The sun never sets

The conflict was over, and South Australia suffered heavy losses. The fighting was all carried out on South Australian soil, and South Australia not only lost more than 30,000 troops, but also suffered even more civilian casualties. Wherever the Australian troops passed, everything they could not take away was destroyed.

Even if the troops stationed in Australia were driven back by international public opinion, what would happen to the losses caused? Brisbane was reduced to ruins, and all buildings with two floors or more were destroyed. Canberra was better, but it was also severely damaged.

The South Australian government lost more than $40 billion in this conflict, and the fact that the South Australian government's army was seriously insufficient in number, poorly equipped, and low in combat effectiveness was exposed to people all over the world. War... As soon as the conflict ended, South Australia saw another wave of immigration.

It's not that some people are immigrating to South Australia without thinking, but that people want to escape from this dangerous place. The Australian troops created a conflict, and South Australia lost 200,000 people, and a large number of civilians were displaced. Who can be sure that the enemy in the north will not come again?

Diplomats drank coffee, ate desserts, and exchanged sharp words at the negotiating table...all of this was of no use. The real struggle took place in Berlin, Chang'an, Paris and New York, not in Sydney.

Even though the whole world sympathized with the South Australians, there was no way to really punish the perpetrators. If the Alliance Central Committee did not punish Honjo Shigeru, Nagata Tetsuzan, Ishiwara Kanji, Yamashita Tomoyuki and others, the Australian troops would not suffer any losses.

This was the reality. South Australians believed they were being invaded and persecuted, but the troops stationed in Australia believed they were doing justice. Many in the Alliance believed they needed to liberate the entire world, including this small part of South Australia.

The Alliance Central Committee reorganized the troops stationed in Australia, and Commander Honjo Shigeru was transferred to the reserve force. The instigator Nagata Tetsuzan and others were all transferred back to Japan to teach. Although these people all said that it was the South Australians who started the fight first and they were just fighting back in self-defense, some things can be concluded without confessions.

Did the self-defense counterattack spread to the point where the war spread across half of southern Australia? Did the self-defense counterattack turn several important military towns and cities into ruins?

The central government just didn't want to investigate further, so it just transferred Nagata Tetsuzan and others out of Australia. After this conflict in Australia, many of the Japanese generals and senior officers who stayed in the Taisho period were affected. Many of them were transferred to non-combat positions by the Military Commission, and a large number of young officers were given the opportunity to be promoted.

Whether in the military or other organizations, the higher you go, the fewer positions there are. At the top, it's almost one position for each person. If no one gives up their position, how can the people below have a chance to advance?

The investigation and negotiation lasted for more than a month. After Berlin and Chang'an reached a consensus in secret, the joint investigation team issued an investigation report. The blame still fell on the troops stationed in Australia. The Australian government ordered them to pay some compensation, release some abducted civilians, and release prisoners of war.

That's all? That's all.

As a powerful party, the Northern Australia Autonomous Government is willing to sit down and negotiate with South Australia, which is unexpected.

It was beyond the expectations of many people. They were willing to sit down and negotiate, so what else did they want?

If you fall behind, you will be beaten. This is an eternal truth in this world. Hundreds of years ago, Australian colonists relied on advanced weapons and higher organization to launch a ruthless massacre of Australian aborigines.

Today, the troops stationed in Australia use more advanced weapons, are more organized and have higher morale, and have more troops, so they can suppress the South Australian troops. The world is so cruel, but when it comes to the South Australians, they can't stand it.

The Alliance chose to give in on the Australian issue, which made many people in the international community believe that this was another "victory of justice over power." If such a victory happened a few more times, South Australia would be left with no one.

After the conflict, South Australia's active population dropped from 16 to 12, and the number of standing troops dropped to 3. The Alliance also made drastic cuts to its troops stationed in Australia, reducing the 6 standing troops to 3.5, and canceling the numbers of an infantry division and an independent mixed brigade.

With the lessons learned from Nagata Tetsuzan, Ishiwara Kanji and others, it is believed that the troops stationed in Australia will not cause any more trouble in the next few years.

Of course, liberating the whole of Australia is good, but we have to consider the international impact that this will bring. The People's Revolutionary League is unique in the world today, and its strength is stronger than Germany, the United States and the trade unions, but it is still a bit far-fetched to say that it can challenge the entire world alone.

Even if they win, the alliance will suffer heavy losses. In this case, let's continue to develop. Chairman Lin said that the alliance is still in the early stages of industrialization and has a long way to go before becoming an industrial power.

