【Second update today】

Just three days after the war began, Russia suddenly declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, causing the bankruptcy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's plan to go to the bankruptcy of the Austro-Hungarian infantry army halfway was forced to implement the plan C and transferred to deal with the Russian army.

On the battlefield of Serbia, the Balkan Army had no subsequent elite reinforcements and finally confronted the Serbian army on the boundary river without any progress. A careful Serbia dragged the entire Balkan Army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which shows that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already in a state of twilight.

On January 16, Germany was angry with Russia's betrayal and declared war on Russia. On the same day, Russia declared war on Germany.

On January 17, France saw that Germany took the bait and declared war on Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On the same day, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also declared war on France.

On January 18, Britain declared war on Germany, and on the same day, Germany also declared war on Britain at the same time.

In the following two days, the three alliances of Britain, France and Russia and the three alliances of Germany, Austria and Turkey declared war on each other. Italy shamelessly called the Balkan War an unjust war and refused to participate in the war, but did not join the Allies, but continued to maintain neutrality and see the direction of the wind.

At this point, a full-scale war broke out between the Allies and the Allies, the European War broke out, and the First World War was also ignited.

After the war broke out between the two major European military groups, the whole world was in shock and panic.

Whether it is the belligerent countries or people in neutral countries, they all feel that the end of the world has come. The mainstream European media called it a comeback in the dark moment of the medieval European era, which shows the panic of Europeans over this war.

Areas outside Europe cannot be spared. The two major military groups have a large number of colonies overseas. The colonies naturally have to participate in the war, so they naturally spread out of Europe after the war and spread to Africa and West Asia.

Although the American continent has not been affected, the United States dare not be careless. Instead, it is worried that because the outbreak of the European war, the Chinese Empire no longer has to worry about European countries interfering in the three issues of China, the United States and Japan. Will the Chinese Empire take action against the United States and Japan. The rumors from many channels have shown that the Chinese Empire is likely to go to war against the United States and Japan, so both the United States and Japan are very worried.

When the European war broke out, the Chinese Empire was naturally the happiest country. On the one hand, it could begin to export weapons and supplies to the two major European military groups and make a fortune in war. On the other hand, Europe had no time to intervene in the conflict between the Chinese Empire and the United States and Japan. As long as Europe had no time to help Japan and the United States, the Chinese Empire would have the confidence to start a war with the United States and Japan and eliminate potential enemies.

Beijing, the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City was filled with laughter and joy.

Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire was extremely happy after learning that the war broke out. Similarly, all civil and military officials were also very happy. Because the Chinese Empire avoided the possibility of a joint war between Europe and Japan and the United States, the Chinese Empire was still very sure to deal with Japan and the United States alone. Therefore, when the mood was relaxed, he naturally became happy.

"How is the situation in Europe going on?" Wang Chenhao asked happily while sitting on the dragon throne.

"Report to Your Majesty!" As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Zhang Feng, as the chief minister, naturally had to be the first to answer without asking whom the emperor asked. So he said: "After the outbreak of the European War, Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were the allies. In addition to Italy's neutrality, Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria and Turkey had already joined the war. The two sides declared war on each other's countries within a week, and the fight had begun in full swing."

Defense Minister Wang Shizhen added: "The Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Serbia, and the two million troops did not do anything about 400,000 Serbian troops, but were beaten back to the border river by the Slavs, and was in a mess. Germany took a defensive position against Russia on the eastern front, and the western front confronted France on the German-French border. The French attacked Germany's Alsace and Lorraine, and the German troops were in a defensive position. The German troops seemed to avoid head-on battles with the French army, adopted roundabout strategies, and occupied Luxembourg within a day.

It also declared war on Belgium, and the main force headed directly to Belgium's scorching sun fortress. Britain has completed the national mobilization, and the expeditionary force will probably take about half a month to land in France. Because the main force of the British team is on the Suez Canal, 300,000 British and 100,000 French troops are fighting fiercely with 300,000 German troops in the Suez Canal. The 12th Russian-Turkey War broke out between Turkey and Russia, and millions of troops on both sides are fighting fiercely in the Black Sea and Eastern Europe, and there is no advantage at present."

Wang Chenhao nodded, thinking in his mind that some details of the First World War had changed. Time was advanced, and the participating countries increased. Turkey and Bulgaria joined the Allies to fight against the Allies at the first time, making the Allies very powerful. Turkey's early connection with Russia was very beneficial to the German team to defend East Prussia, and concentrated their strength to deal with France first, and then turn around to deal with Russia. The Battle of Britain, France and Germany in the Suez Canal was planned by Wang Chenhao. There was no war here in the original First World War. Now it is still unknown who will win the Suez Canal. After all, the combat power of the 300,000 German troops is still very strong, and the British and French coalition may not be able to retake the Suez Canal.

