All along, Li Guang's idea of army building was to build a small but refined modern army.

Four or five years is the stage when the Allied forces reach their strongest. The U.S. military had nearly 10 million troops, the Soviet army had more than 12 million troops, and the British army had a total strength of more than 5 million. Although the German army also had about 10 million troops, the Japanese army also made up more than 9 million troops. On the surface, the gap is not so big that it is one-sided, but due to the periphery of the main battlefield, many countries have begun to turn to the Allied forces, and it is real that the Allied forces have completely occupied the advantage in terms of military strength.

Haitang was no exception, and during this period, the Haitang army also reached its strongest stage, with a total strength of more than 550,000. However, the strength of the Haitang Army is not reflected in the quantity of the army, but mainly in the quality.

The first is the naval side.

There was one of the biggest changes in the Haitang Navy at the beginning of four or five years, when the battleship Atlantic disappeared from the naval combat sequence.

In terms of value, the battleship Atlantic was worth about thirty-five million dollars. Of all the individual possessions of the Haitang, this warship is undoubtedly the most expensive. It can even be said that it can occupy a quite conspicuous proportion of Haitang's national assets.

This battleship was Li Guangzai. After the retreat from Dunkirk, the Dunkirk was captured from the French on the way back. In several years of fighting, this warship made great contributions to Haitang. But in the past four or five years, the European battlefield was in a tragic tug-of-war, and the United States and Britain had suffered heavy casualties, and they must have wanted to pull the younger brother on their backs. It was natural to hope that the French would do more to reduce the casualties of the British and American troops.

At present, the main battlefield of the Allied forces on the Western Front is in France. For the liberation of France. But the French were thick-skinned enough, and in this situation, the leader of the Free France, Charles de Gaulle, made a series of demands. One of them was to demand that the Haitang "return" the battleship Dunkirk.

It's simply not possible.

However, after a series of diplomatic maneuvers, the French achieved their goal, and the Haitang did not suffer. As for the United States, it is also a big winner if it can push the French army to the front line as soon as possible and kill a few young Americans.

The Hatang handed over the battleship Atlantic to the French. At the same time, it also obtained more than 20 warships of various sizes from the United States. The principle of this exchange is: the displacement is comparable. In fact, in diplomatic operations, the Haitang took a slight advantage in tonnage - the Atlantic battleship was based on a full load displacement. The warships delivered by the United States to the Haitang were based on the standard displacement, and the difference during the period was five or six thousand tons.

Since then, the Haitang Navy has lost its only battleship, but the fleet with aircraft carriers as the center of combat effectiveness is more complete and reasonable.

In this exchange, the US military provided four capital ships: two light cruisers with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons and one cruiser with a displacement of 10,000 tons. A heavy cruiser with a displacement of fifteen thousand tons. From tens of tons to hundreds of tons: torpedo boats. Minesweepers, as well as anti-submarine patrol boats, ten each.

Before the Haitang Army got these warships, although there were two aircraft carriers (the Liberty Dragon light aircraft carrier was being refitted), due to the lack of escort warships, in fact, in addition to air defense destroyers, only the Atlantic battleship could be regarded as the escort capital ship.

As we all know, in bad sea conditions, once the fighters on an aircraft carrier cannot take off, the combat effectiveness of an aircraft carrier is not even comparable to that of a destroyer. Therefore, the Haitang Army could only fight in formation. The two aircraft carriers could not take on separate combat missions on their own. Even if it was a formation operation, there was only one battleship. No matter how tough it is, it is actually difficult to escort two aircraft carriers.

After getting these four American-made cruisers, not only is the combat group naturally much more flexible, but the combat effectiveness of the four cruisers is definitely greater than that of a battleship, especially when the Japanese army has no battleships, for the Haitang Army, four cruisers are obviously more practical.

From another point of view, Li Guang is throwing off his burden. You must know that the annual military expenditure of just such a battleship has reached tens of millions of US dollars, and after the war, Haitang will not be able to support such a behemoth.

With this battleship in exchange for various warships with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, the Haitang Navy has become a small but complete navy. In all respects, this exchange is more favorable to Haitang.

However, what is strange to many people is that the Haitang did not want the mainstream destroyers with a displacement of 2,000 tons in the world today, or the mainstream of the US military, let alone the advanced battleships of the United States. The main targets were light cruisers of six or seven thousand tons and cruisers of the fifteen-thousand-ton class.

