Gu Yingyang raised the whip with one hand. Pulling one of the pulls with one hand, the first thing that pops up is a large map of the Indian theater of operations: along the root of the Indian subcontinent and the east and west coasts, several large red arrow marks of different thicknesses are swept forward, which is a direct portrayal of the current Indian Ocean battlefield.

From January 21 to February 20, the two main columns swept 800 kilometers in 30 days, successively capturing the transportation hub Patna, the ancient city of Lucknow and the industrial center Kanpur, and the front was directed at Agra, the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire, and the battle line was less than 200 kilometers away from New Delhi. At the same time, the army group marched into the vast interior south of the Gangetic Plain with two additional detachments in response to the Mumbai Raiders on the west coast. ”

"On the southwest of Calcutta, the six infantry divisions of Admiral Ojixing's 14th Army, while moving south to sweep the east coast of India, sent several detachments to cross the Eastern Ghats and march to the Deccan Plateau to fight on the west coast. At present, the main column has approached Madras (also known as Chennai or Jinnay in another time and space, in the 21st century), the largest port on the east coast of India, second only to Kolkata, and the two main detachments are approaching the inland cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore in South India respectively. The plan is to launch a general attack at the same time before the end of the month. ”

"Further south, here, in the direction of Ceylon, the six infantry divisions of the 15th Army of General Li Xinghan, having conquered Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, on 17 February, continued to attack the Trincomalee naval base in the northeast of Ceylon, and on the other hand landed near Puducherry, a French colonial stronghold south of Madras, and assigned a number of independent detachments to Trivandrum, a military point on the west coast, near the southern tip of India, and several atolls in the Maldives archipelago. The army group also reserved mobile forces for the capture of Goa, a Portuguese colonial stronghold on the west coast, which could launch a landing operation as soon as negotiations with Portugal broke down. ”

"Here, on the west coast of India, the six infantry divisions of General Luo Kun's 16th Army, with the first part of the 1st Marine Army, are making every effort to besiege the enemy's largest and most important stronghold on the west coast - Mumbai. According to Commander Luo's latest telegram, the main force of the group army has launched the first wave of general attack on the outer defense line of Mumbai since yesterday, and is determined to complete all peripheral operations by the end of the month and launch a general attack on the inner defense line on time on 1 March. ”

"During this period, our naval fleet attacked and shelled the port of Karachi northwest of Mumbai, and then penetrated deep into the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden, and attacked the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Persia and the port of Aden at the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. However, the remnants of the Combined Entente Fleet, which had been defeated from the Bay of Bengal last year, were not found, and it is estimated that they have withdrawn in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea or South Africa, and the main force of the 2nd Fleet is now being reorganized at a temporary anchorage in the Maldives Islands. In addition, the Indian fleet was assigned one part to escort the ships and the other to be stationed in Murud near Mumbai. Campila Bay anchorage, which continues to provide close support for the 16th Army's strategic operations......"

When Liu Qianhua heard this, he felt something, twisted his fingers and smiled: "It's really in full bloom, this side has not finished fighting, and a new battlefield has been opened up over there, and the pressure of transporting supplies is not small, there are Karachi, Abbas and Basra behind, and if you have to seize Aden, such a long supply line, you can't help but worry about it." How's that, can it still hold up? ”

Gu Yingyang scratched his head and smiled bitterly, raised his fingers and counted: "The war materials in the Indian Ocean battlefield, except for some grain and fodder that can be collected locally, most of them must be transported by local ships. At the time of the war, we had 4,500,000 registered tons of merchant ships, and the Allies had another 1,310,000 tons, for a total of 5,810,000 tons. Last year plus January this year. We have built a total of 930,000 tons, the allies have made 150,000 tons, and about 80,000 tons have been captured, salvaged and repaired, minus more than 60,000 tons lost and scrapped in various ways during the same period, and the total tonnage has reached 7 million tons. ”

At first glance, this may seem like a lot, but at least 700,000 tons of it will be used for offshore transportation in China and its allies to meet the needs of domestic material circulation, which cannot be completely replaced by rail. 900,000 tons were used for trade between the allies, including the transportation of oil, rubber, rice, bauxite and other strategic resources from the South Seas. In addition, there are always 200,000 to 300,000 tons of merchant ships in the port for repair or maintenance, and 10 to 200,000 tons as a mobile reserve, ready to adjust the shortage of various places. ”

"In this way, the total tonnage of merchant ships that the army and navy can requisition at any time is about 5 million tons, and the transportation and replenishment of the three theaters in the Pacific direction will require at least 600,000 tons, and this time an additional 300,000 tons will be added to the southeast theater in order to launch the SF operation. As a result, less than 4 million tonnes are available for the Indian Ocean side. ”

