Chapter 58: Crazy Plan

  While receiving the order for Gansu New Army's military supplies from the Governor's Office, Chen An immediately started expanding his Northern Army and was extremely busy.

  After the expansion, there were not enough soldiers, so Chen An hastily ordered the recruitment of a fourth batch of new soldiers, and they were recruited in large numbers, making many Sichuan-Shaanxi refugees who were waiting to enter Jiezhou for a living extremely happy.

  In the Beiyang Army's organization, the number of people in infantry regiments, cavalry regiments and artillery regiments were slightly different. Chen Ang did not want to bother with this, nor did he plan to set up specialized cavalry regiments and artillery regiments for the time being. Therefore, he decided to incorporate all types of troops such as engineering, logistics, cavalry, and artillery into the infantry regiment, making the regiment the basic unit of the Northern Army, capable of fighting independently in one direction.

  Therefore, all six formal regiments plus one supplementary regiment of the Northern Army were in the category of large formations.

  According to the new military pay regulations, the town is the basic strategic unit, with a unified command; under which are two infantry brigades, each with a brigade commander; each brigade has two infantry regiments, each with a regimental commander; each regiment has three battalions, each with a battalion commander; each battalion has four companies, each with a company officer; each company has three platoons, each with a platoon leader; each platoon has three squads, each with a squad leader and deputy squad leader, with 12 soldiers under them. Each infantry regiment has a total of 659 officers and men, including 522 combat personnel, the rest are support staff and reserve soldiers.

  Chen An adopted the three-three system in the organizational structure of the Northern Army, abolishing one team and canceling miscellaneous personnel and reserve soldiers, all of whom were formal officers and men, which was beneficial for strengthening firepower organization and convenient for management.

  Also abolished the whistle-level medical officer who was not conducive to mobility, and changed to follow the old tradition of Dongzi's third camp that year. The regimental level set up a specialized medical team, and each shed still had part-time medical soldiers.

  Each battalion has three companies with nine platoons, plus company officers and platoon leaders, totaling 130 people. The infantry regiment consists of three infantry battalions, plus one engineer, one logistics, and one cavalry platoon directly under the regiment headquarters, as well as a special platoon containing guards and medical personnel, and two artillery platoons, for a total of three infantry battalions and six directly subordinate platoons, totaling 649 people.

  Although the number of people is slightly less than the infantry regimental establishment of the Beiyang New Army, with the help of a large number of horse-drawn carts to transport ammunition, the firepower equipped by the whole regiment far exceeds.

  Because the northern army encountered a self-owned military control that was not worth the money, they naturally spared no effort to strengthen their firepower.

  The Northern Army, in addition to the engineering, cavalry and artillery units directly under its command, each infantry company, even the logistics company, was equipped with a Vickers heavy machine gun, with a total of ten heavy machine guns throughout the regiment.

  In the Beiyang Army, heavy machine guns were treated as artillery, and a town was equipped with only one or two so-called quick-firing battalions, each with 18 to 36 heavy machine guns.

  Especially in the northern army, there were two artillery squads at the regimental level, equipped with four 75mm field guns, which was unprecedented.

  The entire Beiyang New Army, with 20 battalions in one division, had more than 12,500 troops, but was only equipped with artillery of one battalion and three companies, one of which might have been a so-called "quick-firing battery" equipped with heavy machine guns. At most, there were only two battalions with 36 75mm field guns.

  If we add the Lee rifle that can fire ten rounds, Chen An's seven regiments have a firepower density that can completely rival any of the six divisions of the Beiyang Army.

  The armed forces of Chenjiazhuang and the Jiexi Tuanlian Bureau were not expanded, firstly because they were sufficient and there was no need to do so, and secondly in order to give Governor Zhang some face and show sincerity.

  However, facing the three banner cavalry and one banner three battalion infantry currently controlled by Ma Anliang, as well as the addition of the Ma family guard team, with a military force of nearly 4,000 people, Chen An still felt that it was not reliable.

  Superstitious Chen An, who believed in the power of artillery, ordered a battalion of infantry to be converted into an artillery battalion, equipped with six 105mm field guns. The two artillery batteries directly under the regiment were also replaced with two 150mm heavy howitzers, ready for any unexpected situation.

  It's a bit crazy move, Zhongying's mobility has dropped to extremely low, estimated can only be used for assault or defense.

  After the personnel and firepower were greatly strengthened, the infantry regiment was enough to meet the needs of garrisoning a single direction. Therefore, in addition to garrisoning one regiment each in the south, central, northwest, and northeast of Zhangzhou, Chen An also had two infantry regiments and one supplementary regiment as mobile combat forces.

  As summer approached, Xu Shirong rushed over from the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway line. Xu Shirong was astonished to see that the section of track from Chenjiazhuang to Biku had already begun to be laid out, exactly as he had originally envisioned it. With a look of panic and unease on his face, Xu Shirong immediately found Chen An and Xu Shangwu, the general manager, and stuttered an explanation of the differences between the design plan and its actual application.

  The other two were also stunned. No wonder Xu Shiruan said that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway could save about one-fifth, while it seemed here that there was only higher and no lower.

  Chen An hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, "Xu Zongban, you say that our area is prone to earthquakes. Shouldn't the standard be raised? At least it should be able to withstand the impact of ordinary earthquakes."

  Xu Zongban was a quick-witted person and immediately picked up on it, saying "That's right, we can't just build the railroad and then start repairing it."

  The two men did not discuss the issue of high rail standards again.

  Now it's Xushi Yuan's turn to be scolded and he was stunned.

  Nilsen Bohm couldn't wait for the equipment to be transported from the US, so he directly bought at a high price from others a set of 15-ton open-hearth furnace and rolling mill equipment that had just arrived in Shanghai and was about to be delivered to Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and first sent it to Chen An.

