1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 488 Practical Difficulties
Li Qingyang didn't know how much the navy of the Haihan Militia would cost. If he saw the military budget figures from the Ministry of Finance, his jaw would probably drop to the ground.As far as the existing troops of the Haihan Militia are concerned, their annual expenditure is almost equivalent to the military expenditure of the Ming army in Guangdong Province.And the army built with huge military expenditures did not fail the expectations of the Haihan Executive Committee. It far surpassed the Ming army in terms of weapons and equipment and combat capabilities.Although Li Qingyang has not witnessed the battle of the Haihan militia with his own eyes, but based on what he has witnessed so far, he can already be convinced that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia is far superior to that of the Ming army. The troops can be filled.

The only thing Li Qingyang can hope for now is to continue to maintain the peace between Da Ming and Haihan within his ability, and not to give these Haihan people an excuse to go to war, otherwise Da Ming's loss may not only be the land on Qiongzhou Island.The Haihan people were able to achieve such rapid expansion in less than three years by only using peaceful means. If a war really broke out, judging by the huge disparity in combat power between the two sides, Li Qingyang could not imagine the strength of the Haihan people at all. How will it skyrocket.And when the gap in strength between the two sides was large enough, Li Qingyang didn't dare to vouch for whether the attitude of the Haihan people would remain as conservative as they are now.

In the first report that Li Qingyang sent back to Nanjing, he basically didn't mention the status of Haihan's armaments. Instead, following the requirements of the Ministry of Security, he tried his best to describe Sanya as a new commercial port, and the Haihan people were a group of business-oriented people. Descendants of overseas Han Chinese whose main business is.As for the rumored Haihan militia that attracted the attention of the Jinyiwei yamen, Li Qingyang described it as "the people in the countryside form an association for joint defense, the scale is only a few hundred, and most of them use sticks as weapons, which is not a concern."

Of course, if you blindly belittle Haihan's strength, the Nanjing side will probably order him to go back soon, and this is not the result that the Ministry of Security wants, so some other content has been added to the report so that Li Qingyang can have enough excuse to stay in Sanya.For example, it mentioned a variety of advanced production technologies in Haihan's hands, and even vaguely mentioned that Haihan may be suspected of trafficking in a large amount of illegal salt-although this is under the jurisdiction of the Salt Promotion Division, not Jinyiwei However, it is a fat job to catch private salt dealers. If there is a chance to make a fortune, Jin Yiwei will not take the initiative to give this fat to the salt department.

Hao Wanqing, who was in charge of this matter, believed that keeping Li Qingyang in Sanya would stabilize the Jinyiwei yamen to a certain extent, preventing them from taking any further actions against Haihan in the short term.And as Li Qingyang's understanding of Hai Han gradually deepens, that kind of resistance will become weaker and weaker. After all, there are many people who surrendered with such a mind like him, and now there are still a few who dare to say that they would rather bend than bend. tough bones?

Li Qingyang noticed that among the naval troops passing through the viewing platform, there was the Annan general Wu Sen whom he had seen a few days ago.He also had doubts about Wu Sen's identity before, thinking that this might just be a game arranged by the Hai Han people, and they found someone to impersonate An Nanjiang to act in a play.However, he soon confirmed Wu Sen's true identity through various channels, because there were many immigrants from Annan, but among them, there were not many senior officials of the former South Vietnamese court. Surrenders like Wu Sen and the Ruan brothers , Many local Annan people recognize them.The "Fuji Pharmacy" where Li Qingyang works has four or five naturalized helpers of Annan origin, and they all came from Hue. Li Qingyang found out that Wu Sen was indeed a naval officer in South Vietnam after a little inquiring. , and in terms of the military system of South Vietnam, Wu Sen's position is not too low.

Li Qingyang didn't know that after Wusen was brought to Sanya, he had a similar mental journey and was sent to Tiandu Iron Mine to work as a coolie for a period of time, but since the Haihan people took this Wusen He was recruited into the militia, and Li Qingyang thought that this must be due to his ability.I just don't know if this Wu Sen has the same mentality as his own now. He is afraid of Hai Han, but at the same time there is still a trace of unwillingness in the deepest part of his heart.

