A copy of the "Draft Establishment of the Anhui Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China" was placed on Chai Dongliang's desk.

China's political scene, which has been turbulent since the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution, has finally settled down for a while, and all eyes are on the elections to the Senate and House of Representatives in December, and the provinces are gearing up to seek greater interests and more voice in the central government. Hundreds of large and small parties jumped up and down, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian, Wuhu, ??? All the foreign concessions have become the center of party activities, and Chai Dongliang is so soft that he can't figure out how many parties he has "joined". Behind all the political parties are the powerful members of the faction as the backing, and most of those who are in the front are celebrities and veterans of the constitutionalists, and everyone has sent special envoys to the Anhui Military Advisory Office to throw away the party card, and then they publish the news in the newspaper that Chai Guanghua, the governor of Anhui and Jianghuai, has joined our party and is now holding a certain post.

Chai Dongliang didn't bother to participate in these things, the representatives of the provinces were all elected by the Council, and the members of the Council were all received by the Manchu Qing Dynasty as they were, at most, the governors of the provinces took out a few henchmen in their pockets and arranged for them, and this kind of election was a farce to fool the people.

What really made him interested was nothing more than three things: army expansion, industry, and people's livelihood.

And the expansion of the army is the first priority. The Yanjing Provisional Political Axe has not yet issued the number to the provinces, but it has only vaguely been compiled according to the population of each province. The Jianghuai patrol envoy commanded four divisions, Chai Dongliang honestly and unceremoniously monopolized the establishment of three divisions, and left the establishment of one division for Li Liejun in Jiangxi, as for how many soldiers the Jiangxi army will raise, it is not within the scope of Chai Dongliang's consideration, anyway, everyone did not take the disarmament order of the Yanjing Provisional Political Axe seriously. Only Huang Xing, who was left behind in Nanjing, solemnly carried out a large-scale disarmament and reorganized the more than 100,000 people's troops stranded in various provinces into five armies.

The dismissed people's army was besieged in the Nanjing garrison to beg for arrears, forcing Huang Xing to almost jump the Yangtze River, but he couldn't help it, Hunan genius Xiong Xiling borrowed 3 million pounds from foreigners to him as the cost of disarmament, but he scolded him back, and the angry Xiong Xiling had a war of words with him in the newspaper, and now the dilemma had to make Huang Xing's reading ability endure.

Chai Dongliang does not have the problem of disarmament here, but he is preparing to expand the army with great fanfare, in the past, there was only one brigade in Anhui, and now it has been given the establishment of three divisions, although the salary given by the War Department is only a drop in the bucket, but at least it can be regarded as a recognition of his legal surname for the expansion of the army.

The Anhui Military Advisory Office set up a general staff, and because there was no suitable person to serve as chief of staff for the time being, the Briton Barnes was concurrently appointed deputy chief of staff, and the post of chief of staff was temporarily vacant. Xu Shuzheng, vice minister of the War Department, was Duan Qirui's confidant and think tank, and he was still a little grateful to Chai Dongliang for refusing the post of vice minister of the War Department, so he conferred the rank of Major General Barnes on Chai Dongliang's request. This guy was only a major when he retired from the UK, but now he is equal to a three-level promotion, and his beautiful snot bubbles are coming out, and on the same day, he found the best French dress shop, ordered a set of tweed generals' uniforms, and wore them to the Anhui Army Non-commissioned Officer School to show off, so that the envious eyes of British staff officers and officers such as Major Bruce, who came to China with him, were about to fall out. These British went to the Military Advisory Office one after another and asked for them to be awarded titles, which made Secretary General Gao Ming very annoyed.

However, Barnes is really dedicated, sparing no effort to train non-commissioned officers during the day, and staying up several all-nighters at night to get the draft of the army's establishment.

In accordance with the requirements of this draft, the Anhui Revolutionary Army has three divisions, each of which is tentatively numbered at 12,000 to 15,000 men, the brigade-level establishment is abolished, and each division is set up with four regiments, each regiment has four battalions, and each battalion has four companies. Three of them were infantry companies and one machine gun company, which had eight shielded two-wheeled water-cooled Makqin machine guns from the Wuhu Arsenal or the Shanghai Ordnance Factory.

