Chapter 416 Observing the Exercise
Luo Shengdong has been dealing with the Haihan people for much longer than the three South Vietnamese surrenderers, and the information he knows is naturally much more comprehensive than them. If the Haihan people were still wearing the sheepskin of armed merchants at the beginning, then after they gradually took control of Sanya and Yazhou, they slowly peeled off this disguise and revealed their sharp claws.
The Haihan Executive Committee's control over local areas was different from the powerful practices of ordinary Ming Dynasty landowners. Luo Shengdong did not fully understand the policies of the Executive Committee, but he could feel that the Executive Committee's control was comparable to that of the people he was loyal to. The Ming court was much stronger. Luo Shengdong had personally transported boatloads of immigrants to Haihan, and had also seen the panic, confusion, doubt, helplessness and other emotions displayed by these people when they first arrived at Victory Port. But only a few months later, these people The immigrants who chose to come to Victory Port just to survive were like being reborn, with a different temperament from the people of the Ming Dynasty. Luo Shengdong didn't know how to describe these qualities in detail, but he could feel that these people would probably no longer regard the Ming court and the emperor in the Forbidden City as the only authority and belief in their hearts - just like he currently The mentality is the same.
In this social system dominated by Haihan people and composed of naturalized people, most of the production activities are centralized. Ordinary people do not have the right to obtain private land, but they are not as miserable as the bankrupt farmers under the Ming Dynasty. Naturalized people People don't need to worry about their livelihoods at all. Under the governance of the Executive Committee, there are almost no idle people in Sanya. Everyone will be assigned a position and job, and everything the public does is to continuously strengthen the collective strength of Haihan. Luo Shengdong heard Tao Dong say that this is called "thinking in one place and working hard in one place". The principle sounds very simple, but it seems that this kind of scene can only be realized under the governance of the Executive Committee.
This peculiar social system is being implemented outwards with the gradual expansion of Haihan's governance area. Although there have been some opposition voices among the people in the process, these individual dissidents have basically been suppressed by powerful institutions. There have been no waves - even the Yazhou government has openly sided with Haihan. It can be said that there is currently no force in the entire Qiongnan region that can compete with Haihan.
If Haihan really wants to establish local power, at least there will be no external pressure in the Qiongnan area, and it is even very likely that he will get the support and support of tens of thousands of naturalized people in this area. A considerable number of these people have become die-hard loyalists of the Executive Committee, especially those Li Miao mountain people and Annan immigrants who have a weak sense of identity with the Ming Dynasty. For them, the Executive Committee is at least the supreme authority, although it is not independent. It has the name of a country, but under the rule of the Executive Committee it is a de facto country within a country.
Since its establishment, the Haihan Militia has launched many wars and has remained invincible. Almost all naturalized citizens have enjoyed the war dividends brought by victory through various means, which has prompted the local people to further uphold the authority of the Executive Committee. Now every time the military announces a foreign war, the people not only do not fear the war, but will actively participate in various war preparations to prepare for the militia to go to war, hoping that the victory of their soldiers on the battlefield will bring greater success. Many war bonuses.
Luo Shengdong believes that the executive committee has been reluctant to stand up on its own and show its banner, and it is probably just waiting for the most suitable opportunity. Before this time comes, the Executive Committee will probably continue to present itself as an armed business group, and Wu Sen believes that Haihan will choose to establish a country in the future. This speculation is simply certain to happen to Luo Shengdong. Given the situation, I took advantage of the situation and showed off my knowledge.
"Do you know why the Executive Committee does not establish its own national title?" Luo Shengdong looked around the three people and asked.
Both Wu Sen and Ruan Jinggui quickly shook their heads, expressing their ignorance. Only Ruan Jinggui was more familiar with this matter. He twirled his beard and replied: "In my humble opinion, the Executive Committee is unwilling to establish its own business at this time. Related! ”
"How do you say this?" Wu Sen asked in confusion: "The Ming army can't even defeat me, Annan, how can it be the opponent of this Haihan militia?"
