Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 97 Remember, a weak country has no diplomacy!

In fact, when fighting behind enemy lines, one is not qualified to think about prisoners.

For airborne troops or special forces, their most important and primary task should actually be to directly destroy the enemy's command system or behead important figures.

But Ryan still had a trick up his sleeve in this operation.

Instead of having the soldiers of the assault company make the destruction of all the manpower of the United Kingdom their primary goal, he adopted the normal combat method of surrounding and capturing prisoners.

There is naturally an idea of ​​using this to threaten the United Kingdom. After all, the General Staff will approve Ryan's primary idea of ​​free action, and ultimately ensure that the Empire will not declare war on the United Kingdom.

But Ryan thought more than them.

It was one thing to prevent the United Kingdom from declaring war on the Empire, there was no problem with that.

After all, whether it is the empire or other countries, no one can bear the pressure of war brought by fighting on two fronts. This is certain.

But Ryan was well aware that if his operation was successful, it would inevitably lead to huge political divisions within the United Kingdom.

Specifically, there must be a group of people within the group who believe that this is the Empire humiliating the United Kingdom, and who frantically demand that Parliament pass a request for war, thereby declaring war on the Empire.

From an operational perspective, their logic is actually quite reasonable.

After all, although the United Kingdom sent troops, it did not declare war on the Empire, nor did it intend to attack the Empire, and then they were attacked by the Empire.

From the perspective of the world, it can be said that the empire was the one who provoked the incident.

But they still have an ally who actually launched an aggressive war.

For this reason, there will certainly be a group of staunch anti-war supporters in the United Kingdom.

Ryan would leave some of the prisoners behind so that these anti-war people could have a certain say in parliament.

Judging from the nature of the people in the United Kingdom, they will definitely fight fiercely in Parliament for some of the young men among these prisoners.

However, it is still too unsafe to just do this.

at this time.

Inside the Z331 airship, which was already docked several meters above the ground, it was still aiming the rotary howitzer on its belly at the United Kingdom soldiers.

The sky outside the porthole was already showing signs of turning slightly white, and the sea breeze in the air had become a little colder than before. Ryan watched the navigator open the porthole so that the stuffy air in the cabin could be blown away, and his hand took the microphone handed to him by the communicator beside him.

"This is the 102nd Air Force Special Service Fleet, requesting transfer to the General Staff Headquarters."

The 102nd Air Force Special Service Fleet was a disguised name for the 502nd Squadron, in order to prevent anyone from discovering that the unit was actually a regimental-level unit under the Army.

There was a burst of noise from the other end of the phone. After waiting for more than ten seconds, accompanied by a click, the voice of Lieutenant General Draven came from inside.

"It's me. How's the situation at the front, Major?"

"It's pretty much as expected, but the intelligence we received from the rear was wrong. Our informant was deceived by the guys from the United Kingdom."

Ryan did not tell Lieutenant General Draven the specific name. The communication line itself was encrypted, but the current encryption level was not high. As long as the enemy was determined, they could still eavesdrop - provided they could get the Empire's radio communication terminal.

"What do you mean?" General Draven's voice was filled with curiosity.

Ryan looked out the window at the United Kingdom Marines sitting cross-legged on the ground and said in a relaxed tone, "Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom only sent a reinforced brigade to Perijie. We now have control of all its members and the two cruisers that transported it. Casualties are still being counted, but we only have two wounded, both of whom slipped and fell."

One of them was McIver, a very jumpy little guy. He slipped and fell on the boat, causing a bloody head injury. The other was a squad leader from the third platoon. When he was climbing out from behind the bunker, he accidentally missed a step and broke his front teeth.

They are all minor injuries, but they all require at least half a month of rest.

"That's good."

Vice Admiral Draven on the other end of the phone was very satisfied with the result, but he also understood that Ryan must have other purposes for calling him at this time: "Is there anything else?"

"Yes!"

Ryan immediately covered the microphone with his hand and looked at Schmidt.

This caught Schmidt's attention, and he immediately ordered all personnel below the rank of lieutenant to leave the bridge.

After the last sailor left, Ryan spoke again: "To be honest, Vice Admiral, the current situation is not good for us or the Empire."

Lieutenant General Draven on the other end of the line frowned. "What do you mean, Major?"

"Well," Ryan said, leaning against the bulkhead, "I didn't anticipate at the beginning of the attack that all the United Kingdom soldiers would be captured with almost no resistance. So now I have almost an entire brigade of United Kingdom Marines at my disposal, including a rear admiral commanding them."

"The current situation is that if we evacuate and only take away the necessary generals and officers, the combat mode of the troops will be immediately exposed. Therefore, we are currently unable to evacuate smoothly from Ostend."

Ryan discovered this only after he had scolded Churchill.

But it is still difficult to remedy the situation immediately, so he must consult with the General Staff.

Draven also understood what Ryan meant.