Chapter 846 New Weapons

In just a few months, the Alliance Central Committee had to deal with the war between Austria and Hungary, the conflict in Australia, the conflict in India, the conflict in Southeast Asia, etc. The People's Revolutionary League enjoyed the same treatment as the British Empire. The vast territory brought unparalleled population and market, but it also required the Alliance to pay more energy and cost to ensure that such a vast territory would not fall apart.

If you only read the news about conflicts in various parts of the alliance, you would probably think that the People's Revolutionary League is on fire and is about to collapse.

But that is not the case. In the newly liberated areas, there will always be a few years of turbulence. Once the land reform is completed and the new order is established, things will be much easier.

According to the alliance's experience, this turbulent period will last about three or four years. It does not mean that there will be no problems after three or four years. There will be occasional recurrences, and there are still many rebels who have turned from open to covert and will come out from time to time to cause some damage, but that will not affect the overall situation, and there is no need for the army to intervene. At most, the armed police can be dispatched to solve the problem.

During the rest of 1930, nothing major happened in the alliance, except for some trade disputes with Finland, and Brahmin unrest in Bengal and India. These incidents happened every year, and most of them were handled by local governments. Very few of them reached Chang'an.

In October of that year, the Gun Design Bureau produced new submachine guns, light machine guns and automatic rifles, which were modeled after the 10-gun family in another time and space. After testing, the new submachine guns, light machine guns and mobile rifles performed well and could become the standard weapons of the People's Army.

The new infantry weapons were finalized in 30, so they were collectively called "30XXX", namely: 30 semi-automatic rifles, 30 light machine guns and 30 automatic rifles. Subsequently, the Allied military factories reduced the production of the original weapons and began to produce new equipment in large quantities.

However, the People's Army has too many standing troops, and it will take more than a day or two to completely replace them, and it will take even more time to form combat effectiveness.

The new weapons are very good and powerful, with firepower increased several times, and the requirements for logistical supplies have also increased several times. If the new equipment is replaced, the original manual will definitely no longer be suitable, and the staff operations and front-line command must be adjusted accordingly. These are all things that the General Staff needs to be busy with.

Although new weapons were available, the huge number of weapons and equipment previously produced could not be thrown away. The Mauser rifle would continue to serve, and each infantry squad would retain two Mauser rifles.

Even so, a large number of rifles will be collected. Those rifles will be equipped to the militia or stored in warehouses. If a world war breaks out and there are not enough weapons to take out at once after the general mobilization, the stored weapons can be used.

The 30 automatic rifle is an improved version of the famous AK47. It can crush the 30 semi-automatic rifle in all aspects. It has a fast rate of fire and strong fire suppression, and only has a slight difference in accuracy.

However, the actual significance of a slightly higher accuracy is limited. The reason why the Military Commission decided to produce the 30 semi-automatic rifle at the same time is mainly because of its slow firing rate. Slow firing will not put so much pressure on logistics, and on the battlefield, it can also prevent soldiers from firing all their bullets in one volley due to nervousness.

Elite troops can be equipped with automatic rifles, but ordinary troops cannot be so extravagant. If the Indian People's Army were all equipped with automatic rifles, the logistics would explode immediately.

According to the plan of the General Staff, the alliance's top troops will be the first to be equipped with new weapons, followed by the Polish Legion and the Baltic Marine Corps. The old submachine guns and machine guns collected can be provided to the troops in Bangladesh, India, Australia and other places.

In addition to rifles and machine guns

In addition to light weapons such as the 155mm howitzer and the 122mm cannon, the Alliance's new weapons include Katyusha rocket launchers, bazookas, heavy bombers and new heavy machine guns.

The biggest imaginary enemy of the People's Army on land is the German Army, so the weapons and equipment and organization are aimed at the German Army. The light infantry divisions of the German Army are generally equipped with 105mm light howitzers, and the heavy infantry divisions are equipped with 150mm howitzers. Although the range of the German 150mm howitzer is not very far, it is still very powerful. The People's Army incorporated 122mm cannons at the division level, which was deliberately aimed at the German Army.

It costs a lot of money to replace weapons and equipment. Take the "Katyusha" rocket launcher that is currently under development as an example. One rocket is worth three taels of gold. If an artillery battalion fires a salvo once, that would cost several hundred taels of gold.

This was when the Alliance was the world's largest producer of steel and gunpowder, and the price of its own weapons and ammunition was very low. War was a waste of money, and only an economic foundation like the Alliance could replace new equipment on a large scale.

Didn't the Germans know that some of their weapons were outdated? Even so, the dire economic situation forced Germany to upgrade only the most important items.