The Wuhu Arsenal improved on the basis of the original Russian-style two-wheeled water-cooled Makqin, added anti-aircraft devices, strafing devices, practice shotgun masks and other components in accordance with Chai Dongliang's requirements, and improved the firing, safety devices and tripods, etc., and modified the hand guards with one-handed firing machines, added insurance, added top cover leaf springs at the front end of the machine gun cover, and changed to a pointed bullet ruler, so that the product surname could be improved, and the bullets were also changed from round-headed bullets to pointed-head bullets. The muzzle velocity of the gun has been increased from the original 630 m/s (round bullet) to 870 m/s (sharp bullet), and the gauge range has been increased from 2000 meters to 2500 meters (sharp bullet) and 3500 meters (heavy pointed bullet), and can carry out anti-aircraft fire, and the firearm surname has been significantly improved compared with the prototype. The technicians of the arsenal did not understand the usefulness of machine-gun anti-aircraft shooting, and quarreled with the military representatives sent by the Anhui Military Advisory Office for a long time, and in the end, Chai Dongliang personally made a long-distance phone call to make a final decision.

Each division has three infantry regiments and an artillery regiment, as well as a cavalry battalion, a baggage battalion, and an engineer battalion, and the artillery regiment has 36 imitation French 75-mm tube guns, 12 75-mm field howitzers, and 36 self-made mortars from the Wuhu Arsenal. Calibers range from light mortars of 70 mm to heavy mortars of 120 mm. The cavalry battalion had 280 soldiers, 600 to 800 war horses, 200 horses for pulling carts, soldiers equipped with Hanfeng 1 rifles and sabers, and the whole battalion was also equipped with two mountain guns, four light mortars, and four two-wheeled Makqin.

In the infantry regiment, grenadiers are equipped with one for each squad, with one shooter carrying 12 special grenades and 12 grenades, and a co-shooter carrying a Hanfeng 1 rifle to protect the safety of the shooters. Each infantry regiment has a special sniper company, each equipped with a Hanfeng-1 sniper rifle mounted with an optical sight.

Seeing this compilation table, Chai Dongliang was drenched in a cold sweat, this kind of configuration is completely taken in Europe, and it is definitely armed to the teeth in Asia, not counting weapons, ammunition and war horses for each division, and there are more than 4,000 pack horses for pulling baggage alone??? It's just that according to this equipment, three divisions will be equipped, and then don't pass it at all.

Such an army division needs at least two million a year to be fed, and three divisions can get six million, and this has to be peacetime, and I don't know how much silver it will need to fill its appetite when it fights. Before June 1912, because of the abolition of all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the Lijin and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the tax revenue of Anhui Province was only 1.2 million yuan per month, and between June and August, because the factories supporting the Wuhu Industrial Park were started one after another, and several large cement factories had also started, and Jiujiang also had a part of the tax revenue, the income of Chai Dongliang's control area had surged to 2 million, but even if there was a further increase in the second half of the year, the total tax revenue in 1912 would only exceed 20 million.

The financial expenditure of Anhui Province is at least 2.3 million yuan per month, and now Chai Dongliang is relying on subsidies from Guanghua Bank and Wuhu Industrial Park to keep him from falling into economic difficulties. If another $6 million is spent each year, there is a high risk that the finances will collapse. Unless Chai Dongliang does not take into account the sustainable development of people's livelihood and industry, then all the efforts made in front of him will be in vain, which he cannot accept under any circumstances.

Not only the army, but also the navy, even if it does not replace a gun or add a warship, it will have to pay more than 100,000 yuan a month, and the admirals headed by fleet commander Tang Xiangming have long been dissatisfied, and every day they make mushrooms in the Finance Department of the Military Advisory Office, demanding that new warships be added and old guns replaced.

Chai Dongliang didn't have much personal experience of the navy at first, and it wasn't until the Yangtze River Naval Division got his hands that he understood what a gold-swallowing beast was, and even the coal burned in the boiler had to be high-grade Welsh white coal imported from Britain. For the navy's requirements, Chai Dongliang had no choice but to comfort him with warm words, but the navy was full of words, and protecting thousands of miles of sea frontiers is the foundation of the country, and if the warships are allowed to decay day by day, and the artillery is declining day by day, then the naval division will no longer be able to defend the country.

Tang Xiangming even more confidently opened a list, asking for the purchase of two battleships, two heavy armored cruisers, six destroyers, six frigates, more than a dozen torpedo boats and other auxiliary ships.

The army and navy are keeping an eye on the Guanghua Bank, and everyone is openly and implicitly suggesting that more banknotes be issued and the size of the army should be expanded as soon as possible. According to their ideas, the inventory of silver exceeded 10 million taels, and the US dollar was more than 1 million, and the issuance of more than 100 million banknotes was simply trivial. With a huge sum of 100 million, isn't it logical to expand the army?

