v3 Chapter 421： Australia's unknown new army

Everyone in the military is happy about the potential military savings of such a large sum of money.

William IV asked: "How has the military's current strength changed?"

His eyes were on Mark Rude, Chief of Staff of the Netherlands.

"At present, the Netherlands is developing rapidly in terms of military power. The surface tonnage of the navy remains at around 250,000 tons, which is already on par with the French Empire, and the United Kingdom has reached 300,000 tons.

Specifically, 7 British steam battleships have been built and 5 are built for the French Empire.

The Netherlands showed that it was 4, of which 2 were deployed locally and 2 in the Far East, in fact, we have built and deployed more than 10 in the Far East.”

"Oh" William IV asked, "how to deploy?"

The "Jakarta" is deployed in Jakarta, the capital of the Netherlands East Indies, and the "Bliss Peninsula" is also located at the largest naval base in the Far East of the Elysium Peninsula, New Guinea Island.

In the South Pacific Islands east of the Australian Parkway, we deployed Fiji on the island of Fiji.

In the Hawaiian Islands, the "Pearl Harbor" and "Hawaii" were deployed to guard there.

In the Australian mainland, the "Sydney" and "Melbourne" were deployed in Sydney Harbour to guard the entire eastern part of the Australian mainland, and the "Perth" was also deployed in Perth in the west.

"So, 8 steam battleships have been deployed throughout the Far East? It's a luxury."

William IV exclaimed. You must know that the six British fleets (original seven fleets, because Australia has no more, so the Australian fleet is missing) is a total of seven ships. It is said that the entire Indian Ocean fleet is second only to the mainland Atlantic fleet, and there are only two steam battleships. , the local Atlantic fleet is only 2, the North-Sea Fleet 1, the Mediterranean Fleet and the Canadian Fleet each 1, the South African Fleet, not even one.

In the Far East of the Netherlands, there are two ships, including two in the Hawaiian fleet. This is really powerful.

"What about the army?" The strong development of the navy is naturally in line with William IV's idea. After all, we know that in the 21st century, the navy is still the most powerful symbol of a big country. The population of the army can be unclear, but the tonnage of the navy is real. Yes, otherwise, why the United States is superior in the next world is that its seven aircraft carrier fleets dominate the world.

Whatever happens, all countries will first think of where the U.S. aircraft carrier is.

150 years later, that's how it is said, let alone now.

Therefore, the development of the navy is still one of the main directions of the future Dutch military power in the 19th century and even the 20th century.

The Minister of the Army, Pete de Jong, saw William IV asking, so he said: "Currently, the regular army of the Dutch army is 168,000, the one-year compulsory army exceeds 50,000, and the indigenous army exceeds 120,000."

That is to say, there are more than 338,000 soldiers in total? Plus the Navy nearly 400,000?

Are 32 million people and 400,000 soldiers a lot?

In this day and age, not much.

Especially when there are frequent wars in Europe and the world is not at all peaceful.

You must know that the French Empire has a regular army of 500,000, and other types of conscripts and reserve troops can be mobilized to millions.

Sweden has a population of 7.5 million and a regular army of more than 200,000. Sweden implements a national system of conscripts and guards against the Tsarist Russian Empire. If a war really breaks out, Karl XV can mobilize more than 1 million troops in an instant, and still all. After training, this is also the case where the population of the Tsarist Russia is far larger than that of Sweden, and the land is incomparable. For decades, the Tsarist Empire has not dared to do anything to Sweden. Alexander II and his father Nicholas I would rather attack the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East than open fire on Sweden. It is really too much militarization of the Swedes.

Coupled with the cold weather and the geographical location where it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Sweden's local military defense measures are even more shocking, so northern Europe is almost a forbidden area for major military powers. style=\"display:inline-block;widtdisplay:inline-block;wdata-ad-client=\"ca-pub-12data-ad4185134\"\"data-ad-region=\"cont_mid\"data-ad- slot=\"6246767822\"data-ad-(adsbygoogle=w[]).push({});

In this case, the size of the Dutch army of 400,000 is really not much. After all, this is a country with tens of millions of square kilometers that needs to be guarded.

The geographical location of the Netherlands is also destined to require so many troops to guard.

This is why William IV needed the indigenous army. He was at the forefront of the war, and he could be the Weiheli who guarded the country at home. Although the combat power remains to be seen, the figure of 100,000 soldiers itself is a shocking figure for Europe. At the moment when the number of Danish military personnel is 80,000, this has moved the total number of military personnel in Denmark.

"Your Majesty, the Dutch army has now been replaced with Mauser guns, and with the development of the military industry, many of our equipment are equipped with the most advanced equipment. It can be said that if we are currently speaking according to the ranking of European countries , equipment we dare to say second, no army dare to say they are first."

William IV was dumbfounded. The equipment is the most advanced in the Dutch army and arguably the most luxurious in Europe.

The Dutch army can be said to be out of money.

No country can use defense-expenditure weapons like the Netherlands, and the whole body has begun to develop towards the protection of bulletproof equipment. Therefore, the equipment of the Netherlands can be said to be embarrassing.

"By the way, how about the new unit called Army Training?"

New troops?

Many cabinet members looked at William IV in confusion.

When did the Netherlands have a new army? How did they not know?

If so, what type is this new unit?

The military's degree of secrecy is getting higher and higher.

"According to His Majesty's instructions, we have currently mobilized more than 30,000 people from three divisions to conduct military training there. All three divisions have completed the training of His Majesty's new arms. The results are good so far."

William IV seemed to see the doubts of many people in the cabinet, so he explained: "The new military service currently being implemented in the Netherlands is the bicycle army."

Cycling Corps?

Everyone in William IV was taken aback.

"Yes, the bicycle is light and convenient, it can be shrunk into a small steel body, and it can go up and down the sea on the shoulders of slaughtered people, and it can be opened to ride on narrow roads, and even because of its pulling function, it can also be used as a team. To help pull ammunition and guns to the front line, compared to the horse team, there are much less things to maintain, and there is no need to feed the horses, and there is no need to worry about the bicycle getting sick.”

Walking in the tropical rainforest on the far east side, as long as the vanguard troop opens a small one-meter road ahead, it is enough for the bicycle army to advance.

Therefore, the development of the bicycle army will be enough to change the rules of war in Europe and even the world.

Look, folks, the future world will definitely be intimidated by the Dutch bicycle army.

Interior Minister Jonrell slapped his thigh hard, and suddenly woke up: "No wonder Your Majesty has been supporting cycling events in the mainland and the Far East. After a long time, all this was prepared for the cycling army."

Others reacted after being reminded by him.

That's true.