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The total strength of the army and navy of the Xinhua Army is 200,000 people, which can be called the largest force in the South Seas, although the total number of Manchu Eight Banners and Green Battalion soldiers is more than one million, but the real combat strength is not comparable to the Xinhua Army at all. However, the total population of Xinhua is now only 4 million. Maintaining 200,000 troops, this is already the limit. If the Xinhua Army wants to further expand its army, I am afraid it will have to wait until it has conquered one or two coastal provinces. At that time, Xinhua will no longer be constrained by population, and both Guangdong and Fujian will have a population of tens of millions. These people are generally poor peasants who lack land, and as long as Xinhua offers the condition that they can be allocated 50 mu of land if they join the Xinhua Army, the large battalion of the Xinhua Army will definitely be crowded with soldiers who come to enlist! The Chinese, who have a deep plot of land, are willing to give even their lives for the sake of the land!

The Fifth Fleet of the Xinhua Navy is composed entirely of the latest 'Xia-class' cruisers. The commander of the fleet was Brigadier General Lu Haipeng, the former commander of the Second Fleet. Originally, everyone thought that Rear Admiral Wei Yong, commander of the First Fleet, would be the commander of the Fifth Fleet, but they didn't expect that in the end, Brigadier General Lu Haipeng would take the lead. In fact, Long Yufei also has his own considerations. Compared to the 'Shark-class' cruisers, the 'Xia-class' cruisers have much more firepower and defense. The battleships of Canada did not rely on the power of the wind, but were propelled by steam engines. This allowed the ship to increase its speed considerably, while not being affected by the direction of the wind. The Fifth Fleet needs a commander who dares to fight. Major General Wei Yong is suitable for the command of the Great Campaign. is a handsome talent, and Brigadier General Lu Haipeng is a general!

The commander of the Second Fleet was succeeded by a young man named Xu Hai. He was originally a captain and distinguished himself in the Great War against the Spanish Expeditionary Fleet. This time, the commander of the Second Fleet was vacant, and Long Yufei specially promoted him to brigadier general. Succeeded Commodore Lu Haipeng at the helm of the Second Fleet. At present, the Xinhua Navy has five fleets and a total of 60 warships. Although it is not as good as the British Navy, it copes with the situation in the entire South Seas. It's still more than enough. Of course, the Xinhua Navy has never relaxed. After the construction of the 'Xia-class' cruisers was completed, the design of the new 'Shang-class' cruisers began. And, under the auspices of Long Yufei. Some of the important indicators of the 'Shang-class' cruisers have already been listed. Engineers at the shipyard. Drawings of the battleship are being designed according to the requirements of Long Yufei. With the help of the Kingdom of Spain, many engineers who could not make it in Europe went to Xinhua to pan for gold. Long Yufei personally assessed their abilities and assigned relevant work. The shipyard also has several shipbuilding specialists. Of course, because it involves the secrecy of the military industry, Long Yufei compulsorily required these engineers to sign a contract with Xinhua for at least ten years, and sign a confidentiality treaty, and not to disclose Xinhua's military secrets. In addition, it is to let Xinhuaguo's own people try their best to steal the teacher. Relying on outsiders will not work after all. In these industries, it is still your own talents!

'Shang-class' cruisers. With a displacement of about two and a half thousand tons, it is not much less than the battleships of the first rank of the Western Navy. The speed should be at least 14 knots, preferably 15 to 16 knots. In terms of weaponry, Long Yufei asked the 'Shang-class' cruiser to carry more powerful firepower. Among them, two twin 155 mm guns are deployed in the bow of the ship, which is the first time that the Xinhua Navy has used twin guns, and the stern is a twin 155 mm main gun. On both sides of the battleship, 10 105-mm naval guns and two 75-mm naval guns were deployed. This made the firepower of the 'Shang-class' cruisers much higher than that of the 'Xia-class' cruisers. In terms of armor, the 'Shang-class' cruisers also improved greatly. In addition to the fore and aft decks, bridges and engine rooms, steel plates are also deployed on the decks and waterlines on both sides, which will further improve the defense of the battleship! Once the 'Shang-class' cruiser is put into service, the combat power of the Xinhua Navy will be raised to a new level. 'Shang-class' cruisers, Long Yufei also plans to build 12 ships. Complete the design and all the construction work in the next three years!

On September 8, the General Staff of the Xinhua Army submitted a combat plan to King Long Yufei. Major General Sun Hao, head of the Operations Department, explained the entire plan to Long Yufei and the important ministers of the cabinet!

