ps: Two chapters in one, to make up for the missing update yesterday

Holding joint military exercises between the army and the navy is an effective way to test the combat effectiveness of the troops in peacetime. However, the navy is different from the army. Navy warships are dispersedly deployed in the Atlantic, Pacific, South Pacific, Caribbean, Nanyang, Congo River estuary, etc.

, whenever joint military exercises are held, usually only the Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet stationed at both ends of the mainland participate. The other four small squadrons do not have the opportunity to be tested by the exercise.

In order to prepare for a rainy day and prepare in advance to deal with the changes in South America, Li Mingyuan decided to change the naval ship deployment plan and regroup the naval warships that were too scattered.

"Once the war starts, the Caribbean Squadron, the Nanyang Squadron, the South Pacific Squadron, and the Congo Squadron will all face the crisis of being blocked. Among them, the overall strength of the Caribbean Squadron is relatively weak, with only one station covering an area of ​​more than 100 square kilometers.

Torti Island, and the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet across the Caribbean Sea has dozens of ironclad ships of various types. If the U.S. government intends to intervene in the crisis in Paraguay, the Caribbean Squadron will become the first target of the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet.

"

Li Mingyuan stood up, looked at the huge map on the table with a heavy face, and analyzed: "The waters around the Caribbean are all colonized by Western powers such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands, and the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet is stationed in the northern Caribbean. If an outbreak occurs in the Caribbean

In a naval battle, the Caribbean Squadron has no chance of winning."

"Since 1869, Torte Island has been under national rule for nearly twenty years. There are 30,000 Chinese people on Torte Island and the main island of Haiti behind it. Even if the Caribbean Squadron is weak, it will do its best to defend the territory.

Responsibility for peace of mind! Fight with the U.S. Navy to the last ship and the last man!"

In the spacious and simple hall, a young officer wearing a white navy uniform stood up and expressed his position as a navy officer.

"Xu Zhixuan, I have heard about your deeds. You are a young student studying in the Navy class in the United States. You are currently the captain of the fifth ship of the Yongxing class (1350-ton light cruiser) of the Atlantic Fleet. You once organized and participated in protests against the US government's Chinese Exclusion Act.

action.”

"The Americans and foreigners deceived me, a Han man, and I was born into a Han family. I wished I could immediately avenge the country's shame. So I had to put in my passion, study hard for ten years and change my career, join the navy, serve the country, and avenge the country."

The shame of the past!"

Xu Zhixuan stood up straight and spoke loudly.

"The men of the Han family still have courage and enthusiasm, which is a good thing. However, the country is just starting to start a business. Every officer and soldier who is passionate about serving the country is a very precious asset and cannot be sacrificed in vain."

Li Mingyuan waved his hand, motioning for the other party to sit down, and then explained: "Torti Island is located in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. The imperial court is unwilling to abandon it until the last resort, but in the face of the absolute strength gap between China and the United States, it has to evacuate

The Caribbean Squadron temporarily evacuates the people on the island to the main island of Haiti to survive, which is the only reasonable solution under the current situation."

"Your Majesty, do you really want to give up the Haiti Island strategy plan?"

"It is just put on hold temporarily. It is an expedient measure to temporarily return Torti Island to the Haitian warlords. When the situation in the Caribbean becomes clear, the Haiti Island attack plan will be resumed."

Li Mingyuan answered the questions of the navy officers and generals, and continued to arrange: "After the Caribbean Squadron withdraws, the safety of the Chinese people transferred to the main island of Haiti will still be the responsibility of the local militia and some marines stationed there.

As for the Nanyang Squadron, before July next year, all ships will evacuate to the Yizhou Islands via the Pacific route, and then join the South Pacific Squadron in the combat sequence to assist the local Marine Corps and island-based officers and soldiers in defending core islands such as Samoa and Pahiti.

."

Li Mingyuan successively arranged the deployment plans of the South Pacific Squadron, the Caribbean Squadron, and the Nanyang Squadron, and finally gave instructions on the deployment of the Congolese Squadron: "The coastal area of ​​the Congolese colony is narrow, with Portuguese Angola on the left and French Angola on the left and right.

The Congolese colonies are holding hostage, and the space for the local naval squadrons to move is extremely limited. However, in recent years, the Congolese colonies have imported a large amount of precious metals and ores to the mainland. Considering the importance of the Congolese colonies to the mainland, the size of the Congolese naval squadrons remains unchanged. If

The war in the mainland spreads to Africa. The Congolese dispatched squadron should prioritize preserving its strength. It will send all naval officers and warships through the estuary and retreat upstream to the inland basin of the Congo River. Then it will cooperate with the Congolese dispatched force to fight against the invading West step by step.

Colonial Army.”

"The armed forces of the Congolese Expeditionary Force total 10,000 people. His Excellency assures His Majesty that if war breaks out on the mainland, the Congolese colony will never be lost!"

"Your Majesty, rest assured that the Navy is confident in assisting the Army in defending the Congo!"......

"Having confidence is a good thing, but you can't be careless."

