1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 261 Feasibility of Taking Military Means

The crossing group's current influence area in Annan is concentrated in the northern coast, and there is no security concern for a while. Even if the North Vietnam retreats steadily after that, it will be difficult to attack the Tushan Peninsula in a short period of time.As for the black earth port, which needs to be crossed to reach, needless to say, that place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is difficult to pose a substantial threat to it with Annan's water power.

But even the most optimistic people have to admit that if the defeat of North Vietnam leads to a change of regime, the interests of the Traveling Group in Annan will be greatly affected.As Tao Donglai said earlier, currently the main sources of imports of the three important projects of the Traveling Group, namely immigration, energy, and food, are the North Vietnamese region, and the instability of North Vietnam will also bring negative effects that cannot be ignored to the Traveling Group. .In particular, the expansion of Western forces on the Indochina Peninsula is absolutely intolerable to the Executive Committee—to control the South China Sea, one must control Malacca, and to control Malacca, one must first control the border between Sanya and Malacca. Indochina Peninsula.Malacca is now under the control of Western forces. If even the Indochina Peninsula is occupied by Western forces, the pace of expansion southward will have to be greatly slowed down in the future.

All the work that the Crossing Group did to Vietnam before was to achieve this goal. Whether it was providing military aid to North Vietnam or trying to contact Champa in the south, the ultimate goal was to achieve indirect control of the political situation in the Indochina Peninsula and drive out Western forces control the route that passes through the Indochina Peninsula to mainland China after exiting the Strait of Malacca.This long-term plan will take several years to slowly realize, but if you can't even do the first step to support the puppet regime, then there is no need to talk about future expansion and hegemony.

From a purely profit point of view, the Traversing Group cannot just sit back and watch North Vietnam lose the civil war. Even Gu Kai and Meng He, who are opposed to direct military intervention, have to admit that the situation in the Annan Civil War will affect the Traversing Group. profound impact on the future.

In the ensuing vote of the executive committee, the nine executive committee members passed the resolution to intervene in Annan's civil war with seven votes in favor, one vote against and one abstention.After Tao Donglai announced the decision, Gu Kai immediately raised his hand to indicate that he had something to say.

"Although the results of the resolution have come out, I still want to remind everyone again of the danger of war. With our current strength, we simply cannot afford a war of attrition, nor can we afford too many casualties. When considering the means of intervention, Please don’t just think about long-term interests, but also remember to think about the short-term profits and losses that military operations will cause.” Although Gu Kai was a little dissatisfied with the voting results, he still played the role of an opposition conscientiously. Forgot to remind the participants of the troubles that military means may cause themselves.

"Let's talk about feasible military means first." Yan Chujie didn't have the patience to listen to Gu Kai preaching his peace theory here, and immediately brought the topic into the actual situation: "Based on what we know so far , the new North Vietnamese army that has been trained has not yet reached the expected level, and its combat effectiveness is still in doubt. If it fights against the South Vietnamese firearms troops alone, the result may not be satisfactory. In addition, considering the distance from the Tushan Peninsula to the battlefield , I think it is necessary to involve the Ministry of Shipping in this operation.”

The land distance between the two places is nearly 400 kilometers, while the sea distance is a quarter closer in comparison. The speed of going south from the Tushan Peninsula by boat is much faster than the land march. The time required on the way is probably The difference is three times.If you want to quickly project troops, then the sea route is undoubtedly the most sensible choice.However, the sea-going ships that North Vietnam can provide all have the problem of small tonnage, and their transportation efficiency is definitely not as good as that of the professional shipping team of the Transit Group.

At present, the Ministry of Shipping has arranged more than ten large ships on the Sanya-Beibu Gulf route. After the capacity is sufficient, it has not packed passengers and cargo in one ship as in the past, but has gradually freed up several ships to go to Tushan. The peninsula is carrying out immigration transportation, and the total transportation capacity has been greatly improved compared with the previous few months.If it is really used to transport troops, it should not be a big problem to mobilize a few cargo ships to deliver more than 1000 North Vietnamese new troops from the Tushan training camp with their equipment to the war zone at one time.

Yue Zhiyun also affirmed this on behalf of the Ministry of Shipping, but he also pointed out that to do so needs to set an action time at least one week in advance so that the Ministry of Shipping can have sufficient time to adjust the ship schedule.Moreover, if it is really necessary to dispatch the Transit Group's own militia troops to fight across the sea, then the complexity of this transportation task will increase exponentially. After all, there must be at least two more ports for loading soldiers and supplies.In addition, this transport fleet is not just sending its troops there, at least a few ships must be left in the local coastal area as sea protection and mobile transport capacity—it can even be used to attack and harass opponents when necessary. Combat missions on the coast.

"Nothing, our people must be mobilized. The new North Vietnamese army is unreliable." After hearing Yue Zhiyun's speech, Qian Tiandun took over the conversation.Among the participants, he probably knew the actual combat strength of the new North Vietnamese army best.

