"Phew!" Muddy water splashed, and a Renault car stopped at the door of an office building in the center of Bordeaux. French Foreign Minister Aristide in a high-crowned gown? Briand stepped out of the guard's open door and walked slowly toward the building's tall, Roman-style entrance. He walked slowly, and his bearded face was full of worry and gloom; Even if he stepped on the muddy water under his feet, staining his precious leather shoes and trouser legs to the ground, Bai Lian was also unconscious, just moving his steps.

For more than a week, all the French leaders, including Briand, were in a state of fear, and they did not dare to face up to the fact that the Russian Provisional Government had been overthrown, and that the Bolsheviks, who had seized power, had signed an armistice with Germany. It was not until the Russian ambassador to France, Patkin, packed his bags and came to say goodbye to Briand, that the French finally realized that the behemoth of the Triple Entente had now fallen apart under the blows of the Germans, and had completely withdrawn from the stage of this war.

Since 1892, the Russian giant has been an ally and foreign aid to France. Since then, despite the repeated changes of the French government, and the average change of the prime minister's cabinet almost every year, everyone has adhered to the same policy toward Russia, and has always regarded the maintenance of the Franco-Russian alliance as the core strategy of their foreign affairs. The French clearly understood that it was impossible to defeat the German-Austrian alliance on their own; Under the circumstance that Britain could hardly have the strength to intervene on a large scale in a land war in Europe, Russia was the only help for itself to improve its strategic situation and restore its international status. And then it turned out just as the French had envisioned. With the help of strong reinforcements, they doubled their confidence in the process of playing with Germany, and after entering the 20th century, they began to defend themselves in various fields; Its majesty made the world feel that it belonged to the Gallic immortal bird again.

That's why. When the French learned of the collapse of Russia and its withdrawal from the war. In my heart, I especially feel that the sky is falling and the earth is cracking, and the mountains are falling. I don't know what to do. This was even more shocking than the news of the capture of Paris by the Germans, and fundamentally destroyed any confidence that France could continue to fight. Although the British Army's performance exceeded the expectations of the French, and they were still fighting side by side in the same trenches at the moment, how long could they, having lost most of the fleet, hold out after Russia withdrew from the war? For Britain, whose 300 years of sea power was lost overnight, the impact of this war was far greater than that of France, a traditional land power, and now they can no longer be relied on by France as the empire on which the sun never sets!

Heavy footsteps echoed through the wide corridor. Don't have a sense of desolation and loneliness. Walking to the front of a purple wood door, Brian reached out and knocked lightly, then unscrewed the lock. In the richly decorated office, Prime Minister Viviani, War Secretary Millerand, and Finance Minister Ribault have all arrived. Seeing the muddy Brian enter the door, Viviani, who was over fifty years old, frowned and said, "Aristide, why are you so late, is there any bad news?" ”

"Your Excellency, the Foreign Office has just received a telegram from Berlin, Germany, urging us to conclude an armistice with them immediately, otherwise we will completely overwhelm the French army with an unprecedented onslaught." Brian spoke slowly. He pulled a telegraph page from his coat and placed it in front of the table, "As far as we know. The London government had likewise received a similar telegram statement two hours earlier; The tone of the Germans was more blunt and fierce than ever, and the British Cabinet was now beginning to debate the issue fiercely. ”

As soon as these words came out, several ministers in the room suddenly changed color, and they came to the telegram to read it for only a moment, and their brows were all deeply furrowed without exception. Briand sat silently in an empty seat in the room, not bothering his fellow thinkers; In fact, it is still difficult for him to make a final decision, should France continue to fight rather than give in, or should he save the last remaining blood and bones?

"How's the situation in the army now?"

