"It's almost autumn …"
The Gefran Emperor looked at the midsummer outside the window and thought of the bleak autumn. His mentality had changed.
In fact, since the end of the world war, the Gefran Empire's situation was not very good. The military expenditure was more than half of the country's income, but there were not many practical benefits from the war.
The development of military and technology made the war game of "fighting at home" become a war game that affected the whole world. How to fight, how to profit from the war, and how to achieve profit were all unfamiliar to everyone.
In addition, the war did not end with "victory". It was just that everyone could not fight anymore. Some people could not hold on and surrendered first. If they asked for too much at the negotiation table, those who lost the war would have the courage to flip the table and continue fighting.
At most, they would give up the coastal areas and defend the inland. If the Guevara People had the guts, why don't they try to land?
If they tried, they would die!
Everyone was sure that the Gefran Empire did not have a strong army, and the Alliance would not sacrifice their war potential for the Gefran Empire's benefit.
They could not invade the territory of other countries, and they could not attack the cities. The Invincible Fleet could at most bombard the coastal areas a few times. Other than making themselves lose more, they did not have any good ideas.
So in the end, the negotiation might have been very tense, but in fact, everyone was very careful to compromise. Even getting Ameria was unexpected.
From then on, the Emperor's mentality had a subtle change.
He was like a villain who used a mask to hide himself. At two o 'clock in the evening, he held a weapon in his hand and kidnapped a girl under the flickering street lights. He pushed the girl into an alley and put a weapon against her neck. When he finally found the door, he found himself … sick.
He could only sigh, "It's useless even if there's a door."
If it wasn't for the naval battle with the Federation, his mentality wouldn't have changed too much. However, after that naval battle, the only thing that Gefra could bring out was gone. Not only him, but the mentality of the entire Gefra's upper echelons had undergone subtle changes.
People who invaded others were most afraid of being invaded by others. They had to change the situation.
"This time … can we do as we wish?"
He retracted his gaze from outside the hall and looked at the Minister of the Navy.
The latter nodded reservedly. "Of course, Your Majesty, I assure you."
The emperor's face didn't show the slightest joy because of the Minister of the Navy's promise. He just looked at the Minister of the Navy with a blank expression. "That's the best. Otherwise, some people will be in trouble."
The Minister of the Navy frowned. He knew that the Emperor was talking about him. The pressure in the Empire was increasing, and they needed a way to release it.
The commoners, the nobles, the ministers, and even the royal family all had grievances. The grievances of defeat, the grievances of not obtaining enough benefits, and the grievances of shifting the focus of development.
Whoever failed at this juncture would become the target of the entire nation's criticism. The country and the emperor would not make mistakes, and the people needed a way to vent.
If their plan did not succeed this time, the emperor and the nobles would have to give the country an explanation, and this explanation might be a navy minister.
The other people in the room did not speak. They began to focus their attention on the huge TV again. They were also watching the joint military exercise.
Ever since the Gefra and the Federation's fleets seemed to have a tacit understanding and began to change their defensive formation, the other countries also felt the tension, and the joint military exercise felt like it could not be enjoyed to the fullest.
But everyone still watched it every day, hoping to find some useful information from the details.
The Guevara People's performance in the joint military exercise was at the bottom. This was their worst performance. That day, the emperor directly asked the Minister of the Army to take the blame and resign. Fortunately, this was just a way to express his dissatisfaction, not an order.
In the next phase of the Gefra Empire's plan, other than speeding up the development of some armaments and changing of equipment, a ruthless reform of the army was also included in the plan.
They needed an army that could open up the enemy's territory for them with artillery, an army that could go deep into the hinterland and plunder wealth, and occupy the strategic initiative, not a group of useless people who only knew how to ask for pensions from the Empire.
In order to buy more time, and to prevent the current international situation from spiraling out of control, the Gefra Emperor once had a plan called "The Race" on his desk. Now was the time to execute it.
After several rounds of joint military exercises, everyone had a new understanding of each other's military strength. Next up was the final battle.
The two sides would "meet" a similar number of target ships in two areas of the sea. Whoever could sink these target ships in the shortest amount of time would be the winner of this exercise.
More importantly, submarines were allowed to participate in this exercise!
Most countries had sent submarines to participate in this joint military exercise. For the current international military environment, submarines were equivalent to strategic weapons.
