ps: Since the novel was put on the shelves for more than two years, this week is the first time to test the recommendation position. I hope everyone will vote for it! Thank you very much! (Two chapters in one)
The scope of diplomatic and political confrontations between Britain and the United States was limited to the northern frontier of South America, and did not have much impact on the mainland of South America.
On January 23, the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Han Dynasty entered the last few days of the year-end holiday. Companies, government agencies, and the military all over the country were taking advantage of the last few days of the end of the year to wrap up the year.
In Huaiyin Mansion (Rosario), Weizhou, where the Second Regiment of the Sixth Division of the Han National Defense Force is stationed, Lu Rongting, who has been promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander of the Second Regiment of the Sixth Division, is sitting on a chair near the training ground of the camp, taking off his hands alternately
The cowhide military boots stained with dust and sand were knocked hard on the ground a few times. After pouring out the sand and soil, he put on the military boots skillfully, tied them up and carried them. Then he took the newspaper sent by the guard, holding tea in one hand and holding a cup in the other.
newspaper, enjoying the rare leisure time between training.
Fuxing Daily and Youth Military Daily are government-organized newspapers. Military officers above the army school level have a free newspaper provided by the Army Department every day to help young officers understand national military and political affairs and expand their knowledge horizons.
On the headline of the main page of the new issue of "Fazhao Bao", preparation for a constitutional monarchy is still the hottest topic recently. The educational circles, intellectual circles and ordinary people are all concerned about Li Mingyuan's initiative to reform the political system and prepare for a constitutional monarchy.
Showing a one-sided supportive attitude.
"By broadening the people's wisdom and giving them the right to participate in and discuss government affairs, the constitutional monarchy of the Han Dynasty is actually the first benevolent government in China for five thousand years. Your Majesty's achievements should be better than those of the sages and sages of ancient times."
"Soldiers, officials, teachers, farmers, and workers all have equal political rights. The reform of the political system of our country, the Han Dynasty, should be a model for the political system of the civilized world and the cornerstone of the empire's eternal foundation."......
The implementation of a constitutional monarchy means the transformation of the country from human rule to legal rule, the improvement of the national political status, and the guarantee of the national economy, personal security and other fields.
Under a constitutional monarchy, the power of the monarch is restricted to a certain extent, and the safety of officials and ordinary people is guaranteed by law. In the past feudal society, the emperor's decision on the fate of people will no longer happen.
Li Mingyuan is an eternal wise king and a holy king in the eyes of all the people of the Han Kingdom in South America. However, no one can guarantee that the successor ruler of the empire will be as wise and loving as Li Mingyuan. However, after the implementation of the constitutional monarchy system, it will be different.
Even if the talents of future generations of monarchs are slightly insufficient, under the protection of the national system, as long as the monarch controls the core military power, the power to appoint the prime minister, the power to supervise the government and other rights, the country will not go astray due to the monarch's mistakes, and the people will feel that
The sense of mission and security as a national subject.
The new type of intellectuals and officials who received education abroad understand the benefits of the constitutional monarchy. However, ordinary people and immigrants who lack knowledge and literacy, after hearing the explanations from local officials, even if they still have a little understanding, think that the constitutional monarchy is another item implemented by the emperor.
Benevolent government, habitually raising hands to support.
Like most young officers, Lu Rongting paid some attention to politics, but his main interest was still in the military field.
Put down "Fazhao" and pick up "Youth Military News", the army and navy's official newspaper,
"The Kingdom of Han and the Kingdom of Hawaii established diplomatic relations at the ministerial level, and Major Kuang Yongzhong, a young officer of the Imperial Navy, went to Hawaii to take up the post of military attache!"
Two lines of black headlines appeared prominently in the headline area of the newspaper. Lu Rongting read along the headlines and gradually understood the cause and effect of the matter.
