The meeting of the Military Committee of the Civilization Party ended, and He Rui looked at the minutes of the meeting that the secretary had temporarily completed as usual. Even Hu Xiushan, who was usually taciturn, left the meeting room and stood with others in the open space outside the courtyard.

Hu Xiushan asked: "Xu Jia, Ruofan has changed a lot recently. Is General Francois really that high?"

Xu Jia still manages the organizational work and has a lot of information. Seeing that everyone is so concerned about Cheng Ruofan's changes, he also revealed some public information, "He is still in charge of the battle of Tannenberg." General Francois

He resisted orders and was still a military commander at the end of the war. Ludendorff almost hated him."

The members of the Military Committee had all seen the list of personnel for the German General Staff recommended by Major General Karl of the old German Army, and they did not pay much attention to General Francois at that time. Before receiving the help of this miniature German General Staff, how could

Rui thoroughly analyzed his attitude toward this help at the meeting, saying that a stone from a mountain can be used to attack jade.

The organizational structure of the Northeastern Army is based on democracy, equality, and the integration of officers and soldiers, rather than on elite management from top to bottom in a militaristic country like Germany. Therefore, the members of the Military Commission studied the German operational organization rather than copying it entirely.

With such a characterization, the committee members did not care who the members of the miniature German General Staff were, but wanted to learn how they operated. At this time, they were a little surprised to hear that General François turned out to be a disobedient person.

Zhong Yifu felt that the matter was not so conspiracy theory, so he asked: "Do you think Hindenburg and Ludendorff hate this general?"

Xu Jia felt that Zhong Yifu was actually very reliable when it came to the reliability of his work. But there was something strange about this guy, that is, everyone thought he would be impulsive. So Xu Jia smiled and said: "Our own comrades should not fight with him.

The same. If you have the courage to take responsibility, to the point of being desperate, disobeying orders will lead to a military court."

Zhong Yifu was not angry after being said like this. Like other comrades, he felt that Cheng Ruofan was the most likely to disobey orders. Of course, no one mentioned Zheng Silang. Even now, according to the latest psychology knowledge

Noun. Zheng Silang's 'psychological stability' is all super-process Ruofan.

Zheng Silang had long since given up caring about his past. Hearing that someone disobeyed his orders, he became interested, "What on earth did he do?"

Seeing how interested everyone was, Xu Jia could only reply: "Let's go to the archives together and have a look. I don't remember clearly either."

While Chief of Staff Cheng Ruofan and the invited miniature German General Staff were discussing the war between Russia and Poland that was thousands of miles away, the members of the Military Commission were sitting in the small reading room of the archives and learned about Francois

The experience of Admiral Watt.

The Battle of Tannenberg was a great victory for Germany. General Francois had an extremely impulsive character. During the first battle on the Eastern Front in Stoluponi, Francois did not know his superiors——

Prittwitz, commander of the Eighth Army, launched a deviant attack aimed at driving Renningkamp's Russian First Army back to the Russian border.

The success of Francois's operation in Stoluponi led Francois's superior, Commander Prittwitz, commander of the Eighth Army, to launch an offensive against Renningkamp's army at Gambini. This offensive

The defeat caused Pritwitz to panic and order the German troops to retreat back to the Vistula River.

Seeing this, there was a burst of laughter in the small reading room. Although the young soldiers have not fought in a war... No, it is precisely because the young soldiers have not fought in a big war that they have a great influence on the careers of other soldiers.

Interest. Every senior soldier in the small reading room knew very well that he had to gain knowledge through learning to make up for his shortcomings.

Soon, the commander of the Eighth Army was dismissed. Command of East Prussia was subsequently transferred to Hindenburg, who was reinstated from retirement, while Ludendorff served as Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army.

At Tannenberg, Francois once again refused to accept defense orders and disobeyed Ludendorff's direct orders twice. Especially on the 28th, Ludendorff was afraid that the defense line would be broken through, so he panicked and ordered Francois

The entire Wa army advanced northward to Lana to support the battle in the center.

Francois realized the extreme importance of cutting off the enemy's retreat. Out of his indifference to any orders he did not agree with, he continued to march along the original route. By the next day, his corps had cut off the Russian army.

Escape route south.

This act of resistance actually helped Hindenburg and Ludendorff achieve a decisive victory over Samsonov's Second Army. The Russian commander-in-chief Samsonov was in a dense forest before being captured by the Germans.

