Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 777 Philip's Response
"Mr. Garcia is here, please take a seat." Philip lightly supported his nose without the frame of his glasses, showed a warm smile, and enthusiastically led Garcia to his seat.
The more he did this, the more frightened Garcia became: although he had only started to frequently come into contact with His Majesty in recent years, he already knew that when His Majesty frequently touched his nose with his hand, it was often a sign that he was in a very bad mood.
Philip was in a bad mood, of course: the navy had a considerable advantage the day before yesterday, but today, such a big advantage was wiped out. India is a peninsula with a long coastline, and without the absolute advantage of the navy, the enemy's landing is inevitable. How can he be in a good mood?
However, after being a king for so long, he was able to control his emotions. So when Garcia handed in the combat report tremblingly a few hours ago, he did not get angry at all: although after Garcia left, he broke everything that could be broken in his office.
But after venting his anger, his mood had completely calmed down. In addition, the Intelligence Bureau urgently sent Li Yangeng the landing plan of the Ming army, so at this moment, he could speak to his ministers at a completely steady pace.
"Mr. Garcia, let me first inform you of the situation after I communicated with the Ottoman Grand Vizier. In this battle, the two battleships that the Ottomans supported us were all seriously damaged. Two of the three heavy cruisers sank. After I sent a telegram to the Grand Vizier, he was very angry. However, after all, he is a mature ruler of a great power. Although he was very angry, he also agreed that the battleship Osman bin Affan, which will be completed by the end of this year, will sail to India as soon as possible after completing the sea trial to join the coalition fleet."
How much effect can the Ottoman navy have? Of course, this is just Garcia's inner complaint. Of course, he would say some nonsense like thank you, Your Majesty, and sorry for causing trouble to Your Majesty.
"As a price, the two severely damaged Ottoman battleships will be escorted by their last heavy cruiser and five destroyers sent by us to return to the port of Kuwait for repairs."
"Your Majesty, I have no objection to the Ottoman battleships going back. After all, many of our warships are badly damaged and need to enter the dock for repairs. Their departure will reduce my burden. It doesn't matter if the only heavy cruiser that is not badly damaged leaves. I don't count on their combat power. But Your Majesty, at such a critical juncture, you actually want to withdraw our five destroyers?"
"There is no way, my lord." Philip picked up a telegram from his desk helplessly: "This is an urgent secret message from the second batch of Indian troops heading north to provide support... A Chinese army has entered the Khyber Pass and restored the defense system there."
Looking at Garcia, who was speechless but still full of resentment, Philip sighed: "We all know that the Indians' fighting power is unreliable. Facing a defense system like Khyber, these Indians can only surround Khyber and wait for the enemy's food to run out. Don't expect them to use military means to directly conquer the pass guarded by the enemy. Therefore, in the short term, there is a considerable danger on the northern line.
Of course, the failure of the northern line has little impact on us in Spain. But for the Ottomans , Persia under their control is in trouble. Now the Grand Vizier is conducting a second mobilization at home, preparing to form a new force to enter Persia. If the northern line collapses too quickly, he will definitely order Boris, who is now blocking the Dongge Pass, to retreat. Then our northeast direction will be very dangerous. Therefore, we need to appease the Ottomans at this time. "
"I understand. The navy will obey your orders as always. In fact, our navy didn't perform well enough. If the naval battle the day before yesterday could completely defeat the enemy's navy, all the enemy's offensives would quickly collapse."
"Thank you for your cooperation and support. As for the naval battle the day before yesterday, yes, I am a little disappointed with the outcome. But I never expected that a naval battle could determine the outcome of the entire war. After all, it is very difficult for a battleship to sink a battleship. So, you don't have to take it to heart."
"Thank you for your magnanimity and generosity. Next, the navy will continue to fight until all enemy warships are destroyed."
"No, my lord, the navy should not be dispatched for the time being. In my opinion, the navy's current mission is to hold Colombo tightly and prevent the Chinese from going around to the west side of the peninsula."
"ah?"
"I have never doubted the loyalty and bravery of the navy. After all, this is a team composed purely of us Spaniards. But the problem now is that the enemy has achieved the miniaturization of internal combustion engines and has high-speed and high-range thermal-powered torpedoes. This thing is too threatening to our navy. Before we have such weapons ourselves, I do not recommend that the navy be deployed on a large scale."
"The internal combustion engine is miniaturized and installed in a torpedo as a power source? Your Majesty, has the Chinese technology reached this level?"
"I don't know the exact extent of this, I have arranged for our secret agents to find out. But there is no doubt that after the internal combustion engine is developed, it is not difficult to make it larger, but it is extremely difficult to make it smaller. The Chinese can come up with such a torpedo, which undoubtedly means that they are ahead of us in the research and development of internal combustion engines."
"Your Majesty, are our scientists also developing internal combustion engines? When can they be put on board?"
"The Asturian Academy of Sciences has completed the model building of the internal combustion engine research and development, and the first real thing is already under construction. But Garcia, the internal combustion engine is unlikely to be used as a power source for large battleships. At most, they can switch from burning coal to burning heavy oil. Speaking of which, the Caesar and Augustus, which will be put into service in March next year, are two new battleships that use heavy oil as fuel."
"I am very much looking forward to the entry of the Caesar and Augustus, but Your Majesty, what about these thermal power source torpedoes?"
