Even during the World War, the Parisian high society was still poor and extravagant, and high-end ingredients such as foie gras, pine nut syrup, and caviar were rarely seen in southern Africa.

Of course, eating is definitely not the theme, everyone is inseparable from the ongoing world war, and now more and more people are beginning to use "world war" to describe this war, and their understanding of the world war is becoming more and more profound.

That's when the industrial capacity of Southern Africa becomes even more important.

"Modern warfare is no longer the inherent mode of war in the past, the victory of local battles cannot affect the overall direction of the war, our current mobilization ability is very different from before, in the past, a tenth of the loss of a force would collapse, now as long as the army has a steady stream of support, it can always hold on, so this is definitely a protracted war, the war will not end until one side completely admits defeat, and we all know what it means for a country to completely admit defeat-" Roque was undoubtedly the center of the banquet, Xia Fei and Frenzi listened very carefully, whether they were from the heart or not, at least on the surface, they had to respect Roque, the Minister of War in Southern Africa.

In the state of general mobilization, everything related to the war is within the scope of the work of the Minister of War, and in some respects the Minister of War is equivalent to, or even replaceable, the Head of State.

"On the surface, we have now invaded Belgium, and the battlefield situation is favorable to us, but in fact, Germany's war potential has not been fully tapped, and they still have many young people suitable for joining the army, and they still have strong industrial strength, and they still occupy Alsace and Lorraine, we had better prepare for the war to last for several years, blockade the German coastline, make Germany unable to get overseas support, gradually wear down the strength of the German army, let Germany continue to bleed, and launch an attack on Alsace and Lorraine at the same time, If Germany does not have access to sufficient mineral resources, the process may last for years, and it will be difficult for us, so we must be mentally prepared-" Roque talked eloquently in a gorgeous field marshal uniform, he didn't care if Frenzi would be angry, Roque was the marshal of the Southern African Expeditionary Force, not the marshal of the British Expeditionary Force.

Alsace and Lorraine have 14% of France's factories, 67% of the steel mills, 90% of the iron ore, 40% of the sugar mills, as well as coal, textile, and chemical production bases, so Alsace and Lorraine are the eternal pain in France's heart.

"Joseph, what do you think?" Roque was good, but Poincaré still believed in Xia Fei more.

"Our main attack is Belgium, Alsace and Lorraine are mainly defensive, and it is not easy to deploy troops, we know that Alsace and Lorraine are important, and the Germans know it." Xia Fei didn't talk much, he was already very face-saving to the president, and if he was someone else, Xia Fei probably didn't bother to respond.

"A sustained attack on Belgium would also be a drain on the Germans, who had built strong fortifications in Alsace and Lorraine, and if we forced an attack, we would surely suffer heavy losses." Franzi also did not agree with Roque's suggestion, and compared with Alsace and Lorraine, Belgium is indeed very easy to make a breakthrough.

"If we can't recapture Alsace and Lorraine in a short time, then we'd better not launch a large-scale counteroffensive against the Germans, now that we have repelled the German attack, the Germans are beginning to go on the defensive, at this time we launch a large-scale counteroffensive, which will only cause irreparable losses, we also have to stabilize the defensive line, build more fortresses and fortifications, use fortresses and fortifications to protect the soldiers, produce more artillery with a larger caliber and a longer range, and use artillery to consume the lives of German soldiers." Roque is not in a hurry, even if the Anglo-French forces do not accept Roque's suggestion, Roque is not in a hurry, Roque is mentally prepared.

The current Anglo-French forces, except for the offensive proposals, are estimated to be unacceptable, the French army has always been the dominant idea is to use offense instead of defense, offensive offense and then attack, as for how many casualties a blind attack will cause, the French generals do not care about this.

In the environment where offense replaces everything, the British Expeditionary Force can actually do extremely limited, the French army during this period is still very strong, before the British mobilized enough troops to come to France to participate in the war, the British Expeditionary Force did not have enough voice within the Anglo-French coalition, and Roque was the same.

What's more, Frenzi's opinion and Roque's are also at odds.

"If you don't attack, how can you win the final victory?" The French generals were still digesting Roque's suggestion, and without rushing to refute it, Haig couldn't bear it.

"Then how to attack? Do we have enough troops? Do we have enough artillery? Can our logistics support millions of armies to fight for long periods of time away from logistics bases? Nothing, by what attack? The lives of soldiers are also lives, and if we are going to pay a generation, even if we win the final victory, we will lose the future, what is the point of such a victory? "Roque is sensible with Xia Fei or Frenzi, but he is seriously impatient with Haig.

