At the end of 1631, Sanya Luhuitou Army Base. ↖ Top ↖ Story ↖ ↖,

Tao Donglai, Yan Chujie, Wang Tom, and other high-ranking military officials gathered together in a rare place, and were sitting under a temporary tent set up outdoors to watch the amphibious landing exercise conducted by the army and navy at the Luhuitou training ground. Since the end of the civil war in Annam, the military has not frequently practiced amphibious landing tactics in the past two years, and this kind of large-scale actual combat exercise, in which two battalions and more than 20 combat vessels are involved at one time, is a rare big move in recent times.

Although the military top brass did not announce the purpose of arranging the exercise, veterans who have been in the military for more than three years know that this is a precursor to Haihan's releasing another foreign war. At present, the entire territory of Hainan Island has basically been controlled by the Haihan, and even the Qiongzhong Mountain, which has been closed in the past few years, has chosen to submit to the Executive Committee after being wiped out several Li and Miao tribes who are working against the Haihan. It can be said that it is very difficult for anyone on Hainan Island today to set off a big storm, and there is no need for Haihan to launch another landing operation on this big island, and the possible target will only be outside Hainan Island.

"How is the shipyard renovating the landing ship now?" Tao Donglai asked, putting down the binoculars in his hand.

"Two have already been replaced, two more will be on the slipway this week, and at least four more will be completed in the first quarter of next year. Sun Changmi, who attended as a representative of the shipyard, immediately responded: "However, the steam-powered warship required by the Navy may not have time to complete the construction task in the first half of next year." ”

"Not enough slipways?" Tao Donglai asked.

"It's not just the slipway. Tom Wang took over at this time: "Because a lot of mining equipment on the Shilu side was destroyed in the previous riots, and Tian Du's workshop is still rushing to make up for this piece, the marine steam engine required by our military has been delayed." ”

According to the development plan formulated by the navy, by the end of 1631, the navy should have six "majestic-class" hybrid warships in service. However, due to various reasons, the manufacturing capacity of the ordnance industry department could not meet the needs of the military, and the fourth "Majesty-class" warship had just been put into the list a month earlier, and the fifth ship would not enter the sea trial stage until next month. But the sixth ship is still on the slipway, and it will have to wait for the steam engine manufactured in the Tiando Industrial Zone to be in place before it can continue the next steps, and even if it is done day and night, it will probably have to wait until the second half of next year to be launched.

Although one more and one less may not have a big impact on the direction of the war situation in Fujian, it is naturally impossible for the navy to be satisfied with such a delay. According to the troop deployment plan recently submitted by Tom Wang to the Executive Committee, after completing the operational mission of attacking Penghu next year, the navy will deploy at least one combat fleet with "Majesty-class" warships as flagships at each of the six key nodes of Magong Port in Penghu in Fujian, Zhennan Port in Zhujiangkou in Guangdong, Haikou Port in the Qiongzhou Strait, Shengli Port in the base camp, Tushan Port in the north of Annam, and Jinlan Port in the south, so as to ensure Haihan's sphere of influence in the South China Sea. However, it now seems that this plan is expected to have to make some changes due to the delay in the construction of the "Majesty-class" warships, and it is estimated that some areas will not be able to complete the fleet deployment plan proposed by the Navy until the end of next year.

Of course, the ambitions of Wang Tom and the navy do not stop there, and the direction of "building more ships and building larger ships" advocated by the Ministry of Shipping is almost in line with the navy; although the "majestic class" warships still have certain advantages in the current Far East seas, the navy and shipyards are already planning to build ocean-going combat ships with larger tonnage, stronger firepower, and more advanced steam engine propulsion systems. Of course, as for when construction will begin, it will still have to wait for Tom Wang to get the approval and budget from the Executive Committee.

However, the large warships themselves are not the most urgently needed ships of the navy at present, and the landing ships that will be rebuilt from the second half of this year are one of the most important carriers for the attack on Penghu in the coming year.

