In mid-1913, the National Defense Forces accelerated the pace of army building. After the bandit suppression in Henan, Duan Qirui officially came out. In early August, he led four divisions under Wang Tianzong, Zhang Fenghui, Chen Shufan, and Liu Bin from Xi'an and advanced to Longshang. In the middle of the month, Jiang Zuobin , Ouyang Wu led his troops to reinforce. The National Defense Forces swept through eight towns in Longshang with a strong force. At the end of September, Duan Qirui took charge of Lanzhou to coordinate the overall situation in the northwest. In early October, the Ministry of National Defense announced the establishment of eight military regions, namely Beijing, Lanzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shenyang. The commanders of the military regions are Huang Xing, Duan Qirui, Cai E, Xu Shaojie, Wang Shizhen, Zhang Shaozeng, Sun Yue, and Zhang Xiaohuai. Among them, Huang Xing, Cai E, and Zhang Xiaohuai hold concurrent posts. The three are respectively the deputy ministers of the Ministry of National Defense, Cai E, and Zhang Xiaohuai, who also serve as deputy chiefs of staff. Considering the special circumstances of Cai E and Zhang Xiaohuai, the Ministry of National Defense specially assigned two capable deputies. Cai E's assistant is Lan Tianwei. A former non-commissioned officer of the Three Elites served as an assistant to his junior and became the deputy commander-in-chief of the Jinan Military Region. Zhang Xiaohuai's assistant was an unexpected arrangement. The other major military regions do not have deputy commanders-in-chief for the time being. The commander-in-chief of all major military regions will be Lieutenant general rank, the highest military rank in the National Defense Force is General Fang Jianxiong and Huang Xing. Fang Jianxiong, the founder of the National Defense Force, did not give himself the title of marshal in the end.

In fact, there was a strong voice among the military for Fang Jianxiong to serve as generalissimo. As a result, Fang Jianxiong rejected this call at the meeting and said with a smile: No matter how beautifully the civil war was fought, he is not qualified to be a marshal. This sentence set a tone for the National Defense Forces. Marshals can only be obtained in external wars.

At the end of 1913, the first phase of the reorganization of the National Defense Force was completed, and the training of twenty-four Class A divisions was completed. Gui Danqi was appointed commander of the first division, and Xu Shuzheng, commander of the second division. This was very unexpected. It turned out that Jian Sen took the initiative. He resigned and went to teach in Wuhu. The commander of the third division was An Yi, and the former commander of the third division, Paulus, also went to teach in Wuhu. The first army was stationed in Fengtai and Nanyuan around Beijing to protect the safety of the capital. The commanders of the fourth, fifth and sixth divisions were Li Xiaochuan, Lin Huaichuan, and Huyan Aobo are stationed in Shenyang. The seventh division commander Li Yifeng is stationed in Jinzhou. The eighth division commander Zhang Zhenwu is stationed in Wuhu. The ninth division commander Wang Longzhong is stationed in Wuhan. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth division commanders, They are Li Qianyu, Ouyang Wu, and Shen Tongwu, and they are stationed in Jinan. The commanders of the 14th, 15th, and 16th Divisions are Gao Sheng, Li Genyuan, and Long Jiguang. They are stationed in Xuzhou. The commander of the 17th Division, Wang Tianzong, is stationed in Lanzhou. The 18th Division Commander Zhang Zuolin is based in Anshan, the 19th Division Commander Xu Chongzhi is based in Tai'an, the 20th Division Commander Leng Huan is based in Guangzhou, the 21st Division Commander Liu Yutang is based in Nanjing, the 22nd Division Commander Liu Bin is based in It is Ningxia. Tian Jiyang, commander of the 23rd Division, is stationed in Jinzhou. Lin Shuqing, commander of the 24th Division, is stationed in Dezhou.

In addition to the Class A divisions, forty Class B divisions were temporarily organized and stationed throughout the country. Ten additional cavalry divisions were formed, of which the First Division was stationed in Beijing, the Second Cavalry Division was stationed in Shenyang, and the Third Cavalry Division was stationed in Jinan. The rest were Each cavalry division was under the jurisdiction of the Lanzhou Military Region. The formation of twenty heavy artillery regiments and the formation of the artillery regiments of each division became the biggest problem. Officers of each unit went to crash courses in various places in batches for further training, and then disrupted the division. Each unit. Artillery is different from infantry. This thing cannot be sloppy. It was not until the end of the year when the Nanjing Artillery School, which was established in the middle of the year, graduated the first batch of the six-month crash course that the problem was solved. One thousand, five hundred graduates, plus With the help of the German army in Qingdao to train 1,000 people, the 20 heavy artillery regiments have been basically completed. The artillery regiments of the 40 B divisions have the biggest problem, with a huge personnel gap. As long as there is a serious shortage of technical officers. There are many B types. In the division, there are only three or five officers who have seriously studied artillery. This problem cannot be solved urgently, so we can only wait patiently for the graduates of the second phase of the Nanjing Artillery School and the first phase of the crash course of the Baoding Military Academy that was converted into an artillery school.

The result of massive military expansion is naturally a decline in the army's combat effectiveness. In order to avoid this problem, Fang Jianxiong concentrated talents in the twenty-four A divisions. The top ten B divisions were also given better treatment.

The end of 1913 came quietly, and Tang Jiyao of Guizhou finally announced that he would give up his autonomy before the New Year. There was nothing he could do about it. There were ten B-divisions stationed in Sichuan and Yunnan. Although they did not have much artillery, they could not withstand the overwhelming number of people and the two sides.

