The blue sky in early summer is so blue that it makes people dizzy, and only a few soft white clouds that float by from time to time can prevent people who are stupid at the sky from fainting on the spot. On this sunny day, hundreds of officers in a six-story European-style building with a gray façade outside the Desheng Gate of Jingshi—the building of the General Staff of the Imperial Armed Forces—were maintaining the operation of the Imperial military center in an orderly manner as usual. The office of Marshal Liu Yun, chief of the imperial general staff, is on the third floor of the building, next door to the confidential conference room, and opposite is the tea room for lunch break, which is convenient for holding meetings and communicating with the staff in the building. The marshal's office had three compartments, the marshal himself worked in a large compartment by the window inside, in the middle compartment there was always a duty adjutant and two secretaries, and in the outer compartment near the door there was a lieutenant and three soldiers in charge of the guards, and in this compartment the marshal's personal adjutants, secretaries and guards were also on standby.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the door of the chief of the general staff's office opened, escorted by two personal guards, Liu Yun walked out, turned a corner and entered the confidential conference room next door. In the conference room, the directors of the various divisions of the General Staff Department, plus Brigadier General He Xin, vice minister of national defense and director of the arms industry of the Ministry of National Defense, were already in place, and the military caps were laid flat on the table.

"Sit down." Liu Yun said, and everyone took their seats again. As soon as he entered the door, Liu Yun felt a strange atmosphere in the conference room, since the Great Purge, everyone in his old officer corps was respectful to him, but he lost the harmony of his former comrades and comrades-in-arms, and the original relaxed elements of the meeting were swept away, leaving only machine-like obedience and work.

"There is no way, it's over, there are no more comrades-in-arms, only chess pieces, only tools, and politics is absolutely not emotional." Liu Yun remembered what Wen Yi said, but even if he rationally agreed with Wen Yi's statement, in the perceptual world deep in the cerebral cortex, Liu Yun still retained a few traces of comrade-in-arms complexes that could open his body and mind. With a not-so-complicated mood, Liu Yun took his seat at the chief and put down his marshal's top hat adorned with ornate feathers.

"The theme of today's meeting is twofold, one is the new establishment of the army units, and the other is the future deployment of army units in various military regions. The meeting will go on until about 12 o'clock, and everyone will have lunch in the department's cafeteria, and if there is no problem, it will begin. After Liu Yun finished his opening remarks, he looked around at the closest generals around him, and everyone's faces were as stiff as puppets. It will take some time to heal the scars caused by the Great Purge, after all, everyone is now in danger, first, they are afraid of being executed as Ding Jieyun's comrades, and second, they are afraid of being assassinated by Ding Jieyun's old department like Zhu Tao and Wu Beinian—they cannot know the truth of the truth. Liu Yun calmed down and began to work.

"Hook, can you give me a brief description of the new establishment plan drawn up by the Operations Division?"

General Hu Ke, the newly appointed chief of the Operations Division, had originally served as the chief of the armament division of the General Staff Department, and in September last year he was put Chinese New Year's Eve commander of the Zhili Military Region, and after Zhu Tao's death, he was transferred back to the General Staff Department to take over the work of the Operations Department. In addition, in terms of qualifications, Hu Ke is also one of the four officers above the lieutenant level in the special forces brought by Liu Yun, and is tied with Ding Jieyun, Zhong Xiahuo, and Yang Zhengjin, all of whom are henchmen among henchmen.

At this time, Hook unfolded several documents and began to introduce the preliminary results of the first work he had carried out since taking office: "As you all know, the original establishment system of our army was to restrain Japan, and the sustained combat capability of a single combat division was stronger than that of a single Japanese combat division, which was reflected in the quantity and quality of heavy firepower and the comparison of the strength and weakness of the supply capability. In the next ten years, the operational target of our army will be European armies, specifically, taking Russia as an example. The Russian Army is different from the Japanese and Chinese master regiments, and its highest tactical unit is the corps, with two infantry divisions, one cavalry division, one engineer battalion, and one mobile baggage under one corps. The infantry division consists of two infantry brigades of the second regiment and one artillery brigade. Each regiment has four four-company infantry battalions and one service company. The cavalry division has two cavalry brigades of two regiments, each of which has six cavalry companies. Its artillery brigade has two to three artillery battalions, of which the first and second battalions each have three companies, the third battalion has two companies, each with eight guns, and a brigade has 48 to 64 guns. The cavalry artillery consisted of Cossack cavalry artillery batteries of six guns each. Generally speaking, the combat personnel of each infantry division is about 18,000 people, equipped with 76 mm field guns, mountain artillery, 87 mm light field guns, 152 mm mortar guns, 152 mm heavy guns, and a total of 48 guns, as for machine guns, since last year, the Russian army has been stimulated by the Korean War, and only then has it begun to buy patents from the British Vickels firm to manufacture Maxim machine guns. One of its cavalry divisions had a combat crew of about 3,500 to 4,200 men, armed with twelve cannons, and soon to be armed with six machine guns. ”

