At the beginning of March, Berlin is still cold and rainy with occasional light snow or sleet, and spring seems to be far away for Berliners.

The family had already moved into the splendid palace in the east of Berlin, and although the temperature here was warmer than in East Prussia, the children didn't seem happy, especially little Sasha, who was always clamoring to go back to Königsberg, the city in the sky near the lake and the forest, where she said there were her best friends and many cute little animals.

In this regard, Chen Tian only smiled helplessly, people often can't choose their own life, all they can do is to try to adapt to life.

Fortunately, 6-year-old Sasha and 4-year-old Andres soon found their new pleasure in the palace, where Sasha found a large garden with many species of plants that had never been seen before, and Andres Jr., like to wander around the royal arsenal in his free time, and both father and son were keen to tinker with weapons and armor from all eras inside. As for Lisa, she had to study hard for her status as a queen, and in addition to following a special teacher to familiarize herself with the customs and history of various countries and members of the royal family, she also recently started learning English.

On March 9, the sky over Berlin was covered with thick clouds, and the whole sky looked gray.

After having breakfast with his family, Chen Tian came to his study as usual. There, he will listen to reports and review official documents. The first visitor today was his Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff, Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria.

"My brother, is there anything particularly important about coming here so early?" For the Bavarian royal heir with royal blood, Chen Tian used to call him "my brother", although some people were puzzled by this, but Chen Tian had his own considerations. In fact, Ruprecht was not only the crown prince of the Kingdom of Bavaria, but also the heir to the British throne supported by the Jacolites. His father was King Ludwig III of Bavaria, and his mother was Princess of Modena and Mary Theresia of the James faction as Queen Mary IV of England and Queen Mary III of Scots.

Speaking of the Jacobite faction, there is actually a group of Englishmen who still support James II and his heirs as the legitimate British crown. James II (born 14 October 1633 at St. James's Palace, London, England, and d. 16 September 1701 in Saint-Germain-on-Ley, France) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1685 to 1688. He was the last Catholic King of England. His subjects did not trust his religious policies, opposed his autocracy, and he was stripped of his throne during the Glorious Revolution. His Catholic son, James Francis Edward Stuart, did not receive the throne after he was forced to abdicate, and the throne fell to his Protestant daughter Mary II and son-in-law William III. After his abdication, James II was under the protection of King Louis XIV of France. Even after his death, Louis, his son James Francis Edward, and his grandson Charles Edward Stuart continued to plot to restore the Jacobite throne, but in the end it was unsuccessful.

It is pointless to study whether James II's descendants should be the legitimate heirs to the British crown, but it is important that they have such a title. There is also a group of loyal supporters who have been the rightful kings of England for hundreds of years. At present, the Jacobite faction does not have much influence in British politics, but it has a certain appeal among the British people, especially in Scotland.

In the heyday of Britain, it was a bit inconsiderate to subvert the British government and the royal family in this way, but at this time, the situation in the whole of Britain has changed dramatically, and in front of Chentian and the German government is how to deal with the British Isles next. At the Cabinet meeting, the majority opinion was to divide Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland into separate and rule them with the direct presence and rule of German troops, and finally to colonize them gradually.

on this. Chen Tian had another idea.

Not so long ago. King Ludwig III of Bavaria was also invited to Berlin, where Chentian, Ludwig III and Ruprecht met for secret discussions several times, but the issue is still being actively discussed.

But. Ruprecht is not here for this purpose.

"Your Majesty, there is a war report from the Spanish side that the Spanish Army has captured the outlying fortifications of the fortress of Gibraltar yesterday! There is still ...... time left before the deadline of the treaty Half a month! ”

"Well, got it! What is important now is not the timing of the capture of that line by the Spanish troops, but to see what conclusions and lessons we can draw from their means of attack and casualties! ”

As for the battle report brought by Ruprecht, Chen Tian had already known it the day before. As for the casualties of the Spanish army, there are currently two versions of the data, one from the German military delegation stationed at the front and the other from the Spanish government.

To Chentian's surprise, there was only a slight difference between the two data. In other words, the Spanish government has truthfully published the casualty figures.

