Of course, if you use the old-fashioned rack to return the artillery, it will be cheap, and the price will be reduced by at least half, and 200,000 yuan will be able to get an artillery battalion.

Even if it is equipped with the imitation German-style Fuzao 75 mm tube retreat gun produced by the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, it will take more than 300,000 yuan to be able to take down an artillery battalion!

If you look at the equipment alone, if you build a new infantry division, then most of the equipment funds will be spent on the purchase of artillery and artillery shells.

Although Zhao Dongyun made a lot of money from military trade, and Fengtian's financial income last year was more than 10 million, there were more places to spend money, and Zhao Dongyun, who was under greater financial pressure, could only be like Yuan Shikai a few years earlier, counting every tael of silver with his fingers.

This is called the more money in hand, the less money you have!

So last year, I moved left and right, and finally squeezed out more than 100,000 taels of silver, first purchased 20 1903-style 75-mm tube retreat guns produced by Krupp from Germany, and then ordered 20 75-mm tube retreat guns from the Fuyuan Machinery Qì factory.

In recent years, the price of artillery shells was expensive, and the Far East was affected by the Russo-Japanese War, and the price of these ordnance rose even more sharply, not to mention the prices of international arms dealers, and the price of 75-mm artillery shells made in Germany actually cost 40 taels of silver per round, which was at least half the price before the Russo-Japanese War.

Even the 75-millimeter shells of the Fuyuan Machinery Factory, which claims to be of high quality and low price, although they claim to be not inferior in quality to German-made shells, have some performance defects, but just like that, the price has risen to 321 rounds!

Last year, the 50,000 rounds of artillery shells purchased in order to reserve artillery shells for the artillery units of the Third Town, the First Mixed Association, and the Second Mixed Association were worth more than 1.6 million taels of silver.

It can be said that whether Zhao Dongyun expanded the army in Fengtian or Yuan Shikai expanded the army in Zhili, most of the funds required for the early expansion of the army were used to purchase artillery and shells.

Of course, this is only about the initial investment funds, and if we talk about the long-term situation, then the maintenance expenses of the troops will be the majority.

To put it simply, the cost of raising a division for a year is enough to build a new division!

Therefore, for those careerists who want to expand the army, although it is also difficult, it is even more difficult to maintain these expanded armies.

Throwing down more than 10 million at a time is to train a new army in two towns, which is a gritted tooth for many local governors, but if you let them smash tens of millions of troops every year to raise an army, then most people will not be willing!

Anyway, in contemporary China, except for Yuan Shikai, there is no other governor who is willing to do this.

Well, now I have to add a Zhao Dongyun.

And these two people have something in common, that is, they regard military power as the core of their own power, so they spare no effort to expand the army, and how to raise it after the expansion is a question for the future.

Whether it is Zhao Dongyun or Yuan Shikai, in fact, they didn't bother with this problem! If this problem is considered every day, the six towns of Beiyang will not be built, and Zhao Dongyun will not need to expand the two Fengtian mixed associations.

"Now that our two mixed associations have begun to take shape, it's time to change the association into a town!" Xu Bangjie once again said to Zhao Dongyunjian: "Now that the new army training across the country has been put on track, although our two associations are still slightly inferior, but if they are adapted to towns, even if they are hung with the word provisional, they are more than worthy of the current name!" ”

Zhao Dongping didn't speak directly, but looked at Meng Enyuan: "Old Meng, what do you think?" ”

Meng Enyuan also nodded and said: "Seeing that other provinces have established new armies one after another, and some people below also frequently talk about this matter, according to my opinion, this matter should not be delayed any longer!" ”

The reason why Meng Enyuan and Xu Bangjie, the two commanders of the mixed association, repeatedly asked Zhao Dongyun to expand the two mixed associations into towns, on the one hand, was that they wanted to take the opportunity to step past the level of commanders and directly step into the control of one town, and on the other hand, many middle- and lower-level officers were also looking forward to expanding the association into towns.

Because what does the expansion of the town represent? Those two positions of command have little to do with ordinary middle and lower-level officers, but there are four co-commanders and twelve standard commanders, and as for the battalion officers, there are even more, and these extra positions are their chances to take the position!

If it hadn't gone through last year's big expansion, it would have been forgotten, but now the two mixed associations have been expanded, although it is less than the index of two towns, but there is no problem in setting up a shelf, so it is no wonder that those officers are looking forward to it.

In the face of this situation, Zhao Dongyun knew that although the current financial pressure was still relatively large, the expansion of the association into a town could not continue to be delayed, because it was related to the promotion and wealth of his subordinates, and he could not be taken lightly.

To put it bluntly, what are the many officers under your command following you Zhao Dongyun mixed up? It's not just to get promoted and make a fortune, in fact, it's the same as Zhao Dongyun who is willing to follow Yuan Shikai, the reason is very simple, that is, Yuan Shikai can let him take the position!

Most of Zhao Dongyun's subordinates are similar, why are several of Zhao Dongyun's descendants loyal to Zhao Dongyun, it is because Zhao Dongyun is climbing up step by step, and he also takes these descendants to climb up step by step, such as Lin Yongquan, this person used to be just a big soldier, and he was just a team officer with Zhao Dongyun, but now he is already a high-level military and political officer, controlling military education and recruit affairs in Fengtian Province, well, he also serves as the general office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in name only.

Then there are Gu Lanyu, Kong Guanbei and others, who used to be just ordinary team officers, but now they are all standard.

