Faced with Casillas's "threat," Jack and the others could only persuade Henry to help solve the food problem for the Spanish army.
Although Henry agreed, his face was gloomy.
At the same time, in order to interfere with the logistics of the Egyptian army, the meeting also reached an agreement to request the Gallic and Caesar fleets to cooperate with the Spanish Invincible Fleet to strengthen control of the Mediterranean Sea.
The logistics of the Egyptian army could be roughly divided into three categories.
The first category was the food stored by Great Xia in the base cities. The food stored in the granaries of the base cities was basically from the Moroca province. After such a long period of consumption, there was actually not much left.
The second category was looting in the Spanish mainland.
Because of this, the people of the entire southern region of Spain suffered. In order to collect food for the army, the Egyptian army did everything possible.
But with Spain on guard, this method was rather unstable.
The third category was the food transported by the Atlantic Fleet from the port of Tunis.
When the Azure Emblem signed the Egyptian Dynasty's cession agreement with Great Xia, one of the terms was that before the Egyptian army gained a foothold in the European battlefield, Great Xia had to be responsible for the Egyptian army's food supplies.
This food was originally stored by the Egyptian Dynasty, so Ouyang Shuo had no reason to refuse.
In order to fulfill the agreement, the Atlantic Fleet's Admiral Zhou Yu immediately started making arrangements after leading the first fleet to the Gulf of Aden and raising the Atlantic Fleet's designation.
What the allies had to do now was to let the three fleets work together to cut off the most important food supply route of the Egyptian army, so that the Egyptian army at the frontlines would collapse.
It was indeed a good plan to seize the Egyptian army's most fatal weakness.
After Casillas finished complaining, Caesar also said, "Egypt's submission will allow Great Xia to return to the Mediterranean Sea and become a direct threat to the Caesar Dynasty. In the future, it will be difficult for me to increase my troops on the German battlefield. "
Compared to Casillas, Caesar was much more straightforward.
Italy was the core of the Caesar Dynasty, and it was also the closest place to Great Xia, separated only by the Strait of Tunis.
How could Caesar not be nervous?
"I think there's no need to fear Great Xia," said Jack. The one who spoke was Jack. "Great Xia only has a million soldiers in Africa, yet they have to guard East and North Africa."
"The Egyptian Dynasty has just submitted and has a lot of internal problems. Great Xia can't even deal with its internal affairs. How can we rashly provoke the Caesar Dynasty at this time?"
Caesar, however, disagreed. He said mockingly, "It's easy for you to say that. Apart from Africa, Great Xia has four to five million soldiers. What's so difficult about teleporting a few over? "
Caesar was probably the only one who dared to talk to Jack like that.
"Then you do as you see fit!"
Jack was also angry. He was kind enough to mediate the European battlefield, but he did not want to be bullied.
When the others saw this, they didn't dare to interrupt.
Because of this small interlude, the summit meeting came to an end in such an awkward atmosphere.
…
April 28th, South America.
Jack fulfilled his promise. On this day, half of the Dawson Dynasty's army stationed in Columbia, a total of 200,000 soldiers, joined forces with the 400,000 soldiers of the Brasilia Dynasty to initiate a war against the Indian Empire.
The Indian Empire once again fell into the predicament of fighting on two fronts.
This almost became a dead knot.
Seeing this, Casillas decisively transferred back 50,000 troops from the Argentina region to defend the mainland. Finally, the situation in the mainland was slightly stabilized, and the Egyptian army was blocked in the south.
The war in Spain seemed to be gradually stabilizing.
In the face of the siege, this time, Juarez was determined to attack the Argentina region first, and then focus on dealing with the Brasilia Dynasty, so as to avoid falling into the predicament of fighting on two fronts for a long time.
While arranging for the army to defend the east, the Indian Empire strengthened its attack on the south.
All of South America was dragged into the flames of war.
Only Great Xia's Xiao County in South America still maintained a rare peace, like a pure land.
This time, Juarez really went all out. He once again placed an order of 20 million gold coins for firearms from Great Xia. He bluntly said that he wanted the most advanced flintlocks and cannons.
The two large arms orders had almost emptied the financial reserves of the Indian Empire last year.
In the face of such an order, Ouyang Shuo naturally did not refuse.
In the dozens of newly industrialized cities selected by the imperial court as priorities for development, military factories rose from the ground one after another. A huge amount of coal, iron ore, and other resources were continuously transported to these cities through water and sea, turning into tons of steel, which were then turned into flintlocks and cannons.
With the help of developed sea transportation, they were sold all over the world.
With the help of the three firearms orders, the industrialization of these cities was ushering in a leap.
In order to realize train transportation as soon as possible, improve the transportation efficiency of coal and other resources, and meet the support needs of these cities, the railway network planned by the court was also in the process of construction.
The three orders, together with the funds earned from the sale of obsolete firearms, totaled more than 76 million gold coins. Other than the funds used for the construction of the cities' factories, the rest were all invested into the railway construction.
