Henry sat down at his desk and was about to get to work when the voice of the secretary came from outside the door, and the Admiralty Chancellor Churchill asked to see him.

'Churchill' heard this name, Henry frowned slightly, Churchill is a representative of the Navy Young Heroes, only 39 years old, he became the Minister of the Navy, but his attitude towards Germany is the most radical in the entire Admiralty, advocating the use of the most tough methods to force the German Navy to fight, completely destroy the German Navy, so that Germany out of the battle.

His views were very well recognized by the young Zhuang faction in the navy, but they were opposed by conservatives and some veteran naval officers, and Britain had a considerable advantage over the German High Seas Fleet, with more than a dozen capital ships larger than the other side, and if the two sides were to face each other head-on, Britain would certainly be able to gain the upper hand and even win the naval battle.

From this point, Churchill is not wrong, but if you really want to fight, let's not talk about some accidents that may occur, let's say that the high seas fleet, which reaches 70% of the British Navy, even if it wins, what can Britain have left, if this winning battle is based on the premise that the high seas fleet has suffered heavy losses and even lost most of its capital ships, this may not be a good thing for Britain.

Britain is different from Germany, has many colonies overseas, the high seas fleet is an important link to deter them, if damaged, the result is unimaginable, so Churchill's radical plan was vetoed, replaced by the home fleet, for Germany to maintain a relatively high pressure state, and the fast fleet, will cruise in the North Sea, trying to find part of the German fleet or subfleet. Gather and annihilate them, at the lowest cost. Get the win.

Since the beginning of the war, land warfare has become dominant. The generator plan in which a large number of navies participated only played a slight role in escorting, and Churchill couldn't help but want to join the war, but the German navy did not come out, and it was firmly in the Baltic Sea, even if the British home fleet directly provoked it.

Henry was puzzled, but he still let Churchill in, and the young Churchill seemed unusually energetic. After saluting Henry, he handed over a report.

"What is this?" Henry was slightly stunned and asked.

"It's a battle plan!" Churchill said respectfully.

Henry nodded, thinking of the results of the previous discussion with Raymond of France, and opened the document casually, but the eye-catching title said Iraq battle plan, he thought it was a matter of the Mediterranean Fleet, but he didn't think of it. It's about the Middle East aspect.

Isn't this child's play? Now the most important thing for Britain is the Mediterranean and France, and there is no interest in the Far East, so what to do in the desert area, I don't think there are enough things on the British side. Isn't it chaotic enough, besides, Iraq is land. What a mess the Navy has.

glanced at Churchill coldly, but Henry didn't just throw the file aside. In any case, Churchill was still Lord of the Admiralty. Finding a flaw in the middle and reprimanding him can be regarded as waking him up, don't be so ambitious, and honestly give full play to Britain's maritime superiority.

Turning over the documents, the thick plan, very detailed, said that it was against Iraq, but in fact, the focus was on the raid on Basra, in which the military port and the new port of Basra were built by the Chinese, and the sovereignty belonged to the Chinese, but Basra and Baghdad still belonged to Germany as a war zone.

In the battle plan, Churchill emphasized the important role of the navy in this plan, and prepared to transfer a special fleet, including 4 capital ships and 42 combat ships, to directly attack the port of Basra.

Attacking Basra and completely cutting off Germany's supply sources, this idea flashed in Henry's heart, and the navy really caught Germany's weakest link, although Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey were divided into three sections, and the 3B railway was perfectly combined together, and before the three countries were completely defeated, the Entente could not threaten the 3B railway, especially the entry of Italy, which added a heavy weight to this protection, in this case, jumped away from the attack on the railway itself, A direct attack on the seaports, in the Suez Canal, in Egypt, in North Africa, and even within Iraq, with the forces of the British, supported by the Asian Fleet and part of the Mediterranean Fleet, plus a part of the Anglo-French forces, should be able to pose a threat to him.

I have to say that this approach is very feasible, but Henry's opinion of Churchill has also changed slightly, and he was about to praise a few words, when he suddenly thought of something and asked: "Churchill, are you sure that you can capture the port of Basra with ships including four capital ships?" ”

"Of course, but I need the help of the Army, and in my plan, there is!"

