"Sick?"

The fingers tapping on the table stopped, and the Supreme Archon of Alfheim pondered the phrase in the report.

On the 3rd of the Flower Moon, the high-profile Governor of the Saalbadu District, Roland, suddenly fell ill and could not serve as a director, causing a small riot.

Charlemagne's bureaucratic aristocracy was only concerned about Roland's sudden illness, while the Castilian nobles and commoners in the occupied territories were genuinely uneasy and nervous.

The prosperity and stability of the entire SAR was not determined by the young Fourth Prince, but directly maintained by the young Governor. It is precisely because of Roland's connections and skills that the SAR has been able to develop into what it is today. For the common people, Roland's gentle personality and caring for the common people brought about the benefits of their approach, and for these people who had experienced war and the tyranny of Titans, no one wanted to be replaced by an unfamiliar new governor, let alone return to the days of Titans' rule.

Except for a handful of "well-intentioned people", no one wants to go back to that hellish life.

Because it is related to vital interests, almost no one has the time to think about whether the "illness" of the Governor has come too coincidentally.

"Could it be a frustration?"

Brunhill put down the report and asked with a frown.

What happened in the village of Tars, she had already heard something. As a soldier, she doesn't have a good impression of the things that the "Institute" and Umbrella do, and with the feeling of being a mother, she agrees with Roland quite a bit in this matter.

The strike is a little childish, but who can lose his temper when encountering such a bastard thing? At the moment, the military affairs are important, so they should not be investigated.

That's what Brunhill is trying to say.

But.

"You're really spoiling him. ”

"Your Excellency—"

"Don't underestimate him, Brunhill. He's Roland Dark. Son of Rindo Darch the Brave. Alone in the wilderness, the son of man who stood out with the first place in the military academy under the hostile gaze, was taught by us. If you underestimate him, you will suffer a big loss. ”

At the age of 5, he dared to shake his fist at the transcendent species that destroyed his village, and at the age of 12, he dared to argue with his powerful adoptive father, and left his luxurious life to run away from home and travel around the world. This kind of child protest is a way of striking, whether others believe it or not. Li Lin absolutely didn't believe it.

Roland is a good boy, the kind with a particularly strong sense of justice, and is in a sensitive adolescence. This is the age of water, and it is also the age when it is easy to think too much and commit the second disease. To put it bluntly, it is an age that is prone to brainless resentment.

Of course, Roland will not become a literary and angry young man like Reggie who ponders "I want to destroy all intelligent creatures" all day long, and the strength of the angry youth seems to be insignificant before the tragic war that is about to sweep the world. In specific cases, though. It is entirely possible for a single angry youth to bring about a huge change in the world.

Not to mention the Serbian terrorists who fought against Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, or the two heads of state who led the Third Reich to war with the whole world, even an ordinary Japanese policeman could slash the head of the Russian crown prince and almost caused the Russo-Japanese War to break out early.

There are too many examples of an angry young man ruining a country's government's painstaking arrangements, and Li Lin doesn't want to experience this kind of thing at all.

"However, he is in the Special Administrative Region right now, even if he wants to do anything......"

"So, the timing of this disease is really good. It was so good that I wondered if he was sick or not. ”

It's almost conventional, but anyone who plans to "repair the plank road in the dark and Chen Cang". He often uses the trick of "deception". Uncle Liu Huang, who was called by Cao Apu to drink, was almost scared to pee his pants by the sentence "The only hero in the world is to make you and your ears", and immediately relied on selling cute and pretending to be stupid to get by, and then went home to toss the vegetable garden, taking advantage of Prime Minister Cao Cheng's carelessness to run away and talk nonsense. Sima Yi was tossed by Cao Shuang to the point that he wanted to die of immortals, and he was also a fraudulent, pretending to be deaf, dumb and with Alzheimer's, and he knocked down the magnificent general as soon as he turned around. The Short I of the French Empire also pretended to be crazy and stupid at the Battle of Austerlitz. He shook his hair fiercely and won the third anti-French alliance.

