Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 167 Negotiations break down
There's no other way for Renn to ask that question.

After all, the Empire is still at war with Farland.

Much information about the military intelligence of both sides is highly confidential, even information concerning the United Kingdom or other countries' military intelligence.

Even if the newspapers included information about the United Kingdom's fleet, Raine couldn't be 100% certain of the accuracy of the information.

This forces both the Empire and Farland to expend considerable effort, under the current unique circumstances, to verify the authenticity of the information they have obtained.

The fleet led by the battleship Neptune is a typical example.

Raine first heard of the Neptune battleship's existence in early November of this year, when the United Kingdom's Minotaur-class armored cruisers received a transport mission to come to Ostend to obtain aid supplies and then transfer them to Dunkirk.

The person in charge of the transportation project had given Rennes a list of the upcoming transport fleet, which included the name of the battleship Neptune.

According to the plan, the Neptune-class aircraft will arrive in Ostend on Christmas Eve. After resting for one night, the crew will begin receiving supplies on the third day and complete the unloading and inventory of the supplies before January 1st, and then deliver them to Dunkirk, which is dozens of kilometers away.

For Renn, this was utterly pointless, but rules are rules, and trains are absolutely forbidden from entering Farland—he knew that better than anyone.

But it is now December 20th.

If Neptune were sailing according to plan, it should be anchored in the North Sea by now, exposed to the naked gazes of the people and merchant ships of both the Empire and the Kingdom.

The problem is that he didn't show up in Beihai.

However, Farland did not publish any information about Neptune's departure in the newspapers.

Based on the above reasons, Raine's own judgment is that the Neptune Star has actually left the port and returned to Scapa Bay or other ports of the United Kingdom along a specific route.

The main reason it did not appear was probably because the kingdom believed that the fleet the ship was carrying was too large, and that rashly publishing the navigation records might attract the attention of the empire.

Of course, it's unclear whether others will be wary of Renn, but he will certainly be on guard for a while after learning that a fleet of thirty-two warships has returned to the North Sea.

After all, he couldn't say where the other units were located, but his own troops were definitely within the firing range of the naval guns.

Inside the office, Ryan stared at the pilot in front of him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

On the other side of him, the pilot who was being questioned was stumped by Ryan's questions.

He frowned first, then started muttering to himself. After a while, he said, "He said he saw it with his own eyes while carrying out a training mission over the Mediterranean Sea. I think it should be true."

After saying that, the pilot took half a step back and didn't say anything more.

the other side.

After learning the details, Renn immediately took out a map of Europe drawn with the Empire as the center, which clearly showed the entire territory of the Republic of Thalia and the Republic of Farland.

As neighboring countries, Farland and Thalia share a relatively long land border.

But this doesn't mean that what the pilot said was without fault.

The Europe of this world and the Europe of Earth are basically the same in terms of distance scale, and the locations, land areas and occupied territories of different countries are also almost identical.

Therefore, while it is indeed possible to take off from Italy and see ships docked in French ports from the ground, the entire country of France is currently covered by heavy snow, making it no easy task to spot a ship shrouded in snow from the air.

Nearby, the deputy company commander of the third battalion immediately came over after seeing Ryan take out the map. He also took out a simple scale measuring device that he had made himself with rubber bands, rulers, and clips, and put it on the map.

"I can't see it."

He was even faster than Renn: "If planes from the Republic of Thalia want to see warships docked in the port, they have to fly into Farland's airspace, otherwise they won't be able to see the ships covered in snow."

"To accurately identify the ship's model, even on a clear day, one must fly within ten kilometers. But Marseille is still quite a distance from Talia, not to mention that the Neptune is not a well-known ship and not everyone recognizes it."

The deputy platoon leader's words were extremely tactful, but everyone understood what they meant.

Rein looked displeased as he stared at the map, muttering to himself, "The Neptune and its fleet should have already returned to the United Kingdom's homeland. Now we'll see if they come to Ostend to receive the supplies as planned."

"If they don't come to receive the supplies..."

The deputy platoon leader's tone was ominous, because he knew very well that the primary requirement for maintaining peace between the Empire and the Kingdom was the disclosure of all information about their naval forces.

The Empire hopes that the Kingdom can act like a normal person and establish friendly maritime relations with everyone being honest with each other.

The Kingdom, on the other hand, hoped to obtain all the intelligence on the Imperial Navy to facilitate their subsequent fleet operations.

Both sides have their own ideas, but they do not conflict with each other. This is the current way for both sides to maintain peace.

It's short-lived and effective, but it can't last long.

“If they don’t come…” Renn murmured, “that would be tantamount to the United Kingdom wanting to tear up the peace treaty they signed ahead of time.”

"Is another war about to break out?" The pilot immediately looked at Ryan.

He was a pilot who had participated in air combat operations after the start of the war, so he was much more sensitive to the issue of war than the average person.

Ryan shook his head: "It's still far from certain, let's wait and see."

After saying that, he felt very satisfied with what he had said (his original words were: "People want to kill pigs, but there aren't enough people to catch them yet").

Then he added, "Don't mention this to anyone. Just pretend you never heard of it. Let's call it a day. It's the New Year, so don't act like you're some middle school kid who doesn't know what's good for you."

"Yes."

The two people standing in front of him immediately stood at attention, gave a unanimous reply, and then turned and left the administration building.

Ryan didn't say much. He just stood by the window and waited until the two of them had completely disappeared into the night before returning to his desk and picking up the phone.

"This is Ryan Frieger. Please connect me to Brigadier General Brian from the Baltic Coast Guard Command."

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The news of the Neptune was quickly relayed back to the home front via Brigadier General Brian's channels.

