Chapter 3575
Although several of the measures proposed by Schneider are of an emergency nature, they also require a certain amount of time to be implemented and are difficult to achieve immediate results. Although Yan Chujie and others were not satisfied, they really could not come up with a better solution.
Then Shi Diwen, who made a special trip back from Japan to attend the meeting, reported to everyone the current situation of the Japanese Civil War.
The battle between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Kyushu feudal lords still revolved around the control of the Kanmon Strait. However, the struggle between the two sides was no longer limited to this area. Instead, they began to shift from land battles to sea battles, using armed forces. Ships constantly raided each other's rear ports and towns.
Since the strength of the Kyushu Allied Forces was far inferior to that of the Shogunate Army, they could only concentrate their combat troops on the battlefield in Northern Kyushu and did not dare to divide their troops to garrison in various places. This left a lot of opportunities for the Shogunate Army to continuously launch raids and harassment wars across Kyushu.
The Kyushu vassals also quickly found a way to deal with it. Later, the Tsushima vassal took the lead in introducing external forces and allowed the Korean army to station in Asu Bay on Tsushima Island in the form of mercenaries to help them prevent the invasion of the shogunate army.
This special method quickly demonstrated its effectiveness and successfully repelled the invading shogunate army. Seeing that Tsushima had tasted the benefits, other companies also began to follow this approach, reaching agreements with North Korea one after another, and hired North Korean troops to station themselves on their territory.
This matter was originally facilitated by Haihan, who invisibly became North Korea's guarantor. Therefore, several big names in Kyushu dared to hand over part of the defense tasks at their doorsteps to the North Koreans with confidence. Although the cost of this move is high, it is better than being raided by the shogunate army.
"The strength of the Korean army should be higher than that of the Kyushu Allied Forces, right?"
Hearing someone ask a question, Shi Diwen nodded and replied: "Nearly all the troops North Korea sent to Kyushu as mercenaries were the new army that was reorganized after Li Xie ascended the throne. Not only did they install a large number of weapons and equipment provided by our country, they also Even the organization and tactics are inherited from our country.”
"In addition, their senior officers at the battalion level or above basically have experience of further training in our country. Many of them have participated in military operations organized by us as military observers many times. In terms of tactical literacy and combat experience , are probably much better than those Japanese military officers who were transferred from samurai positions.”
What Shi Diwen said is indeed true. After many years of management, North Korea's military strength is already superior to Japan's, and Li Zhi has long planned to take revenge. This time, they seized the opportunity to send troops to station in Japan. Of course, Li Xie and several of his generals also had the idea of taking this opportunity to make a big fuss.
Shi Diwen continued: "I talked to Li Xie before, and his meaning was very clear. The troops sent to Japan will not withdraw from the country after the war. Regardless of whether the final winner is the Tokugawa Shogunate or the The Kyushu Allied Forces and North Korea will all enclose a piece of land in Japan as a reward for sending troops.”
"If Kyushu wins, North Korea will ask for the removal of a large area of Honshu island north of Osaka and west to the Kanmon Strait. If the shogunate wins...then the Koreans may not withdraw their troops from Kyushu. This is a big deal. A good excuse for them to start an all-out war with the shogunate.”
Tao Donglai said: "Li Zhi made a good calculation! When the civil war in Japan is over, both warring parties will have almost enough fighting forces. When the time comes, North Korea will step in to clean up the mess. As long as we don't intervene, no one can stop it. Gotta get them.”
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Old Tao is right, so the North Koreans' position is different from ours. We hope that this civil war will continue for a long time, and they will hope that the process of this war will speed up. Both sides After the armed forces at hand are exhausted in a few moments, the North Korean army can come out and pick them up.”
Tao Donglai pondered: "Then if the Japanese civil war continues for a long time according to our intention, will the Koreans actively seek to join the war because they are impatient to wait?" Shi Diwen said: "It depends on our attitude. . After all, even if the Koreans join the war, their armaments will be provided by our country just like the Kyushu Allied Forces and the Shogunate Army. They will not act rashly if this problem cannot be solved."
Bai Kesi coughed dryly and said: "I would like to remind everyone that the arms production capacity we use for export may not be able to meet the needs of the three war parties at the same time."
Schneider said: "Maybe we can sign a sales contract first and collect the money?"
Baikes said: "It is not difficult to sign a contract and collect money. As long as we are willing to sell, there will never be a shortage of buyers for arms. But the problem is that the sale must be delivered after all, and our production capacity has reached the upper limit. It is difficult to predict a reasonable delivery." It’s time.”
For Bai Kesi and the domestic military industry, the current market conditions during this period are sweet troubles. The large number of orders that have poured in from all directions in the past two years has already reached the upper limit of Haihan's military production capacity. Even if this year's Zhoushan Forum began to introduce some private manufacturing industries to share the pressure on the military industry, it has not yet completely solved the problem of explosions in major arsenals and shipyards. Single question.
Even if it was decided to expand military production capacity, it would not be something that would be effective in a short period of time. Baikes had to remind everyone to avoid misjudgments when formulating foreign strategies.
What the Executive Committee can do at the moment is to provide some care in terms of industrial policy and increase related investment.
After the meeting, Shi Diwen took a carriage back to his residence. As soon as he got off the carriage, he heard that Shi Chengwu had arrived home, so he asked his servants to summon him to the study for a meeting.
Shi Chengwu came to the study not long after, and respectfully greeted Shi Diwen before giving a rough outline of his itinerary.
Shi Chengwu rushed back from Nanjing after receiving Shi Diwen's notice. The straight-line distance between the two places is about five hundred miles, but the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas are densely covered with water systems, so traveling by boat is much faster than traveling by car or horse.
He started from Nanjing, took a boat to Zhenjiang, then entered the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and traveled from Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Jiaxing to Hangzhou. It seemed that the journey took a longer detour, but it took two days faster than traveling by car.
Although Shi Diwen did not explain in the telegram the reason for calling him back to Hangzhou for a meeting, Shi Chengwu had already guessed something: "My father specially called me back. Will I have to go abroad in the near future?"
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "The war situation in Japan has now added North Korea. It's not enough for your brother to just keep an eye on it. I'll finish the matter when I come back, and I have to go over and keep an eye on it for a while. If I don’t take this opportunity to meet you, the next meeting will probably have to wait until several months later.”
"Tell me, father, what have you gained from working as a local official in Nanjing for a year?"
(End of chapter)