The night sky is clear, the moon is sparse, and the air is filled with the scent of grass. On the flat French field, countless tents with the Iron Cross logo are dotted, and there is no end in sight. The trees are sitting, the bonfires are lit, and from time to time there is the melodious neighing of war horses, and the dull roar of cannons rumbling from afar.

In the makeshift field headquarters, an old man with a Mediterranean head reclined in a chair, leisurely playing with the radio next to him. He was tall and grim-looking, and although he was nearly seventy years old, he was still in good spirits and full of life. The battle map hanging on the wall, and the army general's uniform he wears, directly reveal the identity of this old man: he is the man who was deployed at the end of the right flank in the Schlieffen plan, the commander of the German First Army, Alexander? Feng? Crook!

"Here......" As Crook teased, the noise on the radio became smaller and smaller, and after a while, a familiar and thick middle-aged male voice came out of it.

"Listeners, this is UNN Radio Berlin, and I'm your old friend Doni? Eumilian. Today, I would like to announce to you with the joy of victory that in the Battle of the Gulf of Helgoland, which broke out this morning, the glorious Imperial German Navy sank two British armored cruisers and eight destroyers at the cost of the York-mounted cruisers and five torpedo boats, thus achieving a great victory. This glorious battle at sea shattered the myth of the invincibility of the British Royal Navy and proved who is the one who really holds the halberd of the Sea Emperor Poseidon! Let us extend our most sincere praise and congratulations to His Majesty the great Wilhelm, to the honorable Field Marshal Tirpitz, and to all the officers and men of the brave High Seas Fleet. ……”

"Huh. The Navy actually won a victory? Crook furrowed his eyebrows. There was a hint of surprise in his words. Although he didn't know anything about naval operations. However, under the propaganda of the "Naval League", an official organization throughout Germany, which has been spreading throughout Germany for more than ten years, I have come to understand the most superficial understanding that destroyers are of a higher grade than torpedo boats. Judging from this report, the German Navy is indeed much smaller than its opponent in terms of the tonnage of ships lost, and the victory is well deserved!

"I didn't expect that the poor and untouchable people of the navy were quite good at fighting, and they actually defeated the British fleet...... Hmph, it can be regarded as investing so much money in the navy to get back some capital. Crook muttered under his breath. The corners of his mouth were hooked, and the contempt for the navy in his words was unmistakable.

"The Army and Navy are born enemies." Although this sentence, which was widely circulated in the plane where Qing Ying was in his previous life, was more of a joke, it undoubtedly reflected the inherent estrangement between the two branches of the military from one aspect. In addition to the strength of the Japanese army and navy, which was widely known in later generations, the German army and navy also did not like each other very much.

For specific historical, religious, and humanistic reasons, both the Kingdom of Prussia and the subsequent German Empire were founded on the Junker landlords and the noble officer corps. For hundreds of years, Prussia had been able to survive and thrive in Central Europe, surrounded by tigers and wolves, thanks to its highly professional army officer corps. All along, the officers in the German army were all Junker aristocrats; This group controlled the entire German military community. Countless civilians sharpened their heads and drilled up.

However, since the founding of the Imperial Navy in 1871, the situation has changed dramatically. Because the Junkers are reluctant to join this army, which has no glorious history and traditions. As a result, the navy had to lower the threshold to recruit troops from the general public; The commoners, who were already suffering from the difficulty of finding opportunities for development in the army controlled by the aristocratic officer corps, accepted the olive branch extended by the navy and hit it off.

After coming and going, the officer corps in the German Navy was almost all civilians without the word "Feng". And when these people who are not from aristocratic backgrounds serve as colonels or even generals, the traditional army aristocratic officer corps naturally has an irrepressible evil feeling towards the navy's behavior of "chicken and dog ascending to heaven". Especially after Tirpitz became Secretary of State for the Navy, with the rapid growth of the Navy's strength, the process of its civilian population intensified abruptly. At present, 95 percent of the number of colonels and generals in the navy are civilians from non-Junker backgrounds, and even the next commander-in-chief of the High Seas Fleet is a guy who does not have the word "Feng", which undoubtedly makes the nobles of the army Junckers angry and despised.

