Fox of France

Since the sea traffic was cut off, the situation of the British has been very dangerous. One of the most dangerous things is food security. Since the "Enclosure Movement" that year, the food produced in the UK has become less and less. In addition, the British do not have any "XX acres of arable land red line", and considering that the natural conditions of the UK are not suitable for the development of planting. Whether it is growing wheat or anything, it cannot be compared with France, Ukraine and other European countries.

Therefore, for many years, the British food problem has been solved by the international market. After all, as long as you have money, how can you not buy food? People won't block you, unless you do something outrageous. So, isn't Yangmi Yangmian delicious?

Of course, the British are guaranteed to do so. The British navy has always been super strong, and it is not easy to block it from the sea. As long as there is no blockade at sea, it is enough to rely on the cultivated land of overseas colonies. Therefore, the national policy of the United Kingdom back then was really not wrong.

However, with the rise of France, especially the technological revolution led by the French Navy, the reliability of the British Navy has dropped significantly. At this time, the policy should have been adjusted. Even in fact, the French gave the British time to adjust their policies.

As early as when the first generation of "Free Trade" appeared, the British had already found that it was becoming more and more difficult for them to ensure the safety of their transportation lines at sea. Even Nelson, at that time, did not dare to say that the British fleet could guarantee the safety of the waterway.

If you quickly return to farming at this time, it will actually be too late. Although even if all the grazing is returned to farming, the grain production in the UK is still not enough to support his consumption, but it will be much better after all.

However, the wool spinning industry is one of the most important industries in the UK. In peacetime, it is also the most profitable business for export. Should we return the pasture to farming? What about the wool textile industry? Without the wool spinning industry, how can there be money for an arms race? Therefore, returning grazing land to farming will not return grazing land to farming, and will never return grazing land to farming in this life. We can only work hard to strengthen the navy to barely maintain food security.

However, it would be wrong to say that the British were not prepared. The British built more warehouses and increased the proportion of food reserves. In this way, even if the navy has temporary difficulties, the British can theoretically support it for a long time. time.

Moreover, in the United Kingdom, the efficiency of the British rule is still quite high, so there have not been too many fires in granaries. At least the blockade is not too long now, and food prices haven't risen too high, so this kind of thing hasn't happened yet. But after a long time, when the food really starts to be tight, it's really hard to say what will happen.

Relying on the grain in the granary, it would be too late if they returned to farming immediately. However, the ranch has been changed into a farm, and it will be converted into a ranch in the future. This is not a small expense. Many people think that if they have retired for less than a year and want to change back immediately, it is better not to bother.

Therefore, although the British government has introduced a series of measures to encourage returning grazing land to farming, not many land owners have responded to the call. This is not because they do not love Britain, but because they respect economic laws more. And they are more willing to bet on the revival of the navy, or even peace negotiations.

The revival of the navy, um, is really a little bit possible. After France proposed a new shipbuilding plan, the British immediately followed up. In response to the French Augustus-class battleship, the British urgently designed a "Lionheart"-class battleship with a displacement of up to 15,000 tons, and construction has already begun on the berth. And started building three in one go!

Of course, no matter how quickly such a large warship is built, it will definitely not be built in less than two years. However, in theory, Britain's grain reserves can still barely support it until this time. As for others, Britain has coal, iron, steel, etc., and it can still be guaranteed.

It’s just that people who are really knowledgeable also understand that the temporary design of the ship, the construction of the construction period, and most of them have not had enough training time. The combination of these almost means that the real combat effectiveness of this kind of warship is actually very problematic. of. In a sense, the construction of this thing is a gamble on the fate of the country on the one hand, and on the other hand, it may not be because they want to increase the capital of future negotiations.

In addition, under the current situation, these few warships under construction have almost become the source of courage to support the entire UK to continue fighting.

Because the French used the new 280mm artillery during the battle in Dublin, the British naturally suspected that this artillery was the main gun of the French "Augustus-class" battleship. So the cannons of the "Lionheart" class battleships have to be redeveloped.

In fact, Joseph is also very willing to let the British continue to maintain such illusions. Taking an Eight-Nation Alliance Army (France, Ireland, Netherlands, Rhine Union, Prussia, Austria, Northern Italy, Spain, exactly eight countries.) Landed in England, and then burned down Buckingham Palace. People feel fascinated, but...

But landing in England is really not easy.

The coast of England closest to France is all damned cliffs, with only a few gaps where you can get in. When William, Duke of Normandy, landed in England, those gaps were not well defended. But now, those places are all heavily guarded forts. Moreover, the British also laid a large number of mines on the nearby sea. Even if the entire French navy is dragged up, it may not be possible to please them in front of these forts.

Of course, the French can also go further, go around to Scotland, and land in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. The terrain there is much better. But from here, the time spent by the fleet at sea will be doubled several times, which also means that their transportation capacity will drop to a fraction of the original. In the landing battle, if the overwhelmingly superior troops and supplies cannot be sent ashore quickly after landing, then even if they land, they will be driven into the sea by the enemy.

The UK has a fairly developed railway system, relying on them to transport troops is very efficient, at least much faster than the sea route that bypasses half of the British Isle. Therefore, it is very dangerous to land on those points in the English Channel, but it is actually equally dangerous to take a long way to land from Scotland.