The Congo colony is relatively close to the mainland of South America. The large transport ships shipped from Africa to the mainland of South America every year not only increase the government's fiscal revenue, but also bring various urgently needed metal mineral deposits.

The Congo colony is rich in natural resources and is known as the "World's Warehouse of Raw Materials", "The Gem of Central Africa" ​​and the "Geological Miracle".

The country contains a variety of non-ferrous metals, rare metals and non-metallic ores, including considerable reserves of copper, cobalt, industrial diamonds, zinc, manganese, tin, tantalum, germanium, tungsten, cadmium, nickel and chromium, occupying an important position in the world.

. Iron, coal, gold, silver and other reserves are also very rich, as well as platinum, lead, phosphate, silicate, etc. The main mineral reserves are: 75 million tons of copper (accounting for 15% of the world), 4.5 million tons of cobalt (accounting for 15% of the world)

1/2 of the world), 30 million tons of niobium and tantalum (80% of the world), 206 million carats of diamonds (23% of the world), 450,000 tons of tin, 600 tons of gold, 1 billion tons of iron, 31 million tons of lithium, chromium and nickel

22.5 million tons, 7 million tons of manganese, 7 million tons of zinc, and 2 million tons of aluminum. The proven offshore oil reserves are 31.5066 million barrels, the land reserves are 20 million barrels, the offshore natural gas reserves are 20 billion cubic meters, and the land reserves are 10 billion cubic meters.

.In addition, the deep water of Lake Kivu, located at the junction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, contains abundant natural gas resources.

The gold mines, copper mines, diamond mines, iron mines, and aluminum mines that have been explored and developed have supported more than a dozen large-scale local mining companies. With the help of the mineral resources of the Congolese colony, more than a dozen such as Xinjing Mining Company, Royal Mining Consortium, etc.

A state-owned enterprise, it has become a significant large-scale metal mining and smelting company in South America.

In the original history, the mineral resources from the Congolese colony supported dozens of giant international mining companies such as Belgium, Britain, France, etc. But now, the Congolese colony, which is like a virgin land, is under the supervision and command of the Chinese army and armed militia.

It plays a more important role than its original history.

Adhering to the principle of digging three feet into the ground and not letting go of a ton of resources,

The Congolese Expeditionary Forces and the more than 100,000 Chinese people who were resettled there not only strictly followed the mineral resource distribution map provided by Li Mingyuan, prospecting and mining one by one, but also carried out exploration and mining of high-quality anthracite coal with slightly lower economic value but insufficient local reserves.

Non-metallic mineral resources are also very promising.

Ignoring the negligible labor cost of mining and including transfer and ocean transportation costs, the price of high-quality anthracite imported from the Congo colony is 20% higher than the price of high-quality anthracite mined locally in the United States during the same period. It is also higher than the price of high-quality anthracite mined directly from Canada and Australia.

The purchase cost in countries such as Mexico and Venezuela is 30% to 40% lower.

Anthracite is the main raw material for refining crude steel. Although the local coal reserves in Yangzhou and Luozhou are considerable, which is enough to complete the local consumption required for the second industrial revolution, the coal in Yangzhou and Luozhou is mainly sub-bituminous coal, which can be used as

It is used as raw material for smelting pig iron, but cannot be used for smelting crude steel.

Taking into account the surrounding environment faced by the Han State, in April 1883, the Han government announced that the two currently operating anthracite coal mines were allowed to be mined, and the other seven newly discovered anthracite coal mines, including those discovered in the future, were all to be sealed.

Local government and private mining are prohibited. The anthracite required for local steelmaking comes from the Congolese colonies and outsourcing on the one hand, and coke burned by cutting down subtropical forests in the north.

More than 99% of the forests in northern Han Dynasty were undeveloped virgin forests. From 1872 to 1876, the newly migrated Chinese people chose to set fire to the forests in order to open up wasteland, clearing dozens of kilometers of virgin forests at a time.

The forest was burned down and the bare land was reclaimed.

It is true that the Han Dynasty has rich forests, but it would be a pity to waste tens of millions of trees during the process of land reclamation. Therefore, in August 1886, the government issued a decree prohibiting large-scale forest fires and encouraging land reclamation.

People use cut down trees to make coke and then sell the coke to the government.

The people who opened up wasteland were all paupers and owed a debt to the country. Therefore, after learning that refining coal could not only receive financial compensation, but also get the government's promise to reduce or exempt part of the debt, the phenomenon of setting fire to the forest was quickly stopped.

, but the number of people who use industrial methods to cut down forests and then concentrate on refining coke is increasing.

The local experience of using trees as raw materials and simply burning them to obtain coke was spread to the Congolese colony in less than a year. The governor of the Congolese colony did some research and found that the forest coverage rate in Congo exceeded 53%, about 125 million hectares.

It accounts for 47% of the forest area in Africa and 6.5% of the world's forests. However, only 60,000 hectares are currently mined, which has huge mining potential.