Before the outbreak of the World War, when Haig was the chief of arms purchases, the relationship with Roque was not harmonious, and Rogue reluctantly signed the final arms purchase contract with the rest of the arms purchase team.

The current Haig military rank is lieutenant general, and Roque's military rank is marshal, according to the hierarchy within the British army, when Roque talks to Xia Fei and Frenzi, Haig is not even qualified to interject, which Smith Dolin and Gallieni have done very well, they have been very quiet.

"Even if it costs us a generation, if we beat the Germans, it's all worth it." The butcher deserves to be called a butcher, and such cold-blooded words can be said by Haig.

"If we lose a generation, then the Germans will also lose a generation." The butcher of this era is not only Haig, Xia Fei also thinks so, it is not an exaggeration to achieve ten thousand bones in one go.

"As long as Germany is defeated, any price is worth it—" Frenzi agrees, this is a worse era, losing a generation and winning is indeed a bit miserable, but losing a generation and losing the war is really bad.

Without speculation, Roque followed him after he left the banquet.

In the car returning to the headquarters, the Chief of Staff, Paul Coker, had a solemn face.

"It seems that we are facing more difficulties than we imagined." Paul Cocker cooperated very well with Roque when he was in Egypt, so Roque also wore Paul Coker this time, and now Paul Coker's military rank is Lieutenant General, and his promotion is fast.

However, this situation is normal during the war, in Flanders, the Anglo-French-Belgian coalition army is fighting with the German army, many young lieutenants are battalion commanders in a blink of an eye, since the outbreak of the world war, France's losses are not to mention, the British expeditionary force has paid a huge price, in the statistics of the Ministry of War, in the first two months of the outbreak of the world war, Britain lost 66 hereditary nobles with the title of baron and above, 95 sons of hereditary nobles, 16 from barons, 82 sons from barons, and six knights.

"It's normal, London wants to sacrifice more French people to consume the German army, France wants Britain to send more expeditionary forces, and the British expeditionary force wants our troops in southern Africa to be cannon fodder, we are at the bottom of the food chain, but we also have the advantage, we are free to participate in the battle when, or in the way we participate." Roque is mentally prepared, the so-called coalition forces are originally at odds with each other, and now with the Belgian army and the southern African army, the interests are entangled, and everyone will consider their own interests more.

"Freedom?" Paul Cocker is not clear about Roque's plan.

"Yes, freedom, next we have to integrate the resources in our hands, I heard that our field hospital cannot even treat our own wounded soldiers, this is ridiculous, we can help the field hospital of the Anglo-French army, but we must completely control the field hospital we have set up in our own hands, and Flanders, I heard that our soldiers are attacking the German positions through chest-deep seawater, this is even more absurd, it is shameful to waste the precious lives of the soldiers!" Roque planned to go to Flanders in a few days to understand the situation first, and then decide what kind of way the Southern African Expeditionary Force would cooperate with the British and French forces in the next step.

"No, no, no, Lord, you can't go to Flanders, Flanders is the front line, you know my mission." Sidney Milner was adamantly opposed, and not letting Roque go to the front was Sidney Milner's only task.

"Hehe-" General Roque will not be affected by the orders of the monarch outside, and if he does not come to the front line, he will not be able to get first-hand information.

Of course, Roque will definitely not go to the forward position, the so-called front line is also different, even if he goes to Flanders, the rear position is still very safe.

The next day, Roque went to the field hospital on the outskirts of Paris, where the situation had improved after only the officers had been admitted, and the teachers and students of the Johannesburg Medical School and the University of Nyasaland had begun to work, greatly alleviating the shortage of doctors.

However, there are still many problems, the war has been broken out for more than two months, and the field hospital is still built in the wilderness, and the doctors and nurses and the wounded are living in tents, which is unacceptable to Roque, not to mention that these doctors and nurses are treasures in southern Africa, and the wounded living in tents is not conducive to recovery.

"We have repeatedly proposed to build a real field hospital, but neither the command nor the French government has responded, and the French generals seem to think that the war will not last too long and that there is no need to build a field hospital." Derek Gibson, the Minister of Health who led the team to France, was helpless, because the future medical force of southern Africa was in France, and it made no sense for him, the Minister of Health, to stay in southern Africa.

Quick wins kill people!