August 5, 1914, St. Petersburg, Russia.

French ambassador Paleolog drove to meet with the Tsar and asked Russia to launch a quick attack on Germany. On the way, he encountered a team of Cossack cavalry heading to the front line.

The cavalry leader saw the French flag on the ambassador's car and enthusiastically invited the ambassador to review his troops, and the ambassador happily agreed.

While inspecting the troops, the cavalry leader made a generous speech and raised his arms and shouted: "We will destroy those despicable Prussians. Prussia will forget, Germany will perish, and exile William II to the island of St. Helena!"

After the review, he waved his saber and led his troops to gallop away.

The high morale of the Cossack cavalry has greatly increased the confidence of the French ambassador. With the support and cooperation of the Russian giants, France will definitely be able to defeat its old enemy and win the victory of this war.

The Russian giants do have a magical magic that not only confuses the French and Europeans, but also confuses the whole world.

For many years, this most backward and reactionary military feudal imperialist country was not only the military police of Europe, but also the demon of the Eastern nation. Although its army killed many people and was notorious, it was the cold winter that drove Napoleon out of Russia, not the Russian army; although in the Crimean War, the Russian army suffered defeats from Britain and France on its own land; although Turkey defeated the Russian army in 1877; although Japan defeated the Russian army in China, the myth of the invincible Russian army is still widely circulated in Europe. The Cossack cavalry is fierce and brutal, and is well known to everyone in Europe. People think that the Cossacks, plus millions of strong, strong, tamed and obedient, and ready to die, are invincible.

The Russian army is so large that it is shocking: the number of troops in normal times is 1.4 million, but once mobilized and recruited, it can increase to more than 3.1 million. In addition, there is a local army of 2.6 million and a back force that can be recruited. Therefore, the total number of troops that can be mobilized reaches 6.5 million.

Unfortunately, the ruler Nicholas II had neither talent nor morality. He only followed the orders of the queen, and the queen followed a liar active in the palace. Under the rule of Nicholas II, Russia had no peace, disasters occurred frequently, slaughtered, and defeated the troops repeatedly, and the people were living in poverty. The situation of the Russian army was not much better. The elderly veteran generals were like crucian carp crossing the river, and the officers formed a top-heavy situation. The appointment and promotion of officers did not rely on ability and military achievements, but on family background and backing.

Germany, East Prussia.

The recruits were training and exercises under the leadership of veterans. The defense line at the entrance of Insterborg was reinforced again. The troops responsible for the Mazuli Lake District operation were also familiar with every wood and every path there over and over again. Everything was preparing in an orderly manner.

After dispatching a large number of reconnaissance personnel to the east and arranging special intelligence personnel to closely monitor the opponent's radio communication, Chen Tian focused his attention on the Western Front battlefield at this time.

"Oh God! The emperor actually collected warships and tanks as noble works of art!" Chen Tian lamented. According to Thomas' report, the armored troops of the Emperor's Guards did not cross the border to participate in the attack, but were on standby in Berlin, and the High Seas Fleet did not take any action for the time being.

"The Belgians are just chocolate soldiers. Your Highness, you don't have to worry too much!" Thomas has arranged a group of observers with the army in the Western Front, and they will transmit the battle situation on the Western Front back to East Prussia as soon as possible.

"Don't underestimate the power that a country bursts out when facing death!" Chen Tian hopes that the tanks and armored vehicles he provides to the emperor can play a role as a surprise weapon in the battle on the Western Front. After all, once such weapons are put into the battlefield, the enemy will soon begin to research and manufacture similar weapons.

He picked up his pen and wrote it quickly on the paper, but after a while he suddenly stopped, and the half-written letter was torn to pieces.

There are some things that he cannot say.

Belgium, Liege, almost the whole world is watching here.

Liège is like a hanging gate of a castle, guarding the gates entering Belgium from Germany.

It is located on a steep slope of 150 meters high on the left bank of the Maas River. The river channel in this area is about 200 meters wide and is its natural moat. It is 48 kilometers away from fortresses. This is a well-known and most impeccable city in Europe.

