The sun never sets.

"Boss, the goods have arrived."

Diego Alatriste has a big Prussian-style beard and is usually taciturn, but he works very efficiently. He is Spanish and later immigrated to Mexico. After the war, Alatriste lost most of his property and now relies on working for Chinese bosses to make a living.

Wang Hu looked Diego Alatriste up and down. The latter was a little surprised and repeated again, "The goods have arrived."

"I heard them call you Captain." Wang Hu put down the paper and pen in his hand and asked, "Were you a Mexican officer before?"

".........no."

"Can you tell me more about it?"

Diego Alatriste obviously didn't want to say much. He didn't smoke, drank occasionally, and didn't hang out with women. This man's life was very boring and he seemed indifferent to everything. Only when facing his son Balboa did he show a trace of warmth.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about it, forget it. Find twenty trustworthy hands to transport the goods from the dock. As usual, each of you will get two hundred dollars after the job is done, or you can change it into silver coins."

The currency in Mexico was very confusing. When the Americans came, they brought the US dollar with them, as well as the Mexican silver dollar, the Spanish peseta, the franc and the pound. The Americans issued a special dollar that could only be used in Mexico because it was marked and could not flow back to the United States. It was specifically used to plunder Mexico's wealth.

Diego nodded without saying anything. He turned around and took two steps. Balboa came out of the house and said, "I want to go too!"

"no!"

"why not?"

"No means no!"

"I'm not a child anymore!"

The two people's voices became smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased. Wang Hu turned his attention back to sketching. A hero must be a local hero. How can it be so easy to find one? The author who used the pen name Chu Kuangren once wrote in a newspaper: A nation that needs heroes is sad.

The Indians need heroes; they are being killed to extinction.

Mexicans need heroes now, too. They are being enslaved and plundered by the Americans. The Irish, Muslims, African blacks, and many other places need heroes. According to Rokossovsky, Poland, Ukraine, and Finland also need heroes.

Hey, why are there so many "orchids"?

King Tiger

He was distracted for a moment, his thoughts drifting to strange places, but he quickly came back to his senses. He stretched out his hand and crumpled the paper into a ball, "Do we have to find a local hero? Can't I be that hero?"

"You will be excluded because of your appearance, so how about marrying a local? That will definitely reduce the hostility of the locals, right?"

Wang Hu had a good idea, or maybe it just looked good, so he decided to give it a try and pass on some advanced culture and knowledge from the East to the local progressive youth. If you can't find a hero to cooperate with, then train yourself, and if that doesn't work, do it yourself!

Chapter 580 Understand

Night falls and the air is filled with a chill.

Diego Alatrist and twenty other people walked out of the darkness and quietly came to the dock. The "Flying Dutchman" was docked in the port. From the name, it was clear that it was a Dutch ship. In fact... it was a Dutch ship. It was registered in the Netherlands, the captain was Dutch, and the sailors were from all over the world.

After landing, the captain took the sailors to the tavern and brothel, which were places that people who had been on the sea for many years always loved. Life at sea was boring and full of dangers. After arriving at the port, it was normal to eat, drink, whore and gamble excessively.

Normally, even if they had just arrived at the port, they would leave a few people on board, but there was no one on the Flying Dutchman. Diego Alatriste was not surprised at all, and neither was his old friend Babu. In Mexico, nothing would be surprising.

The situation before them was just a small matter, they had all seen far more bizarre things.

Igoni Balboa had never seen much of the world. He held a dagger in his hand and a pistol on his waist, ready to fight to the death. However, he did not expect that there was not even a single person on the boat. "What's going on? We..."

"Ha, do you think we're here to fight?"

Babu smiled and patted Igoni's shoulder, then bent down and went into the cabin. Diego Alatriste was already in the cabin, and standing next to him was Juan, an old friend of Diego and Babu.

"Did you find the goods?"

