Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 271 The War on the Western Front

Guan Xuqing sneered. It seems that this uncle is really greedy. The outbreak of the Sino-Russian War has already held back a powerful opponent in the East for Germany. Unexpectedly, William was not satisfied and wanted to involve China in Europe. in the vortex of war.Sooner or later, the European battlefield will go, but now is not the time. Guan Xuqing has a longer-term plan for this than anyone else.In order to reply cautiously to the Kaiser, he immediately ordered Li Hongzhang and Wu Tingfang to be recruited to ask them about the current war situation in Europe.

Germany's current war strategic guidance plan was basically laid out before and after Schlieffen became the chief of the general staff.During this period in Europe, German-French relations were to a considerable extent similar to Sino-Russian relations in East Asia.It's just that France is stronger than Russia.The rise of the German Empire almost stood up on the shoulders of France. The Franco-Prussian War not only led to the collapse of the Napoleon III dynasty, but also caused Germany to capture the French Emperor Napoleon III in Sedan in one fell swoop. The whole of Germany also defeated the mighty France. And entered the golden period of development.The ensuing conflicts of various interests led the two countries to forge an abyss of hatred.

The cession of Alsace and Lorraine is a shame that the French will never forget. This is why the French fought fiercely with the German border guards in this area as soon as the World War began.At the beginning of the war, the French General Staff formulated more than ten kinds of combat plans against Germany. Without exception, Alsace and Lorraine were the biggest goals in the minds of the Gauls.The creator of the latest Plan 17 is General Joffre, the current Chief of Staff.

Plan No. 17 was well implemented after the war. The first and second French armies took the lead in launching a strong attack on these two areas. In the continuous border war, the French did not reap any good results. On the contrary, they and the British Expeditionary Force who fought together were beaten by the German border guards in Saarburg and Moranges, and suffered heavy casualties.

When the Germans began to show interest in Belgium and issued ultimatums, neither France nor Britain realized what the Germans were up to. It was not until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the German conquest of Belgium that Paris began to find itself in The German troops encountered by Alsace and Lorraine were only the left flanks of their two armies.And their real main force did not serve as a reserve team as expected, but as a right wing, heading towards the French-Belgian border.

But thanks to the stubborn resistance of the Belgians, the French won a chance to breathe.Although Belgium is a dwarf in front of Germany in terms of national strength, from their King Albert to the government, the whole of Belgium has decided to resist Germany and use this method to maintain the dignity of Belgium.Of course, it is impossible to expect Belgium to block the German tanks.Fourteen days later, the important fortress of Liege was captured by the German army, but the Germans also paid more than 3000 casualties for this.Two days later, German troops occupied Brussels.It was also Belgium that gave the French more than a dozen days, allowing General Joffre to make up for the shortcomings in France's military focus.

The French dispatched the third, fourth, and fifth armies to the Belgian-French border as quickly as possible, together with tens of thousands of British expeditionary forces, to complete the establishment of the initial line of defense.They are facing each other.It is a huge force of five German armies and nearly one million troops.It was precisely because China held back the huge Russians that Wilhelm II dared to make a big gamble on the Western Front, putting almost all of the entire army on the Western Front, with the Franco-German border on the left and the German border on the right.The goal of the Germans is not to conquer any important city, their goal is to drain the blood of France.In the vision of Xiao Moqi and his predecessors, the coordinated movement of the two wings will force the French army to drive the main force to the center of the pincer offensive, and finally complete the strangulation battle. When most of a country's army is destroyed, it will be destroyed. Conquest is a matter of time.

Although in terms of logistics, the excessive concentration of the German army on the Belgian-French border has caused considerable workload and difficulty for the logistics department, but this problem has not been exposed so far. After occupying most of Belgium's territory, the French army and the British The resistance of the German army on the border delayed the advance of the German army, and the two sides began intensive short-term fighting on the border, with casualties.

On the other hand, it seems that the battle at sea has not yet been carried out. Although the German navy has gradually caught up with the British in terms of hardware, psychologically speaking, apart from moderate pride and a little confidence in the future, the navy's generals still They are all looking forward to the British attacking themselves.After all, traditionally speaking, the Royal Navy has superior strength and advocates offense. There are also famous generals in the navy. The German Navy takes it for granted that the Royal Navy will take the lead in launching a war of conquest against the German Navy.Therefore, in addition to sending some warships to overseas for reconnaissance, William II's Atlantic Fleet only began to deploy a large number of gunboats and mines in Helgoland Bay, trying to rely on such a defense system when the Royal Navy fleet attacks in the future. , and combined with the attack of the upper fleet, it can consume the advantages of the British Empire and tilt the balance of strength to our side.

