In Rome, while the naval battle was still taking place in Sirte, Carlo had already arrived at the Admiralty.

At this moment, in the Admiralty, not only the personnel in the Admiralty, but also the War Department government have come. Everyone sat together, anxiously awaiting news.

The wait was long, and the ministers waited from the afternoon until the sun set.

No one wanted to leave at this time, because this naval battle could not be lost to Italy at all. If it loses, then all the strategic initiatives that were originally formulated need to be changed, which will cost too much manpower and material resources for Italy to afford a few times.

"Father, why haven't you heard any news yet?"

Waiting for the somewhat anxious Crown Prince Vittorio, he watched Carlo open his mouth and asked in a low voice.

"As the future king, why are you so impetuous. Do you know how long the naval battle will last, just wait with peace of mind? ”

The words from his stern father made Crown Prince Vittorio, who was waiting like a pins and needles, quiet again.

Of course, Carlo knew what his children were thinking, and he must be thinking about his wife and children. That's right, Vittorio also had a son, and Carlo's grandson was named Umberto Amedeo Savoy. He is still less than two years old, and he is a very healthy and active baby.

Speaking of which, since his son Vittorio got married, he and his wife, the Kaiser's youngest daughter, Louise, have lived a very happy life. Germany and Italy have been praised by the media as a match made in heaven, and they are a model of the union of the two countries.

And the photos of the two have always been frequent in newspapers, because they are very popular with the public. Think about it, how can no one like the handsome man and the beautiful woman, not to mention that the two are also from the famous Savoy family and the Hohenzollern family, which is even more enviable.

But Carlo thinks that this child needs to be trained, how can he be a good king in Gentle Township every day?

So after the outbreak of war, Carlo arranged various things for him, vowing to change it.

But at present, the effect is there, but there is still a gap, it doesn't matter that Carlo has time and a way.

But soon Carlo was no longer concerned with his son's problems, as a communications officer rushed in with a telegram.

"Vice Admiral Leffel telegraphed that we had won the victory, and His Excellency the Vice Admiral was returning home with the fleet."

The words of this communications officer instantly livened up the originally quiet Admiralty building, and everyone wanted to know the specific news at this moment.

Admiral Yagill, the Minister of the Admiralty, knew their minds well, and immediately after receiving the telegram, he had it read aloud.

"Admiral Yagill, our combined fleet has engaged the enemy Mediterranean Fleet on January 7, 1914, and at the cost of the sinking of the Taghoff, the Stevan, the Dreadnought, and the Dante, the enemy ships Taghou, Collingwood, Captain Hundred, Avant-garde, Invincible, and Indomitable have been sunk, and the enemy ships St. Vincent, Neptune, Hercules and other battleships have been severely damaged, and now the enemy ships have been hastily withdrawn under the cover of the reinforcement fleet......"

As soon as the specific news was announced, at the cost of the sinking of one battleship, six battleships of the opposing side were sunk, this feat immediately triggered an even greater wave, and many officers present directly cheered.

For the officers who cheered wantonly, Carlo did not blame the other party, but walked towards Admiral Yagil. "Admiral, this victory, the Navy has done a good job."

"It was the cooperation of the government and the army that enabled us to achieve this glorious victory."

Admiral Yagill was also flushed as if he was drunk at the moment, which was caused by excitement. The Italian Navy has grown stronger and stronger under his leadership over the years, and now it is fighting and winning against the world's largest British Navy, how can you not be excited.

"Admiral, the casualties of the Navy are not small, and when they come back, I will personally award the meritorious personnel. In addition, the repair of damaged warships also needs to be taken care of by your navy to restore the strength of the combined fleet as soon as possible. ”

Faced with the king's instructions, Admiral Yagill replied. "Your Majesty, please rest assured, when the Combined Fleet returns to port, our Admiralty will arrange for the damaged warship to be repaired as soon as possible, and will also replenish its personnel to ensure that it will not affect the Tunisian campaign in three months."

Battle of Tunis?

How can a Tunisian campaign be involved?

Long before the outbreak of the war, the army and navy had operational plans to occupy Tunisia. In fact, not only Tunisia, but also Egypt, the Balkans, the Middle East, East Africa, and even Gibraltar have war plans. However, the plan needs to be fully qualified before it can be implemented.

And this naval victory, coupled with the imminent capture of the island of Malta, brought the Tunisian campaign to a stage of implementation.

