Back to the Republic of China as a commander

The reasons for the extreme backwardness of the military industry in the Republic of China are as follows. First, it is true that China's industrial foundation was weak at that time, and the heavy industry was basically zero.Second, those in power do not pay much attention to heavy industry, and have a strong comprador mindset. For example, before the Anti-Japanese War, Yan Xishan voluntarily requested that the Taiyuan Arsenal, the country's largest armory at that time, be handed over to the central government, and demolished and rebuilt to a safe place in the rear, but demanded a certain amount of compensation (approx. 500 million French currency), the central government looked down on the local factory, felt that it was a disadvantage, and was unwilling to take it.It is equivalent to one and a half divisions of the Central Army for one year.This arsenal produced more than 500 36mm mountain cannons in only 37-75 years, and the central arsenal did not have this capability at all. It would cost 0 French currency to buy the same number of cannons from foreign countries (of course the quality is better), let alone the factory in the same period. Produced 1 rifles, nearly 0 million rounds of ammunition, 2+ rounds of artillery shells, hundreds of mortars, and more than a thousand machine guns.Third, those in power are greedy for perfection and blindly worship foreign countries. The national government only focuses on Germany, the United States and other countries with excellent weapons. Contracts were signed with foreign companies, factory design, main machinery and equipment, and even auxiliary equipment were all newly imported, and even some domestic civil engineering also hired foreign engineers to supervise and guide, which lengthened the construction period and cost more money.Fourth, discussing without making a decision, making a decision but not implementing it, and casually changing plans are also common problems.For example, the powerful fleet planned in (year) was still on paper until the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War. The gun factory planned to be built by the end of 10,000 had not yet been shipped to China in early 36. The steel factory planned to be built in 38 had not yet been built in early 37. Wait. In the end, there was a lot of strife in personnel affairs. At that time, it was popular to have one emperor and one courtier. Therefore, a large number of local ordnance experts lost their jobs after the factory was taken over by the central government (even after the factory manager was changed). Ordnance experts such as Han Linchun, Yang Wenkai, Deng Yancun, etc., except for Han Linchun who died early, were all unemployed after being taken over by the arsenal. The limited talents could not be used, which also greatly restricted the development of the ordnance industry in the Republic of China.

Wang Zhenyu is determined to change this situation. To be honest, Wang Zhenkun is actually an idiot. The real manager of the eight major military enterprises in the future for Wang Zhenyu is Han Linchun, the designer of the "Han Linchun-style" rifle dug from Beiyang. He graduated from Baoding No. [-] artillery department Deng Yancun, who is good at machinery manufacturing and blasting, Jia Xiaohou (he played bombs during the [-] Revolution), and four senior engineers Hou Debang. With these four people in charge, Wang Zhenkun, a layman, is not afraid of being fooled.

Han Linchun's position is the leader of the bullet research team and senior engineer, under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Armaments, and was awarded the rank of colonel of the army.

Deng Yancun's position is the leader of the artillery research team and senior engineer, under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Armaments, and was awarded the rank of colonel.

Jia Xiaohou's position is the leader of the equipment and gunpowder research group and senior engineer, under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Armaments, and he was awarded the rank of colonel in the army.

Hou Debang's position is the leader of the chemical research group and senior engineer. This person has little relationship with the Ministry of Armaments and is not awarded a military rank.

There are two main sources of technicians in the eight major factories: the first is to combine all 17 large and small arsenals in the nine southern provinces (the requirement for bureaucrat Wang Zhenyu who does not understand technology is to eliminate them all and promote them from among the technicians) Management cadres, factory directors are appointed by the head office).The second is students studying abroad. Since the second year of the Republic of China, Wang Zhenyu has sent people to study abroad one after another. By the end of the fifth year of the Republic of China, the number of students studying abroad has reached more than 7000, of which 4000 are military students. In July next year, it is expected that 00 people will return to China and then work in military factories or research institutes.

According to the current military industry construction plan, by 1918, the navy and air force would not care about it. At least for the army, the monthly output of the military industry department would be enough to meet the needs of an entire Class A division.

However, Wang Zhenyu still has more ideas about the military industry, but there is no need to take them all out at once, and meals always have to be eaten bite by bite.

As for the army's future submachine guns, tanks and other weapons, it must be produced, as well as various aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery of the Air Force.The Navy’s money-burning project still needs to be worked hard, but the focus may be on aircraft carriers and submarines. As for battleships, Wang Zhenyu’s idea is that no big guy will spend on this. There is something about battleships. Let the Japanese Navy create the world record.If the people in the Ministry of the Navy knew that Wang Zhenyu's calculation was not to build a single battleship, then they would probably defect to Beiyang immediately.

Wang Zhenyu had a very clear goal for the construction of national defense, that is, the army surpassed Japan before 1921; at the same time, he took the step of participating in the world hegemony around 19).

The idea is very full, but the reality is very skinny.

The biggest problem Wang Zhenyu is facing now is the problem of execution. In one sentence, it is not enough to have weapons, but also to have an army capable of fighting.

Take the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-]. If you look at national strength alone, Japan is not enough. If you look at equipment alone, Japan is not an opponent of the Qing army.

Wang Zhenyu still clearly remembers the summary of the Sino-Japanese War by military scientists of later generations:

[-]. National mourning hurts the political system, and a backward system will inevitably be beaten.

