1890 King of Southeast Asia

Christmas of 1917 has arrived. The joyous festivals of previous years are destined to be full of bitterness for the rulers of the old world today.

Ludendorff is stepping up the collection of supplies to prepare for the spring offensive next year. The success of the winter offensive has made him full of confidence in the war, and so are the German upper classes.

However, by the end of 1917, Germany had in fact lost its war potential. More than 50% of the more than 60 million Germans were malnourished and 80% were hungry.

In the past few decades, various steel buildings built during Germany's rapid development period, metal artworks, and even cables and water pipes laid underground have been dug out by the Germans.

All metal products containing alloys in people's homes, such as copper faucets, were confiscated by the "German Emperor", and a large number of iron living tools, including iron pots and even tableware, were also confiscated.

The Huaxia Empire suddenly chose to conduct private transactions with the German Emperor, providing a large number of rare metals that Germany urgently needed, so that their factories could operate normally. Otherwise, the German army would have lost the ability to launch large-scale attacks.

Now, Ludendorff tried to concentrate power and take a gamble, because by next year, even if rare metals could temporarily support the war, food shortages could strangle Germany.

So this Christmas, every German adult man only got 800 grams of potatoes or 500 grams of grain bread, and adult women only got 70% of men's. Children had to reduce the amount and distribute margarine and peas according to the family.

Traditional meat and sausage? No, after the Battle of Paris, the Germans confiscated privately owned livestock and banned the use of grain to feed livestock.

Without livestock, where would the sausages and meat come from?

This amount was specially provided for this Christmas. The German emperor hoped to boost the morale of civilians in order to support the offensive next year. The usual quota was enough for the Germans to not starve to death.

Compared with the Germans, his allies, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, were all doing well. They had a smaller population, a large traditional agricultural scale, and materials were not as scarce as the Germans.

In terms of daily rations, the situation of the Allies is undoubtedly much better than that of the Allies. For example, the British mainland will provide a large amount of tea, coffee and sugar on Christmas Day. In normal times, these are strategic materials and difficult to buy.

Speaking of difficulties, the Russian Empire is the only one among the remaining Allied Powers. Like Ludendorff, Alexeev began to prepare for the offensive, and because Nicholas II urged him to do so, Alexeev directly requisitioned materials from many cities.

As far as food is concerned, the Tsarist Russian Empire, which has the Ukrainian Plain as a large granary, has no shortage of food, but the transportation efficiency of the Tsarist Russian Empire is extremely low, the administration is extremely corrupt, and the circulation of materials is slow and chaotic.

Alexeev promised that food will soon be transported from other places to the cities where materials are requisitioned, but Alexeev did not dare to guarantee how fast this will be and how much can be transported.

Therefore, on Christmas Day, dozens of anti-hunger marches broke out in the Tsarist Russian Empire, but they were quickly suppressed.

What was the Chinese Empire doing on Christmas Day?

…………

"From now on, everyone must be very alert. No matter what they do, they must always be in a fighting state."

Huang Zhengfang, wearing a thick military uniform and a brown general's cloak, stood on a high platform built with ammunition boxes and gave a speech to the soldiers of the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade.

"We still have two last missions. After completing the missions, this mission will be successfully completed. The more it is at this time, the more we cannot relax our vigilance."

"The train behind us is loaded with materials worth tens of millions of dollars. We can't make any mistakes."

"For these materials, the Germans may attack us at any time. In order to keep it secret, we can't increase our manpower before the battle is won. However, the nearest troops are only 12 kilometers away and can arrive within half an hour."

"Once a battle occurs, the first goal is to protect the train. Don't attack blindly."

"After the mission, everyone will have 3 days off and can have a good rest. Go!"

Huang Zhengfang directly conveyed to them what they need to do, which will make them more clear about what they need to do.

"It's almost time, it's time to set off." Zheng Shangqing, also wearing a general's brown cape, glanced at his watch, and then said to Huang Zhengfang.

"Let's go!" Huang Zhengfang gave the order to set off after hearing it.

The reconnaissance battalion of the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade took three trains with only four carriages, and moved forward lightly. They had to investigate various areas along the way and leave personnel to guard.

The material train would set off half an hour after they left, fully armed, and even the logistics personnel were equipped with machine guns and mortar groups.

"Brigade Commander, the headquarters sent a message that the weapons replenished for us have been transported to the Baghdad Canal Terminal and will be transported to Birejik by inland transport ships, and are expected to arrive in 7 days."

After getting on the car, Zheng Shangqing said to Huang Zhengfang.

"Inland transport ship? That's right, the Euphrates River is here, it would be a pity not to use it." Huang Zhengfang nodded.

The section of the Euphrates River below Hit can accommodate inland transport ships of more than 500 tons, and can reach 1,000 tons during the flood season.

