The English Channel is a strait that separates the Gondor Dynasty from the European continent and connects the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea. It is 560 kilometers long, 240 kilometers wide, and only 34 kilometers wide at its narrowest point.
In reality, the two countries have built an undersea tunnel at the narrowest point, called the Eurotunnel.
Because the English Channel is part of the North Atlantic Ocean and connects the European intercontinental sea, it has been a strategic strategic point since ancient times. There have been many military conflicts and naval battles here in history.
The Royal Fleet of the Gangdor Dynasty, two of which are stationed here.
As far as the Royal Fleet is concerned, defending the English Channel is tantamount to guarding the lifeline of the Gangdor Dynasty at sea, allowing the Gangdor Dynasty to advance and retreat freely in European affairs.
In view of the changes in the European war situation, recently, the Gangdor Dynasty has deliberately withdrawn the troops remaining in the European battlefield, and made it the top priority to stick to the homeland.
At this time, the Royal Fleet patrolled the English Channel more closely.
Accidents still happen.
On the morning of April 1st, the Great Xia Atlantic Fleet, which had been completely replaced with ironclad ships, two formations raided the English Channel, setting off a sea battle.
This was the first encounter between the Atlantic Fleet and the Royal Fleet.
In terms of military strength, naval warfare level, and navigation level, the two fleets are comparable, and the commander of the Royal Gundor Fleet is also the famous historical naval battle general Nelson.
Basically evenly matched.
The Atlantic Fleet is strong because of its weapons and equipment.
After the refitting, the Atlantic Fleet has formed a trinity three-dimensional combat system of ironclad ships, fighter planes, and magic-powered submarines.
In contrast, due to limited resources and labor, half of the battleships of the Royal Gundor Fleet are sailing battleships, and not all of them have been replaced with more advanced ironclad ships.
This is easy to understand.
With the full-blown industrial strength of Daxia, it took nearly a year to refit the Pacific Fleet. It is already quite good that the Royal Gangduo Fleet can make such progress.
In terms of weaponry, the Atlantic Fleet has an overwhelming advantage.
This is also one of the reasons why, after Bactria regained control of the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Gundor Fleet did not make any statement at all.
Because there is no confidence to intervene.
The result of the naval battle can be imagined. Facing the Atlantic Fleet's surprise attack, although the Royal Gundor Fleet responded well and Nelson was determined in command, after nearly six hours of fierce battle, they were finally defeated.
The danger and splendor of it cannot be described in words.
The defeat of the Royal Gundor Fleet was like a dazzling signal flare across the European night sky, and it was bound to have an immeasurable impact on the already turbulent European situation.
In fact, the follow-up impact is already fermenting.
In the afternoon of the same day, under the cover of the Atlantic Fleet, Zeng Guoquan commanded the ghost army and brazenly landed on the coast of the Gangdor Dynasty, and the soldiers pointed directly at the capital of the Gangdor Dynasty-Fort Avek.
The 300,000 ghost army is simply fatal to the current Gangdor Dynasty.
Due to the weak population, the Gangduo Dynasty had a total army strength of only 400,000 at its peak.
After the setbacks of African pioneering, the continuous consumption of the European battlefield, and the local defense against the invasion of the Germanic dynasty, even though there were two conscriptions in the process, the real combatable army was less than 250,000.
As for the newly recruited recruits, don't mention it.
To make matters worse, nearly half of the 250,000 troops of the Gangdor Dynasty, that is, 120,000 troops, remained on the European battlefield, "busting" for the Silver Hand's European strategy.
In other words, the real army of the Gangduo dynasty staying in the country is only a poor 130,000 people. Even with the addition of the local garrison and recruits, the total strength of the Gangdor dynasty in the mainland could not reach 200,000.
This is a very embarrassing number, which completely exposed the Achilles heel of the Gangdor dynasty.
Although the 130,000 troops are well-equipped and well-trained, they cannot deal with the invasion of the Great Xia Army while encircling and suppressing the invading Germanic army.
A big storm is sweeping towards the Gangdor Dynasty.
The land area is small, there is basically no strategic depth, the population is withered, and it is lonely overseas...
In this game world where technology has no threshold, whether the Gangdor Dynasty can keep its roots, let alone copy the glory of the British Empire in history, depends on the winks of others.
Otherwise, William would not sell the pot and sell the iron, gritted his teeth and supported the organization to attack the German dynasty.
Only by ensuring the peace of Europe can there be the safety of the Gangdor Dynasty.
It's a pity that the Gangduo Dynasty, with few soldiers and weak body, could not influence the European war situation at all, and could only swing with the wind.
William may not know now that his 120,000 troops left in the European battlefield have already been quietly dedicated to the Germanic dynasty by Henry as a gift for his future entry.
sorrow!
Under the investigation of the Black Snake Guards, the weakness of the Gangduo Dynasty was naturally exposed to Ouyang Shuo without reservation, and this was how the "Forging Steel Project" was born.
The Gang Tuo Dynasty is the best step for Great Xia to influence the European continent.
