Of Pride and Power - 25. Chapter 25: “Enter action with boldness.”

I placed Mary under house arrest in London, along with a garrison of 3,000 troops and the wooden-ship English fleet for support around the port. While William Cecil argued that I needed a coronation immediately to have legitimacy, I countered that two battlefields needed to be taken care of before a coronation could occur. In the north, 50,000 French and 10,000 Scottish troops, along with Mary’s loyalists that escaped from Northumberland, were regrouping for a counterattack. However, due to the Scottish rebellion, they were engaged in a suppression campaign. The combined enemy forces were far superior to the Scottish rebels, just as the historical Scottish rebellion of 1558 to 1559, but the rebels were far more united than the Scottish Royalist, French, and English expatriate forces, ruining military cohesion despite alignment. The rebels also launched their coordinated attacks against fuel depots and armories, when I began my offensive in England. This caused logistical issues for the massive army, which at times had to rely on swords and horses due to a lack of ammunition for guns and fuel for vehicles. These factors slowed the ability of these forces to act against England’s northern flank.

I sent most of my armed forces to the north to secure the lands of Northumberland and provide support to the Scottish rebels. I tasked Pippen, Prudence, and Peter to coordinate the commands of the 25,000 troops and tanks. While it wasn’t well known to all the troops, we had used an enormous amount of munitions in the operations to take England and Wales, so I could not quickly launch a campaign to attack the French troops in Scotland. Without major industrialization, Robert’s ability was the only manufacturing method we could use to create machine-made items and explosive munitions. The remaining munition supply was enough though to protect the northern flank and provide some limited long-range fire support from the town of Carlisle, giving John Knox a foothold around Castle Douglas and Lockerbie in Southern Scotland. The presence of my main army in northern England would be easily noticed. The open radio communications between Scotland to France and the German Empire requested assistance against a perceived English invasion as a result. Of course, it was what I wanted to happen.

In the south of the European continent, German and Papal Roman armies gathered in Bruges in Ghent and Montreuil in Picardy for an immediate invasion. In history, Francis of Guise, the brother of Mary of Guise, the regent of Scotland, would have led a French army into Calais, destroying the fort of Risban and collapsing the defensive line as a result. Calais was a difficult location to guard, without a significant military force or an expanded defense line. I was planning on providing the latter to the future development of Calais province.

Knowing what went wrong in history, Robert and I boarded the Dreadnaught and led the entire 38-steel ship fleet toward Calais. Accompanying us were 1,000 elite royal marines under the command of Frances Howard. Frances and her marines landed with several amphibious motorboats, then seized Lord Thomas Wentworth, the military commander of Calais, who surrendered his command and the city in the face of my overwhelming forces. He was nominally appointed by Mary, but I knew he would have served Elizabeth I, so he was given good terms. The other English troops at the forts accepted my direct command without any hesitation. One of them, William Grey, became my appointed military governor of Calais as he was a former Baron before Mary’s purge and a military commander under Henry VIII and Edward VI. With William Grey’s assistance, the leaders of Calais began supporting me and my troops, when they heard I came to relieve them from the incoming two-prong attack. It became easier to maintain order within the territory on the eve of an invasion.

According to the enemy radio messages, 20,000 troops under Duke Francis of Guise with armored vehicles were leaving Montreuil, and 30,000 German troops with field artillery and heavy machine guns under Duke Ferdinand of Habsburg, the older brother of Charles V, were leaving Bruges. Though Frances’ marine troops only numbered 1,000 and we did not bring any tanks or heavy artillery, it was a good thing to have such a small force. Frances’ force could fight far more nimbly than the larger armies set before us. As Ferdinand’s army was closer to Calais, we went to flank them with amphibious motorized landing crafts launched off the fleet. Frances’ marines landed at Hondenstrand beach first, then moved to Nieuwpoort and accepted the surrender of an amicable Imperial administrator who spoke perfect English, the 25-year-old William II of Nassau-Siegen.

