On July 21st, Qiyang, just after a rain, reduced the hot weather in the past few days, the morning glow rose, the fragrance of summer flowers wafted in the air, and from time to time a few birds were startled, whining to the sky.

The turbulent Qi water came down from top to bottom, and was blocked at Xu Ming's feet and rushed to the southeast, and the river water smashed on the rocks on the bank, forming a splash of water, foam splashing, and sprinkling on people's faces to feel cool.

The magistrate of Qiyang County, Liu, pointed to an open field in the northwest: "The Taiping army camped here, and the governor of Tang Province was also stationed here.

Cao Youwen nodded, "Then you don't have to choose, I believe in the vision of Hong Xiuquan and Chief Tang, little brother Qianli, I see that the predecessors have already planted trees, so you can enjoy the shade here." ”

Liu Lei also agreed, he was from the Military Training Department, and the affairs of the security regiment had nothing to do with him, but this time it was Lao Cao Hao who called to help Xu Ming. "Thousands of miles you see", he pointed to the southeast and north with his finger: "This side is the Dongjiang River (1), a natural defensive line, facing Qiyang County in the south, and leading to Changning in the west, which is a traffic artery," and pointed to the left and right sides:

"It's a little higher up and can be used as a warning site."

"It's close to the water source, but if the mountain river breaks out, it will turn southeast and the water won't flood yet.

He took Xu Ming's hand again: "It's safer here, and it should be able to serve as your regimental headquarters and command organ for thousands of miles; It's the highest place to be used as a storehouse..."

With such professional opinions, what else to consider, Xu Ming immediately agreed to use this lot as his military camp, and he also took the hot iron to finalize various matters for the collection and distribution of laborers and some tax matters for money and grain, originally according to Xu Ming's meaning, he did not want to collect taxes locally. But Zhang Jiande, the supervisor of the security department, was invited to come here to guide, and he scoffed when he heard it: "Don't accept what your soldiers eat, Xu Tuanzuo, don't expect that there will be allocations from above."

"What can be allocated from above," Xu Ming also had illusions about the security department.

"Military uniform, give you 4 guns, 200 oceans a month."

Seeing the suspicious look on Xu Ming's face, Zhang Jiande then explained: "The military uniforms will be issued according to the number of people in your regiment, and I can go and say hello if you have more, a gun for you, 3 for your guards, and 200 yuan is your military salary." ”

"Don't I have any soldiers?" In Xu Ming's opinion, there are only 4 guns in total, what is the use, as for 200 oceans, it is definitely no problem to live by yourself, but where can hundreds of people be.

Liu Lei saw that Xu Ming didn't know much about the security group, and then said: "Before the 19th year of the Republic of China, the local militia was under the management of the county, and the province was just a name, and now the militia in Zhejiang and Jiangsu has begun to be reorganized the year before last, and the money, grain, and weapons are distributed by the province. ”

Xu Ming now understands that the relationship between the security regiment and the above depends on the jurisdiction of the central government, Zhejiang and Jiangsu are completely under the management of the national government, so if you think that local armed forces such as the security regiment can be used as a supplement to the armed forces of the central or provincial government, they can naturally get treatment from above, while Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places are only nominally subordinate to the central government, and the troops are owned by their respective warlords.

From the matter of the security regiment, Xu Ming saw that the relationship between Hunan and the central government was probably only better than that of Sichuan and Yunnan.

"Others can't get supplements, can't you Liu Mingheng?" Cao Youwen turned his head and said to Liu Lei dissatisfied.

"How can it, brother, your brother is my brother, I have said hello to Director Han and my cousin, try to allocate 80 to 100 guns to Xu Tuanzuo, by the way, I will build a radio station as much as possible."

Xu Ming is a lot more sleek now, and quickly expressed his gratitude. But there are still questions: "Where did the weapons and equipment of the other security regiments come from, a few days ago, Brother Cao and I met the head of Qin in Pingjiang, and he said that his subordinates can each have a gun." In Xu Ming's opinion, 100 guns is still too little, and he is still ready to recruit 800 people, so he can't gang 8 people with one gun.

"Qin Shanyu is in Changsha, he is the wife and brother of Commander-in-Chief Gu, his militia is no different from the regular army, other people's guns have to be made by themselves, and they usually have to be bought."