On March 1887, 3, just as the Empress Dowager Cixi was about to embezzle the special funds for the purchase of naval ships to overhaul the Summer Palace, the Emperor of Japan issued an order to withdraw one-tenth of the royal family funds as a subsidy for the purchase and construction of naval ships.

[-]. The defeat of the war is due to corruption, corruption is not eradicated, and defeat before the battle.

From the 17th year of Guangxu to the 10th year of 4600, the special appropriation for the navy should be 3680 million taels of silver, even after deducting related factors, it is about 9 million taels.In the past ten years, the Beiyang Navy purchased 1100 warships, with a total cost of 2600 million taels at most, and nearly [-] million taels of silver were pocketed.

[-]. A strong country must have a strong army. If the army is not strong, at most it will be a rich country, and it will never become a strong country.

Before the war, China's economic and military strength was not inferior to that of Japan, but the Qing government neglected national defense construction, and the country had no defense, and the army was not strong.Even if warships are purchased from Western countries, some ships have ships but no guns, and some ships have guns but no bombs.Three months before the start of the war, Li Hongzhang planned to replace 21 new-style guns for the Beiyang Navy, but it was difficult to raise the funds, so he had to purchase 12 fast guns for the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships first.At this time, almost all ships in Japan had been equipped with rapid-fire guns, which laid a hidden danger for the Sino-Japanese War.

Fourth, a strong army must be innovative in concept. If the concept is backward, everything will be lost.

In the 19s, the "big ship and heavy artillery" had been replaced by the concept of "fast ship and fast gun".In the Yellow Sea naval battle, the Japanese fleet was equipped with 90 large rapid-fire guns and 71 small rapid-fire guns, while the Beiyang fleet had only 154 large rapid-fire guns and 2 small rapid-fire guns. Launch ammunition within 130 minutes, the ratio of China and Japan is 10:33.It can be seen that although the Beiyang Fleet is not bad in terms of the total tonnage of warships, its combat concept is backward, which leads to the conversion of advantages and disadvantages.

[-]. A strong army focuses on shaping the spirit of the army. An army without a brave spirit will be in a mess.

Sixth, a strong army must have suitable, effective, and sufficient weapons and equipment.

In the Yellow Sea naval battle, the number of ships of China and Japan was almost equal, but China was at a disadvantage in terms of the quality of its army.The 4 main guns of the bow turrets of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships can only shoot straight forward due to design defects; the 8 12-inch caliber guns only have 3 combat bullets, and the rest are solid practice bullets; The ship is said to have only 15 ammunition per gun.In naval battles, the follow-up supplementary ammunition either does not match the caliber of the artillery, or the quality is too poor, and some of them are duds when fired... and so on.

[-]. A strong army must be constantly prepared, and only by being prepared can there be no danger.

Some far-sighted people in China have a clear understanding, but the imperial court and most political leaders still have a "small country" in their understanding of Japan.At a critical juncture when Japan devoted all its efforts to expanding its armaments and the danger of war was approaching, the Qing government instead relaxed its national defense construction. It stopped purchasing warships in 1888, and stopped appropriating equipment and ammunition for the navy in 1891.It is in such a state of unsuspecting that China ushered in a war of fate.

Eight, a strong army must have efficient command, intelligence, communication systems and a reliable logistics support system.

Therefore, Wang Zhenyu put forward several important opinions on the aspect of running the army:

First, the army’s anti-government work is given top priority, including the establishment of a troika team of military directors, staff directors, and political directors; including the establishment of the Gendarmerie Command and the Military Disciplinary Department to conduct strict audits of the internal accounts of the army; Including the collection of the military's personnel and financial rights, allowing soldiers to form their own committees, and largely killing the privileges of officers, etc.

Second, field troops are required to conduct live-fire combat training twice a year in summer and winter, and the training period is between 20 and [-] days.Instead of field troops, security forces, and reserve troops also conduct live-fire training for ten to fifteen days after the autumn harvest every year.

Third, establish a strict military financial, equipment, and material management system to minimize various loopholes.

Fourth, promote nationalism and patriotism education throughout the army.Soldiers without a junior high school education must receive a junior high school education during their service, and soldiers with no education must attend literacy classes.

Fifth, Wang Zhenyu also puts great emphasis on the establishment of radio colleges in Army University, Naval University, and Air Force University to train radio talents in various systems.In the field troops, the division headquarters set up a dedicated communications regiment, the brigade headquarters set up a communications battalion, the regiment headquarters set up a communications company, and the battalion headquarters set up a communications squad. We must take the formation of communications troops as a key task.

Sixth, Wang Zhenyu once again reiterated that the non-wartime transfer of non-security forces must be jointly ordered by the General Office of the Military Commission and the General Staff Headquarters, otherwise it will be regarded as a rebellion; First level; the consumption of training ammunition in each unit must be exchanged for the same amount of new ammunition with empty ammunition; officers at the regimental level are exchanged once every two years, officers at the battalion level shall not serve in the same post for more than three years, and officers at the company level shall not exceed four years; recruits All are recruited and trained by the Armed Mobilization Department for a period of four to six months, and the subordinate troops are basically distributed after the geographical chaos.

For the army, Wang Zhenyu has been diligent for a while, who let this be his biggest asset?

And in Nanjing, the first storm of power struggles also began. . .