Chapter 410: Broken Root (Part 1)

St. Johns is a city in the northern part of the Avalon Peninsula southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is the capital and largest city and an important port of Newfoundland. St. Johns is facing the Atlantic Ocean and is the easternmost city in North America. Since the 17th century, Britain and France have fought fiercely for colonies. St. Johns is located at the forefront of the North Atlantic route and was a berthed port for fishing boats from Europe in the 16th century. After the Liverpool government fled to Canada, St. Johns was built into one of the two major naval bases of the Canadian Navy.

After avoiding the Canadian Navy's patrol fleet without any danger, the French Expeditionary Fleet arrived in 100 nautical miles northeast of St. Johns on the evening of May 23.

"Marson Marshal, this is St. Johns. It is also the target of our attack this time. According to the information we obtained, there are now two "Glorious" class warships of the Canadian Navy, eight "Canadian" class warships and 14 "King" class warships. The remaining one "Glorious" class warships, two "Canadian" class warships and six "King" class warships are parked at the Halifask Naval Base in Nova Scotia." said a major general staff officer named Bennett, who was transferred from the Straits Fleet.

"That is to say, the Canadian fleet in St. Johns is no match for us at all?" Vassel said. The French Expeditionary Fleet he led has 1 "Dreadnought" class warship, two "Former Defender" class warships, 10 "Bonapart" class warships and 18 "Iberian" class warships. In any aspect, the French Expeditionary Fleet has an absolute advantage.

"Uh!" Although Bennett thought so, he looked down on his opponents, which was a taboo for the Navy, so he said: "In addition to the Canadian fleet, we also need to pay attention to the shore defense fortifications of St. Johns. As a gateway to eastern Canada, Canada has invested a lot of energy in the construction of St. Johns."

"Is that?" Vassel said lightly. He obviously didn't take Bennett's reminder to heart.

At 7 a.m. on May 24, the French Expeditionary Fleet set sail and headed towards St. Johns. At 2 p.m., the French Expeditionary Fleet arrived in the waters of St. Johns. This season is the season for fishing, and there are a large number of fishing boats operating on the sea. When the French Expeditionary Fleet appeared in the sky, the fishermen cheered, thinking that their own fleet had returned to victory. But when the French Expeditionary Fleet approached, they found that the French flag was flying on the warship.

Hu suddenly turned into a scream. The fishermen drove their fishing boats to St. Johns like frightened birds. It was like a demon following them. In fact, they didn't have to do this. For these civilians, unless they took the initiative to attack the French team, the French army would not make things difficult for them. The Liverpool government has always promoted France as a demon crawling out of hell, which has led to the misunderstanding of France and the French team.

The one who stationed in St. Johns was a Canadian admiral named Dennis, one of the senior generals of the Canadian Navy. As soon as the French Expeditionary Fleet appeared, he immediately received news. Although he was very surprised why the French fleet suddenly appeared here and they did not receive any news in advance, the current time did not allow him to consider these things. He had to order the communications soldiers to send a newspaper to Ottawa, and on the other hand, he ordered the fleet to set sail and prepare for the battle.

Seeing St. Johns panic, Vassel was very satisfied, which proved that their raid was completely successful. "The ships lined up in combat formations and prepared for battle." Vassel ordered. Under his command, the French Expeditionary Fleet lined up in combat formations and approached St. Johns. The cannon cover of the naval gun was also taken off, revealing its ferocious gun, pointing at St. Johns.

The Canadian fleet also sailed out of the military port under the order of Dennis and prepared to fight. At the same time, all coastal defense artillery positions were also activated. In St. Johns, in addition to a powerful naval fleet stationed, there were also two regiments of Marines and one regiment of coastal defense artillery units, with a total of 14 large and large artillery positions, which were evenly distributed around St. Johns' military port.

"General, it seems that the enemy is very powerful. I really don't know why they suddenly appeared here." Lieutenant General Victor, the chief of staff of the fleet, said with a timid expression after seeing the size of the French fleet.

"Don't worry about those issues now. Think about how to repel the French attacks. It's just right." In fact, he was also thinking. Judging from the number of warships, the Canadian fleet is 7 fewer than the French fleet, but in terms of combat effectiveness, the French fleet's combat effectiveness is at least twice to three times.