In my history, he should have become William of Orange at this point in history, but various changes in history and his father’s early death had changed his official title. At first, I was surprised and suspicious to meet the father of the Dutch Republic during this campaign. He was a serious and cautious man, someone who could give Francis a run for his money in the dark and moody guy department. This young man would one day be one of my core allies. Though, he was sometimes a bit extreme for my tastes, there was no denying he loved the Dutch people and did everything to establish a solid foundation. On the spot, I asked him to become an observer, so he could witness my forces wiping out Ferdinand’s army. I promised that if I were defeated, I would merely claim he was just my prisoner, but if I defeated Ferdinand, then he should claim my protection and liberate the Flemish population from the German Empire. It would be a supreme affront to Charles V amongst nobles since the city of Ghent within the neighboring Eastern Flanders province was Uber-Kaiser Charles’ birthplace. Undermining his authority and showing vulnerability was a necessity to keep Charles off-balance, planting that seed with William here was needed.

When Ferdinand’s advance scouts neared the city gates of Nieuwpoort, Frances made sure the English flag was visible and she fired a single warning shot at them. The scouts returned to Ferdinand’s army, which notified the entire army through radio to gather at Fort Nieuwendamme to assess the strength of my expedition before continuing. Historically, Ferdinand was a good military commander during the Wars of Religion, which resulted in several victories along with the Holy Roman Emperor title after Charles V abdicated. Even without having a massive army in their territory, the unknown nature of my strength meant they had to be cautious around my armed forces. I counted on their caution and used it against them. Fort Nieuwendamme is a military installation around 5 miles away from the Dreadnaught offshore and only 3 miles away from Nieuwpoort’s city gates. As a result, Robert returned onboard the battleship and made preparations to use Pluton for a live-fire attempt. My analytical ability was used to do range finding with Robert and we prepared to launch a 15-kiloton strike against their gathered forces. I wanted to limit the damage to surrounding areas and reduce civilian casualties by calculating precise coordinates and yield needed to wipe their forces. As far as they knew at that point, only the German Empire and Papal Rome had such technology, so they had no fear about gathering forces like that. While some have later questioned the move to concentrate your forces as he did, Ferdinand was doing the right thing for any army up until the Second World War, gathering forces to reassess an enemy's strength in a strategic stronghold should be a sound option. Sadly, like the Percy family in England, 16th-century individuals could be trained in modern equipment and warfare applications, but they were not good modern tacticians due to this training. Imagination and creativity were what made the modern warfare of my era so dangerous.

Though my abilities had allowed me to estimate and pinpoint potential damage from the Pluton railgun, it was the first time we used the weapon. Unlike a nuclear blast, a railgun with the same kinetic equivalent firepower does not generate what I expected to be a mushroom cloud, instead, a dome of debris formed. After several minutes, a strong gust of wind began to blow across the area, hurricane-force three miles away from the blast site, 78 miles per hour. At the epicenter, the wind speed would have been 624 miles per hour. I had asked all civilians and our troops to enter basements and cellars when the weapon was about to be fired. While human beings could survive 78 miles per hour winds, the risk of debris striking civilians, or my soldiers was something I wanted to avoid.

After five minutes, everyone left the cellars. Frances, me, and William approached the location of the fort, which, as expected, was destroyed and human body parts littered the wide landscape. In shock, William said nothing to me, but I told him to spread the news that I had destroyed Ferdinand’s army throughout the Flemish provinces. Then, I left him in front of the crater that was once an Imperial fortress. My forces needed to be transported away by sea to confront Francis of Guise in the south.

On our journey back, the radio messages from the German Empire began to sound the alarm.

“Halt all operations, enemy forces have annihilated Fort Nieuwendamme along with 30,000 Imperial troops under Duke Ferdinand of Bohemia. Air reconnaissance reports a crater formation like ones created by Sky Fortress at Dresden.”

Duke Francis’ forces signaled they were halting their operations as well, settling his army within the urban center of Boulogne sur Mer and sending a messenger to Calais to stall me with peace terms until they figured out how I managed to launch such a powerful attack. In my history, Boulogne was originally captured in 1544 by the English under Henry VIII in one of his last campaigns as an ally of Charles V against France. However, in our timeline, Henry never could fight the French or lay siege to Boulogne. At this point, I had the German Empire in a panic and the Papal Roman-French troops were on the defensive, if I could wipe out the French forces as well, I could demand peace terms. Pluton had a total of 2 special shells remaining, but conventional shore bombardment munitions were still plentiful across the 20 ships as well as anti-aircraft weapons. As a result, my primary goal in Boulogne wasn’t to capture the city, it was to draw the French army into combat. It would be nice to expand the defensive line to Boulogne in the south, just as Western Flanders is certain to be in the east of Calais at the very least until William’s rebellion can create a Flemish foothold.