Of course, Wang Chenhao hoped that Britain and France would seize the canal, so that Germany would have to be obediently slaughtered by the Chinese Empire and could only rely on the Baghdad Railway to obtain external support.

Overall, the overall strategic situation of the First World War has not changed much and is still within Wang Chenhao's control.

Army Minister Duan Qirui said: "The strategic policies of the major participating countries are formulated based on their respective aggression purposes. They all have one thing in common, that is, they all emphasize strategic offensives and despise defense. For example, France does not pay attention to Germany's roundabout tactics of invading Belgium, but directly attacks France's most heartbroken Alsace and Lorraine, trying to defeat Germany from this direction. Germany is in a defensive state in this direction, but instead tries to quickly conquer Belgium to northwest France, thus directly attacking Paris, the French capital. Both sides attempt to rely on one or two decisive battles to decide the outcome of the war, and they are based on relying on pre-war material reserves to fight a short-term war, without tapping economic potential to meet the needs of the war and preparing for a protracted war."

Wang Shizhen agreed: "Russia and Turkey are evenly matched, so that Russia cannot arrange large troops on the eastern front of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a short period of time, and cannot effectively impose restraints on Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This created conditions for Germany to use the developed railway network to quickly fight against France. I am optimistic about Germany's victory."

Tang Shaoyi shook his head and said, "Not necessarily! The German army is indeed powerful. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire failed in the first battle. If Serbia cannot defeat Serbia, it will affect its subsequent support to Germany and Turkey. Italy is neutral and its attitude is uncertain. According to our previous judgment, Italy has no conflicts with the Allies, but it has many conflicts with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turkish Empire. Italy is likely to join the Allies, so the balance of power will be reversed soon."

At this time, Li Guodong said: "Our intelligence shows that in order to avoid fighting on both east and west sides at the same time, Germany is preparing to conquer France in 6-8 weeks first, and then lead the troops eastward to defeat Russia within a few months to end the war. Given that France is extremely eager to recapture the Alsace and Lorraine, Germany's idea of ​​fighting against France is to restrain and attract the main force of the French army with its troops deployed on the German-French border, and at the same time, a powerful main attack group suddenly passes through the neutral country Belgium. It implements a profound detour to the French hinterland and attack the main force of the French army from behind. On the battlefield in Eastern Europe, it uses a small amount of troops to restrain the Russian army. At the sea, it concentrates the main force of the navy against the British navy. At the same time, it uses a small amount of troops to restrain the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea."

Wang Chenhao nodded, and he still had a little impression of Shi Lifen's plan.

According to Schriefen's military plan, Germany used the characteristics of high quality, strong mobility, and easy to mobilize in the inside line during wartime. It concentrated its forces to attack France, which was first on the Western Front, defeated France within 4 to 6 weeks, and then went back to deal with Russia. The Russian team was poor in quality and lagging behind in training. Both mobilization and concentration were slow, and it was difficult to launch a major offensive against Germany on the Eastern Front within 4 to 6 weeks. The German army would have time to concentrate its forces to defeat the main force of the Russian army and win the victory of the two-line battle within 3 to 4 months.

Therefore, the German troops were deployed. Only 9 divisions were deployed on the eastern front to restrain the Russian army; on the western front, 78 divisions were deployed to attack France. The Western front also deployed 70 divisions of German troops with the right wing in northwestern France as the main assault direction, and only 8 divisions were deployed in the direction of Alsace in the eastern French, Lorraine, to restrain the main French forces of the French army. Before the French main attack on Alsace and Lorraine failed, the right German troops would quickly rush through the neutral countries Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, break into northern France, and rush westward to the English Channel, cutting off the connection between Britain and the European continent. Then head south to bypass the French capital Paris, cross the Seine River, cooperate with the German left-wing troops to encircle and annihilate the French forces in eastern France in one fell swoop, thus winning the entire victory on the battlefield on the Western Front.

However, after Schriefen's death, Moltke Jr. succeeded the position of Chief of Staff of the German Army. At this time, the European pattern had undergone tremendous changes. The European population increased by 30% within ten years, and the corresponding army was 1 million more. Especially Russia, after being defeated by the Chinese Empire, the Far East territory was gone and there was no need to garrison troops. At the same time, Russia and the Chinese Empire signed a border non-garrison treaty and established a military buffer zone. In this way, Russia's standing troops were concentrated in the European part, and the 2 million troops suppressed Germany was a little breathless.

