On the morning of August 5, China and the United States made statements about the European war to the Perstan Palace. When Foreign Minister Gotreb, Feng Jia Gaochuang reported the statements of the Chinese and American governments, the harsh emperor did not care about the neutrality of the Americans, but was angry with William Leo, the chief of staff of the Revival Army. He shouted: "Does the Chinese want to violate the original agreement? Why would the Chief of Staff resign, and this month?"

"Your Majesty, this matter was mentioned a few days ago by the Chinese. Their explanation is that it doesn't matter which country the Chief of Staff is. The key is that the combat objectives of the troops will not change. Now they have issued an ultimatum to the Russian team, demanding that the Russian army retreat within 24 hours. If they refuse, then China will launch another attack." Looking at the angry emperor, Prime Minister Bateman hurriedly explained, and finally emphasized: "They promised to annihilate the Russians first and then deal with the Japanese. Compared with the previous promise, Yang Jingcheng has already made concessions. The Chinese attack on the Russian army will prevent Petersburg from focusing on the Western Front. Even if China does not occupy Vladivostok, Russia will be worried that they will seize him, which will restrain the Russians to some extent."

"Your Majesty, if the Russian Siberian Legion is really encircled and annihilated, it will not only hurt the morale of the Russian army, but also our soldiers will be encouraged. They will think that the Chinese have joined the alliance, which will offset the misfortune brought by Italy." Chief of the General Staff Moltke also said that he has been paying attention to the situation of several other allies, and China's position is better than originally thought.

It was fine if Moltke didn't mention Italy, but the beard of the Italian emperor was raised again. The next day the war began, Italy declared neutrality, and he couldn't help but hold a grudge against the prime minister Bismarck who messed up all of this. In the past few days, the emperor looked back on the past. He also remembered his grandfather's last words of "Unignorable alliance with Russia" when he died. He found that it was precisely because of the German-Austrian alliance led by Bismarck that Germany-Russia relations became extremely bad, and it was also because of the "Lombardy Decree" he issued. Finally, he drove Russia out of Berlin and forced it to France, and finally formed the Russian-French Agreement today.

It is really a foolish act to lose Russia for Austro-Hungary. Similarly, the relationship between Italy and Austro-Hungary is extremely unfriendly, so Italy announced on August 2 that it would remain neutral. It can be said that there is no meaning of alliance between the alliances. On the contrary, the Allies, even Britain, which has never directly intervened in European affairs, declared war without hesitation this time.

The imperial meeting paused in the emperor's memory. The ministers did not know that the emperor had started to be too arrogant again, so they just stood quietly, waiting for the emperor to ask again.

After a while, the emperor asked again: "It seems that the Chinese have given us some advice. I want to know what you think about the words of Your Excellency Yang Rui? Does the Imperial Navy have to leave Hong Kong and fight the Royal Navy to the decisive battle?"

"Your Majesty, although China has won strategic victory, the Japanese have fallen into the trap of His Excellency Yang Rui. Once the Chinese submarine blocks the harbor, they can only face encirclement and annihilation, but this does not mean that they have the right to point fingers at the war in Europe. The army can occupy Paris within two months. If nothing unexpected happens, we can win the war decently on Christmas." Xiao Moltke turned against the embarrassment of the emperor's speechless questioning that day. He became extremely confident. As he spoke, the beard on his lips trembled rhythmically, which was very majestic. "The war will end soon." He emphasized.

"His speech by the Chief of General Staff just confirms the accuracy of His Excellency Yang Rui's judgment. If we do not win before Christmas, then victory will be lost forever." Marshal Tilpiz, commander-in-chief of the High Seas Fleet, reminded. "Now is the closest time for the Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy to be strong. Once Christmas is over, then..."

