Xiao Jianjun said: " I have also considered this point, in fact, when we first entered the war, we did not need 25 divisions, first, our projection capacity was limited, and the delivery of 25 divisions would take at least 3-4 months to complete; second, the width of the battlefield in the early stage was limited, and the army must have carried out a landing operation at the beginning, and it was enough to invest 3-4 divisions of troops, and if we used more troops, it would not be able to spread, and in addition to the follow-up troops that entered the battlefield in the later stage, it would be enough to invest 5-6 divisions in the first three months of the battle, plus about 3 divisions were needed to defend Shandong and Tianjin, and there would be 3 divisions in reserveTherefore, it is enough for us to maintain a standing strength of 12 divisions, which can cope with the fighting in the first 3-6 months of the war. The rest of the troops can be dispersed, organized in the form of militias, and subjected to a certain amount of military training, so that they will not attract the attention of other countries. Wait for the start of the war to assemble around the beginning of the war, and then have a small number of officers to form an army immediately. Within six months, five to six divisions should be first organized and thrown into the battlefield in the northeast, which can basically ensure the strength needs of the battlefield; in the next six months, another five to six divisions should be formed and put into the battlefield according to the actual situation at that time; and after the war is over, they can retire and go home. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said: "This idea is really good, you can list the people's army as a reserve, so that the army can be used by the people, and only a limited-scale elite army can be retained in peacetime, as long as it can ensure the security of the East China government, as well as medium-scale foreign battles, and at the same time it can also ensure the labor force of economic construction, and the people's army can also maintain local order in peacetime, so make a detailed plan according to this idea." However, we should not only pay attention to combat units, but also logistical auxiliary units and the labor service of the accompanying troops, and how many logistics auxiliary units need to be mobilized by the 25 divisions, how much labor should be performed with the army, and how to recruit and arrange these personnel, all need to be calculated and planned in detail. ”

Xiao Jianjun nodded, carefully recorded Xia Bohai's opinion in the notebook, and then continued: "In terms of weapons, in addition to the five warships, the weapons we brought through the crossing, such as two tanks, warrior vehicles, helicopters, etc., must be well maintained, because these weapons will play a major role in the construction of the battle, and the general conventional weapons, such as all kinds of guns, artillery, mortars, grenadiers, *, etc., must be self-produced, so as to ensure that weapons and ammunition can be self-sufficient in time of war." In addition, if we can make some new weapons, such as light machine guns, and the armor plan proposed by the army before the Russo-Japanese War, it can also increase our chances of victory. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "These things need to be negotiated with the arsenal and the scientific research institute, find a time another day, and gather all the professionals to discuss." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "And the last point, is the plan we have formulated, do we need to discuss and vote in the Senate?"

Xia Bohai was stunned and didn't answer for a while.

Qin Zheng said: "If you are worried about the vote, you don't have to worry about it, I will find a way to get this plan passed." ”

Xiao Jianjun shook his head and said: "I'm not worried about whether the plan will be passed, but this is our biggest military secret at present, if it is put in the House for discussion, who dares to guarantee that it will not be leaked? After all, there are too many people in the House, plus the staff, there are about 14 or 50 people, who can ensure that everyone will not leak out intentionally or unintentionally." ”

Everyone was silent for a while before Xia Bohai said: "Then it will not be discussed in the House of Representatives, as long as it is passed at the meeting of the Executive Yuan tomorrow, it will be officially determined." ”

Wang Yunpeng hesitated for a moment before he said: "Such a major matter, not through the discussion and vote of the House of Representatives, just pass at the meeting of the Executive Yuan, is it a little inappropriate, when the East China Government was established, the administrative system we formulated was to implement democratic decision-making internally, and major decisions related to the development of the East China Government must be voted and approved by the Senate House." ”

Qin Zheng said: "I also think that there is no need to vote in the Senate, put aside the leak first, strictly speaking, this is just a plan to prepare for war, it cannot be regarded as a major decision, and it is also a military secret, so this is not a violation of the system, only when we want to officially enter the war, we need to vote in the Senate, and according to our system, the chairman of the government has the power to order the army to fight by executive order, and then obtain the approval of the Senate." Democratic decision-making is right, but it cannot be radically democratized. ”

Xu Jichao said: "But what about the funds for preparing for the war? The financial allocation also needs to be voted on in the Senate. ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "This is easy to do? All matters for preparing for war can be voted and passed in the Senate in the form of special funds, such as building ships with special funds for building ships; there are special military expenses for the formation and establishment of the army, and there are special research and development expenses for weapons research and development, so the approval of various funds is not a problem, and we must have sufficient funds for building the country." ”