Originally, there were some things that were hard to say, but several people here were very familiar with each other, even the county magistrate was also an expert, Zhang Jiande saw that Xu Ming still didn't know how to do it, and whispered to Xu Ming's ear and said: "I can contact the guns and ammunition for thousands of miles, and I want to find the person in charge of military quartermasters, the old sleeve is basically 30 yuan a piece, and Hanyang is 50." ”

Xu Ming was not satisfied when he heard it, the Japanese army's standard rifle was Type 38, this rifle was very superior in performance, and it was a whole era ahead of the Hanyang made by most of the Chinese army.

"Medium?" , Zhang Jiande didn't understand for a while.

After Xu Ming finished speaking, he knew that it was bad, how could there be a Zhongzheng at that time, this kind of weapon was only equipped with troops after October 1935, and in his memory, Zhongzheng only produced more than 500,000 units in the Anti-Japanese War, and it was not that the descendants of the Central Army could not get it at all.

Fortunately, his voice was relatively small, and only Zhang Jiande heard it alone, so he quickly changed his words: "Can you buy a Mauser rifle?" he understood that the Mauser rifle was a relatively good gun at that time, and the ordinary regular army might not be able to have it.

"This kind of price is too expensive, 80 oceans a piece. In fact, Lao Maozi's water Lianzhu (2) is good, the price is cheaper, I think it is better than Mauser. Zhang Jiande suggested.

Xu Ming actually doesn't know much about the advantages and disadvantages of various firearms, on the one hand, he likes German guns because Germany has always been known for its quality and reliability, from the Zhenyuan Dingyuan ironclad ship sold to the Qing Dynasty to the current Krupp artillery that sells well all over the world, even if you take firearms as an example, the Mauser pistol is almost a household name, and this guy commonly known as the box gun is a star in China. When he was a child, his uncle made one out of wood for him as a gift, he was still young, and he slept with this wooden gun at night, and now he thinks about it, it is still very sweet.

There is a joke in the county chronicle of his hometown: a bandit wanted to rob, but he had no weapon in his hand, so he made a Mauser pistol out of mud and broke into the house at night, and sure enough, the family was very afraid, but the family had no money, so they knelt down and kowtowed to the bandit and begged bitterly. The bandit looked angry when he saw that they didn't give the money, and slapped his pistol on the table. Originally, I wanted to scare people, but I got into the play too deeply, forgetting that the pistol was made of mud, and I saw the mud cannon falling apart on the table. Eventually, after the diorama was pierced, the family rushed up and strangled the bandit to death with a rope. This is only recorded as a joke in the county records of Xu Ming's hometown, but it also shows the Chinese's awareness of German firearms -- even bandits use German goods.

Xu Ming also has an inhumane idea, the Soviet Union, Britain, and French guns are not the standard weapons of the squadron after the Anti-Japanese War, and China's first standard rifle is the official one, and the official is to imitate the Mauser rifle in 1924, and a soldier who is familiar with the Mauser rifle can also quickly get the rifle in his hand.

Moreover, the caliber of the Mauser rifle and later imitations of the Chinese official could be used with bullets from many other weapons, such as the Czech light machine gun and the Type 24 heavy machine gun.

As for whether this security group can be replenished, Xu Ming, an idealist, will not consider it first.

Qiyang's night is not as bright as Macau's at 9 o'clock, there is not even a single electric light in the already narrow and flat county, only a few kerosene lamps sprinkled with faint light, and the window looks as dim as a few fireflies.

There was a dog barking in the distance, and I wonder if it was the night walker who alarmed the people. Yesterday just after the rain, the mosquitoes grew greatly, and they were large and fat, like Japanese fighters attacking Pearl Harbor, and they found an opportunity to dive and bomb a few people in the house.

Snap, Xu Ming slapped it over, the bomber didn't hang up, struggling to go up to the sky again, Xu Ming pulled off its two wings, put it in the lampshade, and heard the sound of roasting Zizi, it seemed that this could avenge his blood feud just now.

"Qianli, I've calculated it, according to your compilation list, it will cost more than 400,000 yuan to buy these in total."

"There are so many". Xu Ming gasped.

"Mauser 98 type 1,000 a total of 80,000, 3 million bullets a total of 24,000, the big head is a machine gun, Czech light machine guns and 6 heavy machines are expensive, your 60 Czech guns cost 21,000, 6 heavy machines 20,005, I will help you cross out the mountain artillery, what are you kidding, Governor He doesn't have a few, like this Bofors will cost 50,000 less than a single one, you cannonballs you can't afford to fight, a 50 ocean, if your soldiers don't know what to do, one day down, your pants will not be worn."

There is really no way to use the cannon, even Lao Jiang gritted his teeth and used this thing, it is said that the government ordered 24 150 heavy guns from Germany and spent more than 20 million, I don't know if Song Meiling's necklace and ring are still there!

