During his stay in Ili, Qian Zhengxin also saw the rain prayer rituals of the local Chinese ignorant officials and gentry, as well as the bad customs of Chinese officials taking concubines. On the second day of his arrival in Huiyuan, a governor married a little wife, "the subordinates sent a play to celebrate", "picked a civilized marriage ceremony", and also admired the bride's demeanor: "The end is fashionable, and the charm is still good." Another time I heard at a banquet that Manager Liu, who was in charge of the livestock tax of the town office ten days ago, "bought a concubine with 3,000 gold, and the banquet of her wedding was not expensive." From this, the letter of relocation of the government inferred: "If the last rank (the petty official in the lower position) is extravagant, it will not be levied in the collection, and there will be disadvantages and confusion." He believes that Xinjiang Province's bureaucracy [***] is greater than that of Chinese mainland provinces, and its tax policy has great drawbacks, and extravagance [***] should be a common problem in Xinjiang Province and Chinese officialdom.

There are not many ordinary people from Xinjiang Province who have been recorded in the travelogue of Qianzheng Xin, and there are many records of Haida, the translator who accompanied him to Yanqi, and Nawu, a Manchu peasant in Gongliu County who told him about the history of the old and new armies stationed in Xinjiang.

Through the activities of Qian Zhengxin's pen about the customs and customs of Xinjiang Province and various figures, the General Staff Headquarters of the Army can understand the general situation of all aspects of society in Xinjiang Province.

"Although Xinjiang Province lags behind the interior of China in all matters, according to the local gentry, in the past two years, a large number of businessmen from the mainland have come to Xinjiang, either to build factories or to do business, and many of them have official support. The construction of the railway in Xinjiang Province has also been accelerated, and it is expected that the whole Xinjiang railway will be opened to traffic within three years, although the Chinese army stationed in Kazakhstan this time is mostly the army of Xinjiang Province, but most of the weapons and equipment are provided by the mainland, and the guns and artillery are the latest type made in the United States, and a number of tanks and planes have been allocated, and the military strength of Xinjiang Province has been greatly strengthened compared with the previous few years, but the power of commanding the army is still in the hands of Yang Du (Yang Zengxin), which is the axe of Yanjing, and it seems that there is a suspicion of cutting meat and feeding tigers. ”

"The soldiers who entered the territory of Kazakhstan are mostly cavalry, and part of the artillery team, and there are fewer chariot soldiers, but the Chinese soldiers have airships to help, so the Soviet Russian soldiers originally stationed in Kazakhstan will collapse at the touch of a button, and they are unable to resist it, and the entire territory of Kazakhstan has been occupied by the Chinese army, and all the Kazakh departments have sworn to belong to China, and China now has the land of Siberia, and its territory is unprecedentedly vast, far better than the Han and Tang ......."

After reading the report, the expression on his face was very sad.

"If we allow the development of China to continue, not only will it not be able to realize the great cause of 'Eight Humerus and One Yu', but it may even be annexed by China."

"Today, we can understand why Prime Minister Hara Kei made peace with China." "Although Ben has lost Taiwan and Manchuria, as well as northern Korea, he has gained a vast land in Siberia, and if he can effectively exploit the resources there, he will have a chance to defeat China." ”

"Resources are only one aspect," General Kawai nodded, "and more importantly, technology. China has turned to the United States in an all-round way, and has received technical support from the United States, coupled with its all-out development, and in some respects it has already surpassed the original capital, and the technical reasons for the failure of the two levies and expenditures of the Japanese cannot be ignored. ”

As soon as Admiral Kawai finished speaking, there was a sudden strange roar outside the window, and Nagata Tetsuyama heard the sound of the engine of the tank that was the latest technology introduced and produced by Kawai, and couldn't help but come to the window with Admiral Kawai and look out.

Outside the window, the simple-headed tanks were slowly driving through the streets, and beside them were groups of cavalrymen of the Guards Division riding tall horses and wearing swords.

At this moment, the cavalry wearing sabers and the rumbling tanks formed a strange picture, attracting a large number of passers-by to stop and watch.

Looking at the tanks painted with the emblem of the Sun Flag, Nagata Tieshan's heart felt a little relieved.

It is said that Ben finally has a whole tank force, although this day came somewhat late.

