Chapter 10: Yes! Minister!
“Your Majesty! Bad news! News just received this morning: the troops of the 4th and 6th Divisions on the Nieuwpoort front have fallen into some chaos. Many soldiers, even including two regimental commanders, have disobeyed orders and refused to attack further!”
“Currently, the frontline troops are experiencing massive morale disruption. Some of them believed the Germanians’ propaganda, and on the other hand, yesterday’s attack was too devastating.
Among them, one colonel was killed in action, and his regiment was almost completely wiped out during the assault. Additionally, two other regiments also suffered extremely heavy casualties. It is these two regiments with the heaviest casualties that are now making excuses to refuse to attack, demanding at least to be withdrawn for rest.”
That morning around seven o’clock, in the temporary palace of the King Belgian in Ostend, a group of civil officials and Staff Department generals finally panicked completely and had no choice but to report these bad news to Albert I.
Albert I was still having breakfast at the time and was greatly annoyed, unable to even drink his coffee.
“Debrock! Explain this to me clearly! How exactly did these things happen! Why can’t the army be controlled again! Why can’t we seal off the news that’s unfavorable to us!”
Albert I was extremely anxious and sternly held Defense Minister Debrock accountable.
Debrock had no choice but to recount the issues in detail again, adding his own analysis. He was also helpless: “…So, Your Majesty, that’s how it is. The Germanian 6th Division 12th Brigade 16th Regiment inside the encirclement has pulled so many despicable and shameless tricks—leaflets, photographs, telegrams, releasing refugees—a series of strikes that we simply can’t cope with and can’t block.”
“They are simply demons!” Albert only felt his lips drying and cracking, and the aftertaste of coffee in his mouth growing increasingly bitter. “Didn’t you say you had investigated? Colonel Lister, the commander of the 16th Regiment, is just an ordinary old-school officer. How could such a person come up with so many vicious schemes! This is not just a one-time accident!”
Defense Minister Debrock said shamefacedly: “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, it is our incompetence! I have done my best to investigate, but right now that’s not the most important thing. We can only prioritize our efforts on the more direct crises.
Moreover, I think the problem is not with Lister’s 16th Regiment—this unit was also hastily rushed to Nieuwpoort after the flood, and before that, the enemy was already pulling off clever moves one after another. There must be capable people in the enemy’s first wave of vanguard troops that initially arrived at Nieuwpoort.”
“Never mind, we’ll review these matters after the battle is over,” Albert waved his hand in disgust, his entire spirit visibly waning. Then he changed the topic, turning to Lieutenant General Felix,
“My Chief of Staff! Tell me how to deal with the current military predicament!”
Lieutenant General Felix had already prepared an emergency plan beforehand. He immediately stood at attention and saluted:
“I believe we need to withdraw the badly mauled 4th Division to relieve the city defenses here in Ostend. Then draw several regiments from the main force of the 1st Division guarding Your Majesty to carry out the final desperate breakthrough! The enemy’s schemes to strike at our army’s morale are indeed very effective, but this effect should not be enough to directly collapse the army.
The 4th Division is so war-weary because they have continuously launched fierce assaults and deadly battles without breaking through, suffering excessive casualties. The enemy’s anti-war propaganda merely gave them a step to back down. If the 1st Division goes up, there should still be a slim chance for a turnaround.”
Albert closed his eyes in sorrow. He knew that, according to the Chief of Staff, this was the final deathbed struggle, a desperate last gamble.
He couldn’t help but worry: “What if the 1st Division still can’t break through Nieuwpoort after being sent up? Moreover, once the 1st Division is moved away and replaced by the remnants of the 4th Division to defend Ostend, could our eastern defense line collapse first? Baria’s 2nd Division of the Germanian 6th Division has been attacking our 1st Division from the east of Ostend!”
Lieutenant General Felix: “That’s why we can only send two regiments from the 1st Division for the relief. We still need to leave at least two other regiments: one as Your Majesty’s guard regiment, and another to hold the eastern defense line during the relief period.
This place is less than 20 kilometers from Nieuwpoort; a morning is enough to complete the relief. Relying on one relatively elite regiment to hold off the Germanians’ eastern front attack for one morning should still be feasible. The 1st Division is the most loyal direct lineage troops to Your Majesty and will surely fight to the death without retreating!”
Albert snorted coldly: “But you still haven’t said what to do if it can’t be done.”
The king kept harping on “the worst possibility,” and Felix could not evade it. He had no choice but to brace himself and say:
“If it really comes to that… we can only hope for support from the Britannians. Hoping for the French Army to break the German Army’s defenses on the west side of Nieuwpoort is unlikely; the French Army’s actions are too slow. As of midnight today, they may not even have assembled two full divisions in the Dunkirk and De Panne directions.
Moreover, they won’t fight as desperately as we do. We are breaking out for survival, while they are troops that have rushed all the way from Arras in a long march. Those French soldiers must surely be war-weary.
