18th century total war

Chapter 367 Battle of the World Overlord
"Extra! Extra!

The Kingdom of Sicily rejected the grace of God's apostles, and the Europa Federation Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Sicily, which had betrayed the faith of God.

Sworn to defend the glory of God! "

In 1816, no one expected that Emperor Livy of the Europa Federation would use such a shameless reason to declare war on the Kingdom of Sicily, thereby kicking off the final battle to determine world hegemony.

Livy's government promoted the war as the glory of God, completely overshadowing political needs with religious overtones.

It's like the Crusades in the Middle Ages in Europe.

It has to be said that this kind of war in the name of religion is surprisingly effective. Even Christians who are dissatisfied in their hearts cannot say no to this kind of war that upholds the will of God.

What's more, for most people, they don't need to set foot on the battlefield in person.

what?
Why do you say that the Levy government represents the will of God?

Relying on the two pillars of Christianity-the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, they openly supported the war and the God-making plan of the Li Wei government at the same time!

Since the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Orthodox Church, which is the state religion of the Russian nation, has naturally been included under Li Wei's rule.

On the official level, the Europa Federation adhered to the idea of ​​religious freedom and accepted the Orthodox Church. In fact, those Orthodox Churches had to change their appearance to extend the life of their religious career.

After all, under the guns of the Imperial Guards, not surrendering means death.

In an absolute central dictatorship, let alone killing a few bishops, even if Li Wei slaughtered the entire Orthodox Church, it would be a very simple matter.

Even the Protestants in Europe had to submit to Li Wei's despotic power. After all, under Li Wei's dictatorship, non-submission often meant the complete demise of the body.

Of course, this barbaric way of rule also has drawbacks. No matter how powerful the Livy government's propaganda machine is, the revolutionary organizations in various states are like cockroaches that cannot be killed, killing one after another...

Not everyone will be fooled by the appearance of the society and the good propaganda of the government, especially those senior intellectuals, they often have more information channels, and they will think about more things, and analyze the government's foolishness from the lies of the appearance Routine.

This is actually a common feature of human society, especially in the 21st century in Li Wei's previous life.

Why are the vast majority of those who rebel against the country high-level intellectuals?

According to common sense, talents who have been favored by more national resources and have received higher education should be more patriotic than ordinary people who have never even attended a university.

But in fact, the ratio of senior intellectuals treason is much higher than that of ordinary people!
This is actually a matter of thinking.

It's not that ordinary people are dumber than high-level intellectuals, but that the income levels of the two sides are doomed to think about problems in different ways.

Rather than politics, ordinary people think mainly about food, clothing, housing and transportation in life. For example, will the price of pork increase?

And high-level intellectuals often get a lot of money, so naturally they don't need to be bothered by the trivial matters in life. In addition, they come into contact with different social levels, and they see more dark sides under the surface. The society sees more thoroughly and knows how to choose an immigration plan that is more beneficial to itself.

As for patriotism?

In the face of money, talking about this kind of topic is undoubtedly a joke.

Just like the current Li Wei, he has never expected to be loved by the people. The ideological education of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism has been going on, but Li Wei does not have much hope.

On the contrary, the construction of religious thought has achieved considerable results.

Compared with a government that embodies the selfish side of human nature everywhere, the supreme true God is undoubtedly easier to gain people's belief.

At least in the 19th century.

Thus, there was a scene of declaring war on the grounds of religion.

Compared with the excuse of losing a soldier at the border, or losing a few chickens and a cow, using religious color to declare war is undoubtedly more in line with the appetite of the European people.

Even many civilians who never cared about politics started to shout for this war!

And under the guidance and rewards offered by the government, he began to report and supervise the revolutionary parties that might exist around him.

In an era when the Internet and cameras are not popularized, there is no way more efficient than public reporting.

The reason why the revolutionary party cannot be completely eradicated is that, to put it bluntly, the people have any sympathy for the revolutionary organization.

