afterglow

Chapter 587: Self-sufficient settlement and garrison; decisive weapon plan!
"Excuse me, Mr. Zhou, but I'm afraid what you said is not true. Although there are large tracts of wilderness in the central part of Oahu, they are not suitable for growing food crops."

"Oahu has a tropical marine climate, which is warm all year round, with an average annual temperature of 24 degrees Celsius and an annual rainfall of more than 600 millimeters."

"Because of the mountain ranges on the east and west sides, it is difficult for the sea breeze to blow in, so the southern part of the island is drier and the northeast is humid, with an annual rainfall of up to 2,000."

A military officer briefly introduced the farming conditions on Oahu to Zhu Lingjing.

The latter thought for a moment and said, "I can't count on wheat, but I can count on rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The military commander enumerated: "The northeast of the island is humid, so rice can be grown there. Potatoes prefer cool weather and are afraid of heat, so they can be grown at higher altitudes in the east and west hilly areas. Sweet potatoes don't matter, they can be grown anywhere."

【Picture】

"Oahu is rich in sugarcane and has sugar factories. It's a great place to settle and garrison there. This is great." Zhu Lingjing nodded slightly.

Zhou Changfeng said, "There are grains and sugar, as well as pineapples to supplement vitamins. There is no need to worry about food."

White sugar is small in size but high in calories. 100 grams of white sugar contains 400 calories, which is nearly four times that of the same mass of rice. This makes it a very important strategic material.

"Well, do you have anything else to add to the business method you mentioned last time?"

"Well, since we're trying to make (Oahu) as self-sufficient as possible, now that we have food, the next thing is ... things to use."

Zhu Lingjing thought for a moment, "Although there are not many local factories, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry, there are enough factories to produce daily necessities for the people."

Zhou Changfeng nodded, "Not enough. We need to build a simple small arsenal up there to produce some basic consumables. This is necessary in the long run."

Hearing this, the deputy general felt that Zhou was taking things for granted. He could not help but say, "That's probably a bit useless, Mr. Zhou. A repair shop is fine, but producing weapons and ammunition by ourselves? That's not easy."

He organized his words and listed them: "Making a gun is not difficult. A few machine tools can turn out the parts. As for ammunition, take bullets for example. The shells and warheads can be assembled into a usable production line with a small number of machines and equipment. But gunpowder is more difficult. It requires nitrification of refined absorbent cotton. This raw material is not easy to get. And... explosives, that is even more difficult."

Even the least powerful ammonium nitrate requires nitrification of aqueous ammonia, and the industrial production of aqueous ammonia and industrial production of nitric acid requires a complete set of huge machinery and equipment.

Obviously, it was impossible to build a chemical system from scratch on Oahu all the way during the war, as there was still a lot to be built in the Ming mainland.

This is not as easy as growing crops locally. Industry is so closely linked, with one thing leading to another.

Instead of taking the time to build an arsenal on Oahu, it would be better to stockpile more ammunition. One ship can transport thousands of tons of locally manufactured ammunition!

"You are making an objective and rational analysis, which is correct. The materials carried by a ship are enough for that small factory to produce for several years." Zhou Changfeng said calmly, "But don't forget the subjective factor. For the soldiers defending the island, being isolated and completely dependent on others is very demoralizing. It would be completely different if the island could make some ammunition on its own."

The military governor was surprised and asked, "Are you assuming that the island of Oahu is alone and trapped on an isolated island?"

"Of course, we should prepare for a rainy day." Zhou Changfeng nodded and said, "After all, if everything goes well, there is no need to worry. I like to prepare for the worst."

Zhu Lingjing was pretending to read the memorials and wanted to laugh when she heard this.

Like to prepare for the worst? Isn't this nonsense? If I had always been prepared to die in the line of duty, how could I be left without a son like now?

"I see. Senior, you are very far-sighted and considerate. I am not as good as you." The military commander thought, "In this case, maybe we can move some basic machine tools, blowers and other equipment, build a simple ordnance workshop, and use molten iron to cast the easiest mortar shells and mine shells, just like you did during the Battle of Kauai."

"Is there no other way to get the explosives?" Zhou Changfeng asked desperately.

"No, any regular explosives cannot be made independently of the system. But if you are brave enough, you can also nitrate the glycerin and then make it insensitive. Another way is to pick up scraps. There must be duds among the bombs dropped by the enemy, and you can also remove the explosives from them."

"I used this method on Kauai and it paid off."

An AN-M57 250-pound bomb contains 59 kg of explosives, enough to fill dozens of mortar shells.

Zhu Lingjing felt that Zhou could always come up with some strange ideas, which were very interesting. Perhaps it was this kind of creative and adaptable thinking that made him a famous general of the time.

