Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1619 Participating Army?

While Josiah Child was researching the latest information on the army and navy on the east coast, outside Jingjiang County on the bank of the Wujiang River, the No.11 Mixed Battalion of the Army was holding a flag presentation ceremony.

Li Zhixin, the young acting battalion commander, received the battalion flag handed over by Minister of the Army Mo Ming with a little excitement, and then solemnly raised it on the flagpole amidst the cheers of the soldiers. So far, the No.11 mixed battalion of the army is considered officially established.

This battalion is a simplified battalion, with Jingjiang County as the recruiting place. At present, there are about 400 people in the whole battalion, and the vacancy is as high as [-].But this is not a big problem, because the officers, staff officers, non-commissioned officers and veteran backbones are there, and it will be enough to fill in new recruits in the future. As long as they train for a period of time, the combat effectiveness will naturally increase.

After the establishment of the No.11 mixed battalion, it will immediately go to the Patagonia region to find indigenous barbarians to fight in the local area, so as to hone the soldiers' combat skills and combat will, and at the same time, it also means to strengthen their ability to adapt to different battlefield environments .Only after completing the above-mentioned process can the battalion become a mixed force capable of independent combat.

"Minister Mo, the Army is going to push the executive committee to participate in the possible European war?" Invited by Mo Ming, Sun Wuben, editor-in-chief of "Pravda", came to Jingjiang County with a group of disciples and grandchildren to interview and report No.11 Establishment of the mixed battalion.As a well-informed head of the state-run media, Sun Wuben is well aware of the purpose of the Ministry of the Army's high-profile establishment of the "Participating Army" this time-it is nothing more than taking the opportunity to expand the army, and the army has always been the power base of these military leaders- —So this time he was invited by the army, and he was also happy to come and support him.

"The executive committee has held a meeting before, and basically established a 'closer relationship' with the Federal Republic of the Netherlands, including a series of trade aids such as military supplies, daily necessities, and labor supplies (commitment to war) No price increase, and allow the Dutch to pay first) in order to consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries. In addition, the members of the executive committee also gave a positive response to the overall employment of our army requested by the Dutch, which allows the army The expansion of the four battalions is a manifestation of this spirit.” Mo Ming, who is over 60 years old, still looks very good, and he speaks with full of energy, which makes people vaguely see that he led the army across Shandong and presided over the army more than 20 years ago. The shadow of the strongman at the time of reform.In fact, think about it, how could it be possible for a man who has been fighting with civil servant groups as the spokesperson of the military department several times to have no momentum?

Marshal Mo just mentioned the expansion of the army to four battalions. In fact, he should thank the new Dutch ambassador Hieronymus van Beveninghe. How could the Executive Committee, which has no regard for the millions of dollars spent by the navy and army every year, agree to expand the size of the army?You know, they have been procrastinating about purchasing new ships to replace old ones for the navy. One can imagine what kind of face it will have on the army.

However, under the circumstances that the Dutch were "seduced" by huge economic benefits, the members of the executive committee were a little bit unable to hold on. Therefore, after a series of complicated behind-the-scenes transactions and compromises, the above finally agreed to the army's military expansion plan, that is, in the The numbers of the 9th to 12th battalions were added to the army establishment and included in the national military expenditure budget.

The 9th to 12th battalions are recruited from the four counties of Dingxi, Zhongshan, Jingjiang, and Yiling respectively. At present, they are initially designated as simplified battalions. The army is responsible for dispatching officers and key veterans, and then the above four counties recruit from the security regiment system. Some militiamen with outstanding performance should enter the army, and it is advisable to have no more than 500 people.In addition, the four battalions of the army that were downsized during the last wave of disarmament (after the signing of the "Aachen Treaty" with the French and the Spaniards) will be replenished with new recruits from their respective source areas in the near future, and become fully staffed. camp.

In this way, the Army of the East Coast Republic of China has eight full battalions and four simplified battalions, a total of twelve independent combat units, with a total strength of more than 1.3.If you count several independent artillery companies, cavalry battalions, transport troops, engineers, and Army staff, the total strength of the army is steadily approaching 1.5, and it costs a huge military expenditure of more than 250 million yuan per year (including County militia expenditures), and this was in peacetime.

