After the declaration of war, China quickly launched its military plan, and the previously designed strategy began to be activated.

But Britain is faster than China.

The British Navy quickly launched an attack on the Chinese base in Sicily, and at this time the British Navy deployed in the Mediterranean, with as many as 100 capital ships, accounting for half of the British Navy's capital ships. The blockade of Germany was carried out by the British army, and the Mediterranean fleet was never mobilized, and the blockade Germany only transferred back the Indian, West African and American fleets to strengthen the home fleet. Britain has never reduced its defense in the Mediterranean.

After more than three years of arms race, China has built a capital ship of 400 20,000-ton ironclad ships, twice the size of the British navy, but the sea area that China wants to control is more than five times that of the British. The entire Pacific Ocean has become China's inland sea, both sides of the Pacific Ocean are China's spheres of influence, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean are controlled by China, and the Pacific Ocean alone is larger than all the seas controlled by the British. Coupled with the contraction of the United Kingdom, they only need to control the Atlantic region between Britain and the Americas, and directly give up control of the Indian seas, which greatly increases their control.

In the three months before the war, China was not without action, but there were too many sea areas that could not be abandoned. First of all, the Pacific region must maintain a certain proportion of the fleet, most of China's trade takes the Pacific route, if the Pacific waters are not defended, the British only need to mobilize a small fleet, can affect the security of China's trade routes.

China needs to maintain a naval presence in at least key areas, a fleet in South Africa to prevent the British fleet from entering the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic, and a fortification at the southern tip of South America to prevent British troops from entering the Pacific Ocean from here. In addition to these open seas, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal must also be fortified.

Among them, the size of the South African Navy can complete the interception mission, and the fleet of the African company, forming a joint fleet with the South African Navy, is enough to block the British fleet in this direction; But in South America, it relies mainly on the Americas Company, whose fleet cruises between Uruguay, the Falkland Islands (Falklands), and the South Shetland Islands, blocking the Drake Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

The Chinese fleet in the Panama Canal could not move, and although it was unlikely that the British would break through into the Pacific Ocean from here, it was possible that the British Navy would raid here, destroy the canal, and prevent the Chinese Navy from entering the Atlantic Ocean from here during the war. The Suez Canal is also basically defended by the Chinese fleet, the Egyptian navy has existed in name only, and after the steam age, there are few large ships.

These fortified waters greatly dispersed the strength of the Chinese navy, resulting in the fact that before the declaration of war, the capital ships assembled in the Mediterranean direction were comparable to those of the British, with only 120 capital ships, and the fleets of European companies were mostly cruisers used by Shanghai and Hangzhou, which could play a limited role in the naval battle for sea supremacy.

As a result, the British army took the lead in attacking, and China fell into passivity.

Due to the careful planning of the British, the Sicily fleet could not be compared with the British army at all, and the British sent the main forces of the western Mediterranean here, concentrating as many as 60 capital ships to besiege the Chinese base, while the size of the Chinese fleet in Sicily, only 20 capital ships and some auxiliary ships, at the beginning of the war could only retreat into the port, and then use battery fire to confront.

The Chinese sailors had a planned attack on the British, and in fact they had guessed that the British would attack Sicily first, but underestimated the speed of the British navy. China had its own battle plan, the British planned to pull out the nail of Sicily at the beginning of the war, and the Chinese sailors also planned to pull out the nail of Cyprus at the beginning of the war, and both sides hoped to clear the enemy outposts in their sphere of influence first.

Since the British army took the lead, the Chinese sailors were now faced with such a choice: one was to temporarily abandon their plan and mobilize the main force to aid Sicily and fight the main force of the British navy, or the other was to continue to carry out their plan, first to clear the British base in the eastern Mediterranean, and then to rescue Sicily.

The military conference was convened urgently, and some advocated the rescue of Sicily first, believing that Sicily was more important to China's strategic position than Cyprus. Cyprus may be important to European countries, because it is an island facing the coast of the Middle East, and whoever controls it has control over the Syrian coast, but it is not of high value to China, Syria is now ruled by Egypt, and Egypt is controlled by China, so China does not need to influence the mainland through the islands, and the route from the Suez Canal does not pass through Cyprus; Sicily is different, it is one of the necessary routes from Egypt to Europe, Sicily is stuck between the eastern and western Mediterranean, in the bee waist position of the Mediterranean, whoever controls here, occupies the initiative in and out of the Mediterranean.