"That makes sense. We need to implement this accurately so that the troops on Oahu can have the ability to manufacture a small amount of simple ammunition themselves to stabilize the morale of the troops," she said.

As a strategic location that determines the outcome of the war, occupying Oahu means being invincible, and it cannot be overemphasized.

The defense force requirements given by the Ministry of War and the imperial court were extremely exaggerated - even if their own navy was unable to assist in the defense, the defenders of Oahu had to be able to resist 200,000 enemies on their own for a year and a half.

Our navy is unable to defend? Doesn't that mean we have lost the decisive battle? How could we make such a bad assumption?
To achieve this requirement, the General Staff of the Grand Marshal's Office estimated that at least four Army infantry divisions, one Army field heavy artillery brigade (newly organized), one Army engineering brigade, seven Air Force anti-aircraft artillery battalions, and three field replacement battalions should be deployed on Oahu, with a total force of about 4 people, and at least enough supplies for continuous combat for half a year, about 1 tons.

However, this includes both ammunition and food supplies. Considering that military farming can solve most of the food problems, the actual demand will be less.

Because the Ming army officially began to incorporate 144mm howitzers directly into the infantry division sequence from the 144th year of Zhichang last year, the old field heavy artillery brigade has been completely transformed except for a few individual cases, and its two mm howitzer battalions have been directly separated out.

Under the new organization, the remaining two 112mm cannon battalions (36 guns) still exist, and then two new 144mm cannon battalions (24 guns) are formed. This 15-ton cannon has a range of up to 25km and is responsible for military-level long-range suppression and firing missions.

The only old unit that existed only in the First Landing Army was the Army's 16th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade.

The Ming army was very confident that such a large force of 90,000 was enough to defend Oahu. If there were sufficient supplies, even 300,000 might not be able to take it down, let alone 200,000 invading enemies.

Zhou Changfeng agreed that the scale was just right, neither too large nor too small. If the number was larger, the supplies would be consumed too quickly.

In the last few days of mid-January, the Intelligence Department of the Grand Marshal's Office summarized and evaluated the information collected from various channels and gave the approximate parameters of the aircraft carriers that the US military was mass-building.

"Length: about 260 meters, width: 45 meters, displacement: 30,000 metric tons, maximum speed: 31 knots, aircraft capacity: 90, flight deck material: steel and wood, hangar deck: 75 millimeters..."

These data contain many deviations and overestimate the displacement and armor thickness of the Essex class.

The Essex class is also nicknamed the Dumpling class, describing the large number of them. Historically, the US military ordered a total of 32 ships and eventually completed 24. Now the US military has only ordered 27 ships.

The decrease in the number of orders was due to the stimulation of the Ming army's large armored aircraft carriers. The US military also began to invest more resources to equip the next generation of larger and stronger aircraft carriers.

The Americans knew that the Essex class was not perfect. Between survivability and attack capability, the Americans chose the latter, which was a temporary compromise. Therefore, the next generation of aircraft carriers will also use armored flight decks. The Essex class hangar deck armor is 100lb, which is converted to 62.6mm thick with STS steel. In fact, it is weaker than the result of the analysis of the Intelligence Department of the Grand Commandery.

Just like around the millennium in later generations, the whole country was thinking about how to attack aircraft carriers, and the same situation is happening in the Ming Dynasty today.

Various ideas were proposed, including the reliable experience of naval officers, the professional designs of technical officials, and the creative ideas of the public...

Zhou Changfeng also saw an idea that was extremely incredible but not so incredible.

This person's idea was: the accuracy of today's bombs is limited, and the more accurate dive bombers cannot carry heavy bombs, so it is necessary to equip a large manned glide bomb, matched with the ejection seat that is being developed, approaching at high speed, and the pilot ejects after aiming at the target. This can sink an enemy ship with one bomb, and the British, American and foreign barbarians can be wiped out in the blink of an eye!
This... let's just think of it as him promoting his own company's ejection seat.

Apart from some unorthodox ideas, Zhou Changfeng carefully identified and selected the ideas he thought were meaningful, and then gave them special attention and increased funding.

This is a unique advantage of being a time traveler, which reduces the cost of trial and error. Otherwise, some potential plans can easily be buried, and people will only rush to concentrate resources and increase their efforts after they have shown their potential.

The most orthodox development route is the dive bomber, which has a high penetration rate and a high hit rate. Even if the US air defense system is more complete in the future, it will not be possible to prevent the attack of dive bombers. The only difference is that the loss of aircraft will increase, and it will not be as easy as in the early days of the war.

The Ming Navy simultaneously carried out research and development work on two next-generation dive bombers, one conservative and one radical.