Because traders from Western countries poured into the Hawaiian Islands, they brought cholera, mumps, influenza, smallpox, measles and other infectious diseases that claimed the lives of about four-fifths of the indigenous people.
In 1778, when the first Western navigator Captain James Cook landed in Hawaii, there were more than 300,000 native Hawaiians on the island. By 1876, there were only more than 60,000 native Hawaiians left on the island.
The massive death of the population caused a serious labor shortage. In order to solve this problem, Hawaii began to import labor from overseas to work on the plantations. The Chinese (1852) and Japanese (1868) came to the island successively.
,, Portuguese (1878), Americans and other countries immigrated.
The introduction of migrant workers, especially Chinese and Japanese workers, changed the population structure of the Hawaiian Islands. By the beginning of 1889, the total number of Chinese in Hawaii, including Chineseized indigenous women and the descendants of Chinese and indigenous women, reached 120,000.
Surpassing the local indigenous people, it has become the largest population race in the area. (The native Hawaiians are of the Polynesian race, which is a transitional race between the yellow race and the white race. Dwayne Johnson is a Polynesian.)
After the Chinese, the second largest population group in Hawaii is the local indigenous people, with a population of approximately 50,000, and the third largest population ethnic group is the Japanese, with a population of approximately 30,000.
The Chinese and Japanese are the main foreign ethnic groups in Hawaii, accounting for three-quarters of the total population of Hawaii. After the Chinese and Japanese, the Americans, the third largest foreign population group, have only more than 2,000 missionaries.
, businessmen, ordinary immigrants, the population is far lower than that of Chinese and Japanese.
Although the Americans were at a disadvantage in terms of the number of immigrants, they took advantage of being the first to enter the Hawaiian Islands and forced the King of Hawaii to sign an unequal treaty, which gave the U.S. government the power to establish a military port in Hawaii and station a small number of Marines.
The Pearl Harbor port of Oahu, the main island of Hawaii, has a troop of about 100 Marines deployed all year round, as well as a supply station that can provide food, fruits and other basic supplies. The barracks station established in Pearl Harbor is a U.S. government
The core pillar of exerting political pressure on the Kingdom of Hawaii was that in the previous few years, with the support of the military port, the U.S. Embassy in the Kingdom of Hawaii suppressed the Han and Japanese governments and gained major control over Hawaii.
However, the situation in which the United States dominated the Kingdom of Hawaii changed due to the confrontation between Britain and the United States. In order to share the diplomatic pressure and combat the expansion of the United States in the northern region of South America, the British government made it clear for the first time that it supported Han Dynasty in the South Pacific.
Therefore, after receiving diplomatic support from the United Kingdom, the Han government was able to bypass the U.S. Embassy in the Kingdom of Hawaii and sign a formal proposal agreement with the Kingdom of Hawaii. The two parties established diplomatic relations at the ministerial level, and the Kingdom of Hawaii gave Han and the United States equal rights.
For political treatment, a piece of land with an area of about 480 acres was set aside near the Pearl Harbor port of Oahu to serve as a material supply port for the Han Dynasty's South Pacific Squadron and a Marine Corps camp.
Hawaii stationed the Han Marine Corps near the American camp, which was not intended to check and balance each other.
However, the South American Han Kingdom lacked strength in the South Pacific. The core mission of stationing in the Hawaiian Islands was to curb the United States' annexation of Hawaii, so it did not care about the Hawaiian government's careful thoughts.
Taking the opportunity to celebrate the establishment of diplomatic relations between Han and the Kingdom of Hawaii, the local government announced the dispatch of a 2,500-ton cruiser, a 1,350-ton light cruiser, and a fleet of three auxiliary ships, accompanied by Han Minister Zhong Juncheng (born as a child in the United States,
During my stay in the United States, I mainly studied the field of diplomacy.)
A diplomatic team of more than 150 people, including the Han military attaché to the Kingdom of Hawaii, Lieutenant Commander Kue Yongzhong, three platoons of Marines, and embassy assistants, paid a diplomatic visit to the Kingdom of Hawaii.