It is not necessary for everyone to sympathize, as long as some people sympathize with the revolutionary party.

They don't even need to take the initiative to help the Revolutionary Party. They just need to be an idle bystander, which is enough for the government agents to rack their brains in searching for clues.

The declaration of war against the Kingdom of Sicily did not cause much repercussions in the Europa Federation Empire, and there was even no sign of enlisting in the reserve army.

The reserve service system of the Europa Federation Empire is actually the militia system. The local defense forces and militia groups are the reserve forces of the empire. They take turns to work and train.

After all, the local militia and defense forces do not need to maintain a state of war all the time, and only need to keep some soldiers on duty most of the time.

The rest are on leave.

This reserve system was naturally copied and modified from Prussia, which is commonly known as the compulsory military service system.

Li Wei can't guarantee that after he takes London, he won't need to go to war, so the Europa Federation Empire has always maintained a system of compulsory military service for all citizens, and when necessary, arm the young and strong in the country in the shortest time Send to the front.

The Imperial Academy of Sciences has begun to study steam train and railway laying technology according to Li Wei's instruction. Once the steam train technology is mature, it will lay a railway network between the major cities of the Europa Federation Empire to coordinate the huge and bloated empire. .

Nowadays, what restricts the expansion of the Europa Federation empire is not only the lack of administrative quotas, but also the high cost of transportation.

After all, the Europa Federation Empire is not a system of enfeoffment, and its territory has even surpassed the peak period in the history of the Far East Empire!

Therefore, the cost of bureaucratic rule directly under the central government is very high.

This is still under the help of administrative enlightenment.

Otherwise, Li Wei's cabinet would not be able to effectively govern the three northern European countries and the small southern European countries. The time it takes for the two places to convey the news is enough to make people collapse.

Amidst the roar of the steam ironclad ships of the Europa Federation Empire, the port of the Kingdom of Sicily, which was located in a corner, was broken into pieces, followed by a division of Imperial Guards landing.

In just one day, the army of the Kingdom of Sicily was defeated by the imperial guards who were smaller than them in a field encounter.

After the news spread to the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily, the king of the Kingdom of Sicily immediately ordered the arrest of the British envoy, and the whole country surrendered to the Europa Federation Empire.

After the surrender, the Kingdom of Sicily will be incorporated into the Italian state according to historical origins.

The King of Sicily surrendered so neatly, which was inseparable from the 'lateness' of the British Royal Navy.

The British envoys stranded in the Kingdom of Sicily clapped their chests and assured that the Mediterranean Squadron of the British Royal Navy was sufficient to stop the fleet of the European Federation Empire, but in fact the opposite was true.

The Mediterranean Fleet of the British Royal Navy backed down when facing the Mediterranean Fleet of the Europa Federation Empire with a full 5 steam ironclad ships!

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland knew very well how difficult it was to sink those steam iron hulls.

The London government did not expect that the tyrant Levi would kick off the World War so soon. After all, in terms of the number of naval ships, the Royal Navy's battleships alone are more than twice that of the Europa Federation Empire.

If all the ships are counted, the gap between the two sides is three times!

This does not count the squadrons deployed by the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland in the Far East and other colonies.

In the strategic assessment of the London government, even if the Europa Federation Empire takes the lead in launching a steam ironclad ship, the strength of the two sides in European waters is still equal, and fire will only bring about a situation where both sides suffer.

In this military competition, the Europa Federation Empire clearly has the advantage in resources. Competing with the speed of steam ironclad ships making dumplings, the Levi Empire, which has the resources of the entire Europa continent and colonies, has the advantage.

This is why the London government is sure that Levi will not be the first to go to war.

It's just that they underestimated the degree of madness of Li Wei and his eager desire for longevity. Even in the race against time, the Europa Federation Empire has an advantage, but Li Wei has no confidence in his own health in the race against time...

