Back to the Republic of China as a commander

One day later, two pieces of news broke out in Shanghai:

The first is that Shanghai Siming Bank proposed to establish a new national bank based on the US federal model, and at the same time established Huayuan as the only legal currency in circulation, and reorganized the financial order of the national government.

The second is that the French consulate announced that the French government and the British government are in urgent consultations to consider whether to give the national government the power to set tariffs within this year.As soon as these two news came out, the first thing to bear the brunt was to arouse a wave of overseas Chinese returning to their hometowns to invest in Southeast Asia.

The reason is right there. Businessmen are not stupid. Unifying the currency and reforming finance means that it is not a problem to go back to the hometown to invest funds. At the same time, after the tariffs are self-determined, the national government will definitely raise tariffs to protect industrial development, so this business will be easier to do than it is now. If there are too many, the products produced will be more competitive. When will we not return to this time?According to the report of the Statistical Office of the Supervisory Council of the Nationalist Government, from July to December of the fifth year of the Republic of China, since the Nationalist Government raised the tariff from 5% to 20%, there were more than 4700 new investment projects in all provinces within the jurisdiction of the Nationalist Government. Among them, 80.00% are established by overseas Chinese in your country. . .

Chapter 300 Military Observer Group

In the blink of an eye, the wheel of history came to the end of July, and Wang Zhenyu had returned to Wuhan from Shanghai.Under his intervention, although the old father Wang Longxian was not very happy, he still contributed to the marriage between Wang Zhenpeng and Yuan Jingxue.As for Wang Zhenpeng's job arrangement after marriage, Wang Zhenyu meant to respect his younger brother's own wishes.At this time, the fourth batch of officers of the military observation group was about to leave for Europe. Wang Zhenpeng decided to apply to join the military observation group to go to Europe after repeated consideration.

Since the ships transporting the military observation team to Europe are all ships of the China Ocean Shipping Company under the name of his father-in-law Ye Zuwen, these ships are specially arranged for the business of the observation group, so these ships are much faster than traditional freighters.Those traditional cargo ships often go all the way to get goods, and it takes more than a month to reach Europe, but these ships arrive in Europe in at most [-] days.

Wang Zhenpeng's application was finally approved, and Wang Zhenyu also gave him a privilege, allowing Wang Zhenpeng and his wife Yuan Jingxue to go to Europe together, which can be regarded as a honeymoon.As for Wang Zhenpeng's job position, Wang Zhenyu finally thought for a long time. After all, he was his own brother, and it would be safer to leave him in the Armament Department.

At this time, the officers of the first batch of military observers who had arrived in France for more than a month were hiding in a sanatorium under the Alps, constantly exchanging their practical experience for more than a month.

General Zhao Hengti, the head of the military observation group, was complaining to the deputy head of the group, Bai Chongxi: "I said at the beginning not to send the officers we brought to the front for practice. This battle is bigger than what we have played in China. A lot of them. As a result, we lost 28 outstanding young men in more than a month. This, these people should not be used as small soldiers."

Bai Chongxi replied with a half-smile: "Mr. Zhao, it's for their sake, right? How can we know what the Europeans' war is like if we don't go to the front line? Besides, the French are not polite to us when we are going through all this trouble now." There are too many, how nice it is to call us brothers and sisters every day!" Zhao Hengti was so angry that he vomited blood, and when he came to call, he left the leader of the group to Bai Chongxi as an agent, and he followed the third batch of boats and withdrew. . .

It turns out that as soon as everyone arrived in France, they found that the situation here was very serious. The German army was launching the most violent attack on the French army in the Verdun area, and the worst battle of the whole World War I was going on.The French are sending every young man they can find to the front line to resist the German attack.Under such circumstances, Bai Chongxi disregarded Zhao Hengti's objection and forcibly asked the officers he brought to be divided into groups. Those who should be sent to study logistics should be sent to study logistics, Zhu Zhixin would lead the team, and those who should be sent to the front should be sent to the front by a Frenchman to say hello. Be a soldier, and that's exactly what the French crave.

