18th century total war

Chapter 348

The mediation led by the London government is not empty slogans. The British Royal Navy has mobilized the main force of the Mediterranean fleet and entered the port of the Ottoman Empire. As long as it is ordered, it can immediately launch an offensive against the main naval force of the Roman Empire.

At the same time, the London government also drew a red line, claiming that if the Roman guards who landed continue to attack, the British Royal Navy has the right to shoot to defend peace!
This is already a naked threat of war!
Who is to say that the Mediterranean Fleet expanded by the London government is a little bit stronger than the Mediterranean Fleet of the Roman Empire.

To this end, Livy convened an emergency cabinet meeting in Vienna.

The Roman Empire was not ready for an all-out continental war, as the London government had predicted.

"Your Majesty, if we go to war now, there is a high probability that our naval fleet will be defeated, and all the naval wealth that we have managed to save will be ruined."

The Secretary of the Navy took the lead in giving Li Wei a bottom line.

It really can't beat the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet!

"Although our warships are not as many as the British, the number of large battleships is not much different from the British Mediterranean fleet. Even if we lose the battle, the British Royal Navy will suffer heavy losses."

The Secretary of the Navy was slightly taken aback when he heard this, the loyalty of the administration made him resist the urge to complain in his heart.

Is His Majesty the Emperor planning to use the navy to play a game of dice?
This is really...

"Your Majesty is right.

All members of the navy are willing to fight to the death for His Majesty's glory, even if they lose the battle, the Royal Navy of the British will not be worth the loss.

However, without this fleet, the Empire will no longer be able to complete large-scale landing operations, and the Czechoslovak Legion will be alone in Asia Minor. The British Royal Navy can easily block Constantine as long as it deploys warships from other places. Fort Strait. "

"The strategy of landing in the British Isles is not considered for the time being.

The Czechoslovak Legion in Asia Minor is not a big problem either. They have captured more than a dozen Ottoman cities and mastered military factories, which can meet the basic war consumption. It doesn’t matter if the Czechoslovak Legion stays in Asia Minor.

With the capabilities of the new army of the Ottoman Empire, it is impossible to defeat the Czechoslovak Legion head-on. "

"But, Your Majesty.

In that case, the Czechoslovak Legion would be reduced to a lone army, making it difficult to attack the capital of the Ottoman Empire. "

"Then stick to the territory. As long as the Czechoslovak Legion is nailed to the Asia Minor region, the Ottoman Empire will go all out to defend. If the time comes to war, the Ottoman Empire will have no strength to support our enemies.

I'm right. "

"Your Majesty is wise!"

The cabinet ministers present shouted in unison.

Li Wei nodded slightly, the tone had been established.

The Minister of the Navy did not dare to show his reluctance, and could only think about how to rely on coastal defense batteries to defend the shipyards after the main force of the naval fleet was destroyed.

However, the coastal defense turrets around those shipyards have been overhauled and reinforced, and there are a large number of artillery pieces. If the British Royal Navy really attacks by force, the cost of destroying a shipyard will definitely make the British Royal Navy cry.

At least, in the eyes of the Minister of the Navy of the Roman Empire, the British Royal Navy's storming the shipyard was a move that was not worth the candle.

Even if the construction period of the wooden-hulled sailing warship is short, it still costs money and human resources, and it is impossible to waste it meaninglessly.

Not to mention, the precious sailors in the British Royal Navy fleet.

Those British sailors can fight much more than the navy sailors of the Roman Empire.

The reason why the Minister of the Navy was sure that his own navy could not defeat the Royal British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was because of the gap between the sailors of the two sides.

Most of the navy sailors of the Roman Empire were trained by fishermen.

The original veteran French sailor was either promoted or went to the rear as a coach.

This is also a compromise for the rapid expansion of the navy.

What's more, the Roman Empire's naval fleet seriously lacked large-scale actual combat experience. They only had combat experience in destroying pirates and bullying Ottoman fishing boats and warships...

Facing the Royal Navy of Britain, you are guaranteed to suffer.

There is not much difference in the hardware facilities of the two navies, but the difference in software facilities is simply worlds apart.

This is why Levi is willing to exchange his own navy with the British Royal Navy.

