Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1117: Chapter 131, War Breaks Out

As a long-standing world hegemon, the British had cultivated an arrogance over the past century.

Upon receiving the Vienna Government’s final ultimatum, the British parliamentarians, feeling their dignity provoked, displayed a rare efficiency. Within a single afternoon, they made their decision.

After reaching a consensus in the parliament, on the evening of December 26, 1904, Edward VII issued a universal war mobilization order and formally declared war on the Holy Roman Empire.

Declaring war first might have been petulant, but it stemmed more from political necessities. Although the means were somewhat crude, as long as they were effective, that was acceptable.

The arrogant British did not fear this war, but that did not mean their allies who followed their lead were unafraid.

In fact, if it weren’t for the cunning of the British Government, who cheated and deceived various nations into joining the fray, those countries would not have bothered.

...

Since the end of the wars on the European continent, the world’s armies, which initially learned from the French Army, had turned to learn from the Sacred Shinra Army.

Whether they grasped the essence is another matter, but the Holy Roman Empire’s influence had indeed spread, especially among the immigrants in America who were familiar with Shinra history, the ideological impact was even greater.

Ignorance breeds fearlessness, and sometimes knowing too much is not a good thing. At least for Britain, it was not beneficial for allies to know too much.

Initially, the British told everyone that it was solely a confrontation with the Holy Roman Empire, and it had nothing to do with other European nations.

To boost everyone’s confidence, the British Government even repeatedly assured that several European nations, such as the Russian Empire, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and even the German princes, would join the Anti-Holy Roman Empire Alliance.

Logically, there was no flaw—Europe could not accommodate two major continental powers, and given the strategic space and continental hegemony at stake, it was reasonable for everyone to believe that the Russian-Austrian relationship could turn sour.

France and Shinra were age-old enemies. In the past few centuries, European history had been a narrative of their rivalry.

Recently hit hard by Shinra, adding new grievances to old ones, it would be strange if France didn’t seek revenge.

Portugal and the Netherlands, among other nations, were Britain’s staunch subordinates. Although they also had good relations with Shinra, everyone believed in John Bull’s diplomatic maneuvers.

But plans do not always keep up with changes, and intended allies turned into foes. The balance of power between the two sides also shifted.

The deeper their understanding, the more uncertain everyone felt. If the subordinates panicked, the leader had to find a way to steady the troops’ morale. Otherwise, with disheartened hearts, the team could not be led.

After reflecting on it personally, Franz instantly felt assured. He feared not the strong reactions of the British, but rather their lack of reaction.

At its peak, the Great Britain Empire was extraordinarily powerful. This formidable strength was manifested not only in its overall national power but also included diplomatic and cultural soft-power aspects.

Shinra had surpassed them in terms of hard power, otherwise, they would not have challenged them. It was difficult to define soft power, though. Even though the Vienna Government performed well in this aspect, it still could not claim superiority over the British.

Reality was often absurd, sometimes even more fantastical than fiction; many things could not be judged by common sense.

Faced with an opponent skilled in manipulating politics and public sentiment, Franz never dared to take things lightly.

As it turned out, it seemed he had worried too much. No matter how proficient the British were in diplomacy, they had their limits.

With a heavy burden lifted from his heart, Franz continued to write fervently, drafting “A Letter to the People of the British Isles.”

As for the declaration of war, it had been agreed to happen on the 27th, and Franz would not allow the British to set the pace.

“`

…

Late at night, the editorial department of the Southeast Asia Daily was still brightly lit. As the editor-in-chief, Lauren-Cromwell yawned and randomly stood up to make himself a cup of instant coffee.

There was no helping it; people in the news industry never discriminated between day and night. Especially for news editors, the frequency of night shifts was far higher than day shifts.

News must be timely; in order to ensure that the newspaper could be delivered to every subscriber by the next morning, they had to print at midnight.

“War has broken out! Quick, Mr. Lauren, quick, reorganize the layout, we must be the first to publish…”

The trembling, excited voice attracted the attention of everyone in the editorial room.