During the state visit, the Han fleet will stay in Hawaii for three months. After completing the state visit and the mission of condolences to the Chinese compatriots in Hawaii, the fleet will rush to Samoa, the capital of the Yizhou Islands, where it will officially join the battle order of the South Pacific Squadron.
.
After reading the news that the Navy was about to send a fleet to Hawaii for a visit, Lu Rongting felt a long-lost restlessness in his heart.
After the end of the Argentine War, the naval fleet successively received new ironclad ships. The newly recruited local naval officer school graduates and key officers who returned from overseas were able to frequently go to sea for training and were active in the South Pacific-Southern Ocean route and the Atlantic-Africa route through strikes.
pirates to increase their combat experience, while the various combat units of the local army, except for the troops stationed in the northern border area, can conduct low-intensity field operations in occasional border military conflicts, other units can only cooperate with each other.
, use simulation exercises to keep combat skills from deteriorating.
After all, simulation exercises and field operations are not the same thing. They have not participated in field operations in the past ten years. Not only are the veterans not used to it, but even Lu Rongting, the military chief, also feels a little uncomfortable.
Lu Rongting was born in 1859. In early 1879, when the Argentine War broke out, he was only a 20-year-old junior officer. Now, ten years later, in the blink of an eye, his military rank has been promoted step by step from captain to lieutenant colonel, and his position has also crossed the battalion level.
After reaching the level of senior officer, he was successfully promoted to the chief officer of a regiment, completing the identity transformation from a junior officer to a mid-level and senior officer.
The army expansion plan has begun. According to the army expansion progress promulgated by the Ministry of War, before July 1889, the Sixth Division of the National Defense Force will be the first batch of army expansion units to complete the expansion and re-equipment of the first-class division. By then, his second division will
The group will also be expanded from a standard group of 2,200 people to a large group of 3,000 people.
"In July next year, the second regiment's expansion operation will be completed, and the military rank may be promoted from colonel to colonel."
Lu Rongting took a sip of tea, stared at the military rank epaulettes on his shoulders, and said to himself.
In peacetime, officer promotions were slow, with military ranks being promoted by two ranks within 10 years. This was a normal phenomenon in the Han National Defense Force. However, compared with the ten years before the founding of the People's Republic of China, generals such as Luo Linshan, Zhao Yongzeng, and Wang Dashan were not only young but also physically fit.
Occupying a high position, and because of the merits of Conglong, everyone has the honor of a hereditary noble title.
The hereditary nobles of the Han State are both a symbol of honor and a symbol of status. Twenty-one years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the total number of hereditary nobles in the Han State was only more than fifty, and the number of non-hereditary nobles was more than forty.
The conferment ceremony at the end of 1879 was the largest hereditary title conferment ceremony in the history of the Han Dynasty. After that, four people including Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe were awarded the title for their great achievements in different fields.
However, during this period, two hereditary nobles were deprived of their hereditary noble status due to violations of discipline, law, corruption in life and other reasons.
Hereditary noble status has great appeal to every young soldier, and Lu Rongting is certainly no exception.
At the age of thirty, there were already seven children in the family. The oldest child was eight years old and was already in the second grade of junior high school. The children's gradual growth put a pressure on Lu Rongting, who regarded himself as young. His military career was also
In just a few decades, I missed the ten years before the Argentine War. In the ten years after 1889, we must seize the opportunity, make contributions, and serve the country by becoming a marquis!
A strong sense of professionalism has motivated Lu Rongting to continue training in the army for ten years. He drank the remaining tea in one gulp. After a short break, Lu Rongting stood up and planned to continue to devote himself to the intense and fulfilling training to prepare for the next few years.
, be fully prepared for the possible coming war.
"Battle Commander Shi, Commander Zhang, how is the training of the troops today?"