According to the changing situation, Moltke Xiao adjusted Schriefen's plan. He increased the German troops on the Eastern Front to 18 divisions to deal with the overly large Russian army. On the Western Front, the left wing was strengthened, from 8 divisions to 15 divisions, otherwise it would be difficult to resist the main force of the French army of 75 divisions. Because Germany's population grew and the number of troops increased accordingly, the right wing troops on the Western Front did not decrease, but instead increased by 2 divisions to 72 divisions.

France and Russia have long known about Germany's Schriefen plan, so in response to Germany's blitzkrieg plan, France and Russia formulated their Bovinsky combat operations, hoping to take advantage of Germany's roundabout maneuver before Germany completed its roundabout maneuver, France and Russia's main force conquered Berlin and ended the war.

It can be said that if Moltke did not modify Schriefen's plan, Germany would be defeated within three months. The French Grand Marshal assured the media on the day of the war that ending the war within three months was enough to prove the correctness of Moltke's plan to temporarily modify Schriefen's plan.

Originally, if Turkey had not joined, Germany would have consumed a large amount of troops to resist the Russian army, and the original blitzkrieg against France would have become empty talk. However, after Turkey joined the Allies in 1912, it implemented the military defense treaty, which made Moltke's concerns about the Schlieffen plan unnecessary, and the Schlieffen plan was implemented normally.

For the Allies, Turkey's participation in the war was very scared. Because Turkey restrained the main force of the Russian army on the eastern front, the German blitzkrieg against France was successfully implemented. Fortunately, the weak Serbia dragged the main force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy chose to be neutral. France breathed a sigh of relief for the time being, but it seemed very difficult for the French army to face the attack of the main force of the German army.

Wang Chenhao thought to himself that the end of the battle may change drastically because he found that the advantages of the allies were very obvious.

In Wang Chenhao's view, he hopes that the Allies will win. Because the future enemy of the Chinese Empire is the United States, and the United States and Britain have the same clan and origin, they will sooner or later unite. Therefore, only if Britain loses, it will be in line with the interests of the Chinese Empire. Of course, the Allies cannot be overly strong. If Germany is not weakened, it will be the next potential strong enemy of the Chinese Empire after the United States, and that is also the result that Wang Chenhao is unhappy to see.

"Your Majesty!" Hearing Wang Shizhen's voice, Wang Chenhao immediately came to his senses.

Wang Shizhen said: "Your Majesty, the two major military groups in Europe have fought. It is estimated that it will be difficult to end in less than a year or two. Are we going to take action against the United States and Japan? Eliminating Japan's close enemy and defeating the United States' strong enemy is now an opportunity. European powers have no energy to interfere, so don't worry about them."

"Mr. Wang is such a bad thing!" Zhang Feng saw Wang Chenhao's arguing with his meaning, and immediately said to Wang Chenhao: "Your Majesty, Europe has just started the war. The situation is unclear. We should take a look first. After all, the allies have great potential for victory. If Europe ends the war early, we will be trapped in the quagmire of the US-Japan war. It will be a very dangerous situation. Besides, Italy is still neutral and has an unclear attitude. If Italy participates in the war, the direction of the battlefield will definitely change significantly. Therefore, the empire suggests that the empire wait and see for a while, and it is best to influence the European war by exporting advanced weapons and equipment. It is best to let them fight for a long time. The empire's first priority is to make a fortune in wars and wealth, and the war against Japan and the United States can be released."

Wang Chenhao also nodded and agreed with Zhang Feng's point of view. What he said was not without reason.

When Wang Shizhen saw Zhang Feng argue with him again, he was displeased and said: "Mr. Zhang always has the idea of ​​carefully sailing a ship for ten thousand years. It is too conservative and too self-deprecating. With the military and financial resources of the empire today, it can defeat the United States and Japan within four to six weeks. As for what you said about making money from European countries, it can be carried out at the same time. With the industrial ability of the empire, it is completely competent. In addition, if we defeat the United States, you must know that the war compensation alone is enough to make up for all losses. If you plunder the United States once, I believe that the oil and water are far dozens of times more than the ones plundered during the British War. Think about this money, it will be a huge reward for us to win the US-Japan War."

Zhang Feng was speechless. He also wanted to rob the United States. It didn't take too much, it would be enough for one. But what if the war against the United States was in a quagmire, it would seriously drag down the Chinese Empire. Therefore, Zhang Feng was in a dilemma.

Wang Chenhao smiled. Wang Shizhen always used this to seduce people, and it has been tried and done many times. Look at the officials who were drooling after hearing this, you can tell how tempting it was. But Wang Shizhen is too bragging and can defeat the Japan-US alliance in four to six weeks, which is obviously unreliable.