If the Gangduo Dynasty can be captured, the significance to Great Xia will not only lie in the addition of an overseas territory, but also have greater strategic significance.
First, with the Gangduo Dynasty as the pedal, the Great Xia can control the English Channel and then the North Sea.
In this way, the sea outlets of the European dynasties are basically controlled by the Great Xia, and the Atlantic trade on which they depend for survival will be locked by the Great Xia, leaving no room for movement.
Even the Dawson Dynasty on the other side of the Atlantic had to act according to Daxia's face.
The trade rules of the Atlantic Ocean will be rewritten and incorporated into Daxia's code of conduct.
Second, the Gangdor dynasty can threaten the European continent at any time.
Among the five continents, Great Xia has the weakest influence on the European continent. With the Gangduo Dynasty, it just makes up for this shortcoming, and its tentacles extend to the five continents, playing a game of chess around the world.
Ouyang Shuo couldn't refuse such a temptation.
The implementation of the "Forged Steel Project" has a major premise, that is, it cannot cause the rebound of European dynasties.
If the European dynasties together opposed the Great Xia's invasion of the Gangduo Dynasty, then with the strength of the ghost army, it would be difficult to conquer the Gangduo Dynasty in a short period of time.
Even without the participation of the Germanic dynasty, if the five major dynasties of the Silver Hand in Europe were still in their heyday, Great Xia would not dare to attack the Gangduo dynasty.
That would be outrageous.
Right now, the Spanish dynasty has collapsed, and the Gaul dynasty has rebelled. It is the time when the Silver Hand is weakest in the European continent, and Da Xia has the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
Not even later.
If the Germanic dynasty digests the Gaul dynasty, and then launches a counterattack against the Romanov dynasty, will the Germanic dynasty, after its strength has greatly increased, allow the Great Xia to capture Gangduo
Perhaps it is the Gangduo Dynasty, which has long been considered by Manstein.
Because of this, Ouyang Shuo greatly appreciated the intelligence work of the Black Snake Guard. It was this key information that allowed Daxia to choose the most suitable time to deliver the most fatal blow.
The victory of the Battle of Gangduo depends on intelligence.
…
April 2nd, Gundor Dynasty, Castle Avek.
In Wang Guo's study, the atmosphere was terrifyingly dignified, and the air seemed to freeze, making people suffocated.
King William of Gangduo's face was livid, sitting on a chair like a piece of wood, motionless, this is the expression that only a person in desperate situation will appear.
It proves that William at this time has no way out.
On the day the Royal Fleet was routed, William applied for the convening of the five-nation summit and asked the organization for reinforcements. William knew what was going on in his family, and the Gangdor Dynasty was simply unable to face this crisis alone.
To William's embarrassment, no one except the Dawson Dynasty was willing to lend a helping hand.
The Dawson dynasty is far away across the ocean. Even if Jack really wanted to send an army, by the time he arrived, the daylily might be cold, and it would be of no avail.
What made William even more angry was that William proposed to withdraw the troops from the European continent, but was firmly opposed by Henry, claiming that the European battlefield was in a critical period and the troops must not be withdrawn at this time.
"I'm about to perish, so why do I care about the European battlefield?"
William, who has always regarded himself as a gentleman, cursed angrily at the venue.
Seeing this, Henry could only nod his head in agreement, but his eyes flickered, appearing involuntary.
In fact, after learning that Great Xia had invaded the Gangdor Dynasty, Henry and Manstein were also so angry that they wanted to curse. The pair of conspirators never imagined that such an accident happened just as they were preparing to reap the fruits.
Daxia's invasion completely disrupted the plans of the two of them.
In desperation, they can only speed up the pace of annexation, first eat the Gunduo army and the Spanish army, and then talk about counterattacking the Romanov dynasty.
Otherwise, it is very likely that the whole game will be lost.
As for the Gangduo dynasty, they can only let it go and let Da Xia take advantage of it.
William's heart is so cold!
Early this morning, William tried to contact the commander-in-chief of the European army and issued an order to withdraw troops. What shocked William was that the communication compass was not connected, obviously something happened.
Next, William contacted several lieutenant generals, but without exception, they couldn't get in touch. William still didn't give up and tried to contact Henry, but Henry directly blacklisted him.
"It's over!"
No matter how stupid William was, he knew that the Gaul dynasty must be playing tricks.
But he didn't know that just last night, the Gaul army suddenly surrounded the Gundor barracks, disarmed the 120,000 Gundor army and turned them into prisoners of war when the opponent was unprepared.
Disarmed at the same time, and the Spanish army.
Continental Europe is ushering in unprecedented great changes, and in this upheaval, the Gangdor Dynasty pitifully plays the role of a weakling and an abandoned son.
"Brother, you have to cheer up."
Annie, who was on the opposite side, saw her, and her face lost her previous look, and she was full of worries.
"Cheer up?"
A self-deprecating smile appeared on the corner of William's mouth.
"It's already like this, how can we cheer up? Let them go!" William has decided to admit defeat.
Annie said anxiously: "Even if you can't win, you have to fight for the best result for the family. Don't let Daxia eat us up to the bone."