"At present, our Praetorian Guard Division has a total of 28,500 combat personnel, and in wartime it is necessary to add 8,000 porters to keep the supply sufficient, and it is equipped with 117 cannons of 75 mm or more and 99 heavy machine guns. The Wehrmacht infantry division had a strength of 26,500 men, 54 cannons of 75 mm or more, and 99 heavy machine guns in name, but only 33 in reality. The highest tactical unit of our cavalry is the cavalry brigade, and the Janissary Cavalry Brigade has 6,500 personnel, equipped with 24 light cannons and 18 heavy machine guns, while the cavalry brigade of the Wehrmacht can generally only be issued with 12 heavy machine guns. ”

Compared with the Russian army, the firepower and strength of our army's single combat division are far superior to that of the Russian army's single infantry division, but it does not have a three-to-one offensive advantage, and our army's brigade-level units cannot resist the attack of the Russian army's single infantry division.

"The first downsizing plan is to abolish the brigade-level structure of the troops and change it to a division-regiment-battalion system, which will still follow the principle of the three-three system, with three infantry regiments in each infantry division, three infantry battalions in each infantry regiment, and four infantry companies under the infantry battalions. Both the Praetorian Guard Division and the National Defense Infantry Division are equipped with artillery regiments under the four-battalion system, and in addition, certain increases and decreases are made to the support units at the division and brigade levels. The Praetorian Guard Division has 18,500 combat personnel, equipped with 72 cannons of 90 mm or more and 60 heavy machine guns, and the National Defense Infantry Division has 17,500 combat personnel, equipped with 54 cannons of 90 mm or more, and 36 heavy machine guns. This plan was formulated to balance the excessively large differences between the division-level units of China and Russia, and it can greatly increase the flexibility of our army's division-level units, and at the same time, it can also increase the number of infantry divisions; according to the first downsizing plan, the funds originally used to build and maintain 24 national defense infantry divisions can be used to develop 40 new-style divisions. ”

"The second downsizing plan abolished the regimental establishment and changed it to a division-brigade-battalion system, with each division having three brigade headquarters, 12 infantry battalions, and a number of support units, and the brigade headquarters has four infantry battalions under its jurisdiction in peacetime. This plan eliminated the distinction between the Janissaries and Wehrmacht infantry divisions, each with four artillery battalions and one reconnaissance cavalry battalion, as well as a number of independent firepower units. The infantry battalion consisted of four infantry companies, and the number of battalions was similar to that in the first drawdown plan, with each numbering at around 1,000 men. The division has a strength of 20,000 men and is equipped with 72 cannons of 90 mm or more and 54 heavy machine guns. This option would maximize the flexibility of divisional units, but the number of divisional units that could be built would be reduced, and the original 24 divisions would only be able to fund 32 to 36 new infantry divisions. In addition, this plan will require the mid-level and higher-level commanders of the troops to have a higher quality of operational command and to improve the mobility of the troops in terms of technical skills. ”

"The expansion plan is completely opposite to the above two plans, and its guiding ideology is to restrain each other with an asymmetrical establishment system. In this scenario, the original division-brigade-regiment-battalion system will be maintained, and the differences between the Janissaries and the Defence Infantry Division will also continue. At the lower levels, platoon, company, and battalion units will be greatly expanded, with each infantry company to 140 men, infantry battalions to 600 men, infantry regiments to 2,500 men, infantry brigades to about 9,000 men, and support units to be reorganized. In this way, the Janissary Infantry Division will have a strength of 36,000 men, and the National Defense Infantry Division will also have a strength of 34,000 men. Such a master regiment has actually reached the level of establishment at the level of the European army, and with the addition of a cavalry brigade, it can compete with the army-level units in Europe. With this kind of division of masters, a single brigade can resist the attack of an infantry division of the opposing side in defense, and a single division can completely overwhelm an infantry division of the opponent as long as it reinforces a small number of cavalry or infantry units. The Janissaries Division will continue to have superior fire support weapons, while the Wehrmacht Infantry Division will abolish the nominal number of machine guns and replace it with 54 to 72 heavy machine guns, and the number of cannons over 90 mm will also reach more than 72. After such an expansion, the funds intended for the completion of twenty-four Wehrmacht infantry divisions can barely complete sixteen to eighteen divisions......"

