The war is over, and after the signing of the Istanbul Peace Treaty, large-scale wars will not break out for the time being. Troops fighting outside the country will also be transferred back to China one after another. At the same time, the reform of the imperial army, navy and air force was officially launched. This reform will involve the size of the armed forces, the command structure, and the coordination between the various branches of the armed forces.

Emperor Long Yufei had already rethought about the reform of the army, and before, the army of the empire was completely led and commanded by the General Staff. This gives the General Staff a lot of power. In times of war, this may be beneficial for the empire to concentrate all its forces to defeat the enemy, but it can also lead to an excessive concentration of military power, which is detrimental to the stability of the state. Therefore, Emperor Long Yufei has been preparing for military reform for more than a year since the outbreak of the war. He fully listened to the opinions of the military bigwigs, and finally came up with a reform plan.

After the Imperial Council, Emperor Long Yufei left behind the military giants and began to announce personnel adjustments to the upper echelons of the military. The first was the promotion of military ranks, the Chief of the General Staff, Admiral Sun Hao, to the rank of Marshal of the Imperial Army, and the commander of the 1st Fleet of the Navy, Admiral Wei Yong, to the rank of Marshal of the Imperial Navy. Lieutenant General Liu Zhongming, Chief of Operations of the General Staff, was promoted to Army General. After that, many generals who were prominent in the war were promoted, and more than a dozen were promoted from lieutenant general to general.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Empire has decided to establish the War Department and the Admiralty Department to manage the Empire's army and navy ⊕ the training, the recruitment of soldiers, the procurement of equipment, and so on. In peacetime, the War Department and the Admiralty will become the supreme governing bodies of the Army and Navy, directly accountable to the Emperor. Long Yufei glanced at the many military giants. Then he said.

Marshal Sun Hao and Marshal Wei Yong and others already knew about this plan, so. They were silent. As for the other generals, although they were a little surprised. But they all kept silent. After all, this is an order solemnly announced by Long Yufei and cannot be changed.

"The General Staff has been reorganized and is no longer responsible for the army's schedule training, recruitment, and equipment procurement. Specialized in the command of the war, as well as in peacetime military exercises, tactical research, and so on. ”

To put it bluntly, the powers of the General Staff were divided, and the War Department and the Navy Department took the power of the General Staff in the training and equipment of the army, and the General Staff became responsible for operations. That's the case. The power of the General Staff was greatly weakened, and the Chief of the General Staff was no longer the first person in the military known except for the emperor. Both the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy are able to contain the Chief of the General Staff. Of course, this is in peacetime, and in the event of the outbreak of war, the General Staff will take over command of the army. After all, at that time, everything needs to revolve around winning the war, and only by winning the war is the most important thing. Otherwise. Once you lose the war, everything is in vain.

"In the event of the outbreak of war, the Supreme High Command will be formed by the General Staff, the War and Admiralty, as well as the Air Force Command. The Emperor is the supreme commander of the High Command, the Chief of the General Staff is responsible for the command of the army, and the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy fully cooperate. Make sure that the Empire's warplanes can run fast and achieve the Empire's goal of winning the ultimate victory! Long Yufei continued.

Such a distribution of powers and tasks. The generals of the military said they understood. After all, as soon as the war broke out. The army will be re-twisted into a rope. The Chief of the General Staff will no longer be in a monopoly position, which will be beneficial to the command of the army, and will not lead the army to unbearable losses because of the mistakes of one person. Of course, this will inevitably reduce combat efficiency.

In fact, before the military reform, the Chief of the General Staff commanded operations under the leadership of the Emperor. However, the emperor had limited energy and could not have stared specifically at the battles at the front. So, the power of the Chief of the General Staff suddenly became very large. The reform is being carried out now precisely to address these problems, so that the power within the empire's army can be more balanced.

After understanding the significance of the military reform carried out by the Empire, everyone's eyes were on the candidates for the Chief of the General Staff, the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy, and they were all speculating about who would hold these positions. However, everyone knows that there are only a few candidates qualified for these positions, including Field Marshal Sun Hao, Marshal Wei Yong, and Admiral Liu Zhongming.

"The Minister of War is Marshal Sun Hao, the Minister of the Navy is Marshal Wei Yong, and the Chief of General Staff is Admiral Liu Zhongming!" Long Yufei continued. In fact, everyone has already guessed that this will be the result.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Field Marshal Sun Hao, Admiral Wei Yong and Admiral Liu Zhongming all stood up.

