Insufficient balance

  According to the original expansion plan of the National Army, the most important thing is to establish six mixed brigades as the main force, and then equip them with a German artillery battalion, a guard battalion, and the garrison defense tasks in various places will be handed over to local defense troops. This has been the case for more than a month.

  Later, Chen Jingyun signed a secret agreement with the Japanese and obtained a loan of 150 million yuan, which was used to purchase heavy equipment for three Japanese artillery regiments and one 105mm howitzer battalion. However, this procurement did not affect the core plan of the previous six infantry brigades.

  The First Division, Second Division and Third Division are the earliest formed troops, currently stationed in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Yanping, Fujian and Chaozhou, Guangdong respectively. The Fourth Division, composed of the 7th Regiment and 8th Regiment, has also been gradually formed after the arrival of the first batch of German equipment and is currently intensifying training in Fuzhou and Changle areas. The Fifth Division and Sixth Division have not yet been formally established, with the affiliated 9th Regiment, 10th Regiment, 11th Regiment and 12th Regiment still scattered in various places for intensified training, equipped with some miscellaneous old-fashioned firearms.

  In addition, the guard battalions in various parts of Fujian Province have also been intensifying their training with the 5th and 6th regiments. As for equipment, it goes without saying that they are all old-fashioned goods, even the muzzle-loading rifles were brought out. However, according to Chen Jingyun's idea, these guard troops were only used for suppressing bandits and the like, and their most important role was to supplement qualified soldiers for the main force troops, so slightly inferior equipment could be accepted.

  According to Chen Jingyun's reorganization of the National Army Command, the General Staff was responsible for combat planning and troop training, so the task of organizing and training the garrison troops fell on Feng Qin.

  Feng Qin was naturally aware of the situation of each unit under his command, and immediately said: "According to the plan, a total of 12 guard battalions have been organized and trained within the province, belonging to four regiments deployed in various places. The initial organization and training have been completed, and they are currently taking over local defense duties from the main forces."

  Chen Jingyun nodded after listening, and once again put his gaze on the large military map of the Fujian area on the wall, which marked the various troops of the National Army, as well as other armies from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places.

  "Now that the local defense troops have been trained, they should take on the tasks of defending their local areas and suppressing bandits as soon as possible, so that the main force troops can be freed up!" Chen Jingyun said while pointing at the map: "The 9th Regiment in Ou Ning will return to Fuzhou, the 10th Regiment in Zhangzhou will also return to Fuzhou, preparing to form the 5th Brigade. The newly formed 12th Regiment in Fuzhou must also intensify its training, preparing to join with the 11th Regiment in Fu Ding to form the 6th Brigade."

  Feng Qin recorded the following and asked: "Now that these four regiments are not uniformly equipped, apart from a considerable portion being Hanyang-made, they also mix various old-style firearms. I wonder when the next batch of German equipment will arrive?"

  After Feng Qin finished speaking, Chen Jingyun looked at Ou Yangtian, the Minister of Equipment. The equipment was previously handled by Lin Chengkun in the early stages, but after the establishment of the Equipment Department, it was uniformly handed over to Ou Yangtian for management.

  Ouyang Tian immediately said: "According to the agreement, the second batch of German military equipment should arrive in these days. The day before yesterday, I also had a meeting with Henry of Laihe Yanghang, he said that the cargo ship carrying military equipment has arrived in Hong Kong and will arrive in Fuzhou in a few days."

  Chen Jingyun also nodded after listening, due to the lack of ordnance factories in the Fujian warlord government, if they wanted to expand their army, they had to rely heavily on large-scale foreign purchases of military equipment in the early stages, whether it was German or Japanese equipment, it was all for the same reason. Especially heavy weapons such as artillery, which also had to be purchased from abroad.

  Ouyang Tiandao said: "This second batch of military equipment is much more than the first batch, and it's the majority of this procurement. It includes all the remaining 75mm field guns, mountain guns, 60mm mountain guns, light and heavy machine guns, 20,000 refurbished Mauser 88 rifles, a considerable number of handguns. This batch of military equipment is enormous, accounting for 80% of the total procurement. As for how to distribute it among the various departments and the payment of the military equipment fees, please instruct us, Governor!"