In the early years of the landing operation in Annam, the navy had already begun to try to use more professional ships to carry out the landing operation, but at that time, the technical capacity of the Shengli Port shipyard was still relatively limited, so the so-called transformation was also a small fight. And this time, the Victory Port Shipyard has carried out a much more professional transformation of the first batch of "exploration-class" warships that entered service in the early years.

First of all, the gun emplacements on the second deck were removed and converted into manned cabins, so that each ship could carry one more company of troops than before. Secondly, a total of four small boats and corresponding lifting facilities are deployed on the deck, which can quickly lower the small boats in places that are inconvenient to dock near the shore and land by human oars. Then part of the side of the ship is transformed into a turnout structure, and when docked to the shore, this part of the ship can be lowered outward, which can be used as a springboard between the ship and the shore, so that the personnel can land in the shortest possible time, and all kinds of baggage materials in the cabin can be unloaded to the shore relatively easily. In addition, the cabins and other equipment on the ship have been adjusted according to the functional needs of the landing ship, so as to shorten the time required for the landing of personnel and materials on board in the shortest possible time during the landing operation.

On the one hand, the output of artillery fire will be almost completely canceled, and the ship's self-defense ability will be greatly weakened, and on the other hand, the transformation of the ship's side and cabin will definitely have a certain impact on the structural strength of the ship's hull. In order for such a ship to land in combat, it must be protected by other warships with firepower output capabilities. However, the military believed that this kind of transformation according to operational needs was very necessary, so the navy decided on a plan for the transformation of eight ships in one go. The eight ships were fully loaded with the ability to carry a reinforced battalion of personnel along with weapons and supplies for short-term combat at once, which the military believed should be the process needed to establish a solid beachhead.

Of course, as for whether this newly modified landing warship is good or not, and how it should be used in the actual course of the landing war, this needs to be tested by a landing exercise like the one at present. Although only two modified landing ships have been installed in the navy, this is enough for the officers to figure out the basic tactics of warfare.

In addition to the modification of the ships, another focus of attention was the new equipment used by the army units. In the past, when participating in the Annam Civil War, in order to be able to quickly establish bunkers on the beachhead, a large number of multi-functional flatbed trolleys were built at that time, which could not only load and unload supplies, but also connect them in a short time to form a simple line of defense. Nowadays, the structure of this small car has been further strengthened, in addition to covering the bottom of the car with a thin layer of iron sheet to strengthen the defense ability, the body has also been standardized manufacturing, and the fasteners that connect the car together, and the structural parts that support the erection of the small car. In this way, the time required for the sappers to connect the carts to form a line of defense in wartime is even shorter.

In addition, the military has benefited from the beginning of the production of copper ore in the Shiroku mines, and a number of bronze cannons of various calibers have been put into the artillery units. Compared with the iron cannon installed before, the bronze cannon has very obvious advantages, such as good ductility, easy processing, fast heat dissipation, and not easy to explode. In addition, the copper cannon has an incomparable advantage in the field of offshore operations, that is, the ability to resist corrosion is stronger, and it is not easy to rust due to the high salt and humidity environment like the iron cannon.

The cast iron of this period is not competent for high chamber pressure, and the smelting technology of low carbon steel is not so passable, although Haihan can be said to be unique in the world in the reserve of steel smelting technology, but it is not really achieved overnight. Before Haihan's steel production capacity was increased to a certain extent, the use of copper cannons could be said to be the simplest and most effective way to increase the strength of artillery. However, in the previous few years, because Haihan had not stabilized the copper ore resources, the number of copper cannons cast was extremely limited, and most of the militia was equipped with iron cannons. In the year since the Shilu mine was put into operation, Tian Du's ordnance workshop had cast more than 200 copper cannons of various calibers for the Mintuan Army to replace those cast iron cannons that had reached the end of their service life.

