Rebirth of the Republic of China: The Story of the Chaebol

The reason why the Kingdom of South China was not in a hurry to expand its military was not because Sun Tong felt that the Japanese would not attack the Nanyang region. The most important reason was that Sun Tong had a certain degree of confidence in the military strength of the Kingdom of South China.

Compared with the Xihua Kingdom, the Nanhua Kingdom was established a short time ago, but the army here was formed not late. After Sun Tong bought these islands in the South China Sea, he has been busy forming armies on various islands in the South China Sea.

Up to now, the total number of the South China Kingdom's National Defense Forces has reached 64, including in the army, in the navy, and in the air force.

In addition to the 64 active soldiers, the entire Kingdom of South China has more than four million reserve troops. This war potential alone is enough to make Sun Tong confident in his country.

In addition to having enough people, the weapons equipped by the three armies of the South China Kingdom can also crush the Japanese in all aspects.

Especially in terms of the navy, the navy of the Kingdom of South China has four major fleets, with more than 6 warships of various levels in service, including 6 aircraft carriers, 10 battleships, 20 heavy cruisers, 170 light cruisers, and frigates and destroyers.

Such strength may not seem very impressive. After all, the Pacific War has not yet broken out, but the number of warships on the Japanese side is still far greater than that of Nanhua.

But naval strength is not compared in this way. Not to mention that the South China Navy has a large number of warships stored in major military ports, just look at the strength comparison of the two countries' active warships. With those old guys in the hands of the Japanese, how could they possibly compare with the warships equipped by South China.

You must know that the technological strength of the Kingdom of South China is two generations ahead of the Japanese. There are fundamental differences in the radio technology, radar technology used by the navies of both sides, as well as the materials used to build warships.

Comparing the two countries' sea transportation, Sun Tong dared to say that any one of the six battleships equipped by his own navy could single-handedly defeat all the battleships of the Japanese navy.

This statement does seem very exaggerated, but the generation gap in equipment is there after all. Take the radar system and fire control system used by the "Han" class battleships equipped by the South China Navy. Before the Japanese could come up with a jamming system of the same level, the huge cannons of the "Han" class battleships could basically achieve "100% accuracy" in naval battles.

Considering the destructive power of the 406mm caliber naval guns equipped on the Han-class battleships, as long as the shells fired by this giant cannon can hit the target, it can basically kill one "little Karami" with one shot.

Maybe the Japanese Yamato can withstand one or two more shots?

But what's the use of this? With the Japanese's existing electronic technology, if their naval warships encounter the South China Navy at sea, they will just be sitting ducks.

In fact, the Nanhua Naval Academy has already installed rocket launcher systems and missile systems on the two latest "Han" class battleships.

Some people may say that in today's era, the role of battleships in naval battles is not as important as before, and this thing will be eliminated sooner or later, so it is a pure waste of money for Nanhua to build so many battleships.

This is indeed true. Sun Tong also knows that it is only a matter of time before the battleships are eliminated.

But who made him rich?

Giant ships and big cannons are a man's romance. If he doesn't build a few more battleships while they are still in use, then in a few years these giant ships will really be eliminated, and then Sun Tong will really have no excuse to continue building these things.

"Everyone, I called you to this meeting today. I think you all know what I am going to say. The global situation is becoming increasingly unstable. Just half a month ago, the Japanese invaders once again sent reinforcements to the northeast of Longguo. I don't need to explain what this means. In order to prevent the Japanese invaders from attacking our homeland, I decided to expand the army."

"Your Majesty, what are the rules for this military expansion?"

"I plan to divide this military expansion into three phases. In the first phase, the number of active troops will be expanded to 1.6 million. The number of the army will be expanded to 1 million from the existing level, the total number of the navy will be expanded to 400,000, and the remaining 200,000 will be in the air force."

"Your Majesty, there is no need to expand so many people right from the start, right?"

"Why not? Don't forget that we have just accepted the Netherlands' colony in Southeast Asia. Don't we need to send troops to defend it?"

Many people present didn't understand what Sun Tong meant by this.

You said to send a large army to guard against the natives in those two colonies. There is definitely no problem with that. Although the number of natives on those two islands exceeds 10 million, the generals of the South China military believe that they only need to send out 100,000 people at most to make those natives behave themselves.

As for guarding against the Japanese, before the Japanese invaded Southeast Asia, no one thought that Southeast Asia would pose any threat to the Kingdom of South China.