Li Qingyang didn't know how much the navy of the Haihan People's League would spend, and if he saw the military budget figures of the Ministry of Finance, he was afraid that his jaw would fall to the ground. As far as these horses and horses of the Haihan militia are concerned, their annual expenditure is almost equivalent to the military expenditure of the Ming army in the entire Guangdong Province. And this army, which was piled up with huge military spending, did not live up to the expectations of the Haihan Executive Committee, and far surpassed the Ming army in terms of weaponry and combat level. Although Li Qingyang has not personally witnessed the combat of the Haihan militia, as far as the contents of the public display that he has witnessed so far are concerned, he can already be sure that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia is far superior to that of the Ming army, and this gap cannot be filled by simply using troops.

The only thing Li Qingyang can hope for now is to continue to maintain the peace between the Ming and the Haihan within the scope of his ability, and not to give these Haihan people an excuse to go to war, otherwise the loss of the Ming Dynasty may not only be the land on Qiongzhou Island. The Haihan people were able to achieve such rapid expansion in less than three years by only peaceful means, and if a war really started, judging from the huge disparity in the combat strength of the two sides, Li Qingyang could not imagine how the strength of the Haihan people would skyrocket. And when the difference in strength between the two sides is big enough to reach a certain level, will the attitude of the Haihan people still be as conservative as it is now, Li Qingyang will not dare to pack tickets for them.

In his first report to Nanjing, Li Qingyang basically did not mention the state of Haihan armaments, but went to great lengths to describe Sanya as a new commercial port, as required by the Ministry of Security, and the Haihan people were descendants of overseas Han Chinese whose main business was commerce. As for the rumored Haihan militia that attracted the attention of the Jinyi Wei Yamen, Li Qingyang described it as "a joint defense of rural people, the scale is only a few hundred, and most of them use sticks as weapons, so it is not enough to worry."

Of course, if he blindly belittled Haihan's strength, then Nanjing would probably soon order him to be transferred back, and this was not the result that the Ministry of Security wanted, so some other content was added to the report, so that Li Qingyang could have enough excuse to stay in Sanya. For example, it mentions a variety of advanced production technologies in the hands of Haihan, and even vaguely mentions that Haihan may be suspected of trafficking in a large amount of illicit salt - although this is under the jurisdiction of the Salt Section Lifting Division, and it is not Jinyiwei's business, but it is a fat poor person to catch smuggling salt dealers, and if there is an opportunity to make a windfall, Jinyiwei will not take the initiative to give this fat meat to the Salt Section.

Hao Wanqing, who presided over this matter, believed that leaving Li Qingyang in Sanya would stabilize the Jinyi Guard Yamen on a certain period of time, so that they would not take further action against Haihan in the short term. And as Li Qingyang's understanding of Haihan gradually deepens, that kind of resistance will become weaker and weaker, after all, there are many people who gave in with a mind like him at the beginning, and now there are still a few people who dare to say that they are hard bones who would rather bend than bend?

Li Qingyang noticed that among the naval contingent on the viewing platform under the stage, there was the Annan general Wu Sen who he had seen a few days ago. He had also doubted Wu Sen's identity before, thinking that it might just be a bureau arranged by the Haihan people, looking for someone to pretend to be the general of Annan to act. However, he soon confirmed the true identity of Vu Sen through various channels, because there were many immigrants from Annam, and among them there were few high-ranking officials of the former South Vietnamese court, such as Vu Sen and the Nguyen brothers, many local Annam people recognized them. Li Qingyang's "Fu Ji Pharmacy" has four or five naturalized helpers of Annam descent, and all of them came out of Hue, and Li Qingyang inquired a little, and knew that Vu Sen's was indeed a naval commander in South Vietnam, and in terms of the military system of South Vietnam, Vu Sen's position was no longer low.

Li Qingyang didn't know that after Wu Sen was brought to Sanya, he had a mental journey very similar to him, and he was also sent to Tiandu Iron Mine to work as a coolie for a period of time, but since the Haihan people absorbed this Wu Sen into the militia group, Li Qingyang thought that this must also be his ability. I just don't know if this Wu Sen's heart is the same as his current mentality, he is afraid of Haihan, but he still has a trace of unwillingness in the deepest part of his heart.