"At present, the battalion participating in the exercise has been equipped with bronze cannons, four 12-pounder guns and four 24-pounder guns. Compared with the iron cannon previously equipped, the firing rate is now increased by 30%, and the life of the gun barrel has also increased by at least one-third. Yan Chujie watched the artillerymen unload the guns from the ship to the shore, and at the same time introduced to the colleagues present: "In addition, due to the increase in the strength of the barrel of the artillery, the firing range can be extended by increasing the charge. Now the firing range of artillery of the same caliber has increased by a quarter compared to before, and it can be said that basically no one in the Far East can shoot at the same distance as us, not even the artillery that we sold before. ”

"How much more can be installed in the first quarter tomorrow?" Tao Donglai asked with interest. As an advocate of the traditional artillery bombing doctrine, he, like Yan Chujie, believes in the operational concept of the supremacy of artillery - in front of artillery, there is no invincible opponent that cannot be defeated, and if there is, it must be that the equipment of the artillery is not strong enough.

Yan Chujie responded: "According to Liu Xingli's reply to me, 20 guns per month can be guaranteed in quality and quantity, and at least 60 guns can be delivered to the army in the first quarter of next year." ”

Wang Tom coughed dryly next to him and interjected: "Let me correct it, the sixty guns per month mentioned by Engineer Liu Xingli actually include the part delivered to the navy, not exclusively for the army. According to our previous distribution method, the navy should have received forty percent of the sixty guns, that is, twenty-four. The other 36 cannons are the part that belongs to your army. ”

"No, no, no, you're talking about the arrangement from a few months ago. Yan Chujie immediately retorted: "In next year's landing operation, after all, the army will fight the main force, so this batch of new artillery must be installed in the army first, and the navy can slow down first." ”

"Old Yan, you are really using strong words!" Wang Tom shook his head again and again, and said: "The army is the main force, do you plan to let the soldiers swim from Sanya to Fujian? Don't forget, Eighteen Zhi is a pirate, and they still have thousands of sea ships under their hands, can the army deal with them? If you want to say that you can do it, then I will immediately give way to the army, and your army will do it when you send troops in the future, okay?"

Yan Chujie was not such a good person, and immediately retorted: "Your navy has double-digit artillery on one ship, and I only have a few guns in an artillery company? Sixty guns is enough for our army to equip several battalions, and your navy is only enough to equip a few ships, so of course we should consider the army first, and then the navy!"

"Don't fight!" Tao Donglai hurriedly spoke out to stop the two from continuing to argue. After the separation of the army and navy, competition for limited military spending and resources was unavoidable, and even high-ranking officials such as Yan Chujie and Wang Tom had many such quarrels.

Of course, more often than not, such disputes are just gestures, so that others can understand that the class they represent will not give up their own interests lightly. Just like these dozens of bronze cannons, in fact, it is not the point of which army and navy have more guns, the key is not to give in lightly, otherwise the next time resources are allocated, it will be easy to be ridden by the other party.

In addition to weapons, some new equipment has also begun to be installed in the troops, and it will be unveiled for the first time in this exercise and in next year's battle plan. For example, the brass telescopes produced by the ordnance industry department have been installed in the army to company-level units, while the captain of each ship of the navy's "exploration-class" and above warships has been allotted one. Although the performance of this telescope is far less than that of the industrial products brought by the traversers themselves, it is a very practical tool for improving the combat effectiveness of the militia.

In addition to these standardized equipment, the ordnance department also has some weapons and equipment of the nature of experimental products, and will conduct some field tests in next year's combat missions to test their actual combat performance. However, these equipment are still undisclosed black technology and will not appear in this exercise.

The entire exercise, which lasted two and a half hours from the launch of the attack from the sea to the establishment of the beachhead, was partially carried out with live ammunition. In addition to high-level Haihan personnel, representatives from Annan and Portugal also watched the exercise with shocked expressions on the guest seats. Through this exercise, they discovered that the combat capability of the Haihan militia has been upgraded to a higher level than a few years ago, and if their own army wants to act as a defender to prevent the landing of the Haihan people, the possibility of victory is very small. Under the enemy's sharp long-range fire, the defense force may not end much better than those targets that are shattered.