The fortresses in Liège are built on both sides of the river, consisting of 12, usually 6-8 kilometers away from the city of Liège, and each is 3-5 kilometers apart. The six on the east coast all face Germany, while the six rings on the west coast are arranged around and behind Liège.

These forts seem to be medieval castles built under the ground. Only a triangular top is exposed on the ground. Some arched covers extend out on the top to conceal all turrets. All other facilities are underground, with inclined tunnels leading to the basement and communicating the connection between the turrets and the ammunition depot and the fire control room. The six large forts and the six small forts distributed between them have a total of 400 cannons, the largest of which is a 210 mm caliber howitzer. At the corner of the top of the triangle, there are small turrets, the rapid-fire cannons in the tower and the slope in front of the machine gun controller fortress. Each fortress is surrounded by a 9-meter-deep trench, and each has a steel watchtower that can land below the ground like its cannon. The tower is equipped with a searchlight. Each large fortress is stationed by two companies of artillery and one company of infantry.

Before the war, in order to strictly maintain neutrality, Belgium's six infantry divisions and one cavalry division were deployed in all directions to deal with all invading enemies: the 1st Division was facing Ghent in England, the 2nd Division was in Antwerp, the 3rd Division was facing Liege in Germany, the 4th and 5th Division were facing Namur, Charleroi and Mons in France, and the 6th Division and the Cavalry Division were in the center of Brussels.

On August 3, King Albert officially took office as commander-in-chief of the Belgian army. He personally nominated the 63-year-old General Le Mans as commander of the 3rd Division and commander of the Liej Army. The king asked him to "stay on the position entrusted to you and fight to the end."

The Belgians relied too much on these fortifications carefully designed by Brialmon. The defenders were insufficient and they were all reserve soldiers, with only one officer in each company. They did not start digging trenches and barbed barbed wire until August 2 to defend the gaps between the forts and to clear houses and trees that hinder the artillery fire. These measures were just beginning when the Germans launched the attack.

The German army had a total strength of more than 1.5 million troops, from the 1st Army on the top of the right wing of the German Front in confrontation with Liege, to the 7th Army on the end of the left wing of the Alsace.

The 6th and 7th Army formed the left wing of the German army, with 16 divisions; the 4th and 5th Army formed the middle wing, with 20 divisions; the 1st and 22nd Army formed the right wing, with 34 divisions. According to the plan, the right wing was the right wing, and another independent corps composed of three cavalry divisions were assigned to the right wing. The three armies on the right wing were commanded by General Cluke, Bilo and Hausen, and the commander of the cavalry was General Mawitz.

In order to open up the Liege channel, the 2nd Army dispatched 6 brigades to form a "Mas River Force" and was commanded by General Emmi. If the Belgians did not resist and surrendered, the force could be expected to complete the task of occupying Liege when the main force assembled.

Xiao Moltch believed that Belgium's so-called battle was just a "sweet dream", so he did not transport the giant cannon to the front line. However, the prince gathered his airship troops near Cologne, and it was only two hours before he could reach over Liege.

"Your Highness, you are too worried! I believe that the Belgians are just symbolic resistance!"

Prince smiled and said nothing.

"If the Prince of East Prussia hadn't made a bet with me before the war that my airship unit could not blow up the Liege Fortress, I would have been too lazy to come here! Humph! Gigi, just wait to polish my shoes!" Prince thought, while watching his soldiers loading bombs of several kilograms to half a ton of them onto the airship. 69 airships covered several hills in the western suburbs of Cologne.

Chen Tian, ​​who was far away in East Prussia, sneezed heavily.

"Who is talking about me again!" He picked up Xiao Shasha and kissed him, "Is it you, my little princess!"

Sasha giggled.

Before heading to the front line, the best thing is to stay with your family. In the next few years, Chen Tian and his family will inevitably get together less and more, and perhaps they will never see their family.

On the road to Liege, there were a group of infantry soldiers of the Emmi assault troops. In the monotonous grey, only the black steel helmets and the rubber surface of the regiments were bright and bright. Behind them were field artillery with horses. Groups of soldiers riding bicycles rushed forward to seize the intersections and villages, and set up telephone lines. Sedans carrying staff with single-piece eyes were shuttled through the crowd, constantly honking the horns. Each regiment was equipped with field kitchen chariots. When marching, the cooks stood on the chariots and stirred the stew pots constantly on the blazing fire. The German army was equipped with perfect equipment, and the soldiers were uniform and uniform, just like a military parade.