Wu Sen didn't have such complicated emotions at the moment, but excitement was the majority.After passing a series of political examinations and professional training, Wu Sen was lucky enough to get the opportunity to serve on the "Majesty" warship, which also means that he was formally included in the Haihan militia system. Serving as first officer on the Bliksem was not really a service, and there were very few opportunities for military duty.

The military selected the crew of the "Majesty" some time ago, and the targets were mainly active-duty sailors and crew from the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy, as well as dozens of special combat soldiers recommended by the Annan Military Region.

In the selection of the crew of the "Majesty" this time, the total number of Annan's crew and sailors is only more than 30 and less than 40 people, which is almost only one-tenth of the rated number of people on board.In such fierce competition, Wu Sen was the only one who was selected as a general, and it was an extremely rare personal honor.

Of course Wu Sen also knew that this opportunity had not come easily for him. When he put on the navy uniform, carried a Type [-] breech-loading rifle, and entered the phalanx of the troops being reviewed, a long-lost passion suddenly arose in his heart.Even if he was born in Annan and was Haihan's former opponent, he has to admit that it is the dream of every soldier to be lucky enough to serve in such a powerful army.

Although he didn't have many opportunities to perform military missions before, Wu Sen's training life was all in the militia, so he also knew that this army had never been defeated on the battlefield since its establishment. After joining this group, he also I fully felt the almost fanatical loyalty and admiration of ordinary soldiers and grassroots officers to the Haihan Executive Committee.Almost everyone in this army is eager to fight, looking forward to being able to kill the enemy and make meritorious service on the battlefield, and senior officers are instilling this militant spirit to the grassroots all the time. Under the command of the Committee and the Military Commission, the Haihan militia will always maintain a record of invincibility.

The information Wu Sen can accept in this environment and the surrounding atmosphere are almost continuous brainwashing. After staying for a long time, it is actually difficult to maintain the ability to think independently. Seeing this mighty big ship on the pier , Wu Sen felt that his brain was almost congested, and he wished to get on the ship as soon as possible, and take this powerful warship to conquer the next opponent of the Executive Committee.When passing the viewing stand, Wu Sen shouted the slogan "Serve the Executive Committee" with all his strength, and his excited state of mind was no different from that of the other naturalized soldiers around him.

"Are these navy soldiers trained by Tom or Gu Wei? It looks like they have been trained well!" Maybe because he noticed the enthusiastic slogans of the soldiers, Tao Donglai turned his head and asked Yan Chujie.

"Tom trained the sailors himself, and Gu Wei was in charge of the soldiers." Yan Chujie immediately explained: "However, their current training process is still on their own, and they have not yet entered the stage of joint training. Let's talk about the details after the ceremony is over. .”

Tao Donglai heard what he said, and expected that this matter was probably related to the matter Yan Chujie mentioned earlier, so he didn't continue to ask further questions.

The viewing ceremony was actually not long. After the military parade, several main leaders gave short speeches. There was no direct sea-going process as in the previous "Exploration-class" and "Expedition-class" warship enlistment ceremonies. It took about four to 10 minutes. The announcement is over.The executive committee members each had their own work tasks, and immediately took the ferry to leave the military port after the show, and returned to Victory Fort to continue their work.But Tao Donglai stayed and went to the garrison camp with Yan Chujie, intending to listen to his explanation of the previous incident.

"Close the door! If anyone comes to me, just wait outside first, and don't disturb me discussing things with Mr. Tao." Yan Chujie ordered the naturalized guards who came in with tea.

After the guards went out and closed the door, Yan Chujie said: "Although this ship has been listed, it will not be able to form combat power in the short term."

"Is there a problem with the ship's construction process?" Tao Donglai asked.

"That's not true, it's mainly a matter of personnel." In his office, Yan Chujie had nothing to hide, and directly opened the skylight to speak bluntly: "The operation and maintenance of a marine steam engine requires about [-] people, but now We don't have that many people on hand."

