Expedition to Europe

When Su Mo was kidnapped by Anthony, Qin Zhiyuan's headquarters welcomed an angry guest.

Henri Philippe Pétain, the new commander-in-chief of the French army.

Qin Zhiyuan ordered to withdraw from the position to Ankang, which was a blatant violation of Pétain's order, and Pétain had reason to be angry.

At the same time, Pétain was more worried that Qin Zhiyuan's dissatisfaction with him would lead other generals to follow suit, and at the same time cause the top leaders to distrust Pétain himself.

Compared with the previous point, the latter point is more important.

So Pétain personally felt that Qin Zhiyuan's headquarters, whether expressing anger or strengthening communication, Pétain must show that he is paying attention to Qin Zhiyuan.

"Qin, why did you do this? Do you know the serious consequences of your audacity? Now there are 100,000 Germans crossing the Marne River, and half of France is in danger. You are responsible for this consequence." Pétain has sufficient reasons.

The German army's breakthrough of Champagne-Chalons would pose a threat to half of southern France, but if you look at the map, you will find that it will not actually change the situation of the war. Some insignificant areas cannot make Paris surrender.

"Don't attribute all the reasons to me. It is your responsibility to deploy troops. When the troops face completely unequal enemies, more negligence belongs to you rather than me." Qin Zhiyuan, who also had a fire in his heart, was not polite at all.

Although Pétain was the commander-in-chief of the French army, it was hard to say how much deterrence he had in front of Qin Zhiyuan. At least in terms of military rank, Qin Zhiyuan and Pétain were at the same level. They were both generals, and in terms of combat capability, Qin Zhiyuan was much higher than Pétain. If we ignore race and qualifications, Qin Zhiyuan is more qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the French army than Pétain.

"Are you blaming me? This is shirking responsibility. Only cowards would do this." Pétain was not polite. In fact, he was always angry. He didn't even sit down when he entered Qin Zhiyuan's headquarters. He quarreled with Qin Zhiyuan in front of all the staff.

"That's right! I am blaming you, but not shirking responsibility, but because this is your mistake. You said it yourself, there were 100,000 Germans crossing the Marne River, but how many people did you arrange for defense? There were only less than 30,000. Do you want to blame the soldiers for not being brave enough?" Qin Zhiyuan cursed.

"No matter what the situation is, even if there are only 3,000 people defending, you can't run away in the face of 100,000 people. That's a cowardly act." Pétain also cursed. Of course, perhaps due to personal cultivation, Pétain could only curse to the level of "coward".

"Go to your cowards, a 16,000-man army is only left with 370 people. Such an army is a coward? Then what kind of army is considered brave?" Qin Zhiyuan spitted and sprayed Pétain face to face.

Qin Zhiyuan is taller, and he looked down at Pétain as if he was going to help him wash his face.

"370..." Pétain was surprised, this was something he didn't know.

"Yes! Last night, the 11th Division of the Foreign Legion did have a regiment of reserve troops, but only four hours later, there were only 370 people left. This is the latest battle report, which should have been written in today's report." Qin Zhiyuan was sad.

The battle last night was the most brutal. When it was the most dangerous, in some areas, there were cases where seriously injured soldiers detonated cluster grenades and died together with the Germans who rushed to the position. Such tragic cases cannot be described one by one. Super hero is not enough to describe their courage and determination, and the French Army's Legion of Honor medals are not enough, because there are 37 people with names.

"How is it possible..." Pétain's arrogance was completely gone, and the unprepared situation made him lose sight of one thing.

"Why not? Do you think the Chinese rely on their weapon superiority to crush the enemy in battle? No! We are not lacking in courage, nor are we lacking in the spirit of sacrifice! If I don't order them to withdraw from their positions, they will fight to the last man, but I cannot erase the fine tradition of an excellent army. This tradition should continue, not be completely cut off because of this battle." Qin Zhiyuan wanted to leave seeds.

As long as the troops are not completely dead, there is a possibility of reconstruction, and once the army is completely wiped out, the most likely result in the French army sequence is disbandment.

"Listen Qin, I have ordered the Second Army to go up and clean up your ass. I will not pursue this matter anymore. I hope there will be no next time." Pétain's attitude was still stiff.

"If you continue to ignore the lives of the soldiers, then I can guarantee that there will definitely be a next time." Qin Zhiyuan was even more stiff.

"You..." Pétain was furious. He thought he had given Qin Zhiyuan a way out, but he didn't expect Qin Zhiyuan to refuse to reconcile.

"If you had sent the Second Army earlier, this wouldn't have happened. So this isn't my problem, it's your problem. If you keep this attitude, there won't be any fundamental improvement." Qin Zhiyuan was not only complaining about the fate of the 11th Division, but also for the smooth conduct of future wars.

"It takes time to mobilize troops. You can't just let them all fly over by plane." Pétain emphasized the objective facts.

