The train from Marseille to Paris was supposed to take a day, but at the request of the French government, the 2nd Marine Division, which landed in Marseille this time, also drove to Paris for review. In fact, this demand was to boost the morale of the military and the people of France, and in the midst of the predicament of hunger and war, many groups throughout France explicitly demanded peace talks, and some of them even propagated throughout the country, saying, 'Don't fight for the capitalists!' 'Don't fight for millionaires!' ’。

This is the case in France, and England is not much better. At a time of internal and external difficulties, the words of these men were so inflammatory that some newspapers predicted that the victory of the war would lie in the civil strife that occurred on which side of the war would break out first. And the French president's request for an absolute hardline Clemenceau to form a cabinet has the meaning of suppressing domestic voices for anti-war peace talks. After Clemenceau came to power, he really lived up to the expectations of the main war faction, not only vigorously attacked all anti-war factions, but also arrested many socialists, and even shot several people in the name of German spies, which can be regarded as suppressing the situation on the verge of collapse, but the suppression is only temporary, if the food crisis cannot be solved and the front line is still defeated, then the anti-war forces will eventually rebound.

The train carrying Lin Wenqian 1 and the 2nd Marine Division deliberately arrived at the Paris railway station at dusk, just when the factories in the city were at work, which not only gave people from all walks of life in France leisure to join the team to welcome the Chinese expeditionary force, but also allowed everyone to see that Chinese reinforcements had arrived, so as to boost the morale of the army and the people.

At the railway station, in addition to Yang Du, Zhou Sixu, and Shi Zhaoji, the ambassador to France, who had already arrived in advance, the welcoming people also included French Prime Minister Clemenceau, French Commander-in-Chief Petain, General Staff Chief Foch, British Chief of Staff Robertson, Italian Army Representative to France Quedora and other dignitaries. As soon as Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian got out of the car, the military band began to play the Chinese national anthem, and the somewhat rugged French Prime Minister Clemenceau did not care whether the Chinese were saluting or saluting. As soon as they met, they stepped forward and grabbed Lin Wenqian's hand tightly. Faced with this rare scene, the accompanying reporters immediately lit the spotlight. The white light shines, and the moment is forever frozen in the photograph. Next. This photograph of the handshake, a symbol of victory, was printed in newspapers all over France.

After a brief greeting, on the crowded railway station square, Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian invited Clemenceau to review the honor guard of the 2nd Naval Division. Although the soldiers of the Second Division were short, they were full of energy when they traveled thousands of miles to Paris, and most importantly, the soldiers were all young people in their twenties, vigorous and murderous, and the eyes of the French, who had fought hard for a long time, were full of heat when they saw this new force.

Review completed. Clemenceau invited Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian to share a ride with him in front of the entire welcoming convoy. The news of the arrival of the Chinese had long spread throughout France, and at this time, there were crowds of people on both sides of the street, cheering incessantly, dragon flags flying, and the hysterical shouts of those French even covered up the huge roar of the jackal light combat vehicles of the Second Marine Division, and the men, women, and children looking out from behind the windows of the buildings on both sides not only shouted 'Long live China,' but also threw flowers like raindrops at the convoy and the strict queue of the Second Marine Division. So that the whole street is paved with flowers.

The Marine Corps is independent of the Navy and Army, and its individual armament is in addition to rifles and bayonets, from steel helmets to military trousers, in blue, white and black naval camouflage. There are also tactical vests, oval grenades, tortoiseshell knee pads, and marine-specific machetes and bows. However, this is not very attractive, and the most surprising thing about the Marines is that the faces of the soldiers are painted with dark oil paint, and many of the soldiers in this unit are from the mountainous tribes of Taiwan. The unique fierceness and murderous spirit of the military are blended into the savagery of the mountain tribes. This unique temperament surprised the ladies of Paris and then screamed. In some sections of the road where there were many women, the ladies actually broke through the police barriers. rushed to the queue of the second division and pulled the soldiers to kiss wildly regardless of the oil paint.

"The French have never been so crazy! Even if the American division arrived three months ago, it was not so crazy! This is the exclamation of Yang Du after he arrived at the Crelon Hotel after wandering around Europe as a secret envoy for more than half a year. However, as soon as his words fell, the voice outside the hotel sounded like thunder, and Shi Zhaoji, the minister in France who knew Western etiquette, immediately invited Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian to the balcony and motioned for him to give a little speech to the eager crowd below.

