1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1975
The Qing army seemed to have acquired some new type of weapon. What worried Chen Yixin was not the impact on the battle in Liaodong, but whether there were some changes in the international situation that were not conducive to Haihan behind it.

Haihan has expanded rapidly in the past ten years, and used force in the process of expanding its territory. Naturally, it has made many enemies. There are many countries and forces that hate Haihan openly and secretly, but in the past it was very few There will be situations where these enemies join forces to deal with Haihan.And once such signs appeared, it would definitely not be good news for Hai Han, so Chen Yixin paid special attention to the new-style rifles that appeared in the Qing army's formation, and prepared to intensify investigations into this.

Although the patrols are all cavalry selected from various departments of the garrison and have certain actual combat experience, when it comes to reconnaissance, they may not be comparable to real vanguards.However, none of the ace troops in the Haihan Army are stationed in Jinzhou at this time, so Chen Yixin had to send a telegram to the Datongjiang base, hoping that the special forces or marines currently stationed there could send an elite reconnaissance unit over. , scouting the equipment of the Qing army's new weapons in the army.Of course, if possible, it would be better to get the real thing or capture the insider.

The reason why Chen Yixin had to send a special telegram asking the two troops to send support was because of their different professional levels.These two units have special reconnaissance functions, and their members have professional skills that ordinary troops do not have, and their individual equipment is more sophisticated, and they are basically designed to perform special tasks such as secret reconnaissance. equipped.If it is dispatched to carry out reconnaissance missions against the enemy, the chances of success will be correspondingly greater.

"Look at this telegram. Chen Yixin just sent it from Jinzhou. It's interesting." Wang Tom handed the telegram just sent by the messenger to Qian Tiandun.

During the period after the end of the Korean War, they also spent a rare period of leisure. Apart from dealing with North Korean officials who went to the Datong River Basin to inspect the progress of various cooperative industries, there was basically no work that they had to personally ask.And they are also happy to be leisurely. In the past half a year, it has been too hard. Whether it is a general or a soldier, they all need to stop and take a good rest.

Before declaring war on Spain at the end of last year, they had already received an order to lead their troops south, and participated in the westward campaign against Manila at the beginning of this year.After the war ended, the two troops returned to Sanya after a short rest to participate in the National Day Parade and subsequent amphibious military exercises.After that, they quickly left Sanya all the way north, held another military exercise in Hangzhou Bay to build momentum for Ningbo prefect Qu Yutong, and then went straight to North Korea.From May to August, they have been fighting against the Qing army on the Korean battlefield. The two ace armies under their command can be said to be the busiest troops in the Haihan army.

After the end of the Korean War, in order to stabilize the situation here and promote the implementation of many cooperative industries in the Datong River Basin, and considering the status of the two troops, the Ministry of National Defense allowed them to temporarily station at the Datong River Base to rest.Anyway, North Korea will bear part of the daily expenses of the Datongjiang base, and there are no combat missions that require these two troops to be dispatched in other places, so staying here can save military expenses.

After Li Min left North Korea to go south in September, the two countries negotiated for more than [-] days on the issue of Haihan providing loans to develop the Taedong River Basin, and finally reached an agreement. Haihan State, in the name of Haihan Bank, Provide North Korea with special loans for the development and construction of cooperation projects between the two countries, and Haihan will thus obtain a larger proportion of shares in these cooperative industries, and part of the future profits of these industries will also belong to North Korea. huge borrowings.

Of course, in addition to these ostensible contents, North Korea’s King Li Ji also agreed to Hai Han’s conditions that should not be made public. The trading activities of Haihan merchants in North Korea are more convenient.

After receiving the financial aid provided by Haihan, the iron mines, smelting plants, shipyards, saltworks and other production bases in the Datong River Basin finally started construction one after another.

However, this development model of Haihan in North Korea is different from the past practice of domestic businessmen as the main body, because although North Korea has opened its doors to allow Haihan businessmen to enter the country to engage in US trade activities, it is basically difficult to obtain land as long as it is used. approve.In other words, the agricultural development methods such as plantations that Haihan used to use in the south have not yet received official permission in North Korea.As for important industries such as salt and iron, North Korea will naturally not allow foreign businessmen to directly participate in the operation.

