Chapter 1900: The Australian Battlefield

At this time, Australia.

Xie Fang had not heard good news for a long time.

Fighting against the French fleet fully exposed how inadequate his Battleships were.

It also exposed how much damage the policies of military leasing and free trade, which he had pushed during his time in power, had caused to a government.

Under such a long-term military leasing policy, the Longyan Army...

Those employers were very willing to turn the Longyan Army into a private army of their own; without the constraints of a system and strict training, this force had already turned into a group of drunks, gamblers, and hooligans...

Military discipline was lax, combat effectiveness was low, and only a portion of the elite had not been corrupted.

These two months of fighting made Xie Fang deeply realize how difficult it was to build an iron army, and how simple it was to destroy an elite force.

After the war broke out, the disarray of the army was not the most fatal thing; these could be corrected.

However, the cornerstone that made up the mainstay of the Australian economy, the free trade market, had undergone a heaven-and-earth transformation.

Delu had long since incited many merchants to defect; they were merchants who held Dual Citizenship.

Their departure would not encounter any obstruction.

After the war broke out, a large number of merchants left here, and the finances of the Xie Fang government once stagnated.

Fighting a war is fighting for money!

Financial collapse and military decay directly resulted in the rapid advance of the French troops.

The situation on the battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse.

The old General Li, who had originally advocated for war, had been away from the ranks for twenty years and never imagined that the super-strong army Liu Zheng had built with his own hands was now a pile of mud!

Xie Fang sat in the Great Hall, covering his forehead with his hand, and said in a deep voice: "My ministers, is there still a good Method to stabilize the army?"

Among the ministers in the court, not one person spoke.

All were silent.

Xie Fang stood up and coldly swept his gaze over these people: "The French fleet is almost at Sydney Port, and you cannot even think of a Method?"

A person from the Military Department stood out and said: "There is no money, military discipline is rotten, and although the Yinzhou ships are powerful, they are useless without good soldiers!"

"Your Majesty, there must still be our Longyan Army resistance forces on Tasmania."

"I propose adopting a delaying tactic to reorganize military discipline!"

"As for military expenses, I propose that Your Majesty take out your personal wealth!"

Xie Fang looked at this general who had absolutely no respect, and said coldly: "I am still the Emperor of Australia; are you trying to die?"

The general raised his head and looked indifferently at Xie Fang, who was in a rage on the throne; it was he who had wasted the excellent situation in Australia for nothing.

Now, asking their Longyan Army to risk their lives for Xie Fang—how could their Longyan Army agree!

Strictly speaking, they were soldiers of Longyan, not Xie Fang's troops.

"Hmph, Xie Fang, remember that we are soldiers of Longyan, and Australia was ceded to you by Lord Liu Zheng!"

This general threw down the Jade Tablet in his hand and left with a Bitter Remonstrance and a flick of his sleeves.

"You!!!" Xie Fang said in anger.

Seeing Xie Fang trembling all over with rage, and then looking at the general's dashing retreating figure, the ministers stared at Xie Fang, their eyes devoid of any respect.

Australia is the Australia of Longyan.

It is not Xie Fang's.

Once there was a first person who dared to reprimand Xie Fang to his face, there would be a second.

Monarchy had long been abolished in Longyan, and these ministers who came from Longyan were no longer afraid of Xie Fang, this emperor.

"Your Majesty, we ministers implore Your Majesty to take out your personal wealth to serve as military expenses!"

"We ministers implore Your Majesty!"

The voices of the ministers shook the entire Golden Throne Hall, and Xie Fang stared blankly at the crowd.

He did not expect that there would be so many ministers opposing him today.

"Rebellion, it's all rebellion!"

"You dare to force the palace, do you want to be executed to the

ninth degree!"

The ministers said in deep voices: "If our heads can trade for the peace of Australia, we will have no regrets in death!"

Xie Fang looked at these ministers, gave a miserable laugh, and walked down from the hall.

The surroundings fell into silence.

He looked at these ministers who, on ordinary days, would have liked to carve the word 'loyalty' on their faces, and now...

That sense of awe had vanished completely.

Everywhere his gaze fell, they were all rebels!

He looked at the current Prime Minister; the Prime Minister remained silent, indicating his determination.

He looked at the Ministers of the Six Ministries; the Ministers did not speak, staring at him.

In the eyes of the ministers, Xie Fang was like a greedy person, still clutching the treasury tightly and refusing to let go even now.

He walked behind the curtain, and the old eunuch's shrill voice shrieked: "Court dismissed!"

And at the same time.

Because of Louis XV's arbitrary decision, the French troops increased their forces in Australia; this was a good thing for Australia, as more troops gave them the ability to take Australia.

The sea was the center of their war, and after receiving reinforcements, the number of warships also expanded.

The advantage in the war at sea came to their side.

After experiencing so many battles, the French troops were about to reach Sydney Port.

Yet Li He, who was still resisting on the island, knew nothing of this.

When the French troops had not yet sent reinforcements, the new material exchange conditions promulgated by Li He allowed them to achieve good results.

In a short time, they obtained a large amount of supplies.

The French troops were also exhausted by the guerrilla warfare of the Resistance Army.

But with the French reinforcements, as well as the Black Troops hired by the French from Africa, his combat operations fell into an extremely intense state.

The speed of supplies manufactured in the small workshops they established in the flour mill was already far behind the speed of consumption.

Yet now was the time when the resistance forces on Tasmania were in the greatest need of these supplies.

In order to maintain the operations of the United Army, Li He decided to take a desperate risk.

All resistance forces on the United Island would launch an all-out war to cripple the enemy forces as soon as possible.

Li He summoned all the leaders of the Resistance Army to discuss this matter.

Conference Hall.

"I believe now is the best time to attack; if we drag it out, we will lack both supplies and manpower, and the enemy's anti-encirclement campaign has already quickened its pace; we must unite and fight together."

The representative of the local resistance forces on Tasmania, Barbatos, said: "I have no objections to this point."

"But there is one thing to note: our current troop numbers are less than twenty thousand, spread across more than a dozen units."

"We can follow your command, but will certain units really put in effort during this operation?"

"I believe they will not; these parasites will only gnaw away at our supplies from the rear, and I think we should drive them out right now."

Barbatos's gaze fell upon another unit of local Tasmanians.

This was a unit forcibly pieced together from residents on Tasmania, similar to mercenaries.

And their employer was a British man named Fake, a merchant who had immigrated there.

The French were likewise unfriendly toward the British.

Fake stared at Barbatos, very much disliking the other's attitude: "Barbatos, I am also an Australian, I have Australian citizenship; please understand, the weapons you are using now were built and used with my funding."

"I hate those invaders just as much as you do; they burned down my shop and destroyed my home!"

"My troops and I will fight alongside you!"

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