Chapter 4: Cold Winter (1)

In the winter of 1894, Christmas still arrived on time. The whole Europe did not show much joy when Christmas came. The high unemployment rate put Europe in a turbulent atmosphere. Especially on the eve of Christmas, the king of the Austro-Hungarian Empire repeatedly expressed his interest in Serbia. The media of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also constantly advocating the concept of the Great Austro-Hungarian Empire under the official instruction. Italy, another ally of Germany, was constantly swaying, and his attitude was always ambiguous. Only Germany put on an aggressive posture and supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire with great fanfare.

Faced with the step-by-step pressing of the allies, the Allies carried out tit-for-tat measures, and Russia began to increase troops on the border. The French even arranged 30 divisions and 500,000 troops on the German-French border. The British warships became the busiest troops and kept appearing on the Atlantic Ocean. The British Navy threatened that as long as the war started, the Royal Navy would completely block the German Navy in the harbor.

Sarajevo, the center of Serbia, is also the place where radical nationalists are concentrated the most. On Christmas night, a group of young people gathered silently in a basement. They knew clearly what they were going to face, but they did not see any fear on their faces, and they even smiled.

This was an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Embassy. There were thirteen young people involved in the operation. After checking the guns and explosives on their bodies, each young person was assigned a highly toxic potassium cyanide. This was a journey of death.

"Everyone listened, your task is to cover Philip and Laien to rush into the embassy. We want the enemies who are trying to invade Serbia to see our determination. The Serbian people are inconquering. Long live the Serbian national independence."

"Long live the national independence of Serbia!!!" Amid a low slogan, the preparations for this action were over.

The area around the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Serbia is different from most urban areas. It is a high-end residential area. The people living here are all powerful people, which are different from the deserted slums. The streets in this area are still full of lights and wine. The police patrols on the streets are more than other places.

"Tick tick." Two carriages rushed towards the embassy. When they were fifty away from the embassy, ​​the carriage was stopped by the police, and the police had to conduct a routine inspection.

"Bang!" The gunshot sounded, and the three policemen fell into a pool of blood, and a group of men in black jumped off the carriage. They shot at the nearby police frantically. The two carriages accelerated and rushed towards the embassy desperately. At this time, the embassy was holding a Christmas party. The embassy door was open. After hearing the gunshot, the embassy staff tried to close the door quickly, but it was too late. After a burst of dense gunshots, the people who tried to close the door were knocked to the ground. The carriage rushed into the embassy. Two young men holding explosives bags rushed off the carriage and ran towards the embassy like crazy. But they did not take a few steps before they were shot by the police. The young man named Philip struggled toward the embassy.

Crawling in the embassy, ​​he was shot in the thigh. When several bullets hit Philip, the young man shouted: "Long live Serbia!" and pulled the explosive pack in his hand. After a piece of gunpowder, the police and security personnel in the embassy were stunned by this behavior. Everyone was a little at a loss to look at the tragic situation. Just as everyone was in a daze, another man in black rushed into the crowd of people gathered from the smoke and said: "Long live Serbian people! Serbia is an inconquering nation!" After shouting the slogan, the young man calmly pulled the explosive pack tied to his body. Five seconds later, another huge explosion sounded, and the embassy was shrouded in thick smoke.

The survivors will never forget this bloody scene. When the young man pulled the explosive pack, many people saw his young and passionate head. When facing death, the young man chose to smile. That smile was so calm and firm.

The explosion in the Sarajevo embassy on Christmas Eve in 1894 quickly shocked the whole of Europe. The explosion caused more than half of the people in the embassy. The ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was seriously injured and died. Thirty people participated in the party were killed and ninety people were injured. The Balkan powder keg was finally detonated.

Regarding this incident, the Austro-Hungarian Empire first felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An embassy was given an excuse to send troops to Serbia. The day after the bombing, the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced that it would break off diplomatic relations with Serbia. On January 20, 1895, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia with the support of Germany and sent troops to Serbia, trying to annex Serbia by force.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's dispatch of troops immediately aroused Russia's reaction. On January 22, Russia implemented a national mobilization under the pretext of supporting Serbia's independence. Germany immediately protested against Russia's actions. Russia ignored Germany's protests. After the protest was invalid, on February 2, Germany declared war on Russia and invaded Russia's neighboring Poland under the pretext of Russia's refusal to stop the general mobilization. On February 6, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Russia.

On February 8, Britain and France declared war on Germany under the pretext of Germany's invasion of the neutral country Poland. At this point, World War I broke out early.

Shanghai, China. When an unknown island in the East China Sea was plowed over and over by a group of battleships with cannons, the landing troops began the landing exercise. This exercise can be said to be a major test of the coordinated combat of China's army and navy, and it is also a comprehensive investigation of the actual combat of many new equipment.

