1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 500 Showing sharp teeth
Under the Haihan system, the construction of the army is for political purposes. The establishment of the Haihan militia to increase the size of the military area is to put it bluntly in preparation for the next expansion plan led by the executive committee.Anyone with a little bit of political sensitivity can think of the reason for this, and Qian Tiandun, who is already a local official, is no exception.However, because he is based in Annan and is limited by objective conditions, he is not so clear about the latest trends of the Executive Committee. Therefore, he will take the opportunity of his work report this time to find out what the intended goal of the Executive Committee is. It's also good to prepare early.

April 1630, 4, Luhuitou Peninsula militia army base.Although the Military Commission also has a large office in Victory Fort, with the increase in military personnel and affairs year by year, it has become more and more inconvenient to handle various daily affairs in Victory Fort. The military base in China is big enough, but it is troublesome to cross the mouth of the Tiandu River by boat to get in and out, so the military moved the main office to the Luhuitou Peninsula and set it up with the army base.

Although it is during the anniversary holiday, for the senior officers of the Military Commission, these days are quite busy, because the officers stationed abroad can only return to Sanya at this time of the year. Participate in high-level meetings within the military.Regardless of whether it is military funding or staffing, the military officers stationed abroad have to take advantage of the limited time of these few days to move around.

"Eight hundred rifles? No, no, you're really talking like a lion!" Yan Chujie shook his head again and again, rejecting Qian Tiandun's request: "The Guangdong Military Region has reported that they need [-] rifles, and there is no sign of it!"

"How do you compare with me in Guangdong? The recruits on their side have not even been seen yet, but the recruits on my side are about to finish training and start forming! They are not as anxious as I am here!" Qian Tiandun reasoned Arguing with reason: "This gun should be assigned to our Annan Military Region first!"

"Colonel Qian, what you said is a bit unreasonable!" Now that the roll call has been made, Yu Yao, the representative of the Guangdong Military Region here, can no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, and replied: "Annan's side is very peaceful now. It is impossible to have any major military operations in the near future. It is useless to rush to arm the army over there to the teeth? Our Guangdong Military Region has only started to put on airs, and we don’t even fire guns. What kind of soldiers are recruited? How can we protect Haihan's interests in the coastal areas of the mainland?"

Qian Tiandun would not be so easily persuaded by Yu Yao, and immediately retorted: "It's too early to form an army on your side, and I have a ready-made team on my side, equipped with weapons, they can immediately go to the battlefield, and we must protect Haihan's interests. , I have a reorganized regiment here that can be mobilized at any time! Are the recruits in Guangdong reliable? If you want to fight on the frontal battlefield, it still depends on our Annan Military Region!"

"Don't be so full of words. The troops in the Annan Military Region have good combat effectiveness, but they are still suitable for field warfare and guerrilla warfare. The group combat on the frontal battlefield has to be handed over to Sanya to train the regular army." Gu Weiting, chief instructor of the militia At this point, I couldn't help but join the battlefield: "Not to mention anything else, the tactics of the joint attack of the artillery alone, it is estimated that Annan's garrison seldom practiced, and it is nothing to fight small. On the big battlefield, you can't fight with the artillery. The troops are cooperating very well, so how can we fight the battle?"

The point that Gu Wei said can be regarded as the shortcoming of the Annan garrison. Due to the emphasis on field combat capabilities in complex environments, the Annan militia army did not equip a large number of heavy artillery, but mainly light equipment. The biggest disadvantage of this is the local troops. Lack of experience in combined combat with organized artillery units, and almost all the senior members of the Military Commission are fanatics who believe in the bombing doctrine, wishing that all battles can be resolved with artillery.The shortcomings of the Annan militia army doomed them to be unlikely to take on the main frontal combat mission in large-scale battles.