Therefore, in order to relieve the worries of the native government, Huang Naishang issued an order to every Tuwang chief in the Congo colony who accepted the management of the Han Dynasty, requiring each tribe to hand over coke of varying weights as a tax substitute based on the number of people.

Under the intentional management of the Han Dynasty, the population of the Congolese colony has been controlled within a reasonable range. The number of indigenous black people is not large, and the pressure for survival is not great. It is not good for the indigenous black people to wander around every day with nothing to do, so give

They find a job of mining mineral resources and burning coke, which can make their lives more fulfilling, right?

Under the Han's good propaganda method, more than a hundred indigenous chiefs and local kings expressed their willingness to accept the governor's order and hand over the prescribed amount of coke on a regular basis every month.

Those tribes that were unruly and did not accept Huang Naishang's kindness, after being taught a lesson, either changed their ways, or were assigned to other tribes by Huang Naishang and integrated into another large indigenous family.

The Congolese colony played an increasingly irreplaceable role in the overall grand strategy of the Han Dynasty. Huang Naishang did an increasingly outstanding job as the governor of the Congo. Considering two reasons,

Li Mingyuan decided to increase his support for the Congolese colony.

"More than ten years ago, the Western powers did not discover the huge economic interests hidden in the Congolese colony, so we were able to defeat the small country of Belgium and gain control of the Congolese colony. But now, batches of transport ships rushing to the mainland every year cannot hide it from the Western countries.

In order to guard against the prying eyes of Western powers, especially the French Congolese colonial army and the Portuguese Angola colonial army near the Congolese colony, it is necessary to strengthen the local strength in the Congolese colony."

Li Mingyuan pointed his pointer at the location of the Congolese colony on the map and ordered: "Intensify the construction of the fortress defense projects in the Congolese colony. There are five core strongholds in Cabinda, Kinshasa, Sankigani Ilebo, and Kananga.

The defensive fortress system must be expanded, with five fortresses as the main body and the tributaries of the Congo River as links, connecting the entire Congo colony into a whole. Each fortress group deploys troops and militia armed forces ranging from two to five thousand people to fight

At that time, the small ironclad ships, gunboats and gunboats that retreated into the inland basin of the Congo River were used as tentacles to rely on and cooperate with each other to firmly grasp the control of various regions."

"Yes, Your Majesty, Your Majesty promises to complete the fortress expansion project in the Congo colony within one year."

Huang Naishang, who had rushed back from Africa and had a tanned face, stood up and expressed his stance.

“The 10,000-strong armed force of the Congolese colony is not enough to deal with all future threats. Therefore, before July next year, the central government will deploy two large-scale infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, an engineer battalion, and an independent infantry regiment from the mainland.

A heavy machine gun battalion, a field logistics hospital, with a total of more than 10,000 people supporting the Congolese colony,

By then, two foreign infantry battalions, four field infantry battalions, Gatling hand machine gun companies and other regular army units under the Congolese Governor-General will be mixed with local support troops to form the Congolese Legion, with a strength of 14,000 people.

In addition, men of appropriate age were recruited from the Chinese people in Congo to form two Congolese security brigades with a strength of 4,500 people and four militia groups with a strength of 2,000 men, named respectively the 1st and 2nd Congolese Guard Brigades and the 2nd Congolese Guard Brigade.

The first, second, third and fourth militia regiments.

The Congolese Legion, the Garrison Brigade, and the Militia Group have been formed, and the Congolese colony has more than 30,000 armed forces of various types. It should be safe from the attacks of the colonial armies of France, Portugal and other Western powers."

"The weapons and equipment for 30,000 people is not a small amount. I am worried that before the war breaks out, it will be difficult for the Congolese Expeditionary Forces to equip every soldier with weapons and ammunition according to the scheduled schedule."

"Don't worry about weapons. The local field army is about to expand. The number of Hanhua 1875 rifles that have been phased out is nearly 100,000. Excluding the 60,000 used by the local security forces and militia, they were sold to Songkhla and Lanfang.

15,000, and the remaining 24,000 rifles, accompanying ammunition and 40 Gatling hand-cranked machine guns were all allocated to the Congolese colony.

The total strength of the Congolese colony is 30,000. The Congolese Legion is a regular army. Like the local regular army, it is equipped with Jianye 6-year-old smokeless rifles. The remaining 16,000 soldiers are equipped with a maximum of 13,000 Hanhua 1875-style rifles.

There are 11,000 rifles reserved as reserve weapons for subsequent troop expansion and weapon consumption replenishment."

"Your Majesty, the Congolese colony only has three old-fashioned ammunition production lines. Your Majesty requests the local side to support several more rifle and artillery shell production lines to supplement the army's combat consumption."

"The locals have successively established primary smelters, textile factories, and gun repair shops in Congo, and they don't care about adding a few more ammunition production lines."

The rapid development of the Congolese colony also benefited from the continuous investment of local people. Batteries of practical machinery and equipment were transported to the Congolese colony. Then, under the guidance of Chinese technicians, various necessary industrial products were produced from factories one by one.
To be continued...