Just when the Han and Tang Empires and the countries of the Nine Nations Military Alliance were doing their best to prepare for war, an unexpected event suddenly accelerated the pace of the coming war.

In the middle of the night on March 18, 1577, an ocean-going freighter of the Imperial Transport Group of the Han and Tang Empires was sunk by a mine off the coast of the Black Bear Empire.

Of the 36 crew members of the ocean-going freighter, only 10 were rescued by a nearby Black Bear Imperial Navy frigate, while the other 26 crew members, including the captain, were all missing.

And to be lost in a shipwreck means that you have been killed.

In the tense situation of the Han and Tang Empires and the military alliance of the Nine Kingdoms, such a thing happened, which immediately made many people nervous.

"Is the matter clear?" Denisor, the emperor of the Black Bear Empire, asked Prime Minister Ania in a deep voice.

Prime Minister Ania said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, the place where the ocean-going freighter of the Han and Tang Empire struck a mine belongs to a civilian waterway, and the navy has not laid mines in the nearby sea at all.

Now there are two possibilities, one is that maybe the mine drifted from other seas, and the other is that the explosion was written and directed by the Han and Tang Empires, and there were no mines at all. ”

At that time, in order to prevent the Han and Tang Empires from landing on its coast, the Black Bear Empire opened up a new battlefield, and the navy of the Black Bear Empire laid a lot of mines in the coastal waters, forming a piece of maritime minefield.

Although after the end of the war, the navy of the Black Bear Empire fished out most of the mines, but some of the mines drifted to other places and could not be found, or could not be found at all.

However, in more than ten years, ordinary mines should have lost their effectiveness and could no longer be detonated.

Emperor Denisor snorted coldly, "I see that this explosion was written and directed by the Han and Tang Empires, and the purpose was to provoke a war with the entire military alliance of the Nine Kingdoms. ”

Prime Minister Ania hesitated for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, the Han and Tang Empires are now asking our Black Bear Empire to give an explanation, how can we reply?" ”

Emperor Deniso thought for a while and said, "Let's just say that the mines are left over from the last war, and our Black Bear Empire is willing to compensate the ocean-going freighter and the crew members who were killed." ”

Prime Minister Ania couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, he originally thought that Emperor Deniso would take a tough attitude this time, but he didn't expect that Emperor Deniso chose to calm down.

Then Emperor Deniso sighed and said: "This war with the Han and Tang Empires should not be detonated by our Black Bear Empire, not to mention that our Black Bear Empire has already spent a high price to introduce the production technology of the fourth-generation fighter from the Red Tiger Empire.

I hope that the time of the outbreak of war will be as long as possible, preferably our Black Bear Empire's Royal Air Force, which is already equipped with our Black Bear Empire's own fourth-generation fighters. ”

Prime Minister Ania nodded and said, "Your Majesty is still thoughtful, and the minister knows what to do." ”

In the imperial palace of Tiansheng City, the capital of the Han and Tang Empires, Zhou Rui asked more than a dozen high-level generals of the navy, land and air forces: "What do you think of the matter of the Fu'an No. 108 ocean freighter?" ”

Fu'an 108 ocean freighter? Is it in the offshore waters of the Black Bear Empire? The ocean-going freighter that sank after a mine hit was the No. 108 ship of the Fu'an-class ocean-going freighter.

The full load displacement of the Fu'an-class ocean-going freighter is as high as 375,000 tons? Can carry 8,800 standard containers? It is currently the largest ocean-going freighter in the Han and Tang Empires, and more than 150 have been built.

Wang Kui, commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy, then said: "Your Majesty? The sinking of the ocean-going freighter Fu'an 108 off the coast of the Black Bear Empire is a once-in-a-lifetime excuse for war.

Why not take advantage of this? Directly against the Black Bear Empire? and even declare war on the entire nine-nation military alliance! ”

According to the agreement of the meeting of the prime ministers of the nine-nation military alliance, the combined fleet of the nine-nation navy will have more than 5,800 combat vessels, including 811 aircraft carriers.

However, the Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires? Because you have plenty of military spending? In addition, Zhou Rui can extract a large number of advanced warships from the lottery system, and its scale is even much larger than the combined fleet of the nine navies, and there are 867 aircraft carriers in service alone.