“Mr. Steve, calm down a little. We all know that war has broken out; this time the domestic side won’t back down, the British can’t possibly accept our conditions, war is inevitable.

This is the newspaper prototype that has just been printed; we had already made a prediction beforehand, believing there wouldn’t be too much discrepancy.”

Lauren was quite optimistic about this young man, but Steve’s current performance greatly disappointed him.

The colonies had already started fighting, and today the government had issued a 24-hour war ultimatum to the British, with absolutely no possibility of easing tensions.

Calculating the time made it clear that war would break out tomorrow. Moreover, prior to this, the Vienna Government had already leaked some information, which had even been published in the newspapers, albeit rephrased.

After catching his breath, Steve hurriedly explained, “It’s different, Mr. Lauren. Just now, the British Government has declared war on us, and the total war outbreak has been moved up.”

Upon hearing this news, everyone’s faces immediately turned pale. It was fortunate that the news had arrived in time; the newspaper had not yet been sent out, otherwise, it would have been a major accident.

For political news, accuracy is most important. Once the published news information does not match reality, it becomes a major accident.

Not to mention ruining our reputation, we could also be reported by readers and subject to an investigation by the press bureau.

Don’t think being in the colonies exempts us; the Holy Roman Empire’s news management legislation applies throughout the Empire.

Of course, getting the time of the war outbreak wrong isn’t a crime, it’s just considered to be not rigorous enough.

Hearing this news, without waiting for Steve to finish, Lauren went forward to snatch the telegram, reading it intently.

After a moment, Lauren asked seriously, “Have you verified this with the homeland, confirming that only the British declared war on the 26th and that we didn’t…”

Steve: “Don’t worry, Mr. Lauren. By the time I received this telegram, it was already past midnight. Even if there are changes, it would be on the 27th.”

After a pause, Lauren exhaled a sigh of relief. Such a matter allowed no room for carelessness; any slight negligence could potentially tarnish his professional career forever.

“Well done, Steve. It’s good that you came in time; otherwise, our trouble would have been great.

Editorial department, redo the edits and layout, quickly bring out the new document. This time, we must make a big splash; I have a premonition that the following newspaper sales will definitely skyrocket.

I can’t promise a promotion, but your bonuses will definitely increase as the sales of the newspaper go up.”

That was the honest truth; a moment later, and the newspaper would have already started printing. To ensure important news wasn’t omitted, they would either have to stop and reprint or issue a special column.

“`

It seemed the simplest to increase the issuance of a special column and even make an extra buck, yet in reality, it wasn’t so.

With the development of the era, competition pervaded all sectors, including newspapers.

On the Sulawesi island alone, there were over thirty newspaper establishments, large and small; survival was no easy task.

The era of rudimentary news supply had ended long ago. Now, not only did one need to provide news content, one also had to excel in customer service.

In this context, launching a special column had become highly sophisticated. It wasn’t only about having enough news content but also about offering refreshingly unique interpretations.

In a few hours, the newspapers needed to be distributed. After subtracting the printing time, even less time was left for the editorial team.

To create a special column that could persuade readers to buy it in such a short time was nearly impossible.

Such situations had occurred before. To ensure no major news was missed, the usual choice was to scrap the earlier printed newspapers and reprint them after reformatting.

Given the constraints of productivity, the cost of newspaper printing at that time was not low; each restart represented a financial strain on the newspaper.

In this context, newspeople had a love-hate relationship with sudden, major news.

…

At the headquarters of the Southeast Asian Fleet of the Holy Roman Empire, as the fleet commander, General Arest received the information earlier than the newspaper.

Since a full-scale war had erupted, confrontations with the Royal Navy had also entered a new phase.

Before the full-scale war, there was a plan to seek a chance for a surprise attack to annihilate the enemy’s main fleet in one go. Now, such pickiness wasn’t viable; minor targets could not be ignored.

Forget about surprise attacks for now. The advent of aircraft had transformed the mode of warfare.

