Chapter 359 Yang Du wants land reform

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Except for Song Ziqing, who learned about it earlier, everyone else frowned secretly, just now they said that the troops were insufficient, and now they were going to form the Northwest Army, what kind of business is this?

Especially Cai Ye and Feng Guozhang, their brows were furrowed deeply, they knew the importance of the northwest, otherwise they would not have raised the problem of too few garrisons in the northwest alone, but the northwest was different from Guannei, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty no longer built two railway arteries running through the north and south, which ensured the possibility of long-distance troop transfer and logistics transportation. However, there are very few roads in the northwest, and the difficulty of supplying the army is several times greater than that in the Guannai, not to mention the vast territory and sparsely populated area, the relations between the Hui Manchu and other ethnic groups and the Han people are tense, and there are many private troops, and the Ma family operating in Gansu and Qinghai is the most rampant, these people are all good at riding and maneuvering, and they cannot achieve the effect at all without an army of 10,000 or 20,000 infantry alone.

The cost of maintaining tens of thousands of troops in the northwest makes people shudder to think about it.

Not to mention that Tsarist Russia has always retained nearly 300,000 troops in the Far East, and if it really wants to fight, it will not be able to stop it at all without 4 or 5 divisions, and once there is chaos in the northeast, Bohai Bay and even Shandong will be very dangerous, and according to Cai Yi's idea, after all 22 regular divisions are formed in March next year, at least 10 divisions will need to be placed north of Xuzhou alone to deter Japan and avoid the outbreak of war.

Even if four brigades are counted according to the minimum standard, there are only 10 divisions and three independent brigades left in the south and the hinterland of the Central Plains, and even if the National Guard can help, it will also not be able to meet the needs of national defense.

Song Zi cleared his throat: "We have always paid little attention to the northwest issue, and I personally think that it is better to do it sooner rather than later, and the main reason for this is the interference of external forces and the proliferation of guns. Last month alone, Xi'an and Baoji reported the seizure of more than 1,500 guns of various types and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition destined for Gansu (). Russian infiltration is also becoming more and more serious, and Russian troops are infesting the northwest and Mongolia very frequently, and as General Feng said, I also think it is necessary to immediately send more troops to the northwest. ”

Cai Ye said: "Stabilizing the northwest is certain, how to ensure long-term peace and stability is the key, to achieve this goal, the number of troops in the northwest must not be less than 20,000, which also needs to be incorporated into a large number of cavalry to meet the needs." ”

Yang Qiu nodded: "My idea is that the 6th Division will move north to Baotou and Chicheng, the 43rd Brigade and the 151st Brigade, plus the cavalry part of the current troops, and use the cavalry regiment as the team to form a cavalry brigade to form a 121 mixed division, and the 6th division and 121 mixed division to form the Northwest Army, and at the same time merge Chahar, Suiyuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Mongolia into the Northwest Military Region." ”

Feng Guozhang's fingers tapped on the table, and he still said the same sentence: "There are not enough troops!" The territory of the seven northwestern provinces is larger than that of the eight southwestern provinces, and there is a Russian threat outside Mongolia and Xinjiang. It is enough for the 6th Division to control Suiyuan and Chahar to the north, and it can also deter Mongolia, but although this 121st Division is given an establishment, it is still the troops of the 4th and 15th Divisions in its bones, and it is not enough to add 10,000 cavalry brigades to control the four provinces, so in my opinion, it is better to form two more divisions. ”

Yang Qiu scratched his head, how could this old man still have the idea of adding two divisions, and said with a smile: "It is certain that the number of the Northwest Army is insufficient, so the National Guard will also send three brigades to Baotou, Yinchuan and Lanzhou respectively to cooperate." I have sent a telegram to the President asking the Prime Minister and the Government to prepare for the extension of the western section of the Longhai Line to Yumen Pass and the extension of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway to Baotou as soon as possible. This year, the Ministry of National Defense will allocate a budget of 5 million yuan to first build three large-scale army advance bases in Baotou, Yinchuan, and Yumen Pass, and on this basis, recruit soldiers in the northwest and prepare to form two divisions in three years.

The premier also promised to recruit 200,000 displaced people from all over the country to move to the northwest within five years, order 1,000 tractors and 30,000 animal power to be handed over to them, implement militarized management, and go to the northwest to pioneer and plant cotton, sorghum and other crops, so as to increase the number of local population. ”

Even the budget has been made, and it is obvious that it has already been planned.

This plan is also feasible, and the 6th Division's northward advance to Baotou and Chicheng can completely rely on Shanxi and Shandong behind it, so the logistical consumption will not increase too much (). The 121st Mixed Division is a new unit, but it is actually a combination of the 4th Division and the 15th Division, and the vacancies of the two divisions need to be filled slowly by training recruits for a year, and the number of troops will not increase in the short term, the main problem is the stability of Shaanxi, and controlling Shaanxi can ensure the front-line military needs, so the remaining two brigades of the 4th Division still need to be stationed in Shaanxi for a period of time. As for the idea of building the Corps in later generations, it is even more novel, if it is really possible to build hundreds of thousands of non-armed personnel under militarized management within five years, it can not only increase the proportion of Han people in the northwest, but also accelerate the construction of the northwest and truly incorporate them into the management system of the Republic of China.

The construction of the Northwest Army and the Military Region was soon decided, with Shi Xiaolou, the former commander of the 4th Division, serving as the commander of the 121st Mixed Division and the commander of the Northwest Army, Liu Yutang, the former deputy commander of the 4th Division, taking over the post of commander of the 4th Division, and Xu Shuzheng being appointed as the staff officer of the Northwest Military Region, but the candidate for the commander of the 6th Division has not yet been decided.

