Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 173 Testing
Of course, that's what Ryan said, but it doesn't necessarily mean that's what he actually thinks.

After all, Ostend is a great place. To the left is the famous Dunkirk, and to the right it is outside the control of the United Kingdom over the mainland.

Furthermore, with his troops stationed here, it's safe to say that as soon as war breaks out, Raine's forces will be among the first to be attacked by the United Kingdom's fleet, without any surprises.

Therefore, even though Raine didn't say that the Empire needed to initiate the war, Catherine and everyone else understood that Raine actually hoped the Empire would be the first to fire.

This might lead to the Empire being seen as the culprit in reigniting wars in the future, but it also effectively ensures that the army, or rather, the Empire's ground forces, will not become the primary target of the United Kingdom.

As a commander who rose through the ranks of the army, Ryan was determined to preserve all the fighting force he had at his disposal.

But it is precisely this point that prevents Catherine from fully understanding what he had just said.

Ultimately, in this modern world, no one believes that air force can overwhelm ground forces, and no one can understand why Raine, as the most likely person to be shelled by the United Kingdom, can still remain within the United Kingdom's shelling range with such impunity.

Throughout the entire empire, apart from Colonel Schmidt and the captains of the newly assigned Zeppelins, no one knew about it.

With a sigh, Renn subconsciously reached into his breast pocket for a cigarette, but after a moment's thought, he tossed it directly into the still-burning fireplace.

The cigarette was instantly engulfed by the flames, releasing a wisp of smoke before disappearing without a trace.

Seeing his expression, Lieutenant Colonel Catherine assumed that Ryan was annoyed by the conversation, so she got up to pack her things and leave.

She is currently serving as Ryan's adjutant, and theoretically she has a lot of work to do—at the very least, she should hand over her duties to the former adjutant.

But before she could get up, Ryan's voice rang out in the room again.

"The General Staff Headquarters has been quite turbulent lately."

He looked at the fire in the stove, his tone calm.

"It's like spending money to aid Farland, negotiating with the United Kingdom, and spending money to train the navy. After all that, we find that we haven't even dragged the Empire down with the Turks."

"This is ultimately their job."

Catherine spoke slowly, a hint of doubt in her voice, clearly not knowing why Renn would say this.

Renn, however, didn't care about that at all.

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, then immediately lowered them, sinking into his seat as if paralyzed: "If it were me, I probably would have surrendered long ago."

"This job is not something that ordinary people can do. Let alone dealing with Farland and his group, I can't stand just talking to that idiot Churchill."

Catherine immediately remembered what her uncle had said to Admiral Hellingen of the Navy.

At the time, he was full of praise for Raine's performance in the United Kingdom, almost to the point of wanting to adopt him as a godson.

But he also said that Rennes was too sharp, and if the United Kingdom really had no shame, it would probably directly cause trouble.

At that time, the Empire will inevitably choose to sacrifice Renn in exchange for the vast majority of its interests.

But things didn't ultimately come to that point, and Ryan himself knew that.

She said, "It seems the Colonel had some friction with Prime Minister Winston when he was in the United Kingdom?"

"It's not just a simple matter of friction anymore. Asquith and Churchill are two idiots who are hopeless and shameless. I was slapping their faces like a rattle-drum, and they've been watching me for a while now."

Ryan's tone remained calm as always. But he never really thought that way.

Although he hadn't said it before, his views on the United Kingdom were extremely extreme.

In other words, the Empire must, in the ensuing battles, completely crush the entire fighting force of the United Kingdom with the fastest speed and the most swift means.

Now that the navy has made preparations for war, and the United Kingdom is also willing to go to war, he must play the role of the first to provoke the war.

However, after starting the war, Raine also needs to ensure that he does not immediately become a major target of the United Kingdom.

Because his purpose is different from before.

In previous operations, the primary objective and mission of Unit 502 was decapitation, that is, to destroy the enemy's General Staff and Command.

For the army, all they need to do is find out where the opposing army group commander is; the rest can be handled by airships.

But the navy is different.

Putting aside the fact that warships are basically all thick and resistant to blasts, the mere fact that airships flying in the sky in the North Sea, where visibility is so poor that they would be instantly killed, and that it would take dozens of kilometers for observers to identify the type of ships sailing at sea, would be enough to make them give up.

As a result, Ryan only had one option left.

[Assist the Navy in annihilating the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom]

In the history of the world, Britain deployed a total of 151 warships in the Battle of Jutland, more than half as many as the 99 ships of the German High Seas Fleet.

Currently, the United Kingdom has deployed more than two hundred ships in the North Sea.

Scapa Flow has become completely full, with most battleships losing their right to anchor in the bay and having to return to port periodically to resupply before immediately departing again, providing sufficient water for destroyers and various small boats that cannot cruise for extended periods to anchor.

In other words, once war breaks out, the Empire will not face the invincible fleet of 151 warships from history, but a fearless fleet of two or even three hundred warships.

Their mere formation sailing on the sea would be enough to occupy an area of ​​hundreds of kilometers, making them one of the largest fleets in history that could be visually identified with the naked eye from near-Earth orbit.

Destroying a fleet of such size would be absolutely impossible with just the navy's ships.

No one would disagree with this.

This was true of Rein, Tirpitz, and General Burke of the Air Force.

Then the answer becomes very simple.

inside the room.

Sitting in front of the fireplace, Ryan glanced intentionally or unintentionally at the airship swaying slightly in the wind in the distance, and then at Lieutenant Colonel Catherine, who had somehow appeared beside him.

After a long while, he finally spoke.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hellingen, could you please invite the captains of the airship fleet to the commander's office? I need to personally convey the General Staff's orders and subsequent arrangements to them."

he thinks.

It's time to meet Churchill's men first.

(End of this chapter)