Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven The Dispute Of The Royal Court
Chapter 137: The dispute between Wang Ting
Claude sighed deeply, and the worst-case scenario occurred. The merchant fleet was gone. This was not only a failure of investment by Mr. Morsan and others, but also meant that hundreds of people in Bailu Town had lost their lives.
Families have lost their loved ones.
Mrs. Maria said in the letter that the news was still blocked because Wang Tingli was so quarrelsome about this matter, mainly because the new route was related to the strategic shift of the kingdom's maritime power. The Kingdom's Navy Ministry meant to continue the original
The strategic plan was formulated to cooperate with the army to launch an attack on the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance, with the intention of defeating the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance's land and sea military forces in one fell swoop in the key battle.
As long as you occupy several key strategically located port cities in the five anti-Austrian alliance countries and force the other side to cease the war and cede those port cities to the kingdom, then the kingdom's maritime power will have the opportunity to greatly expand. Each port city
By organizing a maritime fleet, you no longer need to worry about the kingdom's routes to the seven overseas territories of Nubisia being blocked by enemy countries.
Although the strategic plan formulated by the Kingdom's Navy Ministry looks good, it is full of uncertainties and the possibility of accidents. The most important point is that no one can guarantee that after the war between the Kingdom and the anti-Austrian Five-Power Alliance,
Will the battle go as smoothly as planned and will the kingdom win?
The most accusatory thing is how much casualties the kingdom needs to pay to win this war, and whether it can ensure that this war will not drag on for a long time, so that the kingdom and the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance will be exhausted in the end, and both sides will lose.
No one can win, or even achieve the predetermined strategic goals...
The formulation of military command and strategic plans in this era was mostly thought up by powerful people at the top. Officials at the bottom follow the instructions of the powerful people above to formulate strategic plans. The biggest mistake is to overestimate one's own side and underestimate the enemy.
The army here imagines them as strong men who cannot be killed by guns and artillery, and imagines the enemy as dregs of tofu. Many plans are discovered to be completely different things once they are implemented. It is not uncommon for them to focus on one thing and lose the other.
Just like this strategic plan formulated by the Kingdom's Navy Ministry, it has not actually been approved by the Ministry of War. Otherwise, if this plan is implemented, then the Ministry of War will spend the maximum amount of money to fight against the five-nation coalition forces with an army of one country and defeat the enemy.
After occupying the port city, it was then handed over to the Navy Department. This meant that the Army Department put in the greatest effort and shed the most blood, but the results went to the Navy Department.
Although the Navy Department also has to face the combined maritime fleets of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance, the War Department still believes that it is too ridiculous to launch a full-scale attack on the joint land military forces of the five countries just to occupy a few port cities.
Do you think the Kingdom’s army is invincible? It’s no problem to deal with one or two countries, but when it comes to dealing with five countries at once, the Ministry of War is really unsure.
The most fierce opponent to the strategic plan of the Kingdom's Admiralty is the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Duke Creus Mann Duncan. His father was the former invincible commander-in-chief, Marshal Duboc Mann Duncan, and the right-hand man of the late King Sterling IX.
Therefore, he was not afraid of the always powerful Kingdom's Admiralty. He ridiculed the heads of the Admiralty in front of King Sterling X because their heads were full of water, and he did not look at how many pieces of bread he could hold in his mouth or what kind of drink he had.
Do you think the Kingdom's Dreadnought Fleet can defeat the combined fleet of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance? The combined fleet of warships on display is twice as many as the Dreadnought Fleet...
In the presence of Stirling X and several close court ministers, Prime Minister Creus refuted the strategic plan formulated by the Admiralty as useless, which made Marshal Andreik von Carlos, the Minister in Charge of the Admiralty, angry.
On the spot, he threw his white gloves in the face of Prime Minister Creus, drew his sword and wanted to duel with him, which almost turned into a palace farce.
