On a sunny day, at the Scottish Prime Minister's Office in the center of Edinburgh, staff looked at the Minister of Defense General Hugo Elses in surprise and frowned, hurriedly walked through the corridor, and came to the office of the "national leader" Alex Chaggs Barriol, and knocked on the door.

After receiving the approval, the middle-aged man who made his fortune by following Barriole couldn't wait to enter the room. The moment before the door was closed, the secretary-general who was waiting for demolition in the adjacent office clearly heard Elsse shouting, "No, my leader."

"What's the matter?" The Scottish dictator stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, responding to his first-handed defense minister in a tone of comforting rather than reprimanding.

Elses realized that he was indeed abrupt, and he paused: "Sorry, my leader is really a big deal because of this, and it makes people very anxious."

Barriol pointed to the sofa: "Sit down and say."

Elsse sat down: "According to the tip, an American fleet arrived at Limerick's outer port this morning, with at least three cruisers and five destroyers. What's abominable is that the Americans hung the American flag and the new United Kingdom flag on the flagpole, which was exactly the same as the Irish way of sending ships to assist the United States in the Philippines. What does this mean? It means that the Americans should help the military offensive that the new United Kingdom may launch at any time!"

"Americans repaid? Isn't this normal?" Barriole seemed unsuspecting, as if he had guessed or learned about this situation.

"But according to the armistice agreement signed in 1937, non-alliance countries allowed the United States not to deploy any military force at West Equator 85!" Elses explained, "The arrival of this American fleet must be recognized by the Germans."

"My general, with the strength of the Scottish Navy, we are at a disadvantage if the United States intervenes. In the current situation, I don't think we have to over-interpret this move by the Americans. After all, the New United Kingdom has issued an announcement to the public that the cross-border joint military exercises will be held. It is reasonable for the Americans to send a fleet to come. Remember, as long as we do not start war with the New United Kingdom and England, even if the Americans send the entire navy, they will only wave flags and shout for them and cannot solve any problems." Barriol made a calm analysis.

But Elses's anxiety was not resolved by these words. He refuted: "You make sense, but judging from the intelligence of all parties, our opponents may have been determined to use military means to eliminate Scotland's threat to them. Do you think that the Italian government is facing the threat of war, and hasn't it also made a compromise? What's the result? It's not that the new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been jointly attacked! We must make all preparations for the war in advance! Leaders are all preparations!"

Barriole walked to the Minister of Defense and sat down with a heavy expression: "On paper, we have a defensive force that is no less than England, but we must admit that the Scottish army lacks combat experience, lacks cutting-edge weapons, and lacks the will to fight the enemy to the death. Even if we only fight with the English army, we may not be able to win, let alone fight against the terrifying military machine of the New United Kingdom! Therefore, we cannot fall into the death swamp of war in any case, and we must do everything possible to avoid war. At the same time, we must continue to grasp the initiative in diplomatic negotiations and cannot retreat because of the enemy's military deterrence."

Elses said with some frustration: "I don't care about diplomacy or I am not good at diplomacy. I am responsible for military affairs, and I can only be responsible for military affairs."

"At present, our situation is indeed not very optimistic, but when the Japanese army arrives, the situation will change greatly, a big change!" Barriol intentionally strengthened his tone.

"I know that although the Japanese army arrived in Scotland had only one mixed division, it represented the attitude of the Japanese Empire to intervene in the European situation, which was enough to turn our opponents' attention to the East." Elses made a self-righteous guess.

Barriole did not speak, but sighed slightly.

At the beginning of his tenure, he had full of imagination about the future of Scotland, but step by step, the old problems were not completely solved, and new problems had already followed one after another. A virtuous cycle had not been formed, and a vicious cycle was getting bigger and bigger. National defense construction and social welfare seemed to have achieved great results, but in fact, it was up to borrow the new and repay the old to maintain operation. If domestic conflicts cannot be transferred out, the Scottish government will collapse due to the financial crisis in a few years. As the illusion of high social welfare was torn apart, his own prestige would be gone.

Barriole glanced at Elses, who was neatly handsome but unstable. If he had one or two talented generals and an efficient military staff, he would not have to retreat at the last moment when the "Pakistan crisis" broke out, but instead took advantage of the opportunity where there was still gap between Ireland, Wales and England to let go. In that case, he would not have to work hard day and night and rack his tricks in recent years.

