Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

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Secretary of the Navy McNamara retorted unhappily: "According to the Navy's forecast, while conducting operations around the South China Sea, China's remaining ocean-going capacity can only guarantee the cross-ocean operations of eight armored divisions at most. To deal with this force, There is no need for sixty divisions!"

"Yes, if the navy doesn't withdraw, of course we don't need so many troops, but if we only rely on the army, we can't lose even one division! I hope you all remember that I was the first to propose the strategy of first Europe and then Asia. But the premise is that the navy and the army must cooperate to defend the west coast. Now that the navy is gone, the enemy can arbitrarily concentrate and land at selected locations, but we can only fortify everywhere on the vast coastline, where we are weak everywhere and beaten everywhere. In addition, as Rusk As Mr. said, the fact that the enemy landed on the continental United States will destabilize the entire America. In this way, we must retain a strong mobile force, ready to go to any place in the entire American continent at any time to fight against the Chinese or the Americans .”

Wan paused, and glanced at McNamara, who had a stiff face: "I also hope that you will recognize the fact that the military strength of us and our allies around the South China Sea is already very weak. Once our fleet withdraws, Out of the Pacific Ocean, this area is destined to quickly fall into the hands of the enemy, and the Chinese warships originally used for defense operations in this area can be transferred to the Americas. Mr. McNamara, have you calculated how much the opponent can maintain in this situation? Forces to fight on the American continent?"

McNamara bowed his head and counted his fingers: "About 30 reloaders."

Vance held out three fingers: "According to Mr. Baruch, chairman of the Military Industry Committee, the large-scale transformation of the domestic industry to the military industry and the deployment of comprehensive economic control will take time, and it is estimated that it will not be fully on the right track until a year later. In other words, within six months, the U.S. Army will have no more than 6 divisions available."

Five days later, it was also at the White House in the United States.

"The battleship detachment has all passed through the Panama Canal yesterday and sailed into the Caribbean Sea as a whole. It is expected to arrive at the Norfolk base before the 21st. After the combined fleet in the Far East suffered a catastrophe, Britain and France strongly requested our navy to send support warships to help them defend the Caribbean Sea. If we don't agree, they will no longer send naval support to the United States."

President Johnson listened to the report of Lieutenant Admiral Sims, chief of naval staff, and nodded to McNamara: "Congress will vote on the new navy bill tomorrow. What do you think?"

McNamara straightened his bow tie: "I have had private conversations with several powerful people in the House Navy Committee, and they all expressed dissatisfaction with the bill under consideration."

"What?" The President frowned anxiously.

"They believe that the bill is too cautious, and should shorten the cycle of completing 13 new capital ships to two years, and stipulate that at least seven new aircraft carriers should be built within two years, and the conversion of merchant ships and cruisers into aircraft and water aircraft carriers should be submitted as soon as possible. In addition, the plan to order aircraft and water planes for the navy within three years should also be changed to two years... In addition, the design of new cruisers, destroyers, and submarines should be completed as soon as possible to ensure a balanced and comprehensive update of naval equipment."

"This is a good thing, God bless, the United States will never lack true patriots." President Johnson's beard trembled excitedly.

"Designing an aircraft carrier from scratch will take time, if the British can provide ready-made drawings..." Lieutenant General Sims said melancholy.

"We are already negotiating, but with the strong industrial strength of the United States, we can do it, but the war is imminent and requires a lot of maritime equipment, which will take time." McNamara glanced at Secretary of the Army Vance.

"Yes, it is reported that in the Battle of Hawaii, the enemy deployed a large number of amphibious vehicles and quickly broke through our positions, so that the island of Oahu, which was guarded by 2 people, fell completely after only two days. As for the operations on the European side From the point of view, the participation of 'tanks' in the war has a great impact on morale. Whether our army wants to defend the homeland or counterattack Hawaii, we need a considerable number of tanks. After the fiasco of the navy, Britain and France are unwilling to intervene too much in American affairs. We can rely on ourselves." Vance shrugged helplessly.

