Chapter 1774 Favors
"Let's go? Let's wait for now... let's wait for half a month. There's no rush to do it now, right?"
Later in the office of the Navy Commander of the Ministry of National Defense, Wang Tom's answer surprised Yan Chujie. Wang Tom did not promise to lead the army to set off immediately as he thought, but planned to stay for another half month.
After saying this, Tom Wang got up and walked to the door of the office, asking the orderly guarding the door to make a pot of hot tea. Although this office has been retained by the Ministry of Defense, he actually did not work here much. After 1633, he rarely used this office. This time, the Ministry of Defense did not clean it again until he returned from Manila. I bought this house and replaced some of the furniture with new ones.
Yan Chujie did not immediately explain the reason why the Ministry of National Defense planned to arrange for the Northern Fleet to depart as soon as possible, but wanted to find out why Tom Wang suddenly changed his mind and wanted to stay in Sanya for a longer period of time: "Are you planning to give yourself a holiday?"
"That's not true. For me, when I don't go to sea, it's already a holiday." Wang Tom shook his head and denied Yan Chujie's guess, and then announced the answer himself: "Originally, I planned to leave as soon as the National Day is over, but the favor Too many to leave! ”
Tom Wang opened the drawer, took out a stack of invitations and put them on the table, which were more than an inch thick, and said helplessly: "Look, I have only been back for a while, and the invitations I have received are already scheduled for two months later. Of course, some favors that can be rejected will be rejected, but there are still many favors that are difficult to reject and must be given up.”
Yan Chujie thought that Wang Tom was away all year round, and there shouldn’t be too many people in Sanya who would care about him so much. He nodded and asked again: "Your subordinates should account for most of them, right?"
Tom Wang responded: "Yes, I have a lot of people waiting to get married during my return to Sanya. I have more than a dozen wedding invitations here alone. I can't go to this house or that house. They all have to be treated equally. It's over. When someone is newlywed, you can't just take them away right away, right? Not to mention the honeymoon or anything, you have to let the couple get along for a few days, and I, as the commander, have to take care of them. The feelings of the people under my command.”
The situation that Wang Tom mentioned is actually relatively common in the military. Because the territories controlled by Haihan are too scattered, troops stationed overseas often need to serve locally for at least one or two years before they have the opportunity to be rotated out. In other places, the time interval between returning home to visit relatives may be longer. It is quite difficult for these young people in the military to start a family. Their families often arrange the wedding in advance, and when they have time to go home to visit relatives, they seize the time to hold the wedding ceremony.
The Northern Fleet commanded by Wang Tom has been performing missions outside all year round. Now they are taking advantage of the National Day to return to Sanya to rest and recuperate. Naturally, many military families have rushed to seize this opportunity to arrange marriages. As long as there is someone with an official position who can get a side, they will send a wedding invitation to Tom Wang. If they are invited, it will be a huge honor. Even if they are not invited, it is at least equivalent to inviting Tom Wang. With the report, it is easier to get approval for marriage leave.
Yan Chujie understands this very well, because he has also received many such invitations recently. After the previous Battle of Manila, several elite troops who had been fighting all year round returned to Sanya for a short rest, so this period became the peak period for soldiers to organize weddings and entertain guests and friends. Before the National Day, all the troops had to train and march in formation for the military parade, so these private social activities were placed in the period after the National Day.
As a group of people at the top level of power in this country, they can of course choose not to attend these private banquets, but as soldiers, they have the obligation to be comrades, especially after they have experienced life and death together on the battlefield, the personal relationship is not just simple. They are just superiors and subordinates, not to mention that these officers are often old subordinates who have followed them for many years and have made many military exploits for Haihan State. It is really difficult to wipe their faces and say no to others. Even Wang Tom, who was determined to lead the fleet to the seven continents and four oceans, modified his original itinerary and planned to stay in Sanya for another half month.
However, after Wang Tom finished explaining, he had come to his senses and asked Yan Chujie: "What, is there something going on outside?"
