afterglow

Chapter 579: The Battle of Molokai; you go and punish those MPs

"Thanks to Zhou Daizhao for traveling thousands of miles to come and take command. He knows everything like a god and is unparalleled in his wisdom!"

Lei Fu made a special trip to express his gratitude, and Zheng Shiquan, who was suffering from malaria and extremely weak, also came.

"Thank you. This time I can only be regarded as a human being." Zhou Changfeng inadvertently behaved in a particularly superior manner, "The soldiers of the three armies fought hard and finally escaped unscathed."

"Don't let it go down. This defeat is not a crime of war. Repair it well and wait for replenishment." He patted Lei Fu on the shoulder, then turned and left.

Even a low-level power like Italy would not care much about the weapons and equipment of a mere division, let alone the Ming Dynasty.

The value of the more than 10,000 men of the 14th Division was much more valuable than those guns and equipment, and was far beyond the comparison with those dead objects.

The Ming Dynasty's standing army has high-quality warriors made of real money - 50% of the soldiers have been in the army for more than five years, 60% of the non-commissioned officers have been in the army for more than ten years, and more than 90% of the officers have received complete military education!
It is no exaggeration to say that if a standing division like the 14th Division is split, it can form four or five levy divisions, and the level of levy divisions will be higher than those formed from scratch.

However, before leaving, Zhou Changfeng gave a very serious instruction to pay attention to the morale of the officers and soldiers of the 14th Division and beware of their disciplinary violations in the urban area of ​​Honolulu.

Indulging in military law will lead to endless consequences. Unorganized and undisciplined venting of anger is the beginning of an army's degeneration. When order and discipline no longer exist, officers and soldiers will become slippery, cunning, and extremely difficult to discipline and restrain, and a victorious army will also disintegrate. It degenerated into a bandit group and its combat power was greatly reduced.

The defeated army is prone to burning, killing and looting in a desperate situation, so a vicious cycle begins...

On the afternoon of December 12, when Zhou Changfeng's plane landed in the capital, preliminary statistics for the Battle of Molokai were completed.

As of that day, the battle had resulted in 4320 Army casualties, 675 Navy casualties, and the Air Force's permanent losses (dead and missing) of 69 pilots and crew members.

至于技术装备方面，损失各种身管火炮153门、坦克14辆、汽车310辆、骡马1710匹、猎潜舰1艘、登陆舰3艘、登陆艇111艘、扫雷舰2艘、潜艇2艘、货轮6艘、各型飞机243架，其余各种器材及给养不计其数。

This battle is likely to become the focus of disagreement in future military history - the Battle of Oahu or the Battle of Molokai. Which one is the sign that the Pacific War has entered a stalemate stage?

After catching up on sleep during the trip, he is now full of energy. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is carrying the wind while walking.

After getting the preliminary statistical results in the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, he went to the palace instead.

"Extraordinary luck. I really didn't expect that the whole process went so smoothly. You are very good at concealing things."

Zhu Lingjing's original expectation was that it would be lost in half, but the final result turned out to be much better than she expected. It was really unbelievable.

"Fortunately, the enemy was overly cautious." Zhou Changfeng breathed a sigh of relief. "This is the first time they feel that they have a chance to win, but they are afraid that extreme joy will lead to sorrow, so they are very cautious and sensitive."

"To be honest, what do you think of this situation? The United States has abundant national power and is very close. They can pour massive amounts of supplies into those islands to defend themselves. Can they still defeat them?" She held a delicate and small cup. , asked.

"Yes, of course I can." Zhou Changfeng asked with certainty: "As I told your Majesty before, the battle for the islands only focuses on sea control. Losing sea control means being isolated. Sooner or later, it will be exhausted. No matter how strong the fortress is built, It just delays the time of defeat.”

"It's a pity that the argument of quick victory still doesn't work." Zhu Lingjing sighed softly, "the last four islands... I have a feeling that it will take a long time to see."

Zhou Changfeng nodded, "I'm afraid so. Now it seems that this stalemate will not be broken for a while."

The control of the sea in the Hawaiian Islands basically depends on the control of the air - this is no longer the interwar period. The performance of aircraft on both sides is changing with each passing day. Hundreds of shore-based aircraft are enough to severely damage or even annihilate a fleet.

The islands of Kauai and Oahu have the space to theoretically deploy up to two thousand aircraft, but in practice they are far from that.

Because the difficulty of command and dispatch increases as the number increases, and the aviation gasoline and parts required for the aircraft cannot be underestimated.

The Ming Air Force estimates that its peak is around one thousand aircraft. This is the balance point between quantity and sortie efficiency. If it exceeds this number, the sortie efficiency will decrease.

