I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 1000: It's time for aircraft carriers to make their mark.
If the Minister of Munitions and General Winter were truly capable, Charles might have swallowed his pride and detained them in Belgium at all costs, even at the cost of damaging his reputation.

However, General Winter is of mediocre talent, and the Minister of War is an "unconventional talent" who will one day single-handedly bring down the British Empire. Therefore, Charles will not only not harm him, but will also secretly protect him.

However, Charles's words did indeed terrify the Minister of Munitions and General Winter.

Belgium has little affection for Britain, and now, backed by the powerful France, it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to detain a key naval official in order to strike at the Royal Navy.

Therefore, they fled all the way to Antwerp at breakneck speed, not daring to take a plane.

The reason was that the skies at that time belonged to France, and the planes did not have radios. If they were shot down and sank to the bottom of the sea while flying over the ocean, it would be done without anyone noticing, and then an excuse could be made to say it was due to the weather.

In this situation, they could only trust the warships.

So they had to travel by boat and car several times before finally arriving safely back in London the afternoon of the following day.

Although the Minister of Munitions was exhausted from his journey, he dared not rest and rushed with General Winter to the War House for an emergency meeting.

Also present were Prime Minister George, First Lord of the Admiralty Balfour, and Rear Admiral Trenchard, Chief of the Royal Flying Corps Staff.

(Note: After Kitchener's death, Prime Minister George held the position of Secretary of State for War for a considerable period. Also: The Royal Air Force was established in 1918; prior to that, it was known as the Royal Flying Corps, which was, in principle, an auxiliary force to the Army and Navy.)
(The image above shows Major General Hugh Trenchard of the United Kingdom, the first Chief of Staff of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).)

Prime Minister George had already received word that Charles had publicly announced to the world that Britain was coercing France to increase reparations.

He glanced at the Minister of War with displeasure, his tone laced with sarcasm: "It seems your negotiations are not going well, Your Excellency."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." The Minister of Munitions said somewhat dejectedly.

"Do you know what this means?" Prime Minister George complained.

"This not only failed to have a positive effect, but it also had a negative effect."

"The Germans already know that we intend to bring France into the conflict to increase the reparations, and they intend to stand with France against us."

"Including the navy, the German navy, they are preparing to leave the port and fight against our army!"

The Minister of Munitions was stunned: "The German Navy?"

"Yes." Prime Minister George nodded:

“You should have thought of that, Your Excellency.”

"If we intend to win over France at the expense of Germany's interests, it means that Germany will completely side with France."

"Because Germany is more worried that France will agree to our terms, and at the same time, it will not allow France to be defeated by us!"

Thanks to the actions of the Minister of Munitions, Germany is no longer in a position to sit idly by and watch the two sides fight.

If France agrees, or if France is defeated and forced to submit, Germany will face enormous reparations that would take centuries to pay.

Therefore, the Minister of Munitions effectively tied the interests of Germany and France together.

“And there are other countries,” Balfour said.
"Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, etc."

"Neutral countries that joined the League of Nations and those that did not were all in support of France."

"Although the colonies have not spoken out, we have received intelligence that their armed forces are gathering."

France was the nation that dared to stand up against British hegemony, the nation that openly represented the world's weaker nations in resisting British oppression, and the nation that strived for human peace, for the "freedom" of other countries, and for the elimination of war. In principle, all nations share common interests with France, and they would not stand idly by and watch France be defeated by Britain.

The Minister of War suddenly understood Charles's purpose in making the negotiations public: to unite European countries, including Germany, against Britain.

He glanced awkwardly at everyone and changed the subject:
"None of that matters, gentlemen."

"The Germans are just putting on a show, and other countries are just offering their support. The most important thing is always France, the Charles, and the Mediterranean."

"As long as we defeat the French Navy and Charles with lightning speed, nothing will change."

The Minister of War understood the principle of making an example of someone to deter others; as long as the most important "leader" was suppressed, other countries would not dare to act rashly.

Major General Trenchard, Chief of Staff of the Royal Flying Squadron, calmly said, "You may be right, Your Excellency. But the question is, how can we do it? How can we defeat the Charles?"

The Minister of Munitions looked at Trenchard with confusion: "Why not? We have already prepared a battle plan."

“Yes,” Trenchard replied.
"But the operational plan did not include Malta."

"And now Malta is under French control, and Charles' planes are constantly reinforcing Malta."

"Fighter jets, bombers, and torpedo planes."

The Minister of Munitions was skeptical: "Is Malta really that important? It's just a small island!"

The Minister of War remained skeptical. Although he was frightened by Charles's confidence and fled back, he discussed the matter with General Winter for a long time on the way back, but still couldn't figure out what method Charles could use to prevent the British fleet from controlling the Mediterranean.

“It’s not just Malta.” Major General Trenchard shook his head slightly. “We discovered that the Italians have built an airport and stockpiled fuel in Sardinia. I have reason to believe they were instructed by the French.”

(The red circles in the image above indicate the locations of Sardinia and Malta.)

Major General Trenchard pointed to the map on the table and said:
“Look at this, gentlemen.”

"With Sardinia as the center, France is in the upper left, Algeria is in the lower left, and Malta is in the lower right."

What came to your mind?

Before anyone else could answer, Major General Trenchard drew a circle on the map:

"Charles' planes controlled the entire Mediterranean."

“He can use ‘camels’ and ‘snails’ to fight for air superiority, and then use ‘torpedo planes’ to bomb our warships.”

"What do we have to fight them with?"

The Minister of Munitions suddenly understood the reason for Charles's "outrageous remarks": he planned to sink British warships one by one with "torpedo planes".

General Winter was still unwilling to give up: "But we have SE5a, which are much faster than the 'Camel' and 'Sniper', and there are more of them than the 'Jenny A'."

Major General Trenchard countered, "But where will our fighter jets take off from? Our airfields are in Greece and Egypt, and our fighter jets have a range of over 400 kilometers, which isn't even enough to reach Malta for combat operations."

The Minister of Munitions and General Winter exchanged a glance.

They knew it was time for the aircraft carrier to come into play; only it could help the navy take down the Shire's airfields on these islands one by one!

(End of this chapter)