Although Lao Li decided to organize this cruise, it does not necessarily mean that it will be easy to implement. Considering that the voyage is too far, and nearly a thousand troops will be brought to prepare for emergencies, and in order to avoid trouble as much as possible, Lao Li decided

After leaving Guangzhou, we directly arrived at the Dutch colony. The voyage on the front sea was a very severe test for both the warships and the personnel. After all, this time we had to make hands-on preparations. As for the army? More

This is giving Old Li a headache. If you let a group of Huai soldiers who have never been on a ship ride on a ship for more than half a month, how much combat power will they be able to exert when they arrive in Batavia? Old Li is not sure. Let alone transport.

These transport ships for Huai Army personnel and equipment

Lao Li and a group of Beiyang officers calculated it over and over again. They always felt that it would be more difficult to rely on only two training ships, Kangji and Weiyuan, and the 500 Huai Army and equipment. (The 300 Beiyang Marines are usually scattered in various places.

on board the ship)

At this time, Liu Buchan's professional quality was still reflected to a certain extent. In his opinion, the army's weapons are nothing more than guns and cannons. These guns don't take up much space. The real headaches are the cannons and ammunition. Therefore, after solving the problem

After the problem of artillery, the rest is not difficult. As for the artillery used by the army, the most commonly used one is naturally the 75

mm Krupp artillery, and this thing is the same as the 75mm sampan cannon (4 per warship) equipped in Dingzhen. As long as the gun mount is changed, it will be a land gun. In this way, the army does not need to carry a gun at all.

When entering the port, arrange for some army gunners to go to Ding Town. Once the action is actually taken, the sampan cannon will be replaced with another one when it is used up on the ship.

The mount is used as a land gun. In addition to these sampan guns, there are also the 10-barrel Gatling gun on the Zhiyuan ship. The barrel of this thing weighs 371kg and the gun mount weighs 181kg. Moreover, when Beiyang ordered the Zhiyuan, it also

We specially ordered the gun mount, which makes it more convenient. Once the naval battle is over, we can just put it on the gun mount and land.

With these sampan guns and Gatling guns, the Huai army does not need to bring additional artillery and artillery shells. And considering the space in the town, it is completely possible to bring more artillery parts, which can be assembled and used when necessary. At the same time, each transport ship

You can also install some Gatling guns and sampan guns on the ship. Once the naval battle is over, you can directly install the army gun mounts for use.

Although the Beiyang officers have made various plans and arrangements for how to support this unit's long-distance navigation, once it takes action, the logistics supply problem is still very serious. After all, cruising and combat are two different concepts. For example, artillery shells, Zhiyuan

Each of the No. 210 main guns only has 50 rounds of ammunition. Calculated at a rate of fire of one round every 2.5 minutes, it cannot sustain even two battles. You cannot run away after a battle.

To return to Guangzhou, which is a kilometer away, to resupply ammunition, the premise is that Beiyang must first transport the artillery shells to Guangzhou! Even counting the compartments under the Zhiyuan gun mount for placing artillery shells, each gun only has 21 additional compartments, and

For the sake of safety, these compartments can only hold artillery shells but not propellants. Ding Ruchang, Lang Weili, Liu Buchan and others racked their brains and could not make these Beiyang warships load enough artillery shells for two battles!!

"We can actually entrust Mr. Li Hanzhang of Guangdong and Guangxi to mobilize some civilian ships to transport subsequent ammunition, fuel and other materials for Beiyang. The transportation force of the Beiyang Fleet is too weak and cannot support such a long-distance campaign." Lang Weili said.

After carefully comparing the supplies needed and the transport capacity that could be deployed, I couldn't help but shake my head.

"Isn't this bad?" Ding Ruchang frowned and said.

"What's wrong with this? In the British Empire, merchant ships can be requisitioned for transportation and even equipped with artillery to perform combat missions during war. Even if it is not a war, we can still pay to requisition ships." Lang Weili insisted.

"But this is the Qing Dynasty. If the censors know about the random recruitment of civilian ships, it is not a joke to read a book." Liu Buchan said dissatisfied.

"I am a soldier, and my task is to help the commander formulate combat plans. Politics and public opinion are not what I care about. If there are not enough transport ships to provide logistical support for the fleet and Marine Corps, I am not optimistic about this operation."

Langweili said.

"This matter should be reported to Lord Zhongtang." After looking at Lang Weili, Liu Buchan and others who still wanted to argue, Ding Ruchang decisively decided to hand over the difficulty. This was not because he was irresponsible, but whether it was recruiting merchant ships from Beiyang,

Whether to use Nanyang ships or not is not something he, the admiral of the Navy, can decide. This matter needs to be decided by Lao Li.

As for Lao Li, I don't know much about maritime affairs, and I know nothing about ocean supply. Liu Zixiang and the others didn't do much research on things back then. The selection of global naval ports and the setting up of depot supply battles are not something that an offshore defense fleet should study.

content, faced with this kind of problem that has never been encountered before, the old

Li couldn't help it. Now I feel like I didn't think it through well. It's already too late! The note has been sent out, the fleet is ready to go, and more importantly, the Nanyang Chinese's second payment has arrived. It's no good if I don't go.

!!In desperation, Lao Li had no choice but to send a telegram to Xu Jie to ask the disciple to think of a solution.

It is impossible to say that Xu Jie did not consider the supply issue. After all, Xu Jie is also a new era navy who has received orthodox naval education. He has also read many books on supply, but theoretical knowledge and actual operation are two different things.

.And the Qing Dynasty couldn't even find a special transport and supply ship, let alone a special transport and supply ship. Fortunately, the enemy Beiyang faced this time was also really soft.

For some, once the war starts, as long as the port can be successfully suppressed, subsequent supplies will not be a big problem. Considering that the Dutch colonial army usually only beats the natives and bullies the unarmed Chinese, it will definitely not be the same as the Beiyang Marines.

Fabi (even the Japanese are positive about the combat effectiveness of this unit) probably won’t be able to fight against the veterans of the Huai Army.

Although the matter was difficult to handle, with the help of Li Hanzhang, Xu Jie finally found enough ships and sailors from Guangzhou to transport supplies for the Second Beiyang Marine Division. At the same time, in order to thank Li Hanzhang for his help, Li Hongzhang agreed that Nanyang would also send warships to participate in this effort.

cruise, (go together, share the money together.) But

Since Nanyang really couldn't produce any decent ships this time, out of desperation, Governor Li Hanzhang had no choice but to let Cheng Biguang lead the cruiser Guangjia and the supply ship to accompany the Beiyang Fleet on the voyage. This inadvertent move actually directly led to the Qing Dynasty.

The emergence of the first joint naval voyage. Although Guangdong

Only one warship participated, but its historical significance cannot be underestimated. Later generations of scholars even said that this southward cruise to the Southeast Asia was not only the first step for the Chinese navy to go out of the offshore sea and go to the ocean, but also promoted the idea of ​​sea power to take root in Chinese society.

Germination. More importantly, from then on, the Chinese navy formed a mutual

As a whole, there will be no situation where a certain navy is fighting the enemy desperately while other fleets are doing nothing. This directly led to the emergence of the Qing United Fleet headed by the Beiyang Navy during the Sino-Japanese War. This move was the first step during the Sino-Japanese War.

The victory of the naval battle and the blockade of Japan played a very critical role.

Just after Li Hanzhang and Xu Jie solved the supply problem of the Beiyang Fleet, Xu Jie thought he could relax and wait for the arrival of the Beiyang Fleet before preparing to set off. But it was after the arrival of the Beiyang Fleet that something happened that was supposed to happen
Chapter completed!