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Text Chapter 468 Disarmament and Financial Management (Part 2)

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    Shanghai is still busy outside the window, and the wealth feast caused by the European war is still continuing. In the past four years, the city has witnessed a miracle of industrial and commercial explosion.  ././Businessmen and industrialists in the Republic of China took advantage of the war to build a large number of light industrial projects with low investment and quick results. Many people became rich overnight and completed the accumulation of original capital.  The stock exchange was also overcrowded for the first time since the rubber scandal.  In the past four years, Britain and France have been selling overseas assets around the world at low prices in order to raise funds for winning the war. The most representative one is the Shanghai Yangtze River Yingshang Shipyard, China's largest shipyard before 1911, with a total investment of 500,000 pounds.  The war turned the shipyard into a commodity, and it was eventually merged with the Yongxin Shipyard, which was supported by the Shanghai government early last year. The latter also surpassed the Qinzhou Bay Shipyard to become the second largest private shipbuilding company in the country after Jiangnan.  Together with Jiangnan, it accounts for half of the country's shipbuilding industry.

    The cheap, high-quality British and French assets and the seemingly insatiable war market made many businessmen and factory owners who got rich overnight hope to continue fighting forever.  But wishes are wishes after all, and it is an indisputable fact that the European War is about to end. Businessmen are still desperately expanding production capacity because their sources of information are relatively lagging behind, or they have spotted the opportunity for European reconstruction in two or three years, but for some  For far-sighted politicians, it is time to think more about the post-war period.

    The European War is an opportunity, and it is even the only possible chance for China to turn around!  In just four years, the national finances have risen to several levels.  According to recent statistics, fiscal revenue in the first half of this year alone reached 1.2 billion, and it is very easy to exceed 2.5 billion for the whole year.  And this is just fiscal revenue.  Corporate mining profits held by the state are not included in the calculation.  According to estimates by Zhang Wenjing and Xu Xiujun, if these are included, the central government's revenue this year will reach at least 3 billion yuan.  This figure was obtained when land value-added tax, land tenure tax and industrial and commercial value-added tax have not been fully levied. The former two need to wait until January next year, while the latter does not want to levy blood from industry and commerce too early in order to allow businessmen to  It is possible to accumulate more original capital, so it is not planned to be implemented until 20 years.  certainly.  Russia's revenue has not yet been calculated, but because most of the goods shipped back are industrial equipment, except for some civilian equipment that can be put into the market.  Most of it is used in the country's steel, metal processing and other industries, so it seems huge but not much can be directly converted into money.

    Despite the rapid fiscal growth momentum, hidden dangers have actually begun.  For example, the outbreak of light industry depends entirely on the external market. When Britain, France and the United States resume competition in the world next year, they will definitely be impacted by cheap international goods. And the growth of domestic demand has not kept pace with this round of industry and commerce because of land reform.  Another big problem is also the reason why Yang Qiu called everyone to a meeting.

    Number of troops!

    After joining the Entente, the Republic of China relied on money and equipment from Britain and France to build a total of 35 infantry divisions in two batches. Together with some other military units, logistics support, etc., the actual increase was 850,000.  Before the war began, the Republic of China had 28 regular army divisions, 4 military brigades, and 36 National Guard brigades, and the actual total strength of the sea and air forces was close to 1 million.  In the past two years, military expenditures provided by Britain and France have supported approximately 1.1 million troops.  That¡¯s why the government can invest heavily in infrastructure, industry and commerce, and even have leftover money to buy land in the market to build public leased land.  But as the war ends, these people will gradually come back. According to the minimum military pay standard of 20 yuan per person per month, monthly military pay expenditure alone will require 40 million.  That¡¯s 480 million a year!  This is just military pay, food, drink, equipment, base construction, etc. are not included.  According to Yang Qiu's calculations, if it continues to be maintained, the country will have to spend at least 1 billion every year, which is barely enough!

    This is just barely!

    Although this figure is not a large proportion of the continuously growing finance, due to too many debts, military construction is not just as simple as exploding equipment. The funds consumed in bases, logistics, transportation, personnel training, etc. are astronomical figures.  Just talking about the three fortresses started in the northwest, if you count the money, they will cost about 600 million, and this does not include the supporting infrastructure such as railways, electricity, and communications.

