The rising sun shines brightly, spreading its warm glow to every part of Eastern Europe.

In front of a church on the outskirts of Belarus, a dozen open-top cars are already parked at the moment. More than 100 armed guards guarded the perimeter, and together with the main German forces stationed nearby, it was enough to make any partisan force retreat. More than a dozen staff officers at the rank of lieutenant were carrying the packed radios, telephones, maps, office equipment, and other items to the open-top cars one by one. The interior of the church was empty, with scattered tables and chairs in a room, and discarded texts that did not need to be taken away were thrown into the furnace and burned to ashes, adding a touch of desolation to this solemn and magnificent Orthodox church.

"Marshal, are you just ready to leave?" A tall fat man with glasses stood in front of the car door, and said to the sturdy old man and Ling Rui middle-aged man in the back seat with a bitter face, "Although the war on the Eastern Front is over, there are still a lot of affairs to be dealt with in the army: our 74 divisions are mixed with almost the same number of Austro-Hungarian troops, and they are scattered over an area of more than 2,000 kilometers!" Actually, you can stay in the headquarters for a while longer, and then return after you've settled the matter here. ”

The sturdy old man's gray-white beard moved slightly, and said, "In four days, there will be a royal meeting at the Berlin Imperial Palace; His Majesty and Erich are hereby invited to attend with him. Therefore, the task of cleaning up the aftermath on the Eastern Front can only be handed over to Max and you. On the eve of the Battle of Tannenberg, we survived even such a difficult situation, what difficulties are there in the current harvest victory? ”

This line of people. Naturally, it was Germany's troika on the Eastern Front. Hin-Lu and Hoffmann.

Half a month ago. Hoffmann was ordered to Brest as a representative of the German military in the negotiations, maneuvering between the delegations of the Bolsheviks and members of the Central Powers. Quick-witted and good at changing things on the spot, he is indeed more suitable for this kind of scene than the calm and dignified Hindenburg and the overly sharp Ludendorff. However, when he returned to the front after the negotiations, he was shocked to find that the cathedral that served as the headquarters had been completely emptied: the commander-in-chief and the chief of staff had to take the first step and hand over all the stalls left behind to him to clean up!

"What the marshal said is good. The Russians had begun a general retreat to the east a week earlier, and there was no rival in front of our troops; All we need to do is get the troops on march to the front set out in the peace treaty. And along the way, they left a rear garrison that could control the zhì place. General Gruttner is good at organizing and scheduling, and he will be there to assist you. Ludendorff, who was sitting next to Hindenburg, also spoke, and his words had a sonorous sound of gold and iron, "What's more, we have reached corresponding agreements with our allies, and neither the Romanians nor the Austrians will delay us any longer." ”

Hoffman opened his mouth, but said nothing. Now that winter in Russia is over, the earth will soon be turned into a muddy pond due to the thawing of snow and ice; From any point of view, it was an unusually heavy task to clean up this large area of land on the Eastern Front. According to Hoffman's estimates. The Germans would have to wait at least until May to complete the transfer of large numbers of their main forces back to the Western Front while taking initial control of the occupied territory.

"Max. Don't show your lazy posture anymore. Looking at what we have achieved now, what other European country other than Napoleon's empire has been able to do it? Managing this million square kilometers of Eastern Europe is to lay the foundation for Germany for the next century of imperial fortune! Ludendorff spoke loudly, the excitement in his eyes could no longer be concealed. He paused, then smiled at the people under the car and said, "Paul and I will go first." If the French continue to resist without knowing the times, we will still have a lot of cooperation on the Western Front. ”

Listening to Ludendorff's words, Hoffman's eyes under the lenses finally revealed a bright edge. He immediately expressed his blessings to the two of them for their return to China. The motor roared, the dust swept up, and the convoy began to slowly move westward; Looking at the long stretch of sand and dust that had gradually disappeared into the field, Hoffman couldn't help but mutter, "Imperial luck for the next century?" Judging from the text of the treaty, it seems that this is really the case......"

On March 15, 1914, a joint declaration aimed at dividing up the dividends of the armistice between Soviet Russia and Russia was signed in Brest. Satisfied or frustrated, the representatives of the Central Powers signed their names on the agreement. With the decisive role of the army on the battlefield, Germany has undoubtedly become the biggest beneficiary.