On the battle cruiser of the Kuafu, Shenyang held up a telescope in his hand and carefully observed the entire process of the military exercise, without paying attention to Liu Mingyuan's proud words beside him.

"I said, buddy, you should come to our navy. Look at me. I have been the captain of this warship for only two months. What about you? You are still a major staff officer. You follow the bosses of the Army Department all day long. What's the point? Come to the navy and follow them."

There are very few people who know Shenyang's true identity, even Liu Mingyuan, a classmate who studied abroad in Germany, did not know. Shenyang went to Germany on the same boat with Liu Mingyuan. After a long voyage of twenty days, Liu Mingyuan became a friend of Shenyang. When he was in Germany, Liu Mingyuan was often lost and came to Berlin to play in Shenyang. The relationship between the two was quite deep. As for Liu Mingyuan's identity, Shenyang knew it. Although Liu Mingyuan never said it, Shenyang still learned through other channels that Liu Mingyuan was the youngest son of Liu Shiba, his father's brother, who was a brother of his father, and Liu Shiba died five years ago, but Admiral Liu Yuan took good care of Liu Mingyuan, which is why Liu Mingyuan climbed so fast.

Seeing that Shenyang ignored him and was only watching the exercise, Liu Mingyuan snatched Shenyang's telescope and said, "I said you are too unfair. I said you didn't care about it, but you ignored me. What's the point of watching? If you want to see something amazing, go to Jiangshan Island, for fear that you can't get in."

After Chen Yang was successfully attacked by Liu Mingyuan, he was forced to stop the observation exercise. However, Liu Mingyuan's subsequent words aroused Chen Yang's interest and asked: "What's more powerful than the formation led by these ten battleships?"

Seeing Chen Yang's appetite hanged up, Liu Mingyuan smiled and stretched out three fingers. Chen Yang saw this familiar movement and smiled slightly, as if he saw the sunshine in Berlin again. He saw the Nian, Liu Mingyuan, who was afraid of eating seafood in the Navy Academy.

"Okay, three Western foods, I'll treat Baile Western Restaurant tonight." In the past, Liu Mingyuan could basically handle it as long as there was Western food, but today he shook his head and said, "No! Western food is too pediatric, let's change the place."

Chen Yang said: "Okay, just say wherever you want to go, but that's all, I'll only invite you this time." Chen Yang is worthy of being Shen Qingshuang's son, and he is also a good bargaining player.

"Twice." Liu Mingyuan did not let go. "No, just once," Chen Yang did not give in.

"Then I won't say it." Liu Mingyuan started to take Qiao. Chen Yang had already seen through this guy. He tidied up his military cap and said, "I don't want to listen if I don't go and pull it down." Seeing that the threat was useless, Liu Mingyuan immediately changed his face and said, "I said, brother, you don't know. That place is very fun. I brought more than a thousand yuan from my house and I have given it to me for two months, but I just want to go there, so you can help me."

Liu Mingyuan also understood Chen Yang's temper of being soft but not hard. After asking for it for a few words, Chen Yang nodded and said, "Okay, what makes you so obsessed with?" Liu Mingyuan's attitude also made Chen Yang interested.

"Keep confidential, you will know then. Let me tell you what the powerful weapon on Jiangshan Island is first."

"You kid, I'll kick you if it's not fun. Tell me, what's the awesome thing on Jiangshan Island?"

Liu Mingyuan looked around and found that no one noticed them. He took out a small notebook and wrote a line of words on the notebook and handed it to Chen Yang. After reading it, Chen Yang was shocked and said, "Is this true?" Liu Mingyuan nodded solemnly and said, "Absolutely true, this is what a classmate of mine was drunk and said, "It's a joke."

What surprised Chen Yang was that Liu Mingyuan wrote these words "Salin, chlorine." This means that Jiangshan Island produces chemical weapons, weapons that are prohibited from production and use by international law.

After Shenyang's surprised expression, Liu Mingyuan said proudly again: "That's what you and I said, there are even more powerful ones. It is said that only chemical shells have been developed. At that time, as long as the wind direction is calculated, the impact on the enemy will be great."

Chen Yang was completely shocked. He did not expect that China was secretly producing such weapons. As a soldier, Chen Yang always had a disdainful attitude towards the use of chemical weapons, believing that it was a weapon that only despicable people would use. Now that he found that the Chinese army was also secretly producing, Chen Yang was a little confused. For such a major decision, his father Yang Yi would definitely be there. Does Yang Yi also agree with the use of chemical weapons?

Even more shocking things were still coming, but after the exercise, when Chen Yang returned to Shanghai with the troops, a news that shocked the world came and war began in Europe.
Chapter completed!