Chapter 166 Adjustment of Defense Strategy
The Crossing Group named itself "Haihan" and has always attached great importance to maritime control. Relevant units such as the Military Police Department and the Shipping Department almost spend their free time studying information on contemporary maritime competitors. Of course, most of the information they studied came from the collection and compilation of amateur historians like Ning Qi and the Ministry of Information Industry.
Super large pirate gangs like Shibazhi are naturally the focus of research. Zheng Zhilong made his fortune by continuously annexing other forces to strengthen himself, first annexing Yan Siqi, then Li Dan, and then the various pirates of Shiba Zhi. If he realizes that there is a force at the southern end of Hainan Island that can threaten him in the future, then he will definitely not sit back and let this force continue to develop.
Correspondingly, it is equally impossible for the Time Travel Group to watch Zheng Zhilong develop and strengthen himself step by step - Zheng Zhilong in 1627 and Zheng Zhilong in 1635 are completely different things. If his power really develops to a scale that has never appeared in history, that will definitely not be a good thing for the Time Travel Group. The Executive Committee will definitely not agree to its own ship paying so-called "protection fees" to pirates like Zheng Zhilong. It is only a matter of time before the two parties have conflicts of interest in the future, so the possibility of peaceful coexistence with Zheng Zhilong is extremely small. Some things must be done now It's time to start preparing.
Tao Donglai said: "For Zheng Zhilong's opponents, we should provide some strategic support. For example, we need to consciously tilt the arms sales strategy."
Schneider nodded understandingly and said: "I will discuss this matter with Mr. Li and ask his firm to adjust its arms sales strategy and try to sell as little or as little as possible to Zheng Zhilong."
"Delaying the pace of the Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group's unification of the southeastern coast as much as possible is actually giving us time and space for development." Tao Donglai continued: "Our future maritime trade wants to reach Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and even further north. , then we must ensure the stability of the shipping routes. The existence of the Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group will obviously become a big stumbling block for our future development of northern sea trade!”
"But at the same time, we cannot let him notice our existence prematurely." Yan Chujie pointed out a loophole that no one paid much attention to: "What would Zheng Zhilong do if he learned that there was a place on Hainan Island that could produce muskets and artillery? Is he bringing money to do business? I can't see it. Maybe he will attack here directly with his men and take the people and goods back to Taiwan."
"It's not difficult to get Furifeng to agree to keep trade secrets, but it's difficult to prevent interested people from inquiring into this information." Schneider shook his head and said, "As long as they sell the first batch of arms, someone will soon find out. The origin of these arms. Rather than thinking about how to keep trade secrets across the three provinces, it would be more practical to think about how to strengthen our defense measures here.”
Tao Donglai frowned and asked Yan Chujie: "When will the coastal defense artillery fortifications at Victory Port be completed?"
Yan Chujie said: "If we only build forts and fortifications, more than 80% of the first-phase design plan can be completed by the end of the year. But the problem is that we still have two big gaps, one is the cannon, and the other is the gunner."
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"The turrets of coastal defense artillery are all designed according to 24-pound or larger artillery. However, there are some minor technical problems in the casting process of 24-pound artillery. They are still in the research stage. The military industry department cannot say when. Able to finalize production ”
"The other 24-pound muzzle-loading gun is very heavy. Even if we use mechanical braking and guidance devices, it still requires at least six gunners to operate it. We mentioned this issue when we held the artillery seminar. The gunners have to be trained. The cycle is relatively long and the investment is large. This gap cannot be made up in a short time. According to the fort design of the first phase plan, there are eight 24-pound guns, so we need at least about fifty gunners. In fact, considering We have to set aside some replacement personnel for possible attrition during combat, so the actual number will increase by at least one-third.”
"This is only the first phase of the project. The second phase of the project will build the same number of forts on the steeper Yulinjiao side, so the number of gunners stationed will probably be the same. As for the coastal defense artillery fortress conceived by the Military and Police Department The system, because the fort modification cannot be carried out until the rear-mounted artillery is finalized and put into production, I am afraid that construction will not be carried out within one or two years.”
Tao Donglai sighed and said, "This means that if we want to complete the preliminary coastal defense artillery system, we must equip at least one company of artillery?" Yan Chujie nodded solemnly, but before he spoke, Ning Qi He had already said first: "Now, including the third phase of militia that has just been recruited, there are only three companies of militia in the local area. It is unrealistic to train so many artillery. But you should not continue to think about expanding the recruitment. The ratio of our military personnel to ordinary civilians is almost ten to one. I think you should know what this number means.”
