Gu Weijun, Yang Liren, Wu Jintang, Li Zhichang, Kwong Haishan, Lu Kai, Tang Xiangming, He Tianshou, Gu Mazi, Barnes, Bruce??? Chai Dongliang's team is almost literary, martial arts, and all the earth and ocean are all in place.

Today's discussion is on the major matter of expanding the army, and the generals are holding back their strength and are ready to reap some benefits for themselves and their subordinates, while the civilian officials are trying their best to balance the finances and not let military spending drag down Anhui's development and construction. Slapping the table and hitting the bench at the venue, everyone doesn't care about any identity and decency, who is willing to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Civilian officials and military generals quarreled, and the navy and army scolded each other and threw a teacup. People who usually meet like brothers, at this moment, they are all like little roosters, with the feathers on their necks and their eyes wide, and they are all afraid of people. Only He Tianshou was assigned to the Commercial Police Corps as the captain, and the expansion of the army had nothing to do with him, and he drank tea with a smile to watch the excitement.

It wasn't until Chai Dongliang and Gao Ming came to the venue that the civil and military officials with blushing faces and thick necks hurriedly straightened their clothes and pretended to be serious.

"Zhang Xun's envoy has arrived in Anqing, and the forty locomotives and eighty carriages he took from Nanjing have been delivered to us in exchange, and Zhang Xun has sent a telegram asking you to return Xiao Maozi as soon as possible??? Shanghai Guanghua Machinery Factory and Wuhu Guanghua Machinery Factory bicycle branch construction is about to be completed, is expected to be a month later the prototype can be manufactured finalized, Yu Qiaqing asked the governor, let you set a brand they are good in the newspaper advertising??? Director Feng Ru of the aircraft R&D center asked you to say that the drawings you gave are too difficult to produce, and Germany and the United States cannot provide engines that can meet the technical requirements of the needs, and Director Feng hopes to manufacture a batch of small pontoon seaplanes and small land take-off and landing planes first, and then manufacture large seaplanes when the experience is mature. "Yang Liren, the director of the Industrial Bureau, has a very good memory, and he talks about everything in detail and is very thorough.

Chai Dongliang also kept instructing: "Xiao Maozi's maids and slaves, including all the property she carried when she was arrested by Huai Shangjun, will be taken away by her, and the locomotive and carriage will be handed over to the Railway Bureau??? The two bicycle branches have their own registered brands, and let them decide their own names, so there is no need to find me for this kind of icing on the cake??? Aircraft engines can allow machinery factories in Shanghai and Wuhu to carry out technical research, if they are stuck in the link of raw materials, let the technical personnel of Shanghai Guanghua Iron and Steel Company also participate, if necessary, they can conduct technical bidding to the world's best factories and scientific research institutions, and we will provide part of the research and development funds, and the patent rights will be shared by both parties??? Feng Ru was informed that the construction of the aviation club should be stepped up, and the interests of non-governmental people in aviation should be cultivated, and a large number of talents with flying experience should be reserved???? Tell the personnel of the R&D Center Security Bureau that any data in the R&D Center is top secret, and the staff must be searched when they enter and exit, and not a single piece of paper is allowed to be taken out, and it is absolutely forbidden for technicians to fly the plane in person, especially Feng Ru, this is iron discipline! The work of test pilots is carried out by test pilots, and it is to spend a lot of money to hire them from abroad! ”

Wu Jintang also opened the notebook and said according to the book: "Governor, now the two arsenals in Shanghai and Wuhu can each produce 500 Hanfeng Ι rifles, five Makqin, five 75 mountain cannons, 2 75 howitzers, 300 grenadiers, 100,000 pointed bullets, 2,000 grenades, and 1,500 grenades for grenadiers??? This output is too large, we in Anhui can't digest it at all, the inventory backlog is serious, can we sell some? ”

Chai Dongliang pondered for a moment and said: "The 75 mountain cannon, the 75 howitzer and the shells can be sold, and the bullets can also be sold, the Makqin only sells the old-fashioned kind, and the grenades, grenades, and mortars cannot be sold??? Isn't our imitation Mauser 88 on par with the quality of German goods, and the price can be cheaper if it is sold in large quantities, and it can be a little more profitable???? In the event of a war, how much room is there for us to increase our production? ”

Wu Jintang thought for a while and said: "Now that the training of skilled workers has achieved initial results, as long as a few more assembly lines are added, you can build as many as you want, this depends on how much high-quality alloy steel and electricity supply the steel mill can provide, and there is no problem here in the arsenal." ”

Chai Dongliang smiled with satisfaction: "Yinfu, there are super-large iron mines in Dangtu County, and there are coal mines around, and it is very convenient to coke and smelt iron??? The administrative level of Taiping Mansion can be upgraded to the same level as Wuhu. ”

When Tu County has always been the seat of Taiping Mansion, it is subordinate to Wuhu Road, and the status of Taiping Mansion has been raised to the same level as Wuhu, which is a bit incomprehensible.

