Chapter 1946
The area bordering the mainland on the Tushan Peninsula has been designated as a restricted area by Annan officials during the civil war many years ago. Large-scale training bases have been built one after another. At the busiest time, there were more than 5,000 Annan soldiers. Receive training from Haihan military advisor here. This place not only carries the function of training new recruits, but is also a place for advanced training for grassroots officers of the Annan Army. After all, studying abroad in Haihan Kingdom is only a privilege that a few senior officers can enjoy, while ordinary officers can go to Tushan to receive a three-month training. Refresher training in half a year would be good.
The new army established by Annan State after the end of the Civil War gradually followed Haihan's establishment. The military ranks of officers were also divided into several levels: generals, captains, and lieutenants. Generally, they must be promoted to at least the rank of major or above before they can get the chance to study at Sanya Military Academy. opportunity. And such senior officers who have studied abroad will often come here to serve as instructors for a period of time after returning to Annan, passing on what they have learned in Haihan to ordinary soldiers and grassroots officers as soon as possible.
Of course, the role of Haihan's military advisor cannot be easily replaced. Officer Haihan will still appear on the training ground here. Annan officers who have been trained here will also differentiate between their juniors and seniors according to year and shift. Some officers who have trained under the same Haihan instructor will even refer to them as brothers. And this spontaneously formed interpersonal network will bring more opportunities to the relevant parties, and also make more Annan soldiers yearn to receive the military training provided by Haihan, because this has almost become a way to seek promotion in the military. One of the necessary conditions.
It was naturally difficult for Li Mu to sympathize with this, but fortunately, Li Xi and Gai Liangcai cleared up his doubts, and he quickly understood the special significance of this place to Annan Kingdom. If we want to make an analogy, it is the Datongjiang base that provides military training to North Korea. The elites selected from the personnel who go there for training are then sent to Sanya to study abroad. This approach is actually similar to the operation of Annan Kingdom. . It's just that Annan Kingdom is close to Haihan and has sufficient financial resources to send a group of military students to study in Sanya every year. However, North Korea tried its best and only sent a dozen military officers to study in Haihan this time. I don't know why. In what month will there be the next batch?
Of course, if financial resources allowed, Li Bo would also like to do like Annan and select a group of outstanding military officers from his country to study abroad in Haihan every year. However, given the current situation in North Korea, this kind of thing can only be thought about. It is unlikely to be realized for the time being. We can only learn from other people's practices and gain some operational experience.
Before going abroad, Li Bo had also seen the scene of Haihan officers training domestic soldiers at the Datong River base, but it was still slightly different from the scene of Annan recruits being trained in Tushan this time. The biggest difference is naturally in terms of equipment. Even for recruits who have just joined the army, their training equipment is already better than that of the North Korean regular army. Even individual weapons have become popular with muskets.
Of course, what is used for recruit training is only very old-fashioned matchlock guns, and they will not be issued ammunition. The main purpose is to allow them to quickly adapt to the company of this weapon during the recruit stage and practice corresponding tactical formations. However, this level has made Li Bo feel a little sour, because even such an old-fashioned matchlock gun is still a high-end weapon that the North Korean army has no conditions for large-scale deployment. The armies of the two countries have been widened the gap.
The training content is similar to what Li Bo saw at the Datongjiang base. In fact, it is some relatively basic combat formation training. This is one of the most basic parts of musket tactics. Only by maintaining a stable formation can you have continuous firepower output. . Although these skills are not complicated, they require a lot of repeated practice to allow recruits to form a conditioned reflex to the commands. Otherwise, they will easily become overwhelmed by tension, fear and chaos on the battlefield.
Annan's actual combat experience over the years has played a very important role in training. Many special environments and emergencies on the battlefield can only be understood by soldiers who have personally experienced them. And integrating these situations into daily training can help Effectively increase recruits' adaptability. In recent years, Annan's army has also begun to go abroad, fighting in all directions with the Haihan Army, fighting various types of enemies, and has also begun to have some generals and troops with outstanding actual combat capabilities. In this regard, the gap between North Korea and North Korea cannot only be narrowed by weapons and equipment.
