readx; Zhuang Nan is also an old qualified person, Fujian military and political axe era is the director of the salary department, when the national army controlled Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, he served as the deputy minister of finance of Zhejiang Province and actually controlled the financial power of Zhejiang Province, and single-handedly promoted the tax reform of Zhejiang Province, and supported the huge military expenditure of the national army together with An Hualin, the general minister of the Fujian Provincial Ministry of Finance. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

He served as vice minister of finance during the period of the Provisional Republic of Nanjing, and in 1915, after the promotion of finance minister An Hualin to the president of the government council, he naturally took over the post of chief of finance, and in 1920 he was retained as the chief of finance like other important roles, and continued to serve as chief of finance.

"Although this year's financial situation has decreased compared with last year, military spending has still increased compared with last year, and the rated military expenditure is 650 million yuan. However, there is no large-scale war on the Russian side, and the cost is relatively small, so most of this year's military spending is reserved for the purchase of new equipment. Now, if there is a real fight on the Lushun side, the military expenditure required is probably not smaller than our military expenditure in Russia in previous years! When Zhuang Nan said this, he didn't forget to remind everyone: "In the past few years, our military expenditure in Russia, Britain, France, and the United States have borne a considerable part, and except for the Omsk counteroffensive in 1919, our army has not broken out a large-scale war with the Soviet army in Russia, and the war is mainly fought by the Russian Defense Forces, so the military expenditure that falls on our own heads is actually not much!" ”

Zhuang Nan said slowly: "And this time Lushun's words, Shen Gang also told me some time ago, I'm afraid that hundreds of millions of war expenses will be needed in the early stage." As for the Ministry of Finance, the suggestion is that the army itself squeeze out 50 million, and then the Ministry of Finance will move 50 million from other sources. In this way, the 100 million war expenses required in the early stage will also be settled! ”

Seeing Zhuang Nan say this, and then looking at Shen Gang's calm face, Chen Jingyun guessed that the military and the Ministry of Finance had already communicated privately for this war fee and reached a preliminary agreement, after all, they didn't want to have problems in this kind of thing at the joint meeting, and then Chen Jingyun would decide it personally, and when the matter came to Chen Jingyun, it would not end well, because no one knew what Chen Jingyun would do, in case Chen Jingyun wanted the army to bear all the temporary war expenses, or if the Ministry of Finance asked the Ministry of Finance to take out additional temporary war expenses, Then they themselves would have to be dumbfounded.

Chen Jingyun said: "Well, this early 100 million is enough, but although it is expected that it will not last too long, it must also be guarded against just in case, so the military budget of this reserve must be prepared in advance by the Ministry of Finance, so as not to say that there is no money to fight at that time!" ”

Zhuang Nan said: "The president can rest assured that the Ministry of Finance has begun to increase the issuance of the eighth phase of treasury bonds, and several major domestic banks have also given me a letter of approval, and these banks alone will be able to underwrite at least 300 million of the eighth phase of treasury bonds!" ”

The domestic banks in Zhuang Nan's mouth refer to several large domestic banks such as Huaxia Bank, Southeast Bank, and Huaxing Bank, each of which is richer than the other, and each of them holds hundreds of millions of national bonds in their hands, and the interest they get from the political axe is tens of millions every year. For ordinary people, the purchase of treasury bonds is equivalent to a deposit or a manifestation of patriotism, but for these large banks, the purchase of treasury bonds is an investment, and treasury bonds can bring them stable and rich returns, as long as the political axe does not fall, then the risk is very low, not to mention that even if the political axe falls, with the influence of these domestic banking groups, the successor political axe will not dare not recognize the effective surname of these national bonds. Chen Jingyun was so strong back then, and after coming to power, he did not obediently admit all domestic and foreign arrears in the former Qing Dynasty and the Beiyang era.

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs should also do a good job of pacifying the people, and don't let the military families affect the morale of the front-line soldiers!" Chen Jingyun said this, and then the Ministry of Communications and even the Ministry of Supervision and Chen Cai's Investigation Bureau on the side of the Government Council made relevant statements, and Chen Cai even said in front of everyone: "The president can rest assured, those spies can't escape!" ”

The Government Council discussed for most of the day, and the representatives of the military all closed their mouths and did not speak, and after Tang Shaoyi spoke again, Chen Jingyun turned the topic to the military and others: "How are the preparations of Lushun and the North Korean side?" ”

Shen Gang said: "The president can rest assured, our army's troops in the northeast have been prepared and can fight at any time!" ”

At this time, Chen Jingyun waved his hand, Tang Shaoyi and a group of political axe officials went out one after another, the current Chinese system is very clear between military and government, the relationship between the military and the government council is military spending, except for discussing military spending, there is nothing else to say, and how the military wants to act The government council is also not in charge. The only means that the government council can limit the military is military spending, but it has no power to interfere with the specific actions of the military.

