Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2460 Military adventure?

On September 1702, 9, the night at Ceuta Port was quiet, and two "Star" class light cruisers moored quietly in the harbor.The lights on the ship were shining, gazing into the distance like eyes in the night.

Unfortunately, because there is no steam power, the lights lit on the ship are not bright gas lamps, but windproof kerosene lamps for navigation made by Guangming Lamp Factory.This is real kerosene, the fuel obtained through coal liquefaction technology, with a complex composition.Because usually seven or eight tons of coal can be liquefied to produce one ton of oil, and the manufacturing cost of equipment is high, and the production cost is high, making kerosene a very expensive fuel. Even the rich and powerful navy has a quota limit for its use—of course it is bigger The reason is low production.

East Coasters are of course also looking for other alternative liquid fuels, such as petroleum.According to the latest news, after several years of investigation, exploration, and sampling, an expert group formed by the Ministry of Geology confirmed that Dingnan County has abundant reserves of liquid fuel, which they call "petroleum".They have drilled wells in some shallow buried places and obtained some oil samples. After repeated analysis, they believe that its chemical composition is complex, but it has huge value.

To this end, they began to cooperate with relevant domestic departments, especially the three major heavy industry manufacturing complexes of Tieling, Ping'an, and Heishan, and the Engineering Technology Research Institute, preparing to design and customize a set of special drilling equipment to start more in-depth mining and research.

It is conceivable that when their work has made certain progress and the domestic petroleum-related industries start to sprout, this liquid fuel will slowly enter the market and gradually replace the function of kerosene.After all, compared to natural liquid petroleum, the kerosene obtained after coal liquefaction is so expensive that the Navy originally wanted to design a marine steam engine that uses kerosene as fuel, but in the end they had to give up because of the price—hmm , they are currently trying to switch to oil.

All in all, in a word, the efficiency of power systems such as steam engines and steam turbines using liquid fuels is much higher than that of coal.Moreover, the calorific value of combustion is high, and the storage space is small (which means more battery life), so the advantages are still obvious.For the future navy and even the entire shipping industry, the use of liquid fuels is the general trend and unstoppable.

"Battalion Commander, this is information from Amsterdam and London." Zhou Yafu, who was wearing a military uniform, was writing at his desk in a lounge at the dock of Ceuta Port.

He is currently working on a plan to attack the Bay of Gibraltar.The staff had made several versions before, but he was not satisfied.It just so happened that there was a rumor that the British might attack this place recently, so he simply took it over and wrote a new copy—of course it was just a skeleton, and the staff needed to fill in the specific content, which is what they are good at.

"The war in the Southern Netherlands has reached a stalemate..." Zhou Yafu took a sip of strong tea, took a look at the information, and said with emotion.

It is said that since Churchill, the Earl of Marlborough, left, the local British army was under the command of Prince Eugen, but the paddling was a bit serious.In addition, the Austrian mainland was invaded by the Turks, the morale of the Austrian army was shaken, and the morale of the Austrian army was drained. It was impossible to drive the French army led by the Duke of Vendome out of the Southern Netherlands.

At this time, King Louis XIV of France was also planning a grand plan, that is, to send the elite main force across the entire southern Germany, and together with the troops of the ally Duke of Bavaria, go straight to Vienna and destroy the enemy's core in one fell swoop.

It was an astonishingly daring plan, and if it worked out perfectly—capturing the German emperor Leopold—then it would likely have ended the war.In that way, the hegemony of France will be indestructible in a short period of time in the future, and everyone will prostrate at the feet of Louis XIV and sing praises for him.

In fact the plan has historically come close to succeeding.At that time, Austria was fighting on two fronts and its troops were empty. The French's breakthrough in the center really hit the seven inches.In a panic, Leopold fled Vienna for the second time in his life (the first time was when the Turks came), and he was in constant fear.Later, it was Prince Eugen who rushed from the Netherlands to Blenheim at an incredible marching speed, intercepted the French army, and won the battle. Only then did the disgraced Leopold return to the palace of Vienna .

In the time and space of the East Coasters, Austria is equally empty, perhaps even more empty than in history.Louis XIV made this plan, and if it is done properly, it should be able to achieve great results.But it is impossible to catch Leopold, because this man is too good at running, and he will abandon the country and leave at the slightest sign of trouble. It is almost impossible to catch him.

Of course, in order to realize this plan, the French have to remove the obstacles in front of them.At present, the bridgehead Fort Philippe has been captured by the French army (casualties are not small), the Principality of Lorraine has also been fully occupied, Savoy in the south has surrendered to Paris, and the worries for the future have been relieved.Now is the time for the army to move eastward, across the Rhine, and head straight for Vienna.

Louis XIV predicted that after his army entered the territory of the German princes and showed his bravery, more German monarchs would come to join him, which is very important.The energy of Austria has never been limited to that principality!If you want to defeat Leopold, you must first cut off his wings, so that the German princes will no longer support his soldiers, supplies and food, and no longer respond to him politically and diplomatically, so things will be much easier.

