Because of the developed inland waterways in the Ming Dynasty, the three major inland river fleets of the Southern Corps of the Far Eastern Army will face great difficulties in supplying fuel, materials, and logistics.

How to reasonably and effectively supply the three major inland river fleets of the Southern Corps is also the key to whether the three major inland river fleets in the Central Plains Campaign can complete their tasks.

In order to effectively provide logistical supplies for the three major inland river fleets, Vladivostok Shipyard and Lushun Shipyard have specially designed two new types of logistics support vessels.

A large integrated supply ship for inland rivers, the main task of which is to carry out water replenishment of the ships of the fleet on the battlefield. This integrated river supply vessel is a modified version of a large inland river steam deck barge, consisting of a deck barge equipped with a higher power steam power unit and towing twenty unpowered deck barges.

The towed 20 non-powered deck barges have also been redesigned, and the carrying capacity is nearly 30 percent higher than that of ordinary barges, and the layout has also been re-planned, so that they can flexibly use modular assembly to load various combat materials such as diesel engine oil, ammunition, weapons, and food equipment.

In addition, each non-powered deck barge is equipped with a small crane or a refueling pump. Power is provided by a small diesel-powered unit, which is extremely fast and capable of replenishing the vessels.

There is also a coal-water supply vessel, which is also adapted from a large river steam deck barge. Just towed twenty unpowered barges filled with high-quality refined coal.

In addition, there is a non-powered barge equipped with several boiler water treatment equipment, which directly extracts river water and treats it into boiler water for steam units through several sets of equipment.

Because of the large number of steam deck barges of the three major river fleets, each river fleet is equipped with a large number of coal and water supply vessels, which follow the fleet's actions and replenish the steam deck barges of each river fleet with high-quality coal water at any time.

In addition to the two logistical supply vessels, there is also a logistical maintenance vessel. It is equipped with two high-power steam-powered units at the front and rear, as well as two large cranes driven by steam-power.

The logistics maintenance vessel tows an unpowered deck barge, loads the steam-powered units and various accessories required by the boat, and follows the various river fleets to maintain and repair the fleet's ships at any time.

In order to facilitate battlefield maintenance, the steam power units equipped with the ships are integrated, which can be hoisted and unloaded as a whole, and the steam power units can be replaced for the ships in just a few hours. In the event of other breakdowns on the steam deck barge, the logistical maintenance vessel can also be repaired in the shortest possible time.

After the general offensive of the Central Plains Campaign began, a large number of inland river steam deck barges and river engine sailing ships of the three major inland river fleets of the Southern Corps rushed into the territory of Daming from the mouth of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River one after another.

The main force of the Southern Corps consisted of eight overseas divisions, eight armed police detachments, and a large number of grassroots musket militia units, with a total number of more than 200,000 troops.

Led by high-speed river engine sailboats and carrying a large number of personnel and supplies, the various river flotillas quickly rushed to important targets along the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the canals, and then landed at various targets with battalions and companies as units. The landing force, with the assistance of the intelligence stations of the Far Eastern Army Intelligence Department stationed in various parts of Daming, quickly occupied the wharves and towns along the coast and established forward bases.

A large number of ships unloading supplies and personnel began to clean up the inland river military forces of the Ming Dynasty in various waters with the cooperation of the airboat troops, and also collected the ships carrying grain on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the merchant ships on the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the tributaries along the river.

In the face of the strong combat effectiveness of the three major inland river fleets of the Far Eastern Army, the inland river ships of the Ming Dynasty in this era could not be compared with the warships of the Far Eastern River Fleet in terms of speed and maneuverability.

Even the relatively slow river steam deck barges of the Far Eastern Army were much faster than the main ships of the Daming River Division. Unable to fight and run, a large number of Ming troops on the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal quickly collapsed.

It took only a dozen days for the three major inland river fleets to completely control the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, as well as the tributaries along them. A large number of inland river sailing ships and steam barges patrol back and forth in various rivers every day, and the air boat unit also sent a large number of airships to cooperate with the ships of the river fleet to patrol the skies over various waterways, completely severing the connection between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty.

When the Far Eastern Company became the owner of the Central Plains, it faced the pressure of the vast area north of the Yangtze River and the huge number of people, and the annual demand for grain and other materials was absolutely astronomical.

Therefore, the Yangtze River Fleet of the Southern Corps has a very important task, that is, to send troops to plunder the Jiangnan region. In particular, the Huguang area was the main supply place of grain in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

The Jiangnan region has always been rich and abundant, and it was also a major grain-producing area in ancient times. After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, a large amount of grain, exquisite daily necessities and other materials needed to be transported to the north in a steady stream, and the purpose of transporting grain was to provide for court consumption, official salaries, military salaries and people's food adjustments.

In this era, the traffic is inconvenient, even if the Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money to build a perfect official road system, it is also paved with mud, once it encounters rain and snow, it is inevitable that it will be muddy, and it is inconvenient to walk, so the waterway has become the most important means of transportation in the Ming Dynasty.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal communicated the five major water systems of the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were 4 million stones of grain and 120,000 troops in the north through the canal every year. Whether the Ming Dynasty's Cao Yun was smooth or not was directly related to the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.

With the continuous economic development of the Suchang region at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and becoming the center of the national cotton textile industry, Jiangsu and Zhejiang grain has been unable to be self-sufficient, and needs to be imported from Huguang area.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full", and the Huguang area of this era does not include Guangdong and Guangxi, but refers to the plain of the two lakes. That is, it spans the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei, mainly including the Dongting Lake Plain and the Jianghan Plain.

It is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, east of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and south of Dabie Mountain. There are Jingjiang River, Hanjiang River, Xiangjiang River, Yuanjiang River, Zishui, Lishui and other large and small rivers passing through. It is named because most of them are located in Hunan and Hubei. There are many lakes in the plain of the two lakes, including Dongting Lake and Honghu Lake. The river network is dense and the land is fertile.

After the Yangtze River Fleet took control of the Yangtze River and its tributaries, it began to organize forces to carry out planned large-scale looting of the Suchang region and the Huguang region, and the plundered materials were mainly grain and other agricultural products, as well as cloth, silk fabrics, and other materials. (To be continued.) )