Chapter 315 Military Exercise Display
"The iron material used for this iron ship is probably one hundred thousand kilograms!" After confirming that the ship was made of steel from top to bottom, inside and out, someone finally couldn't help but touch the iron material that was larger than his own thigh. The thick anchor chain sighed.
There were rumors in the past that Haihan's shipbuilding technology was outstanding, but many people did not believe this rumor - since it is so powerful, why do they still buy and rent ships outside? Just make it yourself!
But after actually boarding this giant steel ship, no one had the courage to question Haihan's shipbuilding technology. To be able to collect a huge amount of iron materials, build such a large iron ship, and still make it float on the water, the amount of this project alone is a miracle. According to rumors, the Haihan people came across the sea in this kind of iron ship. However, the ship had no sails or oars, and no one knew what magic the Haihan people used to make this extremely heavy iron ship travel on the sea. Looking at the side, there are several smaller iron ships parked on the shore, and you can know that this kind of iron ship is not just one or two built to bluff people, but something that can really be mass-produced.
At that moment, a curious person asked Tao Donglai this question, and Tao Donglai explained with a smile: "This kind of Haihan iron ship needs a certain kind of special grease to operate, and this kind of grease is not produced locally, so We will not use these ships for the time being. As for the principles, if you are interested, you can choose your young children to attend our school in Victory Port, and there will be special courses that will teach relevant content.”
"Then if we also want to learn this skill, can we also listen in?" Someone in the crowd immediately asked an alert person.
"Of course, we don't have any restrictions on this." Tao Donglai nodded and said, "But if you want to learn this, you have to be patient enough. You must first learn the basic courses. Otherwise, even if we are willing to teach, the students will not understand. .”
"May I ask Mr. Tao, how many years does it take to learn the art of Haihan shipbuilding?" someone asked reluctantly.
"Director Yue of our Shengli Port Shipyard is also here. Xiao Yue, please tell us." Tao Donglai gave up the right to speak to professionals.
Yue Zhiyun nodded and said: "I am majoring in shipbuilding. I studied for about sixteen years from enrollment to graduation. After two years of internship in the shipyard, I can basically start a job."
After Yue Zhiyun finished speaking, those who had been in high spirits immediately fell silent. If it takes two or three months, maybe someone can have the patience to learn it. After all, this thing is a new thing, and learning it may come in handy. If it takes two or three years, you can also send your subordinates to learn it. It doesn't hurt to make long-term investments occasionally. But it takes sixteen years of study before graduating. Who would have such patience? No wonder Tao Dong said just now that students only accept young children. Such a long learning cycle really requires starting from elementary school. If adults study, they will reach retirement age within a few years of completing their studies. It is simply a big pit. , whoever dances is stupid.
Tao Donglai smiled and added: "Actually, what Director Yue said was not detailed enough. The previous ten years of courses are just to lay the foundation, and the real learning of professional skills can only be done in the last few years. As long as the basic courses are completed, except for shipbuilding, In addition, you can also learn other majors, such as making glass products, soaps, matches, etc., or learn the navigation, prospecting, and salt making techniques that we Haihan are good at... In short, as long as we have the skills, All can be taught, it just takes different lengths of time to learn.”
"Can we learn all this in Victory Port?" The crowd that had just calmed down immediately became excited again.
It doesn't matter whether you learn Haihan's shipbuilding skills or not. After all, even if you have the technology, you may not be able to build this big iron ship. If you have so much fine iron on hand, who would be crazy to use it to build a ship? . But what Tao Donglai said after that are all secret techniques. People who master these techniques generally will not easily accept disciples, and there is no place to learn in the market. But as long as you master one of them, That is enough to prosper a family.
"Everyone can learn it, but as I said just now, it will take a long time to learn these skills, so it is best to select some smart children to come to our school. As for the specific procedures, we will discuss them tomorrow There will be a special briefing session, and Mr. Ning, who is in charge of education in our executive committee, will personally explain the details to everyone. If you are interested, please come." Tao Donglai calmly calmed the excited crowd.
One of the purposes of establishing the organization "Qiong Lianfa" is to network with a group of socially influential stakeholders within the Ming Dynasty. The reason why we chose businessmen as a group instead of officials and literati is because this group has a more direct appeal for interests. They are not bound by various terms and conditions like officials, and they are not as pedantic as literati. Businessmen's attitude towards social changes and cultural differences is far more practical than other groups.
As early as when it was planning "Qiong Lianfa", the executive committee had already formulated various means to lure shareholders into the trap. In addition to firmly tying these people down financially, the Executive Committee also did not forget to start from multiple points at the same time, trying to gradually exert influence on them in the field of culture and education. If these people are directly asked to send their children to study in Shengli Port, they may not be interested. After all, if businessmen want to change their family and improve their social status, they can only rely on their children to take the imperial examinations. Haihan's school is obviously Can't teach them relevant test-taking knowledge. After much thought, the executive committee finally decided to use various advanced production technologies as bait to attract these shareholders to use family descendants as long-term investments.
