The world war was in full swing, and it was supposed to be a turning point, as it continued to be in a stalemate because of the early withdrawal of Tsarist Russia. Tsar Nicholas II, at the instigation of his favored vassals Rasputin and Empress Mary, finally declared Russia's withdrawal from World War I and its withdrawal from the Entente, in favor of neutrality. Then the more than two million troops of the Russian front turned to the country, preparing to suppress the rebellion of the revolutionaries at home.

Germany continued with their usual efficiency, and not long after Russia declared its neutrality, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Russia. In addition to retaining enough alert troops on the Eastern Front, the main German forces were also transferred from the Eastern Front to the Western Front. The transfer of Germany's strategic deployment made Britain and France scramble, and the two sides on the Western Front were already in a state of stalemate, and Britain and France only had a slight advantage. Now that Germany has changed from a two-front battlefield to a one-sided battlefield, the intensity of the battlefield has immediately increased. The Battle of Verdun, which had taken the Germans for seven months without success, was again fought with a significant increase in German troops. The Entente side desperately threw its troops into the battlefield, but the German attack was too sharp, and a large number of Allied soldiers rushed to the battlefield only to become a live target. In an extreme period of time, the second battle of Verdun became the largest collision between the two military blocs, and millions of people fought to the death on the land of Verdun. The Entente's front was in jeopardy. The armament is also slightly insufficient. But after all, Britain and France are old capitalist empires, with deep roots, and they transferred supplies from the colonies, risking the lives of their soldiers, barely holding the front. Then the sides again fell into a stalemate, and the whole Verdun became a meat grinder of the world war for the second time.

At the same time, Britain, France and other Entente countries finally got the long-awaited good news, and after continuous operation, the United States finally declared its entry into the war. Because of the sudden change in Tsarist Russia, the American Congress cast doubt on the prospects of World War I, and as a result, the declaration of war on Germany, which was originally scheduled for early April, was postponed. Although the United States has enmity with Germany, this hatred is commercial and has nothing to do with the life and death of the country. After all, the continental United States is in North America, far away from the European continent, and Germany and other allies are not known for their naval strength, so there is no problem with the stability of the United States homeland.

As for the feud between the United States and Germany, it is easy to say that the United States, as a neutral country, made a lot of war money with the help of World War I, and the result was that American merchant ships were all over Europe. Germany's surface ships are not strong and are no match for Britain and France, the two old naval powers, so the German navy is more focused on submarines in construction. In the early days of the war, Germany relied mainly on submarine warfare to prevent material aid from other countries to Britain, but this was temporarily suspended due to protests by the United States. However, when the situation of the British and German armies became worse and worse, and the domestic economy deteriorated day by day, Germany decided to resume unlimited submarine warfare in January 1917, that is, all ships in British waters, whether enemy or neutral, could be sunk by German submarines, which greatly affected the navigation of American merchant ships, and there were also records of American merchant ships being sunk, so German-American relations deteriorated, and the United States began to have the intention of declaring war on Germany, if it were not for Russia's sudden withdrawal from the Entente, which would have deteriorated the prospects of the Entente, I am afraid that now the United States has declared war on Germany and joined the First World War.

Because of the withdrawal of Tsarist Russia, Germany was able to concentrate its forces to attack the western theater and launched the protracted Verdun exhibition, although the battlefield was stalemate, and the daily losses were amazing, but the front gradually stabilized from the storm, which made the United States see the strength of the Entente and finally made up its mind to enter the war.

April 17, 1917. The United States officially declared war on Germany, and a batch of military supplies that had been wandering across the Atlantic arrived in Britain in the shortest possible time. The arrival of these military supplies gave the Allied side a great victory in morale. For a time, the sound of the counterattack was noisy. However, there were too many tactical wizards in the German staff, and the Entente just wanted to counterattack there, and the Allies here had already launched an increasingly powerful offensive. The two sides can hardly achieve any tangible results other than increasing casualties.

Compared to the stalemate on the world battlefield. The war on the territory of Tsarist Russia was not so easy. More than two million troops on the front line withdrew to the country, and most of them supported the tsar, so that the tsar's power swelled to its peak for a while. The Tsar immediately issued an order to advance his troops towards St. Petersburg, to destroy the rebels there with a thunderbolt, and to restore the Russian Empire to life.

