Chapter 1154: The situation further deteriorated

  Chapter 1132 – The situation further deteriorated

The British Far East Fleet is miserable, the same as the losers in the Battle of Malacca, the Japanese Navy’s days are naturally not good either.

The Meiji Restoration thirty years to accumulate the naval base, a buried half. East Asia’s first naval power, directly into a joke.

For the newly risen Japanese nationalism, the defeat in the naval battle of Malacca, obviously unacceptable.

Along with the news of the defeat, a time “heaven kills the traitors” slogan, resounded through the Japanese islands.

The navy, once hailed as “the hope of the nation,” became a national sinner that everyone spurned overnight. The bigotry of the island nation was manifested here to the fullest extent.

The emperor’s palace, since the news of the failure of the naval battle of Malacca came, the emperor meiji held a succession of imperial council.

Can not be tense, speculative failure is a price to pay. The defeat in the naval battle of Malacca directly put Japan in a dangerous situation.

Prime Minister Katsutaro: “Search and rescue ships have been returning one after another. Because of the encounter with the Spanish Navy, we also lost two search and rescue ships, and we are afraid that the remaining warships will not be able to return.

Combined with the battle report released by Austria, it is basically certain that Admiral Ito Yuken has killed himself.

According to the intelligence coming from Cam Ranh Bay, the Far East Fleet of the British also suffered heavy losses, and the main ships above 10,000 tons could no longer be found in the harbor.

The situation in the Far East is completely rotten, and for a long time to come we will have to face the enemy’s maritime threat.”

Whether or not Yuken Ito was killed in battle, he had to be “killed with a vengeance”, otherwise there was no way to explain to the people at home.

The general public did not care why they lost the war, but if they lost on the battlefield, they were incompetent, useless, and traitors to the nation.

Only by dying on the battlefield can we slightly eliminate some of the grievances of the people, but the name of “waste” is still unavoidable.

Comparatively speaking, whether or not Yukihiro Ito died in battle was only a minor issue. The biggest problem right now is the situation in the Far East.

As an island nation, the loss of sea power was undoubtedly fatal. Especially since the Russo-Japanese War was raging.

Once the Shinra Navy advances eastward, not only will the Japanese army on the front line be finished, even the Japanese islands will be in danger.

Ito Hirobumi: “The result of the Malacca Naval Battle has proved the power gap between us and the top powers.

To bridge these gaps, it is impossible to do so without decades of effort. However, what we lack most at the moment is time.

The situation in Europe is equally tense, the Holy Roman Empire is now attacking on all sides, and the British are already exhausted.

The Royal Navy is not omnipotent, and in a short time, the British are afraid that they will not be able to draw enough warships to reinforce the Far East.

As for the other allies in the alliance, we all know very well that it is only the United States that has a bit of strength, and the rest of them are not even as good as us.

Although the government of Washington has likewise sent troops, their binding power over the states is very limited, favoring the western states which are now anti-war.

I’m afraid it’s unrealistic to expect them to send troops to support us for a while, so we’ll have to rely on ourselves for now.

The Imperial Navy is already badly wounded, the enemy can blockade the Sea of Japan at any time, there is no way to fight militarily, the only way is to seek a breakthrough in diplomacy.”

It’s not that Ito Hirobumi is a wimp, it’s really impossible to fight now. The navy can not withstand, Japan will be reduced to an island.

Once the sea transportation is cut off, the front line of the Japanese army will soon be defeated because of the loss of logistical supplies, when the Shen Luo Navy only need to send the Russian army in the Far East to the island.

The only thing that can be expected now is that the Shinra Navy is also badly wounded in the Battle of Malacca and will not be able to move eastward in a short time.

But this probability is too small, according to the intelligence that came back, the enemy simply do not fight with them head-on, just hanging them, let the air force act as the main force of the attack.

Foreign Minister Inoue Xin: “Ito-kun, it is equally difficult, if not impossible, to make a breakthrough diplomatically.

Relations between the Empire and the Vienna government have never been good.

Although we have always tried to repair it, Emperor Franz’s prejudice against the Empire is too heavy. No matter how hard we try, it is useless.

In the past years, the Austrians have given the Empire trouble more than once. If we hadn’t responded properly, I’m afraid the conflict would have erupted long ago.

On top of that, our hatred with Spain and Russia is a major obstacle.

They are all important members of the Continental Union, and it’s too late for them to fall on their swords, so there’s no way they’ll let us retreat in one piece.”