Moreover, German designers always like to waste tonnage, whether it is tanks or battleships, there is a suspicion of serious waste of tonnage. German tanks waste tonnage seriously, are expensive to build, and have low reliability and are difficult to maintain.

In terms of weapons and equipment, Germany has fallen behind the Alliance. But even so, the Alliance still regards the German Army as the biggest threat on land. This is not only because Germany and its sphere of influence have a long border with the Alliance, but also because the German army has achieved impressive results in the past few decades.

Whether it was the Franco-Prussian War or the World War, the German Army was inferior to its opponents in military equipment.

During the Franco-Prussian War, the rifles used by the Prussian army were inferior to those of the French army; during the World War, the German army's rapid-fire artillery was no match for the "Miss 75", but the Prussian/German army was able to win the battle.

The People's Army fought against the German army in India and won. However, the commanders and fighters on the front line all had a high opinion of the quality of the German army. Even when they were scattered or even surrounded, the German army still had strong combat effectiveness.

Without the armor and air superiority, the People's Army's light infantry divisions would be evenly matched with the German light infantry divisions, or even slightly worse. The soldiers of the People's Army were no worse than those of the Germans, and the quality of the NCOs and middle and lower-level officers was no worse than that of the Germans, but in terms of senior officers and generals, the People's Army was inferior to the Germans.

Germany is a typical militarist country, and most of its best talents went into the army. Those generals with the word "von" in their names have been fighting in the army for their entire lives and have rich war experience, which should not be underestimated.

Chapter 847 Zhu Rong

The Alliance was ahead of Germany in the army, air force and navy, but Germany still had advantages in some aspects, such as super-large caliber howitzers and mortars. The Germans built the "Paris Cannon" during the World War, with a range of an astonishing 130 kilometers. After that, they rushed along this path. The General Staff received intelligence that the Germans were preparing to develop a 600mm caliber mortar to deal with the strong fortresses built by the French Commune on the German-French border.

It can be used to deal with the fortresses built by the French Commune, and of course it can also be used to deal with the fortresses built by the People's Revolutionary League in eastern Poland.

According to information collected by intelligence personnel, the German military is also preparing to develop an unprecedented "giant cannon". The specific caliber and parameters are unknown. Perhaps German engineers have not figured out what kind of monster to make, but it will definitely be larger than 600mm.

In line with the principle that if the enemy has it, we must have it too, the General Armament Department is preparing to develop a "giant cannon" belonging to the alliance, but the project application they submitted was rejected. The "giant cannon" is certainly powerful, but its weaknesses are also very obvious. First, it is too heavy and difficult to transport, and it is easy to become a target of attack by the Air Force.''

Secondly, the "big gun" is difficult to operate, and requires a long preparation before firing, which requires too many people. The 600mm mortar is moved by tracks, and the "big gun" is even more cumbersome, so it can only be maneuvered by rails.

Instead of spending a lot of money to develop a "giant gun" whose deterrent power is greater than its actual combat performance, it is better to use 16-inch (406mm) barrels to build more heavy howitzers. The Navy's new generation of super-dreadnoughts use 16-inch caliber cannons, and the Navy's barrels can be directly used, which can reduce the cost a lot and make maintenance, upkeep and replacement of barrels more convenient.

Fighting a war means spending money. Night raid group: six ⑨ four ⑨, three six ① three five. Try to use them as much as possible.

After the report was rejected, the General Armament Department still believed that the Alliance must have its own "big gun", and once again argued, but was once again rejected. Germany's strategic depth was not as vast as the Alliance, and there was no fortress like Sevastopol. Why did the Alliance build a "big gun"? Just to show the Alliance's industrial strength?

Compared with the "big guns" that have specific targets, special missions, high specialization, and extremely low cost-effectiveness, the Military Commission is more optimistic about "rocket" weapons. Rockets can not only be used for military purposes, but also have other values.

According to calculations by scientists

As long as the thrust of the rocket is strong enough, some equipment can be sent to low-Earth orbit. For example, if a huge camera is sent into space, it can take pictures of everything it passes by. By analyzing the photos, a lot of useful information can be obtained.

The problem now is how to get the camera into the sky and how to get the film back to the ground.

With computers, the speed of various research projects has been accelerated. The alliance has already produced the second generation of computers, which are smaller in size and power consumption, and have increased their computing power by more than ten times. Many tasks that previously required ten days or half a month of calculation can now be processed in just one or two hours with computers, which greatly increases the speed of research.

The CMC’s love for rockets stems from Chairman Lin’s optimism about rocket-type weapons, saying that “heavy-load rockets equipped with super bombs will become a decisive strategic strike force.”