However, the generals of the front-line armies, after receiving the Tsar's order, replied quite quickly. They want weapons, they want ammunition, they want ...... salaries. It was only at this time that His Majesty Tsar Nicholas II discovered that he was not only short of weapons and ammunition, but also had little money. After all, although Moscow is the second largest city in Tsarist Russia, the palace in this city was originally only the Tsar's residence, and naturally it cannot be compared with the imperial palace in St. Petersburg. But all this the tsar could not say. Tsar Nicholas II didn't know much about war, but his rejection of revolutionaries was in his bones. Therefore, he can let the soldiers and officers know that the Romanov dynasty is financially tight, and the country at war, which is not financially tight? But it must not be known that the wealth of the palace in Moscow is simply not enough to feed an army of millions. Therefore, the use of limited financial resources to raise military supplies was the biggest problem facing the tsar.

"Rasputin, do you have a good solution to the weapons and ammunition requested by the troops?" The tsar was worried during this time. The two million army seems to be majestic, but it costs a lot of money just to feed them, not to mention weapons, equipment, ammunition and supplies. The Tsar fled from St. Petersburg in a hurry, and the treasures of the Romanov dynasty could not be brought out at all. As for the Moscow Palace, the tsar did not come often, and it was not a military town itself, so naturally there were not too many supplies. Of course, in addition to guns and ammunition, food and supplies are easy to solve, after all, Russia has a vast land area and bee-like serfs toiling hard. This ensured the abundance of materials from the upper echelons of Tsarist Russia.

"Your Majesty, we must get a new source of weapons as soon as possible. I think it can be like a neutral country buying weapons to suppress a rebellion. Rasputin thought for a moment and said.

"In today's world, the United States has the best quality of arms and weapons, but its price is too expensive, and it is difficult to buy it with the weak financial resources of the empire. Are there other ways to buy weapons? Nicholas II said with a depressed face. Since the formation of the Romanov dynasty, when has such an embarrassing situation occurred. As soon as he thought of this, the tsar hated those revolutionaries to the core.

"Your Majesty, how is Japan? They are our enemies, but they are an industrial country after all. The scale of weapons production is not small. The price is also cheaper than the American product! Rasputin said.

"Japan? Japan's weapons are not very lethal, and compared to other powers, Japan can be regarded as an option. However, now that Japan has joined the Entente, weapons and equipment will definitely be given priority to the Entente ** team, and we may not be able to get low-cost orders. Are there any other ways? "The Tsar is not confused about this matter, after all, their financial resources are really limited now. It is also necessary to support the counterinsurgency of millions of troops, which is simply impossible to achieve without careful calculation.

"This ......" Rasputin searched his brain, trying to find some clues. Suddenly, he thought of the Far East, of the country that had defeated Japan. Rasputin was able to mix in the Tsar's court, not only by virtue of his unscrupulous deception, as a person who made a living by deceitful, Rasputin attached great importance to the collection of intelligence. And he himself has cultivated some people as henchmen to deliver news to them everywhere. After the Jeff family took refuge in him, Rasputin became interested in the Far East. Naturally, I also knew about the cattiness of the Far Eastern Army. At the same time, it also became known that Chinese weapons flowed into the Far East at low prices, quietly filling the gap in the weapons of the Far Eastern Army.

"Your Majesty, I heard that China in the Far East defeated Japan. Although the performance of the rifle produced by itself cannot be compared with that of American goods, the caliber of the 7.92 mm bullet greatly exceeds the lethality of the Japanese Type 38 rifle. And most importantly, Chinese weapons are cheap. Rasputin said.

"China? That rotten country? "Tsar Nicholas II's impression of China was still stuck in the weak government of Yuan Shikai. Although he heard that China had the upper hand in the war with Japan, the tsar himself did not believe it much. In addition, his energy at that time was mainly focused on the world war, and the affairs of the Far East were naturally not taken too seriously.

"Your Majesty, although the strength of Far East China is not very good, their weapons are good. We can purchase in large quantities through the Far Eastern Governor's Palace. As long as the rebellion in the country is assessed, the imperial industry will slowly recover. At that time, there will be no need to rely on any one party. Rasputin said with a smile. He knew that China's strength was actually very strong, and the Imperial Far East Army was silently crippled by the Northeast Army at that time. What's more, now China is even stronger, and even the Imperial Japanese Army has suffered in the hands of the squadron. But the tsar was extremely disdainful of the squadron, and Rasputin, of course, would follow the tsar's mind and say that this is what a qualified favorite should do.

Sure enough, when the tsar listened to Rasputin's words, his heart moved.

"Rasputin, you asked people to approach China and purchase weapons and ammunition in large quantities." The tsar made a decision. If the tsarist government's finances had not been destroyed, he would certainly have procured arms supplies from the United States. But now, it can only buy from the little-known China. This kind of behavior hurt the Tsar's imperial ambitions, and he naturally did not feel good.

(To be continued)