Chapter 146 Starting from the Island

——The young master made a make a s-or, and Li Enfu was still worried.

Eight ships were built at a time, and the first four ships were built. Although the increase in the number can equally share the research funds and greatly reduce expenses, the Hawaiian shipyard is purely foreign processing, and all raw materials need to be imported by sea. Even if Master Li controls a lot of mineral deposits and can get raw materials at a low price, the freight can't be saved. Come on!

With so many new technologies, many of them are still lying in the laboratory. From design to engineering, not to mention the time, the money consumed is also astronomical. After a concerted calculation, including the research and development of new supporting technologies, the cost of each Jinghai-class cruiser will be as high as 800,000 pounds! It's almost time to catch up with the Arctic star battleship!

In addition to the development cost of materials, labor and new equipment, almost 15% of this is spent on transportation!

Eight Jinghai-class ships and some auxiliary technical funds, the total budget has reached an astronomical figure of 10 million pounds, which will be the most difficult choice for Li Enfu to lead the State Council.

Although eight Jinghai-class light cruisers are not built at one time, the training of sailors, later equipment support and ammunition and materials are not included in them. You should know that there is a saying in navies of all countries that it is easy to build ships and difficult to maintain ships, and the maintenance cost of a warship during the full life of a warship is not much cheaper than that of the warship itself. Less!

And at present, Honolulu is actively developing Ryukyu. The total budget of the early development has reached 5 million pounds. With this expense, half of the compensation just brought back from Japan has been used up!

In the face of Li Mo's firm gaze, Li Enfu took a few deep breaths. Although the government council he led was not rich, it has accepted tens of millions of dollars since its establishment. In addition, everything in Honolulu is on the right track now. The sugar industry alone earns as much as 3 million pounds a year, plus the latest system. Medicine, as well as the leading high-power generator construction project, have been scheduled for five years. It is reasonable to fully support the whole Jinghai plan. The only problem is the Ryukyu Island. The net investment of two years, a total of about 5 million pounds of infrastructure construction funds. Now projects such as automobiles and oil refining have been added, and more The important thing is that Master Li's footsteps will not stop at Ryukyu, so the development funds of the subsequent occupation will become a problem. There is no second day in the world, so the government has also been calculating carefully, hoping to make more preparations for the future, and we can't spend all the money at once.

Nowadays, Master Li's stalls are very open. Although there are many profitable enterprises, their investment is also very amazing. Represented by the Academy of Sciences and the Navy, the annual budget of these two companies alone is as high as three million, which really makes Li Enfu and others feel a lot of pressure.

Fortunately, Long Guozhang stretched out his hand at this time, saying that he could take out the 2 million naval funds he got from Lin Yongxiang last time for the construction of the Jinghai class.

Li Mo also knows that the State Council has a plan of the State Council. After all, Honolulu has not yet reached the age of being rich, and it can casually build seven or eight 10,000-ton-class warships. Although the money bag has long been empty, he still gritted his teeth and decided to take out no less than three million pounds of private money within two years to subsidize the Jinghai Plan!

In addition, considering that although the Jinghai plan costs a lot of money, the stimulating effect on the entire Honolulu manufacturing industry is also amazing, because the whole manufacturing process will involve nearly dozens of laboratories and more than a dozen large factories, once the difficulties in front of it is overcome, it will make Honolulu's technology And the manufacturing industry has reached a big step.

Finally, after discussing with the two assistants, Li Enfu agreed to the funding plan. He knew that the young master was right. Once the Jinghai-level plan is successful, Honolulu will become a leader in the heavy equipment manufacturing industry in Europe and the United States, and even in some fields.

After Chen Ping and Tang Xiao and others heard that they agreed to the allocation, they breathed a sigh of relief. As for the ship designers led by McKinson, they didn't say a word. They immediately drilled into the special ship laboratory with preliminary design drawings. After being scolded for being conservative after the test ship, they took out their greatest motivation one after another. I hope to come up with the overall design plan as soon as possible, so that the shipyard can start construction as soon as possible.

