“…… All the good generals of the ancients will be loyal to themselves, benevolent to soothe the people, and wise to observe the subtleties. Eringsiren, abide by it. Greatly. ”

"Commanded!"

The edict is as lengthy as ever, but it is much better than the same polite words of a middle- and lower-ranking officer when he is promoted, and at least there are many carefully written and connotative words in it.

"It's all real military feats, if your kid is three or five years older, he can rise even faster." Lin Xi sighed with some embarrassment.

There was no shortage of bigwigs who participated in Zhou's promotion ceremony, Cheng Han and Lin Xi, the chief of the general staff and the minister of national defense, actually came.

"Elder Lin Ge, this shows that the results of the battle are not brilliant enough." Zhou Changfeng held the Nanmu box and joked: "If it's big enough, maybe I can mix up the whole army." ”

Everyone in the room laughed together.

"As a human being, you still have to plan for the future no matter what." Cheng Han said meaningfully.

The imperial court and the emperor also left enough room for growth in addition to generosity, and you must know that major generals in the Ming military system can be said to be rare in peacetime.

Even today, in wartime, there are only about 40 major generals in the army, navy, and air force, and some of them are in a state of leisure and glory.

Generally speaking, a brigadier general can serve as the chief officer of a divisional unit and the chief officer of a naval detachment; Rear Admiral may serve as the Chief Officer of the Army-level Units and the Chief Officer of the Navy's Main Fleet.

As for the higher ranks, Pang Lingqi, the superintendent of the Australian Corps of hundreds of thousands of troops, is also a lieutenant general, and Cheng Han, who is a fellow of the staff office of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, is also a lieutenant general.

In addition to the promotion in military rank, Zhu Lingjing also came with a glamorous-looking knighthood - Han Chuanzi.

Since the traditional guard system was banned, the hereditary hundred households, thousands of households, and guard commanders ceased to exist, so the male and son titles finally officially returned in the Ming Dynasty, and were no longer only used to chase the dead.

It is meaningless to take out the low-level titles separately for evaluation, whether they look good or not, they are just higher on the surface and can receive more money.

A baron or viscount who is idle and unemployed cannot be compared with a position of real power at all—even inferior to the officials of the six halls of a government, and the official hall, the household hall, the work hall, and so on are all fat differences.

Because these people are basically the lords, the guys who eat and wait for death, everyone gives some face at most - not even for them, but for their ancestors.

However, when the title is paired with a position of real power, it plays the role of a status multiplier.

The merit of non-social work is not knighted, and the gold content of the knighthood in the Ming Dynasty is still high, which is much more difficult than that of the Tang and Song dynasties.

Zhu Lingjing was still entangled between the two titles of "male" and "son" at first, the baron was too low, and the viscount seemed to be a little higher.

However, Fang Shujun reminded her not to be stingy in this regard, and there was no need to deliberately suppress her own people. Besides, Zhou's ability is obvious to all, but anyone with a discerning eye will not question it.

"The current situation is very good, I will work hard to gnaw Hawaii down, and I will suddenly open up in the future." Lin Xi's tone was very relaxed.

After leaving the building of the Military Division, the group walked leisurely between the military headquarters and the official office.

"The Americans are very alarming when they drive away the diaspora." Cheng Han on the side pushed his gold-rimmed glasses, and then stretched out his index and middle fingers, "Now there are two whole divisions in Hawaii, and there are also those evacuated from Wake Island and Midway Island, which can be described as a large army." Storming Oahu...... Our plan is to suffer 15,000 casualties. ”

"Is this the latest deduction?" Lin Xi asked, "What's the best outcome?" ”

"The best? If it goes best, it's about a million people. ”

"Worse?"

Cheng Han glanced at Zhou Changfeng, and Zhou Changfeng said helplessly: "No matter how close it is, it won't be able to beat." ”

"Also, it is said that the British are going to borrow a few aircraft carriers to go out."

The number of troops to be delivered at one time was limited, and even if a giant luxury cruise ship like the Suzaku was put into transportation, the Ming army could only send about 30,000 troops to Hawaii in a month's time.

Before, the Ming military department was still very optimistic, thinking that it could be consumed forever and gnaw down Oahu Island in two to three months.

But now a new danger has arisen - the British are very likely to lease two or three aircraft carriers to the Americans, which means that the American military can quickly cobble together a working division to relieve the siege of Hawaii.

Therefore, the Ming army's next expedition to Hawaii must also seize the time, and it cannot calmly continue to fight a war of attrition.

"Looks like I can't make it to this battle, hey!" Zhou Changfeng said very regretfully.