Of the 462,000 square kilometers of former Russian Poland, nearly 250,000 territories were included in the German Empire. Although this share was not advantageous over the part obtained by Austria-Hungary, almost all of the areas annexed by Germany were the most economically and industrially developed in Russian Poland: Warsaw, Lodz and other industrial towns, Bialystok and Volko and other fertile mineral deposits, will continue to bring fresh blood into the empire. Of the 13 million people living in Russian Poland, nearly 8 million were brought under the Berlin government, and Germany still took over more than 60% of the total benefits.

The three Baltic states in the north were unsurprisingly taken over by the Germans alone. Austria-Hungary did not send troops to fight on the Northern Front, and the Viennese court showed little interest in this territory, far from Central Europe. Germany's tentacles were able to extend significantly eastward, and with the annexation of Estonia, they were only 280 kilometers away from St. Petersburg. This distance, which was closer than the distance from Berlin to Warsaw, made the Bolsheviks, who had just signed a peace treaty, sit on pins and needles: they had already decided to move their capital to Moscow in the near future, and at the same time to make a complete break with the old Tsar, but also to gain greater strategic depth to avoid the Germans.

The most difficult to deal with is Ukraine. Both Germany and Austria had a strong desire to annex this rich land, and almost refused to give in to each other; After repeated negotiations between the two governments, an acceptable agreement was finally reached between Berlin and Vienna. The two sides first imposed temporary control over 380,000 and 220,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, respectively, without interfering with each other. After one of Britain and France withdrew from the war, Germany used its overseas colonies to exchange Ukrainian territory with Austria-Hungary as appropriate. After the change of territory, Austria-Hungary could in principle shrink the Ukrainian occupation zone to 100,000 square kilometers in the west, while Germany needed to ensure that Austro-Hungarian capital could enjoy the right to open the door in this land of exchange.

Based on Germany's concessions on the Ukraine issue, the Austro-Hungarian government, which knew that it relied on the other side a lot in the war, did not ask too much on the issue of reparations. Germany alone accounted for 65% of all Russian reparations, and together with the additional gold reparations, a total of 21 billion marks; Austria-Hungary received 25 per cent, an amount that was in line with William's bottom line. However, the only thing that happened was Italy, and at the negotiating table, Sonelo insisted that Italy must receive reparations from the Russians, and even made threatening hints. Considering that France was still undefeated, Germany and Austria eventually made some concessions and gave 2% of the reparations to Italy. As Romania's share of 3% was no longer a small amount, the Ottomans' share was reduced to 5%. Seeing the unwilling look of the Italians, the Turkish delegates were already gritting their teeth with hatred for the forcible food grabbing by these people: next time, they must snatch back the lost benefits from Italy with interest!

After the completion of the division of territory and indemnity, the distribution of warships of the Russian Navy was also a matter of course. The Rurik battlecruiser and four unfinished Gangut-class battleships in the Baltic Fleet were taken by Germany near the water; All outfitting parts, including design and construction drawings of up to several tens of tons and the 11 twin-mounted 356 mm main turrets that have already been produced, will also be transferred to Germany by transport ships. Tirpitz was ready to complete the final construction of these sea behemoths in German shipyards in order to bring the High Seas Fleet to the next level. The remaining 1 old Dreadnought and 2 Cruisers were driven back for dismantling, which will undoubtedly be a valuable opportunity for some small shipyards that lack experience in building large ships.

In addition to the Baltic Sea, Tsarist Russia, which had always coveted Constantinople, also started construction of three Queen Maria-class battleships in the Black Sea in 1911. The tonnage and firepower of this class are similar to those of the Gangut class, except that some protection has been strengthened at the cost of weakening the speed according to the operational needs of the Black Sea region. However, due to the fact that Russia's high-end heavy industry base is really difficult to compliment, as of March 1914, its No. 2 and No. 3 ships still have to be launched for nearly two months. Due to the geographical location, Germany did not compete for these warships, which made the competition between Austria-Hungary, Italy and the Ottomans fiercer than ever.

After a difficult tug-of-war, each country has reached a distribution that is acceptable to each other. The Austro-Hungarian fleet, which had suffered the heaviest losses in the decisive battle in the Mediterranean, was to be compensated by two battleships of Queen Maria, and the Italian fleet, which had lost Dante, was to receive its third ship, Alexander III. The Ottoman fleet, which did not have a capital ship sunk, received the 13,000-ton former dreadnought Yefstafi. Although there are 2 Russian super dreadnoughts that have not yet been launched, this is not an insurmountable difficulty for the opponent who wants to capture the trophies. In fact, the degree of completion of warships at the time of launch varies from country to country; As long as the basic hull watertight is completed, then forcibly launching and bringing it back with a tug is not a problem at all. (To be continued......)

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