Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1454 Intensive preparations ([-])

The light cruisers "Altair" and "Vega" sailed together in the southern coastal waters of Brazil.

This kind of fast battleship with 28 guns, a displacement of 581 tons, and a rated crew of 140 people now has seven ships in the East Coast Navy's battle order, which is used to fill the remaining space left after the retirement of the "Madao" class escort gunboat. Some vacancies—Of course, although the "Madao" class is slow, it has good protection and strong firepower. It can go to the battle line and bombard enemy ships, which is far from what thin-skinned warships like the "Star" class light cruisers can match , "Star" class warships are more of a panacea in nature, and sacrifice a lot of things for the pursuit of speed. The navy's positioning of it is mostly anti-smuggling, combating pirates, reconnaissance, and information transmission (transmitting information between fleets), etc. , Escort is only a secondary task, not the main business.

What is really used to escort merchant ships on the east coast and replace the "Madao" class is the "Jieqi" class sail escort gunboat with a displacement of 708 tons. It is equipped with 42 naval guns and makes the "August 7" class exist Both are somewhat embarrassing battleships.At present, two ships of this type have entered service, namely the "Xiaohan" and "Dahan", which cost a total of nearly [-] yuan in construction funds from the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard (the price sold to the navy was more than [-] yuan. One ship), of course, if the number of constructions increases later, the cost can still be slightly reduced, but not too much.

Due to the booming domestic merchant shipping market and the large orders for merchant ships and warships placed by the Dutch, the Admiralty now has only seven "Star"-class light cruisers and two "Jieqi"-class frigate gunships on its books, and the remaining five The light cruiser and the two escort gunboats still have to wait for the shipping schedules of several major domestic shipyards. At present, it is estimated that there will be no extra berths in a short time, and the Admiralty can only continue to wait.

However, the Navy is quite dissatisfied with this.One of their reasons is that the situation between Spain and France is tense, and it can even be said that war is imminent. However, due to the secret alliance against France signed by the previous government and Madrid, once Spain launches military operations against France, the East Coast Republic of China Will automatically declare war on France, and at the same time send a large fleet to destroy the main force of the French navy, blockade its trade and transportation lines, and seize its overseas colonies—if possible, bombard the coast of France to shake its will to war—such a war, there is no The question will be played by the Navy, so the existing seven "Star" class ships, two "Jiqi" class ships, ten "August [-]th" class ships, two "Executive Committee" class ships and the remaining ten " Whether or not the Falkland Islands are adequately supported is a big question.

Of course, from the perspective of its own interests, the navy department naturally tries to make the matter as serious as possible—it is short of creating a threat theory of country X—in order to get enough benefits from the government system controlled by white shirts, To be more precise, it is to complete the remaining warships and put them into service as soon as possible, otherwise the navy leaders, big and small, will be very dissatisfied.

You must know that the head of the navy is also the head of the army. In this "class attribute", it is the same virtue as the army.For army officers, the army means social status and source of benefits. For naval commanders, isn't warship the most important way for them to secure their lives and obtain benefits?Entering warships one day earlier and expanding the size of the naval fleet one day earlier are the goals that these naval leaders have been pursuing.Although their relationship with the civilian government is not bad, it does not mean that they are loyal dogs of the government. The country on the east coast, which has a strong communist ideology, does not like this. Once the interests of the navy cannot be satisfied , They will naturally show their teeth and be dissatisfied.

The civilian government and the military have been playing games for so many years, and they are naturally clear about the virtues of these military leaders. After playing for so many years, no one knows who, it's all a routine!Therefore, they first paid out that the French navy's combat power is weak. The warships are very poor in terms of tonnage, firepower, and number. The ship's requirements have cooled down.

