Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 194 Establishing Military Industry

  Two days later

  This important piece of information from Batavia was placed at the desk of the meeting room of the military leaders in Red Fort. The chief and deputy directors of the Secretariat and nine first-level secretaries all attended the meeting.

The secretariat was originally eight first-level secretaries, headed by Juren-born Mo Rufeng and Nangong Yunfei. Now it has added the third batch of outstanding students in the aesthetics, the young talent Tang Shaoyi who graduated from Columbia University, and it happened to be a nine-star. The number.

  The meeting room was full, and Li Fushou took the head with a solemn expression. The focus of the meeting was to interpret the message revealed by the late-night meeting of the Governor's Office of the Dutch East Indies and the response strategy of the Red River Valley.

  The meeting lasted for more than half a day before setting up various response strategies. After the meeting was over, the preparations were made intensively.

  The worst has happened;

  All kinds of information gathered from Europe to the Dutch East Indies have outlined a rough outline. The Dutch are ready to make a big deal, and the land and sea will invade Shangri-La Island.

  The question now is not whether to do it, but when to do it?

  This is in line with the hard-line character of the Nordic lowland countries. The Netherlands is the "sea coachman" who crossed the seven seas in the era of great voyage. There is an adventurous spirit in his bones that will never admit defeat, and it has been integrated into the national gene.

  The news from London indicated that some big figures in the upper class looked very uncomfortable with the Earl of Queensland, and hope that the idea of ​​using the British Empire's fleet in the Far East or the South Pacific Task Force platform was completely shattered and was obstructed overtly and secretly.

  In this regard, Lord Victor also expressed his inability to do anything.

  The bad news doesn’t stop here

As the secret plenipotentiary representative of the Earl of Queensland, Deputy Secretariat Director Tian Shan went to Lan Fangguo twice to meet with General Director Liu Enguan, expressing the willingness of the two parties to work together to fight the Dutch. This move was strongly resisted by many Lan Fangguo veterans. , Fear of causing trouble to the upper body.

  Finally, Liu Enguan of the General Administration System regretfully rejected the request for cooperation.

  A clear rift appeared in the Australian leadership as a whole. Victoria and South Wales flatly rejected the request from Queensland and jointly condemned the Dutch East Indies’ attempt to solve the problem by force.

  The reason is simple; the Shangri-La Island issue belongs to the personal territory of the Earl of Queensland, so it is not convenient to participate at such a sensitive time.

  After Li Fushou got on the roof, the Brit took off the ladder and stabbed him in the back.

  This is undoubtedly sending a clear message to the Dutch East Indies, even if you fight you, we will remain neutral in this war.

  The current situation is far more severe than expected. Li Fushou issued a powerful call at the mobilization meeting;

   Give up the illusion, prepare to fight a tough battle, let everyone see that the blood of the children of China is still hot, and the bones are hard.

  The meeting set a plan for rapid army expansion. In the first phase, 6,000 infantry were recruited, and the first division of Shangri-La Garrison was established. There were 4 regiments, artillery battalions, logistics battalions and other units to cope with the upcoming fierce battle.

  Among them, the composition of the soldiers consists of recruiting 3000 immigrants from Shangri-La Island on the spot, forming two regiments and logistics battalions, and conducting a three-month fully enclosed military training.

   Recruit 2,000 Xinghua militiamen from Australia, form two regiments, and conduct a three-month fully enclosed military training.

  800 young people of the right age in the "Young Eagle Project" were recruited into the army and trained as the backbone of the garrison's first division for a period of three months.

  Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, Wolf and the Guards drew a total of 200 experienced officers to form a team of officers of the First Division of the Garrison, responsible for the integration of troop training, starting today.

  A total of 6,000 officers and soldiers are the first batch of troops. The second batch of troops will form the second division of the Queensland Guard, with a staff establishment of 6,000 and recruit Australian immigrants as the main force.

  Whether to expand the scope of recruitment in the follow-up depends on the frontline battle situation.

  Hongbao Lingxiao Pavilion

Li Fushou stood in front of a large map with a solemn expression. The map marked the current forces and equipment situation of both the enemy and the enemy. It can be clearly seen that the Aceh area of ​​Java Island and the town of Jayapura on Shangri-La Island are heavily stocked by the enemy and the enemy. Area.

  The town of Jayapura is now stationed with more than 750 officers and soldiers of the Marine Police District and thousands of armed militias. There are three seagull-shaped frigates garrisoned. It is a defensive town in the western part of the island.

  After the military meeting

  In view of the sharp deterioration of the current situation, 5 Seagull-class frigates will be transferred to Jayapura Port to garrison, bringing the total number of Seagull-class frigates to 8, which is almost half of the sea power in the Red River Valley.

  The port of Moresby on the east side of the Shangri-La Island originally had two ships, but it will soon be supported by two ships of the same class to maintain the size of the patrol fleet of four ships.

  Red River Valley, only 4 seagull frigates remain in Hong Kong as a mobile force, ready to be called at any time.

  Li Fushou stayed in front of the map for a while, his thoughts rolled, he could feel the pressure from all directions, and a decisive look flashed in his eyes.

  If you don’t break or stand, it’s true!

