The key to a round of combat operations is speed, which seems to be related to the slow-moving Marine Corps:

Among the four regular combat forces in the Republic, the Marines were established at the latest and participated in combat operations at the latest. If they had not made their mark in the landing operations in Jeju Island during the Peninsula War, I am afraid that the Marines in the Republic will still be an unknown combat force.

At the beginning, the purpose of the Republic to form the Marine Corps was to target Taiwan.

Before becoming an independent branch of troops, the Republic's Marine Corps was not only small in scale, but also very chaotic in organization, and its reputation was far less than that of the US Marine Corps. In the final analysis, the problems existing in the Republic's Marine Corps were related to the interests of the navy and army armies. Until the Peninsula War, the Republic had two amphibious combat troops, one was a small-scale Marine Corps with strong combat capabilities, and the other was a large-scale but slightly weak combat capabilities. Just as the Army had always requested to obtain command of the airborne troops, when forming amphibious combat troops, the Army also insisted that amphibious combat troops mainly fought on land and should belong to the Army.

When Ji Youguo implemented military reforms, the ownership of amphibious combat troops almost turned against Peng Maobang and Ying Changhui.

In order to avoid the intensification of conflicts between the navy and the army and to successfully implement military reforms, Ji Youguo adopted a "circumcision" strategy. After allocating the airborne troops to the army, Ji Youguo clarified the mission scope of the Marine Corps and the Army's amphibious forces, that is, the Marine Corps is responsible for landing operations, while the amphibious forces are responsible for offensive operations after landing.

This reform plan temporarily alleviates the conflict between the navy and the navy, and also gives the Marine Corps and amphibious combat forces their own characteristics.

The small-scale Marine Corps has become an elite combat force similar to the special forces. With only 2 Marine divisions (later adapted into 3 Marine Brigades), the Marine Corps attaches great importance to amphibious landing combat capabilities, and all construction work is carried out with it as the core. The large-scale army amphibious combat forces mainly focus on regular ground operations, and pay more attention to the troops' armored combat capabilities. They have prepared a large amount of heavy equipment, almost just armored troops that can go ashore on the beach.

During the Peninsula War, the Marine Corps surpassed the Army's amphibious forces.

To be precise, the Army amphibious forces did not get the opportunity to perform, but instead the "short and concise" Marines followed the airborne troops to land on Jeju Island and successfully completed the combat mission. The outstanding performance of the Marines laid a solid foundation for their future development.

When Zhao Rundong implemented the second round of military reforms, he not only made the Marines an independent branch, but also made the Marines merge the Army amphibious forces. Because Peng Maobang had retired, Xiang Yinghui attached great importance to the joint combat capabilities of the troops and the Army amphibious forces, so the opposition to the Army amphibious forces did not play any role.

After being strengthened, the Marine Corps followed the tide and accelerated the pace of reform.

By June 2027, the Heguo Marine Corps not only expanded in scale, with 9 land combat brigades, and evolved from amphibious combat troops to "amphibious combat troops". It has strong low-altitude assault capabilities. For this reason, the Marine Corps not only formed an air force alone, but also spent huge amounts of money to purchase "amphibious assault ships". Before the war broke out, the team had 240 transport helicopters and hundreds of armed helicopters. According to the site plan of the General Staff, by 2030, the Marine Corps will form the first fixed-wing carrier-based aviation company deployed on amphibious assault ships and have independent air strike capabilities. Unfortunately, the Marine Corps ordered three amphibious assault ships in 2025 and will not be officially put into service until 2030. When the war broke out, helicopters could only be deployed on the original landing ships and amphibious support ships. The low-altitude assault capabilities were very limited.

Many people don’t know that the first place to enter combat readiness was the Marine Corps.

Because the battlefield in South Asia is far away from the sea, the Republic does not have the ability to send combat troops to the Indian Ocean. Therefore, when the Air Force and the Army were posing for marching into South Asia, the team shouldered the important task of consolidating the Southeast Defense Line and making strategic deployments. Wang Yuanqing clearly stated that the Marines must be allowed to attack Taiwan so that the outside world can think that the Republic will launch a war in South Asia. This decision is very wise, so the Marines have no preparations. The strategic deception operations of the Republic will be revealed.

According to the orders of the head of state, the team entered a state of combat readiness in late September.

In early October, two land combat brigades also held a large-scale landing combat exercise in the southeast coastal area of ​​Fujian to test the troops' ability to conduct landing combat in emergencies.

Because the scale of the exercise is very limited and no other military branches are involved, the outside world did not report on it on a large scale. However, military experts from Japan and the United States believe that the Republic's Marine Corps held a landing exercise in an emergency was the highest warning to the Taiwanese authorities.

After the military coup in Taiwan, five Marine brigades of the Marine Corps entered a state of war.

As five land combat brigades gathered in the southeast coastal areas, landing fleets and transport ships headed to Fujian ports one after another, the Republic's intention to attack Taiwan became increasingly obvious. However, in the eyes of many people, the Republic has been here.

It is still a shock to the island and covers the launch of war in South Asia.

