18th century total war

Chapter 345 Landing in the British Isles
In 1808, the Mediterranean Fleet of the Roman Empire finally took shape, and Emperor Livy of the Roman Empire returned to Vienna to hold an imperial meeting after attending the military parade of the Mediterranean Fleet.

At the beginning of the meeting, Levi stared at his Secretary of the Navy with piercing eyes and asked: "If we break out of war with the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, how sure is the navy of landing in the British Isles.

Without starting a decisive battle at sea. "

Li Wei knew that the current navy of the Roman Empire can only be evenly matched with the Mediterranean fleet of the British Royal Navy. This is just a comparison of data on warships and other hardware.

If software facilities such as sailors and gunners are added, the victory rate of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Roman Empire is still relatively low.

Therefore, now the Roman Empire only has the strength to collide with the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, but it does not have the strength to defeat them.

After all, the Roman Empire is making dumplings, and Britain is not just watching!

The expansion of the local army in the British Isles is slow because a large amount of military budget is tilted on the Royal Navy.

In the era of wooden-hull sailing warships, it is actually very simple to predict the outcome of naval battles. It depends on whose ships run more and whose battleships are taller and more powerful!

Why is a first-class battleship called a mobile fortress at sea?
It is because the first-class battleship is not a big man with strong external ability but also the strongest ability to resist shelling.

The difficulty of sinking a first-tier battleship far exceeds the difficulty of sinking a second- and third-tier battleship.

As for the boarding battle, it would definitely lead to death!

There are no battleships of the same level. Just to make up for the height difference between the two sides, the first version will have to pay a lot of sacrifices.

What's more, a first-tier battleship has dozens of cannons on one side string alone. How many rounds of artillery can an ordinary battleship withstand?

The recoil load of battleships on artillery is very high. The caliber and effective range of naval guns far exceed that of field guns used on land, and only the immobile fortress guns can match it. In addition, the speed of sailing battleships...

Therefore, in the era of sailing battleships, artillery is destined to replace ship-to-board warfare, and it is difficult for the party with weak firepower to approach the enemy's large warships.

The Spanish Armada was defeated by the British Royal Navy with artillery. It was a naval battle in the 17th century!
It is already the beginning of the 19th century, and the artillery of sailing battleships has already reached its peak. The worst first-class battleships have hundreds of artillery configurations and at least three gun decks.

As for the fast and small warships, it is meaningless even to lean on them, and the small size means that they are more likely to be sunk and carry fewer sailors and sailors. It is also the life of sending the head.

This is why the Royal Navy dominates the world's sea power.

"Does Your Majesty want to engage in a surprise landing?"

The Secretary of the Navy thought for a moment and asked.

"Yes, the empire also needs to take care of the army. Although it has an absolute advantage in territory and population, it is impossible to devote enough wealth to continue this naval competition with the British.

I think our current ships are sufficient to transport thousands or even tens of thousands of people to the shores of the British Isles at one time.

On the vast sea, it is impossible for the British Royal Navy to stare at it 24 hours a day. As long as the layout is proper, there should be a chance to transport a group of troops to the British Isles.

The regular army of the British mainland is only a few tens of thousands of people. As long as the Roman Guards land successfully, the empire has a chance to completely defeat Britain.

Without the financial support of Britain, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire were no opponents of Rome at all! "

"Your Majesty is wise..."

The cabinet ministers present echoed in unison.

Regardless of whether this strategic plan is successful or not, as long as His Majesty the Emperor comes up with it, he must verbally support it!
As for the shortcomings, we will slowly add them later.

After the unanimous congratulations, the Minister of the Navy spoke again:

"Your Majesty is right, in the vast sea, it is not difficult for us to suddenly send fleets to sail to the sparsely populated coastline of the British Isles.

However, if there is no ready-made port, the landing time will inevitably be extended. If it is true that thousands of people are transported at one time, it will take several days to unload the soldiers and the military supplies they carry on the coastline without any port facilities.