Babu asked, his eyes constantly glancing around inside the cabin. Moonlight shone through the open cabin and fell at the feet of several people, leaving a narrow beam of light in the air. Carlos followed Babu in, lit the candle, and then reached out to lift the lid of the wooden box beside him.

“That’s it…”

Before Diego finished speaking, Carlos suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!" In the opened wooden box, there were neatly stacked US dollars. Bob turned his head and was also attracted by the green bills. He grabbed a handful and examined them carefully close to the candlelight, "They are all US dollars... not the kind that can only be used in Mexico!"

Carlos excitedly picked up a stack of US dollars, put it to his nose and sniffed it, "Ah, I have never smelled a better smell than this!"

Juan was also a little moved. He looked at Diego and asked, "Captain?"

There was no expression on Diego's face, as if he had never smiled before, "These are the boss's goods." Juan calmed down, he always followed Diego's lead.

“He’s just a Chinese guy!”

Bob opened another box, which was also full of US dollars. "Diego, look here, there are at least tens of millions of dollars in here, enough for us to live like kings for the rest of our lives!"

“This is not our money.”

Diego stared at Babu, and the atmosphere gradually became tense. Babu looked at Diego's face, then turned to Juan and said, "Whose side are you on?"

There were only four people in the cabin now. Carlos had already stood on Babu's side. If Juan also agreed to Babu's proposal, it would be three to one. Babu and Carlos were not easy to deal with and had rich experience in fighting. No matter how brave Diego was, he could not beat the other three people in such a small space.

But Juan stood by Diego without hesitation, "I listen to the captain."

"It's 2:2 now, Bob, give up. There are so many people outside, you have no chance."

Babu rolled his eyes. "If you were dead, and there was so much money, they wouldn't make it difficult for me."

Diego stopped talking and just looked at him coldly. Juan and Carlos both grabbed their weapons, and the atmosphere in the cabin suddenly changed from tense to anxious. Babu sighed and relaxed his body, "Forget it, since you are like this..." He pretended to turn around, but suddenly shouted, "Do it!"

Babu moved quickly, but Diego was even faster. When Babu's hand touched the handle of the gun again, Diego had already stabbed the dagger into his stomach. On the other side, Carlos pulled out his pistol and fired at Juan, hitting him and getting shot in the chest.

Gunshots and screams rang out in the cabin. Igoni Balboa was shocked when he heard the gunshots. He took two steps at a time and rushed into the cabin like a whirlwind. The candle had been knocked to the ground, but there was still enough light in the cabin. Igoni saw Juan shoot Carlos again, "Bang!"

Igoni Balboa was shocked. He didn't know what was going on. Carlos and Juan were friends. Why did they kill each other?

Wake up? There was a panting sound from the side, and Igoni turned his head to see Babu limply lying on Diego's body, blood flowing from his abdomen, and the smell of rust in the air.

"Diego..." Barb gasped, "You can understand, right?"

Diego pulled out the dagger and gently patted his old friend on the back, "I know, I know."

"Heh... this is... this is our fate... Diego, goodbye..."

Babu's voice faded away, and his body collapsed to the ground. He was dead.

Igoni looked at all this in shock. "Why?" He grabbed the escalator, his voice filled with inexplicable emotions. "Uncle Babu is your good friend, why did you kill him?"

Diego's face remained expressionless, "Igoni, this is an adult matter."

"You killed your friend to make money!"

Igoni turned and walked out. The men who heard the gunshots made way for him to leave. Juan pressed his shoulder and said to Diego Alatriste: "Captain, Igoni..."

"It's okay," Diego shook his head and said, "Move the things, take these two bodies out. How are your injuries?"

"Fortunately, no bones were broken...but it hurts!"

Diego took out a handkerchief from his arms, pressed the wound on Juan's shoulder, then patted his arm, and without saying anything else, began to move the wooden box out.

The men worked for several hours, moving all the cargo from the hold onto the boat and then transporting it to a small village hidden in the jungle.

The next day, Wang Hu met Diego, who still had a cold expression. "The goods have been received," Wang Hu poured Diego a glass of rum, "I heard there was an accident."