Suicide constituted the pinnacle of this victory. Francois also led his troops to capture 90,000 prisoners in this victory and achieved the main victory results.

Since then, General François still made many contributions and achieved the rank of general, but his promotion stopped at the first level of the corps. In contrast, Hindenburg became a marshal, and Ludendorff became a general.

The general became the core of commanding the German army in the later period. Other commanders at the same level as Francois included marshals and generals. This highlighted Francois's ill-fated fate.

Even though Zheng Shilang had let go of his knot, he couldn't laugh at this moment. The other committee members also sighed that human destiny is so difficult to describe. Maybe Francois is very powerful, maybe he is just an accidental intuition.

He won a great victory. But no matter which one it was, in an organization like the military, where obedience is the bounden duty, any violation of discipline will be punished.

Now that we have started to re-read the information, we have also read the information of other personnel. Among the people recommended by Professor Karl, General Francois has the highest rank, and the others are basically colonels and major generals. Their basic resumes include

Mainly organizations within the General Staff Headquarters.

Initially, everyone wanted to watch the fun, but after experiencing a change in mood, they were not in a hurry to leave the meeting and began to discuss the characteristics of the German General Staff system.

Cheng Ruofan was sitting in front of an old man with a bald head, a big beard and a ferocious appearance. The old man's tone was cold, but deep in his eyes there was enthusiasm for the war. After listening to Cheng Ruofan insisting on finishing the war situation in broken German, the old man asked

: "Major General Cheng, do you want to know how the General Staff will operate under such circumstances?"

"Yes." Cheng Ruofan replied immediately.

The sinister-looking bald old man was General Francois. He immediately replied: "The General Staff will find a way to send a military observation team to observe. Any speculation is meaningless. You have to see the real war with your own eyes to make a judgment."

."

Cheng Ruofan was stunned. He had indeed never considered sending a military observation team. Without first-hand information, it was impossible to make a reliable judgment on the war.

Seeing Cheng Ruofan's expression, the old man did not ridicule. Although the old man François was actually a little bit dissatisfied with the appearance of Cheng Ruofan, the chief of staff of the Northeast Army. Good-looking officers are very popular in the army, but good-looking officers are not.

However, after experiencing the bloody storm of the war, the old man knew very well that fierce-looking soldiers did not mean bravery, and Cheng Ruofan's offensive spirit exceeded Francois's imagination. As for Cheng Ruofan's idea of ​​setting up a pocket array and annihilating the Russian Red Army, military issues

It also has its merits.

The old man's thoughts were running quickly and he quickly replied: "Major General Cheng, in Germany, this is called a pincer offensive. The key point lies in your mastery and understanding of the troops. Assuming that the intelligence you provided is correct, you need at least one force to complete it.

It takes half a year of training for troops and four years of training for officers to carry out such an operation. The commander of this army needs to have staff capabilities."

Cheng Ruofan had great respect for the German General Staff. Hearing the time proposed by General François for troop construction, he couldn't help but be surprised, "Your Excellency, it only takes half a year and four years? Isn't the time too short?"

The old man shook his head. His bald head looked extremely eye-catching in the bright light. "You have already made a judgment on the Polish people's fighting will. As long as an army has an offensive spirit, this time is enough. What really takes time is to cultivate

Focus only on the war itself and not on the soldiers who won or lost."

Cheng Ruofan felt he understood and nodded.

The old man asked Cheng Ruofan to go back first and come back in the afternoon. Cheng Ruofan quickly shook his head, "What I want to learn is how the staff headquarters operates normally in emergencies. Please let me see with my own eyes."

General Francois found the request made by the Chief of Staff of the Northeastern Army really interesting, but he also took it for granted. Although Germany was defeated, German soldiers still had great confidence in the General Staff system. Even if they retired from active service, and

It was impossible to join the army again in this life. General François still believed that there was no problem with the General Staff system. The problem was with idiots like Ludendorff.

So within thirty minutes, General Francois showed Cheng Ruofan how a miniature general staff worked.

If there were no documents, white paper was used instead. The miniature German General Staff first obtained information about the warring parties' numbers, combat experience, commanders and personnel, and based on these, the basic appearance of the war sandbox was laid out.

At the same time, the sand table layout was completed based on the terrain of the warring area, especially information on railways, roads, docks, ports, etc.