Lu Rongting put on a simple pacification military cap, came to the soldier training center, and asked two young officers who were only in their mid-twenties.
"The training of the brothers is pretty good. They have excellent results in tactical drills such as infantry and artillery coordination tactics, skirmishing offensive tactics, mine clearance tactics, and heavy machine gun defense. They are considered to be outstanding among the main regiments of the National Defense Force.
It's just that each battalion only has one Jianye 6-year-old heavy machine gun. There are three battalions in a regiment, plus a machine gun platoon directly under the regiment headquarters. There are only seven heavy machine guns in total, compared with the more than ten Gatling hand-cranked guns in the previous regiment.
Compared with the number of machine guns, the number has been reduced by more than half. The grassroots officers below have some opinions that the number of heavy machine guns is too few. The company and platoon-level units below do not have heavy fire support, and their combat effectiveness will be severely restricted."
There are three infantry battalions under the Second Regiment. Among them, the commander of the first battalion, Shi Jintang, and the commander of the third battalion, Zhang Yougong, both have overseas study backgrounds. Compared with the commander of the second battalion, who grew up from the local grassroots army, the two of them pay more attention to grassroots infantry units.
heavy fire support.
"How does the firing rate and bullet range of the Jianye Type 6 heavy machine gun compare with the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun?"
"The Jianye Six-year-old heavy machine gun has an effective horizontal range of 1,000 meters and a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. When loaded with ordinary ammunition, it still has a certain lethality within a distance of 2,700 meters.
The Gatling hand-cranked machine gun has an effective range of 800 meters and a rate of fire of 170 rounds per minute."
Shi Jintang, commander of the First Battalion, replied.
"Yes, the effective range of the Jianye Type 6 heavy machine gun exceeds that of the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun, its rate of fire is more than three times that of the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun, and its lethality is more than five times higher than that of the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun."
Lu Rongting summarized the performance comparison between the Jianye Type 6 heavy machine gun and the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun, and then explained: "The Jianye Type 6 heavy machine gun has better firepower and is more adaptable to the front line than the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun.
The combat effectiveness of the troops is also the reason why the local army eliminated Gatling hand-cranked machine guns and replaced them with heavy machine guns. However, compared with the improvement of weapon performance, the manufacturing cost and ammunition consumption cost of the Jianye Six-year-old heavy machine gun far exceeded the cost of adding heavy machine guns.
Tlin hand-cranked machine gun.”
Lu Rongting found a chair and sat down, and continued: "In Europe, a Maxim heavy machine gun costs 300 pounds, and the matching bullets cost 30 pounds.
The locally produced Jianye Six-year-old heavy machine gun costs 1,400 Chinese yuan, which is equivalent to 200 pounds at the British exchange rate, and the supporting ammunition costs 25 pounds. Although the cost is cheaper than outsourcing, it has to reach the level of a Gatling hand-cranked machine gun.
The equipment rate is based on the current army military expenditure, and the cost of weapons is unbearable for the local government."
"The Jianye Type 6 heavy machine gun is really a good thing. It uses a tripod and the barrel of the machine gun is light. After the barrel is disassembled, two to three soldiers can carry the parts and transfer them. However, it is heavy and bulky and requires a carriage.
Compared with the Gatling hand-cranked machine gun that carries transfer capabilities, the Jianye Six-year-old heavy machine gun is more suitable for position defense operations and rapid transfer. However, heavy machine gun ammunition consumption is terrifying and the combat cost is high. Otherwise, if heavy machine guns are popularized in companies,
The comprehensive combat capabilities of platoon-level combat units and the National Defense Forces will be completely different from those in the past."
The commander of the third battalion shook his head and said regretfully.
"The country's economic development is booming, and the technical level of local military industrial enterprises is also improving day by day. Perhaps in a few years, the production costs of heavy machine guns and ammunition will be reduced, and heavy machine guns will also be popularized in basic combat units at the company and platoon levels."...