Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 595 War is a gold swallowing beast

  Early April 1890

  Red Fort, Lingxiao Pavilion.

  West Study Room

Compared with the east study that handles government affairs daily, the area of ​​the west study is much smaller. Rows of well-made red sandalwood bookcases stand on top of the sky, the room is covered with heavy carpets, and the air contains a light sandalwood fragrance, which is quiet and deep. .

  Dai Yingcai, the thin-bodied director of political affairs, stood respectfully, standing next to the elegant red sandalwood desk, quietly waiting for inquiries.

  Behind the desk

  Li Fushou is looking through the secret file in his hand, the file shows;

From October 1889 to the end of March 1890, Melbourne imported as many as 220,000 rifles, 178,000 Colt revolvers, 2,100 Maxine heavy machine guns, more than 400 artillery pieces of various calibers, and 220,000 tons of grain. ...

  So many weapons and equipment, enough to arm 25-30 infantry divisions.

In southern New South Wales and Victoria, the National Self-Defense Forces are being formed on a large scale, with a total number of no less than 82,000. Among them, there are 41,000 in southern New South Wales alone, plus 7,200 in Sydney, bringing the total to 4.82 Ten thousand people.

  Who do you have to deal with with so many troops and equipment?

  The answer is self-evident.

  Red Fort is not unprepared for this, exposing in the press the brutality of the southern states, criticizing the white conservatives for trying to drag Australia into the abyss of disaster, and through public opinion, launching open and honest negotiations between the South and the North, trying to save peace.

at the same time

  Queensland, together with Western Australia and South Australia, submitted a document to the Colonial Department in London, using a large amount of detailed data to state the insidious intentions of the armed forces in the southern states, hoping that London will come forward to stop it, and host the North-South peace talks to alleviate the sharp contradictions between the two sides

  Red Fort’s various actions were regarded as cowardly by the southern states, and the actions became more rampant and unscrupulous. They began to persecute Chinese immigrants living in the southern states on a large scale, rob wealth, bully women, abuse and even kill local Chinese diaspora at every turn.

  All kinds of atrocities have been exposed by public opinion, which has triggered anger among the people of Queensland. The two sides have become more incompatible, and a strong emotion called hatred is brewing.

  For the Red Fort

  The advantage of time is firmly in control of one's own side, and there is no need to do extra actions at all. The more mistakes made by the southern enemy, the greater the crime, the more thorough the final liquidation.

  The most important thing...is to obtain the title of a teacher of justice. Even if it is forced to fight back on the surface, these tasks should be done.

  It is necessary to know that the history written by the victor can be written in the spring and autumn style, but it is impossible to reverse the black and white.

  What the Red Fort has to do is to continue to put strong pressure on the opponent, forcing them to make mistakes, forcing them to jump over the wall in a hurry, and forcing them to take the lead in opening the door of dangerous war.

  This most powerful weapon... is the ongoing coastal railway south extension project.

  Sydney is about 864 kilometers from Melbourne. If calculated from Beilun City, it would be a full 900 kilometers to bypass the bay by land.

Today’s coastal railway south extension project continues to move forward unswervingly. It has already crossed Wollongong City and has advanced for about 100 kilometers. The completed railway line reaches 200 kilometers, which is less than 90 kilometers from the small town of Canberra. .

  The small town of Canberra is located 290 kilometers south of Sydney, right in the middle of the border between Sydney and the two states. The geographical location is very important. It is an important node town from Wollongong to the south.

  This is the southernmost bridgehead built by the Red Fort in New South Wales. It penetrates into the center of the white power. The town has gathered about 700 Chinese immigrants, most of which are armed militias.

   "Is there any conclusive intelligence that shows when they are going to do it?" Li Fushou closed the confidential documents in his hands and raised his head to ask.

His tall figure was sitting on a chair, faintly exuding a kind of invisible majesty. Looking at him with a deep gaze, Dai Yingcai's straight waist was arched a bit, as if he was bearing a huge weight; "Return to the master, these white people are conservative. The group of leaders is very small, and the level of moles we have installed is not enough. For the time being, we are unable to obtain confidential information involving the core. According to the obtained intelligence research and judgment, the other party has initially completed the material preparations for large-scale war mobilization, and the rest is the details. In terms of tents, soldier outfits, military uniforms, and other logistical materials, there is a very high probability that they will be launched during the year."

   "Tell me more specifically."

"Analyzed by various signs, the possibility of launching between September and December at the end of the year is very high, exceeding 70%. Nowadays, the southern white conservatives have spent huge sums of money to import a large amount of materials, and they have fully promoted in the media. , Had to post."

"Well, the strength of relevant intelligence support is not enough. Such vague judgments are not conducive to military preparations. I will give you another one and a half months. No matter what method you use, you must obtain accurate intelligence. Otherwise, you will miss the military plane and the crime is not small. , Do you understand?"

   "Understand the humble position, and it must live up to the high hopes of the master." The cold sweat on Dai Yingcai's head smashed down, and the waist was bent deeper.

  Li Fushou took a deep look at him, and whispered in a low voice; “It’s fine if you understand, you can go out and do something.”

