Even if Roque's military rank is higher than Haig's, Haig is not something that Roque can beat if he wants, and Haig can also make a small report to the king, so the big thing was quickly known by George V.

Unlike the storm that Haig had imagined, there was no joint investigation team, no reprimand, and no dismissal, George V sent a telegram to Roque in his personal name, in which he did not mention the events that had taken place on the front lines on Christmas Day, but praised the performance of the Southern African Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, and invited Roque to go to Windsor Castle at the appropriate time.

Windsor Castle was the residence of George V, who founded the Windsor dynasty after the outbreak of the World War by giving up his German surname and changing the royal family to "Windsor" in order to show his break with his German cousin.

Nominally, Buckingham Palace is George V's dormitory, but London is now known as the "fog capital", so George V will not stay in London as a human-shaped smog remover, and the beautiful scenery and fresh air country houses are obviously more suitable for human survival than the bustling metropolis.

The king summoned him, and of course Roque would not refuse, and before leaving, Roque did not forget to arrange for Paul Cocker to strictly order the troops not to happen again.

quarrel with Haig, you still have to give face that should be given, and Roque is not stupid, he will not fight with Haig in this kind of thing.

Separated only by the English Channel between Belgium and England, Roque set off from Ypres and arrived at Windsor Castle the next day, which happened to be the first day of the New Year in 1914.

On the first day of the new year, Xia Fei organized a full-scale offensive, and battles broke out in Flanders, Argon, Alsace, Verdun and other places, the fighting was extremely bloody, the British and French troops and the German army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties every day, and 1914 kicked off with unprecedented cruelty.

On the cold Eastern Front, the fighting continued, Christmas did not stop, the Russian Empire finally stopped the German-Austrian army in the Corpathian Mountains with a strong weather bonus, the Ottoman Empire was retreating, the Russian Empire was advancing towards Constantinople, and Damascus was surrounded by the combined forces of the Southern African Army and the Sultanate of Najd.

Farther in the Far East, after Japan declared war on Germany, besieged Germany's colonies in the Qing Kingdom, and the East Indies also launched an attack on Germany's colonies in the Pacific after declaring war on Germany, German New Guinea, Western Samoa, and the Mariana Islands were occupied by the East Indies one after another, German immigrants were imprisoned in concentration camps, waiting for the war to be sent back to Germany in unison, big capitalists brandished checks and rushed to the East Indies, and islands with an area of hundreds of square kilometers only needed a few hundred pounds to become private property.

There are more than 17,000 islands in the East Indies.

On the first day of the new year, the Southern African Expeditionary Force also participated in the Anglo-French offensive, the 11th Division was withdrawn to Calais for reflection because some soldiers played football with German soldiers, and the 102nd and 103rd Divisions participated in the attack, and the 201st Division, which had also been restored before Christmas.

Because of the lack of shells, the three divisions attacked without the assistance of artillery units, so they suffered heavy losses, the 103rd Division was the most unlucky, just restored before Christmas, and was immediately crippled and pulled back to Calais to recuperate, and the 102nd and 201st Divisions also suffered heavy losses, but they all completed their scheduled combat missions and captured German positions.

The attack lasted for a week, and the Anglo-French army again paid the price of 50,000 casualties, and the result was that the line was successfully advanced by an average of 500 yards, which translates to about 457.2 meters.

Looking at the casualty figures now, Roque has become numb, and Roque also has a new understanding of the phrase "one general succeeds ten thousand bones", if the general wants to win on the battlefield, he must have this kind of indifference and ruthlessness to ignore the casualty figures, otherwise the mentality will really collapse.

At a time when tens of thousands of casualties were being killed and wounded on the front, London was celebrating the New Year.

The world war has been going on so far, the Anglo-French army has lost 1.3 million people, the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Ypres have been publicized in the newspapers as a great victory for the Anglo-French army, the German generals are butchers who can only attack mechanically, the current rate of loss of the German army continues, the war lasts until the summer, Germany should run out of human resources and have to stop the war.

To celebrate last year's "victory", the British government held a 10,000-person march in London, which marched from London Bridge across the Thames to the square of Buckingham Palace, where George V delivered an impassioned speech calling on all citizens to unite and launch a final assault on the evil Confederate bloc.

When George V spoke, Roark and Kitchener and Winston were all standing behind George V, Rocker Kitchener was wearing a gorgeous field marshal uniform, and Winston was wearing a suit.

After the outbreak of the World War, Winston proposed to strengthen the defense of Belgian ports, hoping that the War Department would grant him the title of commander of the Belgian coalition.

