After listening to Xiao Jianjun's reply, the others had no problems for the time being, so Xiao Jianjun said: "Then let's go to the next item, the plan for combat assembly."

The combat assembly plan is divided into two parts: the navy and the army. First, Shang Jinfeng introduced the navy's equipment plan. Shang Jinfeng said: "This war, the navy has two tasks. One is to fight at sea, annihilate the enemy's main fleet, and compete for sea control. At present, our five modern warships and ship-based weapons are in good condition. They can be maintained until the beginning of the war. Therefore, the sea decisive battle is absolutely sure. However, the five modern warships mainly deal with the main decisive battle of the entire fleet, and local battles must be completed by the battleships and armored cruisers of this era. We have 4 large and medium-sized armored cruisers under construction. Plus The current Kaihai and Tuohai are both in ten thousand tons, and the hull is relatively new. In terms of armored cruisers, we can compete with the armored cruisers of Japan and Russia. However, in terms of battleships, we currently have only two old battleships, which is quite different from Japan and Russia. According to our shipbuilding plan, two more 12,000-ton battleships should be built before the war, and it should be possible to start construction now. Generally, the construction cycle of battleships is more than two years. If construction is started now, by May 1905, it will be almost possible to catch up with this battle, so the construction of battleships cannot be delayed."

Xia Bohai immediately said: "This is OK. Didn't your navy just get 2.5 million pounds? It's enough to build two battleships. You can start the battleship construction project immediately. The Military Commission and the Executive Yuan will complete the relevant procedures as soon as possible."

Wang Yunpeng nodded and said, "Okay, as long as the Military Commission prepares relevant information, the procedures for the Executive Yuan can be completed within one day."

Xia Bohai pointed and said: "Another navy's other line is to cut off the enemy's transportation routes. This mission requires a large number of protective cruisers, the number should be 15-20. The Java Naval Battle proves that the Qingzhou and Yizhou are superior in performance and are the most suitable ship type to complete this task. We have built 4 ships, hoping to add 2-4 more, so that we can form 3-4 dual-ship formations. Moreover, we have started to build 3,000-ton protective cruisers. This type of warship is built with another 6-8 ships. In addition, we need a small gunboat of 500-600 tons, the number cannot be less than 10 ships. It is mainly used to control the Yalu River and block the Japanese army on the east bank of the Yalu River, because the surface of the Yalu River is not wide at about 300 meters and cannot accommodate large warships."

After a pause, Xia Bohai said: "There is another equipment that may not be able to catch up with the battle in May 1905, but I still hope to invest money in research. First, it is also useful in the subsequent battles; second, even if this battle is not useful, it will still be useful in the future, that is, the submarine. We have built two sample boats and are expected to be launched for trial sailing next month. Next, we plan to build a submarine that can be used for actual combat and install a part of modern equipment. Once it succeeds, it will inevitably become our trump card. This project also hopes that the Executive Yuan can fully support it, because it uses modern equipment, so it requires approval from the Executive Yuan."

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "I support this, so I don't need to mention the value of submarines. If a part of modern equipment is installed, even if it only has 1/10 of the combat power of a modern submarine, it will be invincible in this era."

Qin Zheng said: "I really think that we can't just build submarines with modern equipment. Conventional submarines of this era can also be built. The history of old time and space has proved that even conventional submarines are of great use in breaking combat. In this way, we can form a three-dimensional sea-making model under the sea, and explore the cooperative and coordinated combat between submarines and surface ships."

Xiao Jianjun wrote down all these opinions one by one and then said: "The following is Comrade Zhu Yaping's plan for army equipment."

Zhu Yaping stood up and said, "The equipment of the army has basically been determined, but we need more modern equipment resources. First of all, we follow the summary report to prove the huge role of mortars in following the army. However, according to the feedback from the troops, it is believed that the shooting of 60 mortars is closer, so we hope that the arsenal can improve it. At the same time, it is recommended that 60 mortars be popularized into the first-level platoon troops, ensuring that at least one platoon has two 60 mortars to strengthen the army's firepower, so that the attack power of our army can be greatly increased in the tough battle. The general machine guns reported by the outside team have completed factory testing and can be sent to the troops on a small scale for trial. It is expected that by next year, it will be able to be equipped on a large scale, and it can be fully caught up with the Russo-Japanese War."