The army has to spend 250 million, and the navy, which is a gold-swallowing behemoth, has no idea how much it will consume.Especially the professional navy on the east coast—in the world at this time, no matter which country has a professional navy, it is very small. For example, most naval warships in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are usually sealed up, and merchant ships are recruited in wartime. Yes, most of them are fishermen in normal times, and they are recruited on a large scale during wartime. The consumption is so staggering that after the signing of the "Aachen Peace Treaty", the east coast government was a little bit impatient. Some of the naval personnel were abolished, and the expenditure was barely reduced, otherwise it was estimated that the finances would go bankrupt.

Therefore, it is indeed not easy for the military to persuade the members of the executive committee to expand the army this time, because if the current annual financial revenue is just over 1000 million, military expenditures may account for [-]% (considering The navy will also "return" some of its warships, which undoubtedly means increased expenditures), and other expenditures on people's livelihood, construction, scientific research, and government maintenance will be much less. How to solve this problem requires another way.

Fortunately, the Dutch have promised that once the east coast agrees to hire troops, they will pay more than 300 million guilders in advance for preliminary preparations, including personnel transfer, food preparation, material transportation, and so on.After arriving in the United Provinces, the Dutch Province will pay the East Coasters a monthly employment fee of [-] guilders per battalion, and will also cover the military's board and lodging expenses. The conditions are quite generous, which is equivalent to helping the East Coasters solve It is undeniable that this is also one of the important reasons why the members of the Executive Committee agreed to the expansion of the army, because they obviously had the idea of ​​having the Dutch help raise the army during the war and disband it after the war .

According to the consensus reached by the Executive Committee and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, once an employment agreement is reached with the Dutch in the future, the four newly formed battalions will be stationed in the mainland, and they will be trained by combat. Only the eight veteran mixed battalions will go to Europe. part inside.The reason for this is mainly because they are afraid that the newly formed troops will be too weak to fight. If they make a fool of themselves after being sent to the European battlefield, they will be ridiculed. The members of the executive committee can't afford to lose this person.

Moreover, even though the members of the executive committee don’t usually get involved in military affairs, they have heard vaguely that the first mixed battalion has many children of the capital’s officials and eunuchs, who have been playing tricks for other battalions all the year round; the sixth mixed battalion’s source of troops is domestic Qingdao County, the largest and most prosperous city, is full of rich merchants with bad habits. They are often ridiculed by other battalion leaders, so they are not willing to send these two battalions to fight, especially the sixth mixed battalion.

So after calculations like this, if you remove the two mixed battalions stationed in the Far East and South Africa, there are actually only four or five battalions that can be sent out, with six to seven thousand people, barely able to participate in a battle, but this It is impossible for the people on the east coast, because they do not want to bury their troops in a large-scale battle involving more than 7000 people.

Their ideal situation is to deploy their troops in the key Dutch provinces, preferably The Hague or Amsterdam, to protect various important facilities and many republican parliamentarians who are friendly with the people on the east coast, including Speaker De Witt safety.Because their safety is also related to the interests of the East Coast Republic, there is no doubt about it.

****Qi Wangping once cryptically asked the Dutch ambassador Van Beveninghe, pointing out that the voice of missing the Orange family in the Netherlands is gradually rising, which greatly challenges the status of Speaker DeWitt.Moreover, this family is not a good man and a believer, and can be used by any means. Therefore, it is hoped that a mixed battalion can be stationed in The Hague tomorrow to protect the safety of the central authority of the three-level parliament. In fact, it is to protect the family of Speaker DeWitt.

After a little hesitation, Van Beverninghe also accepted the proposal, but said that this matter still needs to be consulted domestically, and the abacus of the people on the east coast may not be satisfactory, because although the militias in The Hague and Amsterdam are not very effective, they are very powerful. Strong, most of them don't want the troops from the east bank to enter the city, so the specifics need to be discussed domestically.

