Imperial General Staff, Hall of the Center for Combat Wargames. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This is a special building built in imitation of the Great Hall of the People in later generations, with a total of three floors, hollowed out in the middle, a total of 200,000 square meters of space, if it can accommodate people, it can accommodate 20,000 people without looking crowded.

High-level officials from various departments of the imperial military gathered together and tried their best to simulate the possible changes that could occur in various real situations, so as to deduce the final victory of the First Sino-Japanese War, and even the world war that broke out as a result, to ensure that the Chinese Empire became the biggest winner.

Li Weiguo also came in person, but he didn't interject, just sat quietly on the third floor, condescendingly looking down at the central hall on the first floor, and listened to the war games of various military departments.

In the center of the hall is a huge sand table, one hundred and fifty meters long and one hundred and twenty meters wide.

This mountain and ocean sand table is very finely done, Li Weiguo sits on the third floor, and he can clearly see every detail on it.

The wargames soon began, starting with a strategic analysis of the forces of the enemy and the enemy.

An operational staff officer presented a prepared piece of information to the crowd.

In terms of intelligence, we should start from the overall strategic environment, compare the forces of the enemy and ourselves from the political, economic, and military aspects, and make a rough macro judgment for reference by various military departments.

"At present, the total economic output of the Japanese Empire is the weakest of the ten great powers, and the gross national product of last year was 280 million yen, less than 20 million yuan, which is a full 50 times worse than the empire.

"Politically, knowing that although the government is strong, it has lost two wars against China, and it has suddenly suffered a heavy blow, weakening its dominance. Prince Nokuhisa's strength is growing day by day, he is a pro-China faction, and at a critical moment, he will play a role in letting the government fall knowing it. This is a secret war of the intelligence department, and our military department will not discuss it for the time being. ”

"Militarily, the Japanese Empire has 20 divisions and regiments of the Standing Army, with a total strength of 1.05 million troops, equipped with Nissan weapons, mainly rifles, about 200 old Gatling heavy machine guns, and the artillery is mainly mountain artillery, with a total of no more than 800, and the strongest artillery is the American-made 152 mm heavy howitzer, 36 of which are currently imported and equipped with Guards Divisions."

"Naval strength is the key development target of the Japanese army, and at present, most of the main fleets of the Japanese Navy are concentrated at the Sasebo naval base to make a defensive posture against the empire. The combined fleet of the Japanese Navy currently has 222 surface warships, including 26 capital ships, including 2 super dreadnought battleships, 4 dreadnought battleships, 8 pre-dreadnought battleships, 2 super dreadnought battlecruisers, 4 dreadnought battlecruisers, 4 armored cruisers, and 2 dome cruisers. There are 36 unprotected cruisers, 60 frigates, 12 coastal defense ironclad ships, 66 gunboats, 30 Fish and Ray speedboats, and 4 communication ships. ”

"The main fleet of the Japanese Navy has nothing to fear, as long as the main fleet of our Imperial Navy finds an opportunity, it can be easily destroyed. However, it should be noted that the Japanese Navy has more than 400 submarines, of which 120 have a displacement of more than 300 tons, which have a strong attack capability, and the remaining submarines have a small displacement and only pose a threat to merchant ships. ”

"The above is the comparison of the military strength of China and Japan! End of briefing! ”

After the operational staff officer finished his briefing, he gave a military salute to Li Weiguo and the others.

At this time, the Minister of the Air Force, Zhuang Jiuxia, was not happy, and asked directly: "Hey, comrade, haven't you said anything about the strength comparison of our Air Force?" ”

Seeing that it was Zhuang Jiuxia who asked, the combat staff officer immediately smiled bitterly and said, "I'm sorry Lord Zhuang, we didn't plan to let the Air Force participate in the war!" ”

Zhuang Jiuxia was suddenly unhappy, and said angrily: "What? You usually look down on us, forget it, why are you going to have a great war now, a war related to the fortunes of the country, you are still like this? ”

Zhuang Jiuxia's voice was very loud, and the other ministers of the military immediately rolled their eyes, wanting to sarcastically say that the air force was a chicken rib, but suddenly remembered that Emperor Li Weiguo was still on the third floor, and he was looking at them at the moment.

Thinking of Li Weiguo's attention to the Air Force in the past few years, and Zhuang Jiuxia's background as the chief of the palace guard, he could be said to be a close minister of the emperor, but he didn't dare to offend, so he shut up and pretended not to know.