If the Empire wants to use this victory to force the United Kingdom from declaring war on the Empire, it must ensure the intelligence security of the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment. However, the current situation is that the enemy has too many prisoners. If they want to retreat, they have to kill all the prisoners, but this will inevitably lead to the United Kingdom declaring war at the speed of light.

But if they did not retreat, the United Kingdom troops that would rush over later would definitely completely wipe out Ryan's troops.

By then, the intelligence of the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment will naturally be obtained by the United Kingdom.

It can be said that no matter which option is chosen, it is not friendly to the current Empire and Ryan.

But.

After Draven understood these two points, he was no longer so anxious.

He didn't have much contact with Ryan, but he knew better than anyone that if this young man in his twenties was willing to explain things publicly, it meant that he must have already thought of a solution.

"Do you have any solution?" Draven asked in a relaxed tone.

"Yes! Your Majesty General."

Ryan's palms were sweating, his eyes fixed on the cabin floor. He spoke calmly, "I believe the General Staff should reach a consensus with the headquarters and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, and start peace talks with the Perij government before noon today."

His words surprised Draven a little: "The Kingdom of Perijie? Isn't it the United Kingdom?"

"Yes, it's the Perijie Kingdom."

Ryan nodded. "We need to reach a peace agreement with the Kingdom of Perije, end the war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Perije, and prevent the United Kingdom from using its vassal states as an excuse to retaliate."

"This isn't a simple matter," Draven said, sitting on the sofa in his study, gazing out the window at the drizzling courtyard. "What are the specific details?"

"Yes," Ryan said. "I believe the Empire could ask the Perige Kingdom government to lease the operating rights to its southern railway for 1 mark. The lease term is the maximum permitted by international law, which is 99 years."

"At the same time, if the Kingdom of Perijie rejects this proposal, the Empire can further propose to divide all the profits generated by the railway with the Kingdom of Perijie, retaining only the management rights of the railway line."

This is a completely ruthless move.

Draven understood what Ryan meant almost immediately.

Ryan wanted to turn today's short-lived and fragile victory into a fatal blow to the Kingdom of Perijie and the United Kingdom.

The Empire needs to use this victory to force the Kingdom of Perije to sign a peace treaty and lease its railway system to the Empire before the Kingdom of Perije and the United Kingdom realize how the Empire has crossed the entire territory of the Kingdom of Perije overnight and completely wiped out a force of about 6,000 people, including two cruisers, in just over ten minutes.

Once this plan succeeds, the Kingdom of Perijie will be an ally of the Empire in a sense, and the marines sent by the United Kingdom can be escorted back to the Empire as prisoners of war to ensure the safety of the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment.

At the same time, the United Kingdom will lose its legal excuse to send troops to support the Kingdom of Perije because the Kingdom of Perije has signed the treaty.

Conversely, the empire can also use this operation to ensure absolute use of the occupied railway lines and ensure the security of its northern border.

This was a plan that everyone could accept. But Ryan hadn't finished speaking.

Just as Draven was about to nod in agreement to Ryan's plan and wanted to prepare a car to go to the palace immediately, Ryan's voice came from the phone again.

"Your Excellency General."

he said.

"If the Empire proposes all of the above proposals to the Kingdom of Perijie and the other party still refuses to agree."

"Please make sure the diplomat in charge of the negotiations explains one thing at the meeting."

"The Empire is willing to undertake the reconstruction of the areas damaged by the war in the Kingdom of Perijie, and the Empire does not mind launching a large-scale reconstruction operation for all the key cities in the Kingdom of Perijie."

Draven was a little curious about what Renn said: "Are you trying to use threats to force them into submission?"

"No," Ryan denied this statement. "I just want to make Abel I understand one thing. If he continues to resist, then when the entire Kingdom of Perijie becomes imperial territory, he will no longer have the opportunity to surrender."

Draven was silent.

Because even he could hear the disdain for Abel I in Ryan's words.

This is exactly what is meant by the saying "a weak country has no diplomacy."

Ryan and the Empire could actually accept the consequences of the failure of this mission, but for the Kingdom of Perije, this was unacceptable.

Because from the perspective of the people of the Kingdom of Perijie, this meant that they could originally rely on their powerful fortress group to resist the attack of the imperial army, but before they could recover from the defeat of the fortress group, the imperial army had directly captured the northernmost port city of the mainland without their knowledge.

They even specifically targeted the landing sites of the United Kingdom Volunteer Army, which were the most brutally publicized.

Before they were completely defeated, the entire Perijie Kingdom, and even the entire world, knew only one thing:
[In that city that was captured by the Imperial Army overnight, there were a full 80,000 United Kingdom troops stationed there.]

And even those who knew that there was only one brigade of soldiers in the area, such as the king of the Kingdom of Perije, or others.