As for the US military, the terrain conditions on Lanai, Molokai, Maui, and Big Island are not ideal, and the upper limit for the number of aircraft deployed is smaller, but it can still maintain a few hundred aircraft.

Both sides have their own strengths, and overall the situation is a stalemate with both sides being evenly matched.

The shore-based aviation forces of the two armies of China and the United States will definitely not be able to break the balance alone. Without external force, the long-term war of attrition will continue until one side has a huge advantage in aircraft performance.

Regarding the current situation, Zhou Changfeng felt at ease.

The previous continuous wins and losses made him worried, which not only made the whole army extremely arrogant, but also greatly hindered the progress of Ming Dynasty in fully entering the general mobilization.

The Ming Navy paid a high price for insisting on fighting thousands of miles for one consecutive year. Just like a machine that has reached the warranty period and is forced to continue running, it will inevitably induce a series of failures.

The majestic battleship Yongle was given a notice for surgery after consultations with many experts.

Since the No. 1 steam turbine, No. 3 boiler, and steam superheater could not be properly repaired, they had to be replaced as a whole, which meant disemboweling her - cutting out the power deck and armor box, and then replacing them. The estimated repair period was seven months.

This is just a microcosm of the Ming Dynasty's navy. Half of the warships in the A-180 special agent fleet are in poor condition and need extensive maintenance.

It can be said that the land-based countries really did not treat the navy's ships as treasures, and they ruined them to a terrible extent.

[Current situation of the Ming Dynasty Navy.gif]

After briefly discussing the changes in the situation in the future, Zhou Changfeng couldn't wait to ask Zhu Lingjing: "Your Majesty, appropriate setbacks can help stimulate the motivation to refuse to admit defeat. Should we..."

The latter smiled slightly and imitated his tone and said: "It's time to clean up the house before inviting guests to dinner?"

Zhou Changfeng: "..."

For a moment, Zhu Lingjing stared at him sharply, but ordered in a very relaxed tone: "You seem to be particularly effective in dealing with the people in the Consultative Yuan. I will let you deal with those people this time."

As the saying goes, when a scholar encounters a soldier, he can't explain why. It seems that the best candidate to deal with the congressman is the martial artist.

On December 12, the sky was gray and the cold drizzle in winter made people particularly uncomfortable.

The Ministry of War held a press conference to issue a communiqué, describing the causes, process and results of the Battle of Molokai very plainly.

"In order to completely eliminate the enemy's remaining strongholds in Hawaii, our North Korean troops launched an attack late last month and landed on Molokai Island, severely damaging the enemy defending the island."

"However, the enemy refused to surrender, and relied on the favorable terrain and numerous fortresses to resist desperately. Our soldiers fought bloody battles for many days. Reinforcements from the enemy's rear continued to flow, and our army was once frustrated."

"After careful consideration by many generals, in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices in the attack, the attack was suspended. A few days ago, when the enemy was unprepared, they quietly moved away and returned all the troops who captured the island."

"In this battle, our army lost 1,330 soldiers, eight small warships and more than 250 aircraft; more than 4,000 enemy soldiers were killed and wounded, and 322 aircraft were destroyed. , more than a hundred cannons, and more than forty chariots."

On that day, except for the official news agency Riyueshe, all other major newspapers reported the defeat on their front pages. The title of "Imperial Chronicle" was "Wang's Division was defeated for the first time"; the title of "Jiangnan Minbao" was "Our army was defeated"; the title of "Beizhili Minbao" was "Wang's Division was defeated for the first time, and it was in vain" return".

The sudden change made the people feel incredible and caused an uproar across the country.

Why did the previous victories suddenly lead to defeats? According to the situation presented in previous descriptions, shouldn't the enemy army be defeated at the first touch?

For a time, there were divergent opinions and various arguments emerged one after another.

Although many private professionals provided rational analysis in editorials to appease the anxious and impetuous minds of many people, there were also many informants bribed by the United Kingdom and the United States who deliberately exaggerated.

They claimed that the war reports all along were deceiving the people. The Ming army never captured Oahu, but was just lingering on the island of Kauai. The main reason why the main force of the tattered fleet withdrew to the mainland was because it was severely damaged!

Many congressmen came collectively to the gates of the Ministry of War or the Metropolitan Governor's Office, demanding a reasonable answer for the failure.

Under the guidance of the attendants, the angry congressmen were gathered into a meeting hall of the Ministry of War.

"What's going on? Don't you dare to respond? With such a guilty conscience, I'm afraid someone is neglecting their duties!"

"Everyone, please be patient. Someone from the DPRK will answer this question."