Therefore, he has made up his mind to invest heavily in the Rhine Valley, fight a beautiful battle, and annihilate the German coalition forces standing here.Then select some elites, not many, 5 to [-] people are enough. After all, they also have the assistance of the army of the ally, the Principality of Bavaria, and the supply of materials can also receive a considerable degree of support. The possibility of success is quite high.

It is worth mentioning that the envoys of Louis XIV had just arrived in Milan a while ago, and tried their best to win the Northern Italian Federation to their side. They didn't seem to mind the beating of the Principality of Savoy at all.Milan also knew what the French were thinking, and it was nothing more than letting them send troops north to contain Austria's energy.

The envoy of Louis XIV made it very clear that France had no ambitions for Italy (is this true...), while Austria coveted northern Italy (this is true...), and has always wanted to invade south.And since the Austrians can go south, the Italians can go north (the real invaders can go to me or go...), and cooperate with the French and Bavarian troops to eliminate Austria, the core of evil.At that time, France will fully support some reasonable territorial claims made by the Northern Italian Federation to Austria, and the whole of Europe will be at peace for generations.

Italians can only laugh at this.They sent troops to the northern expedition to Austria, and this precipice was to serve as a weapon for France. Not to mention thankless, once Austria was destroyed by France, wouldn't France have any ideas about Italy?If the tigers in Vienna want to eat people, will the tigers in Paris stop eating people?No one with a normal IQ would agree to France's demands.What's more, the ideal of the Northern Italian Federation is to realize the unification of the Italian nation, and Spain will be their main enemy in the short term, which means that they and France are destined to be in the same pot.So, bye, France, I will fight Naples and Sicily!

"Well, the southern Netherlands is in a stalemate. Britain, the Netherlands, and Austria may open up a second front to seek a breakthrough, and the French may also open a second front to seek a breakthrough. Where will this be?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yafu thought carefully. : "The direction of the French is actually very easy to guess, and it is almost a clear card. At present, their main force is gathering in the area of ​​Philipburg, and a large amount of supplies are also concentrated there. It is certain to launch a campaign in the Rhine Valley with a scale of more than 10 people. The anti-French alliance is not a good guess. It is possible to gather troops in the Rhine River Basin, and it may find another way. The Iron Mansion warned the British and Dutch navies to converge in Portsmouth, and a large-scale naval battle may be launched. A landing campaign may be launched. The former is easy to say, but the latter is troublesome. The sea landing operation must not be in France. One is Cadiz, Spain's largest trading port, and the other is the Gulf of Gibraltar with excellent conditions. The former is very important to Spain and will definitely be heavily defended, while the latter's defense will be much empty. Grandma, the British This is to snatch food from the mouth of a tiger!"

Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yafu slammed the table and stood up a little annoyed. The night outside the window was quiet, but his heart was extremely restless.Once the Bay of Gibraltar is occupied by the British, the people on the east coast will be embarrassed.When the time comes, will it be taken directly by force, or by diplomatic means?It seems that no matter which choice you choose, you are very passive and embarrassed, and you will be laughed at by the army!This is absolutely unacceptable!

So, send naval warships to cruise around the Strait of Gibraltar to "watch the gate" for Spain?That's too funny!What about directly sending troops to occupy?Leaving aside whether the timing is right now, I'm afraid it's not enough for a Marine Battalion of them to have a thousand soldiers!Another battalion of marines is in Cape Verde, preparing for the occupation of the Canary Islands, and can't move lightly, so what should we do?

Order the Army through the Joint Staff Headquarters or the Plenipotentiary Envoy to send a mixed regiment of troops to cooperate?This is really a bit unspeakable.Zhou Yafu "betrayed" from the army, and he didn't want to be underestimated.

So, for now, only military adventures?A marine battalion, if attacked suddenly, can probably be directly occupied by the ridiculous defensive force of Gibraltar.But the problem is, it doesn't end there.In fact, if the Spaniards mobilized a large army to recover the lost ground, they would be overwhelmed by 2 or [-] people, and they still had to ask for help in the end.

Of course, there is another good way, which is to let the Kingdom of Spain fall into war, so that the troops are short and unable to rescue Gibraltar.To achieve this effect, nothing more than dispatching the British navy and army to invade the Spanish mainland and attract its Spanish troops.In addition, it is also a good way to let the Northern Italian Federation launch as soon as possible to attack Spanish Naples and Sicily. The Spaniards can't just sit back and watch these two places fall, right?That would be a huge blow to the prestige of the new king Philip V, and he cannot bear the price.

So, that's it?Through the relationship, let the Portuguese express that they can use the British and Dutch coalition forces to invade Spain (in history, Portugal joined the anti-French alliance in the war), and at the same time let the northern Italians launch a unification war?It seems that there is some feasibility, and it is not difficult to operate, but it first needs the approval of the plenipotentiary envoy Sheng Dehong.

This matter can't be delayed any longer, there are so many dreams in the night!By the way, the fleet that is still in the Cape Verde Islands in the south should also move.At present, only four or five warships have been deployed in Europe, too few, and too deterrent!If an ironclad battleship can come, even the oldest "Bianliang", the effect will be extremely outstanding, and it will provide great convenience for the next series of actions.Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yafu immediately sat down, took out a few pieces of brand new letter paper, and began to write in a rustle.

(End of this chapter)