I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 1009: Finally Managed to Convince This Guy
The situation of the French Navy is not as optimistic as Shire described.
The direction of Greece’s Piraeus Port is relatively trouble-free, with three aircraft carriers docked there, while the French Army led Greek troops and civilians to "liberate Greece" within weeks.
Meanwhile, the fuel, bombs, and other essentials needed for the aircraft carriers can be delivered by transport planes, and Greece can also provide some of them and other supplies.
Egypt is also no problem. Shire has been laying out plans there for a long time, and independent organizations will take advantage of the situation to challenge British colonial forces.
The British Army’s defenses at Suez Port may be very tight, as they have deployed two infantry regiments, two artillery battalions, and an engineering unit there, along with a naval support group, totaling over thirty thousand troops.
(Note: The naval support group is responsible for the port defense, as Suez Port is directly related to the security of the Suez Canal, and the British Army is very concerned about it.)
However, Egypt has launched a nationwide anti-colonial movement with guerrilla attacks and sabotage everywhere; one warehouse is burned today, the next day a factory is bombed, or roads and railways are dug up, so even supplies cannot be brought into Suez Port.
At this time, the French Army’s aircraft carriers will seize the opportunity to attack Suez Port, and it won’t take much effort to control it and block the Suez Canal.
The real problem lies at Toulon Port.
The French Army’s main battleships at Toulon Port direction consist of only 2 Dreadnoughts and 6 pre-Dreadnoughts, while the rest of the battleships are deployed at Brest Port, blocked by the British Army.
Yet the British Army’s Mediterranean fleet still has 7 battleships remaining.
intercepting 7 gives an advantage, but if the British Army decides to go for broke, the inexperienced French Army might suffer considerable casualties.
General Winter is unaware of these.
Shire tries his best to embellish the data:
"We have deployed 20 Janie B-type bombers and 30 Caproni torpedo attack planes on Malta Island."
"The deployment numbers at Toulon Port are 10 and 50, respectively, and there are various types of fighters; the latter can ensure you can’t take off seaplanes."
"Plus, with the Toulon Fleet, do you think your fleet can break through the Tunis Strait and Gibraltar Strait to escape back to England?"
Then Shire adds:
"More importantly, we have modified 5 aircraft carriers, Winter, you’re facing only 3 of them."
"Where the other two are, no need to say, you already know, right?"
Boasting isn’t taxed, Shire wants to use this data to destroy General Winter’s psychological defenses, making him believe the French Navy has completely trapped them in the Mediterranean.
General Winter isn’t spooked easily, but cold sweat immediately came out as he held the telegram.
He knows France has 5 aircraft carriers undergoing modification; the cooperation with France on the aircraft carrier upgrade is his responsibility, so he fully trusts Shire’s half-true words.
"So." General Winter asks, "You didn’t fall into it, did you?"
"What?" Shire didn’t understand General Winter’s question.
General Winter replied with a few words: "The design of the aircraft carrier, you didn’t retain the rear-half of the ship’s guns."
Otherwise, the French bombers wouldn’t have been able to take off and land so quickly, with 3 aircraft carriers maintaining over 40 fighter jets and bombers in the air while having a low fault rate in take-offs and landings.
"Yes, of course." Shire answered, "You can consult Captain Maier about our aircraft carrier’s layout if you want to know."
Captain Maier is the one guarding General Winter; he is responsible for General Winter’s "safety."
General Winter waved the telegram toward Captain Maier: "Shire says you know the layout of the aircraft carrier?"
"Layout?" Captain Maier looked puzzled: "What layout?"
General Winter explained: "Mainly the runway of the aircraft carrier, you are also using the straight-through deck, right?"
Captain Maier exclaimed "Oh" suddenly enlightened:
"If you’re talking about this, I do know."
"I’m not sure if it counts as a straight-through deck because one runway is angled."
General Winter was shocked: "Angled?"
"Yes." Captain Maier glanced at General Winter’s telegram, exchanged eye contact with the communication soldier to confirm it was Shire’s order, then returned the telegram to General Winter.
Then he took a few steps to the radio station, grabbed a piece of paper and pencil from the communication soldier, and drew a simple layout of the aircraft carrier deck with two straight lines representing the runway orientation.
He handed the sketch to General Winter: "It’s pretty much like this, you can understand its function, right?"
If you can understand it, I don’t need to explain more.
General Winter glanced at the sketch, initially puzzled why they’d use such an irregular angled deck.
But with a little thought, he understood, staring at Captain Maier in shock: "This, you really are using this shape of deck?"
"Of course!" Captain Maier nodded, smiling proudly: "This was originally by Admiral Shire. So you didn’t lose unjustly, what do you think?"
General Winter, bit his lip but said nothing.
Even a guard can talk to him like this!
However, General Winter finally admitted defeat, completely conceding, losing convincingly.
France has such aircraft carriers and five of them, also equipped with new bombers and torpedo planes.
What hope is left for the Royal Navy?
Not just the Mediterranean; the entire world’s oceans will be France’s.
As an island nation, England now needs to consider not Germany’s reparations issue, nor defeating France, but the security of the British Isles, its own safety!
Once Shire encircles England with aircraft carriers and warships, it will be completely blockaded and isolated from the world!
Then, another telegram from Shire arrives: "Now know where the gap is, Winter?"
General Winter weakly responds: "Yes."
Even if the Hundred-eyed Giant and Furious were resurrected now, they still couldn’t defeat the French army.
It’s hard to imagine Shire simply changed the runway direction in the latter half of the deck, tilting it slightly, and achieved so many benefits:
It allows two planes to take off simultaneously, the take-off and landing do not interfere with each other, and the management of take-off and landing zones is better...
General Winter sighed lightly, shaking his head slightly.
The British Army would need several years to build such aircraft carriers, but now it’s too late.
"So." Shire said:
"I hope you understand; I’m not hoping for you to surrender, nor am I persuading surrender, but I hope to save their lives."
"I don’t want to see them die meaninglessly under bomb and torpedo attacks. This outcome has been predestined, and the price the French Navy will pay is minimal."
"Likewise, so are you; you are saving their lives. Save or not, the decision is yours!"
General Winter considered for a while, finally nodded in agreement.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked:
"Order them? They might not listen to me."
"I mean they don’t know this, so they won’t easily choose to surrender; they’ll only think I’m a coward and a traitor!"
Shire was secretly delighted, having finally managed to fool this guy.
