On August 10, the French army concentrated two marine divisions and four infantry divisions, with a total of more than 90,000 people attacking Birmingham. Hammurabi was forcibly deposed by Liverpool, Duke William and others, and Wellington was appointed as the new Secretary of War. In order to defeat the French army and deter the compromising factions headed by King George IV, Liverpool and others demanded that Wellington must do everything possible to win the Battle of Birmingham.
Wellington did not dare to neglect, and immediately rushed to Birmingham to set up defenses. Originally, the British army only stationed one infantry division in Birmingham. After receiving orders from Liverpool and others, Wellington ordered the British army stationed in Manchester to quickly move south to reinforce Birmingham. Among them, Wellington mobilized a total of 6 infantry divisions, two independent artillery brigades and one independent cavalry brigade, with a total strength of 120,000 troops, and they were all elite troops stationed in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It can be said to be powerful.
Of course, in order to gather these troops, the British side paid a huge price. Since the British occupied Ireland, the Irish people's resistance movement has never stopped. In the past, the Irish resistance movement has been suppressed due to the heavy presence of British troops in Ireland. However, after the Irish Resistance Organization contacted France, with the strong support of France, the Irish Resistance Organization developed rapidly. This time, all the British troops were transferred from Ireland, which gave them an excellent opportunity. The Irish resistance organization announced an uprising in July and organized an army of 5,000 people, claiming to be the Irish Salvation Army, equipped with weapons that were eliminated by the French Army. But that's enough for those police forces, too. In a month's time, the El Salvation Army has swept across the southern part of the island of Ireland and is developing towards the north. The same is true for Scotland. As soon as the British army withdrew, the situation in Scotland immediately became turbulent. The only thing that is not bad is Wales, but the French army has not taken care of it for the time being. Once the British army fails, Wales will not escape the fate of being occupied.
In order to defeat the French army, Wellington tried his best, but the result was still extremely disappointing. The French army launched an attack on Birmingham on August 10. With the help of artillery and air force, the British defense line was quickly broken through. Fortunately, they have an advantage in terms of military strength. When the battle progressed to tough street fighting, they were able to withstand the attack of the French army, but it was simply impossible to counterattack or even defeat the French army.
The battle in Birmingham fell into a stalemate. Although the situation was favorable to the French army, Xiao Jie still didn't want to procrastinate any longer and ordered Davout to quickly end the war in Britain. After discussion, Davout ordered a force composed of three infantry divisions to bypass Birmingham and directly attack Wolverhampton, north of Birmingham, to cut off its retreat.
On August 12, the French army launched an attack on Wolverhampton, where the British army only deployed 1 infantry division. After a fierce battle, the British army was defeated and had to retreat. In this way, the French army completely cut off the retreat of the British army in Birmingham. The rear route was cut off, which caused the morale of the British army in Birmingham to plummet. Under the attack of the French army on both sides, it was quickly defeated. Of the more than 100,000 people, less than 40,000 managed to break through, and the rest were either defeated or surrendered as captives. After this battle, the last backbone of the British army was broken.
On August 15, the French army launched a massive attack on Manchester.
The Battle of Birmingham caused the British elite to lose. More and more people believed that resisting the French army was not a wise move, and they took refuge in King George IV's faction, which greatly increased the strength of the King's faction and gradually surpassed the Liverpool faction. trend. But the military power is always in the hands of the Liverpool faction, making them invincible.
On August 14, when the news of the defeat of the British army reached Manchester again, the British government cabinet and the royal family held an emergency meeting again to discuss countermeasures. At the meeting, King George IV of England strongly demanded that there should be peace talks with France to end the war. His views were strongly supported by Home Secretary Williams and former Army Secretary Hammurabi. However, Liverpool, Duke William and Wellington advocated withdrawing to Scotland and continuing to fight with the French army. The strengths of the two sides were equal, and neither could convince the other, so the quarrel started again in the palace hall.
