"The South Island is destined to be undefendable. What we can do is to hold on to the South Island as much as possible, and then deploy new defenses on the new island." Standing in front of the huge map, Mirage said firmly.
There is a consensus among everyone in the Mirage Kingdom that if the Mirage Kingdom does not rely on the natural chasm of the ocean, then the Mirage Kingdom will not be able to stop the Tang army's attack.
Therefore, giving up the South Island and regaining the advantage on the new island is a kind of self-comfort for Mirage to feel that it can continue to fight.
"We are working hard to build fortifications on the new island, close to the South Island. We will build a reinforced concrete bunker every 300 meters!" Mirwuk confidently introduced his ambitious plan.
In his opinion, as long as there are enough bunkers, dense enough, and enough artillery, his troops may be able to block the Tang army's attack.
Just as he was introducing the latest deployment, an officer hurriedly walked in, walked to the Mirage Emperor who was attending the meeting, lowered his head and whispered something.
Emperor Mirage's expression turned ugly. He stood up, looked at the civil and military ministers present, and said, "I'll be back soon." Then he pointed at Admiral Mirage Haiping and motioned for him to go out with him.
The two people came to the corridor. The Mirage Emperor glanced in the direction of the conference room and said to Mirage Haiping: "The news I just got is that a transport ship from Yongdong Port to Mirage City was used by a destroyer of the Tang Navy Fleet. Torpedoed!"
"Destroyer?" Hearing that the warships of the Tang Navy had reached the eastern sea area, Mirage Haiping was surprised at first, and then still didn't believe it.
"The news says that the Tang Dynasty's destroyer is very large, weighing six to seven thousand tons. I don't know if the other party has a supply ship following it, but the Matsunami transport ship was indeed sunk." The Mirage Emperor said to his naval commander worriedly .
Mirage Haiping also realized that the problem was already very serious: "Your Majesty! Our fleet has just been severely damaged. The Tang Army has already gained control of the sea. If they cut off our sea transportation lines, the situation will indeed become very bad."
"That's not very bad, that's completely ruined!" The Mirage Emperor glanced at Mirage Haiping and reprimanded coldly: "We can't even be self-sufficient in food. We are really blocked. What do the civilians eat? What do the troops eat? ?”
In fact, if it was just food, the Mirage Emperor would not be so anxious, because Mirage's own food self-sufficiency rate is not low, and solving the problem of eating is actually not particularly difficult.
At worst, the food of the common people is poor. If everyone saves a little, they can survive for a year and a half no matter what. This is not a big deal during the war.
What makes the Mirage Emperor most nervous is actually whether the fragile industry of the Mirage Kingdom can continue to supply the Mirage Kingdom's war machine and maintain the current war after being blocked.
If there were no oil imported from the Ice Empire, no steel and copper exported to the Mirage from the Ice Empire, the Lions Empire, and the Dorne Empire, and no rubber from the Gobel Kingdom and the Dorne Empire...then the Mirage would still be able to survive. How long will it last?
Just now, Mirage Wuk was talking about building a bunker 300 meters away. Without imported cement and steel bars... how can those bunkers be built?
"How many warships do you have left that can be put into combat?" The desperate Mirage Emperor had no choice but to ask Mirage Haiping a very difficult question to answer.
Mirage Haiping was awkwardly silent for a few seconds, and finally gave an honest answer that made Mirage Emperor dumbfounded: "There are about three destroyers, seven or eight old-fashioned ironclads and patrol ships..."
These battleships were all left over from the previous decisive battle in the South Island waters due to various reasons: three new destroyers were left in the mirage due to malfunctions and other problems, and eight old ironclads and patrol ships were left behind because their speed could not keep up with the main force. fleet, so it was left at home.
Three of the patrol ships are basically used to fight against pirates, catch smugglers and collect taxes. The warships only have two cannons at the front and rear, and they don’t even have shields... If you expect these patrol ships to fight the destroyers of the Tang Army, that’s really Look at these patrol ships.
There are also five ironclads, which are all outdated gadgets made more than ten years ago. As soon as you hear the names, you know that they are all antiques that should be put into the museum. These warships are slow in speed and weak in firepower, and are of no use at all.
"There are only three destroyers left to participate in the war?" The Mirage Emperor almost thought he heard wrongly, but it was already a fact that all 12 battleships were annihilated, so he could only accept the fact that the naval fleet was annihilated.
"Even if these three warships leave the port, they may not be able to keep the route open." Mirage Haiping said truthfully. The destroyers of the Tang Army are of large tonnage, have amazing endurance, and are not weak in combat effectiveness. Mirage's destroyers are traditional destroyers, with a displacement of three to four thousand tons, and they don't even have the life-threatening means of torpedoes.