Although long before the outbreak of World War I, it was said that it had established a strategic alliance with Britain. During World War I, although he sent naval and land troops to fight with the British and French armies, he was not enthusiastic about participating in the war in Europe, but was keen to be an "observer". From the very first moment of the tank's birth, the military observers of the company smelled the charm of the tank and sent information about this novel weapon back to the tank. However, the shortcomings of the early tanks, such as low speed, short life, weak firepower and poor armor, made it difficult for the top brass of the Chinese army to accept. Coupled with the high cost of tanks, tanks have not been taken seriously in the army. Therefore, at the beginning, the army only tested a small number of tanks imported from Britain, and at the same time purchased several samples of the most advanced tanks at that time from European countries as samples for its own development. By the eve of the "Vladivostok Incident" in 1920, it was equipped with less than 100 supply tanks with "male surnames", "female surnames" and unarmed ones. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Chinese War, 20 Yueben tanks took part in the battle for the first time in the battle of the Chinese army's attack on the Lushunkou-Jinzhou defense line where the Chinese army was stationed, but because their speed, protection, and firepower could not be compared with the Chinese tanks, they were all destroyed in the battle. In all the battles of the Liaodong Battlefield, the Chinese army participated in the battle, and for the first time in the Asian theater, it achieved the combat effect of quickly breaking through the enemy's complex defense line with a large number of dense tanks and infantry. During the Battle of Vladivostok, three British-made "Mark IV" heavy tanks of the Chinese army encountered three Chinese "Land Patrol 1" tanks, and the result of the battle was that one of the Chinese tanks was destroyed, the other two fled in disarray, and none of the Chinese tanks were damaged or destroyed. This was the first tank battle on record between the Squadron [***] and the Honben Army.

After the armistice between China and the two countries joined forces to deal with Soviet Russia, a large number of advanced double-turret and single-turret tanks equipped by the Chinese army played an important role in the battle, annihilating a large number of Soviet and Russian cavalry. The advanced equipment of the Chinese army once made the generals of the Yue army ashamed of themselves, and Yue himself began to catch up at any cost.

At the end of the European War, the Japanese army began to purchase a number of "Mark IV" tanks from Britain. And hired several groups of all-tank crews and several military advisers from the British. At that time, the purpose of the British was to show Yue himself his strong industrial and scientific and technological strength, and they did not expect that he wanted to build up his own tank force.

After the end of the war with China, tanks purchased from Britain were exhibited to the public during the "Tank Week" in Tokyo. Subsequently, the military conducted several demonstrations and tests on it. After that, most of these tanks were sent to various parts of the country and to the military-controlled areas in southern Korea for roving exhibitions, and later became exhibits at the Yasukuni Shrine. Because the "Mark IV" tank did not make a very good impression on the army, and the design of this tank was backward at that time. However, this was the first time that most people in the military circles had seen tanks as a weapon, and it played a certain role in the decision of the military to equip tanks.

Soon after the introduction of British tanks, he developed the first practical "A" tank on his own based on British experience, but he soon discovered that this tank was not as perfect as he imagined, and during the exercise, although it was able to effectively break through the enemy's positions, it left many gaps in the battle line during the breakthrough, and could not completely destroy the remnants of the enemy's troops. Later, the designer of the tank proposed to the military headquarters to build a lower-cost, lighter, faster, and more agile tank, which could clear the battlefield vacancies left by the "A" tank and could be used to pursue the remnants of the enemy like the traditional cavalry. The War Department officially approved Triton's proposal and named the development plan for the tank "B" Hussar Fighting Vehicle".

A prototype of the light tank "B" was soon built and tested. This tank had a large fixed box-shaped turret in the rear of the tank for the crew to work in. Twin engines, specially equipped to increase power, were placed at the front of the tank, and the two engines drove the tracks on one side each. When steering, the driver must skillfully handle the accelerator and brake of both engines, and the engine will stall if you are not careful. The in-situ special operation is usually to stop the engine on one side and the engine on the other side to work normally, but it is easy to cause the track on one side to fall off on soft ground, which is very dangerous on the battlefield. He also has a unique design, that is, the side of the crawler frame body is slope-shaped, and the silt is adhered to the upper part of the crawler frame body by the crawler and falls off, and will slide down the slope to the ground, and will not fall vertically and stick to the crawler and the load wheel. Like the "A" tank, the "B" also had a spring system in the load wheels, which caused it to travel much faster than the "A", but the actual speed on the rugged battlefield was still not as fast as the cavalry on horseback. Moreover, the gasoline tank is designed to be placed in the front of the hull, although there is armor on the outside, it is really dangerous, and even if the fuel tank is penetrated by shrapnel on the battlefield, it is easy to shoot sparks and cause the fuel tank to explode and turn the tank into a fireball. The tank capacity was too small to have a range of about 40 miles, so the tank crew was used to hanging oil drums on the outside of the hull, which was even more dangerous.

Although there were such and such shortcomings, the happy senior generals of the Yue army still decided to adopt it. After a series of tactical tests, the army finally decided to officially equip the two tanks, and planned to buy or build more tanks in the next ten years, with about 200 "B" tanks built. In the battle to attack Siberia, the earliest equipped tanks and cavalry participated in the "Battle of Lermonov" which led to the crushing defeat of the Soviet Russian Red Army. At that time, two tank units and two cavalry units launched an attack on the positions of the Russian Red Army, and the battle plan was originally to open the way for the cavalry behind the tanks. But as soon as the battle began, the formation was all chaotic, first the slow tanks were left behind by the cavalry, and when the bullets and shells of the Soviet Russian Red Army kept flying, the cavalry left their tanks and hid in the province everywhere. Nevertheless, the result of this "cavalry and tan coordinated operation" was that the army broke through the defense line of the Russian Red Army, destroyed the artillery positions in the front of the defense line, and crippled the defense of the Russian Red Army. After this battle, more tanks were added to the Allied forces that had armed intervention in the Russian civil war, and the ambition of occupying Russian territory, which had been hidden in the heart for many years, was finally realized, and this was the first time that the army used tanks in foreign military operations on a large scale, and accumulated experience for the development of tank tactics in the future. Although these tanks did not have the opportunity to fight with the Chinese tanks, their appearance and equipment, and the victory they achieved in the battle against Soviet Russia played a significant role in raising his morale.

