"You!" De Gaulle, whose anger suddenly rose in his heart, looked at Barton, who was sitting across from him, looking blankly at the luxurious furnishings of his office. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Info clenched his fists hard before he said in a deep voice, "Now is not the time for infighting. We are all grasshoppers on a rope now, and our interests are the same. It was imperative that the powerful artillery of the Ming army must be destroyed. ”

Because of the heavy losses in the previous battles. In particular, the rout in that large-scale armored counterattack led to the loss of a large number of artillery equipped by the Allies, which were either destroyed or fell into the hands of the Ming army. This directly led to the fact that at the moment in the defensive operation, the defenders did not have a strong artillery unit to use.

The French were not very strong, and there were no decent reserves in the treasury. After all, artillery, a militaristic weapon, is generally produced and directly distributed to the troops. The Americans still have them, but it takes a lot of time for the Americans to transport them, and crossing the Atlantic is not a simple matter. The Americans had to deploy all kinds of supporting materials, load them, and organize a transport fleet before they could set sail. Da Ming wouldn't give them so much time to prepare.

Besides, where is the production of artillery, a militaristic weapon, especially heavy artillery, so simple? Again, this is not the production of rifles.

The large warships of the navy were equipped with a large number of heavy guns. However, because of the containment of the Ming Navy and the powerful threat of the Ming air power. Navies are reluctant to allow their precious warships to take huge risks to support the ground. Daming's dive bombers and advanced submarines are not vegetarians. In the politics of various countries. In the eyes of the government, the status of the navy is higher than that of the army. You can't just send in a warship with untold amounts of money to support the army, right? The army recruited a group of honest peasants and sent them to the battlefield. But how long does it take for the navy to build a warship? This loss-to-exchange ratio is too far apart.

After all, even if the army was defeated in North Africa, as long as they could maintain a strong navy, it would be difficult for the Ming to survive the Mediterranean Sea and launch a major counteroffensive by the European mainland. If you keep the navy, you will keep the bottom line.

In this situation, with no artillery countermeasures and no naval support, the exhausted de Gaulle could only set his sights on the air forces. It was hoped that the air forces would be able to destroy the artillery superiority of the Ming Dynasty through heavy bombardment. Otherwise, it won't be long before the thousands of heavy artillery of the Ming Dynasty will destroy all the fortifications outside the port of Tunis.

Once the fortified position was lost, how should the Allied troops, who had already lost their armor in the previous battle, deal with the flood of armor from the Ming Dynasty?

Now the only thing in the hands of the Allies that could threaten the Ming artillery was the air force of the American Expeditionary Force. It's just that although de Gaulle is nominally the supreme commander of the Allied North African theater, if he directly gives orders to the US Air Force, no one will obey them. Because he was a French general, not an American one. The only way to mobilize this force was for the commander of the American forces, General Patton, to give orders himself.

"The U.S. Army Air Force in North Africa has suffered heavy losses and is no longer capable of launching large-scale offensive operations." General Patton's face was expressionless, and he raised his hand and picked up a textured inkstone on General de Gaulle's desk in front of him and looked at it.

It was a fine trophy that de Gaulle had acquired during his attack on the port of Tunis in the early days of the war. Because of the strength of the Ming Dynasty and the colonial history of the world, the culture of the Ming Dynasty was exported to the world. All countries are very interested in these traditional objects of the Ming Dynasty, especially those of the educated elite.

After putting the inkstone back on the table, Barton continued, "Let's ask the French Air Force to do this, we can't do it." ”

After the previous rout, Patton, who had always been opposed to the order to retreat, was given great importance. The President of the United States nearly suffered a heart attack and fainted after learning of the enormous losses caused by the rout and the strategic disadvantages.

The explanations and assurances given by the French were all intrigues in his eyes to trap his teammates. The President of the United States gave Patton greater power as a front-line commander and told him that he must no longer be fooled by these so-called allies.

"General." De Gaulle took a deep breath and slowly stood up, raised his hand to remove the dark high military hat on his head and put it on the table, and straightened his handsome general's uniform. He opened the delicate Cuban cigar box on his luxurious desk and took out two cigars and gestured to Barton.

Barton, who had always been expressionless, finally moved the corners of his mouth, stood up, took his cigar, and sat down with de Gaulle on the leather sofa not far away.

After lighting the cigar with his ignition, de Gaulle took a sip of his cigar and said, "To be honest, I think that the Allies are now in the midst of defeat under the aggressive offensive of the Ming Dynasty. This war, we may be losing again. ”

As for why I say it, it is because since the Ming Dynasty in the far east began the Age of Discovery hundreds of years ago, the coalition forces composed of European countries have lost twice in front of the Ming Dynasty. They even lost their pants for those two losses.

