Churchill looked seriously at the direction that Henry was pointing, because of the careful design of this plan, every part of the map has been imprinted in Churchill's mind, where he certainly knows where it is, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, which is considered a historic city in the Middle East, is also the end point of the original Baghdad Railway, and later because of the intervention of the northwest, after taking Basra, it was extended for hundreds of kilometers to run through the port.

Churchill carefully considered the various elements of the plan, and said with some unwillingness: "If we fight Baghdad, our navy will be useless!" ”

Henry glanced at Churchill, of course he knew Churchill's purpose, Churchill was the Minister of the Navy, and his plan was to rely more on the Navy, but Henry, as Prime Minister, was more of an overall view, he said directly: "I don't plan to use the Navy, use the Army, and open up another battlefield in the Middle East, which is a good decision, and your plan is very bright!" ”

"But, Sir Henry, we have a better solution, so why don't we go far and attack Basra directly?" Churchill fought for it with his last effort.

"Of course not!" Henry nodded almost without hesitation and said, in fact, seeing Churchill's battle plan, especially the idea of a genius attacking Basra, he did not waver in his heart, and hit it with one blow, and even did not need to attack Basra directly, choosing the attack of Malacca was enough to block Germany's overseas supplies, but after weighing it again and again, in the end, he still rejected this idea in his heart.

Basra is a tempting piece of fat, but attacking him is tantamount to attacking the northwest, not to mention whether Basra can be captured. The Northwest showed a strong land-based battery in Qingdao, as well as a strong defensive capability against Japan. All prove that the Northwest Army is strong. According to British intelligence. The Northwest has operated Basra for many years, not only built at least 7 suspected batteries, but also garrisoned a large number of troops, and most importantly, the Northwest construction capacity has been fully demonstrated in Basra, starting from the grassroots, the new port of Basra, has been from the previous coastal port. Expanding to the mainland, Basra New City covers an area of more than 50 square kilometers, and no one knows how many buildings were built and how it was fortified, but it is estimated that there are at least about 300,000 Chinese and no less than 50,000 troops. Can such a place, which may be fortified and fortified, be able to be captured with the strength shown by the British army?

Before the start of the war in Europe, Henry might have felt. The strength of the British Army was strong, but after the war began, the attack power displayed by the Germans made Britain tremble. The same number, even the battles below 2:1, all ended in complete defeat for the British. What the British Army absorbed from the German side alone was enough to greatly increase the combat effectiveness of the British Army. It is not yet possible to guarantee whether the German side is hiding anything. In terms of the strength shown, Britain had at most about 70% of Germany's strength, and in this case, it was a joke to go thousands of miles away and attack a city guarded by the Northwest Army, which might be the same as Germany.

Even if they were lucky enough to attack, it was definitely not good news to completely anger the Chinese and let the Chinese join the Allies and declare war on the Entente. In any case, the current northwest is still a neutral country, and what is strong in the northwest is not his production capacity, not his support for Germany through a port and a railway, will it make Germany change dramatically, what really makes Britain vigilant in the northwest is the huge army and the mobilization capacity that may have tens of millions or more.

If the Northwest joins the Central Powers and declares war on the Entente, it will be really a big trouble. The strength of the Northwest lies in its army, the first war against Russia, the first war against Japan, has been unmistakably shown, the strength of the Northwest Army, absolutely the world's first-class, such a first-class army, millions, or even more, tens of millions of potential mobilization capacity, improve the production capacity of the category, can produce everything to arm their own army, what does this mean, this means that as long as the Northwest wants, time and funds permit, the Northwest can pull up tens of millions of troops at any time.

The number of tens of millions, even a group of rabble, is extremely terrifying, and it is precisely by relying on this that Russia has become an important member of the Entente and the main force on the Eastern Front. The most important thing is that since the emergence of the northwest, its military strength has been constantly expanding, from the more than 200,000 troops against Russia to the 670,000 troops now shown, the Chinese's habit of hiding things makes Britain feel very uncomfortable, and therefore, it has constantly raised its view of the northwest.