"There may be a situation in the north." Yan Chujie nodded and informed him of Li Xi's application for Haihan garrison and Huang Taiji's change of name to emperor.
"What you mean is that these two things may not be a coincidence, but that the North Koreans should have noticed some kind of danger signal a long time ago, so when they took the opportunity, they wanted us to station troops in their country to block possible threats for them. Invasion from the north." Wang Tom quickly clarified his thoughts and put forward his own opinion.
"It is possible, but we have not received further confirmation from the North Korean envoy." Yan Chujie nodded: "I plan to talk to him about this matter later. It is possible that Huang Taiji planned to proclaim himself emperor last year. At that time, it had been hinted that North Korea would change its status, otherwise it would use military strikes. Although Huang Taiji did not proclaim himself emperor last year, the military pressure faced by North Korea must be objective. The Qing Dynasty still appeared in this time and space, so it is possible that the follow-up development will follow the original historical trajectory.”
"So the next step may be the history of the Qing Dynasty's conquest of North Korea." Wang Tom, who also knew this history, immediately added: "The Qing Dynasty has just established the country, and it is indeed a good idea to use North Korea to worship the flag. If they act quickly enough , and can even seize the window of our military strength in the Liaodong region.”
"That's right." Yan Chujie said solemnly: "We have imagined the worst case scenario. If we are unable to prevent the situation from deteriorating in time when the Qing invades North Korea, then North Korea may only be able to resist for about a month, and we will not even have time to organize reinforcements. , this war is over.”
Tom Wang did not respond immediately, frowned and began to think about the hypothesis put forward by Yan Chujie. He has been in the north for a long time. He has far more personal experience of the international situation in Northeast Asia than Yan Chujie. He has dealt with both the Qing army and the Korean rulers, and he also understands better what-ifs should happen. What kind of impact will the current situation have on Haihan?
Although Haihan has opened up a situation in Liaodong, this is the result of several years of hard work. During this period, the country and the military have put a large amount of resources in the far north. So far, from an economic point of view, This decision is still a loss-making deal, and a large amount of military expenditures and materials still need to be allocated to maintain the local garrison every year.
Of course, Haihan's actions in the Liaodong region originally had a strong political purpose, and success or failure cannot be measured simply from an economic perspective. However, the heavy military burden also prevents Haihan from increasing the size of the garrison in the Liaodong region. At this stage, it may be difficult to push the actual control line too far north, and he can only stick to the area south of the Jinzhou Isthmus. Part of the reason why Yan Chujie couldn't easily agree to the North Korean envoy's application for troop garrison was precisely because of this. In order to consolidate the situation in Liaodong, Haihan not only needed domestic support, but also needed materials and personnel from Ming and North Korea. If Huang Taiji's next attack target is North Korea, and it is possible to succeed in one fell swoop, then Haihan must evaluate in advance how his business situation in Liaodong will be affected after losing North Korea as an ally.
"Judging from the current situation, it is very difficult for us to win this game, so the main thing is to see whether we can afford to lose." Yan Chujie knew what Wang Tom was thinking about, so he simply took the initiative to say it: "If we lose North Korea , will it shake our business situation in Liaodong? ”
Tom Wang shook his head and said: "It's not too much to be shaken. Even if North Korea is gone, Dongjiang Town plus our own people will have a population of just over 30,000. It will take at most one or two years to achieve self-sufficiency in basic living materials. But if we continue to fight against the Qing army, we won’t be able to generate much revenue in the future. I’ve heard that many businessmen want to invest and do business in Liaodong. I don’t know how the Ministry of Commerce will arrange it. Yes, if we can revitalize the local economy, we can be less dependent on North Korea.”
Regarding this matter, Yan Chujie had already heard what Schneider said, and he shook his head and said: "Those businessmen want to buy local specialties from Liaodong, such as ginseng, deer antlers, furs, etc. Jinzhou is too small to satisfy their appetite. , so I plan to do smuggling business and buy it directly from the Jurchen tribe.”
Tom Wang said: "Needless to say, it must have been vetoed by Schneider. This kind of operation is expressly prohibited by the Executive Committee, and it will be the same for anyone."
