Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 465 Standing Army Construction

  Since the heavy blow to the Dutch colonists in the East Indies, Queensland has emerged as a power in the South Pacific region. Its military strength has attracted attention from everyone in South Asia, and no one dared to underestimate it.

  Its naval strength is in the name of the Coast Guard, with three standing fleets.

Among them, the Borneo fleet is the most powerful, with Brigadier General He Fang as the commander of the fleet. The main force of the fleet is led by the Qinglong and Baihu heavy cruisers. It is equipped with four 2000-ton displacement "Seagull II modified" ocean cruisers to form the main formation. A light frigate with a total of 16 "Seagull" light frigates for daily patrols.

  The home port is located in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. The garrison ports are Machen and Semuda, as well as the Makassar port on Sulawesi.

The Borneo Fleet directly faces the Governor of the Dutch East Indies in the south, the Governor's House of Luzon occupied by the Spaniards in the North, and the Governor's House of the Straits occupied by the Western British, across the sea from the Indochina Peninsula occupied by the French. It is a barrier to the northwest of Australia and its geographic location is extremely important.

   Therefore, it is the most powerful fleet in Queensland, and it plays the role of an outpost in the distant sea.

The second most powerful is the Shangri-La fleet. Brigadier General Li Jie, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, serves as the commander of the fleet. Composition of light frigates. .

  The home port is located in Moresby. The garrison ports are Tianshu Port, Longmen Port, Jayapura Port and Paradise Island. It guards immigration and trade transportation routes and is an important barrier for overseas territories.

  The lowest strength is the Queensland Fleet, with Coast Guard Captain Brigadier General Geng Baogui as the fleet commander. The flagship is the "Xuanwu" heavy cruiser. The home port is located in the Red River Valley and the ports of Brisbane, Songjiang, Beilun, Darwin and Cairns are stationed.

In recent years, the "mosquito" class patrol boat, which has developed rapidly in recent years, belongs to the marine police districts of various places and does not belong to the sequence of naval main battleships. It is regarded as the water force of the local garrison. Sequence of local garrison troops.

  Although the East India War ended, Queensland's process of cultivating maritime military talents has not stopped. Every year, outstanding personnel are still selected to study in Britain, France and other countries. It has been up for 9 years and will continue to be a tradition of naval talent training.

at the same time

  Baixi Naval Academy is a professional military academy for training naval officers at the grassroots level. In 1886, it enrolled 300 students, all of whom were excellent graduates selected from the "Young Eagle" school. Compared with the previous year, the number of enrollment increased by 65.

  The Lord Earl has always paid attention to naval construction. For Queensland, as long as the internal contradictions between the north and the south are resolved, the real threatening enemy will only come from the sea by boating.

  Army

  In terms of the construction of the army formed in the name of the National Guard, after the end of the East Indies War, the establishment of five division-level units remained. With the demobilization and retirement of demobilized soldiers in recent years, the number of combatants has continued to decrease.

  The original super-large-scale Shangri-La Division has undergone several splits, adjustments, and normal retirement. The scale has been reduced to less than 5,000, and it has become dissatisfied.

  Same situation

  Appeared in the 1st and 2nd divisions of Kalimantan stationed in Borneo, and experienced the deployment of personnel to organize the African Expeditionary Corps and the retirement of personnel. Both divisions are in a state of serious dissatisfaction. The total number of each division is about 4,000.

  Each division can only maintain a full-strength main infantry regiment plus a full-strength artillery regiment. The other infantry regiments have shrunk severely and are basically reduced to frame regiments, only retaining the main organization of officers and non-commissioned officers.

  Knifes and guns are in storage, and horses are placed in Nanshan.

  A large number of soldiers have retired. Officers with rich combat experience may enter military academies, or serve as military instructors at the Whampoa Military Academy, or actively apply to join the African Expeditionary Corps, or go to the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor’s Office to serve as new-style military instructors, improve their resumes, and accumulate capital for promotion.

The only fully staffed Tiger Cavalry Division is stationed on the front line of Beilun City. Since its establishment has been less than three years, the general cavalry has served at least 5 years, and the non-commissioned officers have served at least 8 years. Therefore, they have not experienced soldier retirement. Fully loaded, the combat effectiveness remains quite complete.

  The Dragoon Division stationed in Songjiang City (missing a battalion, conscripting the African Expeditionary Corps) also maintained its combat effectiveness quite intact. This is the first-line fist unit to deal with the southern state, and it is not easy to move.

The only newly-established division-level military unit is the African Expeditionary Corps, with a total number of more than 10 hundred people (the number is fine-tuned, mainly from the transfer of logistics officers). It will take root in the Horn of Africa in the next few years, and it is the established policy to mainly engage in the colonization of Africa. , This is the highlight of the current Queensland National Guard.

In summary

The strength of the National Guard has shrunk by about 40% compared to the heyday of the war. It is mainly because a large number of soldiers and grass-roots officers who have obtained meritorious service have retired one after another. With rich rewards and military merits, they lived a leisurely landlord life, married wives, had children, and reproduced offspring. .

  Non-war period

  It is an appropriate ratio to maintain an army force of about 30,000 to 40,000 people. The main goal of Queensland’s army building should be the navy.

  Based on the size of Queensland’s population of more than 6 million, plus about 8 million people in overseas territories (excluding southern states), maintaining such a size of the National Guard has been repeatedly demonstrated, and maintaining a lean force has been proven to meet current needs.

over the years

The Red Fort firmly implements the soldier’s retirement policy. These soldiers and grassroots officers who have been baptized in the army, have given their blood and lives, and have been tempered by the war side by side, are members of a vested interest group in Queensland and enthusiastically support the rule of Lord Earl. Is the most **** supporter.

In Jayapura, in Moresby, in Tianshu City, in Samarinda, in Machen, in Saimuda, in Lanfang Republic, a large number of retired soldiers and grassroots officers settled in the local area, forming a stable The small and medium landlord class, which is the solid framework of the Red Fort rule, must be implemented unremittingly.

  Faith the present and the past

  The year 1885 with great achievements has passed, and the year 1886 is about to create more glories.

  At the end of February when the flowers are in full bloom

  Li Fushou took his wife and concubines to Songjiang City, and lived in the "Changchun Garden" on the bank of Taihu Lake. This is a grand Suzhou garden-style building complex with rockery pavilions, small bridges and flowing water, and deep courtyards.

The Taihu stone used to build the "Changchun Garden" was transported from Gusu Mansion all the way from thousands of miles away. All the porcelain furnishings, wood carvings, lacquerware, jade ornaments and handicrafts in the garden originated from the Chinese mainland. The original flavor reflects the uniqueness of Jiangnan gardens. beauty of.

  (End of this chapter)