At the end of September, when the news of the formation of the Four-Power Alliance by Britain and France came, Zhang Wei did not panic and immediately convened a military conference. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In the conference room of the Imperial Palace, Li Minmin first reported on the situation of the Four-Nation Alliance.

Li Zhaoshui, deputy chief of the general staff, immediately rejoiced in his heart, Britain and France sent so many battleships and battle cruisers, and the navy came to eat.

Lu Weimin thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, should we immediately implement my last suggestion and block the Suez Canal with sand and gravel?" ”

Li Zhaoshui retorted: "No, in that case, the outside world thinks that if we are afraid of them, we will lose the prestige of the empire." ”

Lu Weimin smiled and asked, "Then what is your opinion?" ”

"My opinion, which I discussed before the war, is to immediately occupy all the islands from Sri Lanka to Madagascar, to turn the Indian Ocean into the inland sea of the empire, to build permanent fortifications and airfields on the islands, and to increase the strategic depth of the empire. After their fleet and coalition forces arrive in India, let's take your way to block the Suez Canal with sand and gravel, cut off their retreat and material supply lines, and annihilate the four-nation coalition forces to see which country dares to oppose the empire in the future. Li Zhaoshui said with confidence.

Lu Weimin nodded, feeling that this method was not bad, closing the door and fighting the dogs, and annihilating the four-nation coalition army, but he had objections to the occupation of Madagascar Island, so he said: "The island of Madagascar is too large and has a large population, and France has at least 2 divisions of troops stationed on the island of Madagascar, and it is not easy to occupy them all in a short period of time. ”

Li Zhaoshui said: "Haha, in terms of the combat effectiveness of the French army, as long as the navy controls the sea dominance, how much combat effectiveness can his two divisions exert?" Besides, the area of this island is large enough, and the strategic location is not bad, it is a springboard for the empire to enter Africa in the future, and after occupying it, the scope of activities of our submarine force will increase a lot, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. ”

Zhang Wei said: "It is necessary to occupy the island of Madagascar, but at first you can send only one army to drive the French away, and as for the locals, you can slowly clean up after the war; It would be a bit strange to block the Suez Canal with sand and gravel, but I think the Navy will send submarines to lay mines in the waters of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden, so that the same effect can be achieved. ”

Li Zhaoshui said: "Yes, this is also very good, in addition, when their fleet arrives in Mumbai, they will also lay mines off the coast of Mumbai, suffocating them in the port, and all the supplies will not want to enter or leave the Indian mainland." ”

The general policy was set, and Lu Weimin proposed: "Your Majesty, the area of the Burma Special Administrative Region is too small and has no strategic depth, and if you want to fight the four-nation coalition army, you must go out. As he spoke, he came to the map, pointed to the map and said: "The Rakhine Mountains are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and after the construction of permanent fortifications, they can be used as the last barrier of the empire, so we must now take advantage of the fact that the main force of the British army has not arrived, drive the troops to the west of the mountains, occupy the territory east of the Ganges River as our base, and use the Ganges River as the first barrier of the empire, so that we can attack and retreat." ”

"Okay, let's do it, fight the four-nation coalition army west of the Rakhine Mountains, drive all the locals east of the Ganges to the west of the Ganges, and then the east of the Ganges will be the territory of the empire, and we will slowly encroach on the land of the British." Zhang Wei was very appreciative of Lu Weimin's suggestion.

Lu Weimin continued to ask: "Your Majesty, what are the arrangements for the personnel and the army?" Madagascar wants to send a governor, and if it wants to fight against the Four-Nation Alliance, only Qin Fei can't be busy, and he must send an assistant. ”

"And what do you suggest?" Zhang Wei asked.

Lu Weimin looked at the map, carefully considered it for a while, and said: "Your Majesty, the archipelago province has been established for a long time, except for the natives on Papua Island, all the areas under its jurisdiction have become the territory of the Chinese, and the role of Fang Liang's chief of staff in the archipelago province is not great, I suggest that Fang Liang and his staff team be transferred to Qin Fei as assistants, establish a former enemy command west of the Rakhine Mountains, and appoint Fang Liang as the former enemy's commander-in-chief; The archipelago province is now in the center of the empire, there is no foreign enemy, and the danger is relatively small, and the commander of the 6th Army can be appointed to handle all military affairs. ”

Zhang Wei felt that Fang Liang should also move, so he agreed with Lu Weimin's suggestion: "Okay, I agree, continue to speak." ”

Lu Weimin said: "Your Majesty, the situation in the Nanyang Special Administrative Region is similar, I feel that these three provinces should be included in the jurisdiction of the Government Council, each province has formed a garrison division, a national defense division has been reorganized into an armed police, and then leave an army, the local natives will not be able to resist, if there is a big incident, the 6th Army of the Archipelago Province, Taiwan Island, the Kalimantan Military Region and the garrison of the Yue Kingdom can give support at the first time, and there is no problem in security; In this case, Han Shin can be transferred to the island of Madagascar as governor, and two armies can be transferred. ”

Zhang Wei waved his hand and said, "Your opinion is very good, go on." ”

"Your Majesty, my opinion is that the 4 regiments transferred back from Japan do not need to be reorganized, and they will be sent directly to the island of Madagascar, and then Han Xin will be equipped with 2 national defense divisions, 1 cavalry division and 1 brigade of mercenaries, which is enough to sweep the entire island of Madagascar." Seeing that Zhang Wei did not speak, Lu Weimin continued: "Now there is still one army on Hainan Island, two more armies on Taiwan Island and Ezo Province, and three armies each in Xinzhou Province, the Peninsula Special Administrative Region, the Lelang Special Administrative Region and the Northern Theater Command. If Britain and France continue to increase their troops, they can transfer one more army from the island of Taiwan to support, and the nearby Vietnamese and Sumatra military districts can also support. ”

"Very good, just follow your plan, what are the specific plans on the Navy's side?" Zhang Wei asked.

