Chapter 235 New Weapons of the Southern Ocean Fleet
The Patan area is located at the westernmost end of the Kingdom of Jhansi. It borders Tubo County to the north, the Persian Empire and the Staniya Union to the west, and a long and narrow coastline to the south. Although this coastline is lined with cliffs and has few harbors, it is
It can become a sharp knife for China to penetrate deep into the Southern Ocean, constantly threatening the maritime communication lines of the Western Continent powers, and initially breaking the conspiracy of the Western Continent powers to use the Strait of Malacca to block the westward march of the Lanfang Empire and the Chinese Navy.
If you want to develop a region, you must first have convenient transportation. Fang Xiaoyu knows this very well. It is very uneconomical to build roads in such hilly areas. Under the current circumstances, the most convenient and economical transportation method besides sea transportation is railway.
Of course, sea transportation must be used, but the terrain of the Patan area is relatively long and narrow, and there are not many coastlines. It is unrealistic to rely solely on sea transportation. Railways must also be built. Naturally, building railways cannot just build a railway in the Patan area to connect to the seaport.
The efficiency is too low, and the communication lines are easily cut off by the powerful powers of the Western Continent.
Therefore, Fang Xiaoyu thinks it is a good idea to connect the railway lines in the Batan area with the railways in the Lanfang Empire. This way, railway routes can be selected flexibly, and it can be indirectly connected to the China Railway, and can quickly use the railway to mobilize reinforcements when necessary.
troops.
After negotiating with Wang Xuan, Wang Xuan easily agreed to Fang Xiaoyu's request to connect the railway in the Batan area with the Lanfang Empire railway line that had been built in Tubo County.
This is also a matter of mutual benefit. This move will not only allow the Bataan area to be connected to the Chinese territory from the land, but also allow Tubo County to obtain a channel to the sea.
The railway lines and seaports that run through the entire Patan area started construction at the same time as the Chinese herbal medicine base and tea plantations. Since the population of Jhansi country here is very small, Fang Xiaoyu sent many immigrants there.
Although it is relatively remote, the tea and Chinese herbal medicine growers are recruited by the China Group Company and are considered formal employees of the company. The China Group Company not only has a high salary, but also works in the Batan area as a field service. Fang Xiaoyu also specially approved a subsidy.
There are many people willing to work there.
In terms of military arrangements, Fang Xiaoyu also sent the Eleventh Army and the Twelfth Army of the National Defense Force to garrison there. Fang Xiaoyu planned to train them into a specialized mountain combat force for the Chinese leader. In addition, the Second Division of the Special Operations Army was also sent.
In the past, there were many elves in this force. They were more suitable for fighting in jungles and mountains. In addition to serving as the backbone there, they could also train the defense force a little. Al, the deputy commander of the special operations force, was directly responsible for the military work there.
As the actual military commander of the Patan region.
Fang Xiaoyu had two considerations in sending so many troops to the Patan area. In addition to serving as reinforcements for the Kingdom of Jhansi, Fang Xiaoyu also wanted to use this place as a basis to expand to the Central Continent, especially in the direction of the Stanya Alliance. This would allow
Fang Xiaoyu threatened the Cossack Empire from another direction, lest they always put too much military pressure on the Berea region.
In order to consolidate the military presence in the Bataan region, the navy is also very necessary. Therefore, Fang Xiaoyu plans to lead a Chinese-led Southern Ocean fleet consisting of two 'Lanting' class battleships and six 'Tongjiang' class cruisers to station in Bataan.
Along the coast of the Tantan area, it serves as the military presence of China’s leading navy in the Southern Ocean.
In order not to overly stimulate the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire, the Chinese Territory sent old warships. The Bataan area is far away from the mainland of the Chinese Territory, and its maritime connections are separated by the colonies of the Saar Empire and the Nantes Empire, so it is easy to be cut off by the other side.
, Fang Xiaoyu was very worried about this.
Just when Fang Xiaoyu was worried about how to equip the Southern Ocean Fleet with some hidden strength so that Sun Xiaohu could rely on him at critical moments, Holland's new submarine came out.
The new submarine has an underwater displacement of 873 tons and uses two 1,000-horsepower diesel engines and one 1,200-horsepower electric motor. The speed can reach 15 knots on the water and 9 knots underwater, and its endurance is
Eight thousand three hundred nautical miles at five knots above water and eighty nautical miles at five knots underwater.
The weapon has three 533mm torpedo launch tubes, two deployed at the bow and one at the stern, with a total of six bombs. In addition, despite Fang Xiaoyu's strong objections, Holland stubbornly installed an additional torpedo tube on the new submarine.
In addition to these weapons and equipment, Holland also installed a newly developed underwater listening device on the submarine.
With this new submarine of practical value, Fang Xiaoyu finally had a new weapon that could be deployed secretly while avoiding the surveillance of the Saar Empire. Fang Xiaoyu immediately named this type of submarine the Sea Wolf 1 submarine and ordered ten of them.
