"Shihai, you first spent two years in Japan and then went to the United States for eight years, you are familiar with both countries, can you tell us about their current national defense policy?"

"Yes, Chief." Yang Shihai changed into a military uniform of the National Defense Army, although he did not have a military rank, but judging from the red collar, it must be a general. "Japan is now under the reign of Emperor Taisho, and after the Meiji Restoration, the acceptance of Western culture and ideas (Meiji Restoration), Japan's domestic development has been generally stable, and the First World War in Europe has caused many foreign businessmen who are willing to take risks to invest in Japan, resulting in a prosperous scene in New Japan, so it is now an unprecedented prosperous era for Japan since the Meiji Restoration. At present, Japan's monopoly consortium has developed rapidly, and it has been able to control a considerable part of the seats in the Japanese Diet. In the process of economic development, a new middle class, that is, the middle class, has gradually formed in both the cities and the countryside. Politically, this stratum opposed the autocracy of the warlords and bureaucracy at the time, and demanded the realization of party politics and universal suffrage, thus forming the democratic movement in Japan. In addition, the current Japanese culture also has a distinct modernity, that is, the establishment of the modern self, and the promotion of individualism and rationalism, which has become the keynote of the new Japanese culture. It can be said that Japan is enjoying the benefits brought about by foreign wars and World War I since the Meiji era, and for the time being there is not much motivation for foreign expansion, and the Japanese government's military spending has also remained stable, the growth rate is not fast, and the development of the military is limited. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the power of the Choshu faction was gradually declining, and the tyranny of Yamaguyama declined after the crown prince Prince Hirohito married King Kuya Miyayoko, who was associated with the Satsuma faction. At present, the Japanese navy is still relatively strong, and the power of the Satsuma domain can still effectively influence the Japanese government and navy, and generally speaking, Japan is now in a stable period of opening up, and I am not very good at the economy, but from the perspective of infrastructure and price levels, Japan may usher in a period of economic leap. ”

"What about the U.S.? What is President Harding's policy like now? Compared with the Japanese people who are now bathed in the sunshine of Taisho Democrasi, Wu Chenxuan is more concerned about the United States on the other side of the ocean, which is the biggest boss on the road to China's rise.

"That's right, the previous president of the United States, Wilson, was very successful in the early stage, but in his second term, many of his policies were criticized by all levels of the United States. In particular, insufficient attention has been paid to the issue of post-war demobilization, which has led to an extremely chaotic demobilization process. Four million U.S. soldiers were sent back to the United States penniless, without any resettlement plan or relief. The bursting of the wartime bubble in the price of farmland caused many farmers to go bankrupt or fall into debt due to newly purchased land. The year before, workers in the steel and meat processing industries went on a general strike. Race riots spread in Chicago, Omaha, and other cities. After a series of bombings carried out by radical anarchists in New York and elsewhere, Wilson ordered Attorney General Palmer to curb the violence. The Justice Department then launched a large-scale operation known as the "Palmer Manhunt" to gather evidence related to violent radical groups and to detain or deport domestic and foreign agitators. ”

"During his last three years in office, Wilson parted ways with many close political associates or allies, including Lieutenant Colonel House. The newspaper speculated that a series of strokes may have affected his personality. Wilson wanted to be re-elected, but his Democratic Party was already in disarray: German voters were outraged by the treatment he had received during the war, and Irish voters were unhappy that he did not support Ireland's independence. In the end, his stroke allowed him to retire from the presidency, and his successor, President Harding, was a strange fellow, as did my classmates and teachers in Annapolis. He is probably the least competent of the presidents of the United States. During his six years in the Senate, Harding's work was unremarkable and unremarkable, neither pushing through any major bills nor accomplishing anything to be looked back on. During this year's campaign, Harding declared: "What America needs now is not heroic deeds, but healing wounds; Not a panacea, but normalization; Not revolution, but restoration, not excitement, but calmness; Not an experiment, but a balance: not to be encumbered by international affairs, but to succeed at home...... these vague sermons have had a good effect, and both those who are in favor and against joining the League of Nations can find in Harding's statement the reasons why he should be elected. What most voters in the United States now want is a return to laissez-faire, an eventual renunciation of the jihad that brings nothing but ingratitude and suffering, and a return to traditional isolationism. ”