As the French army was approaching, they had no extra time to convince each other. The two parties have to act according to their own views. On the 8th and 16th, Liverpool, Duke William and Wellington led the last 100,000 remnants to retreat to the north. But the people of the King of England refused to pass. Persuasion failed, and Liverpool and others had no choice but to give up, leaving George IV and others in Manchester. When Liverpool and the others left, George IV immediately sent someone to contact the French side, hoping that the two sides could conduct peace talks and end the war.
Davout had no choice but to pass the news back to Paris. After Xiao Jie knew about it, he immediately agreed to George IV's request, and said that he would send a delegation to England to negotiate with the British side. The location of the negotiation was London, which was already in ruins. After receiving the reply from the French side, George IV and others were overjoyed, and immediately stated that they would send a delegation headed by the Secretary of the Interior Williams to London to negotiate with the French side. In order to show their sincerity, George IV issued a proclamation to the whole of the United Kingdom, asking all parts of the country to stop resisting the French army so that negotiations can be facilitated.
At that time, Liverpool and others had arrived in Carlisle, a city in northern England, and were preparing to enter Scotland. After knowing George IV's announcement, they quickly thought of countermeasures. On August 21, Liverpool, on behalf of the British government, issued an announcement in Carlisle, because King George IV of England would make peace with France alone without the government. Duke William is the new King of England, known as William IV in history. He also announced that the British government and army would never compromise with France, and called on all the British people to fight France to the end.
After Liverpool's announcement, it caused an uproar in the UK and even in Europe. George IV jumped in anger. After smashing countless valuable antiques, he accepted Williams' suggestion, announced the abolition of Duke William's title of nobility, dismissed Liverpool from his position, and refused to recognize the legal status of William IV.
As for the candidates to go to the UK for negotiations, after consideration, Xiao Jie decided that Grigio and Otov would be the head and deputy heads of the delegation. Britain can be squeezed dry.
On the night before leaving for England, Xiao Jie specially hosted a banquet at the Tuileries Palace as a farewell party for the delegation. Afterwards, he even called Gregor and Ottove to the study room, and gave them some serious instructions.
"Your Majesty, what should we pay attention to when we go to England this time?" Gregory first asked as soon as he entered Xiao Jie's study.
Xiao Jie thought for a while and said: "First of all, we must ask George IV to surrender our country unconditionally. This is the prerequisite for this negotiation." future trouble.
Both Gregor and Ottove's expressions changed, and they gasped. The two of them never thought that Xiao Jie would have such an idea, this is too cruel.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid King George IV will not agree to this." Gregor said in a low voice.
"Hmph! At that time, we can't help him. The whole of Britain is already under our control. If he disagrees, then I will directly annex the British Isles." Xiao Jie said domineeringly.
"Then what should we do in terms of specific aspects?" Gregor tried hard to calm himself down.
"In terms of specific aspects, there are no more than two points. One is to ask the British side to compensate us for our losses. Of course, the more the better. The second is to completely eliminate the British threat to us. This can be learned from our method of dealing with Prussia~www.mtlnovel. com~Xiao Jie said with a fierce smile.
"Your Majesty, do you mean that we want to dismember Britain like Prussia?" Gregor asked with some uncertainty.
"That's right. Only by dividing Britain into small countries can he be no threat to us. I think the Irish, Scots and Welsh must be very happy to break away from the rule of the English. As long as we support it, it is enough to dismantle Britain." 4 countries. At that time, we will provoke a little bit, so they will fight together without us taking action. In this way, we can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and let the strength of the United Kingdom be slowly consumed in the internal strife. "
Unexpectedly Xiao Jie would be so ruthless, Gregor's back felt chills. But this is indeed very beneficial to France, so Gregory assured Xiao Jie that he would complete the task.
"Your Majesty, what about me? What should I pay attention to?" Otov also asked.
"Your task is very simple. There is only one thing, and that is to win the greatest interests for France. You must know that Britain has dominated the ocean for hundreds of years. The wealth they have accumulated is absolutely amazing. Now, all of these They are our spoils of war, and I want to transport them all back to France, and not leave a single bit to the British." Xiao Jie said with bright eyes.