"You mean within the navy?" Tao Donglai understood Yan Chujie's meaning.

"That's right." Yan Chujie nodded and said, "This is the navy's first hybrid warship, but the navy does not have personnel with experience in this field. We submitted a personnel application report to Ning Qi, but it has been a month or so. No results."

"Oh? What did Ningqi say?" This is the first time Tao Donglai has heard of this. A while ago, due to the start of infrastructure projects in various places, he was busy dealing with the troubles of the Ministry of Construction and had no time to ask the navy. business here.

"Ning Qi said that this matter is indeed embarrassing. There are twenty people, but he can't transfer people if he wants." Yan Chujie said helplessly: "The Ministry of Industry has only trained less than a hundred people. Steam engine operators, among these people, only one-fifth of them know how to do simple repairs and maintenance. If the Ministry of Personnel transfers all these people to our military..."

"Then I'm afraid many places will have to stop production because of this!" Tao Donglai took up the conversation before Yan Chujie could finish speaking.

Although many units in the Haihan area have begun to use steam engines to assist production, but because of the complicated manufacturing process of this cross-age gadget, not everyone can quickly learn to operate and maintain it.It took the Ministry of Industry more than a year to train these professionals, and the positions of these personnel are indeed not easily transferred, such as the steam lifting device used in Tiandu Iron Mine, or driving in Sanya Once the steam locomotives between Hong Kong and Tiandu stop, it means that the entire industry under Haihan's rule will be affected, and this responsibility is not something the navy can afford.

Although Yan Chujie also exerted some pressure on the personnel department in charge of Ning Qi, but after Ning Qi put the problem on the table, Yan Chujie had no good solution.If they are forced to transfer people, then if something goes wrong with these units, the military will have to be held accountable, and Yan Chujie doesn't want to take the blame—now some people think that the navy's investment is too large and it takes up too much shipbuilding resources. To a certain extent, it has affected the development speed of Haihan's maritime trade.

If people are forcibly robbed from other units, then dissatisfaction with the military within the group may increase rapidly, and Yan Chujie does not want to provoke public outrage because of the new warship, so this matter can only be pushed back first, that is, he previously The meaning of "put in the queue first, and talk about other things later".

Tao Donglai pondered for a while before opening his mouth and said, "As for the issue of skilled workers, why didn't we make arrangements earlier? I remember the plan to develop a hybrid warship, but preparations were already underway two years ago."

"We can't blame our military for this matter!" Yan Chujie complained: "Education and training is a matter of the education department, and professional skills training is a matter of the Ministry of Industry. Their training speed cannot keep up. The military There is no way, we can't let us take over all their work, can we?"

"Then have you ever asked them why they delayed such an important matter?" Tao Donglai just said, and then continued: "Forget it, I can probably think of the answer without asking. With some teachers, I would be grateful if I could hold a few more literacy classes. As for the situation at the Ministry of Industry, I know a little bit about it. Skilled workers are slow to be trained, and they might not be able to keep up with the speed at which steam engines are put into use. Idle people give it to the military."

"That's almost what it means." Yan Chujie replied with a wry smile: "So for the time being, we can't expect the steam power system on this ship to really come in handy. Let's use wind propulsion first to make do with it!"

"How much do you think this will affect the combat effectiveness?" Tao Donglai asked.

Yan Chujie thought for a while and said: "At least [-]% of the battle is because the steam power system on the ship is not only used for propulsion power, but also used for raising and lowering the sails and assisting steering. Without this thing, we can only It is entirely operated by manpower, and at least takes up nearly a quarter of the manpower on board."

"Thirty percent...one quarter...is not unacceptable." Tao Donglai weighed it up and said, "Have you discussed this matter with Ning Qi carefully? When will he be able to solve the professional problem? Yes. No definite timetable?"

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "Talk about it, he said that it will be fully resolved after at least March next year. Now I can only pray that there will not be a large-scale naval battle in these three months, otherwise the battleship we have worked so hard to build will only be able to play a role." Unleash some power."

(End of this chapter)