Tirpiz, who did not want to fight with the British Royal Navy before the war, now strongly demanded a war. This was not only beyond everyone's expectations, but also beyond the emperor's expectations. However, before the emperor could speak, the head of the naval cabinet, General Muller, and General Boer, the chief of the Navy's General Staff, spoke out against it. General Muller said: "Your Majesty, once the high seas fleet goes to sea to fight, after failure, not only the security of the German coast cannot be guaranteed, but even the control of the Baltic Sea will change hands. Russia will obtain a large amount of weapons and supplies from the sea. The decisive battle to sea is to put the fate of the empire on the gambling table as a bargaining chip."

"Your Majesty, according to the strength of both sides, the comparison between us and the British main battleship is 2-3.6, which is far from the 2-3 that the Marshal usually says. It is difficult for us to win the final battle." General Boer, Chief of the Navy's General Staff, reminded immediately. "Even if you win, the fleet will suffer heavy casualties. The remaining fleets of Russia, France and Britain will still block us. Retaining the fleet to maintain deterrence against Britain and Russia is our best choice. In addition, it is hard for me to imagine a country that does not even have a dreadnought. Why do I think that a naval decisive battle can make Germany win?"

There were two people in the navy opposing the decisive battle, and the emperor finally breathed a sigh of relief. Not to mention that the fleet was his beloved thing, even Britain did not want to offend too much to some extent. Although the British distorted his original intention every time, he still loved Britain in the deepest part of his heart. After all, he was instilled with the concept of British supremacy since he was a child, and King George V of the British King was his cousin. The decisive battle of the fleet would only cause both Germany and Britain to lose both sides, and eventually lead to world hegemony. This was something he did not want to.

The emperor's relief expression fell completely in the eyes of the commander-in-chief of the Navy, Tirpiz, and he just sighed heavily. Germany has the best warships, the bravest sailors and officers, but there is no best leader. Maybe the Chinese on the mainland can completely redeem Germany from the crisis.

Tilpiz was startled by his thoughts. He quickly changed his mind and proposed again: "Your Majesty, even if you don't fight the Royal Navy, the navy's submarine forces should carry out unlimited submarine warfare on Britain. This will not only prevent British and American supplies from being replenished, but the British people will also go hungry. I think as long as you insist on submarine blockade, Britain will eventually withdraw from this war."

The decisive battle of the fleet is the best way, and the unlimited submarine warrior has no choice. Just as Tilpiz was about to agree, Prime Minister Bateman quickly intervened: "Your Majesty, once unlimited submarine warfare is implemented, sinking merchant ships without warning and inspection, and only letting civilized countries in the world accuse us. Submarines are warships. The real function should be to sink British royal warships rather than sinking merchant ships without force."

"Your Excellency, how do you explain why the warships of the Royal Navy blocked the North Sea, and even non-military materials and food are not allowed to be transported into our neighboring countries, Denmark and other countries?" Tirpiz began to feel a little angry. He felt that no one present had a sense of urgency for war. "Your Majesty, if the Navy does nothing in the war, then the parliament and the people will never give the Navy a Finney again!"

"Your Majesty, the Marshal is right. But I think we must abide by public international law, even if the British do not." Admiral Boer, Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, suggested. "So we can engage in submarine warfare. But not unlimited."

The Chief of General Staff's speech was recognized by everyone present and the emperor, but Tirpiz opposed: "As the intelligence said, what if the British used tricks to disguise warships as merchant ships?"

"We can make the sailors more vigilant," said Admiral Boer. "And if such a thing really happens, we will gain support from world public opinion."

"How can you know, which British camouflage ship was sunk by those who did not come back?" Tilpiz asked, only thinking about it for a few people who agreed with General Boer's point of view.

"Marson, it is not appropriate for us to conduct unlimited submarine warfare before the victory of Christmas. In order to guard against British camouflage ships, you can let the sailors move together. One is on guard when checking." The emperor made a clever choice.

But such a pleasing method made Tirpiz anxious. There were only more than seventy submarines in total. When the merchant ship sailed alone, the two submarines would only reduce the combat efficiency by half. Thinking of the time period given by the emperor and the so-called wolf pack tactics of the Chinese people being trained by the submarine troops, Tirpiz couldn't help but endure it and nodded, "Yes. Your Majesty, I will order the sailors to be vigilant against any merchant ship at all times."