The information at hand alone could not tell if Roland was playing this trick as well. It's just that it is good to say that people with evil intentions will also feel suspicious when they look at others, it is good to say that they never trust others from beginning to end, or to say that they know Roland too well. This is a critical juncture, and it is impossible to guard against it.

This is a battle to gamble on the fortunes of the country, and there is no room for negligence.

"So, hypothetically, I mean, if Roland really intends to leave the SAR, what route will he choose?"

Brunhill was somewhat convinced, and in the face of the violent righteousness of "National Fortune" and the almost unconditional trust and obedience to Li Lin, coupled with her understanding of Roland, she also had to seriously think about the worst-case scenario.

"If he really plans to do that...... He will definitely choose the Azugrana to Toulon air route. ”

Without a pause and hesitation, Li Lin asserted.

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"We will take the air route from Azugrana to Toulon. ”

Roland wielded the whip and drew an arc in the sea that connected Castile northwest and Charlemagne.

From Saarbadu to Charlemagne, it can be roughly divided into three directions: the western route from the Bay of Biscay to the Strait of La Manche, the land route across the border over the Pyrenees, and the eastern route across the Great Green Sea to the southwestern port of Charlemagne.

Of the three routes, there are trains by land, which are much faster than in the past, but the railway network, ordinary roads, and customs are all under the supervision of the consortium. The narrow waterway of the eastern route, and the fact that the fleets of both Albion and Charlemagne are cruising in that area, are also difficult to break through. The western route is not only under the scrutiny of Charlemagne's navy, but the port of Toulon is also a military port with heavy security, and there is a dangerous "foggy reef airspace" in the air, where air ships are often shipwrecked and missing.

Each of the three passages had its own shortcomings, and the problem of the land and eastern routes was that they were not conducive to concealment and took too much time, and at this moment the crisis of war was imminent, they did not have much time to waste on the road. The western air route, though dangerous, saves time, and under normal circumstances, few people would dare to sail an airship through the "foggy reef airspace".

"But. Is it okay to make such a hasty decision?

Maybe the risk factor is too high, or maybe it is not suitable for this high efficiency, Minerva raised his hand and asked:

"After all, we don't know anything about it, isn't it too dangerous to rush in with such a hot head?"

In the impression of Her Royal Highness, the voyage of warships and the march of troops must be carefully explored, investigated, discussed, and weighed before being decided. It is an extremely brainless act to draw a straight line on a map with a pencil and call the troops forward, the soldiers' bodies, the weight of their equipment, the road conditions, the water sources, the camping ground, ...... Although not everything can be investigated in advance. A foolproof plan is planned, but the general situation can be grasped. She doesn't know much about the situation at sea and in the air, and the ever-changing sea and air require more improvisation, but in general the basic level is the same.

Is this kind of hasty decision really okay?

"There are two reasons for this. ”

Roland held up two fingers.

"According to the conventions of strategy, plans that are quickly specified and simple are easy to understand and execute, and the results are often the best. Most of these elaborate and complex plans just look good, but in fact they often become too rigid because the environment is easier. What's more. We don't have a lot of time to investigate and plan right now. ”

Minerva nodded.

A series of encounters have faded away the vanity and assumptions of the past, and the princess, who has grown up a lot, can fully understand what Roland said.

When she learned from Roland that the elves might be moving, the "impossible" reflection flashed, and then connected with the recent anomalies in Charlemagne's country, especially the army, she immediately understood why the elves and the transcendent species chose to act now. As a systematically educated royal elite, she understood how bad this point in time was for Charlemagne.

As Roland said, they don't have much time.

"Second. Now Yarfheim should be ready to activate the mobilization mechanism, and the air and sea forces are gathering on the mainland. Surveillance at sea and in the air is relatively weak compared to land, which has complete control over the transportation and logistics network. Places like the airspace of Fog Reef are as sinister as they are and where radar is difficult to play to their advantage. ”

"Radar?"

