Insufficient balance

  Xu Jingqing's surrender and the takeover of Shaowu Prefecture marked the complete control of the main areas within Fujian Province by the military government!

  Of course, this thorough control is limited to areas above the county level. As for rural areas below the county level, they are still restricted by the political framework of the late Qing dynasty, and are currently controlled by local gentry. This situation cannot be changed in a short period of time. To truly achieve improvement, it will have to wait until the establishment of township and town governments can fundamentally solve the problem.

  Inside the governor's office, Chen Jingyun looked at the Fujian province area and said: "Li Jimin did a good job this time, he was able to take down Jianning without anyone getting hurt, this is no small achievement! I'll send him a commendation telegram in my name later!"

  Feng Qin said on the side, "Understood. Besides, there are many bandits in Jianning. Should we let the Second Brigade stay there for a while to eliminate the bandits while they are training?"

  Chen Jingyun shook his head: "The traffic in Jianning is inconvenient, and the supply will be very difficult. Besides, it's not necessary to leave so many troops to suppress the bandits!"

  Chen Jingyun put his eyes on the map on the table, and after a long time, he said: "Send a telegram to Yongning, and have one battalion from the third regiment transferred to the ninth regiment. Then let Zhuang Xianhe's ninth regiment garrison Yongning, and clear up the bandit situation in Jianning Prefecture. Order Li Jimin to lead the third regiment back to defend Nanping, and first supplement the third regiment with surrendered soldiers, and take the rest to Nanping as well."

  After saying this, Chen Jingyun finally moved his gaze away from the map and turned around to continue: "The 9th Regiment is composed of new army soldiers, and its combat effectiveness is not bad. It can be used for a short time in Jianning's bandit suppression, but it will be used elsewhere in the future. Zhao Danyang, Feng Chief of Staff, I plan to establish a local defense force, equipped with existing old miscellaneous guns, no machine guns, and reduced silver pay. The personnel don't need to be full-strength now either."

  For this place, the garrison troops Chen Jingyun had long been prepared, but before that, they put their focus on the main force troops, and there was not much demand for local garrison troops. However, it's different now, the National Army has controlled the entire Fujian Province, but the main forces are scattered in several places, resulting in a severe shortage of troops. In this case, it is even more unnecessary to waste the main force troops on defending the place.

  "The local defense troops also belong to the combat troops, under the jurisdiction of the command center. Each province has an important area with a battalion stationed there, mainly used for local defense, clearing bandits and supplementing the main force's losses when necessary!" Chen Jingyun finished speaking, Feng Qin on the other side was puzzled: "Calculating this way, I'm afraid at least twelve battalions are needed. Even if the number of people is less than a regular infantry battalion, the equipment is worse, but adding up, the expenses won't be small!"

  Chen Jingyun had anticipated that he would say this: "If we don't establish local guard units, then for the whole of Fujian province, do you think we need to arrange three or four regiments? I think the cost of twelve guard battalions is far lower than that of three infantry regiments. What's more important is that these guard units can supplement the main force's losses at critical moments, just like the reserve system in Western countries! Now we don't have a way to establish a universal reserve system like the powerful nations, but we can store up reserve forces through the guard battalions!"

  When Feng Qin heard Chen Jingyun's explanation, he didn't say anything else. Anyway, it was not him who would be worried about the military expenses at that time, but the governor.

  After roughly determining the garrison troops in this area, Chen Jingyun calculated silently for a moment and said: "Now there are already eleven regiments, so let's form another one and prepare to form the Fifth and Sixth Brigades!"

  Just now I heard that Chen Jingyun is going to set up 12 local defense battalions, and now I hear that Chen Jingyun is going to set up an infantry regiment, which makes Feng Qin speechless.

  Seeing Feng Qin not speaking, Chen Jingyun asked: "What's wrong, is there a problem?"

  Feng Qin then spoke up and said: "There's something I'm not sure if I should ask or not?"

  "If you have a question, just ask!" Chen Jingyun disliked Feng Qin's habit of speaking in a mysterious and obscure way.

  Feng Qin looked at Chen Jingyun and said, "I don't know how the governor will solve the military expenses. Now we already have four divisions, three infantry regiments, one guard regiment, and one artillery battalion. The existing troops are probably too expensive for Fujian to maintain. If we add the twelve local defense battalions, form the fifth division, and sixth division, there will be six mixed brigades, one mixed guard brigade, an expanded artillery battalion, and twelve defense battalions. This number of troops would cost no less than tens of millions per year!"

  When Feng Qin mentioned the issue of military expenses, Chen Jingyun smiled and said: "Don't worry, just because we can't afford it now doesn't mean we won't be able to in the future!"

  After finishing speaking, Chen Jingyun secretly added a few more sentences in his heart. It's because I don't have the money to maintain the army that I need to expand on a large scale in a short period of time and then occupy the territory. As long as Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces are taken down, when the time comes to gather the strength of three provinces, it's not just about maintaining six brigades, two regiments, and twelve battalions, even if I maintain six full divisions, it won't be a problem!

  Of course, Chen Jingyun only vaguely expressed his attitude towards An Hualin about expanding the army and occupying the site, and has not said anything to others yet. Sometimes it's not necessary to say too much, just go ahead and do it.