It is difficult for a large number of landing troops to hide their tracks for a long time. Our landing point will be discovered sooner or later, and it will attract the pursuit and interception of the British Royal Navy.

Perhaps, our landing troops will not be in danger, but there is a high probability that the returning naval ships will be blocked or overtaken by the British Royal Navy, and will eventually be buried on the seabed.

In this way, we will not only lose a large number of ships, but also cause the troops who have already landed to be unable to obtain any supplies from the mainland.

They can only rely on the materials they brought over to fight the war.

Soldiers may be able to support their battles and replenish them on the spot with what they eat and wear, but it may be difficult to obtain weapons and ammunition.

Unless a large city or military fortress with an arsenal can be captured.

However, the British troops on the British Isles are all local elites. Whether it is a big city or a military fortress, a large number of troops will inevitably be stationed, and the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland has local combat advantages and the intelligence support of the local people. Our landing troops It is difficult to hide your whereabouts, and no matter where you attack, you will inevitably encounter interception and resistance from large groups of enemy troops.

In the end, I am afraid that they will fall into a never-ending battle and perish without ammunition and food.

Your Majesty, an army without local material support is like a rootless duckweed. It only needs one failure, and it will be lost forever.

And we only have one chance to land this kind of landing, because after the fleet is destroyed, it will be difficult for us to organize a large fleet to transport troops to the British Isles. "

"Transporting a large number of troops to land at one time, the target is indeed a bit bigger, and more ships are needed, and we need to be escorted to our large fleet.

That being the case, we might as well break up the fleet into pieces, one or several ships form a landing squad, and scatter them along the long coastline of the British Isles. After sending the landing troops up, let them join forces to fight together.

The Roman Guards are not afraid of hardships and death, and they will definitely cooperate well.

Moreover, dispersed troops can also disperse the forces of the British Continental Army. "

"Your Majesty, transporting combat soldiers is not just about sending them up. If you want to ensure the combat effectiveness and endurance of the soldiers, you must prepare sufficient supplies for them.

These materials will occupy a lot of space in the cabin, even much larger than the cabin space occupied by the soldiers themselves.

Therefore, a ship or a few ships can't transport many soldiers at all. If a large ship transports hundreds of people to land, it is very good. After all, there are sailors and other shipping supplies on board.

If the combat materials of the soldiers are reduced and they are allowed to land lightly, more people can be transported up, but they must search for enough food and water within a few days after landing, and the ammunition will also be stretched. It is estimated that there will be a fierce battle. Fighting will use up the ammo you carry.

In addition to the regular army in the British Isles, there are also a large number of militiamen. Every village and town has a different number of militiamen. If a small group of troops lands, it will probably run out of bullets just to defeat the militiamen who came to harass in groups. .

The combat effectiveness of the militia may not be good, but they are familiar with the terrain and hate our army. Even if they fight coldly, it is easy to cause heavy losses to a small group of troops.

Transporting a small group of troops to the British Isles, it is difficult to see the moment when they meet.

However, after the large force lands, we can transport a small group of troops to land as a support force for the large force.

A small fleet of one ship or a few ships is more difficult to detect than a large fleet.

If we do not pursue transportation efficiency, we can use a large number of small speedboats. Even if they can only transport dozens of people at a time, as long as they run fast, they will be difficult to be pursued and sunk by the British Royal Navy.

It is not necessary to treat naval ships as one-time consumables.

Of course, no matter what kind of landing method is used, the empire will suffer heavy losses. It is necessary to be mentally prepared for the destruction of the large fleet and the annihilation of the main landing force.

Moreover, even if the empire uses all its strength to transport small groups of troops to the British Isles, it will still be far inferior to the support of the British mainland operations. Even if the troops that finally land land will win the battle, they will be completely exhausted.

The United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland cannot be defeated by such a surprise landing operation.

After all, they are not weak native kingdoms. "

After hearing this, Li Wei finally understood.

