In fact, the Republican Army has worked very all sorts of new artillery. Although there has been a great breakthrough in the iron casting process. But unfortunately, at this time, the artillery did not meet the requirements in terms of the special properties of iron, so the situation with the artillery was not the most favorable. For them, this is a greater degree of harm, after all, it still takes a lot of accumulation experiments to reach another level at once.

In this regard, martial arts are extremely encouraged, failure is not terrible, what is terrible is not to dare to fail, in this way, the psychological pressure on them will become very large, which is an extremely unfavorable situation for anyone.

After inspecting the artillery factory, Shang Wu and Jia Xu returned to the War Department and saw some top-secret documents.

These documents are also related to the study of weapons. Weapons are not secrets, but these weapons of mass destruction need to exist as a big killer feature. Other than that, it's the case of bombing. The IRA has invented a new timer**, which will effectively ensure that the IRA has a strong bombing power.

However, in the case of airships, progress has been limited, limited by the need for special materials, such as skins, airbags, and iron pipes, which limit the size of the airship and its endurance. In other words, it is impossible for the Republican Army to build a larger airship without many new advances in materials, which means that the payload of the airship is limited.

Although the Republican Army had installed a small steam engine on the airship, it had achieved good power. But alas, the payload of the airship was not expanded much, and the airship was raised. Range is limited by fuel. Flying from Zezhou, bombing, is not yet possible.

In addition to this, the flight of the airship also has a lot to do with it.

Despite the above series of problems, airship bombing is still the biggest trump card in the hands of the Republican Army, and the Republican Army is conducting various secret tests, and they will experiment with all kinds of long-range flight bombing, for example, in the northern area of Luzhou, the Republican Army has established a training ground for airship flight bombing in complex situations. More and more pilots will get on airships and bomb more than 200 miles.

In order to ensure the abundance of talents, the Republican Army has also set up a special flight school. They will provide more than 200 pilots per year.

At the flight school, there are other special units. For example, meteorology.

In the College of Engineering, meteorology is more of a form of statistics. Because agriculture needs meteorological help. However, the technical means of meteorology were not very perfect, and the Republican Army only used barometers at a number of weather stations. And in military schools. The meteorologists will provide all sorts of help, and they will also take an airship to calculate the weather data. These are the beginning of a series of data recordings.

Of course. This is just one of the special disciplines. More often, the Republican Army formed paratroopers. His size was not very large, with only a class of fifty people. Many students did not participate because they had not heard of it. Those who participate are subject to rigorous screening. The first one is fear of heights. Dozens of zhang has become their very high height. But that's not enough. They need to jump out of the air and then use parachutes to parachute into combat.

This is a completely new concept of warfare, and it is also a new way of warfare, which for the ancients was simply fanciful. I can't imagine. But if this happens, they'll have an unprecedented combat effect. And all of this is done with a very experimental nature.

These are some of the important components of the IRA's experimentation with new methods of warfare, and if they are successful, they will bring a great shock.

"These are all new ways of fighting that we are trying, but in contrast, I think we should be looking for new proxies in other areas." Jia Xu said.

"Yuan Shu in Yangzhou, in the south, not only has a lot of money, but also very rich, and the trade situation is much better than we thought, Yuan Shu expressed his willingness to trade with us. But the biggest problem before us is the trade lanes. On the trade lane, we have been slow to open. Jia Xu took out several reports and said so.

Shang Wu looked over quickly. These reports are very well written and analyzed, which shows that the ability of the staff officers of the Republican Army is constantly improving, and the General Staff Department has carried out intensive study of various staff officers, and at the same time, some relevant personnel of the War Department have also organized study, and in the course of study, they have improved their abilities and made themselves more capable of solving more things, which will win a greater degree of development for them.

"That's a good analysis, but the situation is that we don't have enough capacity to open up this situation at the moment, and I think you should understand some of these situations." Shang Wu said.