There is no other reason, this is Li Guang making technical reserves for the future. Before the crossing, Li Guang was not familiar with military affairs, but he knew that destroyers in the 21 st century would easily cost 6,000 or 7,000 tons, and the United States, for example, would even have a 10,000-ton destroyer.

After several years of fighting on the sea, Li Guang has a deeper and deeper understanding of the manufacture and design of ships. To put it simply, almost all warships are designed with a base mothership, and each advanced warship is upgraded and improved little by little. And the several capital ships requested by the Haitang Army this time will be the mother ships of the warships of the Haitang Navy in the future, that is, the basis for upgrading.

As for other patrol boats, torpedo boats, gunboats, minesweepers with a displacement of several hundred tons, or tens of tons, in fact, they are also for the purpose of this technical reserve.

At the end of World War II, the United States absorbed British shipbuilding technology, and the standard had jumped to the top of the world. In the conceivable future, Haitang will absorb some Japanese shipbuilding technology with these warships provided by the US military, which will certainly greatly improve the design level of his own ships. Without the introduction of such a batch of "mother ships", if it takes 10 or even 20 years to explore for Haitang's independent development, it may not be able to reach the current level of design and manufacturing of American warships. (There is a basis for this: until the end of the seventies, the level of warship design and manufacturing in China did not necessarily exceed the level of the United States in the fifties, except for missile equipment.) )

For four or four years, the Haitang Kingdom did not build a single warship, not even a submarine (civilian submarines are still being manufactured, but they have stopped in four or five years. ）。 The main reason for this is that Li Guang is becoming more and more aware of his own design capabilities. Manufacturing capacity is severely insufficient. Haitang's original self-built warships are, to put it bluntly, civilian ships equipped with weapons. The standard is indeed a little poor, and even took the initiative to deal with the aircraft carrier that was given to Argentina. I was embarrassed to sell it as a battleship, called a training aircraft carrier. After obtaining these American-made warships, Haitang's plan to deal with old warships was put on the agenda, and Li Guang had a sense of urgency on this point, and as soon as the war ended, the allies would definitely have more warships to retire, and the price would definitely be lowered.

Originally, Li Guang thought. Such an exchange can take months to complete. But in fact, it only took more than three months for the three parties to complete the transaction.

In this process, the personal friendship between Li Guang and the US generals showed its power. With the vigorous assistance of MacArthur and Kincaid, the US military unconditionally undertook the task and expense of training the officers and men of the Haitang Navy.

Of course, Mai Dashuai and Kincaid are not entirely for friendship, you must know that the Haitang Navy will have combat effectiveness one day sooner. It will also be possible to launch an attack on the Kuril Islands, the northern part of Japan, one day earlier. Strategically, a north-south flank attack on the Japanese mainland will be formed, thereby reducing the pressure on the US military.

When the time entered April, after more than two months of arduous training, the Haitang Navy was able to undertake combat missions.

Politics is complex, and the exchange of warships, in addition to direct benefits, has other purposes in it. Li Guang's "good friend", Colonel Mazen, captain of the French battleship Richelieu, had become a French rear admiral with the support of the United States and Haitang. Atlantic. That is, the battleship that was reverted back to Dunkirk was also under his command. With two capital ships under his command, Rear Admiral Mazen has since had a considerable voice in the French Navy. And this part of the right to speak may be transformed into support for Haitang at some point in the future.

Another matter related to naval construction was a bit of a mixed blessing for Li Guang. At the end of the 44th year, Haitang decided on the goal of the Kuril Islands campaign, and the Haitang submarine fleet dispatched 12 submarines to begin a blockade attack on northern Japan.

In the past four or five years, the range of activities of the submarine of the Haitang Army has covered the Tsushima Strait, the Sea of Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk. Because this area is, in a sense, the absolute control of the Japanese army, and the surface ships of the Haitang Navy cannot support the submarines, and in addition to the winter operations in this sea area, the cold is the biggest enemy of submarines. After several months of fighting, the Haitang submarine force lost three submarines.

This was the stage in which the Haitang submarine forces suffered the heaviest losses. You know, before that, the Haitang Army only lost one submarine in four or three years. Four or four years ago, ten months ago, there was also no loss of a submarine.

After analysis, one of the most prominent problems is that the Haitang submarine is manufactured with flaws in its design and is not suitable for combat, navigation in cold seas.