  After the equipment debugging is completed and officially put into operation, Longnan Railway finally used the steel rails smelted by its own steel plant. The original steel rails were all customized from Hanyang Iron Factory.

  Chen An continued to purchase rails from Hanyang Iron Works, as the self-produced ones were clearly insufficient. However, the speed of laying down the rails was significantly accelerated.

  Xu Shiyan was sent to Chenjiazhuang on the route to Jiezhou for on-site surveying and design, and the next stage of land acquisition and leveling the roadbed will soon begin.

  Before departure, Xu Shiruan asked Chen An tentatively what standard was adopted for the design of the second section of the route.

  Chen An rolled her eyes and muttered a sentence, "Do you want to fix the tofu dregs project?" Then she walked away by herself.

  Xu Shiyuan was inspired and designed the second section of the line to the highest standard. He excitedly sent a telegram to Zhan Tianyou, "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway had the same spirit as Mr. Chen, it could have taken the more expensive but better Fengsha route."

  Zhan Tianyou quickly sent a telegram back, "As soon as the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway is completed, I will come over to help you."

  To the north of Biku Port, a small railway terminal is being urgently constructed. Director Xu personally oversees the construction, using small doses to blast open the mountain and fill in the trenches. It is said that this method of construction will not cause excessive vibration, leading to mountain instability and unpredictable dangers.

  There is only one transfer station near the county town, temporarily stopping passengers. To the east of Chenjiazhuang, a straight road was also blasted out with a large amount of explosives, with a highway on the right and a slightly elevated railway embankment on the left, and a large flat land was also blasted out to prepare for the construction of a small train station.

  A larger train station is to be built in Jiezhou, as no sufficiently flat land can be found elsewhere. Even if Chen An has enough **, it would still take too much time and manpower.

  According to Xu Shiyuan's estimate, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway would take at least four years to complete due to insufficient funds and manpower for the construction of over 400 miles of railway. In contrast, the Longnan Railway had ample funding and personnel, making it puzzling why Chen An's expenses could not be counted as money. As a result, the construction speed could likely be accelerated by half, completing the entire line in about four and a half years.

  Chen An listened and immediately became dissatisfied. Could it be that over 10 million taels of silver were left in the warehouse for more than four years, and those shareholders didn't even help me tear them apart?

  "In two years. Within two years, the Longnan Railway will be fully connected, money is not a problem, and people are even less of a problem, there are many people in Shaanxi and Sichuan who are starving to death without food, send them all to the railway construction site, and also accumulate some virtue." Chen An bluntly put forward his own requirements.

  Xu Shi Yuan almost went crazy, how could two years be enough? Even exploration couldn't keep up.

  Xu Shirong immediately abandoned the construction personnel who accompanied him on the inspection tour and rushed to Jiezhou, frantically sending telegrams to Zhan Tianyou, asking for additional manpower to come over and help.

  Zhan Tianyou, the general manager, was also incredulous when he heard Chen An's crazy idea, but as someone who loved the railway industry dearly, he immediately chose to support it and dispatched all four of his other senior technicians to Jiaozhou at the earliest opportunity.

  Along the Beijing-Hankou Railway southbound, boarded Lane's steamship at Hankou and headed straight to Zhao Hua. After disembarking at Bi Kou, four railway technicians arrived directly in Jie Zhou.

  Xu Shiruan, who had been waiting for a long time, took out the initial map of Jiezhou and discussed it with the other four people. Then each person divided into three or four sections, roughly determining the areas where they would intersect with each other. After that, everyone set off immediately to explore their respective sections.

  More railway construction troops poured in, and as soon as any technician had completed the survey and design of a certain section, the construction team would immediately swarm in to try to start work on as many sections as possible at the same time.

  The entire province has become a large construction site.

  Everyone in the province except Chen An's northern army was mechanically doing two things, either busy on the railway construction site or transporting and providing all kinds of materials such as food and clothing needed for the construction site.

  The governor also heard about Chen An's strategy in Lanzhou, and he was equally stunned, saying only one sentence, "He's crazy, Chen An is crazy." And then there was no further comment for a long time.

  In the autumn of Guangxu 34, just as Xu Shiruan was about to collapse from exhaustion, he was forcibly taken away from the construction site by Chen An's men and sent back to Jiezhou for a period of rest and recuperation, along with four other diligent railway technicians.

  Xu Shiyan looked at Chen An with some numbness and said hoarsely, "Chen, sir, if you build it this way, I estimate that the cost will increase by another five million taels."

  Chen An blinked his eyes, also somewhat numb to the silver, "No big deal, **don't count the money**, at least we can save 2 million taels, and the rest will be added by me again."

  Xu Shi Yuan was completely speechless.

  At this time, a shocking news came from the capital city: the Emperor and the old ancestor ascended to heaven one after another, with less than 20 hours between them, announcing mourning to the world.

  It's just that Chen An doesn't understand how two people, one thirty-eight years old and the other seventy-three years old, could have died so coincidentally.

  Half a month later, Xuantong Emperor Puyi ascended to the throne.

  Before that, Xiong Chengji, the outer organization of Guangfu Hui, led more than a thousand new troops in Anqing to revolt and attacked the city of Anqing Prefecture for a day and night but failed to capture it. When retreating, they were pursued by government soldiers and thoroughly defeated. Xiong Chengji relied on the uprising with the military equipment provided by Chen An to Guangfu Hui at the beginning, but unfortunately failed.

  The imperial court sent out nine top-notch door experts to track down the source of the firearms and ammunition used by the rebels, but Chen An had sold tens of thousands of them, and soon the trail went cold.