The biggest advantage of traversing people is not the amount of knowledge, after all, no one is omnipotent, but the breadth of thinking and associative ability are difficult for people in the early 20th century to achieve, which is the kung fu practiced in the era of information and knowledge explosion in later generations.

Chai Dongliang has always felt that there is a problem with the quality of the officers and men of the Yangtze River Fleet, and he expects them to defeat the combined fleet, unless it is equipped with a seaplane aircraft carrier, and develops a super monster like the Daoerni seaplane, and then relies on the huge superiority in firepower and technology to make up for the innate technical and tactical deficiencies of the officers and sailors.

However, Ma Han opened up Chai Dongliang's thinking, in the future war, the enemy of the navy is likely not to be the well-trained Yueben Combined Fleet, and the real purpose should be to destroy the sea transportation lines of Yueben, and the target of the attack is those merchant ships with almost no defensive capabilities, so the difficulty is much smaller.

is worthy of being a well-known strategist, and the height of seeing the problem is indeed different from Chai Dongliang, a naval blind who knows nothing except aircraft carriers and battleships. Chai Dongliang originally had a deep concern about the navy, and the officers of the Yangtze River Fleet were almost all Fujianese, and they were very grouped, and outsiders could not get in at all. Although Chai Dongliang also wants to mix sand in it, the question is where is there a ready-made navy talent to replace these Fujian officers? And the commander of the navy, Tang Xiangming, also reassured Chai Dongliang, his brother Tang Hualong is the speaker of the House of Representatives and a director of the Republican Party, and belongs to Li Yuanhong's hardcore lineage. Fortunately, this time Yuan Shikai put Li Yuanhong under house arrest, and used an officer to pretend to be a "citizen group" to make a big fuss at the scene of the presidential election, which made Tang Hualong deeply disappointed with Li Yuanhong's incompetence and Yuan Shikai's domineering, so he took refuge in Chai Dongliang.

Chai Dongliang felt suddenly relieved. In order to deal with the Yangtze River fleet, which could not be inserted into the water, Chai Dongliang placed all their families in Wuhu, which was very preferential on the surface, but in fact they were taken hostage. This trick is vicious enough, but it has also been done a little, and in the long run, it will definitely hurt the feelings of the officers and men of the naval division, and it can only be an expedient measure.

However, these Hokkien Yankees, who usually say that they walk and look at people with their nostrils, are more well-behaved than elementary school students in front of Mahan, and no one goes to the toilet after a lecture lasts for two and a half hours. Even the commander of the navy, Tang Xiangming, and the deputy commander Cheng Biguang, were like this, and they didn't even dare to be angry after sitting for a few hours, and they were thousands of times more respectful than when they saw Chai Dongliang.

Mahan was already the most famous naval strategist in the world, and even the British Empire, with its naval might, held him in high esteem. Not to mention himself, it is a great honor to be his disciple.

When he was studying in the United States, Toshito Sakamoto, president of the Naval University, met this young man when he visited the United States and persuaded him to return to China to take the examination of the University, saying that he would not be able to mix well in the Imperial Navy after entering the University. Akiyama Mayuki seemed to think solemnly for a long time, and asked very seriously: "So I should go back to China to take the entrance examination, but who will be my instructor?" ”

Sakamoto just woke up, Akiyama Shinyuki is a disciple of Mahan! This guy is obviously playing cymbals with himself!

Sakamoto immediately decided that this kind of talent really shouldn't go to Haida to study, it's right to teach! Sakamoto immediately solemnly admonished Akiyama Shinyuki: "Since you are a disciple of Mahan, you must serve the imperial country, and you have to return to China no matter what you say." With Mahan's prestige, Akiyama Shinyuki didn't even get a diploma from the Annapolis Naval Academy in the United States, and was stunned by the president of the Naval University to be tied back to become an instructor at the Naval University. At the time of the Russo-Russian War, Gonbei Yamamoto, the father of the Navy, who was the Minister of the Sea at the time, personally went to Haida and respectfully asked Akiyama Shinyuki to be the first staff officer of the Combined Fleet, while the commander of the fleet at that time, Heihachiro Togo, took office after only giving an order.

