1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2261
If the strength of the North Korean naval fleet is to be judged by Haihan's standard, it may be difficult to meet the passing standard.He Xi once read the evaluations made by some naval generals in the files of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and believed that their strength was not even as good as the armed fleet under the command of Shibazhi ten years ago.

To build a Haihan-style armed fleet on such a basis, the difficulty can be imagined. From sailors to commanders, from warships to military ports, everything has to be prepared from scratch.It’s okay to say, after all, it’s hard to find three-legged toads, but there are plenty of two-legged ones. Just spend more time selecting capable personnel from the previous naval forces, and if not enough, transfer people from other troops to make up for it. .

However, the huge cost of building a new fleet has left North Korea stretched.A basic warship ordered from Haihan costs tens of thousands of taels of silver, and with all the weapons and equipment on board, as well as necessary spare parts, the price will almost double.According to the establishment of the Haihan Army, eight warships can be organized into a team, and a dedicated military port will be built, which will definitely not be able to be done without two to three hundred thousand taels of silver.

Of course, this part is only the cost of equipment. Once the personnel and equipment are in place, combat training must begin, and the related costs are by no means small.Coupled with the daily operation of the fleet and the maintenance costs of the ships, even if it is not pulled out to fight, maintaining such a fleet will cost about 10 taels of silver a year.Before the fleet can form a combat capability, several 10 taels of silver have to be poured in.

The normal annual income of the North Korean state treasury is only a few 10 taels of silver. In the case of the war last year, the financial income was greatly reduced.Now that the national treasury has been completely emptied, how can it afford such a large expenditure.

Considering the speed with which Haihan completes foreign warship purchase orders, it is basically impossible to complete the construction and delivery of eight warships within a year even if North Korea gives enough money.Therefore, even under the premise of a sufficient budget, it will take at least two years for North Korea to have a fully equipped armed fleet.As for the formation of combat effectiveness, the time required must be longer.

For the Koreans, the top priority in the military field is to defend the natural moat of the Yalu River and prevent the Qing army from having the opportunity to invade south again.An armed fleet that is too slow to form an army is obviously not suitable for this strategic goal. Therefore, an army that has a faster and more obvious effect of improving combat power has become North Korea's preferred development target at this time.

Buy some guns from Haihan, train for three to five months, and build a deterrent line of defense on the border.When the officers sent to Sanya for training return home, they can begin to practice more advanced tactics.

With limited resources, North Korean officials have no choice but to prioritize the expansion of the army.Almost all of the officers sent to Sanya for training were from the army.However, many of the subjects trained by An Daoshi and others in Sanya belonged to the category of naval warfare. Naval warfare was a relatively unfamiliar field for them, so naturally they did not perform very well.

The students of Xu Jiajun and An Nanjun have inherent advantages. They have a general understanding of the training content of Haihan before coming to Sanya for training, so they have also received some basic training in advance.Even if they are not from the Navy, they have been on a ship for a while and have basic sailing skills. Naturally, they adapt much better than the North Koreans during the training period.

Therefore, the North Korean trainees definitely had no chance to compete for the naval battle in this competition, and in the end it was probably the competition between the Xu Jiajun and the Annan Army.

Because Zheng Zuo's goal was not achieved, the atmosphere of the meal became rather dull. In addition, he had to watch the battle tomorrow, so it ended hastily.

He Xi didn't go home directly, but went back to Fort Victory first.He knew that there would be a big event tomorrow, and most of Tao Donglai and the others were still assigning tasks in Victory Fort at this time to ensure that the event could be held smoothly.

Sure enough, He Xi went to Victory Fort to see that Tao Donglai and others were still discussing tomorrow's work arrangements in the meeting room of the executive committee.

"Excuse me, everyone. I have something to report to the Executive Committee." After He Xi walked into the meeting room, he raised his voice and stopped everyone's discussion.

After everyone stopped talking, He Xi told everyone about his meeting with Zheng Zuo and Xu Yuxing, especially Zheng Zuo's bold suggestion to Hai Han and Xu Jiajun, and He Xi relayed it verbatim.