   "Follow the order, master, retire from your humble duty."

  Dai Yingcai walked backwards a few steps, then turned and left. Under the cover of Lord Earl's powerful aura, he was already covered with white hair on his back.

  Looking at him leaving, Li Fushou focused his gaze on the confidential document on the table again, tapping the title page of the document lightly with his slender fingers, thinking about the next response plan.

  Queensland’s war preparations were made earlier and more concealed, and of course more solid.

  The war supplies needed by the Southern State need to be imported from abroad, but Queensland does not need it, and it can meet the collection and storage of war supplies by itself.

  The Qixing City area of ​​the Qingshui River Basin has achieved unprecedented bumper harvests for five consecutive years. Grain output has to climb a step each year. While meeting the local demand in Australia, the excess output has been collected and stored in the past two years.

In the outskirts of Rock Town (Thylacine Rock), more than 160 kilometers west of Red River Valley, large grain depots have risen one after another to supply the metropolitan area (Red River Valley, Brisbane and surrounding towns) A reliable grain storage base with a grain supply capacity of more than 6 months.

  According to the plan

  This year, the grain output in the Qingshui River Basin will also be purchased and stored on a large scale, and strive to make the grain reserves reach the high level of 9 months to cope with any possible blockade.

  Rock Town Reserve is only one of the large-scale storage depots under planning. There are 4 large-scale grain depots in Qingdao-city in the north, Songjiang City in the south, and Beilun City in the south of Queensland, which supply grain demand in surrounding cities and towns on-site.

  In Australia, the area under the jurisdiction of Red Fort has an astonishing number of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. As long as they are not affected by the war, they will not affect the production and supply of agriculture and animal husbandry.

  Li Fushou said with ample confidence; if there is not enough food, just eat more meat.

  In terms of weapons

Azure Weapons Company has developed into a large-scale weapons manufacturing company, with the ability to produce artillery below 305 mm, with an annual output of 80,000 rifles, 1,500 heavy machine guns, and tens of millions of ammunition. After so many years of storage and preparation, Enough to surprise the other party.

  Only one 60mm field gun, the two large storage depots in Beilun and Songjiang have stored 1,100 pieces with more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition. On average, each gun can be equipped with 200 rounds of artillery. Such fierce firepower. Able to bomb southern towns into ruins.

  Some people will wonder if such arms reserves are in excess, but they are not much at all.

  The American Civil War that just ended 24 years ago, according to the post-war count;

At the end of the Civil War, the U.S. Navy had 700 ships, a total of 5,000 artillery, 6,700 officers, and 51,000 soldiers. This is a very staggering number. This is only the U.S. Navy that fights soy sauce, not including those that fight. An extremely tragic army.

  After the war, the US Navy retired most of its ships. By the end of 1870, only 52 ships with more than 500 guns remained in service, and their strength was reduced by as much as 80%.

The army is equipped with 23,000 artillery pieces of various types, fortress guns (total of the North and South sides), millions of long and short guns of various types, various grenades, and countless machine guns. This is the horror of the war in the mid-19th century. .

  War is not only about a strong will, but also a huge amount of money.

  The unprecedented tragic American Civil War caused huge losses of up to 68 billion U.S. dollars, and 750,000 people died in the war, which can be described as a huge cost.

Li Fushou deeply felt that it was truly cruel and expensive. In the first South Pacific War, Queensland directly invested more than 13 million pounds in the war. He almost broke himself, the richest rancher, with feats. With Tian offsetting most of the war rewards, it can be seen that the cost is huge.

  In the First South Pacific War, the number of troops put into front-line combat in previous battles did not exceed the scale of 10,000. How much would it cost to fight a larger battle?

   Calculated the family background

Li Fushou couldn't help showing an unspeakable wry smile. Since the end of the First East Indies War, only one colonization of Mozambique has been launched overseas. The accumulated surplus in the inner library has reached 34 million pounds (excluding foreign investment and Holding equity).

   Seems like a lot, but in fact it is not enough for a large-scale war. This is the problem.

  If the Civil War breaks out

  There is no doubt that Li Fushou has to pay the bulk of the war expenses. This is the natural responsibility of the feudal lord. If the opponent cannot be resolved in a short time, then bankruptcy is a matter of minutes.

  A very simple account, how much does it cost to build an army of 300,000 people?

  How much does it cost to maintain an army of this size in one year?

  In the case of continuous combat, how much does it cost to maintain an army of this size for a year?

  With an average annual income of 8 to 9 pounds in Australia, it would take at least tens of millions of pounds to build an army of 300,000 people (calculated only by infantry, excluding cavalry).

  In the case of continuous combat, this number has to be multiplied by 4~5. If the shells can be thrown vigorously, it is a bottomless hole of funds.

  The money-saving method adopted by Li Fushou is to organize and train key militias, complete three months of military training through appropriate subsidies, and become the army in wartime.

  More than this year

Australia’s mainland and overseas provinces have trained more than 200,000 key militias, and they are currently increasing at a rate of 20,000 per month. This is a powerful military force that can be relied on. It is composed entirely of Chinese. It is his confidence. Where.

  (End of this chapter)