The English Channel was a strait that separated the Gangdor Empire from the European continent, and connected the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. It was 560 kilometers long, 240 kilometers wide, and only 34 kilometers wide at its narrowest point.
In reality, the two countries had built an undersea tunnel at the narrowest point, calling it the European Tunnel.
Because the English Channel was part of the North Atlantic and connected to the continental sea in Europe, it had been a strategic hub since ancient times. Many military conflicts and naval battles had occurred here in history.
Two of the Gangdor Empire's Royal Fleet's formations were stationed here.
For the Royal Fleet, guarding the English Channel was equivalent to guarding the Gangdor Empire's maritime lifeline, allowing them to advance and retreat as they pleased in European affairs.
Due to the changes in the European war situation, the Gangdor Empire had recently withdrawn the troops left in the European battlefield, making it their top priority to defend their homeland.
At this time, the Royal Fleet's patrol of the English Channel was even tighter.
But accidents still happened.
On the morning of the first of April, the Great Xia's Atlantic Fleet, which had been completely replaced with ironclads, launched a surprise attack on the English Channel, starting a major naval battle.
This was the first confrontation between the Atlantic Fleet and the Royal Fleet.
In terms of military strength, naval warfare, and navigation, the two fleets were evenly matched. The commander of the Gangdor Empire's Royal Fleet was also the famous naval general Narson.
They were basically evenly matched.
The Atlantic Fleet's strength lay in its weapons and equipment.
After the upgrade, the Atlantic Fleet had formed a three-dimensional space combat system of ironclads, fighters, and magic-powered submarines, already vaguely resembling the aircraft carrier fleet of the future.
In comparison, due to the limitation of resources and labor, half of the Gangdor Empire's warships were still sailing battleships, and not all of them had been replaced with the more advanced ironclads.
This was understandable.
Even with Great Xia's full-blown industrial strength, it had taken them almost a year to upgrade the Pacific Fleet. The Gangdor Empire's progress was already quite impressive.
In terms of weapons and equipment, the Atlantic Fleet had an overwhelming advantage.
This was also one of the reasons why the Gangdor Empire's Royal Fleet did not make any statements after Great Xia regained control of the Mediterranean Sea.
Because they did not have the confidence to intervene.
The outcome of the naval battle was obvious. Faced with the Atlantic Fleet's surprise attack, although the Gangdor Empire's Royal Fleet responded appropriately, and Narson was also calm in commanding, they were still defeated after nearly six hours of fierce battle.
The danger and excitement involved were not something that could be described with words.
The defeat of the Royal Navy of Gangdor was like a dazzling flare that swept across the night sky of Europe. It was bound to have an immeasurable impact on the situation in Europe, which was already surging with undercurrents.
In fact, the repercussions were already brewing.
That afternoon, under the cover of the Atlantic Fleet, Ceng Guoquan commanded the Specter Army and landed on the coast of the Steel Tudor Dynasty. The vanguard of the army was aimed at Castle Avik, the capital of the Steel Tudor Dynasty.
The 300,000-strong Specter Army was fatal to the Steeldor Empire.
Due to their weak population, the Gangdor Dynasty only had four hundred thousand soldiers at its peak.
After the setback in Africa, the continuous depletion in the European battlefield, and the local resistance against the invasion of the Germanic Dynasty, even though there were two conscriptions in the process, the real combat force was less than 250,000 people.
As for the newly recruited soldiers, there was no need to mention them.
What was even worse was that of the two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers of the Gangdor Dynasty, almost half, or a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, were still on the battlefield in Europe, working on the European strategy of the Silver Hand.
In other words, there were only a pitiful 130,000 soldiers left to defend the country. Even with the local garrison troops and the new soldiers, the total number of troops of the Gangdor Dynasty in the country could not reach 200,000.
This was a very embarrassing number, and it completely exposed the Achilles heel of the Gangdor Dynasty.
Although the 130,000 soldiers were well-equipped and well-trained, they could not encircle the invading Germanic army and deal with the invasion of the Great Xia army at the same time.
A huge storm was sweeping toward the Gangdor Dynasty.
The territory was small, and there was no strategic depth. The population was declining, and the country was isolated overseas.
In this game world where there were no technical barriers, the Gangdor Dynasty could not even talk about replicating the glory of the Great Britain Empire in history. Whether or not they could keep their roots depended on the eyes of others.
Otherwise, William would not have given up everything he had and supported the organization to attack the Germanic Dynasty.
Only by ensuring the peace of Europe could the Gangdor Dynasty be safe.
Unfortunately, the weak Gangdor Dynasty could not control the situation of the war in Europe and could only sway with the wind.
William probably did not know that the 120,000 soldiers he had left on the battlefield in Europe had already been secretly offered to the Germanic Dynasty by Henry as a gift in the future.
Sad!
Under the investigation of the Black Snake Guards, the weakness of the Gangdor Dynasty was naturally unreservedly exposed in front of Ouyang Shuo. This was how the "Forging Steel Plan" was born.
The Gangdor Dynasty was the best stepping stone for Great Xia to influence the European continent.
If they could capture the Gangdor Dynasty, the significance to Great Xia was definitely not just that they would have an additional overseas territory, but that it would have a greater strategic significance.
