Chapter Seventeen: The Navy

  Chapter Seventeen: The Navy

  Hu Feng held a freshly produced "Zhonghua" brand cigarette from the Hu family factory in his mouth, standing on the deck and gazing at the soldiers with new-style rifles on their backs and ammunition-filled cartridge belts, envy filling his eyes.

  "How's that, my troops are still pretty good, right!" Huo Hu's tone was proud, and anyone could hear it.

  "What are you proud of? If it weren't for Master, would you have such good soldiers to command?" Huo Feng said disdainfully.

  Listening to the sour tone in his mouth, Huo Hu couldn't help but smile proudly, "Heh heh, at least now it's me commanding them to fight! Ah, Young Master's invention of the 80-style rifle is really good, it's both lightweight and has a long range, compared to that piece of junk, the 71-style!"

  "Hu Zi, you little rascal, are you trying to provoke me?" As he said this, Huo Feng let out a dejected sigh. "Why won't the young master provide us brothers in the marine guard squad with new rifles?"

  "You lunatics, you've gone mad! Giving you new equipment is just showing it off to the foreigners! Moreover, you haven't even followed Young Master's new military training program. In our eyes, you're just a mob, how could Young Master give such good guns to you!"

  After Huo Hu said this, Huo Feng did not refute him. Having witnessed the new military exercise organized by Young Master a few days ago, he had already realized that his own elite sea guard team was actually outdated.

  "Hey, old tiger, you've been by the young master's side for a long time. Do you think he'll build a navy after completing the army?" Looking at Huo Feng's sudden excitement, Huo Hu said hesitantly: "Judging from the young master's usual talk, a navy will definitely be built, but it costs more money. A warship of over 1,000 tons costs tens of millions of silver coins, while our two-million-man army corps only spends 50,000 silver coins per month on salaries, plus equipment costs of around 100,000 to 200,000 silver coins. Compared to the cost of building a navy, it's a huge difference!"

  "It doesn't matter, as long as Young Master builds a navy, it's fine even if it takes several years!" Huo Feng said with a smile.

  "Haha, not even a year later!" Along with the voice, Huo Long strode over.

  "Brother Long!" As the leader of the Eighteen Iron Guards, the bold and generous Ho Lung is highly respected among his brothers.

  "Hmm, Tigers, Lunatics, are you all ready?" Holong asked solemnly as he looked at the troops lining up to board the ship.

  "Don't worry, Dragon Brother! It's nighttime now, and the Qing naval fleet won't discover us!" Huo Feng said with a smile.

  "Dragon Brother, what you just said......!"

  Seeing Huo Feng's hesitant appearance, Huo Long also didn't hide it and smiled as he said: "When I came, Young Master had already agreed to our request to establish a navy with the Sea Escort Unit as its foundation!"

  "That's really great!" Huo Feng said with a delighted expression.

  "Yes, now that we have been allocated five million taels of silver, let's first build a naval base and train naval personnel! As for the warships, they may have to wait a bit!" Recalling the young master's depiction of his naval blueprint, even the normally composed Huo Long couldn't help but feel excited.

  "Haha, congratulations, Dragon Brother!" Huo Hu said with a smile.

  "Uh-huh, tell the brothers to be careful, we must complete our mission quickly, Navy? Just hearing the name is more impressive than the Army!"

  ——————

  "Master, isn't it a bit too early to build bases in those places now?" Huo Shi asked with some hesitation.

  "It's not easy, the navy is not like the army, issuing a rifle and a few hundred rounds of ammunition, training for three months can go to war. The navy is a highly technical branch of service that requires long-term uninterrupted training and improvement to form a fleet that can fight!" Huo Shan said, looking at the large-scale map hanging on the wall.

  "But those places are not in our hands, and Spanish soldiers are stationed upstairs!"

  "Haha, don't worry, Huo Shi. The Spanish are only interested in Luzon which can provide them with wealth! These small islands that seem to have nothing but wood and natives, even if there are a few soldiers, are just for the sake of declaring sovereignty. The Northern Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, and Marshall Islands are our navy's natural bases for expanding into the Pacific, and we cannot give them up under any circumstances. We also won't let the Spanish know that we control these islands!" After pausing for a moment, Huo Shan stroked his chin, thought for a while, and continued: "Time is not waiting for us, let Huo Feng, Huo Yu, and Huo Dian handle the transportation of troops. Let Huo Long hurry up to select personnel, occupy these islands, and establish our naval bases on Nauru, Truk, Guam, and Saipan! Remind him to pay attention to secrecy!"

