Without the exuberance of London, without the clean and tidy streets and tall and majestic houses, the burghers in inferior fabrics and old clothes were more common than the richly dressed aristocrats, and there were more horsemen on all kinds of horses and stern-looking lookers than the commoners loitering, this was Birmingham, the wartime capital of England.

The previous city hall had been occupied by the influx of government officials and parliamentarians from London, and Birmingham's mayor and civil servants had to rent two three-storey houses two blocks away. As for the honorable King George and the Maharajas, they moved into a luxurious estate in the southern suburbs of Birmingham provided free of charge by the Earl of Dark. For security reasons, the civilian population in the vicinity of the estate was relocated, and four Royal Artillery Battalions, one Royal Fighter Squadron and three Royal Cavalry Regiments were to provide three-dimensional, fully defended protection for the Royal Family, although the cross-painted aircraft never appeared near Birmingham.

George V sat in the position of the boss with his head propped on his right hand, a minister on his left hand, and two dozen generals, a dozen army generals, and a dozen navy generals on his right hand.

Since the Anglo-German naval battle in September, George V has suffered from headaches, and it is nothing in normal times, but his head hurts more and more when he hears bad news, as if a German parasite lives in his head, and any news that is favorable to Germany can make it active for a while. Like Empress Victoria of Germany, George V suffered from an incurable heart disease.

After thinking about it for a while, Prime Minister Lloyd and others decided to tell George V all the bad news in the past few days at once, and the long pain is better than the short pain after all. As everyone expected, George V covered his head in pain before he could finish listening, and from time to time he struck a few times with his fists.

"Your Majesty is angry, and your body is important......"

Ministers and generals did not want to see George V ill, they were already preoccupied with the present situation, and if the king was lost as spiritual leader, the determination of the whole of England to resist would be severely damaged, and the morale of the nation, which had been boosted by national pride, was likely to fall to the brink again.

It was a long time before George V held out his left hand to show that he could hold on.

"My Prime Minister, the Minister of the Admiralty, and the Minister of War, you must ascertain as soon as possible where the Germans are to land, and we will drive all the Germans ashore into the sea with all our might, so that the Germans will retreat in the face of difficulty. The Germans were only fit to live on land, and they were nowhere near as good as our Britons' innate ability to rule over the seas! ”

Hearing the king's firm words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Over time, many Britons came to realize that they could not destroy their shipyards and bow down to the Germans, and that a war on their backs had a chance to rebuild the country's glory. Many people even believe that George V is the most resilient and great British monarch of all generations, and if he can lead the people of LinkedIn through this difficult time, the British Empire will reach another peak in his hands.

"Sir Fisher, go on!" George V took a deep breath and bred himself for the bad news to come.

"Yes, Your Majesty the King!" Admiral Fisher stood up and bowed to the king as a sign of his respect for his perseverance.

"According to the information we have received, the German Navy is currently deployed across the Channel with 19 capital battleships, 28 armored battleships, 56 cruisers, 130 destroyers, and thousands of transports, including the Germans themselves, the ships of our British Empire captured in naval battles, and a large number of warships and ships provided by the French government, our former ally and now Germany's servant. The ships are now divided into three fleets, one in Le Havre, one in Calais, France, and one in Antwerp, Belgium. Judging by this disposition, we believe that the Germans are most likely to land in Brighton and Dover, and of course we do not rule out the possibility of their landing in other areas. ”

"With the transport capacity of these ships, we think that the Germans can send one and a half army groups to our beaches at once, that is, about 300,000 heavily armed German army soldiers. The strategy of our Admiralty was to delay the German fleet to send the next wave of troops to the beach with all its might, after the first wave of German landings. If we're lucky, we can buy the army units 2-3 days to wipe out the 300,000 German troops who have landed. ”

"2-3 days? I really doubt that our great navy will be able to buy so much time for our army right now! In addition, whether the Germans will transport as many infantry as possible in the first wave of landing, or whether they will transport equipment including armored vehicles and supplies, our army does not need to formulate different strategies, and naval intelligence should try its best to detect this information, which I am afraid does not need to be taught by our War Department! ”

Secretary of War Kitchener mockingly said that because the Admiralty focused the negotiations on the quantity and quality of warships and ammunition, the War Department was ultimately displeased with the fact that it only received a "giveaway" of 100,000 rifles, 500 machine guns, 400 cannons, 10 million rounds of ammunition, 100,000 shells, and 200 engines in the land-for-fleet deal with the Americans. Kitchener even claimed that it was the Admiralty that had caused his soldiers to fight the German tanks with flintlock muskets, and that Fisher and Churchill were primarily responsible if the British Army was ineffective.