If you follow you Zhao Dongyun and don't have the benefits of being promoted and getting rich, why do you make people loyal to you, do you really think that you are the true son of heaven, and as soon as Wang Ba's anger is released, there will be a lot of famous generals who want to die or live to mess with you?

People live in the world are pursued, what they do is nothing more than the word fame and fortune, if you say it more deeply, it is 'desire', no matter what you want? Fame, money, power, and femininity are all one of the desires.

For example, if there is a big corrupt official who likes money and women, you can say that he is greedy, but if you change a person, he is a good official who loves the people like a son, but from the perspective of human nature, 'loving the people like a son' is actually a kind of greed.

Maybe that's not straightforward enough, but to put it in an extreme way: even if you want to die, it's a desire!

People always have all kinds of wants, and if the superior wants to make his subordinates loyal to him, he must satisfy their various pursuits, give him money if he likes money, give him all his strength if he likes power, give him a false name if he likes to be a clean official, start a war for him if he likes to fight, and give them hope for those great men who are willing to see the rise of the country and the nation.

Of course, in these various pursuits, it varies from person to person, but most people still want to be promoted and make a fortune!

Therefore, even if he did not take into account the military reform, just to give his officers a channel for promotion, Zhao Dongyun had to expand these two associations into towns.

In late January 1906, Zhao Dongyun officially reported to the imperial court, saying that the two towns of the Fengtian Standing Army, which had been organized and trained since last year, had been initially formed into an army, and were officially changed from a mixed association to a town.

As a result, the First Mixed Association and the Second Mixed Association of the Fengtian Standing Army were officially renamed the First Town and the Second Town of the Fengtian Standing Army.

At the same time, Zhao Dongyun also attached a list of the military chiefs of these two towns, and there was no surprise in this list, all of them were Zhao Dongyun's descendants, and all of them were the backbone of the Soviet system in the mouth of outsiders.

The commander of the first town of the Fengtian Standing Army is Meng Enyuan, and there is no need to say much about this person's resume, he is one of the several generals under Zhao Dongyun, and it is natural to reuse it.

Lin Pingxiong served as the first co-commander of the first town, and he was also an old subordinate of Zhao Dongyun, and successively served as the officer of the machine gun battalion, the gang commander of the third town, and the commander of the first mixed association in Fengtian.

The second co-commander was served by Sun Hanchen, although this person had a close relationship with Wang Yingkai, but he also turned his head early Zhao Dongyun, successively served as the third town management belt, Fengtian the first mixed co-commander belt, and now he is a newly rising senior general in the Soviet system.

Lu Jin, the commander of the artillery standard, was originally the first battalion of the artillery standard of the third town.

The cavalry standard belt is served by Lu Chengtong, this person's name may not be familiar to ordinary people, but his nickname is familiar to many people, that is, 'Lu Shuanggun', after surrendering to Zhao Dongyun, he has also developed, from the cavalry officer to the pipe band, and then to the current standard system, the speed of getting up is no less than that of other Zhao Dongyun's descendants.

The commander of the second town of the Fengtian Standing Army is Xu Bangjie, and there is no need to say much about this person's resume, he is a senior general in the backbone of the Soviet system, this person is a veritable veteran general in the Beiyang system, and Meng Enyuan and Chen Guangyuan and others have to bow down when it comes to seniority. When Xu Bangjie was the infantry commander in the Wuwei Right Army, Meng Enyuan and Chen Guangyuan, including Zhao Dongyun, were still at the grassroots level!

The commander of the third association of the town is served by Li Chun, who is also a descendant of the old Beiyang, and he was mixed in the third town in the early years.

The commander of the Fourth Association was Zhou Fulin, who was also the fourth standard commander of the Second Mixed Association of the Fengtian Standing Army.

The artillery standard command belt is served by Ren Cungao, who was born in the camp school of the third town, and has served as the officer of the artillery team of the third town, and the second artillery battalion of the Fengtian Second Mixed Association.

The cavalry standard is served by Wang Anlong, who was formerly the first battalion of the cavalry standard of the third town, as early as the end of 1903, he accompanied Meng Enyuan to participate in many anti-bandit operations, when he and Hua Zhenji were the backbone cavalry officers in the third town system, and later Hua Zhenji was promoted to the third standard of the cavalry of the third town, and he was transferred to the first battalion and the cavalry standard gang commander, this time he was transferred to the second town to take charge of the cavalry, on the one hand, it is to reuse the other hand, and on the other hand, it is also hoped that he can get the cavalry standard of the second town.

In addition to the above positions, the remaining eight infantry standard commanders are all descendants of Zhao Dongyun, and strictly speaking, most of them are from the third town.

It can also be seen that the status of the third town under Zhao Dongyun is somewhat special, although with the passage of time, the importance of the third town to Zhao Dongyun has gradually declined, but as the cradle of Soviet officers, the foundation of Zhao Dongyun's army expansion, the third town still plays a role that cannot be ignored.

It can also be seen here why so many bigwigs in Beiyang want to control the troops of a town, because the troops of this town can be said to be the foundation of their expansion of power, such as Wang Yingkai's first town, Zhao Dongyun's second town, and Duan Qirui's fourth town.

Zhao Dongyun's expansion of the association into a town, in addition to the change of the number of the establishment and the ascension of a large number of officers, is a large amount of money investment for Zhao Dongyun, not to mention anything else, just to replenish enough artillery for these two towns will cost millions of taels of silver!