Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 163 Hello, Nylon Stockings

As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill was well aware of what the modernization of a warship represented.

On the surface, this means that the outdated Jianhui ship has gained a better power system, better firepower, and better reconnaissance capabilities.

In reality, modernization and refitting operations often simply aim to improve the combat capabilities of some outdated warships to a level where they can participate in modern warfare.

It does not give warships a combat capability that surpasses that of capital ships of the same period.

but……

This time, the intelligence report mentioned a new type of warship.

And these are six brand-new warships!
According to Churchill's current intelligence, the Empire's newest capital ships are the Caesar-class and the King-class.

Although it included some relatively new models like the Heligoland-class battleships, in this day and age, it was clearly not considered a new force in the kingdom's fleet.

The rest of the smaller ships, such as a battlecruiser that was launched just last month and whose name is still unknown, are not considered a threat by the kingdom.

His performance was indeed good, but the Kingdom had far more destroyers than the Empire, so they didn't need to pay too much attention to any ships that weren't designated as battleships.

Destroyers these days are just for use.

For the United Kingdom, they can treat destroyers like free human-operated torpedoes, but how many countries in the world would dare to actually treat those destroyers like torpedoes?
Therefore, at present, the only warships that can be considered cutting-edge and have undergone modernization are the King-class and Caesar-class ships.

Four King class ships have been launched in the past few months, while five Caesar class ships have been launched in total.

In terms of quantity, it is consistent with the six ships mentioned in the intelligence.

In the previous talks, the Empire did indeed send two Caesar-class battleships.

"So, that means three Caesar-class and three King-class ships?"

Standing by the fireplace, Churchill quietly looked at the documents in his hands, lost in thought.

Historically, there have been instances where warships became obsolete shortly after launch, so it's not surprising that the King-class ships underwent modernization immediately after their launch.

The Caesar-class ships, on the other hand, have an older hull design, so there is little to worry about even after modernization.

The question is, when did the Empire start doing this, and why did they start doing it?

After all, the modernization of six battleships is no small matter. As a fervent supporter of the navy, the emperor had previously demonstrated a passionate pursuit of building new fleets. The empire, fundamentally, needed more warships, rather than attempting to use its existing fleet to confront the navy of the kingdom, which was several times larger than its own.

The emperor was not a fool; his assessment of the empire's strength was not wrong.

However, the current situation seems rather strange.

The kingdom and the empire signed a peace treaty of non-aggression, and relations between the people were improving. There were also more opportunities for exchanges of products between the two sides. As a result, the empire turned around and started to modify its warships, looking like it was ready to go to war at any time.

This is not normal.

Churchill believed he would have the Kingdom tear up the treaty as soon as Falland recovered. In the past few months, he had indeed relied on his own efforts, as well as Colonel Ryan Freig's speech at the meeting, to get most of the members of the Kingdom's House of Representatives to agree that the Empire was a great threat to the Kingdom and that this threat had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Even though the Empire had completely lost the ability to launch another offensive against the Empire in the previous battles, the Kingdom still had a powerful ally in Farland.

A kingdom with 45 million people, plus Farland with 40 million, still has a chance of winning against an empire with a total population of over 60 million.

Ok.

There is a chance of winning.

While pondering, Churchill felt a burning sensation in his hand and instinctively threw away the cigar, which was now just a cigarette butt.

"damn it."

He looked at the black mark on his hand, then at the fireplace in front of him, and muttered unconsciously, "I need to summon the cabinet quickly..."

The relevant orders were delivered to the cabinet members almost immediately, and they indeed rushed to the Prime Minister's official residence immediately afterward.

A meeting that began because of the empire's newest "warship" will determine the fate of the kingdom for some time to come.

And it was not long after that.

empire.

Ostend.

The training for the new recruits was a bit easier than expected, which was not a good thing for Rein.

However, the supplies sent from the rear were barely timely enough, so he finally had enough time to relax, instead of spending his days like the past few months, opening his eyes to study the situation on the front lines with the intelligence personnel and pilots in the General Staff and the Air Force, and then closing his eyes to return to his dreams to point and point at the computer screen he hadn't seen for almost half a year, just to see how the Empire of World War I could win this shitty war.

Furthermore, the new airships will soon be deployed to the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment.

Also deployed were two thousand brand-new military parachute packs.

Which battalion should be the first to be issued parachutes?

Brinkman stood before the mountain of supplies, holding a list, looking at each parachute pack, each one meticulously wrapped in an exquisite wooden crate, and his expression turned troubled.

Admittedly, the number of troops has reached a staggering 6,000, but nearly 2,700 of them are non-combat units responsible for logistics, so 2,000 parachute packs are indeed sufficient in a sense.

However, soldiers in the military have tempers, and they won't refrain from conflict just because things are reasonable.

Excellent troops often receive better and more supplies and more new toys because of their outstanding achievements.

If they have a lot of toys, they can probably use the remaining stock to satisfy the brothers who didn't get new toys. But if they don't have that many toys, things get interesting.

Ryan understood Brinkman's meaning, but he had already made a plan: "The assault company should definitely be prioritized for deployment, but we should only allocate a small number to them, around fifty sets should be enough."

Brinkman nodded, indicating that he understood what Rein meant: "Indeed, Schneider's company of soldiers are all of good quality, quick learners, and bold. A little less or a little more equipment won't affect their progress..."

"Huh? No?" Kenneth heard Ryan's words from a great distance, and then rushed to Ryan's side in a flash: "Colonel, that's not what you said before! Our assault company has 240 men on standby now, fifty sets of equipment are way too much!"

Then Ryan immediately added, "Then sixty sets, four people per pack, that'll be enough for your training."