Qian Tiandun went on to say: "The North Vietnamese army we trained on the Tu Son Peninsula can barely pass the military discipline, but the biggest problem is that they have too little live ammunition training, so it's hard to say what will happen on the battlefield." And they lack the cooperation of spearmen, which is a very big hidden danger. Once the battle situation is unfavorable, the musketeer phalanx lacks effective cover when retreating, and it is easy to be defeated."

"Our militia doesn't have spearmen to cooperate..." The participants didn't know who it was.

"Our militia troops have now been replaced with [-]-type flintlock guns. No matter in terms of range, speed of fire, or accuracy, they are much better than the export-type matchlock guns. Even the bayonet is nearly twice as long as the export-type guns. , so the battle formation used by our militia troops is not the Gustavian phalanx of the New North Vietnamese Army with spearmen, but a linear formation with a shallower depth and a wider combat surface. For our troops , Spearmen are not necessary." Qian Tiandun immediately conducted a popular science on this issue: "Simply put, we are now using the tactic of queuing and shooting."

The queuing shooting tactics in history appeared after the flintlock was widely used. In the second half of the 16th century, the flintlock began to enter the army of Western countries and became a standard configuration.However, on the East Asian battlefields of this era, the Haihan militia is probably the only unit that has established a system of using flintlock guns, and because it "invented" the bayonet as a melee weapon half a century earlier than its Western counterparts, the Haihan militia also In this time and space, the first army that canceled the formation of spearmen in the musketeers - at the same time, in the 30-year battlefield in Europe, Gustav's musketeers still retained more than one-third of the spearmen as melee guard.

On the East Asian battlefield at this time, it is impossible to have an opponent who also adopts the queuing and shooting tactics. Therefore, the officers of the military and police department do not have to worry that the battle will be cruel until the two sides walk in neat steps to within 50 meters before shooting each other. In fact, after using the exclusive powder gunpowder, the effective range of the Type 220 flintlock gun is enough to extend this distance to between 250 and [-] meters. As long as the firepower density is high enough, it can completely compensate for the shooting accuracy. lack of.

However, the firearms troops of South Vietnam are obviously not qualified to use the queuing and shooting tactics. The mixed square array of matchlock spears is paired with a linear array with a difference in technology. Needless to say, the result is that the latter will win an overwhelming victory. The confidence of the Military and Police Department also comes from this.They firmly believed that after several months of hard training, their militiamen would have no problem dealing with a group of South Asian monkey soldiers with backward technology and tactics.

Qian Tiandun further pointed out that the current battle locations are some narrow passes close to the coast. Although the flintlock troops cannot fully deploy their formations in such places, they can in turn maintain a greater firepower density and improve killing efficiency.Coupled with the support of artillery, it is not difficult to hold the pass.And if the battle situation is unfavorable, you can also retreat from the sea nearby, so that you won't be easily cut off by your opponent.

Ning Qi said: "Although I voted in favor of the resolution just now, I still want to clarify, what is the combat goal we want to achieve? Is it to help the North Vietnamese army hold the front line? Is it to help them defeat the South Vietnamese army? Is it to completely wipe out The South Vietnamese regime? Is it necessary to clarify this further?"

Tao Donglai said: "I also agree with what Mr. Ning said. We often say that we should not fight unprepared battles. This kind of preparation is not only about materials and personnel, but also clear objectives of the battle. Clausewitz in It is said in "On War" that war is nothing more than the continuation of politics through another means. Before we use military means, we must also clarify our political goals. I think it is more beneficial to us to maintain the stalemate in Annan's civil war, so We will not attack the South Vietnamese army too hard for the time being, and the main purpose is to stabilize the existing front. No matter which side the North and the South take down the opponent in one go, it will not be a good ending for us."

Yan Chujie echoed: "Boss Tao is right, and I would like to add that this overseas military operation has another important purpose, which is actual combat training. Everyone knows that the two battles that took place after our crossing were both in the early stages. There is no militia participation at all. The existing militia team has never participated in actual combat since its establishment. I think the actual combat effectiveness of this unit can only be tested on the battlefield. Compared with other opponents we may face Said that the opponents this time can be regarded as a soft persimmon, at least they do not have the ability to attack us at sea. Moreover, the firearms they use are all imported products, and every time they fire one shot, one shot will be lost, unlike our self-produced Ability. Using such opponents to train troops, I think it can greatly promote the improvement of our military strength."

"So in order to achieve the combat objectives you mentioned, how many militia troops do we need to send out to fight now? How many can we actually send?" Meng He asked.

Meng He's question was not immediately answered. After Tao Donglai, Yan Chujie, Qian Tiandun and others talked in low voices for a while, Tao Donglai answered the question: "We think there must be at least one battalion of troops."

After a pause, he added further: "A reinforced battalion."

"Please explain in detail." Ning Qi reminded.After all, there are not many professionals present here. You Tao Donglai only mentioned a reinforcement battalion, so how do you know how big this army is.

