On 12 April, Xiao Zhenlei convened a military meeting to solicit from the members of the Military Commission the commanders of the first batch of troops of the expeditionary force and the troops at all levels that would go on the expedition; according to Xiao Zhenlei's consultation plan with the British side, the first batch of expeditionary forces had a group army with a total of about 300,000 men. In addition to infantry, the Air Force and Navy assisted in the operation.

Once the first expeditionary force is assembled, it will be escorted by the naval fleet and transported to the Persian Gulf in batches to land in Iraq and Kuwait under the Ottoman Turkish Empire. At this time, the Middle East was basically under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and even Egypt was part of the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, so if the expeditionary force wanted to reach Europe, it was necessary to defeat the Oslo Turkey as an obstacle, and only by defeating it could the fleet pass through the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, otherwise it would only be possible to cross Africa, Xiao Zhenlei did not have that patience.

After the meeting began, Xiao Zhenlei said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have obtained the management rights of Southeast Asian countries, and now the troops have fully entered Southeast Asia and taken over the local garrison and power, except for Siam, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. The condition was that we would have to form an expeditionary force and go to Europe to help Britain and France against the Central Powers. After our consultations with the British, Britain will build some large airports and military bases in the border areas between Iran and Iraq for the officers and men of our expeditionary force to serve as forward bases for rest and supply, and the first batch of our expeditionary force will form a group army of 300,000 people! We will bear the military expenses ourselves, but the British will transport military supplies and ammunition, fuel and other materials from India, Afghanistan and Iran, and if we need to continue to send more troops, the military expenses of the troops sent in the future will be fully borne by Britain and France. We're just going to send people and weapons, what do you think? ”

Xu Shaozhen said: "President." According to me, since we are helping them to fight. Then all military expenses should be paid by them, and now we ourselves have to bear the military expenses of 500,000 people, which is not a small amount, and the British cannot be allowed to take advantage of it, and they are not without money! ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled: "Old General Xu's idea is very good, and I don't want to pay for it." The British are rich, but no one's money is blown by the wind, they have already handed over Southeast Asia to us, and they want them to pay for it. The relationship between the two sides will have to be stiffened, no matter what, everyone is still an ally, and it is our common goal to confront the Allies, and we should also make every effort to force the British to be anxious. I estimate that according to the current situation, an expeditionary force of 500,000 men is not enough, and at least one million will be needed. The Germans have already carried out a national mobilization, with a total of eight million troops, and I really dare not imagine that a country can carry out a national mobilization. The government needs so much prestige and national cohesion, at least in my opinion, that it is absolutely impossible for us to carry out a national mobilization. Even if it is mobilized, the common people will not respond. Because the Qing Dynasty didn't have that cohesion, I have been thinking about this for the past two days. Does our government have this cohesion? If we carry out a national mobilization, will the people respond to our call? ”

"It depends on the attitude of our government towards the common people, if we treat the common people as slaves, as livestock in captivity, as grazing, slaughter if we want, and kill them when they are fattened? I'm afraid that we are not far from destruction! If we treat the common people as our parents, brothers, and sisters, and think about them wholeheartedly, I think they should respond to us, and we should do this at all, because we are originally from the common people, and our parents, brothers and sisters are ordinary people, if we forcibly separate ourselves from the common people, consciously distance ourselves from each other, and consciously create a hierarchical gap, then now is the beginning of our demise! ”

"Oh, that's a long way off, let's get back to business! What do you think of the first expeditionary force? Do you have any comments on the composition of the commanders and the army? ”

Cai Guodong coughed twice and said: "President, everyone, I think that since it is a foreign war, and it is an expedition to other countries, I think we can take some of our new weapons to the battlefield to test the actual combat performance, especially tanks, anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, mortars can be used on a large scale, newly developed grenades, flares and flamethrowers, in addition to the third generation fighters, carrier-based aircraft and aircraft carriers also need to further test the actual combat performance on a large scale!" ”

"The newly developed Dragon Combat II tank has been finalized and produced 300 units, and I thought that an armored division could be formed to test the actual combat performance of tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefield, and at the same time train commanders to use tanks as mobile fortresses and rapid assault weapons, and see if they can sum up a set of tank tactical theories!"