After all, Li Wei is very aware of what disease he has, and this disease will only make his body weaker and weaker...

This is like an addict who knows that continuing to smoke will hasten his death, but still can't stop.

In the Europa Federation Empire, no one dared to say no to Li Wei. His own willpower had a mental illness that could not be staged, so Li Wei could only find ways to prolong his life from other aspects.

Even if it loses the advantage of the Europa Federation Empire in the race against time!
Even if doing so will cause the Europa Federation Empire to sacrifice more lives in the war!

Levy's madness caught the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland by surprise, but it did not cause them to lose fundamentally. The British Royal Navy began to gather in the English Channel to avoid the risk of being destroyed one by one by the steam ironclad ships of the European Federation Empire.

Of course, the end result of doing so is that the "sovereign countries" in the Mediterranean that were attracted by the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland fell into the hands of the Europa Federation Empire one after another.

If the war target was not aimed at the London government, the Europa Federation Empire could even launch a large-scale invasion war in North Africa.

Those North African countries that have become independent from Ottoman, although they have received military support and wooing from the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland in the past few years, they are still weak opponents to the guards of the European Federation Empire .

To be precise, there is no opponent in the world who can defeat nearly a hundred imperial guards on land at this time. This is not a crushing at the level of weapons, but a crushing at the level of quantity and fighting will.

Even if the London government has not stopped its army expansion plan, by the eve of the war between the two sides in 1816, the London government's army had only expanded to 30 people.

The Irish guerrillas have provided these British armies with valuable practical experience, so that the population of Ireland has been declining year by year...

In the middle of 1816, the Europa Federation Empire, which conquered the entire Mediterranean Sea, transferred the main force of its navy to the English Channel. Not surprisingly, the two sides broke out in the English Channel in the largest naval battle so far!

There are hundreds of sail battleships invested by both sides!
These are the results of the naval arms race between the two sides in the past few years.

The Europa Federation Empire, which has no land threat, has a terrible outbreak in the navy.

However, the disadvantages in numbers and lack of combat experience still prevented the Europa Federation Empire, which had the advantage of steam ironclad ships, from achieving the expected victory.

Of course, in the eyes of naval strategists, this is nothing more than a normal thing. Although the quality of ships in naval battles is crucial, the difference in quantity is too large to make up for these disadvantages. What's more, the life span of the Navy of the Europa Federation Empire is too short. They lack experience in large-scale naval battles, and relying solely on the advantages of steam ironclad ships, it is impossible to create miracles.

The result was 5 steam ironclad ships, three were sunk, one was captured, and one escaped...

As for the wooden-hulled battleship with sails, less than [-]% of the Europa Federation Imperial Navy escaped back.

However, this victory is not good news for the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, because as the victor, the number of warships sunk by them is 1.5 times that of the enemy!
It can be said that the main force of the European fleet of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland has basically been abolished...

Emperor Levi was obviously extremely dissatisfied with the outcome of this naval battle. The shipyards of the Europa Federation Empire began to work overtime, trying to build a new fleet in a short period of time.

In contrast, the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland does not have much money to replenish ships, because the army of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland is also expanding!

After the war was dragged into the stage of attrition, the gap in national strength between the two sides was fully reflected. The London government found out desperately that as long as the Europa Federation Empire exploded its warships regardless of the cost, they were likely to lose the next decisive battle at sea!
As for attacking the coastal shipyards of the Europa Federation Empire, the well-fortified coastal defense batteries are enough to cause the Royal Navy to pay unimaginable losses.

The London government wanted to end the war, but after their messengers reported back to Levi asking for the city of London, the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland knew that this war could only end in death.

When the London government desperately responded to the next decisive battle at sea, two of Levi's vassal states, Russia and Ottoman, declared war on the Persian Empire in Central Asia under Livi's coercive order.

Just because the Persian Empire is the only way to go south to the Indian subcontinent!

(End of this chapter)