The French probably knew that this would happen for a long time, and not only arranged the Chinese's room outside the third floor of the hotel, but also prepared a television broadcast and microphone on the balcony. Lin Wenqian walked to the balcony and saw the dense crowd below, and people were all looking up to him, with an indescribable longing in their eyes. Three months ago, the Americans told them that the United States would send a million troops to fight in France, but to this day, there are no more than 20,000 American soldiers in France, let alone entered the battlefield. Now that China has also declared war on the Allies, how many troops can they send?

Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian, who was only thinking about the battle situation, didn't know much about the hesitation and expectation of the French when the gas lamp was dry, and he really didn't know what to say when he looked at the people below. After a period of silence, the crowd below began to shout again, and Yang Du, who knew that he was helpless, stepped forward and whispered a few words in his ear, and he finally spoke: "I ......"

"I ...... I want to tell you that victory is coming soon! The radio was connected not only to the loudspeakers of the hotel, but also to the entire Paris radio system, so that the Chinese language sounded over Paris for the first time, and after that, it was Shi Zhaoji's fluent translation.

"The ships carrying the first batch of Baath troops to Europe will set sail early next month, and more than 130 merchant ships will bring 200,000 soldiers and their weapons to Marseille." Lin Wenqian's voice was followed by Shi Zhaoji's, and Shi Zhaoji's voice was followed by the cheers of the whole Paris, which was the real hope they wanted.

"This is just the first batch of troops, and after that, the next batch of Baath Army soldiers to Europe, also 200,000, will arrive. Most of these soldiers were Ba'ath veterans who had fought against Manchu armies, Japanese armies, and Russian armies. And, in the end, they all defeated them, without exception!

In my twelve-year war career, my officers and my soldiers and I have never rushed into a war with no chance of victory. No matter how terrible the opponent looks, no matter how difficult the status quo seems, but as long as you are sure that you can win. No matter what the predicament, the Renaissance Army will fight to the death.

Huge army, advanced weapons. Clever strategies, these are in the eyes of many as a guarantee of victory. But years of war experience have taught me that the root of victory lies only in justice! And what is justice? Not wanting the enemy to invade our land is justice! It is justice not to want the enemy to kill our brothers and humiliate our sisters! France in the midst of war is justice!!

From today onwards, I, all the soldiers of the Baath Army who went to Europe, will fight for justice together with my friends and you! I am sure that victory is not far ahead, and all we have to do is fight and persevere. Please join us together! ”

The speech ended with the cheers of the whole city, and Lin Wenqian saluted and then returned to the room. His speech surprised the room as if they had just met him. Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian, who has always been quiet and quiet, was able to give such an encouraging speech.

Lin Wenqian looked at everyone's surprised gaze and was not uncomfortable, you must know that in the special class of Nanyang College, either people are promoted or talented, and everyone in Wenmo is the best. In the past ten years, he has mainly been obsessed with military affairs and neglected literature and ink, but this is not to say that he can't give speeches, according to his point of view when he was studying, those Western speech model essays are far less agitative than any article in the Warring States Policy.

"Will 200,000 people really come in next month?" Yang Du asked. When I was giving a lecture just now. Lin Wenqian roughly stated the time and number of ships for reinforcements to come, and now it is obviously unwise to say that Europe is afraid of German submarines.

"Fake." Lin Wenqian smiled.

"Ahh What about the fake ones? "I don't want to be ambushed by German submarines, and I don't want to be like the Americans. Being ridiculed by French public opinion for the failure of the reinforcements to arrive, Yang Du's face was a little ugly.

Before Lin Wenqian could answer, the reporters outside were brought in again at the signal of Zhou Sixu. Among them are Chinese. But more local French journalists. While Lin Wenqian was answering reporters' questions, Zhou Sisi approached Yang Du. He said softly: "If the plan is not wrong, the fleet will depart tomorrow." ”

"Ahh Yang Du was surprised again. He also knew that this matter was extremely important, and said softly: "Although this German submarine cannot reach the Red Sea, there are many in the Mediterranean, and if it comes like this, it is not afraid of ......."

