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Outside the window, Shanghai is still busy, the feast of wealth caused by the war in Europe continues, and the city has witnessed a miracle of industrial and commercial explosion for four years. Merchants and industrialists of the Republic of China took advantage of the war to build a large number of light industrial projects with few quick results, and many of them became rich overnight and completed the accumulation of primitive capital. For the first time after the rubber scandal, the stock exchange was also overcrowded. In the past four years, in order to win the war and raise funds, Britain and France have continuously sold off overseas assets around the world at low prices, the most representative of which is the largest shipyard in China before 1911, with a total investment of 500,000 pounds at the Yangtze River British Shipyard in Shanghai. The war eventually reduced the shipyard to a commodity, eventually merging with the Shanghai government-backed Yongxin Shipyard early last year, which overtook the Qinzhou Bay Shipyard to become the country's second-largest private shipbuilder after Jiangnan, and together with Jiangnan it occupies half of the country's shipbuilding industry.

Cheap and high-quality British and French assets and the war market, which seemed to be filled with no matter how much it could be filled, made many merchants and factory owners who got rich overnight want to fight forever. But wishes are wishes after all, and it is an indisputable fact that the European war is coming to an end, and businessmen are still desperately expanding their production capacity because their sources are relatively lagging behind, or because they see that there are still two or three years to rebuild Europe, but for far-sighted politicians, it is time to think more about the post-war period.

The European war is opportunistic, and even the only possible chance for China to turn over! In just four years, the state finance has risen several steps. According to recent statistics, in the first half of this year alone, the fiscal tax revenue was as high as 1.2 billion, and it is very easy to exceed 2.5 billion for the whole year. And that's just fiscal taxation. The profits of the mines of enterprises in the hands of the state are not counted. According to Zhang Wenjing and Xu Xiujun's estimates, if these are counted, the central government's revenue will reach at least 3 billion yuan this year. This figure was obtained in the absence of a full levy on land value-added tax, land tenure tax, and industrial and commercial value-added tax, the former of which needed to wait for January next year, while the latter did not want to draw blood from industry and commerce too early in order to allow businessmen to accumulate as much raw capital as possible, so it was planned that it would not be implemented until 20 years. Of course. Russian revenues have not yet been calculated, but because most of the goods shipped back are industrial equipment, except for some civilian equipment that can be put on the market. Most of them are used in national steel, metal processing and other industries, so what seems huge is not much that can be directly converted into money.

Despite the rapid fiscal growth, hidden dangers have already begun. For example, the outbreak of light industry is completely dependent on the external market, and when Britain, France, and the United States re-compete with the world next year, they will inevitably be hit by cheap international goods, and the growth of domestic demand has not kept up with this round of industry and commerce because of land reform. And another big problem is also the reason why Yang Qiu called everyone to a meeting.

The number of troops!

After joining the Entente, the Republic of China relied on Britain and France to contribute money and equipment, and built a total of 35 infantry divisions in two batches, plus some other first-class troops, logistics support, etc., which actually increased by 850,000. Before the war, the Republic of China had 28 divisions of the regular army, 4 ** brigades, 36 national guard brigades, and the actual total strength of the sea and air force was close to 1 million. For two years, the military money provided by Britain and France fed about 1.1 million troops. Therefore, the government can invest heavily in infrastructure construction, industry and commerce, and even have the surplus money to buy land in the market to solve the construction of public rental land. But with the end of the war, these people will gradually come back, according to the minimum military salary standard of 20 yuan per person per month, the monthly military salary expenditure alone needs 40 million. That's 480 million a year! This is not only the military salary, but also the food, drink, equipment, base construction, and so on. According to Yang Qiu's calculations, if it continues to be maintained, the country will have to spend at least 1 billion a year to barely be enough!

And that's just barely!

Although this figure is not a large proportion of the sustained growth of the finances, due to the large number of debts, army building is not only as simple as exploding equipment, but also the amount of money spent on bases, logistics, transportation, personnel training, and so on is astronomical. The three fortresses that began to be built in the northwest cost about 600 million yuan if you count the money, and this is not counting the supporting infrastructure such as railways, electricity, and communications.

