Xiao Letian must not have heard the commander's scolding. As early as half a month before Zeng Guofan arrived in Beijing, the Zhiyuan and seven other sail warships had already sailed south from Naha Guotou Military Port and headed straight for Malacca. [phoenix\/huang\/ updates quickly, please search //ia/u///]
The Zhiyuan has undergone a major cleaning, everything was repainted, the ammunition magazine was reloaded, and even every rivet was carefully inspected.
There is really no country in the world that uses battleships as hard as Xiao Letian. When the first Prussian engineer completed the big toy of Xiao Letian's dream, he said, "With weapons like the Zhiyuan, a single ship should not form combat effectiveness as much as possible, but can only form an echelon." Only then can we go into battle..."
The engineer is right. Steel battleships are different from sail battleships. They are more sophisticated, have higher maintenance costs, and require more technical work.
Every warship should be overhauled every year if it is not in wartime. If a war breaks out, then basically every battleship must be repaired and maintained after every naval battle.
This is not a sail warship that can be repaired by just hiring a carpenter. The maintenance of steel warships is a very, very professional discipline. Sometimes it is common for a major overhaul to last more than half a year.
In the minds of the rigorous Prussians, if this type of warship wants to reliably provide military protection to a country, it must have a fleet organization of three or three.
One-third of the warships are in dry dock for maintenance and repair, one-third of the warships are in optimal condition and are on combat readiness cruise, and the other third are on standby for maneuver.
Three batches of warships take turns to prepare for combat and undergo renovations. Only in this way can a complete combat readiness system be formed, so that there will be no faults in the event of war.
Xiao Letian also agrees with this theory, but Xiao Letian can't do it! After all, the Chinese are not British and French. They have hundreds of years of experience and have various types of warships that can complement each other and gradually upgrade them.
Basically all the warships owned by the Chinese were captured, and there were also old models bought from the United States. They were okay as training ships, but they were really useless as warships.
The Zhiyuan is the only sharp weapon that the Chinese navy can use, and it is also the only one that can make Europeans take a high look. This time it sails to Europe, the Zhiyuan has to bite the bullet no matter how tired it is.
Xiang Ying, Cai Bixia, Jin Sanshun, Lin Zhen... this group of the earliest ironclad commanders of the Chinese Navy have indeed suffered enough. Starting from last year's return voyage to Europe, they fought bloody battles with the French on the Atlantic Ocean. Kaer's artillery fire melted the city, and then supported the battle of the Heavenly Veterans of Iquique.
It was a bloody journey all the way. After returning to Ryukyu, he immediately participated in the battle against Tsarist Russia. The artillery battle at the mouth of the Minjiang River was followed by the Amami ambush that turned the situation. Until the pacification of the Far East, the Zhiyuan was completely overloaded. Several times, Prussian engineer Kevin They were all furious. If many hidden dangers were not eliminated, major malfunctions would occur.
It was not until the war was settled that the Zhiyuan had one and a half months to undergo major maintenance!
Overloaded operations are a kind of harm to warships, but from another perspective, it is an excellent training opportunity for these naval talents.
It is precisely because the warship is overloaded that countless hidden dangers are exposed. In order to eliminate these hidden dangers, the entire crew of the Zhiyuan worked hard. They have become familiar with the repair, maintenance and operation of the ironclad ship as quickly as possible. stand up.
Talents are so rare, and equipment relies on talents to achieve combat effectiveness. The Chinese are the first country to rely entirely on ironclad naval battles, so the experience of Xiang Ying's group is among the best in the world.
Many of the little tips they have figured out at work are valuable knowledge worth a thousand dollars for those who come after them.
Based on this group of elites, batches of elite students will be trained in the future. Only with sufficient naval talent reserves can more warships form combat effectiveness.
Xiao Letian stood on the deck of the Zhiyuan. He could feel the changes in the temperament of this group of naval officers and soldiers. At the beginning, he could still see a hint of confusion and anxiety, but now seeing these young men operating the Zhiyuan, more His is a relaxed smile and strong self-confidence.
Perhaps the realm of unity between man and ship is cultivated little by little in this way!
The Zhiyuan was not the only warship that visited Europe this time. Xiao Letian's purpose this time was very clear. In addition to diplomacy, the more important task was to get involved in the Franco-Prussian War.
With the Zhiyuan as the flagship and the remaining seven sail warships as supply ships and troop transports, Xiao Letian mobilized a total of two thousand of the most elite veterans to form a task force.
Four reinforced battalions, units of 500 men, were demoted and commanded by senior generals.
Xiao Hexin did not set out with him but stayed in East Asia to look after the house, and the task of negotiating with the Russian and French ministers was also given to him.
Sima Yun now has the rank of general, but he can only serve as the commander of the first battalion in the special task force, with Chu Zhao as his deputy.
The second battalion commander Luo Huo and deputy battalion commander Lu Ying were also veterans who had followed Xiao Letian from the beginning.
The third battalion is composed of battalion commander Liang Kun and deputy battalion commander Jiang Lie. The fourth battalion is composed entirely of foreign legions, with battalion commander Noheita and deputy battalion commander Hyōtaro.
This is already a super luxurious team. Luo Huo and Sima Yun were originally army commander-level generals, but they also became front-line commanders in the special task force. From this point, we can see the quality of the entire army. .
This can be said to be a group of soldiers with the highest quality in the world at that time. Basically every company has a proportion of 20% college students. Basically every platoon can be assigned an English translator, a French translator and a German translator. Translation, there are even Italian, Russian and other translation talents in the battalion headquarters.
The entire unit is almost made up of reserve officers. The literacy rate is 100%, and the math penetration rate reaches 70%. Every squad leader can perform complex chart operations. Even if the entire unit is broken up into squad units, it will be evenly divided. On the land of Europe, they can also find their own direction of fighting and survive.
Perhaps in the eyes of European military observers, these two thousand people are pitifully under-organized. The Franco-Prussian War is destined to be a super battle involving more than one million people. What can you do with these two thousand people?
But if their intelligence personnel could understand what kind of arms and supplies the random battleships carried, I'm afraid there would be no more such ridicule.
"War... will never go as you imagined... The soldiers led by me, Xiao Letian, will always win by breaking the old rules. This is the only way for rising nations to challenge the forerunners!"
"I have been waiting for this battle for too long..."