After a pause, Zhu Yaping said: "To be honest, the biggest problem of the army is not equipment, but transportation demand. To be precise, we now lack sufficient animals such as mules, horses, donkeys, etc. Although there have been trains in this era, due to the low popularity of train lines, China is even worse, and wheeled transportation has not yet appeared, animal transportation cannot be completely replaced and still accounts for a huge proportion. Of course, there is an advantage in combating in the Northeast, that is, the Middle East Railway has been built and can basically run through the entire three northeastern provinces.

As long as we can control the railway, use trains on the main transportation line and use animal power on the branch lines, this will indeed greatly save transportation capacity. But even so, according to our calculations, we still need about 10,000 mules, horses and donkeys, and the cavalry will still need about 5,000 military horses. Therefore, we need at least about 15,000 mules, horses and donkeys, of which the number of horses is about 10,000, and the gap is about 5,000. In the remaining time, we must also introduce it quickly."

"Because it is heavy equipment like artillery, it requires rapid entry and exit of the battlefield, not only has higher requirements for transportation, but also for the quality of mules, horses and donkeys. Taking horses as an example, our country's horses are mainly Mongolian horses. Although compared with European horses, Mongolian horses have relatively small body shapes, easy to maintain and have good endurance. Therefore, they can also be used as war horses. However, for horse pulling, Mongolian horses have small body shapes and weak strength, which are infinitely amplified. Generally, the pulling force of a Mongolian horse is 200-300 kilograms, while the pulling force of European horses is generally around 400 kilograms. Some heavy pulling horses, such as the pulling force of the British Sharma, can even exceed 500 kilograms."

Wang Yunpeng said with some doubts: "Can a horse only pull 2,300 kilograms? I remember that even a rickshaw can pull 2,300 kilograms of goods."

Xiao Jianjun explained: "The pulling force mentioned here refers to long-term pulling, which must be ensured to be able to pull for at least 2-3 days continuously. A rickshaw can pull 2,300 kilograms, but if you want to pull continuously, at least two people need to rotate. If it is just a short-distance pulling, even if it is a Mongolian horse, it can pull 5,600 kilograms. Under extreme conditions, it is possible to pull 1 ton of goods."

Wang Yunpeng nodded and said, "So that's how it is."

Zhu Yaping then said: "The weight of the army artillery in this era is 1.5-1.8 tons, 100 mm gun is about 2 tons, 125 mm gun is about 2.5 tons, and 155 mm gun generally has more than 3 tons. The horse-drawn cannon generally adopts the three-pair and six-horse mode, which means a total of 6 horses pull one cannon. If the pulling force is added in this way, 6 Mongolian horses can only pull the 75-mm gun. Of course, a few strong Mongolian horses can also avoid pulling the 100-mm gun. The 125mm cannon can only be pulled by European horses. Fortunately, we seized a batch of three hippos in the battle of Shanhaiguan, and now we have purchased a batch of three hippos from Russia. This type of horse is a large and medium-sized horse. It not only has the advantages of hard work and hard work in Mongolian horses, but also has much greater pulling power than Mongolian horses. It can pull a 125mm cannon. Fortunately, only the A-type master equipped the 125mm cannon, so our current three hippos are enough, but if we want to pull the 155mm cannon, even the three hippos will not do it."

Xu Jichao said: "So we can't add horses to pull cannons? Use 8 horses to pull, why 10 horses to pull?"

Zhu Yaping shook his head and said, "No, the three-pin and six-horse model is the largest group of animal power traction. After hundreds of years of practice, if one more pair is added, the pace of each horse will interfere with each other when marching, and the pulling force cannot be exerted. In the old time and space, Japan once experimented with the four-pin and eight-horse traction model, but all failed without exception. Later, the stupidest and only method was to cultivate its own excellent heavy-pull horse breeds, so there was no need to try to increase the horse's compensation."

Wang Yunpeng said: "No way? How did other countries do it? Can the army use 155mm-level artillery as difficult as it can?"

Zhu Yaping Road: "There are heavy horse-drawn horses in Europe, and the railways in Europe are relatively developed. Therefore, heavy artillery can be sent near the battlefield by train, and then used animal power for short-distance transportation. If it really doesn't work, you can only transfer horses to transport them, or dismantle the artillery, transport them separately, and then assemble them when you arrive on the battlefield."

Wang Yunpeng said: "Then we can also adopt this model!"
Chapter completed!