In just four days of fighting, together with the previous surprise attack on the Spanish fleet, the Spanish army lost a total of 21,000 soldiers and countless wounded. Although in the Polish and French battlefields, the casualties of the warring parties were in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, the British occupied Gibraltar was only a small piece of land after all. Looking at the world, I am afraid that only the battle between Japan and Germany in 1914 for Qingdao can be compared.

"Listen to our observers, the Spanish soldiers are brave, but unfortunately their commanders are stupid!" When he said this. There was no regret on Ruprecht's face.

Chen Tian didn't have much emotion about this, "When the Spanish government agreed to a one-month period, I knew that there would be such a day!" The lives of soldiers are worthless in the eyes of politicians, they only care about interests, interests and interests! ”

"Your Majesty, judging from Admiral Sheppel's reconnaissance plane and the information provided by the Spaniards, the fortress system built by the British army on Gibraltar is quite strong, and with the current strength of the Spanish army, I am afraid that there will be a lot of blood to be shed there! For 15 days, the Spaniards could not even replenish their artillery with enough ammunition, and the ammunition for the 10 280mm heavy howitzers we supplied was already three-quarters of it! Although his tenure as Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff was only temporary, it was evident that Ruprecht was very dedicated.

"I know, I've thought of what you thought, but we can't do that!" Although he sympathized with the brave Spanish soldiers, Chen Tian still expressed his attitude very resolutely.

"Your Majesty. I know, this is the real war! Ruprecht nodded, the weapons in Hillper's fleet might have saved the lives of countless Spaniards, but Germany's interests would be greatly affected.

"I will personally send a message to Admiral Sheppel, and whatever the Spaniards may ask, he will only have to refuse under the pretext of treaty restrictions! All we have to do now is wait! In one week, we will be able to reach Tunisia in full. At that time, they will begin to conduct landing combat exercises! The minesweeping fleet sent by Austria-Hungary has also arrived in Tunisia, and as soon as the deadline comes, they will cooperate with our troops to start minesweeping outside the port of Gibraltar! ”

Chentian's firmness is also a kind of cruelty from another angle. War is a disaster for the weak, but a celebration for the strong, and this is the law that the world follows.

Port of Cádiz, Spain.

Compared with the sailors on the German warships, who were on duty and cleaning with a straight face, the sailors on the transport ships were much more free and relaxed, either leaning on the railing to bask in the sun or sitting on the side of the ship to fish. But there is only one order that is common to all: no one shall go ashore without permission. It is also forbidden to talk to non-ship personnel at will.

The 18,000-ton Green Duke is the largest of the transports in the ship's fleet, with three large chimneys in the middle. The hull is black except for the white paint applied to the deck, and there is nothing special about the superstructure, with the flag of the German Empire flying high at the top of the mast.

Judging from the ship's waterline, there was a lot of heavy cargo on board, and it was also true that in the 12 large compartments below deck, some big and bulky ones were silently waiting for the day to come.

At 10 a.m., Major Ewald von Kleist led a squad of Marines to conduct a routine inspection of the cargo in the compartment.

"It rained lightly last night, and our cargo wasn't soaked!" Despite the fact that the waterproofing conditions in the cabin had been confirmed at the time of loading of the cargo, Major Kleist cautiously inquired with the crew.

"We came to see it in the evening. No questions asked! ”

Led by the crew, the group made their way through a long, winding corridor to the bottom of the cabin.

Syllable...... Syllable...... Syllable......

When the chandelier on the top of the cabin was opened, a hill of canvas was revealed, and it was difficult to tell what was in it from the outside, and they had been dismantled for shipment, and one could only imagine that they were majestic and majestic.

Kleist walked over to one of the piles and reached out to touch the canvas outside, feeling the metallic texture of the goods through the canvas.

"Good!" He muttered to himself.

The British in the fortress of Gibraltar. In any case, there was no threat from the cargo of the "Green Duke". They were now faced with a Spanish army, which was dominated by infantry and lacked air and sea power, but General Roque could not rest on his laurels, as another British cargo ship from India had been captured by the Spanish navy while attempting to cross the blockade on the unfortunate night.

