The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 71: The English Channel Melee
More than half a year ago, at the end of 1779, the British delegation led by Byron left London.

The quarrel among the British king, prime minister, cabinet and parliament continues.

There are two main issues: whether to separate part of the main fleet and go to North America to try to rescue New York.

And whether to implement Byron's battle plan, which was to try to take the initiative to attack the French mainland and pretend to land on the coast of Calais.

The key is whether New York can be saved and how many navy and army should be dispatched to offset the advantages of the Ming navy and army.

After arguing for half a month, most people basically agreed on one point:
The Ming Dynasty's participation in the war broke the original strategic balance, and it was no longer possible for Britain to achieve a complete victory in this war.

Britain can only choose one direction between its homeland and North America as its next strategic focus.

Only by concentrating our strength can we have a chance of winning on one front; dispersing our strength may lead to total failure in both directions.

The only direction available is obviously Europe.

Although North America is large in area, its importance is not comparable to that of Europe. Once the homeland is lost, everything will be over.

It doesn't even have to be completely lost. As long as France launches a landing and the two sides exchange fire on British beaches, London's financial markets may collapse.

In order to prevent everyone from going bankrupt, the British navy and army must focus their main forces on the homeland to protect everyone's core wealth.

Therefore, they had no choice but to give up North America and have to believe in the strong will of the British army and residents in North America to hold on to their homes until the war in Europe was over.

King George III then ordered the navy and army to begin raising supplies to implement Byron's plan.

If the French Navy does not interfere, then try a real landing.

The British could not hide their actions from the French, and they even deliberately leaked the news to the French in a high-profile manner.

So after just half a month, the French analyzed the British's current "strategic plan" through intelligence from various sources.

Louis XVI and the French ministers were all shocked and found it unbelievable.

The British still dare to land in France now?
Don’t the British themselves have the slightest idea of ​​which side’s army is stronger in terms of size and combat effectiveness?
So much so that some people immediately began to wonder whether the British were bluffing.

The French staff believed that it was most likely a bluff, intended to lure out the main fleets of France and Spain.

But it is impossible for everyone to bet on the probability of this possibility.

They could only strengthen the defense of the coastal areas of the English Channel while sending out the main force of the navy to seize control of the sea in the English Channel.

At least don't let Britain completely control sea power.

Naturally, the main forces of the French and Spanish navies could no longer hide.

The French and Spanish combined fleet, led by De Grasse, sailed into the English Channel, while the British Navy, under the command of Rodney, attacked to meet the enemy.

None of the three countries sent their main fleets to North America, and most of their warships were on this battlefield.

The largest naval decisive battle of this era broke out.

Britain was not afraid to fight both France and Spain at the same time.

So much so that after the large-scale battle broke out and the main fleets of France and Spain appeared, the political situation in Britain stabilized.

The two fleets fought back and forth in the English Channel for more than a week, with the total number of battleships involved in the battle exceeding two hundred.

A total of more than fifty warships of various types on both sides were hit and directly lost their repair value.

More than one hundred and fifty warships suffered varying degrees of damage, and more than one hundred warships had to return to port for repairs as soon as possible.

The Battle of the English Channel also directly blew up the finances of both countries. The war between the two sides was originally maintained by borrowing money and raising taxes, and now they had to raise more money to repair the huge fleet.

Although the kings of the two countries wanted to vomit blood, neither dared to give in.

Because this is the English Channel, behind which are the homelands of both sides. The key point is that both sides are preparing for a landing battle.

Behind the positions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, there are tens of thousands of soldiers ready to go.

The generals of both sides expected that their navies could achieve a decisive victory, drive the other side's fleet out of the strait, and then launch a real landing battle.

Landing on the enemy's homeland is the real fatal blow.

Once you take a piece of the other party's homeland, you can exchange it for as many colonies as you want.

The final result of the naval battle can be considered a British victory, because France's teammates, the Spanish, did not have a strong enough fighting spirit.

The Spanish wanted to preserve their strength for the final siege of Gibraltar.

But Britain did not completely gain control of the sea, and the remaining French fleet was still floating in the Channel.

The British still needed time to accumulate strength and launch another full-scale offensive in order to achieve a decisive victory.

But at this time, at the beginning of February 1780, the French announced a piece of news.

The British also confirmed the news through multiple channels at about the same time:
New York City, the British military base in North America, was captured by the Ming, American and French allied forces last year.

The British commander-in-chief surrendered to the Ming, American and French coalition forces, and more than 20,000 British troops and mercenaries became prisoners.

The British North American fleet had been defeated the previous year. In order to prevent the French and Spanish from landing inland, the king and the prime minister did not send the main British fleet to North America for support, so the defeat in North America was a foregone conclusion.

Prime Minister Lord North had anticipated this, but when he got the exact news, he almost collapsed:

"Oh my God, the North American colonies are finished, completely finished..."

The key point is that after the news spread, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in the United Kingdom were completely outraged.

A large number of MPs jumped out to point fingers at the prime minister and the cabinet, saying that the current cabinet was incapable of handling North American affairs and was simply incompetent.

"This is truly an extremely incompetent leader who has brought our country to such a dangerous state!"

"Our former Prime Minister Lord William Pitt of Chatham, His Majesty Frederick the Great of Prussia, and even Alexander the Great and His Majesty the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, all conquered and occupied far less land than our noble Prime Minister Lord North lost - he lost a continent!"

After days of verbal battles, someone proposed holding a vote.

Let all MPs express their stance through voting, whether they trust the current prime minister and cabinet, and whether the current prime minister and cabinet members are competent.

The final result was also obvious, with the majority of MPs voting no confidence.

Prime Minister Lord North didn't want to deal with the mess in North America anymore, so he submitted his resignation to the king again after the vote.

King George III was now angry and sad, and somewhat devastated when he accepted Lord North's resignation as Prime Minister:

"Don't forget, it was you who abandoned me, not me who abandoned you."

The British Prime Minister resigned and the ruling cabinet was dissolved immediately. The ministers of various government departments were gone, which is the so-called government collapse.

In a cabinet system, the fall of the cabinet government does not mean the collapse of the country, as the civil servants responsible for specific administrative affairs are still there.

But until a new, trusted cabinet is formed, chaos at the national political level is inevitable.

(End of this chapter)