Back to the Republic of China as a commander

And the name of de Gaulle was also spread throughout France at this moment. The young colonel (just promoted) captured Metz with his honorary regiment and the Chinese Expeditionary Force.The Chinese laborers, who had been looked down upon by the French for a few hours, turned into old friends of the French people at this moment. The owner of the bar announced that he would serve drinks for free tonight to celebrate the victory of the French army. The happy Parisian man saw every look Asians like Chinese will hug and kiss very enthusiastically, and then say in French: "Thank you, our friends."

Even the Japanese were touched. When Nagata Tieshan and the others went shopping, they were kissed several times in a row. The French regarded them as Chinese.

Hirota Koki shook his head in dissatisfaction. These Frenchmen really don’t care about hygiene, but Nagata Tieshan sighed: “This time the empire’s mainland policy is in trouble. The victory of the Chinese expeditionary force in Metz is equivalent to the empire’s victory in Japan and Russia. The victory in the war is mediocre. This ancient empire may be about to rise, which is probably not good news for the Great Japanese Empire."

On May 5, in London, Paris, and Rome, the news that the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the French army captured the German city of Metz spread like wings.

Chinese Minister Hu Weide was summoned by French Prime Minister Clemenceau last night. Clemenceau sincerely expressed his gratitude to our Minister Hu Weide and apologized for his behavior at the reception the night before: "Mr. Hu, We didn't know at the time that your country's army was actually carrying out such a great plan. Now it seems that they have succeeded, they are all the best soldiers, and you Chinese are also old friends of our French people forever (the one who burned the Old Summer Palace An old friend? An old friend who seized Vietnam? An old friend who went to Shanghai and Guangzhou to open the concessions?)."

This is the first time that Hu Weide has won the respect of the big powers since he entered politics in the former Qing Dynasty, and the root of all this comes from the performance of the Chinese Expeditionary Force of the Nationalist Government.

Hu Weide sent a report to the country without hesitation: "The Chinese European Expeditionary Force has won a great victory and conquered the German town of Metz. The coalition forces are full of joy."

This 25-character victory report immediately caused a sensation when it was sent back to China. At the beginning of the dispatch, both the north and the south felt that it was sending cannon fodder to Europe.

Even Wang Zhenyu himself was a bit uncertain about whether the expeditionary army could fight or not.It now appears that the Chinese European Expeditionary Force can not only fight, but also win.To quote a commentator’s article from the National Daily: “Wash away the centuries-old humiliation of the Chinese nation, and regain national confidence in the world.”

The author of this commentator’s article is Liang Qichao, who is relied on by the Senate. The concept of the Chinese nation was also put forward for the first time in this article. According to Liang Qichao’s explanation, there are no Han and minority nationalities in China, because the Han itself is also a multi-ethnic group Mixed existence, so China is a single nation state, that is the Chinese nation.This interpretation also had a huge impact on later ethnic policy in China. . .

The whole world was shocked, even the Germans were no exception. The real Germans said that they would mobilize the army as soon as possible to recover the Lorraine region and destroy the Chinese army, just like they easily eliminated the Boxers who would only kill their own compatriots. Same.This is undoubtedly telling the world that the results released by the French are true.

Now it's the turn of Marshal Hindenburg and Ludendorff to have a headache, because Marshal Pétain, who always advocates defense, has just issued an order that Nivelle must defend Fort Verdun, and it doesn't matter if all the troops are wiped out.Pétain even sent a separate telegram to Nivelles that he would not mind being court-martialed if he backed down, and that his name was used instead of the French word for coward.At the same time, Pétain also ordered the various departments of the French army who were carrying out reinforcements to Verdun to change their combat plans. The current plan is to attack. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so it is almost impossible for Petain to be the marshal.attack!This time it hurt the German. . .

Chapter 343 Legend of Famous Generals ([-])

In the sixth year of the Republic of China, on May 1917, 5, with the Chinese European Expeditionary Force Commanded by Bai Chongxi, the Third Division Xia Wei Division and the Fifth Division Ye Kaixin Division inserted the tiger flag representing the Youth Army on the roof of the tallest building in Metz At that time, the entire historical trend of the First World War changed subversively.

When Bai Chongxi and de Gaulle inspected the warehouse of the German army together, he immediately realized that he had stabbed a hornet's nest.Mace's geographical location is not only important, but Bai Chongxi is stunned by the various materials and equipment it reserves. It is estimated that the whole of China's ammunition piled up is not as good as other people's.

