Chapter 472 Change of strategic focus

A month later, Aubrey successfully obtained the whereabouts of the treasures of the Swedish royal family and treasury from Gustav V. He quickly passed the news to Rich. And Rich asked to see Lance. In the end, Lance ordered the 4th Infantry Division of the French 3rd Army to attack Östersund immediately north. At the same time, the Marine Corps also organized an elite squad of about 50 people. According to the information provided by Aubrey, quietly Advance to Östersund. Prepare to join forces with Aubrey's people inside and out, and control all the remaining forces of the Swedish royal family and government cabinet in one fell swoop.

On a dark and stormy night, with the assistance of Aubrey's men, an elite detachment of the French Marine Corps sneaked into Ostersund. And in the early hours of the morning, a surprise attack was launched on the place where the Swedish royal family and government cabinet lived. Thanks to the guidance of Aubrey's people, the elite squad of the French Marine Corps was able to find the weakest point, and the Swedish royal guards were helpless to fight back. Within two hours, they had taken control of the building and grabbed Sweden's new king, Gustav V, from under the covers. And confronted the arriving Swedish army.

Two days later, the arrival of the 4th Infantry Division of the 3rd French Army immediately dismantled the difficulties caused by the Swedish army to the elite detachment of the Marine Corps. Subsequently, the 4th Infantry Division of the French 3rd Army sent a regiment of troops to assist the Marine Corps in escorting the remnants of the Swedish royal family and cabinet back to Stockholm. The rest of the troops began to sweep the entire northern part of northern Europe, according to Lanz's order. They must clear all the remnants of the Swedish army in the northern part of Northern Europe before winter comes.

When the Swedish royal family and the remnants of the government cabinet were escorted to Stockholm, they knew why they were raided by the French army. Because, on the same day, Lan Shi announced Xiao Jie's appointment to Aubrey in front of everyone. He was formally appointed Governor of Northern Europe, and began to organize the administrative work of the Nordic region from now on.

Under the glaring eyes of the Swedish royal family and the remnants of the government, Aubrey triumphantly took the letter of appointment from Lance. Of course he knew why Lance did this. He even predicted that in the near future, as long as the remnants of the cabinet can show their allegiance to the French emperor, they will definitely enter the government. And because Aubrey betrayed them, they will naturally not unite with Aubrey in the future. In this case, France will achieve the goal of splitting the Nordic government, thus easily controlling the entire Nordic region. And there is no need to be afraid that Aubrey will hold the whole of Northern Europe in his hands, which will eventually threaten the interests of France.

The Nordic region was completely pacified, which made Xiao Jie very happy. Because now France can finally concentrate on the game with the United States and Canada over the entire Atlantic region. Of course, what pleased him most was that the treasures of the Swedish royal family and the Swedish treasury were finally found by the French army.

Gustav IV grew up really secretively. He packed all these treasures in iron boxes and sank them into Lake Mälaren. It took a lot of effort for Lanshi and the others to salvage all those treasures. After counting and estimating, the total value of the treasure there is 1.4 billion francs.

After getting this news, Xiao Jie almost went crazy with joy. That's 1.4 billion francs. In this European war, the total division of the French army was only 1 billion francs. In addition to the plunder from Norway and the three Eastern European countries, France received a total of 2.5 billion worth of spoils. This batch of spoils not only replenished all of France's war consumption, but also restored France's economy that was about to collapse due to the war, and was stimulated by these spoils to develop rapidly. The most direct point is that Xiao Jie directly decided to allocate 200 million from this batch of spoils to build warships and form an independent South Atlantic Fleet. The current Atlantic Fleet was changed to the North Atlantic Fleet. Of course, the strength of the South Atlantic Fleet is much smaller than that of several other fleets. Apart from being larger than the Baltic Fleet, it is much smaller than the other three veteran fleets.

After the end of the European war, France's strategic center shifted rapidly. In the past, ending the war in Europe was the first priority. Now it is mainly focused on restoring the economy and stockpiling strategic materials. It is foreseeable that the future war between France and the United States and Canada will definitely be a protracted war of attrition. Therefore, France must be fully prepared before the war officially begins.

