Insufficient balance

  "As for artillery and other technical troops!" Chen Jingyun fell silent again.

  The National Army was expanded from the 10th Division, and the foundation of technical troops was also the 10th Division. However, the 10th Division had only an artillery battalion at most, and other supporting units such as logistics, engineering teams, and cavalry were not well-established. At the time of the uprising, Chen Jingyun even converted the engineering battalion into an infantry regiment. Later, when reorganizing the troops, although there were also logistical and engineering auxiliary units, due to a lack of technical officers, these units were largely nominal. The artillery battalion, which was slightly better off, was divided into three companies by Chen Jingyun, but managed to preserve its foundation. Within a few months, it trained many artillerymen, so that when the First Artillery Regiment was formed later on, there were finally some artillerymen available. However, due to the scarcity of qualified artillerymen and officers, when the second artillery regiment was established after the arrival of Japanese-made cannons, no surplus qualified artillerymen and officers could be found, and personnel had to be drawn from the First Artillery Regiment for training. As a result, the already scarce artillery resources became even scarcer.

  The cultivation of this technical soldier is not much easier than cultivating an officer, and it's even more difficult.

  So, in response to Yamamoto's proposal for the Japanese to come and train directly, Chen Jingyun could only accept it in his heart, just to prevent the Japanese from making trouble. Chen Jingyun left a mind: "The guard brigade is a two-regiment formation, and your advisory team is not large, so I will assign some people to be your deputy!"

  Yamamoto Junichiro listened to Chen Jingyun's handling of the two main issues, his face was calm and unruffled. In fact, he didn't have a good impression of Chen Jingyun, nor did he feel any particular dislike for him.

  He and more than 50 other Japanese active-duty military officers came to this bird-shit-less place in Fujian as advisors after retiring from active duty, simply because the Ministry of Military Affairs gave them direct orders.

  As a professional military man, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō was concerned about diplomacy and international situations, but he was only a major general and lacked sufficient understanding of international diplomatic issues. If the Ministry of War had not known that he had lived in China with his father as a child and was fluent in Chinese, and had served in the Kwantung Army several times after joining the army, the Ministry of War would not have allowed him to lead such a large advisory group of dozens of people to Fuzhou.

  From the inside, Yamamoto Eiichiro did not think it was appropriate for the Ministry of Army to support Chen Jingyun domestically. In his view, even if he wanted to intervene in China's internal war, it would be better to choose the Northeast direction and use geographical advantages to support it, then slowly take down the Northeast. Otherwise, simply supporting Yuan Shikai, using economic or military aid to exchange for Yuan Shikai to cede Manchuria or Mongolia.

  As for Fujian, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō thinks it is completely unnecessary.

  But he was just a major general, and could not influence the choice of high-ranking officials in the empire. Since the Army Ministry had sent him to Fujian to gather intelligence on southern China while also strengthening the Nationalist Army's forces, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō could only follow orders. After all, the Empire had already made its choice, and had even provided Chen Jingyun with a loan of 1.5 billion yuan. Such a huge price was not paid in vain, but rather in the hope that Chen Jingyun would develop and expand his influence over China's situation, thereby creating actual divisions.

  On the other hand, only when the South puts more pressure on Yuan Shikai can the Japanese get more benefits from him.

  Of course, if Chen Jingyun was unfortunately able to defeat Yuan Shikai with the limited support of the Japanese and even take control of China's political power, it would not be something that the Japanese could have anticipated. No matter what, at that time, the Japanese would definitely choose to support another faction to counter Chen Jingyun.

  In short, Japan does not wish to see any one faction in China become too dominant.

  Based on this consideration, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō came to Fujian and, except for a considerable number of people who went to Fuzhou Military School as instructors, the rest were also busy. A considerable number of them were sent to various departments of the National Army as advisors, while Yamamoto Jun'ichirō and five or six others stayed in Fuzhou as private advisors to Chen Jingyun. After investigating the garrison brigade and the fourth brigade in Fuzhou during this period, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō believed that the combat effectiveness of the National Army was only superficial, and the quality of soldiers and officers was extremely poor. In a report to the country, he even pointed out that the Ministry of the Army only needed to send out one regiment to sweep through Fujian.

  Although this statement has a certain degree of self-confidence and boastfulness, it also reflects the poor quality of the National Army from another perspective. Of course, Yamamoto Jun'ichirō believed that even the strongest military force in China, the Beiyang Government, was nothing to be feared, and if the Kwantung Army sent just one brigade southward, they could reach Beijing within a month without difficulty.

  All of the above are just habitual underestimation of the Chinese army, but on the other hand, he is also very pragmatic: if the National Army wants to deal with the Beiyang Army, according to the current military quality, it must have two to three times the number of troops and firepower advantages in order to defeat the Beiyang Army in an offensive battle.

  The poor quality of the National Army is also a concern for the Japanese, who still hope that Chen Jingyun's National Army can put pressure on Beiyang. If they can't fight, it won't work, so they sent Yamamoto Jun'ichirō an urgent telegram to assist in training the National Army, so that it can counterbalance Beiyang.