At this time, the military ministers all looked at Zhang Xiaoliu.

Zhang Xiaoliu suddenly smiled bitterly, knowing that he was lying down again, this Zhuang Jiuxia was clearly deliberate, in front of Li Weiguo, deliberately correcting them.

"Lord Zhuang doesn't need to worry, the reason why I didn't report the air force is because Japan doesn't have an air force, I can't let your air force fight the air, right? Of course, there are also missions for your Air Force! Originally, I wanted to discuss it for a while, but since Master Zhuang is in a hurry, let's discuss it together now! ”

As he spoke, Zhang Xiaoliu glared at several operational staff officers, they were all monkey spirits, and they suddenly understood, and hurriedly took out a report.

"The air forces of China and Japan are not comparable at all, because Japan does not have an air force, while the Imperial Air Force currently has 800 airships, which can carry out aerial reconnaissance throughout Japan around the clock, providing precision targets for the navy and army."

"Above!"

The operational staff officer finished speaking, and there was only one sentence.

Zhuang Jiuxia secretly scolded in his heart, damn little Japan, why doesn't there be an air force? The harmful Lao Tzu wasted his feelings in vain!

Zhang Xiaoliu saw that Zhuang Jiuxia was silent, and immediately smiled and signaled to continue.

Li Weiguo, who was on the third floor, just smiled slightly and did not speak.

In his eyes, the generals of the Empire's navy, army, and air force still quarrel every day, like children, and sometimes they quarrel very fiercely.

But this can't be helped, soldiers, how can there be no blood? How can you not have a temper? Soldiers who don't quarrel or fight are sheep, and the Chinese Imperial Army does not need sheep, but needs a group of wolves and a group of tigers and leopards, so if they are not strong and aggressive, they will not be able to mix in the Chinese Imperial Army at all.

As long as they do not tear each other down and harm the interests of the country, Li Weiguo will not care about them.

At this time, another combat staff officer stepped forward, saluted, and picked up a long command post.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the battle plan drawn up by my Third Operations Staff Office is like this."

"Since the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy is deployed separately in peacetime, one is deployed in the Sasebo direction, the West Sea Fleet, the other is deployed in Edo Bay, the East Sea Fleet, and the other is deployed in the Seto Inland Sea, which is called the Inland Sea Fleet."

"Because of financial problems, the Japanese Navy rarely goes to sea for activities, and next year, the Japanese emperor will hold a parade in Edo Bay, when the main forces of the three major fleets of the Japanese Navy will go to participate in the parade. The U.S. Navy has a concession to Japan's Yokosuka Naval Base, where four dreadnought battleships, six armored cruisers, seven frigates, and 10 submarines are stationed at the Emperor's parade. In addition, according to intelligence, the Entente bloc of England, France, Tsarist Russia, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries may send warships to participate. ”

"Our battle plan is that we will also send warships to participate in it, and take the opportunity to obtain information on the shipping lanes of Edo Bay and send it to the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Navy by radio."

"And the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Navy will rush to a certain sea area in the South Pacific to conduct exercises a month in advance on the grounds of military exercises, and it is better to conduct joint military exercises with the Brazilian Imperial Navy, which will make it easier to paralyze Japan and the Entente and make them think that the main force of our Pacific Fleet is not nearby. At the same time, the Pacific Fleet secretly returned, and on the day of the parade, it suddenly entered Edo Bay, caught them by surprise, and completely annihilated the Japanese Combined Fleet and the American Asian Fleet in World War I. ”

Zhang Xiaoliu said: "The plan is good, but in this way, it is equivalent to directly starting a war against the Entente bloc!" We want the First Sino-Japanese War, and then the World War. Because of this, it is possible that the Entente group will not enter the war. ”

Lin Jiyun retorted: "The probability that the Entente will not enter the war is too low, almost impossible!" Even if we only fight Japan, soon the Entente will declare war on us! So it's better to stew in one pot and save trouble! ”

The other military ministers nodded their heads, and that was indeed the case.

Zhang Xiaoliu only put forward a possibility of what if, and did not insist.

The wargame continued.

Next, the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy attacked Edo Bay and engaged the Japanese Combined Fleet and the American Asian Fleet.

Due to the sneak attack of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the Japanese and American naval warships were sunk by a third of the submarines of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the first round.

