After the departure of the joint Far Eastern Expeditionary Force, the East China government not only issued a sternly worded statement, but also immediately convened an enlarged military conference with nine ministries and commissions of the Executive Yuan, which on the one hand summarized the previous stage of the war and the post-war treatment, and on the other hand, it was also the planning and arrangement of the next stage of the battle.

At present, the East China Government has basically completely occupied the northeast region, and social order and production in most areas have been basically restored or are in the process of being restored, and the suppression of bandits in the northeast has also achieved initial results. However, although the East China government has also made a lot of preparations before, and arranged a large number of administrative and civil management personnel to take over the daily affairs of the northeast region, but the current management of the northeast region is still dominated by the army, but the army's management of civil affairs is obviously not a long-term strategy, since the social order in the northeast is now being restored, it should consider formally handing over some places to the formal administrative organs, and establish a sound local administrative management system, at least a certain amount of preparatory work should be made.

On the other hand, after the breakdown of the tripartite negotiations in Portsmouth, Japan and Russia have also been strengthening the work of arming and preparing for a counterattack, so it is also necessary for the East China government to consider dealing a heavy blow to the Japanese and Russian troops before the arrival of the expeditionary force, so as to reduce the huge momentum caused by the establishment of the expeditionary force, enhance the prestige of the East China government, and also help reduce the arrival of the expeditionary force.

Another important task is the evacuation of personnel and equipment from Java. After the Java Protectorate in 1903, the East China government not only won huge rights for the overseas Chinese in Java, but also attracted a large number of wealthy overseas Chinese businessmen to invest in Shandong. At the same time, the East China government also extended its influence to Java, not only set up an office in Java, set up a commercial bank, but also purchased some business industries, and stationed a small number of troops, now the East China government has a total of about 500 people in Java, and has accumulated a lot of assets, in addition to a large number of overseas Chinese and the East China government to establish a relatively close relationship. After the arrival of the expeditionary force, of course, it is impossible for the East China government to fortify in Java, not to mention that there is also the Netherlands in the expeditionary force, and it will definitely take action against the personnel and industries of the East China government in Java in retaliation against the East China government, so it is necessary to temporarily evacuate the personnel from Java, and this needs to be added to the navy's plan.

Of course, the topic of the expeditionary force was also a key topic of this meeting, so at the beginning of the meeting, Xiao Jianjun first gave a detailed account of the composition of the expeditionary force, including the basic data of various types of battleships and major other warships.

After listening to Xiao Jianjun's introduction, You Mingqian first said: "I really can see us, a total of 24 battleships have been dispatched, and it seems that Britain and France have made a lot of money." ”

Jia Zhenzhao said with a smile: "And even the Netherlands came to join in the fun, this is to bet on the treasure." ”

Lu Hong said: "By the way, this expeditionary force should be the largest fleet at present, it is estimated that it exceeds the Great White Fleet, but I don't know if it exceeds the British and German fleets during the Jutland Sea War." ”

Although none of the members of the Ninth Committee came from a military background, after all, they have been in office for many years, and the East China Government has either been fighting or preparing for war in the past few years, so they have some understanding of warfare and weaponry, and some people who are interested in military affairs have even done a certain amount of research.

Qin Zheng said: "It is certain to surpass the Great White Fleet, but compared with the British and German fleets during the Battle of Jutland, there is still a gap, the German Navy participating in the Battle of Jutland has a total of 99 warships, including 16 dreadnought battleships, There are 5 battle cruisers and 6 former dreadnoughts, while the British Navy has a total of 151 warships, including 28 dreadnought battleships, 9 battle cruisers, and 8 large armored cruisers, all of which are much larger than this fleet, and the battleships of the Battle of Jutland are basically dreadnought-type battleships, the smallest is nearly 20,000 tons, the largest is more than 30,000 tons, and the expeditionary fleet, the largest Edward VII class, is less than 17,000 tons, but the Battle of Jutland took place 10 years later in the old time and space, so so far the expeditionary fleet is indeed unprecedentedly powerful, and after we defeat the expeditionary fleet, it is estimated that there will be no more countries that will dare to wage war against us. ”

Xia Bohai said: "The difficulty of defeating the expeditionary fleet is actually not great, the real trouble is that Japan, Russia and the expeditionary fleet are working together in a tripartite linkage, and at the same time launching an attack on us on both the sea and land fronts, frankly speaking, our overall strength is not enough, and the advantage is mainly in the navy, and the advantage in the army is not great, so in the 4 or 5 times when the expeditionary fleet arrives, we must take the initiative to attack and resolve their tripartite linkage, first across Japan and Russia, and then concentrate on dealing with the expeditionary fleet." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "The Military Commission has already made a plan, we think that we will first attack the Russian army, launch the Manchuria Campaign, drive all the Russian troops out of Chinese territory, and then come to deal with Japan." ”

