In 1917, the French winter went crazy because of a barrel of oil.
The winter of the Republic of China in 1917 was in full swing, comparable to war-torn Europe.
The heavy snowfall of the Republic of China did not conceal the ambition of the governors at all, and the Civil War intensified.
No, it's even more intense than in Europe.
As the British offensive in Flanders stalled, the war in Europe once again entered the winter break. The leaders of the Allied Powers gathered in Rapano, Italy for a meeting, this time without the Russians.
The winter of 1917 in Russia was extremely cold, Kerensky's government came to an end, and Lenin led the Bolsheviks to form the Soviet government.
The first thing Lenin did after coming to power was to negotiate peace with the Germans, which caused huge panic in the Allied Powers.
You know, before the World War, Russia was the most promising country in Europe, but now that the war is going on, Russia has changed beyond recognition. The Czar was imprisoned, Kerensky was overthrown, and Lenin finally came to the stage.
Lenin was more familiar with Germany than Britain and France.
Some people may still remember that it was precisely because of Ludendorff's consent that Lenin was able to return to Russia from his exile in Switzerland.
Ludendorff's move was very brilliant. Just as Ludendorff expected, Russia was the first to withdraw from the world war because of Lenin's earth-shaking.
Russia's actions aroused dissatisfaction from the British and French, which also laid the foundation for future intervention.
The Americans also sent representatives to participate in the Rapano Conference. Although the Americans have not been on the battlefield yet, they already have four divisions in France. These are four infantry divisions that exceed conventional standards, with a total strength of more than 100,000 people.
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The United States lacks military officers, so its establishment is larger than usual.
The Republic of China was absent from this meeting. Qin Zhiyuan now looks more like a Frenchman than a Republican. Although Lu Zhengxiang wanted to participate, he was not authorized. The Republic of China, which was in a mess, had no intention of paying attention to the war in Europe. Because of Duan Zhiquan's resignation, the Beiyang government
Already too overwhelmed to take care of myself.
Lu Zhengxiang couldn't participate even if he wanted to. Because of the domestic war, the embassy lost financial support and was almost at the end of its rope. Lu Zhengxiang now regrets not accepting Qin Zhiyuan's invitation two months ago.
At the Rapano Conference, the leaders of the Allied Powers reached two consensuses.
The first is to establish an internal Allied Supreme War Council.
Second, in mid-1918, the Allies would not launch a major offensive.
Regarding the Supreme War Council, this proposal has appeared a long time ago, but there has been no consensus on the priorities. Now the British and French are finally willing to face reality and kill the Germans first before fighting for power.
It's not that easy to do either.
In 1917, Britain and France launched several offensives. Except for Qin Zhiyuan's victory, both Nivelle and Haig were disgraced. They seemed to have the upper hand, but in fact they had lost the ability to take the initiative to attack.
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The French army has not returned to normal, Qin Zhiyuan has limited troops, and the British have begun to engage in civil strife. Finally, Lloyd George was dissatisfied with being called a son of a bitch by Haig all day long, and sent Robertson, the British Chief of General Staff, to France to distract Haig.
rights in hand.
Through the 1917 war, the British and the French finally determined as never before that they must rely on the new forces of the Chinese and Americans to win the world war.
There are now more than 100,000 Americans, and nearly 10,000 American soldiers arrive in France every month.
The number of Chinese in Qin Zhiyuan's hands is also increasing. Although some are diverted into factories, thousands of Chinese are still joining the army every month. Qin Zhiyuan now has six divisions with nearly 100,000 troops, including
There are five infantry divisions and one armored division.
If Annan's four divisions are added to the mix, Qin Zhiyuan now has more than 150,000 troops at his disposal.
The British and French people's judgments about the war situation coincided with Ludendorff's.
According to Ludendorff, if the war is delayed until the middle of next year, the combined number of Chinese and Americans in France will exceed 500,000.
Although the Americans have never been on the battlefield, Americans are different from the British and French who have suffered from war. The Americans have an almost naive bravery. They are well fed, clothed and warm because of sufficient logistical support.
Weapons, and after more than a year of training, the Americans are not lacking in skills.
The Chinese are a huge threat. Qin Zhiyuan has the power to change the situation of the war. Crown Prince William, known as the brightest general of the royal family, was defeated in front of Qin Zhiyuan, and ended up with the entire army annihilated. Ludendorff's cousin
Oscar von Hutier did not get any favors from Qin Zhiyuan. He was completely defeated in the Reims area and had to retreat to the rear of the Aisne River to stabilize his position.
If Qin Zhiyuan could control an army group, once Qin Zhiyuan launched an attack, Ludendorff could not think of anyone to send to defend.
According to the customary establishment at this time, a group army had about 250,000 people, roughly 12 to 18 divisions.
According to Ludendorff's calculations, by the middle of next year at most, Qin Zhiyuan will have more than 250,000 troops in his hands. By then, it may be possible to offset all the troops that were withdrawn due to the armistice with Russia.
So a key node is the middle of next year, which is June 1918, or April.
In Ludendorff's plan, if the war could not end in April 1918, it would be best for Germany to start peace talks with the Allies.