It can be seen from this that the Marine Corps, however, took on important combat tasks and played a strategic deception role before the war began.

On the night of the 22nd, the officers and soldiers of the 1st Land Brigade and the 2nd Land Brigade began to board the ship, and the 3rd Land Brigade moved to the Naval Aviation Base near Xiamen. The 1st Land Brigade and the 5th Land Brigade were used as battle reserves and entered Fuqing and Quanzhou. The 5th Land Brigade completed the battle preparations within a few hours.

At 4:30 am on the 23rd, officers and soldiers from the 3rd Land War Brigade and the 2nd Land War Battalion were boarding the helicopter one after another.

When the Air Force began to bomb the island's airport, helicopters carrying officers and soldiers of the 3rd Land War Brigade took off one after another.

Through the island community, the bureau contacted the Kinmen Guardian Commander and persuaded the Kinmen Guardian Commander to accept the leadership of the mainland central government without promising to not hold him accountable for his participation in the military coup.

When the helicopter fleet arrived at Kinmen, the gate defenders voluntarily gave up their resistance and surrendered to the Marines.

Without a single bullet, the Marine Corps successfully "restored" Kinmen.

At this time, a fleet carrying two land brigades was heading towards the Penghu Islands.

Persuading the Penghu defenders to "submission" the Central Committee is one of the key tasks of the Military Intelligence Bureau. However, the Penghu defenders not only did not give a reply on the night of the 22nd, but also detained the community personnel and the Military Intelligence Bureau agents who went to do the persuasion work.

When launching the combat journey, Pei Chengyi clearly required the Marines to minimize casualties in the Taiwan Army when attacking Penghu.

For this reason, the Air Force and Navy Aviation did not bomb the Taiwan defensive positions in Penghu, nor even attacked the beach defensive positions.

When formulating a combat plan, Wang Yuanqing demanded that the casualties in the war be minimized, especially the casualties of the Taiwan army.

Xiang Yinghui and Pei Chengyi are very clear about why they should do this. Although there was a military coup in Taiwan, most of the grassroots officers and soldiers of the Taiwan military who participated in the coup obeyed orders and did not really oppose the peaceful reunification of the cross-strait. More importantly, every grassroots officer and soldier of the Taiwan military has a Taiwanese family behind them. If the casualties in the war are too great, it will not only cause Taiwanese compatriots to develop a rebellious mentality, but will also affect national unity.

Without worrying about the casualties of war, the Republic would not have insisted on "peaceful reunification" for decades.

At 5:30, the landing fleet arrived at the landing waters west of Penghu.

When the Penghu defenders did not announce their surrender, the officers and soldiers of the two land brigades boarded helicopters and landing craft one after another, preparing to land in Penghu after dawn according to the combat plan. Generally, landing operations rarely take place at night, mainly because the visible conditions at night are very unsatisfactory and are very unfavorable to the landing party.

With more than an hour left, the Marines will land in Penghu under artillery support and air cover.

At 6 o'clock, the situation changed.

After 8 hours of arduous negotiations, after representatives of the Military Intelligence Bureau promised not to carry out political persecution, ensure the interests of officers and soldiers, and not to hold them accountable for participating in the coup, the commander of the Penghu defenders finally announced their surrender under the pressure of the soldiers and accepted the leadership of the central government.

Surrender is the best choice for the Penghu defenders.

Although there are more than 30,000 Taiwanese troops stationed in the Penghu Islands, their combat effectiveness is far less than that of the Republic Marine Corps. If you really want to start fighting, two land brigades have enough ability to land on the Penghu Islands. Without air support, lack of artillery fire support, low morale of officers and soldiers, and no fighting spirit, the Penghu defenders may not be able to hold on for even a day.

War can only bring about destruction and casualties.

For the descendants of Yan and Huang who hope to unify the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, any losses and casualties caused by the brotherly walls are a national shame!

After dawn, the landing craft of the first batch of Marine Corps officers and soldiers was transported into Penghu Port, and the Marine Corps officially took over the Penghu Islands.

From Kinmen to Penghu, the Marine Corps successfully completed the combat mission without spending a single shot or an ammunition.

Needless to say, the real hero is not the Marine Corps or the Military Intelligence Bureau, but the endless civil exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Over the past decades, through civil exchanges, not only has Taiwanese compatriots understood the changes in the mainland, but also the mainland people have learned about Taiwan’s treasure island. With the increasingly close economic exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan has completed economic "unification" with the mainland. Under this circumstance, although the Taiwanese generals cannot go into business, some of their relatives and friends must have connections with the mainland, which makes them inseparable from all aspects.

In Wang Yuanqing's words after the war, unification is the general trend, and any countercurrent that violates national unity will eventually dissipate.

Whether it was the airborne troops, the Marines, whether it was fighting or taking over, the actions of the Taiwan military and the rebels in the past few hours fully proved that the hearts of the Taiwan military and the people of the people of Taiwan were united. Even if Li Xiangzhi overthrew Guo Ming, who worked for unification through a military coup, he could not make the Taiwan military and civilians betray the nation!

After decades of division, the Chinese nation has finally arrived at the moment of unification!
Chapter completed!