In this case, in the eyes of the French, it is one of the best options to completely destroy the hopes of the British through a naval battle, and then force the British to sign a series of treaties for land cession and indemnity.

Of course, the current strength of the French navy is not enough to deal with the three "Lionheart" class battleships, but the French are not idle during the arms race. Although the "Lionheart" is larger than the "Augustus", this does not mean that it can be stronger than the "Augustus". Because the French industry is more developed and the level of shipbuilding is higher. Therefore, the speed and number of French warships in service can surpass those of the British.

According to information obtained by intelligence personnel, the British "Lionheart-class" battleship is basically an enlarged version of the "Queen Elizabeth". In other words, this is an iron tortoise with thicker armor, larger caliber cannon, and equally slow speed. After all, in the last naval battle, under the inferior force, the "Queen Elizabeth" still replaced an enemy battleship. In the eyes of the British, this is the correct expression of the British design thinking. Therefore, the British-style iron tortoise is better than the fast-running thin-skinned French. Although the British were not sure exactly how heavily armored the French battleships were, they portrayed them as fragile eggshells for morale reasons.

However, the improvement of the "Augustus class" compared with the previous "Imberado class" is much greater than that of the "Lionheart class" and the "Queen Elizabeth".

The president of the French Academy of Sciences, Joseph Bonaparte, personally participated in the design of this warship. This makes this warship full of taste from later generations.

The first is the turret with a stepped arrangement of the central axis. On the central axis of this battleship, two two-gun turrets are arranged successively in a stepped manner. This turret will be equipped with a brand-new 203mm barrel and a total of eight cannons, which makes the firepower of this warship more than double that of the previous "Imberado-class".

Of course, installing so many cannons will consume a lot of weight, which makes the remaining weight of this ship that can be used for armor no longer much. If the armor is still arranged in the same way as the "Inberado-class" at the beginning, then the defense of the "Augustus-class" is at most similar to that of the "Inberado-class". After everyone has upgraded the cannon, such armor can really be said to be thin-skinned and stuffed.

However, Joseph proposed a new protection concept from later generations, that is "key defense".

In later generations, as naval guns become more powerful, but the displacement of warships cannot grow infinitely, if you continue to try to fully wrap the warship with thick enough armor, it will only bring about one result, that is, this warship Once in the water, it will sink directly because it is too heavy. Just like the battleship of Gu Erye back then, or the submarine of the later Spain that put the decimal point in the wrong place when it was designed.

Therefore, when later generations designed warships, they gave up the practice of arranging armor in all positions of the warship. Instead, they adopted the method of arranging heavy armor only on the most critical parts that directly affect survivability and combat effectiveness. In the area, simply don't need any armor at all.

In this way, if the opponent's armor-piercing projectile hits an unprotected place, it will probably directly penetrate the hull and fly out, causing limited damage. If it is an ordinary high-explosive bomb—anyway, those places are not fatal places. Although they will be damaged if they are hit, the impact is limited. And if the opponent uses this kind of shells in a naval battle, it means that they are basically impossible to pose any threat to the really important area. Wouldn't it be nice to take this opportunity to smear the opponent's face with authentic armor-piercing shells?

Therefore, although the "Augustus-class battleship" is far lower than its opponent in terms of total armor weight, in terms of actual defense effect, the defense level of the "Augustus-class battleship" is not necessarily greater than that of its opponents. The heavier "Lionheart" is worse.

On the berth of the French, there are five "Augustus-class battleships" and five "Hermes-class supercruisers" under construction. If nothing else, the completion time of these French battleships will be in the UK. before people.

At that time, after defeating Britain again through a naval battle, all hopes of Britain were shattered. and……

"And maybe there will be a revolution in England." Napoleon smiled and said to Lucien, "You have to make good arrangements for this matter. But now, uh, you should concentrate on completing the North American affairs first. Bar."

Just a few days ago, the Americans launched a general attack on Ottawa. After paying huge casualties, the Americans almost exhausted the ammunition of the British with their lives and rushed into Ottawa. Then something happened naturally, and the Americans started a massacre in Ottawa.

Americans kill every living person they see, man or woman, old man or child.

A detachment of American soldiers, armed with rifles and bloody bayonets, surrounded a building into which many of the British fled. The Americans surrounded the building, and they even brought in cannons and aimed at the building. Many British people hid here. However, the American soldiers did not rush in, because a French flag was flying on this building.

This is the largest Catholic church in Ottawa. Moreover, this church can really hang the French flag, because the Holy See has handed over the right of apologists in North America to the French.

In addition, Father Tom in this church is indeed a Frenchman, although he is a Frenchman who speaks German. Today, the church has become a shelter for many Canadians. Father Thomme stood at the door of the church, and the French flag fluttered over the small steeple of the church, which became a temporary shelter.

Americans don't want to have conflicts with the French, even if it's a German-speaking Frenchman. If it's just civilians who hide in the church, the Americans probably don't mind it. But someone saw a dozen or so uniformed Brits running into the church, and they couldn't turn a blind eye.

So the Americans surrounded the church and asked Father Tom to hand over the British soldiers who had hid in the church. Father Thom insisted that these men were no longer armed and therefore could not be considered soldiers, and that the church could not expel anyone who tried to find safety under God's protection.

"You must respect the temple and the right of asylum in the temple!" Father Tom insisted.