After Wu Sen said this, he suddenly remembered the identity of Luo Shengdong next to him, and quickly confessed: "Brother Luo, I don't mean to be sarcastic."
"It doesn't matter." Luo Shengdong shook his head nonchalantly and said: "After all, this is also a fact. Mr. Ruan, please continue."
"Although Haihan's development is going smoothly, where did the human and financial resources required for its development come from? This did not fall from the sky. As far as I know, the largest commercial transaction volume with Haihan is Daming. Among the immigrants who entered under the rule of Haihan, more than 60% of the Ming people were Ming people. If they chose to establish an independent country on Ming's land, it would be equivalent to openly declaring war on Ming. Whether they can fight or not is another matter. However, the trade and population import related to the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be greatly affected, and the disadvantages of establishing an independent country will soon be highlighted. " Ruan Jinggui's analysis was well-founded, and several people nodded in response.
"Although it's not all right, it's almost the same. Mr. Ruan really has real abilities. No wonder Mr. Shi, who is known for his shrewdness, chose you to work for him." Luo Shengdong also agreed with Ruan Jinggui's speculation: "If it is Hai When the Han Dynasty declares its national title, Qiongzhou Island will become a battlefield. Although the Haihan militia is powerful, if the two countries go to war, the business and immigration channels will be blocked, and the development of Haihan will inevitably stagnate. And this is the Executive Committee A situation that would be the most undesirable to face.”
Ruan Jinggui said: "In General Luo's opinion, where will Haihan's future development go?"
Luo Shengdong shook his head and said: "The heads of the executive committee are all very capable. I don't dare to speculate on their thoughts. However, in my humble opinion, at least Qiongzhou Island must be captured before we can rely on sea routes." Tianqi and the Ming Dynasty are fighting against each other, and Xu Tu will do his best. As for whether to go south or north first, I really can't guess. "
Among the four people present, except Ruan Wenwen, who has a slightly simpler mind, the other three are not economical lamps. Luo Shengdong has been working with the Haihan people for almost two years, and his way of thinking has long been affected by them. He almost always sits on Haihan's side, without the awareness of a military attaché of the Ming Dynasty. Ruan Jinggui surrendered to Haihan early, thinking of doing something for Haihan, and using his future achievements after the founding of Haihan to wash away his reputation as a "traitor". Wu Sen's situation is even simpler. If he wants to regain a new life, he must consider how to hand over a satisfactory answer sheet to Haihan's examiners. He does not want to be sent back to the hard labor camp, or to Being assigned to work as a sailor on a merchant ship.
In the afternoon of the same day, the warship turned north and rendezvoused with three other naval warships that were out for sea exercises in the waters of East and West Maozhou Islands west of Sanya Port, and then conducted an attack drill from sea to land around West Maozhou Island. The content of the exercise is that four ships line up in a long snake formation, use shipside guns to bombard the designated target area on the island, then lower the small boats, and use the naval guns to cover the amphibious troops to carry out landing operations and establish a beachhead.
Wu Sen had personally experienced the bombardment of Hai Han warships in Dong Hoi and Hoi An, but this time he was lucky enough to observe this combat method from the perspective of the winner, which made him unable to help but sigh at the magic of fate. Although he had long known that the amphibious warfare tactics of the Haihan Militia were very sharp, Wu Sen could not help but sigh with emotion after seeing the implementation of such operations with his own eyes.
In addition to the need for powerful ship-based artillery support and cover, this kind of operation also requires the establishment of a beachhead position. It is also a very important part of the operation. Wu Sen did not witness the process of the Hai Han militia raiding the South Vietnamese army's flanking coast and establishing a beachhead during the operation to aid Vietnam last year. But after seeing this small-scale landing combat exercise today, Wu Sen can already infer from this that at that time The general situation of the landing battle. The large-scale cold weapons equipped by the South Vietnamese troops were obviously unable to cope with the Hai Han militia's tactics of gradual advancement relying on beachhead fortifications and long-range firepower, so failure was inevitable.