"Yes, we can only rely on ourselves. The next three months will be the most difficult period for us. The enemy with superiority in the sea may concentrate their forces to land at any point on the west coast of the Americas at any time... and our navy has to start from the original. From the wealthy fleet, warships are drawn to the warm Caribbean Sea." McNamara said helplessly.

A week ago, according to Lieutenant Admiral Sims's proposal, the remaining 6 dreadnoughts of the main fleet left the San Diego base on the west coast and headed for the Panama Canal under strict escort. Fokker base.

These precious big guys will be carefully maintained in the large docks on the east coast and equipped with anti-aircraft weapons. Before winter comes, the U.S. Navy battleship force can also look forward to the three new battleships and four aircraft carrier battle groups planned by the military bill. join in.

The forces remaining on the west coast were organized into the US Navy Pacific Fleet, under the jurisdiction of the 2nd Fleet in San Diego and the 3rd Fleet in Panama.

新任太平洋舰队司令官由资深海军上将威廉森担任，兼第2队司令的主要兵力到为5艘旧式战列舰、3艘装甲巡洋舰、6艘防护巡洋舰逐舰鱼雷艇和8艘潜水艇，主要任务是协助陆军守卫圣迭戈基地。

第3舰队司令官由原第三战列舰分队司令官施罗德中将担任，其麾下兵力包括2艘式战列舰、2艘装甲巡洋舰、5防护巡洋舰驱逐舰鱼雷艇和10艘潜水艇队，主要任务是守卫巴拿马运河。

Dragon's Roar Chapter 979 Evil Act

未来3月内，舰队还可得到9艘舰龄旧式战列舰、2艘旧式防护巡洋舰和2艘新式侦察巡洋舰逐舰雷艇以及9潜水艇的支援。

Secretary of the Army Vance did not take this seriously. In his opinion, the withdrawal of the six dreadnoughts is not fundamentally different from the Navy's abandonment of the entire Pacific Ocean.

"Now is not the time to make sarcastic remarks. It has been almost a month since the start of the war. Is the Army still not sure about defending the homeland?" McNamara counterattacked.

"Well, are you sure?" President Johnson spoke, and Vance could only wink at Lieutenant General Leonard Wood, Chief of Staff of the Army.

"Your Excellency, please allow me to report." Lieutenant General Wood took over the conversation wisely.

"As of last week, 59 regiments originally in the Philippines have been deployed to the west coast, 7 regiments have deployed to Panama, and 6 divisions have been deployed in California, the center of defense on the west coast. To the north, Washington state has deployed 1 division and 4 independent regiments, They will cooperate with His Majesty's Canadian Army. Two divisions will be deployed in Oregon, where the terrain is complex and difficult to land, and another 2 regiments will be deployed to the west coast. At that time, the regular army on the west coast will have the strength of 10 divisions."

"In addition. In just 3 weeks, we mobilized 20 reservists, Oregon raised its own weapons and supplies, and volunteered to undertake tasks such as coastal guards and warehouse guards. The morale of these patriots was high and gave the Army an extremely powerful support, but lack training and organization, the Army will give them proper guidance, and in fact, the mission of hunting down the enemy's nationals can only rely on our loyal and enthusiastic local militia."

The so-called "task of searching for aliens from enemy countries" originated from the "Wartime National Security Act" passed by the Congress two weeks ago. The bill stipulates that the nationals of the Chinese Federation in the mainland and Panama should be "centralized" during the war, that is, sent to concentration camps. .However, not long after the Imperial Pacific Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, there was a wave of persecution against Asians in the United States.

In San Francisco, thousands of Asian residents’ houses were destroyed, and white gunmen wandered the streets in groups. They could not help but shoot when they saw yellow-skinned and black-eyed people. The police not only did not stop them, but warned white residents not to harbor their Asians Neighbor.In Los Angeles, mobs packed captured Asian nationals into linen bags, doused them with gasoline and set them on fire, leaving the victims screaming and rolling, and onlookers applauded.