As long as you are an officer, there is no one who does not want to expand the army, ancient and modern China and foreign countries are the same, after the expansion of the army, the original regiment commander is promoted to division commander, and the company commander is promoted to battalion commander, everyone has benefits, but where can the finances bear it? The indiscriminate issuance of banknotes will inevitably lead to soaring prices, and the already sad life of the common people will be even more unsustainable, and the number of displaced people, who have gradually decreased, will once again spread in all the cities and towns of Anhui.

Chai Dongliang frowned, now most of his dividends from Wuhu Industrial Park and Shanghai Guanghua Group Corporation have been subsidized to the treasury, he is working for 20 million people in Anhui out of his own pocket, not only does he not take wages but also has to bring his own dry food.

Fang Qingyu quietly walked in from the outside and said in a low voice: "Governor, everyone has arrived, and you can have a meeting." ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "Mu Chen, I punished you this time, are you unhappy?" ”

Fang Qingyu was sentenced to 50 canes by the military court because he attacked the police on the street because of his protector's heart, but fortunately, the military justice department was his subordinates, and the military stick was raised high and fell lightly without being beaten and disabled, but his butt blossomed and lay on the bed for seven or eight days.

Fang Qingyu said calmly: "It's all right, isn't the governor also punished for being a volunteer?" It was a privilege for me to accompany the Governor to the punishment. ”

Chai Dongliang patted him on the shoulder and said, "You were punished for me, I remember this??? Staying by my side all the time has really buried you, do you want to go out and be alone? ”

Fang Qingyu was shocked and said, "The governor doesn't want me anymore?" ”

Chai Dongliang smiled and said, "Look at your little bit of talent? The shipyard and the steel plant are the most important departments in our industry, the steel plant is the foundation of the industry and has just had the ability to smelt special high-quality steel, and the shipyard is involved in more than a dozen related industries and has also obtained orders for four American 10,000-ton transport ships??? Shanghai is our lifeblood, the future status will surpass Wuhu, there is no competent person to take care of me I don't worry, although He Tianshou is reliable and willing to share weal and woe with the soldiers, but the surname is too rough and easy to be deceived, I want you to go to Shanghai and take control of the commercial police corps with him, what do you think? ”

Fang Qingyu said without thinking: "Don't worry, if there is a half-point difference, I will come to see you." ”

Chai Dongliang said calmly: "I don't want your head, I want Shanghai Guanghua Group Company to be calm and there are no problems, even if the sky in Shanghai falls, there can't be chaos there." ”

Chai Dongliang personally handed him a copy of the charter and said, "Look at this." ”

Fang Qingyu took it and looked at it carefully for a long time, the middle and senior officers of the commercial police corps must be natives of Anhui, and they must have married families, and their families must be settled in Anqing. From the lowest-level squad leader to the deputy commander-in-chief, half of the personnel are transferred back to Anhui every six months, and then the graduates of the Anhui Army Non-commissioned Officer School and the officers of the Anhui Revolutionary Army are transferred to supplement them.

Chai Dongliang is also the principal of the Anhui Army Non-commissioned Officer School, all graduates are nominally his students, and once changed in half a year, no military commander can completely control this armed force to the teeth, which puts an end to the problem of the tail, and this force will be firmly in the hands of Chai Dongliang.

"Governor, what am I going to do there?"

"The Commercial Police Corps has set up a supervision department, you come to be the director, I will give you a radio station and a special code book, anything can be reported to me directly without going through the captain, the supervision department can set up an action team of no more than 500 people, I will allocate you a batch of weapons and funds alone, in addition to monitoring the internal affairs of the commercial police corps, the supervision department must also inquire about the movements of various forces in Shanghai at any time, including foreigners, especially myself??? If something happens, your squad can cut it down and I'll support you when the sky falls, but if your people do anything wrong, I'm going to kill someone! Chai Dongliang's voice was cold and scary, and there was ice ballast in his eyes.

Fang Qingyu involuntarily snorted the spirit, and then gave a solemn military salute: "Obey!" ”

After Anqing killed Governor Zhu Jiabao's family, he was escorted to the execution ground and was shot in the back of the head, which impressed Fang Qingyu too much, and from that day on, he was completely convinced of Chai Dongliang, and he was completely afraid of this person!

Chai Dongliang patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction and said, "Mu Chen, don't live up to my trust??" Alright, let's go to the meeting. ”

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(To be continued)