Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 10 is! The Minister!

"Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! We just received news this morning that there has been some unrest in the 4th and 6th Divisions at the Neoport front. Many soldiers, including two regimental commanders, have disobeyed orders and refused to continue the attack!"

"There is currently a huge morale crisis among the troops at the front, partly because they have believed the Demacian propaganda, and partly because yesterday's attack was too brutal."

One colonel was killed in action; his regiment was almost completely wiped out during the assault. Two other regiments also suffered extremely heavy casualties. These two regiments, the ones with the heaviest losses, are now using this as an excuse to refuse to advance, demanding at least to be withdrawn for rest and recuperation.

Around 7 a.m. that day, at the temporary palace of King Billygin in Ostend, a group of civil officials and generals of the staff finally panicked and had no choice but to report these terrible news to Albert I.

Albert I was having breakfast at the time, and was so upset that he couldn't even drink his coffee.

"De Brog! Explain yourself! How did all this happen? Why has the army lost control again? Why can't we block information that's bad for us?"

Albert I was extremely agitated and seized upon Defense Minister de Broglie to hold him accountable.

De Broglie had no choice but to elaborate on the problem again, adding his own analysis. He was also quite helpless: "...So, Your Majesty, that's how it is. The Demacian 6th Division, 12th Regiment, 16th Battalion, which is in the encirclement, has pulled so many despicable and shameless tricks, leaflets, photos, telegrams, releasing refugees, a series of attacks. We are simply overwhelmed and unable to block them."

"He's an absolute devil!" Albert felt his lips were dry and cracked, and the aftertaste of the coffee in his mouth was becoming increasingly bitter. "Didn't you say you had already investigated and that Colonel Lister, the commander of the 16th Regiment, was just an ordinary old-fashioned officer? How could someone like that come up with so many vicious schemes! This isn't a one-off incident!"

Defense Minister De Brog said with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, it's our incompetence! I have done my best to investigate, but that's not the most important thing right now. We can only prioritize our efforts on the more immediate crisis."

Moreover, I think the problem doesn't lie with Lister's 16th Regiment—that unit only rushed to Neoport after the flood, while before that, the enemy had already come up with many clever tricks. There must have been capable individuals among the first wave of enemy troops to arrive in Neoport.”

"Forget it, let's review these things after the war," Albert waved his hand dismissively, his spirits completely dampened. He then changed the subject, turning to Lieutenant General Felix.

"My Chief of the General Staff! Tell me, how should we deal with the current military predicament?"

Lieutenant General Felix had already prepared a contingency plan. He immediately stood at attention, saluted, and said:
"I believe we need to withdraw the heavily damaged 4th Division to take over the city defenses of Ostend. Then we should transfer several regiments of the main force of the 1st Division, which is responsible for protecting His Majesty, to carry out a final, desperate breakthrough! The enemy's tricks to demoralize our troops are indeed very effective, but they should not be enough to directly crush the army."

The 4th Division's war-weariness stemmed from its repeated, relentless attacks and heavy casualties, which had failed to break through the enemy lines. The enemy's anti-war propaganda merely offered them a convenient excuse to retreat. If the 1st Division had been deployed, there might have been a glimmer of hope for a turnaround.

Albert closed his eyes with pity. He knew that, according to the Chief of the General Staff, this was the last desperate struggle, a last-ditch effort.

He couldn't help but worry: "What if the 1st Division is transferred up there and still can't break through Neoport? And once the 1st Division is transferred away and the remnants of the 4th Division come to defend Ostend, is it possible that our eastern defense line will be the first to break down? The 2nd Division of the Demania 6th Division has been attacking our 1st Division from the east of Ostend!"

Lieutenant General Felix: "Therefore, we can only transfer two regiments from the 1st Division to relieve the troops. At least two other regiments must be left behind: one as His Majesty's guard regiment, and the other to hold the eastern defense line during the troop rotation."

The distance to Neoport is less than 20 kilometers; a troop rotation can be completed in a morning. A relatively elite regiment should be able to hold off the Demanyan offensive on the eastern front for a morning. The 1st Division consists of His Majesty's most loyal elite troops; they will fight to the death!

Albert scoffed, "But you still haven't said what to do if you can't do it?"

The king kept pressing the question of the "worst-case scenario," and Felix, unable to avoid it, could only bite the bullet and say:
"If it really comes to that... we can only hope for Bretonnia's support. It's unlikely that the French will break through the German defenses west of Neoport; the French are moving too slowly. As of midnight tonight, they may not even be able to muster two full divisions in the Dunkirk and de Panne directions."

Moreover, they wouldn't fight as fiercely as we did. We were breaking out for our lives, while they had made a long march all the way from Arras to here. Those French soldiers must be tired of fighting.

The kingdom's last hope lies with the Bretonnians' warships; we should have long ago requested their Straits Fleet, especially their heavy gunboats, to provide us with fire support.