On the outskirts of Seattle, a row of gallows was set up on the beach, and the bodies of yellow people were hung. The mob declared: "Let these piggies say hello to their fellows on the other side of the ocean!"

As a devout Christian, more importantly, considering that China may take extreme retaliatory measures, President Johnson cannot sit idly by such atrocities. Under the suggestion of Secretary of State Rusk, the President urged Congress to pass the wartime national security law amendment The case put Asian expatriates under government custody in concentration camps who were being persecuted frenziedly by "certain out-of-control radicals."On the one hand, it prevents the spread of atrocities and damages the national image of the United States. On the other hand, it serves as a bargaining chip for exchanging American nationals who may be detained with China.

At this moment, President Johnson has no interest in the fate of the hundreds of thousands of "enemy aliens". What he needs is reassurance.

"General Vance, do you mean that even if the enemy comes here now, the army is capable of driving them into the sea?"

"It...it depends..." As soon as the substantive question was asked, Vance immediately became hesitant.

"What kind of situation can be done?" the president asked.

"It depends on how many troops the opponent can invest in a short period of time, and also on the location of the landing. Specifically, the most likely situation is that if the opponent sends 10 heavy armored divisions to California within a week, we will not be able to They drove them to sea, and of course they couldn't beat us. What follows will be a protracted war in which the forces of the enemy and the enemy will grow, and many towns in California will be reduced to ruins in the process, but one day, we will The strength on the mainland will be far greater than that of the enemies occupying a small part of our land. At that time, we will launch a full-scale counter-offensive, cut off their retreat, surround them, and water our farmland with their blood." Vance Hard Scalping and pretending to be bold, he said.

"In addition, based on various intelligence sources, China's most elite troops are entrenched in the Middle East, and they may not be able to spare so many troops for a while. Moreover, Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Port have been blocked by our military with sunken ships, and they are recovering. Before the functions of these ports, it was difficult for the enemy fleet to continue to operate along our coast, and it was impossible to support such a large-scale landing operation."

Johnson listened and turned to Sims: "How long will it take for the other side to restore the functions of the Hawaiian port?"

"Estimated two to three months."

Johnson nodded, then turned back to Wood and asked, "How long do you think the Philippines can last?"

"The Philippines, which cannot receive reinforcements, can last for three or four months at most. If Britain, France and the Netherlands do not provide follow-up strong support, the entire battle in the South China Sea is estimated to end soon."

"It needs to be emphasized that during this period, the Panama Canal may be attacked at any time." This is not the first time Sims has expressed concerns about the Panama Canal in front of the president.

This canal shortened the voyage between the east and west coasts by almost half, which also made it possible for the main US Navy fleet to quickly station in Hawaii.You know, from New York on the east coast to San Francisco on the west coast, if you bypass Cape Horn, the voyage will take [-] nautical miles.

Judging from the situation after the war between China and the United States, if the canal is destroyed, the sailing time of American ships between the east and west coasts will inevitably double, which will have a negative impact on the defense of the west coast and future counterattacks in the Pacific region.Although the U.S. Army and Navy have started building military bases in the Canal Zone since the Canal Zone was acquired through the Treaty of Sea John Elda, until the completion of the canal, the Army only had less than one regiment stationed in the canal, and the Navy was only in the civilian area. With the assistance of the company, a small number of naval installations were built in the ports of Colon and Panama.

After the Morgan Act was implemented, the military threat from China became increasingly prominent. As the main force of the naval fleet moved from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, as the most convenient and efficient reinforcement and supply channel for the fleet, the importance of the Panama Canal cannot be ignored, and the strengthening of the defense of the Canal Zone It was also on the agenda.