In other words, Great Xia was using the money of other dynasties to build its own industrial facilities.
Coupled with the huge amount of special funding from the court, the speed of the railway construction was calculated in days. With the help of fuzzy processing, the railway network was expanding every day.
A new construction miracle was happening in the territory of Great Xia.
The former construction maniac seemed to be repeating a construction miracle in the game world.
…
Soon, it was May.
In the Mediterranean Sea.
Just as smoke rose in South America, the Spanish Invincible Fleet, the Gallic Fleet, and the Caesar Fleet launched a joint patrol in the Mediterranean Sea, interfering with the Atlantic Fleet's supply line.
For a time, the Mediterranean Sea, which was usually prosperous with trade, became jittery.
A large number of merchant ships were forced to dock in the surrounding ports, no longer daring to travel on the sea. This was because there was news that yesterday, a merchant fleet was detained by the allied fleet for "colluding with the enemy".
The maritime trade of the European and American dynasties suffered a heavy setback.
Only a few greedy merchants, seeing the flames of war burning in Europe, wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune from the war, dared to take the risk and continue to travel through the Mediterranean Sea.
Under such circumstances, if they succeeded, they would indeed make a lot of money.
During times of war, resources were always more expensive than usual.
Of course, there was also a group of merchants who dared to continue doing business, and that was the merchant fleets that had connections with the three major fleets. They could obtain the protection of the three major fleets, so naturally, they had nothing to fear.
For a time, the number of merchant fleets that took the initiative to "pay their respects" to the three major fleets soared.
For the three major fleets, this was a pleasant surprise. For the first time, they tasted the sweetness of monopolizing the sea route, so they acted more and more unscrupulously.
In the end, even the boldest merchants dared not take the risk. All merchant fleets that wanted to travel through the Mediterranean Sea had to pay tribute to the three major fleets.
The merchant fleets colluded with the fleets and successfully monopolized the Mediterranean Sea route.
In the process, they seemed to have neglected one thing, and that was, the presence of the Great Xia Atlantic Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, almost becoming invisible.
…
Another summit of the five nations was held.
This time, they were discussing the seizure of merchant ships that had just happened.
The course of the matter was actually very simple. It was just that the Caesar Fleet had been possessed, and in the name of escort inspection, they embezzled, seized merchant ships, and took advantage of the chaos to fill their own pockets.
As the saying went, if an army robbed, even a god could not stop it.
"Caesar, you must give us an explanation!" The one who spoke was William. The blockade of the Mediterranean Sea route had the greatest impact on the Steel Dynasty, so how could William not be angry?
Caesar, however, was not afraid. He calmly said, "What is there to explain? The Great Xia transported supplies to the frontlines through merchant ships. Who can guarantee that every inspection will be correct? It is very normal to misjudge once. "
In fact, the behavior of the Caesar Fleet had been privately instructed by Caesar. This greedy guy just wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune from the war.
Anyway, the Caesar Dynasty was located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Even if the route was blocked, it would not affect the Caesar Dynasty much. On the contrary, because the route was blocked, the merchant ships that were originally going to the Steel Dynasty or the Germanic Dynasty could only stop at the port of the Caesar Dynasty and sell on the spot, which instead promoted the trade of the Caesar Dynasty.
This deal, no matter how one looked at it, was worth it.
However, what the "initiator", Caesar, did not expect was that the accidental seizure of a ship would cause a chain reaction and create a new monopoly on the Mediterranean Sea route.
Caesar found that accepting tribute from the merchant fleet was more profitable than simple and crude seizure.
"You!"
William was so angry at Caesar's shameless behavior that he could not speak. "Tell me, how should we deal with this matter?" Seeing that Caesar was stubborn, William could only ask for help from Henry and the others.
Strangely, Casillas and Henry did not say a word.
Casillas was nervous about the war at home. Even without this incident, the overseas trade of the Spanish mainland had stopped a long time ago. He still had to rely on the Caesar Fleet to snipe the Atlantic Fleet. How could he stand up at this time and embarrass the Caesar Fleet?
Henry, on the other hand, was resentful after the last meeting and did not say a word throughout the whole process.
Moreover, the two of them were also considered to be beneficiaries of this.
Wasn't it a slap in the face to stand up and condemn Caesar at this time?!
There seemed to be some kind of tacit understanding between the three of them. They wanted to use this European war to make a lot of money.
As for Pushkin, the Romanov Dynasty did not rely on the Mediterranean Sea route and stayed out of it. Of course, he would not stand up for William.
Under William's intense gaze, Pushkin reluctantly said, "I think, if we can use this to cut off the trade channel of the Germanic Dynasty, it will also be beneficial for the frontline."
William only felt his hands and feet turn cold when he saw this.
Only then did he realize that without Jack in charge, the five major European dynasties simply had their own thoughts. It was not an exaggeration to say that they were in a state of disunity.
As for William, he really had no prestige in Europe.
Desolate!
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