Looking at the report that the quartermaster had just delivered, the general shook his head, "If the situation continues like this, we will be finished sooner or later!" ”

"General, is it necessary to order our soldiers to conserve as much ammunition as possible in battle?" General Roque's chief of staff, Colonel Calvin of Scotland, proposed that Gibraltar's ammunition stockpile could last at least half a year according to the previous pattern of warfare, but that it now seemed necessary to re-estimate that figure. During the four-day battle for the outer line, one-third of the total stock of bullets alone was used, especially the heavy machine guns, which were frantically consuming ammunition while killing and wounding the Spaniards in large numbers.

General Roque waved his right index finger in front of him, "No, no, no, there is no need for that kind now, and this will let our soldiers know our current predicament, and morale will be greatly affected!" Besides, if the fortress is lost because of the saving of bullets, it will be a big joke in the military circles! ”

If General Roque had known what the Italian army had done in World War II in the other world, he would no longer have considered it a joke.

"We won't even make it to the end of the month!" Calvin appeared to be concerned about the quartermaster's report.

"If this continues, the Spaniards will not survive until the end of the month!" The general replied unhurriedly.

At this time, the man who had been sitting on the sofa spoke: "But general, do not forget that there are Germans behind them!" A massive fleet. There is also an ominous number of marines, all of whom are located very close to the port of Cádiz! ”

General Roark looked back at Commodore Smith, the British naval commander in Gibraltar, whose torpedo boat fleet had inflicted heavy damage on the Spanish navy, but had not been able to break the Spanish naval blockade.

"Your Excellency, I think your warship still has a lot of machine guns and machine guns, and the ammunition is relatively sufficient!"

"General, you don't want to ......," Smith glared at Roque in surprise.

"Those guns can't deal with the Spanish fleet anyway, and they can still exert their power against the Spanish army! As for the Germans. The mine arrays we have deployed outside the harbor are enough to hold off their fleet, and if they attack from land, I will make them pay a heavier price than the Spaniards! The general smiled wryly, as if he had seen the sight of German soldiers bleeding in rivers

"In case the Germans carry out bombing ......"

"There is no contingency, the Germans only sent 2 seaplane carriers this time, carrying no more than 20 aircraft, there is nothing to worry about!" Roque looked confident, and then he approached the Commodore with a smirk, "If Your Excellency's torpedo boats raid the Spanish fleet again, I think we have a good chance of changing the tide of the war here!" ”

"Oh God. You're out of your mind! "As an admiral. Smith was well aware of the risks taken in that raid and the luck component behind its success, and confrontations between torpedo boats and battleships usually ended in two ways, either the battleship was sunk. Either the torpedo boat is blown up, and the probability of the latter is often much greater than that of the former.

The general took another step closer, "Just tonight, how?" ”

General Smith's eyes darkened.

That night, the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar was noisy again, but it did not last long, and the sea was calm before sunrise.

At dawn, General Smith and his officers waited on the docks, but this time they did not wait for the triumphant torpedo boat fleet. By morning, they had finally received the exact message. Most of the three destroyers and six torpedo boats that made the sortie were sunk, and only one torpedo boat was wounded and captured.

At this time, there were only 2 armored cruisers with a displacement of 3,500 tons, two destroyers of 1,400 tons and 6 small patrol ships left in the military port of Gibraltar, and the total tonnage was not as good as that of a Spanish battleship.

On 15 March, exactly 10 days before the end of the treaty, the reconstituted Spanish army launched its first assault on the fortress of Gibraltar. Two hours of artillery preparation, more than 100,000 shells, and the entire mountain of Gibraltar trembled under artillery fire. Almost all the aircraft of the Spanish Army were involved in the shelling, and some of the planes and airships also dropped bombs on the British fortifications. A convoy of German seaplanes departing from the port of Cadiz also came to help. They carried out air strikes against targets in the port of Gibraltar, but achieved nothing to be proud of.

After artillery fire was prepared, 35,000 Spanish soldiers marched in formation towards the mountains of Gibraltar, four artillery battalions with small-caliber rapid-fire guns. At a distance of 2 kilometers from the foot of the Gibraltar Mountains, the artillery in the British fortress opened fire, and then the Spanish artillery tried to suppress it, but the British inflicted heavy losses on the Spanish artillery by virtue of the advantage of the fortress. As they approached the foot of the hill, the Spanish soldiers encountered intensive machine-gun fire from the British, and 80 percent of the British machine-guns and machine-guns were concentrated on this side. The day's fighting continued into dusk, and the Spanish army was never able to set foot on Mount Gibraltar, with 8,600 casualties, including artillery.

