos after the railway crosses the Urals, the lack of effective command and dispatch, and the fact that officials everywhere are only interested in interfering and intercepting, which seriously makes it impossible for supplies to reach the front line! ”

"So what to do? You can't go to the Urals, right? Could it be that Nicholas II will also give us control of the railway from the Urals to the front? "Feng Guozhang knows best the importance of logistics to an army, and he can get some from the enemy without guns or bullets. But if you don't eat it, it's very troublesome. What's more, the weather in Russia was bad, and the soldiers who didn't eat went to the end and it was either a mutiny or a retreat. Song Ziqing was also quite helpless about this, and said: "After the Urals is the border of Europe, no matter how much Russia believes in us, it is absolutely impossible for us to hand over this section of the railway to us for joint management." However, the commander said that there is no need to worry about this for the time being, as long as the early departure first arrives in the Urals, and the wintering preparations are ready, and the rest can wait. ”

"Wait? Are you kidding! ”

Li Shucheng stood up, after the reunification, he has been serving as an army staff officer in the General Staff, originally his Kuomintang was resolutely opposed to sending troops, and when he heard this, he quickly got up and said: "How can 100,000 soldiers in five divisions wait!" This is a matter of human life! ”

Li Shucheng's words caused a resonance, but Yue Peng, who had just returned from Fengtian, had a different opinion, and broke the silence with a light cough: "What Brother Shucheng said is true, but we are soldiers!" It is necessary to obey orders and the needs of the state. Although the risk of sending troops this time is extremely high, the benefits to our country are also obvious, not to mention that the agreement will provide so many factories in one year to greatly promote China's industrial construction, and the loan of 500 million pounds alone is 2.5 billion US dollars, and in exchange for our people's dollars, it is 5 billion! This is equivalent to the total income of China for four years, which can meet the needs of infrastructure including railways and power plants, and can also accelerate land and socialization reform! Therefore, I believe that no matter how difficult it is, we soldiers should make sacrifices for the country, and it is our responsibility to put on the uniform! "After such a long period of training, Yue Peng has completely become a different person, and he is also the most popular candidate to go to Europe to unify the troops this time. These words made many hesitant officers nod secretly, how many big things can be done with 5 billion yuan of funds! When soldiers defend the country, they must also fight for and sacrifice for the interests of the country.

Jiang Fangzhen saw that the smell of gunpowder was relatively strong between the two, got up and said: "Don't think about this matter for the time being, maybe the vice president has other ways to solve it." Has the commander been chosen? ”

"It is divided into three armies, and we propose to go to Europe to expedition the first army." Song Ziqing glanced at Yue Peng and said, "Yue Peng is the commander of the First Army, Su Xiaohu is the deputy commander, and Zhang Tingfu is the chief of staff." The Second Army to Russia was headed by Shi Xiaolou as commander, Wu Peifu as deputy commander, and Chen Huan and Xu Shuzheng as staff officers. The Third Army is tentatively headed by Brother Songpo, and the deputy commander and chief of staff are to be determined. ”

Jiang Fangzhen nodded, this appointment can almost be regarded as preparing for the worst! It can be seen that Yang Qiu also knew that going to Europe must be a difficult battle, and when he was about to speak, Wang Anlan ran in and panted: "President, the German ambassador is here." Li Yuanhong and Tang Shaoyi, who had not said a word, glanced at each other, and their chubby bodies walked out quickly.

On August 10, 1916, Li Yuanhong, President of the Republic of China, issued an ultimatum to Germany on behalf of the Republic of China government, demanding that Germany must hand over the murderer of the sinking of the Red Cross ship within one week, and at the same time compensate the Republic of China government and the victims' families with a total compensation of 50 million US dollars.

On the same day, Yang Qiu set off from Bordeaux for New York.

On August 11, the government of the Republic of China announced that in order to evacuate overseas Chinese from Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, and Bulgaria as a precaution, all non-essential personnel and non-commissioned officers and cadets studying in Germany would immediately be evacuated to Switzerland, a neutral country, for temporary residence. Because Bingwen and others had served in the German army for more than two years, Germany was worried that they would leak secrets and arrested them for a time, but considering that the Republic of China government also had thousands of "prisoners of war" detained from Qingdao, after the Republic of China government made a guarantee that all military non-commissioned officers and students studying abroad would not join the Wehrmacht after the war, they were sent to Switzerland and guarded by a special person.

On August 17, moments before the end of the ultimatum, the governments of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria announced the severance of all diplomatic relations with China...... ()