And Li Mo was not idle. For the first time, he solemnly visited the experts of the Ministry of Science and Technology led by Tesla and asked them to fully cooperate with the plan. Because he knows that the quality of warships is not just about tonnage and naval guns. Sometimes invisible things such as boilers, fire control, radios, and generators are sometimes more important than a good naval gun!

In the face of Master Li, who has always been heavily paid preferentially and will never delay the experimental funding, the Institute of Science and Technology has made a positive response.

First of all, Tesla. In view of the fact that the radio he carried last time was all damaged in a short time due to dampness and combat wear and tear, he immediately guaranteed to take out the second-generation radio within a year. At the same time, he also took over the two most important technologies in the shipbuilding plan, the optical fire control system project and the large electric power needed to drive the turret. Machine project.

Not to mention the key power laboratory, Master Li went out in person. Except for eating and sleeping, almost all of them were soaked on the steam turbine to solve the processing problems encountered with technical employees.

As for other relevant laboratories, they also immediately devoted themselves to busy research. According to Chang Lin's words, "The young master treats us with a lot of money, and we must repay him with newer and better technology!"

With Honolulu's first large-scale confidential project, the two-year Jinghai plan was put on the stage, and the whole of Honolulu was suddenly much busier, and a vigorous ship-building operation was finally launched.

But Master Li did not forget the escort problem that needed to be solved urgently. He specifically discussed with Li Enfu. At one time, he purchased ten active gunboats from European countries. Because these were all small warships of about 500 tons, he learned that the European countries that the Honolulu fleet was attacked in Nanyang did not make too difficult, but regarded it as A good opportunity to eliminate old warships, so that less than half a month after the procurement news reached Europe, ten gunboats had already set foot on to Ryukyu, the designated escort base in Honolulu, for modification.

Coupled with four small gunboats captured by Honolulu from Japan, and Major General Simmons, a Chilean Navy who started by selling second-hand ships, he immediately collected six from South American countries when he learned of Li Mo's difficulties. The first escort team with a total of 20 small gunboats was officially established. Unexpectedly, Li Mo chose the son of Tan Xiaozeng, the chief of staff of the fleet, and currently Tan Wang, the head of the Nanyang Branch of the Pacific Freight Company--

Bartan Islands.

Located between the Bus Strait and the Balintang Strait, the archipelago is composed of more than a dozen volcanic islands of different sizes, about 300 kilometers away from Luzon. The two major straits in the north and south are important channels connecting the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Because the indigenous people in the Batan Islands emigrated from Taiwan thousands of years ago, although the Spaniards began to force the locals to marry after the invasion, the traditional Minnan sound can still be heard on the island, and the island is surrounded by heavy shipping, so it has become a paradise for pirates.

The tide is tide, and the moonlight is hazy.

A small hermit crab carrying a large shell crawled and stopped on the beach while taking advantage of the high tide. It was crowded among its companions, and its big feet kept turning the gravel to find the delicious food from the bottom of the sea to the beach.

Suddenly, a leather raft rushed to the beach from the water wave like an arrow from the string, and several small crabs who had no time to avoid were suddenly buried under the leather raft. The rest of the hermit crabs also fled in a hurry, like a litter of ants, breaking the silence on the beach.

Wenxiu was the first to jump off the raft and didn't care about the scattered animals under his feet. After checking the number of team members, he immediately took out a fire fold from the tarpaulin and shook his arms a few times after lighting it.

With his movements, a bright light immediately appeared on the sea in the distance, flashing three times and then quickly extinguished, and then a dark shadow quickly disappeared at the end of the sea level.

After finishing all this, Wen Xiu began to tear off the waterproof tarpaulin on the rifle and ordered the team members to check the equipment.