Lin Xi and Cheng Han both smiled in unison, and the latter said with a straight face: "The first brigade is too late, but it hasn't been decided who should be in charge, this battle is not trivial, maybe you will have to rely on you General Zhou in the end, hahaha." ”

After the battle of Kuah Island, the 1st Marine Brigade suffered considerable losses, and now malaria and dengue fever are unsurprisingly raging again, and non-combat attrition has soared, and it will take at least another month and a half of rest.

Subsequently, the group left the military headquarters and went to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion by car.

In Room 1 of the General Staff Office, several military maps covered with magnetic arrows completely show the situation in the three major directions of the South Asian subcontinent, Australia, and the Pacific Ocean.

As for the north-west direction...... The local forces are full of complicated feelings about the arrival of the Ming Dynasty, Tsarist Russia is indeed not good, but how good can the Ming Dynasty be?

With the exception of a small number of resistance groups, most of them remained neutral, and the Anxi and Lingbei armies intervened fairly well in Kazakh and Abakan.

A colonel stepped forward, clasped his fists and saluted, looking radiant.

"Good news to you, the Lingbei Army has generally counted the machinery and equipment, more than 3,300 units in good condition, and 5,200 units are slightly inferior, and they will be loaded and shipped this month!" He introduced.

Last year, the impetuous and rash expedition of the Siberian Defense Army ended in a fiasco, but as the Ming intervention army also mixed in, the city of arms - Izhevsk fell without suspense.

In the face of the menacing Ming army and the Siberian Defense Army, the Nationalist Republican Army fought hard from the suburbs to the city for more than a month, and seized the time to snatch away many machines.

However, this historic industrial city was not in vain, and even after the baptism of war, the Ming army still captured considerable booty.

It's better to buy than to build, it's better to grab than to buy, this sentence seems to have come true?

The list of trophies compiled by the Lingbei Army included 1,700 tons of high-quality steel, 240 tons of tin, 110 tons of nickel, 270 tons of copper, and 6,433 machine tools of various types.

There are also 43,000 Mosin Nagant rifles, 3,345 light machine guns, 1,417 heavy machine guns, and 314 field guns.

According to the agreement reached between the Ming and the Siberian Defense Committee, part of the machinery and equipment of these trophies will be used to enrich the arsenal in Yekaterinburg, and the weapons and equipment will be "temporarily" kept by the Lingbei Army.

If you want to expand the army, you have to ask the Ming side for instructions, and you can only get weapons after getting the promise.

Lieutenant General Ilya Egorov regarded the Ming monarch as an ambitious but somewhat clever fellow, and his performance was completely in line with this.

He ordered that the civilians captured from Izhevsk be carefully sorted, that the workers go to the factories, the peasants go to the farms, and the ordinary citizens are required to settle down and reintegrate into society as soon as possible.

The commander-in-chief of the Lingbei Army felt that Ilya had regarded Siberia as his kingdom and had a sense of mission that came from nowhere, so he was very concerned about industrial and agricultural construction.

"This person is not the kind of ordinary separatist who is king, be careful." Lin Xi, who stood with his hands in his hands, commented: "If it is not controlled, then you have to prepare decent things." ”

"It's probably an acquaintance, but it's just a little clever."

Song Zhongkai's voice came from behind, and everyone in the conference hall turned their heads to look over.

"Why did our Metropolitan Governor come today?" Cheng Han said with a smile.

"The fleet is about to depart, how can you do it without coming in person?" Song Zhongkai walked to the long table as he spoke, "What about the sketches?" Serve it up. ”

The original plan of action drawn up by the Governor's Office was large and complex, and each exercise revealed unforeseen omissions before the problems had to be remedied.

In this way, more water is added, more water is added, and the whole plan is quite bloated, and the overview, entries, and content descriptions are listed on thousands of pages.

Of course, to put it mildly, this should be called complete and detailed.

The launch date of the operation is tentatively scheduled for late April, and the Ming Navy is also "pouring out".

The 180th Special Service Fleet is now scattered, with some warships just finishing their maintenance on the mainland and some warships halfway through, and the fleet is expected to complete its assembly on Guam on 20 April.

Next, the huge fleet will sail directly to the Hawaiian Islands, during which it will take a break in the waters of Midway.

The fleet is divided into two major parts: the landing fleet and the mobile fleet, the former directly supporting the landing operations of the ground forces, and the latter cruising on the outer line to maintain concealment to prevent a sneak attack by the enemy's aircraft carriers.

The ground troops participating in the landing operation were the 3rd Marine Brigade, the 4th Marine Brigade, the 17th Infantry Division, the 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 1st Battalion of Attack Vehicles, and the 1st Brigade and 1 Battalion of Combat Vehicles, with a total strength of 40,000 troops and more than 100 tanks.

However, due to the limited number of high-speed troop carriers, the first echelon accompanying the main fleet to act together was only the 3rd Marine Brigade and the 4th Marine Brigade and the 7th Regiment.