"The people in Annan are so ambitious!" Tao Donglai couldn't help sighing after hearing this: "It's only been a while since they asked us for military assistance, and they're starting to think about Daming. It looks like it will be a few years later." , they might go all out and do it alone!"

Yan Chujie said: "Zheng Zuo first looked for Lao He instead of me, which means that he doesn't have full confidence in this matter, so he can only ask Lao He for advice."

He Xi nodded and said: "I think so too. In order to prevent him from talking to you again, I have already refused for you. So if you see Zheng Zuo's face is not very good-looking tomorrow, you don't have to think about the reason. "

"What did Xu Yuxing say?" What Tao Donglai had to worry about was not only the ambitions of the Annan people, but also the Fujian side.

He Xi replied: "Xu Yuxing also rejected Zheng Zuo's proposal on the spot. To be honest, even if the Xu family has the ambition to establish their own family, it is indeed not a good choice to invade Guangdong. He doesn’t know enough about the situation, otherwise he should have put forward other suggestions that are more suitable for the Xu family.”

If Xu Xinsu wants to separate himself and become king, the first area he needs to control is of course not Guangdong, but the eight prefectures and one prefecture under the jurisdiction of Fujian, so as to stabilize his basic market.If you expand your sphere of influence outwards on this basis, then the preferred direction must be the richer Jiangxi or Zhejiang, not Guangdong in the south.Zheng Zuo used the eastern part of Guangdong as a condition to lure the Xu family to participate, which is obviously not enough to attract the Xu family.

"This Xu Yuxing is very shrewd. Zheng Zuo wants to drag him into the water, but it's not so easy." Yan Chujie has dealt with Xu Yuxing a lot recently, so he can see this clearly.

Tao Donglai said: "In order to avoid misjudging Annan's attitude towards our country, I think it is still necessary to find a suitable time to state our country's position to Zheng Zuo."

"Let's wait until the competition is over. It's better not to talk to him for the next two days, so as not to cause troubles to affect the current business." Yan Chujie reminded.

Speaking of business, Tao Donglai also wanted to ask about the preparations of the security department by the way: "Old He, are you ready for the security work here?"

He Xi replied with a smile: "Our Ministry of Security is only responsible for doing miscellaneous work on the outside. The security of this military base is the responsibility of the Ministry of National Defense. If anything happens, Lao Yan can only be blamed. It has nothing to do with me."

Because many distinguished guests were invited to watch this event, the security standards were basically implemented at the highest level, with the participation of the police, military, and intelligence agencies.However, because the competition venue is in a military base, the military is responsible for an important part of the security work, and the police and intelligence agencies are only doing some auxiliary work outside the base.

Of course, if some strong-minded guy insisted on breaking into the place where the elites of the armies of various countries gathered to make trouble, the end might be disastrous.So He Xi was not nervous about tomorrow's task, and even had time to chat and joke with everyone.

August [-]th, cloudy and overcast.

For the vast majority of people living in Sanya, today is no different from other days of the year. Those who should go to work go to work, and those who should go to the fields go to the fields.

Of course, there are still some idlers who remember that today is the day of the martial arts competition that was vigorously promoted by the government some time ago, but ordinary people can’t join in the fun, because the martial arts competition is arranged at the army base in the Luhuitou Peninsula, which is not suitable for ordinary people. It is open to the public, and only a few guests who have been officially invited can have the honor to watch the competition of soldiers from various countries on the school field.

Zhang Jinbao got up early, cleaned up after breakfast, let the students do activities in the urban area today, and generously gave them activity funds.The official invitation letter only had his name on it, and civilians were not allowed to bring entourage into the base, and he could only go alone, unable to take the students to open their eyes.

Zhang Jinbao left the inn and called a rickshaw near Victory Square.The entrance of the army base is near the Sanya Port Railway Station, so it is undoubtedly very convenient to go there by train, and the cost is also lower.But Zhang Jinbao worried that taking the train would make him dirty with soot, so he simply took a rickshaw.Expensive is expensive, but there should be less smoke and dust on the way.

