Taking a boat from Tianjin all the way to Marseille, for more than a month, there are definitely not a few people who vomit and diarrhea along the way, after all, seasickness is a very normal thing in this era. In addition, there are many people in the expeditionary force who have never even seen the sea in their lives, so it is very lively along the way.

In the early days, almost every day, many officers and men lay on the railings and vomited and diarrhea, and that kind of scene was really —————— magnificent.

Fortunately, after a long time, the officers and men on the ship more or less adapted to the situation, after all, they were all sturdy young men in their early 20s.

At the end of the day, when we were about to enter the Mediterranean, all but a few people had basically returned to normal.

This is also one of the reasons why the officers and men of the expeditionary force were able to face the French and the troops from all over the world with the best military appearance when they were in formation.

Having said that, after staying at sea for so long, the body is still a little uncomfortable after all.

So although the French had prepared their meals at the camp outside Marseille and even hot water for bathing, the first thing the Wehrmacht officers and soldiers did when they arrived at their destination was to lie down on the beds that the French had prepared for them, and even the exotic food with a distinctly French style did not attract their attention.

Although the ordinary officers and soldiers only hope to have a good rest, Cai Ye still appreciates the French food prepared by the French, at least at the banquet specially held for them, those carefully prepared French meals really satisfy their appetite.

After a few days in France, Cai led an expeditionary force to St. Monnourd. It's not a very well-known town. According to the French, the population of this town is just over 1,000 people, which is a pitiful number.

Especially after the outbreak of war. The number of inhabitants here has decreased again, and now there are probably only seven or eight hundred.

However, these have nothing to do with Cai Ye and them, after all, their task is to fight, not to consider some social problems and phenomena in France in the war...

Their task is to train those two B divisions in the shortest possible time. Trained to the point where they can accept the situation on the battlefield of the Western Front today.

————————————————————

At the same time that the expeditionary force arrived in Marseille, snowflakes had already begun to fall around Beijing.

It took almost only one day for the ancient city to be washed silvery-white. It became a city of ice and snow.

However, compared with the unbearable cold winters of previous years, some new buildings in Beijing are now equipped with heating facilities. Although only a small part of the people can enjoy such facilities, the living conditions of the people are much better than those in the late Qing Dynasty and Beiyang periods. Ordinary people can not only wear thick cotton clothes. And you can also use coal to burn a stove in the room, so compared with previous years, the city of Beijing today is a warm and coaxing appearance.

And outside, there are also a lot of bear children wearing thick cotton clothes.

For example...

Now the bear kid who is running around outside the presidential palace...

"Let her run slowly, don't fall..."

Sitting in the room, looking through the window at Fumiko who was running around on the snow, Yan Shao looked at Elano and the others on the side helplessly. There, Elano and Kaoru Otsuki were chatting with Michi...

"Okay," Lu Ying said with a smile. I finally took the winter vacation. Just let her go crazy for a while, and then she'll be crazy. Naturally, she went back to the house..."

On the side, the others also nodded, including Kaoru Otsuki, who had been the harshest with Fumiko in the past. Yan Shao couldn't do anything about this, so he had to refocus his attention on the things in his hand.

"St. Mnoult?"

This is a telegram that has just been received from the French, according to which they have accepted the arrangement of the French, and are currently stationed near a small town called Saint-Menord, and are conducting follow-up training for the two B divisions

Since everything provided by the French was perfect, there was nothing in the expeditionary force at the moment.

Yan Shao was naturally very happy about this, as for St. Mnould?

Yan Shaozhi didn't know much about it.

Although he has lived in France for a long time, he knows only about the area around Marseille and the Paris area.

He really didn't know much about this kind of little-known town.

As for the fact that the expeditionary force is now too close to the front line, this Yan Shao is really not worried much. In fact, Yan Shao's attitude towards this is similar to that of Xia Fei, that is, the closer he is to the front line, the more the troops have more experience of war. Moreover, they can also go to the front line to learn about the specific situation on the battlefield on the Western Front.

Although China was a member of the Entente, Britain and France and other countries also provided a lot of information to the Entente, and the Special Affairs Bureau also collected some information, but after all, it was only some numbers, and just by looking at these things, it was impossible to truly appreciate the cruelty on the battlefield on the Western Front...

"I just hope that the armored forces can be done as soon as possible, in this way, with a hundred tanks and armored vehicles in hand, Cai Yi and they should be able to use it easily..."

Regarding the agreements he signed with the British and the French, Yan Shao didn't think that Cai Ye would be unable to complete it. Leaving aside the fact that the Wehrmacht would have been no worse than the British and French, don't forget that he still has such a secret weapon as the armored forces in his hands.