After a while, Viviani's voice finally broke the silence in the room. The Minister of War Millerand, who was beside him, moved his lips and said slowly: "Your Excellency, the situation of the French army is very bad now. In the previous four months of fighting, we had only regained more than 40 kilometers of scorched ground in the lower Seine, but we paid more than 600,000 dead and wounded; Some of the soldiers were no longer even willing to carry out the order to attack the German positions, believing that it was the command that drove them to their death! After the news of Russia's withdrawal from the war spread, disappointment and pessimism about the prospects of the war were widely bred in the army; All we can do now is return to our positions and defend, and give the soldiers more time off to appease. ”

Milleran paused, and then said, "In addition, there is also a serious problem with the supply of weapons, ammunition and other materials. Now that the Atlantic route has long since become unsafe, the British Navy, which had promised to guarantee the supremacy of the Atlantic Sea, can now sit back in the harbor and watch the German fleet enter and leave these waters without any scruples, and the consequences of this are manifold and disastrous! A large number of merchant ships have been intercepted and sunk, and more than once the much-needed munitions on the front line have been killed in the sea on the way; The U.S. fleet, which had previously sailed to our ports such as Brest and Saint-Nazaire, now chose Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven as their destinations. Coupled with the strong blockade of the Allied Combined Fleet in the Mediterranean, we have never been so short of supplies as we are today. Now our army can no longer even maintain the ammunition necessary to launch a large-scale campaign, and if the situation does not improve, then our army will fundamentally lose hope of defeating the Germans. ”

"Now that the Germans have settled the war on the Eastern Front, will they be able to withstand the front-line army if they attack us with all their strength next?" Viviani asked again.

A wry smile appeared on Milleran's face, and he said: "General Xia Fei has always made generous promises to us, on the day Russia withdrew from the war, he declared that he would be able to hold the current front, but how many times has his guarantee been fulfilled? By the time the Germans returned to the Western Front, their 126 divisions would exceed our and the British's 107 divisions combined, not to mention the 65 divisions of the Austrians and 20 divisions of the Turks as auxiliaries! Now that we have lost the help of the Russians, we will have to face the most formidable front of these armies on our own, which is undoubtedly an extremely unbearable oppression for the French army. ”

Viviani fell silent. The current situation was worse than he could have imagined, and the most direct consequence of the loss of Russia by the Entente was that France would have to face all the forces of the two Central European powers, Germany and Austria, which was simply unbearable for France, which was itself poor in population! Although the French army had already had the precedent and experience of successfully resisting the German attack, this time the situation was completely different from the previous one: the opponent just had a lot of words, which was enough to overwhelm them!

"Your Excellency Chancellor, negotiate with the Germans. We have already lost this war, and we cannot afford to lose the last bit of cellar money in France! Millerand spoke softly, with a hint of earnest plea in his words. Before Viviani could express his position, the finance minister on the side, Ribo, changed color and said angrily: "Alexander, do you know what your stupid donkey is talking about? Surrender to the Germans on their knees, and then sign a contract ten times harsher than the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871? Now that we haven't lost on the land battlefield, you can't wait to surrender? Look at the Russian Bolsheviks who deserved hell, how they were humiliated and slaughtered by the Germans in Brest in order to withdraw from the war! If we stop the war now, guess if your daughter will be captured by the Germans and sold into a brothel to pay off her debts? ”

Millerand said sharply: "It is precisely because France has not yet lost on land that we want to negotiate peace with the Germans, and use this as a bargaining chip to control the losses suffered by France to the lowest level!" As soon as the front line is attacked by the Allies and retreats like last May, we will really lose everything! Even now, do you still want to invade Berlin and capture the Kaiser alive? If you can have a strategy to defeat the Germans, you might as well tell us here at once, and all of France will be proud of you; If not, then let me stay in the shell like an oyster! ”

"A few months earlier, we had conveyed France's will for peace to Germany through the Queen of the Netherlands, but this tentative contact was aborted because of the disparity between the terms of the armistice. In fact, we had long realized that the war would be difficult to win, and that was why we wanted to test the attitude of the Germans. Viviani spoke slowly, but the words he said made Finance Minister Ribeau's face change, "At present, the war situation facing France is extremely severe, and there is no victory to speak of if it continues to fight; Therefore, we must seize every opportunity to withdraw from the war as much as possible, and we must not allow the situation to progress or deteriorate. ”

"But what should we do with it, Your Excellency Chancellor, if the Germans make harsh demands similar to those of the Brest Treaty? Are we going to follow the example of the Bolsheviks who exchanged shame for peace? Ribo said in disbelief. Viviani was silent for a moment, and then said slowly: "If this is the case, we can only hand over everything to God and let him arbitrate the fate of the French nation." (To be continued......)

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