You know, Akiyama Mayuki has never experienced a naval battle, but no one has taken this into account, and it is reasonable for the Navy to think that Mayuki Akiyama must be a genius, otherwise how could he get the favor of Rear Admiral Mahan (Mahan was still a colonel at the time)? Since he is a disciple of Mahan, it is impossible not to be a genius, and it is impossible not to fight.

Akiyama Mayuki really had two brushes, and his luck was even better, after coming out of the mountain, he first designed a sneak attack on Lushun, and several small and poor destroyers and torpedo boats with a displacement of only a few hundred tons actually infiltrated Lushun in a big way, and after damaging several huge battleships and cruisers, they returned to the combined fleet unscathed.

To tell the truth, it was too evil to say that the Russian War had been won, and Akiyama Shinyuki was stunned that he didn't believe that he had won it in the end, and even the commander of the Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, didn't believe it. A summary of the war drafted by these two men. The first sentence is: "God bless God help, said that Ben actually won", in addition to a few words in the war summary about the emperor's great glory and what kind of about the courage of the soldiers, it is good luck, God bless God help. The famous admiral Makarov, the first commander of the Russian old Maozi's fleet, was actually killed by a mine laid by the book, and this mine was just laid the day before, and there were more than ten Russian [***] ships that went out to fight that day, but it sank the Russian flagship and killed the naval commander Makarov, and another fleet commander in Russia was killed by a shell, and another commander was actually Rogistervensky, the tsar's court minister, who had never been on a warship, this guy was disabled again, and he didn't dare to fight again until the fourth, Became the first fleet commander in the history of the Navy to surrender without a fight.

True skills combined with good luck can not be better, and the achievement of Akiyama Shinyuki, the myth of the Navy.

However, if Mayuki Akiyama was not a student of Mahan, how could he make a battle plan, and no one dared to question the viability of his plan, whether it was the Navy Ministry or the Combined Fleet!

It can be seen from this that Rear Admiral Mahan's prestige in the naval circles is so great that he can invite him to Jiujiang Naval University as the president, and Chai Dongliang's life is really good, thanks to President Taft, because he was dissatisfied with Mahan's constant clamor that war was coming, so he was sent to China and became the first president of Jiujiang Naval University.

Being able to become Mahan's disciple and being ordered by him can make these naval officers brag for half their lives. Mahan's prestige in the naval circles made the officers of the Yangtze River Fleet look up to them, and his knowledge impressed them even more, and his new thinking on the navy made these officers who advocated the traditional idea of "fighting when the enemy must fight" feel extremely fresh.

This kind of situation is exactly what Chai Dongliang needs, and when the first batch of cadets of Jiujiang Naval University graduates, it will be extremely difficult for the Fujian Gang to squeeze out these newcomers??? The disciple of the dignified Rear Admiral Mahan is not qualified enough to be the captain of the Navy?

It was easy to wait for Ma Han's speech to end, and the officer, who had been holding back for several hours, rushed out of the auditorium and went straight to the thatched house as soon as possible, Chai Dongliang walked over with a smile and handed Ma Han a cigarette.

The officer who did not leave the auditorium looked up at Rear Admiral Ma Han in military uniform with great reverence, and the feeling was the same as the idiot expression of fans in later generations when they saw their idols, but when they saw Chai Dongliang standing with him and whispering, they had to keep their distance and did not dare to get too close to this naval giant.

"Major General, no, Your Excellency the Headmaster, do you see the love that my officers have for you? China is still weak, but it can give you room to make the most of your talents, something that the powerful United States cannot do. Chai Dongliang smoked a cigarette and gave him a high hat.

Rear Admiral Mahan said proudly: "I don't doubt this at all, this is also the reason why I am willing to serve as the president of Jiujiang Naval University, the United States is too boring, and a group of politicians who have no knowledge of the navy want to control the fate of the navy, what a tragedy!" ”

Chai Dongliang laughed and said: "You are really different from ordinary naval officers, the tradition of the navy is not to talk, you are an exception." ”

Mahan is a naval champion, of course, he can hear Chai Dongliang's pun, and it is indeed a naval tradition not to like to talk, which follows the practice of the British Navy, including two layers of concepts. The first is because the warships are all steel plates, and the echo is very strong, and the voice is so loud that I can't stand it, let alone others, so I generally don't speak loudly. The second meaning is that the navy generally does not interfere in politics, which is also a practice that the British Navy has left to the world. Including the army, which likes to interfere in national affairs the most, has been greatly affected, and the army has been making trouble for the political axe and the congress for three days and two days, while the navy has been much more low-key??? Of course, the premise is that the military budget must be sufficient, otherwise the navy will make trouble and be even more ruthless than the army.