Lu Weimin thought about it for a while and said: "Your Majesty, the empire is obviously at a disadvantage in terms of the number of warships, the four-nation alliance has 12 battleships, including 4 Xia-class battleships, and 8 Lanfang-class battleships, the warships of the Imperial Pacific Fleet cannot be mobilized, and the security of the entire Pacific Ocean must be maintained, the Central Fleet only has 3 Xia-class battleships, 7 Lanfang-class battleships, and it also has to protect the imperial waters, the number is obviously insufficient, and the empire has a certain advantage in the case of battlecruisers, If it undertakes the task of laying mines, the number of ocean--going mine-laying submarines will not be enough, and many islands will be occupied, and the navy hopes to transfer an army under the jurisdiction of the navy or form a marine corps. ”

Zhang Wei thought for a while and said: "According to your plan, occupy the entire Indian Ocean and the islands therein, then directly establish the Indian Ocean Fleet, this time the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Central Fleet will jointly operate to destroy the British and French combined fleet, you think about it, how to build the Indian Ocean Fleet, how to configure it, and where the fleet is stationed, etc., make a detailed plan, and then we will discuss it in detail afterwards." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Zhaoshui replied very happily.

After the incident, Zhang Wei informed Zheng Daoyou of the decision to abolish the Nanyang Special Administrative Region and bring the three provinces of Luzon and Sulu under the jurisdiction of the Government Council in the future, and asked him to strengthen the management of the three provinces.

Lu Weimin quickly issued the order, and the entire empire quickly took action, organized a transport fleet, transported the army to the designated position, and prepared to meet the four-nation alliance.

On 2 October, Zhang Wei met with Li Zhaoshui separately to discuss the specific details of the establishment of the Indian Ocean Fleet.

According to Li Zhaoshui's suggestion, the Central Fleet could be equipped with 4 Xia-class battleships, 4 Lanfang-class battleships, 2 King-class battleships, 4 Baiqi-class battlecruisers and 4 Lanfang-class battlecruisers; The Indian Ocean Fleet can be equipped with 3 Xia-class battleships, 3 Lanfang-class battleships, 2 Baiqi-class battlecruisers and 2 Lanfang-class battlecruisers; In addition, the Indian Ocean Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, and the Central Fleet will each be equipped with two Taiwan-class heavy cruisers and four light cruisers.

The Central Fleet was based at the Jingxi Military Port, the Changi Base in Singapore, Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, and Subic Bay in Luzon Province, and the South China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet were withdrawn.

The Indian Ocean Fleet uses Diego Garcia Island, Colombo Port, Sabang Port, and Karachi Port as the home port of battleships and battle cruisers, and can only use Sabang Port as its home port at present; Chittagong, Port Blair, Port Tamatave, Port Louis, etc., can be used as garrison ports for cruisers, destroyers, etc.; Wait until there is territory in Africa and the Middle East before building a battleship home port.

Originally, Zhang Wei wanted to remove the two King-class battleships of the Central Fleet and reduce the Xia-class battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet to two, Li Zhaoshui was afraid of losses when he faced the United Fleet, and he could sell some of them after the war, so he implored Zhang Wei to agree to his request, and originally Zhang Wei wanted to wait until a naval battle broke out before releasing the Xia-class battleships out of the system, Li Zhaoshui hoped to familiarize the existing navy with warships and seize many islands, and implored the warships to be delivered to the navy in advance.

Zhang Wei was assigned a Marine Division and a Defense Division to the Pacific Fleet to guard the occupied islands.

As for supply ships, submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, and fast torpedo boats, which are of little value, they are equipped according to Li Zhaoshui's requirements.

At this point, the empire formed three major fleets, the Central Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, and the Indian Ocean Fleet; Two auxiliary fleets, the Atlantic Fleet and the Northern Fleet.

Since a large part of the old cargo ships were sold to the United States, Zhang Wei purchased 100 diesel engine cargo ships with a load of 5,000 tons and 100 diesel engine cargo ships with a load of 8,000 tons from the system to transport troops and ensure the supply of logistics materials.

Fang Liang and Han Xin were very satisfied with the arrangements made by the General Staff, and they had been guarding the local area for the past few years, and now they finally had the opportunity to expand their territory.

After receiving Lu Weimin's telegram, Qin Fei, the governor of Burma, let go of his hanging heart and began to actively plan the westward expansion strategy.

The five armies that received the order began to board ships one after another to go to the Burma battlefield.

The four regiments transferred back from Japan were to join Han Shin in Shangjing, and then set off with the rest of the troops to seize the island of Madagascar under the escort of the navy.

The information of the Xia Empire's military transfer soon reached the headquarters of the Four-Nation Alliance, Field Marshal Frederick Roberts and Admiral Joseph Gallieni were very angry, and the Xia Empire only transferred a total of 5 armies to meet them, feeling that this was the Xia Empire's contempt for them, and decided to give the Xia Empire a painful memory and must recover the colonies occupied by the Xia Empire. (To be continued.) )

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