    In the international environment of the early 20th century, where the weak and the strong were strong, Yang Qiu did not know the importance of the number of troops, not to mention the two evil neighbors of Japan and Russia.  But he knows one thing more, that is, the stupid bird must fly first!  The navy will expand, the air force will soon be established, and after the war, European and American armies will enter the era of motorization and mechanization. As a national army that lacks a strong financial foundation, it must fly first and must not fall behind in this round of military changes.  , otherwise the cost will be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives.  Now that he is back, he doesn't want to lose at the starting line. Even if the scale cannot be compared with the world's level, he must at least ensure that he has a core combat force. Therefore, he took the opportunity of the launch of the Zhenhai to convene a meeting of senior officers to listen to everyone's opinions.

    It felt like flying for the first time when Cai E was brought into the conference room, but before he could tell everyone about the excitement, he was glared at by Mr. Sa.  The old man was almost going crazy thinking about battleships. He finally got the chance to convince Yang Qiu, but he was suddenly interrupted. How could he look good?Cai E was stared at inexplicably. When he entered the conference room, he realized that today's meeting seemed very different. There was no rigid and dogmatic atmosphere. The people who came were all military officials. Not only Cai Jimin and Jiang Fangzhen came, but also He Xi.  Semi-retired veteran National Defense Force officers also came, National Guard An Guoliang and Fan Liangshan were also present. Jiang Tai and Wang Guangxiong, several generals born in the southwest, chatted with each other.  Wu Peifu also came from home.

    "Let's all find a place to sit." Yang Qiu beckoned them all to sit down, and specially asked Cai E to sit next to him and said: "Today is not a formal meeting. It's rare for us to meet each other in the past few years when we have been traveling here and there. Let's take this opportunity to get together."  First, let¡¯s get together. Secondly, there are a few things I¡¯d like to hear your opinions on.¡±

    "I believe you already know that the European side is likely to end at the end of this year, so we people have to make some arrangements in advance." Yang Qiu casually leaned on the back of his chair, holding a tea cup and scanning the crowd: "What are your thoughts?  I know, and I also know how many troops are needed for such a large land and territory, so we now have two options before us. The first is to maintain the current size of the army. But the reform of the army and new equipment must be slowed down. The other option is  Cutting flesh with a quick knife! Make major adjustments to the military, and use the money saved to carry out military reforms with Europe and the United States."

    Yang Qiu waved, and a thick military reform plan was sent to everyone.  Cai E was secretly shocked after reading it, because this plan not only involves expenditure reduction, but also involves major adjustments in military establishment, equipment, logistics, etc.  According to the plan, the Republic of China will be officially divided into five armed forces: land, sea, air force, National Guard and militia reserve, of which the army, navy and air force will constitute the main body of the National Defense Forces.  The National Guard and Militia Reserve (the reserves are under the jurisdiction of the National Guard Command) will become important supplementary forces.  At the same time, it was once again clarified that the National Defense Forces will have the main task of protecting national security, while the National Guard will be responsible for maintaining internal stability.  Fight serious crime, ensure social stability, and conduct daily tasks such as customs and border inspections.

    The reform of establishment and equipment is even greater.  According to the plan, in the next 10 years, in addition to ensuring that the army has 38 standing divisions, 3 military brigades, 24 railway battalions and several special military battalions.  8 armored brigades will also be added for the first time!

    The standing division is the main combat force of the army. It still adopts the three-three establishment. It uses overseas study and self-training as much as possible to strengthen the number of technical non-commissioned officers in artillery, engineering, machinery, trucks, communications, veterinarians, military doctors, etc., and strengthen logistics and technical capabilities.  New tactics will be strictly trained, and the number of troops will increase from the current 20,000 to 25,000.  The armored brigade is not only a new service, but also the core of this round of reform of the National Defense Forces!  According to the plan, the eight armored brigades are temporarily inactive and will be adapted from the original 1st Brigade, 4th Brigade, 7th Brigade, 19th Brigade, 88th Brigade, 91st Brigade, 94th Brigade, and 97th Brigade. The last four are all established by the Central Guard Division.  (Refer to the public version for the number).  Each brigade has two armored battalions.  Each battalion has three companies, each company has a total of 14 tanks and armored vehicles. The battalion adds one more squad (4 vehicles), and the brigade adds one more company.  In this way, each brigade will have 108 tanks, in addition to an infantry regiment, a heavy artillery battalion (12 155mm, 24 105mm), a combat engineer battalion (including machine repair), and a baggage truck battalion.  Communications company and so on.  In this way, each brigade will have 108 tanks, 288 other armored vehicles and trucks, with a total number of 15,577 people, and the number of 8 standing divisions with armored brigades will reach 33,000!

    In fact, the armored brigade is equivalent to the armored division of World War II and can be completely mobilized. However, Yang Qiu was afraid that the armored tactics would be leaked too early, so he continued to let them blend into the infantry division.  It looks more like a mechanized infantry division than an armored division, but their tactics and combat methods are completely different.