These include 138 U.S. Kitty Hawk class, 66 U.S. Forrestal, 60 Fuyun-class, 60 Qingtian-class, 30 Island-class, and 343 Jumbo-class, as well as 20 Hive-class, 20-Eagle's Nest-class, 20 Mountain-class, 40-River-class, and 40-Lake-class ships of the former Liangyan Imperial Navy.

In addition, 180 U.S. Midway-class aircraft carriers and 52 Bird's Nest-class aircraft carriers that have been unsealed are being modernized and equipped with advanced missile installations and ship-based weapons systems.

And if you count these 232 aircraft carriers that are being renovated? The number of aircraft carriers that the Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires can use will reach 1,099.

The Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires also had 1,445 missile battleships, 552 missile battlecruisers, 3,636 missile cruisers, 4,166 missile destroyers, 5,130 missile frigates, and 2,880 attack submarines.

Although among them, 2050 missile cruisers and 1360 missile destroyers have just been unblocked? There are also many warships that need to be repaired by shipyards before they can be delivered to the Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires.

But undeniably what? With the current strength of the Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires, it can completely crush the combined fleet of the nine navies that is about to be formed.

Also in the number of carrier-based fighters of the fourth generation? The Royal Navy of the Han and Tang Empires was also far ahead of the combined fleet of the Nine Nations Navy.

Huang Zhigang, commander-in-chief of the Royal Air Force, followed and said, "Your Majesty? Now our Royal Air Force in terms of the number of fourth-generation fighters? Compared with the entire nine-nation military alliance, it should already occupy an absolute advantage.

I am in favor of declaring war on the Nine-Nation Military Alliance now, and our Royal Air Force will definitely firmly control air supremacy for the Royal Army. ”

Due to Zhou Rui's recent release of a large number of fourth-generation fighters from the lottery system, the Royal Air Force of the Han and Tang Empires has formed 54 air divisions based on fourth-generation fighters, in addition to 92 air divisions based on third-generation fighters and 12 air divisions based on long-range bombers.

Each air force division of the Royal Air Force of the Han and Tang Empires is equipped with 1,024 combat aircraft as standard, but whether it is an air force division based on fighters or an air force division based on long-range bombers, it will be equipped with some early warning aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft, so among the 1,024 combat aircraft in each air force division, not all of them are fighters or long-range bombers.

But even so, the Royal Air Force of the Han and Tang Empires already has about 54,000 fourth-generation fighters, 92,000 third-generation fighters and 12,000 long-range bombers, which is far more powerful than the combined air forces of the nine military alliances.

After the navy and air force expressed their positions, Xiang Tao, commander-in-chief of the Royal Army, hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, with the 20 group armies adapted from the original Liangyan Imperial Army, our Royal Army already has 170 group armies and 1,000 garrison divisions.

However, if you want to defeat the armies of the six orc countries and the three elven countries, it is best to expand the force a little more.

Our Royal Army is preparing to form 30 new army groups and 500 new garrison divisions in the future, so that the strength of our Royal Army can reach 100 million. ”

After the end of the war within the Nine Nations Military Alliance, the armies of the six orc countries and the three elven countries not only did not shrink, but continued to expand their armies.

Today, the army strength of each country in the nine-nation military alliance is more than 10 million, and even the army strength of several countries can reach more than 20 million.

Therefore, compared with the three armies of the Han and Tang Empires, only the army cannot crush the army of the Nine Nations Military Alliance in terms of strength.

After listening to the opinions of the navy, land and air forces, Zhou Rui groaned for a while and said: "I think I can make a big deal about the bombing and sinking of the Fu'an 108 ocean-going freighter.

Even if the war starts now, it will not delay the expansion of the army, and perhaps in this battlefield, the army's expansion of 100 million troops may not be enough. ”

After the Black Bear Empire was willing to compensate the Fu'an 108 ocean-going freighter and the crew members who were killed, they did not expect that the Han and Tang Empires would be unforgiving and issued a sky-high compensation list.

The compensation cost for each of the 26 crew members who died was 5 million silver coins, 370 million silver coins for the Fu'an 108 ocean-going freighter, and 3.5 billion silver coins for the cargo transshipped by the Fu'an 108 ocean-going freighter, for a total of 4 billion silver coins.

"Bang-" Denisso, the Emperor of the Black Bear Empire, slammed his fist on the table, "It's just too deceitful!"

This is forcing our Black Bear Empire to declare war with their Han and Tang Empires! ”

Prime Minister Ania said helplessly: "The Han and Tang Empires are obviously blackmailing, even if that ocean-going freighter is loaded with gold, it cannot be worth 3.5 billion silver coins."