"If the fleet provided by the Americans can participate in the defense of our homeland in time, our navy may even thwart the landing operation of the Germans from the sea! Unfortunately, only the sailors we sent from mainland China and recruited in Canada and New Zealand were enough to control most of the fleet, let alone combat effectiveness. If the defense of the homeland is lost, the U.S. government, which refuses to 'lend' the sailors and officers of that fleet to us, should be held responsible! ”

The army generals frowned at the Admiralty's statement of shirking responsibility, and even Lloyd's couldn't stand it, "Your Excellency, unless the Americans are willing to go to war, what you say is just empty words, how can the US government let its sailors be cannon fodder for our war between Britain and Germany?" The Admiralty should concentrate on making some more realistic plans! ”

"Yes!" Fisher was a little discouraged, and he muttered quietly, "Even if Nelson comes, I'm afraid it will not be possible to defeat the German fleet with aircraft carriers with such a British fleet!" ”

"It is said that the third aircraft carrier of the Germans has departed from the port of Königsberg, apparently to have come to participate in the landing battle, and the spies report that it is faster and stronger than the two aircraft carriers already owned by the German Navy! Will our Navy be able to survive a morning in front of three German aircraft carriers? Kitchener took the opportunity to add a basin of cold water to Fisher, which many people already knew, but no one wanted to mention it in front of the king.

Syllable!

George V's palm slammed on the table, startling everyone present, "What time is it!" You're still here for internal friction! Are you worthy of your Imperial uniform? ”

After all, the spiritual leader is the spiritual leader, and everyone present fell silent, especially Kitchener and Fisher, who lowered their heads and stopped talking.

"The shelling of the Brighton Beach Line and the fortress of Dover by the German fleet was a defeat not only for the Army, but also for the Navy! The attack on the Furland fighter squadron, about the attack on the Furlan fighter squadron, the bombing of the Blanco and Stockton arsenals, the attack on the headquarters of the 17th Division of the Third Army of the Second Army and the regimental headquarters of the 3rd Regiment of the Dover Garrison, the Army is responsible, and the Navy has no right to snicker! At this critical juncture, the Admiralty and the War Office should put aside all contradictions and work together, otherwise what will we do to defeat the Germans, who have a huge advantage! ”

George V was very angry at the schadenfreude of the War Office, but after the death of important admirals and the capture of prisoners, the unwounded army and army generals have become his last hope.

Lao jumped out at the right time to ease the atmosphere, "There is no need to worry too much, after all, the new German aircraft carrier is still some time away from the expected service, and its combat effectiveness cannot be 100% exerted at this time!" As for the Americans, we should ship the ships and weapons they have provided back to the British mainland as soon as possible. Even if this fleet stayed in British ports, it would be a big threat to the German Navy! ”

"I'm sorry!" Kitchener nodded at Fisher.

"Same!" Fisher also put aside the depression and dissatisfaction in his heart for a while.

George V sat back in his chair, his face flushed from the agitation he had been before.

"As long as the Admiralty can get the correct information about the landing sites of the German troops, our army will make careful arrangements to ensure that the landing German troops will be annihilated on the beach!"

When the British Navy was at its strongest, the Admiralty was mainly responsible for sending spies to collect intelligence, and even though the navy's strength was rapidly declining now, Churchill, the intelligence chief, still had a very large scope of control, and the War Office often needed to rely on the Admiralty's intelligence. It was also because of the decay of the navy and the lack of superior fortress guns that the British Army formulated to avoid the fire of the German naval guns and go all out against the German army.

"Our Admiralty will know everything!" Fisher's statement made the smell of fire at the imperial meeting finally fade.

"With regard to the attack on the Flland fighter squadron, the bombing of the Blanco and Slinton arsenals, the attack on the headquarters of the 17th Division of the 3rd Army of the Second Army and the regimental headquarters of the 3rd Regiment of the Dover Garrison, we have established that some Germans disguised as our army units were responsible! Due to the large increase in the number of new recruits, new troops and colonial legions in our homeland in recent months, this has caused a lot of inconvenience to our identification and prevention work. For most officers, at least half of the current army units in Britain are unknown to them, and it is almost impossible to check the identities of other soldiers in a short period of time! As the German landing was approaching, and the movements of our army were even more frequent, it was too difficult to find out this small group of Germans! Kitchener gritted his teeth and expressed the helplessness of the Army.

George V suddenly went into a state of headache, although he was far from being the kind of monarch who would do everything himself, but it was enough for him to listen to these things.

Lloyd sighed, he couldn't do anything about it, the army has never been Britain's strong point, and the army construction is far behind the navy.

"Our navy will drive that fleet back from the United States as soon as possible, and as for the trouble encountered by the War Department, I think the only way to do it is to strengthen the defense of various important military targets!"

When Fisher said this, he never imagined that it would soon become a lever for the War Office's attack. Military targets such as arsenals, arsenals, concealed airfields, and artillery positions were indeed strengthened, but the number of soldiers guarding bank vaults in Brighton, Portsmouth, London, and elsewhere was not increased, and the local garrisons paid much less attention to these places.

