An attack is always easier than a retreat, at least for the two German commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who are currently organizing the German retreat.

On May 18, in the face of the approaching French army of 500,000 under the personal command of the French commander-in-chief Petain, Ludendorff finally persuaded the wavering Field Marshal Hindenburg to organize 450,000 German troops to start withdrawing from the whole line. In fact, this order was very correct, because if the German army, which lacked heavy equipment, dared to attack Metz, it was estimated that it would be completely wiped out under the blow of the 100 210mm caliber cannons dismantled from the German naval ships captured by the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the most headache for Ludendorff was that in Metz, a total of 60,000 shells for these 100 cannons were stored......

To say that Wu Peifu is China's Ludendorff is actually a little exaggerated, in contrast, the same retreat, Ludendorff's retreat is much more professional than Wu Peifu's retreat. Historically, whether it was at Shanhaiguan or Hesheng Bridge, Wu Peifu's retreat was more like an individual fleeing for his life.

As soon as Jiang Baili saw the situation of the Germans, he immediately knew that the original Jihua could not be implemented, so Bai Chongxi was pitted by Jiang Baili. Jiang Baili abandoned Jihua, which was originally planned to rely on the first and second line positions to block the attack, but instead changed to constant attacks, in short, to slow down the retreat of the German army. This was a decision made after Jiang Baili received a secret telegram from Bai Chongxi, according to Jiang Baili's own words: "Our ultimate goal is to buy time for the arrival of the main force of the French army, since Commander-in-Chief Bai has decided to have a melee with the German army in the Lorraine area, how can we miss our French chef?" ”

On the night of May 18, Marshal Petain arrived at Verdun and received a secret telegram from the Chinese European Expeditionary Force, in which the Chinese told Marshal Petain very clearly that the Chinese army would engage in a mobile war with the German army in the Lorraine area, and it was estimated that the battle would be very fierce, and what they needed at this time was the French army to follow up and become the key hammer that would determine the victory or defeat. Petain took the map and looked at it, and was surprised, he suddenly remembered the young and jealous Chinese general in his impression, who was only in his twenties, and this young man's courage was not ordinary! After thinking about it for a while, Marshal Petain suddenly thought of a question: should he be informed to Marshal Foix, chief of the general staff of the French army, to participate in such a bold operation? The Chinese jihua can be said to be even bolder than last year's Battle of the Somme, once the 500,000 German troops are really annihilated under this situation, then basically the balance of victory and defeat in the war will tilt to the French side, and it is not impossible to lose so many elite Germany at once, let alone continue to attack. But is it really possible? Was the German army really that easy to beat? Despite the occupation of Metz, is the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army directly proportional to the personal ability of their scheming commander? All this made Marshal Pétain involuntarily fall into deep thought......

The German army did not know that the French marshal was hesitating to destroy him, and they were meticulously executing the retreating jihua, although this jihua did not go well. The damned Chinese actually used sappers to lay mines on the main route, and the German soldiers were brave but not stupid, and the communist feat of letting soldiers use their bodies to clear mines obviously did not happen to the German army, which made the process of German retreat have to slow down.

Ludendorff looked at the march of more than ten kilometers and the sky in the distance, he suddenly had a premonition that there was a monster waiting for him in the distance, he thought for a while and went to Marshal Hindenburg: "Your Excellency Marshal, I suggest that you fly back to Berlin immediately, the German Empire now needs you to preside over the formation of a new line of defense in the Luxembourg region, I now believe in the words of Emperor Bixia, the ** from the east really appeared in Europe, I think we all underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army." ”

Marshal Hindenburg looked at Ludendorff with a serious face in great surprise: "No, my friend, I think you are probably too nervous now, in fact, the Chinese just took advantage of our loopholes, occupied Metz, and then happened to catch our Royal Highness the Crown Prince." It's nothing, now all we have to do is march towards Metz to recapture His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Really, nothing **, Marshal Wadsey told me all about his experience in China, those Chinese soldiers generally used spears and broadswords, and dared to come and die when they drank a bowl of water, and more importantly, they liked to abuse their own compatriots. ”

Ludendorff was startled when he heard Hindenburg's words, it seemed that his Excellency the Marshal might really have a problem now, and he tried to say: "Your Excellency the Marshal, that was more than ten years ago, in fact, it was our emperor Bixia who helped the Qing Dynasty at that time to establish a modern German-style army. In Vauburg, we paid 8,000 of the bravest German soldiers but failed to take this place, the tenacity of the Chinese soldiers is beyond your imagination at first, they may really be the Emperor Bixia described**, and it may be us Germans ourselves who awaken them. So I hope that here at Verdun I will pick up the pieces, and you will fly to Berlin, the Reich needs you more than here, my Lord Marshal. ”

Field Marshal Hindenburg was indeed not very sober at the moment, he once again rejected Ludendorff's suggestion, and then chattered to himself: "No, no, I won't go back to Berlin, the crown prince was lost by me, I want to rescue him, otherwise how do you let me face the Kaiser?" In short, I won't leave, I'm going to rescue His Royal Highness the Prince......"

