Time passes slowly...

After receiving the order, Cai Ye and the others immediately set off in the direction of the Somme. As mentioned earlier, although the infrastructure of France at this time is not very good, especially the highway and other facilities can not be compared with China, but the railway is very perfect, and railway transportation is obviously more convenient than the road in this era, so before the time given by Xia Fei, the first and second armies of Cai's Chinese expeditionary force have arrived in the direction of the Somme—————— at this time the highway is still very rare, although France is a European power in this period, However, it has been fighting for almost two years, and its own industry and infrastructure have come to a standstill, so it naturally has no ability to invest in roads.

In addition, many people did not pay attention to highways during this period, so the highway construction in France was indeed not as much as China at this time, of course, China in this period was the same as France, using ash pavement, which was similar to Germany.

Because the first highway in history, that is, the highway built by the Germans, was paved with ash ...

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In the Somme region, in the direction of the General Headquarters, Cai Ye and Liu Guangyuan rode together on the new off-road vehicle, and the flag painted with the red bottom dragon flag was planted on the front of the car and fluttered in the wind, which made people can't help but turn their eyes to this prosaic convoy...

It was also true that during this period not only did a large number of colonial troops arrive in France to help in the war, but also a large number of healthy men came to France. Helping the French with some of the producers' work, for example, planting, in the textile...

Equality between men and women has always been a big issue. Especially in later generations, the issue of equality between men and women has risen to a more extreme level. Some extreme women are extremely hateful to men, and even wish that men were dead, not to mention whether this idea is correct, at least in Yan Shao's era, the status of women is still relatively high, but when working, the salary is less for men...

Nature. Yan Shao also can't stand the women of later generations, especially some women who take out their gender to gain an advantage when they are beneficial, and shout discrimination or something when they are not beneficial...

But even if the status of women is low. It is also much stronger than the people of these colonies.

Looking out of the car window, Cai Ye could clearly see that there were many Vietnamese people of the same skin color as them, who were planting in the fields on both sides of the road at this moment...

But...

Although they are doing very heavy labor every day, they are paid much less than the French men, which is probably a very helpless thing...

"If there is no great president. Maybe we're like them now...", leaning his right arm against the window. After looking at the scenery outside, Cai Ye said softly.

This is true, because in later generations China was indeed poor and weak, and it also sent a large number of laborers to Europe to help France and other countries resume production.

In fact, some Chinatowns in France in later generations were handed down from this time, and in the time before this, although the Chinese in France could not be said to be infested at all, the number was absolutely pitiful.

In fact, when Cai Ye and them were looking at the Vietnamese youth and some French women in the field, those people in the field were also looking at Cai Ye and them...

For these hung strange chess pieces. The soldiers in very beautiful military uniforms, both Vietnamese and French, were very impressed. These Chinese are rumored to be very warlike. At the time of the Battle of Verdun, the Germans sent troops to attack several times in succession.

As a result, not only did they pay a huge price, but they were also forced out...

Naturally, the most reluctant expeditionary force did not escape the end of the birds' good bows, fortunately, they did not die, but just drove them out of Verdun...

However, it is precisely because of this that the name of the expeditionary force has now spread throughout Europe. Although there are still many people who feel a little about this, the facts are the facts, so when the young people in the fields saw Cai Ye and their convoy, they were only curious about what they could sit in the car, while they could only work in the wheat fields...

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It didn't take long for them to arrive at the General Headquarters.

Seeing Xia Fei again, Cai Yi's face showed a hint of joy slightly. For Cai Yi, although Xia Fei has a lot of problems, he is also a very good general. After all, Xia Fei is just sluggish, but the perseverance brought by this dullness is something that no one can easily break...

In fact, whether it was on the Marne or at Verdun, if it weren't for Xia Fei's perseverance, I'm afraid France would have been defeated by the Germans—————— of course, if it weren't for him, France would not have suffered such a big loss, in general, the merits and demerits should be offset.

Fortunately, at this time, Xia Fei and they still don't know, Cai Ye has just taken away the title of 'Verdun Hero' from their hands, otherwise I am afraid that they will definitely rush up and find a way to strangle Cai Ye to death—————— in the future generations, the title of Verdun Hero is Petain's, Xia Fei naturally followed the light, but this time, I am afraid there is not much credit to take it...