These subjects prepared by the executive committee are extremely attractive to Ming businessmen. If shareholders fall into this trap, the interest relationship between the two parties will become stronger, and the cross-trading group can also use this as a channel to report to the Ming Dynasty. These shareholders instill more Haihan culture and values.
As for whether doing so will lead to the leakage of core secrets in more than ten years, the Executive Committee is really not worried at all. First of all, the targets of this education plan are all school-age children. After long-term targeted brainwashing, the three views of these students will definitely be consistent with the interests of the Time Travel Group, and many of them will even regard themselves as As a member of the Time Travel Group, the possibility of actively leaking secrets is quite low.
Secondly, even if these students graduate after more than ten years and go to areas beyond the control of the Traveling Group, it will be difficult to apply the skills they have learned there. Whether it is navigation, prospecting, or salt production, a lot of auxiliary technical equipment is required to achieve it, and the production of these things cannot be completed everywhere, and must rely on the technical support provided by the Crossing Group. As for shipbuilding or other industrial products, let alone it. The industrialized production method cannot be realized in the short term in a social environment where agricultural production is the dominant economy. Crossing Group can achieve this in the specific environment of Victory Port. The technical and environmental conditions it possessed were difficult for Ming businessmen to copy elsewhere through imitation.
Taking a step back, even if some products with simple craftsmanship become copycats due to technology outflow, because their industrialization level will be far lower than that of Victory Port, their production scale and production costs will never reach the level of Shengzhai. Travel through the group levels. Even if they can copy products of the same quality, they will ultimately have to rely on price competition to occupy the market. If they have to compete with the Cross-Travel Group on price for industrial products, the scene will be really unsightly.
But the wealthy businessmen of the Ming Dynasty obviously did not think of such a long-term thing. What they saw was that the Haihan people were making money day by day by relying on these unique skills. Now that the Haihan people are willing to teach these skills, the fool will not learn them. As for the problem that the learning cycle is too long, it seems that it is a small detail that can be temporarily ignored in the face of huge interests. Some people have even made up their minds about sending a few more children from the clan to school in Victory Port, so that they can learn various Haihan secret skills in the future.
If there wasn't a big show to watch right now, some people might have been impatient to get off the boat to talk to Mr. Ning. But as the three trumpet blasts sounded, everyone's eyes were drawn back to the nearby estuary. As the highlight of this military parade, starting ten days ago, a river beach on the east bank of the Tiandu River estuary was cleared and closed in advance to serve as a battlefield for amphibious military exercises, and sentry towers, fortresses, and city walls were specially built for this purpose. and city gates and other simple targets in order to achieve the best visual effect during the exercise. Looking from the side of the "New World", you can have a clear view of the entire Tiandu River estuary and the east bank.
Under the gaze of many guests attending the ceremony, Tao Donglai picked up the walkie-talkie and gave the order calmly: "I announce that the 1628 spring military exercise will begin now!"
Just when the guests were still wondering what "1628" meant, they saw a fleet from the west side of the harbor sailing quickly towards the landing area with the red flag. The first ones are naturally the powerful "Discovery" warship and its two sister ships. However, due to the construction period, the latter two ships have not had time to install artillery and can only be used as troop carriers. Immediately behind were three modified troop carriers—in fact, they were ships used specifically to transport North Vietnamese immigrants. They were loaded with some of the soldiers and logistical personnel who had just participated in the military parade.
Almost all the personnel selected to participate in this landing operation participated in the North Vietnamese Civil War two months ago. Before that, they had practiced the landing operation process many times, and had experienced actual combat training. Therefore, this whole set of The amphibious landing warfare tactics are basically considered to be familiar.
As the guests watched, the lead ship "Discovery" approached the river bank first, turned sideways and began to bombard several simulated targets with yellow flags on the bank. The several boats that followed immediately put down their boats, some carried the infantry and rowed to the shore, while the other immediately built a simple pontoon in the shallow water near the shore, preparing to unload the baggage.
Seeing the cannonballs fired from the "Exploration" smashing a wooden fortress into pieces, the two Yazhou senior officials present couldn't help but their eyelids twitched, as if they saw the cannonballs hitting the gate of Yacheng. scene. The businessmen who were watching the excitement were very excited. Some even stood up and cheered loudly like the people watching on the shore. They completely forgot that the soldiers participating in the exercise were not Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers at all, but serious civilians. Private armed forces.
After several rounds of shelling, the first batch of commandos in small boats had successfully washed up on the beach. The soldiers who abandoned the ship and landed quickly gathered into three horizontal teams and formed a shooting formation at the officer's whistle to cover the follow-up troops to establish a beachhead position. After the simple pontoon bridge was set up, the baggage crew immediately landed on the beach with a multi-functional tactical car and quickly built a defensive fortification. The entire landing process basically copied the way the Haihan militia fought in North Vietnam, using long-range firepower as a cover to quickly build defenses and establish a solid position.