The conservative project is actually a significantly upgraded version of the current Type 1475 carrier-based bomber. It uses a 500-horsepower radial engine that is currently under development and can take off from a standard take-off position while carrying a kg bomb.

For radical projects, each company has shown its unique capabilities. Uplink, Itanium and Changyang have participated in the bidding and have now come up with design plans. They are expected to conduct comparative tests with prototypes this summer.

The design of Shangxing Company is very traditional and has no highlights; Anten Company adopts an inverted gull-wing design similar to Corsair and Stuka; Changyang Company is the most unique, using a unique double tail strut, front-pull and rear-push design.

This design is very attractive because the two engines work together in tandem. Changyang Company claims that the take-off weight can reach 7000 kg, and it can carry 750 kg of heavy bombs and take off from an aircraft carrier, and it also has a sufficient combat radius.

"This weapon is powerful, weighing 1,500 kilograms. Even if the Americans have excellent damage control, they will be crippled by one bullet." Zhou Changfeng exclaimed in amazement.

The naval aviation is doing the same thing, and the Ming Air Force is also carrying out its own weapons research and development plans.

First, the radio-guided and wire-guided 1000kg glide bomb has a range of 6km. It can reach 8.5km with a first-stage solid rocket booster and 10.5km with a second-stage booster. It is extremely powerful and highly accurate.

Secondly, the "high" in the high-low combination, the high-performance liquid-cooled engine fighter project, plans to use the BMW 117 or Hispano-Suza 12Y engines, adopting high-tech within its capabilities, so as to better fight against the British Spitfire fighters.

Third, Changyang Company's Cy-72 jet technology verification aircraft project trial-produced a second turbojet engine of centrifugal configuration, with a designed thrust of 400 kg and an actual stable thrust of 360 kg. The Cy-72 verification aircraft equipped with this engine reached a level flight speed of 670 km/h, but then crashed.

Zhou Changfeng naturally strongly supported it.

This is the general trend. There is no need to worry about wasting money and resources. No matter how bad the early jets were, at least they flew faster. There is nothing to say, just spend more money!

He first used the term "decisive weapons program" to describe these technical projects for the navy and air force in a speech at the Grand Marshal's Palace.

Soon the name spread.

As for the Ming Army, just bear with it for now.

Besides, it is far from being a hard time. You have to know that those forecasters are also precious semi-motorized and semi-mechanized elite troops, and they also have many research and development plans, but the funding is relatively small, which even includes super-heavy tanks.

In short, don’t be ungrateful!
While the Ming people launched a series of ambitious plans, the Americans across the ocean were also busy.

January 1, Molokai.

The sky is high, the clouds are vast, the sun is shining, and the Hawaiian Islands are still as warm as spring in winter.

A C-46 transport plane landed on the western airport runway, and more than two dozen military officers and reporters from Washington slowly walked down the gangway, carrying a large amount of photographic equipment.

The leader was none other than Army Chief of Staff George Marshall.

Chester Nimitz also came here from the Big Island, and the two met at the airport.

He saw those people unloading photographic equipment and film from the plane, and turned to ask, "Has Washington decided to open a new route?"

"Yes, the expedition fleet has set off from Mexico." George Marshall stood with his hands on his hips and looked at the bustling scene.

"The southeastern Pacific is dangerous, with its howling westerlies."

“But we’re going to go for the win.”

The local team came mainly to film a documentary to commemorate the first complete victory since the war began - at least that's what the Americans thought.

At the same time, the Chief of Staff will personally present medals to the heroes of the Battle of Mo Island.

在这场战役中，美军野战炮兵以每天28000发炮弹（不含迫击炮）的强度向明军阵地倾泻火力，每门75㎜榴弹炮日均300发、105㎜榴弹炮250发、155㎜榴弹炮日均200发。

The average fire intensity was even slightly higher than the historical Van Fleet ammunition load.

George Marshall issued a Presidential Citation to the 25th Independent Ammunition Platoon, attached to Depot B8, 6th Infantry Division, awarding the Silver Star to each man and the Distinguished Service Medal to a Private First Class.

"Private First Class Richard Johnson, who was injured by an enemy plane in the battle on November 11, but insisted on continuing to unload for 28 hours until he went into shock. According to statistics, he moved 9 tons of shells alone. The General Headquarters agreed to commend his amazing bravery and awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal..."

In the first seven days of the most intense fighting at the beginning of the campaign, the 6th Independent Ammunition Platoon unloaded 7340 tons of artillery shells from trucks arriving from the dock, an average of 1048 tons per day, more than twice the standard rate.

The medal-awarding photo was later described on posters and newspapers in the country as follows: "We crushed the Chinese army's attack with a hail of steel and explosives!"

The Americans believed they had found a viable path to victory and that the war would undoubtedly continue.

(End of this chapter)