There are also those who advocate attacking Cyprus first, because this is China's strategy, and some officers believe that they should follow their own plans, otherwise they will fall into passivity and can only follow the enemy's pace. Once you fall into passivity, this may be more terrible than gaining or losing part of the land, because the enemy cannot be unprepared for your response, you can only act according to the enemy's plan step by step, step by step, step by step.

In the end, the crown prince decided to follow his own plan and take the initiative. At the same time, he ordered the defenders of Sicily to hold on, believing that Sicily was a large, densely populated island that could hold on for a long time, while Cyprus was relatively barren and that China would definitely be able to occupy it before the British could react.

Moreover, the attack on Cyprus can be supported by Greece, and the 30 capital ships of Greece at this time are very important.

No one expected that this choice would cause a chain reaction.

China easily blockaded Cyprus and sent troops to land, and the British navy had long since withdrawn, and they had planned to use their land forces to resist stubbornly. At the same time, the British also landed in Sicily and tried to attack the Chinese base with their land forces.

The situation of the battle, on the contrary, is not good for China, because both sides are building strong fortresses on naval bases, and they are not easy to capture. However, China's war in Cyprus was a purely military operation, while the British in Sicily had the support of the locals.

It was an accident, but it made sense. Sicily is a densely populated island, and the food itself is not only self-sufficient, but also exported in large quantities, which is the basis of what Chinese sailors believe Sicily can hold on to for a long time, but Chinese rule here is a kind of colonial rule for the locals. So when the British landed, the locals chose to side with the British. And in Cyprus, for the locals, British rule was colonial rule, and now the Chinese are coming, still colonial rule, and they choose neutrality.

"Why? Will the Sicilians support the British, and the Cypriots do not support us? ”

The crown prince did not understand.

Li Zhangtong, who was in charge of the diplomatic situation, explained to the crown prince.

"Your Highness. Sicily is predominantly Italian, or rather they consider themselves Sicilian. The local clans are powerful and form gangs like the Mafia. We are all from the UK, and we are all visitors to them, not welcome. And the Italian government also has some influence here, and the Italian government seems to be secretly supporting the British. ”

The crown prince frowned: "Do the Italians want to be enemies of our Celestial Empire?" ”

Li Zhangtong sighed: "Italians are rats at both ends and lack guts. But the UK gave them the benefit, and I received a message of confirmation. Britain and France were courting Italy, and the British promised that if they occupied Sicily, they would return it to Italy, leaving only military bases. The condition was that Italy helped the British. France, on the other hand, wanted Italy to form an alliance with France against Germany. However, the Italians had a great appetite and wanted to reclaim Nice and Savoy, which had been ceded to France during the Austro-Prussian War, where the Italian royal family began. ”

The crown prince said: "Will France agree?" ”

If a country like Italy were on the side of France, it would greatly alleviate France's military inferiority, although Italy's industry was not good and its economy was also very poor, but Italy had a large population and was particularly capable of birth, and was called a rabbit by Austria-Hungary. Italy's population grew by a fifth in just two decades after unification, and just as many people emigrated abroad. The population structure under high growth is very good, although it has a population of only 28 million, but Italy has a very large number of soldiers of appropriate age, and it is not a problem to arm an army of three million. It was a force that could change the situation, enough to bring France's forces on par with Germany's.

Li Zhangtong shook his head and said: "The French government encourages the people to recover the lost land, and if the land is ceded to Italy, it will affect the prestige of the government." However, I heard that France is considering ceding the colony of Tunisia to Italy, so that Italy can control both sides of the central Mediterranean, and I wonder if Italy will agree. ”

The crown prince snorted, "What about our allies? When did the Greeks get their hands dirty? There are a large number of Greeks in Cyprus, can't the Greek government encourage them? ”

Li Zhangtong hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness." Greece made a request. Cyprus is going to be handed over to them! ”

The crown prince said: "Didn't you promise them a long time ago?" ”

The main inhabitants of Cyprus are descendants, accounting for nearly eighty percent, and more than two percent are Ottoman Turks, so the Greeks have been trying to take back here, but this place has been ruled by the British, and during the arms race, China promised to help Greece recover Cyprus, so that Greece could support China in the war.

Li Zhangtong sighed: "They have made a new demand, as long as we promise to return Crete to them, they are willing to enter the war immediately!" ”

"What!"

The crown prince stood up angrily.

said angrily: "Zhou Chenggong is taking advantage of the fire to rob!" ”

He scolded his brother.