As the pontoons were built one after another, materials and personnel began to land continuously. The guests who were watching the ceremony were shocked to find that there were no less than twenty small Haihan artillery pieces among the landing force - these were obviously not launched for display.
Sure enough, after completing the establishment of the beachhead position, the five infantry companies that had formed a shooting formation began to attack the simple city built directly in front. At the same time, the artillery unit also completed its first calibrated shooting, sending fragments flying across the city wall. .
This simulated city is just a layer of bamboo fence tied to the outside of the wooden frame, and then a layer of loess is applied. It still looks decent from a distance, and the visual effect is very good, even the lead bullets of the flintlock gun are in the Hitting it at close range will also bring up a cloud of smoke and dust. Wherever the artillery shell hits, even if it just misses the edge, a big gap will be made. As for the small city gate made of thin wooden boards, let alone it. After being hit by several rounds, there was only a pile of debris left.
More than twenty 6-pound cannons and more than 400 muskets fired at this section of the city wall, which was less than 30 meters wide and more than three meters high, for a full stick of incense. stopped. After the smoke and dust dissipated, the guests saw that where the city wall originally stood, there were basically only the roots of the city wall one or two feet high on the ground. Although they had long known that this was just a temporary target, it was certainly not as strong as the real one. Compared with the city wall, this momentum is enough to make everyone feel completely shocked.
Zhang Tongpan and Wang Tongzhi exchanged glances. At this point, they could finally confirm one thing - if the Haihan people really wanted to rebel and attack Yacheng, it is estimated that the walls of Yacheng that have not been repaired for decades can last long. It won't be any better than the target just now.
Fortunately, so far, the Haihan people seem to have no intention of capturing Yacheng by force, and local officials do not have to worry about whether they will need to commit suicide when the city is breached. Zhang Tongpan even had an illusion in his mind - although the Haihan people were a little daring, they clearly had such powerful force, but they did not use it to coerce Yacheng into agreeing to their various conditions. From this point of view, at least this group of people was still Very reasonable.
Wang Tongzhi's mood is relatively relaxed - even if you are capable enough to break through the sky, I will step down and leave immediately, and the future affairs will have nothing to do with me. I don't care whether you want to attack Yacheng or wherever in the future, this scapegoat No matter what, it will not be put on my back.
The two juniors standing behind them, Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping, had a more complicated mood. On the one hand, they had half-heartedly chosen to join the Haihan people. The stronger the militia's force, the more secure their safety would be. After all, Haihan talent is the backstage force they can really rely on now. On the other hand, as the strength of the Haihan people became stronger and stronger, they also knew that it would become more and more difficult for them to get out of this pit. Originally, they might have hoped to escape from the control of the Haihan people and continue to be loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty. But now it seems On the contrary, it is getting further and further away from this goal.
After his interview with the Haihan people yesterday, Luo Shengdong has actually begun to realize that his original idea of relying on job promotion to get rid of the control of the Haihan people was not practical. The speed of the Haihan people's expansion of power may be much faster than his promotion speed. . In just one year, the Haihan people opened their mouths and directly claimed the development rights for the area of nearly a hundred miles from the east of Yacheng to Victory Port. Although they had passed through the sea in this year, With the help of the Han people, he jumped two levels from the Baizong when he was captured to the Qianzong that is now beyond the establishment of Shuizhai. But if he wants to be promoted to a higher garrison, general or even general, he will be transferred from Yazhou. The opportunity is not a goal that can be achieved in the short term. When he reaches that height, the Haihan people might even take over the entire Qiongzhou Island.
Of course, the most important thing is that Luo Shengdong knows that his promotion path is completely controlled by the Haihan people. Whether relying on military exploits or bribing his superiors, he is now inseparable from the assistance of the Haihan people. In the final analysis, I am afraid that how high he can climb depends on the needs of the Haihan people and what he can do under their command. It worked. Although it is a bit sad to think about it, this is indeed a fact that Luo Shengdong cannot avoid. Even if he wants to regret it, there is no turning back - now nearly half of the people in the water village have been replaced by sailors from the Haihan Militia. If you have any half-hearted ideas, you may be captured and taken back to Port Victory and thrown into a labor camp before you even start.
Although it has been a year, the hard days spent in the labor camp are still vivid in Luo Shengdong's mind. When he returned to Shengli Port this time, Luo Shengdong happened to chat with Ren Liang about this matter. There were dozens of times more prisoners in the labor camp now than Luo Shengdong's time, but the living conditions were even worse. . A large number of South Vietnamese prisoners of war were transported to Port Victory and put into labor camps to serve as cheap labor. These prisoners, who neither spoke Chinese nor looked more like South Asian Malays, had no chance of getting even the slightest sympathy. They were basically used as consumables. Standards were being used, and the casualty rate was very high. Luo Shengdong didn't want to be sent to the labor camp again because of some unrealistic ideas. He really didn't have the confidence to leave that hell alive a second time.
(End of chapter)