  ——————

  "Whoosh......"

  The waves gently lapped against the rocks, and the dark sea was shrouded in darkness without a glimmer of light. Zhang Long paced back and forth restlessly, occasionally raising his head to gaze out at the distant sea surface. He was also one of the first batch of soldiers from the military base, but when Hu Lang established the Military Intelligence Bureau, he was selected and underwent a month of intense training before being sent to Fujian to investigate the Qing dynasty's garrison in Fujian and take charge of receiving Hu Hu's landing team.

  "Boss, it's here!" exclaimed Sanhu, who had been keeping an eye on the sea surface all along.

  Upon hearing his words, Zhang Long couldn't help but scold the new recruit from the Intelligence Bureau and hastily looked out towards the distant sea surface, where six massive ships appeared at the horizon under the faint starlight.

  "Hurry up, Third Tiger! Bring over the kerosene lamps we've prepared!" Zhang Long said with a joyful face.

  "Squad leader, we've received a signal from the shore!"

  Looking at the flickering flames in the distance, Huo Hu's heart also became excited, taking a deep breath, he turned to the messenger beside him and said: "Let the soldiers get ready, we are going to land!"

  "Yes!"

  There are no good ports near Sansha, so the large sea ship carrying over 6,000 tons cannot dock. Only small boats can be used to send the first-time sailors, who have been vomiting all over the place, ashore!

  "Report! Military Intelligence Bureau! Zhang Long has seen Colonel!"

  Watching the standard military salute of the Huo family army, Huo Hu felt very intimate after drifting at sea for several hours!

  "Have you figured out the situation of the nearby garrison?" Huo Hu asked immediately after returning the courtesy.

  "I've got it clear, Colonel! Our battle target this time is 'Sansha Town', which belongs to the Qing Dynasty's Fujian Province, Ningde Prefecture, Xiapu County! There are nine villages in the town, with a total population of over 13,000 people! There is no army, only about twenty yamen runners responsible for maintaining law and order in the town."

  Before the army set out, he had also looked at intelligence materials about Xiapu County, but due to the urgency of time, his understanding was not too deep.

  "How many Green Standard Army soldiers are there in Xiapu County?"

  "There were originally 500 people, but the local county magistrate has been embezzling funds, and now there are only 314 people left. Excluding the old and weak, there are less than 200 soldiers who can fight!" Zhang Long continued to say.

  "Damn it, with such an army, they can still fight a war. No wonder the Qing Dynasty is always being beaten by Westerners and has to pay indemnities everywhere! With just one of my companies, I can capture all of them!"

  "Tiger, before the young master repeatedly instructed us, now we can't fight in the county town, you can't break discipline!" The political commissar Zhao Guang, who was standing behind him, hastily said. As for his partner, he was very clear that he had a hot temper and outstanding military talent, and of course, he also had a talent for causing trouble. Usually, with the young master holding him back, it was fine, but now that the troops were divided, no one could control him, so the political commissar himself had to remind him frequently.

  "Don't worry, Old Zhao! I wouldn't dare disobey Young Master's words!"

  "You must be kidding!" Zhao Guang thought to himself.

  "Guard?"

  "What's wrong, Captain?" Guard Lin Bing rushed over and asked with a salute.

  "Order all battalions and companies to hurry up with their rest and reorganization, and have a half-hour rest in place. Half an hour later, the whole regiment will launch an attack on Sansha Town at the appointed time! Go!"

  "It's the squad leader!"

  "Tiger, won't it be a bit too hasty? Many of our soldiers are severely seasick. Half an hour's rest time, won't it be a bit short?" said Qian Gang, the chief of staff of the regiment.

  "Haha, Old Qian, do you think that just relying on those yamen and landlord's private soldiers can stop our army of over 4,000? Moreover, it's now around 3 am, when people are in their deepest sleep. With our current equipment and training, how much trouble would it take to deal with these rabble?" Huo Hu said confidently.

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