That night, the Spanish Navy cruiser "Linares" struck a mine outside the port of Gibraltar, the 4,050-ton battleship built in 1903 sank to a depth of several hundred meters in just 10 minutes, and the sailors who fell into the water were then rescued by nearby destroyers, although there were less than 100 casualties, but the only attempt by the Spanish Navy to attack Gibraltar during the war ended in failure.

The next day, the Spanish army changed its commander, and the Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Marshal Paolo Navarro, personally went into battle, and in a whole week, he actively mobilized his troops, and the number of Spanish troops besieging the fortress of Gibraltar increased again and again, and finally reached 32 infantry regiments and 8 artillery regiments of nearly 100,000 men. In addition, the Spanish government urgently purchased a batch of artillery shells from Austria-Hungary and Germany, and after working day and night, the first batch finally arrived at the Gibraltar front on 23 March.

Two days before March 25, as stipulated in the treaty, Marshal Navarro was on the front line and named the battle "The Glorious Battle of Spain".

Later, according to the recollections of observers of the German military delegation, it was the most tragic battle they had ever seen in their lives.

"After the shelling, thousands of Spanish infantry marched forward in a neat line, and the shells of the British kept falling in their midst, but not a single one flinched. At the foot of the mountains of Gibraltar, the Spanish soldiers who had been knocked down by the British bullets piled up, and the follow-up soldiers continued on their way through the corpses of their comrades. From a distance, Mount Gibraltar seemed to be hit by a tsunami, and the sea of Spanish soldiers continued to spread upward, even reaching halfway up the mountain at one point. At this time, we forgot our mission, and everyone was cheering for the brave Spaniards, and how I wished that the Spanish flag would be planted on the top of the mountain. However, near noon, the British launched a deadly counterattack, and through the binoculars I saw all sorts of men fighting with weapons in hand, Europeans, Africans, and Asians in turbans, soldiers on both sides were in a terrible state of madness, they fought to the death, and the British battleships in the harbor fired desperately on the flanks of the fort, and finally, the Spanish troops retreated, and the hillside was full of corpses, the corpses of soldiers on both sides. The blood melted into streams and flowed down the hillside, and I think the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar were dyed red on this day! ”

After reviewing the detailed report of the Mission, Chen Tian only said one sentence:

"At the end of the strong crossbow, don't wear Lu Min!"

On 25 March, King Alfonso XIII of Spain went to the front to supervise the battle, but before the battle could begin, the king could not stop weeping because of the tragic scene in front of the mountains of Gibraltar. Just half an hour before the attack was launched, Alfonso XIII ordered the attack to be stopped.

That evening, the Spanish and German Governments exchanged notes with each other's ambassadors, and both sides agreed to transfer the right to attack Gibraltar to the German army in accordance with the treaty, with the full cooperation of the Spanish Government and the army.

In the morning light, the soldiers lifted the canvas on the cargo in the cabin of the "Green Count".

Looking at those terrifying objects, a strong sense of pride rose in the hearts of everyone present, which was the essence of German weapons technology and the pride of the German people.

"Start unloading!" With Major von Kleist's order, the soldiers and sailors of the Marine Corps began to get busy. Because of their incredible size and weight, they had to use the largest crane to lift them to the dock and then transport them directly by train.

It took a whole morning for all the loading and unloading to be finished.

Major Kleist boarded the train to the front with his marines, a group of hussars who had left their horses, but they did not lose their enthusiasm for battle. The advent of machine guns wiped out the advantage of cavalry, and many cavalry in the German armies were joined by other units after leaving their mounts. The current Royal 1st Hussar Regiment was in fact a cavalry force in the name of the word, as they had only a few cavalry for reconnaissance and vigilance, and ceremonial tasks had been handed over to a special guard of honor in the Praetorian Guard.

The Marine Corps was accompanied by a group of artillery specialists from the General Staff, headed by Max Bauer. (Full Text)