And the more ridiculous thing is yet to come. A German lieutenant colonel named Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst and his troops were brutally attacked by Shaw's troops. captured.And a local man bravely told the Chinese people that this German military official with a long name is the crown prince of Wilhelm II of Germany, and by Chinese standards, he is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.At that time, Wang Tianpei, the head of Xia Wei's team, was taken aback for a moment. The thin German in front of him is the future emperor of Germany. Haha, he has made a great contribution this time. . .

When he heard the good news, Bai Chongxi smiled at de Gaulle in a slightly teasing tone: "Charles, I don't think we need to march towards the German mainland to attract the Germans to return to the army, because we have already provoked a big enough The trouble is so big that if we stay where we are, they will come to us. Tell Paris the damn good news, now we need their help."

De Gaulle almost jumped to the world when he heard the news. You must know that the most shameful thing for the French in the Franco-Prussian War was not the cession of Lorraine and Alsace, but the capture of Napoleon III.But this time the bold action of the Chinese not only allowed him to appear in Lorraine, but even more amazing was that he actually captured the German crown prince. Such a good deed is almost equivalent to winning a 500 million lottery jackpot.

After de Gaulle was happy for a while, he still told Bai Chongxi calmly: "In any case, we should give His Royal Highness the corresponding prisoner of war treatment."

Bai Chongxi nodded and said: "Yes, then please take someone to bring this Friedrich William Victor O... It's too long, please bring it to the headquarters."

De Gaulle happily took Bai Chongxi's guard company over to pick them up, but Bai Chongxi frowned and thought for a while: "Record!"

The three staff officers immediately got up and prepared to record.

Bai Chongxi walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back and said: "The first order is to order General Jiang Baili to launch the plan in advance. Our expeditionary force will recover the abandoned line of defense as soon as possible, and attack and consume the retreating German troops, especially ammunition. Consumption; the second order, order Liao Lei's first division and He Yingqin's fifth division to move closer to Lao Tzu immediately, don't go to Nancy, you can give up the heavy equipment, just come here in time; the third order, to the staff Chief of Staff Zhu Zhixin gave a briefing on the battle situation, saying that we captured Metz, captured the German crown prince, and asked him to go to Petain, and now it is the French's turn to contribute."

Bai Chongxi's thinking is very straightforward. In this situation, even if there is no German crown prince, the Germans must retreat.The reason is simple. After two days of fighting, the Germans must have lost a lot of supplies. Looking at Metz's warehouse situation, it is estimated that these Germans are about to jump now.If you were the supreme commander of the German army, the most correct approach at this time should be to withdraw quickly while the troops still have some supplies in their hands, so as to block the possibility of your army entering the hinterland of Germany through Luxembourg.But now that the crown prince has also fallen with Metz, it is estimated that what the Germans who admit death can do is to attack Metz at all costs, unless the hot-headed William II suddenly feels that he has many sons, the crown prince can do it More or less.

Bai Chongxi looked at the map seized from the German army, which was much clearer than the map drawn by the surveying and mapping soldiers of the expeditionary army.

The German army will definitely retreat in a hurry, and those who are good at leading troops know that in military operations, organizing a retreat is much more difficult than organizing an attack. That is to say, this time is the most vulnerable time for the nearly 50 German troops on the front line.If you can severely damage this German army, how many troops does Germany have?According to the estimates of the coalition forces, the current German armed forces are roughly 150 million. Once one-third of the army is lost at once, it is estimated that the war will end.So a very bold plan slowly emerged from Bai Chongxi's mind. . .

In East Lake, Wuhan, at 5 o'clock in the evening on May 17th, east eighth district time, the news that Bai Chongxi commanded the expeditionary force to capture Metz finally reached Wenlu, the core of the youth army, after being forwarded by dozens of radio stations.

Wang Zhenyu went to inspect the Tianyuan Local Building of the Military Commission that morning that was about to be completed. Recently, the layout for the southwest and northwest border areas went relatively smoothly.And it is worth mentioning that Duan Qirui seems to have a lot of courage after receiving a loan from Japan to train 15 participating troops. He has decided to completely solve the intensified Zhiwan war in Beiyang when the Southern Nationalist Government is extremely weak. problem.According to the report of the intelligence personnel stationed in Beiyang, Duan Qirui has decided to kill Lu Jianzhang, the number two person in his immediate family and the number one think tank. That's good, if not, then I'm sorry, our Marshal Cao will probably become the first target to be eliminated by the 15 border guards who have already been organized into an army.

