Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1134: Chapter 148: Sometimes Having Too Many Soldiers is a Trouble
 

Good turned out to be ineffective, while bad proved efficient. Perhaps due to putting a jinx on it, merely a week had passed when bad news quickly followed.

Large groups of military forces were gathering in The French Coastal Area. It was obvious, even without contemplation, that they targeted The British Isles.

Upon hearing this alarming news, Swindon didn’t bother with formalities and urgently inquired of the head of the Navy Military Intelligence Bureau, “Have the enemy’s warships been commissioned?”

To land on The British Isles, naval battles were inevitable. Shinra may have air force cover, but Britannia had its air force as well.

Even if they were somewhat weaker, once it came to a fight for life, short-term containment was still achievable.

To protect the troop transports, the Shinra Navy had no choice but to engage in battle. Given the current strength comparison between the two sides, the Royal Navy still had somewhat better odds of winning.

The only thing that could alter this situation was the commissioning of new warships. Though the construction timeline seemed tight, the enemy, being the world’s number one industrial superpower, could feasibly finish early by working overtime.

In fact, over a month ago, the Navy Military Intelligence Bureau had received intelligence of the launch of the enemy’s capital ships, it just hadn’t been confirmed.

From launch to commissioning, then to achieving combat capability, surely it couldn’t be accomplished in just over a month. Yet, wasn’t the landing operation not yet started?

A major war, from preparation to initiation, likewise required a lengthy period. By the time the preparations were complete, perhaps the training had been completed too.

The director of military intelligence, Laselda, nodded, “We can confirm that the enemy has at least two Dreadnought-Class Battleships in service.

The enemy’s main ships were all laid down around the same time, so it’s likely the others, even if not yet in service, won’t take much longer.”

With this confirmation, Swindon felt increasingly uneasy.

One step behind led to being behind at every step.

Britain’s battleships had already been a step behind in starting construction, and then the shipyard had been attacked by the enemy, further slowing the progress.

Once the enemy’s fleet of warships was in service, the Royal Navy would be at a clear numerical disadvantage in the category of Dreadnoughts.

While it was said that quantity could make up for quality, Dreadnoughts had the ability to prey on regular vessels. Who knew what kind of price would have to be paid to level this advantage?

If the Royal Navy lacked absolute confidence in victory, then the jest of “a man, a machine, a bomb for a ship” would become a reality.

Death Squad pilots were not easy to come by. Although both island nations, the Great Britain Empire was certainly not Japan, where people clamored to enlist in the Death Squad.

Not to mention, just look at the London air battle. Once an aircraft showed damage, it would immediately turn tail and flee. When they couldn’t escape, the pilots would eject right away.

While preserving as much of the living force as possible, many aircraft were wasted, with plenty that could have been salvaged being abandoned.

Do not judge; those who dared to take to the skies to fight were heroes, with a band of pilots even refusing to enter the fray.

Their reasoning was quite sound: the performance gap between the planes was too large, and asymmetric combat meant certain death. Since it was sending them to their demise, naturally, they wouldn’t go.

Embracing death was not a concept embraced in Britannia, and the high aircraft attrition rate early in the war left the British Government without confidence.

Apart from active-duty pilots who couldn’t avoid combat, amateurs and civil aviation pilots had the right to refuse.

Mainly, this was because conscription laws had not yet been implemented, and the government’s ability to penalize those who refused the draft was extremely limited.

…

While the British found themselves in a state of panic, the international situation was also quietly changing. The continuous stream of bad news gradually eroded everyone’s confidence in the Great Britain Empire.

The India defense battle had already begun. Shinra was advancing from both Persia and the Indochina Peninsula. Despite being far away, people did not believe that the Persian people and a bunch of Colonial army would be able to block the steps of the world’s premier land military power.

Especially with the Russians also deploying from Afghanistan, British-India was essentially surrounded on all sides.

Faced alone against the first and second strongest land military powers in the world, distance and terrain were not enough; unless the British could perform miracles, there was no hope at all.

British-Africa had almost entirely fallen, and if India were lost too, would Great Britain still retain its status as an “Empire”?

Even if the Royal Navy was formidable, it could not turn the tide of defeat on land. Furthermore, they had lost the Battle of Malacca.

The defense battle for the Strait of Gibraltar had begun, and the Spaniards, stimulated by victory, had finally mustered the courage to attack Gibraltar.