Seizing the docks of Boulogne was simple for Frances. Though the gun emplacements around the port were formidable weapons for their time including cast iron cannons and machine guns, they were antiquated compared to my steel naval guns with far longer ranges. Removing the coastal batteries was as simple as range binoculars. We also found the gasoline storage units, which were drums piled near the edge of the city due to the rush of Francis Guise’s army to enter the city. Thus, while we could not identify where their troops were located from 10 miles out, we could cause havoc even before we attacked their main city by attacking the visible fuel drums. Due to recent events, a lack of intelligence about our military strength could be used in our favor as a result. They will not know that the force attacking them is a naval force and not a land force.

After three volleys from our warships, plumes of black smoke rose around the city, while a noticeable conflagration was threatening to engulf the east gates of the city. The fleet, anchored several miles away from shore, surrounded the harbor and Frances' marine forces landed at the docks. Despite having superior numbers, the French-Papal forces were operating within an urban setting where heavy equipment like artillery and armored vehicles were unable to use their full firing options. Frances’ troops were armed with semi-automatic rifles, based on the Sturmgewehr 44 or StG 44 of German design with a 600-round per minute firing rate on fully automatic fire, each soldier was given only 1,200 rounds to conserve bullets. In urban combat, the semi-automatic firing option of 30 rounds per minute would be superior to the carbine rifles of enemy troops. My elite marines were also equipped with steel sabers and pin-action grenades. For every hundred soldiers of the marine troops, there would be one rocket-propelled grenade launcher user, who would serve as an anti-heavy weapons or armored vehicle measure. Without Robert, ten soldiers were designated as grenade launcher users and had a limited supply of 5 rounds each, they were armed with revolver pistols as small sidearms. Additionally, ten soldiers would be designated as radio operators, who managed the vacuum tube radio equipment for each 10-person squad and were also armed with revolver pistols. Thus, each squad had 8 semi-automatic rifle users, 1 grenade launcher user, and 1 radio operator.

In this battle, Frances and Robert persuaded me not to personally join the expeditionary force, since the 1,000 troops would be splitting up as 10-person squads and spreading across the city to wipe out the divided 20,000 troops of Francis of Guise along with any other French or Papal commanders in the city. The tactics of squad-level warfare were not something the numerically superior French-Papal soldiers ever trained to face, since forces of the 16^th century fought with more formal rules of engagement. Thus, many urban strongholds and barricades were easily overwhelmed by my squads’ suppression fire. Due to our use of combined arms, any target that was too heavily fortified, such as Château de Boulogne-Sur-Mer, was marked by a unit commander for naval bombardment by encoded radio message. The Chateau was a valuable target due to radio messages indicating Francis of Guise, along with the 14-year-old Dauphin, Francis Valois-Medici, were actively coordinating the army. It was the height of hubris that they did not change radio frequencies or develop coded military messages like we had to issue commands. Thus, the 15-inch guns of the Dreadnaught and 5.5-inch guns of the Cruisers leveled the 13th-century castle.

During the middle of the conflict, naval radar indicated that several squadrons, totaling fifty-eight aircraft, had been found around 25 miles away. They had flown out of airfields in the nearby Picardy region according to radio intercepts, having been re-routed to support the French and German armies as a result. Due to the reliance of these aircraft on visual reconnaissance and their low flying ceiling of 10,000 feet, they were in perfect position for anti-aircraft flak guns of the frigates and cruisers. When they reached the optimal firing distance of 7 miles out, the flak guns roared to life with explosive shell fire that lit up the skies over the city of Boulogne. In a matter of minutes, all fifty-eight aircraft were eliminated from the fight. More than the loss of their armies, these squadrons represented nearly half of the New Rome total complement according to the French radio messages.

