1890 King of Southeast Asia

On January 16, the five German armies on the northern front marched to the northeast of Paris and defeated the defense line of the French Second Army in one day.

The remnants of the French Second Army, about 100,000 people, moved southward. On the one hand, they wanted to reorganize the team in the south and restore their combat effectiveness. On the other hand, they wanted to attract the German attack and reduce the pressure in the direction of Paris.

They succeeded. The German First Army was afraid that the French Second Army would interfere with its fragile supply line, so they chose to pursue southward.

Before leaving, the commander of the German First Army, Luke, ordered the second army behind to continue to attack Paris, and he led his men to pursue southward.

Everyone felt strange. Since the beginning of the war, the German army has been attacking in great strides and invincible, but only annihilated one French army-the Eighth Army composed of reserves.

Most of the Eighth Army was newly formed reserves, without much experience, and blocked the German army's only way to attack Paris. They were determined to fight to the death and launched a counterattack in a fit of anger, so they were completely annihilated.

On January 18, the German First Army lost the French Second Army...

Yes, after a day of pursuit, the German First Army captured part of the French army. The French army put up fierce resistance in various villages, and the battle lasted all night.

In the end, when the German army counted the casualties, it found that it had suffered more than 7,000 casualties, but only eliminated 4,000 French soldiers and captured less than 3,000 prisoners.

When it was dawn, Luke found that the French army had fled. The march of a large army would definitely leave regrets, but Luke did not choose to chase them.

They were all running on their own feet. The French army ran for a day first. Why did the German army chase them? Moreover, his logistical supplies were running out, and he could not stretch it any longer. He needed to go back to the front.

Luke's First Army was the main force of the German right wing, with a total of 300,000 people, well-equipped, and most of them were veterans.

This powerful force was indispensable for the implementation of the plan to attack Paris.

On January 19, the German Second Army arrived in the suburbs of Paris and had a brief battle with part of the Sixth Army.

On January 20, Luke's First Army returned to the front and launched an attack on the French army in the south of the German Second Army.

The direction of Luke's First Army's attack was the east of Paris, which was under the charge of the Ninth Army. Foch had already arranged a field position here.

On the morning of January 20, the German army used four divisions to attack the French army on a front of 100 kilometers.

About 70,000 German troops ran into the carefully constructed field fortifications of the French army. Four hundred machine guns fired together, firing one million rounds of bullets in one day, and the German army suffered 40,000 casualties.

(I found that the French army had two heavy machine guns in a machine gun platoon, and the standard ammunition was 5,000 rounds of bullets, but the machine guns were Hotchkiss.)

When Luke got this casualty figure, he was stunned. This was the first time that the German army suffered such a large loss since the war began.

And this was real casualties rather than losses. The only one that could compare with this was the French Eighth Army.

(Losses also include prisoners, missing persons, etc.)

But the French Eighth Army had just been transferred from the reserve, and the soldiers' tactical ability was average, and they always liked to launch bayonet charges.

The German army was equipped with a lot of light and heavy machine guns. Facing the charging French army, they only needed to pull the trigger.

Even so, they fought for three days, and the average daily casualties were not as good as this.

So Luke had to change his plan and turn according to the original plan.

The German First Army turned south again, instead of attacking Paris, which was close at hand.

The two French armies were still staying on the Reims-Sezanne line. Foch saw the German First Army turning and quickly notified Joffre.

Joffre was busy maintaining order in Paris at this time. The government had moved to Bordeaux, and he was busy with a lot of lawsuits.

Hearing this news, an important choice was placed in front of him.

The German army moved south, exposing their flanks. Its entire right wing was in front of the French Ninth Army, and the French Sixth Army, which had just completed the integration, was ready and just to the south of the Sixth Army.

The French Fourth and Fifth Armies are actively retreating to the southwest. If they stop retreating and the French Sixth and Ninth Armies attack from the front, the German First Army will be surrounded!

Moreover, the four French armies have nearly 800,000 troops. The encirclement has lost tens of thousands of troops, leaving only the German First Army with more than 200,000 troops. If we win, the situation will be revitalized!

However, the Germans still have four armies on the northern front, and they will rush to the suburbs of Paris within two days. If the encirclement cannot be ended within two days...

…………

On January 21, the Naval Design Bureau took out a new "sketch" at the request of Liu Yiming and Gu Fan.

This is really a sketch, or a schematic diagram.

There is not much data on the entire drawing, and even the thickness of the armor plate cannot be carefully marked. The hull cannot be further modified, but it is modified on the basis of the Java Island.

But it's okay. Liu Yiming doesn't want a specific detailed drawing, but a rough parameter and some important parts design.

"The displacement will exceed 35,000 tons, and is expected to be around 38,000 to 40,000 tons."

"Equipped with nine 406mm main guns, twelve 127mm secondary guns, twenty-four 76mm anti-aircraft guns, and forty 37mm anti-aircraft guns."

"In addition, four seaplanes are also installed, and the information processing center is still retained. We hope that future battleships will be equipped with information processing centers, even on large cruisers."

"Due to the strengthening of armaments and defense, the speed has to be reduced. In order to maintain the speed as much as possible, our suggestion is to weaken the protection of non-essential parts and concentrate the armor on important parts."

"In addition, we plan to strengthen the thickness of the dome armor in important places such as the ammunition depot and the power compartment to avoid the situation like Chang'an again."

"In addition, the oil depot will be re-arranged and the space will be re-planned so that it can accommodate twelve large water tube boilers."

"For steam turbines, we plan to use four steam turbines, with six boilers and two steam turbines in the middle and stern of the ship, and two power compartments, which can theoretically provide 120,000 horsepower."

"This can minimize the armor protection area. At the same time, ensuring the safety of the power compartment can also ensure the stability of the power. "

"But in this case, we need a larger and higher mast to stabilize the center of gravity, and the front main turret also needs careful layout calculations, which takes time. "

"For the final speed, the Navy Design Bureau expects the speed to be around 27 knots, but if the new boiler transformation is completed within the year, the speed can be increased. "

"In short, I ask the Navy Design Bureau to leave enough room for upgrades, and we can build and modify at the same time. "

"My suggestion is to build a battleship of this class for trial, and then improve and mass produce it according to the performance. "

Gu Fan was actually a little panicked. This warship was designed entirely for the future, and many technologies are still under development.

Battleships are very expensive. If something unexpected happens, the loss will be considerable, so he emphasized the protection capability and transformation space.

"Well, come up with detailed drawings as soon as possible, and start construction according to the first level and two ships."

"As for the other four ships in the plan, change one of them into three aircraft carriers, and divide the funds for the other one between the other two. The next level will definitely be more expensive."

"Let's talk about the planned twelve battleships in the next naval plan!"

Liu Yiming thought about it and looked a little headache.

Nanhua's warships must emphasize endurance, which has a significant impact on warship design.

In this case, Liu Yiming is ready to take a different approach and start working on aircraft carriers.

Nothing else, aircraft carriers are cheap! It is also the future development path of the navy. Battleships can still be used for fifteen years, and then they will retreat to the position of the chief sword-bearing guard of aircraft carriers.