"I don't drink." Diego was silent for a moment, then said, "There was a little accident, but it was resolved."

Wang Hu looked at Juan who was not far away. He looked pale and had a bandage on his shoulder. He was obviously injured. He smiled and asked, "Do you know what the cargo is?"

“…I know a little.”

"Oh, if you knew that, why did you send the goods back?"

Diego Alatriste was silent for a longer time this time, his expression still cold, and after a while he said: "I am not a robber or a bandit."

Chapter 581 Christmas

On December 1911, 12, the British Archbishop proposed a suggestion: to provide a temporary break for the frontline soldiers to celebrate Christmas. This suggestion was quickly responded to by the German side, and the families and friends of the soldiers on both sides were also working hard to give them a Christmas full of love and joy. The families and friends prepared letters, Christmas cards and parcels filled with warm clothes, food, cigarettes and medicines. In order to increase the atmosphere of Christmas on the front line, they even made a small Christmas tree.

When celebrating Christmas, the German army showed more enthusiasm than the British army. They were fully prepared. On Christmas Eve, German officers and soldiers took out the Christmas tree they had carefully decorated with candles and placed it on the low wall of the trench. Hundreds of candlelight illuminated the trench and the excited faces of the officers and soldiers. British officers and soldiers also saw these lights, but they could not figure out what the Germans were doing. The British surveillance post reported this abnormal situation to his superiors, and the order he received was: It might be a hoax, don't open fire, and keep a close eye on them.

Later, the British officers and soldiers heard the sound of the Germans celebrating Christmas. On Christmas Eve, the singing and laughter from the opposite trench drifted towards us, and I suddenly heard a German shouting loudly: "Merry Christmas to the British!" At this time, we realized that the Germans were enjoying Christmas Eve to the fullest, and the mood was immediately infected. A British soldier shouted: "You too!" Then, both sides sang Christmas carols together. "

In many places, representatives from both sides took the initiative to negotiate in the "no man's land" between each other's positions, reaching an agreement that if you don't open fire, we won't open fire either. People climbed out of the trenches and gathered in twos and threes, shaking hands, talking to each other, wishing each other a happy Christmas, as if they had known each other for many years. They laughed and talked, exchanged cigarettes and souvenirs, and looked at photos of relatives and friends. Many soldiers saw the enemy they had longed to see.

During the truce, the British and German sides also held a burial ceremony for the dead. They carried the bodies of the dead on both sides to the "no man's land", placed them neatly together, and then held a brief ceremony to express their grief for the dead. What is even more unexpected is that during the truce, the British and German officers and soldiers played many football games in the "no man's land". One of the games was played by a British night raid group: Six ⑨④⑨,③Six ①Three Five soldiers made a simple football and started the game with no restrictions on the number of people and time. The players on both sides ran excitedly on the wide "field" until the ball was punctured by the barbed wire and deflated.

The warm and affectionate situation only exists between the British and German armies. The French cannot celebrate Christmas with the Germans. The Germans invaded France and burned the northeast of France to ruins. This is a new hatred; the Franco-Prussian War and the Versailles incident are old hatreds. New hatreds and old hatreds are added to the

At the same time, the French were filled with hatred for the Germans.

After the Russian army entered East Prussia, they raped and looted the local people. It was impossible for Ludendorff to celebrate Christmas with the Russian army. The other participating countries did not celebrate Christmas with the enemy either, but there was indeed no fighting during Christmas, and everyone tacitly stopped fighting temporarily.

The weather was too cold, and launching an attack in the middle of winter was really a difficult thing. In addition, the battle was too brutal, and the soldiers' fighting enthusiasm had faded a lot, so they needed to have a party to boost their morale.

While the soldiers on the front line were celebrating Christmas, the German High Command was preparing for the biggest gas war in history. The General Staff, headed by Falkenhayn, pinned all their hopes on gas bombs, but Ludendorff was not very confident about this desperate approach. The British had used gas bombs before, but they did not defeat the Boers. There must be a reason for this.

