Chapter 40

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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Amidst the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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"Everyone, the land forces of the Feiyu Army have now expanded to eight infantry battalions! Furthermore, the army will continue to expand, aiming to reach a total of twelve infantry battalions! At that point, we will have the strength to unify the entire Mindanao Island! At the same time, one month from now, the army will begin a series of operations to further suppress the indigenous tribes of Mindanao, ensuring the safety of all Chinese residents on the island!" Long Yufei announced at the high-level meeting of the Feiyu Company.

"Commander, expanding to twelve infantry battalions, plus the planned artillery battalion, will bring the total number of troops in the Feiyu Army to over ten thousand! Isn't that too many?" Minister of Civil Affairs Li Decheng frowned. There were only about seventy to eighty thousand Chinese on the entire Mindanao Island, and although most had joined the Feiyu Company, Long Yufei's expansion plan still seemed excessive, almost like a military buildup for war.

"Twelve infantry battalions plus one artillery battalion is not too many! We have already suppressed the indigenous tribes in the northern part of Mindanao, but they only make up a small portion of the island's indigenous population. In the central region of Mindanao, there are still many indigenous tribes. To completely eliminate these tribes, we need more troops. Additionally, the Sultanates of Maguindanao and Buayan to the south, as well as the Sultanate of Sulu to the west, will be our next targets. This requires us to maintain a strong military force. As for the concern about a labor shortage due to the large number of troops, I don't think that will be a problem! As we suppress more and more indigenous tribes, we will acquire more and more slaves. According to statistics, the Feiyu Company already has over fifty thousand slaves. Whether it's mining, farming, or road construction, we are using slaves on a large scale. As the fighting continues, we will acquire even more slaves. Therefore, a labor shortage will not be an issue!" Long Yufei stated firmly.

Everyone agreed with Long Yufei's reasoning. From the current situation, the Feiyu Company was indeed developing rapidly. Although the number of troops was increasing, as Long Yufei pointed out, the growing number of slaves would prevent a labor shortage.

"Since there are no objections, the next phase of the Feiyu Army's operations will begin one month from now! This time, we will completely crush the indigenous tribes of Mindanao," Long Yufei said. He was confident that with the total number of troops expanded to twelve infantry battalions, the Feiyu Army would have the strength to eliminate all indigenous forces on Mindanao. Unifying the entire island would no longer be a dream, and it could very well be achieved within the next one to two years.

"Yes, Commander, the Feiyu Army will ensure the success of this operation and completely suppress the indigenous tribes!" replied Niu Meng, the commander of the First Brigade. Currently, all Feiyu Army units were under the First Brigade. However, Long Yufei planned to divide the army into two brigades after the final expansion, with each brigade consisting of six infantry battalions and one artillery battalion, plus the brigade headquarters, for a total of about six thousand troops per brigade.

"Next, I want to emphasize a key point! There is no doubt that the Feiyu Army's land forces are now the strongest on Mindanao, and even in the entire South China Sea region, they are among the best. However, in terms of naval forces, we are still far behind. Therefore, we will increase our investment in the navy and build a truly powerful naval force!" Long Yufei said.

"Are we going to build a navy? I agree! The South China Sea region has many islands, and without a strong navy, it's simply impossible!" Minister of Civil Affairs Li Decheng was the first to support the idea. As an old pirate, he had a deep affection for the navy. Many of the old residents of Feiyu Island also believed that the foundation of Feiyu Island was still at sea. Even though the Feiyu Army's land forces had developed to their current scale, they still believed that dominating the seas was the true mark of a man!

"Commander, I also support building a navy! Many in the Feiyu Army know how to sail, and if the navy needs it, I can join the navy!" Niu Meng also spoke up. Although he was now the second-in-command of the Feiyu Army, he was still a pirate at heart, yearning for the freedom of the seas and missing the days of sailing through storms.

"We'll discuss this later! The most important thing now is to build the warships needed for the navy! Without warships, everything else is pointless! The Feiyu Company's shipyard needs to be expanded to produce warships!" Long Yufei said.

"Commander, we have never built warships before and lack the necessary technology. This will be very difficult!" Liu Mingde expressed his concerns.