After 4 hours of intense fighting, the French army surrendered. Casualties were light on our side, we had 9 soldiers with minor injuries and no fatalities. The French army had 6,216 soldiers killed in action, 8,551 injured, and the remaining 5,233 troops were prisoners of war. Francis of Guise was killed, but Francis Valois-Medici was alive, though heavily injured. Based on my inner sight, I estimated he had a 72% chance of mortality from these injuries, but I needed to extend his lifespan until the peace terms had been finalized. I was especially lucky in this campaign, capturing such a high-value hostage, so I did not want to lose an asset.

For my descendants, you should remember the bad example of the French and German armies. They had lost many of their forces in this campaign in Calais as they mobilized many of their advanced units to counter me. I won more than merely two battles; I had decimated their two most important military segments: their mechanized and air forces. They overestimated their power while perceiving me as an opponent with their mindsets. Neither nation had thought that I would have sent forces to relieve Calais, instead of addressing their more than 60,000 troops stationed in Scotland that posed a danger to England, my home territory. The assumption of me being on the defensive was their tactical mistake. I did not fight using a Western mindset; instead, I was using a modified version of Japan’s Kantai Kessen strategy that had won the Russo-Japanese War for the resource-poor Japanese.

At that point in history, like England in my timeline, there were no resource-generating territories, trade contracts for raw resources, or logistics networks that could maintain a prolonged international conflict. In reviewing my options, the Japanese example during the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905 in my history came into my mind as the best strategy.

Just like Japan’s fight against Russia, my opponents in both the German Empire and New Roman Papal State had superior resources, more troops, and far more capacity than me, but I had superior military hardware and tactics. In the area of military material, my forces like Japan did not have enough resources to maintain a long war, so they had to go on the offensive first rather than rely on defense. While Western military historians say it is impossible to defeat Russia in any kind of war, Japan did succeed due to a series of fast decimation attacks. The Japanese navy threw its entire fleet, which was technically superior with higher caliber guns and better armor against the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur. The destruction of the Russian Fleet at Port Arthur and the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet that tried to recapture their far east port forced Russia into suing for peace. Japan as a result achieved what neither France nor Germany failed to accomplish, defeat Russia, despite being a weaker nation by most standards.

Later though, Japan did fail with this strategy in World War II due to prolonged warfare and technological inferiority against the United States. To defeat enemies with overwhelming resources and troops, you need to be bold and strike immediately with technically superior forces. However, the Japanese lacked the advanced radar coordination, damage control, and modern communication encryption or codebreaking that the US had, so in battles like Midway, their use of bold tactics was suicidal against a well-prepared US Navy.

Studying the success and failure of Kantai Kessen's strategy, the superior military equipment, and the superior communication equipment that allowed us to perfectly intercept messages from our foes made me certain of applying it. Despite facing forces fifty times greater than my own, I knew exactly what they were doing and their military disposition. In contrast, my opponents did not know the size of my forces or where my powerful weapons were.

After disarming the surrendered troops and securing their armored vehicles for analysis back in England, I sent out a clear radio message to the forces of Papal Rome and the German Empire:

“Citizens of the Habsburg German Empire and the New Roman Papal State, this is Elias Tudor of England. I address you as the victor in the battles fought in Flanders and Boulogne. Your forces have been defeated, and your aggression has been repelled completely. Let it be known that England does not seek war, but we will not tolerate unwarranted attacks on our sovereign territory, which includes the ancient territory of Calais. We extend our hand in peace, but we will defend our realm with unwavering determination. As we all know, the world has evolved beyond the era of swords and horses. We now possess advanced military equipment and well-trained troops, just as you do. We have embraced the future, and we stand ready to protect our present. Our strength lies not just in our weaponry alone, it lies in the abilities of our countrymen. England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland stand firm, united, and resolute in our rejection of your authority. I urge you to choose a path of diplomacy and send envoys before more lives are lost.”

It took several days, but a reply came by messenger from Paris in a formal letter requesting peace negotiations:

“To the Noble Elias Tudor, Ruler of England,

In the name of the Almighty and the spirit of Christian brotherhood, I extend to you my sincerest greetings. It is with profound sorrow and a deep sense of responsibility that I speak these words. Our lands, once blessed by the grace of God, now suffer under the weight of a destructive conflict that has claimed thousands of our brethren.