Needless to say, Tunisia is indispensable to Italy both in terms of its location and its abundant natural resources. Not to mention, if Italy takes it, it will directly obtain the full Tunis Channel, plus Malta, and then a bird flying from the eastern Mediterranean to the western Mediterranean will require the approval of the Italian Navy.

It can be said that the Mediterranean Sea was completely cut off by Italy, which would have played a sufficient role in promoting the course of the war.

Therefore, long before the outbreak of the naval battle, the navy and land forces drew up a battle plan for Tunisia, and they were ready to implement it only when the navy won.

As a further aside, the commander of this attack on Tunisia was Crown Prince Vittorio, which of course was nominal. As for the reason, as the future king of the kingdom, he doesn't know how to do it militarily, which is an old European tradition. Look at the countries that are currently participating in the war, which country has an adult prince who does not go to the battlefield. Carlo is also paving the way for his son to gradually come into contact with the military.

Although they talked about Tunisia, Carlo was more concerned about the next moves of the navy.

"Admiral Yagill, four Roman-class battleships should be able to serve this year, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the first Roma will be commissioned in March, and Octavian at the latest, in December. By then, with four Roman-class ships, our navy will unite with the army to drive British warships out of the eastern Mediterranean. ”

The Navy's most urgently needed warship, the Roman-class, has captured the eyes of all of Italy. The outbreak of war did not affect the construction of ships of this class, and it can even be said that the arrival of war accelerated their construction. Because the Italian government and the navy gave priority to ensuring the construction of various parts of the battleship, they did not recruit mobilized soldiers in the various parts factories of the battleship, but let them work overtime to produce equipment.

So this also led to a general increase in the speed of Roman-class warships, making their service faster.

As the first battleship to enter service with 380 mm guns, the entry into service of the Roman-class will inevitably lead to the expansion of the Italian Navy's superiority in the Mediterranean, which is not in line with Admiral Yagill's style.

In fact, the Admiralty has developed a lot of various operational plans after the entry into service of the Roman class. Of course, it's still a bit early to say, and it will take at least the second half of the year to implement it.

"When the time comes, I will personally participate in the induction of the Roma."

Carlo's words showed his love for the Navy and personally stood up for the Navy. This is also because the Navy is playing well, so in order to encourage it to keep up the good work, he doesn't mind showing it.

After a few more words with Admiral Yagill, Carlo prepared to leave with his son, but was stopped by the old man of Foreign Minister Bacona.

"Your Majesty, a telegram has been sent from Vienna asking us to help it attack Serbia."

"We are not ......"

Carlo didn't understand at first, and it wasn't until Bacona handed him a telegram that this was not a previous feint, but one of the main ones. Because the Viennese side hoped that Italy would send no less than 180,000 troops to attack Serbia from the south.

"What do the Austro-Hungarians think, tell them that we can't draw troops and supplies now, and we can only guarantee the existing 70,000 people at most."

Carlo also did not have the idea of intervening too much in the Serbian battlefield, because Italy did not have any benefits.

Vienna was very wary of Italy in the Balkans, so after gaining control of the war against Serbia, it was very resistant to Italy being involved.

In fact, Carlo did not want Italy to be mixed into the Serbian land at all, and the Yugoslav partisans of World War II were famous. Whoever wants these die-hard Serbs, Italy doesn't have the energy. Therefore, Carlo also pushed the boat with the current, did not get involved, but just morally sent tens of thousands of troops in Kosovo to contain it.

However, the Austro-Hungarians had a low eye and had failed two consecutive battles against Serbia, so they hoped for help from Italy. However, although they asked Italy for help, it was pure help, and no benefit was given, isn't this a resignation, and Carlo's refusal is also due.

"Wait."

Carlo suddenly stopped the old man Bacona.

"Your Majesty still has something?"

"The telegram to Vienna should not be so blunt, except that we could not draw troops, and that they could also be advised to find the Bulgarians."

Carlo's words made Bakona's somewhat cloudy eyes light up, this is a good idea, the half of Macedonia lost by Bulgaria is in the hands of Serbia. If Vienna had been generous, the heroic and warlike Bulgarian barbarians would have been more than willing to deal a head-on blow to the Serbian enemy.

After giving the Austro-Hungarian advice, Carlo left it alone and left it to see what the Viennese side thought. He will also participate in a parade to make the people feel the joy of victory in the naval battle.

There may be another chapter, and if there are enough monthly passes, there must be another chapter that stays up all night to write.

(End of chapter)