  According to the military procurement contract, it was divided into three batches for delivery. The first batch was just a small amount of ammunition allocated by Li and Yang's company in the Far East, which was relatively small in quantity. The second batch was the focus, accounting for 80% of this military procurement. As for the third batch, it included 105mm howitzers, 5,000 brand-new 88 rifles, as well as a considerable number of handguns and ammunition.

  Since the German equipment is about to arrive, there's no need to delay any further. It's best to make arrangements in advance, otherwise the various department heads will come and fight over it when the time comes.

  Chen Jingyun said, "You don't have to worry about the military equipment expenses, I've already asked An Zongchang to prepare in advance. Since the military equipment has arrived, we will follow the previous plan for building the army and equip each department with the necessary equipment." According to the previous expansion plan, the six main force brigades were equipped not only with corresponding long and short guns but also with six 60mm rapid-fire mountain guns, twelve heavy machine guns, and eighteen light machine guns. Due to the severe lack of heavy weapons in Fujian, these weapons had always been in short supply. Chen Jingyun could only provide a small amount of equipment for each department for early training purposes. Now that the equipment has arrived, it is natural to equip them fully. Only when these heavy weapon equipment are fully equipped can they be called mixed brigades.

  "The arriving 75mm cannons and the original 75 caliber field guns, mountain guns will form an independent artillery regiment!" Chen Jingyun had already pre-trained personnel for this artillery regiment, just waiting for the equipment to arrive.

  What Chen Jingyun said is simple, but in fact, since the contract was signed, the General Staff has been planning and compiling the corresponding weapon equipment. What Chen Jingyun said today is just a general confirmation.

  "Now that the Fifth and Sixth Divisions have their original equipment and firearms, can they be allocated to local defense troops?" Feng Qin suggested.

  "Hmm, this is natural, the local defense troops are currently short of weapons, so use these as substitutes for now!" Chen Jingyun said.

  At this time, Lin Chengkun said on the side: "Director, according to this contract, after the goods arrive and are allocated to six divisions, there will still be about 10,000 rifles left. Can't let them be stored in the warehouse, can we? You see, our military strength is tight now, shouldn't we train another division?"

  Chen Jingyun naturally knew about this matter. When purchasing military equipment at the beginning, he overestimated the number of rifles. At that time, it was to consider expanding the troops and consumption, but he didn't expect that nearly 10,000 more would be produced.

  However, even with this batch of rifles, blind expansion is not possible. To know that expanding the army is not just about having nearly 10,000 rifles, but also requires corresponding heavy weapons and most importantly, personnel costs.

  In the near future, the six brigades and one division of Fujian's financial resources are already unbearable, let alone the expansion of three artillery regiments and one howitzer battalion after the arrival of Japanese troops. All these need to be taken into consideration.

  It's not enough to just spend money buying so many guns and letting them rust in the warehouse, he immediately said: "In this way, the guard corps will be upgraded to a guard brigade, with two regiments under its jurisdiction!"

  Chen Jingyun's move was still very cautious, and he only gave an additional divisional establishment without having a large-scale expansion plan.

  As Ouyang Tian said, on the 29th, the cargo ship of Li and Yang's company arrived in Fuzhou, and after paying for the goods, a large batch of military equipment was delivered to various National Army units. The Fourth Brigade and the Guard Brigade's First Regiment, which were close to Fuzhou, were the first to complete their equipment and began intense training exercises.

  The next day, Chen Jingyun announced the formal establishment of the Fifth Brigade, and Lin Feitai, who was far away in Shaoxing, was appointed as the commander of the Fifth Brigade, with Zhuang Xianhe as the deputy commander. They set out for Zhejiang immediately.

  At the same time, Chen Jingyun dispatched the newly formed independent artillery regiment to Zhejiang, under the jurisdiction of Ma Cheng. If Chen Jingyun successfully deployed all his troops to Zhejiang, the National Army's military strength in Zhejiang would reach a total of two mixed brigades, one artillery regiment, and two local defense regiments, roughly equivalent to the scale of an army division. However, as for actual combat effectiveness, Chen Jingyun was uncertain. The backbone of the National Army was the 10th Regiment, which had expanded massively over the past few months, resulting in a decreasing proportion of old soldiers. Consequently, among the tens of thousands of troops, new recruits made up the vast majority. This was especially true for the 4th Brigade and the Guard Brigade, which was also why Chen Jingyun did not deploy the already formed 4th Brigade to Zhejiang - he simply didn't trust these new troops. The 5th Brigade, although newly formed, had Zhuang Xianhe's 9th Regiment as its backbone, with a strong combat effectiveness. The 10th Regiment, which came from Zhangzhou, was also composed of old soldiers from the original patrol battalion, and although it was somewhat weaker, it was still stronger than new recruits.