While completing the battlefield sandbox, everyone from the General Staff took out a few small boxes. After opening it, Cheng Ruofan saw some dice of different colors. The dice of different colors were placed in a group, and the colorful colors were very eye-catching. If it weren't for the fact that there was a

In the war sandbox, it is easy to think that these German soldiers are gambling.

Since he didn’t know whether dice were used in the Northeastern Army’s military chess deductions, General Francois assumed that he did not. He explained to Cheng Ruofan: “Every unit in the war must set up various situations. Since there is no frontline data,

Set its parameters. The dice is a tool for judgment. After all, all kinds of things can happen."

For a while, Cheng Ruofan was a little disappointed. These preparations were exactly the same as what the Northeast Army had already completed. The Northeast Army Staff Department had them, including the dice.

However, dice are only used for simple paper work. The political commissars in the Northeast Army are responsible for the daily ideological education and political training of the troops. They master the subtle situations of the troops through meticulous work, rather than playing with dice.

With such disappointment, Cheng Ruofan asked: "Sir, can we start the deduction?"

General Francois shook his head, "No, it's over. Deductions without intelligence are just self-entertainment. Major General Cheng, war is a very serious matter. Even if war deductions are conducted in the Junior Military Academy, we have to provide

The information and data are also much richer than the intelligence you can provide now. Under the current situation, we cannot start deductions."

Being visited by the old man, Cheng Ruofan's respect for the German General Staff increased a bit. Cheng Ruofan felt that he understood the "accumulation of history" a little bit. Due to the rapid expansion of the Northeast Army, there are people of all personalities in the army. Therefore, the General Staff

It has been realized that a large-scale adjustment of military personnel, especially officers, is needed. Anyone who does not meet the current needs must be screened out. With the unruly character of General Francois, he still insists on the war almost instinctively.

Seriousness. The accumulation of the German General Staff is truly admirable.

So Cheng Ruofan took his leave. The old man François did not show any politeness, nor did he try to persuade him to stay, he just watched Cheng Ruofan leave.

After Cheng Ruofan left, the old man, General Francois, asked: "The cooperation period we signed with Mr. He Rui is three months. The time is coming soon. I am considering returning to Germany. Where are you guys?"

The members of this miniature German General Staff heard the general's disappointment, and everyone had their own disappointment. But one of them asked helplessly: "What will you do after you return to Germany?"

In an instant, the mood of these German soldiers turned into another kind of disappointment. Yeah, what are they going to do back?

The Treaty of Versailles severely suppressed Germany. The General Staff was abolished, the number of troops was less than 100,000, and the number of officers was 3,000. Without exception, these German soldiers who could come to China were unable to return to the army.

Among the Allied Powers, France wanted to completely destroy Germany, so it publicly proposed retaliatory reparations. Germany had to pay huge war reparations. Now Germany's domestic economy is in a depression, and it is difficult to find a job. Not to mention these people who thought they would be here for the rest of their lives.

This group of former German officers lived in the army and received pensions after retirement.

General Francois was still disappointed, "The Northeastern Army is too naive. To say that they are an army is better to say that they are babies who want to imitate a powerful army. They have ideals but no practice. I even think they are inferior to the Polish army."

After hearing this evaluation, no one among the German officers refuted it. Through this period of exchanges, it was difficult for the German officers to accept the integration of Northeastern officers and soldiers. However, after experiencing the European War, these officers and ordinary soldiers participated in the brutal

War, I think I can still tolerate some such decisions.

But the military democratic system makes these officers really unable to understand it. Any new tactics of the Northeast Army must be discussed through military democratic meetings, where officers and soldiers discuss how to use them.

Such actions not only do not exist in the German army, but are also against discipline. What the German army has to do is to implement it from top to bottom. Any suggestions from soldiers are harmful. This is summed up in the long history of German militarism.

experience of.

Eventually, some of these German officers began to think that General François's views were reasonable, and at least half of the officers had the intention of leaving. When one colonel finally said, "I also want to go back to Germany," the other officers followed suit.

Start expressing the same sentiments.

Cheng Ruofan didn't know that these German officers were actually leaving. All he was thinking about was the war, especially the issue of military democracy in the internal construction of the Northeastern Army.

The more he interacts with the guys from the German General Staff, the more Cheng Ruofan understands the difference between the German General Staff and the Northeastern Army. This is a difference that stems from the concept of army building. Cheng Ruofan originally thought that it could be reconciled, but the more contacts he has, the more he feels that

Unable to reconcile.
To be continued...