Until there was no effective countermeasure, no one could do anything about it. Submarines, on the other hand, could cause fatal damage to large ships.
More importantly, submarines were relatively cheap to build and had a shorter construction period. As long as they were accompanied by a specialized tugboat, they could dive into the sea after reaching the war zone. Their performance during long voyages was also very good.
Therefore, regardless of whether their submarines could meet the specifications of the Federation, they took them out. Even if their submarines weren't good enough, and even if they would leak when diving, they still took them out.
Whether they were good or not was one thing, but at least they had them. Don't you dare have any ideas about me.
This declaration was very important. With this thing, it was equivalent to having a protective talisman. At least no one would dare to try to attack through the sea.
In addition, the war between the Gefra and the Federation was also led by submarines. Therefore, in fact, the final battle was a competition to show the performance of the submarines of each country.
After the general attack signal was sent out, the submarines that were towed to the designated area began to dive. In an instant, nothing could be seen on the surface of the sea.
Whether it was on the warships or the observation ships in the distance, the refraction of light on the surface of the sea made it impossible for anyone to see where the submarines were.
Everyone watching this scene, regardless of whether they were familiar with naval warfare or not, sucked in a breath of cold air.
"Ghost of the sea", this was the nickname that people gave to this new type of submarines after the first victory of the Federation's submarines.
As long as it dived into the water, it was like a ghost. You knew it was around you, but you just couldn't see it.
Until it got close to you, and then it fired a torpedo, blowing you up into the sky.
There was no solution!
A few balloons suddenly rose from the Gefra destroyer. The military observers immediately noticed this abnormality. They either observed or took pictures, as if they were trying to guess the purpose of this observation.
Following that, the Federation's balloons also took off, but the people were still confused.
The Gefra emperor was so nervous that his palms were sweating. He clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails were embedded in his palms. A trace of blood slowly flowed out, but he didn't feel it.
His eyes, all of his attention, were completely attracted by everything on the TV screen.
In addition to him, there was also the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Defense, and … the Prime Minister. Everyone was holding their breath. Whether or not they could change the current situation of the Gefra, it all depended on this.
At this time, in the command center of the Atlantic Ocean, the commander-in-chief of the Federation was also looking at the screen with a relaxed face.
Although the Federation's performance couldn't be said to be the best, but in terms of overall strength, they were ranked first, followed by the Gefra.
The Federation wasn't very good in every event. On the contrary, other than getting first place in the beach landing, the Federation often only got third or fourth place in several other events.
But the Federation's advantage was that they didn't have any obvious shortcomings, and their overall strength jumped to first place.
On the contrary, the Guevara People performed very well in many events. They had sailors that all the countries in the world wanted, but they were at the bottom of the water and land cooperation events.
At the same time, the only casualty in this joint military exercise happened to the Gefra Army. When they were landing on the beach, dozens of soldiers fell or sprained their feet because they weren't good at running on the beach. There was also a guy who fell and was seriously injured when he jumped into the trench.
At that time, the Gefra Emperor's blood pressure suddenly rose, and his whole face was red. If the palace medical officer didn't find out in time, maybe the princes would have started singing praises.
The ugly and stupid behavior of the Gefra Army caused the military score of the Gefra Army to plummet. If it wasn't for their excellent scores in other aspects, the Gefra Army might have dropped out of the top three.
The commander-in-chief of the Federation didn't think that the Gefra Army could make any waves. Everyone knew that the Federation's submarine technology was the best, and their torpedo technology was also the best. Those latecomers couldn't possibly develop submarines that could surpass the Federation in terms of data in a short period of time.
Don't look at the specifications and performance of the submarines released by the other countries. Everyone knew that 80% of those numbers were fake, just like the data released by the Federation. There was no "official" reliability.
"Can you observe the Guevara People's submarines?"
The commander-in-chief chewed on a pure-colored cigarette with a relaxed face, as if victory was already in his hands.
"… Sorry, Sir Commander, we haven't found any traces of them yet. Their departure point is too far away from us …"
"It's okay, they won't force us to run faster!"
The commander-in-chief said as he found a chair and sat down with a satisfied face. "We just need to wait …"
But this kind of leisure didn't last long. He was interrupted by an unbelievable scene.
"What the f * ck is that?!"