  The Fifth Division had just set out when a delegation of over 50 Japanese advisors, dispatched according to the secret agreement, arrived in Fuzhou. Along with them came the first batch of Japanese-made artillery. Chen Jingyun was relatively enthusiastic about these Japanese people due to the artillery, and arranged for some of them to go to the Fuzhou Military Academy as instructors. Then, following the agreement, he kept five or six people as his personal advisors, while the rest were military advisors, with a focus on artillery. Chen Jingyun wasn't afraid that they would steal intelligence or anything like that, so he dispatched them to various units below as military advisors.

  Although he knew that these Japanese had no good intentions, Chen Jingyun didn't care. What he cared about was the combat effectiveness of the army. It's worth noting that the National Army had just started out and already had six main force divisions on the surface, but their military literacy was extremely poor. Although this batch of Japanese military advisers came with not-so-good intentions, there is one thing that cannot be denied: their arrival will accelerate the regularization of the National Army.

  As for whether or not they would be spied on by the Japanese to obtain military intelligence, that was never within Chen Jingyun's consideration. At that time, almost all high-ranking officers in the Chinese army were graduates of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, and the National Revolutionary Army was no exception, including Chen Jingyun himself who was a graduate of the Baoding Military Academy. This was originally an army built by learning from Japan, almost everything was learned from them, so naturally they didn't fear espionage. As for nationalistic or patriotic feelings, those were just things politicians said to ordinary people, it's all talk and no action. To put it extremely, almost all the main leaders in modern Chinese history had sold out their country at some point, with no exceptions, but that didn't stop some of them from becoming great men, simply because they succeeded, while those who failed were almost all labeled as traitors.

  Victors become kings, losers become bandits; these eight words suffice to summarize the entirety of human history.

  Those artillery also allowed Chen Jingyun to form an artillery division according to the plan, but Chen Jingyun did not send out this artillery division and continued to stay in Fuzhou. On the one hand, it was to intensify training and cultivate follow-up artillery talents. On the other hand, it was also to consolidate the defense of Fuzhou.

  Fuzhou stationed a fourth brigade, the twelfth regiment, and a guard brigade, plus an artillery battalion. So many troops are not just for show, mainly to prevent other people in the city from making trouble or their own generals from rebelling. After all, Chen Jingyun still doesn't trust others, let alone Zheng Zuyin, Lin Wenying and the like. Chen Jingyun guards against them every day, even with Ma Cheng, Yuan Fang, Li Jimin and others who are considered his confidants, Chen Jingyun is not completely at ease. The brigade commanders and deputy commanders of several brigades are almost all at odds with each other, which is naturally to restrain the main generals in the army.

  When Chen Jiongming was busy expanding his army, training troops and deploying forces in Fuzhou, the war situation in Hubei seemed to have calmed down. Duan Qirui had just arrived in Hubei and ordered a halt to the bombardment of Wuchang, while secretly contacting Li Yuanhong. The news that had been making a fuss about Hubei being on the verge of falling had also gradually died down.

  In Nanjing, however, the battle was becoming increasingly fierce. After nearly half a month of preparation, Xu Shaozhen finally launched a general attack on Nanjing. Zhang Xun, who defended Nanjing, was also a stubborn person. Although his troops were at a disadvantage, he still resisted and refused to retreat, causing heavy casualties to the Southern Allied Army.

  During this time, Huang Xing arrived in Nanjing, wanting to take over the command, but did not receive the expected welcome, instead he was met with cold words and phrases, which made him feel depressed and frustrated, and later simply stopped talking about it, focusing on contacting Sun Yat-sen and urging him to return home as soon as possible.

  Sun Yat-sen is still abroad 'fundraising'! He said that he would not be able to return in the short term and asked domestic revolutionary comrades to fight bravely and overthrow the Qing dynasty as soon as possible.

  Facing Sun Yat-sen's delay, many high-ranking officials of the Nationalist Party at home were extremely dissatisfied. Song Jiaoren even complained to his entourage, almost directly scolding Sun Yat-sen for being afraid to return home.