Insufficient balance

  Nanping is an important town of Yanping Prefecture, and this city located in the middle reaches of the Min River can be said to be the most economically and militarily strategic city in the heart of Fujian. From an economic perspective, Nanping relies on the mid-to-lower reaches of the Min River to connect with Fuzhou, and its northern part also relies on the upper reaches of the three branches of the Min River to connect with Shaowu Prefecture, Jianning Prefecture, and Tingzhou, making it a transit point for the entire northwestern and northern regions of Fujian and Fuzhou. Its economic importance is self-evident.

  In addition to its economic importance, Nanping's location in the middle reaches of the Min River also made it a crucial military location. Whoever controlled Nanping could march down the river and threaten Fuzhou, an important city. Given its strategic significance, military leaders throughout history have stationed large numbers of troops here. The Qing army was no exception, deploying two infantry battalions, the 38th and 40th, to this small riverside city, in addition to a substantial number of Green Standard soldiers. In terms of military strength, only Fuzhou could compare. These two new army battalions in Nanping, combined with one battalion from Shaowu and other old troops, formed the northern defense line of Fujian Province. Even after the Wuchang Uprising broke out, when Sun Daoren was worried that Fuzhou's defenses were insufficient and redeployed troops from elsewhere to Fuzhou, he only withdrew the 3rd Battalion of the 38th Regiment from Funing Prefecture, leaving the three new army infantry battalions in Nanping and Shaowu untouched.

  After Fuzhou was recovered, Chen Jingyun sent telegrams to Nanping and Shaowu one after another, as well as a handwritten letter from Sun Daoren. A few days later, the first battalion of the 38th Brigade, led by Zhuang Xianhe, announced its allegiance to the Military Government and controlled most of the government offices in Nanping. After receiving Chen Jingyun's telegram, Chen immediately appointed Zhuang Xianhe as the commander of the Nanping garrison, ordering him to lead his original troops to defend Nanping and wait for reinforcements from the National Army. The 40th Brigade, stationed in the barracks outside the city, rushed to quell the rebellion after learning of Zhuang's betrayal, but was repelled by Zhuang's forces, leading to a stalemate between the two sides.

  Li Jimin's second brigade was reorganized, and personnel replenishment and firearms were all arranged after the first brigade. When Ma Cheng's first brigade began urgent training, his second brigade started to supplement new recruits in batches. After the second brigade set out, they encountered several small counties on the road that refused to surrender, forcing Li Jimin to pull out these nails before continuing north along the river. This delay made the advance of the second brigade much slower.

  It wasn't until November 5 that they arrived near Nanping, by which time not only had the First Division captured Fuding, but even the Third Division, which had departed after the Second Division, had already reached the outskirts of Quanzhou.

  Although the advance was extremely slow, Li Jiming was not panicked along the way, but rather extremely cautious.

  On the afternoon of November 5, the vanguard reported that they had encountered a small number of Qing troops. Li Jimin immediately realized that the battle was about to end and ordered his third battalion to speed up their advance. Less than two hours later, Li received a report from the front line saying that the enemy had already surrendered!

  When Li Jimin heard the news of surrender, he didn't feel surprised. The enemy was the first battalion of the 40th Regiment, with only over 600 men, not to mention that Lin Zhaomin, the commander of the 40th Regiment, had already become the deputy commander of the Fujian National Army. It's not surprising that they would surrender. As for why they didn't surrender earlier, you'd have to ask them yourself.

  For the mid-to-low-level officers who surrendered, Li Jimin followed Chen Jingyun's previous order and was willing to use the National Army according to their original rank. Those who were unwilling were sent to Fuzhou, where they would be given freedom after a selection process. Ordinary soldiers were treated more leniently: those who were willing to join the army were directly recruited, while those who were not were dismissed with one silver dollar.

  The choices of the surrendered soldiers are basically the same, that is to join the National Army. In this era, being a soldier is not just about fighting, but also about getting paid. Besides, if you don't become a soldier, who will support your family? You should know that even the lowest-ranking new army soldiers get at least eight taels of silver per month, and after deducting food and lodging expenses during peacetime, they still have five or six taels left. During wartime, after receiving their full pay, their income is at least twice that of ordinary laborers, which is equivalent to the white-collar class in modern terms. It's not a job that just anyone can do.

  During the reorganization process, Li Jimin, based on Ma Cheng's experience in Lianjiang, organized four infantry companies with surrendered Qing soldiers and replaced the four infantry companies of the Second Brigade to form a new infantry regiment. After reporting to Chen Jingyun, Chen instructed that the newly formed infantry regiment and the First Regiment of the 38th Banner be combined to form the Ninth Regiment, with Zhuang Xianhe as the regimental commander, under Li Jimin's command. Additionally, Li Jimin was promoted to senior colonel and Li Lianyang to lieutenant colonel.

  Li Jimin then wired the General Staff, requesting further strategic instructions!

  After receiving Li Jimin's telegram, Chen Jingyun meditated in front of the Fujian map for a full half hour, and then convened a command meeting!

  "Judging from the current situation, we have already taken the initiative in the northern region. Next step, whether it's continuing to advance north to Shaowu or east to Nanning, is entirely up to us!" Feng Qin has become even more spirited since taking on the role of Chief of Staff, and the colonel's insignia on his shoulders seems particularly resplendent.