Kenneth paused for a moment: "?"

"Not enough?" Renn frowned. "Then forty sets, six people per pack?"

Life is tough, Kenneth was dumbfounded: "?"

After half a minute, he said, "Fine, if that's how you mean, then I have nothing more to say." But before he could finish speaking, he received a solid slap on the back of the head from Ryan: "You think you're so great, huh! Next time you do parachute training, you'll sit at the same table as McQuay!"

Kenneth shouted, "What?! Hitting someone is one thing, but why are you cursing me too?!"

Ryan ignored him and turned to take the list Brinkman handed him: "Give the remaining equipment to the first and second battalions first. As for training, transfer some of the best officers and soldiers from the third battalion to the first and second battalions and let them train first. Don't worry about the new fourth battalion. They haven't even gotten used to machine guns yet. If they go into the air so early, the training pressure will be too great."

"receive."

Brinkman immediately jotted it down in his notebook, but out of consideration for Kenneth, who was throwing a tantrum, he added forty more sets of parachutes for them.

It was at this moment that Renn discovered something very interesting.

Because there was no ammunition or anything like that in the supplies delivered this time—duh, silk parachutes are ridiculously expensive, nobody would dare put them together with ammunition.

Therefore, this supply mainly consisted of hobby items, books, toiletries, pots and pans, and the like.

The parachute packs were sent to the front lines as part of the uniform, so they were stuffed together with new camouflage jackets and the like for easy inventory counting.

Interestingly, along with these parachutes came more than a dozen packages of socks, totaling over a thousand pairs, which were sent by the transport unit on behalf of the head of the equipment development institute, Lieutenant Brinkman's father.

"Why are there so many socks?"

Looking at the list in his hand, Ryan looked at Brinkman beside him with some confusion.

But Brinkman didn't understand why new socks would be issued at this time.

The Imperial Army's socks were issued along with the standard uniforms, and each soldier basically had enough socks to change and wash for a week. Both male and female soldiers and officers were issued ten pairs—five pairs of thin socks and five pairs of thick socks.

Logically speaking, even if a soldier's socks are torn or lost, they only need to take some spare change to the camp store to buy a new set; there's absolutely no need to send them in this kind of supply.

"I'll have someone take a look."

Brinkman, equally puzzled, then kicked Kenneth, who was still lying on the concrete floor nearby: "There are several thousand pairs of socks in the cargo in the three carriages. Go and find a few people to see if they can find them."

"Several thousand pairs?"

This immediately cheered Kenneth up.

The military boots of the 502nd Regiment are different from those of other units; they are completely waterproof, so their breathability is notoriously poor.

Not to mention that real combat simulation training often lasts for three or four days at a time, so many people's socks don't last long.

Those with less sweaty feet are fine, but those with a lot of sweaty feet will have to buy socks after just a few training sessions.

Although these socks are cheap, less than a cigarette in a pair, they're still money, and nobody wants to spend it.

Therefore, without any prompting from Renn, Kenes simply sprang to his feet and turned around, yelling, "There are socks in the capital's supplies! Anyone who wants them, come over here! Don't miss out!"

Before Ryan and Brinkman could react, half a row of people had already gathered in front of them.

Kenneth rubbed his hands excitedly: "The people have been found, right? The location for carriage three? I'll go right now."

After saying that, the guy led his men into the pile of supplies, but after searching for a long time, they still couldn't find the socks they had mentioned.

Some soldiers even went through the supplies countless times, cursing, "Damn it, what's wrong with the socks?" while continuing to search the supplies in front of them.

Finally, after searching for who knows how long, a warrant officer suddenly appeared out of nowhere, clutching a bulging cloth bag, and weakly shouted, "Brothers! Found it!"

Ryan then beckoned to him, signaling him to bring the socks.

Soon, the other soldiers also gathered around Rein, each carrying two or three packages.

The only problem was that everyone looked uninterested, as if they had no interest in what they were holding.

Ryan and Brinkman looked at the behavior of the group of soldiers in front of them and found it extremely strange.

"What's wrong? Everyone looks so dejected."

He instinctively took one of the bags, but as soon as he held it, Ryan realized something was wrong.

These socks are excessively soft and light; they don't look like socks at all.

The standard socks for the Imperial Army were either wool knitted or made of cotton yarn.

Although this new thing is also soft, it has a real weight to it, and it's definitely not as soft and weightless as the one in my hand.

Brinkman noticed this too, but her expression was different from that of the other soldiers; it was a mixture of confusion and excitement.

"Ok?"

Looking at his cheap adjutant, Ryan wondered what was wrong with this girl. How could she be so happy with something that was clearly not what she expected?
Then he saw Brinkman open a package and pull out a pair of stockings that looked about the same color as the yellow sand.

"?"

"What the hell?"

The surrounding soldiers looked on with disgust, because they could tell at a glance that these thin, see-through socks were not meant to be worn as socks at all. They muttered, "Anyone who wears this thing, I'll say they have dog shit in their head."

But Renn was stunned.

He immediately stopped Brinkman and asked, "Lieutenant, who delivered these socks?"

Brinkman paused what he was doing, flipped through the packaging, tore off the outer label, and handed it to Ryan.

Rein subconsciously read the words on it: "[A small gift for the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment] Is this from the Lord?"

"It seems so."

Brinkman nodded, but the doubt on his face had vanished, replaced by a look of delight.

But she soon noticed, along with the other soldiers and Kenneth, that something seemed off about Ryan's expression.

He looked at the stockings in Brinkman's hand, then grabbed a handful from the bag, feeling the stockings he hadn't seen in a long time, and was even prepared not to see them for decades, and said.

"Lord, are you planning something big for us?"

(End of this chapter)