If there is no command of the sea to conduct a surprise landing, if a large group lands, the navy is a one-shot deal. If a small group lands, it is nothing more than going to the British militia and killing more people.

Even if the two tactical strategies are put together and small groups are dispersed to land as a support method, it cannot keep up with the speed at which large groups of troops are surrounded and consumed in people's hometowns.

After all, once the raid and landing is successful, Britain's Royal Navy will inevitably block the coastline of the entire British Islands like crazy, and the difficulty of landing will only become more and more difficult!
Of course, the biggest limitation lies in the lack of capacity of sailing and wooden warships in this era. Ships with large capacity are large in size and cannot run fast enough. Raid transport is like meat buns beating dogs. Blind, I can definitely catch up.

Therefore, the best way is to integrate all large-capacity ships into the first wave of large-scale delivery and landing, and put them together with the main fleet. Even if they are sunk, they will still take a piece of meat from the British Royal Navy.

Those Clippers were arranged on the follow-up small group of landing troops.

"It doesn't matter if the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland can't be destroyed, as long as we can plunge the British Isles into flames of war, burn, kill and loot their land, deplete the national power of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, and make them have no time to care about the European battlefield. .

It is also worth paying some army losses for this. "

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking bluntly.

The financial power of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland to really support the European countries mainly comes from the hands of wealthy capitalists and nobles.

These people tend to live together in big cities and ancestral castles.

Once the landing is successful, these wealthy people will inevitably flee to large cities and military towns with many garrisons. It may be difficult to catch them.

The burning, killing and looting of our army on the British Isles will only make these people more afraid of us, so they will invest in our enemies at all costs.

Of course, they will also invest in their government army to deal with the imperial army.

When the war threatens the personal safety of those rich people's lives and properties, no one can guarantee what crazy things they will do.

The power of money is still strong.

If we do not attack the British Isles, those capitalists will not feel the sense of crisis. Even if the London government emphasizes the threat theory of the Roman Empire, the capitalists will not invest too much money into the bottomless pit of war.

If our army lands in the British Isles, it may not be possible to destroy those capitalists, but the number of British capitalists who will go bankrupt and want to fight against the empire will definitely soar!

At that time, the cheapest ones will only be the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. "

Li Wei frowned immediately after hearing this. These remarks reminded him of the extremely tyrannical country in World War II in his previous life, but ended up on the street.

The Soviet Union before World War II and the Soviet Union after World War II were completely two different 'creatures'.

Not only did the war not weaken the Soviet Union, but it made the post-war Soviet Union one of the poles of the world!

Isn't this what the capitalist world has given birth to?
Mustache beat the world powers helplessly in World War II, and those enemy countries took a detour and began to support the enemies of Mustache regardless of cost.

Thus, the Soviet Union rose!

Rise to the top of the world in the true sense!

If you land on the British Isles by yourself and make the richest capitalists in the world feel threatened, will they support their enemies regardless of cost?
The answer is almost 100% yes!

The current United States of America is a younger brother, and it is not a good place for those top capitalists.

If it is not necessary, why are those wealthy capital bosses willing to give up the industrially developed British lair?

Now the two major enemies of the Roman Empire on land - the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire.

They are all poor countries.

Since the Kingdom of Prussia has become the first country to complete the national mobilization mechanism in the current era of the world, the potential for violent soldiers is unimaginable, and all it lacks is money!

Not to mention the Russian Empire, hundreds of millions of gray animals are waiting to be fed. As long as each of them is given a gun, these gray animals can completely ignore the cruelty of war.

After all, the daily life of the gray cattle is also very cruel...

If it is said that strong soldiers come out of poor mountains and bad waters, all the serfs in the Russian Empire can be regarded as "strong soldiers".

After such calculation, it seems that attacking the British Isles first is a very dangerous strategic choice.

Li Wei rubbed his chin, feeling that his sea lion plan should be moved back.

"Since landing in the British Isles is easy to irritate our opponents, let's change to another target."

(End of this chapter)