  As for the other governors in the south, the Japanese were also planning to contact them, but first of all, among the southern provinces, only Fujian and Yunnan have the real ability to command the whole province. The side of Yunnan is the territory of France, if Japan rashly intervenes, it will easily lead to disputes, as for other provinces, Japan can't find anyone to support.

  In addition, there are also Nanjing and Wuchang. The Japanese do not think highly of the Wuchang faction, believing that Wuchang may be taken over by the Beiyang at any time, and it is difficult to develop in a frontline location. If they really want to support Li Yuanhong, the effort and time spent will not be small.

  As for the more important Nanjing, the Japanese are still observing!

  Although it was a Tongmenghui supported by the Japanese, currently the various forces in Nanjing are intertwined and contradictory. Huang Xing's Northern Expeditionary Army is powerful, but Huang himself does not have as good of a relationship with the Japanese as Sun Yat-sen did. After multiple attempts at negotiation, nothing came to fruition. On the other hand, Huang Xing now controls Nanjing, holding both military power and great prestige. If Japan continues to provide financial and military support, it may become uncontrollable. If a powerful Northern Expeditionary Army is truly formed and heads north to defeat the Beiyang government, that would not be something the Japanese would want to see.

  According to the current Japanese view, Huang Xing and Yuan Shikai in Nanjing have formed a two-strong situation. Arbitrarily strengthening one side would easily lead to the deterioration of the situation. More importantly, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the situation in Nanjing is unstable and will not be able to maintain power for a long time, making investments likely to fail. At this time, if Chen Jingyun were supported, there wouldn't be so many problems. Firstly, Chen Jingyun lacks sufficient prestige and cannot unify China with Japan's limited loans. Secondly, it can strengthen the empire's control over the situation, and after Nanjing falls, there will still be Chen Jingyun to continue resisting the Beiyang government. Thirdly, the Japanese appreciate Chen Jingyun's strong side, believing he has the ability to control Fujian for a long time.

  Under such circumstances, Yamamoto Junichiro made this proposal today.

  Many times the relationship between countries is extremely complex, now Japanese people think highly of Chen Jiongming, but if Chen Jiongming really expands continuously and takes down several provinces, having the power to unify China after fighting against the Beiyang government, then the object of Japan's support would not be Chen Jiongming but the Beiyang government.

  To the south, there is Chen Jingyun, while to the north, the Japanese have not relaxed their efforts and have actively contacted several powerful figures in the three northeastern provinces, preparing to support one or more of them as pro-Japanese forces. In the foreseeable future, Japan's supportive efforts in the Northeast will be much greater.

  At the suggestion of Yamamoto Jun'ichirō, Japan again dispatched a delegation of more than 30 people to serve as instructors at the Fuzhou Military Academy and training officers for the Guard Brigade.

  The next day, Chen Jingyun took Feng Qin and other high-ranking officers from the headquarters to inspect the garrison's residence, accompanied by several Japanese advisers including Yamamoto Junichiro.

  "What's the current situation with the troops?" Chen Jingyun asked Lin Chengkun as soon as he arrived at his post.

  Lin Chengkun had received a notice from the Governor's Secretariat as early as dusk, saying that the Governor would come to inspect the Guard Regiment. That night, Lin Chengkun ordered all officers of the Guard Regiment to be on alert, and the next morning, he waited for Chen Jingyun and others.

  At this time, Lin Chengkun straightened up and said: "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, my Guard Brigade is fully equipped and has been training day and night, ready to serve the Commander-in-Chief at any time!"

  "Hmm, not bad! The troops have changed their equipment without any problems, right?" Chen Jingyun was referring to the Guards Brigade's change of rifles. Previously, when the Guards Brigade was still just a Guards Regiment, they were equipped with Japanese-made Type 30 rifles. Later, after the second batch of German firearms arrived, Chen Jingyun expanded the Guards Regiment into a Guards Brigade and collected all the original Japanese-made guns, then uniformly changed to the 88-style rifle.

  As a result, all six main force divisions and the guard division of the National Revolutionary Army were equipped with the Type 88 rifle and the Hanyang rifle, greatly simplifying the problem of bullet logistics supply.

  Lin Chengkun said: "No problem, now that the troops have changed to new guns for some time, they are already adapted!"

  "This is great!" Chen Jingyun had always been very concerned about the Guard Corps, and the reason was simple. The Guard Corps was his life-saving unit, including Lin Chengkun, all high-ranking military officers in the Guard Corps were Chen Jingyun's relatives. One of the regimental commanders was even Chen Jingyun's cousin, who had temporarily joined the army. His name was Yu Ruofei, a nephew of the Chen family, only 26 years old. Although he had also studied abroad, he did not study military affairs and had to hastily make up for his lack of military knowledge this month. The other battalion commanders were basically all related by blood or marriage, with a strong flavor of the Xiang Army from back in the day. However, Chen Jingyun also understood that if they were going to engage in combat training, they could not rely on these people. The fighting strength of the troops still had to depend on those professional military officers.

  Chen Jingyun's abacus was ringing, relying on relatives and friends to control the loyalty of troops, and then assigning professional military officers as deputies to these relatives and friends, which could guarantee the combat effectiveness of the troops.

  As for how effective it really is, Chen Jingyun doesn't know, and it will have to be proven in future actual combat.