Although, the operation of the submarine force at this stage has accumulated valuable experience in cold zone operations for Haitang. But for this, Li Guang was heartbroken. Three submarines may not be called a heavy loss for a big country, but the loss for the Haitang Navy is not light. More importantly, since the Haitang Army has not added new submarines for more than a year, the officers and men who died in battle can be called veterans of a hundred battles, and it is an important force composition of the Haitang submarine fleet, the Haitang Navy, and the Haitang State.

Li Guang rejoiced on countless occasions and was satisfied with the combat effectiveness of the Haitang submarine force. Even for his good luck, coincidence and a little insight, the submarine force was formed at the beginning, so that the combat achievements were outstanding and the results were remarkable. However, the gap in industrial technology, in the fourth or fifth year, began to show restrictions and damage to the Haitang submarine force. Of these three submarines, except for one that was sunk in battle, the other two were sunk due to malfunctions.

Although there were losses in the submarine force, Haitang did not build new submarines, and even the manufacture of commercial transport submarines in four or five years has completely stalled, but the number of Haitang submarines is still increasing. The reason is that Li Guang's original layout began to show its efficacy.

In four or three years, Haitang once captured two German submarines. Haitang did not have the slightest abuse of the German submarine officers and men, except for inviting these German submarine officers and men to serve as instructors for a period of time, the others were sent to Uruguay, and the residential work was all arranged comfortably.

In addition, the title is based on the morality of "weakening the German army's will to fight", and the propaganda work is quite in place, coupled with some secret origins that have always been kept secret by Haitang, so if the German submarine officers and men want to desert or surrender, the first choice is Haitang.

On the German side, in the second half of the 44th year, in order to maintain the battlefield situation as much as possible, the German navy did not dare to attack, so it had to force the submarine force to attack. For a time, the casualties were too heavy, and in just a few months, the number of submarines lost by the Germans reached more than 200. Sometimes even three or four ships are lost in a day.

During and after World War II, the treatment of submarine officers and men in various countries was basically the same level as that of pilots. For example, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the material conditions were extremely difficult. The food of the submariners is basically the same as that of the pilots. The reason for this is not that the quality requirements of submarine officers and men are higher than those of pilots, but that the key lies in the harsh working environment of submarine officers and men, the disgusting smell in the cabins, and the closed living environment. From training to combat, every aspect is fraught with risks, especially in combat. Once you lose, you are all killed, and this pressure is not something that everyone can bear. The psychological pressure on the officers and men is extremely great. Over the years. Officers and men have endocrine disorders and abnormal mental conditions, which is commonplace.

When it comes to the three branches of the German armed forces, the navy has the weakest will to fight. First world war. It was the German Navy that first withdrew from the war in the name of the uprising. This led to the rapid rout of Germany. In fact, in World War II, the performance of the German Navy was not called brave, as can be seen from the sinking of the German pocket battleship at the mouth of the Plata River in Uruguay. I'd rather sink myself than dare to fight to the death with the British Navy, how cowardly. The only thing that is remarkable is its submarine force. But under such heavy losses, coupled with a little vision, you can see that Germany is already in decline, and defeat is just around the corner. The morale of the German submarine forces had begun to crumble.

As a result, the number of deserted German submarines gradually increased. By April of '45, the number of German submarines in the Haitang had reached ten. The surrender of these German submarine officers and men. Not only did the submarine come with it, but with it many unclean Nazi high-ranking officials, who brought a lot of wealth. There is a wide variety of gold jewelry and artworks.

For these things, Haitang did not engulf them with external intentions, but imitated the system of Swiss banks and built another commercial bank to keep the wealth brought by the German army closely.

Li Guang believes that as long as it does well, once the reputation of Haitang's banking industry is established in the world, it will bring more benefits to Haitang in the future.

As for the surrender of the German submarines, the British also heard about it, and fools know what the benefits are. But when it comes to the fat in the mouth, Haitang will definitely not give it away, and it is useless for Britain to reach out.

At this time, Li Guang had a question: What will his old friends, Colonel Bikbi of the German submarine force, and Vice Admiral Claude, who commanded the operation of the modified aircraft carrier (promotion in the war is fast)? These two are really not like Hitler's diehards, there is no news so far, what kind of surprise will they bring to Li Guang in the future?

The changes on the part of the Army are the greatest.