Being able to bend is an important factor in Japan’s rise to power, but when it comes to strongman politics, the trick doesn’t work.

No matter how much the Sensei ambushed and released goodwill, Franz just pretended not to see it. Whenever there is an opportunity, he will put Japan in small shoes.

In a sense, the Japanese navy was forced to go south in a dry manner.

There were a bunch of enemies in the Continental Alliance, so if they didn’t go and hang out with the British, who were they going to let the Japanese hang out with?

Unfortunately, the British boss fell too quickly, before Japan really rose, it was already thin.

Influenced by the narrow-mindedness of the volcanic island nation, the Japanese are particularly prone to extremes, and even the top echelons of government are no exception.

A defeat in the naval battle of Malacca made the Japanese government lose confidence in the Oceanic Alliance to win the war.

It is important to know that the many member states of the Oceanic Alliance were not so pessimistic. In the opinion of the other member states, even if the Oceanic Alliance could not win the war, it was still not difficult to end the war in a decent manner.

We are not fools. If we are going to lose the war, who will continue to play with the British?
Politics is the most realistic thing, and politicians think about profits first, and once they realize that things can’t be done, the pact is just a piece of paper.

After a sigh, Ito Hirobumi slowly said: “Not so serious, the Vienna government is the first to consider the interests.

Don’t look at the present Russia and Austria are still allies, as long as the Holy Roman Empire won the war, the situation has fundamentally changed.

Without a common enemy, all that remains between Russia and Austria are interests and conflicts.

There is a natural strategic conflict between the world’s leader and the world’s number two, especially since they also have a long border line that hides even more conflicts.

With the greed of the Czarist government, they never gave up any opportunity for expansion. I personally speculate that after the war India will become the center of conflict between Russia and Austria.

If the Russians took half of India, would the Holy Roman Empire still be able to tolerate them taking the Far East?
Either they would have to fight the war themselves or support proxies. But where the Viennese government was concerned about eating its words, it was unlikely to go after its own allies just after defeating the British.

The Far Eastern Empire was out of shape and simply could not be propped up. In this context, the Empire was their only option.

Of course, unlike the British, the Holy Roman Empire, itself the world’s number one land power, doesn’t need the Empire as much, and our expectations need to be a bit lower.”

It was evident that Ito Hirobumi’s heart was equally unsettled. Speculation is always speculation, the East and West have different modes of thinking, and no one knows what the Vienna government intends to do.

It is not difficult to act as a hitman, the hitman sent to the door is not used for nothing. The problem is that there are also two kinds of fighters: one is a long time to keep, one is a one-time cannon fodder.

What Japan needs is to become the former, which can be supported for a long time; not to become the latter, which will be reduced to a toilet paper to be thrown away when it is used up.

……

After the sound of a violent explosion, a blazing fire was lit below, and the flames released endless enthusiasm, warming this cold winter.

Only for the people of London below, they would rather not have this particular warmth. Even if this winter was exceptionally cold.

After many consecutive days of fighting, the British Air Force had already recognized the true purpose of the Shen Luo Air Force, and no longer blindly lifted off to intercept.

In order to preserve its living forces, the British Air Force took the lead in making a strategic shift, retreating to the Scottish region that the Shen Luo Air Force could not cover.

Without an air force to guard it, the skies of London completely fell under the Shen Luo Air Force’s domain, and the pattern of bombing gradually changed.

The “napalm”, which could form a layer of flames that splattered in all directions after explosion, emitted a high temperature of about 1000°C, and could stick to other objects and burn for a long time, soon stood out from the many bombs and became the favorite of the Shinra Air Force.

Especially in places like London, where the haze is severe, the flames produced by the napalm bombs also have the function of guiding the target.

The only regret is that the smoke from burning buildings is too big, which also affects the pilot’s vision.

However, this is a minor problem, do not care where there is smoke, and drop bombs on places that do not have smoke, which is also considered an alternative to carpet bombing.

In the original time and space “napalm” did not shine in World War I, the main reason is still insufficient raw materials, the need to use a lot of natural rubber.

However, as a strategic resource, natural rubber production capacity is limited, and still a few years, it is not a short period of time to be able to increase production capacity.

Insufficient production capacity, the need to use more places, naturally, there is no way to come up with too much natural rubber to build bombs.

Now it is different, under the impetus of the butterfly effect, the automobile industry, the power industry exploded in advance, the market for natural rubber has long been opened.