The middle reaches are steeper, and only small boats and rafts have been used so far. However, 1200-ton flat-bottomed transport ships can still pass through, but at a relatively slow speed.

Before, the Huaxia Empire did not seriously investigate the navigability of the Euphrates River. After the war began, Zheng Lei thought of using water transportation due to the shortage of transportation capacity.

Now the front-line base camp of the 6th Army of the Huaxia Empire is located on the banks of the Euphrates River in Birejik. If the Euphrates River can be used for water transportation, it can greatly alleviate the current shortage of transportation capacity.

After the investigation, the relevant personnel believed that the entire basin could be navigable by small inland shipping boats under 500 tons, but because the middle reaches are steeper, multiple marking points need to be established to remind ships to pay attention to safety.

At present, the lighthouse and signal station for marking have been built, and dozens of 1200-ton small fishing boats have been mobilized from Southeast Asia, and the inland transport team has been established.

Because the inland river is narrow, there are fewer ships, and the waterway is unfamiliar, the current transportation speed is still very slow.

"Seven days is just right. After the vacation, we can start to reorganize and reorganize. Everything can be connected just right. It's just that I have to work hard for you." Huang Zhengfang patted Zheng Shangqing on the shoulder.

They are wearing the cloaks of generals, and they are new arrivals. The stars on their shoulders have also changed from 4 to 1, and they have been successfully promoted to major generals.

The rank is not randomly promoted. The 10th Independent Mixed Brigade will be expanded and reorganized, and the number will be the 101st Division of the 6th Army of the Empire, a 3-regiment division.

Huang Zhengfang and Zheng Shangqing's positions have also been promoted from brigade commander and brigade chief of staff to commander and chief of staff of the 101st Division. The newly transported weapons are used for expansion and reorganization.

To receive equipment and then expand and reorganize, he, the division commander, and Zheng Shangqing, the chief of staff, must be very busy, and there is no way to talk about the so-called holiday rest, so he said this.

"Everyone is the same, what is tired or not, this kind of tired, I wish I could do it more times." Zheng Shangqing replied happily.

Isn't it true? If you work hard once, you will become a general. If you come more times, won't you become a marshal?

However, he was just thinking about it. After being promoted to major general, if you don't have particularly outstanding abilities, it is not so easy to be promoted. You need to have outstanding military exploits.

Judging from the current situation that the 6th Army of the Chinese Empire is beating the 6th Army of the Ottoman Empire at the same level, it is not easy for them to get enough outstanding military exploits.

First, there are many strong armies in the 6th Army of the Chinese Empire. For example, although a brigade has been withdrawn from the 3rd and 5th Divisions, their equipment level is still a solid main force. The future 101st Division cannot be compared in the short term.

"By the way, did the commander say anything about soldier supplies? We need some veterans, preferably non-commissioned officers. There are too many new recruits. After training for so long, there are still many problems." Huang Zhengfang suddenly thought that Zheng Shangqing did not say where the soldiers came from.

According to the organization of the 3-regiment division, the Independent 10th Mixed Brigade needs to supplement 34,000 combat or logistics personnel.

When it was changed to the Independent 10th Mixed Brigade, they received about 2,000 new recruits-here refers to soldiers who have served in the past two years and have not been on the battlefield.

After all, the path of the whole people being soldiers was taken in the Nanhua era. Ordinary people had to receive some basic military training, and the soldiers sent here had received a lot of training.

However, after all, they were green hands who had never been on the battlefield, had never experienced machine gun fire and artillery fire. Whether they could stay calm on the battlefield was a big question mark.

This has already affected the combat effectiveness of the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade. If a few thousand more recruits were stuffed in, the 101st Division might have to be mixed into a second-line force.

"The soldiers are newly recruited reserves, and the technical arms and non-commissioned officers are waiting for the reorganization of several other divisions. Some personnel will be cut, and these people will be added to our hands."

"Brigade Commander, I personally suggest that you live in the headquarters during this period, except for the mission, so that you can get people as soon as possible."

"The scale of the first batch of reorganization is not small. The five divisions and eight brigades on the front line will be reorganized into three regiments. The competition is very intense."

Zheng Shangqing said quietly, avoiding other people in the car.

After all, it's easy to say, but not good to ask for things like this.

"Okay, I'll go after I finish the mission, and try to get us a few more talents."

"We are the 101st Division. We can't be the best, but we can't be the worst."

Huang Zhengfang nodded seriously.

Besides, besides, besides...

The train is moving forward and will eventually reach its destination. As they were talking, they arrived in Hatai. The journey was smooth.

The transaction process was also very smooth. Several trains and nearly 200 carriages of supplies were taken away by the Germans, and more than 20 tons of gold were also brought back by Huang Zhengfang.

The sun set, and a nearly 20 million US dollar order was negotiated...

(