A fierce battle ensued.

Due to the suddenness of the incident, the ships of the Japanese and US navies could only fight on their own, and they were divided and surrounded by the ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The Imperial Chinese Navy's warships were superior in firepower, armor, and speed, and the battle ended within an hour, with the Japanese Combined Fleet annihilated, the American Asian Fleet annihilated, and the Entente ships sunk.

In the first stage, the wargame deduction in the naval battle stage ended quickly, and there was almost no suspense.

In this regard, the Imperial Chinese Navy has absolute self-confidence.

Next, the wargame began to conduct a landing battle. Since the Chinese Empire had gained sea supremacy, it launched a large-scale attack directly on Edo.

The Chinese Empire will dispatch six marine divisions to simultaneously carry out beach-grabbing and landing battles in six areas around Edo Bay, and before the Japanese Army can react, the Sixth Route Army will quickly encircle and occupy Edo, control the Japanese Emperor Mingzhi and important members of the Japanese central departments, and then invite Prince Nohisa to serve as the new emperor, and quickly end the First Sino-Japanese War.

As long as the First Sino-Japanese War was quickly ended and Japan was completely conquered before the Entente group completed the general mobilization for the war, then it would be possible to avoid a world war.

After all, the Entente bloc, seeing that it had lost Japan, was likely to choose compromise and forbearance to a large extent.

In fact, Li Weiguo's decision to start a war against Japan in the first year of the First Sino-Japanese War was a little impulsive, and he could have continued to pit the Entente group for a few more years.

If a world war does not break out, it will naturally be good, which not only satisfies Li Weiguo's pleasure of teaching Japan a lesson, but also echoes the overall national interests of the Chinese Empire.

However, this probability is not very large, and it is impossible for the Chinese imperial military not to prepare for a world war for the sake of this slim hope.

On the contrary, the military is very excited that they can finally fight a world war, and they have endured it for a long time and can't wait.

Next, the wargame entered the world war stage.

That's where it gets more complicated.

First of all, in the economic aspect, although the Allied bloc still accounts for 62% of the world's total economic output, the Entente group also accounts for 31%, of which the United States directly accounts for 20%, although it is only half of the 43% of the Chinese Empire, but its war potential is undoubted.

Theoretically, the Allied bloc could use its economic aggregates to wage a war of attrition against the Entente bloc and finally win. However, in practice, there are variables in the proportion of losses between the two sides.

Then there was the political aspect, where the Entente bloc had the upper hand, because the political divisions within the Allied bloc were more serious.

This is all because of the three countries of Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had territorial and ethnic conflicts, and Italy also had related territorial conflicts of interest with Austria-Hungary.

This was a factor of instability within the Allied bloc, but it was the Entente bloc, and Britain made huge concessions to Tsarist Russia, which on the contrary resolved the century-old contradiction between Britain and Russia, and made the Entente bloc more politically stable.

In terms of military affairs, the military strength of the Entente bloc has expanded very rapidly, especially in recent years, Britain, the United States, France, and Russia have almost frantically expanded their armaments.

Up to now, the U.S. Navy has launched eight capital warships every year, namely four super-dreadnought battleships and four super-dreadnought battlecruisers. Every three years, ten cruisers are launched as fleet escort warships.

At present, the U.S. Navy alone has 30 capital warships, including four Rhode Island-class battleships (Rhode Island, Georgia, New Jersey, and Connecticut) that began construction in February 1888, and four Louisiana-class battlecruisers (Louisiana, Vermont, Survey, and Minnesota) that began construction in May.

The Mississippi-class super-dreadnought-class battleships (USS Mississippi and USS Edward) and the South Carolina-class superdreadnought battlecruisers (USS South Carolina and USS Michigan) started construction in March 188?9.

Delaware-class dreadnought battleships (Delaware, North Dakota) and Florida-class dreadnought battlecruisers (Florida, Utah) started construction in June 1890

These main warships have been launched one after another, and most of them have been officially commissioned and installed in the fleet of the American Navy.

The American Navy, under Roosevelt, developed far faster than in the Grant era.

Similarly, the British Empire, far across the Atlantic, seems to have become more and more dependent on the United States, and has therefore received a large amount of financial aid from the United States, which makes the Royal Navy of the British Empire seem to have returned to the glory and gone crazy. (To be continued.) )