As a result, a large number of officers aged 21 to [-] who were personally called by Wang Zhenyu were thrown into the trenches of the European War, and like soldiers, they started a bloody fight with the Germans on the opposite side.It's also a good thing that the French are on the defensive side. If they were on the offensive side, wouldn't these poor children be shot by more than half of the German machine guns in one battle?

Now, these young men who already know what happened in the European War have returned to the nursing home prepared by the French for them, where they can recuperate their exhausted bodies, mend their wounded hearts, and discuss and exchange experiences casually.

The first to speak were of course the survivors assigned to the frontline as soldiers. There were more than 40 people in this group, plus more than 100 people from the second batch, a total of 130 and six people were very lucky to sit back. 28 people were killed in this month's battle one after another. As for the death methods, they can be roughly divided into three types: bullet hit, artillery shell hit, and poison gas hit.

Speaking on behalf of this group were Xue Yue and Wei Lihuang. They were the three who performed best in front-line combat practice this time. For this reason, the French even appointed two of them as acting officers to command about a company of the French army. Guard the position.

The first speaker was Xue Yue, named Boling, a 20-year-old Hakka from Shaoguan, Guangdong.This person is usually known in the military observation group for his courage to speak, nicknamed Tiger Boy.Before joining the military observation group, he served in Chen Jiongming's First Division of the Guangdong Army. Later, the Guangdong Army was reorganized. I don't know what kind of luck this kid had. He was actually summoned by Wang Zhenyu himself, and then he became Wang Zhenyu's student.

"I was guarding the position on the side of the Meuse River. Those Germans attacked us across the river, and our task was to hold the position. Fuck him, this is not a war, it is simply a massacre, then It was shot by cannons. It is estimated that there are not so many cannons in Beiyang, and the ears are almost deaf. When the gas bombs come off, wearing a gas mask will save your life. If you are unlucky, your skin will rot if it touches it, and you will die of nausea. .”

Bai Chongxi knocked on the table: "Don't talk about your battlefield experience with me, just get to the point."

Although nicknamed Tiger Boy, Xue Yue was still a little afraid of such a cold-faced tiger like Bai Chongxi. He swallowed quickly and continued: "Then let me talk about this fortification. I think the fortification dug by the French is very reasonable. There are all kinds of holes, and this firepower point is also very well concealed. Generally, unless the shell directly hits the trench, it is very safe. The second is their defense. They pay great attention to the depth of firepower. No blind spots are left, and the fight is quite satisfactory. In fact, I have to say that this kind of battle is not interesting at all. It is just fighting firepower. Both offensive and defensive sides are in solid fortifications. Fighting back and forth will not produce any results. I think so, It should be appropriate to retreat, let the enemy in and fight hard is the kingly way. As for my acting company commander, it is because I organized some people to play a night attack, captured a German police officer and killed him Four or five German soldiers." Speaking of this, Tiger Boy was actually a little embarrassed, and everyone applauded and praised Xue Yue for his courage.Especially the newcomers who came later, they have no chance to feel it at all, and Bai Chongxi doesn't plan to throw everyone to the front line to gain experience with their lives, because now the experience is already there.

Seeing Xue Yue cupping his hands and clasping fists at everyone in the middle, Bai Chongxi said very displeasedly: "Sit back and change to another one."

The next one is Wei Lihuang, whose name is Junru. He is from Hefei, Anhui. The location of the castle is relatively high, otherwise I would be buried in it. However, the company commander of the company I was in was lucky. He was the only officer killed in battle in the whole company. According to the French, this is very unlucky. People took over, so I was elected as acting company commander, hahahaha"

Everyone laughed along, even Bai Chongxi was no exception.