Stirling X was also in a dilemma. Admiral Andrei was his staunchest supporter, especially after he succeeded to the throne, he planned to develop the continent of Nubisia, build the kingdom's maritime power, and form a fearless fleet.
He has made extraordinary contributions and is one of his most trusted ministers in the kingdom.
But Prime Minister Krius was right. The strategic plan formulated by the Navy Ministry was really full of mistakes. First of all, he imagined the maritime power of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance and the combined fleet as guard dogs, thinking that they would not dare to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Kingdom.
Attack. Then as long as the Dreadnought Fleet maintains a confrontation with them and takes a defensive stance, a naval battle will not break out. Waiting for the kingdom's army to occupy several of their port cities, the United Fleet will surrender obediently. This will ensure that the Dreadnought Fleet will not be affected by the naval battle.
And by losing battleships, the surrendered combined fleet battleships can be recruited to expand the strength...
Sterling X also didn’t understand why the Admiralty was so sure that the combined fleet would not take the initiative to attack. Admiral Andrej’s explanation was that the maritime forces of the five countries were organized together to form a combined fleet. They must not be united, and everyone would think
They want to protect their country's warships and are unwilling to lose their maritime power due to naval battles, so they will not take the initiative to attack.
This reason sounds very reasonable, but when I think about it carefully, I feel that it is a bit unreliable. It is a bit too natural to place hope on the enemy's disunity and lack of unity. Stirling X thinks it is still Klius
The Prime Minister is right. Now that another route has been opened up to the mainland of Nubisia, what are you waiting for? Time waits for no time. We should start immediately to shift the focus of the kingdom's maritime power to this new route.
The plan proposed by Prime Minister Krius is to dismantle the Dreadnought Fleet and divide it into two. One-third of the fleet will stay at Port Nieru and be responsible for daily patrols in the eastern waters of the kingdom. Two-thirds of the fleet will be transferred to
Lake Beringa in Bailu Town separated Bailu Town from the three southwest counties and became a military town directly under the kingdom. It was upgraded to a city and a new storm fleet was formed to be responsible for sweeping out pirate gangs on the new route and maintaining the safety of the sea route.
.
As for the more than ten miles of narrow waterway from Lake Beringa to Shark Bay, the Kingdom can organize manpower to dig and expand it into a canal to ensure that the new Storm Fleet can enter and exit unimpeded. And the Kingdom has two navigations to the Nubisian continent every year.
You can temporarily stop it for a year and wait until the new route is safe before sailing again.
It’s just that the plan proposed by Prime Minister Krius was also strongly opposed by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Navy. Because adopting this plan requires the kingdom to invest a large amount of development and construction funds, and the greatest possibility is to reduce military expenditures. The Ministry of War has prepared to recruit three
100,000 to 500,000 new soldiers were recruited to expand the field legion, waiting for the outbreak of the war with the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance.
But now that a new route has been discovered, the kingdom does not need to fight to the death with the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance for the route to the Nubicia continent. It can completely relax the situation, and it is more appropriate to prepare more sufficient armaments before launching a war. In this case
Under the circumstances, the Ministry of War's plan to recruit new recruits for training can be postponed for a year or two, and there is no need to start recruiting immediately. Military expenses can be saved and used to upgrade Bailu Town to a city expansion.
For the War Department, this is simply taking out the money that has been put into the pocket and giving it away. The military expenditure every year can only maintain the existing seven empty field regiments. It is not easy to wait until the opportunity to take a big bite
No one wants to spit it out. However, the arm cannot twist the thigh. If Sterling X finally adopts Prime Minister Creus's plan, the Ministry of War will have no choice but to accept it obediently.
As for the Admiralty, they opposed it for the sake of opposition. Admiral Andrei was unwilling to dismantle the Dreadnought Fleet into two parts, because this fleet was the main force he carefully built to deal with the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance Combined Fleet. He believed that
Once the Dreadnought Fleet is dismantled, the Dreadnought Fleet will lose its ability to intimidate the Combined Fleet, which will break the current confrontation, and the eastern waters of the Kingdom will become a place where the Combined Fleet can come and go freely...