The navy's plan is to build a coastal defense fortress and naval base on the Pacific side of the canal, and deploy heavy artillery, torpedo boats, submarines and seaplanes.However, due to changes in the situation, the plan for a permanent coastal defense fort was cancelled, and a number of temporary coastal defense forts were built instead. The modernized naval base planned to take more than ten months to complete was replaced by the existing facilities in Panama Port as much as possible.

The army formulated a comprehensive plan to control the entire territory of Panama when necessary and prevent the enemy from outflanking and landing. It planned to station in Cologne and Panama City within a week after the outbreak of the war, and occupy all key points in Panama within a month.

By the eve of the Pearl Harbor incident, the navy had started construction of 26 coastal defense batteries on the Pacific side of the canal area. It was planned to install a double 1-inch fortress gun, a naval gun, a 14-inch naval gun, and a number of 3-inch field guns. In fact, there were only 8 Inch guns and 6-inch guns are installed.The Army increased the garrison in the Canal Zone to 6 artillery companies and 3 cavalry companies. In contrast, the Panamanian government "protected" by the United States has only a 60-member National Guard and hundreds of soldiers. policeman.

Immediately after the fall of Hawaii, the army "peacefully entered" the entire territory of Panama, and within a month the garrison was increased to seven infantry regiments and artillery companies.The navy stepped up the construction of fortifications.Completed the installation of all 1-inch guns and single-mounted guns within one month, and deployed a batch of anti-aircraft weapons originally prepared for the defense of Hawaii, including 7-inch anti-aircraft guns and 10-inch anti-aircraft machine guns, and concentrated them on the ship lock and Gatong Near the dam.

In addition, land-based aircraft of the Army's 1st Air Force under the command of Colonel William Mitchell, former director of Army Aviation, and seaplanes of the 1st Mixed Wing of Naval Air Forces under the command of Brigadier General William Fletcher also completed their deployment in Panama a few days ago .

Even so, Sims was still concerned.There are three known methods for the opponent to destroy the canal: landing, shelling, and air strikes.The terrain of Panama is dominated by mountains. The highest peak, Chiriqui Volcano, is densely covered with rainforests, dangerous passes, and steep cliffs along the coast. Districts are also likely to be outweighed.

With the strength of the 3rd Fleet, it is obviously impossible to stop the enemy's main fleet from entering the Bay of Panama, but even if the opponent uses 14-inch battleship main guns, it is not easy to destroy the canal waterway dug in the rocky mountain.The weak link is on the two ship locks connecting Gatun Lake with an altitude of 2 meters and the Pacific Ocean. However, the ship locks are not built at the seaport. The nearest secondary ship lock on the Pacific side is more than 60 kilometers inland, and it is blocked by mountains. However, even if the warship ventures to the shore to bombard, it may not be able to hit accurately.

Air raids are the most worrying thing. Once the Gatun Dam on the Atlantic side is destroyed, the Gatun Lake will be emptied, and the entire canal will be paralyzed. Repairing the dam will not be done overnight.Fortunately, some experts have argued that to destroy the gravity dam-type Gatun Dam, it is necessary to explode close to the dam below the waterline, that is to say, to use a 35-ton giant torpedo or bomb. However, the bomb load of the enemy ship's attack aircraft is only 500 catties, and the seemingly weak ship lock gates are actually made of steel, each weighing more than one meter, and their strength is stronger than that of a battleship hull.

There are difficulties, but God knows how many secrets the Chinese have hidden.Before the Pearl Harbor incident, who would have expected that the mighty battle fleet would be defeated by those inconspicuous little flies?Sims would rather believe that the opponent has the ability to overcome those difficulties. Since the fall of Hawaii, it has become Sims' habit to think about the worst in advance.

Dragon's Roar 9 Chapter [-] Empire's Asia

"What should we do if the canal is destroyed?" Sims finally made up his mind to ask the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.

Vance shrugged indifferently: "What does it matter? Could it be that if there is a war, we will be helpless? Hasn't the Navy always formulated its combat plan against China on the premise that there is no canal?"

"After Pearl Harbor, all plans were scrapped." Sims sneered.