Chapter 2261
If you want to examine the strength of the North Korean naval fleet based on Haihan's standards, it will probably be difficult to meet the passing standard. He Xi had read the evaluations made by some naval generals in the Military Intelligence Bureau's files and believed that its strength was not even as good as the armed fleet under Shiba Zhi ten years ago.
It is obviously difficult to build a Haihan-style armed fleet on such a basis. From sailors to commanders, from warships to military ports, everything has to be prepared from scratch. It's easy to say, after all, it's hard to find three-legged toads, but there are plenty of two-legged people. Just spend more time selecting capable personnel from the previous naval forces. If there are not enough, you can transfer people from other units to make up. .
However, the huge costs required to build a new fleet have left North Korea stretched. A basic warship ordered from Haihan costs tens of thousands of taels of silver. With all the weapons and equipment on board, as well as necessary spare parts, the price will almost double. According to the establishment of the Haihan Army, only eight warships can be organized into a team. Building a special military port will definitely not be possible without two to three hundred thousand taels of silver.
Of course, this part is only the cost of equipment. Once the personnel and equipment are in place, combat training must begin, and the related costs are by no means a small amount. Coupled with the daily operation and ship maintenance costs of the fleet, even if it is not sent out to fight, maintaining such a fleet will cost about one hundred thousand taels of silver a year. Before the fleet can form combat effectiveness, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver must be invested.
The normal income of the North Korean treasury is only a few hundred thousand taels of silver a year. In the face of wars like last year, the fiscal income is even further reduced. Now that the national treasury has been completely drained, how can it still afford such a large expenditure?
If you take into account the speed with which Haihan completes foreign warship purchase orders, even if North Korea provides sufficient money, it is basically impossible to complete the construction and delivery of eight warships within one year. Therefore, even if the budget is sufficient, it will take at least two years for North Korea to have a fully equipped armed fleet. As for forming combat effectiveness, it will definitely take longer.
For the Koreans, the top priority in the military field is to defend the Yalu River natural moat and prevent the Qing army from having the opportunity to invade south again. The armed fleet that is too slow to form an army is obviously not suitable for this strategic goal. Therefore, the army with a faster and more obvious improvement in combat power has become North Korea's preferred development target at this time.
Buy some guns from Haihan and train for three to five months, and you can build a deterrent line of defense on the border. When the officers sent to Sanya for training return home, they can begin to practice more advanced tactics.
With limited resources, North Korean officials have no choice but to prioritize expanding their army's strength. Almost all of the officers sent to Sanya for training were from the army. However, many of the subjects that Andao Shi and others trained in Sanya were in the category of maritime warfare. Naval warfare was a relatively unfamiliar field to them, so naturally they did not perform well.
The students of Xu Jiajun and Annan Army have an innate advantage. They had a general understanding of Haihan's training content before coming to Sanya for training, so they also received some basic training in advance. Even if you are not from the Navy, you have already been on a ship for a period of time and have basic navigation skills. Naturally, your adaptability during training is much better than that of the North Koreans.
Therefore, North Korean students will definitely have no chance to compete in the naval combat event in this competition. In the end, it will most likely be a competition between Xu Jiajun and Annan's army.
Because Zheng Zha failed to achieve his goal, the atmosphere of the meal became dull. In addition, he had to attend the game tomorrow, so it ended hastily.
He Xi did not go home directly, but returned to Fort Victory first. He knew that there would be a large-scale event tomorrow, and Tao Donglai and others were probably still at Fort Victory arranging tasks to ensure that the event could be held smoothly.
Sure enough, when He Xi arrived at Fort Victory, he saw that Tao Donglai and others were still discussing tomorrow's work arrangements in the executive committee meeting room.
"Excuse me, everyone, I have a situation here that I want to report to the Executive Committee." After He Xi walked into the conference room, he raised his voice to stop everyone's discussion.
After everyone stopped talking, He Xi told everyone about the meeting he had just met with Zheng Zha and Xu Yuxing, especially the bold suggestions Zheng Zha made to Haihan and Xu Jiajun, which He Xi relayed word for word.