After several years of unremitting efforts, Haitang has achieved a great deal of combat effectiveness in the regular army of 22 regiments. This is a modern army built with the ideology of Li Guang's founding army, and it surpasses the US military in terms of equipment. The so-called equipment is not only embodied in combat weapons, but also in auxiliary equipment. There is one statistic that is obviously far beyond the allocation of troops in various countries in the world -- the proportion of telephone, telegraph, and radio has reached an average of seven people, and the deployment of small radars in the army has given the Haitang Army a little rudimentary form of information-based warfare.

As for training, the Haitang Army far surpasses the armies of other countries in the world, and eighty percent of the officers and men of the Haitang Army have more than three years of military training. More than ninety percent of the officers and men have actual combat experience. This figure is difficult for any country's troops to achieve in a war.

And the will to fight is even more beyond the reach of the US military. At the beginning, Li Guang couldn't find a suitable ideological core on Shixiang Island, so he found the great achievements of historical figures as teaching materials, and to put it bluntly, the whole thing was a hodgepodge.

Looks like a hodgepodge, but a hodgepodge has no core?

That is nationalism, Hanism, and Tang Doctrine.

After several years of supplementation and improvement, there was a relatively perfect "Propaganda Outline", which gradually evolved and became the current set of spiritual core of the Haitang Army that stimulates national pride and pays attention to the enterprising spirit.

For this army, Li Guang devoted absolutely no less energy than the navy and air force. Although the Navy and Air Force have high requirements for the quality of soldiers, the quality of the young people recruited by Haitang is also relatively high. However, most of the soldiers of the army are peasants who are illiterate and have little knowledge of industry, and the difficulties of training a group of peasants who were frightened at the sight of cars into iron-blooded soldiers who have mastered modern equipment can be imagined.

Although Li Guang knew the narrowness of using nationalism to edify the army, he was the kind of self-sacrificing the whole army. The atmosphere filled with high morale was something that every general was happy to see.

The power of propaganda, or the power of brainwashing, is enormous, and Li Guang uses nationalism to edify officers and soldiers. And he himself is being edified by others at the same time as he is edifying others. This is the excuse that Li Guang himself made for some of his actions -- he felt tired when he was dealing with government affairs, but he was refreshed when he was dealing with military affairs, and his eyes were even brighter when he went to the battlefield. In daily life, Li Guang considered himself a very peaceful person, but after several years of war, he became very warlike. War is changing everyone. Li Guang, a modern material youth produced by the assembly line, had already adapted to the war from the inside out at this time.

The biggest change in the army came from the fact that in addition to the regular army, Haitang organized a total of 100 regiments of government soldiers. A total of 400,000 troops. Fifty of these regiments, although far inferior in training and quality to the regular army, could be used as a supplement to the regular army to carry out certain defensive garrisons or fortifications.

The other 50 regiments were only formed at the beginning of four or five years. Weapons are not even equipped. Predictable. Even when it came to the "August of history" - the surrender of Japan, it was difficult to go to the battlefield.

So in that case, why did Li Guang organize such a force? In fact, the strength of these fifty regiments, in Haitang's plan, was not a combat mission at all. Their training is more similar to that of a technical school, except for a small amount of military training discipline. It's more about learning industrial technology.

If you pay attention, you can find out. The officers and men of these 50 regiments did not even study industrial technology. In fact, the content of their learning is mainly about the proficiency of tools and the knowledge of various equipment. To say that its main specialty is to disassemble and assemble equipment. Later, for this army, there was a nickname - known as the "Pure Country Divine Soldier".

Although these 50 regiments do not belong to combat units, they have military attributes and are directly under Li Guang. Therefore, in Li Guang's office, a large group of secretaries came in handy and became technical instructors for the officers and men of these 50 regiments. Of course, these people alone are certainly not enough, Li Guang gave them considerable authority to recruit professionals on their own. According to the interrogation of Japanese and German prisoners of war, and according to the knowledge of Japan by many people who had been to Japan and Germany before the war, the fifty regiments were divided into different "specialties".

Li Guangke had long made up his mind to loot Japan on a large scale. Therefore, in this team, there are not only troops who study industrial technology, but also professional looting talents and professional looting technology. There are even professionals in antique calligraphy and painting, culture and art. Although it is impossible for these professionals to train officers and soldiers who are illiterate to become professionals, at least they will not burn ancient paintings as fakes, and of course they will not burn them as fakes.

What are these fifty regiments for, how obvious it is, a professional looting team.

Loot objects? Do you need to ask?