"Forget it!" The Mirage Emperor also knew that these ships were now at the Mirage Port. They were acting as temporary forts to prevent the enemy navy from rushing into the bay to attack the Mirage base camp. They could not be mobilized easily.
"Soon, the supply of steel, rubber, copper... is no longer available. There is not enough cement. We bought some from the Ice Empire yesterday, but it seems that we can't transport it." The Mirage Emperor remembered that he had given money but could not get it. When the goods arrive, I feel bad.
Mirage Haiping was also a little embarrassed. Before the war, his navy could be said to be very confident. He felt that under the cover of the air force, it could definitely defeat the Tang fleet attacking across the sea.
But the facts slapped their navy hard in the face: the main fleet was completely wiped out, and now even the vital transportation line on the east side of the Mirage cannot be protected.
All plans must be re-drawn: the plan to build large-scale fortifications on the new island must be suspended, and the Mirage must carefully consider how to correctly use the remaining strategic resources in their hands.
Mirage is not an oil-producing country. Oil is also an important strategic resource for Mirage. Mirage's tanks, cars, planes, ships... all need to burn oil.
Without oil, these machines would become scrap metal. The Mirage Emperor and his ministers must study how to use the remaining oil.
Training new pilots requires fuel, and precious aviation fuel is consumed every time a plane takes off and lands. By the same token, fuel is needed to move troops, and both tanks and cars are behemoths that swallow oil.
"Let the Navy stop the construction of the Spike cruiser..." The Mirage Emperor glanced at Mirage Haiping and said something that made the navy admiral sad.
The Spike cruiser is a new type of cruiser that was built before the war. This cruiser uses a 310 mm caliber main gun and is a typical heavy cruiser.
Even in the heyday of the Mirage Navy, this cruiser would have been an important and powerful battleship in the naval sequence. Looking at it now... it is the Mirage Navy "the hope of the whole village."
Unfortunately, it seems that this warship, which is 70% complete, is destined to be unable to be built: there is no need for the Mirage Navy to have such a warship.
A single cruiser could no longer change the balance of power between the Mirage Navy and the Tang Navy, nor could it act alone to complete the escort mission.
More importantly, Mirage cannot afford to lose such warships.
"Don't be impatient! Listen to what I have to say!" Emperor Mirage saw that Mirage Haiping's eyes were red, and he stretched out his hand to comfort him: "The steel that was removed from the Spike... will all be returned to your navy! Use it to build suicides." Speedboat!”
"There is nothing we can do about this. You also know that even if we can build the Spike now, it will be sunk when it goes out to perform two missions." After the Mirage Emperor finished consoling him, he blocked the Mirage with cruel reality. Haiping's mouth.
Mirage Haiping also knew that Mirage Emperor was right, so he sighed and nodded to express his acceptance of the order: "Your Majesty! I understand! I... will execute the order."
"In addition, just take half of the navy's fuel..." The Mirage Emperor ordered again. In fact, a cruiser is not the key point, the fuel he is talking about now is the big one.
The Navy has always been a large user of oil reserves. In order to support the operations of the entire fleet of 12 battleships, the Navy has accumulated a large amount of oil.
Now that the entire fleet has been destroyed, so much lubricants, fuel, and spare parts that were too late to be consumed can be used for other purposes. While some oils may not be universal, there are many oils and things that are.
Mirage Haiping had already been mentally prepared for this. When Mirage Emperor said this, he immediately nodded in agreement and said, "I understand, Your Majesty..."
Seeing that General Mirage Haiping's ideological work was completed, Emperor Mirage patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction: "Go back!"
He opened the door of the conference room, walked back to his seat, and then said to everyone: "The news I just got... The Songhao transport ship was sunk by the Tang army. The route between us and the Ice Empire, Might have been cut off.”
After hearing what the Mirage Emperor said, the civil servants attending the meeting immediately started discussing. Mirage Wuk, who was standing next to the map, looked ugly and didn't know what he was thinking.
"Your Majesty! The problem of food..." Mirage Dabo, as the prime minister of Mirage Kingdom, immediately became concerned about people's livelihood matters.
Some people are also asking about the supplementary import of steel and oil, and some are telling people around them that it has become difficult to build fortifications...
In short, the conference room was in chaos. Everyone was talking about things they cared about, and the Mirage Emperor had no intention of interrupting their discussion.
At this moment, these ministers really need a place to vent: if they are not allowed to talk nonsense, then in subsequent meetings, these people will definitely interrupt the Mirage Emperor's words.
Therefore, the Mirage Emperor simply asked them to finish talking...so that he could then focus on delivering various orders.
(End of chapter)