"Four to six weeks is too unreliable!" Wang Chenhao thought for a while and said, "The European war will have to be fought for at least three or five years before it can end. It is acceptable for us to defeat the Japan-US alliance within two years."

Wang Shizhen was overjoyed and asked, "Your Majesty agrees!"

Wang Chenhao nodded, and Zhang Feng hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, think twice!"

Wang Chenhao smiled and said to Zhang Feng: "Your caution is worthy of praise, but don't be too careful. You must know that wealth and honor are in danger, and the country is the same. You must seize the opportunity."

Then Wang Chenhao comforted Zhang Feng and said, "We can adjust our strategies at all times according to the situation on the European battlefield, always maintain the European war at a balance point, and delay their war time. For example, if the Allies have the upper hand, then we will restrict the export of materials and weapons to them, and provide advanced weapons to the Allies to counter the Allies. Conversely, when the Allies have the upper hand, we will in turn export more advanced weapons to the Allies to balance the situation of the war. In this way, the war between the Allies and the Allies is always at a balance point and is evenly matched. Then their war will be a long and protracted war, and it will be impossible to interfere with the war between us and the United States and Japan. In fact, as long as they fight for more than a year, their national strength will be severely consumed. Even if there is a sudden truce, they will not have the financial resources or energy to take care of our affairs, so you don't have to worry too much."

"But?" Zhang Feng was still waiting to give his opinions.

Wang Chenhao immediately interrupted him and said, "Okay! I have decided, that's it! You should concentrate on the national economic production and be able to produce as much material as possible. Leave the war to Wang Shizhen. If he loses his chain, I will never forgive him."

Wang Shizhen immediately said: "I obey the order!"

Seeing that Wang Chenhao had made up his mind and knew that he could not change it, Zhang Feng had to pray that the Empire would go well, so he said respectfully: "I obey the order!"

In this way, Wang Chenhao made the final decision, ended the differences in opinions between the military and political parties, and transferred all the energy of the imperial government to the wartime mechanism.

Wang Chenhao ended the dispute between the military and political parties. The subsequent meeting focused on how to make money from exporting materials to Europe, and had already prepared for war against Japan and the United States. There was no dispute anymore. The officials of both military and political parties worked together.

"The European powers are all enemies who have invaded our country. It would be better to let them bite their own dogs!"

This sentence is a consensus among all civil and military officials.

Wang Chenhao asked: "How is our strategic material reserve?"

Zhang Feng replied: "Report to your Majesty, according to your instructions, the Empire has hoarded a large number of shortage materials in European battlefields in Puerto Rico, Cyprus and Kuwait, etc., waiting to be sold to European warring countries at high prices. At the same time, the second phase expansion project of the Panama Canal has been completed, and it can be used for large merchant ships in the Empire to pass through, and the transportation capacity has been more than doubled. The Baghdad Railway Duplex has been completed, and various export materials from the Empire can be transported to European countries within two months."

Then Zhang Feng said: "However, the current growth of procurement of goods from various countries in China is not very fast, mainly because the European powers are preparing to end the war within a few months, so they have some reservations in procurement. In addition, European countries want to import our advanced weapons and equipment, and we are still bargaining with them."

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "It doesn't matter, it's like this in the early stages of the war. We don't care about them, just produce them on a large scale, and we will definitely be able to sell them. As for advanced weapons and equipment, we will not sell them for the time being, and let them fight for a while. When they cannot advance, then our advanced weapons will take action and break the deadlock between them, and then we can sell them at a good price."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Zhang Feng and others quickly praised.

At this time, Tang Shaoyi suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the United States will probably export arms and materials to European countries, and will be our biggest competitor."

Wang Chenhao laughed and said, "This big cake in Europe is too huge and has amazing benefits. Europe's economic accumulation for hundreds of years will be consumed in this war. If the empire gets this wealth, then the empire's citizens will struggle for twenty years less and will become the economic center of the world in an instant. Therefore, we must try our best not to let the United States export materials to Europe make money. We must monopolize this cake, so the most critical reason for the war against the United States is this, and the others are secondary."

Zhang Feng sighed in shock, and it turned out that His Majesty was considering this and immediately admired him.

Subsequently, Wang Chenhao ordered Wang Shizhen to organize the navy, and first blockade the Japan and the United States, and carry out maritime wars. It prevents Japan from obtaining necessary materials for industrial development, and prevents the United States from exporting materials to Europe to rob the profits of merchants in the Chinese Empire.

As a result, the huge war machine of the Chinese Empire started to operate again. The enemy that we were going to face this time was no longer a single country, but two countries, Japan and the United States. Especially the United States, the war potential was huge. Although the Chinese Emperor's side vowed to guarantee victory, they were not absolutely sure.
Chapter completed!