The Holy Roman Empire alone, every year to consume millions of tons of natural rubber. There is a market, there is production, natural rubber production capacity also followed the outbreak.

When the war broke out, the economy shifted to wartime mode. Squeezing out tens of thousands of tons of natural rubber and using it to make bombs was no problem for the Holy Roman Empire.

Then came the current blaze. Unlike the previous bombing which was over with a bang, the visual impact of the current roaring fire could be much greater.

More and more of the British public, turned against this one. Even when Edward VII himself made a radio speech calling for people to take up arms to defend their country, he couldn’t stop the anti-war calls from getting louder and louder.

Especially after the air force gave up air defense, it was heavily criticized by all walks of life, and for a time Campbell’s cabinet seemed to have become the sinner of Britain.

Campbell, after all, is not Churchill, personal integrity is much higher, can not do to ignore public opinion.

After gulping a mouthful of cigar smoke, Prime Minister Campbell asked, “When will the air force be able to go to war again?”

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency Prime Minister. The air force has been hurt in the previous battles. Within a short period of time, we do not have the ability to go to war again.”

It could be seen that Prime Minister Campbell’s heart expectations had dropped a lot, no longer demanding that the air force be able to defeat the enemy, but merely requesting to “go to war”.

Unfortunately, the reality is cruel, just such a small request, but still by the air force minister Attilio refused.

There was no other way, now is really can not fight. In the past month, the British Air Force has lost thousands of fighter planes and more than 800 pilots.

Although Britannia’s aviation industry was second only to the Holy Roman Empire, it was still impossible to replenish thousands of fighters in a month.

Especially the domestic factories, which were also subjected to focused enemy bombing, delayed the progress even more.

When the airplanes were not replenished in time, the pace of pilot replenishment was even slower. You can’t train for ten days and half a month and then send them to the battlefield, can you?
Azevedo, Minister of the Interior: “The political pressure is very strong, and there is already a great deal of civil resentment against the inaction of the air force, so if we don’t do something ……”

“Sir, we have acted. Half a month ago, we airstrike Paris; last week, we airstrike Madrid; yesterday we even airstrike Norden.

The Imperial Air Force has already launched a counterattack against the enemy with the maximum force, but it still doesn’t change the gap in strength between the two sides.

We need more pilots, more advanced fighters, all of which will take time. Until these issues are resolved, it is not appropriate for the Air Force to engage the enemy in a decisive battle.

No one can guarantee that the enemy won’t force a landing, and the air force must retain a certain amount of strength to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at the critical moment.”

Despite the reluctance to accept it, everyone had to admit that Attilio had a point; the Royal Navy was no longer able to secure the English Channel.

The Battle of Malacca had proved it: in offshore operations, the air force was capable of slaughtering the navy.

Without an air force, once the enemy initiated a forced landing, Britain could not even try to intercept it.

Once the enemy is allowed to land successfully, then nothing needs to be said, the battle behind can not be fought at all. Expecting lobster soldiers to defend the British Isles was just too much to inspire confidence.

Foreign Secretary Adam: ”Don’t worry too much about the pilots. The Foreign Office has already reached an agreement with the allies.

In the next six months, one thousand pilots will be brought in from various countries one after another, and three hundred pilots will arrive next week.

In addition the two hundred fighters we purchased from the United States will also arrive next week.

If their performance meets the requirements, there will be a steady stream of fighters shipped from the Americas in the future.

These won’t completely solve the Air Force’s plight, but it’s still possible to ease the pressure.”

On the rare occasion that there was a piece of good news, the wrinkles between the foreheads of the crowd finally showed a hint of melting. The only one whose face remained terribly gloomy was Finance Minister Asquith’s.

“It’s not that simple, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the prices of industrial raw materials have risen again in recent times.

The factories that have taken orders have sent representatives to the Ministry of Logistics to request a renegotiation of prices, and the report has already hit the Ministry of Finance.

I sent someone to check, since the outbreak of the war, there has been a general increase in prices in the country.

Especially strategic materials related to industrial raw materials, the rate of increase is even more rapid, some of the raw materials even appeared out of stock.

Because of the war, the routes in the Far East have been completely interrupted; the routes in the Indian Ocean have also been lengthened by more than 10,000 nautical miles; the routes in the Americas have not been affected much, but the frequency of accidents on merchant ships has increased significantly.

This is just the beginning, the next difficulties we have to face will only be more, the Royal Navy needs to escort the merchant ships ……”

(End of chapter)