"I have just sent a telegram to the Academy of Sciences, asking them to set up a professional team as soon as possible to speed up research and development."
"Oh, I really look forward to the day when our own high-speed torpedoes arrive sooner."
"Anyway, after the naval battle the day before yesterday, the gap in naval power between the enemy and us has been rapidly narrowing, and the enemy has new weapons. I think what the navy needs now is patience. What I hate most is to have a new warship added to the fleet, take the risk of attacking, and then be destroyed. Then add another new warship, and it is also destroyed... This stupid way of fighting, which the Chinese call the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, is the most undesirable.
Mr. Garcia, please appease the navy officers and men next. After more than five months, together with the Ottoman allies, we will be able to add at least three more battleships, six heavy cruisers and more than fifteen light cruisers and destroyers. And after five months, our damaged warships will be almost repaired. If our scientists can also take out thermal torpedoes by then, then our main navy can be deployed again!"
"Your Majesty, I am really excited by the grand blueprint you have drawn. However, it is inevitable that the Chinese will land on the east side of the peninsula."
"Yes, but it doesn't matter. Our army is no pushover. And five months later, if you win the naval battle and cut off the logistics of the Chinese army, wouldn't it be good for the Chinese who landed to either surrender or be annihilated?"
"Yes, according to your majesty's plan, in five months, the Allied Navy will be expanded to eleven battleships. Even if the Chinese have new ships added to the fleet, I don't believe they can get four new ships in five months."
"Yes, so, Mr. Garcia, go down and appease the troops. Next, let's look at the army first."
"yes!"
Speaking of which, Philip was also frightened by the wahoo in the early morning of the 17th: What? Have the Chinese developed the internal combustion engine and miniaturized it? In this case, how can we fight the naval battle? Do the Chinese army have tanks? How can we fight the land battle? Just now, when facing Garcia, he said that the army would take over next, but in fact, he had no idea.
If Zhu Youdong heard this conversation between him and Garcia, he would probably roll on the bed with laughter: It is not so easy to miniaturize internal combustion engines. If he had not treated skilled workers well since he had the imperial farm at the age of four, over the past forty years, the Ming Dynasty royal family had recruited hundreds of "eighth-level workers", but they could not even make those thirty scorpions. Even if all the top skilled workers in the Ming Dynasty were exhausted, many projects were stopped for this. In half a year, only thirty scorpions were produced manually - it was impossible to mass produce them. After the Battle of the Bay of Bengal, the generals of both sides would have to improve the combat status of destroyers. Even if torpedoes could be mass-produced at that time, it was hard to say how much role they could play afterwards - there were so many naval battles in history, and perhaps torpedoes could determine the victory of some local battles, but it had never been heard that torpedoes could determine the victory of wars.
However, Chinese and Westerners look at things from different angles and have different views on history. The overall view of history of Chinese people in the 21st century is dialectical materialism. The Western view of history, the heroic view of history, has a lasting influence. The former pays more attention to the contradictions and laws of movement of the entire society, which is macroscopic. The latter pays more attention to the impact of a certain person or a certain technology on history. Therefore, Zhu Youdong did not attach much importance to the single item of torpedo, while Philip exaggerated the role of this thing.
In short, although he was worried, Philip decided to temporarily withdraw the navy and put the Ming army on the battlefield. So, after Garcia retreated, Turenne and the Great Conde came together.
"You two, this is the situation with the navy... Next, it will be the army that will have to work hard."
"Your Majesty, the Allied Army will fight desperately to defend India and achieve final victory."
"I have no doubt about it. But speaking of the enemy's landing, I have a piece of intelligence that I just received. It was passed on to me by a Chinese colonel chief of staff through our spies buried in Burma."
"…Your Majesty, is this Chinese colonel the eldest son of Li Yongfang?"
"Yes."
"Your Majesty, I personally think that he either betrayed his father. Or, the Chinese discovered his identity ."
"Oh? Henry, why do you say that?"
"Your Majesty, it is understandable that the Chinese want to land in Yanam. After all, Andhra Pradesh is rich in resources, and the eastern coastal plains are also conducive to the deployment of troops. But in Orissa, the coastal areas are all rugged cliffs, and there are very few landing sites to choose from. Even after landing, most of the place is mountainous. If the Chinese go there and land, if we don't have heavy troops to defend, although there are fewer landing sites, it will always be easy. But if they want to get out after landing, it will be really difficult."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Durrenni also said, "The General Staff has conducted many simulations and determined that the Chinese may send a detachment to Andhra. But the main force will still make a landing plan around the Ganges. Our main force is also deployed in the Ganges River basin to wait for battle. If we divert the main force from the Ganges River basin and enter Orissa with rugged mountain roads just because of this intelligence, then what if the Chinese land in Dhaka or Calcutta instead?"
"Hmm..." He stood up and pondered for a long time. Philip said, "So you still think that we should deploy the main force along the Ganges River in northern India?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. We have deployed 60 divisions along the Ganges, with 900,000 men. In Andhra, we have deployed 15 divisions, with 225,000 men. If we send half or even more of the 60 divisions in the Ganges to Orissa, the defenses of Dhaka and Calcutta will be severely weakened."
"...Okay, I agree with you. That Li Yangeng either betrayed his father or was discovered by China's Jinyiwei. The army's original deployment remains unchanged. Get ready to face the challenge of the Chinese army."