The cavalry officers of the "A" and "B" tanks thought they were too bulky, but the infantry officers were satisfied with their combat capabilities, especially the tank's ability to turn on the spot. Since then, the tank unit of the Japanese army has been officially born. At the same time, he defined the function of the tank as providing support to the infantry.

While developing tanks on his own, he also paid attention to absorbing and borrowing advanced technology and experience from foreign countries, and the "Renault FT" tank equipped by France attracted the attention of the company himself, and he soon introduced this kind of tank and began to imitate it.

As early as May 1916, the French company Renault began to research and manufacture an armored vehicle, which became the "FT" tank, commonly known as the "FT-17". In total, the French ordered about 1,000 vehicles. After testing the model with a 37-mm gun, the French ordered another 650 units. By the end of the war, the French had received a total of 2,697 vehicles. By the end of World War I, 3,177 FT deliveries were recorded, of which 514 were given to U.S. troops who had fought in France and three were sold to Italy. By 1921, France had produced 3,728 ft, including 2,100 machine gun models, 1,246 gun models, 39 75mm self-propelled guns, 188 command tanks, and 155 for tank school instruction.

The "FT" tank is a tank equipped with a rotating armored turret. Its turret is at the top, the engine is in the tail, and the driver is in the front. The full of the "FT" tank is riveted with steel plates, the engine is located at the rear of the hull, and there is a pair of tracks on each side of the hull. There is a rotating turret mounted on the roof of the hull. The crew of the tank consisted of 2 people, the driver and the commander and gunner. The armament is a "Haggaeus" 8 mm machine gun or a 37 mm low-rate fire semi-automatic gun.

After the defeat and surrender of Germany, a large number of "FT" tanks that were built to play car sea tactics against German positions were useless. After the war, France dumped large quantities of "FT" tanks overseas, buying them from more than a dozen countries, including Poland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and of course. So much so that the tank forces of most countries at that time were armed with "FT" tanks, and often the first tanks were equipped.

In 1920 he purchased 120 "FT" tanks equipped with machine guns or artillery to equip his cavalry units. The army named this tank, which appeared during World War I in 1917, the "C" tank. The cavalry officers were very satisfied with the thickness of the armor and the ability to cross the country, but complained that it could only reach speeds of 7 kilometers per hour. After conducting a series of tests and exercises, the military department decided to form at least one cavalry reconnaissance unit equipped with armored vehicles in the next two years. However, in 1922, the War Department changed its original intention and decided that only infantry could be equipped with armored vehicles. The tanks were then deployed to the army's infantry divisions.

Around 1921, some Type C tanks were replaced with Type 3 heavy machine guns or Type 11 37mm guns, but the original turret was too small, which made it very difficult to use the 37mm guns. So much so that later all 37-mm guns were replaced with heavy machine guns.

In addition, he also tried to develop a multi-purpose tank on his own, that is, the "D" type dual-purpose tank. To a large extent, the tank designed by Mitsubishi is a technical verification of dual-purpose military vehicles. Because on flat ground, especially on the road, wheeled vehicles can run much faster than tracked vehicles, and on rough terrain, tracked vehicles have much better off-road ability than wheels. The so-called dual-use design concept is to make a tank have both wheels and tracks, so that it can travel all over the world.

The first prototype was built in 1921. The body is basically a box-shaped body riveted with steel plates, with the front slightly sloping back. The only armament was an 8-mm machine gun mounted in the front. After testing the car, it was found that its practical application was cumbersome. It's relatively easy to switch from wheel mode to track mode, as long as the wheels are slowly raised and the original suspended track slowly lands on the ground, and it can be done in 15 minutes (it's actually long enough, isn't it by hand?). ）。 Switching from track to wheel mode was cumbersome, as the suspension system of the wheels was not designed to be strong enough to lift the tank body and tracks off the ground. To complete the changeover, the tank is first driven onto two parallel slopes of the same width as the tracks, then lowered the wheels but suspended without touching the ground, and then reversing until the wheels touch the ground. Such a conversion method is extremely troublesome. If it is on the battlefield, it is simply impossible to find ready-made two slopes. The chassis is too complex and prone to mechanical failure or external damage. Eventually, the military department lost interest in this design. And later Mitsubishi's designers also threw this brain-in-water design into the garbage heap.

Despite all these shortcomings, the tank unit was still built up after all, and although in terms of tanks alone, the speed at which the tank was still lagging behind China was unimaginable. Since the industrial base of the company is still stronger than that of China, and the top management of the company is aware of these gaps, it is not surprising that such achievements have been achieved.

(To be continued)