In the international environment of the early 20th century, Yang Qiu was not unaware of the importance of the number of troops, not to mention the two evil neighbors of Japan and Russia. But he knows one thing better, and that is that the stupid bird must fly first! The navy will be expanded, the air force will also be the first to be the first to be expanded, and after the war, the European and American armies will enter the era of motorization and mechanization, as a national army that lacks a strong family foundation, it must fly first, and must not fall behind in this round of military reform, otherwise it will cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives. Since he came back, he didn't want to lose at the starting line, even if the scale could not be compared with the world level, he at least had to ensure that he had a core combat force, so he took the opportunity of the launch of the Zhenhai to convene a meeting of senior officers to listen to everyone's opinions.

The feeling of taking a plane for the first time was brought into the conference room by Cai Yi, but before he could tell everyone what it was like to talk about his face, he was glared at by Old Man Sa a few times. The old man was about to go crazy thinking about the battleship, and he finally seized the opportunity to persuade Yang Qiu, but he was suddenly interrupted by him, and there was no good face.

Cai Ye was stared at inexplicably, and when he walked into the conference room, he found that today's meeting seemed to be very different, there was no such rigid and dogmatic atmosphere, and the people who came were all important military members, not only Cai Jimin and Jiang Fangzhen came, He Xi, a semi-retired veteran National Defense Army officer, also came, An Guoliang and Fan Liangshan of the National Guard were also present, Jiang Tai and Wang Guangxiong, several generals born in the southwest chatted with each other, and even Shi Xiaolou and Wu Peifu, who had just withdrawn from the Eastern Front and were still on vacation, also rushed from home.

"Let's all find a place to sit." Yang Qiu beckoned him to sit down, and deliberately asked Cai Yi to be by his side and said: "Today is not a formal meeting, it is rare for everyone to meet in the past few years, so take this opportunity to get together." Second, there are a few things I would like to hear from you. ”

"I'm sure you already know that the European side is likely to end by the end of this year, so there are some things that we have to arrange in advance." Yang Qiu leaned back in his chair casually, holding a teacup and sweeping his gaze over everyone: "I know what you think, and I also know how many troops are needed for such a large territory and territory, so we have two choices in front of us now." The first is to keep the current size of the army unchanged. But the reform of the army and the new equipment will be slowed down. Another option is to cut the meat with a quick knife! We will make a major adjustment of the armed forces and use the money saved to carry out military reform together with Europe and the United States. ”

Yang Qiu beckoned, and a thick army reform plan was sent to everyone. After reading it roughly, Cai Ye was also secretly shocked, because this plan not only involves spending savings, but also involves major adjustments in the army's establishment, equipment, logistics, and so on. According to the plan, the Republic of China will be formally divided into five armed forces: the army, the navy, the air force, the National Guard, and the militia reserve, of which the army, navy, and air force will constitute the main body of the national defense force. And the National Guard and the militia reserve will be an important supplement. At the same time, it was also reaffirmed that the National Defense Force would be the main task of defending national security, while the National Guard would be responsible for maintaining internal stability. Combating serious crimes, ensuring social stability, as well as daily tasks such as customs, border patrols, etc.

Staffing and equipment reform is even greater. According to the plan, in the next 10 years, in addition to ensuring that the army has 38 standing divisions, 3 brigades, 24 railway battalions, and a number of special battalions. For the first time, 8 additional armored brigades will be added!

Standing divisions are the most important combat force of the army, and they will continue to adopt a three-three establishment, and will make use of such means as studying abroad and self-cultivation as possible to increase the number of technical noncommissioned officers in artillery, engineering troops, machinery, trucks, communications, veterinarians, military doctors, and so on, strengthen their logistical and technical capabilities, and strictly train them in new tactics, and the number of personnel will also increase from the current 20,000 to 25,000. And the armored brigade is not only a new branch of the service, but also the core of this round of reform of the Wehrmacht! According to the plan, the 8 armored brigades are not ** for the time being, and they are reorganized from the original 1st Brigade, 4th Brigade, 7th Brigade, 19th Brigade, 88th Brigade, 91st Brigade, 94th Brigade, and 97th Brigade, and the last four are all Central Guard Divisions. Each brigade has two armored battalions under it. Each battalion has three companies, each with a total of 14 tanks and armored vehicles, with one more squad for the battalion and one more company for the brigade. This would result in 108 tanks per brigade, in addition to an infantry regiment, a heavy artillery battalion, a combat engineer battalion, and a baggage truck battalion. communication company and so on. This would result in 108 tanks, 288 other armored vehicles and trucks per brigade for a total of 15,577 men, and 33,000 for the eight standing divisions with the armoured brigade!