"A device that emits radio waves, senses the size, shape, and distance of an object from itself through the reflected radio waves, and conducts positioning, and a ship equipped with a high-power radar can easily sense a ship up to 100 kilometers away. ”

"There's such a device?"

Minerva couldn't help but muttered in surprise.

Her previous trip to Alfheim gave her a fairly intuitive understanding of the elves' highly developed economy and technology. Military technology was not open to her, so her assessment of the elven faction's military power was based entirely on a few fragments of her imagination. In Minerva's mind, the army of the elven camp is also a deformed army that is 10~20 years ahead of the countries in technology, with thin troops and lack of actual combat experience. The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is the transcendent species who can turn the entire battlefield upside down in an instant.

After really getting a few words about the military power of the elves from Roland, I realized how wrong it was.

In this era when hits depend on faith and navigation depends on the naked eye, it is simply impossible to imagine the positioning of a target a hundred kilometers away. Just thinking about the fact that my every move was under the watchful eye of the enemy and still unaware of it, a chill could not stop rising from the soles of my feet.

Is there really a chance of winning against a guy who has this kind of skill?

"But radar is not omnipotent, complex terrain and environment will also limit the use of radar, in the face of objects with a small reflection cross-section, the detection range accuracy will be reduced, but also with specific means for active interference.

"I don't understand it, but it feels amazing......"

"In short, in the airspace of the 'fog reef', which is full of fog and planktonic rocks, the role of radar is rather limited, and small ships have every chance to pass through there without knowing it, and land in the field near Toulon. ”

The whip slammed into the map, staring at the block covered with floating rocks, and Roland said in a resolute tone:

"This is our only chance. ”

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"The Foggy Reef airspace, a remnant of the Great War of a thousand years ago, has been distorted by gravity due to the use of strategic-level techniques, creating a gravity-free zone with a radius of 80 kilometers. As a result, a large number of rocks and seawater float in the air. The water turns into a fog that covers the entire airspace and the sea all year round, and is still considered a no-go zone for navigation today. Even our army, which has mastered radar technology, is quite difficult to deploy there, and it is even more difficult for a large ship like the Deflinger class. ”

Throughout the history of warfare, there have been many cases of super-warships capsizing in small ditches. From Guadalcanal take the rat transport. In the Battle of Iron Bottom Bay, the Surigao Strait, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the Battle of Java, the Japanese submarines, destroyers, cruisers, and battleships were all tossed to death by the Midi torpedo boats.

Due to the relationship between volume and length, it is difficult for large ships to turn around and dodge when entering a narrow channel, and without detailed investigation and drawing work in advance, it is very troublesome to even sail and berth normally. In that state, you will swarm against the boat, and if you are not careful, you will be hit. The complex terrain will provide good concealment for the dinghy, creating a large number of blind spots for visual and electronic observation equipment. Make it difficult for your opponent to perceive the danger that is close at hand, and when the enemy is paralyzed, unleash a fatal blow. Roland may not be able to do this, but it will not be difficult to take advantage of this to succeed in smuggling.

"The basis for the success of this plan is the assumption that our military lacks mobile forces and that it is difficult to fully monitor the airspace over the foggy reef. Simple, clear, easy to execute, theoretically fine, and he has the resources at hand to support the operation. Actually, this might be their only chance, but well......"

Li Lin spread his hand. The corners of his mouth were slightly curved, and his red pupils flashed with a rational brilliance that had nothing to do with mockery and ridicule.