"At present, in addition to the 12th and 14th armies, which are supported by the port of Kolkata and the railway, because the ports of Colombo and Mumbai are unusable in the short term, the 15th and 16th armies have to rely on beachhead unloading for replenishment, and the main forces of the Combined Fleet and the East China Sea Front can only use temporary anchorages for replenishment at sea, which is inefficient and easily affected by the weather. With the continuous extension of the supply line, the share of 3 million tons of merchant ships originally allocated to the Indian Ocean Theater has long been insufficient, and an additional 500,000 tons have been urgently added at the beginning of the month, and an additional 500,000 tons must be added before the end of the month. It is likely that an additional 500,000 tonnes of carriers will have to be added by mid-March. ”

After listening to this analysis of great grievances, Liu Qianhua nodded and said with concern: "The gap is not small, is there a way to fill it?" ”

Gu Yingyang sighed helplessly: "I plan to take out 100,000 tons from the mobile reserve, 100,000 tons from Zhang Yiye's Southeast Theater, plus the new 100,000 tons in February, there is only so much that can be taken out before mid-March, and it is no longer enough, so I have to let Deng Jian and them figure out their own way." ”

Liu Qianhua sighed lightly: "I heard Liu Bailiang mention it in the past, saying that if he wants to attack Australia, for the sake of safety, he has to invest ten divisions plus one-third of the strength of the combined fleet, and at least 2.5 million tons of transportation capacity must be used." This time, more than 20 divisions of the Indian Front and most of the combined fleet started fighting at the same time, and only 3 million tons were given. ”

Gu Yingben smiled, and comforted him in turn: "The emperor doesn't have to worry too much, according to the current situation, a complete pacification of India is just around the corner." When there is no war to fight in India, the demand for arms and oil will not be so urgent, and the national government in Tirak will have already established its authority, which will be more conducive to the local supply of food, fodder, and so on needed by our army. ”

Liu Qianhua is still not at ease: "Even if India is pacified, a lot of capacity will be needed for follow-up actions, right?" ”

Gu Yingyang replied eloquently: "That's nature. Even if we control the Persian Gulf and open up the sea line of communication between Turkey and Turkey, the so-called 'near-completion' 2B railway will be enough for us to eat a pot. The Germans are now beyond the reach of the whip, and we have to complete the final work ourselves, not to mention the rails, sleepers, and other ancillary facilities needed for the 700 or 800 kilometers of line that have not yet been built, not to mention the additional engineering equipment necessary for this purpose, and the most important thing is the locomotives, wagons, and coal needed for the operation of the whole line, all of which we have to provide ourselves. When the railroad is almost finished, it will be followed by the large-scale transportation of the Europa expeditionary force and supplies to Germany by sea and land, if in the meantime, the Red Sea and East African strategies in the argument will become a reality. By the end of this year, the demand for capacity in the Indian Ocean will exceed 6 million tons, and now we only hope that the new ships can be replenished as scheduled, and the loss rate must be manageable......"

Liu Qianhua listened attentively, pondered on his elbows, and interjected coldly: "If I remember correctly, the more than 1,000-kilometer section from Berlin through Vienna and Constantinople to the ancient city of Konya in the hinterland of the Anatolian Peninsula in Turkey was completed as early as 1896, and the Germans planned to build a new railway with a length of more than 2,000 kilometers from Konya through Iraq to Kuwait, but the British then took control of Kuwait, and the Germans had to change the railway terminus to Basra. The section from Konya to Mosul in northern Iraq had been completed by 1912, but because of British pressure on Turkey, only a short section from Mosul to Tikrit had been completed before the war began, so we needed to rebuild the section from Basra to Tikrit. And now that Basra is in the hands of the British, they will inevitably destroy the port facilities when they evacuate, which must have caused a lot of trouble for our army, right? ”

Gu Yingyang bowed his head and complimented: "The emperor has a really good memory, it is true, the general staff has already considered this aspect, and there will be countermeasures......"

Liu Qianhua didn't hear it, and sighed to herself: "I still remember that in the history of time and space, under the obstruction of Britain and France, the Germans failed to build the railway to Iraq until the war, and even a small part of the section in Turkey was completed, and the 'Baghdad Railway' from Konya to Basra was actually delayed until 1934 to 1944 before it was built by Britain, France, and Turkey in sections - the new history we have created is really everywhere. ”

"That's right, we are here to create history, not the history of talented and beautiful people, the history of moaning without disease, but the history of determining the fortunes of the country and the general trend of the world, it will naturally be everywhere and affect the fate of hundreds of millions of people at all times!"

After hearing this passionate and domineering feeling, Qianhua smiled with sympathy, sat up straight at the same time, and commanded solemnly: "It's not okay to go on like this, I've been talking for so long on one battlefield, my chief of the General Staff." Can the next introduction be a little briefer? ”

"The old minister obeys the order......"