"What are you afraid of, it's not Chinese, it's all Russian Maozi." Zhou Sixu made a joke, and then said seriously: "The navy has a complete strategy, and even if the German submarine can cause damage, it is not big." ”

"What's not big?" Yang Du was puzzled. "A few days ago, the convoy transporting US troops was ambushed by submarines. Although the fast submarine can't catch up with the cruise ship, how can there be so many cruise ships? Otherwise, the troop movement would not have stopped. ”

"I can't say anything about this for a while." Zhou thought truthfully. "However, the fleet has a thirty-five day voyage to Marseille, and after thirty-five days, you will know the result."

After Zhou Sixu finished speaking, he no longer mentioned the shipping matter, but listened to Lin Wenqian and the French reporter ask. After answering the last question, these reporters were finally gifted out, and the suite was suddenly much quieter. At this time, Yang Du stepped forward to greet Lin Wenqian and said, "Zhou Marrow has worked hard. This time, it was a long journey, the saddle horse was tiring, and I had to give a speech to deal with the reporters when I got out of the car, which was really tiring. ”

In the eyes of many old revival associations, Yang Du, who joined the gang halfway, was just Yang Rui's strategist, and he was more in favor of being able to step down from the position of the president of the Inspector's Academy, after all, the country had just been founded to unite people outside the association, and the appearance should not be too ugly. However, Lin Wenqian, with his unique intelligence, understood that Yang Du intervened in the war as a special envoy of Mr. and became an Asian who could influence the world situation, and the result would only increase his personal reputation and capital, paving the way for great use in the future. Therefore, he did not despise Yang Du as much as other generals, and when he saw Yang Du's condolences at this time, he also politely returned the salute. "Mr. Huizi, I will rely on you for advice in the future."

"Don't dare, don't dare." Yang Du said busily. "My duty is only to help the continent deal with the governments of the world, and I don't understand the military affairs at all." Yang Du glanced at Zhou Sixu again and said, "This time the negotiation with the armies of the Entente countries was still undertaken by Guangting, and Du was just beating the drums, so he didn't help at all. ”

After Yang Du finished a few polite words, Lin Wenqian stopped talking. At his signal, the adjutant closed the inner doors and windows of the suite, and the first military meeting after arriving in Paris began.

Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, Lieutenant General Zhou Sixu, chief of staff, Lieutenant General Xu Dachun, political commissar, Lieutenant General Cheng Zhixuan, commander of artillery, Lieutenant General Zhu Luhe, commander of the General Logistics Department, Colonel Tian Shijie, major Shen Honglie, commander of the Air Force Expeditionary Force, Major General Qin Guoyong, commander of the Air Force Expeditionary Force, and Yang Du, who became a part-time diplomatic adviser to the expeditionary force, a total of nine people sat in the small conference room in the suite. Start the first session.

According to the procedures of the meeting, Chief of Staff Zhou Sixu had to give a briefing first. In particular, Lin Wenqian previously explained the issues of command, coordinated operations, battle line arrangement, weapon allocation, transportation channels, means of transport, local material collection, submarine issues in the Mediterranean, shipping management issues, and the problems of getting along with the local people. A total of 10 issues should be reported in advance.

"There is no problem with the question of command, because both countries have agreed to fight independently of our army; After more than three years of fighting, the generals of the Entente countries have realized the importance of coordinated operations, and the strength of the Allied countries is obviously superior to that of the German and Austrian sides. Efforts have been made to establish a joint command.

Although this was intended to take back some of the command of the armies, the coalition forces did need to cooperate on all fronts in order to exhaust the German-Austrian army and ultimately achieve victory. So, I don't disagree with that, I agree with it.

France was a landlord country, and he had the most soldiers on the Western Front; The British Expeditionary Force defended the western side of the front, and its original intention was more to protect the English Channel; The U.S. military has now only arrived at a patchwork division, is still doing targeted training, and has not joined the war; Although there were no fewer Italian troops. But it was only a partial division, and its purpose was to drag Austria-Hungary. From this point of view, the post of commander-in-chief of the Joint Command must be filled by the French, and this is already the impression of Petain and Foch in the minds of the generals of various countries. It is likely that Foch, who is kind and communicative, will take this position. However, the establishment of the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces was mentioned by Britain and France in the second year of the war, and whether it would be established in the near future. Still unknown.