In mid-August, except for the 1st French Army in South America, all the heads of the French legions gathered in Paris. All the daily work of the army was handed over to the deputy head of the army. The same is true. During this time, the French military and government cabinet will hold important meetings in Paris on the change of the strategic center.

The time for the meeting was set for August 18, and the venue was the meeting room of the Tuileries Palace. A total of more than 40 people attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Eck.

The first item in the meeting was routinely delivered by Xiao Jie. Xiao Jie simply summed up the experience and lessons learned during the war, and hoped that everyone would make persistent efforts in future wars. Let the whole meeting get to the point.

"Marshals and generals. We have just ended a war, shattered an enemy plot, and regained control of Europe. But let this not let you relax. Our greatest enemy still exists, and in the The method is developing rapidly. According to the latest information we have received, the U.S. Army has grown to 105 divisions with a total of 1.7 million people. If military mobilization is carried out, their Army will eventually reach 3 million. The U.S. Navy is also developing very Hurry up, now, they already have 16 fleets. Each fleet has about 30 warships. Moreover, in the plan of the U.S. Navy, there are still 8 fleets under construction. The U.S. Air Force has also begun to establish, and now There are already hundreds of airships. But their airships are too simple to pose any threat to our air force. But their army and navy are no longer inferior to ours. I think these numbers are enough to attract our attention ’” Eck said.

After listening to Eke's introduction, the faces of the complacent people became serious again.

Looking at everyone's expressions with satisfaction, Eck continued: "There is another set of data about our other enemy, that is, Canada, an ally of the United States. Now, the Canadian Army has grown to 40 divisions with about 700,000 troops. People, if mobilized for war, this number will increase to 1.2 million. Similarly, the Canadian Navy has also developed to 7 fleets, and another 5 fleets are being planned. Their air force has also been established, and the technology of airships In terms of military and combat experience, they are even better than the U.S. Air Force. However, if their air force is against our air force, there is still no chance of winning. Gentlemen, if it is said that it is difficult for us to compete with the United States , so what about Canada? Our country is even more at a disadvantage.”

Everyone's face has changed to a little worried.

"One more thing. In the war with the United States and Canada for the Atlantic Ocean, our country is already at a distinct disadvantage. The Americans and Canadians are already on our doorstep. Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the island of Ireland are all in the U.S. They are under the control of Canada. They built a large number of fortifications on it, stored a large amount of strategic materials, and stationed heavy troops. Obviously they want to connect these islands into an iron chain and tighten our country's access to the Atlantic Ocean. Locked up. Gentlemen, isn't this enough to make us vigilant?" Dougal also spoke.

Almost everyone talked about it. Little did they expect that the United States and Canada had grown so powerful. Of course, apart from the generals of the navy and air force~lightnovelpub.net~ the main enemies of the navy are the US and Canadian navies. Naturally, they pay much more attention to the two countries. The Air Force basically has nothing else to do except training all day long, and puts extra energy into research on the United States and Canada. Also a pretty good choice. And the army, because of the war that has been going on for some time ago, has no time to pay attention to the development of the United States. This is also totally understandable.

Everyone is talking about different things, but the meaning is basically the same. That is how France can be in a favorable position in future wars. They had no doubts about their victories. They are so confident. Over the years, has France gone through many ups and downs? It wasn't always easy to get out of the woods and win in the end, and they believed it would be exactly the same this time.

The meeting lasted for three full days. During the meeting, the French government and military passed resolutions one after another. The biggest impact is the expansion of the army. This time, the French Army will increase the establishment of three legions. They are the 5th French Army, the 6th French Army and the 4th Iberian Army. The navy will also be greatly expanded. On the existing basis, the French Channel Fleet, the North Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet will be expanded. The scale of the expansion will be twice the current size. The South Atlantic Fleet, which is still under planning, will also expand to twice the size of the original plan. After the meeting, the French Ministry of the Navy placed a large number of orders to major shipyards. After receiving the order, these shipbuilding operations started at full capacity in three shifts.