The Alliance's "Zhurong" project was to study the "super bomb". This project was a secret among secrets. The progress was relatively smooth, but it consumed too much electricity, which caused dissatisfaction from the Ministry of Industry. The Alliance's industry was developing rapidly, and the demand for electricity was almost endless.

In addition to industrial electricity consumption, private electricity demand is also growing rapidly. After televisions, washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners became popular in big cities, electricity demand has been growing at a rate of more than 20% per year.

Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was an age of wisdom, it was an age of foolishness; it was an epoch of belief, it was an epoch of incredulity.

This is a season of Light, this is a season of Darkness; this is the spring of hope, this is the winter of despair; people have everything before them, people have nothing before them; people are on the road to Heaven, people are heading for the gates of Hell. "

"Zhu Rong" is the most important project in the third five-year plan, and it can even be said that there is no other project. With theoretical guidance and specific data, the alliance still needs to spend a lot of resources and time on the road to developing weapons.

In order to purify uranium 235, the project built a large centrifuge assembly plant in the name of producing washing machines. There are more than 235 related companies upstream and downstream of the equipment plant. This project alone cost hundreds of millions of RMB. Those large centrifuges have to rotate continuously just to get a little higher purity of uranium from the raw materials.

As long as the "Zhurong Plan" is successfully completed, with nuclear bombs in hand, coupled with heavy rockets or heavy bombers, the rest will not be a problem. If the nuclear fission bomb is replaced with a nuclear fusion bomb, it will be even better.

So, why do we need super heavy cannons? Just use rockets + nuclear bombs or heavy bombers + nuclear bombs.

The Zhurong Project, as well as the research costs of bombers and rockets, are more than ten times more than the "Big Cannon", but the effect is definitely a hundred times better than the German "Big Cannon".

However, for the time being, only Lin Yongchang thought so. Most people, including the person in charge of the "Zhu Rong Project", did not think that a nuclear bomb could destroy a city. According to calculations, the power of a nuclear bomb is very large, but there is no intuitive impression of how powerful it is.

Perhaps twenty times as powerful as a battleship's main gun? Thirty times?

After the nuclear fission bomb is miniaturized, it can probably achieve this level. In terms of killing efficiency, the larger the equivalent of a nuclear bomb, the better. The energy decay is proportional to the square of the distance. The killing effect of a nuclear bomb with a yield of 1000 million tons is definitely not as good as that of five nuclear bombs with a yield of 5 million tons.

Since they are secretly developing nuclear bombs, can they reduce their investment in ordinary weapons? The answer is - "No".

The power of nuclear bombs is very strong, but not as terrible as later propaganda. It is impossible to destroy the earth, and even the extinction of mankind is impossible. During the Cold War, the United States once made an assessment that if the Soviet Union dropped all its nuclear bombs on the US mainland, it would only take 5 years for the United States to restore 80% of its industrial strength.

Therefore, while developing nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles, the development of ordinary weapons cannot be neglected. Besides, we can't just throw a nuclear missile at will.

Nuclear fission bombs will produce radiation after explosion, so it is better to use them less. Nuclear fusion bombs are much better, clean and environmentally friendly, and more powerful, but they cannot be used casually.

Chapter 848 Declaration

After the Australian incident, Mussolini struck while the iron was hot and appealed to the European and American powers, hoping that the civilized world would unite to resist the invasion of a certain evil power in the East. A snake cannot survive without a head, and the united civilized world needs a leader, and this leader Mussolini is the natural choice.

Germany was very interested in Mussolini's proposal. The German Empire was facing the danger of being attacked from both sides, and the threat from the east was growing. The German government urgently needed a way to break the deadlock.

Mussolini's proposal seemed unreliable, but William III and his ministers also wanted to give it a try. Maybe it would work? In the real world, there are often astonishing things, which shows that things in the world are not necessarily logical.

William III did not mind having Mussolini as the nominal leader as long as it would benefit Germany.

However, Italy was unable to form an organization that could fight against the People's Revolutionary League. Except for Germany and Austria, which responded to Italy's proposal, other countries remained indifferent to Italy's call.

.

The Anglo-French alliance was a syndicalist alliance. They had long considered Italy and Germany as enemies and wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible. How could they possibly flatter Mussolini? Countries such as Spain, Greece, Turkey and Egypt were very wary of Italy. Mussolini publicly declared that he wanted to rebuild the Roman Empire, and these countries around the Mediterranean did not like this idea.

The Romans considered the Mediterranean an inland sea, and places like Türkiye and Egypt were once Roman colonies. Mussolini's speech was tantamount to a claim to the lands around the Mediterranean.