Wei Lihuang also proposed a new concept: "In fact, if positional warfare is fought like the Europeans, then our quartermasters will probably lose their hair. If I were to command, I would use strong fortifications like ancient castles As the point, use the point to radiate the surface. As long as this point is still there, it is not so terrible if the surface is breached. After all, a strong army also needs logistical support. If he leaves my point alone, I will attack him from time to time. Let's see if it's him or me. So I think these European powers are competing for strength when fighting, and they have no rules at all. This is based on their strength. If we are to replace us, we are as big. It is estimated that it will not be a few days. If you grow up, you have to pull up your trousers and go beg for food."

There was another burst of laughter. . .

The group sent to the artillery to study was the safest group. There were twelve people in total, and all of them came back with full arms and legs.

The speech of their representative Chen Cheng aroused Bai Chongxi's great attention: "Here, the cannon is the real king of the army. When I got here, I realized that the cannon we used to play is the level of shooting mahjong. The real artillery It is a technical unit. Only when I saw the artillery of the French did I know how big the gap between us and the great powers was. I used to think that it would be easy to drive people away. Now it seems that we are too naive. For example, the sound test, the general German artillery Finally, it only took 5 minutes for the artillery observers of the French army to accurately judge the position of the German artillery according to the sound, and then give an accurate counterattack. When I was in China, I heard that the artillery of the Fourth Division had twice I did destroy the enemy's artillery position. But these two times have nothing to do with the sound test. One is a coincidence, and the other is a report from the reconnaissance troops. Therefore, the future development direction of our artillery should be to Europe The artillery of the great powers seems to use this war to learn their advanced technology and make our artillery stronger."

Bai Chongxi took the lead and applauded: "Student Chen Cheng, write a report immediately, and I will send it directly to the Wuhan Military Commission. This matter must be taken seriously. He directly determines the life and death of our army."

This report then appeared on Wang Zhenyu's desk. To Chen Cheng's surprise, Wang Zhenyu immediately ordered the establishment of a special artillery headquarters after reading it. Artillery Commander, Lieutenant General.

Zhu Zhixin's group is almost the safest. He led a group of officers away from the front line where the gunfire was raging, and walked among French towns to fully observe how the French mobilized for war and how to raise all kinds of troops. How are materials managed and transported?And they were lucky, because of the war, French girls can have sex now as long as they have bread. . .

To Zhu Zhixin's surprise, Bai Chongxi attached great importance to this, and he did not forget to help them sort out the materials after the meeting.

During Bai Chongxi's half a year in France, his greatest contribution was to organize everyone to compile the "European War Pamphlet".This booklet provided valuable experience for the later Chinese Youth Expeditionary Force. . .

Chapter 301 Navy

With the departure of the fourth batch of military observation missions to Europe, the number of officers sent by the Youth Army to Europe has reached an astonishing 1000.These officers will study in France for half a year and eventually become regimental, battalion and company-level officers of the future expeditionary force, which is an important guarantee for the combat effectiveness of the future expeditionary force.

At the same time, according to the order of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, the 48 recruits in the 24 recruit training bases established by the Armed Mobilization Department in all twelve provinces and cities have all been recruited.Most of these recruits come from rural areas in the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi. They don't know how dangerous it is to choose to join the army.At the moment, they are secretly thankful for getting free military uniforms and eating good canned fish.And they didn't feel the harshness of the training. It seemed that they were more tired than this when the village was busy with farming.

The equipment promised by the British and the French was finally transported from Australia to Guangzhou, China in early July, a full set of equipment for 20 infantry, and weapons including heavy artillery of various calibers.

The British and the French are also gambling. The bet is that these damn Chinese will obediently go to Europe to join the war after receiving so many benefits.Their initial request was to send the Chinese to Europe for training in order to prevent the Chinese from breaching the contract, but this was quickly rejected by Wang Zhenyu.In the end, everyone can only negotiate a low-interest loan of 300 million pounds ([-] billion Chinese yuan) secured by the national government with the customs and salt tax in the jurisdiction as a guarantee. If the Chinese army reaches Europe, then the money will be paid. If it goes to the account of the Chinese, otherwise it will be gone.And the British also threatened that not only the loan was gone, but all the previous agreements signed with the National Government would be invalidated.That means that when the British settle the affairs of Europe, they will still settle accounts later.