"That's not a problem. I have already designed a warship that we can build with our current resources! Mindanao has vast forests with many trees suitable for shipbuilding. As for the workers, we can train and recruit them ourselves, or we can recruit from other places, such as Manila, which has many Chinese shipyards!" Long Yufei explained.

"Commander's design for a warship? That's great, let us see it!" Niu Meng said excitedly.

Long Yufei then unfolded his design on the table in the meeting room. Everyone immediately gathered around, and when they saw the sleek and streamlined warship on the blueprint, they couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Although they couldn't determine the warship's combat capabilities, it was undoubtedly a beautiful design.

Long Yufei introduced the design: "This warship, I have named the 'Shark-class' cruiser. The 'Shark-class' cruiser is 64 meters long, 6.2 meters wide, with a draft of 3.2 meters and a displacement of 1,200 tons. The warship has three main masts, and the bow is designed with a clipper-style shape to reduce resistance during navigation. Theoretically, under favorable conditions, the maximum speed of this warship can reach over 14 knots, far exceeding the current Western warships. The armament of the warship consists of two 105mm guns at the bow, two 105mm guns at the stern, and four 75mm guns on each side! This allows the warship to fire eight guns when engaging the enemy on both sides, and to use the 105mm main guns when pursuing or retreating."

"Commander, the 'Shark-class' cruiser is beautiful and has a large displacement, but isn't the number of guns too few? By displacement, this is equivalent to a fourth-rate warship in the Western navy, and is not far from a third-rate ship of the line. However, Western third-rate ships of the line have 64 guns, and fourth-rate warships have over 50 guns. The 'Shark-class' cruiser has only 12 guns, which is even less than a sixth-rate warship!" Niu Meng raised a question.

"We can never compete with the Western navy in terms of the number of warships or guns! Our only advantage is the performance of our warships and guns! The 'Shark-class' cruiser, with its fewer guns, allows for a faster speed, far exceeding Western naval warships. Even if we are not their match, we can escape using our speed advantage. Additionally, our guns have greater firepower than those of the Western navy. For example, British third-rate ships of the line are typically equipped with 74 guns, including 28 32-pounders, 28 18-pounders, and 18 9-pounders. However, these are all muzzle-loading guns with a maximum range of 3,000 meters, and they use solid shot for attacking surface warships. Our 75mm and 105mm guns have a maximum range of 6,000 meters and an effective range of over 3,000 meters. The shells, loaded with a large amount of gunpowder, are far more powerful than their solid shot! As long as we can control the combat distance to around 3,000 meters and rely on our high speed, we can almost destroy a British third-rate ship of the line without taking any damage!" Long Yufei explained.

Long Yufei's explanation made sense to everyone. In a sense, this tactic was a bit desperate. Relying on the speed and range of the warships to engage the enemy from a distance where they cannot reach. If the enemy's numbers are too overwhelming, we can also escape using our speed. This tactic would be enough to drive any enemy commander to despair. However, it also suited the tactics of pirates.

"I think the 'Shark-class' cruiser designed by the Commander is very good. We can never compete with the Westerners in terms of the number of warships and guns, so we need to find other ways!" said Zhao Yi, the logistics minister of the Feiyu Army.

Subsequently, the other high-level officials of the Feiyu Company also expressed their approval of Long Yufei's design. In fact, most of the high-level officials were not very familiar with naval warships, but Long Yufei's explanation seemed logical, so they naturally did not oppose it.

"Then, let's start building the 'Shark-class' cruisers as soon as possible! First, we will build two, and I hope to complete them within half a year. All Chinese residents in Feiyu City who know shipbuilding must come to the shipyard and participate in the construction of the warships. Once we have gained experience, we will build more 'Shark-class' cruisers. Initially, we need at least 12 'Shark-class' cruisers to have the strength to defend ourselves! If we want to defeat Western powers, this number will need to be doubled!" Long Yufei said.

In fact, Long Yufei did not underestimate the importance of the 'Shark-class' cruisers, which relied on wind power. He hoped that in the future, the main force of the Feiyu Army's navy would be ironclad warships with large-caliber guns and steam engines. As for battleships, that was still a distant dream!

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