The soldiers sang "Germany supreme" and "Long Live the King's Victory", as if they were marching rather than going to fight.

The brigades commanded by Emmich marched towards Liege from three directions southeast and northeast, and when they arrived at the Damas River, they found that the bridge had been destroyed. When they tried to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river, the Belgian infantry opened fire.

The German soldiers did not expect that they would actually fight. In real guns and live ammunition, they began to be injured and killed. However, with the advantage of numbers, the defense of the 60,000 German troops exceeded 25,000 Belgian troops successfully crossed the Vese River in the north of Liege. The brigades that launched an attack in the south conquered, while the brigades that broke through the Maas River in the middle had arrived at the fortress area.

On August 5, as the German army began to attack Liege, the first battle of the war began.

Emmich's infantry began to attack the four forts at the eastern end of Liege. They first carried out continuous bombardment with field artillery, followed by infantry impact. The light-pounding shells falling on the fortress did not work, while the shells poured by the Belgians caused heavy casualties in the German army. Despite this, the brave and fearless German soldiers rushed up one after another.

At 3 pm, Emmich's troops stopped the attack, and the fallen German soldiers almost piled up into a terrible barricade, but the Belgians still firmly grasped the fortress. The violent sunlight made all creatures on the ground want to find a shaded corner to hide, and the dusty German soldiers lie on the ground or rest on the side of the road, exhausted them from the impact for several hours.

At this time, people heard a very light buzzing sound from their heads, as if someone had poked the honeycomb and attracted a large group of bees. When they raised their heads, they were all stunned.

In the sky, countless huge airships almost cover the sky.

Prince sat in the largest Zeppelin airship, looking proudly at the fearful and fearful people on the ground. After receiving the news that the German attack was blocked, he immediately asked Moltke for a fight, strongly demanding a bombing of Liege, and defeating the Belgian resistance in one fell swoop. In fact, he cared more about asking the Prince of East Prussia to help him polish his shoes.

The roaring motor stopped.

"Your Highness, we have arrived over the Liege Fortress. Are we going to drop bombs?"

"Well! I ordered, start bombing! Let all boats cast a certain amount of accuracy and scrap this European No. 1 fortress at one time!"

The German soldiers on the ground watched the monsters with huge iron crosses on the lower part stopped over Liege, and then a large pile of black things fell from the airship.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions came one after another, and the entire city of Liege and the surrounding fortresses were shrouded in an explosion of fire and smoke.

"Long live! Long live!" The soldiers waved their weapons, and all the morning these hateful fortresses had taken the lives of countless comrades.

"Prepare for attack!" Emmich gave the order, all the soldiers who were exhausted just now became alive, and everyone's face was full of confidence and desire for victory.

The last bomb fell from an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, smashed through a turret and caused a huge explosion. Then the airships began to move slowly, leaving the fortress full of sores, and turned around and flew west.

"Run!"

"oh……"

Tens of thousands of German soldiers howled and rushed to the fortress ahead. Bombs fell from high altitude destroyed many turrets and bunkers. In the evening, the German army occupied two fortresses west of Liege, and the fortress circle in Liege was broken through. The German army broke into the city of Liege later that day and launched a fierce exchange of fire with the Belgian 3rd Division. Two hours later, the Belgian 3rd Division was wiped out, General Le Mans was killed, and the city of Liege was declared to be destroyed.

On August 6, Prince's airships bombed the remaining 10 fortresses around Liege twice in a row, and dozens of large-caliber field artillery also arrived at the Liege front line. With their joint efforts, the entire Liege fortress finally fell in the evening.

At 8 pm, Chentian received a call from Prince.

"Jiji, you haven't forgotten what we made! Get the tools to shine your shoes, I'll come to you at any time, hahaha!"

Chen Tian opened the calendar on the table and captured the Liege Fortress fortress for two days. The German army on the Western Front had already taken the lead, so what was the point of polishing leather shoes!

On the same day, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Russia.

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Chapter completed!