The distance between the northwest and Britain and France, tens of thousands of kilometers, so that Britain and France do not worry about the army in the northwest directly hitting the Anglo-French border, it stands to reason that there is no threat to the northwest, but the northwest has formed a direct threat to Russia, an important member of the Entente. Russia borders on the northwest, Russia still occupies more than 1.5 million square kilometers of land in China, which is almost as big as three France, and the dispute between the two sides in 1912 has not been completely resolved, any little spark will make them rekindle the flames of war, if the northwest has an excuse to declare war on Russia, it will immediately enter the hinterland of Russia and carry out a devastating blow to the Russian Far East.

Russia's huge territory, perhaps in the European part, has a weakening effect, but in China, thousands of kilometers of borders, there are holes everywhere, and once China directly marches into the Ural Mountains and contains the Ural Mountains, the entire Asian part of Russia will be completely swept away by China, at this time, Germany will attack Russia again, Russia will cease to exist, without Russia, there is no pressure on the battlefield on the Eastern Front of Germany, Germany and the northwest will meet on the Eurasian land bridge, and even liberate Turkey, the numerous armies of Austria-Hungary, like that, without any worries about the Allies, will completely bulldoze France with troops, and when the time comes, tens of millions, or even tens of millions, will attack, and who will be the opponent of the Allies.

Suddenly, Henry fought a cold war, he really took into account the strength of the northwest from this terrible idea, if there is no unexpected situation, he is absolutely unwilling, drag the northwest into the war, Japan is willing to fight, anyway, the final result is not optimistic, then the Middle East, can be used, on the one hand, cut off Germany's foreign aid, on the other hand, may put the eyes of Germany and the northwest, to that direction to reduce the pressure on the direction of Europe.

The new port and military port of Basra belong to the sovereignty of the Chinese, in order not to touch the Chinese, they will not move him for the time being, but Baghdad, that is within the control of the Germans, if they are blocked, even if the northwest has great ability, no matter how much supplies are transported to Basra, they will not be able to be transported to Germany because of the blockage of the railway line, how different is this from the occupation of Basra, and there is no need to directly face the northwest, this is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Henry immediately made such a decision in his heart, Churchill was very dissatisfied, the dignified British Empire, would be afraid of the declining Eastern Empire, although he has developed now, it has only been a few years, no matter how it develops, how can it be, it is just a paper tiger.

This was Prime Minister Henry's supreme instruction, and Churchill couldn't help it even if he was not satisfied, and the plan he carefully concocted was handed over to the army by Henry.

The War Department attaches great importance to it, especially after understanding the meaning of the war, and quickly began to mobilize troops, although Germany has troops in Egypt and Iraq, but they are all scattered troops, to complete this plan, to attack Iraq, in order to cut off the 3B railway, the number of land forces needed is definitely quite a lot, after careful adjustment, 200,000 people were specially mobilized.

This part of the people, will be immediately loaded on the ship, under the escort of the navy, through the Strait of Gibraltar, through the Suez Canal to Egypt, and then in Egypt to carry out a full-scale attack on Iraq, which Churchill is very satisfied with, then the navy, there will not be much to do, can not directly attack the military port, can not block the Strait of Malacca, the task of the navy is only to escort, this is compared with the leading war, attack the harbor, it is simply the difference between heaven and earth, he is very unhappy in his heart.

Although Henry has already explained that the Northwest has strong strength, it is not suitable to force them in the direction of the Allies for the time being, and in the future, when the Allies are defeated, they will settle accounts with the Northwest. When did the British Empire become so weak, and when did the ancient Eastern Empire, which was taken away by the British Empire, become so powerful, even the British Empire needed to consider his views.

Churchill didn't know what was going on in his heart, so he buried such an intention, and even in the days to come, he took the initiative to provoke a duel with Chinese ships, completely ruining the last trace of the British Imperial Navy.

Originally, in history, it should be Japan's attack on Qingdao was the first war between the two blocs in Asia, but after Germany handed Qingdao over to the northwest, although the northwest and Japan fought very lively in Qingdao, and war had been declared, but the Entente countries Britain, France and Russia did not follow up. It can only be regarded as friction and contradictions between the two countries, and it is not a part of the world war.

Since the beginning of the Iraq campaign, the scale of the world war has expanded, and the war has not only spread to Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Americas in the future, spanning three oceans and five continents, which can be said to be a veritable world war. (To be continued......)