"General..."patting Cai Yi's arm, Xia Fei took Cai Yi's hand and sat down in the seat. I believe you should understand the meaning of calling you this time..."

"Naturally..."Cai Yi smiled and nodded, after all, he was not sluggish to this point, of course he knew what Xia Fei's mind was thinking.

"That's good." Xia Fei smiled, and then spoke. "In that case, then I will first explain the arrangement of this battle."

After saying that, Xia Fei stood up from his seat and went back and forth in the headquarters several times, after seeing that Cai Yi's expression was still not moving at all, Xia Fei looked a little helpless at the same time, and at the same time, he couldn't help but call Cai Yi, no way, who told him to talk about business this time.

Fortunately, this is not a formal military negotiation, and there is no need to make things very important. So the atmosphere between the two is still relatively good...

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"After such a long period of rest, I don't know how the combat capability of your army has recovered."

"It's already very good..."Cai Yi replied cautiously, he was not afraid of Xia Fei at all. It's just that the most important thing they need to do right now is not to stand up and let someone shoot the first bird, but to stay and see how it goes...

"But if they want to participate in the battle, I'm afraid it will take some time, at least for now, they are still useless..."

"I know this too...", with a slight bow, Xia Fei continued. So I'm going to raise my head with you about sending troops. When we reach the Somme, I believe that your army will definitely become the backbone of our army, so I hope that your army can..."

"Please wait a minute...", waving his hand. Thinking about Xia Fei's words, Cai Ye looked at the watch on his wrist and glanced at it before continuing. "The situation in our army is also clear compared to that of the generals, at least at this stage. Whether it is the First Army. The second, third, fourth, and fifth armies all had a large number of soldiers, but the last three armies had just arrived in Europe, and they were still relatively unfamiliar with the European environment and could not be directly engaged in actual combat, while the first two. Although the actual combat experience is relatively strong, a large number of new recruits have been added to the interior. The combat effectiveness is seriously weakened, so..."Glancing at Xia Fei, Cai Ye said softly. "I want to put the ugly words in front of us, at least for a short time, we will definitely not be engaged in a frontal battle."

"Then, your army thinks a few days is a good time?" Although he was a little helpless, Xia Fei continued. "I hope that your army will give the highest priority to the cause of the Entente..."

"Don't worry, we still dare to guarantee this, we just hope that the time can be a little later, um..." Why don't you leave it like this, I'll let the troops assemble there first, and wait until they get used to it a little bit, is this time......... On the third day after the two sides started, you see how..."

"As for the follow-up three armies, I'm afraid the time will be more anxious, this is absolutely impatient."

In fact, before he came, Yan Shao had already talked to Cai Ye about it. After everything had been negotiated, at least on the first and second day, the expeditionary force must not step into it, and the British must first try it, so that even if there will be some losses, not all of them will be Chinese, and the losses of the British will be the greatest...

After Cai Ye told Xia Fei about the matter, Xia Fei immediately nodded in agreement.

Although Xia Fei's personality seems to be very woody, he still has some abilities, otherwise it would not be possible to mix into his current position. Of course, none of this is important, the most important thing is that Xia Fei and Yan Shao have the same idea, which is to weaken the strength of the British.

So when Cai Ye quietly proposed this proposal to Xia Fei, Xia Fei suddenly jumped up with a flushed face.

Even Mu Na Ruxia Fei will care about some things, such as the fate of his country. The situation in France is definitely not good, especially in this war, France has suffered heavy losses.

If it continues like this, France's strength will definitely be more serious than Britain's, and the gap between France and Britain will probably be widened because of this.

Although France is not like the British, as the former hegemon of Europe, the French naturally do not want to have other people sweat next to their couch. What's more, there are also contradictions between the two countries, and the reason why they can be raised this time is purely because of the threat of the Germans, nothing more...

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Therefore, taking the opportunity of this battle to weaken the strength of the British is also a very advantageous thing for France.

Therefore, after just thinking about it a little, Xia Fei had already agreed with Cai Yi's idea.

However, Xia Fei obviously didn't know that Cai Ye would do this, not entirely because of some other relationship, but because of Yan Shao's insistence...

For Yan Shao, the Battle of the Somme was still very spectacular, first of all, countless troops. However, it was the first day of the Battle of the Somme that really stuck with him, but the heavy fire of the Germans, heavily equipped with machine guns, and the lives of the soldiers before him...