Upon hearing this, Albert couldn't help but berate Felix again, calling him incompetent for not thinking of contacting allies sooner.

But Felix was also helpless, as he was only the Chief of the General Staff and could not directly coordinate diplomatic aid.

The decision-making process in this era is inherently cumbersome, and countries are slow in handling affairs and mobilizing resources. Yesterday, he didn't realize the war situation would deteriorate so quickly, so he wouldn't have thought to immediately try to win over foreigners.

Now that he has been severely reprimanded by the king, he hastily sought foreign assistance.

……

That morning, the Belighin people's secret telegram requesting help traveled through various channels, first reaching the relevant foreign affairs department of the Republic of Burkina Faso across the Channel, then to 10 Downing Street. After the Prime Minister reviewed it, it was finally handed over to his trusted First Lord of the Navy, Walton Leonard Spencer.

By the time this whole process was completed, it was already noon that day. Minister Wharton was having lunch at the time and only saw the secret telegram and the Prime Minister's instructions after lunch.

"How could the Belgian army within the encirclement experience such a serious collapse in morale? Could the Belgian forces have completely collapsed? How did the Demanians suddenly become stronger, managing to hold off three Belgian divisions and one Frankish division with just one regiment?"

"What? The Demanians actually resorted to such despicable and shameless tactics as airdropping photos of the Belgian army breaching the dikes and releasing the flooded Beligh refugees? Are these really the Demanians I know? The enemy must have some expert guidance! Could it be that a traitorous think tank has defected to the enemy?"

As a minister who had the deepest understanding of the Bretonnian Empire's utterly immoral and troublesome nature, Walton's first reaction upon seeing the Billygins' complaint telegram was disbelief that the stubborn Demanians could have such a mind.

My second reaction was that I wondered if there was a traitor giving advice to the enemy.

Just like when the Han people first fell into the hands of the Xiongnu two thousand years ago, their first reaction was, "Could it be that a despicable traitor like Zhongxing Shuo has emerged and given advice to the Xiongnu Chanyu?"

Diplomatic provocation and political fraud are the domain of the "glorious and great offshore balancers," who have outmaneuvered and killed generation after generation of continental hegemons. How could they possibly be passed down to barbarian countries that only know how to use force?

However, now is the time to focus on solving the problem, and these questions can only be dealt with in the future.

Suppressing his displeasure, Minister Walton forced himself to calm down and, after reviewing the situation several times, decided to first make a phone call to the Channel Fleet headquarters in Dover:
"Get General Cecil back! What? In a meeting? Give him ten minutes, call me back in ten minutes! This is Walton!"

Walton slammed down the phone in a huff, lit a Havana cigar in a bad mood, and took a big drag before the phone rang again.

“Your Excellency! I’m sorry, I was really in a meeting just now.” Lieutenant General Cecil Bernie’s humble voice came through the phone immediately.

Walton: "Which warship is currently closest to the Ostend front?"

Cecil: "Your Excellency, it is the Linxian-class Bold. It is less than twenty nautical miles from Ostend, which will take an hour. This ship was sent out the day before yesterday to sabotage enemy undersea cables near Neoport."

Walton: "The Forest Fairy-class? It has a speed of 28 knots? That's not bad, at least it's fast and stable enough. That's it. Let's send it to Dunkirk to resupply and get it ready to receive my orders."

I need to speak with the Billy King's family now. If their king is willing, or if the situation truly deteriorates to that point, we need the HMS Daring to rescue him from the encirclement. Also, what's the status of the other main warships in your Channel Squadron? Are they ready to deploy at any time?

“Uh…we need some preparation time. As you know, my capital ships are all pre-dreadnoughts that run on coal, so replenishing fuel, ammunition, and heating boilers before the battle is quite slow. And one of my capital ships is currently undergoing maintenance,” Cecil complained helplessly.

Walton, being a veteran of the Navy, was well aware of these common-sense matters, so he didn't make things difficult for his subordinates: "Then I'll give you a maximum of 48 hours, preferably 24 hours, to prepare the entire squadron for departure."

In addition, we should gather some civilian ships with large carrying capacity. In dire circumstances, we might have to hope to rescue some of our besieged allies via the Ostend sea route.

Lieutenant General Cecil was shocked: "Minister! This is completely futile. Ostend is not a major port. Even if there are large ships, they cannot dock there. Small boats are needed for transfer. There is simply no possibility of a large force being evacuated quickly by sea from there!"

Walton: "This is none of your business! You just need to requisition civilian ships and get the squadron ready to attack!"

Lieutenant General Cecil: "Yes, sir!"

-

P.S.: Oops, I accidentally dropped it.

This was originally supposed to be before 5 PM, but I was just about to click save and then publish it directly.

I guess I finished updating both chapters this morning.

However, I still need to continue asking for comments, follow updates, favorites, and votes. Thank you.

(End of this chapter)