With the enemy on guard, it was impossible to evade enemy reconnaissance planes and ships.

Only if one was bold enough to risk navigating blindly or running aground while sailing through the night and launching a surprise attack right at their doorstep.

But just think about it, Arest wouldn’t gamble with the Southeast Asian Fleet over such an insignificant chance of success.

Pointing with his command baton at the map on the wall, he said, “This is Cam Ranh Bay, one of the best ports in Asia, and also the major base of our opponent, the British Royal Navy’s Far Eastern Fleet.

Thanks to our intelligence officers’ efforts, we have mostly clarified the situation at Cam Ranh Bay, and it’s very disheartening.

Perhaps due to the Imperial Air Force’s formidable reputation, the British are terrified and are taking their air defense very seriously now.

In Cam Ranh Bay, the British have stationed two air force groups, three anti-aircraft artillery groups, the exact armaments aren’t detailed, approximately eighty fighter planes, at least fifty anti-aircraft guns, and several anti-aircraft machine guns.

These are just what we could detect openly; whether they have hidden assets is still unknown.

Although these weapons aren’t exceptional, they pose a substantial threat to low-flying bombers.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be an issue. If the gains were high enough, it would be worth some losses.

Now, however, the situation is different, with the Suez Canal severed and the possibility of supply from our homeland being difficult for at least the next six months.

Every plane we lose now is one less in our capability; the current active and reserve planes on our aircraft carrier fleets total only about three hundred.

It might seem like we have more planes, but our aircraft carriers primarily host bombers, with very few actual fighters.

Once battle commences, the British Air Force stationed in the surrounding areas will also provide reinforcements.

Is it worth risking our precious carrier-based aircraft against the enemy’s fighters? We must reassess this now.”

Reality is harsh; regardless of how superior the performance of the aircraft carrier-based planes is, bombers are still bombers, and they stand little chance against specialized fighter planes.

Together with the dense anti-aircraft fire from the enemy, Cam Ranh Bay is essentially a dragon’s den. If a surprise attack fails and turns into a forced confrontation, whether the aircraft carrier fleet can withstand it remains uncertain.

Should we suffer heavy losses, the expensive aircraft carrier fleet constructed by the Vienna Government would be wasted.

These machines are meant to combat enemy ships, not to fight air battles; air combat is the business of the Air Force.

Chief of Staff, Ebbert Gubost: “Commander, our national directive is to cause disruption, minimizing the inflow of resources to the British Isles from the Far East as much as possible.

Compared to our vast Empire, the British Isles are too small. Once cut off from external resources, their war potential will drastically decrease.

In this context, it is the British who should be eager for a decisive battle. If we block the Strait of Malacca, we will have completed half our mission.

As for dealing with the British Royal Navy’s Far Eastern Fleet, that’s not something that can be resolved in a day or two. As long as we stabilize the situation, we can gradually seek opportunities later.”

Conservative, rigid?

No, this was rational.

War serves politics, and for the Holy Roman Empire to win this war, the first task was to cut off the supply of resources to the British Isles.

Once this strategic objective was achieved, successes or failures in other local battles, on the whole, wouldn’t be as crucial.

Everything was in service to this war; there was absolutely no cowardice, only adherence to true self.

Rear Admiral Davidson: “Chief of Staff, well said. It is the British who are anxious for a decisive battle. If they delay, we could seize Singapore first, locking down the Strait of Malacca.

At the same time, we must swiftly engage in disrupting their trade. The colonies spread throughout Southeast Asia are our biggest advantage.

Once we utilize this advantage, it won’t be easy for the British to transport resources from the Far East to the British Isles.

If this situation emerges, the British Far Eastern Fleet won’t have a choice but to engage us in battle to ensure their coastline remains clear.”

Being passive or proactive is crucial; it means not only having a say but also being able to influence the choice of the battleground.

Fighting close to home always offers more advantages than waging a long campaign on someone else’s doorstep. If luck is on our side, even the Air Force might join the fray.

…