For Li Wei, who controls half of Europe, he does not lack shipbuilding resources, what he lacks is experienced sailors, and in addition to long-term training, experienced sailors can only rely on large-scale wars to make them grow quickly.

On the contrary, if the sailors of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland are consumed, they will be replaced by novice sailors who are on par with the Roman Empire. As long as the Battle of Duizi continues, Li Wei is confident that the per capita combat power of the sailors of both sides will be brought to the same level.

As for the lives of a large number of sailors who paid for it, in Li Wei's eyes, it was nothing more than a series of casualties.

There is a shortage of experienced sailors under Li Wei's rule, but there is no shortage of fishermen who can serve as novice sailor reserves!
Naval battles are a competition of national power. The current Roman Empire is much stronger than the British Isles. Even if the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland can replenish blood through colonial resources, don’t forget that the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland has to be a nanny for other countries in Europe. !
Li Wei looked at the Minister of Finance and asked, "Is the empire capable of starting an all-out war now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Roman Guards do not need to pay any military salaries and wartime subsidies, and the war consumption is much lower than that of other countries. If there is no increase in ordinary vassals during the war, it will be no problem to maintain a full-scale war for three to five years. "

The meaning of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is very simple, the maintenance cost of the vassal servants has exceeded the Roman Guards!
After all, with the precedent of the Greek Cannon Fodder Corps, the various ethnic groups under the control of the Roman Empire have obvious resistance to their men going to the front to join the servant army to fight. Subsidies will be the era of Pidianpidian going to the battlefield.

God knows if they will never return?

Serving as a soldier for the tyrant Li Wei is too risky!
Even though the people under the Roman Empire did not know the tragedy of the Greek Legion, they knew the result of the death of all members of the Greek Legion in Istanbul!

Therefore, few Roman civilians are willing to fight for the Livi government.

That kind of local militia and police forces are not counted. This is a job that is clocked in at work. It is called working, not fighting!

The people are not warlike, so the cost of conscription is naturally high.

This is different from the Roman Guards.

The source of the soldiers of the Roman Guards can be recruited into the army by force. Anyway, they were thrown into the barracks for training for a month, and then they foolishly voluntarily carried explosives on the battlefield to serve Li Wei.

If ordinary servants are forced to enlist in the army, then we must guard against them deserting as deserters on their way to the front and during their stay at the front!

When the battle is fierce, it is not impossible to mutiny on the spot.

In the Battle of Istanbul, even the Greek corps with outdated equipment would mutiny when they were cornered, not to mention the vassals of other ethnic groups?
Although the mutiny of the vassal army must not be able to defeat the Roman Guards, but at the front line, you have to fight the enemy and watch your own troops not mutiny. Isn't this asking for trouble?

Of course, there is another good way to prevent mutiny-spending money!
There must be a brave man under a heavy reward, and the vassal servant army is no exception.

Then the Chancellor of the Exchequer stood up and reminded Li Wei that the Roman Empire was not a local tyrant, and the way of throwing money would not work!
Let's fight with the Roman Guard obediently.

Neither life nor money, what a good army!
Moreover, the discipline of the Roman Guards can also save a lot of unnecessary expenses for ordinary troops-such as the requirements for living conditions!

Li Wei thought of the 60 army on the total war template, and felt that he really didn't need the vassal servants to join him. At most, after laying down a territory, he would transfer militias from the rear to the front to take charge of law and order.

The price of pulling local militias to serve as security teams and pulling local militias to the front line are two completely different concepts.

Even many local militia groups are very fond of performing security tasks in the occupied areas.

After all, this is one of the few ways for them to obtain gray income.

Occupied area.

You don't have to obey military discipline too much!

Moreover, in the country that was invaded, there must be some unscrupulous and wealthy businessmen, and it is incumbent on everyone to produce traitors for His Majesty the Emperor!
As for the property after ransacking the house, it will be regarded as the hard work of the brothers...

Don't expect the discipline of those local militia groups. In order to stimulate the work enthusiasm of these local militia groups, the Li Wei government will turn a blind eye to some less bad phenomena.

The current Roman Empire does not need vassals, it can only use these local militias.

In fact, the local militia and the former vassal army are all a group of people.