Xia Bohai said: "There is no problem with this order, but is the Northeast Theater ready?" ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "It has been prepared for a long time, the strength is the 2nd Army and the 3rd Army, the cavalry brigade, as well as two armored trains, two self-propelled guns, 12 warrior vehicles, 12 amphibious tanks, and a towed artillery regiment, the total strength has exceeded 150,000, and now the Russian army in Manchuria is about 100,000, so we have a great chance of defeating the Russian army and recovering Manchuria." The estimated duration of the battle is 10-15 days. After defeating the Russian army, even if the expeditionary force arrives, it will be difficult for the Russian army to gather enough forces to attack us. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said: "Let the Northeast Theater formulate a detailed battle plan, in addition, Manchuria has already reached the scope of Inner Mongolia, so this time it is equivalent to a cross-provincial operation, and Russia has a great influence in Inner and Outer Mongolia, and the terrain in Mongolia is flat, which is conducive to cavalry operations, which is just the weakness of our army, which makes the Northeast Theater fully prepared." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "Okay." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Is there any problem with the war against Japan?"

Xiao Jianjun said: "The operation against Japan is expected to be on April 20-25, and it is estimated that the Manchuria Campaign has ended at that time, but the purpose of the war against Japan is to destroy the Japanese mainland and consume Japan's national strength, so it will last for a long time, maybe until the arrival of the expeditionary fleet, and even if the expeditionary fleet comes, it will not stop." This is one of the main reasons why we have the Manchurian Campaign at the top of the list. According to the information we have obtained, Japan has recruited 16 to 18 divisions for training, and although they are all new troops and have limited actual combat experience, after all, the numerical superiority is too obvious, and the Central Military Commission believes that at least 100,000 troops are needed to fight against Japan, and it is necessary to add three divisions to the Marine Corps. ”

Xia Bohai said: "There is no problem with this, the 5th Army has withdrawn to the Shandong garrison, and the 3 divisions are completely drawn, and the overall situation will be discussed in detail when the Marine Corps comes up with a battle plan." ”

Qin Zheng said: "The war against Japan will continue until the arrival of the expeditionary fleet, so when will the evacuation from Java be carried out?"

Xiao Jianjun said: "It is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of May, and the landing in Japan should be over at this time, so only a few old-fashioned, but firepower warships should be kept off the coast of Japan, such as 4 Zhenyuan-class, and the main force of the navy can be transferred to escort the evacuation of Java." It was expected to return at the end of July, when the expeditionary force was almost there. ”

You Mingqian was a little puzzled and said: "It is understandable that the evacuation of Java requires the escort of the navy's warships, but is it necessary to dispatch the main force of the navy? The Dutch navy in Java is very weak." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "This is not to deal with the Dutch Navy, but to guard against the British Far East Fleet, Britain has arranged a total of 8 battleships in the Far East, if you learn that we are going to evacuate from Java, it is very likely to send a fleet to intercept it, so it is necessary to dispatch the main escort of the navy, and the navy has just entered several new ships, both our own built warships, and the repaired warships that were captured by us, just to take advantage of this escort to run in and prepare for the expeditionary fleet." After a pause, he said: "Actually, I also hope that the British Far East Fleet can intercept it, on the one hand, so that our fleet can take this opportunity to practice its hands, and on the other hand, it is also to weaken the combat effectiveness of the expeditionary force, at least after the arrival of the expeditionary force, these battleships can no longer be incorporated into the expeditionary force, although we are absolutely sure to defeat the expeditionary fleet, but if we can weaken its strength first, it will always be beneficial to us." Of course, it depends on whether the British are worthy of cooperation. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said: "If we succeed in the war against Russia and Japan, then I think the British Far East Fleet will definitely fight, because at that time both Britain and France need a victory to boost their morale." However, the premise is that the strength of our escort fleet cannot be too strong, although the British Far East Fleet has a total of 8 battleships, but frankly speaking, these 8 battleships are not strong, and 2 of them are second-class battleships, which are obviously lower than the battleships of the expeditionary fleet, if the strength of our escort fleet is obviously stronger than the British Far East Fleet, then they will not go to war, so to lure the British Far East Fleet out, we must plan carefully, and how many warships it will send to participate in the escort must be carefully considered. But we still have time, and I think it's still feasible. ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "I will pay attention to this point for the Admiralty." But that's the overall plan for the next step. ”

Xia Bohai said: "So, what are the plans in terms of civil affairs? and what's the problem?"