In fact, the establishment of the armored brigade is already equivalent to the armored division of World War II, and it can be completely released, but Yang Qiu is afraid that the armored tactics will be leaked too early, so he continues to let it be mixed into the infantry division. It looks more like a mechanized infantry division than an armored division, but the tactics and combat methods of the two are completely different things.

The cost of an armored brigade is huge, even if the light tanks and armored vehicles used now are cheap, a brigade needs to cost 12 million yuan just to equip all of them, which is equivalent to a treaty heavy cruiser later! Fuel, ammunition, and consumption are several times the price of equipment, so 8 is already the limit that the current state finances can afford! To this end, the Ministry of National Defense will build special military horse breeding farms in the Tianshan Mountains and Mongolia, select and breed war horses mainly from captured Russian Don hippos and Ili horses, increase the current army holdings of 150,000 horses to 550,000, and purchase 150,000 bicycles to strengthen the mobility of infantry. In addition to the new armored brigades and accelerated mules and horses, the whole army will also form 66 heavy artillery battalions, each battalion of 12 155 mm and 24 105 mm, plus the already 70 mm infantry guns and the 40 and 85 calibers under development, even excluding fixed fortresses and mortars, the whole army will have 8,064 artillery pieces of various types. The navy will gradually start building a number of new warships, including two aircraft carriers, four heavy cruisers, and six light cruisers, on the basis of the current basis, after 1920, and the air force will not only obtain the best establishment, but will also purchase a batch of new aircraft again, and begin to develop the next generation of aircraft and combat weapons, and ensure that the scale of 2,000 will be reached after five years.

According to the above establishment calculations, the total number of national defense forces will be reduced to 1.5 million, including 1.2 million in the army, 300,000 in the sea and air, and for the first time, the professionalization of technical non-commissioned officers will be fully implemented, and the number of professional and technical non-commissioned officers will be increased to 100,000 in the next ten years through overseas study, self-training, school recruitment, etc., and by 1935, at least 400,000 professional non-commissioned officers will be retained!

According to the scale and number of people drawn up in this plan, it is equivalent to the dismissal of 350,000 people at once, although these people will be put into the reserve for two years, but in any case they will take off their military uniforms. But Feng Guozhang and the others, who were still worried just now, were not disappointed, but nodded again and again. This is because judging from the lessons and lessons of this European war, the future trend of the army is to have strong firepower, rapid mobility, and armoring, and if you want to achieve the three major goals, you will have to spend countless money to fill it, but the national strength of the Republic of China cannot be compared with that of the European and American powers. Everyone is the leader of the army, and they know very well how much this reform costs, to use the simplest analogy, if the infantry division costs 100 yuan, the mule and horse will cost 200, and the armored will cost 500 yuan! In particular, the combat capability of the new armored brigade is completely comparable to that of its own infantry divisions, so after this round of reduction, the combat strength of the Wehrmacht is not weakened but stronger, and at the same time, it can ensure that it is on the same running line as the strong European armies. The professionalization of armored brigades and technical non-commissioned officers also ensures that the troops can be rapidly expanded if necessary.

It just so happened that the past few years were an external gap period, so Yang Qiu decisively cut his wrists and cut 350,000 people at once! In this way, you can save at least 13 million dollars per month, which is 150 million yuan a year! Of course, more than 100 million yuan a year cannot support such a large reform plan, so the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Finance have promised that from next year, as long as the military revenues in areas outside the current control of the National Defense Forces are used, they will be used for national defense construction. To put it simply, if the Wehrmacht were able to mine in Tomsk, the state would buy prisoners of war, death row prisoners, or Chinese laborers at market prices, and all profits would be given to the military after deducting expenses. Of course, in order to avoid internal management and trading, the government finds special enterprises to handle the management, and the army is only responsible for security and management. This policy also made Cai Ye secretly frightened, thinking of what he saw in Harbin not long ago. A few dozen truckloads of wagons and wood are already worth a lot of money, and if this regulation is followed, it will simply open the way for the army to continue to "rob" the resources of the Siberian region.

"I agree with this plan, the future of the army is mobility, firepower and armor!" Jiang Fangzhen was the first to stand up in support. The officer, who studied in Japan and Germany and served in Europe, had a serious and serious gaze: "We have missed the industrial revolution in the past century, and we should not expect to catch up without thirty or fifty years, but we must not miss this round of military reform." It's better to be bitter now than to be bitter in the future! ”…… (To be continued......)