We're done talking

The maids served fragrant tea to the military bigwigs, and the atmosphere between the ministers chatted harmoniously for a while, and the topic turned to Shangri-La Island.

(Military personnel are all earl vassals, awarded the title of guardian knight, according to the European aristocratic feudal tradition of lord and vassal relationship)

"Your Excellency, we feel that we should set up a garrison force to garrison Shangri-La, this duty cannot be undertaken by the coast guard, and they can only fight at sea, and they must not sail ships to shore."

Chief of Staff Conrad Adenauer ignored Geng's elongated face and began to fight for the Army's interests, which was what his military number one should do.

The Coast Guard is another system, ostensibly part of the Queensland Home Rule Agency, and Conrad-Adenauer certainly doesn't consider it its own.

"Lord Earl, I disagree with the Chief of Staff." Geng Guigui received a standard British military education, and had little to do with the high-ranking and powerful Chief of Staff, and of course he had to fight for the rights and interests of the Coast Guard; "Shangri-La is far away from home, and the guard work should work closely with the coast guard, and have a certain degree of independent combat capability in wartime, and it is recommended to set up a marine police district modeled on the British naval system to oversee the coastal and land security tasks."

"Wait a minute, did I hear something wrong?" Conrad Adenauer immediately interrupted Geng's words and said in a very exaggerated tone; "Your Coast Guard of the Queensland Home Rule has tried to enctuit the Earl's private territory, making me mistakenly think that today is April Fool's Day, this suggestion is really stupid, and to be honest, I am very optimistic that you sailors who are drifting on the sea can perfectly fulfill the heavy duty of guarding the territory."

"Please do not confuse the concept, Mr. Chief of Staff, the officers and men of the Coast Guard have proved their loyalty with their blood in loyalty to Lord Earl, and we do not know what the Queensland Home Rule is, as the Earl's Guardian Knight, the officers of the Coast Guard will defend their loyalty and honor."

"When it comes to loyalty, who could be more loyal than the Dragon, Tiger, Leopard and Wolf Guards? We have proven this with the sacrifices of hundreds of soldiers. Konrad Adenauer immediately countered-for-tat.

He didn't know that this sentence had offended Fu Peng and Lei Xiao, the leaders of the pro-guard team, the two looked at each other angrily, and Lei Xiao said; "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, please pay attention to your words, all the officers and men of the Guards are on standby 24 hours a day, ready to defend Lord Count with their lives, and will not give up ...... death."

Li Fushou sat at the top, and he also felt a headache when he heard the fierce arguments of his subordinates.

Don't underestimate Shangri-La as a desert island to be developed, but from a military point of view, the importance and sensitivity of the geographical location, involving the British and Dutch confrontations, and perhaps the Spanish colonizers and Germans, will inevitably be the focus of future conflicts.

There is a consensus to strengthen Shangri-La's military defenses, not just the coast guard, but also the military on land.

The area was not suitable for cavalry due to conditions, but an infantry garrison was essential.

As an outpost of coastal defense, it was at least a cavalry guard in the early days, that is, a force of about 1,400 people.

Who doesn't want to fight for this big fat meat?

"Ahem......"

Li Fushou coughed dryly, and the quarrel that had become fierce quickly fell silent, and the military leaders of several sides looked at each other angrily, and the unconvinced look in their eyes could not be concealed.

Soldiers are like that, what do you say.

"It is gratifying that you have a profound view of the seriousness of the Shangri-La issue, which shows that you have excellent vision and are especially commendable."

Li Fushou kindly calmed everyone first, and then said; "Our secrecy measures have been very good, and the security of Shangri-La will not be too much to worry about for the time being, and by the beginning of April, the last batch of Seagull-class cruisers at the Hongshan Shipyard will be officially in service, which is a powerful force even if we look at the entire Southeast Asian region and the South Pacific, which greatly increases the military force at our disposal.

Be prepared for danger in times of peace, and take precautions.

You think this is good, the coast guard will come forward to organize a Shangri-La Marine Police District, the number of people is tentatively set at 1,000 people, and it can be increased or decreased at any time according to the situation in the future, and the specific command and training will be temporarily handed over to the General Staff Department, after all, the Army Training Staff is relatively good at this aspect.

Well, the scale of the pro-guard team should also be expanded, from 120 to 180 people, and Captain Lei Xiao is responsible for selecting and training.

In this way, it gives full play to the advantages of all parties and is in line with the current situation. ”

This arrangement, the seats are divided into fruits.

It means that all aspects have been taken care of, but everyone is not very satisfied, and the coast guard has been given the marine police district, but it has not been given the right to command and train.

The General Staff caught the military power, but this is only temporarily nominal, if you don't do it well, this boiled duck will fly.

The two bigwigs of the pro-guard team are very satisfied, and now the scale of the Red Fort is constantly expanding, and the construction has not stopped for more than 4 years, and the fortress headquarters with a military role is being built.

The guards also felt that their manpower was overstretched, and there was only one huge Red Fort, and 60 guards per shift were scattered in it, and they couldn't even see the figures, so they had to arrange for the cavalry guards to be on duty.

"Master Yingming, I have nothing to say." Fu Peng shook his head and intervened, very satisfied with the result.

"The Earl is wise and decisive, and the inferior rank obeys unconditionally." Geng Guigui took the lead in making a statement.

"Lord Earl, the staff has no opinion." Chief of Staff Conrad Adenauer looked a little dumbfounded.

As the most powerful military leader, his qualifications and prestige are first-class, but he was robbed of the title of the Marine Police District by the Coast Guard, a junior boy, how could he be willing?

See this scenario

Li Fushou smiled to ease the stiff atmosphere, left everyone to chat for a while, and then served tea to the guests.

After a while

Geng Guigui quietly went and returned, and when he saw Li Fushouan sitting on the top and waiting for him, he hurriedly took two steps and snapped his legs together, and saluted a standard military salute.

"If you are not talented, please show me the earl."

Li Fushou said with a smile; "Huh...... Brother Precious don't have to be restrained, sit down and say, here I will talk about you and my brother, I asked you to summon you here for the next step of the Coast Guard's armament plan, what do you think about this? I'd like to hear your opinion. ”

"Obedience." The excited look on Geng Guigui's face flashed away.

God, the Earl has finally taken the Coast Guard seriously.

Seeing this, Li Fushou smiled indifferently in understanding, the construction of the navy has always been a long-term process of continuous heavy investment, and although there is no mention of a century-old navy, it will never be achieved overnight.

Nowadays, the world's naval powers have entered the period of building steam ironclad battleships with all their might, investing heavily in building ocean-going fleets and competing for the right to speak in the ocean.

It won't take 10 years

When Britain's former dreadnoughts were born, the battle for supremacy at sea changed from tactics to battleships, and all these heavily built ironclad battleships would be reduced to scrap metal and abandoned by the era of rapid development.

In a few years, the dreadnought made its brilliant debut, once again leading the development trend of the world's battleships......

Why was Fuso able to rise in East Asia?

In the Russo-Japanese War, how could it defeat the Tsarist expeditionary fleet?

In this day and age

Fuso is a typical poor country, no resources, no industry, the whole country is fully promoting the Meiji Restoration, making great efforts to develop, afraid of the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Naval Fleet's strong ships and artillery, had to submit to the low and small.

Who would have thought that this small overseas island country would rise in just a dozen years and cause far-reaching disasters to China......

After the Westernization Movement, in order to keep the enemy out of the country, the Qing Dynasty adopted the advice of the Western-style ministers to open the Fujian Shipbuilding School to cultivate its own naval talents.

Year 1875

Li Hongzhang, the minister of the Westernization faction, said that "changes have not been seen in thousands of years,. A strong enemy unseen for thousands of years" moved the imperial court, and was able to lead the order to prepare for the establishment of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Out of concern about the balance of power, the imperial court sent another minister to prepare for the construction of the Nanyang Naval Division and the Eastern Guangdong Naval Division, with an annual naval military expenditure of 4 million vehicles, of which about one million taels were used to purchase warships.

Foreign Minister Li Hongzhang listened to the opinions of the British and took the lead in ordering warships in Britain, and with the appearance of the "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei", the Beiyang Naval Division had a certain strength.

In 1880, Li Hongzhang sent a delegation of the Beiyang Naval Division headed by Xu Jianyin and Li Fengbao to Britain, France, and Germany to inspect the navy and negotiate the purchase of ironclad ships.

After visiting the German-made "Saxony" class ironclad ship and the British "Indomitable" ironclad ship, the two decided after repeated consideration that the German side was more sincere and willing to build warships for them at half the price, and decided that the German Volkeng shipyard would build two ironclad battleships that combined the strengths of the "Saxony" class and the "Indomitable" class, which were later the "Dingyuan" and its sister ships.

Now the Dingyuan has been launched and perched, and the sister ship "Zhenyuan" in the same period has revealed its prototype on the slipway and has been built day and night.

The changes in the Far East condense the world situation at the end of the 19th century.

Knowing the direction of the historical trajectory clearly, there are a lot of opportunities for overtaking in corners, because of various factors, even if Australia cannot become a maritime hegemon like the British Empire, it must become a small but strong naval power.

Australia is inherently a large country with a small population, and does not have the conditions for the development of a large army.

With immigration alone, the ceiling on population growth in the next 20 years will not be high.

Now that the population of Tsarist Russia has exceeded 100 million, more than 10 million gray cattle can be taken out to participate in the European hegemony at will, from Europe to the Ottoman Empire, from India to the Qing Dynasty, and no neighboring country is not afraid of this greedy polar bear.

As a traditional army power, the European powers are ruthless, and millions of troops are still available, and the population advantage and the country's profound heritage are incomparable to Australia.

Therefore, Australia should focus on developing its navy, which is Li Fushou's clear long-term strategic judgment and a route suitable for Australia's development.

However, Li Fushou can't figure out this kind of thing in his heart, and he must have a strong executor and promoter to run for the development of the navy.

After careful observation for several years, Li Fushou found such a suitable candidate, that is, the captain of the coast guard, Geng Guigui.

Talk in secret until late into the night

In light of the world situation and the situation in East Asia, Li Fushou gave Geng Guigui some of the abridged explanations of his judgment on the world situation in the next 10 years or so, the current situation in the Red River Valley and the consideration of naval development in the next 10 years or so.

Finally, a common conclusion is drawn; A small but capable navy must be developed.

Geng Guigui left Lingxiao Pavilion late at night, stood in the silent and unmanned corridor for a while, suddenly knelt down on his knees, kowtowed three times in the direction of Lingxiao Pavilion, and said; "Chaowen said, it is okay to die at night, Lord Earl and my teacher, please accept the disciple's worship."

With that, he turned around and plunged into the dark night.

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