First, with the Gangdor Dynasty as a stepping stone, Great Xia could control the English Channel and then the North Sea.
In this way, the estuaries of the European dynasties would basically be controlled by Great Xia, and the Atlantic trade that they relied on for survival would be firmly locked by Great Xia without any room to move.
Even the Dawson Dynasty across the Atlantic Ocean would have to act according to Great Xia's wishes.
The trade rules of the Atlantic Ocean would thus be rewritten and incorporated into Great Xia's code of conduct.
Second, the Gangdor Dynasty could threaten the European continent at any time.
Among the five continents, Great Xia's influence on the European continent was the weakest. With the Gangdor Dynasty, they could make up for this shortcoming and extend their tentacles into the five continents. The whole world was a game of chess.
Ouyang Shuo could not refuse such a temptation.
The implementation of the "Steel Forging Plan" had a major premise, and that was to not cause a backlash from the European dynasties.
If the European dynasties opposed Great Xia's invasion of the Gangdor Dynasty together, then with the strength of the ghost army, it would be very difficult to conquer the Gangdor Dynasty in a short period of time.
Even without the participation of the Germanic Dynasty, if the five dynasties of the Silver Hand were still at their peak, Great Xia would not dare to attack the Gangdor Dynasty.
That would incur public wrath.
Right now, the Spanish Dynasty had fallen, and the Gaul Dynasty had betrayed them. This was the time when the Silver Hand was at its weakest on the European continent, and Great Xia had the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
Any later would not do.
If the Germanic Dynasty was allowed to digest the Gaul Dynasty and then launch a counterattack against the Romanov Dynasty, would the greatly strengthened Germanic Dynasty allow Great Xia to conquer Gangdor?
Perhaps the Gangdor Dynasty had long been seen by Manstein as something in the bag.
It was precisely because of this that Ouyang Shuo praised the intelligence work of the Black Snake Guards. It was precisely this crucial intelligence that allowed Great Xia to choose the most suitable time to deliver the most fatal blow.
The victory of the battle of Gangdor was mainly due to intelligence.
…
April 2nd, the Gangdor Dynasty, Castle Avik.
In the study of the kingdom, the atmosphere was frighteningly heavy. It was as though the air had solidified, and it was suffocating.
William, the king of Gangdor, had an ashen face. He sat on the chair like a log, not moving at all. This was the demeanor of a person who had fallen into a desperate situation.
This proved that William had no way out at this moment.
On the day that the royal fleet had been defeated, William had requested to convene a meeting of the five countries and request reinforcements from the organization. William knew what the situation was. The Gangdor Dynasty did not have the ability to face this crisis alone.
What made William feel awkward was that aside from the Dawson Dynasty, no one else was willing to lend a helping hand.
The Dawson Dynasty was separated by an ocean. Even if Jack really had the heart to send an army, by the time they arrived, it would be too late. It would be of no help at all.
What made William even angrier was that when William proposed to withdraw the troops from the European continent, Henry firmly opposed it. He claimed that the European battlefield was in a critical period, and the troops could not be withdrawn at this time.
"My country is about to perish. Why should I care about the European battlefield?"
William, who had always considered himself a gentleman, cursed angrily in the meeting hall.
Seeing this, Henry could only nod in agreement. But his eyes flashed, and it seemed that he did not mean what he said.
In fact, after learning that the Great Xia had invaded the Gangdor Dynasty, Henry and Manstein were so angry that they wanted to curse. This pair of schemers had never thought that just as they were about to reap the fruits of their labor, such a change would occur.
The invasion of the Great Xia had completely messed up their plans.
Left with no choice, they could only speed up the pace of annexation. They would first take down the Gangdor army and the Spanish army, and then talk about counterattacking the Romanov Dynasty.
Otherwise, it was very likely that they would lose everything.
As for the Gangdor Dynasty, they could only let go and let the Great Xia take advantage of them.
William's heart was completely cold!
Early this morning, William tried to contact the commander of the European army and give the order to withdraw. What shocked William was that the communication compass did not connect. Clearly, something big had happened.
Next, William tried to contact a few generals in the army, but without exception, he could not reach them. William did not give up and tried to contact Henry, but Henry directly blacklisted him.
"It's over!"
No matter how stupid William was, he knew that it had to be the Gaul Dynasty.
But he did not know that just last night, the Gaul Army suddenly surrounded the Gangdor army camp, and when the opponent was defenseless, they disarmed the 120,000 Gangdor soldiers and turned them into prisoners of war.
The Spanish army was also disarmed.
The European continent was ushering in an unprecedented change, and in this upheaval, the Gangdor Dynasty played the role of the weak, the role of a sacrificial pawn.
"Brother, you have to pull yourself together."
Seeing this, Annie's face lost its usual vigor and was full of worry.
"Pull myself together?"
A self-deprecating smile appeared at the corner of William's mouth.
"It's already like this, how can I pull myself together? Let them be! "William had already decided to admit defeat.
Annie said anxiously, "Even if you can't win, you have to fight for the best result for the family. Don't let the Great Xia eat us up, not even leaving bones."
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