The night is deep, the moon is cold, and the southwestern French city of Bordeaux is shrouded in inky darkness, and the buildings are like creeping beasts. As a result of the strict enforcement of wartime controls, not a single civilian was left on the streets of Bordeaux, and from time to time patrols with loaded guns passed through the streets, adding to the gloomy atmosphere of France's fourth-largest city.

In one of the humble inns, members of the French cabinet, including Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Viviani, Minister of Labour, Martin, the new Minister of War Millerand, and Minister of the Navy Organieu, gathered together to frown at the German peace declaration at the table. The evening breeze came, the curtains danced, and the cold wind penetrated through the collar and neck of everyone, and it was cold to the bottom of their hearts.

"Early this morning, the Germans unleashed a poisonous gas in the north of Paris that we had never encountered before, and tens of thousands of people were hors de combat due to poisoning. Our reinforcements were also stopped by the gas, and we could only watch as the Germans took over large areas of houses and streets. The present situation is as the Germans say in the manifesto, if they launch two more gas attacks of this kind, it will be impossible for us to continue to maintain the street fighting line, and we will have to withdraw from the whole of Paris. ”

War Minister Millerand spoke, with an unconcealed sense of apprehension: "In addition to Paris, the Germans have been carrying out a strong offensive on the left and right flanks; Although the left flank was supported by the British Expeditionary Force, we were forced to deploy the forces of two multi-army groups on the right flank east of Paris to ensure that these places were not threatened by a German breakthrough. The only good news came from the south, where four reserve divisions under the command of Lieutenant General Bey thwarted the attacks of 22 Italian divisions in a row. And a large number of prisoners were captured. But even so. But we must always have an army of no less than 60,000 men there. And this will undoubtedly affect the number of troops in the main battlefield at the front. ”

"Why, is it true that the French army is no longer capable of continuing to fight after only three and a half months of fighting?" Hearing Milleran's pessimistic words, Viviani spoke in some shock.

Millerand shook his head and said, "Of course, the French soldiers have the courage to fight the Germans to the death. Had it not been for this, the Germans would not have been held back in Paris for more than a month and a half by us in terms of absolute superiority in men and firepower. And after a more in-depth mobilization, our forces are not as stretched as they were at the Battle of the Marne; In the case that the Russians managed to contain some German troops. We have been able to ensure the basic stability and security of the front front. However, Your Excellency Prime Minister, it is true that the current war situation has become more and more unfavorable for our France. ”

"According to our pre-war expectations, Russia is undoubtedly one of our most important bargaining chips against the German-Austrian alliance; Millions of obedient and death-defying farmers would flood East Prussia with a tsunami, and then smash the German capital of Berlin. However, the current situation is completely opposite to our script, the Russians have been defeated again and again in front of the Germans, who are far inferior to them, and even the whole of Poland has been occupied by Germany and Austria. Now that the Turks and Romanians are involved in the war one after another, the Russian giant is already in an absolutely disadvantageous situation of being attacked on all sides! Millerand said with a solemn face.

Viviani's expression was complicated, and he did not say anything more about Millerand's words. Four months after the outbreak of the war, the Russian army appeared to be clumsy and weakened. Indeed, the whole world shattered its glasses: since the defeat of one of Germany's elite army groups at the Battle of Tannenberg, its defeat has been like an avalanche. The Russian army suffered heavy losses in equipment, many casualties, and minimal damage to the Germans. all shocked the world; So much so that the Ottomans, Italy, and Romania, all of whom watched the wall-riding, also forgot the bloody and tearful history of Napoleon's Eastern Crusade, which swept across the European continent, and threw themselves into the arms of the alliance of the Central European powers without hesitation (the French did not know that the Ottomans were driven to the shelves to participate in the war)!

At present, St. Petersburg has sent several urgent telegrams to London and Bordeaux, demanding that Britain and France must break the blockade of Russia by the Allies within a short period of time in order to send enough war materials, otherwise Russia, lacking these goods, will not be able to continue the war with the German and Austrian armies. However, at present, the French army, which also suffered heavy casualties in the initial battle, has long been unable to take care of itself, and it is only thanks to the continuous support of the British Expeditionary Force that it can continue to support itself on the battlefield; Now it is necessary to break the blockade of Russia by the Allies, which is tactically and strategically helpless!