With such an army in hand, it may be difficult to defeat the Germans, but it is still okay to make a difference on the battlefield.

And as long as Cai Ye and them can prove their strength on the battlefield, there will be no more problems with the status of the expeditionary force in Europe...

————————————————————

After reading the information related to the expeditionary force, Yan Shao looked at another piece of information related to the Japanese.

Since the end of the Battle of Shandong, the Japanese have been much quieter.

Although there are often some radicals in Japan who want to wash away the shame of the Shandong Campaign. That is, to declare war on China and win back everything lost from the battlefield. However, the current reigning Katsura Taro is not an ordinary person after all, not to mention that there is also the support of Yama Prefecture Youpeng behind him.

So in addition to with the help of Tao Yuanzhou. In addition to the republican movement, the Japanese can be said to be extremely honest in recent times. Almost all of his efforts were devoted to the restoration of the economy and armaments.

In addition, in order to appease the army, Katsura Taro also expanded the original division and regimental establishment by four divisions, so that the number of divisions and regiments of the Japanese army expanded from the original 19 to 23, and the needs of the navy were also satisfied.

Not only did the two Kongo-class battle cruisers accelerate their service. The construction of two Fuso-class battleships under construction has also been accelerated, and two super-dreadnoughts have been ordered, as well as a range of other ships. In order to make up for the losses in the Battle of Longkou Bay—————— although the Japanese government is still asking the Kuosha Government for the ships lost in the Battle of Longkou Bay, in fact, they have long been dead.

In addition to the military, Japan also developed greatly industrially due to the stimulus of World War I and China. A large number of industrial products and raw materials were shipped to Europe. Japan's own crude steel production has also increased from more than 300,000 to more than 500,000, and although the scale is not as large as China's, it is quite amazing.

However, what really deserves Yan Shao's vigilance is some private contacts between the Japanese and the Americans...

At the end of 1915, the United States officially announced a ban on the export of smelting equipment.

In other words, from that day on, no country could import smelting equipment from the United States, and some countries wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to develop the steel industry. It can only be temporarily abandoned.

But this has little impact on China, because by this time China is already self-sufficient in this area. There is absolutely no need to continue to depend on the United States. Despite the fact that it is slightly inferior to the United States in terms of capacity and quality, it solves the real needs of the country as a whole for similar equipment.

However, according to some information obtained by the Special Affairs Bureau, it seems that the US Government is privately reaching some agreements with Japan, including the export of some smelting equipment to Japan...

Now that the United States has banned the export of smelting equipment to almost all countries, why should it export to Japan? Plus a lot of other protocols......... The problem in this is not to be seriously thought about too much...

"Maybe the Americans also feel threatened and want to use the hands of the Japanese to deal with us..."

This seems to be the most reasonable explanation, although the relationship between the United States and China in the past was not bad, but in addition to some private friendships between Yan Shao and the US government, what supports this relationship is more the consistent attitude of China and the United States towards the Japanese issue.

That is, this country is a threat to both China and the United States.

But now, Japan has been crippled in Shandong, but China has the meaning of rising.

Although Sino-US relations are good, the United States must also be wary of China. After all, he can't just trust China and not defend himself at all. The problem is that with the power of the United States, the Atlantic and the Pacific, the United States can only support one aspect, and at this time, if it had to make a choice, the United States would have to choose the Atlantic, which is very important to the United States.

As for the Pacific Ocean...

The Japanese, who have been crippled, seem to be a good partner.

First of all, the hatred of China by the Japanese is obvious, and after being crippled, and with China on its side, Japan has lost the ability to threaten the United States.

In addition, Japan is no longer able to compete with China on its own, and if the United States is willing to contribute some money at this time, I believe that Japan will be very willing to stand up and help...

And on this issue, the Japanese did not want to save face, so the two sides hit it off somewhat...

In other words, when China rises, I am afraid that the first thing it will face is the combination of Japan and the United States. This is somewhat similar to the historical China—————— if you consider that North Korea is also in the hands of Japan...

Plus Burma and other places in the hands of the British...

It's a bit complicated...

————————————————————

What Yan Shao is most worried about now is that Japan and the United States will join forces, to put it simply, the United States will use Japan to contain China.

Japan lacks money and resources, and the United States lacks soldiers who are willing to die, and the two just make up for each other...

Thankfully. The current United States is not like later generations, it has become a standard Uncle Sam, who wants to take care of everything. I'm willing to take care of everything.,And treat the things of the whole world as your own home.。 Now the United States is uniting with Japan, more for the sake of precaution, and to give Japan the strength to confront China, fundamentally speaking, the United States is still isolationist, otherwise. I'm afraid Yan Shao will still be in trouble.

