1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 828 Arms Trade and Foreign Policy

As Haihan's most advanced and most powerful main battleship, the "Majestic Class" plays the mainstay role in any of Haihan's existing fleets.However, due to the long construction period of this large warship, and the first use of the steam propulsion system, the daily operation and maintenance have high requirements for logistics. Not every stronghold of Haihan can deploy the "majestic class" battleship.

In the military zone of Magong Port, Penghu, a special wharf has been built in advance for the arrival of this ship.Different from the docks where other warships dock, the docks here are specially equipped with a large-scale delivery device for quickly replenishing fuel and fresh water for the warships, which can fill the fresh water and coal-fired cabins on the ship within two hours.At the same time, six mechanics are specially assigned here, and their task is to repair and maintain the steam power system on the ship when the ship is not at sea.

Due to the huge difference in culture and knowledge between the traversers and the naturalized people, it is extremely difficult to train these mechanics in this era. It can be said that all of them are treasures of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Shipping. A squad was assigned to be responsible for their daily security.

The arrival of this main battleship also symbolizes that Haihan's naval forces stationed in Penghu-Taiwan have finally formed a complete fleet.If this ship can arrive more than half a month earlier, it can still catch up with its debut in the Battle of Taipei. The powerful ship-borne artillery fire will also make it easier for the Haihan army to attack Sheliao Island in Jilonggang.

After completing the establishment of the fleet, the Military Commission also specially transferred a general to take command, that is, Shi Diwen, who had been sent to Fujian in 1631.At that time, Shi Diwen, as the military attache of the mission, accompanied Ning Qi to Zhangzhou to meet with Xu Xinsu and other senior Fujian officials. As a result, Shibazhi instigated an assassination operation in the city.Although the mission personnel were not harmed, Shi Diwen made full use of this opportunity and led the mission fleet to attack Nanri Island under the control of Shibazhi in the name of revenge, and conquered the troubled Fujian Province in one fell swoop. The cancer stronghold of the Ming army for a long time.

Nearly two months after Shi Diwen won the first battle of Haihan in Fujian, Qian Tiandun, who was transferred, left Annan and took the special operations battalion to Fujian to take over the command of the local garrison.To be serious, Shi Diwen can barely be regarded as Qian Tiandun's predecessor in the position of commander of Haihan's troops stationed in Fujian.

After Shi Diwen left Fujian, he served as the commander of the Second Fleet in the navy, and also participated in the military operation of Haihan to attack Penghu in 1632. He is one of the few senior generals in the Haihan army who are more familiar with the situation in Fujian. one.This time the Fujian Fleet completed its establishment, and when the Military Commission considered candidates for the commander of the new fleet, it naturally listed Shi Diwen, who was familiar with the world, as the first choice.

And Shi Diwen himself is also willing to accept this transfer. The current development strategy of Haihan is to expand from the sea to the north and the south. The Annabuna Islands in the south are controlled by Roger. There is a possibility of war breaking out in the near future. Sex is minimal.The only place where there is a chance of meritorious deeds is the north. After the formation of a chain layout along the southeast coast of Daming, the difficulty of going north is much less than that of the South China Sea area, which lacks strategic support points. As an enterprising soldier, Shi Diwen naturally hopes to be able to Take this opportunity to make a lot of achievements.

It is not the first time that Shi Diwen and Qian Tiandun have fought side by side. As early as the Annan Civil War, the two had cooperated in carrying out missions for many times, and they can be regarded as old partners.After the two met, they naturally sighed. After going around, they unexpectedly became partners in Fujian again.Compared with the previous cooperation in Annan, the current Haihan army is really a shotgun change, with strong soldiers and strong horses, which allows commanders like them to have more room to play.

On the same day, Qian Tiandun hosted a banquet to welcome Shi Diwen, who had come from afar, and the heads of various departments stationed in Penghu were also present to accompany him.However, except for Qian Tiandun, everyone else is a naturalized cadre, and some things are not convenient to discuss at the wine table.After the banquet, Qian Tiandun invited Shi Diwen to his study and asked Luo Wudan to make a pot of the high-quality Anxi Tieguanyin sent by Xu's family, and then began to talk about serious business.

