The Fox of France - Chapter 500 (Patreon)

Chapter 500

Since maritime traffic had been cut off, the British were in a precarious situation, especially concerning food security. Since the "Enclosure Movement," domestic food production in Britain had been declining. Moreover, without something like a "minimum arable land red line" and considering the UK's unsuitability for agricultural development, Britain could not compete with France, Ukraine, or other European countries in crop production.

Thus, for many years, the UK had relied on the international market to solve its food problems. As long as there was money, food could be bought, unless the nation had committed actions that provoked universal condemnation. Why wouldn’t imported rice and flour be appealing?

Of course, the British had some assurances in this approach, as the Royal Navy had always been formidable, making a maritime blockade challenging. As long as there was no blockade, the cultivated lands in the overseas colonies were sufficient. Thus, this national strategy was indeed not mistaken.

However, with the rise of France, particularly the technological revolution led by the French Navy, the reliability of the British Navy significantly declined. At this point, it would have been prudent to adjust the policy. Indeed, the French had even provided the British with time to adjust their policies.

As early as the launch of the first "Free Trade" ship, the British had realized it was increasingly difficult to ensure the safety of their maritime transport routes. Even Nelson, at that time, could no longer guarantee the security of the shipping lanes.

If they had immediately reverted to agriculture from pasture, it would have been timely. Although converting all pastures back to farms wouldn't suffice to support the UK's consumption needs, it would have been significantly better.

But woolen manufacturing was one of the UK's most important industries, a major exporter and money-maker during peacetime. Convert pasture back to farmland? What about the wool industry? Without it, how would the UK finance an arms race? Thus, converting back to agriculture wasn't going to happen in this lifetime; the focus had to remain on strengthening the navy to maintain food security.

However, it wasn’t correct to say the British were unprepared; they had built more storage facilities and increased the proportion of reserve food. Thus, theoretically, even if the navy encountered temporary difficulties, the UK could sustain itself for a considerable time.

Moreover, within the UK, the efficiency of governance was quite high, so incidents like granary fires were rare. At least for now, the blockade hadn't lasted long, and food prices hadn't risen too sharply, so such issues hadn’t yet occurred. But if the situation persisted and food truly began to run low, it would be difficult to predict the outcomes.

Relying on the food in the granaries, if they immediately reverted to agriculture, it would still be timely. But converting pastures to farms, and then back again, was not a trivial expense. Many felt that if the change lasted only a year before reverting, it wasn’t worth the hassle.

Thus, although the British government introduced measures to encourage converting pasture back to farmland, not many landowners heeded the call. This wasn’t because they didn't love their country, but because they respected economic principles more. They also preferred to bet on the revival of the navy and even on peace negotiations.

A revival of the navy was indeed a slight possibility. After France proposed a new shipbuilding program, the British quickly followed suit. To counter the French "Augustus-class" battleships, the British urgently designed the "Lionheart-class" battleship, with a displacement of 15,000 tons, and began construction on three ships at once!

Of course, such large battleships couldn’t be built quickly; it would take no less than two years to complete. But theoretically, the UK's food reserves could barely last until then. As for other resources, the UK had coal and iron, and the production of steel was also guaranteed.

But those truly knowledgeable understood that ships designed in haste and built under rushed conditions, often without sufficient training time, almost meant that these battleships' real combat effectiveness was very questionable. In a sense, constructing these ships was both a gamble on national fortune and a bid to increase bargaining power in future negotiations.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, these battleships under construction nearly became the source of courage for the UK to continue fighting.

In the Battle of Dublin, the French used new 280 mm cannons, leading the British to suspect these cannons were the main armament of the French "Augustus-class" battleships. Hence, the cannons for the "Lionheart-class" had to be redesigned.

In fact, Joseph was quite willing to let the British continue harboring such illusions. Leading an alliance of eight nations (France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Rhine Confederation, Prussia, Austria, Northern Italy, Spain) to land in England and burn down Buckingham Palace was a captivating idea, but...

Landing in England was indeed no easy task.

The closest British coast to France was all damn cliffs,

 with only a few gaps suitable for landing. When Duke William of Normandy landed in Britain, those gaps had little defense. But now, those places were heavily fortified with gun batteries. Moreover, the British had heavily mined the nearby waters. Even if the entire French navy were deployed, it was unlikely to gain an advantage against these batteries.

Of course, the French could take a longer route, landing from the direction of the Atlantic in Scotland, where the terrain was much better. But from there, the fleet’s travel time at sea would be several times longer, meaning their transport capacity would reduce to a fraction of its original. In a landing operation, if they couldn't rapidly deploy an overwhelmingly superior force and supplies ashore, even if they landed, they would likely be driven back into the sea.

The UK had a fairly developed railway system, which could transport troops very efficiently, certainly much faster than circumnavigating half of Britain by sea. Thus, landing at a few points on the English Channel was risky, but taking a long route from Scotland was equally dangerous.

