It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 234 | The Final Secret Talk

Because this thing was particularly tempting to Shang Ke, he couldn't resist asking for a few test samples and personally fired a couple of shots for fun.

The sensation of the metal jet piercing through thick steel plates, leaving conspicuous burn marks and deep holes, is exceptionally wonderful.

During the test firing, he also encountered the inherent flaw of the mechanical fuse—when the angle of impact was too large, the mechanical fuse was prone to failure, resulting in a dud.

From a technical perspective, there are several ways to improve this problem, but none of them can completely solve it. The only permanent solution is to replace it with a piezoelectric ceramic fuse, which is exactly the research project that Jian Keqiu is working on.

Shank didn't have high hopes for his wife's success; if she failed, it wouldn't matter, the mechanical fuse would do, but if she succeeded...

Before the advent of composite armor, the survival environment for tanks would have been extremely harsh, because tanks in the era of homogeneous steel armor, no matter how thick their armor was, would be as fragile as paper. Even a novice recruit who had only undergone a few weeks of simple training could destroy an expensive heavy tank from the front with a rocket launcher.

While Mr. Shang was engrossed in preparing for the assessment, the upper echelons of the ruling government were busy coordinating and planning the wartime economy, which also gave the President a great headache.

Although the Great Unified Federation has the name of a federation, it is more of a federation in the literal sense. Its characteristic is that the provinces and states in the interior do not have personnel or military power, but they have relatively independent financial power.

This bears a subtle resemblance to later generations.

At the same time, this is also the root cause of the conflict between the central and local governments, making overall planning inherently problematic.

On the last day of June, amidst thunderstorms, the President signed the "Measures for the Mobilization and Resource Allocation of National Defense Forces during Wartime (Trial Implementation)" bill.

A single document wound the war machine even tighter.

At this very moment, in St. Peter's Castle, thousands of miles away.

Only two weeks had passed since the last meeting of the core power leaders of the three countries, and this time, the restless British were the first to come knocking.

After resigning, Arthur Chamberlain did not immediately step down from power. He strongly recommended Lord Halifax to succeed him as Prime Minister and continued to interfere.

The Conservative Party has been in power for ten years since 1931, but it is riddled with internal problems and lacks talent. Only Anthony Eden has the ability to replace Arthur Chamberlain, but Eden is too cautious and lacks the proactive approach to finding solutions. At the same time, people do not want the Labour Party to come to power, so the current power structure can only continue.

Lord Halifax arrived at St. Peter's Castle with a dejected and helpless feeling.

On his way to Catherine Palace, the victory parade held by the citizens made him even more uneasy. When he arrived at Catherine Palace, he was personally received by the Tsar.

However, for unknown reasons, Veronica was five minutes late.

"Welcome to my palace, Prime Minister. It seems you have made the right decision."

Veronica, dressed in a formal suit, walked slowly with a faint smile on her face, but her tone was tinged with sarcasm.

Lord Halifax said in a somber voice, “We made this decision under difficult circumstances, and it is very sad and worrying.”

“I don’t think so. You Britons lack a history of making decisions about the fate of your nation and are always scheming against others. So when something like this happens to you, you start to worry and fear.”

“Your Majesty, please do not maliciously denigrate the United Kingdom.” Veronica gave a very soft “chuckle” and said calmly, “I am merely stating the facts.”

The talks went relatively smoothly, or rather, more smoothly than expected.

First, the United Kingdom agreed to resume trade relations with Ivanrod.

Secondly, the two sides reached a new military cooperation agreement.

Next, the two formally discussed the idea of ​​invading the American continent, a concept so incredible that Lord Halifax's voice trembled slightly.

"In any case, invading the Americas is a crazy thing to do."

Veronica slowed her speech, calmly stating, "America has only a little over a million poorly trained and inexperienced soldiers, no more than five hundred tanks, no anti-tank guns, and their guns and artillery are almost all from the European War. Such an army is even worse than a militia. My army could easily defeat them..."

Lord Halifax couldn't help but interrupt her nonchalant remarks, saying, "But crossing the Atlantic to land in the Americas is impossible, Your Majesty. Even the Royal Navy cannot conduct a direct landing operation from the mainland to the Americas, as the First Lord of the Admiralty has clearly stated."

"Of course I'm not that stupid. My General Staff has already drafted a brief outline, Prime Minister. You can take a look. My army will start from the eastern cities of Canaan, cross the vast plains to the south, and split into two directions: westward to attack Detroit and Chicago, and southward to attack New York and Washington."

"A very radical idea. I admit that with the fighting strength of Ivan Ross's elite troops, it's possible to defeat the American army..."

“It’s not just a possibility,” Veronica interrupted Lord Halifax, correcting him, “it’s certain.”

The latter, showing neither embarrassment nor displeasure, continued nonchalantly, "But this requires ensuring that Cannavaro is under our control."

Veronica paused for a few seconds, then asked, "If the American army attacks Canada, how long can the local defenders hold out?"

Lord Halifax replied awkwardly, "Forty-eight to seventy-two hours."

“You should have reinforced the Kanada army earlier.” Veronica was speechless.

“This is a big problem, Your Majesty. The American army must have a similar war plan, to take the initiative to occupy Montreal and Quebec City when threatened, and cut off reinforcements.”

"Yes, any unusual situation will alert the Americans, and they may even take action first. We must not alarm them."

Admittedly, the United Kingdom is currently unaware of what the 'Red War Plan' of the United States is like, but even a fool could guess that there must be contingency plans in case relations between the two countries deteriorate, and there must be radical and conservative versions.

With very few options available, what more aggressive measures could be taken? The only option was to strike first and directly capture Cannavaro's important port cities to block reinforcements from the British Isles.

Therefore, the key is to ensure that Montreal and Quebec can be defended from the start.

Veronica turned slightly to the side, yawned, and asked, "More than that, I doubt whether you Britons are capable of eliminating the (American) Atlantic Fleet. If needed, I can send my most powerful new battleships to assist the Royal Navy in its operations."

When this was brought up, Lord Halifax became much more composed, replying, "The only thing you don't need to worry about is how we will destroy the Atlantic Fleet."

(End of this chapter)