This kind of thing doesn't even need Zheng Bai's explanation. Li Bo himself can already notice it after watching the training scene for a while. Annan's recruit training is not only the combat skills taught by the Haihan people, but also some lessons learned from their own actual combat experiences.
Think again that this is only a gap in the training stage of new recruits. Considering the situation after the combat effectiveness is truly formed, the gap in strength between the two sides will only become larger. Li Pu recalled that many domestic officials still believed that Annan and other countries sent troops to North Korea just to follow Haihan and pretend to be powerful, but in fact they did not realize that their troops were indeed far more powerful than their own.
Such a gap may be difficult to eliminate through the military assistance provided by Haihan. From Haihan's perspective, Annan is obviously a more reliable ally than North Korea and provides greater assistance to it. Moreover, North Korea is now in dire straits, and the establishment of a new army still requires a large number of grassroots officers who have received military training to build the skeleton. It will not be able to send troops overseas to fight alongside the Haihan Army like the Annan Army in a short period of time.
"Your country is indeed unique in recruit training. If there is an opportunity in the future, I would like our country to send some officers to your country to learn from this experience." After the recruit training came to an end, Li Bo took the initiative to say to Zheng Bai He said a few kind words to express his admiration for the training level of Annan's recruits.
Zheng Bai smiled and said: "Since your country has joined the military alliance led by Haihan State, it is natural to strengthen exchanges. You can send people over at any time. We open the door to welcome you!"
North Korea's decision to join this military alliance was actually forced by the situation. If it weren't for the huge pressure from its hostile neighbors in the north, North Korea would probably not give up the Ming Dynasty as its suzerainty, let alone form allies with outsiders like Haihan. But now that things have happened, Li Pu feels lucky that he has managed to get it right. The benefits that Haihan can bring to North Korea are obviously much more than that of Ming Dynasty, which cannot protect itself. At least he can see the hope of improving national power.
From Li Bo's point of view, he does not want North Korea to live based on people's faces like it has been for hundreds of years, and anyone from the surrounding countries can step on it. Since Haehan can make North Korea stronger, it should seize this rare opportunity. Annan is undoubtedly an excellent example of success. This country was still in the middle of a civil war between the North and the South ten years ago. The situation at that time was a bit worse than the current situation in North Korea. However, after embracing Haihan's thigh, it turned over. Now even Ming Dynasty does not dare to underestimate its existence. Since Annan can do it, Li Bo believes that North Korea can also imitate some of its practices, especially in the military field. Annan's experience in building the army is obviously very suitable for North Korea, which has just started on this road.
Although Zheng Bai proactively offered the option of watching military exercises, Bai Kesi did not accept the offer in the end. After all, he only brought Li Bo to Annan for a temporary tour for special reasons, and it was not an official diplomatic visit. Too big and inappropriate. Therefore, the content of the second day after arriving in Tushan was mainly the daily training of the recruit camp, and then a visit to the camp facilities. The content was actually relatively dull. But Li Fu didn't take it seriously. On the contrary, he felt that this way he could better see the true situation of the Annan Army, and what he saw and heard did not disappoint him. At least he had seen the gap with his own country in terms of recruit training, and with his country. Meeting Zheng Bai, a senior military official in Annan, was another powerful connection.
Of course, the most important thing is that this trip gave Li Bo more opportunities to communicate with Bai Kesi. It is not an easy task to meet alone with senior officials of the Haihan Executive Committee. Li Xi must first apply to the Haihan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then the two parties will discuss the meeting time and related topics, and finally finalize the meeting opportunity. It is likely to be compressed into a short period of time, and the communication atmosphere will not be as relaxed and pleasant as now.