There are two main reasons why Ryan did not choose to report to his superiors himself.

First, there are still many people in the Kingdom of Perijer, where Ostend is located, who are hostile to the Empire.

This is normal, since from the perspective of the people of the Kingdom of Perijer, the Empire is more like the invader. Therefore, Rein dared not take the risk and could only pass the intelligence to Brigadier General Brian, hoping to use his connections to pass this crucial information to the General Staff.

However, this does not refer to the General Staff Headquarters in the capital, but rather to the General Staff Headquarters of the Navy.

After all, no matter how the army tries to handle things, it can't handle maritime matters, which shows how important it is to have the right expertise.

The second point is that the army has been on edge lately.

As mentioned before, General Crook suffered a serious fall while fishing, and those around him were generally not much better off.

Having been urgently sent to the rear, he can now only command his troops to build the battle line from more than 30 kilometers away. Fortunately, the distance between Raine and the front line is only 20 kilometers, and his place is even further away.

In this situation, Kruk's army group has recently entered a state of martial law, and all potentially non-friendly units will be monitored by them in a two-step operation of warning first and then firing directly.

Apart from the commander of Army Group Farland, who was directly opposite them.

But that's because he's in a worse situation than Crook.

Krug fell while fishing, while the army group commander fell while using the toilet.

It's fortunate that everyone discovered him early; otherwise, he would have died at the toilet entrance long ago.

anyway.

Following Brian's actions, the Imperial Navy immediately began monitoring the Kingdom's Navy.

They first sent a large number of people to contact the Kingdom around Christmas to confirm the specific status of the Neptune, which had failed to arrive in port. Then they began to bribe journalists from various countries to publish news about the Neptune in newspapers in various languages.

On January 1, 1915, the kingdom finally couldn't resist and inadvertently leaked the news about the Neptune.

The massive fleet of 32 ships, plus the 40 battleships that had already returned to port, along with their escort ships, totaling 210 warships, was nothing short of the kingdom flexing its muscles against the empire.

Churchill, who was the mastermind behind it all, even hoped that His Majesty the King would, like a traditional king, inspect all the ships that the kingdom could currently command on the first day of the new year.

But his plan failed to materialize.

Because the treaty signed between the kingdom and the empire has very clear provisions regarding the naval review.

Only when the highest leaders of the kingdom and the empire agree that the fleet should sail at combat speed can the fleet be qualified to enter the North Sea and be reviewed by its commander.

Churchill believed that the Empire would not use the New Year as an excuse to criticize the Kingdom's behavior, since everyone wants to have a good New Year.

Moreover, most of the Empire's fleet is trapped in the Baltic Sea, and its high seas fleet is far smaller than that of the Kingdom. Therefore, they don't even need to worry about the Empire initiating a war.

But Churchill wanted to do this mainly because he was very sensitive to the six new warships mentioned in the intelligence.

The Empire has consistently lagged behind in naval development and has frequently been harassed by the United Kingdom, which has resulted in the Empire's navy often lacking the ability to develop freely.

The sudden emergence of news about six new warships undergoing modernization has sent Churchill into a state of utter dismay.

Now, no matter what he sees, he has to say "FUCK" first. There isn't a single day in Downing Street that you can't hear him say "FUCK".

Then the Empire proposed a plan for the two countries to conduct joint naval reviews.

Field Marshal Tirpitz also indicated that all of the Empire's battleships could be sent to accompany Wang Guodong's fleet for the review, but it was unclear whether Churchill would agree.

Churchill was initially reluctant, as he did not want the Empire to have too much intelligence about the Kingdom's warships.

Unfortunately, the other generals in the Navy Department thought this was a very good idea, so he was forced to agree to hold a naval review involving the two countries in the new year.

Ryan had been invited, but he stood them up and didn't go.

It wasn't that I didn't want to go, but that I didn't trust Churchill's character.

The United Kingdom always likes to play dirty tricks behind the scenes; negotiating with them openly and honestly will only get you retaliated against.

He almost got tricked at the meeting in October, so he really doesn't want it to happen again.

However, Ryan was also puzzled as to why Churchill would request a naval review.

After all, this really doesn't seem like something Churchill would do.

But none of this matters anymore.

Because when the New Year's naval review finally began, Ryan had already indirectly confirmed through Brian and others that the Neptune was not frozen in the port.

This further confirmed a fact for him and other naval commanders.

In other words, it seems that the United Kingdom has no intention of renewing the contract for the next three months.

The contracts between the Empire and the Kingdom are signed every three months, as are those between Farland and the Kingdom.

The specific signing date is October 15th, which means that by mid-January, the previously signed peace treaty will become a worthless piece of paper.

The United Kingdom was also able to begin discussing with Farland how to minimize the Kingdom's sphere of influence on the western front.

The United Kingdom desperately wanted to reclaim the Kingdom of Perijer, which originally belonged to its younger brother, while Farland could not withstand the harsh winter for long.

The longer the conflict drags on, the greater the advantage will be for the empire with its continental army.

Not to mention that the Empire had recently successfully annihilated the Imperial Southwestern Army.

The pressure is now firmly on the United Kingdom, and it seems poised to extend to all the surrounding nations.

On January 15th, the empire was preparing to renegotiate with the kingdom regarding the signing of a new peace treaty.

Just as Renn had predicted, the United Kingdom unsurprisingly proposed at the meeting that the previous treaty needed to be modified to some extent, otherwise it would absolutely not be renewed.

And the demands they made were quite interesting.

The Empire must provide a complete record of any modifications made to their naval vessels over the past three months.

(End of this chapter)