As veterans, Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie certainly understand what it means when the proportion of military personnel in the total population is too high. This will force all aspects of politics, economy, culture, education, production, etc. in the control area to tilt towards the military. Social thought and political systems will also be greatly affected by it. If it is not controlled well, it will only be a matter of time before it evolves into a communist regime.
Although the Military and Police Department has always advocated strengthening armaments, it is not crazy enough to turn the crossing group into a base camp for the Communist Party. The huge disasters and disastrous defeats caused by Germany and Japan during World War II due to their aggressive militarization are lessons that every soldier must learn from. Therefore, facing Ning Qi's beating, both of them were unable to argue.
Ning Qi continued: "Of course the shore defense gun fortifications should be repaired, and the gunners must also be trained, but I think it cannot be done overnight under our current conditions, but should be carried out in stages like planning and construction plans. Our defense It’s not that we can only rely on coastal defense artillery. In fact, the No. 1 base we are currently in has been built stronger than Yazhou City. Even if thousands of enemies attack from the sea or land, we can rely on it. Carry out effective defense. And foreign enemies cannot stay here for too long, because there is no supply at all except our farmland."
Tao Donglai thought for a moment and nodded in agreement with Ning Qi: "After we start selling arms, we may attract attention from Fujian, and may even attract external armed attacks. But let us not forget, from Fujian or The straight-line sea distance from Taiwan to here is more than 600 nautical miles. It will take at least ten days for a large fleet to complete this journey. It is not that easy to launch an expedition against us. The parties currently fighting in the Taiwan Strait. No matter which side is stronger than us, no one can spare too much power to launch an expedition against us at this juncture."
After discussion, several people came to the conclusion that Victory Port may be attacked by outsiders in the future, but the intensity will not be very strong and should be within the range that the local defense capabilities can withstand. At present, the external shipping routes of Victory Port are only two, one long and one short, heading to Yazhou and Heitu Port. In addition, there is a radio station for easy communication. There is no need to worry too much about the ship returning to Victory Port due to poor news. It was blocked outside the harbor.
Of course, this does not mean that the Executive Committee underestimates the possible dangers. The Military and Police Department will continue to expand the scale of gunner training and speed up the training process, striving to train at least forty gunners when the coastal defense forts are put into use at the end of the year. Qualified gunners left and right. However, there is no need to think about recruiting new recruits for the time being. The cost of subsequent gunner training will definitely be expensive, and the budget of the Military and Police Department has indeed begun to be tight. This situation will not be alleviated until at least the arms export trade of the military industry department reaches a certain scale. .
Li Nai was raped by several old Jianghu men the night before, and he and his entourage were arranged to live in a guest house in Base No. 1. It is said to be a guest house, but it is just a row of prefabricated houses. Because a considerable number of people have moved to the No. 2 Base in Tiandu Industrial Zone, there are many vacant prefabricated houses here, and the civil affairs department has cleared a few of them. The house is used as a guest house. People from Yazhou who want to stay overnight in Shengli Port will be arranged here.
When Li Nai was in a deep sleep, a burst of loud music woke him up from his sleep. Li Nai didn't know where the loud noise came from, so he jumped out of bed in panic. He Qiang, who was rooming with him, was also in a panic. The two hurriedly opened the door, only to see that it was already bright outside. The Haihan people, who were also sleepy-eyed, walked out of the barracks one after another. After saying good morning to each other, they headed in the same direction. Went.
The two exchanged glances in confusion, then quickly went back to the room, changed their clothes, and followed. But they soon discovered that this was just a false alarm. It turned out that the place these people went to was a stall that distributed breakfast. The breakfast stall was located outside the gate of Base No. 1, and there were already two long lines when they arrived. Li Nai had long heard that the Haihan people had a "queuing" rule, so together with He Qiang, they queued up at the end of the queue as they did in front.
Li Nai noticed that not all the people in the team were Haihan people. There were actually many Ming people, Li Miao people and even yellow-haired and white-skinned Westerners. He couldn't help but be surprised. He Qiang discovered another important point, touched Li Nai's arm and said softly: "Third Young Master, look ahead."
(End of chapter)