Under the pincer attack, Tang Jiyao tried to run to Guangxi, but was head-on hit by three Class B divisions transferred from Jiangxi to Guangxi.

Tang Jiyao, who announced his resignation, put on plain clothes and fled to Hong Kong with a few followers and went to Japan. Before the end of the year, Duan Qirui was ordered to send Chen Huan and Wu Xiang to form two B divisions into Urumqi. Xinjiang King Yang Zengxin did not resist and stayed in Xinjiang.

The post of provincial governor. At this point, the National Defense Forces have been stationed throughout the country except Tibet, Qinghai, and Outer Mongolia. A unified situation has basically taken shape.

On New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar in 1914, a fleet of ships from across the ocean slowly docked in Shanghai. Stilwell stepped off the ship and stood on the pier as he got used to the stability of the land. The chaos of history led to what was supposed to be a return trip.

Stilwell, who taught at West Point Military Academy, once again set out from the Philippines and set foot on Chinese soil.

Stilwell's new position is the military attaché of the Consulate in Wuhan. The reason for such a position arrangement is that in his telegram to the country, US Minister Ryans focused on the Yangtze River Basin from Wuhu to Chongqing, which has become China's

The engine of industrial development. The total industrial output value of several key cities along the Yangtze River, including Wuhu, Anqing, Jiujiang, Wuhan, and Chongqing, accounts for 75% of China's total. This is an astonishing number, with Wuhan as the focus.

, Huangpi Special Economic Zone suddenly appeared in the past year and became the place with the highest density of industrial enterprises in China.

Stilwell was lucky. The American fleet had been transporting cargo to Shanghai. Cargo ships were undoubtedly much more comfortable than warships. When Stilwell was on the ship, he was very interested in the square containers. After asking about them, he learned that

This is a new gadget invented by a company called "Meile Manufacturing Company", which has just been launched recently. This company is said to have a good relationship with Fang Jianxiong, a big figure in the Chinese military. Fang Jianxiong designated an American shipping company to use this kind of container to transport this batch of American goods.

As for what was loaded on the ship, Stilwell, as the military attache, certainly knew it very well. In the past year, major U.S. arms companies worked at full capacity and worked hard to complete the production of 150,000 rifles.

This incident taught the U.S. government a profound lesson. Even with the barriers of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, if the United States is invaded one day, how can its strong industrial strength be quickly converted into military products? This topic has been specially studied by the U.S. government.

Stilwell heard that the Chinese had placed an order for 500,000 rifles from U.S. military industrial companies. This number left Stilwell speechless. The U.S. Army only had a few rifles in total. Fortunately, China is a country separated from the United States.

As a country in the Pacific Ocean, it is not yet a naval power. If you look at the fact that even rifles are imported, you will know the industrial strength of this country.

"Mr. Stilwell, welcome to Shanghai, the largest metropolis in the Far East." The person who came to pick up the ship was Shanghai Commander Joyce. After shaking hands, Joyce looked at the fleet and whistled gently: "

Which fleet is this this year? I can’t even remember.”

"The Chinese are building an army of one million people, which is a good thing for the United States." Stilwell smiled, and Joyce opened the car door and said: "Yes, this is a good thing. American companies have gained from this.

A large number of purchase orders. The Russians and Japan are deeply uneasy. In my opinion, their uneasiness is justified because they can no longer just come to China to grab things."

"How is the equipment of the Chinese army? This time I come to China, I need to know something about this issue."

"Not so good. Their country's industry is too backward, and most of their equipment needs to be imported. They are stepping up efforts to build the foundation of military industry. In my opinion, China's industry is at least fifty years behind the United States. This country is very big, and the surrounding areas

Neighbors are not good, so we need so many troops. As for the mood of Japan and Russia, who knows?"

The Ford car moved slowly through the crowds of people on the streets of Shanghai, and Stilwell closed his eyes to rest.

Wusong Military Pier is now a military restricted area. When the U.S. fleet entered Wusongkou, Fang Jianxiong was at the dock inspecting a batch of new submarines commissioned by the Navy. There were six submarines in this batch, two of which were new submarines produced by Jiangnan Shipyard in cooperation with the Germans.

, with a displacement of 700 tons, and carry six torpedoes. The other four have been in service for half a year and have been trained by German naval officers. Fang Jianxiong is probably the only one who really takes submarines seriously now.

In less than a year, war will begin in Europe, and time is too tight for Fang Jianxiong. In the second half of last year, the Republic of China government had two main priorities, one was to popularize nationwide compulsory education, and the other was to strengthen the military

Construction. These two items account for 40% of the country’s fiscal expenditures. When the budget was drawn up in the new year, Congress was in a quarrel again. The opposition parties were deeply dissatisfied that military expenditures in the budget accounted for as much as 30% of the total expenditures. The Democratic Party United Progress

The party hyped up this topic. In the end, the budget was passed, and it was passed by force on the same day.

A submarine docked. It was the first time for Fang Jianxiong to see a submarine of this era. He couldn't help but walked forward a little curiously. After the submarine dropped anchor and berthed, the first person to dig out the hatch cover was a German soldier. Although he was wearing a Chinese vest, he still

Can be recognized at a glance.

"Wang, it seems like a big shot has come to the pier." The German turned around and shouted at Wang Tong, who came out second. This Wenzhou native who studied in Japan in 1909 did very well in another time and space. He once served as a naval officer.

Chief Adjutant. In this time and space, Wang Tong probably saw that it was too slow to get promoted on ordinary warships, so Wang Tong chose to join the submarine force and directly promoted him to captain and served as captain. The navy is still short of talents, especially those who are willing to work on submarines.
Chapter completed!