Wang Zhenyu laughed at this. You, the United Kingdom, are so bullish now that you lent out [-] million pounds without blinking an eye.Waiting for the last drop of white blood to be shed in this European war, the British will start to live a thrifty life.At that time, British diplomats will change from the most arrogant people in the world to the most grandchildren, and they will be polite to everyone, because Britain will not be able to send any troops to interfere in affairs outside the country.It is not how many people died in the United Kingdom in World War I, but that Britain wiped out all the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years in World War I, and the empty treasury can run away with mice.

However, Wang Zhenyu does not intend to break the contract. His plan is huge. He relies on Britain and France to help him arm, train, and support 40 troops. This huge army will reach its peak after the European War. At that time, the United States will also participate in the war. The Germans will undoubtedly lose. .And when the European War is over, this huge army with all British equipment will return to China. At that time, not only the Beiyang warlords in the north, but even Japan itself will not be afraid.

Secondly, according to Wang Zhenyu's thinking, his plan to achieve local unification first in the south and lay the foundation for economic development and industrial construction is definitely not enough to rely on the seigniorage of 100 billion Chinese yuan in exchange for printing money by himself.He needs a large amount of foreign capital loans and a stable external environment so that the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia will come back to invest, otherwise the overseas Chinese will not come back just relying on Sun Wen's words.And all of this requires the consent and support of the veteran powers such as Britain and France. This is the national condition. Although it is uncomfortable, there is nothing to do.

Finally, there is the problem of Japan. Out of his understanding of history, Wang Zhenyu clearly remembers that Japan did not launch a full-scale war of aggression against China until 1937.The reason why it was delayed until 1937 is mainly due to the following reasons:

First, China’s economy was still relatively strong at that time. Although it was in a state of division, [-]% of the world’s total economic output was not built. Japan could obtain huge benefits from China through trade. At this time, it is not in line with scientific laws to start looting;

Second, the great powers have relatively strong control over Asia. Although Britain and France are on the decline during this period, they are still the hegemony of Asia, not Japan.Although Japan can be mischievous, it is limited to this.At the same time, in Asia, the pace of American expansion has never stopped, and the Japanese are indeed not too aggressive.

The third is Japan's own problems. Everyone knows that Japan made a fortune in the Sino-Japanese War of 1905-[-] ([-] million taels of silver, Japan's first pot of gold).However, history textbooks did not tell us that Japan did not live a happy life because of this. On the contrary, in the Russo-Japanese War in [-], Japan wiped out all the money they had earned before, and owed a lot of foreign debts to Britain and France .In the end, under the intervention of Britain and France, they accepted the victory without paying a penny (is this different from failure?).It can be said that the so-called victory in the Russo-Japanese War is more like Japan being put together by Britain and France, and it has half a dime relationship with the victory?

So Japan can only nibble away at China. Until 1937, China dropped from 9% of the world's total economic output to 4.5% through decades of civil war. After recovering from the trauma of the earthquake (the country's small recovery ability will naturally be slow), they dared to invade China in an all-round way.So the Japanese finally invaded China, not so much because of Japan's greed, as it is because the Chinese themselves did not fight for it, and they were too disunited.

Since no matter how you look at it now, Japan has no decisive force to intervene in itself, and it has completely surpassed the scope of history and completed the partial unification of the southern region in 1916, so what are you waiting for?It is the kingly way to seize the time to develop heavy industry, so that the war that brought great disasters to the Chinese nation and has continued into the 21st century will never have a chance to happen again.