Ma Han smiled: "I am the principal of a military academy, not the commander of the fleet, I don't need to think about the problem of soldiers not interfering in politics, does Your Excellency the General want the students I have cultivated to be stupid people who only know how to carry out orders?" ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "The curriculum at the beginning of the military academy, as well as the teaching method, is the power of the principal and instructors, and I will definitely not interfere, you can rest assured." I just have a little doubt, can I defeat Yuben just by relying on the blockade? As you said, the navy is a branch of the army that can only be used for attack and not defense, and once we attack the sea transportation line of the city, then the navy will inevitably retaliate, and they will attack our coastal cities, which is also a loss that we cannot afford! ”

Mahan nodded and said: "What you said is very reasonable, war is never isolated, political factors are issues that have to be considered, and the most important factor that determines the war is the comprehensive national strength of both sides??? What I am talking about is a macro strategic force, and many specific things need to be solved carefully and meticulously, and any lack of details will cause disaster consequences??? For a simple analogy, if you had a hundred submarines in your hands and now ordered your submarine force to block the sea lines of communication in Ben, would you think you could accomplish the task? ”

Chai Dongliang is basically navy blind, so he had to answer honestly: "Your Excellency the principal, it's up to you to answer this question." ”

Mahan smiled and said, "My answer is no!" Because your submarine has no weapons. ”

Chai Dongliang was stunned: "Doesn't the submarine have cannons and torpedoes?" ”

Mahan nodded and said: "You are right, the submarine has cannons, but if the submarine is allowed to surface and attack the enemy transport ship with artillery, it is extremely dangerous, not to mention the situation where there is a warship escort, even the firepower of an armed merchant ship is more powerful than the artillery of a submarine??? As for torpedoes, Your Excellency General, do you think that torpedoes can be used as a weapon now? ”

After listening to Mahan's story, Chai Dongliang realized that his ideas still had a lot of immaturity, and there was even nothing to do!

If you expect a submarine to block the sea route of the city and then attack the military port and the surface of the water with a water aircraft carrier, the most important weapon is the torpedo, and the current torpedo is not yet a mature weapon, and if you want to hit a moving target, the probability of winning the jackpot is not much different from buying a lottery ticket. At least 80 out of 100 torpedoes will detonate prematurely before they hit, and 15 of the remaining 20 will yaw.

During the Russo-Russian War, the Russian [***] ships trapped in Arthur tried in vain to escape to Vladivostok, but were caught up by the combined fleet, and the two sides fought for a long time during the day, seeing that it was not early, the navy was afraid of accidental injury, so it withdrew the battleships and cruisers from the battle, and let torpedo boats and destroyers besiege the Russian navy. After fighting all night, I don't know how many torpedoes were released, and when the results were checked at dawn, the Russian warships were not even rubbed off with paint, and the angry Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Mayuki just wanted to order these captains to collectively disembowel, and they were all fucking dead, dead, and counted!

In the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, Deng Shichang's Zhiyuan was actually hit by a torpedo during the voyage, and this negligible possible surname was either that the character of the combined fleet won the jackpot, and the more likely surname was that before the battle, the Zhiyuan did not withdraw the torpedo tube from the torpedo tube in accordance with the naval regulations at that time, and was hit by the torpedo tube of the warship's gun, and the explosion occurred. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why the torpedoes were able to hit a moving warship. However, the Chinese are accustomed to being a fool of His Holiness, and Deng Shichang's death in battle was vigorous, and with his bold words of "crashing into Yoshino", no one dared to investigate in detail whether the Zhiyuan had management defects. Later generations of historians have also chosen to keep silent, so as not to attract a meal!

The torpedo problem must be tackled technically!

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, this is not false at all, but Chai Dongliang has an advantage that no one can match.

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(To be continued)