"Okay, you guys don't get too far off topic!" Seeing that the topic of discussion had shifted from rifle distribution to combat methods, Yan Chujie quickly brought the topic back: "The quota for rifles and other ammunition is not how much you ask for." There can be as many as there are! The militia army has expanded rapidly in the past two years, but Tiandu’s arsenal has not expanded so fast! Now the total number of workers who manufacture guns and ammunition is less than 3000. The production capacity of the weapons and equipment of your three major military regions, as well as the arms sold to Daming, Annan, Champa, and the Portuguese every year, cannot keep up!"

"If you can't keep up, add more people!" Qian Tiandun replied, "If three thousand is not enough, then four thousand, and if four thousand is not enough, then five thousand! Isn't Sanya now claiming to have [-] to [-] industrial workers?"

"The [-] to [-] industrial workers are counting the laborers who work on the collective farms and do manual labor in the port area." Yan Chujie shook his head helplessly and said: "Except for the people in the administrative and public institutions, the rest belong to the labor force." The civilians are basically classified as industrial workers. The growth rate of technicians needed in the arsenal is still far behind the demand for production tasks, but workers in this industry must master processing technology, and the period required to train qualified workers It is very long, and this problem cannot be solved in a short time.”

The military leaders here are silent now, Tiandu's arsenal cannot be built, and it doesn't make much sense for them to fight here.In fact, this problem is not without solutions, such as building small arsenals in each station, and each military region will solve part of the demand by itself.But no one dared to take this big shame, because the Executive Committee has very clear regulations that all thermal weapons, including ammunition, can only be produced by Tiandu Arsenal, and the local garrisons can only be manufactured locally. Some cold weapons, arm the reservists.

This approach is also for security reasons, to prevent the executive committee from losing control over overseas military leaders and allowing them to develop into local warlords.And this bottom line is definitely not to be challenged. If anyone brings up this matter without interest, I am afraid that he will be transferred back to Victory Port for internal review immediately.So even if they know that the arsenal in the base camp is not capable of producing enough, the military can only pinch their noses to admit it.

"You don't need to argue about the rifle quota. The Military Commission has already made a rough distribution plan, and every family has a share, but don't expect to get the number you applied for at one time." Yan Chujie decided to end this topic and start discussing the next one. Topic: "It has been three years since we arrived at this time and space. The executive committee believes that our current situation is developing more smoothly than the expected five-year plan, so some external expansion plans can also be considered to be implemented in advance..."

When everyone heard Yan Chujie's words, they immediately cheered up again.A large part of the reason why they chose to participate in the crossing was to realize their dream of leading troops to fight and becoming famous generals. However, after the end of the Annan Civil War in the first half of last year, all the troops stationed in various places were put into storage, and there was no more war.Although the usual military training, conscription, and expansion are still going on step by step, it is always a pity for these soldiers that there is no battle.

They are very clear about the foreign policy of the Executive Committee, first seek self-protection, and then seek expansion.Although the militia participated in the Annan Civil War and achieved great victories, it also exposed many problems. One of the most important ones is that there are too few troops, and it is difficult to complete large-scale combat tasks independently.Although the attack on Hue was relatively smooth at the beginning, if the North Vietnamese army hadn't blocked the passage of the South Vietnamese defenders out of the city for them in the west, it would have been difficult for the militia to concentrate their forces boldly to the north to attack the city wall.

However, for the Haihan military, military strength is not a problem that can be solved simply through conscription.First of all, the population under Haihan’s rule is very limited. In terms of population ratio alone, the size of Haihan’s army can already be described as militaristic. If the number of conscripts is further expanded, it will definitely affect social stability and other industries that require young and strong labor. The production department is functioning normally.

Secondly, due to the popularization of hot weapons, the equipment and training costs of individual soldiers are far from comparable to those of traditional troops, and the requirements for industrial production capacity are also very high. A large number of troops in a short period of time will not effectively improve combat effectiveness, but will Add unnecessary burden to various departments.With Haihan's current strength, it is difficult to maintain an oversized army for a long time.

For this reason, although the members of the Military Commission are well aware of the shortcomings of the militia, the expansion of the army is restricted by many objective conditions. be implemented.

