There are words and sayings that can alleviate pain or eliminate the torment of illness.

- Horace (founder and founder of Roman classicism)

As soon as Oscar's division of the fleet was spoken, it caused a lot of discussion among the generals; What is speechless is that these generals who are talking about it are all army commanders, not navy generals. The seven admirals of the navy all sat in their seats without saying a word; In fact, there is a reason why they did not speak.

Shi Xiu, Anne, and Gatsea are all generals of the Augustan family after all; Although they are not generals from the Augustan family, they are also considered old compared to the other four, so naturally they can't stand up and dismantle the stage first. Both Kidd and Roberts were newly surrendered and were not qualified to speak; They know this in their own hearts.

Moreover, in addition to the transport fleet, the other seven fleets must also be one fleet corresponding to one admiral; In the case of Kidd and Roberts's original pirate warships, no matter how they are divided, they will not lose money, and they naturally have nothing to say. The same goes for Theous, whose fleet is also quite weak, and no matter how it is divided, it will not suffer.

As for Nams, the strength of his fleet is indeed strong, accounting for a quarter compared to the total number of warships of the Augustus family; In particular, the existence of the two five-column warships under his command is definitely a treasure of the fleet that can be called a weapon of naval warfare! Therefore, no matter which fleet Nams is made the commander of, it is not an additional officer; That's where the problem lies.

Of course, if you only consider it from this point of view, then this fleet division is also extremely unfair to Shi Xiu, Annie, and Gatsi; After all, the fleet that once belonged to the three of them was also extremely large. However, no matter what kind of private interests, they cannot override the interests of the family; This is the bottom line of the Oscars and the Augustus family!

Since none of the seven admirals of the Navy spoke, Oscar would not have paid attention to the whispering commanders; So, Oscar continued: "The preliminary plan for the division of the fleet is like this, and if there is a problem, we will discuss it slowly later; Next, I will announce the commanders of the fleets.

1st Combat Fleet, Fleet Commander General Gatsi; the Second Combat Fleet, Commander of the Fleet, General Theous; 3rd Battle Fleet, Fleet Commander General Kidd; 4th Battle Fleet, Fleet Commander General Roberts. the First Main Fleet, Fleet Commander General Shi Xiu; the second main fleet, the commander of the fleet, General Nams; Guards Fleet, Fleet Commander General Anne.

As for the transport fleet, which has seventy transport ships, it will be directly subordinate to the command of the General Staff in the future; The army corps will mobilize and transport supplies across the sea and the navy will be supported by the General Staff mobilizing a transport fleet of a certain size. The various fleets on the naval side will be completely separated from the transport ships and will be responsible only for combat missions on the sea.

Now that all my business concerning the division of the fleet has been announced; If you admirals have any questions, just take them out and let's discuss them together. If you don't say it now, once the plan is officially implemented; It's too late for you to raise an objection later. ”

Oscar said so, so it seems that he sincerely asked these admirals present to give their opinions; Kidd and Roberts looked at each other, but neither said anything. Theous and Namus remained as steady as Tarzan, but Gatsi, after a long struggle, stood up and said:

"Your Excellency, such a plan for the division of fleets is certainly more conducive to the greater role of each fleet from the point of view of command; However, this also greatly reduces the size of each fleet of the family! In the event of a war, how can our fleet engage the enemy's massive fleet?

Not to mention the rest, it was the combined Carthaginian Greek fleet stationed in Sicily; The strength of this fleet is not very strong for the current Augustus family, but it can still form an absolute advantage over any fleet under the command of our family. In this way, not only did we not take advantage of the numerical superiority of the family fleet; Instead, there is a possibility that they will be broken one by one. ”

As soon as Gatsiy finished speaking, Oscar stood up and looked into Gatsi's eyes and said, "General Gatsi, it is impossible for us to deal with the enemy fleet that is far superior to us with any fleet alone; As you have, the combined fleet of Carthage and Greece is enough to form an absolute superiority over any fleet under our family's command, but can't we send two or three fleets to meet it?