The rivers of France and the fields of Flanders, once fertile and prosperous, are now stained with the blood of the faithful who fought valiantly for their beliefs. The toll of this war has not only brought anguish to the hearts of the bereaved but has also strained the very fabric of our Christian unity.

It is my fervent desire, guided by the teachings of Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures, to end this suffering. I implore you, noble ruler, to join me in seeking reconciliation and peace. Let us set aside the sword and embrace the teachings of forgiveness and understanding.

I propose that we convene representatives from both sides to engage in sincere and open-hearted negotiations. Together, under the watchful eye of our Creator, let us forge an agreement that will bring about a lasting peace, allowing our people to rebuild their lives and our nations to mend the bonds that have been strained by the ravages of war.

In this solemn plea for peace, I remain hopeful that reason, compassion, and the spirit of brotherhood will prevail over the discord that has marred our lands. May God grant us the strength and wisdom to bring about a resolution that serves His divine purpose.

Yours in Christ,

Bishop Charles de Lorraine and Duke of Chevreuse of the House of Guise”

Charles was the brother of Mary of Guise and Francis. He was one of the few in the current hierarchy of the church who appeared to have declined in power due to the changes in history. In history, he would have been a famous Cardinal, who crowned three French kings of the Valois line: Henry II, Francis II, and Charles IX. He practiced a realist sense of politics that would be more common with his 17th-century counterparts like Cardinal Mazarin and Cardinal Richelieu. However, he was never elevated to a Cardinal position in this timeline and his family’s fortune has been falling ever since the missing cores two years ago. With his brother’s Francis defeat at my hand, he needed to win a victory of some sort in diplomatic circles at the very least.

As I did not want to tip my hand in direct diplomacy with my opponents, I chose an intermediary in one of the few military commanders, who I knew was loyal to the English cause beyond a doubt. I chose William Grey to represent England, along with calling my ward Edward Seymore to act as his diplomatic attaché during the negotiations.

A flurry of diplomatic messages and conferences were exchanged in the next few months, culminating in the Treaty of Pale de Calais signed on April 22^nd, 1558, with the following terms:

1. Withdrawal of the 50,000 French troops from Scotland and the abdication of Mary of Guise in favor of her teenage daughter, Mary, with a regency council headed by John Knox.

a. Charles desired Mary of Guise’s daughter to be allowed to remain on the throne of Scotland as contrition for his support.

2. Withdrawal of the 30,000 Papal and Marian Loyalist troops from Ireland

a. Few intact Irish clans or even English noble migrants remained, so a protectorate status was established for Ireland. However, knowing the future, I extended an offer for independent dominion status.

3. Recognition of Scottish territorial integrity and independent sovereignty.

a. A year later, I signed a separate agreement with the Scottish Regency Council for economic freedom, military cooperation, and spiritual ties would be made. A secret treaty was also made between the Regency Council and England for the future formation of an independent dominion.

4. Recognition of the independence of the Western Flanders region as a neutral state, headed by William II of Nassau-Siegen.

a. England became the guarantor of their independence in a separate treaty.

5. Recognition of the lands and towns surrounding Calais and Boulogne as English territories with the renunciation of claims by France, Papal Roman State, and the German Empire, encompassing territories of Spain and Portugal as well due to personal unions.

6. Recognition of my rule and those of my descendants as the undisputed monarchs of England, Wales, and all territories acquired henceforth.

7. Freedom of Navigation by merchants unfettered by treaty signatories’ vessels.

8. Acceptance of a territory’s rights to self-determination within the realms of religious, social, and cultural practices.

Ultimately, this peace was won at the point of the lance. The demonstration that I possessed weapons of mass destruction in Flanders and superior-grade assault weapons in Boulogne made it necessary for my foes to pause and reassess their capabilities. They feared that I had an industrial base that could outpace their resource-rich territories since their weapons were at best utilizing late 19^th and early 20^th century designs due to their limited industrial outputs from the Schmalkaldic Wars.

I was able to produce my mid-20th weapons in limited quantities due to Robert. The munition supplies were nowhere near enough to keep up with the weapons if I had to be engaged in a large-scale war. However, posturing and boldness brought about a few years of peace and time to independently build England into the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. What they feared would happen did eventually occur after several decades.