At this time, Liu Yun was making a small calculation in his heart, if the downsizing plan was implemented, the Praetorian Guard in his hands would be greatly reduced, and correspondingly, the strength of the National Defense Force would make up for the lack of equipment and surpass the Praetorian Guard in terms of comprehensive combat effectiveness, which would inevitably form a situation in which the internal was light and the external was heavy, which was absolutely intolerable for Liu Yun, who had just experienced the stimulation of Ding Jieyun's rebellion. In addition, the idea of asymmetry and restraint in the expansion plan is also in line with Liu Yun's creative way of thinking, he does not want to be tied by his opponent, and imitates the opponent's compilation system in order to defeat the opponent, which is not within the scope of his thinking.

"I think the expansion plan is more in line with the needs of our army......" Liu Yun immediately recounted a lot of high-sounding reasons, and he had no obligation to let his subordinates know what he really thought in his heart.

"As to the number of operational divisions of the Wehrmacht, I will make every effort to request more financial support from the Cabinet with a view to bringing the number of standing infantry divisions to twenty in 1904."

Everyone nodded yes, Liu Yun couldn't help but think of Zhu Tao, when Zhu Tao was working in the General Staff, there would always be some big and small problems raised in person, and now in this way, everyone has become a response worm, as if he really regards him as a great dictator who reigns over the world and is irreversible, Liu Yun's heart can't help but churn.

Putting away his mood, Liu Yun turned to Brigadier General He Xin: "He Xin, what new weapons can our arsenal equip the troops on a large scale before 1904?" ”

He Xin was empty-handed, and directly complained: "According to the budget constraints of the cabinet, it will be impossible for us to equip new weapons on a large scale, and now we can only continue to mass-produce Mauser 88 rifles, Maxim heavy machine guns, 75-mm mountain and field guns, and 150-mm heavy guns, which can fully meet all the needs of the army standing army and the combat reserve army before 1904." ”

"Do you believe I can break the limits of the budget?" Liu Yun said.

"How many percent?" He Xin asked rhetorically.

Liu Yun thought to himself, obviously the people in the cabinet were not affected by the purge, and they could still refute normally, hoping that his old subordinates could recover as soon as possible, after all, he was not purging his former comrades-in-arms for no reason.

"What if the Army's equipment procurement costs could be increased by five percent every year?"

"I will be able to meet the needs of one and a half million supplementary reservists for Mauser rifles."

"What about a 10 percent increase?"

"The Janissaries can be equipped with a 105-mm cannon with a new anti-recoil device, as well as light machine guns in each Janissaries platoon, 60-mm mortars in each Janissaries company, and 80-mm mortars in each Janissaries battalion."

"Fifteen percent?"

"It is possible to equip the infantry battalions of the Wehrmacht with 80-mm or 60-mm mortars, the infantry companies with light machine guns, and the Wehrmacht with new 90-mm light howitzers to replace the 75-mm cannons."

"Twenty percent?"

"I can't do anything."

"For what?"

"The Imperial Prime Minister will fight hard with you, and it is estimated that the two of you are likely to die together, and no one will pester the cabinet to ask for an increase in military spending."

Liu Yun couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and the generals also laughed, and the atmosphere in the conference room finally relaxed.

"Is it because you Premier Wen keep complaining that I make trouble for him?" Liu Yun stopped laughing and asked.

"No, we really can't stand it, the cabinet has been worried about money since the Korean War, and after Premier Moon came to power, he was directly under pressure from you.

Liu Yun nodded: "Well, I didn't expect that I really brought so much trouble to your Premier Wen, my fault, I will apologize to him again." As I said just now, if you increase the army's equipment procurement expenses by 15 percent, draw up an outline of the weapons production plan, and send it to me the day after tomorrow, you don't need to show Zhang Zhidong, because he may not be able to understand it. ”

"Yes, he still insists on using a brush to review documents."

"Leave him alone, it's a false title to make him Minister of Defense anyway."

Liu Yun then turned to General Xiao Ruhai, director of the General Armament Department, who belonged to one of the few generals who did not change their positions after the Great Purge: "Xiao Ruhai, tell you about your equipment plan for the Imperial Army in 1904. ”