So he proposed to try it on the Eastern Front first, and if there were any problems, they could be discovered before the battle. The General Staff agreed to his request, and after Christmas, the German army entered Russia and fired hundreds of poison gas bombs at the Russian positions with artillery.

After the "bang, bang, bang" sound, the Russian position was covered with yellow-green chlorine gas. The Russian soldiers on the position had never seen such a situation before and soon fell into panic. However, at this time, a gust of east wind suddenly blew, and the yellow-green gas was blown to the starting position of the German army, returning the damage to the Germans.

The German army was preparing to harvest, but they did not expect the poison gas to drift back, and they were immediately in a panic. The generals and officers watching the battle were stunned as they watched their own soldiers flee in panic.

The battle was a complete failure, causing some casualties to the Russian army and undermining the morale of the Russian army, but the German army was unable to take advantage of the enemy's confusion to launch an attack. Because there were not enough gas masks prepared, many German soldiers were killed and injured in the gas warfare.

However, this blunder collected a lot of useful information. The officers sent by the General Staff recorded in detail the problems that occurred during the use of poison gas bombs, the need to pay attention to wind direction, the need to prepare more gas masks, and so on.

Ludendorff planned for more than a month, fought two battles with the Russian army, wiped out tens of thousands of Russian troops, and then was unwilling to move forward. Russia's depth was too large and its troops were too many. He had limited troops, and unless he could reach St. Petersburg, fighting would be meaningless.

The German army's focus was still on the Western Front, and the supply of troops and ammunition was focused on the Western Front first. Ludendorff only had to hold the front line and ensure that the Russian army would not come back again. The British and French forces were much stronger than the Russian army, especially the French, who were like they had eaten gunpowder, and their tempers were extremely bad, launching rounds of attacks.

With the support of heavy artillery, the French army made several gaps in the German front and advanced a distance in the depth direction. However, this did not work. The German army quickly cut off the French army's follow-up forces with dense barrages. Artillery always turns faster than the legs of infantry, which is true for the French army and the German army.

Because the density of troops and artillery fire is too high, a breakthrough is possible, but continuous breakthroughs are impossible.

On the Western Front, after several rounds of attacks, the French army found that they could not push forward at all, and then quarreled with the British. Britain and France formed an alliance to suppress Germany, and if they could weaken France at the same time, it would be even better. But now France has become weak, and if the British army is still unwilling to use its full strength as before, the German army may enter Paris again.

After consulting with the French government, the British army prepared to launch an attack at the same time as the French army on different battlefields. However, before the plan was implemented, the German army had already attacked. The battle was very brutal, with thousands of shells falling on the positions, crushing the trenches and the soldiers hiding in them. After six hours of shelling, the German army launched a fierce assault, but was destroyed by machine guns and artillery on the way to the attack.

Chapter 582: Attack

The war had lasted for more than half a year. The Russian army had won a brilliant victory in Galicia and suffered a shameful defeat in Prussia. A few days ago, the German army launched a new round of offensive. General Erich von Ludendorff led his men to annihilate tens of thousands of Russian troops, and then began to reinforce the fortifications on the spot, seemingly not intending to continue the offensive.

"We must fight back immediately and drive the Germans out!"

Tsar Nicholas II said to his uncle, Grand Duke Nicholas: "Uncle, you came back just in time!"

Grand Duke Nicholas did not return empty-handed. He had previously served as the regent of the Grand Duchy of Siberia. When he returned to St. Petersburg from the easternmost part of the World Island, he brought with him four to five thousand elite troops. Five thousand people were not enough to form a division, which was considered a powerful armed force in faraway Siberia, but it was nothing in a world war. Since the war began, the Russian army has lost more than 600,000 men.

After the Russian army was defeated in East Prussia, Tsar Nicholas II was very frightened, but now he has come to his senses and decided to continue the offensive.

"Your Majesty, I think we can continue to attack Austria-Hungary, but it is best to take a defensive stance against Germany."

