Chapter 1975
The Qing army seemed to have acquired some new type of weapon. What worried Chen Yixin was not the impact on the Liaodong war situation, but whether there were some changes in the international situation hidden behind it that were not conducive to Haihan.
Haihan has been expanding rapidly in the past ten years. In the process of opening up territories, force was often used. Naturally, it made many enemies. There were many countries and forces that openly and secretly hated Haihan, but in the past, there were very few. There will be a situation where these enemies unite to deal with Haihan. Once such a sign appears, it will not be good news for Haihan, so Chen Yixin pays special attention to the new rifles that appear in the Qing army's formation and is prepared to increase investigation into it.
Although the patrols are all cavalry selected from various garrison units and have certain practical experience, when it comes to reconnaissance, they may not be as good as real elite soldiers. However, none of the ace troops in the Haihan Army were stationed in Jinzhou at this time, so Chen Yixin had to send a telegram to the Datongjiang Base, hoping that the special operations group or Marine Corps currently stationed there could send an elite reconnaissance force over. , to investigate the equipment status of the Qing army's new weapons in the army. Of course, if possible, it would be better to get the physical object or capture the insider.
The reason why Chen Yixin sent a special telegram to ask these two troops to send support was because their professional levels were different. These two forces have specialized reconnaissance functions. Their members possess professional skills that ordinary troops do not possess, and their individual soldiers are also more sophisticated in equipment. They are basically designed to perform special tasks such as secret reconnaissance. equipped. If it is sent out to carry out reconnaissance missions against the enemy, the chance of success will be correspondingly greater.
"Look at this telegram. Chen Yixin just sent it from Jinzhou. It's interesting." Wang Tom handed Qian Tiandun the telegram just sent by the communications corps.
During the period after the Korean War ended, they also had a rare period of leisure. Apart from dealing with North Korean officials who came to the Datong River Basin to inspect the progress of various cooperative industries, there was basically no work that required their personal intervention. And they are also happy to have some leisure. In the past six months, it has indeed been too hard. Whether they are generals or soldiers, they need to stop and take a good rest.
Before declaring war on Spain at the end of last year, they had already received orders to lead their troops south, and at the beginning of this year they participated in the western expedition to attack Manila. After the war, the two troops took a short rest and then returned to Sanya to participate in the National Day celebration military parade and subsequent amphibious military exercises. After that, they quickly left Sanya and headed north. They held another military exercise in Hangzhou Bay to build momentum for Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo, and then went straight to North Korea. From May to August, they had been fighting the Qing army on the Korean battlefield. The two ace armies they commanded could be said to be the busiest troops in the Haihan army.
After the Korean War, in order to stabilize the situation here and promote the implementation of many cooperative industries in the Datong River Basin, and considering the status of these two troops, the Ministry of National Defense temporarily allowed them to be stationed at the Datong River base to rest. Anyway, North Korea will bear part of the daily expenses of the Datong River base, and there are no combat missions elsewhere that require the dispatch of these two troops. Staying here can actually save military expenses.
After Li Bo left North Korea in September and went south, the two countries negotiated for more than 20 days on the issue of Haihan providing loans to develop the Datong River Basin, and finally reached an agreement. In the name of Haihan Bank, Haihan State, Provide special loans to North Korea for the development and construction of cooperation projects between the two countries, and Haihan will obtain a larger proportion of the shares in these cooperative industries. Part of the future profits of these industries will also belong to North Korea and be used to repay the current installments. huge borrowings.
Of course, in addition to these explicit contents, North Korean King Li Zhu also agreed to some conditions that should not be made public to the public. For example, North Korea promised to increase its opening up in commerce, culture, education, finance, etc., and to provide It is more convenient for Haihan merchants to conduct trade activities in North Korea.
After receiving financial assistance from Haihan, construction of iron mines, smelters, shipyards, salt fields and other production bases in the Datong River Basin finally started one after another.
However, Haihan's development model in North Korea is different from the past practice of focusing on domestic businessmen, because although North Korea has opened its doors to allow Haihan merchants to enter the country to engage in U.S. trade activities, it is basically difficult to obtain land as long as it is used. approve. In other words, the agricultural development methods such as plantations that Haihan used in the south have not yet received official permission in North Korea. As for important industries such as salt and iron, North Korea will naturally not allow foreign businessmen to directly participate in the operation.