"I see, at least 5 divisions of the army!" Henry nodded and said, "But do you know that there are almost 2 divisions of the elite Northwest Army stationed in Basra!" ”

Churchill said proudly: "What is there, I believe in the combat effectiveness of the Royal Navy of the British Empire!" ”

Churchill's arrogance made Henry laugh and cry, the navy of the British Empire seemed to be like this, thinking that Lao Tzu was the best in the world, if it was anything else, he recognized that the navy should have such a sharp spirit, such pride, but under the premise that the navy was strongly challenged by the Germans, it was not arrogance, this was suicide. Shaking his head slightly, he asked the secretary to send a document, Churchill didn't know why, until the secretary sent the document, Henry handed the document to Churchill and said, "Take a closer look!" ”

This is a war report, the British received part of the information from Japan, plus some observations by Britain and France themselves, together form a general description of the naval battle of the Battle of Qingdao, which emphasizes the land-based battery of the Northwest Army, and it is on this land-based battery that the Northwest defeated the Japanese Combined Fleet by surprise, and the five capital ships, including the British-built Kongo, were sent to the bottom of the sea without even the ability to counterattack.

Churchill was indeed extremely perceptive, and after reading it, he asked directly: "Mr. Prime Minister, are you worried that land-based forts will be built in Basra?" ”

Henry nodded: "Isn't it, the Northwest has this ability!" ”

The construction capacity of the northwest has been recognized, and even the British know that whether it is the Baghdad Railway, or most of the projects in Germany, including the Kiel Canal, the Chinese have built these projects with unimaginable speed and strength, Churchill agreed, but still said: "But the port of Basra was built several years ago!" ”

"That's right, the port of Basra was built several years ago, but when will Qingdao be given to the Chinese, although there were close exchanges between Germany and the northwest before, according to our estimates, the exchange of Qingdao will not take more than half a year, that is, half a year, such a powerful battery will be built!"

Churchill was silent, Henry's meaning is obvious, the northwest has the ability to produce a large number of artillery, although it is not sure whether the large caliber is 14 inches or 15 inches, but such artillery is an absolute threat to any battleship, in the report, there is also a number, the number of large-caliber guns on the battery is more than 50, which means that the northwest has the strength to arrange a large number of artillery. Churchill wanted to say that the Northwest was unlikely to be fully arranged, because Qingdao was too important, but the Northwest would not predict the future, how could he know that Japan would attack Qingdao.

Besides, Qingdao was recovered from Germany, from this point of view, the northwest has the mission of protecting Qingdao's nature, but to say how important Qingdao is, on the long Chinese coastline, there are many comparisons with Qingdao, and Basra, is the decline of the Eastern Empire, the first port overseas, and it is also a huge amount of money, carefully built commercial port and military port, just a few years, the investment in the northwest is definitely hundreds of millions of dollars, Qingdao has a fort, the northwest does not have.

Churchill opened his mouth and wanted to continue, if the number of capital ships was increased, the attack would be increased, even if there were batteries, but in his mind, the location of the port of Basra, whether it was the new port or the old port, their position was within the river, which was the passage that flowed into the Persian Gulf after the confluence of the Tigris and the Ravrates, and the river channel was extremely long, which was also the fundamental reason why the new port could establish its location, it was far from the coast, and it could not threaten the old and new ports unless it entered the river.

Attacking a harbor city at sea and facing the threat of the opponent's land-based batteries is a huge problem, unless it is a madman, not many commanders will do this, and now, knowing that the opponent has a large-caliber naval gun battery, still wants to attack the opponent's harbor, which is irresponsible to the battleship.

Churchill was silent, his silence made Henry nod, although Churchill was more radical, but he was not unable to listen to the persuasion of others, looked down at the plan, and continued: "The plan is good, but there is no basis for realization!" ”

"Otherwise, strengthen the Army, we will create an excellent environment for the Army to land!"

"No, you can't choose Basra!"

"But!" Churchill was a little panicked, after the outbreak of the European War, he wanted to let the navy participate in the war several times, but he didn't have a chance, and finally came up with a plan, a plan that could hit the Germans hard, but was ruthlessly vetoed by Henry, he knew that the next plan was to form a Mediterranean fleet, the British Royal Navy was facing the ocean, he was not interested in the Mediterranean tub and the weak Italians, he preferred to expand the territory outside.

"I'm not completely vetoing your plan, but attacking Basra is not appropriate, you can choose here!" Henry slammed his hand on the map in the report, which was another Iraqi city a few hundred kilometers from Basra, and the capital of Iraq, Baghdad. (To be continued......)