    The cost of an armored brigade is huge. Even if the light tanks and armored vehicles currently used are cheap, the entire equipment of a brigade will cost 12 million yuan, which is equivalent to a later treaty heavy cruiser!  Fuel, ammunition, and consumption are several times the price of equipment, so 8 is already the limit that the current national finance can bear!  The rest of the troops still aim to transform themselves into mules and horses. To this end, the Ministry of National Defense will build special military horse breeding farms in Tianshan, Mongolia and other places to select and breed war horses based on captured Russian Don horses and Ili horses. The current 150,000 horses in the army will be retained.  The quantity was increased to 550,000 horses, and 150,000 bicycles were purchased to enhance the infantry's mobility.  In addition to the newly emerged armored brigades and accelerated mules, the army will also form 66 heavy artillery battalions, each with 12 155mm and 24 105mm, plus the existing 70mm infantry guns and the 40 and 85 under development.  caliber, even excluding fixed fortresses and mortars, the entire army will have 8,064 cannons of various types.  The navy and air force are the biggest beneficiaries of this reform. On the current basis, the navy will gradually start building a batch of new warships after 1920, including 2 aircraft carriers, 4 heavy cruisers, and 6 light cruisers.  The Air Force will not only obtain a first-class establishment, but will also purchase a batch of new aircraft and start developing next-generation aircraft and combat weapons, ensuring that the number will reach 2,000 in five years.

    According to the aboveAccording to establishment calculations, the total number of National Defense Forces will be reduced to 1.5 million, including 1.2 million for the Army and 300,000 for the Navy and Air Force. The professionalization of technical non-commissioned officers will also be fully implemented for the first time. In the next ten years, the professionalization of technical non-commissioned officers will be implemented through overseas study abroad, self-training, school recruitment and other methods.  The number of technical non-commissioned officers will be increased to 100,000, and by 1935 it will be necessary to ensure that at least 400,000 professional non-commissioned officers are retained!

    According to the scale and number of people drawn up in this plan, it is equivalent to laying off 350,000 people at once. Although these people will be included in the reserve force for two years, they will take off their military uniforms anyway.  But Feng Guozhang and others, who had looked worried just now, were not disappointed but nodded.  Because judging from the experience and lessons of this European war, the future trend of the army is strong firepower, rapid mobility and armoring. To achieve these three goals, countless money will be spent. However, the national strength of the Republic of China cannot compare with the powerful countries in Europe and the United States.  We are all leaders in the army, and we know very well how much this kind of reform costs. To use the simplest analogy, if an infantry division costs 100 yuan, it will cost 200 yuan to transform it into a mule-horse army, and 500 yuan to transform it into armor!  The more you spend, the more powerful you will be. In particular, the combat capabilities of the new armored brigades are completely comparable to those of infantry divisions several times larger than yours. Therefore, after this round of dismantling, the combat capabilities of the National Defense Forces have not been weakened but have become stronger. At the same time, they can also ensure that they can compete with the powerful European armies.  are on the same starting line.  The two measures of professionalization of armored brigades and technical non-commissioned officers also ensure that the troops can be quickly expanded if necessary.

    It just so happened that the past few years were an external gap period, so Yang Qiu decisively cut his wrists and laid off 350,000 people at once!  In this way, you can save at least 13 million in expenses every month, which is 150 million a year!  Of course, more than 100 million per year cannot support such a large reform plan, so the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Finance have promised that from next year, all military profits from areas currently outside the control of the National Defense Forces will be used for national defense construction.  To put it simply, if the National Defense Forces can mine in Tomsk, then whether it is prisoners of war, death row prisoners or Chinese workers, the state will purchase it at market prices, and all profits after deducting expenses will be given to the military.  Of course, in order to avoid internal corruption within the military, management and trading are handled by the government through specialized enterprises, and the military is only responsible for security and management.  This policy also made Cai E secretly frightened, thinking of what he saw in Harbin not long ago.  Just a few dozen wagons of wood are already worth a lot of money. If this regulation is followed, it will simply open the door for the army to continue to "rob" the resources of Siberia.

    "I agree with this plan. The future of the army is mobility, firepower and armor!" Jiang Fangzhen was the first to stand up and support.  The officer, who studied in Japan and Germany and served in Europe, looked serious and serious: "We missed the industrial revolution for a century, and we can't even hope to catch up if we don't have 30 to 50 years to catch up, but we must not miss this round of military changes. Now Mr. Ku  Better than suffering in the future!¡±.

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