Xiao Ruhai took out a stack of documents and began to speak slowly: "If you adopt an expansion plan...... The basic infantry squad will continue to be equipped with 10 men and will be equipped with 7.92 mm Mauser 88 A rifles, with the squad leader equipped with a 7.62 mm revolver, and the Janissary infantry platoon will be equipped with a new 7.92 mm light machine gun, one per platoon, while in the Wehrmacht, it will be equipped to the company level, with two per company, in the company's firepower platoon. The Janissary infantry company will be equipped with two 60-mm mortars in the fire support squad, while the Janissary infantry battalion will have two 80-mm mortars in a fire support platoon with the battalion's three to six heavy machine guns. Correspondingly, the IDF infantry battalion was armed with three 60-mm mortars and formed a fire support platoon with two to four heavy machine guns attached to the battalion. At the regimental level, the Janissaries will completely eliminate the old 57-mm mountain guns and 37-mm Grimm guns, and its mixed artillery batteries will be armed with six 75-mm mountain guns and three 100-mm heavy mortars. The IDF, for its part, will continue to use the old 57mm mountain guns, and its mixed artillery battery will be armed with six 57mm mountain guns and three 80mm mortars to replace the original Grimm guns. At the brigade level, the brigade artillery battalions of the Janissaries will be equipped with new 90-mm light howitzers to replace the 75-mm mountain guns, and the number of equipment will remain the same, still eighteen. The Wehrmacht's brigade artillery battalion replaced the original 57mm mountain guns with 75-mm howitzers, reducing the number of equipment from 27 to 18. In addition, a 100-mm heavy mortar battery will be added to the brigade line of the Defence Force, with a capacity of six. At the division level, the divisional artillery regiments of the Praetorian Guard continued to operate in the same five-battalion formation, two of which were armed with 150-mm howitzers, three battalions with 105-mm cannons, 18 guns each, and five battalions with a total of 90 guns. Divisional artillery regiments of the Wehrmacht are still four battalions, two of which are armed with 90-mm light howitzers, and the other two battalions are equipped with 105-mm cannons, eighteen guns each, for a total of seventy-two ...... in four battalions."

“…… According to the above equipment scheme, each Janissaries division will be equipped with thirty-six 150-mm heavy howitzers, fifty-four 105-mm cannons, and fifty-four 90-mm light howitzers, for a total of one hundred and forty-four cannons of more than 90 mm, in addition to sixty 75-mm mountain guns and thirty-three 100-mm heavy mortars. Each Wehrmacht infantry division will be armed with 36 105-mm cannons and 36 90-mm light howitzers, for a total of 72 cannons over 90 mm, in addition to 54 75-mm howitzers and 18 100-mm heavy mortars......"

He Xin listened patiently, and then asked for the stack of documents from Xiao Ruhai's hand: "I will take it back to study and study, and I am not alone in the Ordnance Industry Division, the key to the problem is still funds, and if you have money, you will have everything." ”

Liu Yun sighed: "There is no way, the comprehensive economic construction has just been launched, and it is impossible to provide more financial support for the army, and I hope that the situation of economic development can be better than expected, so that I and Premier Wen will have a much better life." We are money spenders, and we will not understand the distress of the money raisers, but one thing is very clear to everyone: without the money spent in vain, there would be no artillery for our warships, no new-style officers for our well-trained officers, and no soldiers with adequate salaries and equipment, and we would not have been able to have the glorious achievements of the First Sino-Japanese War. Our victory came from the money they raised. ”

Everyone nodded again.

“…… Alright, get back to work. The next topic is the future deployment of army units in various military regions, which is a matter for the Operations Department and the Training Department. ”

Hook unfolded several other sheets of paper: "...... In order to meet the needs of the Russian war, and to take into account the material supply and reserve replenishment capabilities available in each region, it is planned to deploy different army forces in the six official military regions and the two special military regions...... In the Zhili Military Region, in addition to the entire Janissaries, two Standing Infantry Divisions of the Wehrmacht, four independent cavalry brigades and one independent infantry brigade were deployed; In the Northeast Military District, six standing infantry divisions, two separate cavalry brigades and one separate infantry brigade are deployed; In the North-Western Military District, two standing infantry divisions, two separate cavalry brigades and one separate infantry brigade are deployed; In the East China Military District, five to six standing infantry divisions and one separate infantry brigade are deployed; In the South China Military District, four to five standing infantry divisions and one separate infantry brigade are deployed; In the South-Western Military District, two to three standing infantry divisions and one separate infantry brigade are deployed; In the Mongolian Special Military District, two separate cavalry brigades, two separate infantry brigades and three separate cavalry regiments are deployed; In the Tibet Special Military Region, two separate infantry brigades and two separate cavalry regiments are deployed......"

In the big elm tree outside the conference room, the cicadas who had just escaped from hell were desperately singing the praises of freedom, although others did not like their songs, and soon the marshal's guards rushed out and launched a chemical attack on them with sprayers, and the free cicadas were quickly annihilated.

"Stupid cicada." The marshal muttered to himself muttering sweet and sour pork ribs in the canteen of the General Staff.

"Why don't the cicadas crow, how can it be summer without cicadas." Hook, the chief of operations, munched on soybean sprouts on the other side, munching to himself.

This article was first published in Mingyang Pin Library: www.pinshu.com, please indicate the author and source for reprinting.