Wu Sen didn't have such complicated feelings at the moment, and he was still excited. After a series of political trials and professional training, Wu Sen was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to serve on the ship "Majesty", which also meant that he was officially included in the system of the Haihan militia - the previous first mate on the "Lightning" was really not a service, and there were very few opportunities to carry out military missions.

The military selected the crew of the "Majesty" some time ago, and the targets were mainly the active sailors and crew members of the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy, as well as dozens of special operations soldiers recommended by the Annam Military Region.

In the selection of the crew of the "Majesty" this time, the number of Annan crew members and sailors was only more than 30 and less than 40, which accounted for almost one-tenth of the rated personnel on the ship. In such a fierce competition, Wu Sen is the only person selected as a general, which can be regarded as an extremely rare personal honor.

Of course, Wu Sen also knew that his opportunity was not easy to come by, and when he put on the navy uniform, carried the Type 28 breech rifle, and entered the phalanx of the troops under review, a long-lost passion suddenly rose in his heart. Even if he was born in Annam and was a former opponent of Haihan, he had to admit that being able to serve in such a powerful army was really a dream of every soldier.

Although he did not have many opportunities to carry out military missions before, Wu Sen's training life was in the militia group, so he also knew that this army had never lost a battle on the battlefield since its establishment, and after entering this collective, he also fully felt the almost fanatical loyalty and admiration of ordinary soldiers and junior officers to the Haihan Executive Committee. Almost everyone in this unit is eager to fight, hoping that they can kill the enemy on the battlefield and make meritorious contributions, and the senior officers are always instilling this belligerent spirit in the grassroots level, and everyone firmly believes that under the command of the Executive Committee and the Military Commission, the Haihan militia will always maintain an invincible record.

The information that Wu Sen can accept in this environment and the surrounding atmosphere are almost non-stop brainwashing, and after staying for a long time, it is actually difficult to maintain the ability to think independently, seeing this mighty ship on the dock, Wu Sen feels that his brain is about to be congested, and he can't wait to get on the ship as much as possible, and take this powerful warship to conquer the next opponent of the Executive Committee. As he passed the viewing platform, Wu Sen shouted the slogan "Serve the Executive Committee" with all his might, and his excited state of mind was no different from that of the other naturalized soldiers around him.

"Are these naval soldiers trained by Tom or Gu Wei?" Perhaps noticing the enthusiastic slogans of the soldiers, Tao Donglai turned his head sideways to Yan Chujie and asked.

"The sailors were trained by Tom himself, and the soldiers were in charge of the guards. Yan Chujie immediately explained: "However, their current training process is still separate, and they have not yet entered the joint training stage. ”

When Tao Donglai heard him say this, he expected that most of this matter was related to the things mentioned by Yan Chujie before, so he didn't continue to ask.

The ceremony was actually not long, and after the parade, several main leaders made brief speeches, and there was no direct sailing process in the previous "Exploration-class" and "Expedition-class" warships entering the ceremony, and it was over in about 40 minutes. The members of the executive committee each had a task to do, and immediately after the end of the meeting, they left the military port by ferry and returned to Fort Victory to continue their work. Tao Donglai, on the other hand, stayed and went to the garrison camp with Yan Chujie, intending to listen to how he explained the previous events.

"Bring the door shut! If someone comes to me, I'll wait outside first, don't disturb me and Mr. Tao to discuss things. Yan Chujie instructed the naturalized guards who came in with tea.

After the guards went out and brought the door, Yan Chujie spoke: "Although this ship has been listed, it will not be able to form combat effectiveness in the short term. ”

"Is there a problem with the ship's construction process?" Tao Donglai asked.

"Not really, it's mainly a matter of personnel. In his office, Yan Chujie had nothing to hide, and directly opened the skylight and said brightly: "The operation and maintenance of marine steam engines requires about twenty people, but now we don't have so many people available." ”

"You mean the navy?" Tao Donglai heard what Yan Chujie meant.