  The Ministry of Military Affairs, Lin Wenyin and others are idle, so they redesigned the military uniform, shoulder badge, and rank badge. The rank badge has been mentioned before, and the shoulder badge is as follows: Officer shoulder badges are based on yellow, with one to three five-pointed stars for generals; school officers have a white stripe in the middle, with one to three five-pointed stars; lieutenant officers have two white stripes in the middle, with one to three five-pointed stars; probationary officers have one white stripe without five-pointed stars; non-commissioned officer and soldier shoulder badges are based on red, with one to three stars for soldiers, and a yellow stripe is added for non-commissioned officers, with one to three stars (Historical Northern Yangtze 1912 military rank shoulder badge).

  The style of the uniform did not change much, it just changed the color of the uniform to brown green, the main purpose is to distinguish it from the Qing army, and also to effectively camouflage in field battles and street fighting.

  The Ministry of Military Affairs is still continuing to design, saying that they are preparing to change the style of military uniforms into revolutionary military uniforms. Chen Jingyun does not object to this either, letting them make a fuss about it.

  At this moment, Feng Qin was wearing a khaki green military uniform with three-star major rank on his shoulder and holding a command baton pointing at the large-scale military map on the wall.

  "According to external telegraph messages, Jiangxi has already been recovered, so in the short term we will not face the Qing army from Jiangxi. However, there is still a battalion of the original 40th Regiment in Shaowu Prefecture, which lost contact before Xu Chongzhi's uprising. Although we have sent several telegrams to Shaowu Prefecture, there has been no response, and the current situation is unclear. In Jian'ou Prefecture, eastern Nanping, there are 1,500 troops of the patrol battalion under Xu Jingqing, but currently there is no reliable news coming in!"

  At once, the officers and staff below began to speak one after another. Some said they should advance on Shaowu immediately, some said they should advance on Jianning, and others said they should divide their troops into two routes. Chen Jingyun did not interrupt them, but listened quietly to their opinions.

  After a while, Chen Jingyun waved his hand to stop everyone: "Everyone's opinions are pertinent. Now that Nanping has gone south, the second division will definitely continue to advance next step. As for the direction, it is set at Jianning Mansion! Also send troops to Shaowu Mansion to investigate and clarify the situation! Nanping itself also needs to leave a considerable number of troops to garrison."

  After that, he didn't give the crowd a chance to speak, and directly said: "Director Feng, remember, order Li Jimin to lead the 9th Regiment and the 3rd Regiment to rest for three days before advancing to build Ning, the 4th Regiment is stationed in Nanping to clear up the remaining Qing army remnants around, hmm, send some people to Shaowu Prefecture to check the situation."

  "Order Ma Cheng to lead the troops back to defend Lianjiang, Fu'an and other places, clear up the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in northern Fuzhou Prefecture and Funing Prefecture, and at the same time ask him to send a battalion to Wenzhou to take a look at the situation, if there is an opportunity, then take it down; also withdraw the battalion stationed in Lianjiang back to Fuzhou!" Chen Jingyun said, with a map of Fujian already appearing in his mind.

  "Chen Kui!" Chen Jingyun looked at Chen Kui: "I'm incorporating this regiment into the 7th Regiment, so your 7th Regiment will have three infantry regiments and can be considered a preliminary formation! Take the troops to Changle and solidify the outer defenses of Fuzhou. Train them well first, and after the purchased military equipment arrives, I'll equip you with mountain guns and machine guns."

  "Really! Chen Kui will never betray the Governor's trust!"

  At this time, Feng Qin on the side asked in a low voice: "Director, if the 7th Regiment is transferred to Changle, won't the defense of Fuzhou be weakened?"

  Originally, there were two troops guarding Fuzhou City, the Garrison Troop and the Seventh Troop, to ensure the safety of Fuzhou. As for Chen Weihua's Eighth Troop, only a framework was established, with 700-800 new recruits but no guns, so they could only serve as decorations.

  Chen Jingyun smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, there are still more than 2,000 guards in the city. Besides, Chang Le is not far away, and the Seventh Regiment will arrive within half a day!"

  When Feng Qin heard Chen Jingyun say this, he also stopped talking!

  This military deployment, apart from military considerations, Chen Jingyun considered more the issue of military power and politics. Firstly, in the case of Nanping, Chen Jingyun combined the 9th and 3rd regiments and assigned them to Li Jimin to go to Jianning. The main purpose was to separate Li Jimin and his direct subordinate unit, the 4th regiment, from him. As for not sending troops north to Shaowu Prefecture, it was because Xu Chongzhi was there. Although there was no news about Shaowu Prefecture or Xu Chongzhi at present, Chen Jingyun planned to put Shaowu on hold and observe the situation quietly. Otherwise, if he rashly sent his troops over, they might be annexed by Xu Chongzhi. After all, Xu Chongzhi's prestige within the Tongmenghui was much higher than Chen Jingyun's, and his military position in the original 10th Division was also higher than Chen Jingyun's.

  But letting Ma Cheng clear the bandits within the territory was for the sake of the military government's reputation, and sending a small-scale troop to Wenzhou to probe the situation was purely to see if there were any bargains to be picked up. If there was an opportunity, Chen Jingyun did not mind taking Wenzhou into his hands. Putting the 7th Regiment in Changle was mainly to consolidate the security of Fuzhou's outer perimeter.

  When Li Jimin received Chen Jingyun's order, he was not stupid and vaguely guessed Chen Jingyun's intention. However, he had already anticipated this situation, and now with a large number of people, he clearly understood that it was not worth sacrificing his promising career for the sake of the few hundred loyal subordinates in his hands. So, he left the fourth regiment behind and took the ninth and third regiments to rest for two days before heading to Jianning.