This left the Haihan merchants who came to North Korea excitedly to choose Seoul as their base and engage in simple trade of buying and selling. Through this loan negotiation, North Korea has slightly relaxed its original restrictions, allowing foreign businessmen to engage in agricultural development in cooperation with its own people, but only limiting the areas where this development method can be implemented.
Of course, this kind of restriction is much better than no opportunity, and the requirement to find local collaborators is purely a symbolic condition to save face for North Korea. Those who can engage in agricultural development in foreign countries are those who are not short of money. Finding a local puppet collaborator is nothing more than spending a little more money, which is basically negligible compared with the future income of the plantation.
The riverside plain in the Datong River Basin near Pyongyang, which has excellent water conservancy conditions, is also an area designated by the North Korean official to allow foreign businessmen to participate in business operations. Therefore, many businessmen from Haihan and Daming have recently come to the Datong River base to ask for Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom. , let’s say goodbye to Shantou first and then talk about the relationship. If something happens to one of his nearby properties in the future, he might be able to count on the military to come forward and help solve the problem.
Occasionally, Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom would meet some businessmen who came to visit when they were in a good mood. Although these people came for profit, they were still responding to the call of the country, and their business activities would also increase Haihan's business in North Korea. Influence. And some of them have official connections and backgrounds, and they can't bear to refuse. Although they are generals who lead troops to fight abroad, they still have to find ways to maintain some interpersonal relationships at home.
But what was delivered to them today, in addition to a large stack of routine greeting cards and gift lists, was this military intelligence telegram sent from Jinzhou, Liaodong. In the telegram, Chen Yixin briefly explained the abnormal situation in Jinzhou and his own views on it.
Qian Tiandun quickly scanned the contents of the message, frowned and said: "This Qing army can actually get a standard musket? That means that our attack on the Liaodong coastline has not been effective enough!"
"You mean the responsibility lies with our navy? Well, I will take over this job on behalf of the navy and make up for it. What do you think?" Wang Tom joked with a smile.
"Stop my mouth with words first, but you are a small fish and a shrimp, and you won't let it go!" Qian Tiandun also laughed: "This job is obviously the job of the Army, so you have the nerve to do it!"
Wang Tom responded: "You are wrong. If you want to carry out this mission, my troops are definitely more suitable than your troops. The Qing army will definitely not relax its frontal defense. My troops can be deployed from the coastline to the area behind enemy lines." , This is what your special forces can't do!" Qian Tiandun snorted: "It's not just your navy that has ships! By the way, you may not know that our special forces customized them at the Zhoushan Shipyard. Two new high-speed sailing ships arrived yesterday. From now on, not only will your Marine Corps be able to go up the mountains and into the sea, but our special forces will also be able to complete amphibious operations in the near-shore area!"
In fact, when Qian Tiandun formed his team in Annan, in addition to the main combat environment of mountain jungles, amphibious operations have always been his area of expertise. However, after the separation of the army and the navy, his troops will need to rely on the assistance of the navy to complete force projection when performing amphibious operations, which will more or less limit their combat effectiveness. And Qian Tiandun has been thinking of ways to solve this shortcoming of his own army.
The most effective way is, of course, to let the special operations group have its own fleet. When Qian Tiandun wants to mobilize troops on a large scale, he no longer needs to waste time and trouble coordinating with the navy. But this is obviously a goal that is unlikely to be achieved. Even if the Executive Committee and the Ministry of Defense acquiesce, he does not have the money to build a fully-equipped fleet, and there is not enough military expenditure to maintain the daily expenses of a fleet.
Therefore, Qian Tiandun's idea is to settle for the second best and allow the special operations group to have a small-scale maritime force projection capability. This is not just about using troop carriers to complete the transportation link. The effect Qian Tiandun hopes to achieve is that the special operations group can complete some amphibious operations tasks alone. Since he did not have the conditions to own a large number of warships or large warships like the Majestic class, Qian Tiandun did not expect to have strong shipboard firepower. Winning with speed was the direction he hoped for.