Today, the local militias of the Roman Empire are the former armies of the vassal states, who were screened and eliminated after entering the Roman Guards.

In Li Wei's eyes, the only advantage of local vigilante groups is that they have enough people!
"If we don't mobilize local militia groups to join the war, are we good enough to deal with the situation of fighting on two fronts?"

Li Wei asked another question.

He didn't pay attention to these matters at all on weekdays. Basically, the cabinet team made a summary report, and the answers were all written on the paper, and Li Wei would simply browse it.

If not, such a large empire needs to be managed by Li Wei. How can Li Wei have time to enjoy his harem team and launch fashion shows across the country?

Oh, and fashion shows were a national event Levi invented after the Battle of Istanbul.

Anyone in the 21st century knows what a fashion show is!
It is a group of beauties wearing sexy clothes, walking on the stage, and then there are a group of judges below to score, and those who pass can be promoted.

However, due to the lack of clothing types in this era, most of the fashion shows were concentrated in a few clothing. After the catwalk auditions, they would be escorted to Vienna in batches, and then wear the designs of the Royal Costume Society established by Levi himself. clothing styles.

As a matter of course, the Royal Clothing Club is just a vest opened by Li Wei, serving him alone, responsible for making women's clothing that Li Wei's male compatriots were interested in in his previous life.

Generally speaking, women who have passed the audition of local auditions on catwalks have good looks and figures, and they don't have body odor!
Well, body odor is a hard rule on fashion show shows because Levi doesn't like it!
Therefore, the number of beauties who went to Vienna to participate in the fashion show that Li Wei personally watched was not too many, and Li Wei would not be able to see the degree of visual fatigue.

Li Wei's Royal Clothing Society personally customizes a set of clothing for every beauty who passes the audition, and then shows it to Li Wei himself on the catwalk.

When Li Wei is watching, if he agrees, he will put the brand in a small box on the side. A woman only has one chance to go on stage, and if she misses it, she will have no chance...

All the beauties who have been approved by Li Wei will be completely tied up for the personal safety of Emperor Li Wei, and then interrogated by Li Wei himself. After the interrogation, they will be handed over to Annie for training to see if it is possible Become Levi's long-term beauty bodyguard.

Well, the interrogation process will not be described in detail here.

For every fashion show event, Li Wei has to personally interrogate hundreds of people, and sometimes even has to complete the interrogation work every night, 360 days a year!

How much time could Li Wei, who had so many things to take care of, have to govern the country?
Therefore, the number of times Li Wei held the imperial cabinet meeting is really not too many...

In the history of any country, a monarch like Li Wei is a complete fool!

This is also the reason why Li Wei likes to do things directly for the result.

"Your Majesty, it is not a difficult problem for the empire to take on two fronts, but how should we attack?
The battlefield on the Eastern Front will inevitably face the two great powers of Prussia and Russia. If there is an all-out war, the Russian Empire is likely to attack south from northern Romania and open a new front.

This will make it difficult for the Empire to launch a powerful offensive no matter how many troops it deploys on the Eastern Front.

Therefore, after the war begins, it is best to start with the Iberian Peninsula, which is not strong in combat effectiveness.

Due to the political struggle between Carlos IV and the cabinet, the national strength of the Kingdom of Spain has not increased at all so far, and its military strength has not changed compared to a few years ago.

Although the Kingdom of Portugal has recovered from the last Spanish-Portuguese War, Portugal is small and the population is small, so there is nothing to worry about.

The subordinates estimate that only 20 to [-] Roman Guards are needed to fully occupy the Iberian Peninsula!

Then we can mobilize more loyal French militias to enter the Iberian Peninsula. Even if a large number of guerrillas emerge from the Spaniards and Portuguese, tens of thousands of Roman guards plus hundreds of thousands of French militias should be able to stabilize the situation.

In this way, the empire can concentrate on dealing with the war on the Eastern Front!
The most dangerous strategic situation for the Empire is the military pressure on the Eastern Front during our invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire will certainly not allow the empire to occupy the Iberian Peninsula, get rid of the disadvantage of fighting on two fronts, and will definitely do their best to launch an attack! "

(End of this chapter)