The year 1918 was destined to be an extraordinary year, in which the world was at peace.

The first was the February Revolution in Germany, which was followed by the October Revolution in Russia, and thus ended the war in Europe that had lasted for four years. Secondly, in China, with the resolution of the problems of Outer Mongolia and Xinjiang, as well as the development of the Feng system, China has finally ushered in a time without war since the Republic of China. But 1918 was destined to leave a strong mark on Chinese history, and in March of that year, the ruling Kuomintang Socialist Party, which was the leader of the Nationalist Government, passed a resolution at the National Assembly to completely lift the ban on the party.

The first is the split of the Kuomintang itself, the alliance with Sun Wen as the core first became independent to form the Chinese Kuomintang, followed by Zhang Taiyan's Guangfu faction also became independent to form the Chinese ** Party. After Xiong Xiling and Liang Qichao obtained Wang Zhenyu's consent, they once again hung up the brand of the Chinese Progressive Party. In addition to the Socialist Party of China, of which Wang Longzhong is the party chairman, four parties have sprung up in Nanjing at once, and in addition to 23 political parties, large and small, have been registered.

With Wang Zhenyu's mediation and support, the four parties finally chose to govern in coalition, thus avoiding major political turmoil. It is worth mentioning that Wang Jingwei, who fled in a hurry a few months ago, boldly returned to Nanjing and assumed the post of vice chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang. For this obvious provocation, Wang Zhenyu chose to turn a blind eye for the sake of the overall situation.

He has a lot of things to worry about, and the first thing he has to worry about is the problem of cultivating internal strength. As a traverser, Wang Zhenyu values the military more than anyone else in this era, and he knows very well that the basis for his ability to become the number one real power in this country is the youth army under his command. If it weren't for the fact that they had this army, Sun Wen and the other ambitious people would not have immediately devoured themselves alive. Therefore, Wang Zhenyu's current focus is neither to interfere in the Russian Revolution nor to take benefits from Germany, these things can be handled by those under him, and the most difficult thing at hand is nothing else, which is the third round of military reform that the Youth Army is about to launch.

On the basis of Wan Yaohuang's plan, Wang Zhenyu has made major revisions, and the level of reform has been upgraded from simply expanding the field army to reorganizing the entire army system.

At present, Wang Zhenyu directly controls 15 provinces, including Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xikang, Yunnan, and Guizhou, as well as three special cities of Nanjing, Wuhan, and Shanghai. In addition, there are the Five Tibetan Autonomous Regions, the Northwest Autonomous Region (Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia) and the Four Mongolian Autonomous Regions (East Mongolia, West Mongolia, North Mongolia, South Mongolia and Kulun Special City). There are almost thirty-one provinces and cities, not counting the field army, but the strength of the garrison is a terrifying number.

Therefore, the first step of Wang Zhenyu's reform is to put the security forces, first of all, the subordinate relationship should be clear.

On February 27, Lieutenant General Hao Bing, commander of the security forces, was ordered to meet Wang Zhenyu.

"Brother Hao, count the days, it's been almost seven years since the Battle of Yudaimen!" Wang Zhenyu asked seemingly very casually.

Hao Bing is no longer the rough man he was at the beginning, he has made up for his cultural knowledge over the years, and he has become a lot more particular about what he says: "Yes, Dashuai, I have been thinking about it for a long time, I really didn't dare to think that there would be today's situation, this is all Dashuai's leadership." ”

Although he knew that it was sycophancy, Wang Zhenyu still accepted it calmly, and waved his hand and said: "What kind of leader is well-organized, it doesn't rely on you old brothers to help." Now we need the support of you old brothers who fought together in the past. ”

Hao Bing immediately got up and said loudly: "If there is anything that the marshal commands, he must be willing to drive him willingly, and he will not hesitate to go to the soup and the fire." ”

Wang Zhenyu laughed and said: "Hey, sit, sit, sit down first, it's not necessary to go to the soup, and I'm not willing to let you old brothers take risks, mainly because I plan to carry out a reform of the current security forces, which requires the full support of your brothers......"

"Marshal, can the humble position be understood in this way, according to your line of thought, in the future, the subordination of the security corps will become the dual leadership of the security system and the provincial military districts."

Wang Zhenyu nodded with satisfaction and said: "Yes, this is also the first step for me to reduce the local troops, and now there is almost one brigade in the troops directly under each provincial military district, not counting the regiments belonging to the subordinate military divisions, it is really too much." What the country needs is an elite field army, what do you do with so many local garrisons that don't fight, to scare the common people? So my idea is that the provincial military districts should be retained, but the focus will be on reserve management and national armed mobilization. I will equip the army under their command according to the standard of no more than one brigade or two regiments in one province, so that there will be less than 90,000 troops in 15 provinces and three cities. However, the force is a little weak, so when you mobilize troops in special events, you need to mobilize your security forces stationed in various places. As for the security forces themselves, they should also be reformed, and they should no longer be regarded as police riot forces, but should be upgraded to internal affairs forces directly under the Military Commission, like the gendarmerie. However, now you have also seen the new rural construction plan at the grassroots level, and in the future, village police will be set up in the villages, so the size of the security force will be reduced by one-third. The size of the detachment should be controlled at 1,000 people, and under the general detachment, eight garrison detachments and one mobile detachment should be equipped according to the standard, with a total number of less than 10,000 people, so that the size of the security force will be enough to keep at 180,000 people, no problem, right? ”

Hao Bing took a deep breath and cut off a third of the troops at once, which involved a lot up and down, but he didn't dare to say that there was a problem, so he could only nod silently and say that there was no problem.