Czech light machine guns must be bought, and they must be purchased in large quantities, this is a weapon that completely overwhelms Japan, during the Anti-Japanese War, China is very fond of using the captured 38 rifles, and Japan is very fond of using China's Czech style. It can be seen that the performance of the Czech style is very much recognized even by opponents.

"Let's cross out the 6 Makqin first, and buy them later when you have money." Xu Ming had no choice but to make a choice.

Zhang Jiande moistened his throat and put down the teacup, what he said just now was a little dry:

"Mortars for thousands of miles are still reduced, your 18 guns for a security regiment are too ruthless, and it is about the same as a division of the regular army, not counting 60,000 shells."

Xu Ming thought about it, but still found a way to ask for it, for troops without heavy machine guns and artillery, this is the only equipment linked to artillery. Money, let's talk about it later, anyway, now everything is on paper.

"There are also armor, medicines, communication equipment, hands, and grenades, which will also cost a lot, and it will cost nearly 200,000 to remove these crossed outs.

"It is estimated that there will be no three or four million," a division has more than 10 battalions," Liu Lei was a little scary when he thought about it.

"Three or four million, like a thousand miles, a few three or four million will not work," Liu Ming and Liu Yunfei are Liu Lei's cousins, and they are also responsible for the supervision and performance evaluation of the security forces in the security department. He accentuated his tone again: "One division, 2 brigades, 6 regiments, 18 battalions, this is not a matter of multiplying a battalion by 18, at that time, you Xu Shizuo wanted a heavy machine gun, is it to increase mountain artillery, and what communications, air defense, these are the main ones who spend a lot of money, maybe it will cost 10 million, I'm afraid even Song Ziwen can't afford it!" ”

Xu Ming also knows that his current troop establishment and equipment are too idealistic, even if he saves this minus that, it will cost 200,000, and when he negotiated with the county magistrate of Qiyang just now, the county only paid 8,000 a year, and he didn't know how to fill the remaining gap!

Fortunately, his security regiment is only a battalion, and if he is now a division commander, it is estimated that he will have to go to Las Vegas to raise funds.

However, the 4 guys next to him didn't know that all his current family assets were less than 10,000, and even Cao Youwen only thought that he was returning from studying in the United States, and he was not reluctant to talk about his family background anymore. If he knew that he was singing about the empty city plan, I am afraid that even the old sleeve would not recommend him to buy it: just make hundreds of big knives and spears, anyway, many militia groups are like this.

Fortunately, Xu Ming has not suffered much loss from his previous life to the present, thinking that anything can be done, anyway, it was easy for him to make money some time ago, and he didn't take military salary to heart.

"Can equipment be directly transferred from the central government?" Xu Ming suddenly had a whim.

"Yes, it's almost the same if you are a relative of Jiang Guangtou."

"If you are a cliché, you must be a relative."

Everyone joked with him, and Cao Youwen knew that he knew some people, so he tried to ask: "Little brother, you don't know people in Nanjing, do you?" ”

Originally, it was just a joke, but Xu Ming really thought about it: "I don't know Nanjing, but I know Duan Qirui." He didn't know if Lao Duan could help him speak.

"Duan Zhizhi will help you say that it must be no problem, but what is the relationship between you and Duan Zhengzhi, and how long have you known each other."

How long have we known each other? Xu Ming said in his heart, I have known him for less than 2 months, only played a few games of chess, this year after returning from Macau Zhang Qian asked him to go, at that time he didn't think about it so much, and Duan Hefei played 3 games. Seeing that Lao Duan was not in good health, he drew a game and lost a game, and the amount of food that day increased greatly, but with this, it may not be reliable to let Lao Duan speak.

After all, he is a political figure, although Lao Jiang treats himself as a disciple and treats him diligently, but he is only doing superficial work, even if Xu Ming is naïve, he knows much more about these characters than ordinary people.

"Just look for Lao Duan, let's not talk about whether he is willing to speak for me, you don't know, the last time I went to Shanghai to play chess with him, his face was already very bad and his health was not good."

couldn't think of a good way for a while, and everyone began to talk about it, from the customs of Hunan to the Changsha murder case that had just happened in the provincial capital, one by one, and then began to comment on famous prostitutes and celebrities.

"Ah" Xu Ming suddenly sighed, and his body couldn't help but stand up, feeling a flash of lightning stirring his brain.

Notes: (1) The Dongjiang River is a first-class tributary of the Xiangjiang River in Qiyang.