  At the same time, in Guangdong's Chaozhou, Yuan Fang, sporting an eight-character mustache, wore white gloves on his hands as he grasped a command knife, his feet clad in long tube leather boots. The khaki green military uniform on his body was pressed straight without any wrinkles. Yuan Fang's image and that of most military officers today are similar, whether it be their demeanor or style of doing things, they are almost indistinguishable from the Northern Warlords' army. On the surface, they also resemble Japanese military officers, but if you look deeper, they all have the shadow of German soldiers.

  The reason for this situation is simple. Yuan Fang was a new army officer of the 10th Division, and the 10th Division learned from Beiyang, Beiyang learned from Japan, and Japan learned from Germany. As a result, the Chinese army did not learn the rigor and high quality of the German army, but instead learned the pretentiousness of officers thoroughly.

  "The city has been cleaned up!" Yuan Fang was standing in the county government office inside the city, and behind him, apart from the officers of the Third Brigade, there were five or six men wearing cavalry uniforms with pale faces.

  "We have returned to Luoyang, and the remaining Qing forces within the city have been eliminated!" said the deputy officer beside him.

  Yuan Fang nodded, a satisfied smile spreading across his face: "Not bad!" He then turned to Yu Shao'e and said: "Brother Yu, the brothers from the 6th Regiment did a great job just now, taking down Chaozhou in one fell swoop. It's clear that you've been leading your troops well, Brother Yu. I'll personally go to the Commander-in-Chief to request recognition for you!"

  Yu Shaoyong also smiled and said: "There, this is all thanks to Brother Yuan's command being in order, I dare not take credit for it!"

  "Haha, we brothers don't need to think about it anymore. Later, I'll send the telegram back to Fuzhou and the two of us will probably be promoted!" Yuan Fang laughed loudly.

  In fact, Yuan Fang did have the capital to laugh. Since receiving Chen Jingyun's order to go south to Chaozhou, he had been advancing quickly with a light load. Although the road was not easy to walk, it was finally possible to arrive in Chaozhou on the 14th. However, after arriving in Chaozhou, it was discovered that the original prefecture had already turned against him yesterday and established the Chaozhou Military Government Branch. Upon learning of this news, Yuan Fang was frantic.

  He had received Chen Jingyun's secret order to take down Chaozhou, and for this, Chen Jingyun even promised him a major general rank in advance. However, he arrived late now.

  If it is said that there are fewer troops in the city, then Yuan's side may have launched a strong attack. However, he found that there were not many troops stationed inside the city. In this case, whether a strong attack can be taken down is one thing, but if they let them send out telegrams saying that the National Army has entered Guangdong to disturb the place, it would be bad. Chen Jingyun had hinted to him that he must take down Chaozhou and not provoke the enemy's attention from the Guangzhou side.

  After two hours of bitter thought, Yuan Fang still couldn't think of a way. At this time, the vanguard came to report that they had encountered a group of bandits, with a large number of people, estimated to be over a thousand. As soon as he heard this news, Yuan Fang immediately sent someone to investigate and found that this group of bandits was also heading towards Chaozhou.

  Next, this group of bandits and refugees arrived in Chaozhou City and began to attack the city. In less than half a day, they almost took over the city. Under such circumstances, Yuan Fang ordered an attack, using the name of aiding Chaozhou and eliminating bandits, and entered the city in one fell swoop. Not only did he eliminate the bandits, but also disarmed the original garrison troops inside the city!

  He then went all out, directly issuing a telegram in Chaozhou, saying that the city of Chaozhou was attacked by bandits and many people were killed inside the city, including several key members of the Chaozhou Military Government. As soon as he finished sending the telegram, he stuffed several key members of the military government among the captured bandits and had them shot together.

  Just after the city was broken, the intermittent gunfire inside the city still lasted for more than half a day. More than 600 bandits captured by the National Army were all shot dead. At that time, Yuan Butou's name spread throughout Chaozhou.

  After the third division of the Beiyang Army entered the city, Yuan's side again ordered the implementation of martial law and launched a large-scale manhunt for remnants of the Qing dynasty and bandits.

  When Yuan's telegram arrived at Chen Jingyun's desk, it was already early on the 15th!

  "This Yuan Fang, his heart is quite ruthless!" Chen Jingyun said this with his mouth, but he was extremely appreciative of Yuan Fang's methods. In these times, being a warlord and playing house was just a game, and talking about reason and righteousness was just for show. When it came to specific interests like territory, one had to be ruthless when necessary.

  It's been many days since the recovery of Guangdong, and although the Third Division has taken down Chaozhou, it's likely that Guangzhou has already stabilized, making it difficult to continue advancing westward. This is a bit troublesome! Although Guangdong is a wealthy province, its main wealth is concentrated in the Guangzhou area, and the eastern part of Chaozhou is not an economic powerhouse. Chen Jingyun is not willing to give up! However, at present, the national situation is focused on the war between the North and the South, and Hu Hanmin from Guangzhou has a significant influence within the Tongmenghui. If they were to recklessly attack Guangzhou, it's likely that it would provoke a united counterattack, which would not be worth it.

  Later, Chen Jingyun said to himself: Now that we have occupied Chaozhou, it is equivalent to occupying the western gate. In the future, when there is an opportunity, we can attack Guangzhou at any time!

  After understanding this layer, Chen Jingyun felt much better and immediately ordered the promotion of Yuan Fang to Upper Colonel, then promoted Yu Shaojing to Middle Colonel, and other meritorious personnel were also rewarded!

  PS: Today I saw it, and finally managed to catch the last bus of the new book list on the homepage... Brothers are very powerful...