On the first day, the Germans lost almost 60,000 men to the British at the Somme. This is not something that can be forgotten by waiting...

Therefore, of course, Yan Shao would not allow Cai Ye to push the troops into the fire pit, which is why he had to let the troops delay for three days, in order to observe the situation on the battlefield first. Wait until the situation is almost better, and then send someone up...

Before that, some should rely on the British and French.

Anyway, the British and French are much more numerous, and they have no need to worry about the British and French. By the time they had destroyed all the Germans' artillery and other heavy weapons, it had been a few days...

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On June 24, 1916, the British army dispatched about 1,400 artillery pieces after adequate preparations. A week of heavy shelling of German positions (24 June-1 July) resulted in the firing of about 1.5 million shells. The artillery fire was overwhelming, directly turning the German positions into a sea of fire.

In the eyes of anyone in this era. I believe that no one will survive such a large-scale artillery fire.

The British hoped to destroy the German trenches through artillery bombardment. But in fact the Germans suffered only minor casualties, and the artillery fire was not enough to destroy the trenches, and about 1,000 of the guns handsomely prepared this time were field guns. It didn't do much to the war.

Field artillery. In fact, it is also the so-called cannon, this kind of artillery has no effect on trenches at all, unless it is a hit, and the really useful thing is howitzers. It's just a pity that, apparently, the British did not have so many howitzers in their hands ...

So although it looks like a sea of fire, it doesn't really have much to fight for.

Moreover, 7 days of shelling. Although the first German positions were almost completely destroyed, the second positions were partially destroyed. But having lost the initiative that should be maintained tactically in offensive operations—————————— the Germans were not fools, and after bombing for such a long time, they would definitely send reinforcements over.

The problem was that if the Somme problem was not resolved before the German reinforcements were felt, the Entente forces would be plunged into trench warfare like the Battle of the Somme, which would be a nightmare for any general, of course, but it was likely to become a reality.

If Xia Fei had only allowed artillery bombardment for one day at the beginning, and then started directly, perhaps the casualties would have been very large, but due to the suddenness and the fact that there were not many reinforcements around, it would not have taken a few days to recapture the German front.

But now, without suddenness, everything is in vain.

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On July 1, the first day after the shelling, according to the agreement reached between Xia Fei and Cai Ye, the expeditionary force did not have to participate directly in the fierce fighting for the first three days, but only had to wait until three days later.

However, it is obvious that Xia Fei really wants to be able to end the battle directly, so after the artillery bombardment, Xia Fei has already sent a large number of troops to attack, and the number of handsome people in the first batch is close to 50,000, you can imagine what a frightening number...

And this is only the first batch, if the offensive of the first batch is thwarted, then naturally there will be the so-called second, third, fourth, fifth, etc...

Historically, the British suffered nearly 60,000 casualties on the first day of the Somme, and this kind of thing is probably not as powerful as in the history of wars.

However, these machine guns are very powerful, and the British are obviously not afraid ...

On 1 July, the British 4th Army (commanded by General Rawlinson) carried out a major assault in the direction of Babom 25 km from Maricourt to Ebyten, covered by the 7th Army of the British 3rd Army on its left flank; The French 6th Army (commanded by General Fayolle) carried out an auxiliary assault from both banks of the Somme, north of Rossier, in the direction of Peronne.

In the course of the assault, the British and French went very well, and with superior forces, the British and French easily captured one of the positions of the Germans, and then...

They suffered terrible casualties, and the British soldiers who attacked the German positions were constantly damaged by the power of the large number of Maxim heavy machine guns equipped by the Germans. In just a short period of time, the British have already paid the price of at least more than 3,000 casualties, you must know that this is only a short time, and I am afraid that there will be more time to grind...

Obviously, neither Xia Fei nor Cai Yi and Xiang Xinyuan nor others could believe that their use of machine guns could be so pure, even to the point of jaw-dropping...

However, despite the setback of the offensive, the British troops on the front line did not have the slightest intention of taking a step back, but continued to advance under the command of the officers.

The problem is that this will only cause them more casualties, and there will be basically no other effect on top of that...

And it is true, under the superior firepower of the Germans, the British offensive troops were swept down by rows and rows, and then the troops behind rushed up, and so on, the British losses were getting bigger and bigger, but the Germans' losses were always in a relatively small number...

In a short time, the losses of the British had reached a point that they could not afford to bear on their own... (To be continued......)