On July 7, Wang Zhenyu visited the Army University in East Lake, Wuhan, and gave lectures to the first batch of enlisted students.The Army University enlisted 29 students in the first batch, but only 5000 actually studied at the school. This will also be the standard enrollment scale of the Army University in the future.In the end, Wang Zhenyu served as the principal of the Army University himself. After all, where is the history, and the disciples of the Son of Heaven are also a kind of honor to these enlisted students. Today they will meet their principal.

"Dear enlisted students, please allow me, on behalf of the Army University of the Youth Army, and the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, to pay the highest respect to you young people who have thrown their pens and joined the army."

The applause was thunderous, and the students were very excited, it should be said that they were extremely excited. At this moment, they felt that they were really the most glorious group in this country.

"Since the Opium War, our great Chinese nation has been bullied by foreign powers. As the capital, Beijing has been trampled by the iron hooves of foreign powers many times. Our great rivers and mountains were torn to pieces. So as soldiers, we overthrew the decadent Manchu Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. But after the Republic of China, the great powers still stuck our necks, and the corrupt Beiyang government continued to be weak externally and internally Zhuanzhi, so we soldiers rose up again and defeated them. But is our country strong? Has our nation risen? No, why? Because the great powers are still there, and our country has not yet been unified.”

All the enlisted students held their breath and listened carefully to every word Wang Zhenyu said.

"The Nationalist Government has been established, and the country is about to start on the right track. Industrial construction, economic construction, and social construction have all started. So what can we soldiers do? We can only hold our weapons tightly, but we don't know how to build? Now Let me, the principal, tell you that your greatest role is to provide a stable and safe environment for our industrial construction, economic construction, and social construction. Use the weapons in your hands to protect every citizen and safeguard the sovereignty of the country and honor, to defend the independence and dignity of the nation. As we all know, our country has declared war on Germany, the same Germany that brought the Eight-Nation Allied Forces into Beijing. I want to tell you here that by March next year at the latest, we will have no The victorious Youth Expeditionary Army will set foot on the land of the great powers to eliminate these Germans. Many intellectuals do not understand, do not understand why we have to fight and shed blood for the whites? I want to correct here, we are not fighting for the whites, we It is for oneself, for one's own country and nation, for hope and glory to fight. And you are the hope and glory of this country..."

The enlisted students applauded frantically, their chests were full of pride at the moment, and they shouted loudly: "Long live the Republic of China, long live the Chinese nation, long live the National Government".

After leaving the Army University, Wang Zhenyu visited the 801 Recruit Base not far from the military academy and watched their training.The current officers of the British and French are also very nervous, but they still dispatched a large number of officers to China to train the Chinese Expeditionary Force that is said to help them defeat the damned Germans.

The 801 base belongs to the artillery base. Naturally, the French assigned the artillery of the expeditionary force not the latest French 1915 artillery, but the Schneider 1909 mountain artillery, with calibers of 76.2mm and 105mm.Among them, the range of 76.2mm is only 8550m, and the range of 105mm is even worse, 6000m.If this is really a cannon battle with the Germans, it is estimated that it will make people feel uncomfortable after a few shots.

The youth army immediately protested to the French side, but the French and the British were very taboo about this. The 1915 artillery in their hands was a new technology, and they did not want the Chinese to master this weapon.

Wang Zhenyu also lost his temper. Is this what allies should do?Pull it down if you don't give it, play by yourself!

No way, the final result was a compromise. The French took out the 152.4mm 1910 howitzer, which is no worse than the 1915 type in power and range, reaching 12400 meters. kg, it is very inconvenient to transfer the position after shooting, but considering the range, Wang Zhenyu accepted it, and the use of this gun has also become a key subject in the training of the 1915 base.

Chapter 302 Navy ([-])

Looking at these strangely shaped cannons, how is it different from my memory in later generations?Wang Zhenyu shook his head, he didn't know much about this thing, but since it was dragged to the battlefield, it wouldn't be too bad if he thought about it!And in the following shelling performance, the power of the shells fired by these weird-looking guys was really terrifying.