"The Annan people are so ambitious!" Tao Donglai couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "It's only been a while since they asked us for military assistance, and they have already begun to make plans for the Ming Dynasty. It seems that in a few years , they might risk it all and go it alone!”
Yan Chujie said: "Zheng Zha came to Lao He first instead of me, which means that he is not fully confident about this matter, so he can only find Lao He to find out."
He Xi nodded and said: "I think so too. In order to prevent him from nagging you again, I have already declined for you. So if you see Zheng Zha's face not looking good tomorrow, you don't have to think about the reason. ”
"What did Xu Yuxing say?" Tao Donglai had to worry not only about the ambitions of the Annan people, but also about the Fujian side.
He Xi responded: "Xu Yuxing also rejected Zheng Zha's proposal on the spot. To be honest, even if the Xu family has the ambition to establish its own business, occupying Guangdong is indeed not a good choice. Zheng Zha treats the Xu family, Fujian, and the Ming Dynasty. He didn’t understand the situation well enough, otherwise he should have made other suggestions that were more suitable for the Xu family.”
If Xu Xinsu wants to separate himself and rule as king, the first area he must control is of course not Guangdong, but the eight prefectures and one state under the jurisdiction of Fujian to stabilize his basic base. If we expand our sphere of influence outwards on this basis, the first choice will definitely be the more prosperous Jiangxi or Zhejiang, not Guangdong in the south. Zheng Zha used the eastern Guangdong region as a condition to lure the Xu family to participate, which was obviously not very attractive to the Xu family.
"Xu Yuxing is very shrewd. It's not easy for Zheng Zha to drag him into trouble." Yan Chujie has been dealing with Xu Yuxing a lot in recent times, so he sees this clearly.
Tao Donglai said: "In order to avoid Annan's misjudgment of our country's attitude, I think it is necessary to find a suitable time to reiterate our country's position to Zheng Zha."
"Let's wait until the martial arts competition is over. It's better not to talk to him for the next two days, lest extraneous matters affect the current business." Yan Chujie reminded.
Speaking of business, Tao Donglai also wanted to ask about the preparations of the security department: "Lao He, are you ready for the security work here?"
He Xi responded with a smile: "Our Security Department is only responsible for peripheral chores. The Ministry of National Defense is responsible for the security of this military base. If something happens, I can only let Lao Yan take the blame. It has nothing to do with me." Because many distinguished guests were invited to attend this event, security standards were basically implemented at the highest level, with the police, military, and intelligence agencies all involved. However, because the competition venue is in a military base, the military is responsible for an important part of the security work. The police and intelligence departments only do some auxiliary work outside the base.
Of course, if there is a hard-headed guy who insists on breaking into a place where military elites from various countries gather to cause trouble, the consequences may be tragic. So He Xi was not nervous about tomorrow's task, and even had time to chat with everyone.
August 30th, cloudy and overcast.
For most people living in Sanya, today is no different from other days of the year. Work is done when it is time to go to work, and work is done when it is time to go to the fields.
Of course, there are still some idle people who remember that today is the day of the martial arts contest that was heavily promoted by the government some time ago. However, ordinary people who want to join in the fun cannot do so because the martial arts contest is scheduled to be held at the army base on the Luhuitou Peninsula and is not for ordinary people. It is open to the public, and only a few officially invited guests can have the opportunity to observe the competition between soldiers from various countries on the school field.
Zhang Jinbao got up very early, had breakfast, packed up, let the students do their own activities in the city today, and generously distributed activity funds to them. There was only his name on the official invitation letter. Civilians were not allowed to bring their entourage into the base, so he could only go alone, unable to take the students to see the world.
Zhang Jinbao left the inn and hailed a rickshaw near Victory Square. The entrance to the army base is near the Sanya Port Railway Station. It is undoubtedly very convenient and relatively cheap to take the train there. But Zhang Jinbao was worried that taking the train would stain him with soot, so he simply took a rickshaw there. It's more expensive, but there should be less smoke and dust along the way.