Since that was the case, engaging in a decisive naval battle to completely crush the hopes of the British and then forcing them to sign a series of land cession and indemnity treaties seemed like one of the best options for the French.

Of course, the current strength of the French navy was not enough to contend with three "Lionheart-class" battleships, but the French hadn't been idle in the arms race. Although the "Lionheart" was larger than the "Augustus," that didn't necessarily mean it was stronger. French industry was more advanced, and their shipbuilding capabilities were superior. Thus, French warships could be commissioned faster and in greater numbers than their British counterparts.

According to intelligence, the British "Lionheart-class" was essentially a scaled-up version of the "Queen Elizabeth." In other words, it was a ship with thicker armor, larger caliber guns, and equally slow speed. After all, in the previous naval battle, the "Queen Elizabeth" had managed to exchange one enemy battleship under disadvantageous conditions, which the British saw as a validation of their design philosophy. So, the British version of the "iron turtle," was considered superior to the French "fast-running thin skins." Although the British were unsure how thick the French battleships' armor really was, for morale reasons, they still portrayed them as fragile eggshells.

But the "Augustus-class" was a much bigger step forward from the previous "Eblis-class" than the "Lionheart" from the "Queen Elizabeth."

Joseph Bonaparte, President of the French Academy of Sciences, personally participated in the design of this warship, giving it a distinctly futuristic flavor.

The most notable feature was the centerline step-turret arrangement. On the centerline of this battleship, turrets were arranged in a stepped fashion, each housing two twin-gun turrets. These turrets would be equipped with brand new 203 mm gun barrels, a total of eight big guns, doubling the firepower from the previous "Eblis-class."

Of course, mounting so many large guns consumed a significant amount of weight, leaving less available for armor. If armor was arranged in the same way as on the "Eblis-class," then the "Augustus-class" defense would be at most only slightly better than its predecessor. After everyone upgraded their cannons, such armor could indeed be described as thin-skinned with a large filling.

But Joseph proposed a new protection concept from the future: "focused defense."

In later times, as naval guns became increasingly powerful but the displacement of warships could not increase indefinitely, trying to wrap a warship in sufficiently thick armor would only lead to one outcome: the ship would sink immediately upon launch, like the old warship or a later Spanish submarine that had a decimal point misplaced in its design.

Thus, in future warship designs, the approach of armoring every part of the ship was abandoned in favor of placing thick armor only on the most critical areas affecting the ship's survivability and combat capability, leaving other non-essential areas unarmored.

In this way, if the opponent's armor-piercing shells hit the unarmored sections, they would likely just pierce through and fly out of the ship, causing limited damage. If it was a regular high-explosive shell—well, those areas weren’t critical, so while they would be damaged, the impact would be limited. Moreover, if the enemy used such shells during a sea battle, it meant they likely couldn’t threaten the truly important areas, giving an opportunity to retaliate with genuine armor-piercing shells.

So, although the "Augustus-class" battleship had far less total armor weight compared to its rivals, its actual defense capability was not necessarily inferior to the larger and heavier "Lionheart."

On the French shipyards, five "Augustus-class" battleships and five "Hermes-class" super cruisers were under construction, and if nothing

 went awry, these French warships would be completed before the British ones.

By then, defeating the British in another naval battle would shatter all British hopes. Moreover...

"And perhaps, Britain might even undergo a revolution," Napoleon said with a smile to Lucien, "You should well plan for this. But now, focus your efforts on completing the matters in North America first."

Just a few days ago, the Americans launched a major attack on Ottawa. After suffering tremendous casualties, the Americans virtually exhausted the British ammunition and stormed into Ottawa. Then, naturally, a massacre began.

The Americans killed every living person they encountered, whether man, woman, elderly, or child.

A group of American soldiers, rifles in hand with blood-stained bayonets, surrounded a building—many British had fled into this building. The Americans encircled it completely, even bringing in artillery aimed at the building. Many British had taken refuge here. However, the American soldiers did not storm in because a French flag was flying above the building.

This was the largest Catholic church in Ottawa. Moreover, the Holy See had transferred the protection rights of the church in North America to the French.

Father Tom, a German-speaking French priest, stood at the entrance of the church, the French flag fluttering atop the small steeple, turning it into a temporary sanctuary.

The Americans did not wish to provoke the French, even if it was just a German-speaking French priest. If those who sought refuge in the church were only civilians, the Americans would have probably let it be. But someone had witnessed more than a dozen British soldiers in uniform entering the church; they couldn’t just ignore that.

So, the Americans surrounded the church, demanding Father Tom hand over the British soldiers hiding inside. But Father Tom insisted these individuals were unarmed and thus could not be considered soldiers, and that the church could not expel anyone seeking safety under God’s protection.

"You must respect the sanctuary, respect the right of sanctuary!" Father Tom firmly stated.

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