Wang Yaqiao's brother Fang Zhenwu, who is currently in charge of the intelligence network in the northern region, is currently hiding in the Tianjin Concession to control the overall situation. He has received orders from Minister Zhou Lan of the Party Affairs Investigation Department to closely control Lu Jianzhang's whereabouts and is ready to rescue people at any time.In short, it is not necessary to rescue Lu Jianzhang, but it is right not to let Ang Duan Qirui get his wish. . .

When Wang Zhenyu received the telegram of the victory, he suddenly felt relieved for no reason. He found that he was really under too much pressure these days.

It is very risky to push forward to declare war on Germany and make a decision to send troops to Europe when the whole country has not yet completed reunification. On the one hand, sending troops to Europe will inevitably weaken one's own military strength, while Duan Qirui in the north is pretending to join the war The guise is sharpening the knife and waiting to come and destroy itself.On the other hand, not only the anti-war voices of Wang Jingwei and others, Wang Zhenyu also had doubts about the performance of his own army deep in his heart.Will the Expeditionary Force disappear like a shooting star as soon as it shows its face in Europe?Whether he can play, or whether he can win a team bothers Wang Zhenyu.Well now, Bai Chongxi and the 24 officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force have clearly told everyone with the actual results of the battle that we can not only fight, but also win.

Li Zongren, who has become Wang Zhenyu's brother-in-law, Wan Yaohuang, chief of the general staff, Zhao Hengti, secretary-general of the Military Commission, and others have already gone to bed to hug their wives, but I'm sorry, Wang Zhenyu's secretary Chen Bulei called out these leading figures in the army in one round of phone calls , they are all sleepy waiting for Wang Zhenyu in the living room.

"Brothers, I have some good news to tell you. Jiansheng and the expeditionary force captured the German town of Metz." Wang Zhenyu's voice echoed in the living room.

A large sand table made by the staff department was placed in the living room by several adjutants, and everyone stepped forward to see where the so-called Mace was.

Wan Yaohuang, who was the first to react, sighed in amazement: "The location of this city is too critical. If my analysis is not wrong, if this city is captured by our army, it will deal a heavy blow to the Germans." .”

Everyone looked at it, it was true, everyone nodded, and Armament Minister Ma Xicheng thought for a while and said: "If I were the commander-in-chief of the German army, the war supplies would be placed in this city, because in terms of transportation, there is no more suitable city than this city." and safe."

While everyone was discussing, Colonel Wang Huaishi, the communications supervisor, suddenly trotted in. He seemed very excited, said a word well, and handed the telegram to Wang Zhenyu.Wang Zhenyu took it over and took a look: "Everyone, I have some bad news here."

Everyone looked at Wang Zhenyu in astonishment, but Wang Zhenyu smiled and said: "Jiansheng and the others have stabbed a hornet's nest. When they attacked Metz, the crown prince of German Emperor Wilhelm II was serving here, but he was captured by our army. "

Everyone laughed and applauded knowingly. . .

While in Verdun, Marshal Hindenburg yelled at his adjutant very excitedly: "What are you talking about? Isn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in Luxembourg? How could he be in Metz? That bastard ordered him to go to Metz , bastard!"

This time the Germans really panicked. In almost one day, Britain, France, and almost the whole world knew that His Royal Highness the German Crown Prince was captured by the Chinese Expeditionary Army. This was news that made the Germans extremely frustrated. Nothing could be more demoralizing than this news.

Marshal Hindenburg also panicked after receiving the news. He no longer knew what to do. Although he didn't like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who advocated peace, this is the next German emperor after all. It's all right now. Due to his own incompetence, he lost His Majesty the future Emperor of the German Empire.Hindenburg suddenly had a strange thought: "Does the German Empire have a future?"

Ludendorff also seemed to feel the risk of failure. He thought for a long time and said, "Your Excellency, Marshal, I now suggest that we abandon Metz and shrink the whole army to the Luxembourg area. Annihilation, once we are annihilated, there is no glorious peace, and what awaits us is the annihilation of a whole nation."

After hearing this, Marshal Hindenburg took a deep breath and asked, "Then what about His Royal Highness? Are we going to throw it to Your Highness?"

Ludendorff took a deep breath and said, "We still have a chance to exchange him after peace, and if Germany is gone, he won't come back, right?"