The congressmen waited for the so-called troubleshooter while muttering and discussing, but no one expected that the person coming was Zhou, who had made many people anxious with his speech before.

Zhou Changfeng, who was wearing blue-green uniforms, held a saber in his right hand, looked ahead, and walked to the front nonchalantly.

This posture must be said to be a bit bluffing, and the noisy room quickly became quiet.

Someone was the first to ask without fear: "This defeat is inexplicable. Please ask Zhou Taizhao to clear up our confusion!"

Various echoing voices came one after another.

"It's so strange and strange that an entire division just withdrew."

"Yes, why did you withdraw so suddenly? The news I heard was that after the setback on the island, you were going to withdraw immediately, and you didn't hold on for a few more days..."

No matter how much the members chattered, Zhou Changfeng, who was leaning against the wall, remained silent.

After a while, the voice gradually became lighter.

It was only then that he stretched out his index finger and said slowly: "There are two reasons why the battle cannot be won. First, there is something wrong with the people. The general made a mistake in command, the morale of the soldiers is low, or they are arrogant and frivolous. "

As he spoke, he extended his middle finger again, "The second reason is resources. A clever woman can't make a living without rice. If there are not enough weapons, equipment and ammunition, of course we can't win. To put it bluntly, there is not enough military spending."

As soon as they heard that money was needed, the MPs trembled in their hearts, but they remained calm.

Someone said calmly and calmly: "I believe that the army has indeed been arrogant in the past two years, and Lien Chan and Lianjie are arrogant. The ancients are right, 'Arrogant soldiers will be defeated' is very reasonable."

"Indeed, many generals are very domineering and domineering. Last month, that guy was drunk and beat people, and also ordered his soldiers to rape civilian girls." An elegant congressman gave an example.

"We will deal with military affairs strictly internally, and we will definitely cut off this arrogant and arrogant atmosphere!" Zhou Changfeng emphasized his tone, which was quite vicious. He then hinted: "It is estimated that the U.S. military expenditure next year will increase again. It’s going to be a big rise, it’s 10 to 20 billion.”

"Yes, if we suppress this unhealthy trend, respond cautiously, and work together as one, we will be invincible."

"It is not too late."

Zhou Changfeng sighed in his heart, feeling even more annoyed.

These guys pretended to be stupid and didn't mention a word about military expenditures!

The members of the Consultative Council are a complex group. Of course, there are hawks among them who agree with the expansion of military spending, but the guys in front of Zhou are obviously all opponents.

Naturally, there are interests involved. For example, a certain state government found several congressmen and hoped that they would jointly propose a bill to allocate funds for the construction of transportation or industry. In the end, the bill was passed and millions of dollars were allocated to build a sugar factory. Then this big Some of the money must have gone into their pockets.

It is obvious that if military spending soars, the priority of economic construction will be lowered and may even stagnate. Then there will be no way to make money as before.

Local officials don't want to do this either. If you don't take it, I won't take it. How can Congressman Li get it? If no one takes it, how can we make progress?

Of course, this is just one of many ways.

Zhou Changfeng glanced at the people present and said seriously: "It is urgent to increase the level of mobilization. There is no room for sloppiness in the overall war. I require that next year's military expenditures increase by at least 40% year-on-year."

"This is too much, ridiculous."

“How can the budget be changed so drastically?”

"Nutrition, medical care, official railways, factories, everything costs money."

"Every aspect of Zhou Qian's affairs is indispensable for expenses. If military expenditures continue to increase, we will have to postpone other matters."

The expressionless Zhou Changfeng said calmly: "We can reduce taxes as appropriate and increase taxes on industry and commerce at the same time."

"We can't just raise taxes on ordinary people." He added after that.

Extra salary, right? How can that be done?

This proposal of a reduction and an increase is unacceptable to the parliamentarians-the major factions with the large and small bourgeoisie as the main backers often support easy money and light tax policies.

"Industry and commerce are of great significance to absorbing the inflow of rural people and economic development. From the perspective of economic management methods, heavy taxes have many negative impacts. The current war situation is considerable, and I am afraid it is not a good time to raise taxes." A well-mannered congressman from the Agricultural and Industrial Alliance Talk with great eloquence.

Zhou Changfeng has exhausted his patience by now and is too lazy to pester him any further.

He nodded and said thoughtfully: "Indeed, I didn't think carefully."

After saying that, he took out a twice-folded piece of letter paper from his pocket, opened it, and then said in a serious tone: "I forgot to tell you, there is another thing today, that is, there are several people present who are suspected of colluding with foreign enemies. The traitor.”

(End of this chapter)