This made the Haihan merchants who came to North Korea excitedly before can only choose Seoul as their foothold to engage in simple trading of buying and selling.Through this loan negotiation, North Korea has slightly relaxed the original restrictions, allowing foreign businessmen to engage in agricultural development in cooperation with the people of the country, but only limited the areas where this development method can be implemented.

Of course, such restrictions are much better than no opportunities, and the requirement to find a local partner is purely a symbolic condition to save face for North Korea.Those who can engage in agricultural development in overseas foreign enclosures are not short of money. Finding a puppet partner from the local area is nothing more than spending a little more money. Compared with the future income of the plantation, it is basically negligible.

The riverside plain with excellent water conservancy conditions in the Taedong River Basin near Pyongyang is also an area designated by the North Korean government to allow foreign businessmen to participate in business operations. Therefore, many businessmen from Haihan and Daming have come to the Taedong River base recently to ask to see Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom. , let's say goodbye to the relationship between the mountain top and Lala first.In the future, if something happens to my nearby property, maybe I can count on the military to help solve it.

Qian Tiandun and Tom Wang would occasionally meet some visiting businessmen when they were in a good mood. Although these people came here for profit, they responded to the country's call anyway, and their business behavior would also increase Haihan's reputation in North Korea. Influence.Moreover, some of them have official contacts and backgrounds, so they couldn't bear to refuse. Although they are military generals who lead troops to fight abroad, they still have to try to maintain some interpersonal relationships in the country.

But what was sent to them today was this military intelligence telegram from Jinzhou, Liaodong, in addition to a large stack of greeting cards and gift lists as a matter of routine.In the telegram, Chen Yixin briefly explained the abnormal situation in Jinzhou and his own views on it.

Qian Tiandun quickly browsed the content of the message, frowned and said, "This is the standard musket that the Qing army can get? That means that our attack on the Liaodong coastline has not played a sufficient role!"

"You mean that the responsibility lies with our navy? Well, I took over this job on behalf of the navy and made up for it. What do you think?" Tom Wang joked with a smile.

"Gag my mouth with words first, you are not a small fish or shrimp!" Qian Tiandun also laughed and said: "This job is obviously the job of the army, so you are ashamed to do it!"

Wang Tom replied: "You are wrong. If you want to carry out this task, my troops are definitely more suitable than yours. The Qing army will definitely not relax the frontal defense. My troops can be dropped from the coastline to the enemy's rear area. , This is something your special operations team can't do!"

Qian Tiandun snorted and said, "It's not only your navy that has ships! By the way, you may not know that the two new high-speed sailboats customized by our special operations group at Zhoushan Shipyard arrived yesterday, and it will not only be yours in the future. The Marine Corps can go to the mountains and go to the sea, and my special operations group can also complete the amphibious combat missions in the near-shore area!"

In fact, when Qian Tiandun formed his own team in Annan, in addition to the main combat environment of mountains and jungles, amphibious operations had always been his field of expertise.However, after the separation of the army and the navy, his troops will need to rely on the assistance of the navy to complete the projection of forces when performing amphibious combat missions, which will more or less limit their combat effectiveness.And Qian Tiandun has been trying to find a way to solve this shortcoming of his army.

The most effective way, of course, is to let the special operations group have its own fleet. When Qian Tiandun wants to mobilize troops on a large scale, he doesn't need to waste time and trouble coordinating with the navy.But this is obviously an impossible goal. Even if the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense acquiesce, he has no money to build a fully equipped fleet, let alone enough military expenses to maintain the daily expenses of a fleet.

Therefore, Qian Tiandun's idea is to settle for the next best thing, so that the special operations group can have small-scale maritime force projection capabilities.This is not just using troop carriers to complete the transportation link. The effect Qian Tiandun hopes to achieve is that the special operations group can complete some amphibious combat tasks alone.Since there is no condition to own a large number of warships or large warships like the Majestic class, Qian Tiandun does not expect to have strong shipboard firepower, and winning by speed is the direction he hopes for.