Seeing that Yang Liren and Wu Jintang were a little confused, Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "You can send mining experts to be Tu, this mine is one of the largest iron mines in China, and your Industrial Bureau will investigate this matter again, and then report it to the Consultative Bureau and the Military Advisory Office." ”

Dangtu's iron ore is the famous Ma'anshan iron ore in later generations, which not only has amazing reserves of iron ore, but also a large number of phosphate rock, potash ore and other mineral deposits. It's a pity that like all Chinese iron ores, the iron ore in Ma'anshan is not high enough and needs to be selected before it can be used to make steel. Comparatively speaking, Maanshan iron ore is a magnetite that is relatively easy to select, and it is already very good in China.

Yang Liren continued: "The copper ore imported from Chile and Ben and the nickel ore imported from Russia have been shipped, should we pay directly or use commercial acceptance bills? ”

Chai Dongliang smiled bitterly: "Let's use the commercial acceptance bill of HSBC, and delay it for a day." ”

Compared with China's vast territory and a large population, China is actually a country with a considerable lack of mineral resources, especially high-grade bulk mineral products, not only the quantity is not large and the grade is relatively poor, once large-scale industrial construction must rely on imports. However, importing ore is still much cheaper than directly importing finished steel and copper, but fortunately, the foreigners in this era did not have the concept of resource control and prohibition of exports. There are no more sophisticated mining giants like BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale.

It was easy to wait until everyone finished their reports, and the main topic was about to begin, and the officers of the Navy and Army were all working on the draft.

Chai Dongliang spread his hands: "We all know the current situation, the two nests and the first three are called Huazi, and the money can only be used in the most critical place, this expansion of the army is urgent, but we also have to watch the rice in the bucket go to the pot, how to expand the army, I want to hear everyone's opinions." ”

When Tang Qianming spoke, the delicate French-style mustache was always raised upward, which looked quite funny, and he said seriously: "Dudu, now the ships of the sailors are getting old, the boilers and cannons are outdated, and the warships of the foreigners on the Yangtze River show off their might, if the sailors can't add ships and cannons, in case of conflict, the sailors will be vulnerable." ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "There is no need to add ships for the time being, I will first give you 500,000 to repair boilers and buy shells, Shanghai Guanghua Shipyard currently has the ability to repair large ships, and the quality of domestic boilers is currently unsatisfactory and barely available, let's use Shanghai-made first." ”

Tang Qianming's head shook like a rattle: "Governor, the best ships of the sailors are only the two ironclad cruisers Hairong and Haichen, these are the old ships ordered from Germany sixteen years ago, if they should have been retired according to Western standards, these two ironclad ships are still like this, and the rest of the ships are even more outdated. Even if you can't buy battleships, you need to buy at least two new armored cruisers! ”

Chai Dong lit up a cigarette, took two puffs of reason, and then said with a smile: "Commander Tang, you put your heart in your stomach, two years, two years at most, I will give you two warships that are better than cruisers!" ”

Tang Qianming's eyes lit up: "The Governor is going to buy battleships?" If you want to buy a battleship, it is still the best from the German Volken factory. ”

Chai Dongliang smiled: "Why buy foreigners? Can't we make it ourselves? ”

Tang Qianming smiled bitterly: "Does the governor think that Shanghai Guanghua Shipyard will have the ability to build battleships within two years?" The governor must know that it is easy to build a 10,000-ton transport ship, but it is difficult to build a warship. ”

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "The warship is not as good as the foreigners, which can not be done in a short period of time, who makes our Chinese foundation weak, and the navy can set up a seaplane reconnaissance team, and install two seaplanes on the cruiser for air patrol, if you find that the enemy can fight it, you can fight, and if you can't beat it, you can still run!" ”

Tang Xiangming is like being poured a basin of cold water on the head on dog days, this is the governor's trick? The navy is a branch of the army that can only be used to attack but not defend, especially since the day the navy was established, the officers were trained from the British, adhering to the creed of the British Imperial Navy's "every enemy must fight". During the First Sino-Japanese War, the army was crushed for thousands of miles, and the navy only produced a shameless Fang Boqian, and the others either died in battle or committed suicide. Besides, the navy of this era paid attention to the array of arrays, the cannon of the giant ship began to bombard from 10,000 meters away, and the plane was just a dangerous toy. At present, the plane flies at a distance of only three to five thousand meters, and its flight altitude is only ten or twenty meters, and when it takes off to discover the enemy ship, I am afraid that the cannon will have to be bayoneted!