Wang Zhenyu seemed to see through his thoughts and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid of officers and soldiers making trouble, we have a plan for their distribution, it's nothing more than taking off their military uniforms and changing into police uniforms, it's okay." ”

Hao Bing said reassuringly: "Then please rest assured, within this year, this reform will be completed......

Wang Zhenyu knew in his heart that the Wuzang region was garrisoned by Liu Xiang's troops, and because of the acquiescence of the British, Liu Xiang's troops would be reorganized into the Wuzang Frontier Army this year, and there would be no division-level formation, nor would they be included in the field army, that is, six frontier brigades, about 30,000 people.

In the northwest, Gu Zhenglun's 60,000 gendarmes are fulfilling the obligations and responsibilities of the security forces, and considering the complexity of the ethnic situation in this place, Wang Zhenyu has no intention of changing anything.

Then the next first step to reform is the military commission's own organizational structure, due to the latest amendment to the national government organic law passed in the national assembly, Wang Zhenyu now finally does not have to be the first archway. The first decree he signed in 1918 was the Active-Duty Military Forces, which prohibits all active-duty servicemen from joining any political faction, and Hsu Chongzhi's Minister of National Defense was directly withdrawn, as he himself refused to quit the Kuomintang and was sent to the reserves. According to the latest reserve law, as long as Xu Chongzhi does not give up his military status and rank, he will receive a reserve service allowance at 40% of the salary standard for active military personnel. As for the real power, I'm sorry, the expansion of the active army is still too busy, and a large number of officers and soldiers who have been remobilized have arranged errands for the police and village police, so there is simply no spare financial resources and equipment to support the construction of the reserves. So the current reserve has nothing but the huge virtual number of sixty divisions.

After taking back the Ministry of National Defense, the navy, land and air force are all in hand, and it will be much easier to reform in the future.

The first is the adjustment of the organizational structure and personnel of the Military Council:

Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission of the National Government: Senior General Wang Zhenyu, Vice Chairman: Senior General Wang Longzhong, Secretary-General and Director of the General Office of the Military Commission: General Zhao Hengti List of the Standing Committee of the Nine National Standing Committees: Wang Zhenyu, Wang Longzhong, Li Zongren, Wan Yaohuang, Ma Xicheng, Xu Yuanquan, Yang Wangui, Zhao Hengti, Li Liejun, Xiong Kewu.

First-level Ministry: Minister of National Defense: General Li Zongren, Chief of General Staff of the General Staff: General Wan Yaohuang, Minister of Armaments: General Ma Xicheng;

(1) Second-level departments directly under the Central Military Commission:

Director of the State Security Administration: Lieutenant General Zhou Bin; Commander of the General Headquarters of the Military Police: General Yang Wangui, Commander of the General Headquarters of Security: Lieutenant General Hao Bing.

(2) Second-level departments under the Ministry of National Defense:

Vice Minister of National Defense, Director General of the Army and Director of Education of the Army University, General Xu Yuanquan;

Minister of the Navy and Commander of the Navy: Lieutenant General Chen Shaokuan, Minister of the Air Force and Commander of the Air Force: Lieutenant General Yang Yat-sen, Commander of the Railway Corps: Lieutenant General Song Xianfu, Commander of the Engineers: Lieutenant General Hu Lichun, Commander of Artillery: Lieutenant General Zeng Jiwu, Minister of National Education and Political Mobilization: Lieutenant General Dai Jitao.

(3) Second-level departments under the General Staff:

General Jiang Fangzhen, deputy chief of the general staff and chief superintendent of the military academy.

Director of the Combat Training Department: General Li Liejun, Director of the Military Armed Forces Department (mainly responsible for recruit work and military education): General Xiong Kewu, Commander of the Mongolian Border Guards: General Xu Shuzheng, Commander of the Northwest Frontier Army: General Wu Peifu, Commander of the Wuzang Border Guards: Lieutenant General Liu Xiang.

After this big list, there are not many controversial places, and the only thing that surprised all parties was Bai Chongxi's out. Wang Zhenyu directly appointed him to the position of head of the leading group for military reform, even if he coped with it, his military rank was still that of a general.

As for the 33 field divisions directly under the General Staff Headquarters of the Youth Army, they were also reformed, and the division commanders were promoted to lieutenant generals, and the chief of staff, the chief of armaments, and the directors of the Political Guidance Department were all designated as major generals. Under this change, the position of the division commander was clearer, and the power was more dispersed, more like a loner and a factory director.

At the same time, according to his line of thinking, many generals with outstanding military achievements will also be transferred to the Central Military Commission to serve as deputy ministers, and once the war requires the establishment of combat units at the army level or even at the front army level, these people with rich combat experience will be the first candidates for army commanders and commanders.