The remaining forces will be on standby in Guam and Saipan, where they will depart at a later date, and are expected to arrive five to six days after the main fleet arrives in Hawaii.

"The Saratoga was wounded by our troops in the Battle of Tarawa last time, but it must have been repaired now. Together with the Enterprise, the biggest threat to our army's attack on Hawaii lies in the two. Lin Xi stretched out his index finger and tapped heavily on the map.

"It's easy to destroy an enemy ship, but how to spot an enemy ship?" Song Zhongkai, who was expressionless, said lightly: "This is the most difficult and difficult, followed by ensuring that it can be tracked." ”

Zhou Changfeng suddenly interjected: "Xia Jinbo, I heard that Senior Ouyang has been pondering new tactics recently?" ”

"Yes, he has been closed these days, staying in the navy with a few staff members all day to conduct deductions, and he has a scruffy beard, and the dignified lieutenant general has no image at all."

Ouyang Zhanghua, a handsome and kind middle-aged man, actually forgot to sleep and ate so sloppily?

After thinking about it for a while, Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"Is this to enlightenment?" Cheng Han smiled slightly and said, "Let's see what we can study this time." ”

In view of the characteristics of "it is difficult to seek the enemy and it is easy to destroy the enemy" under today's technical conditions, Ouyang Zhanghua decided to try a new aircraft carrier tactic.

Armored aircraft carriers with strong survivability are concentrated in the first line, ordinary aircraft carriers are scattered in the second line, and armored aircraft carriers can attract enemy air attacks after they are discovered, while ordinary aircraft carriers with one or two formations can hide in the deep sea, ensuring that they will always have a backhand to kill the enemy aircraft carriers.

In addition to this, there are staff officers who have come up with more interesting ideas -

As a front-line transit airfield, the armored aircraft carrier only carries carrier-based destroyers to protect itself, and all the attack force is provided by ordinary aircraft carriers in the rear.

The carrier-based aircraft formation landed on the armored aircraft carrier to replenish supplies, and then took off to attack the target.

In this way, a fragile ordinary aircraft carrier can cruise outside the strike radius of the enemy aircraft carrier, guaranteeing absolute safety.

This tactic is called: Shuttle Bombing!

This looks great, but the drawbacks are obvious – how do you ensure effectiveness? How to coordinate carrier-based aircraft formations?

It takes an hour or more for a fleet of aircraft to fly from an ordinary aircraft carrier to an armored aircraft carrier, and then another three hours or more for landing-replenishment-take-off-formation, at which point the enemy's aircraft carriers do not know where to run.

Therefore, whether this tactic is feasible will need to be perfected and deduced for a long time.

"The Luxun didn't perform well the first two times, so it should be better this time, right? Otherwise, it will be a waste of our General Zhou's hard work. As he spoke, Lin Xi looked at Zhou Changfeng, who was looking at the map and was distracted.

Zhou Changfeng's hard work on the amphibious command ship Lu Xun is not a lot, but the ship's previous performance has been very bad, and it can't even be called unsatisfactory.

He hated iron and said: "It's not more than three, if something goes wrong this time, then it will have to be seriously rectified." ”

When several high-ranking and powerful generals of the Ming Empire gathered at the staff office of the Dadu Governor's Office, a mediocre luncheon also began on the shore of Xuanwu Lake.

Jinling in April is full of spring, and under the bright sunshine, everything is pink and green.

Red, black, or white cars were parked on the side of the road, and tents and felt had been set up on the grass.

This kind of banquet in the suburbs with tents is also known as the "skirt banquet", which can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty.

"Did you hear that? The boy of the Yu family fell ill and died in the Indu. ”

"Huh? When was this? ”

"Just yesterday."

"Is it the son of the Thirteenth Master Yu Changzhu?"

"Yes."

Ladies and ladies chose to hold a luncheon here today, and it is a common thing for them to go to the banquet every three or five times, and communication between the powerful is indispensable, and when men deal with men, women naturally have to deal with women.

Xia Xiaoshi was also among this group of warblers and swallows, and she immediately recalled the name.

The son of the thirteenth division Shi Zhengyu Changzhu died of illness?

When Zhou Changfeng led his troops to attack Moresby, he dealt with Yu Changzhu.

Middle-aged lost a child, it's a pity, it seems that I'm going to be ready to write a letter to comfort.

"Huh? Mrs. Xia is here too? What are you thinking? ”

Hearing a familiar voice coming from behind, the thoughtful Xia Xiaoshi subconsciously frowned slightly, but in the blink of an eye, the work eased down.

She let out an "oh" and said nonchalantly: "My officials have fought side by side with General Yu, and I feel the same way. ”

(End of chapter)