After walking through the streets and alleys, we arrived at Luhuitou Base successfully. The driver said that this military base did not allow rickshaws to enter, so Zhang Jinbao got out of the car and paid the fare, and then began to look at the appearance of this military base. He had actually passed by this area several times when he came to Sanya before, but he had never observed this military base up close, let alone entered it. Being invited here this time was a novel experience for him.
Outside the base is a rather spectacular stone gate, more than two feet high and at least four to five feet wide. The stone beam hanging in the air is three feet thick and may weigh more than 10,000 kilograms. The stone beams are engraved with the characters "Luhuitou Base".
Zhang Jinbao couldn't figure out how such a thick stone beam was transported and how it was constructed. But apart from this eye-catching gate, there were no high walls or sentry towers as Zhang Jinbao imagined. There is only one guard post next to the gate. Behind the stone arch is a gentle slope, which completely blocks the true appearance of the military base. After passing this arch, you have to climb over this not-so-high hill before entering the military base.
Behind the stone arch is a straight road with a width of five feet, which can be used for carriages and horses. When Zhang Jinbao saw a carriage going in along this road, he immediately regretted that he had not called a carriage earlier, otherwise he should have been able to take the carriage in at this time. Nowadays, it is a bit unpretentious to go in on foot.
But now that they were here, Zhang Jinbao didn't want to waste any more time creating a little pomp, so he straightened his clothes and walked over leisurely.
As they got closer, they saw a sign outside the guard post, which stated that guests watching the competition can enter here, and please take the initiative to show the invitation letter and so on. There were several Haihan soldiers standing behind the sign. One of them, dressed as an officer, was holding a book and a pen in his hand. It seemed that he needed to register before entering.
Zhang Jinbao quickly took out his invitation letter, handed it over with both hands, and introduced himself: "I am Zhang Jinbao of Qiongxi Academy. I was invited to participate in the event."
The officer checked that the invitation letter was correct and asked him to sign on the roster. Then he asked him to go in by himself and go straight to the school grounds along the avenue.
This identity verification procedure is so simple, but it is somewhat different from the military powerhouse in Zhang Jinbao's impression, but he then thought about it. The Haihan Army is invincible in the world, so how can any person who is not discerning dare to sneak in here? Immediately, he thanked the officer for his advice, put away the invitation, and slowly climbed up the road along the road.
The top of the slope is actually as high as the beams of the Shimen, but once you reach the top of the slope, you can have a panoramic view of the military base to the south.
The spacious school grounds, neatly arranged military camps, and the horizontal and vertical roads in the camps were the first sights that caught Zhang Jinbao's eyes.
Luhuitou Peninsula is about two miles wide and seven or eight miles long. At the southern end of the island are high mountains rising from the sea, with a lighthouse on the top of the mountain. When the weather is good, you can see the lighthouse dozens of miles away at sea.
There is an area at the southern end of the peninsula that used to be a temporary settlement for new immigrants. It is separated from the city by a military base, which ensures that these new immigrants will not sneak away. However, in the past two years, the civil affairs department has made adjustments to its past immigration strategy. Now basically only people who were sold to Haihan by slave traders will be resettled here. Because these people pose certain safety risks, after preliminary screening, they will be assigned to other places. They are usually shipped away by ship, and rarely they are resettled in the Sanya area.
Most of the flat areas on the peninsula have been assigned to the army. In addition to the army battalion stationed here all year round, the Army Academy of the Haihan Army is also located here.
In addition to the school grounds found in military camps, this military base also has a war horse pasture, an army-specific shooting range, simulated city defense, urban street fighting, mountain jungle and amphibious landing training grounds. All kinds of training facilities are very complete. It is no exaggeration to say that the environment required to train eighteen kinds of martial arts is available here. This is one of the reasons why countries are willing to spend money to send their elites to Sanya for training.
Zhang Jinbao didn't understand the situation here, and no one introduced it to him at the moment, but after standing on the top of the slope and looking at it for a while, he could feel the hugeness of this military base.
Seeing this situation, Zhang Jinbao had the urge to recite a poem, but he was really limited in education. He couldn't even write out the first sentence after holding it in for a long time, so he had to secretly sigh in his heart, "It's so damn spectacular." Then continue to move forward.
(End of chapter)