"The battleships and battlecruisers include one Dazhou class, two Zhongwang class, six Shihuang class, six Hero class or Hero Kai, six Hanwu Emperor class (Hongwu Kai), a total of twenty-one! Mothership There are two Guangdong-class ships, two Shuzhongwang-class ships, and four Liaodong-class ships (improved from the Nandao class), a total of eight! As for the new cruisers and destroyers such as the Haohan-class, Zhuangshi-class, Kongming-class, and Guard-class, there are even more Hundreds of them. There are also more than 300 A-1 landing ships! With such strength, wouldn’t it be easy to take the southern continent directly?”
"Go directly? Brother Daozi, don't you plan to fight through the New Guinea Islands, Solomon Islands, and New Guinea Island step by step?"
"Yes, if we want to take it directly, we have to fly 7,500 kilometers directly, right? We also have to pass through the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides Islands, is that possible? The logistics line will not be destroyed by the British ANZAC fleet, right? "
"No problem. It looks like there is no problem now. According to reliable intelligence, the British are preparing to counterattack in the Strait of Malacca and the Nanyang Islands. The Naval Staff analyzed that they may land in the west of Sumatra Island and attract the main force of our Western and Nanyang fleets. In the waters of the Indian Ocean, the main force of the Indian fleet will then bypass Sumatra and reach Java, and finally go north to attack the oil facilities in the south and east of Borneo Island, attracting our Western and Southern Ocean fleets to return eastward!"
"It's really complicated. Is this information reliable?"
"Reliable! These days, the main force of the British Home Fleet is entering the Indian Ocean through the Suez Strait and the Red Sea. The Dutch are also strengthening the defense of Java Island and starting to expel our merchants in Java. They are obviously going to have a big fight with us!"
Zhuge Weidao, Mu Zhongjun, and Zheng Guoxian had been discussing how to attack Australia since they left Shanghai. At the very beginning, the plan proposed by Zhuge Weidao was the same as the Japanese strategy of going south. They would first capture the New Guinea Islands, then attack the Solomon Islands, and finally enter the Coral Sea to capture Port Moresby. With Port Moresby as a springboard, the army can move south to land on the east coast of Australia.
And this plan is actually what the Ming Dynasty Pacific Fleet Command has been doing. Previously, the Pacific Fleet went south to seize and operate Truk Lagoon, in fact, to build it into a springboard south to the New Guinea Islands.
However, after the Naval Staff sent Zhuge Weidao the "reliable information" that the British Royal Navy was gathering in India in the past two days and that Britain was very likely to launch the Malacca-Nanyang Islands Campaign, Zhuge Weidao changed his mind. . I no longer want to imitate the little devils, but I want to imitate the devil's "MacArthur" and use a leap-frog tactic to directly bypass the New Guinea Islands, Solomon Islands, and New Hebrides Islands, which are tightly defended by the British, and take advantage of them. Make a long-distance attack in a straight line between Pearl Harbor and the east coast of Australia, and land directly on the east coast of Australia!
In his opinion, the main force of the British Royal Navy has now gone to the Indian Ocean, preparing for a decisive battle with the Ming Navy in Malacca and the west of the Nanyang Islands. Therefore, the British Australian Fleet must have been weakened. Now that the Australian Grand Fleet has been weakened, no matter how strong the British forces in the New Guinea Islands, Solomon Islands, and New Hebrides Islands are, they are isolated and helpless.
Moreover, this is not an era when aviation can block large areas of sea. It is impossible for enemies trapped on isolated islands to send planes to bomb. Now the Ming Dynasty’s best carrier-based aircraft, the Ssangyong 2 and Sea Flying Dragon 2, are full of bombs and fuel. Under such circumstances, the combat radius is only 200 kilometers, which is simply not enough in the South Pacific.
Therefore, the defenders on these islands must cooperate with the fleet to be effective. If the main force of the fleet is taken away, they will be of little use.
"Daozi," Mu Zhongjun, who has also been awarded the rank of general, held on to the railing and turned his attention to a type A-1 landing ship with a standard displacement of 2,000 tons, a full load displacement of 5,000 tons, and a 4,000-horsepower steam engine to drive the A-1 landing ship. "The landing army The Marine Corps is no better than your Navy. You can leave at any time, but we can't! And the mixed brigades we use to attack Australia this time are very logistically demanding, equipped with a large number of cars, armored cars and artillery. If such a unit can keep up with the logistics, it will definitely be very fierce in fighting. But if the logistics collapse, even the riflemen will not be able to compare. After all, a rifleman can fight for a whole day by firing 10 or 20 bullets. , but to operate the mixed brigade, it consumes a huge amount of gasoline, accessories, and ammunition!"
The so-called mixed brigade is of course not a mixed brigade, but motorized infantry that will march in cars, armored cavalry that can directly charge into battle (no horses, only armored vehicles), motorized artillery with enough tractor vehicles, and a large number of A combined brigade of automobiles and soldiers used to transport baggage and ammunition!
It sounds very high-end, but it is very complicated to manage. As for using it, no one has used it! But one thing is certain, this kind of brigade with a large amount of motorized equipment and artillery has extremely high requirements for logistical support.
Zhuge Weidao, who has led soldiers for several years, knows this very well. A rifle with a few bullets is a "soldier", and the powerful "Dazhou" battleship is a "ye"!
A battleship is waiting for you, it is really like an ancestor! It's not that industrialized countries can't play it. Even if they spend money to buy equipment, it's only a one-time use. For example, Mexico has been beaten back to its original shape and can no longer play high-level games. Only Florida jungle warfare and Texas trench warfare are left.
However, it is impossible for infantry to conquer Australia with a rifle and a few rounds of bullets, because Australia is too open and has vast tracts of wilderness. Without a highly motorized army, let alone occupying the entire continent, if you want to maintain a certain number of coastal areas, Strongholds are difficult.
And because Australia has too few residents and a low level of development, neither side is able to establish a long front, so large-scale mobile warfare will inevitably become the main method of confrontation. The Ming army, which was unable to transport a large number of cavalry to Australia over long distances, could only rely on the newly emerged motorization. At least cars would not cause seasickness!
But to maintain the operations of a group of combined motorized brigades, the logistics head is really huge. The logistics of Australia's battle must be the fault of the Pacific Fleet!
"Don't worry," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "When the British's big fleet reaches the Nanyang battlefield and the Malacca battlefield, it will be a dead end! The Nanyang and Western fleets of Guan Junmen and Li Junmen together are stronger than my Pacific fleet. We need to enforce 50% security so that Emperor William’s Grand Fleet will never come back! And how can the little navy left by the British in Australia be able to stop my Pacific Fleet?”
Just as he said this, Guo Xiaobao, chief staff officer of the Pacific Fleet, hurried over with a copy of the telegram. When he arrived in front of Zhuge Weidao, he saluted: "Admiral, telegram from the Naval Staff."
With that, he handed the telegram in his hand to Zhuge Weidao. Zhuge Weidao took it and looked at it and laughed: "Haha, the British built a super battleship called King William IV. It is said that the standard displacement is more than 30,000 tons, and the full load can reach 38,000 tons. They plan to send it to India while undergoing sea trials. If there is any problem, it will be repaired and improved in India. It seems to be their trump card for attacking Nanyang! Now Nanyang, The Western Fleet’s Dazhou-class battleships have their opponents!”
(End of chapter)