It is precisely because of Scotland's limited military strength that although the diplomatic crisis caused by the Salom Bay dispute sometimes storms, people exclaimed that "the British civil war is inevitable" and sometimes sluggish, making people mistakenly think that the crisis is about to be resolved through negotiations. Various twists and turns, ups and downs made the followers' moods as if they were riding a roller coaster, but they never turned into war, and there was no fierce military confrontation. At the negotiation table, the Scottish government agreed to make concessions on the resettlement of residents in the Salom Bay, but required to participate in the development of the North Sea oil field and share the mining income of the North Sea oil field. The new United Kingdom only agreed to provide a one-time or annual compensation for cash payments, and did not accept any country's involvement in the North Sea oil field they developed after years of research and huge investment.

As a result, both sides held their own opinions and the diplomatic negotiations had not made substantial progress. In order to force the other party to make concessions, Scotland did not hesitate to win over Norway and Denmark to negotiate the new United Kingdom's exclusive right to exploit the North Sea oilfield, and even submitted an arbitration application to the League of Nations.

"Please do this first! General! In recent times, we have continued to closely monitor the movements of the new United Kingdom and the Kingdom of England. Remember, you must not have any form of military conflict with these two opponents before the Japanese army arrives." At the end, Barriole ordered his Minister of Defense.

"I understand, my leader." Elses said with a frown, "The Scottish army will unconditionally execute your orders and unconditionally trust all your judgments!"

Barriole nodded and said "very good", but his tone seemed pale and powerless.

When the Japanese military dispatched mixed combatants to board the ship and were about to embark on a journey of thousands of miles, at the invitation of the new United Kingdom, the US military's 1st mechanized artillery brigade had arrived in Ireland and was preparing to play the role of the offensive party in the "1949 Peace Exercise".

This elite unit is called the Artillery Brigade, but the number of members reached 17,502. In addition to the accompanying officer inspection regiment and rocket test battalion, the total number of officers and soldiers who arrived in Ireland exceeded 20,000, which was comparable to the Japanese mixed combatants, and its weight and role were even better. The brigade was under its jurisdiction, with an armored field artillery regiment, a towed howitzer artillery regiment, a baggage regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, an air defense battalion, and an infield battalion. In addition to being equipped with crawler self-propelled artillery, crawler artillery tractors and various types of towed artillery, it is also equipped with the "Odin Divine Eye II" type artillery aim radar jointly developed by the United States and the New United Kingdom. The combat power and maneuverability have been improved by geometric levels compared with traditional artillery units.

During the New Austrian-Italy War, the New United Kingdom showed the world an invincible military force and a revolutionary three-dimensional war model. People were impressed by the super combat capabilities of Finnia-class aircraft carriers and the precise combat effects of guided rockets, and were also shocked by the powerful assault forces of armored clusters and mechanized corpses, but underestimated the role of the traditional land war king artillery on the battlefield. During the war, the New Austrian coalition forces

More than 20,000 artillery pieces were invested on the Italian front and consumed more than 9.5 million shells. However, most of the artillery that participated in the war came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and most of the old-fashioned artillery during World War I and II were mostly ignored by observers. Objectively speaking, without the full support of the Austro-Hungarian artillery, the coalition ground forces would not have been able to successfully break through the border defense line of the Italian army, let alone quickly take over the fortified Venice.

Also at the invitation of the new United King ** side, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sent the 5th Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Imperial Wehrmacht, which was named "Imperial Thunder". During World War I, this unit rushed to the Western Front to assist the German army in fighting against France. During World War II, this unit crossed the ocean and participated in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Panama and the Battle of Florida. It was the most famous and most well-known army unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since the 20th century. Now, the regiment is equipped with 12 280mm Skoda m1938 heavy howitzers and 8 305mm caliber "Karl" self-propelled mortars. Although the number of artillery is not large, it is shocking the battlefield with amazing destructive power.

Spain, which missed the war against Italy because of its gaze, also sent the Royal 1st and 6th Air Defense Battalions, which they regarded as elite air defense forces, were also sent. These two units made their debut in the late stage of the Battle of the Azores, and later participated in the League of Nations peacekeeping mission twice. They were among the few Spanish troops that could be taken advantage of. Now, the department is equipped with the "trumpeter" mobile air defense radar purchased by the Spanish military at high prices. It has replaced the old weapons and equipment with a quadruple 13mm self-propelled air defense gun, a dual 40mm self-propelled air defense gun and a towed 75mm semi-automatic air defense gun. Most of the officers and soldiers under its jurisdiction are veterans who have served for more than three years, and their proficiency in operating air defense weapons and equipment is at the top of the Spanish army.
Chapter completed!