"This time Takahashi Nan can achieve such a result in Taipei, to be honest, did you use the remote control command from the rear?" Shi Diwen asked sharply as soon as he sat down.

The military operation commanded by Gao Qiaonan this time can also be regarded as the first large-scale battle of the Haihan Army independently commanded by a naturalized officer. Although many people had doubts about Qian Tiandun's bold arrangement before the war, but Takahashi Nan's performance in the process of commanding the battle has indeed effectively shattered all kinds of rumors that are unfavorable to the military. Even military insiders like Shi Diwen still have a little bit of doubt about Takahashi Nan's performance. .However, Gao Qiaonan was still staying in Jilonggang to preside over local affairs at this time, and Shi Diwen couldn't find him to confirm his doubts face to face.

Qian Tiandun shook his head with a smile and said, "I knew you guys couldn't trust Gao Qiaonan, but don't forget how Gao Qiaonan rose step by step. With his current ability, he can command such a large-scale There are more than enough battles. Even if there are any small mistakes in the command process, our superiority in weapons and equipment is enough to make up for it. Of course, the battle plan was formulated by me and Takahashi Minami, and I have made all the issues that can be considered in advance. We have prepared a plan to deal with it, but we did not expect that the resistance of the Spaniards was much lower than we expected, and the two strongholds did not expend too much effort to force the other side to surrender."

Shi Diwen asked: "That's all for the Danshui River. I also heard that the Spaniards are not doing well there, but they have built a city in Jilonggang for several years. Whether it is military strength or fortifications There is no shortage, logically speaking, they would not choose to surrender so soon? Are the Spaniards so greedy for life and afraid of death?"

"It's not entirely because they surrendered because they were greedy for life and fear of death." Qian Tiandun explained: "Gao Qiaonan interrogated some prisoners of war after the war. The main reason why the defenders of Jilonggang chose to surrender was the ammunition and combat supplies in the city. The reserves are insufficient, so that they can't fight on their own."

This answer was beyond Shi Diwen's expectation, and he couldn't help complaining: "The Spaniards are so stupid! If we had known that we took Penghu last year, we should have taken over Taiwan in one go, so we don't have to wait another half a year."

Qian Tiandun said: "According to the news from the front, the Spaniards' city defenses are actually doing well. There are more than [-] cannons deployed on the city walls, and there are quite a few armed personnel in the city who can participate in the battle. But the city The defenders probably have lived in peace for a long time, and have no awareness of resisting foreign enemies at all. The officers secretly sold a lot of weapons and ammunition, and were crushed by our siege artillery. The fighting has left some Spaniards with lingering fears, and their will to resist is not very firm."

"That's really a great bargain for Gao Qiaonan!" Hearing this, Shi Diwen basically let go of the doubts in his heart.

Qian Tiandun did not deny this: "Gao Qiaonan is indeed a lucky general. Most of the response plans we made before the war were not used at all, so we took Taipei down smoothly. However, during the command process, he The details are still remarkable, and it is not purely a result of luck."

"Of course." Shi Diwen is not an outsider, and he would not really think that Gao Qiaonan could get such a record just by luck.You must know that Takahashi Minami is a frequent visitor to the awards ceremony at the annual anniversary celebration. His military exploits are definitely among the best among naturalized officers, and his promotion to the current position is all due to his own performance on the battlefield. The top brass of the military all hold a positive attitude towards this point.Otherwise, based on Gao Qiaonan's background as a prisoner of war, how could he be promoted to the position of battalion commander in just a few years, and still gain enough trust to independently command the ace unit of the Haihan militia to fight abroad.

The battle that took place on Taiwan Island did not consume too much energy and resources from the military, so Shi Diwen only asked a few simple questions, and then took the initiative to change the topic to other things: "President Yan asked me to talk about it before I left. In other words, the meaning of the executive committee is that they still hope to establish a relationship with the Zhejiang government first, and then take action against the Zhoushan Islands. In this way, they can get some supplies nearby and ease the pressure on logistics supplies. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce also hope to use the military You know, the Executive Committee has always attached great importance to this matter."