It seems that the sinking of the ocean-going freighter is really a scene written and directed by the Han and Tang Empires in order to create a pretext for war. ”

Emperor Deniso gritted his teeth and said, "Immediately forward this sky-high compensation list to the other allies of the Nine Nations Military Alliance, it seems that war is inevitable." ”

Prime Minister Ania then said categorically: "Your Majesty, rest assured, in this war, our Nine Nations Military Alliance will definitely be able to achieve the final victory, and our Black Bear Empire will definitely be able to take back the Raku Province and the Sotney Province!" ”

The Black Bear Empire's Laku Province and Sotney Province have been ceded to the Han and Tang Empires according to the armistice agreement signed between the last Han and Tang Empire and the Nine Nations Military Alliance, and the combined area of these two provinces is 6 million square kilometers.

The top brass of the Black Bear Empire have always been obsessed with the cession of Raku Province and Sotney Province, and the Black Bear Empire has continued to increase military spending in recent years, hoping to snatch back Raku Province and Sotney Province.

Emperor Denisot then changed his voice, "By the way, can the vertical take-off and landing carrier-based jet fighter given by the Red Tiger Empire take off from a civilian container ship?" ”

Prime Minister Ania nodded and said, "It has been tested, and there is no problem at all."

The Red Tiger Empire has handed over all the technology and two production lines of this VTOL carrier-based jet fighter to our Black Bear Empire, and our Black Bear Empire can now produce this VTOL carrier-based jet fighter by itself.

In addition, the minister ordered the shipyard to transform a batch of container ships to act as escort aircraft carriers, and the shipyard should be able to easily transform hundreds of escort aircraft carriers with a full load displacement of more than 50,000 tons, and now only look at the output of this vertical take-off and landing carrier-based jet fighter. ”

The weight of jet carrier-based aircraft has reached more than a dozen tons, and when they land on the deck, they will cause a great impact, so they have very high requirements for the deck and structure of the aircraft carrier itself.

In response to this problem, the Red Tiger Empire has developed a vertical take-off and landing carrier-based jet fighter, designed with a downward facing engine nozzle, which can take off and land vertically directly on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

Emperor Deniso said: "Let the aircraft factory imitate a few more production lines of VTOL carrier-based jet fighters, and make every effort to produce this VTOL carrier-based jet fighter."

Our Royal Navy of the Black Bear Empire only has 40 aircraft carriers, and it is too late to build new aircraft carriers, so we can only add some more escort aircraft carriers equipped with vertical take-off and landing carrier-based jet fighters. ”

In the palace of Noerya City, the first capital of the Golden Lion Empire, Emperor Kosno put down the telegram sent by the Black Bear Empire in his hand, and said to Prime Minister Salento with a solemn face: "It seems that the Han and Tang Empires can't wait.

The Han and Tang Empires issued such a sky-high compensation list to the Black Bear Empire, obviously forcing the Black Bear Empire to refuse, and also forcing our Nine Nations Military Alliance to start a war with it. ”

Prime Minister Salento sighed and said: "Although at the recent meeting of prime ministers, all countries are willing to go all out in the next war.

However, according to the information just received by the intelligence department, the size of the Han and Tang Empire's navy, land and air forces may far exceed the estimates of our countries. ”

Emperor Kosno immediately said firmly: "The Han and Tang Empires have huge population resources and strong economic strength.

Relying on population resources and economic strength, perhaps our six spirit countries and three elf countries combined, their military strength will not be able to catch up with the Han and Tang Empires.

But now every spirit nation and every elven country has no possibility of retreating.

Once the war breaks out, the Han and Tang Empires will inevitably drive all our spirit countries and elf countries out of the Western Continent of the New World this time.

This must be very clear to the other spirit nations and the three elven countries. ”

"What Your Majesty said is extremely true, our Golden Lion Empire and the entire Nine Nations Military Alliance have no way to retreat, and we can only fight hard with the Han and Tang Empires.

The minister suggested that we, the Golden Lion Empire, immediately carry out a full-scale combat readiness mobilization. ”

Emperor Kosno nodded, "I agree to a full-scale mobilization for combat readiness.

Send another telegram to the Black Bear Empire and the other countries of the Nine Nations Military Alliance, indicating the attitude of our Golden Lion Empire, and don't forget to talk about the comprehensive combat readiness mobilization of our Golden Lion Empire. ”