Chapter 409 Supply Line

After inspecting the development of new ships and artillery, Hughes devoted himself to the work of organizing the expeditionary force.

The Crusaders are very powerful, but the North is indeed too far away from Castel.

Therefore, how to fight has not been decided yet.

At this moment, in Hughes' office, a huge map was spread out in the middle, with several people gathered around it, arguing hurriedly.

"Let's take a boat. A boat is better." Nini folded her arms and nodded at Fengbaoyang.

"It's okay to take a boat, but it depends on what kind of boat it is. As for that ironclad ship that sank three ships in two days, I think it's better to forget it. You can swim well in the sea, but I can't swim much." Alexei said calmly.

Nini's eyes widened immediately: "How could that be? Things will definitely change after the new ship is launched!"

Alexei curled his lips and said, "It's hard to say whether the new ship is launched or entered into the water. I have to be responsible for the boys under me. I can't let them feed the horse-faced fish in their dreams."

"So what do you say we should do?"

Alexi stood up calmly and pointed to the blood port: "From here"

His finger followed the map, bypassed a mountain range in the north, and pointed to the earldom of Count Bazel in the north. "Go here and go all the way over."

Nini's eyes widened: "How do we get there? Should we walk over there?"

"Of course not. We'll go there by airship."

After saying that, Alexei turned to Hughes and said, "My Lord, how many people can our Sky Curtain Behemoth carry?"

"If it's only carrying soldiers, the maximum carrying capacity is about 500 people, and that's after discarding all the equipment." Xiu Si rubbed his chin. "If it's a complete combat force with complete equipment and both light and heavy firepower, then it's only about 100 people, 200 people is a stretch."

"That is to say, if we transport 200 people, this team will be combat-ready after landing and can be directly put into combat."

Alexei pointed to the earldom in the north.

Nini sneered, "What about logistics? Don't forget that we don't have a base in the North. These two hundred people can easily fight the enemy with the help of the airship, but the airship will eventually return to transport the next batch of people. How long can these two hundred people last with the bullets and food they carry with them?"

"We can send a small airship along to provide air support. The enemy doesn't have much anti-air capability, so we should still be able to defend."

Nini frowned and thought about it, but Xius suddenly said, "This may not be reliable. Small airships are not very capable of dealing with bad weather. They are okay for reconnaissance, but they are still not good enough to be the main air force."

"Besides, small airships cannot fly at high altitudes, so it is still somewhat dangerous to engage in combat."

The accuracy of muskets is very poor, but large objects like airships do not require aiming. If they are flying at low altitude, a salvo of musketeers might be able to shoot down the airship.

"I have an idea, but I don't know whether I should say it or not." Monica suddenly interrupted. She was specially allowed by Xiu to attend the meeting, mainly because it was only in the discussion stage, and her endless ideas might really work.

"Go ahead."

"If it's dangerous to travel by boat, you can find more banshees and then sail the boat closer to the shore. That way, even if the boat sinks, there will be enough banshees to pull everyone out."

Hughes covered his face. "And our team is waiting for rescue on some unknown beach? Are we going to war or to have a picnic?"

Richard beside him also said, "Miss Monica, there are not only Skitarii soldiers on board the ship, but also extraordinary people. Although the pollution in the sea has been greatly reduced, it is still a forbidden area for extraordinary people. It is extremely dangerous to fall into the sea - I can't fly."

"Oh, if only we had a reliable boat."

Several people sighed at the same time. Castel is an island, but its shipbuilding industry is so poor, which is somewhat embarrassing.

Going to Blood Harbor is easy. Both foreign ships and ironclad ships can do the job. After all, it is close to the mainland, there is less extreme weather, and the voyage is not long.

But to go on an expedition to the North, they would have to cross the entire Storm Ocean, and without a reliable ship, they were really unsure.

Finally, seeing that no one else could come up with a plan, Xius clapped his hands and said, "Well, let me tell you what I have to say."

Xius stood up and pointed to Blood Harbor. "My route is similar to Alexei's. I will go directly from Blood Harbor to the North, but I won't take the airship."

"Not taking the airship? Want to walk there?"

"My Lord, this won't do!" Alexi stood up with a worried look on his face. "Although the Skitarii are powerful, they are not much behind other armies in terms of logistics. Such a long supply line will be very dangerous!"

Alexei's words were still euphemistic. If someone dared to set up such a long land supply line in the Royal Army Academy, he would definitely be scolded by the instructor.

This is a supply line that spans three duchies!

If it were cut off, the Crusaders in the front would be out of food immediately, and it would be almost impossible to defend because the span was too long.

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This means that they can only send a large number of soldiers to escort, which means that the logistics efficiency is extremely low. No matter how well Castel's industry develops, its population is only 10,000, and it is likely to be dragged down by this long supply line.

Hughes waved his hand confidently, "No, this supply line is not long—not long for Castel."

It takes an ordinary person nearly a month to walk from Blood Harbor to the North. If the Skitarii need to carry their equipment, the time will be even longer, at least 40 days.

Isn’t this distance long enough?

Everyone looked at Xius, waiting for his explanation.

"We'll build a railway across there."

Several people were surprised.

"Railway? So far?"

"How long will this take to repair?"

Only Alexei was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes lit up.

The difficulty of supply is not directly equated with the distance. There is a special logistics management discipline in the Army Academy, which includes a whole set of complex calculation formulas to convert the logistics difficulty in various situations.

Supplying by land is the most difficult, but if it can be transported by sea, it will be greatly alleviated.

Transporting supplies over a distance of one hundred kilometers at sea is much simpler than transporting supplies over ten kilometers on land, provided there are enough ships.

If a railway is built on the road, it would be equivalent to artificially creating a "sea", which would force the difficulty of land supply to be close to that of sea transportation.

This kind of thing was something I had never learned in college. In that era, railways had not yet appeared, and even horse-drawn carriages were only available in some urban areas on the Rhine. They were far from popular, and no one had ever thought of using them to transport supplies.

Build railroad tracks and advance with armored trains as the core. If successful, perhaps the entire war situation will be rewritten! A battlefield thousands of miles away will be as close as a stone's throw away! (End of this chapter)