After crossing the streets and alleys, we arrived at the Luhuitou Base smoothly. The coachman said that rickshaws were not allowed in the military base, so Zhang Jinbao got out of the car and paid the fare, and then began to look at the appearance of the military base.When he came to Sanya before, he actually passed by this area a few times, but he never went to observe this military base up close, let alone enter it.It was a novel experience for him to be invited here this time.

Outside the base is a rather spectacular stone gate, more than two feet high and at least four or five feet wide. The stone beam in the air is three feet thick and weighs more than ten thousand catties.The stone beams are engraved with the words "Luhuitou Base".

Zhang Jinbao couldn't understand how such a thick stone beam was transported and how it was constructed, but apart from this eye-catching gate, there were no high walls, sentry towers and other buildings that Zhang Jinbao imagined. There is only one post by the gate.Behind the stone arch is a gentle slope, which completely obscures the true appearance of the military base. After passing the arch, you have to climb over this not-so-high hill to enter the military base.

Behind the stone arch is a straight road with a width of five feet, which can be used for carriages and horses.Zhang Jinbao saw a carriage going in along this road, and immediately regretted that he hadn't ordered a carriage before, otherwise he should be able to enter in a carriage at this time.Now it's not enough to go in on foot.

But it was already here, and Zhang Jinbao didn't want to waste any more time creating a little ostentation, so he tidied up his clothes and walked over without haste.

When I got closer, I saw a sign outside the outpost, which stated that the guests who watched the martial arts competition entered here, please show the invitation letter and so on.There are several Haihan soldiers standing behind the sign, and one of them is still holding a notebook and a pen in his hand. It seems that he has to register before he can enter.

Zhang Jinbao quickly took out his invitation letter, handed it over with both hands, and introduced himself: "Zhang Jinbao is in Lower Jones College, and was invited to participate in the event."

The officer checked that the invitation letter was correct, and asked him to sign on the roster, and then invited him to enter by himself, and walked along the road to the school grounds.

The procedure for verifying identity was so simple, it was a little different from Zhang Jinbao's impression of a military important place, but he thought about it again, the Haihan army was invincible, so how could anyone without a good eye dare to sneak in here.At that moment, I thanked the officer for his guidance, put away the invitation letter, and slowly climbed up to the high place along the road.

The top of the slope is actually as high as the beams of Shimen, but when you reach the top of the slope, you can have a panoramic view of the military base in the south.

The large school grounds, the neatly arranged barracks, and the horizontal and vertical roads in the camp were the first sights that caught Zhang Jinbao's eyes.

The Luhuitou peninsula is about two miles wide and seven or eight miles long. At the southern end of the island is a high-rise mountain near the sea, and there is a lighthouse on the top of the mountain.When the weather is good, the lighthouse can be seen dozens of miles away at sea.

There is an area at the southern tip of the peninsula that used to be a temporary settlement for new immigrants. It happens to be separated from the city by a military base, which ensures that these new immigrants will not sneak away.However, in the past two years, the civil affairs department has adjusted the immigration strategy in the past, and now basically only the population who was sold to Haihan by slave traders will be resettled here.Because these people have certain potential safety hazards, after preliminary screening, they will be assigned to other places. They are usually shipped away, and they are rarely resettled in the Sanya area.

Most of the flat areas on the peninsula were assigned to the army.In addition to the army troops stationed here with a battalion all year round, the Army Academy of the Haihan Army is also located here.

In addition to the school grounds that are always found in military camps, this military base also has horse ranches, army-specific shooting ranges, simulated city defense, urban street fighting, mountain jungles, and amphibious landing training grounds. All kinds of training facilities are very complete.It is no exaggeration to say that the environment required to train eighteen kinds of martial arts is available here, which is one of the reasons why countries are willing to spend money to send their elites to Sanya for training.

Zhang Jinbao didn't know the situation here, and no one introduced it to him at the moment, but after standing on the top of the slope and looking at it for a while, he could also feel the hugeness of this military base.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Jinbao had an urge to recite poems, but he was really limited in culture, so he couldn't even utter the first sentence after holding it back for a long time, so he sighed secretly in his heart, "It's so fucking spectacular", Then continue to move forward.

(End of this chapter)