"The strength of the two sides is too great. If we fight head-on, we will suffer a loss." Victor said.

Dennis nodded, thought for a while and said, "Article all ships not to stay away from the coast, and try to fight against the French fleet with the assistance of shore defense artillery."

Victor nodded and then gave Dennis' orders to each ship.

Slowly, both sides entered the range of each other, and the fierce firecrackers immediately unfolded. The warships of both sides kept dodging shells and smashing shells at each other. Warships were constantly hit, and then a raging fire was ignited. Some warships hit by large-caliber shells were even torn into pieces in an instant. The wreckage of warships and sailors waiting for rescue were scattered on the sea.

"Bang!" The office door of Canadian Defense Minister Wellington was brutally pushed open. Then, a woman's scream, a man's angry scolding, and another voice of constant apology came.

It turned out that Wellington was using this time to communicate with his beautiful female secretary to have a good relationship, but just as the time went by, the door was pushed open. The two entangled bodies quickly separated.

"Col. Barron, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation, otherwise you'll wait to clean the entire Ministry of Defense's toilet." After Wellington put on his pants, he yelled angrily at his rash adjutant, Colonel Barron.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Marshal." Barron's forehead was sweating coldly. He knew that the good thing that broke Wellington had broken, and Wellington would definitely not let him go easily. "That's right, Mr. Marshal. He just received a telegram from St. Johns, who claimed that a huge French fleet appeared in the waters of St. Johns and launched a fierce attack on St. Johns. Now, General Denis is leading the fleet stationed in St. Johns to resist, but the French fleet is too powerful. General Denis hopes that you will send a fleet to support them immediately." Barron said tremblingly.

"What?" Wellington was stunned when he heard the news. Naturally, he would not think that Barron would deliberately fabricate the news of the French invasion in order to escape his punishment. Now, he didn't care about punishing Barron. "Damn. What do those fleets in the central Atlantic region do for food? How did the French fleet arrive here silently?" Wellington cursed. He knew that the matter was going to be big. If it was not handled properly, the Canadian Navy would be in trouble now.

"I'm sending my order that the fleet stationed in Halifax will immediately go north to support, and at the same time, we will contact the United States urgently to inform them of the news. In addition, prepare the car immediately and I'm going to the palace." Just a moment of panic, Wellington calmed down. After experiencing a lot of storms, he naturally wouldn't be in vain because of this.

After arriving at the palace, Wellington directly met King William IV. Because of his current status, he did not need to be passed down.

It was also his luck that William IV was discussing something with Liverpool in the conference room at this moment. He was very surprised to see him coming in so hurry.

"Marson Wellington, why are you doing so hurrying? Could it be that the French call?" William IV joked.

"Uh?" Wellington was stunned, and then asked in surprise: "Your Majesty, how do you know?"

Now William IV and Liverpool were surprised. Looking at Wellington's expression, it didn't seem like he was joking. Liverpool asked: "Did the French really call?"

Only then did Wellington realize that William IV was joking with him just now. They did not know that the French fleet was attacking St. Johns, but unfortunately, William IV's joke came true. "Your Majesty, Your Excellency Prime Minister, at 2 pm this afternoon, a huge French fleet appeared in the waters of St. Johns and launched an attack on St. Johns half an hour later. At present, General Dennis is leading the fleet to resist. However, the French fleet is too powerful, and the Dennis fleet cannot resist at all and urgently needs our support." Wellington said in frustration.

"How is it possible? Didn't the French Navy just annihilated a fleet by us? Now the French Navy should confront us in the central Atlantic region, how could it suddenly appear in St. Johns?" Liverpool said with disbelief.

"I don't know either. But, this is definitely true," said Wellington.

"What should we do? Reinforcements, yes, General Dennis needs reinforcements, we should send reinforcements to St. Johns immediately!" William IV said with some disbelief.

"Reinforcements? Where can we have reinforcements? Only Halifax has several warships. We have ordered them to go to St. Johns to support them. However, it doesn't seem to be of much use." Wellington replied.

"Damn it. Is it still time to order our fleets deployed in the Central Atlantic region to return?" Liverpool asked.
Chapter completed!