"Tomorrow, the General Staff will present a disarmament plan, and the War Department and the Admiralty will also submit a plan for the development of the future Army and Navy. In addition, the commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Song Zhiyuan, will also submit a future Air Force development plan! Long Yufei announced.

The Imperial Air Force, because it was too small, was not reformed in the same way as the Army and Navy. However, in the next few years, with the continuous progress of technology, the fighters developed by the Imperial Air Force have become more and more in line with the requirements of actual combat, which will enable the Imperial Air Force to achieve rapid growth. It is not only the expansion of scale, but also the improvement of combat power. In this world war, the Imperial Air Force only sent airship units into the attack on Yekaterinburg. However, by the time of the next war, the Imperial Air Force would actually go to the battlefield.

The next morning, the Reich's Disarmament Conference was convened. In addition to the military giants and major generals attending the meeting, the Imperial Prime Minister Lin Zihao also attended the meeting. The Cabinet also attaches great importance to the reduction of the armed forces. After all, this means how much military spending needs to be consumed per year.

"Your Majesty, the General Staff has completed the plan for the reduction of the army." The new Chief of the General Staff, General Liu Zhongming, handed over the disarmament plan to Long Yufei. Of course, this plan was not made yesterday. In fact, when Field Marshal Sun Hao was still the chief of the General Staff, he had already begun to make plans. It's just that after he stepped down from the post of chief of the General Staff, Admiral Liu Zhongming was responsible for the implementation.

Long Yufei took the disarmament plan report, flipped a few pages, and then nodded. In fact, he already knew the contents of the plan before this. After all, it was about the empire's army, and without Long Yufei's approval, this disarmament plan would not have been possible at all.

"First of all, the army, given the vast territory of the empire, the empire must have enough troops to defend these areas. During the war, the Imperial Army had a total of 24 army groups, and after the war, the Imperial Army would gradually reduce its troops to 18 main army groups. This kept the combat strength of the Imperial Army at about 3.5 million men. Admiral Liu Zhongming said.

Compared with the current size of 24 group armies, the reduction of 18 armies at once is equivalent to a reduction of one-quarter of the main force of the army. However, even so, the combat strength of the Imperial Army remained at about 3.5 million, which is still a lot. Of course, such a small army was nothing compared to the vast territory of the empire. However, Prime Minister Lin Zihao still frowned when he heard this figure.

"Your Majesty, the army's combat troops remain at three and a half million, and if you add non-combat troops, the total strength is still four million, which seems to be too much, right?" Prime Minister Lin Zihao said.

"Prime Minister, let's not mention this issue for now, listen to the deployment of these troops by the General Staff, and then talk about whether there are too many troops!" Long Yufei said. Originally, he also thought that there were too many troops. However, once these armies are deployed separately, it will be found that the number of troops does not seem to be large, or even insufficient.

Lin Zihao nodded.

"Of the 18 armies of the Imperial Army, six armies will be deployed in Europe, including one in the British Isles, one in the Kingdom of Belgium, one in the Kingdom of Spain, and one in the Mediterranean Province. Two army groups were deployed on the territory of Eastern Europe of the empire. In Central Asia and Siberia, the Imperial Army was to deploy one army group each. In the Nanyang and Indian regions, the Imperial Army will each deploy a group army, and the defense area of the group army deployed in the South Sea will be expanded from Nanyang to Australia. In order to safeguard the Empire's interests in the Americas, the Empire had to deploy at least two armies in the Americas. In addition, Japan also needs to deploy an army group. In this case, there would only be 5 armies left in the empire itself. Admiral Liu Zhongming introduced.

18 army groups, which seems like a lot. But sprinkle it like pepper noodles, and there's not much left. The last remaining 5 army groups deployed on the mainland will become the mobile forces of the Imperial Army. Once war breaks out, it is unlikely that the six armies currently deployed in Europe will be able to withstand the enemy's attack. Therefore, the five armies left behind by the empire will send reinforcements to Europe as soon as possible. If calculated in this way, the 18 army groups of the Imperial Army are not much.

Lin Zihao didn't seem to expect such a result, after all, there are more than three million troops, which seems to be a lot, the first in the world. But if they are deployed separately on the territory of the empire, it is insignificant.

"Prime Minister, there is no way for the Imperial Army to maintain this size. After all, the territory of the empire was too large. Starting next year, the empire will also carry out large-scale migration, and in order to protect the safety and interests of the immigrants, the deployment of heavy troops in the new occupied areas is a last resort! Long Yufei said. (To be continued......)

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