(Chapter to)

February 5, 7:00 p.m., Paris, Tuileries Palace, Xiao Jie's office.

The commander of the French Empire Navy, Admiral Burtt and others walked in, looked at the three people sitting inside, and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, what do you want me to do?" Just after a day's meeting, Before he had a good rest, Boult was called to the Tuileries Palace by someone sent by Xiao Jie.

"Your Excellency Marshal Boult, the matter is as follows. This morning, the British navy assembled the main force of the home fleet and the Channel Fleet, and attacked our Mediterranean Fleet." Xiao Jie said lightly. From his face, Boult could not see a trace of joy or anger.

"How's the situation? Is the Mediterranean Fleet suffering a lot?" Boult asked anxiously. Unexpectedly, the British Navy's revenge would come so quickly. Although he told Sucrete and the others to strengthen their defenses when he left Le Havre, the British navy actually attacked the Mediterranean Fleet instead of the Channel Fleet, which was completely beyond his expectations.

"Let Marshal Ike explain the specific situation." Xiao Jie said. In 10 years, Eck has been promoted from Field Marshal to Imperial Marshal, the highest rank in the French Empire.

"The situation is as follows: At 6 o'clock in the morning, the British fleet was spotted by our patrol fleet 50 kilometers north of Alderney Island. The Mediterranean Fleet got the news and quickly prepared for battle, and the Channel Fleet also quickly But St. Peter Port is 200 kilometers away from Le Havre, and it will take at least 8 hours for the Channel Fleet to arrive. Therefore, the Mediterranean Fleet had to face the powerful British fleet independently for a long time. Morning At 10 o'clock, the Mediterranean Fleet and the British Fleet met in the sea 10 kilometers north of Guernsey, and a fierce naval battle ensued. In the first hour of the naval battle, the Mediterranean Fleet maintained the initiative on the battlefield by virtue of its speed advantage. At the cost of 3 'Iberia' class warships and 1 'Bonaparte' class warship, 17 'British' class warships and 6 'Honorary' class warships of the British fleet were sunk or seriously injured. It can be said that a lot has been achieved Good results. But then, the British commander ordered the fleet to abandon the pursuit of the Mediterranean Fleet and advance to St. Peter Port. In order to prevent St. Peter Port from becoming the second Portsmouth, General Broca ordered the Mediterranean Fleet to face the British Fleet head-on. "Speaking of this, Eke's face was a little ugly.

Boult couldn't help calling Broca an idiot when he heard this. St. Peter Port is very important, but its value is very small compared with the Mediterranean Fleet. St. Peter Port is not the only port in the Channel Islands. Even if St. Peter Port is destroyed, St. Helier can be used as the station of the Mediterranean Fleet.

"At 12 o'clock, the two sides exchanged fire again. At this time, the battlefield has moved to the vicinity of St. Peter Port. When the British fleet was dealing with the Mediterranean Fleet, it did not forget to send a fleet to destroy St. Peter Port. However, the fierce coastal defense in St. Peter Port Under the protection of artillery fire, their goal was not achieved, and nearly 30 warships were lost, and only the docks of the port were destroyed. But at the same time, the situation of the Mediterranean Fleet was much worse. In the battle with the British fleet During the period, the Mediterranean Fleet was gradually surrounded by the British fleet. The fierce battle lasted until two o'clock in the afternoon. During this period, the Mediterranean Fleet lost 5 'Bonaparte' class warships and 15 'Iberia' class warships, 'Ex The Dreadnought-class battleships 'Hunter' and 'Peninsula' were also severely damaged, and had to lie in the dock for two or three months. The other two 'Grand Duke' and 'Warrior' were also slightly injured, but not very seriously. Seriously. The superstructure of the 'Dreadnought' class battleship 'Brave' also suffered a devastating blow. The entire Mediterranean Fleet lost 60% of its combat effectiveness." Eck continued.

At this moment, Boult's face was already ashen. "Where's Broca? I'm going to kill him." Boult said through gritted teeth. Never since the creation of the French Navy had such losses been suffered.

"You don't need to do it yourself. At 1:45 in the afternoon, a British artillery shell hit the bridge of the 'Brave', and Boult was killed on the spot. The subsequent battles were commanded by the Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Fleet. However, I have to say that although the losses of the Mediterranean Fleet are very large, the losses of the British Fleet are not small. In the battle with the Mediterranean Fleet, they lost at least 40 'British' class warships and 15 'Honor 'class battleship. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Channel Fleet rushed to the battlefield and launched an attack from behind the British fleet. The British fleet suffered heavy losses and had to choose to retreat in the end." Eck finally finished his narration.