Trade is the key, trade brings a steady income, and without enough trade, the situation of the IRA will be very bad, and they will be in a state of total coldness.

"That's exactly what happened. It's also a big hassle for us. So, we proposed. Programs to support multiple agents, such as the relatively weak Cao Cao. The weak Cao Cao can be greatly controlled. Besides. In this way, Yangzhou can be connected through the point of Chenliu. We can go deeper into other parts of the wider area, and if necessary, we can also go deep into Jingzhou. But the main consideration is some specific situations in Yangzhou. Jia Xu said.

"This needs to be done by land transport." Shang Wu said after seeing such a plan.

"Yes." Jia Xu said. This was still a very traditional plan, and Shang Wu understood it, after all, the lines of communication represented the direction of the advance, and other degrees of aggression and so on. If they can do this, it will be very much of a development for them. But the cost of overland travel is very high. Shang Wu knew very well that even if the Republican Army could lay a railroad to do it, the cycle of these times, and the various dangerous conditions that might be encountered, etc. These have all contributed to the deterioration of their situation to varying degrees.

Shangwu did not like to start such large-scale trade by land, because it was very slow and many things were not easy to do. The cost is too high.

But Jia Xu is a traditional person, and from his point of view, everything is reasonable.

"I don't think that's a good plan. Although the South has great favorable terms of trade, at the same time, we should also be aware that there are many, many disadvantages. Shang Wu said after reading it.

"For example, transportation, which is land transportation, we need to build railways to complete the trade, which requires more investment, and the cycle, and most importantly, what resources are available locally, what kind of trade conditions we need, to connect them, and that's the most important place that we should focus on." Shang Wu said.

"What do you mean?" Jia Xu asked Shangwu. Yes, the southern strategy means high railway investment, as well as the operation of the cycle, plus all kinds of variables, which makes Shangwu feel very headaches, and even, he feels that this matter is unlikely to be completed.

"To the east, and then to establish the corresponding sea lines of communication, I know that the Yangtze River, which is a big river in the south, we can access the sea from the east. Then take a detour, enter from the Yangtze River, and then march into Yangzhou, and more hinterland. Shang Wu said what he thought.

In fact, it was somewhat similar to the plans of the Civil War, General Sherman, to build a shipyard, develop his own shipbuilding industry, and then spare the sea, into the Mississippi River. And then attack the Southern Army. What Shang Wu wanted to do was to build his own shipyard in the eastern region, and then take a detour into the Yangtze River system, or more southerly, to reach more areas.

"The upside is that it's cheap. The plan works. And the cost of water transportation is much lower than the investment in railways. Shang Wu said about his idea.

"The plan is good, but if we fight east, we will encounter a lot of opponents, and the factions there will be very dense, and it is unlikely that we will fight directly, which will cost more investment in the war." Jia Xu said.

Jia Xu was not surprised at all by Shangwu's plan, although no one had mentioned this plan, but Jia Xu was very accustomed to Shangwu's ideas that were beyond the scope of others' understanding. In other words, if Shang Wu didn't come up with something very surprising, he would have thought it was very surprising. But to what extent, he himself is not very clear.

"That's true, and in this case, the initial investment is also very large, and most importantly. We don't seem to see any hope for investment. Shang Wu said.

Whether it is land transportation to the south, or the establishment of shipyards to the east, the establishment of water transportation. All have their drawbacks, and overland is currently in great demand, and there is plenty of motivation to do so. But the problem, their investment is very large.

To the east, it is very risky, and even, many businessmen will not invest, because they have no hope at all, or rather, the Republican army has no access to the sea. Although there is a navy on the establishment, the problem is that a navy without a sea cannot establish a navy in the true sense of the word, and the corresponding trade system is naturally difficult to establish, which is the trouble they are currently encountering, and it seems that this trouble will be very big. Neither option is the best option, and perhaps, the conditions are not yet ripe for making the final decision.