The arms trade has always been a key project for Haihan to export profits. The arms exported to Annan in the early days not only exchanged a large amount of funds and labor for Haihan, but more importantly opened up the Annan market for Haihan, allowing Haihan to Get another stable source of income outside of Ming Dynasty.After that, the arms trade with the government of Guangdong and Fujian provinces allowed Haihan to obtain a lot of special treatment in the coastal areas of these two provinces, which has completely exceeded his status as a maritime merchant.

A considerable part of the income of the military industry department is classified as military expenditure, so the military has always fully supported the arms trade, and will try to help promote Haihan's weapons and equipment during contact with friendly forces.Of course, any soldier who has seen Haihan's force with his own eyes can hardly resist the temptation of these advanced equipment.Even if Haihan still has a limited purchase policy for some of the weapons and equipment, and the ones that can be bought are expensive, they will still attract the local government.

However, in the past two years, as Haihan has gradually controlled the main passages to the sea in Guangdong, and the coastal areas have become calm, the urgency of the Ming army to update weapons and equipment has been far less than that of the previous years when the province was in chaos, and the government purchased weapons. The number is also plummeting.If it weren't for the high kickbacks given by Haihan to the handlers, the Guangdong government might have completely eliminated the military purchase contract from the financial budget.

The situation in Fujian is a bit better. After all, Xu Xinsu has a lot of money and is not as dependent on the military expenditure allocated by the imperial court as the Guangdong government.Even though the coastal areas of Fujian have become more secure, he still buys them every year. The general purchase is used as a means to win over Haihan and maintain the cooperative relationship between the two parties.

But for Haihan Military Industry, the amount of arms export orders has stagnated in the past two years, and neither the quantity nor the total price has increased significantly. This is not good news for celebration.There are only two ways to break this deadlock, one is to let go of the sales of high-end weapons, and the other is to open up new markets.

It is obviously not advisable for Haihan to let go of the sales of high-end weapons. There must be an insurmountable performance gap between the export-oriented weapons and the weapons installed by the company. The weapon will not cause backlash against Haihan himself.Even so, Haihan has always carefully controlled the quantity of heavy weapons such as artillery and warships, and has also implemented strict export controls on supplies such as ammunition and spare parts.If it is said that the sale of high-end weapons is to be released for economic benefits, the members of the Executive Committee will probably not be confused about this. After all, armaments are one of the important capitals of Haihan, and the treasure of housekeeping cannot be taken lightly anyway. fell into the hands of outsiders.

As for opening up new markets, in fact, relevant departments have never stopped making various attempts.In Nanyang, apart from Annan, a big buyer, Champa at the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula is also a moderate customer. Although it is not as rich as Xu Xinsu, there are still six-figure sales in a year.In addition, Portugal also took advantage of its own colonial points in Nanyang to assist Haihan in selling the general to some local governments in Nanyang.

Matalam, which had a big fight with the Dutch last year, is one of Haihan's current customers. After fully realizing the strength gap between its own army and the Dutch armed forces, the leaders of Matalam immediately poured out a lot of money to buy it. Heavy weapons, and the Portuguese who had sold guns and artillery to them visited the country of Matalan at the right time and recommended the weapons produced by Haihan to them.Of course, the Portuguese only acted as a broker in the middle, and the dominant player is still Haihan.

At present, due to the lack of a suitable strategic support point in the South China Sea, Haihan can only stop at the Annabuna Islands for the time being.However, regarding the changes in the situation in the Nanyang region, Haihan did not give up his efforts to intervene. It is also one of the strategies currently adopted by Haihan to hold back the development of Western colonists through the indigenous regimes such as Matalan.Supporting a local force to fight against Haihan's competitors is already familiar to Haihan, and it has achieved excellent results in Fujian. Nanyang only needs to copy this method, but Fujian The government became Mata Languo, and the role of Shibazhi was replaced by the Western colonists headed by the Netherlands.

　This chapter should be 820. Chapter [-] cannot be changed after the release, so please note

　　
　
(End of this chapter)