Chapter 1469 Backstab! (First update, please subscribe)
Ming Empire, Zhongdu, the underground receiving room of the Imperial Telegraph and Telephone Center.
Just as in the past, the sound of telegraphs ticking away day and night can be heard here, and every automatic receiving machine prints out hundreds or thousands of meters of telegram strips every day.
A female operator in front of the telegraph machine did not even need to look up, she could copy the telegram codes just by relying on the ticking sound. On this day, as usual, when the female operator received a message with a special mailbox code, she immediately raised her hand. The supervisor who was patrolling walked to her side, took a look at the mailbox code, tore off the telegram, and then hurried into another office.
There are many secrets in this telegraph center, both personal and official, and of course many stories on the hidden front.
In war, in addition to the bloody fighting on the front line, there is also the invisible front. Spies have always been an indispensable role in war since ancient times. No one knows what role they will play in the war, but one thing is certain: their intelligence will change many things.
A few hours later, a car drove into the palace, and Qian Zizhuang, carrying a briefcase, walked into the Imperial Garden again. Before he arrived, he heard a burst of rapid machine gun fire. It was the army's new machine guns conducting a drill shooting in the palace.
When he arrived at the lawn of the Imperial Garden, he saw a tall and strong soldier holding a thick barrel and shooting. Seeing Qian Zizhuang, Sun Hu smiled and said,
"Minister Qian, look, this is the Type 26 light machine gun that the army has just finalized. How about it? One person can carry it and shoot it."
"……What?"
Qian Zizhuang opened his eyes wide in astonishment and said in surprise.
"You, you call this a light machine gun?"
That thing which is not much thinner than a thigh must weigh at least 40 or 50 kilograms!
Is it a light machine gun?
"Yes, didn't you see that? One person can carry it. If there is no water in the cooling cylinder, the weight is less than 15 kilograms..."
Sun Hu said quite proudly.
"The troops on the front lines now need machine guns that can accompany the troops in the attack. Real machine guns. Submachine guns are good, but their range is too short. Therefore, the technicians of the arsenal successfully developed this light machine gun based on the Type 10 machine gun. They added a buttstock and a pistol-shaped grip to it, removed the tripod and replaced it with a simple bipod. It is much lighter than the Type 10..."
Looking at Sun Hu's smug look, Emperor Zhu said helplessly.
"Well, it is indeed much lighter than the 10th-year model, but what? I think it would be better if the cooling water cylinder was lighter. You can consider air cooling. Isn't air cooling used on airplanes?"
Look at the machine gun held by the 1.9-meter-tall strong man - loaded with 100 rounds of bullets and cooling water, it weighs nearly 20 kilograms.
They actually call it a light machine gun...
It's a pity that they could even say that. With a helpless sigh, Emperor Zhu looked at Qian Zizhuang and asked.
"Is there something going on with Qian Qing's family?"
"The eagle is in the cage."
Qian Zizhuang said.
"oh!"
Emperor Zhu raised his eyebrows and smiled. A few minutes later, in the study, he put down the telegram sent back from London. Emperor Zhu sneered and said to Qian Zizhuang, Sun Hu and others:
“The British have taken the bait!”
With a sneer, Emperor Zhu walked to the globe in the middle of the study, turned the globe and said.
"We have been patient for so long just to let the British take the bait. Now they have taken the bait. If this battle is successful, we will not have to worry about the threat from the sea for at least the next year!"
After saying this, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Sun Hu and smiled.
"The South Pacific war can be put on the agenda by then. How many landing ships do we have now? How many troops can we transport for landing?"
In fact, this war was too hasty even for the Ming Dynasty - although the plan was perfect, when the actual fighting began, they realized how hasty the preparations were.
For example, when the war broke out, the Marine Corps had only two divisions of troops, only 32 of the most important landing ships, and only 376 aircraft. Although there were as many as 1,100 tanks, which were extremely important for land warfare, they were scattered everywhere.
As for the new recruits, they need time to train. Not just three months of training, as three months can only complete the initial training. They also need two months of basic infantry skills training. If they are technical arms such as artillery or tank soldiers, it will take even longer.
In fact, everyone is similar. Throughout 1995, everyone was training and trying their best to increase their military strength.
When will the real war begin?
It was 1996!
This is similar to the First World War. The war started in 2014, but the real fighting started in the spring of 2015.
For this reason, last September, the Imperial Headquarters formulated a plan aimed at gaining control of the sea through a decisive battle.
In fact, in terms of naval power, the Allied Powers had an absolute advantage over the Central Powers. If the Ming Dynasty had not directly inflicted heavy damage on the US Navy at Hampton at the beginning of the war, the US Navy would have almost returned to its pre-liberation era overnight.
It is still unclear who holds the control of the sea.
Therefore, from the submarine stranglehold in the Atlantic to the overwhelming advantage of the French and Russian coalition forces in the Mediterranean, they were essentially all aimed at prompting the Royal Navy to mobilize in full force.
Based on the experience of World War I and World War II in another world, Emperor Zhu was very clear in his mind - if Britain wanted to continue the war, they had to seize control of the sea. Even if control of the sea was affected, it was something Britain could not afford.
Therefore, this war is inevitable. The only question is how much money Britain will invest. As long as Britain, the United States, and even Germany are dragged into this naval battle, the outcome of failure will definitely belong to Britain, not the Ming Empire.
"Your Majesty, after nearly a year of preparation, the Army now has the capacity to transport 300,000 troops to land at a time, and the Marine Corps can also transport 200,000 troops at a time. We are fully capable of carrying out operations in the South Pacific."
Looking at Sun Hu, Emperor Zhu nodded. The reason why the South Pacific campaign was not launched was that he was worried about turning it into a "refueling war". The most taboo thing in a landing war is the "refueling tactic" caused by insufficient transportation capacity. Whether it was the British defeat in the Dardanelles during World War I or the Japanese defeat in Guadalcanal during World War II, it was essentially due to insufficient transportation capacity, unable to transport a large number of troops, and facing a situation where the superior defenders were unable to advance or retreat.
In the end, the landing battle turned into a refueling war, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers died meaninglessly on the battlefield. What was wasted was not only the soldiers' lives, but more importantly, the loss of technical equipment.
In fact...in the simulator, the Imperial Army did suffer a setback in Australia, which was also the reason why Emperor Zhu postponed the South Pacific campaign.
Now, everything is just right. Although the enemy is preparing, the empire is more prepared. Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu turned to Qian Zizhuang and said in a firm tone:
"Now we must keep a close eye on the British's movements. As soon as they attack, we must eliminate them. If they don't go all in... then we will force them to go all in!"
When Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Qian Zizhuang continued to report.
"Your Majesty, in addition, we have also obtained intelligence that the British are making secret contacts with Russia. Britain may offer certain conditions to persuade Russia to withdraw from the war!"
What!
The sudden news made Emperor Zhu raise his eyebrows and asked.
"Is the information accurate? From what channel did you get it?"
The reason why Emperor Zhu asked this question was that Russia was different from other countries in that most of its senior officials were aristocrats, which made it difficult for the empire's spies to infiltrate its top levels, so the channels for obtaining intelligence were naturally very limited.
(End of this chapter)
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