Chapter 224 The Army can't afford to lose that face!
But within the army and navy, this has caused some headaches.
They also knew that the current situation was too chaotic and that Emperor Sheng was very dissatisfied. Otherwise, he would not have made a sweeping decision and suspended the plans of both the army and navy.
But it is not easy to resolve the dissatisfaction of the Holy Emperor.
Because this means that we need to reach an agreement with the other party, but when I think of the other party's face, whether it is an army general or a naval general, it is disgusting.
Major General Tian Qinyun, who had just returned to China, faced the current predicament, but still shouted: "If we want our army to bow to the navy, unless the water from the Pacific Ocean pours back into the Himalayas!"
"We'll talk about concessions when those idiots in the Navy sail the warships to the Himalayas!"
Rear Admiral Ge Chengbin, a rookie general of the Navy in recent years and currently serving as deputy director of the Operations Department of the Naval Staff Headquarters, snorted coldly after hearing Rear Admiral Tian Qinyun’s words: “Even if the global seawater collectively freezes into ice, the Army’s army
Fighting into the depths of the Pacific, our navy will never give in!"
Major General Tian Qinyun and Major General Ge Chengbing are both typical figures among the younger generation of generals in the army and navy. Their words basically represent the broad opinions of their respective services.
But even if he doesn't agree or make concessions, since the Holy Emperor said he would solve it, he will definitely solve it.
Without the Emperor Sheng's orders, the top brass of the army and navy held multiple joint meetings one after another with a straight face to discuss the division of operational responsibilities in coastal, inland rivers, lakes and other areas.
But the conflict between the army and the navy is an old conflict that has lasted for decades. In the past, it was difficult to solve any problem, let alone such a big problem now.
Several consecutive high-level joint meetings between the army and navy ended on bad terms, and they did not even enter the actual negotiation stage. They were just all kinds of wrangling and quarrels, and then nothing happened.
Half a month has passed since this torment.
The Holy Emperor Li Xuan was not in a hurry and did not ask, but the army and navy were a little anxious.
Because Shengtianzi has been suppressing their respective plans, the Army's maritime transport division and river battleship plans have all been stranded. The same is true for the Navy, and all shallow-water battleship plans have been suspended.
In short, the meaning of the Holy Emperor is very clear. No one is allowed to do anything until the two sides have straightened things out and made a clear distinction!
This delay is actually nothing. In fact, it will not affect the strength and development of the Tang Dynasty military.
However, the Holy Emperor said that he wanted to solve it, and you haven't done anything for half a month. What do you want the Holy Emperor to think?
If you make the Holy Emperor unhappy for a while, he will make your whole family unhappy for a lifetime!
Therefore, the problem needs to be solved and must be solved!
Therefore, although neither the army nor the navy wanted to give in, they were still forced to sit at the negotiating table.
This time, the top brass of the army and navy also knew that if the situation continued to be delayed, they might lose control of the subsequent development of the situation. If it was forced to the point where the Holy Emperor would personally judge, then every one of the top brass of the army and navy present would not be able to count on the Holy Emperor.
Good look.
Therefore, at this restarted joint meeting of the army and navy, although the quarrel between the two sides was still fierce in the morning of that day, and no practical agreement was reached, at least there was no such thing as the previous few times, where the army or the navy kept saying what they said.
Bullying someone too much and then leaving the scene directly.
This time the talks between the two sides, although the smell of gunpowder was still strong, finally looked like negotiations.
In the afternoon of that day, no actual agreement was reached, but both parties had already made concessions on many conditions.
If the difference between the two sides was 100% before, now it is only 99%...
Don't laugh, if you can make the army and navy each retreat by 0.5%, that is already a great success for this meeting.
The conflicts between the army and the navy have become deeper and deeper over the years, and it is not easy to make them retreat.
Now that we have the one percent at the beginning, it will be easier to talk about the rest.
For several days in a row, at joint army-navy meetings, the two sides have reached an agreement on some differences.
What's interesting is that during the day, the top leaders of both sides held joint meetings, and in the evening, the army and navy held internal meetings to discuss pros and cons.
We talked about it slowly, and after half a month of dilly-dallying, we finally made a simple division of responsibilities and powers in the coastal, inland, river and lake areas.
There is a more important point, that is, the Army promises that it will no longer seek to expand the size of the maritime transport division, but will only maintain the current size, and completely stop the construction of ocean-going warships with a single ship displacement of more than one thousand tons. Well, construction has already started.
Two 'Army Maritime Fast Armed Combat Vehicles' of more than 2,500 tons will be handed over to the Navy and exchanged with the Navy for small-tonnage river warships.
Since there are restrictions on the Army, there will naturally be restrictions on the Navy, otherwise how could the Army agree?
First, the Navy will promise not to seek to expand the size of the Marine Corps and will maintain the current total size of the Marine Corps of 25,000.
At the same time, the large-scale construction of inland river warships with a displacement of less than 200 tons will be stopped, and a large number of active small-tonnage inland river warships will be directly transferred to the Army to support the Army in establishing several river divisions.
In fact, the biggest conflict between the Navy and the Army is not the river warships, but the Army's Maritime Transport Division and the Marine Corps. Because of these issues, the Army and the Navy have been quarreling every day for decades...
Of course, this also solves the problem of division of responsibilities and powers in coastal rivers and lakes.
How to divide it specifically?
According to the agreement reached by the army and navy in this regard, daily patrols of most rivers and lakes, small-scale land support and other tasks will be fully transferred to the army's river and lake patrol boat units.
The reason why I say most of them is that I mean not all of them.
Large rivers, especially large river trunks that can navigate large-tonnage ships, and larger lakes can still retain the navy's inland river fleet, such as the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the lower reaches of the Pearl River, the West Sea (Caspian Sea), the lower reaches of the Don River, the lower reaches of the Vogar River, and the Ganges River
Downstream and so on.
Generally speaking, the navy is responsible for the blockade of offshore waters, main streams, large lakes, and land support and other tasks.
The Army is responsible for patrols in areas such as small rivers and lakes, as well as land fire support and other tasks.
In fact, most of the time this land support task can be handled by the army's own inland river gunboats or field artillery units. Even if it cannot be handled by itself, they would rather wait and delay, unless it is a last resort, which is absolutely not possible.
You will find the navy and ask for naval gun support.