At this time, Australia.
The Australian maritime war has begun. The Long Yan Navy led by Cao Xi suffered heavy losses in the battle with the French army.
This time the support plan had to end in failure.
After learning that the French navy had rampaged across the sea, Xie Fang did not immediately make the decision to prepare for war.
General Li made a big fuss over this matter. He was a veteran general of the Longyan Army and had made great contributions to Longyan.
He was one of the earliest generals who followed Xie Fang.
But he listened to the tune but not the announcement. General Li followed Xie Fang purely because he was once the crown prince of Long Yan.
After coming to Australia again, in the court established by Xie Fang, General Li never attended a morning court for a day, and he never took charge of the Longyan Navy again.
If it weren't for this time, his son was trapped on the island of Tesmania under unknown circumstances, he would not have gone with Cao Xi.
He was so proud that he openly forced Xie Fang in the court.
"Xie Fang, you send troops, I will go to the general's camp and lead the troops myself!"
"Let me see if the Long Yan Army will join me in the expedition."
Xie Fang was on pins and needles sitting on the dragon chair. He could not say anything when faced with Old General Li's curses.
I just hope that the officials will stand up and stop this old man.
But all the ministers in the court seemed deaf and blind, and they pretended not to see anything even though General Li was cursing.
On one side is the current emperor Xie Fang, and on the other side is General Li Long Yan, one of the most prestigious people in the army.
Neither side could afford to offend, so they pretended not to see it.
"In a word, send troops or not!"
Xie Fang was forced and had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "Send troops, send troops!"
Old General Li glanced at him, snorted coldly, and left with a puff of sleeves.
Xie Fang gasped for breath and stared at General Li as he left. If he hadn't relied on him to destroy the French army now, he would have had to make arrangements for him.
After breathing calmly, Xie Fang pinched his forehead, feeling upset.
It's not that he doesn't want to send troops to suppress it. As the actual controller of Australia, he naturally wants to drive them away when the French army invades.
But now that we are facing financial difficulties, we need to build warships for naval battles.
Although the Yinzhou ship is powerful, it is also expensive to build.
It's not just that.
Drew controls Tasmania's economy and is a major taxpayer.
As a result of his rebellion, many merchants on the island also refused to pay taxes, claiming that Xie Fang failed to protect their interests.
Their cargo was lost in Tasmania, causing heavy losses.
These are all foreign businessmen, but Australia originally attracted foreign businessmen for development. This brought hidden dangers to Australia and also brought wealth to Australia.
Now that the war has broken out, the hidden dangers laid down by previous policies have exploded.
Many merchants have even begun to prepare to leave Australia to do business elsewhere.
This is definitely a major blow to Xie Fang's government.
"Internal and external troubles..." Xie Fang sighed and murmured.
He looked at the ministers and sighed: "Now is a critical time. All the princes and ministers should donate their meager efforts to the country and reduce their salaries by 30% to fund the national treasury."
The courtiers glanced at Xie Fang, lowered their heads, and said in a deep voice: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
…
At this time, on the other side of Australia.
After Li He occupied the flour mill, he quickly built a defense structure here to prevent the French army from coming to attack and take it back again.
But what Li He didn't know was that both Drew and Horn knew that they had lost a medium-sized flour mill.
"General Horn, are you really going to let these remaining Dragon Flame armies continue to develop?"
Drew raised his eyebrows and asked.
Horn neither denied nor admitted, but said: "We lost two battleships in the naval battle with Xie Fang, and the other two battleships were also damaged in the battle and need to be repaired."
"The loss of Long Yan's army was just an old sailing ship from the Great Navigation Age, and the Yinzhou ship did not sink a single one."
"This battle is not as simple as we thought."
Drew frowned when he heard General Horn's unreasonable answer.
Their ultimate goal in France is to occupy Australia and obtain the technology of Dragon Flame.
But in just one battle, they lost two battleships, and you can see the terror of the Long Yan Yinzhou ship.
Horn took a deep breath: "We don't have enough energy to pay attention to those little people now."
"They got a flour mill, and it was just a few bags of rations. Without wheat, what's the use of this flour mill?"
"Don't worry about them. Is there any news from America?"
Drew thought for a moment and said: "Not yet. It is said that the conflict with Britain over there is very serious, and they may not necessarily lend us a ship."
Horn sighed and looked at the map: "We must hurry up. I heard that Britain has developed a new type of steam battleship. It is said that it is equipped with a steam engine produced by Longyan."
"The speed and power have been greatly improved. If this is true, our position at sea will be completely lost."
"The colonies of our French Empire are also very likely to fall into the hands of Britain and Long Yan."
"Now we must defeat Australia and obtain Longyan's technology."
"Only in this way can we still have a chance in this war."
…
The other side of the Australian battlefield.
Li He looked at the grain stored in the flour mill. It was not as much as he imagined, or even less.
This is not good news for him.
Now that wheat has been completely controlled by the French, Drew controls the island's economy, and it is even easier to control the food.
"The current food can only last a month. If there is no more food in a month, our situation will become very dangerous."
Someone said in a deep voice.
Everyone looked at Li He, but he didn't make a sound.
After a while, he looked at everyone's eyes and then said: "I think food is not the key to the current problem."
"You tell me why after we captured the flour mill, the French knew the information, but after so long, they didn't send a French army to attack us."
"Think about it, isn't it strange?"
Everyone fell into deep thought.
Ge Dazhuang scratched his head and said unintentionally: "Wouldn't it be better not to attack us? Maybe the French were also attacked."
"Yes!" Li He's eyes lit up: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."
He added: "It's been so long. It's impossible for the court not to notice something unexpected. According to His Majesty's character, he will definitely send troops to attack."
"Based on this, the French army may be fighting our fleet at sea now!"
"That's why they don't have enough energy to take care of us."
Everyone's eyes lit up, they looked at Li He and asked: "Then we will do nothing and wait for our troops to land?"
Li He shook his head and said: "No, not only can we not do this, we must also do something that can attract the attention of the French."
"It's not painful for the French to rob a small flour mill."