The German army was strong and the Russian army could not defeat it.

Weak fighting power. You can bully them. The Habsburg dynasty was never good at fighting, and the Austro-Hungarian army had very low fighting power, even to the point where it was hard to believe. Apart from anything else, the Austro-Hungarian army was still using bronze cannons, which few people would believe. Once upon a time, the Russian army's equipment was at the bottom among the great powers, but it has improved a lot over the years. Although Russia owed Britain and France a lot of money, the industrial strength of the Russian Empire was actually enhanced, and the army's equipment was also really much better.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed to have not changed at all, they were still using the artillery from the Napoleonic Wars, and their infantry tactics had not improved at all. When attacking, the Austrian army formed a tight formation, not knowing that this tactic was outdated.

Because of the backward weapons and equipment, the Austrian army, like the Russian army, had to emphasize that officers should take the lead in the charge. Those brave officers and NCOs led by example, but their reckless fighting style almost killed and wounded the best NCOs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the war. The Battle of Galicia dealt a devastating blow to the combat capability and morale of the Austrian army. Elite troops died in meaningless attacks, while soldiers no longer obeyed orders, and a large number of deserters appeared. More and more complete units surrendered directly to the Russian army. If the German army had not urgently sent troops to support them, the Austrian army would have lost more than just Galicia.

"The Germans and Austrians were so mixed together that it was impossible for us to separate them."

Nicholas II insisted on his decision, "Only attack can lead to victory!"

"If we can't separate the Austrian and German armies, then we have to take a defensive stance in both directions!" Archduke Nicholas frowned, "Russia's casualties have exceeded 600,000!"

"We have no choice."

The Russian Empire owed a large sum of money to Britain and France, and was the second largest debtor in the world, almost catching up with the United States. Although Russia's industry seemed to be developing well, in fact, the economy had collapsed, and it was relying on loans from Britain and France to maintain the operation of the empire. Without the support of Britain and France, the rebellion that broke out in the past few years might happen again.

Nicholas II stressed: "We have no choice!"

The dinner for Grand Duke Nicholas was very sumptuous, but the Grand Duke was not satisfied with it. He failed to persuade the Tsar to give up the idea of attacking, but was doubted by Nicholas II. Many senior generals in the army thought the same as Grand Duke Nicholas, believing that Russia could not launch an active attack now. Defense was still possible, but attack would definitely lead to disastrous consequences.

Although Nicholas II suspected that Grand Duke Nicholas had colluded with the generals, he still decided to appoint Grand Duke Nicholas as the supreme commander. Nicholas not only served as the regent of the Grand Duchy of Siberia, but also served as the chairman of the Russian Defense Committee after the Sino-Russian War. He presided over the military reform of the Russian army, built a series of military factories, and updated the Russian army's weapons and equipment.

Because he had done a lot of practical things, the army and the people trusted him very much. Especially after more than 200,000 Russian troops were annihilated in East Prussia, Grand Duke Nicholas was considered the only candidate to save Russia.

After dinner, Grand Duke Nicholas talked with the Tsar for another hour, but still failed to convince Nicholas II to give up his original idea. He had no choice but to compromise. Life is like this. When you can't change the world, you can only choose to compromise.

"Your Majesty, I will launch the attack once I am fully prepared."

Nicholas II was satisfied and said, "Then I will wait for your good news."

So Grand Duke Nicholas was appointed as the supreme commander, and he began to rectify the discipline of the Russian army and improve the supply situation of the Russian army. Russia has huge military potential, but due to poor transportation, the Russian army's strength cannot be fully exerted. Trains are always late, and various problems often occur on the railway. The logistics system is in a mess, and many strategic materials are piled up in the open air, and then rot and deteriorate in the rain and sun.

Archduke Nicholas brought less than 5,000 men with him, but they were all elite soldiers. After he assumed the post of supreme commander, he let these men take over the logistics system or sent them to the front to investigate the real situation of the army.