On the other hand, in Saint-Menud in France, Cai Ye and others also began to train the expeditionary force.

After a period of time in Marseille. The officers and men of the expeditionary force were sent by train and automobile to the so-called small town of St. Monnould—————— which was indeed a small town, and the population of the whole town was only seven or eight hundred, which was pitiful.

But the scenery of the town is good. Therefore, the generals and colonels who had just arrived were very appreciative of the surrounding scenery.

As for Cai Yi, they are. It was a town that went to Paris first, and then came to the town.

By the time they arrived in St. Mnoult, the training began...

————————————————————

In the camp prepared with the help of the French, a large number of Wehrmacht officers and soldiers were wearing gray training uniforms, neatly lined up on the playground.

At this time, it had already entered a cold climate, so the officers and soldiers on the playground did not need to worry about the exposure from the hot sun at all. However, if you stand still all the time, your body will not be able to move freely, and the heat in your body will be lost. Although the officers and soldiers on the playground have been dressed relatively thickly. But I still feel the cold.

Still, they did as they were told. Lined up on the playground in a standard military stance.

"Don't you directly conduct combat training?"

Looking at the blue-faced officers and soldiers on the playground, Liu Guangyuan leaned over to Cai Yi's side and asked.

"I'll talk about it later," Cai shook his head. Although these people are all from the reserves, and the ordinary training has basically been completed, but we have been on the ship for more than a month, and the training such as shooting on the ship has been completed, but these basic ones have been abandoned because there is no space, so I plan to spend a week to let them recover first, and then conduct combat training..."

Speaking of this, Cai Ye glanced at several French officers standing in the distance.

These French officers were all sent by the French government to coordinate with the expeditionary force, and they would also come to inform them of something in front of them.

Say...

When something is wrong at the front and they need to rush over and help.

After being here for a while, Cai Ye also has a better understanding of the current situation. Now the French have become more nervous about the strength of the troops, which is why they attach so much importance to the expeditionary force, and this time they are transferred, on the one hand, it is indeed in the hope that they can get familiar with the atmosphere on the battlefield as soon as possible, but on the other hand, it is also in the hope that if there is really any emergency, they can be transferred to the front line to support in the shortest possible time...

Otherwise, if Cai Ye and the others really stayed in Marseille and something really happened, it would be difficult to rush to the front line in a short time.

Although Cai Yi frowned a little in this regard, he also knew that this was for the sake of the overall situation.

That's right, even if this war is lost, the Germans will not be able to embarrass China, after all, the distance between the two sides is too far. However, some of the ideas of Yan Shao and others are also shattered, such as Iraq and Kuwait. If it was the Allies who won in the end, they would have almost no thought about these two places. After all, Iraq was the territory of Ottoman Turkey, and Kuwait was snatched from the Turks by the British, and if the war ended and the Allies lost, Kuwait would almost certainly be taken back by Turkey, and their war would be in vain.

So unlike the mentality of ordinary generals, this war has little to do with me, Cai Ye knows very well that they must win this war...

Not only do you have to win, but you have to win beautifully...

"That's right..."After thinking about it, Cai Ye looked at Liu Guangyuan. During training, it's better not to take out some of our unique weapons, and it's better to only take out half of the equipment, and those French are watching, so it's better to hide some..."

"You mean?"

"Forget about machine guns and mortars, everyone has this, we didn't bring heavy artillery, but even if we brought it, it would be useless, after all, they are much better than us in this regard. But in terms of shotguns, and individual equipment, it's better to keep it secret......... Although we are here to help them fight this time, it is better to pick up some easier battles to fight first, otherwise if too much is exposed, the French will send us to some more difficult places, and not to mention whether we can win or not, there will definitely be no fewer casualties..."

"We are here this time, not only to win the battle and get what we want, but more importantly, the casualties must be small..."

Although he thought that he must win, he was willing to make some sacrifices for the sake of victory.

But that's only when it is necessary, usually even if one more person dies, Cai Ye will be distressed.

And he also has a better understanding of Yan Shao's thoughts, that is, to make this war a war that will make Europeans shed blood. So a lot of things, it's better not to be exposed, and only this one can keep blood flowing from the Allies and the Entente in a situation where they are evenly matched ...

"As long as this goal is achieved, when the war is over, neither Britain, France, nor Russia will lose the ability to contain us, and the only thing we need to face next is Japan and the United States..."

Recalling Yan Shao's words before leaving, Cai Ye nodded silently in his heart.

It's just that at this time, Cai Ye didn't know that it wouldn't be long before he would face a big war, and it was one of the only major battles in the history of World War I. (To be continued......)