The Sun Never Sets In Spain

"How powerful!" Primm followed the other side's compliment, and then asked his most concerned question: "Can you beat Italy?"

"Uh...can't." Morales said honestly.

"Ok?"

Facing the marshal's questioning gaze, Morales quickly explained:

"It's not all chance. There are currently 13 ironclad ships in Italy, and there are 8 here, which seems to be less.

However, in the Battle of Lisa four years ago, 12 Italian ironclad ships were beaten by 7 Austrian ironclad ships with lower performance (doubled firepower advantage, 3 to 0), which is enough to show that the quality of the Italian navy is extremely poor and the number is disparity. It is not impossible to make up.

But we don't need to take this risk. The ironclad ships of the Atlantic Fleet are coming. By then, our number of warships will be equal to that of Italy, and we will win! "

Prim nodded, his face a little slow, he accepted this statement.

"Why don't sailing battleships be dispatched if there is a gap in number? Italy does not have much stock on these old ships."

Morales heard this, glanced at Hoffman, hesitated.

Hoffman was very conscious: "I don't know anything about the navy. You talk about me and visit the battleship."

Watching Hoffman go away, Morales continued: "This has to be talked about from the battle of Lisa four years ago. It was the first battle between steam-powered iron-clad ships and the only iron-clad naval battle. .

Our personnel carefully analyzed the battle, discussed with His Majesty the King and His Excellency the Prime Minister for a long time, and agreed that the wooden ship is no longer useful in the battlefield of the armored ship.

The artillery can't even penetrate the opponent's armor, and it can't hit the opponent's armor. It's just a senseless sacrifice to send it to the battlefield, so we decided to dispatch only the armored ship this time. "

"Then the previous stock is not useless?" Prim frowned. The situation was different from what he thought. In the eyes of a layman like him, he thought that although the old ship could not beat the new ship, it still had some fighting power. No matter if 2 is exchanged for 1, or 3 is exchanged for 1, it is also OK to maintain the absolute advantage of naval power.

Unexpectedly, the other party would eliminate all the old ships with a single sentence, so that the Spanish and Italian navies would not be able to bridge the gap.

"It's not completely useless. Wooden ships can't be used against iron-clad ships. It is still possible to deal with other wooden ships.

In addition to face-to-face confrontations, the navy has many tasks to perform. We can't all use iron armored ships. Even the United Kingdom can't support such consumption. "

"Besides...Marshal, please keep confidential what I say next."

After receiving Prim's affirmative reply, Morales quietly lowered his voice and said: "The overall strategic policy this time is to fight quickly and try to avoid fighting on both sides of the French and Roman battlefields.

Since the army can only defend, the naval decisive battle must start as soon as possible.

We plan to use two ironclad ships and a large number of high-speed cruisers to form a fast decoy fleet to conduct a series of harassment in the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ligurian Sea. The existence of two ironclad ships is enough to ensure that Italy cannot simply eat him.

At the right time, we will let the main fleet hang 40 kilometers behind them, let the decoy fleet sell a flaw, introduce the Italian warships into the ambush, and take the opportunity to annihilate them! "

Primm was surprised after hearing this: "Is there such a fool on the other side?"

"..." Morales was very upset, but because the opponent was not only a layman, but also a marshal, he decided not to be familiar with the opponent:

"The marine situation is changing rapidly. Every warship is driving at high speed. It is destined that many tactics commonly used in the army cannot be used at sea.

Letting warships seduce and lie in ambush is already a rare good plan in naval battles. In the past, they were all trying their luck at sea. A battle that determines the outcome may come when everyone is not ready.

This plan is simple to say, but how to avoid people's eyes and ears, how to cleverly grasp the time and place, how to control the distance between the decoy fleet and the opponent... are all difficulties that need to be overcome. "

Prim nodded to express understanding.

"What do you need me to do?" If you don't need your own help, Prim guesses that the other party will not tell him this plan. After all, if this plan is leaked, the fleet is at risk of being anti-ambushed.

"Of course, the navy has insufficient manpower. You need to send someone to strictly control the military port. Outsiders, including officials and generals of the Papal State, are not allowed to view it. After all, there are many pro-Italian factions.

And, you know, there are many **** in the church that can sell everything. Morales said solemnly:

"It's about the safety of Spain and even the kingdom, so we can't be too cautious, so as to create the illusion that they are still in the port when the fleet is dispatched, so as not to arouse Italy's vigilance."

"No problem." This was a trivial matter for Primm.

...

Outside of Rome, the whole of Europe knew the news of the outbreak of the Spanish-Italian War.

The Bonaparte royal family did not want to see this scene, but they had no choice but to quietly increase the garrison on the border between Italy and France.

The whole action was cautious, so as not to over-stimulate the Italians-they were really unable to open up a battle line.

In the past few days, France has taken the initiative to attack many times, trying to burn the flames of war into German territory, in order to avoid fighting in unfavorable terrain.

But all attempts failed, only adding 20,000 more to the casualty list.

The disadvantage of the number of people brings a greater disadvantage. The Emperor Napoleon has already proposed to mobilize young men to join the army, but this proposal has too much influence. Many people worry that this will make the emperor’s military power beyond control and change the current constitution of the monarchy. Therefore, it is still under urgent trial in Parliament.

Although under the unremitting efforts of the Bonapartists and the military oppression of the enemy countries, the bill may be passed, but before it is officially implemented and the recruits complete simple training, this time span may be four to five months.

In a short period of time, France can only count on Spanish reinforcements.

However, as soon as Western Italy started the war, Eugenie received a telegram from Spain asking for support from France.

Spain did not demand that France immediately start war with Italy, but only expressed that it wanted to lease several ironclad ships in the French Mediterranean fleet.

This requirement is not excessive, and the French navy is more than enough to fight five Prussias. It does not matter if the Mediterranean fleet is loaned to Spain, but it is not clear how Italy will react to this.

The French leaders know that if things go on like this, it is only a matter of time before Italy and Prussia form an alliance, unless France is willing to turn their faces with Spain.

But knowing that it doesn't mean they can face it calmly. They just want to prolong Italy's participation in the war-at least until the conscription bill is passed.