It seemed they were prepared to replicate their previous success in the Anti-French Alliance, using the prestige gained from their triumph to rejoin the ranks of the great powers.

The status of being a great power was not just a title; it encompassed vast interests, particularly important for a major trading nation.

For instance, the United States and Confederate States both had strong comprehensive national powers, but lacking the title of a great power meant they had no exploration rights on the international stage.

Although Spain was not strong, the renown from that era still carried weight, with international influence second only to England, Austria, and Russia.

Of course, this was only at the beginning of the victory of the Anti-French Alliance. Later, due to a tarnished reputation from the Philippines war and the depletion of national strength in the suppression of colonial wars, their international influence dwindled significantly.

With Russia and Spain joining the fray, the fence-sitters in Europe could not stay still. Winning battles were always a favorite.

Moreover, the Vienna Government even promised great rewards, dangling “India” as bait for other governments to resist.

With active support from various countries, the Continental Alliance was already creating an embryonic form, only lacking the final integration. Once these tasks were complete, it would be time for the decisive battle.

Compared with the concentrated members of the Continental Alliance, those of the Oceanic Alliance were much more scattered, each from distant corners of the world, with joining together requiring crossing oceans.

The difficulty of uniting forces increased by more than a notch.

Although the British Government had been very diligent, limited by distance, the integration of the Oceanic Alliance lagged far behind.

If the war lasted for two or three years, the power of the Oceanic Alliance could naturally be gathered. But given the current situation, the enemy would surely not give them enough time.

As they witnessed the enemy’s strength growing unceasingly and the battle situation turning increasingly unfavorable for the Oceanic Alliance, governments were anxious and troubled.

Navies of various countries had already joined escort efforts, the air force had also dispatched elite pilots to support Britannia, and the army began to assemble.

But just defeating the Continental Alliance wasn’t enough. The full might of the European Continent, in those days, was invincible.

More and more learned individuals realized that getting involved in this war was a mistake.

Unfortunately, the world offers many things, but not a cure for regret. Joining a war is easy; withdrawing from it is hard.

On the surface, everyone still appeared to be Britannia’s faithful allies, working hard for the war effort, but beneath the surface, undercurrents were stirring.

Everything depended on the final battle. If Britannia could crush the “Operation Sea Lion” while preserving India, then everyone would remain good allies.

But if either of these objectives failed, there would be no choice but to make a painful sacrifice to prevent further losses.

It could be said that empiricism kills. In the most recent two hundred years of every European land war, the British had always emerged as the biggest victors.

The long-standing victories brought confidence to all. Coupled with the Royal Navy’s advantage in sea power and the seclusion of other nations overseas, the worst expected outcome was a draw.

According to the British promises, even if the result were a stalemate, it was still possible for everyone to divide up the overseas colonies of Shinra, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, among others.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel. The Great Britain Empire, having missed the second industrial revolution, was like an old man in his twilight years, no longer possessing the vitality of the past.

…

On the international stage, diplomatic tensions rose again, and battlefronts sprang up on all sides. Following the defeat at the Battle of Malacca, the British were forced to strategically withdraw in the Far East.

Except for the Indochina Peninsula, where fighting still raged, other regions had already been painfully abandoned. Yet, this wasn’t enough. The Continental Alliance did not give them a chance to breathe.

Governor Wilhelm, once buoyant with morale, was now suffering even as he reveled. Every man has a dream of galloping across battlefields as a hero; Wilhelm’s chance to command great armies had finally come, but it gave him a headache.

It wasn’t the case that one could simply “Han Xin recruits troops, the more the better”; Governor Wilhelm certainly lacked the ability to command a million-strong army.

If not for the war’s outbreak, no one would have believed that the Continental Alliance could mobilize over a million soldiers in the Southeast Asian region.

Yet, it happened in reality. The Dutch contributed a hundred thousand soldiers, the Spaniards eighty thousand, the Portuguese three thousand, plus the Austrian South Pacific Direct Forces of a hundred and thirty thousand, along with the Noble Coalition Army and civilian militias that arrived consecutively, pushed the total strength past the million mark.

And that wasn’t all. New troops joined every day, seemingly endless, giving Governor Wilhelm a huge headache.

Unlike in Africa, where organizational structures were well-established and troops could be mobilized according to the previous reserves system, here in Southeast Asia, things were mostly unstructured.