It is also unrealistic to expect the shipyard to design and build a light warship specially for the special operations group. Qian Tiandun has limited military expenditures, and the shipbuilding expenses squeezed out of it cannot support the development of a new type of warship. He can only Use existing ship types to make partial minor changes according to your own combat needs.Therefore, the two ships built by Zhoushan Shipyard for the special operations group are actually a light reconnaissance sailboat currently in service in the Navy, and the tonnage is more than half that of the smallest exploration class among warships.

This kind of sailing ship can reach a maximum speed of more than ten knots under ideal sea conditions. The highest speed recorded by the Navy during missions even reached sixteen to seventeen knots, which is comparable to a steam warship advancing at full speed.Due to the limited tonnage of sailing ships, their carrying capacity is also relatively weak, and a full ship can accommodate a platoon. However, missions that require special operations groups to dispatch such sailing ships are generally not too far from the starting point, so it is not necessary. Consider the comfort of the voyage.The cabins below the deck were opened up, and all of them were densely packed with three layers of bunks. The space vacated was used to store weapons, ammunition and various supplies.

Qian Tiandun hoped that after these two ships entered service, the special operations group would be able to quickly send one or two platoons of elite troops to the coast within a radius of [-] nautical miles to complete various special combat missions.Of course, in the eyes of Wang Tom, who is an admiral of the navy, it will inevitably be regarded as an act of grabbing food from the navy.

"You really prepared everything without saying a word!" Tom Wang said, "When I set off from Zhoushan to North Korea in the first half of the year, I didn't hear that you quietly booked two boats there."

"It's too early to be interesting." Qian Tiandun said solemnly: "But now that the ships have arrived, I just plan to find a mission to train soldiers. Whatever you want, if you don't have a mission, it will be delivered to your door."

In fact, Zhoushan Shipyard, which built these two ships, may not know that the ships were not built for the navy, but from the army order.This kind of small action is actually not uncommon in both the army and the sea. When Wang Tom formed the Marine Corps, he also trained and prepared in secret, and finally pulled it to the Liaodong battlefield.

For this mission in Jinzhou, both of them want their troops to go. First, this mission needs to go deep into the enemy's rear, and the operation is quite risky, so it really needs to dispatch elites; I am curious and understand why Chen Yixin takes this matter so seriously, so I want to find out the truth as soon as possible so that countermeasures can be taken on a larger scale.

But both of them were unwilling to give up the errand to each other. After some discussions, Tom Wang finally prevailed.His reason is also very simple. It is nearly [-] nautical miles from the Datongjiang base to the coastline of the enemy's rear area. Although the two ships of the special operations group can also go, the supplies they carry may not be able to last until the end of the mission. To be on the safe side, they must It would be contrary to Qian Tiandun's original intention to ask the navy to send ships to follow him.

Of course, there was no such problem when the Marine Corps was dispatched. Qian Tiandun couldn't hold back Tom Wang, so he had no choice but to accept the result in the end.

"Then you go to deploy troops. I will attend these entertainments for you." Qian Tiandun tapped on the stack of greeting cards on the table, and took the initiative to take on this relatively easy task.

"I just took a look. The businessmen who came to the door today are all from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They should have brought a lot of good things. It's your turn to enjoy the blessing." Tom Wang laughed.

Qian Tiandun said: "Okay, okay, I won't take it all alone, no matter what good things they pay, I will leave you a share."

Of course, this is just a joke between the two. Although they have been fighting outside the army all year round, they don't seem to have any business of their own, but in fact they each have a lot of money.Moreover, the guests who came to visit them knew that there were two high-ranking generals here, so they would not be so stupid as to only have one gift. Naturally, they had to get the best of both worlds.

Qian Tiandun sent Tom Wang away, thinking about the content of Chen Yixin's telegram alone for a while.After a long time, his subordinates came in to report that the visiting businessman was already waiting outside, so he asked his subordinates to bring people in.

(End of this chapter)