In the British Admiralty, since Lord Fisher stepped down due to the defeat of the Malacca War, Sir Jorah Callaghan, who succeeded him, and Admiral Jellicoe, his deputy commander of the Home Fleet, were not very adventurous people. He was old, so when the whole of Europe began to enter the war, Sir Callaghan handed over the actual command of the Grand Fleet to Admiral Jellicoe, who was more conservative than him.

At the beginning of taking office, Admiral Jellicoe deployed all the main fleet to Edinburgh, Dandy and Aberdeen at the northern tip of Scotland to firmly guard the mouth of the North Sea, so that the oceanic fleet of the German Empire could not rush out of this area. Do not guard the defense line of the North Sea.

For the adventurous William II, his views on naval warfare were surprisingly calm. He still did not want to directly engage in large-scale naval battles with the British Royal Navy.He hopes to reach a peace agreement with Britain as soon as possible after the army completes the task of conquering France, and obtain the right to redistribute the interests of the world under the premise of superior power.so.When the naval officers were agitated by the "show of weakness" of the British, the Kaiser's order showed a considerable degree of caution.

After the Chinese showed their military strength to the world's powerful countries time and time again, William put more and more hopes on this big eastern country. Now he can't wait for the moment when China will defeat Russia, and he is eager to see that talented and roughly The emperor's brother-in-law sent troops to help the German army, and now he has even more confidence in the Chinese army than his own army.

But the answer from the emperor's brother-in-law made him very embarrassed. The telegram clearly stated: Now that the Russians are aggressively invading our country to the south, the country is still too busy to take care of itself, and there is no way to spare any troops to support the allies. Strong men and horses assist you.There are good reasons for such an answer, nothing is more important than defending the country's territorial sovereignty, but William always feels that the emperor's brother-in-law seems to be hiding some secrets.

Doubts are doubts, and William believed that before the Battle of the Marne, it was impossible for the wise Chinese emperor to be easily involved in the European battlefield.If the German navy cannot break through the British defense line, if the German army cannot achieve decisive results, even if China enters the war, it is impossible to devote all its efforts to help Germany. At the same time, a little fulfillment of the obligations of nepotism.

Now the entire northern hemisphere is almost in winter, which has also brought a lot of trouble to the German, French, and British troops who are fighting. The British, French, and French troops fought against the Germans on the French-Belgian border for three consecutive days and three nights. The Germans, full of self-confidence and passion, began to enter France on a large scale. The German troops headed by the Kluck Pro-Regiment entered France one after another, and their enemy, the British and French forces under the command of General Joffre, The coalition forces were no longer able to withstand the fierce German offensive and retreated south.

On the German side, with the exception of the Kluk Army, the other German troops began to follow the established strategy. After a short assembly and rest, they began to march southeast to complete the encirclement of the iron pincers.

At this time, Britain and France are facing huge threats and challenges.As another important member of the Allied Powers, Tsarist Russia saw the huge strength of the German army on the western front. After simple addition and subtraction, it is easy to estimate how many troops Germany has on the eastern front. However, Russia is now caught in a war in the Far East. In the huge vortex of the empire, Nicholas II always reminded himself that there is still a lingering nightmare in the southern part of the empire, China.After suffering successive setbacks, Nicholas II no longer had the ambition and confidence he had at the beginning of his accession to the throne.But the large military force he retained in the European part could still guarantee some necessary interference with the Western Front and make contributions to the two tortured allies on the Western Front.

The itchy Nicholas finally ordered the European Front to attack Germany.Their opponent was the Eighth Army of the German Reich, commanded by General Prittwitz, and General Zhilinsky, commander of the Russian Northwest Front, had received orders from St. Petersburg to annihilate this German army and enter East Prussia.On the third day after the British and French allied forces began to retreat southward, the Russian army launched an attack in the direction of Germany.The Battle of Masurian Lake officially started.Opposite them is a mixed old and new Eighth Army, including seven infantry divisions of the standing army and one cavalry division, plus eight dissatisfied divisions that have not yet been recruited, and more than 100 artillery pieces, with a total strength of nearly 12. people.