However, this seemingly uncomplicated tactic is difficult to copy. Without the fire support from the sea like the Haihan warship, the troops landing on the beach will easily be directly defeated by the defenders due to their inferior strength. Drive into the sea. As for the Haihan people, neither the Ming Dynasty nor Annan have the ability to manufacture warships equipped with heavy firepower. Even if they have seen this kind of tactics, it is difficult to think of a defense method that can restrain them.
"Wu Sen, what do you think of this method of landing operations?" While watching the exercise, Wang Tom asked Wu Sen for his opinion. Of course, this was also to examine Wu Sen's military attainments. Wu Sen bowed and responded: "In my humble opinion, the militia's tactics are indeed sharp. If the defenders are not equipped with guns and cannons, it may be difficult to resist. However, this tactics requires a lot of ammunition, so it must be extremely expensive to fight!" ”
Wang Tom nodded and said: "It is indeed very expensive. For today's exercise, we need to mobilize four warships to go to sea for coordination. There are nearly 500 sailors and soldiers, and they will fire more than 200 artillery shells and at least 2,000 gun ammunition. There must be several thousand yuan in circulation coupons for these material consumption, personnel expenses and the wear and depreciation of guns.”
Wu Sen was secretly stunned when he heard this. After he came out, he also learned about the local income and prices, and roughly knew how much a few thousand circulation coupons cost. One exercise cost several thousand. It seemed that Luo Shengdong was not joking when he said that the Haihan Navy was rich and willful.
"But for us, how much money we spend is not the most important thing." Sure enough, Wang Tom's next words confirmed Wu Sen's feelings: "Except for shipbuilding, most of our navy's military budget is spent on shipbuilding. When it comes to daily training, as you have just seen, we will conduct every exercise as an actual combat, so as to ensure that our soldiers can fully display their daily training when they actually set foot on the battlefield. Combat level. I think as a soldier, you should understand what this means."
Of course, Wu Sen knew very well that the combat effectiveness of the South Vietnamese army was relatively low. A large part of the reason was due to the uneven military quality of the soldiers. There were a large number of peasant soldiers in the army who had no combat experience at all. These people were unable to fight in battle after they went to the battlefield. Maintain the same fighting level and pace, so it is easy to collapse when encountering setbacks. Although the Haihan Militia has a small number of troops, it has maintained a frequency of foreign operations for half a year or even less than half a year since the beginning of last year. To a certain extent, it can be called "combat training" to train these soldiers and grassroots officers. , its battlefield performance and actual combat capabilities far surpassed the South Vietnamese army, which seemed to have a large force but was like a piece of loose sand.
But the South Vietnamese court was unable to follow Hai Han's approach and change itself, because this relates to the previous topic - first of all, you have to have enough military spending to squander it.
With the financial resources of the Haihan people, they could only support a militia army of about 3,000 people. In the Annan Civil War, thousands of people were often dispatched to fight, and the imperial court simply could not afford to support such a large-scale elite army. Therefore, for South Vietnam, the Hai Han Militia is like "other people's army". They can only envy it, but they cannot copy it to their own army and imitate it.
"Our Haihan Militia follows the line of elite troops. The resources we invest in each soldier and officer are at least ten times, or even a hundred times, that of the traditional army. Training them in peacetime requires a large amount of money, but This consumption can be replenished by the battle victories achieved by the militia, and there can even be considerable profits." Wang Tom said proudly: "For example, the cost of the large warships we will start building in the second half of this year will be raised through trophies. ”
Wang Tom didn't make it too clear, but Wu Sen also understood that the money was actually moved back from Hue. It is said that after Hai Han captured Hue, he took property worth millions of taels of silver from the city, most of which would probably end up being used as military expenses for the Hai Han militia to further expand its military strength. Of course, the good thing for Wu Sen is that he no longer needs to face the guns of the Haihan militia on the battlefield in the future, and Wu Sen naturally welcomes more powerful weapons in his own camp. Although it is not known how big the "large battleship" that Wang Tom calls it is, it is certain that after its launch, the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Navy will rise to a new level.