It seemed to be happy to solve a tricky thing. The emperor moved on the saddle-like chair, "Okay. I think Turkey should be discussed next..."

When the Postan Palace was discussing naval strategies, Yang Rui, who was thousands of miles away, had just fallen asleep. During the day, he ignored the protests of Britain and France, and finally delivered an ultimatum to the Russians for withdrawal. It is said that the Russian Minister Kubenschi, who received the ultimatum, did not receive the ultimatum at all. Xie Zhangtai had to prevent the ultimatum on the table of the Russian Embassy, ​​and then left Dongjiaomin Lane.

Although Xie Zhangtai quickly reported his attitude towards the Russians, and speculated that Russia would not only not withdraw its troops, but would attack again. In fact, he did not want his reminder. The Northeast War Zone Command had already held a mobilization meeting three days ago and finally issued a combat order. Li Liezu, who had been patient for nearly two months, finally clenched his fists. As soon as the time for him to prepare an ultimatum came, the Sixth Army of Qingshuitai Xinchengzi, stationed in the north of Shenyang, penetrated the Russian defense line and surrounded it into a narrow area of ​​30 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide surrounded by Liaohe and Chaihe.

Although the distance of this battle was short, it was the first time that the Fuxing Army had mechanized contracts. In order to obtain the weather required for the operation, the meteorological forces worked hard for more than ten days before hesitating to set up this possible sunny day. However, in Li Liezu's view, even if the weather is important, he had to attack even if it rained.

At 5:30 in the morning of June 15, the first thing Li Liezu woke up was to look at the sky outside the window. When he saw the hazy outside, his heart sank, but he seemed to be relieved. At this time, the adjutant who heard the sound of the house immediately reported according to his previous order: "Commander, the weather said that today is cloudy, and if there is rain, it will be light rain."

"Very good!" Li Liezu said in a deep voice. "Where is the Russian army?"

"The Russian army did not respond. They probably wouldn't take our ultimatum seriously." The adjutant replied.

"Very good!" Li Liezu said again. He suddenly became a little excited. If the Russian army retreated, it would be unfair. "Notify the departments and hold a meeting immediately!"

Ten minutes later, Li Liezu, who had eaten a few bites randomly, attended the pre-war meeting in a dress. He looked at the commander wearing a military dress and a row of medals on his left chest, and the standing commanders of the troops, whose chests were already raised, stood up a little more. Just when the officials of the ritual said they could sit down, these people sat down neatly. Then they covered their knees with their hands and looked at them without looking sideways.

"Twelve o'clock noon is the last time for the ultimatum. There are still six hours and twenty minutes left before now, and all the departments are ready, right?" Li Liezu had no false words as soon as the show started. He directly discussed the attack that was about to be launched.

"It's ready!" Lieutenant General Wang Shiqian of the 1st Armored Division, the three commanders of the Sixth Army who were the main offensive mission, and Major General Qin Guoyong of the Air Force's dive bomber wing, all answered the same.

"The order was issued yesterday, so I will not repeat it here. All I want to say is: This battle must be completely wiped out the Russian Siberian Legion!" Li Liezu said sternly, "This is not only related to the confidentiality of the chariots and planes, but also to avenge the sacrificed comrades and the people. Please intersperse the enemy's formation and do not stay. Be sure to cross the Chaihe on the north side of Tieling County as quickly as possible until the Pingding Fort is occupied. Remember, we must fight an annihilation war, a major annihilation war!"

"Yes! Sir." The generals shouted again. The commander's idea was what each of them thought, even if the oil was enough and the cooperative troops could keep up, the assault corps wanted to fight to Kaiyuan sixty kilometers away.

"Very good!" Li Liezu was very satisfied with the reactions of the generals, and stood up and saluted to everyone, "Comrades, victory!"