The core of the new fleet division plan is to divide the large fleet, which is large and difficult to coordinate and command, into several smaller fleets with more interests in command. In this way, we can give full play to the role of each battleship in naval battles. If we encounter a strong enemy, we can also unite several fleets to fight the enemy together; Wouldn't such a fleet be more flexible? ”

"However, the joint operation of several fleets is easy to say, but it is not so simple to do; Everyone is the commander of a certain fleet, and who wants to obey whose orders? It is not good for a snake to have no head, but it is not good to have too many heads; If there is no clear hierarchy, forcibly uniting several fleets together will only bring disaster to the family navy! ”

This time, it was Shi Xiu, who had been silent all along, and rarely spoke at the Augustan family meeting; However, her words were indeed to the point. If this problem cannot be solved, then Oscar's so-called Combined Fleet operation is just empty talk; It's not feasible at all.

Although Oscar had carefully considered the specific scale of the fleet division before, the question raised by Shi Xiu was indeed Oscar's own negligence; Oscar was also annoyed that he had forgotten such an important step two. Before Oscar could come up with a solution for the moment, Mary stood up and said:

"General Shi Xiu, this question of yours is very critical and important; But it's not that there is no solution, but it's very suitable. I have here a plan for the generals of your navy to refer to; If you think we can do that, and if you don't feel satisfied, then we'll continue to discuss it.

The core of your question is that forcibly uniting several fleets together without a clear hierarchy can lead to unforeseen harm; In this regard, we can take the approach of determining the rank according to the serial number of the fleet. When a fleet of the same rank and the fleet with the first serial number and the fleet with the lower serial number jointly operate, they are subject to the command of the commander of the fleet with the highest serial number.

For example, the 1st Combat Fleet, the 2nd Combat Fleet and the 3rd Combat Fleet are operating jointly; Then the commander of the 1st Battle Fleet is the Supreme Commander by default, and the commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Battle Fleets must unconditionally obey the orders of the Supreme Commander. In the event of an accident at the commander of the 1st Battle Fleet, the commander of the 2nd Battle Fleet succeeds as supreme commander in order.

In this way, the phenomenon of disobedience among the commanders of the fleets during joint operations of various fleets has been avoided; It is also possible that in the event of an accidental operation, the various fleets can fully unite to fight. As for the union of fleets between different ranks, it is entirely possible to determine the supreme commander in such a way that the commander of the main fleet is superior to the commander of the battle fleet.

For example, when the Second Main Fleet, the First Battle Fleet, and the Third Battle Fleet are operating together; Then the commander of the second main fleet is the supreme commander by default, and the commanders of the first and third battle fleets must unconditionally obey the orders of the supreme commander. In this way, not only can the hierarchy problem between the various fleets be completely solved; Such a joint mechanism could also be formalized. ”

Mary's words were completely a word to wake up the dreamer, not only solved Shi Xiu's problem of dividing the rank of fleet commanders, but also brought out the joint mechanism of all the fleets of the entire Augustus family; This is true genius! However, before Shi Xiu could react, Lu Quis stood up excitedly and said:

"This joint mechanism of the Chief of General Staff Mary is really a clever solution! Moreover, it can be used not only for the joint command of naval fleets; It can also be used in the joint operations of the major corps of our army! In previous operations, once there was a joint operation between two or more corps; It is necessary to appoint a commander of a combined corps before he can command two corps to fight at the same time.

Once we have such a joint mechanism, we don't have to go through such a lot of trouble anymore; For example, the Third and Fifth Legions, which are now stationed in the province of Betica. If there had not been such a joint mechanism, if the Kingdom of Spain had now waged a sudden war against us; Then the Third and Fifth Legions must have fought separately and were finally broken by the enemy individually.

But after such a joint mechanism is determined, in the event of war; Then the Third and Fifth Legions will instantly form a combined corps to fight. The commander of the Third Legion, Segudus, would undoubtedly become the commander of the Combined Legion, and the Commander of the Fifth Legion would not have any opinion on this; This joint mechanism is really a powerful weapon to improve the combat effectiveness of the family army! ”

Even the patriarchs of the Augustan family, such as Luquis, stood up and shouted for Mary's joint mechanism, and the admirals on the admiral side naturally had no objections; To be honest, Oscar's heart was also full of surprise at this time, he never expected that Mary would actually propose such a meaningful joint mechanism system, which was really unexpected, too pleasant!

The joint mechanism was thus established in the Augustan family, which became one of the most important systems in the future military operations of the Augustan family; Of course, the only downside is that Oscar needs to think carefully when appointing the commander of the corps and the commander of the fleet in the future, after all, the number has been given practical value! (To be continued.) )