This is a standard Nighthawk team, with a total of 12 people including him. As the Nighthawk became more and more formalized, the division of labor of the team members was gradually refined. For example, the team in front of them included two blasters, three snipers and seven commandos. Originally, it was still to add fire support, but because Maxim's machine gun was too heavy and the mortar ammunition became a problem, the preparation could not be completed for the time being. .

Although the night eagle has expanded a lot over the years, for ordinary soldiers in the Pacific Army, they only know that every six months, a mysterious army will come down to pick people, and even if you are selected, you must accept a one-month assessment. Once the assessment fails, you can only return to the original army.

Because the assessment and training are separate, even for the soldiers who have participated in the assessment, it is difficult to know what the night eagle is doing, so this team, known as a killer, has become more and more mysterious in the eyes of others.

Wen Xiu was ordered to come to Luzon more than a month ago to explore the whereabouts of the pirates who robbed the fleet. However, due to the current chaotic situation in Luzon, and most of the pirates drifted on the sea and lived a simple life, it was not long ago that he learned from the two fishermen that there was a pirate on this island in the Batan Islands. Nest.

Although it is also a nighthawk, he still frowned when he heard the name of the Batan Islands. It was not until he was reminded that he finally found this archipelago with only some dense small black spots on the chart.

Although I don't know if this group of pirates has anything to do with the pirates who robbed the fleet, but in line with the principle of making a thousand mistakes, I took the team to board this island in the Batan Islands at night. It has no official name and is only called Longtou Island in the mouth of fishermen.

After checking the equipment, the night eagles quickly hid their rafts and ran to the small peak in the middle of the island.

Wen Xiu ran to the front of the team with his beloved sniper rifle. From time to time, he stopped and used the scope to observe the surroundings. The silence of the island in the night was scary. Except for the sound of the tide around him, the only thing he could hear was the small footsteps and gasp of the team members.

Suddenly, a cough came from the distance. Wen Xiu quickly pinched his fist with his right hand and made a stop gesture. The night eagles behind him immediately squatted and hid, and the muzzle was all aimed at the rocky slope where the sound came out.

Although the cough stopped, Wen Xiu immediately strangled a night eagle with his hands behind him when he couldn't see anyone with a scope.

After seeing the action, the named Nighthawk immediately untied the rifle and the special equipped vest on his body and handed it to his partner. He crawled and touched it with only a dagger and a black star pistol.

After a while, I heard a muffled hum coming from the front, and Wen Xiu and the team members quickly became nervous. At this time, a familiar sound of bamboo clips came to their ears, and everyone was finally relieved.

After getting the safety signal, the team members ran forward quickly. In less than a while, they saw the whistle-holding night eagle. After seeing his friends, he kicked away the dead body beside him and pointed to the flashing hole under the cliff in the distance.

It's not in vain!

He looked at it and probably came out to breathe. His clothes were not neat, and the dead body of the wound on his neck, which almost separated the neck bone. Wen Xiu breathed a long sigh of relief. This trip was not in vain, so he immediately began to assign tasks.

Because the pirate camp was selected in the cave, the long gun was not conducive to action, so the night eagles put their guns on their backs and took out the Black Star pistols to check. To be honest, there are few night eagles who like to use Type 91 rifles in melee. It's not that rifles are not good. As long as they finish shooting, they need to pull the bolts and withdraw their shells. In the melee of race against time, this is a waste of time to commit suicide!

So several nighthawks who served as the assault chose the Black Star pistol, seven bullets, which can not only be fired in a row, but also filled with bullets in advance, which is very convenient and fast. The nine-millimeter warhead is even more powerful. A shot at close range must be dead or injured, which also makes the Nighthawk warriors very fond of the Black Star very much. So much so that almost everyone is equipped with two.

In addition to the two snipers in the team, Wen Xiu, a sniper and captain, took the lead and walked to the cave close to the cold cliff. The closer he was to the cave, the louder the noise in his ears.