The kingdom’s last hope should be the Britannian warships. We should have long requested them to dispatch the Channel Fleet, especially heavy cannon ships to provide us with fire support.”
After hearing this, Albert couldn’t help but curse Lieutenant General Felix again, calling him incompetent for not thinking earlier to contact allies.
But Felix was also helpless; he was only the Chief of Staff and could not directly coordinate diplomatic aid.
The decision-making processes of this era were inherently cumbersome, and mobilization in various countries was also very slow. Yesterday, he hadn’t realized the battle situation would deteriorate so quickly, so he wouldn’t have thought to immediately beg foreigners for help.
Now, after being harshly rebuked by the king, he hurriedly went to contact foreign support.
……
That morning, the Belgians’ secret plea for aid telegram went roundabout, first arriving at the relevant British diplomatic departments across the Strait,
then forwarded to 10 Downing Street. After the Prime Minister reviewed it, it was finally passed to his trusted Naval Minister Walton Leonard Spencer.
By the time this chain of processes was complete, it was already noon that day. Minister Walton was having lunch at the time and only saw the secret telegram and the Prime Minister’s instructions after the meal.
“The Belgian Army inside the encirclement has actually experienced such severe morale shaking? The Belgians won’t completely collapse, will they? How did the Germanians suddenly get stronger, with one regiment holding off three Belgian divisions and one Frankish division in a pincer attack?”
“What? The Germanians even used such despicable, shameless, unscrupulous vicious schemes like airdropping photos of the Belgian Army’s dam-breach bombing and releasing the flooded Belgian refugees? Is this still the Germanians I know? The enemy must have experts advising them! Could it be that Britannian traitors from a think tank have defected?”
As the minister with the deepest understanding of the Britannian Empire’s nature as a major troublemaker and shit-stirrer, Walton’s first reaction upon seeing the Belgians’ complaint telegram was disbelief that the single-minded Germanians could have such brains.
His second reaction was to wonder if Britannian traitors were advising the enemy.
Just like two thousand years ago when the Han first fell for the Xiongnu’s schemes, the first reaction was wondering if a despicable traitor like Zhonghang Yue had emerged to give ideas to the Xiongnu chanyu.
Diplomatic incitement and political deception—that was the patent of the “glorious and great offshore balancers,” who had schemed to death generation after generation of continental hegemons. How could it spread to barbaric nations that only understood brute force?
However, now was the time to focus on solving the problem; these questions could only be dealt with slowly later.
Minister Walton suppressed all his inner displeasure, forced himself to calm down, reviewed it several times, and then decided to first call the Channel sub-fleet headquarters at Dover:
“Connect me to General Cecil! What? He’s in a meeting? Give him ten minutes—call me back within ten minutes! This is Walton!”
Walton angrily hung up the phone, irritably lit a Havana cigar, and after fiercely smoking it down, the phone rang.
“Your Excellency the Minister! Sorry, I really was in a meeting just now.” The humble voice of Vice Admiral Cecil Bernie immediately came through from the other end of the line.
Walton: “Which warship is currently closest to the Ostend front line?”
Cecil: “Reporting to Your Excellency, it is the Lin Xian Class Bold. It is less than twenty nautical miles from Ostend and can arrive in one hour. This ship was sent out the day before yesterday to destroy the enemy submarine cables near Nieuwpoort.”
Walton: “Lin Xian Class? With 28 knots speed? That’s not bad—at least it’s fast and stable enough. It’ll be that one. First have it go to Dunkirk to resupply, standing by for my orders at any time.
I now need to communicate with the Belgian royal family. If their king agrees, or if the situation really deteriorates to that point, we need Bold to rescue the king from the encirclement—also, what about the other main warships of your Channel sub-fleet? Can they sortie at any time?”
“Uh… it will take some preparation time. As you know, my main ships are all coal-burning pre-dreadnoughts. Pre-war refueling, ammunition replenishment, and boiler heating are all quite slow. Moreover, one main warship is under maintenance.” Cecil complained helplessly.
Walton was also an old navy man and naturally understood these basics, so he didn’t make things difficult for his subordinate: “Then I’ll give you at most 48 hours, preferably within 24 hours, to prepare the entire sub-fleet for departure.
Additionally, gather some merchant ships with large capacity. In the worst case, we may have to rely on evacuating some of the encircled friendly forces by sea from Ostend.”
Vice Admiral Cecil was shocked: “Minister! This is utterly futile. Ostend is no major port; even large ships can’t dock and would need small boats for shuttling. There is simply no possibility of a rapid sea evacuation of large troops from there!”
Walton: “That’s not for you to worry about! Just requisition the merchant ships and prepare your sub-fleet for sortie!”
Vice Admiral Cecil: “Yes, Minister!”
——
PS: Oh damn, hand slipped.
This was originally meant to be before five in the afternoon; I clicked save and it directly published.
So today’s two updates are both done in the morning, I guess.
But still begging for comments, follows, collections, and votes. Thanks.