"But before that, as the commander-in-chief, you must be foresighted. Before the German army breaks through, you should have anticipated it and responded early, otherwise it would be your dereliction of duty. If you don't have enough judgment and are always passive and clumsy, such a poor performance is not worthy of the position of commander-in-chief." Qin Zhiyuan tore his face.

Unswervingly expressing one's attitude is one of the ways to gain attention. As long as Qin Zhiyuan expresses it sufficiently, no matter whether Petain likes Qin Zhiyuan or not, Petain must pay attention to Qin Zhiyuan's request, otherwise he will not be able to step down. It must be Pétain.

As for whether Petain likes Qin Zhiyuan, who cares?

Many people don't like the butcher Manjing, but Manjing himself is still capable and has enough obedience and execution. Under Niweiler, Mangin was reused, and when Pétain came to power, Mangin also made a comeback.

In the end, Pétain left Reims with sluggish resentment. His career failed to achieve any purpose except humiliating himself.

After seeing off Petain, Qin Zhiyuan welcomed the manic MacArthur.

The U.S. 84th Brigade is about to retreat and return to Orleans for rest and recuperation. Perhaps by the time the 84th Brigade rejoins the battle order, it will have nothing to do with MacArthur. Of course, the greater possibility is that the war is over.

In short, the "Rainbow Division" that MacArthur often talked about in history probably no longer has its original halo.

There is definitely an aftertaste from time to time, but it is probably not sweet, but bitter.

The US 84th Brigade fought hard for a day with the Germans. Most of the army's casualties were over half of the nearly 10,000 people, and only about 3,000 were left. Most of them were injured. Strictly speaking, they were even more miserable than Qin Zhiyuan.

Strictly speaking, MacArthur should bear part of the responsibility for the loss of the 84th Brigade, and a large part of the responsibility. Before the battle began, MacArthur made a mistake in arranging his troops. His formation was too far forward. As for the heavy casualties suffered in the German artillery fire.

MacArthur knew this, so since withdrawing from Amifontein, MacArthur has been very irritable.

Qin Zhiyuan understood MacArthur's mood. For a very utilitarian person, MacArthur was more worried about the US government's perception of him than the loss of troops.

Qin Zhiyuan also understood this, so in the battle report, Qin Zhiyuan attributed the heavy casualties of the 84th Brigade to the overwhelming German artillery fire, and did not mention a word about MacArthur's mistakes.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

This in itself is also beneficial to Qin Zhiyuan

If the 84th Brigade suffered heavy casualties under the devastating German artillery fire and had to retreat, then the Chinese troops who persisted in fighting under the overwhelming artillery fire would win more praise.

This is good for you, me and everyone.

In fact, when the troops in his hands lost their combat effectiveness, MacArthur no longer knew what he should do, so he was a little concerned about one thing and the other.

"Qin, I need more penicillin. Why would you rather use it on those infected with colds than on the wounded soldiers who are crying in pain?" MacArthur came to complain.

In the current field hospital, there are many wounded from the battlefields in all directions, and there are also a large number of cold patients.

Relatively speaking, cold patients received better care. After all, they could return to the battlefield after recovering, while the wounded needed a long recovery period.

"Doug, we must pay attention to this disaster. This is not an ordinary cold. The consequences will be more serious than a world war." Qin Zhiyuan said seriously.

The First World War killed a total of 10 million people, and even the most conservative estimate is that the "Spanish Flu" killed 20 million people, twice as many as the world wars.

This flu has a high incidence rate among young people aged 20 to 35. Many people are fine in the morning, get sick at noon, and die in the evening.

"Are you kidding me?" MacArthur asked in disbelief.

Previously, no cold-like disease had been as severe as the Spanish Flu, except for the Black Death, which was another catastrophe.

"I'm not kidding, Doug. You know, I have a lab in Corsica with smart enough scientists and complete facilities. My principal investigator told me that this is just a preview of what will happen. Oops, it might even last until next year or The year after tomorrow, so we must pay attention to it." After Qin Zhiyuan finished speaking, he looked at the shocked MacArthur and suddenly had an idea: "If I were you, I would warn the US government to pay attention to this disaster and reserve more. drugs, prompting citizens to pay more attention to personal hygiene.”

For a "motivated" person, he will not let go of any opportunity.

If MacArthur follows Qin Zhiyuan's persuasion, even if MacArthur is proven to have insufficient military capabilities due to this failure in the battle, he will win points in other aspects.

"Disaster?" MacArthur still didn't understand.

"Yes, disaster! It seems that there are many Hispanics in the United States, so you must be careful, the destructive power cannot be underestimated." Qin Zhiyuan emphasized.

Qin Zhiyuan only knew the serious consequences of the "Spanish Flu", but he did not know the specific process.

In the original history, 250,000 young people died in the United States in October 1918, and the average life expectancy in the United States dropped by 12 percentage points that year. If Americans knew these data, I am afraid they would expel all Hispanics.