At the same time, Van Beveninghe also said that it is best for the east coast army to prepare as soon as possible, and the personnel, materials, and equipment should be in place as soon as possible. Once a war breaks out in Europe-this is very likely in the eyes of the Dutch, because Louis X. Sidu no longer concealed their intentions much—then the news came, then these troops would board the ship and head to the United Provinces as soon as possible.

But - why should we say no, because Van Beverninghe is probably doomed to disappointment!The reason for his disappointment is that there is a force in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military institution on the east coast, that opposes the army going to Europe to fight, and the general background of this force is the founder of the new army, who has held the post of Minister of the Army for 20 years. Marshal Ming Mo.

This matter sounds very puzzling, because Mo Ming was quite active in promoting the expansion of the army to participate in the war before, and even created a name of "participating army", which sounds like it was formed for the purpose of going to the United Provinces to fight.But in fact, this guy did this just to expand the size of the army, that is, to use the east wind of participating in the war to pull up the pole of the army. As for whether to go to the United Provinces to participate in the war in the future, ahem, let's discuss it later!

This matter, to put it bluntly, is that Marshal Mo borrowed Duan Qirui's old wisdom of forming a "participating army" in the period of the Republic of China. He called it to form troops to participate in the First World War, but in fact he expanded his strength in disguise!Mo Ming’s move this time is also very similar. Taking advantage of the fact that the Dutch are looking for mercenaries all over the world, they helped the army expand four battalions with a total of nearly 6000 people. As for whether to send troops to Europe and how many people to send to Europe, That's a lot of room for manipulation.

There is no doubt that the members of the executive committee will definitely not agree with the army to do this, but this is completely negotiable.If it doesn't work, send one or two battalions, and then catch some non-citizens to form a few temporary troops such as the Fengguo* Army, the Zhongguo* Army, and the Baoguo* Army, and piece them together into a temporary regiment. Fooled and sent to the United Province to hang around.He didn't believe that, given the critical situation of the Dutch, they would not want this army, which generally seemed to be a battle-worthy force.

Of course, the above calculations are only the calculations of the upper echelons of the army, and the final result depends on the wrestling within the power organization.Even if Sun Wuben was well-informed, he obviously couldn't share such a "high-level" secret at this meeting. Therefore, after interviewing Mo Ming and some enthusiastic officers of the No.11 mixed battalion, he returned to his temporary residence contentedly. , I spent the whole night concocting a great article introducing the "army participating in the war", and planned to arrange it to be published in "Pravda" next week, so as to bring a wave of rhythm in the country.

After Sun Wuben left with his apprentices and grandchildren the next day, Mo Ming led the team to Daxing County and visited a militia parade in the eight counties of the Wujiang area.In this winter routine parade, more than 1 militiamen from the eight counties of Jingjiang, Yong'an, Guide, Fuguo, Daxing, Yichang, Zhangwu, and Houqiu held a large-scale parade action, concentrated It showed the success of the training of the East Coast militia.

After reading it, Mo Ming encouraged the heads of the security regiments of the counties who led the team to come, but at the same time pointed out that their combat effectiveness still has a lot of shortcomings. The militia training in some counties seems to be just a formality. He was at a disadvantage in the actual combat training, and he had to practice harder after returning home, otherwise he would not be able to use it in the future.

On June 1672, 6, Mo Ming and others returned to Dongfang County, the capital, and then held a high-level military meeting within the Ministry of War.The main content of the discussion at the meeting was the question of who would be the commander-in-chief once troops were sent to the United Provinces to participate in the war in the future—how much would be sent is another matter.

There is no doubt that the position of commander-in-chief of the participating army is very hot among the new generation of army officers on the east coast—now the Joint Staff Headquarters no longer advocates that the old guy continue to be in command, but advocates that the new generation take over—and the competition is also high. will be extremely intense.Once Gein obtains this position equivalent to the position of regimental commander, his career in the military will obviously be one step ahead in the future, so everyone can't help but fight with red eyes.

The meeting was noisy until the end, but there was no reason.In fact, this is also very normal, because none of the old guys present here have a large group of people behind them, and everyone wants their own people to be in positions. Boss Mo has made a final decision, but this matter doesn't have to be finalized now, there is still work to be done behind the scenes.

(End of this chapter)