In fact, there are not many issues worth discussing with Qin Lang and his military advisers - it is obviously too early to discuss specific tactical issues, and no military advisers know much about the situation in the Philippines...... In fact, more than half of the population did not know that the Spaniards were the rulers of the Philippines until after entering Umbrella, and a quarter of them were officers from the army who did not figure out where the Philippines was until then, or even heard of it for the first time. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It is undoubtedly rather comical to discuss the combat deployments, operational objectives, and lines of action of the mercenaries in the Philippine campaign with such military advisers in San Diego.

Qin Lang doesn't like to do funny and meaningless things, so the topics of discussion are limited to a very small scope - logistics to be exact.

In war, the most important thing is, first, accurate and reliable intelligence, and second, good logistics. The importance of ensuring that the front line receives sufficient food, ammunition and fuel is obviously higher than the military quality of the soldiers, higher than the performance of weapons and equipment, and higher than the tactical and strategic mind of the commander.

Even the ground battles in the First Sino-Japanese War partly confirmed his view: nearly 20,000 soldiers of the Japanese Army died of starvation or disease, almost 20 times the number of casualties. In fact, if Ye Zhichao had been able to hold on to Pyongyang instead of fleeing back to China like a rabbit, the Japanese would have lost the war because of the starvation of a large number of soldiers.

And then lose all hope of rising - if Japan did not receive war reparations, the British Royal Navy's Far East Fleet would be happy to send every warship to Japan to demand arrears from the bankers in Great Britain......

Qin Lang came back to his senses, no longer imagining the tragic scene after Japan lost all the chips in his hand for an extremely ridiculous reason, and asked the military advisers: "How many supplies have we transported to the Guangzhou Bay base?" ”

The chief military adviser flipped through the documents that visited him, put on a pair of glasses, and read: "Seven million rounds of ammunition, 140,000 mortar shells, 30,000 sticks of morphine, 5,000 tons of medicines, and 5,000 tons of canned luncheon meat." ”

"Is it enough for fourteen thousand men to fight for forty days?" Qin Lang was unsure about this. For the first time in his experience, it was a little difficult to prepare enough supplies for 14,000 soldiers for forty days of fighting.

It was his idea to have adequate supplies, but unfortunately, in the eyes of others, it was not just that.

"Enough? My God! Before Harrington or the others could answer, Rachel was already yelling, "You have supplies that could keep our mercenaries fighting the Spaniards in the Philippines for a whole year!" Qin, there are too many things! ”

"It's a bit much." Harrington nodded. On average, each mercenary gets five hundred rounds of ammunition and ten shells, as well as about seven hundred and ninety pounds of medicine and canned food, which, it must say, is a little extravagant by current international standards.

But Qin Lang didn't think so. The unfortunate problem for Rachel and his military advisers is that he had watched the 1991 Gulf War, the Enduring Freedom military operation, and the Iraq War on television, as well as a number of war movies depicting the U.S. military and articles about the logistics of the U.S. military. So his materiel for mercenaries was drawn up along the lines of the American army for the next century.

"I don't think it's enough." Qin Lang didn't care at all about the expressions of the others—surprised, or annoyed—he spoke according to his own point of view, "The ammunition reserve needs to be doubled. ”

Medicines are sufficient. Theoretically, no matter how crazy the mercenaries were, they couldn't have consumed all the seven hundred and ninety pounds of medicine. As for canned food, the mercenaries had a fixed ration of food, and all veterans were so averse to luncheon meat that it was impossible to eat them all within forty days.

But ammunition reserves are still a problem. Although, as a merchant, he should strictly control the ammunition consumption of mercenaries. But it is clearly difficult for an army armed with a large number of machine guns, automatic rifles and submachine guns to do this. Considering what will happen later, five hundred rounds per person is not enough, and ten shells seem to be a little less.

"Less?" Rachel continued to scream, "There are only 20,000 Spanish soldiers in the Philippines, and the bullets you have prepared can kill them several times." ”

"Considering the scale and intensity of the battle, I think it is only necessary to prepare two bases of ammunition, Mr. Qin." A military adviser said, and others agreed.

"Up to three ammo bases." Harrington added.