Afterwards, these guys who were full of "male thieves and female prostitutes" hypocritically stated that the berths of major shipyards are already very slow, and there is really no way to change the plan, let alone take care of the country's economic construction.However, the Pacific Shipyard in the port of Araucan has just added a new berth. If the Admiralty negotiates with the Southern Railway Company and transfers some technicians from several major shipyards, they will approve the construction of the Pacific Shipyard immediately. Funding for the "Lichun" and "Yushui" ships in the "Jiqi" class will also be available as soon as possible. As for the construction of the "Star" class light cruiser, they have not mentioned a word.

The Ministry of the Navy is not very satisfied with the opinion given by the executive committee, but they also know the rules of the game and how to play the routine. It is the executive committee's decision to agree to build the "Lichun" and "Rainwater". It's the limit, as for more benefits, it's not impossible to win, but the risk of paying is too great, it's not worth it.After all, there are many places where the government spends money, especially when the Hejian area is about to be formally brought under control—this is no longer a highly confidential matter on the East Bank today, and senior officials generally know more or less about it It's a little bit-the construction of various transportation infrastructure and flood control facilities will consume a lot of funds, and it is impossible for them to spend too much money on the military.You know, the cost of a "Jiqi" class sail escort gunboat is enough to repair a long embankment in the Paraná River Basin!

Therefore, after a few rounds of wrangling with the government, the Joint Staff Headquarters represented by Guo Zili quietly died down, tantamount to acquiescing to this matter, and then began to prepare for a war with the French in a low-key manner—if it breaks out as scheduled .

The war with the French is not far away. Considering the large number of French troops and the extremely small army size of the East Coast Republic of China, the navy will undoubtedly play the leading role in this battle.According to the plan that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have deduced several times before, once the east coast officially declares war on France, then a large number of fleets will escort the transport ships to the port of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain, and then use this as a base to attack France. Various military operations, such as annihilating the French navy, blocking its trade lines, bombarding coastal towns, etc.

Of course, it's impossible for the Army to be okay.According to the current plan, basically the Army will dispatch at least two regular companies, several independent troops, and temporarily form a group of miscellaneous troops to act as cannon fodder. The personnel will be selected from the existing non-national laborers. Before the time limit expires, and whether or not they can speak Chinese, all they need to do is to be granted the nationality of the East Coast Republic of China-this promise is still very valued by non-citizens, because the previous batches participated in such groups as the Zhongguo*Army, Baoguo*Army, Fengguo After the disbandment of the army and other miscellaneous troops, they have all obtained the citizenship of the east coast, and at the same time, they have received a large amount of spoils. Now they are happily taking the money to open up wasteland and farm in Brazil.I believe that with the existence of these demonstrative people, the non-national laborers who work in the dark in farms and forest farms are still very willing to exchange their blood for a happy life in the future. This is very fair and cost-effective in their view .

At this time, the light cruisers "Altair" and "Vega" escorted as many as eight transport ships, and slowly approached the newly established Jiaohe Port, which is the port of Seguro in Brazil in later generations. The northernmost border of the Republic.At present, Jiaohe Port has resettled about [-] immigrants, about half of which are from Guangzhou, Huizhou, Chaozhou and other places, because they adapt to the climate in tropical regions, and the other half are more mixed, including second-generation nationals born in China and Huaian Government immigrants, even non-nationals who have become regulars.Residents from all over the world are scattered in all directions, using the towns left by the Portuguese to fight through thorns and thorns in the wilderness, intending to open up an important northern town here.

There is no doubt that Jiaohe Port will focus on the forest industry for a long time to come, that is, after harvesting and processing a large amount of high-quality wood, it will be transported to the core territory of the prairie on the east coast of the south, and then purchase various commodities from there. To meet local production and living consumption.Similar to Jiaohe Port, there are several towns, namely Suiye Township near the small town of Kalayiwa in later generations, Gushu Township near the small town of Kumulusatiba in later generations, and Shuye Township near Alcobasa in later generations. Le Township, located in Gaochang Township near the city of Calaveras in later generations, and Xuanchi Township near the small city of Mucuri in later generations.