Besides, Italy’s strength is so limited, who would be willing to obey its orders?

It is true that Mussolini is the founder of fascism, but what’s the use of that?

Soon, the Italian government found to its embarrassment that few countries responded to Mussolini's call. The Germans followed Italy and waved the flag for a while, but found that the title of the founder of fascism was ineffective, and their attitude quietly changed.

Italy regards Austria as its own backyard and wants to control Austria's politics, economy and military, which is unacceptable to the German government. Even if it wants to annex Austria, it can only be done by the German government.

William III and the German government have no intention of annexing Austria for the time being. Austria is now a vassal of Germany, and there are not many benefits to incorporating it into the German territory.

Mussolini had been jumping up and down for a while, and fewer and fewer people were willing to pay attention to him. Although Italian newspapers still praised him to the utmost, after the German government was unwilling to support him, the so-called leader was just self-satisfied.

Perhaps because they felt humiliated, or perhaps Italy had already planned to do so, in mid-January 1931, the Italian fleet completed the feat of flying across the Atlantic in pairs for the first time. This action won Italy a lot of international reputation.

To be honest, Italy's strength is not that great, but it has caught up with the international advanced level in some aspects. For example, in the design of warships and the manufacture of aircraft, Italy still has some skills.

However, Italy's national strength was too weak, and even with advanced designs, it could not build the most advanced battleships. Moreover, battleships and aircraft were updated too quickly, and large sums of money had to be continuously invested to avoid being left behind by the first echelon.

Judging from Italy's financial situation and industrial strength, in about four or five years, Italy will not be able to maintain its world-leading level. Scientific research costs money, and it costs a lot of money. Without money, there is no way to keep up with the world's leading level.

Nothing special happened in the first half of 1931. The Alliance invested in new equipment and captured many spies. It also conducted various negotiations with various countries on the international stage, including trade, borders, and many other aspects. Overall, the People's Revolutionary League maintained a restrained and tolerant attitude and did not continue to expand.

Nowadays, most countries in the world have been affected by the economic crisis. The alliance is a unique place with good scenery. It only needs to develop quietly and there is no need to compete for short-term gains and losses.

From 1929 to 1931, the economy of the United States further deteriorated. More and more factories and companies went bankrupt, more and more people became unemployed, and consortiums and oligarchs took advantage of the economic crisis to expand. Ordinary people lost most of their property in the economic crisis, and could only make ends meet by working hard. They were always worried about becoming one of the army of vagrants.

Last year, the United States enacted the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which meant that the United States launched a trade war. After the United States implemented this protectionist law, countries around the world began retaliatory trade wars against each other. The consequences of the trade war will intensify various contradictions, and local turmoil and wars in the world will occur more frequently.

The Australian War can also be regarded as a consequence of the trade war. If the relationship between the Alliance and the United States had not deteriorated and tariff barriers had not been set up against each other, people like Nagata Tetsuzan and Ishiwara Kanji would not have dared to act alone.

By 1931, the world's major countries failed to reach an agreement at the London Summit. After that, each country began to implement its own trade and monetary policies. In fact, all countries fell into a state of free economic and monetary melee, and no one could escape. The final result was the Great Depression that lasted for several years.

The stock market crash in New York in 1929 led to an economic crisis that swept the world, and by 1931, the economic crisis had evolved into the Great Depression.

Germany expanded its military industry, recruited more young people into the army, and increased investment in infrastructure to ease the wave of unemployment caused by the economic crisis. However, the economic crisis soon turned into the Great Depression, and the German economy worsened, so it had no choice but to increase its efforts to expand its military and prepare for war.

William III and the cabinet ministers all knew that the existing policies had great hidden dangers, but the government could not stop. They always wanted to "take one more puff" or "take the last puff". Taking a puff would make you feel good for a while, and if you keep puffing, you will feel good all the time until you feel so good that you reach heaven.

Compared with Germany and the United States, the economic situation of the People's Revolutionary League can be said to be very good, not just good, but very good. The Anglo-French Alliance also developed rapidly during the economic crisis, but in terms of average living standards, the French Commune and Syndicalist Britain are no longer comparable to the Alliance.

Comrades in the People's Party believe that the current situation has once again proved the superiority of "people'sism" and that people are excited about the achievements of the great motherland.

, many experts and scholars sang praises in the media.

Then, as July came, rainfall in the Yangtze River Basin exceeded twice the previous period. Water levels in Jinshakou, Jialing River and other places rose sharply, and it seemed that a once-in-a-century flood was about to occur.