Patton, who was sitting across from him, was silent for a moment, his eyes fluctuating slightly, "Maybe you're right, but that's not a reason for us to give up fighting. Although we are now gradually losing the strategic initiative, the Ming Dynasty is far from being as powerful as we imagined. ”

"Oh?" De Gaulle looked at Barton suspiciously: "What do you mean by that?" Are they not strong enough? So what are we? Ants trying to challenge giants? "The strength of Da Ming can be seen by anyone with eyes, and he doesn't understand why Barton would say that Da Ming is not as strong as he thinks.

"Da Ming is indeed strong, but they are not monolithic." Barton took a sip of his cigar, narrowed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "You know, Da Ming is too big." It's too big to be true. Such a huge land, so many people, and basically all of them are highly qualified people with higher education. How is it possible for a human heart to be all together? ”

"That's right." De Gaulle leaned back on the back of the sofa and crossed his legs in response, "They are indeed too big." There are so many colonies, something must be wrong. Over the years, violent and non-violent activities against the colonial rule of the Ming Dynasty have emerged one after another. Moreover, those Ming people still like to stand on the moral high end to flaunt themselves, if we can incite the colonies everywhere to rebel violently against the Ming, it will definitely bring them a heavy blow. ”

He was not wrong in what he said, since there are intelligent human beings in this world, no one will be willing to be ruled by others. Especially being colonized by foreign races. The Ming Dynasty has different degrees of resistance in colonies all over the world, and there are naturally various countries behind it.

In that year, after earning a large amount of profits through the Age of Discovery, the Ming society began to gradually turn conservative.

The moral benchmarks that had been thrown away like rags in the Age of Discovery were picked up again and used as a rope to bind themselves.

If the Ming Dynasty had always used the means of strong suppression from beginning to end, then perhaps this war would not have been fought at all today. With the strength and strength of the Ming Dynasty over the years, any resistance will be crushed into powder. Countries simply will not be given a chance to rebuild.

Of course, there are two sides to the story. Da Ming is bound by the moral standards he proposes, resulting in opponents who have been repeatedly defeated always able to resurrect and find trouble again. However, these things have also stimulated the rapid development of technology and social culture.

Everyone knows that there is a great Ming hanging above their heads, and if they don't work hard to develop, there will be no chance of rising. This forces countries to develop desperately. This can be regarded as a disguised promotion of the progress of all mankind. Otherwise, it is very likely that Da Ming will fall into a kind of restlessness after no opponent. The end result must be rebellion and eventual destruction.

"It's going to make Da Ming busy for a while." Patton smiled, "But it doesn't have much effect on the whole situation. ”

If you want to rely on the power of the colony to deal with the Ming Dynasty, you are joking. What can the natives with knives and old rifles do? They couldn't even speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty clearly. Count on them, and the war can now be declared over.

"And who else?" De Gaulle bewildered.

"Themselves." Barton's words made de Gaulle's body pause slightly, and then a sudden look appeared on his face: "Yes." The Ming people themselves were constantly making infighting, and Zhang Cheng came to power through mutiny. To say that Da Ming obeyed him and obeyed his orders is simply a joke. ”

"That's right." Barton nodded: "Da Ming's internal contradictions are very deep. Zhang Cheng's ability is not to say, but in many cases, ability does not represent everything, and even sometimes the stronger the ability, it will be counterproductive. Zhang Cheng's qualifications are too shallow, and he doesn't have any strong background. It's all up to him and a group of people who share his interests. As an individual, I have great admiration for such a powerful person. But as an opponent, that's his weakness. ”

The Ming Dynasty is too big, there are too many people, and the history is too long. Zhang Cheng's ascension to power can be said to have a bit of luck in it.

It happened to be a cruel world war, it happened to be the previous economic and financial crisis that severely damaged the control of the family consortium, it happened that the chaotic world made many generals with heavy troops choose to watch for their own interests, it happened that the ambitious emperor wanted to seek a good and powerful figure who was not so powerful to cooperate, and it happened that there was a strong leader before Zhang Cheng who constantly fought against the family consortium and greatly strengthened the power in his hands. It just so happened that the troops and wealth controlled by Zhang Cheng and the connections played a decisive role at the last moment.

Many factors came together, coupled with Zhang Cheng's firm belief and his own ability, which made him successfully in that position. And all of this is actually a hidden danger. (To be continued.) )