European immigrants alone couldn’t muster an army of a million, but with the addition of the Lan Fang Autonomous Province, it was more than enough.

One could only blame the attractive system of military merits and noble titles. Over the years, Emperor Franz’s reputation had deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

In the past, everyone wanted to be involved, but the distance to the battlefield was too great, and the conscription order hadn’t reached this far, preventing them from mixing in.

Now that the opportunity had presented itself, the Chinese families of Lan Fang could not sit still either. Driven by interest, they overcame their fear of the British, joining the war en masse.

Moreover, the nobility, seeking greater military merits, continuously recruited more into their private armies, causing the Allied Forces’ numbers to swell rapidly.

“Not loving war is simply a matter of insufficient interests,” everyone knew the Emperor was a generous man, distributing lands in hectares as the unit.

Even without being granted a noble title, getting a piece of land was worthwhile. “Fortune favors the bold,” every ambitious youth wanting to turn their life around showed up in the army.

Upon closer examination, one could even find the figures of exchange students. Not only did they participate themselves, but they also went back to their countries to recruit others.

The million-strong army had an impressive presence, but their combat effectiveness had declined. Apart from the direct forces, only the Aristocratic Private Armies had combat prowess; the rest were a disorderly mob.

This included the troops sent by Spain and the Netherlands, which in Governor Wilhelm’s eyes, were merely tagging along for the ride.

Knowing they were an undisciplined rabble, Wilhelm could not turn down everyone’s enthusiasm to join the fight. On one hand, it was about interest, and on the other, it was to exert sufficient pressure on the British.

No matter if they were a disorderly mob or not, just having the numbers there meant the British had to dispatch significant forces to intercept them.

It was an era of competing for who was worse. The Continent United Army main battle troops only numbered two to three hundred thousand, and the rest were a motley crew; the British were not much better.

The reinforcements hurried over from the homeland were freshly assembled troops; the emergency Colonial armies were the cream of the undisciplined lot.

If it came down to fighting, Wilhelm felt his side held a slight edge in combat. While both sides had mostly undisciplined troops, at least his own forces had high morale.

The numerously manned civilian militias weren’t drafted by Wilhelm with force; he just made a call to arms, and people volunteered.

Since they were fighting for themselves, their morale naturally couldn’t be low. Especially when Wilhelm made a speech during the oath-taking ceremony, he was so carried away that he promised the entire army that, should they win this war, the compensation for those killed in action would be no less than 500 Divine Shield or five hectares of land.

The natives and regular troops felt nothing special; according to tradition, this was standard practice, and various subsidies added up over time often exceeded the compensation for fatalities.

But it was different for others. The 500 Divine Shield, when converted to silver, amounted to more than a thousand taels. Considering the prices in the Far Eastern region, that was an astronomical figure for the ordinary person.

The temptation of five hectares of land was even greater, for this was land granted for military service. In the Holy Roman Empire, as long as such lands weren’t sold, they were exempt from taxes permanently.

Such ransom in the Far Eastern region was exorbitant. In a sense, the continuous flow of volunteers was also spurred by Wilhelm himself.

Since he had made the promise, he had to honor it. Influenced by Franz for a long time, Wilhelm understood the importance of reputation.

The Habsburg dynasty’s reputation couldn’t be bought with money; it wasn’t worth jeopardizing his own family’s reputation to save a few hundred million.

Besides, from his perspective, exchanging 500 Divine Shield for one’s life in service wasn’t too much. As for land, even less so, for it was all seized from the enemy; there was absolutely no need to feel distressed over it.

As a Reserve King, Wilhelm also needed to establish his credibility.

In the multiethnic Southeast Asia, if one could establish their reputation among various ethnic groups for a few hundred million, according to Wilhelm’s understanding of his father, he would be more than willing to pay.

Moreover, Wilhelm didn’t need to pay out of his own pocket now; war funds have always been fully covered by the Vienna Government, with the Royal family only leading by example with donations at critical times.

Right now, even donations weren’t necessary. The war had only been underway for a few months; the Vienna Government’s purse had not yet been depleted so quickly.

Leading a disorganized troop into battle, it was impossible not to feel some pressure. There was no grand expectation to march all the way and capture India, but at the very least, the Indochina Peninsula had to be taken.