The issue of the arrangement of the front line is closely related to the issue of transport routes. The American Expeditionary Force has demarcated all the large seaports on the Atlantic side, so we can only be left with Marseille. Toulon is a military port, the port of Sette has backward facilities, and the transportation is also inconvenient. So there is only giving up. Since it is Marseille, then the line assigned by our army can only be the east side, that is, the line from the Saint-Dière salient on the right flank to the line from Metz, where there have been few wars since the first year of the war, and if our army is put into this front, the German-Austrian army will have to increase its forces on this line of more than 120 kilometers. ”

Zhou Sixu said as he pointed to the huge map on the wall. Because there was no defeat on the Marne at the beginning of the war, the Germans were still south of the Marne. From Saint-Dizière, a city on the north bank of the Marne, however, the line of defense turned north-east and continued to connect with Metz; To the west, it starts from Saint-Dizier, passes through Vitry, Somersuo, Sezana, Leach-sur-Ourc and Persanne near Paris, and then passes through Beauville, Aumale, and continues to the town of Eu-sur-Mer by the sea.

This was a line of defense that cut through northern France, and the other was a line of defense set up by the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Calais against the English Channel. Last year, the British army wanted to capture Amiens, linking the English Channel defense line with the main line, and used tanks for this purpose, although it advanced more than 50 kilometers from Omarle to Amiens, so that the Allied people rang all the church bells, but the final result was a failure, costing hundreds of thousands of casualties.

The British line stretched westward from Persanne, 50 kilometers north of Paris, to the town of E, on the Atlantic coast, while the French went east from Persanne to Metz in the easternmost point. If the Baath Army took over the 120-kilometer line of defense from Saint-Dizier Daumez, the French army would only be left with a line of more than 240 kilometers, and the pressure would be greatly reduced.

Everyone was not dissatisfied with the distribution of the battle line, but Yang Du, who was a layman, asked, "Then the Americans are here, what is the section?" ”

"Americans?" Zhou Sixu didn't expect the Americans to have a share, he said: "Britain strongly demanded that the US army and the British army be mixed under the pretext of having the same kind of good command, but with the stubbornness of the US commander Pershing, it was impossible to think of it. If the Americans were able to overcome the two major difficulties of the shortage of merchant ships and the German submarines, it is estimated that they would arrange the section east of Sezana to Saint-Dizier, which is close to us.

When discussing the issue of the front before, Foch mentioned that the Americans wanted our current front, and he agreed at that time. It's just that now the American army is not coming, so it is assigned to us first. Although this front was easy to open, its importance should not be underestimated, and the coalfields of Serre, Longvi, the iron mines of Luxembourg, and the east-west communication lines of the German-Austrian coalition were all behind this front. Previously, the focus of the French army was to hold Paris, and the focus of the British army was to hold the English Channel, so there were few attacks on this section, only passive defense, and it was not at all that the position on this side was unimportant. In my opinion, if the position of the German-Austrian army is a trapezoid, then the hypotenuse of this trapezoidal shape from Saint-Dizier to Metz is the apex of Saint-Dizier and Persanne. As long as the troops can break through this hypotenuse like an awl, then ......"

'Ahem... coughing ......, Lieutenant General Lin Wenqian was drinking tea, and it seemed that he had accidentally coughed, and everyone immediately thought that he was reminding Zhou Sixu not to leak secrets, and after not wanting him to restrain his cough, he said: "This idea is very good, the staff should think carefully about how to break in." (To be continued......)

PS: Note: Many names and place names related to World War I come from the memoirs translated during the Republic of China, so there are differences between the translated names and the present, for example, Clemenceau is translated as Klamenxiu, the French commander-in-chief Petain is translated as Bai Dan, and the British commander-in-chief Haig is translated as Hagrid; The headquarters of the U.S. Army is located in Saumonter, which translates as Menxiu and so on. With limited energy, the names of key people and places will be changed to the present translation, and the rest will remain in the original translation, and only the English will be marked on the back end as much as possible.