Battleships and giant guns are the constant dreams of the navy!

Chai Dongliang saw that his face was longer than a horse, and said with an indifferent smile: "Commander Tang, you and I will discuss the affairs of the navy separately when we go back, and today we will mainly talk about the affairs of the army." ”

Tang Xiangming had hope in his heart, since he could communicate privately, it meant that the governor had already made a calculation in his heart, but it was inconvenient to say it in public.

Hearing that the issue of army expansion was going to be discussed, Kuang Haishan, Lu Kai and others were in high spirits, and the civilian officials were also considering their words and preparing to fight with them.

Chai Dongliang didn't speak, waiting for them to fully express their opinions, the civil and military officials were red-faced, and finally looked at each other angrily before coughing.

"Okay, do you still have any consciousness of revolutionary soldiers? Less than a year after the beginning of the Republic of China, you began to fight for power and profit, what is the difference between this and the rotten Manchu bureaucracy? Chai Dongliang said with a cold face.

When everyone saw that the governor had buttoned up his big hat, they had to shut up for the time being. Although Chai Dongliang said this, he felt that this was too normal in his heart, in the 21st century in another time and space, the more openly the national navy and army and the civilian government and the axe quarreled, the more fierce they were, they all wanted to compete for the interests of their own groups, and it was precisely because of each other's checks and balances that the country could be stable.

Chai Dongliang turned his face to look at Gao Ming and said, "Now our finances, how many troops can we support at most?" I'm talking about the level of establishment proposed by the General Staff, and I don't want that kind of soldier with a broken gun. ”

Gao Ming and the others had already made a calculation, took out their notebooks and looked at them carefully, and said: "At most, two divisions will take out the commercial police corps in Shanghai, and if there are more, they can still be raised in peacetime, and once there is a war, the people will have to be scraped clean, and the construction achievements of the governor will be ruined." ”

Chai Dongliang gritted his teeth: "Calculate my share income in Wuhu Industrial Park and Shanghai Guanghua Group, is it enough to raise another mixed brigade of cavalry and artillery?" ”

Gao Ming's head shook like a rattle: "Governor, now that it is the Republic of China, in a few months it will be the election of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the military power of the provinces has been nominally attached to the central government and belongs to the national army, how can you use your personal money to raise soldiers?" ”

Chai Dongliang said categorically: "This doesn't need to be discussed, just do as I say." ”

One sentence sets the tone, and things will naturally be easy to do. Chai Dongliang's current official position is that of the Jianghuai Patrol Envoy, and he nominally governs Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, and it is somewhat inappropriate to call himself the Anhui Revolutionary Army to the outside world. After discussion, the army called itself the "Jianghuai Revolutionary Army" to the outside world, and it was composed of two divisions and a mixed brigade. Kuang Haishan, the commander of the First Division, was stationed in Anqing, Lu Kai, the commander of the Second Division, was stationed in Wuhu, and the brigade commander of the mixed brigade was Gu Nanshan, nicknamed Gu Mazi, who was stationed in Jiujiang. The Yangtze River Naval Division was renamed the Yangtze River Fleet of the Jianghuai Revolutionary Army, the home port of the warships was set up in Jiujiang, and the families of the officers and men of the Naval Division were arranged to Wuhu.

Gao Ming recorded Chai Dongliang's appointment order, and Gu Weijun drew up a list to be submitted to the War Department and the Navy Department for the purpose of declaring military ranks.

Just when everyone was complacent, Chai Dongliang suddenly slapped the table and said: "Six months, can the newly trained army have the same combat effectiveness as the current First Brigade of the Anhui Revolutionary Army?" ”

Barnes was the first to stand up and said: "Six months is enough time for junior non-commissioned officer training, and the Anhui Army Non-commissioned Officer School can provide a sufficient number of qualified officers."

Kuang Haishan and Lu Kai also said in unison: "No problem! ”

Chai Dong stood up from his chair with a bright voice and said: "Okay, give me six months to sharpen this sword, the man's exploits are made on the battlefield, not blown out with his mouth in front of the conference table!" ”

The officer's heart was excited, the governor was going to fight, and it was a big battle??? It's just, who are you going to fight?

(To be continued)