Xia Bohai said: "This is another issue, I will not discuss it here, but I think there are a few points to note, first of all, we only discussed the time to participate in the battle, but did not discuss the time to end the war, that is, what is the goal of our participation in the war, according to our previous preliminary plan, there are three goals, one is to recover the three northeastern provinces, the second is to weaken the strength of Japan and Russia, and the third is to force the two countries to pay reparations." From the first point, the scope of the three northeastern provinces is based on the three northeastern provinces of our time, or the three northeastern provinces now, if there is an opportunity to occupy more places, such as Boli, Miaojie, Haisanwei, Kuye Island, and so on, whether to break through this range; and to what extent will the strength of Japan and Russia be weakened, and if we only recover the three northeastern provinces, then Russia still occupies a large number of territories and strongholds in the Far East, and Japan is the same, does it need to attack Japan's mainland? There are also demands for reparations from the two countries, but Japan and Russia are not as weak as the Qing court, and it is not so easy to make them pay reparations, in the old time and space, although Russia lost the war, but did not pay reparations to Japan, and the tenacity of the Japanese can also be said to be stubborn, let alone what if they insist on not wanting to pay compensation? ”

After a pause, Xia Bohai said: "The most important point is that after we enter the war, will there be interference from external forces, that is, the intervention of other countries." Although in the old time and space, the only two warring parties were Japan and Russia, but after we intervened, it became a war of three countries, Russia had France as an ally, and Japan had Britain behind it, and even the United States was secretly supporting Japan, so after we entered the war, after we defeated Japan and Russia, what kind of actions would the forces behind these forces take? Will they see their proxies fail? Will they intervene in the war, or even take the initiative to intervene in the war, if during the First Sino-Japanese War? How should we respond to the incident of the three countries' intervention in Liaoning?"

"If we don't take these things into account, even if we win on the battlefield, it is impossible to achieve our goal of participating in this war, you must know that the military is a continuation of politics, just a means to achieve political goals, victory on the battlefield is far from enough, in the old time and space, to achieve battlefield victory, but political defeat is not uncommon, Vietnam War, Afghanistan War, Iraq War are all like this, so before the war begins, we must consider how the war should end. ”

After listening to Xia Bohai's words, everyone was silent for a while, and since it was Xiao Jianjun, they realized that they were indeed too thoughtful.

Xia Bohai said: "But these things can't be discussed in one day today, and we still have enough time to discuss them slowly while preparing for the war, but before the war, we must get these things clear." I will sort out this idea again tonight, and when the Executive Yuan meets tomorrow, I will formally raise these issues and discuss them together. ”

Xu Jichao said: "Also, Russia refused to withdraw its troops in the second phase, but instead proposed a seven-point agreement, so how should we deal with it, and what about the second batch of Russian prisoners who should be released in June this year?"

Xiao Jianjun said: "Then what else can I do? Of course, I will continue to stay as a coolie, since I don't want to withdraw from the army, do you still want us to release all the prisoners?"

Wang Yunpeng smiled bitterly and said, "In this way, we won't be able to collect the ransom fee, which is more than a million taels of silver." ”

It turned out that Wang Yunpeng was in charge of specific administrative affairs, and he knew the financial situation of the East China government, and the Russian army's ransom fee was also calculated by Wang Yunpeng, but now that the East China government refuses to release the Russian prisoners, this ransom fee is gone, so Wang Yunpeng's heart is also quite depressed.

Xia Bohai was able to understand Wang Yunpeng's mood, and said: "This is a matter of political position, and there is no way to do it, let's think of other ways for this money." ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "Although there is less money, there are more than 15,000 free and good labor, and it may not be a loss-making business." ”

Wang Yunpeng also knew that if Russia refused to withdraw its troops from the northeast, it was indeed impossible for the East China government to release the Russian prisoners, and this was by no means a matter of a mere million taels of ransom for prisoners, but Wang Yunpeng was most concerned about the financial problems of the East China government, so he asked such a question, nodded his head, and said: "This is the only way." ”

Qin Zheng said: "I think at this time, we should immediately issue a statement to rebuke Russia's backshit, and make it clear that we will never accept Russia's new withdrawal conditions, and if Russia does not withdraw its troops as agreed, then we will not release the remaining Russian prisoners as agreed." ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "Okay, let's discuss it together at the Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow." ”

Therefore, the next day, the East China Government convened a meeting of the Executive Yuan, unanimously agreed that from now on, the East China Government would immediately carry out a war of armament and prepare to participate in the Russo-Japanese War, and immediately issued a statement of rebuke from the East China Government for Russia's refusal to withdraw the second batch of troops from the northeast region.