"In addition to this, there is a disturbing trend of reduction in the combat materiel of our army. With the fall of large industrial areas in the east and north, the military production of the Republic has been greatly damaged, and our own production alone cannot meet the needs of the front, and a large shortfall is made up by borrowing from the United States and purchasing arms on the spot. However, with the successive defeats of the Entente group, and especially the unprecedented setbacks suffered by the Royal Navy in the Battle of the North Sea, the attitude of the US government also changed dramatically. The U.S. government has downgraded the credit rating of our French bonds to CCC and has called on its citizens to be cautious in their purchases on official radio and in newspapers, and our bond purchases have once again fallen to a new low. And even the Mediterranean shipping lanes to West Africa, we can't guarantee it now; Having lost raw materials from North Africa, our rear factories were also unable to produce enough munitions. Labor Minister Martin took Millerand's words and said with a worried face.

"What do you think, Victor, are we going to continue to resist, or are we going to make peace with the Germans about it?" Viviani turned his gaze to the silent Admiralty Minister Organieu, and asked.

Organieure looked up, his lips twitching, and he stopped talking. After a long time, he said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, with all due respect, if the British Navy does not produce a Trafalgar victory in the future, then with the current appearance of the Russian army, we will have almost no chance of victory. ”

Viviani's pupils constricted, and he said, "Victor, why do you think the British Navy will be the key to victory?" ”

"Your Excellency, the Navy has never been an insignificant player in this war. In a way, it is even a key force in determining the outcome of a war. ”

Organieu gathered his thoughts and said: "For me, France, the colonies in Africa and the Far East are undoubtedly our unloseable backing against Germany. Because these colonies can not only provide all kinds of raw materials to our native factories in France, but also provide a large number of troops for war consumption; Without these supplies and cannon fodder, France alone would never be able to match Germany! It was precisely because of this that when Monsieur de Carcer was Minister of the Navy, he would ask the Congress for a large budget for the construction of ships, so that France could still start building a large number of dreadnoughts in the face of the great threat of the German Army. Although these ships could not go ashore, they could ensure the smooth passage of the Mediterranean Sea in the event of war; With this convenience, France itself will be able to receive a steady stream of reinforcements from the colonies in large quantities of materials and troops, and the benefits will far outweigh the expenses for the development of the navy. In other words, the navy was the bridge that connected a colonial empire. ”

The hearts of the people were cold, as if they had touched a world that they had never paid attention to before.

"France, a continental country, is still quite dependent on the blood transfusion of its colonies, and this is especially true of Britain, an island nation that is not self-sufficient in almost all raw materials. If the British Navy can firmly grasp the sea dominance, then the 400 million people and endless resources of the British Commonwealth such as India, Australia, and New Zealand will be their inexhaustible combat power in the war; And even if our French navy is in decline, they are fully capable of dividing our forces in the Mediterranean to help us stabilize the war situation, so as to make the best use of the human and material resources of the West African colonies. The present situation, however, was that the British Navy suffered a defeat almost comparable to that of the Russian fleet at the Battle of Tsushima; If the British Navy could not repeat the miracle of victory over us a hundred years ago, it was only a matter of time before they made peace with Germany. Organieure said in a heavy tone.

War Secretary Millerand frowned: "But Victor, didn't the British Admiral Churchill immediately assure us after the Battle of the North Sea that the Royal Navy would soon regain control of the North Sea?" ”

"If that fat man's nonsense was true, then he wouldn't have resigned and been charged, and now he is blocked by the angry crowd and can't even go out!"

Hearing the name Churchill, Organieure suddenly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and said excitedly: "It's all this fat idiot who has harmed my French navy!" Before the war, he had to demarcate the naval areas for the Allies, and all the main warships in the British Mediterranean Fleet were evacuated, so that we could support the situation in the Mediterranean alone. As a result, our fleet was isolated in the Mediterranean, and was defeated by the Combined Fleet of the Central Powers, which suffered heavy losses, and almost could not hold the route in the western Mediterranean; And the absolute control of the North Sea and the Atlantic that this fat man promised us before the war has now become as empty as the moon in the Seine! After the Battle of the North Sea, Britain had only 18 dreadnoughts left, while Germany had 28; He also quickly regained sea supremacy, thinking that the construction of dreadnoughts was toast, and 100 could be served out of the oven in 5 minutes? (To be continued......)