However, Prime Minister Creus believes that it is imperative to dismantle the Dreadnought Fleet. The temporary disadvantage does not mean that the combined fleet of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance can invade the eastern waters of the Kingdom without scruples. They also have to consider the anger of the Kingdom.
As a result, the strength of the sea power does not mean that the armies of these five countries can compete with the kingdom alone.
If a war really breaks out, the two neighboring kingdoms will be the first to be unlucky. The Kingdom of Nasseri is the leader in the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance. It is both a neighbor and the defeated general of the kingdom, so the Kingdom of Nasseri is the least likely to suffer.
He was willing to break out a land war with the kingdom. He was beaten violently by the kingdom and ceded territory twice to sue for peace. He has deeply remembered this lesson.
Lady Maria told Claude in the letter that it was because Wang Tingli couldn't agree with the plan proposed by Prime Minister Creus, and Stirling X was also considering whether to adopt this plan, that the White Deer Town opened up a road to the slaves.
The new route to Bithia Continent is still kept secret. The reason why she wrote to Claude was because Claude's father, Mr. Morsant, was also involved in this incident.
Mrs. Maria wrote in the letter that she already understood what happened and was willing to speak out for Mr. Morsant's arrest. At the New Year's party, she showed Claude's letter to her to Sterling Ten.
She saw the world and introduced Claude as her student. Admiral Count Andrei was also present at the time. He believed that Mr. Morsand and his friends must be punished severely. It was their adventure that attracted the people who came to the continent of Nubisia.
The pirate gang caused unnecessary losses to the kingdom.
At this time, Finance Minister Elvic Leigh Frank came out and said something fair. He satirized the Navy that it needs money to build warships every year, and then continues to be wasted on the bloody sea route, but it is not as good as one in the three southwest counties.
The civil servants and businessmen in the local town were so adventurous that they knew how to open up a new route for the kingdom, and they succeeded.
Although the merchant fleet they organized was attacked and annihilated by pirates, and pirates were also attracted to harass the central and western waters of the kingdom, this shows that this new route can completely allow navigation between the kingdom and the mainland of Nubisia. Not only did the kingdom not reward
These adventurous officials and businessmen who opened up new routes for the kingdom were also prepared to severely punish them for endangering the security of the kingdom. This is simply a ridiculous thing. From then on, no one was willing to take the initiative to serve the kingdom.
Already.
What the Finance Minister said makes sense, and Prime Minister Creus also said that punishing these local officials and businessmen is only a small matter, but it will have a great impact on the kingdom. It is human nature to pursue profits, and they have opened up a new route
, it is natural for people to want to use this new route to make a profit for themselves. After all, they have spent a lot of money to open up the new route.
Moreover, the merchant fleet they organized was attacked and annihilated by pirates, which shows the limitations of their vision and their lack of understanding of the situation and the overall situation. Even such a result can be regarded as a lesson to them. In addition, their confessions and Mary
The letter written by Lady Ya's students also proved that they had not forgotten to serve the kingdom. Originally, they were planning to report the new route when the merchant fleet returned, but they were just unlucky...
Mrs. Maria finally wrote in the letter that Claude does not have to worry about his father, Mr. Morsant and his friends. The Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister will speak for them. Sterling X will not worry about Morssant.
Mr. Morsand may be dismissed from his official position, but his national status will still be retained because they concealed the new route and caused losses to the kingdom.
In addition, Mrs. Maria asked Claude not to leak out the plan about the Prime Minister in the letter, because doing so would easily be taken advantage of by interested people. It is likely that the Wang Ting will make a final decision on this plan in February, and Southwest
The three counties and Bailu Town will not receive news until mid-March...