Being forced to negotiate peace is an outcome that Ludendorff cannot accept in any case. Look at Russia. If the Germans are forced to negotiate peace, the situation will be even worse than that of Russia.
So the German General Staff issued a combat plan for 1918: on the premise that Russia and Italy are no longer a threat, the war must start before March next year, preferably February, and the main target is Qin Zhiyuan’s leadership.
Foreign Legion.
In order to better implement the combat plan, Ludendorff selected a group of young officers from the front line to participate in an eight-day training to learn trench attack warfare. This tactic is Hutier's combat method with the Storm Troopers as the core. This tactic
Although it failed in Reims, it proved successful in Flanders, and in the absence of better options, Ludendorff chose to trust this tactic.
This training was soon extended to four weeks. At the same time, Ludendorff transferred the best troops back from the Eastern Front, and at the same time transferred a group of soldiers under the age of 35 from some poorer units to form 42 elite mobile divisions.
, ready for use in next year’s offense.
These troops are equipped with a small number of tanks and self-propelled artillery, and they are the troops that Germany has devoted all its efforts to build.
In Ludendorff's plan, when 1918 came, the Western Front would have 191 divisions and a total strength of 3.5 million men, and the Germans were about to launch the final battle against the Allies.
While Ludendorff was sharpening his sword, Qin Zhiyuan finally waited for the Dutch to declare war.
In mid-November, Qin Zhiyuan issued an order for Umbrella Company to withdraw from Borneo, which of course won the welcome of the Dutch government and also bought Umbrella Company a month.
During this month, Chinese businessmen who were good friends with Qin Zhiyuan, such as Huang Bohan, Huang Jinsheng, Guo Shenglong and Mao, etc., went to Lion City and Saigon to seek refuge. At the same time, their resources were transferred to Surabaya.
The local aborigines and Dutch immigrants in Surabaya also had a premonition that something bad was going to happen, and they moved to the coconut city of Jakarta and even Palembang.
In fact, just when Huang Bohan and others started mobilizing supplies, the Dutch had already had a premonition that something was not going to happen. The Dutch once tried to arrest Huang Bohan, but Huang Bohan, who got wind of the news, fled to the Lion City of Singapore in advance, and was then picked up by Zhang Tianshou to Saigon.
Ho Chi Minh City.
In December, the Umbrella Company had nominally withdrawn from Borneo, with part of it evacuated to Saigon and the other to Cam Ranh Bay. However, at the same time, Surabaya, which was in a power vacuum, fell into chaos. The local Javanese and Sundanese in Surabaya
They began to vendetta against each other. Soon, the vendetta spread to the Maduras, Malays and other ethnic groups, and Surabaya was in chaos.
During this chaos, the Chinese were not affected because they were protected by security forces.
Of course, this security force is no longer the security force of the Umbrella Company, but a security force composed of local Chinese called Lanfang Company.
Lanfang Company
The Dutch are very familiar with this name.
The Lanfang Company, also known as the Lanfang Principality, was born in 1777 and was not completely wiped out by the Dutch colonial army until 1888.
To this day, Lanfang Company still has a large number of fans in West Kalimantan. When Lanfang Company was established in Surabaya, there were immediate responses in Kuandian and East Vanlut Mandol, and Lanfang Company was also established to establish security guards.
Troops maintain local order.
Maintaining order, which is a symbol of the exercise of power, has always been a taboo for the Dutch and absolutely does not allow others to interfere.
So the Dutch felt that they could not delay any longer and began to order colonial troops to go to the Surabaya area to quell the rebellion by force. At the same time, they devoted all their national resources to forming an expeditionary force to go to Borneo and prepare to suppress it with force.
That's right, the Dutch called the Lanfang Company established in Surabaya a rebellion. They not only suppressed it with force, but also accused Qin Zhiyuan's umbrella company of playing a disgraceful role in the rebellion.
Of course, Qin Zhiyuan would not admit such a thing and immediately denied it righteously. At the same time, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the Dutch for such irresponsible remarks.
The Dutch, who had just had a smuggling scandal, had no friends in the world at this time. During the world war in Europe, the Dutch remained neutral because they had no desires or demands. Although this attitude did not offend any party, it also did not please any party.
At the same time, because the Dutch smuggled copper ore to Germany, the British and the French are now extremely dissatisfied with the Dutch. The British requisitioned the Dutch merchant ships, and the French openly provided protection for Huang Bohan in Saigon. This has led to the Dutch's international reputation.
Isolated and helpless.
To make matters worse, the Dutch had just declared war on the Lanfang Company, and their two Holland-class protected cruisers anchored in Coconut City were attacked. One was sunk and the other was severely damaged.
At the same time, after receiving information that the expeditionary force headed by the Seven Provinces Alliance had weighed anchor, Qin Zhiyuan returned to Corsica.
At this time, Corsica was in a state of excitement.
A large part of the Chinese in Corsica came to Europe through the channels of Borneo, including direct relatives of Huang Bohan and others. Now that Borneo has gone to war with the Dutch, how can these people come to Europe in Borneo?