Ludendorff was completely dumbfounded, he really didn't expect Field Marshal Hindenburg to be so out of shape, it seemed that even if he really went back to Berlin, he wouldn't be able to do anything. Ludendorff couldn't help but sigh, the current situation is really bad, a Chinese interspersed action changed everything, it is really bad.

Ludendorff left Field Marshal Hindenburg, who was still there to blame himself, and gave a new order to the accompanying staff officers, leaving two divisions of German troops to defend the starting positions of this campaign. Ludendorff's wishful thinking is to sacrifice these two divisions of German troops in exchange for the time for the whole army to retreat, because according to German intelligence, Metz's Chinese army is about 100,000 people in four divisions, and he has a full 400,000 army, as long as he can block the French army that is following, then it is estimated that the Chinese will not dare to come out to intercept such an army, and then find a way to communicate with the Chinese, exchange the crown prince back with some equipment, and then abandon the Lorraine area and retreat to Luxembourg to continue the defense, In this way, at least the balance of the entire Western Front will not be upset. As for the responsibility for the loss of Lorraine and Alsace, it is naturally borne by himself. As for the three dissatisfied German divisions currently in Alsace, Ludendorff had ordered these 50,000 German troops to enter Austria-Hungary and then return to Germany by way, which was a disgusting and frustrating order. But at the thought of the heavy artillery in the hands of the Chinese, Ludendorff still shuddered, the power of that thing was too great.

Ludendorff's Jihua should be no problem to say, but I don't know if the two divisions of nearly 50,000 German troops without the support of reinforcements, artillery and materials can really block the French army on the original defense line, the current situation is too chaotic for both warring sides, the coalition forces seem to have the upper hand, but in the face of the German army that took the initiative to retreat, there is no way to speak, this is the most vivid sentence that Marshal Fuxi said in Paris when he analyzed the battle situation for Prime Minister Clemenceau. Prime Minister Clemenceau sighed for a long time after hearing this, before coming to the War Department, the iron-fisted prime minister originally thought that the war could end there, but after being analyzed by Marshal Fuxi, he found that it was just empty joy, it was better to go home and wash and sleep!

At this time, the war clouds began to dense in the sky over China, and Wu Peifu, who had received the support of the southern arms, personally commanded the direct ace of the 3rd Division and Feng Yuxiang's 11th Division and other direct troops to move closer to the Baoding area. Duan Qirui also transferred the men and horses of the 15th Brigade of the 7th Division of the Frontier Army, which were stationed in Suiyuan, Chahar and other areas for formation and training, back to the Beijing area, and appointed his cronies Xu Shuzheng and Duan Zhigui as commanders of the East Route Army and the commander of the West Route Army respectively.

However, in the south, not many people in Wuhan or Nanjing paid attention to the progress of this war, because the good news from Europe made the whole of South China enter a state of high attention to the European war in Europe. Everyone would meet in the morning and finish work in the evening, consciously or unconsciously inquiring about Europe, and any newspaper or magazine that published the slightest news related to the war would be sold out immediately. This kind of enthusiasm is almost comparable to the pomp and circumstance of the Chinese team participating in the Shijie Cup in later generations, but in comparison, Wang Zhenyu, who is a die-hard fan in later generations, still feels that the Chinese European Expeditionary Force commanded by Bai Chongxi is much more manly and better than the Chinese Football Association men's football team.

The men's football team of the Chinese Football Association is more like a group of eunuchs who were kept captive by Lafayette, who came out to cheat some money in response to the scene, and then brazenly lived to continue to disgust all mankind. Far away, in fact, Wuhan is not no one who pays attention to the upcoming war in the north at the moment, after all, Wu Peifu and the little capital that they intervened in challenging Duan Qirui was the help of our Marshal Wang Zhenyu, and all the equipment of the Beiyang Army captured during the Protectorate War was unceremoniously lost to Wu Dashuai, and the youth army began to change its outfit, and the old equipment was rotated to the security forces.

Wang Zhenyu stood in front of Wenlu's window, and outside the window was the wide East Lake. Wang Zhenyu looked up at the sky in the north and sighed in an inaudible voice: "History has all changed......