On the first day of the war, the Russian First Army took on the task of attacking the Masurian Lake area from the north to attract the main defensive force of the German army, while the Second Army took on the task of attacking the area from the west and blocked The retreat of the Germans fleeing to the Vistula River.When the two armies joined forces, it was the moment when the Germans were wiped out.

No one expected that on the second day of the war, the Russians achieved impressive results. The three armies of the First Army launched an attack on Stalubernen, and on the second day they forced the defenders to attack. The German First Army was defeated from the battle.At the same time, the main force in the center and the right-wing offensive force of the First Army also resisted the frontal attack of the main force of the Eighth Army who came to reinforce it. The 17th Army, which was the main attacking figure of the German army, suffered heavy casualties and led the entire support army to retreat.Since then, the Russian army has firmly controlled the front line of Kumbinnen, and the First Army has won an enviable victory because they defeated the German Army, which is known as the number one in the world.

The defeat of the German army in the past two days caused a sense of crisis in Berlin. The anxious Wilhelm II hesitated whether to ask China for help, but was stopped by the newly appointed chief of staff, Mao Qi, who said confidently : "I can guarantee that within a week, the Russians will take the initiative to withdraw from the European battlefield."

"Why?" William asked puzzled.

Little Maoqi smiled and pointed to the military map on the wall. William could see clearly that Little Maoqi's finger was landing on the location of Beijing, China.

ps: At the request of my friends, the next chapter is about Concubine Zhen, adding a little emotional drama of the emperor.

Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 272 Linxing Concubine Zhen

After discussing with Feng Xianghua and others from the Ministry of War, Guan Xuqing finally heaved a sigh of relief after reviewing a large pile of memorials. He only felt sore back and sore eyes. At this time, Wang Shang brought a cup of fragrant tea and Guan Xuqing drank it After taking a sip, he looked up, only to realize that the sky had already dimmed. He stretched himself, stood up and said, "I'm tired, let's go back to the bedroom."

"Which master does the emperor want to go to?"

"Go to the queen."

"Your Majesty, you forgot that the Empress has been ill for the past few days, so I'm afraid it's inconvenient to pick you up..."

Guan Xuqing was stunned for a moment, he had been thinking about the Northwest War recently, and hadn't been to the harem for a long time, "How is the queen's illness?"

"The people in the imperial hospital said that the empress is suffering from a deficiency of energy and blood, and she should focus on meditation. In the past two days, she has recovered greatly." Wang Shang replied.

Only then did Guan Xuqing feel relieved, who's bedroom did he want to go to? Concubine Lan is now obsessed with Buddhist affairs. She is surrounded by cigarettes all day long, which makes people feel upset. Since Concubine De has a little elder brother, her heart They all threw themselves on the children, and rarely sent someone to invite them to drive.When he was thinking about it, Wang Shang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the precious master of Jingren Palace has recently painted a picture of "Thinking of the Rain on a Spring Night". Your Majesty, please go forward and give pointers."

"I don't think I've heard of this person?" Guan Xuqing was not lying. The harem has three thousand fans. Some concubines may not be lucky enough to see the emperor in their lifetime. As a middle eunuch, it is impossible to make money too small, and it is impossible to make it wrong. Many concubines can hardly spend their entire lives with the emperor, and in the end they have to die alone.What's more, Guan Xuqing is not a greedy and lustful king. He is so busy with state affairs every day that he has no time to care about the name of his concubine.

"Master Zhen is from Manchuria inlaid with red flags. She is the daughter of Changxu, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites. She is only twenty-eight years old. She was just selected into the palace last year. This master is not only outstanding in appearance, but also good at playing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. See you, Your Majesty." I must like it."

Could it be Concubine Zhen?Guan Xuqing naturally knew that in the real history, Concubine Zhen was the most beloved concubine of Emperor Guangxu, and Guangxu even did not hesitate to fight against Cixi for her, but Concubine Zhen and Guangxu only enjoyed a few years of happy time together, and was later imprisoned by Cixi Even killing secretly, it is exactly in response to the sentence: since ancient times, beauty is so unlucky.

"Okay, drive Jingren Palace."

"twitter."

Although Jingren Palace is not big, the arrangement of flowers, plants, trees and stones inside is very unique. On a waterside pavilion on the right hand side, there is a young concubine sitting, but her back is turned to the outside and she cannot see her face. There are two maids standing beside her.