Entering Australia’s 7th year, the Red River Valley has developed in full swing under its own leadership, directly and indirectly employing more than one million people, forming a similar structure that spans agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, commerce, finance, technology, etc. Monopoly cartels in many fields.

  Now Australia is undercurrent, and various forces have launched troubles through the "Tulip Incident". This is a big situation.

  Red River Valley can only complete its transformation after undergoing the baptism of the **** wind and breaking through numerous obstacles.

  If you don’t endure a bit of cold, where does the plum blossom smell?

   thought of here

  He has already made up his mind to meet the wind and rain, and walks to the desk to start work.

  The propaganda mobilization and preparatory work before the battle was intricate, which increased his desk work a lot, and the file pile was half a person high.

  After a while

  Just after reviewing a document on comprehensive pre-war propaganda and mobilization, Li Fushou straightened up and rubbed his eyebrows, then cheered up and picked up the next document.

  This is a document reported by the Coast Guard. In view of intelligence showing that the Dutch East Indies colony imported a large number of new artillery from Europe, the Coast Guard requested emergency equipment for a new fire "Miss Australia".

  Plans are not as fast as changes

  Miss Australia is conducting a durability experiment in the proving ground. Li Fushou originally wanted to hide it and use it as his trump card.

  It seems impossible now. The Royal Dutch Task Force equipped with new artillery has soared in strength. As a newcomer to the Navy, the Queensland Coast Guard cannot do without a killer in the fight against this veteran.

   Thinking of this, Li Fushou smiled bitterly and shook his head, and reviewed the application report;

We hereby order the Deep Blue Alchemy Workshop to immediately start small-scale trial production, expeditiously produce 45 95mm "Miss Australia" within three months, and train related artillery units to equip the ships of the Coast Police. This order is effective today. Start execution.

  By the way, another charge worth £220,000 was approved for the production of "Miss Australia" artillery and gun crew training.

  Compared to large-scale industrial production, laboratory production is more expensive, which is no alternative.

  Since large-scale military preparations, money has flowed outwards, and the budget for purchasing weapons and ammunition has repeatedly increased. This made Li Fushou deeply feel the necessity of establishing a military production line.

  Once the war falls into the quagmire, the consumption of guns and weapons and ammunition will increase sharply. Such an important logistics supply is in the hands of foreign weapons suppliers, which is very dangerous.

  Facts proved that his original idea was wrong.

  Even if a complete military industry is not established, at least it must be able to produce bullets and artillery shells instead of relying entirely on foreign weapons suppliers.

  Once the situation changes and cuts off the supply, it will be too late to regret then!

  One thought to this

Li Fushou couldn’t sit still anymore. He immediately recruited Fan Zhongzhai, Chief of the Secretariat, Tian Shan, the deputy director, and other confidants to have a small meeting. At the meeting, it was decided that Fan Zhongzhai would lead the formation of a military equipment inspection and demonstration team to conduct research on the world’s advanced military equipment industry. Take a closer look.

  Weapons and equipment focus on the three countries of Germany, France, and Britain, with the purpose of introducing ammunition and weapons production lines (including artillery production lines) and changing the current situation of relying solely on imports.

  As Red River Valley has complete trade channels in Europe, and has traditional and stable relationships with arms suppliers such as Siemens, Krupp, Mauser Arms Company, and naval shipyards of countries such as Britain, Germany and France, it is not difficult to introduce related weapons production lines.

  The British do not want to sell French and Germans, but there are still Americans. This is not a problem.

  Li Fushou originally had a glimmer of illusion, but now it is completely disillusioned, and he does not have to hesitate to think about London.

  What a sensitive nerve, go to Te Niang!

  The southern states are now showing a faint attitude of confrontation, especially the construction team of the southern extension of the coastal railway, which has been repeatedly attacked by horse bandits, causing serious personnel and property losses, and the project has to be temporarily stopped.

  New South Wales and Victoria's Zhi Gong party proposed the equal political rights of immigrants and the creation of state parliamentary seats, which were vetoed by the states and died.

  Sydney Bay Bridge preparations have been hindered, and even the preliminary geological survey has been forced to stop.

  All signs indicate that the mountains and rain are about to come and the wind is all over the building.

  The black guards are trying their best to infiltrate the decision-making level of New South Wales in an attempt to obtain more valuable intelligence. Unfortunately, no progress has been made so far.

  The upper-class whites of the southern states formed an airtight small group. They were highly alert to immigrants and even some whites who cooperated with the Red River Valley. The sign of rejection was strong, and the channels for black guards to obtain valuable information were completely blocked.

  All this had to arouse Li Fushou's vigilance.

  Now most of his energy is involved in Shangri-La Island, and he is temporarily unable to deal with it. He can only temporarily shelve the problems of the southern states for a period of time and save it for later resolution.

  Developing its own weapons and equipment industry is not without consideration for the worst-case factors.

  Once the North and South are divided and the Australian leader encounters a complete blockade of the British fleet, the day of a complete showdown will not be far away.

  This is the worst situation that Li Fushou tried to avoid, but there are many smart people in the world, and the situation is not shifted by his will. We must prepare for the worst and work towards the best.

  (End of this chapter)