"The defenders were 1 infantry battalion of about 450 men, and they were on duty around the vault in 6 shifts, every 4 hours from 0:00, and the changing of the guard lasted about 5 minutes; In addition to the three Maxim heavy machine guns deployed on the north and south sides, the only defensive weapons were rifles and pistols in the hands of the defending soldiers; The vault is surrounded by a 2-metre-high fence topped by uncharged barbed wire; The vault is an open area 30 to 40 meters wide on the southeast and west sides, with sparse shrubs on the outside, and a road to the north, where there are few cars on weekdays, and there are about 70 households living nearby! ”

On a farm in the western suburbs of London, a couple of men in British Army lieutenant uniforms are researching a nearby vault. Britain is notoriously wealthy, especially gold, and it is said that several banks in London have astronomical amounts of gold in their vaults, although there are also rumors that all of the gold has been transferred to Canada, far from the war, or buried in secret locations known to a few members of the royal family. In any case, the group of Germans in British uniforms had to go inside, and the answers in the vault were what some important German people wanted to know.

"We now have two hundred and thirty-three people, and both deception and raid can be employed!" The speaker was a middle-aged man in a captain's uniform, with fluffy and sparse blonde hair that looked like he had a tendency to bow down.

"The nearest British military garrison to the vault is 20 miles away, and if we cut the telephone lines between the vault and the outside world in advance, if it were only reported by nearby residents or patrols based on the gunfire, it would have been about an hour before the British troops responded." Another captain was more familiar, he was Captain Cullen, who had led the attack on the British fighters, and after that, they also successfully attacked the Blanco arsenal and a British division headquarters, forcing the British to adjust the deployment of large areas around Brighton, and causing George V a headache for a while. In the previous three operations, this commando team lost a total of 11 soldiers, compared to this small sacrifice, their results are huge, if they successfully cooperate with the landing of most of the German army, the living people will definitely be indispensable to the Iron Cross of the first class, and the sacrificed people will also become national heroes.

"In addition, we can also send some people to ambush reinforcements on the side of the road, and it will not be a problem to delay the reinforcements for half an hour!" The captain of Xie Ding was a member of the "British Infiltrators" who received the second group of commandos, and their results were not small, an arsenal and a garrison regimental headquarters, when they attacked the regimental headquarters at night, they encountered a large number of patrols, although they lost nearly twenty commandos, but successfully induced the British patrol to exchange fire with their own people, so that the British army in Dover was almost in chaos.

"Then we can make two plans, if we can trick the defenders into opening the door, our losses can be minimized, but the possibility of tricking into the vault is not very high! The second plan is to launch a strong attack immediately after the failure of the first plan. The machine gun crew should pay attention to suppressing the machine gun fire points of the British, and the others should also occupy those machine guns as soon as possible after breaking through the British perimeter defense, which is the key to the operation! As for the ZHA ammunition used in the blasting, we took the risk of getting hundreds of kilograms of high-explosive ZHA ammunition from the ammunition depot we attacked earlier, so it should be no problem to blow up that vault! "After three operations, the commander of the 1st Commando, Second Lieutenant Tobias, had clearly adapted to the role of saboteur, and the assault operation was more suited to his command skills.

"I agree, if you can't deceive, you will attack! Although the losses will be larger, it is obviously not easy to get into that vault by fraud as before! Speaking at this time was another second lieutenant officer as young as Tobias, who was the commander of the 2nd Commando Brigade, Halim. In this commando, the "British Infiltrator" plays the role of the leader, while the commander is more like the coach and captain, but when it comes to different opinions, they are mainly based on the leader's opinion. In the event of a conflict of opinion between Captain Cullen and Captain Xie Ding, the opinion of Captain Cullen, the leader of the 1st Commando Team, prevails.

"Agreed!" Cullen doesn't have much research and practice on actual combat command, after all, he is a good spy, not a generalist.

"I agree!" Captain Xie Ding felt that he was smart enough, and that this kind of tactical problem should be solved by the commanders.

"That way, we'll have about two to two and a half hours to storm the vault and carry the gold, if there's gold in it!" As he spoke, Haylim looked out the window to see two trucks "borrowed" from the British army parked on the farm, and the owner of the farm, whose family, was cooking breakfast for the "British brothers".

"If the gold in this vault hadn't been transferred after the war, I'm afraid our trucks would only be able to hold a tenth of it!" Cullen said with some emotion that if he had laughed at all the gold of Britain, Germany would not only be able to quickly recover the losses of the war, but also have rapid industrial and economic development. At present, Germany's industrial strength is only half that of the United States, which is what the German rulers are most worried about, and post-war development will become Germany's number one task, and obtaining as much British wealth as possible is the most important side task of the German army in addition to victory.

"Better prepare some more wagons and ox carts!" Captain Xie Ding looked at the cattle and sheep in the distance and proposed.

"What a great idea! It looks like we're going to be Robin Hood who robs the rich and gives to the poor! Tobias stretched.

Outside the window, a red sun has just emerged from the horizon with a smiling face.