"Thank you, Shihai." The reason why Wu Chenxuan asked Yang Shihai to do so much analysis and explanation was precisely to pave the way for the following military reform plan. "Okay, now you all understand. Japan, the United States, and Europe have all temporarily put away their minions after the end of World War I, whether they are exhausted or fat, and for the time being, the international community will be based on peace. Therefore, under such circumstances, we must pay attention to the fact that the reform of the armed forces can no longer be carried out in the way of expanding the number of troops in the past. If our current military strength were to go to war with Japan, the United States, or any European country, as long as it was not another eight-nation alliance, then we would at least be able to protect the country from being annexed or divided by hostile forces, or that there would be no country that could win a war with China on our territory alone. So will our Wehrmacht be able to meet such strength next? Of course not, as the world's most populous country, the second largest heavy industrial country, and the second largest territorial power, if we cannot improve the strength of our armed forces to match the comprehensive strength of our country, and are only satisfied with the ability to take care of the homes and hospitals, we will surely be eliminated by history. Therefore, the next thing we have to discuss is how to improve the combat capability of the army, improve the recovery capability of the army, improve the support capability of the army, improve the long-range delivery capability of the army, and improve the sustainable combat capability of the army on the basis of not greatly expanding the number of military personnel. These will also be the five capability issues that we will have to solve in our army building for a long period of time. ”

"After listening to Shihai's explanation, and then listening to the analysis of the general seat, I think it is very necessary for us to change the original kind of desperate war mentality, the soldiers are not expensive, if we continue to take the road of quantification, not only will we be regarded as a threat by the international community, but we will also pay a heavy price in a real international war, and even suffer the blow of war defeat." Duan Zhiquan, as the chief of the general staff, already has a very deep understanding of Wu Chenxuan's military reform thoughts, and his prestige in the army is no less than Wu Chenxuan, so as soon as he opens his mouth, even if the tone of military reform advocated by Wu Chenxuan is consolidated, those guys who plan to recruit troops with small calculations have to put away their minds and start thinking about how to temper elite soldiers.

Several army generals divided into two groups and began to discuss how to enhance the combat effectiveness of the existing troops, while Chu Zhaodong pulled Feng Ru and Wu Chenxuan to discuss the next step of the navy's army building strategy, while General Staff Duan discussed the development direction of long-range artillery and aviation together with Yang Shihai, Wei Yu, and He Xingtian. After two days of discussion, everyone gradually separated the chaff and gradually formed some consensus.

That is, whether it is to build an army by quality or by scale, it is not a simple question of choosing a line, but it must be limited and constrained by various subjective and objective factors, and what kind of army to build must be coordinated with the country's economy, science and technology, resources, industrial and agricultural production capacity, the education level of the people, the national character, the domestic environment, the international situation, and many other factors.

The establishment of a quality-type army requires the comprehensive national strength of the entire country as the foundation, and it is unrealistic to establish such a quality-type army if no one aspect or link can provide sufficient support in terms of funds, technology, weapons, equipment, and personnel. Even if we reluctantly build a high-quality army that surpasses the actual level of our country at the present stage by means of importing technology, importing equipment, and selecting elites, it will be difficult for us to maintain its initial technical and tactical level for a long time in actual combat. Behind a certain number of available weapons and equipment, it is necessary to support it with several times the amount of possession and more than ten times the amount of production and reserves, and behind a certain number of troops, it is even more necessary to supplement it with dozens or hundreds of times the population that can be used as reserve soldiers. A qualitative army that exceeds the state's ability to support it can only be regarded as a one-time army, and a one-time army is always not enough to fear. Just like the Beiyang New Army, which once had the same star as the Wuyi New Army, the professional soldiers who relied on imported or military aid weapons and equipment and ultra-long-term service had strong combat effectiveness at that time, but this kind of strength was not supported by the regime at that time, so this kind of strength could only be a short-term existence and could not withstand the test of a long-term all-out war. Due to the lack of replenishment capabilities for the loss of both personnel and equipment, the ostensibly powerful Beiyang army could only be quickly weakened in battle until it died. The so-called quality building is sometimes not a goal that can be achieved with effort and money.

But China's current situation is that through nearly 20 years of development from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the establishment of the republic, the level of industry, especially heavy industry, has developed to a level that can be called a strong level, coupled with the high-tech technical support of the base, it can be said that China has fully possessed the necessary conditions for building a sustainable quality army, and the next step is the process of transforming from the idea of building an army on a scale to building an army on a quality basis, and the interests of many people will be touched in this process, but in order to build a strong national defense force, All the senior generals of the National Defense Forces present unanimously agreed that they would not hesitate to achieve the goal of building the army with quality.