"Your Majesty! The General Staff planned to launch an operation against the Manchus a month later. The war against the Manchus was mainly divided into three stages. In the first stage, the Xinhua Army planned to invest 12 infantry brigades and one heavy artillery brigade to capture the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in southern China. This stage is expected to be completed within half a year to a year! After the completion of this phase of operations, the Xinhua Army will begin a large-scale expansion of its army. It is tentatively planned that the army will expand from 20 infantry brigades to 40 infantry brigades! After that, the implementation of the second stage of the operation will begin. The main task at this stage is to capture all the provinces south of the Yangtze River and, if possible, Sichuan and other southwestern provinces. At this stage, it is expected to be about one and a half to two years. After that, the Xinhua Army will begin the second round of expansion. The force will be expanded from forty infantry brigades to eighty infantry brigades. The third stage of the operation was to cross the Yangtze River, occupy northern China, and completely overthrow the Manchu regime. It is estimated that this stage will take about two years! Major General Sun Hao, Minister of Operations, said. Xinhua launched an attack on the Manchu Qing Dynasty, this is a policy that has already been drawn up by the top level of Xinhua State, and the General Staff has already begun to plan!

Long Yufei nodded, the operational plan drawn up by the General Staff to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty will take at least five years. It was about the same as he expected. China is too big, and at the same time, transportation is inconvenient, especially in Northeast China and Xinjiang, and if there is a large-scale march, there will be great pressure on logistical support. Being able to unify the whole country within five years, Long Yufei is already very satisfied! Of course, this is not unacceptable if something unexpected happens!

"Later, the army was expanded to 80 infantry brigades, with a total strength of more than 500,000 people! Can we keep up with it in terms of armament? Long Yufei asked. This is already equivalent to the expansion of the land force of the Xinhua Army by four times! Of course, with China's huge population resources, not to mention expanding to 500,000, even if it is expanded to 1 million, there is no pressure! Of course, the prerequisite is that the production capacity of the weapons and equipment of the new Chinese army must keep up. In addition, Xinhuaguo's financial revenue must be able to support it! Otherwise, it's all for nothing.

"Your Majesty, in the past three years, the arsenal has produced 200,000 rifles! In addition, now our two large arsenals are capable of producing 10,000 rifles per month! The Flying Fish rifles that were reequipped by various departments of the Xinhua Army before have also been sealed and can be reused at any time! Lieutenant General Zhao Yi, Deputy Chief of General Staff and Minister of Logistics and Equipment, replied.

Previously, the infantry standard weapon of the Xinhua Army was the single-shot Exocet rifle. In the past three years, the Exocet rifle has been replaced by the 'China 1 rifle', and compared with the 'Exocet' rifle, the 'China 1 rifle' rifle adopts a magazine design, which can hold five rounds of ammunition in the magazine, which greatly improves the soldiers' rate of fire. In addition, Xinhuaguo successfully developed smokeless gunpowder. The bullets and shells used by the army and navy of the Xinhua Army all abandoned black powder and switched to ammunition with smokeless charges. The black powder ammunition in the previous stockpiles were almost consumed, and the rest were transferred to the local police force. After the use of smokeless gunpowder, the maximum firing range of the 'Zhonghua 1 rifle' reached 800 meters, and the effective firing range was also increased to 350 to 400 meters! Of course, an ordinary soldier simply would not have been able to hit the target at this distance. The range and power of the various types of artillery of the Xinhua Army have also been markedly improved.

"What about the Cabinet? Any objections? Long Yufei asked. This military action has a direct bearing on the future of Xinhua and even the entire Chinese people. Long Yufei must fully consult the opinions of all parties. The Cabinet is planning to develop Borneo on a large scale, and the outbreak of war between the Xinhua Kingdom and the Manchu Qing Dynasty will definitely affect the development of Borneo.

"Your Majesty, the Cabinet supports this war! Although it will affect the development progress of Borneo. However, even if the operational objectives of the first stage are completed, we will no longer have to worry about the population problem! At that time, large-scale immigration can be carried out from Guangdong and Fujian. We have developed the population of Borneo. When more and more land is laid, we will have the population to develop Sumatra and Java in the future. When the time comes, the development of the country will be further improved! Prime Minister Li Decheng said. Although the development of Xinhua will be affected by the war, this is only temporary. As long as the war is won, Xinhua will be able to obtain the population and even the funds it desperately needs. Although the common people of China are poor, none of those corrupt officials and corrupt officials are fat and oily. and those royal families of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, all of whom made enough money. After letting them spit out all this wealth, the next construction funds of Xinhua Kingdom will be settled. After the reunification of China, large-scale construction will begin. In particular, the laying of railways over a vast territory requires a lot of money. Although Xinhua has plundered a lot of wealth in Nanyang, in the past few years, it has expanded its army and imported machinery and equipment from the West, and it has been almost used. Long Yufei is still counting on another hard knock from the hands of the Manchu nobles!

Long Yufei nodded, the idea of the cabinet coincided with him. The bottleneck of Xinhuaguo's current development is still constrained by the population. And a war against the Manchus is the only way to solve this problem! There is a shortage of people in Nanyang, but China is not! Most of the more than 300 million Chinese live in water and fire! (To be continued......)