Episode 83 Shipbuilding Plan

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Empress Zhu Yourong delivered a speech on the radio, severely condemning Japan's despicable acts, and at the same time, Foreign Minister He Ziguang summoned the Japanese ambassador and handed over a declaration of war.

From early morning to morning in East Asia, then in Europe and then in the Americas. This is also the time when the public and media in Europe and the United States are most active. Japan's surprise attack on the Ming Kingdom took many countries by surprise. Originally, the mainstream view in the world, like the Ming Cabinet, was that Japan would attack the Soviet Union sooner or later. Unexpectedly, Japan actually chose to attack the Ming Kingdom. Like the Ming Dynasty, all countries don't know what Japan thinks.

However, Japan is already surrounded by scolding at the moment. At this time, governments have not yet reacted, and they have to meet to decide their positions. However, the non-governmental media of various countries did respond quickly, and the people's hearts were turned against each other, and it was clear at a glance.

In Nanjing, the entire empire and various departments also entered a state of high-speed operation. It used to be that you only had to deal with one side, but now you have to deal with both sides. And the newcomers are much more fatal. After the Imperial Meeting, each department held an emergency meeting separately. Xiang Xiaoqiang, along with all the senior generals, went to the Supreme Command in the Purple Mountain Fortress and continued to command the overall war here as he did during the Unification War.

After just one day's work, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt that his words were more effective. First of all, Tang Yunsheng gave himself a lot of face, and Tang Yunsheng attached great importance to what opinions he expressed, and no longer treated him as a hairy young man like before.

And Tang Yunsheng is like this, and other generals are also consciously or unconsciously affected by it, and they also feel that Xiang Xiaoqiang's level is really much higher than before.

Xiang Xiaoqiang stood triumphantly in front of the map, pointed with a baton and said:

“…… Therefore, we should quickly mobilize heavy troops in the Beijing-Tianjin area and enter Mukden by train from the western Liaoning corridor to resist the Japanese army and ensure that Mukden is not lost. Mukden's location is crucial. Whether it is a land battlefield or a maritime battlefield, Mukden is a strategic location. With Mukden in hand, we have an offensive platform outside the pass, which can advance in all directions to the west at any time. We could attack the Japanese-controlled Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, or cross the Yalu River to attack Korea. And as soon as we take Jilin and the southeast of Heilongjiang, we can attack the Far Eastern part of the USSR, here! ”

He tapped his baton the map and said:

"Vladivostok! Vladivostok is only more than thirty kilometers from the border with Jilin, and our armored troops can pounce on it in two hours! And having taken Vladivostok and a few small ports around it, then the USSR basically had no ports in the Far East. Then Japan's Far Eastern supply lines were completely cut off!

"In another sense, we have also opened up a second battlefield for the war against the Soviet Union. Now in the Central Asian theater, the supply lines of both sides are stretched very far, and it is difficult for both armies to advance significantly, and it is difficult to achieve a result in the short term. But in the Far East it's different. For example, Vladivostok is more than 9,000 kilometers from Moscow, but it is only more than 1,000 kilometers from our customs. Although the Soviet Union had direct railways, we also had railways for most of the distance, and the distance was only one-tenth of theirs. We put the main battlefield here, and we were able to concentrate on the onslaught, which would soon hurt the USSR.

Therefore, the last general strongly advocated fighting to the death. It's not a dead fight, it's a fight to the death. We must not only throw a large number of troops into the Guanwai, but also the most elite troops outside the Guan. As long as we put on a posture of fighting to the death in northern and eastern Liaoning, the Japanese army will not dare to land on the Liaodong Peninsula in the south. In this way, our Dongjiang Fleet in Lushun will not have to worry about the back, and we will be able to defend the gateway to the Bohai Sea with all our might, and we will have the capital to compete with the Japanese fleet on the battlefield in the Yellow Sea. ”

Hearing this, Tang Yunsheng interjected:

"Tingzhi, you mean that now it is not only necessary to 'hold' Mukden, but also to use Mukden as the main battlefield and outpost of the attack?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"Tang Gong is clever, not bad at all!"

Tang Yunsheng pondered for a moment and looked around at everyone:

"What do you think? The soldiers are fast, and we have to make a decision quickly. No matter how many troops are added, the military order must be sent within two hours. ”

The conference room immediately became lively, and all the army generals discussed, and soon made a decision.

Tang Yunsheng finally looked at the troop configuration on the map and decided:

"Now the Japanese army is attacking us in Manchuria, and it should be about ten divisions...... It is assumed that they are all Grade A divisions...... I hope to be able to maintain sufficient firepower superiority, as well as superiority in troops...... So...... The four divisions around Beijing were to get out of the customs as soon as possible. Immediately issue an order to try to get them to appear outside the customs tomorrow. …… Then, we transferred heavy troops from Shandong, Zhili, Shanxi, and Henan. ”

……

The high command made a decision to increase the troops, and a large number of officers below began to make phone calls and send telegrams, and orders were sent from Nanjing to the north one after another. Within an hour, the Ming army stationed in the vast northern region began to move.

While eating in the fortress cafeteria at noon, Xiuxiu ran over, sat beside him, and whispered for a while.

Xiang Xiaoqiang listened while eating, and gradually frowned.

This is what Xiuxiu heard from the Admiralty. The Admiralty is ready to implement a new round of shipbuilding programs.

Daming's new shipbuilding plan, in fact, should have been implemented last year. Because the Washington Naval Agreement expired last year. Many countries that participated in the Washington Naval Agreement, but later did not, are now busy with the warship project and are in the process of building ships. Japan is one of them. And it would have been impossible for the Ming Dynasty to watch Japan build ships on a large scale and remain indifferent. However, last year was the year of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and all the strength was used to unify China, and the industrial forces were all building tanks, planes, and automobiles, and they did not care about building warships at all.

Although it was not taken into account, the plan to build the ship was drawn up several years ago. The same is true for most countries, which are holding their back and waiting for the treaty to expire before the naval arms race begins. Da Ming is no exception.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has just unified China, and it has been attacked by a stupid surprise, it is normal to take out the ship-building plan to implement it at this time.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also knows the specific content of the plan. And this content is what he is prepared to oppose. The main contents are: three battleships, three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, twenty destroyers, and thirty submarines will be built within five years.

There are two main things he opposes:

First, three battleships were planned, but not a single aircraft carrier was planned. From the perspective of a traverser, it is needless to explain whose world is on the sea in the future. And for the money to build one battleship, you can build two or three aircraft carriers. Value for money is here.

Second, there are too few submarine programs, only 30 in five years, which is a very poor number. If Japan is regarded as a long-term enemy, then the only way to attack Japan's Pacific lines of communication is to rely mainly on submarines. And fifty plus the existing dozens, that is, more than a hundred, not counting the scrapped and eliminated. And at most one-third of them can appear in the Pacific Ocean at the same time to carry out missions. Then these more than 30 submarines are scattered across the vast Pacific Ocean, and to put it mildly, it is the same as nothing.

As for the rest of the ship-building plan, that is, the cruiser and destroyer parts, Xiang Xiaoqiang is still very satisfied. Cruisers are very important, whether it is to protect their own sea lines of communication, or to attack the sea lines of communication of enemy countries, they are a sharp weapon, and they are never too much. He even hoped to use the money left over from the elimination of battleships to build a few more cruisers.

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought for a while and said:

"Xiuxiu, I have to go to the palace tonight. Tell Your Majesty about this ship-building plan. Now it can't be delayed. ”