"Victory!!" Several people saluted and repeated the same, and then walked out of the war room one by one. Although the orders had been issued, these people were either riding horses or taking cars, and all rushed to their command center.

The 1st Armored Division was ready as soon as it received the combat order three days ago. Each chariot was carefully inspected and the retreat of more than a month exhausted the life of those consumable parts. Three days was enough to replace them all. The chariot itself also wiped out the muddy that had been exposed for several days. The camouflage color, ammunition, and oil on the surface were prepared. It can be said that the entire division was ready. Just wait for the order.

A few kilometers away from the camp, Wang Shiqian heard the roar of diesel engines in the wind. He couldn't help but be glad that the troops were at a disadvantage, otherwise the Russians would be suspicious when they heard this sound. The car swayed to the command center along the dirt road that pressed out two deep ditches. Fortunately, the car was four-wheel drive and had a high horsepower, otherwise the road that seemed muddy after the heavy rain would not be able to get through with this rubber wheel. After walking along the dirt road for more than ten minutes, Wang Shiqian returned to the headquarters. Unlike the soldiers who were busy repairing and refueling, the officers waiting in the headquarters were very leisurely. They just waited to hear the salute of the guards outside, and the officers put out the cigarettes and stood up to salute.

After Wang Shiqian replied, he asked: "Are the boat bridges on the engineers ready? This time, I have to hit Pingding Fort in one breath, and it may be pushed to Kaiyuan. I am not worried about other things, but I am worried about how to cross these rivers. Not to mention the Wanquan River spreads and clear rivers, the Chai River is nearly 100 meters wide and the water depth is more than four or five meters. If the engineers cannot build the bridge faster, the interweaving will be delayed."

"Report to the division commander, the engineer battalion is ready for everything, just wait for the bridge to be built. If the chariot cannot pass, our battalion will jump into the river and pile up the bridge." Yu Dayong, the engineer battalion, stood up and said loudly.

"Are the iron floating boxes ready? How many bridges can you build?" Wang Shiqian did not give up seriously, but asked in detail the truth.

"The report to the division commander, we have prepared all of them. We can build two iron bridges to ensure that we will not delay the attack of comrades." Yu Dayong said again. Without asking so many people, the division commander asked himself, which made him, an intermediate officer, very proud.

"Okay! Sit down." Wang Shiqian nodded. "I won't mention the others. I have taught you how to advance and cooperate during training. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Remember: my order is to occupy Tieling County at all costs, cross Chaihe and Shahe, and occupy Kaiyuan." Wang Shiqian's order has exceeded the scope of the combat plan of the war zone command. The officers present who understood the joints did not express any objection at all. They still wanted to fight to Harbin.

Everything was fine, and Wang Shiqian passed it all over again. Only Li Yinpei, the commander of the chariot brigade, stayed. Wang Shiqian saw Chaihe over the map, pointed to the area about one and a half kilometers wide and twenty kilometers long, which was sandwiched by the Liaohe River on the left, Shahe River and the mountains on the right, and said, "Zhichu, this section of the road is very dangerous. The chariot brigade must be arranged accordingly."

"This section of the road is relatively difficult to walk, but I think as long as the assault is fast, the Russian army should not have time to set up fortifications. Besides, as long as it is daytime, with comrades from the Air Force, it is difficult for the Russian army to stop our army from advancing. I am mainly worried that it is too narrow and the troops will be difficult to distribute. When the assault reaches Kaiyuan, the troops cannot be too few, but the road conditions are judging by the road conditions. I think a chariot battalion is the best, and other troops must keep up." No one has ever fought in the blitzkrieg. But everyone knows the truth, and Li Yinpei has studied this. He is from Yi County, Jinzhou. He has excellent military achievements and the regiment he was in when the righteousness was held in 1911 was decisive, so he was picked up by Wang Shiqian to the Armored Division.