To them, this was equivalent to [the Empire launched an attack on Ostend without being sure how much reinforcements it had received, and wiped out the United Kingdom's volunteers in Ostend overnight, and also captured two Lion-class strategic cruisers.]

No matter which statement it is, it is enough to scare everyone.

It's like picking up a stone to scare someone, but ending up smashing his own foot.

After a while, Draven's voice finally rang in Ryan's ears again.

"As you wish, Major. Your proposal will be immediately sent to the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense for confirmation."

"Thank you very much, General!"

After Ryan finished speaking, he hung up the phone and handed over the rest of the matters to General Draven who was far away in the imperial capital.

He believed that with General Draven's ability and the victory in this battle, even if the King of Perije was unwilling, he would have to grit his teeth and accept the olive branch offered to him by the Empire.

Because, from the moment Ryan's troops began attacking the United Kingdom Volunteers.

Whether the Kingdom of Perijie surrenders or not no longer depends on the opinion of Abel I.

If he is not decent, there will naturally be someone in Perijie who will help him to be decent.

There is no need for the empire to take action.

In the bridge of Z331.

After seeing Ryan hang up the phone, Colonel Schmidt, who had been silent for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Ryan: "Major, it's a pity that you don't go into diplomacy."

Ryan smiled, knocked out two cigarettes from the cigarette box, and handed them to Schmidt: "Someone told me the same thing before."

"Who said that? You have such good taste?" Schmidt took the cigarette and showed off by taking out the Zippo lighter his daughter had bought for him. He lit Ryan's lighter first and then his own.

"Commander Hellingen's eldest daughter, Miss Catherine."

"You mean Lieutenant Colonel Heringen?"

Now it was Schmidt's turn to be surprised: "If it's her, it wouldn't be surprising."

It was the first time that Ryan heard that Catherine also had a military rank, but he felt relieved after thinking about it. After all, she was also in the army now and was a graduate of a military academy, so it was normal for her to have a military rank.

Schmidt continued, "She used to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unfortunately, her husband died of a medical accident, otherwise he would probably still be there."

Ryan was curious because he remembered that Catherine had mentioned cancer before: "Medical malpractice? Not cancer?"

"Well, assimilation disease can barely be considered cancer... Ugh, look at my mouth."

"It seems I've been too talkative."

Ryan immediately realized that something might be wrong, but he was not an idiot, so he immediately found a way out for Colonel Schmidt.

Colonel Schmidt, realizing he had let something slip, was embarrassed. After taking a few long puffs on his cigarette, he changed the subject: "Speaking of which, what are we going to do next? Just wait here?"

He cast his gaze upon the United Kingdom officers from the Marine Brigade who had been singled out and placed under the guard of a squad of soldiers. "That guy in the lead is tough to deal with. You may not have heard of him, but his fighting style is almost identical to yours, Major."

"That Major General Bernardiston?"

Schmidt's words startled Ryan. He looked at the old man, his hands tied, sitting in front of the tree and said, "Well, we're the winners now. As for what to do next, we'll have to see what the General Staff decides."

Ryan thought about what he could and couldn't say before continuing, "After that, just have the boys guard the park entrance, and then send a platoon to occupy the train station. The mainland will probably be able to send a train here before tonight at the earliest. If nothing unexpected happens, the battle in Perijie will be over today."

"I heard you talking about the United Kingdom..."

Schmidt was still upset about the United Kingdom's decision to join the war.

It's not his fault. After all, the United Kingdom has the largest navy in the world. Although Schmidt is in the Air Force, he is ultimately a naval officer. It is normal for him to care about these things.

He did not believe that the Empire could compete with the United Kingdom, at least not in terms of navy and air force.

Then he heard the words he least wanted to hear.

Ryan walked out of the cabin and stood in the open passage outside: "They will definitely join the war, no doubt about it."

"Then you just..." Schmidt looked surprised.

He hadn't expected Ryan to be so blunt.

"That's because the most important thing for the Empire right now is to prevent the United Kingdom from wanting to join the war."

Ryan held a cigarette in his mouth, his hands resting on the railing outside the bridge, and his voice was carried into Schmidt's ears by the wind.

"Marshal Moltke the Younger's battle plan is flawed. He withdrew some troops from the Western Front, which will prevent the Imperial forces from forming a sufficiently solid front when attacking Palu."

"If the United Kingdom declares war on the Empire before the next battle begins, the Empire will have no chance of victory."

"Therefore, the ultimate goal of this operation is to create chaos within the United Kingdom. We will use the peace treaty with Perije and the United Kingdom's prisoners to make them lose the will to declare war on us."

"If nothing unexpected happens, once they reach a consensus, the battle line between the Empire and Farlan will almost be stabilized."

"By then, no matter how many troops the United Kingdom sends, it will only be pushing the young men of their own families into the fire pit of hell."

"They'll miss their only chance to win."

"In this war, the Empire can lose as many times as it wants, but the United Kingdom cannot lose even once."

(End of this chapter)