I was about to get close to the cave, suddenly! A figure rushed out, and in a hurry, Wen Xiu didn't have time to wake up the pirate. He pulled the figure into his arms. Before the other party could react, he twisted his hands and necks hard. With a click, the pirate suddenly collapsed on the ground.

After a false alarm, he was afraid that there would be many dreams at night. Wen Xiu made a gesture to his friends. After taking out the grenade and counting down a few times, he threw it into the cave at the same time.

"Boom." A series of explosions suddenly broke the silence of the island. Before the smoke dissipated, the night eagles had already rushed into the hole, and the crackling gunfire sounded like fried beans.

There were grenades to open the way, and the night eagles rushed into the cave almost without any trouble. The pirates who were sleeping didn't expect anyone to come at all. They didn't even have time to catch the gun, so they were knocked to the ground one after another.

In their sleepy eyes, the pirates hardly thought about it and raised their hands one after another. Only a small number of them still wanted to resist, but in the dense rain of bullets, they fell down without insisting twice.

The assault was very smooth and easy, but Wenxiu and Night Eagle sneered at this smoothness, because in the capture, they only found more than a dozen revolvers that were relatively advanced, and the rest were old-fashioned firearms, and even antiques such as big knives and spears.

With the most elite night eagles, there is really nothing to boast about to deal with more than 30 pirates who are sleeping soundly and lack equipment. Fortunately, the purpose of this time is not to train the troops, but to inquire about intelligence.

Wen Xiu stood in front of the pirates who were squeezed into a ball and looked frightened. His eyes shaved each face like a knife, and slowly asked, "Who is your head of your family?"

As soon as his words came out, almost all the pirates looked at the same person, a middle-aged man who looked black like an ordinary boatman. Are you the head of this place?

The man immediately nodded and asked shiveringly, "Solders, if you have something to say, I still have a little savings here." Before the man took out the silver ticket from his arms, Wen Xiu pointed his gun at his head earlier.

"Two months ago, someone made a big deal here. Do you know who did it?"

"Big deal?" The man swallowed his saliva and looked at the rifle behind Wenxiu. He suddenly remembered the war in this sea two months ago. His heart shivered. The group of feelings were killed into his old nest in the middle of the night. The cold-faced and evil guys were sent by the righteers to revenge.

"Master, do you think we are doing big business? You must have found the wrong person, right? The man who participated in the war dared not say anything and shook his head quickly.

"Is it? It seems that I really found the wrong one. Wen Xiu deliberately picked up the cold weapons all over the ground with his feet and bent the corners of his mouth. The man thought that Wen Xiu really believed what he said. As soon as he relaxed, he suddenly heard "B Bang." With a sound, the skull of one of the people closest to him seemed to have been torn open vigorously, and the blood mixed with the fishy white ** splashed all over him.

"Tell me who did it, you live!"

"No, it's all dead."

The pirates didn't expect that the seemingly gentlemanly man would start without mercy. They quickly shouted that he would be executed for a slow step.

"I know, I know." The man in charge of the pirates also quickly changed his words and said quickly, "It was the king of tigers who invited several large groups to work together."

"King Tiger?" Wen Xiu's eyes suddenly narrowed.

When the man finished speaking, Wen Xiu knew that Wang Hu was the largest pirate in this area. Three months ago, he didn't know where he bought a gunboat and said he was going to do a big deal, so he fell in love with the fleet of Pacific Freight Company and contacted several large groups nearby to do it together.

The group of pirates in front of him also participated in the transaction, but they did not expect that there was a machine gun on the freighter during the exchange of fire. Dozens were torn to pieces by the sudden machine gun. Although they survived in the end, the loss was too great that they had to temporarily hide on the island to recuperate.

After getting the news he needed, Wen Xiu was no longer interested in looking at the man and walked out of the hole. At this time, there were immediately bursts of explosions and shooting behind him. The mixture of screams and scolding seemed particularly harsh.

The sound did not last long. After a moment, with the last explosion, the island that could almost be seen at a glance returned to calm.

(to be continued)