At about eight o'clock in the evening of September 20, 3013 in the Tang calendar, in a large hall of the imperial palace in Feni City, the capital of the Sharad Empire, the Minister of the Navy Gavril cautiously announced to Emperor Herris: "Your Majesty, in the naval battle near the port of Xingang City of the Liuyun Empire, it has been confirmed that three former dreadnought battleships, one ironclad battleship, at least five light cruisers, six destroyers, and many gunboats and torpedo boats have been sunk in the Tang Empire Navy. Safely out of the battlefield. ”

Emperor Herris asked in a gloomy voice, "How much did these warships that were sent to the Flowing Cloud Empire's navy lose in the end?" What were the casualties among officers and soldiers? ”

Admiral Gavril wiped the sweat from his head with his hand, and then said bitterly: "In addition to the several seriously injured warships that we sank ourselves during the retreat, in this naval battle, our Royal Navy of Sharad had a total of eighteen ironclad battleships, five old medium armored cruisers, twenty-nine escort cruisers and sixty-two new torpedo boats sunk, and the number of dead and missing officers and men reached 14,000, as well as nearly 2,000 wounded. ”

"Bang-" Emperor Herris slammed the table in front of him with his fist, and then gritted his teeth and said: "Your navy is quite brave, with some old-fashioned warships, you dare to start a war with the Tang Imperial Navy, and you also sank three former dreadnought battleships of the Tang Imperial Navy, should I reward your navy?" ”

Admiral Minister Gavril hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is angry, this naval battle was completely provoked by the navy of the Tang Empire, and our Royal Navy of Sharad is just passively facing the battle, we ......"

Before Gavril finished speaking, Emperor Herris threw a piece of paper on the ground in front of Gavril and said gloomily: "You pick it up and take a closer look, this is the so-called passive battle?" Do you want to take me for a fool? ”

Gavril was frightened by the gloomy tone of Emperor Herris, and hurriedly picked up the paper on the ground, and after reading it quickly, Gavril was shocked, and even showed fear in his eyes, this paper gave a detailed description of the real reasons for the outbreak of the naval battle, as well as the general process of the entire naval battle, and even the fact that the captain of the Forester, Gracia, seized the command of the fleet, was also clearly written on this piece of paper.

Gavril then explained urgently: "Your Majesty, the minister really didn't know what it was like this, I didn't expect Viktoro to be so bold and reckless, and forged the illusion that the Tang Imperial Navy was the first to open fire, and our Admiralty will definitely punish Viktoro with the most severe punishment!" ”

In fact, before the Admiral Gavril entered the palace, he had received a secret message from the captain of the Forester, Graxia, knowing that the naval battle was planned by Commander Victor, but after weighing the pros and cons, Gavril decided to hide the truth about the outbreak of this naval battle from Emperor Herris.

The reason why Gavril did this, on the one hand, was to shirk his responsibilities as the Minister of the Navy, and on the other hand, because Commander Viktoro could be regarded as Gavril's teacher, when Gavril had just graduated from the Naval Academy, he served as a trainee officer on a sail battleship of which Viktoro was the captain, and later with the help and teaching of Viktoro, Gavril grew up little by little, and even became better than the blue, and finally became the Admiral of the Salad Empire.

On this occasion, Victoro used his last service for the Royal Navy of Sharad as an excuse to convince Admiral Gavril to make him the commander of a provisional fleet of thirty ironclad battleships, ten old medium armored cruisers, sixty frigate cruisers, one hundred new torpedo boats, and dozens of transports.

However, what the Admiral Gavril never expected was that Emperor Herris was very clear about what Victor had done, and it seemed that Emperor Herris had planted a lot of eyeliner in the Royal Navy of Sharad, and at this time, Admiral Gavril couldn't care about the friendship between teachers and students, so let's protect myself first!

Emperor Herris sneered, staring at the Admiral Minister Gavril for a long time without speaking, and Gavril did not dare to look at Emperor Herris's eyes at all, lowered his head and kept wiping the sweat on his head with his hands.

At this time, the prime minister Shurik, who was in the main hall, suddenly said: "Your Majesty, no matter what the reason for the naval battle broke out, now that the war has already started, then the minister feels that it is better to use this as a reason, and bite it was the Tang Empire Navy that fired the cannon first, so that the Seven Nations Alliance officially declared war on the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire." ”

Hearing Prime Minister Shurik speak, Admiral Gavril couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, turned his head and glanced at Prime Minister Shurik gratefully.