In addition to Japan, there is also Germany.

Just thinking about it is so pleasant. This temptation is so strong that there is almost no need for publicity, and many young students have signed up to join this army, and many antique dealers, literati, and scholars have joined in China. As for the merchants of Haitang, they were looking forward to this moment, and began to explore some industries in Japan as early as possible.

In four or five years, the Air Force has not changed much. It's not that Haitang can't recruit suitable pilots, but that Haitang doesn't have many educated young people, and the construction in full swing needs knowledgeable young people even more. The number of fighters in the strategic air force, together with naval aviation and army aviation, remains at more than 600 and the number of pilots remains at about 1,000.

However, unlike other branches of the armed forces, the Air Force has already gone to Britain and stepped onto the stage of the European war. This time, the sortie of the Air Force was a cooperation between Haitang and Belgium.

Due to the brutality of the European battlefield, the Belgian army was also pushed into the battlefield early.

On the Belgian side, due to the very few pilots, mainly the army. And without its own pilots on the battlefield to ensure air supremacy, the army will inadvertently suffer a dark loss.

You must know that on the battlefield, if there is a crisis at the same time, the British army will definitely have to take care of its own army, and the US army will also give priority to its own soldiers. This kind of thing happens even if it is close, close, and ally no matter how close it is, and it has happened more than once.

Small countries have the survival skills of small countries, Belgium itself was a victim in World War II, but the mainstream surrendered, and its king surrendered. Therefore, it is not impossible for the spoils to be excluded from the circle after the war, and even to be sacrificed part of the benefits. Therefore, the Belgian government-in-exile had to send its poor army to the battlefield early, and at the same time it was trying to find allies, and it was logical to find the Haitang Gate.

In view of the fact that the relationship between Haitang and Belgium has always been good, participating in the European war in this way is in line with Li Guang's original idea -- symbolic participation in the European theater. Under these circumstances, the two sides reached a number of agreements, such as the "sharing of spoils" after the war, in which the two countries agreed to assist each other, and it was reasonable to have reciprocal trade after the war.

Hidden behind this cooperation is the longer-term vision of Li Guang and Premier Yuan, both of whom have not forgotten that the foundation of Haitang, Datang Island, was seized from France and was the trigger of war. At present, the European battlefield is mainly in France, so taking the opportunity to weaken France and make France's post-war recovery a little slower has become one of the purposes of the Haitang Air Force to participate in the war, and it is one of the most important ones.

Because the purpose of participating in the war is relatively complex, it involves many diplomatic matters. To take care of all this, it is not very suitable for a few generals of the strategic air force, the army aviation, or the naval aviation.

Yuan Yin (the third elder of the Yuan family), who was wounded in the Battle of Ceylon and could no longer fly a fighter, became the most suitable candidate. Colonel Yuan Yin, Chief of Staff of the Air Force of the General Staff of the Haitang Army, was temporarily promoted to military rank. With the rank of brigadier general (Haitang's newly added military rank, which will be introduced later), he served as the commander of the Haitang Army's European Air Force. The reason is that the Belgian military rank in wartime is really a bit nonsense, and in order to improve the morale of the army, an infantry battalion commander can hang the rank of colonel, or even the rank of brigadier general. In order to facilitate diplomacy, Yuan Yin was promoted to brigadier general, and Yuan Yin became the first brigadier general of the Haitang Army.

The old Yuan family is really talented, Yuan Yin is out, the effect is of course remarkable, here is just an example: in March, the Louvre in Paris was in ruins. In April, the Eiffel Tower became scrap metal. As for the burned villages, towns, and cities, Haitang never admitted that there was a purpose.

In addition to these changes in the navy, army, and air force, there is also a new change in the Haitang Army -- a mobile column with the Liberty Dragon helicopter carrier as the core is being prepared. You must know that in the combat command sequence of the Haitang Army, the column and the task force are at the same level - division level. To date, the Haitang Army has only three army columns and two naval fleets, and one strategic air force is at the division level.

Moreover, this column has a naval component, an army component, and an air force component. The officers of the navy, army, and air force all have the opportunity to compete for the qualification of commander of this column, so many officers of the Haitang Army are staring at this position.

According to Li Guang's consistent style, if you want to be promoted, you must take your military merits. As a result, several qualified colonels and lieutenant colonels became extremely belligerent and very motivated. (To be continued......)

PS: There are many reasons, every Monday, I'm sorry.