The Haihan Executive Committee is a very mysterious governing body to the outside world. Several high-ranking Haihan officials among them are the actual rulers of this emerging power. As for how they divide work and cooperate, and what each person's governance style is, The outside world knows very little about this. It was only after Li Bo came to Haihan that he learned that this seemingly elegant Mr. Bai was in charge of the so-called industry in Haihan, which also included the manufacturing of weapons and equipment. North Korea wanted to quickly expand its military strength and purchased Haihan. Weapons and the introduction of Haihan military technology are necessary conditions, and to achieve these, there is absolutely no way around Baikes.
Li Bo hopes to learn more about Haihan's arms exports and military technology transfer and other related policies from Bai Kesi. In other words, how can Haihan provide stronger and wider military assistance to North Korea. This kind of topic is undoubtedly extremely sensitive in formal official talks, and it is very likely that multiple talks will be wasted without getting a positive response. But in this current atmosphere, which is similar to traveling together, it is obviously easier to have some informal conversations and communication, and to find out the information that he is interested in.
Therefore, although Li Bo took the visit to Annan's recruit training and military base seriously, in fact, at most he put half of his mind on it, and the other half of his mind was on how to get some valuable information from Bai Kesi.
"Sir Bai, I just visited the Annan Army. I noticed that almost all of the standard weapons they installed were produced by Haihan. It seems that the arms purchased by Annan from your country are quite large!" before returning to Tu. On the carriage on Shan Peninsula, Li Bo began to test Bai Kesi with words.
Bai Kesi has been in a high position for several years and has dealt with dignitaries from many countries. He is so sophisticated that he had already anticipated the other party's intentions as soon as he heard Li Bo's words. But since the other party took the initiative to mention it, he just took this opportunity to instill some awareness in Li Pu.
Bai Kesi responded: "Our country has been in alliance with Annan for nearly ten years. Annan submits a large number of arms orders to our country almost every year. This is why their army will be equipped with standard weapons produced by our country. Of course they order The weapons are not necessarily the most advanced. The prince should have noticed just now that the matchlock guns used for recruit training are old models from ten years ago and have basically been eliminated in the regular army.”
Li Pu thought that the Annan Army was eliminating old muskets, and our army had not yet begun to install muskets on a large scale. The gap was really too big. Then he asked: "Annan spends a lot of money to purchase large amounts of arms every year. Isn't the amount of military expenditure extremely huge? If it attaches so much importance to military development, won't its domestic people's livelihood be affected by this?"
Bai Kesi explained: "Annang currently spends a lot of military expenditures on arms procurement every year, but it does not affect its people's livelihood. Moreover, the strong military strength has also brought Annan many practical benefits, such as the continuous expansion of trade routes and objects. Expansion and deterrence of surrounding enemy countries have brought about more peace. The Annan people believe that the benefits of military construction outweigh the disadvantages, so they will continue to invest and continuously improve their military strength.”
Li Pu said thoughtfully: "Annan Kingdom is located in the South China Sea, close to your country, and has geographical advantages. Therefore, whether it is trade or military, it can easily obtain your country's support. This is an innate advantage that our country cannot imitate. ”
Bai Kesi said: "Your Majesty is right, Annan does have this advantage, but if your country can free up its hands to form a new army and expand foreign trade in the future, it will not be difficult to maintain close ties with our country. Liaodong and Zhejiang , it’s not too far from your country, and it’s actually quite convenient whether you’re engaged in trade or military exchanges.”
Li Pu responded: "But this also requires support from your country. If more weapons and equipment can be sold to our country at a fair price, then surely what Mr. Bai said can be realized as soon as possible."
Bai Kesi said to himself that the young man still couldn't calm down, and his purpose was exposed so quickly. He responded with a smile: "Your Majesty, I don't know much about this issue. In fact, our country's arms exports have always been in short supply, and Sanya has them all year round. Ambassadors from various countries queue up to wait for us to sell weapons, and the orders are paid half a year or even a year in advance. Not to mention the price reduction, even if the supply sequence is adjusted, it will cause chaos. , I can ask your ambassador later about the story about the bidding for arms orders between Matalan and the Netherlands in Sanya last year. Our country regards your country as an important ally, but everything must be fair and we cannot offend in order to favor your country. Do you think this is true for other allies? ”
(End of chapter)