"But if we need to fight a big country in the future, with such a small number of troops, we may still be worried about being stretched!" Wu Sen couldn't help but raise his concerns. No matter how powerful the Hai Han militia was, there were still too few people, otherwise they would not have retreated soon after conquering Hoi An and Hue.
Wang Tom smiled and said: "Your worries are not unreasonable, but the elite soldier route we are taking has another feature, which is to train every soldier as an officer. If a large-scale war breaks out, we must deal with the militia army It will be easier to expand the scale. Ordinary soldiers can be promoted to squad leaders, squad leaders to platoon leaders, and platoon leaders to company commanders. As long as there are sufficient soldiers, the three thousand people can be expanded to ten times or even larger in a short period of time. ”
However, Tom Wang has not finished saying this. If it really comes to that level, the Executive Committee and its various units will probably have to sell the iron. The combat consumption of tens of thousands of combat troops is probably not something that Haihan can afford now.
But this statement is already shocking enough for Wu Sen, who has just entered the civil society system. Wu Sen stayed on the ship for most of the day and carefully observed the performance of the sailors and soldiers on the ship. Indeed, they were far more elite than the navy he had led before. If the navy needed to expand, most of the crew members would be able to do their part independently. abilities, and people with positions such as first mate and second mate on the ship can basically be pulled out to command a ship alone. Of course, due to the limitation of shipbuilding speed, the navy cannot expand as easily as the army. Even if the army cannot build guns and cannons, it can still issue cold weapons to arm them first. But if the navy does not have combat ships, then it is really a point. It can no longer function.
The exercise lasted for about two hours and did not end until about 5 p.m. The Navy's generous treatment of soldiers was once again reflected after the exercise. Four warships docked on the shore of Ximaozhou Island, and then the soldiers and crew members went down to the island and held a traditional picnic of the Haihan Militia. .
Different from the marching picnic in the concept of Wu Sen and others, the comfort-style picnic held by the Haihan militia is actually more similar to a relaxing activity after the war. Several small boats were dispatched to catch hundreds of kilograms of fresh fish and fish on the nearby sea. After catching other seafood, the cook on the ship will light a fire and set up a stove on the shore to cook the "Haihan Paella" which is very popular with the local people. Yes, that’s right, this so-called “Haihan Paella” is actually an improved variant of “Spanish Paella”, which is more suitable for the tastes of Eastern people, and all the warship chefs were opened by Haihan’s chief chef Fan Wei last year He has studied in the "New Oriental" cooking training class and is a well-known teacher. The navy officers have also received considerable benefits from this. As long as it is a large-scale amphibious exercise at sea, an outdoor dinner event like today will almost be arranged after the end, and paella is the most popular protagonist of this event.
It was the first time for Wu Sen to eat such delicious food. Although Ruan Jinggui and Luo Shengdong reminded him, he almost bit off his tongue. It was said that there was no limit on the amount of food each person could eat. Wu Sen ate three large bowls in one go and was really bloated. Even Wang Tom joked after seeing it: "Wu Sen, the way you eat like this will probably make our navy poor and exhausted. It seems that I have to reconsider whether to transfer you to the navy!"
Wu Sen rubbed his belly and smiled shyly: "General Wang, please don't say it's a joke. Although I've only been here for a day, I already know the slogan of the Haihan Navy."
Wang Tom wondered: "Slogan? What slogan?"
Wu Sen cleared his throat and said seriously: "If you have money, you will be willful!"
(End of chapter)