"Is it enough for the infantry regiment in the division to transfer a battalion?" Wang Shiqian asked.

"Okay." Li Yinpei nodded, "I have to go to the self-propelled artillery battalion. Although there is an air force, it is not wrong for the assault troops to bring their own self-propelled artillery."

"You boy!" Wang Shiqian felt that he was fooled by him, but when he thought that the infantry had passed, he had to say, "Then I'll give you another self-propelled artillery battalion, and don't think about 150. Give it 75. This is light, and the shells are loaded more, and there are fewer faults."

"Okay!" Li Yinpei calculated in his heart and felt that the three types of artillery chariots were complete, and he was satisfied at the moment.

"Kaiyuan is the enemy's troops station." Wang Shiqian explained, "I gave you everything you want, and you have to guarantee that you will block the Russians and Russians. No commanders will let them go. We are encircling and annihilation. If all the Russian generals escape, who would believe that this is encircling and annihilation if they say it."

"I understand, commander." Li Yinpei replied. He was ready to go to the battlefield.

"Okay. All the things you want to explain are also explained. You go back to the army, this battle must be fought well." Wang Shiqian saw his appearance and immediately issued an order to expel him and sent him away. However, even after the meeting, he still looked at the battle map and looked at it again and again. He slapped the position of Kaiyuan and cursed. "Say the girl!"

The ultimatum 12 expired, and one and a half hours before that, Rutt and his last counselor Xin Ci arrived at the Prime Minister's Office. Today is the fifteenth day. The Prime Minister's Office does not work, so they entered the backyard from the side. Because it was a family dinner, Rutt brought a bottle of high-end red wine, while Xin Ci got a bouquet of flowers from somewhere, which was given to Han Xianfeng.

Yesterday, when Xin Ci left the Prime Minister's Office, he deliberately said something loudly, which made the French think that Yang Rui promised to form an alliance with Germany. Today, he looked at his pleasing appearance. Although Yang Rui was disgusted, he also caused an attack for Rutte's sake. After all, Rutte helped a lot during that time in Shanghai.

Cheng Xu was not here, and according to the rules of the family, there was always a female family to accompany him. In this way, in Yang Rui's opinion, it could be considered a family dinner. Then the three of them chatted and took a seat at her attentive greeting. Rutt looked at Han Xianfeng and smiled at Yang Rui, "Yang, you are really God's favorite, and I heard that you have a beautiful wife."

"If I were God's favorite, I wouldn't be pressed in this position." Yang Rui only answered the previous sentence, avoided the answer to his second sentence, and then pointed to the dishes on the table and introduced: "Although in Beijing, the dishes today are all Cantonese dishes, I hope you both can like them."

"Of course!" Rutt and Xinci replied together, but Xinci's eyes kept looking at the clock in the restaurant. It was almost twelve o'clock, and he finally couldn't help saying, "Prime Minister, please forgive my rudeness. It was about twelve o'clock. Is the attack started now?"

"Is that?" Yang Rui usually doesn't care about state affairs during holidays. He heard this and looked at the clock next to him. At this moment, it was just twelve o'clock. After a slight mechanical sound, the clock left by the Qing prince began to report the time. In the bell, Yang Rui looked at the two and smiled, "Well, the front line should have fired. Okay, today's family banquet, not talking about war, not talking about war, after dinner and tea, there will naturally be good news in the northeast."

It is estimated that it will take an hour and a half to have a tea and chat. In other words, there will be good news in two and a half hours. Not to mention Xin Ci, even Lute doesn’t believe it, but Yang Rui couldn’t refuse his affection, so the two had to pick up the wine glass and start eating.

When the Beijing Prime Minister's Office was moving its chopsticks, Li Liezu, the commander of the Ninth Army who received the order to attack from the theater command, shouted to the microphone with a stern face: "I am Li Liezu. My order: The general attack begins!"

"Yes!" The voice of the artillery commander came from the microphone. "Our unit fired the artillery immediately!"
Chapter completed!