It is also unrealistic to expect shipyards to design and build a light warship specifically for special operations groups. Qian Tiandun had limited military expenditures on hand, and the shipbuilding expenses squeezed out of it could not support the need to develop a new type of warship. He could only Use existing ship types to make minor modifications based on your own combat needs. Therefore, the two ships built by Zhoushan Shipyard for the special operations group are actually a type of light reconnaissance sailboat currently in active service in the Navy. Their tonnage is more than half smaller than the exploration class, the smallest among warships.
This kind of sailing ship can reach a maximum speed of more than ten knots under ideal sea conditions. The highest speed recorded by the Navy during missions even reached sixteen to seventeen knots, which is comparable to a steam battleship moving at full speed. Due to the limited tonnage of the sailing ship, its crew capacity is also weak. A full ship can only carry a platoon of personnel. However, missions that require special operations groups to dispatch such sailing ships are generally not too far from the starting point, so it is not necessary. Consider the comfort of the voyage. The cabins below the deck have been opened, and they are all densely packed with three-story bunks. The space freed up is used to store weapons, ammunition and various supplies.
Qian Tiandun hopes that after these two ships are put into service, the special operations group can quickly deliver one to two platoons of small elites to the coast within a radius of two hundred nautical miles to complete various special operations missions. Of course, in the eyes of Tom Wang, a naval general, this would inevitably be seen as an act of competing with the navy for food.
"You really prepared everything without saying a word!" Wang Tom tutted: "When I set off from Zhoushan to North Korea in the first half of the year, I didn't hear that you secretly booked two ships there."
"It's no fun to expose this matter too early." Qian Tiandun said seriously: "But now that the ships have arrived, I just want to find a mission to train the troops. Whatever you want, you will be sent to your door if you don't have a mission."< br>
In fact, the Zhoushan Shipyard that built these two ships may not know that the ships were not built for the Navy, but were ordered by the Army. In fact, this kind of small actions are not uncommon in both the army and the navy. When Wang Tom formed the Marine Corps, he also trained and prepared quietly in secret, and finally made his debut on the Liaodong battlefield.
Both of them wanted to send their troops to the Jinzhou errand. First, this task required going deep behind enemy lines, and the operation was quite risky, so it really required the deployment of elite troops. Second, both of them were unavoidably interested in the new weapons possessed by the Qing army. They are curious and understand why Chen Yixin takes this matter so seriously, so they also want to find out the truth as soon as possible so that countermeasures can be taken on a larger scale.
But neither of them was willing to give up the job to the other. After some discussion, Wang Tom finally gained the upper hand. His reason is also very simple. The voyage from the Datong River base to the coastline behind enemy lines is nearly 200 nautical miles. Although the two ships of the special operations group can also go there, the supplies they carry may not last until the end of the mission. To be on the safe side, it is still necessary to Asking the navy to send another ship to follow would go against Qian Tiandun's original intention.
Of course, this problem did not arise when the Marine Corps was dispatched. Qian Tiandun could not defeat Wang Tom, and in the end he had no choice but to accept the result.
"Then you go mobilize the troops. I will attend these entertainments for you." Qian Tiandun knocked on the stack of greeting cards on the table and took the initiative to take on this relatively easy task.
"I just took a look. The few businessmen who visited today are all from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They should have brought a lot of good things. It's your turn to enjoy it." Wang Tom said with a smile.
Qian Tiandun said: "Okay, okay, I won't take it all for myself. No matter what good things they pay tribute to, I will keep a share for you."
Of course this was just a joke between the two of them. Although they led troops to fight all year round and did not seem to run any business of their own, in fact they each had a considerable net worth. Moreover, the guests who came to visit them knew that there were two senior generals here, so they would not be stupid enough to prepare only one gift. Naturally, they had to get the best of both worlds.
Qian Tiandun sent Wang Tom away and thought about the contents of Chen Yixin's telegram alone for a while. After a long time, his subordinates came in and reported that the visiting businessman was already waiting outside, so he asked his subordinates to bring them in.
(End of chapter)