The above-mentioned newly established settlements plus Jiaohe Port have a total of six townships, which almost completely surround this forested coastline.I believe that after the personnel and equipment are in place, and the docks and other infrastructure are greatly improved, this place will rise into a new forest industry base and compete fiercely with the forest industry enterprises in Hue, Bac Ninh, Changhua and other places in the south. , in order to compete for the domestic timber market with increasing capacity—of course, they also have to face the competition of Peruvian tropical lumber, New China lumber, Free State oak and New Courland lumber imported by Southern Railway. Still not easy.

The transport ships escorted by two star-rated light cruisers, after delivering a batch of supplies to the above-mentioned villages and towns on the way, stopped at Jiaohe Port one after another at this time, taking the last batch of goods and about [-] people belonging to the "Feng State" The recruits of the "National Army" (mostly from Russia, Italy and Ottoman) were sent ashore.

Guns, cannons, sabers, ammunition kits, medicines, bandages, barreled explosives, and other military supplies; canned food, chocolate, spirits, bacon, salted fish, cheese, ham, and other supplies; The doctors from the Yuhe Medical College will constitute an important part of the logistical support for this expedition to France. People on the east bank have reason to believe that this level of logistical support is beyond the reach of the countries of the Old Continent in the short term. Have this confidence!

These newly landed people will carry out adaptive training in the tropical Jiaohe port together with the various people who have arrived before, and wait for the outbreak of war to take a boat north to the Caribbean Sea, and attack the French in one fell swoop. Several overseas colonial strongholds to fulfill the military alliance obligations to the Kingdom of Spain.

Before Jiaohe Port, there were almost seven or eight hundred prisoners of war from the old continent who were training. They still used the old-fashioned 32-c-style flintlock rifles, and their tactics were also old-fashioned. Currently, the army captain Lan Fei and his deputy Nanjiro He and Zheng Dalin were in command——Lan Fei had resigned from the military management committee before and returned to the army system to fight again. He was also one of the core figures among the second-generation young military officers. He had close relations with Yang Liang, Guo Handong, Mao Jun and others. It was known as Yu Liang for a while.

Thousands of hundreds (I don't know how many people will be left when the expedition is over...) Feng Guo * Army officers and soldiers, plus a number of regular army troops, if equipped with a large number of heavy weapons, they can almost sweep the French Santo Domingo and Martinique , Saint Christopher, French Guiana, French South Africa, Quebec and all French overseas colonies, Captain Lan Fei has no doubts about this.

Although the French have always paid little attention to the ocean and regarded themselves as a continental country, if the above-mentioned overseas colonies were pulled out one by one by the people on the east coast, it would really make them feel sad for a long time. This is the result of years of colonization. In the end, it was destroyed in an unexpected war. Will the French cry without tears after knowing the truth?You must know that in today's world where overseas trade is becoming more and more popular, once your pace of colonizing overseas is stopped, the cost of starting from scratch will be quite high, and it will also waste a lot of time and money, and will even be rejected. Competitors are far behind, as the so-called slow pace, the consequences are extremely unpredictable.Louis XIV and French politicians are not ignorant of this point. After all, the French who have supported navigation in the form of government subsidies since the Richelieu era are not stupid!

After several transport ships unloaded their cargo, they loaded a large number of round logs on the local wharf—almost the only export commodity in Jiaohe Port—and then returned to the capital Dongfang Port alone. As for the two star light cruisers, It will continue to go north to Trinidad, where it will conduct assembly and adaptive training, and make sufficient preparations for the next stage of combat operations (the second half of 1667, if nothing else).

And after these ships left, the smug captain Lan Fei - he is expected to be the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in this battle. This is likely to be a "big scene" commanding thousands of people to fight at the same time, which is very rare in the East Coast Army system This is the best opportunity for them——immediately organize the newly arrived Fengguo Army with the help of their deputies and subordinates, and then start intensive training for half a year.These people have more or less military combat experience before, but for various reasons may not meet the requirements of the East Coast Army Department, so they urgently need to undergo training and become familiar with new tactics, in order to have a relatively good performance after the war breaks out. Performance.

(End of this chapter)