"That's right. Yan Chujie nodded and said: "This is the first hybrid warship in the Navy, but there are no experienced personnel in this area in the Navy, we have submitted a personnel application report to Ningqi, but it has been a month and there is still no result." ”

"Oh, what did Ningqi say?" Tao Donglai was the first time he had heard of this, because some time ago, due to the start of infrastructure projects in various places, he was busy dealing with the troubles of the Ministry of Construction, and he had no time to inquire about the affairs of the navy.

Ning Qi said that there are indeed difficulties in this matter, and there are twenty people, but people are not something he can adjust if he wants to. Yan Chujie said helplessly: "The Ministry of Industry has only trained less than 100 steam engine operators, and only about one-fifth of these people know how to repair and maintain them simply, if the Ministry of Personnel transfers all these people to our military......

"Then I'm afraid there are many places that will have to be discontinued because of this!" Tao Donglai had already picked up the conversation before Yan Chujie finished speaking.

Although many units in the area under the rule of Haihan have begun to use steam engines to assist production, this cross-era thing is relatively complex due to its manufacturing process, and not everyone can quickly learn to operate and maintain it. It took more than a year for the Ministry of Industry to train these professionals, and the positions of these personnel are indeed not casual, such as the steam lifting device used in the Tiandu iron mine, or the steam locomotive running between Sanya Port and Tiandu, once these posts are stopped, it means that the entire industry under the rule of Haihan will be affected, and this responsibility is not something that the navy can afford.

Although Yan Chujie also exerted a certain amount of pressure on the personnel department in charge of Ning Qi, after Ning Qi put the problem on the table, Yan Chujie had no good solution. If they are forced to transfer people, then after problems arise in these units, the responsibility will have to be pursued to the military, and Yan Chujie does not want to bear this pot -- some people already think that the navy's investment is too large and it occupies too many shipbuilding resources, so that it has affected the development speed of Haihan's maritime trade in a certain way.

If people are forcibly snatched from other units, then the dissatisfaction with the military within the group may increase rapidly, and Yan Chujie does not want to provoke public anger because of the matter of the new warship, so this matter can only be pressed first, which is what he meant when he said before, "enter the ranks first, and talk about other things later".

Tao Donglai pondered for a while before he spoke: "As for the question of skilled workers, why didn't arrangements be made earlier? I remember the plan to develop hybrid warships, but preparations had already begun two years ago. ”

"I can't blame our military for this matter!" Yan Chujie said bitterly: "Education and training is a matter of the education department, professional skills training, that is the business of the Ministry of Industry, their training speed can't keep up, and the military can't do anything, so they can't let us take over all their work, right?"

"Then have you ever asked them why they delayed such an important matter?" Tao Donglai just finished speaking, and then he picked up on his own: "Forget it, I can probably think of the answer without asking, the education department is just that little teacher, thank God for being able to run a few more literacy classes, as for the situation on the Ministry of Industry, I also know a little bit, the training of skilled workers is slow, and it is not good that it can not keep up with the speed at which the steam engine is put into use, how can there be idlers to distribute to the military." ”

That's pretty much what it means. Yan Chujie replied with a wry smile: "So for the time being, I can't expect the steam power system on this ship to really come in handy, let's use the wind to propulsion first!"

"How much combat power do you think this will affect?" Tao Donglai asked.

Yan Chujie thought for a while and said: "At least thirty percent during the battle, because the steam power system on the ship is not only used for propulsion power, but also for lifting the sails and auxiliary steering. Without it, it would have to be operated entirely by manpower, and would have to occupy at least a quarter of the ship's manpower. ”

"Sancheng...... Quarter...... It's not unacceptable. Tao Donglai weighed it and said, "Have you discussed this matter carefully with Ning Qi, when will he be able to solve the problem of professionals?" Is there a clear timetable?"

Yan Chujie nodded and said, "I have talked about it, and he said that it will be fully resolved at least after March next year." I can only pray now that there will be no large-scale naval battles in these three months, or the ships we have worked so hard to build will only be able to exert some of their power. ”