Chapter 994 No Choice
War Houses, London, England.
When the Minister of Munitions proposed in an internal meeting that it was necessary to go to war with France, everyone was stunned by his idea.
"You're crazy, your opponent is Charles!" Prime Minister George's eyes widened: "No one can defeat him!"
Navy Minister Balfour looked incredulous: "Didn't you see what he did to Germany?"
General Winter was so frightened that his face turned pale: "Your Excellency, we have almost no chance of winning. Our army is still in France. Once the war starts, they will immediately become prisoners of the French army!"
The Minister of Munitions frowned and replied in a deep voice:
"Gentlemen, I think you are missing one thing."
"Do you think I wish war with France and with the Charles?"
"No, I don't want to do this! But we have no other choice. Ciel is forcing us to go to war step by step!"
Prime Minister George was unconvinced: "There must be other options."
"Then," the Minister of Munitions asked, "Please tell me, Prime Minister, what other options do we have?"
Without waiting for Prime Minister George to answer, the Minister of Munitions listed various possibilities one by one:
"If we continue to target Germany as we are doing today, not only will we not get any compensation, but Germany will also drain our strength."
"Lower the standards of negotiations and ceasefire with Germany? Our economy will collapse and our colonies will fall apart."
"Embracing Ciel and joining his 'League of Nations'? That means we agree with what he says, and the colonies will be gone too!"
"Now, can anyone tell me what we can do?"
The conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
All the roads seem blocked.
"Wake up!" The Quartermaster knocked the tabletop heavily with his knuckles, making it make a "bang bang" sound:
"Char has already declared war on us, but he is not using airplanes or cannons, but an invisible scalpel."
"This scalpel is peeling off Britain and its colonies one by one, cutting off our arteries, and yet we are still hesitating about whether to go to war."
Navy Minister Balfour suggested: "If Charles uses an invisible scalpel, then we should respond with an invisible scalpel."
The Quartermaster General exclaimed, "Aha!"
“It’s easy to say.”
"Char's 'scalpel' is 'freedom' and 'liberation'. What scalpel should we use to respond?"
"'Slavery'? 'Exploitation'? Or 'Oppression'?"
The politicians understood that they were no match for Charles in this regard.
No colony would support and accept Britain's "slavery", "exploitation" and "oppression".
And Charles only needs to say: "Join me, I will give you freedom!"
The colonies will then defect to the free camp led by France.
Prime Minister George was unwilling: "Perhaps we should negotiate with Charles..."
"Prime Minister," the Minister of Munitions interrupted him, "you seem to have forgotten that 'what you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get at the negotiation table.'"
Prime Minister George was speechless.
The Charles could get everything he wanted, and he had the upper hand to defeat England.
So why did he negotiate with Britain and make concessions?
This is even a disaster for Charles.
Because once Britain is ready, it will inevitably challenge France again.
Charles is not that stupid, he will not give Britain this opportunity.
The Minister of Munitions summed it up: "So it is not a question of whether we can win, but that we must win. Otherwise, the British Empire is finished. Do you understand, gentlemen?"
Prime Minister George thought for a while, sighed softly, and nodded slowly to show his agreement:
"The Quartermaster General is right."
"From a strategic perspective, we have no choice but to be an enemy of France because it is taking away our international status, threatening our interests, and cutting off our colonies."
"And there is no tendency or reason for it to stop."
"If we don't stop it, we'll lose everything."
Admiral Balfour had to agree: "If nothing is done, Britain will sink completely. There is still a chance of resistance, although it is slim and the process will be difficult, but at least there is hope."
His voice was sad and his tone was full of grievance.
It is hard to imagine that this statement came from the mouth of the British Navy Minister who is known as the world's number one.
When General Winter heard this, he gradually realized that it was not the Quartermaster General's "madness" that made him do this, but Charles's methods were too clever. He was forcing Britain into a corner in an irreproachable way, and finally forced Britain to go to war with its "ally" France, which was against the will of the world.
However, is this really the right choice?
If Charles forces us to go to war, it might be a mistake in itself!
This is falling into Charles' trap!
But General Winter didn't say that there was no better choice than to jump into this trap.
He put it another way:
"What should we do? I mean, how can we defeat Ciel?"
“It’s almost impossible.”
He thought this was no better than waiting to die, and he even thought that "embracing the Charles" was the wisest thing to do, even if it would be considered "surrender."
"Navy, gentlemen." Seeing that everyone agreed to go to war, the Minister of Munitions stood up and said:
"Our advantage is the navy."
"We have 30 dreadnoughts, 40 pre-dreadnoughts, and 9 battlecruisers."
"But the combined warships of Germany and France are only about 60 or so. France, in particular, has only 22, many of which are too old to be of much use."
Balfour sided with the Minister of Munitions, which was very rare:
"Yes, if you want to defeat Ciel, make him a little afraid."
"Or if we want to force him back to the negotiation table, the only thing we can do is the navy."
He then proposed an idea:
"We can continue to blockade the German navy with half our forces."
"The German navy is demoralized, and there is no need for them to fight us to the death for the Shire."
"Therefore, the German Navy will not choose to go to war with us."
The politicians nodded.
Germany and France had only reached a "truce", and their relationship was not yet strong enough to allow France to provide the entire High Seas Fleet.
Even Germany, for its own national interests, may choose to "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."
"So our only enemy is the French Navy." Belfort continued his analysis:
"And the main French navy is still in the Mediterranean."
"The North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are mostly anti-submarine and anti-aircraft destroyers, which are not worth mentioning for us."
Prime Minister George's eyes gradually regained some spirit.
Balfour's analysis made him feel that Britain still had huge advantages.
Charles is indeed powerful, but what makes him strong is the army. The army can't swim into the sea to fight against the warships, right?
(End of this chapter)
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