Emperor Herris listened to Prime Minister Shulik's words, frowned, and said hesitantly: "But according to the agreement between the seven countries, war will be declared on the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire at the beginning of January next year, and the countries will use the more than three months to transfer troops and raise materials, and it is not too hasty to declare war on the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire now, even the newly expanded forty infantry divisions of our Salad Royal Army have not been completely completed at present." ”

Prime Minister Shurik said calmly: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is not much difference between declaring war early and declaring war later, even if war is declared on the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire now, the naval and land armies of our Seven Nations Alliance can completely wait until they are ready to launch an attack, and there is no need to launch an offensive immediately after declaring war." ”

Emperor Herris frowned and asked, "What if war is declared now, and the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire take the initiative to attack first?" ”

Prime Minister Shurik smiled and said: "If the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire take the initiative to attack, it may be more beneficial for our Seven Nations Alliance, for example, once the army of the Tang Empire launches an attack on the border area of our Sharad Empire, then our Salad Royal Army can use the strong position to consume the effective force of the Tang Army, and when our Salad Royal Army, Yingluoba Army, and Noomi Army counterattack the territory of the Tang Empire, the resistance encountered will be weakened a lot." ”

Emperor Herris hesitated for a moment and said: "I'm not worried about the Tang Empire's army invading the border areas of our Sharad Empire, I'm a little worried about the Liuyun Empire, at present, our Sharad Royal Army only has a total of eight infantry divisions, and this has to count the two infantry divisions that just resisted the Liuyun Empire, and the armies of the Monia Empire and the Ruierlan Empire have not yet set off from the Northern Continent!" ”

Prime Minister Shurik continued to smile and said: "Your Majesty, the minister hopes that the army of the Tang Empire can attack the Liuyun Empire first, in that case, the Liuyun Empire will be completely tied to the side of our Seven Nations Alliance, and the intelligence department of our Sharad Empire has received accurate information before, and the emperor of the Liuyun Empire is not willing to send troops to attack the Tang Empire." ”

Emperor Herris nodded and said, "What the Prime Minister said also makes sense, then try to contact the other six countries to discuss the matter of declaring war on the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire in advance." ”

Then Emperor Herris said coldly to Gavril, the Minister of the Admiralty: "I don't care what your relationship with that old thing Victor is, the Admiralty must deal with Victor seriously, and keep the real cause of the outbreak of the naval battle tightly sealed, and the truth must not be disseminated." ”

Admiral Gavril nodded again and again and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, the Admiralty will definitely punish Viktoro with the most severe punishment and ensure that the real reason for the outbreak of the naval battle will not be revealed." ”

On the morning of 20 September, the Salad Empire held a press conference to strongly condemn the unprovoked attack on the Salad Royal Navy by the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, and demanded that the Tang Empire give an explanation to the Salad Empire as soon as possible and compensate for the huge losses of the Salad Royal Navy, otherwise the Salad Empire will not rule out the use of force to avenge the dead officers and men of the Salad Royal Navy.

Immediately after that, on the afternoon of 20 September, and on the morning of the next day, six countries, including Yingluoba, Noomi, Monia, Gisk, Ruierland, and Orenza, also held press conferences one after another, strongly protesting and condemning the attack on the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire against the Royal Navy of Sharad, and urging the Tang Empire to apologize to the Salad Empire as soon as possible, otherwise these six countries will use all means to punish the Tang Empire together with the Salad Empire in accordance with the agreement of the Seven-Power Alliance.

At two o'clock in the afternoon of September 21, 3013 in the Tang calendar, in the Xiande Hall in the Imperial Palace of Chang'an City, Su Yi said in a deep voice to He Yunfei, commander-in-chief of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire, and Xu Haoming, the prime minister of the Tang Empire: "Now that the seven countries of the Seven Nations Alliance have popped out, it seems that before our Royal Army of the Tang Empire and the Royal Army of the Purple Moon Empire launch an attack on the Liuyun Empire and the Celestial Star Empire respectively, the Seven Nations Alliance is likely to declare war on our Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire!" ”

Cabinet Premier Xu Haoming said indignantly at this time: "Your Majesty, the Shalad Empire is simply reversing black and white, this naval battle was obviously deliberately caused by the Shalad Navy, but now it is framed as the first shot fired by the Royal Navy of our Tang Empire, which is extremely shameless!" ”

Su Yi then said: "Haoming, hold a press conference as soon as possible to announce to the outside world that the Shalad Navy deliberately provoked a naval battle, and we in the Tang Empire will not carry this black cauldron." ”

Cabinet Premier Xu Haoming nodded and said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, the minister will personally preside over the press conference tomorrow to expose the sinister face of the Sharad Empire." ”

He Yunfei frowned at this time and said, "Your Majesty, the Shalad Empire is so upside down that it is very likely to be a prelude to the Seven Nations Alliance's declaration of war on our Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire. ”

A cold light appeared in Su Yi's eyes and said, "I'm just waiting for the Seven Nations Alliance to declare war on our Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire!" ”