"Then Chief of Staff, what can I do?" Boult asked. He is a smart person, Xiao Jie summoned him in such a hurry, there must be important tasks to be entrusted to him.

"We need you to rush to St. Peter Port immediately. The Mediterranean Fleet has been severely damaged, and I am afraid that morale will collapse. The current battle is very tense, and I will not allow this to happen. In addition, the lost battleship equipment department will be replenished in time. What we need to do in the next period of time is to improve the morale of the Mediterranean Fleet." Xiao Jie looked at Bult and said.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will raise the morale of the Mediterranean Fleet." Boult said confidently. "But what I am worried about is that the Mediterranean Fleet has been severely damaged. Although the British Navy has suffered greater losses than ours, the strength of the two sides is basically in balance. Then our plan to ambush the British Atlantic Fleet will not be realized."

Yes, although the loss of the British navy was greater than that of the French navy in the previous stage of the war, as the Mediterranean Fleet was severely damaged, the two sides basically returned to a level of parity. And the British Atlantic Fleet does not need to be transferred back to the strait for support. And the current Mediterranean Fleet may not be able to undertake the heavy task of ambushing the British Atlantic Fleet in a short time.

I didn't expect that things would develop to this point, completely deviated from Xiao Jie's expectation. Although the French navy has begun to gain an advantage overall, it will be very difficult to completely defeat the British navy with its current strength, and even if it wins in the end, it will be a miserable victory. This is not the result that Xiao Jie and the others hope to see.

"Where are the strengths of the British navy in the strait at present mainly distributed? Is there any possibility for us to defeat each of them?" Xiao Jie asked. If you don't defeat the British navy, you won't be able to land in the UK, and you won't be able to completely defeat the UK.

"Now the British Channel Fleet and the Home Fleet still have more than 250 warships, 80% of which are concentrated in Brighton." Eck said with some helplessness. According to the current situation, there is no possibility of defeating each one at all.

"It would be great if we could kill all the British warships in Brighton, then we would have an absolute advantage." Dougal said suddenly.

"Don't daydream. The British Navy has more than 200 warships in Brighton. With our current strength, it is impossible to kill the opponent." Eck said directly. War requires strength, not just talking about it.

Du Geer's words were unintentional words, but they gave Xiao Jie a lot of inspiration. From the perspective of the navy alone, everyone is now evenly matched. Everyone's thinking was completely bound to this before. But for Xiao Jie, who used to live in the 21st century, to deal with the navy, he can rely on other military services, such as the air force. This is what happened regularly in the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries.

"Perhaps we really have a chance to completely injure the British Navy." Xiao Jie said with a smile.

Everyone looked at Xiao Jie in surprise. Dougal was daydreaming, so he wouldn't be infected too. "Your Majesty, are you joking or do you really have a way." Boult asked hastily.

Xiao Jie nodded seriously.

"Then tell me what is the solution?" Eck urged.

Xiao Jie said with a smile: "The navies of both sides are indeed evenly matched, but don't forget, we not only have a powerful navy, but also the most powerful air force in the world."

"You mean to use the air force to deal with the British navy? But will it work?" Burt asked with some doubts~lightnovelpub.net~How would you know if you don't try? "Xiao Jie shrugged his shoulders.

"Perhaps we should call Air Marshal Baldesius, Air Force Commander (promoted from Air Force Admiral to Air Force Marshal). As a professional, he should have more say." Eck suggested.

Soon, Baldesius was invited to Xiao Jie's office. When he heard Xiao Jie's idea, he was also very surprised at that time, because there was no precedent for this. At the same time, he also felt that Xiao Jie's method was feasible. "Your Majesty, I still can't give you an accurate answer, but I think it should be feasible. But this must be verified in detail before making a judgment. After all, there are too many influencing factors for the Air Force." Barr Decius finally said.

Xiao Jie nodded. He also knew that for the air force formed by airships, it is very difficult to bomb targets across the sea, and a series of problems such as wind direction and direction must be solved. "You complete the demonstration as soon as possible, we don't have much time. But in my opinion, this plan is very feasible. I will give you one month to come up with a battle plan for bombing Brighton." Xiao Jie Said seriously.

Seeing that Xiao Jie was so determined, Baldesius had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree, and went back to prepare his argument and battle plan.