"The emperor is here!" Wang Shang's sharp voice sounded, the whole body of the concubine was shaken, it seemed that she was stunned, but the two maids had hurriedly knelt down.

At this time, Guan Xuqing suddenly turned around and stared blankly at Wang Shang's face, and said with a half-smile, "Did Concubine Zhen ask you for money?"

Wang Shang's face suddenly turned pale, and he knelt down on the ground with a plop: "Your Majesty, the servant deserves to die!"

"Get up, when it comes to the relationship between a man and a woman, what I care most about is mutual affection, and this kind of thing should not happen again in the future." Guan Xu said calmly.

"Thank you for your kindness, the slave will never dare again."

At this time, Concubine Zhen had already rushed to her eyes, and Yingying knelt down and said, "My concubine welcomes the Lord Long Live." Her voice was visibly trembling, she didn't know whether it was excitement or fear.

"Get up." Guan Xuqing looked carefully at the concubine Zhen in front of him. This woman was vaguely the concubine Zhen in the old photos of the Qing Palace. She was not very tall, and she was a little fat. She had an oval face that was narrow and wide, which was nothing. He is a person who is all over the country, but his skin is extremely fair and beautiful, facing the afterglow of the setting sun with a faint pearly luster, especially the pair of black hazel eyes, which are shining with water, which is lovely.Guan Xuqing suddenly felt an urge to hug her.

"Haha, I heard that Concubine Zhen of Jingren Palace draws a good painting and tunes the piano well, so I made a special trip to appreciate it." As he spoke, Guan Xuqing took Concubine Zhen's hand and walked into the palace.Concubine Zhen blushed and looked resigned.

The stove was lit in the room, and a faint fragrance of musk orchid entered the heart. The palace people had just arranged a table of exquisite wine and dishes and some delicate desserts. Down.The two drank a few glasses of wine. Under the flickering of the red candle, some red clouds appeared on Concubine Zhen's fair face.Concubine Zhen was shy and said in a low voice: "The emperor...isn't he here to give advice on the piano painting for my concubine, my concubine..."

Before she could say anything, Guan Xuqing hugged Concubine Zhen, walked up and down her plump body with both hands, put the tip in the woman's ear and said softly: "Let me deal with you, you foxy girl first, and then it's not too late to say anything else." .”

Concubine Zhen's face turned even redder, and she couldn't help breathing heavily.When she reached the point of arousal, Concubine Zhen couldn't bear it any longer, she clung tightly to Guan Xuqing's chest, closed her eyes tightly, and didn't talk to her, she just moaned in a low voice, struggled and twisted her body, using low tones Wen's tone said: "Let the concubines serve the emperor."

"To make an exception today, I will undress you first." Guan Xuqing stripped Concubine Zhen into a white sheep, and then Concubine Zhen shyly undressed the emperor.

Guan Xuqing pushed Concubine Zhen down and started to move.Concubine Zhen began to sweat profusely from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and refused to cry.Guan Xuqing's actions became more and more violent, as if he wanted to vent all the worries and troubles in the border war for many days.Concubine Zhen hugged the emperor's back tightly, catering to the emperor in every possible way despite the pain.In the end, Guan Xuqing let out a low moan, and fell on Concubine Zhen.After a while, Concubine Zhen stood up and wiped the sweat off her forehead for the emperor.

"This is your first time, why didn't you complain of pain just now?" Guan Xuqing asked calmly while lying there.

"The concubine can see that the emperor is too tired for state affairs, serving the emperor is the duty of a concubine, so the little pain is nothing."

"Oh?" Guan Xuqing became interested in this woman, "Then why don't you persuade me to take care of my dragon body?"

"The emperor is the king of a country, and it is necessary to govern the country. It is enough for the ministers and concubines to perform their duties well, and it is inconvenient to talk about other things."

Guan Xuqing looked at Concubine Zhen, and the more he looked at her, the more he felt that this woman was extraordinary.

"Your Majesty, the time has come, take care of the dragon body." Wang Shang's low voice came from outside the door.

"Understood, this Wang Shang..." Guan Xuqing said impatiently, he stayed with Concubine Zhen for a while, and before leaving, he said to Concubine Zhen mysteriously: "I'll take care of you when I find time."