Xiao Zhenlei took a puff of cigarette and nodded: "Well, this idea is good, weapons such as anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns also need to be tested in actual combat, each regiment should form an anti-aircraft machine gun company, and division-level combat units should also form an anti-aircraft artillery regiment or anti-aircraft artillery brigade." This expeditionary force, I am going to mechanize it, but in the current situation, it is not possible, our transportation capacity is limited, it is not realistic to transport a large number of jeeps and trucks from the country to the Middle East, but if it is all infantry, it is not good, most of the Middle East is desert, and our soldiers rarely have combat experience in such an environment, our weapons and firepower are sufficient, but the mobility is insufficient, for this reason, I think even if we cannot mechanize, we must implement full pack horses! ”

Jiang Fangzhen asked: "President, if we want to implement full pack horses, the number of horses and mules needed is not a small amount, although the British promised to pay for military supplies and logistical supplies, but the use of horses and mules and horses is no longer among the military supplies, can they agree?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand and said: "In Iran and Afghanistan, and even India, there are a large number of horses, camels, mules and horses, you don't need to worry about this, I will negotiate with the British, in short, I will hand over a sufficient number of horses and mules to the logistics department of the expeditionary force, and the expeditionary force troops can seize the enemy's weapons, ammunition, strategic materials, money and valuables in the hostile country, in addition to the money and goods captured by the enemy's combat officers and soldiers belong to the soldiers. Any other money and valuables seized must be handed over, and then collected and sold, and the proceeds should be used for the military expenses of the expeditionary force, which is what we often call in military life to feed the war with war! Seizures can only be directed at enemy government agencies, enterprises and institutions, and collective property, but not against civilians who have no weapons and no malice! The soldiers of the expeditionary force can only fight against the soldiers of the enemy country and anyone who carries weapons, and they cannot open fire on civilians who have no weapons and no malice, which are the two requirements for the expeditionary force."

Since decisions have been made, these decisions will be implemented, so Jiang Fangzhen wrote down these requirements and conveyed them when the first batch of soldiers of the expeditionary force was assembled. In addition, the decision to organize armored divisions and to form air defense units at all levels of the expeditionary force must be carried out; after all, fighting a war in Europe is no better than fighting in the East, and in Europe there are now a large number of warplanes hovering in the sky all day long, and if there are no air defense units, it is very easy to be bombed and strafed by enemy fighters; although neither the Entente nor the Central Powers have formed air defense units in their troops, now that this problem has been thought of, the expeditionary force must solve this problem. So as not to regret it after suffering heavy losses at that time.

"There is another problem, since we want to realize the full packhorse of the expeditionary force, it is necessary to find people who can raise horses and drive carriages, which can be found from the army or from the people, in short, this matter must be solved as much as possible, and if there are horses and mules and horses, but there are not enough people to raise horses and drive, it will be a joke. Also, the British may not be so generous, I guess they will not give us all the horses and mules we need, at most half, and we will need to solve the rest ourselves, how to solve it? There were a lot of horses in the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary, so I don't need to say anything about it, right? ”

Everyone recorded it rustling in their notebooks, and Jiang Fangzhen asked again: "President, what troops are the first batch of expeditionary force units composed of?" Now that time is pressing, you can't just pull a few armies to form them, right? ”

Xiao Zhenlei asked, "Then what do you have?" ”

Jiang Fangzhen smoked a cigarette and said: "The early operations of the expeditionary force are mainly in the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which is also the main combat mission of the first batch of expeditionary forces, most of the Middle East is desert, including Iran, which is a desert, if the army that has never had experience in desert life is transferred to fight, I am afraid that the expeditionary force will encounter great trouble at that time, so I think it is most appropriate to transfer troops from the northwest region to form the first batch of expeditionary forces, after all, they have more or less some experience in desert life!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and nodded: "Yes, I agree, then do you think 300,000 people can take the Ottoman Turkish Empire?" If it is not enough, then it is necessary to send troops to garrison and live in the northwest region from now on, so that they can have enough experience in desert life! ”

Jiang Baili said: "With the tactical elements of our soldiers, military equipment, and experience in desert life and combat, and the assistance of the navy and air force, 300,000 troops are enough to sweep through the Ottoman Turkish Empire!" ”

"Well, the General Staff should make every effort to coordinate and cooperate with the formation of the expeditionary force, and the air force will temporarily send 300 fighters to the Middle East to participate in operations, and now the British are organizing manpower to build airfields in India, Afghanistan, and Iran, and when their airfields are repaired and fighters are sent over, the air force units of our expeditionary force will also follow." (To be continued......)