With this new weapon, Fang Xiaoyu has gained some ground. The construction of submarines is different from battleships. Submarines are a naval weapon with low investment and quick results. Its construction is very fast. After only two months, 10 submarines were built.
Six were launched, and Fang Xiaoyu directly allocated all six new submarines to the Southern Ocean Fleet.
After this period of construction, the newly built Lakou Port in the Batan area has not yet been completed, but it can already accommodate ships. After receiving the news that the port was partially completed, Sun Xiaohu, who had been waiting impatiently, immediately led his team to set sail.
Set off for Lakou Port. In addition to two battleships and six cruisers, there were also eight 20,000-ton naval supply ships accompanying them.
When the fleet passed through the Strait of Malacca, the huge hulls of the eight supply ships shocked the Saar Empire Navy. They thought they were another new type of battleship from China. It was not until the fleet approached that they discovered that these behemoths had no physical characteristics.
They were relieved that no artillery was installed.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that three of the eight supply ships had been transformed into submarine motherships. Just as the Saar Imperial Navy watched the fleet leave, six submarines were floating quietly on the bottom of the mothership.
in the cabin.
The matter of the submarine base is very easy to solve. Since there are many cliffs on the coast of Batan area, there are many cavities inside the cliffs. The explorers easily found a large enough cavity inside a cliff outside Lakou Port. This cavity is
The entrance to the cave is below the sea surface, and it will not come out of the sea even at low tide. If you don't dive into the water, you won't see anything abnormal. Submarines can enter and exit here underwater.
The construction workers dug a secret passage on the back of the cliff, then used reinforced concrete to build a berth for submarine parking and maintenance inside the cavity, and at the same time reinforced the entire cavity.
Because the top of the cavity is very high, construction workers even installed several steam cranes here to transport torpedoes to the submarine faster.
With such complete facilities, the submarines of the Southern Ocean Fleet can cover the entire Southern Ocean secretly. In order to ensure the safe passage of submarines, Fang Xiaoyu also temporarily transferred some reef bombing troops from the Iron Blood Army to blow up all the few reefs here.
It was destroyed, giving the submarine a wide entrance and exit with a water depth of more than 60 meters.
The construction of the Patan area is in full swing. Since the railway line is directly connected to the railway line of the Lanfang Empire, a lot of trouble is saved, which greatly shortens the construction period. In less than five months, many buyers simultaneously
The entire Bataan-Tanshan Railway line, which has been under construction, is now open to traffic.
With convenient railway and sea transportation, raw materials and a large number of people and necessities were continuously transported to the Patan area. Preliminary construction of towns began, and the construction work of tea gardens and herbal plantations arranged around the towns was also in full swing.
Of course, tea trees and many herbs are perennial, and it will take at least a few years to see the effects.
After the navy stationed in Lakou Port, all the navy and army in the Bataan area were in place. With sufficient military power, Fang Xiaoyu began to prepare for expansion in the mid-continent. In order to threaten the Cossack Empire from the mid-continent, the Stania Alliance naturally
It was the first choice target that Fang Xiaoyu noticed.
The Stania Alliance is located in the middle of the Central Continent. Its strategic location is very important. It is bounded by the Cossack Empire to the north, the Persian Empire to the south, the Istan Empire to the west, and the Lanfang Empire to the east and the Kingdom of Jhansi that was just sold to China.
The Bataan area under our control is the so-called place of the Four Wars.
The Staniya Union is not a country. It is a consortium of five countries, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, in the form of a parliament. The seat of its parliament is set in Astana in Kazakhstan. This is also a weak country.
A method of self-protection. The alliance mainly focuses on animal husbandry, with a small amount of agriculture. However, it does not have any industry. All industrial products come from the Cossack Empire and Lanfang Empire.
Faced with such a large and weak alliance country, Fang Xiaoyu and his members of the Joint Staff have repeatedly considered for a long time whether to take action. It is not that the Stania Alliance has strong military strength and can easily cause trouble to the Chinese leader. On the contrary, due to the domestic ethnic groups, the Stania Alliance
The composition is complex and the government is loosely organized, resulting in endless domestic unrest and extremely limited combat effectiveness of the government army.
Fang Xiaoyu was mainly worried about the Cossack Empire that bordered it in the other direction of the Stania Alliance. The Cossack Empire had always been known for its bravery and bellicosity, and Alexander III had long been eyeing this fertile land, but Kunai had no excuse to annex it.
Once the Chinese leader uses force against the Stanian Union, it will give the Cossack Empire a perfect excuse. They will inevitably intervene in the affairs of the Stanian Union under the banner of international assistance. When the leaders of the Stanian Union need to fight against the Chinese leader, they will
If the Cossack Empire forms an alliance, China will end up doing a lot of hard work and may become a wedding dress for others.
Because of such a containment situation, unless Fang Xiaoyu can set a trap to let the Cossack Empire take action first, he will not only be able to occupy the moral high ground, but also gain the support of the Stanya Alliance.