"You have clearly forgotten about the speed at which machine guns and submachine guns consume bullets." Qin Lang didn't give an inch, and his attitude was resolute, "We need to prepare at least 10,000 rounds of ammunition for each machine gun." ”

It seems like this is a reasonable logic. But actually...... Harrington exchanged words with other military advisers in a low voice for a while, reviewing the total number of machine guns equipped by the mercenaries and counting the amount of ammunition they needed, and then said: "Even so." We still believe that fourteen million rounds of ammunition is a bit much. ”

On the other side, Yi Shui and O'Connor were also discussing in a low voice—although they unconditionally supported Qin Lang's demands, Yi Shui still had to say: "Fourteen million rounds of ammunition can be used to overthrow the Manchu government." ”

O'Connor nodded approvingly. "It is true, the ammunition prepared by Qin can carry out a coup d'état in the vast majority of countries and achieve victory."

His voice was a little loud, and Rachel heard it, and immediately used the speech as a weapon.

"You heard that, Qin?" In the tone of a victor, she said, "Your supporters also think that you have asked for too much ammunition." ”

"I stand by my opinion." Qin Lang showed an extraordinary stubbornness.

"But why?" Rachel felt incomprehensible.

Because this is a tradition established by the American military in 1917, a style that leaves enemies and allies stunned at the same time. Of course, Qin Lang's understanding is not so superficial. Except that because it is likely that so many bullets will need to be consumed in combat - even snipers cannot kill a target with a single bullet, let alone machine gunners - they are literally drowning their targets with bullets. He was worried about something else: the mercenary's enemy was not only the Spanish army, but also the Philippine rebels.

There is also the second palace coup that China is destined to take place. Qin Lang wasn't sure when it would erupt, it could happen at any time. If Cixi and Zaiyi had started to act before the Spanish-American War was over, there would have been no time to resupply the mercenaries with ammunition.

But Qin Lang couldn't tell these secrets. In front of military advisers, it is not wise to do so. Luckily, he had one last reason. "Rachel, even if we can't run out of bullets, we can sell them to someone else."

If there is anything in this world that can always be sold, arms is undoubtedly one of them. As to where the arms are stored before they are sold, that is only a secondary issue.

"What the hell are you worried about, Rachel?" Qin Lang asked rhetorically, but not just at Rachel, but also at others.

"'Even,' Qin." She snorted, "You're going to get all of the soldier's ammo fired." ”

Qin Lang stared at her angrily. "You're really breaking my heart, Rachel......"

"Three million rounds of ammunition and twenty thousand shells." Rachel ignored him, and she had already turned her attention to the military advisors. "At most, only so much more ammunition can be delivered."

She didn't want to really anger Qin Lang. And for the most part, it was a small revenge for him just to remind her of those gassed rabbits. So now, she made a little concession, otherwise the debate about ammunition would go on endlessly - but they didn't have time.

Qin Lang needed to rush to Guangzhou Bay immediately to take over the troops before the official declaration of war and get his temporary rank; He couldn't have been involved in a protracted discussion, so when she gave in, he would back down.

Rachel's speculation was quickly confirmed.

"Well, three million rounds of ammunition and twenty thousand shells." Qin Lang accepted her proposal, but then emphasized: "I ask the company to prepare another four million rounds of ammunition and 20,000 shells in San Diego, and as soon as I need them, I will send them to Guangzhou Bay immediately." ”

Rachel sighed to himself. What kind of war requires the consumption of fourteen million rounds of ammunition and 180,000 shells? Perhaps, when discussing the contract with representatives of Washington, she should have included the entire cost of ammunition in the commission...... Yes, part of the cost of ammunition, medicine and food is included in the commissions stipulated in the contract...... Half a million dollars. But it's not enough.

Next time, be sure to put Washington in charge of all ammunition costs......

"Now for the second question," as Rachel pondered her question, she heard Qin Lang say, "How many transport ships do we need to hire." ”

"What!" She cried out again, "We hire our own transports? ”

Shouldn't this be a Navy thing?

"There are not so many warships in the Far Eastern Fleet." Yi Shui explained.

His explanation didn't make Rachel relax, but Qin Lang knew what to say. "Washington will bear the full cost, but require the presence of a naval officer when the contract is signed." Suddenly, as if remembering something, he asked, "You didn't read our contract?" ”

"Leave me alone." Rachel furrowed his eyebrows. She only looked at the amount of the contract, and it was really ......

Qin Lang shrugged his shoulders and said to the others: "Let's continue to ......" (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, there are more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )