Chapter 41: The Beginning of the Occupation of the Pacific

"Young Master, now our army has occupied all the lands including Borneo, Sulawesi, Palawan, Maluku Islands, and New Guinea! This is a detailed report on this operation!" Huo Shi put the thick battle report he had compiled on the desk in front of him.

After Huo Shan picked it up and flipped it over, he stood up, walked around the room a few times with his hands behind his back, and stopped in front of the window sill carved with jīng beautiful patterns, staring thoughtfully at the beautiful jīng outside the window, stunned!

It was not surprising to him that he was able to occupy these places, for the former 'coachman of the sea' in the Netherlands had long since declined. Due to his small size and relatively small population, he simply did not have enough troops to occupy the East Indies, which were tens of thousands of islands. It's good to have a few hundred people on each island to keep you in power!

Moreover, with the equipment of his own troops, it would be relatively easy to fight these islands, which were still in a state of barbarism! As for the revenge war of the Netherlands, Huo Shan did not think about the state at all! As long as Britain, France, and Germany, which were European powers, did not come to look for trouble! Now, he was thinking about a major issue that would affect the strategic situation of the Huo family army in the future.

Looking at the young master's ever-changing face, Huo Shi, who was standing on the side, did not make a sound, he could see that there must be something in his young master's heart that was difficult to decide!

"Young Master, in fact, you don't have to worry too much, with our current level of weaponry and troop training, under the same number, it is enough to defeat the land forces of those powerful countries in Europe now! Even if our current navy is still very weak, as long as we retreat inland and avoid the shè of naval artillery, it is enough to defeat any country that wants to provoke us on land. Moreover, even if our army runs out of ammunition and food and fails, as long as our base in Taiwan is not destroyed, then we still have the opportunity to make a comeback, young master, do not forget that our nation has more than 400 million people, and accounts for one-third of the world's population! As long as we have these resources, we will never really fail. Since we have such backing, why don't we seize every opportunity more actively, strive to expand the territory of the country, and strive for more places for the nation to live and reproduce, isn't it what the young master has always told us to do?" After a period of silence in the study, Huo Shi suddenly spoke.

Hearing his words, Huo Shan slowly turned his head, looked at this seriously, and said slowly to the army chief of staff he personally selected: "Huo Shi, what you said is right, I was too conservative before! Now I will give you a new order!"

"Yes, young master!"

"After you go back, immediately transfer troops from our base areas within the Qing court, and occupy the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia Islands, including the Melanesian Islands, as quickly as possible, and garrison the emigrate! In addition, you are responsible for informing Huo Long and asking them to build a naval base in Rabaul! Although our new warships have not yet been built, you will bring all the heavy guns with a caliber of more than 100mm produced by our Taiping Military Factory in the next few months and use them as coastal defense guns! In addition, after occupying these islands, we will continue to occupy all the Pacific islands such as the Gilbert Islands, the Tuvalu Islands, the Samoa Islands, the Cook Islands, the Laine Islands, the Society Islands, the Tubuai Islands, the Tuamotu Islands, and as long as these islands are not occupied by the Europeans now, you will drive our troops over and turn them into our land. Even if some islands cannot survive without fresh water, you have to bury a monument to China's sovereignty for me!

"Got it!"

Although I was surprised how the young master could want these small islands in the sea that even foreigners didn't pay much attention to! But as a soldier, it was his duty to obey orders!

Looking at the back of Huo Shi leaving, Huo Shan let out a long breath, no one has yet realized that many of these islands in the Pacific Ocean do not even have fresh water, and there are no people living on them! Even with the British greed for the colonies, they are only occupying the more populated Fiji Islands.

He came from later generations, he was too deeply influenced by history, and subconsciously thought that Germany, Britain, France and other Western powers had occupied these islands, but the last time I went to the United States, along the way, I saw the barren and inhabited islands, and at the same time I was puzzled, I came back and checked it with my own computer, only to realize that I was really wrong!

It was only in 1884 that Germany and Britain carved up East Papua, the Solomon Islands, and occupied the Bismarck Islands, and the other South Pacific islands were divided between these European naval powers. In other words, these large islands, which are inhabited only by a small number of indigenous people, do not have their own owners!

This discovery couldn't help but make Huo Shan very excited, as long as he took advantage of this power vacuum and occupied these islands, then in the entire Pacific Ocean, China would have established an unbreakable island chain defense! Moreover, the information explosion of later generations also made him understand what a rich treasure is buried under this ocean, and just by virtue of the interests of the surrounding sea, he will never give up!

Originally, according to his original plan, he would fight with these European powers after the country became strong and completely occupy these islands, but now it seems that he will not have to spend so much effort!

Moreover, even after the Huo family army occupied these islands, they violated the interests of those European powers, and believed that when there were not many interests on these islands, they would not make a big move!

Moreover, what Huo Shi said just now is also good! With his current weapons and equipment and the technology in the computer that is far ahead of the times, Huo Jiajun has enough capital to keep himself undefeated!

It was in this way that after thinking through all the stakes, Huo Shan gave the order to occupy these islands!

"Hawaii, just wait a minute, where is the gateway to the west coast of the United States, although there are not many people who realize its importance now, but when their own navy is not strong, there is no need to poke this hornet's nest!

"And the hateful little rìben, one day the young master will clean you up!"

"Alas, it's still not strong! How can a damn warship be built so slowly!"

Huo Lei, who was standing outside the door, listened to the sound of self-talk from inside from time to time, and frowned slightly, not knowing what happened to the young master who was usually always calm and calm today!

――――――

After a hasty breakfast, Wei Han grabbed his coat on the hanger and walked quickly to the Keelung Shipyard, which was getting bigger and bigger not far away.

It has been almost a year since he came to Taiwan, and he has gone from the initial resistance to acceptance and then to all-round support! Now he has completely adapted to life here, and there is no intrigue and intrigue in the previous horsetail, no pain of misappropriation of shipbuilding funds, and no indifference to new technology by officials. It was here that he felt that his talent and life had real meaning.

Every day, he went into the laboratory of the shipyard and solved one technical problem after another with his colleagues, consolidated the foundation of China's shipbuilding industry little by little, watched his beloved warship take shape step by step every day, and taught classes to those students who studied diligently in the Naval Naval Academy at night. This is what you want.

Wei Han's speed under his feet was very fast, and on this road that he had walked more than a thousand times, he could accurately find the gate of the shipyard with his eyes closed! However, today he found that the shipyard where he was located had changed significantly, and many young men wearing black sè tunics (Huo Shan himself was embarrassed to put gold on his face, so he changed back to his original name), surrounded the entire shipyard, looking at the bulging appearance of their waists, it was obvious that there were some violent guys hidden in it!

In order to ensure that the secrets of the shipyard are not revealed, every designer and shipbuilder must register every day, which is some of the management experience that Huo Shan learned from later generations!

After signing his name on the roster, Wei Han walked along the cement avenue of the shipyard and walked into the slipway on the left, where the new warship was almost completed and launched for sea trials!

Moreover, every time he saw its majestic steel body and thought of the advanced technologies condensed in its body, Wei Han felt that he was full of endless fighting spirit, which was a kind of motivation full of hope for the future after seeing the rise of the Chinese Navy!

Today, however, when he walked into the wide dock, he was caught in the middle of the crowd not far away, pointing to the new warship that was about to take shape on the slipway, and talking to the people around him from time to time.

Thinking of the legend that circulated in the shipyard, Wei Han couldn't help but feel happy in his heart and walked over quickly.

Before he came to Taiwan, he had already relied on his outstanding talent to become the chief shipbuilder of the Qing court's shipbuilding engineering office, which is what people call the chief engineer. In addition, Wei Han usually doesn't have much arrogance and treats people easily, so his personnel in the shipyard are very good! Therefore, all the shipbuilders greeted him affectionately along the way!

The movement here also attracted the attention of the crowd ahead.

"Ji Zhu (Wei Han's character), come here!" Xu Jianyin also liked his talented colleague very much, and after seeing him coming, he couldn't help but greet loudly in the distance!

"Young Master, this is the Wei Han I just mentioned to you! Our new warship was able to launch so quickly, and he contributed a lot!" Xu Jianyin pulled Wei Han to Huo Shan and introduced excitedly.

Looking at the young man in front of him, a famous shipbuilding expert in modern China. Huo Shan stretched out his right hand with a smile on his face, "Hello, my name is Huo Shan, just now you Chief Designer Xu has been praising you in front of me!"

Looking at the kind smile on the young man's face, Wei Han stretched out his right hand in a bit of a panic, "It was Mr. Xu who lifted me, and he really can be called a master!"