Chapter 473: War in South America
At the end of August, shortly after the Paris strategy meeting concluded. After the strategy meeting, Xiao Jie assigned all the work to be done to his subordinates, and he started to enjoy life again. I spend every day with my wife and children, enjoying family happiness. For state affairs, he is only responsible for grasping the main policies, and the rest is left to the free play of those trusted ministers. He trusted his ministers very much, and likewise, his ministers were also very loyal to him. The prime minister of the government, Forbeck, and the foreign minister are all his confidantes, and the finance minister is his father-in-law. Coupled with his influence, almost no one in the cabinet can oppose him. And what about the military? Xiao Jie's control became even firmer. He himself serves as the commander-in-chief of the army, and the deputy commander-in-chief and chief of staff are his confidantes. The chiefs and deputy chiefs of the major legions below are also mostly his old subordinates. Several of his childhood friends are now in high positions. What else is he worried about? Unless France is invaded by an enemy and defeated, no one can threaten him. And now, in the whole world, the countries that can defeat France, except for the United States and Canada that suddenly rose up on the other side of the ocean, there is no other country that can endanger France. Therefore, defeating the United States and Canada has become the goal that France is now striving for. Only by completely defeating these two countries and making them unable to stand up forever, can France truly achieve once and for all.
However, France is now slightly at a disadvantage in its struggle with the United States and Canada. The reason is simple. After capturing most of South America and the entire America, the United States and Canada obtained the abundant resources they dreamed of, and their national strength began to develop rapidly. During this period of time, France was in war with other European countries time and time again. This made the development stagnant, and was gradually caught up by the United States and Canada.
However, Xiao Jie was not too worried about this. Because France's industrial and economic foundations are much better than those of the United States and Canada. Now have got a lot of wealth. I believe that within two years, it will regain a favorable position in the confrontation with the United States and Canada.
This day was the last day of August, Xiao Jie was resting in the pavilion in the palace garden after lunch as usual. However, when he was about to fall asleep, he was woken up by someone. The female officer in the palace came to tell him that Marshal Dugor and Marshal Eck asked to see him.
Although very puzzled, Xiao Jie still got up. He knew that when they came to him, there must be something important for him to decide. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen them in the past 10 days or so.
When he came to his office in the Tuileries Palace, Dugor and Eck were already waiting inside.
"You two, it's noon and the weather is so hot. Is there anything important you need to do?" Xiao Jie pretended to be serious.
"Your Majesty, if there is nothing important, we won't bother you." Even though they knew Xiao Jie's temper very well, Dougal and Eke still said with some trepidation.
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's get down to business. What is the important thing you guys are here today?" Xiao Jie asked.
"That's right, Your Majesty. At noon today, we received a telegram from Marshal Davout, who requested an offensive against the U.S. military and asked for the approval of the General Staff. Our current strategic focus is to restore the economy and reserve strength, So we don't know whether we should agree to Marshal Davout's plan," Eck said.
"Where's the telegram? Let me have a look." Xiao Jie said.
Eke quickly found the telegram in the briefcase and handed it to Xiao Jie.
It turns out that Davout's French 1st Army has fully recovered its combat effectiveness after the last supplement. It just happened that the U.S. military began to gather again, preparing to besiege the Guyana Plateau, an important base of the French First Army. Therefore, Davout hopes to be able to preemptively break the encirclement of the US military before the US offensive begins.
The general staff also encountered such a situation, and did not dare to make a decision without authorization, so the final decision was handed over to Xiao Jie.
After reading the telegram, Xiao Jie frowned. Although he hasn't been in charge of things personally recently, it doesn't mean that he has no idea about the current situation. Now, the forces of the United States and Canada are mainly distributed in three places. One is the mainland, which is North America. More than half of the troops of the two countries were assembled there. The second place is the eastern part of the North Atlantic Ocean. This line of defense consists of Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the island of Ireland. The United States and Canada have invested two layers of troops. The last place is the South American region, where the remaining two layers of troops are deployed. The combined total strength of the two countries has reached more than 500,000.
The French 1st Army, after supplementation, was only in the early 100,000s. Even if the United States and Canada need to deploy troops elsewhere in the Americas, they cannot gather all their troops to attack the French First Army. However, the opponent can at least assemble an army of 300,000 to 400,000 people. In comparison, the French First Army is still at an absolute disadvantage. If the war begins, it is completely unknown whether the French 1st Army can win the battle despite the terrain advantages of the French 1st Army.
However, if you don't hit it. As time goes on, the US military will become more and more prepared. And by that time, it will be difficult for the French 1st Army to win again. At most, it was the same as last time. Although the US attack was repelled, the French 1st Army could not bear the huge casualties.
"Your Majesty, what should we do? Should we approve Marshal Davout's plan?" Eck asked.
"Approve, why not approve. I believe you are also very much in favor of approving this plan." Xiao Jie said. He also knows the thoughts of Ike and Dougal very well.
"But we can't guarantee victory in this war at all. After all, the gap between the French 1st Army and the opponent is too big. Although we added a lot of troops and various supplies to the French 1st Army last time, but It is basically impossible for the French 1st Army to return to its original strength. After all, it is basically impossible to train those reserve soldiers to become qualified veterans in two months." Du Gore said very worriedly.
"This battle will be fought, there is no doubt about it. The French 1st Army is a nail in our way in America. The United States and Canada have tried their best to pull this nail out. Of course we cannot let the They got their wish. After all, with the French 1st Army in South America, we will have to save a lot of effort when we counterattack the Americas in the future. Now, what we have to discuss is how to win this war." Xiao Jie directly decided set a tone.
Dougal and Eke looked at each other and smiled. Before they came, they had already guessed that Xiao Jie would make such a decision. Therefore, they also conducted some research on how to win this battle.
"Your Majesty, there are two main problems facing the French 1st Army. One is the serious shortage of troops. The other is the supply problem. After all, the western part of the South Atlantic is still under the control of the US and Canadian navies. The supply of the 1st Legion has been completely cut off. Although we replenished a large amount of supplies to the French 1st Legion last time, in fact, if such a high-intensity war breaks out, the supplies will not last long at all. Therefore, the French The current situation of the 1st Legion is very dangerous," Dugel said.
"That's it, then how do you think we should solve this problem?" Xiao Jie said with a slight smile ~www.mtlnovel.com~ He has already thought of a solution, but this plan is a bit crazy. Similarly, he believed that Dougal and Ike had already had countermeasures, and they were even very close to his ideas.
"Your Majesty, after discussing with Dougal, we have a countermeasure. But this countermeasure is a bit risky." Eck said.
"It's okay, let's talk about it first." Xiao Jie said.
"That's right. In order to solve the lack of troops in the French 1st Army. We are going to send one or two legions to South America again. In this way, our troops in South America will not be at a disadvantage. As for the material issue , this is a bit difficult to solve, unless the navy can regain control of the western part of the South Atlantic Ocean. However, given the current situation of the navy, it may be difficult to do so. Therefore, this time we have to transport more various supplies, at least to ensure that our large forces in South America can continue a high-intensity war. If the war goes well, they can even strategically place more places in South America. In that case, their supplies, especially Food supplies can be solved by ourselves. As for military supplies, we can find opportunities to transport them in the future. I believe that unless the United States and Canada transfer all the fleets deployed in the mainland to South America, they will not be able to do so at all. Defend the long coastline of South America, and we can always catch their loopholes." Eck said.