I only heard him say in a calm tone:

"The big war is imminent. The army is in a state of build-up, and there really are not many mobile forces at its disposal -- this is the situation of the army, and the navy and air force have every spare power to monitor an area that is not even a secondary battlefield. ”

In the strategic planning of the elven camp, Charlemagne is the first sacrifice and the current number one imaginary enemy. The entire army building is centered around "supporting Charlemagne in the shortest possible time," and the development of armaments and services is in many respects designed for Charlemagne's army. However, this targeting is basically limited to the army, and the navy and air force are not so obvious.

The reason for this is that Charlemagne and Alfheim are essentially coastal continental states, unlike Albion, which has a natural barrier from the sea and can at worst defend its homeland with a navy alone. Lu Quan is their foundation. Due to the ulterior motives of the consortium and the inferior nature of the intelligent society, which only sees thieves eating meat and does not see thieves being beaten, Charlemagne is very respectful of overseas expansion while expanding on land, and when it comes to national strategic issues, he often talks about the advantages of the navy and overseas colonies, completely forgetting the geographical characteristics of Albion, and failing to see clearly that the Albion navy can undertake the dual mission of national defense and overseas expansion. Regardless of a single thing, he embarked on a path of double expansion on land and sea that was enough to drag himself down, and at the same time stimulate Albion's most sensitive points.

Alfheim also had overseas colonies, where not only the resources they desperately needed were produced, but also a large number of shipbuilding and heavy industries, and it can be said that the elves demanded and valued sea power more than Charlemagne. But the Yalfheim top brass and the Defence Force recognized early on that their strategic foundation was on land, and that overseas interests were merely subordinate. Therefore, the development plan of the navy stopped at the "preservation fleet" and the "sabotage fleet", and only required that the colonies be defended in wartime, and by the way, Charlemagne's sea lines of communication could be attacked. As for the Air Force, its goal is to seize air supremacy, carry out long-range strikes against enemy strategic targets in depth, cooperate with the fact of rapid breakthrough of armored clusters, and destroy enemy air power and insurmountable fortifications.

Of course, the above two targets require a large number of troops, but first, there is still nearly a month before the official launch of the "Yellow Plan", and secondly, relying on technological superiority, the defense forces do not need to invest large-scale troops to blockade like other countries, and there is no problem in temporarily dispatching naval and air forces to monitor the airspace over the fog reef.

"The Witzburg A mobile radar under test has been deployed to the airspace of Fog Reef, and together with the Deflinger class's own shipborne radar, shipborne early warning MDS, submarines and camouflaged cargo ship platforms equipped with anti-aircraft radars, they form a surveillance network covering the entire space. Ships that enter that airspace will be nowhere to be seen. Also, I've had Nidhogg and Freya join the blockade fleet with the freshly finished Fritz X-guided gliding bomb, which is more suitable for interception and intimidation than a cannon. ”

Brunhill couldn't help but hold his breath, and the cabin was filled with oppressive silence.

This arrangement is no longer "just in case", but an arrangement made by assuming that Roland will definitely take this route.

Has it really come to this?

Indeed, with Roland's personality, once he recognizes something, he will definitely stick to it. If he had known the inside story of the "Institute," he would have gone to Toulon to find out, and then the entire strategy of the Defense Forces would also be at risk of being completely pushed over.

But that's only possible after all. At present, there has been no change in Roland, is there a need to mobilize the people?

"Don't worry. ”

The voice that understood his thoughts came, and when he came back to his senses, Brunhill realized that Li Lin was looking at him with a clear expression.

"This situation will not be long, the ship is heading for the airspace of the fog reef, and it is expected to meet with the Prince Eugen and the Seydlitz on the 5th of the flower moon. If nothing happens after the 8th of the flower moon, and all the qiē follows the established trajectory, the fleet will return to the mainland. I'll talk to him about it then. ”

After secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Brunhill's tense body eased. I don't know if it's because of high-altitude travel, or because I've been too busy at work recently, just thinking about it just now brought her a little fatigue.

Brunhill, who was patronizing to sort out his mood, didn't notice that for a moment, Li Lin's smile deepened a little. (To be continued......)