In addition, there is also a situation where the navy and the army compete for resources. Although building a strong fleet was Germany's best way to move from Central Europe to the world, the annual cost of building ships, which often cost hundreds of millions of marks, also gave the army a feeling that their money had been robbed. Since entering the era of dreadnoughts, the cost of the Navy's capital ships has soared: the Caesar-class started construction in 1909 was only 37.5 million marks, the King-class construction in 1911 reached 50 million marks, and the estimated cost of the H-40 class battlecruisers started this year will exceed 60 million marks - this fund is more than enough to arm an army and a half. Combining these factors, as the most typical representative of army officers, Crook would have a good impression of the Navy, then hell!

"Putting money into the navy was undoubtedly the only wrong decision made by His Majesty the Emperor. It has been proven that only a glorious army can win a decisive victory for Germany. Crook snapped and turned off the radio, which was singing the praises of the Navy, with a hint of displeasure in his words. In his view, the navy was a dispensable luxury for Germany; In the current land war, which is about to achieve a decisive victory, how can the navy make the slightest contribution to it?

Interrupted by the news of this naval victory, Crook suddenly lost the desire to take a nap. He rose from his chair and walked slowly over to the map, beginning to study further for tomorrow's march. However, it didn't take long for a familiar sound of footsteps to come in from outside the door. Crook turned his head to look, and sure enough, his chief of staff, Major General Kuhl, hurried to him with a telegram in his hand.

"What's going on?" Crook frowned and said.

Kuhl took a few breaths, then handed the telegram in his hand to Crook and said, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency Moltke, has sent a telegram ordering us to stop our advance from tomorrow and immediately move to the defense along the current Marne front. In addition to this, the telegram ordered us to guard against the threat from the right and to build a solid field rampart at Le Bey and Fort Thierry, east of Paris. ”

"What? Stop moving forward? Crook's eyes widened suddenly, and he even wondered if he was having auditory hallucinations. He immediately took the telegram from Kuhl and read it carefully under the lamp. As time passed, Crook's face changed, with astonishment, anger, confusion, and worry...... All kinds of expressions flashed on his face, and the pair of eyebrows, which were not far apart, were directly squeezed together.

"Hundreds of trains to Paris? The French army has already formed an army group in Paris and will launch a counterattack in the near future? Crook read the telegram seven or eight times, then suddenly slammed it on the table with a snap and said loudly: "I really doubt that Helmut (Moltke Jr.) has become delirious." When victory is about to be within reach, but to find a whole lot of reasons to scare yourself, how can there be a commander in the world to give such an order? In two days' time, I will be able to cut off the retreat of the French Fifth Army at the Grand Moran, and now halt its advance, will not I let the French escape unharmed? You go back to Chief of Staff Moltke, the First Army is already at the most critical stage of pursuing the fleeing French and cannot carry out the order. When the French have been cut off, Alexander will order to stop the advance! ”

Kuhl glanced at the angry Crook and said with some hesitation: "But Your Excellency, this is an official military order from the Command, and we must follow it. ”

Crook snorted and said, "I know Moltke, he has always been a model of looking ahead and thinking about gains and losses, and he will not stop his neurotic anxiety if he does not annihilate the French army to the last one!" This guy is sitting in Luxembourg City, 280 kilometers from the front line in Paris, how much can he know about the situation on the front line? He looked at Kuhl and said, "Call back as I say." Moltke is crazy, and we have to keep a clear eye. ”

"Sure enough, His Excellency the Admiral is unwilling to carry out this order." A faint smiling voice suddenly sounded in the doorway. Crook and Kuhl were both startled, but they saw a middle-aged man, Shi Ran, pushing the door and walking in, the colonel's collar badge on his shoulder reflecting a faint light under the lamplight. Seeing the face of the person who came, Crook's pupils shrank slightly, and said, "Colonel Hench, the chief of the intelligence department?" Aren't you supposed to be by Moltke's side, how did you suddenly come to my Field Command? ”

Hench walked up to Crook and gave him a standard military salute; "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff Moltke and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have anticipated that Your Excellency will not follow this order, so they have sent me here by car overnight to explain the reasons to Your Excellency. After the planning of His Highness and Chief of Staff Moltke, Your Excellency's First Army should immediately halt its advance. ”

Crook said lightly: "Isn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in charge of the Fifth Army, and when did he become a member of the Command?" His Highness had always been close to Tirpitz's navy, and only a month ago had he become commander of the army; It seems a little inappropriate for him to interfere in our operations, right? ”

Heng Qi shook his head slightly and said, "Your Excellency, this is not just what His Highness meant. This time, the High Command already had conclusive evidence that the French were preparing to launch a counteroffensive. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of Shaojiang, a book friend, and the reward of hugetiger and February 30 precept book~~~