"At present, our grassroots militia organizations still adopt the basic three-three system, that is, three squads per platoon, three platoons per company, and the company is still the highest command unit for the time being. According to this organization, a battalion is probably in charge of three A company, and then add the staffing of the battalion headquarters. However, if the company is strengthened, there will be some small changes in the staffing..." Tao Donglai pointed his fingers and explained to the participants: "In addition to the original three companies , and a battalion-owned artillery company is also needed, and the engineers, reconnaissance, and medical staff directly under the battalion headquarters probably need a platoon each. As for the logistics of the logistics, it can be handed over to the civilians, and there should be no need for a special logistics company. "

Ning Qi pinched his fingers and said: "Probably the establishment of five companies?"

"Almost." Tao Donglai replied vaguely.

"500 people?" Meng He asked.

"More than that." Qian Tiandun, a straightforward person, obviously didn't realize that Tao Donglai was playing sloppy, and actually explained to him honestly: "Counting the company headquarters, the company-level combat establishment is about 120 people, plus the battalion headquarters No matter what, a reinforced battalion must have 700 people, maybe it will exceed."

Sure enough, Meng He immediately asked back: "How many troops do we have now? After sending out so many people, how many can stay to watch the house? Can you ensure the safety of each place?"

Tao Donglai coughed dryly and said: "The strength is definitely enough. The militiamen we trained in the first three batches are just enough. Now the fourth batch of militia trainees who are being trained still have two militia companies and one security company. If necessary , You can enter the internship period in advance! Local security can be temporarily handed over to the security department to manage. Besides, we also have militia organizations within ourselves. With so many members who have received grassroots militia training, self-protection must be safe."

"To transport so many people to fight across the sea, the big ships basically have to follow. What about the sea defense of the base camp?" After Meng He asked, he suddenly realized that there was no need to ask this question.

Sure enough, Tao Donglai said with a matter-of-fact expression: "What was done before, what should be done now! Isn't Luo Shengdong planning to do business in Shengli Harbor Enclosure? When the time comes, let him come over to see the land, and take the Yazhou Water Village at will. All the boats are brought over and stationed for a period of time, and the cost will be deducted from the land rent.”

Among the officials that the Crossing Group made friends with in Yazhou, Luo Shengdong was the one who used it most smoothly. It was not the first time that the executive committee borrowed boats and troops from him, and the two sides have always cooperated very well.And because of his personal interests, Luo Shengdong basically has no other thoughts now, all he wants to do is to hug Haihan's thick leg and climb up, almost to the point where he is always on hand—— It is necessary to send a telegram to the Cliff Office, at most the next day Luo Shengdong will rush to Shengli Port to wait for dispatch.Moreover, Luo Shengdong's official status is here. Whoever seeks trouble in Shengli Port will have trouble with the Ming court. Putting him in Shengli Port as a mascot for the town house to ward off evil is actually quite effective.

Meng He said resentfully: "It can be borrowed for a while, but not for a lifetime. If the war situation over there is protracted, it is not an option to ask Yazhou Shuizhai to help us look after our house for a long time."

"So we have to draw up a combat plan first, make detailed plans for the combat cycle, deployment methods, and combat plans, and prepare contingency plans, so that we can really start our pre-war preparations." Tao Donglai tilted his head. He asked Yan Chujie for advice, "How long will it take for the Military and Police Department to make this plan?"

Yan Chujie said solemnly: "After the meeting is over, I will call people to start discussing this matter. The day after tomorrow at the latest, I will come up with an action plan and submit it to the executive committee for review."

Tao Donglai nodded, and then said to Gu Kai: "You are in charge of foreign affairs, just contact Tushan Peninsula and convey our intentions to the North Vietnamese side. In addition, if we need North Vietnamese cooperation, we should deal with them as soon as possible. Make corresponding demands. You, Mr. Shi, and colleagues from the military and police department should discuss this matter together."

As soon as Gu Kai heard it, he understood it, and if he recruited Schneider, a profiteer, he must be planning to take the opportunity to extort a fortune from Beiyue.Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing this. The Time Travel Group is willing to contribute people to help the North Vietnam fight, and the battle is across the sea.As for how much expenses can be reimbursed, it depends on Schneider's performance - seeing the faint smile on the corner of Schneider's mouth, Gu Kai couldn't help but sweat for the North Vietnamese.

"The shipping department and the military industry department should also make corresponding preparations, especially the military industry department, seize the time to prepare for war, and produce more ammunition and spare guns... In addition, don't stop the production of matchlock guns. After this battle is over, the North Vietnamese side We will definitely increase the order quantity from us." Tao Donglai did not forget to remind the managers of the two supporting units.

Such good things as the [-]-type flintlock gun cannot be sold to North Vietnam, at least in the near future, so even if they have seen its power on the battlefield, they cannot buy this "advanced" weapon.Before the Haihan Army officially installed the next-generation weapons, customers like Beiyue could only purchase the most basic matchlock guns.

Of course, as the crossing group's first foreign military operation, the discussion at this meeting only involved the feasibility of military means, and the real preparations were much more complicated than what was discussed at the meeting.The issue of troop mobilization that Tao Donglai has been sloppy about is by no means as simple as what he said.

(End of this chapter)