Marshal Hindenburg hesitated involuntarily when he heard this, how should he choose?

Chapter 344 Legend of Famous Generals ([-])

If Ludendorff's suggestion is followed, perhaps history will return to its original track, then. . .It's a pity that there is no more. Marshal Hindenburg himself was not a very decisive person. Between Germany and the crown prince, or between the fate of the country and personal honor and disgrace, the chief of the German general staff chose the latter, so history The wheels derailed. . .

In the middle of the night on May 5 local time, full of grievances, the two divisions of Liao Lei and He Yingqin, who originally planned to take advantage of Nancy, arrived in Metz.However, what they didn't expect was that the expeditionary force didn't build fortifications in this city, and it didn't look like a decisive battle was going to take place here. What medicine.

According to the arrangement of the staff officer of the headquarters responsible for the reception, the First Division and the Fifth Division went to their respective lodging places, but Liao Lei, the commander of the division, He Yingqin, the commander of the division, and the regimental leaders did not follow. German Daimler cars headed to Bai Chongxi's temporary headquarters.

As soon as He Yingqin sat on it and drove not far, he suddenly shouted to Liao Lei in surprise: "Oh, Commander, this German car is really good, much better than the American car we bought."

He was thinking hard about what Bai Chongxi would do next, and when Liao Lei heard this, he answered in a godlike way: "It's really good, I said Mr. He, your psychological quality is also really good, you know what we are doing now Where is it? The German army in the surrounding area is almost three times that of ours. If you are really serious, think about what we need to do to return to China alive. Don’t blame me for not telling you, Bai Jiansheng and I are classmates. This person is not generally courageous, but very courageous, the problem is that if he is bold, it means that we little brothers will bleed."

He Yingqin didn't care at all when he heard this, and smiled very easily: "Commander Liao, what are you afraid of when the sky falls and there is a big man on top of it? I think that since Commander Bai dared to pull the strength of our four divisions directly behind the enemy, It means that he has already planned everything. Since this is the case, instead of thinking about life and death, we should think about how to carry out Commander Bai's orders. Don't laugh at me, I have a feeling that this time we are likely to follow Commander Bai Be famous."

Liao Lei thought about it too, and when he heard the last sentence, he was immediately amused: "It is said that Cantonese are slippery. Compared with you Guizhou people, I'm afraid they can't even resist half of it. You, He Yingqin, are the number one sycophant. . .”

At ten o'clock in the evening, Bai Chongxi's temporary headquarters, although it was late at night, it was still brightly lit.The staff officers directly under the headquarters are busy preparing for various battles, including the statistics and distribution of weapons and ammunition, including the formulation and issuance of orders for various combat units. In short, everyone is doing their best to prepare for the upcoming battle. working.The joy of victory has not yet dissipated from these staff officers. Now these young lads are full of revolutionary passion. Everyone tells themselves in their hearts that we are creating a new history for the country and the nation, and our children and grandchildren will definitely remember us contribution today.

Bai Chongxi stood in front of the big map made by the Germans. Although his eyes were on the map, his mind was no longer on the map.Bai Chongxi is actually not a god-man, he also has moments of fear and cowardice, but usually he hides these.When fighting against the Beiyang Army in China, Bai Chongxi's self-confidence was fully displayed. Anyway, he can do whatever he wants to fight. This also made him, who is not good at communication and conduct, quickly surpass the prestige of veterans like Xu Yuanquan in the army. .In private, those who have received Bai Chongxi's command call him the God of War.

Now the god of war wants to be the god of gamblers. Bai Chongxi's first bet was the Lorraine region. This bet was obviously successful, and he also got the unexpected harvest of the German crown prince.According to the traditional thinking of the Chinese, now is the time to accept as soon as it is good.However, although Bai Chongxi is an authentic Chinese, his thinking is full of Japanese characters. It is not his habit to accept someone when he is good. If he knew that he would accept him when he was good, he would not fight with Lao Jiang. decades.

Bai Chongxi's idea now is to play a big one, how big is it?Try to end this damn war once and for all, because Bai Chongxi only found out when he arrived in Europe that the way these big powers fought like this, how many lives are not enough to fill them up.It's just a bunch of idle nobles playing war games, consuming each other's excess production capacity.

So now, Bai Chongxi intends to tear a hole and change the course of this war.

The number of German troops is about 150 million to 200 million. Among them, the number of troops on the western front is about 150 million after the revolution broke out in Russia. In the Verdun region this number reached 70.