Yan Chujie nodded and responded: "That's what you said, but Schneider didn't want these merchants to give up Liaodong, so he gave them a way to set up business houses in Liaodong, so that they could trade with North Korea. But if Next, there will be a war in North Korea, and this business will probably go cold.”
Haihan implemented a naval blockade on the Liaodong coast to prevent external materials and money from flowing into Huang Taiji's hands through maritime channels. This measure is unlikely to change due to the needs of a small group of wealthy businessmen and powerful people. However, if the investment from southern businessmen is lost, the development and construction process in the Jinzhou area will indeed be affected to a certain extent. This is a reality that Haihan executives cannot ignore.
The business conditions were not ideal, and the government could not force these businessmen to invest money in Liaodong, and it was even more taboo for the military to participate in business, so the two of them only touched on this topic without going into depth. For them, the focus is still on the deployment and response arrangements of the military in the coming period.
"Then how about we notify everyone, except those who want to start a family, cancel their vacations and set off as soon as possible!" Wang Tom also felt that this matter cannot be delayed. The only thing he can do at the moment is to lead the fleet north as soon as possible, so that he may be able to catch up with North Korea on the Yalu River. Delay the Qing army's offensive.
"Get ready first! I have already sent a telegram to ask them to try to find out the recent movements of the Qing army. If they really plan to attack North Korea, they will have to gather tens of thousands of people in advance. There will eventually be movement."
Yan Chujie slowly walked to the window, looked at the blue sky outside, and said slowly: "If it is really too late to save North Korea, it will be God's will and it will not come by force."
Tom Wang smiled and said: "What's the matter with you? Don't you always talk about the victory of man and nature?"
"Can we really defeat it? Maybe our current strength is not enough." Yan Chujie also responded with a smile: "Actually, I am thinking that in the ten years since we have been here, how much of the historical process has been completely changed because of us? How much. You see, the emergence of the Qing Dynasty has shown that our influence cannot change history everywhere. The South China Sea may have completely changed, but Liaodong has not yet reached this level, and because of this, it has not yet reached this level. Has anything changed since our arrival?”
"I also want to know the answer to this question!" Wang Tom said leisurely: "I wonder if I will be able to lead the fleet to the other side of the earth in ten or twenty years to see what Western civilization was like at that time. How big will our gap be?”
"There should be a chance!" Yan Chujie patted Wang Tom on the shoulder and said: "With your body, it won't be a big problem to be the commander of the navy for another ten or twenty years. By then we may already have an armored fleet, and you can take it out. An opportunity to show off your power!”
Tom Wang waved his hand and said: "Okay, don't overdo it for me. The Warrior class only built one Black Shark and ran out of funds. It is essentially just an enhanced sail warship. To build an ironclad ship, the Executive Committee Can we allocate funds? We don’t even have research funds! The armored fleet will only be seen in the year of the monkey!”
Yan Chujie didn't pay attention to Wang Tom's complaints. The generals of each army had never stopped complaining about the military budget. He had long been accustomed to it, and when the executive committee reviewed the annual budget, he also played the role of A character like Tom Wang. Crying about suffering is the most effective way to win sympathy. Regardless of the official position, this trick must be used when it is necessary.
As for the problem Wang Tom complained about, it is not only due to military budget considerations. The several main combat ships currently owned by the Haihan Navy have no rivals in East Asia. If it is just for combat needs, in fact, there is no It is too necessary to spend huge sums of money to develop the next generation of warships immediately, not to mention that the warships currently in service have been in service for less than ten years. Haihan is not so generous that he has begun to eliminate combat effectiveness in such a short period of time and is still ahead of this. The battleship of the times.
Can a real steam ironclad be built at this stage? It may take three to five years, with the whole country's efforts, to build one or two decent ironclad ships. But if Haihan's industry develops to a certain level in ten or twenty years, it will definitely be impossible to build ironclad ships. Much easier than now. So the answer to this debate is yes, but not necessary.
(End of chapter)