Kitchener refused Winston's request and wanted to award Winston the rank of lieutenant general in compensation, but the prime minister refused, so Winston, the secretary of the navy, strictly speaking, did not even have a military rank, and was not a real soldier.

After George V's speech, Roark was received at Buckingham Palace by George V, who awarded him the Victoria Cross, the highest honour of the British Order of Merit, in recognition of the performance of the Southern African Expeditionary Force in France.

The Victoria Cross was established by Queen Victoria in 1856 at the request of her husband, Prince Albert, and was named after Queen Victoria for the bravest in the battle against the enemy.

Originally, the Victoria Cross was awarded only to living British soldiers, and colonial soldiers could not receive the honour, with the exception of British officers who served in the colonies, and in 1902 King Edward VII decreed that this honour could also be awarded posthumously and allowed to be awarded to all officers and soldiers in the service of the British Empire, a practice that is still in use today.

Instead of precious metals such as gold and silver, the Victoria Cross is cast in bronze, and it is said that the material of the Victoria Cross comes from Russian artillery captured in the Battle of Sevastopol, and each medal is made using bronze on the cannon.

When George V wore the Victoria Medal on Roque's chest, Kitchener and Winston were envious, and among the living British field marshals, only Earl Frederick Roberts, who is now the commander of the British homeland, received the Victoria Cross, and Roque was the second.

At the dinner, Roque sat on the left hand side of George V, who was very interested in the fighting on the Belgian front, but Roque could not go into too much detail, so he could only pick out some interesting things to tell George V.

For example, an unlucky ghost who can only smell when his mouth is injured, or an officer who is cheating with his mistress, but happens to be attacked by the enemy, and jumps into the trench to direct the battle without even having time to put on his pants.

"What do you think about the war on the front?" George V seemed to be casual, and Kitchener and Winston, who were laughing, immediately calmed down, and all eyes were on Roque.

"I share the opinion of Marshal Kitchina, that the war cannot end in a short time, and that we had better be prepared for the war to last for years." Rokla Kitchener cushioned his back, and Roque didn't mind pulling a few more if he could.

George V did not speak, his expression was solemn, and he put down the knife and fork in his hand and listened.

"The main problem now is that the opinions of the allied leadership are not unanimous, and General Gallieni and Foch and I are inclined to stabilize the defense, gradually wear down the strength of the German army, and finally win the victory, Marshal Xia Fei does not think so, he always orders the troops to attack and attack again, as if some more troops can be put in, the German army can be routed on all fronts, and this is obviously not the case." Roque's absence of any mention of Frenzi and Haig is in itself indicative of Roque's attitude.

In fact, there is no need for Roque to sue, Roque believes that even if George V did not go to the front, George V knew everything on the front line, and the world war was related to the fortunes of the country, and George V could not leave it alone.

"The Expeditionary Air Force has done an excellent job, shooting down 16 German airships around Christmas, which has effectively protected the security of London, the Admiralty has just taken over the first aircraft carrier, more carrier-based pilots are needed, and Southern Africa should play a greater role." George V affirmed the contribution of southern African pilots, and during this time Roque had been in France, not really noticing that the Edward shipyard had already delivered the first aircraft carrier.

The British Air Force has not yet been sent to France to carry out a mission, and when the Southern African Expeditionary Force launched an offensive some time ago, Roque also asked for support from the War Department, but was rejected by Kitchener.

"Before the outbreak of the war, I had a discussion with His Excellency the Marshal in this regard, southern Africa can indeed assume greater responsibility, our greatest advantage is in industrial capacity and logistical support, southern Africa is far away from Europe and will not be disturbed by war, southwest Africa and Tanganyika have surrendered, and there will be no more wars in southern Africa in the future-" Roque determined the bottom line, after occupying southwest Africa and Tanganyika, southern Africa will no longer expand externally.

Just before Roque arrived in London, the Tanganyikadian army formally surrendered.

George V was noncommittal, Kitchener and Winston looked at each other, there was no expression on their faces, at this time they said that it was not appropriate to say anything, and it was best to be quiet.

Roque also did not speak, waiting for George V's decision, if George V did not agree to let Southern Africa manage South-West Africa and Tanganyika, then the twelve boot camps in Southern Africa would be disbanded tomorrow.

In order to better support the European war, 12 boot training camps have been set up in southern Africa to train new recruits to supplement the European combat forces and ensure that at least 100,000 soldiers will go to Europe every six months.

This figure is still important for Britain, which lacks an army.