Feng Guozhang recommended Chen Eun, but Chen Eun had already been appointed as the commander of the 16th Division, so he chose Li Chun as the second choice, but Cai Ye thought that the 6th Division was the foundation of the Jin Army, and even if Yan Xishan was not used, he should choose one from among the officers of the Jin Army.

"Let me think again." Yang Qiu didn't give an answer for the time being, he actually had a candidate in his heart, but this candidate was still in confinement, and he needed to observe for a while, fortunately, the formation of the Northwest Army was not very urgent, and now Tsarist Russia was still very strong in the north, and it was too obvious that marching into the northwest would attract the vigilance of Nicholas II.

After the meeting, everyone left one after another, leaving only Yang Du alone, Cai Gongshi knew that he had something to say to Yang Qiu, so he took the door with him when he went out, and took care of Lei Meng not to disturb people.

Yang Du was not interested in military affairs, and he didn't express any opinions during the meeting just now, and after seeing everyone leave, he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Yang Qiu: "This is what Liang Shiyi asked me to bring to you." ”

The letter is very simple, mainly talking about the transfer of the small Beiyang treasury with Zhang Wenjing, in addition to the gold has arrived in Nanjing, the British 1 million pound loan he controls has also been handed over to the Ministry of Finance, not only that, but also the more than 20 million that Beiyang has accumulated privately over the years has also been handed over.

As soon as Yang Qiu finished reading the letter, Yang Du took out another letter that made him laugh dumbly: "Brother Chenzi, why don't you take it out together?" ”

Yang Du smiled: "It was a business just now, but now it's a private matter, the vice president has always been clear about public and private, and the degree should also be abided by." He really knew how to behave, and deliberately bit the distinction between public and private, so that Yang Qiu could not continue to ask, only to find out that this was something similar to an application for joining the party, this Yang Du was actually ready to join the national society?

Yang Qiu, a dignified man, still admires it, the way of the emperor alone is enough to attract any future generations, but it is a pity that he was born hundreds of years late, and he must have been a figure in the cabinet in the previous dynasty, but now it is impossible for the emperor to come back, and Wang Xue, who has studied for more than ten years, is destined to gradually fall lonely.

After putting down the letter, he asked: "I heard that Brother Chen Zi has a good relationship with the Kuomintang Party, and the former president also intends to hand over the United Party to you, why is he suddenly interested in our national society?" ”

Yang Du seemed to have expected him to ask this, raised his eyebrows and said lightly: "Win the king and defeat the king." ”

This guy is really straightforward. Yang Qiu's belly was dark, but if he could join the National Society, it would be a good thing, he was very famous in Beiyang, and he had a close relationship with Liang Shiyi and other transportation departments, and he would definitely be able to expand the influence of the National Society in the north, so after putting away the letter, he said: "I will forward the letter to the Party Secretariat for processing." ”

Although he didn't say yes, except for Li Yuanhong and a few executive committee members of the State Society, he didn't have the final say, so Yang Du didn't ask much, but turned to government affairs: "General Du Songpo came all the way from Tianjin and found that the northern provinces were still unstable, especially the serious banditry in Henan and Shaanxi, which had seriously affected the overall situation, and the Central Plains was unstable and the world was restless. ”

I didn't expect him to suddenly turn to the political situation, so Yang Qiu was also slightly stunned, but he also saw that he was very utilitarian, and he wanted to use this to pry open his career, but he didn't like this style of winding around, and said: "Brother Chenzi will say it directly if he has something to say in the future, I don't have so many curves here." ”

Yang Du smiled awkwardly and said: "The Anmin action is a top-down high-pressure, and the turmoil in the provinces at that time is understandable, but Henan is different, the country has been unified, and the provincial governments have begun to gradually resume their functions. ”

Yang Qiucai doesn't care about this kind of "reputation", but Henan is currently indistinguishable from the people and bandits, and no matter how strong the pressure is, it will definitely lead to deaths and injuries all over the field and affect the great cause, so think about it and ask: "What should I do between the brothers and sisters?" ”

"The root of bandits everywhere is not how many bandit leaders, but how many blind obedience, since it is easy to cause civil unrest from the top down, then from the bottom up ()! Not only to those who are full of evil deeds, but also to fight hard, to those little evils. Yang Du's eyes rolled, and the corners of his mouth were cold: "Leave it to the people to fight!" ”

"Ordinary people?"

"That's right! Defeat the big local tyrants and bullies, confiscate the land and divide it equally, and then Zhang Bang informs the people of Henan that those who quit the gang or make meritorious contributions to the bandits can get the land! ”

Yang Qiu's heart chuckled, and two words suddenly surged in his mind when he looked at Yang Du.

"Land reform!"

Could it be that this guy had contact with the Bolsheviks? Yang Qiu secretly thought, in fact, he was unwilling to follow the way of land reform in the later generations, that method was too destructive, but land reform was a process that must be followed. The southwest's action to reassure the people is only a superficial taste, and the power of the southwest landlords and gentry is far less powerful than that in the north; taking Henan as an example, almost eighty percent of the land in the province is in the hands of local tyrants and landlords, and this proportion is much higher than fifty percent in the southwest.

Moreover, the landlord class is not useless, their children are all well educated, and many of them have studied abroad, and if they fight too hard, it will inevitably cause these people to lose hope in the country, and eventually turn into another "revolution".

Yang Qiu frowned, his fingers tapped on the table for a while, and only slowly stopped after half a ring: "In half a month, Shaanxi and Henan will take the lead in banning guns, and the troops are also preparing to crack down on some underworld forces, Murong Han is preparing for this matter, if Brother Yan Zi is free, he might as well go to his side for a few days." ”

Yang Du was overjoyed in his heart, nodded and said goodbye immediately, but Yang Qiu looked at his back and sighed deeply.

Reform is easier said than done.

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