Now that the step of military expansion has been half completed, considering the time required for preparations, it is indeed time to consider how to move forward.After all, if another military action is to be taken abroad, it is necessary to start formulating an action plan at least a few months in advance and conduct targeted military training.

Seeing that everyone's attention had returned to him, Yan Chujie continued: "At present, our control scope is not limited to Hainan Island, and we also have many bases and ports overseas, but this also highlights our local expansion. The speed is slow. Everyone, please look at the map!"

Yan Chujie stood up while talking, walked to the map of Hainan Island hanging on the wall, pointed to it and said: "At present, the areas we actually control in Hainan Island include Yazhou, Thanksgiving, Changhua, Lingshui, Wanzhou , Yuehui and other places, it can be said that about two-thirds of the coastline of Hainan Island has already belonged to us. Although the official institutions of the Ming Dynasty in these places still exist, they basically exist in name only, and local government affairs have been taken over by our people. gradually took over."

Yan Chujie raised his arm and pointed to the northern end of the South Island of Shanghai on the map: "At present, the areas still under the control of the Ming government are mainly concentrated in the north, including Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai, Qiongzhou Fucheng, and Wenchang on the east coast. The goal is to take actual control of these places in as peaceful a way as possible and complete the overall rule of Hainan Island.”

"Okay! I've been waiting for this day for a long time!" Gu Wei was the first to respond: "Hainan Island has been unified, and we don't have to be so secretive in doing things in the future. It's time for our Haihan flag to be displayed. Already!"

But not everyone is as excited as he is. The old and prudent Mu Xiabo asked aloud: "Small counties are fine, but for big cities like Danzhou and Qiongzhou, the defenders may not easily back down. If there is an armed conflict, it will easily turn into a war between Da Ming and Hai Han, if this happens, what will the Executive Committee do?"

A large part of the reason why Haihan has not been in a hurry to expand the control area on Hainan Island is because the Executive Committee is unwilling to break skin with Daming on the territorial issue prematurely.The current Ming Dynasty can exert very limited military pressure on Haihan, but it can add many obstacles to Haihan in terms of maritime commerce and immigration affairs, which in turn will affect Haihan's expansion speed.Everyone understands this truth, that's why Mu Xiabo asked this question.

Yan Chujie responded: "About how to properly handle the relationship with Daming, this problem has always existed, and will continue to exist for a long time in the future. However, it is not necessary to use force to seize the territory that originally belonged to Daming. Make judgments based on the development of the situation, and make a decision after weighing the pros and cons.”

"So now the executive committee thinks that even if the use of force is used to occupy the entire territory of Hainan Island, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?" Mu Xiabo immediately understood the unfinished meaning of Yan Chujie's words.

Yan Chujie did not deny his point of view, nodded and said: "After comprehensive weighing, the Executive Committee believes that our development has reached a bottleneck period, and the best way to quickly break through this bottleneck is to occupy the entire island as soon as possible. Establish our own political power! As for business and immigration issues, the current situation is much better than it was a year or two ago. There are our agents and partners all over the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi. These businessmen are very clear about us and Daming. Between the two, who can give them more benefits. As long as there are enough benefits, even if we enter a state of war with Ming, these merchants will continue to do what they should do. Of course, the premise is that we have to help them in advance Get rid of those Daming sailors who get in the way."

At this point, Yan Chujie pointed to Tom Wang and said, "This is the task of your navy!"

Tom Wang whistled easily and said: "This is not a problem at all. Even without using the two new ships, relying on the existing warships can completely block the Qiongzhou Strait, and can reach the Pearl River Estuary in the Beibu Gulf and Leizhou Peninsula. Deploy defenses in this area of ​​the sea. Even if Da Ming can gather millions of troops in Guangdong, he will not be able to fly directly across the sea."

After traveling for three years, the monster dormant on the coast of the South China Sea is finally ready to show its sharp teeth and start to conquer the world.

(End of this chapter)