After the people from the government affairs yuan went out, Shen Gang and the others began to say in detail: "Our army has deployed three corps in the northeast direction, with a total of fifteen infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, two motorized divisions, one armored division and five artillery brigades!" ”

Following Shen Gang's gesture, Zuo Yugang hung the combat map he brought on the wall, and then instructed on the top of the command list and said: "In the direction of Lushun, it is the Third Army that conquered Qingdao that year, and its commander is Lieutenant General Liang Xunqin!" It has jurisdiction over the 3rd, 5th, 27th and 36th divisions. Among them, the third division is the old army that conquered Qingdao back then! In addition to these four infantry divisions, there are also the 1st Artillery Brigade and the 6th Artillery Brigade, of which the 6th Artillery Brigade has the only two siege heavy artillery battalions of our army, equipped with six 1919 155 mm heavy cannons and six 1920 240 mm heavy howitzers"

The 1919 155 mm heavy cannon is different from the 1918 155 mm field cannon that is heavily equipped in the army, the 1918 155 cannon is the army's field suppression gun, although the caliber is large but the mobility is acceptable, and the total amount is only about ten tons, while the 1919 155 heavy cannon is purely produced for attacking fortified operations, and the prototype is the navy's six-inch naval gun, a total of six, Although it has been designed to reduce weight, it still has a caliber of up to 50 times and a weight of 25 tons, and its range and projectile power can only be surpassed by the 1915 six-inch 53-fold gun used by the navy, but the naval guns used by the navy cannot be moved to the shore for maneuvering.

The 240-millimeter howitzer of the 1920 model was also specially developed and produced for the purpose of attacking fortifications, and there were only a pitiful number of six, weighing nearly 40 tons, and the maximum firing range exceeded 15 kilometers.

Shut down

Zuo Yugang continued: "In addition to the four infantry divisions and two artillery brigades, four train guns converted from naval guns are also rushing to Lushun, the train artillery unit is equipped with four 210 mm cannons received from the navy, and the remaining four 210 mm train guns are being refitted. ”

In the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, China was required to dismantle two American-built Dreadnoughts and one German-built Cruiser, leaving only one Cruiser that could be used as a training ship. The navy moved a total of eight 12-inch naval guns from the former dreadnought to the land, and then deployed them in Shanghai and Guangzhou as coastal defense guns. Most of the remaining eight-inch and seven-inch old naval guns have also been converted into coastal defense guns, which has greatly enriched the strength of China's coastal defense artillery. However, limited by the lack of large-caliber heavy artillery in the army, Chen Jingyun personally transferred eight 210-mm naval guns from the German-made patrol Gnaisenau to the army for conversion into train guns, but the modification work was slow, and only four of them were modified after half a year, and the others were still in the Shanghai Arsenal.

In order to conquer the fortress of Artshun, the Chinese army took out all its belongings, and not a single large-caliber artillery was pulled to Lushun, in addition to the four 210 mm train guns, six 155 mm heavy cannons, and six 240 mm heavy howitzers, there were also a large number of 155 mm field cannons and howitzers. As for the smaller-caliber 105 howitzers and cannons, as well as 75-mm mountain and field guns, it was even more.

"On the Korean side, there are the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army, and the two armies have a total of 11 infantry divisions, the 3rd Cavalry Division, and the 2nd Artillery Brigade, the 3rd Artillery Brigade, and the 8th Artillery Brigade. The commander of the 10th Army is Lieutenant General Chen Yi, the commander of the 8th Army is Lieutenant General Li Lianyang, and the 2nd Armored Division, the 1st Motorized Infantry Division, and the 9th Motorized Infantry Division of the armored cluster have been assembled in Shenyang and are on standby! ”

Zuo Yugang sat down again after speaking, and then Shen Gang continued: "The troops on the front line are already ready to fight at any time!" ”

Chen Jingyun nodded, he knew about these deployments of the military before, and they were also approved by him, after glancing around at the generals present, he fell on Zuo Yugang: "There are still few people over there in the armored cluster, Yugang, you are ready to prepare, and you will rush to the northeast tonight." Take the command of the armored group! ”

When Zuo Yugang heard this, Chen Jingyun's words were beyond his expectations, he never thought that he would be suddenly transferred to the northeast to serve as the commander of this armored group, and originally thought that Fang Dashan, the former director of the armored division and the current division commander of the second armored division, would serve as this commander. However, when I thought that although Fang Dashan was the founder of the armored forces, his qualifications were always too young, and now he was only a major general, and he was obviously not very convincing as the commander of the armored aircraft group.

Immediately, he stood up and said: "Obey the order, go to the Northeast tonight!" ”

Speaking of this, Chen Jingyun said: "As for the war in the northeast, there are three armies and one armored cluster, and it is not possible to have a unified command. What is your opinion on the choice of commander-in-chief of the campaign? ”

Everyone knows that a theater commander is needed for the northeast in this confrontation operation. Just like the commander-in-chief of the troops stationed in Russia, this position is stared at by a large number of military bigwigs, even Shen Gang, the chief of staff, is staring at this position with blank eyes.

And to be honest, there are only a few people who can sit in this position, first of all, this rank must be general, otherwise he can't control the general below. In fact, there are not many active generals in the Chinese Army, and when it was reunified in 1915, there were Shen Gang, Li Jimin, Yuan Fang, and Xu Lishan, and Duan Zhigui and Duan Qirui had to be added. In the following years, Duan Zhigui and Duan Qirui were transferred to the reserve one after another, and there were only four people left, and in 1919, Chen Jingyun promoted Lin Zhaomin and Ma Cheng to generals, which restored the number of active generals to six.

In the past seven or eight years, Chen Jingyun has been promoted to two generals, and to be honest, the existing six generals are small for the Chinese Army of more than 1.5 million, but there is no major war after reunification, and there is no military merit based on seniority alone, those lieutenant generals will be promoted to generals again, the difficulty is not ordinary, Ma Cheng and Lin Zhaomin are both old men during the Fuzhou Uprising, so they obtained the rank of general, and most of the others are not qualified.

Among these six people, Li Jimin is still in Russia, and he is the commander-in-chief of the Chinese troops stationed in Russia, so he cannot easily return to China, while Xu Lishan only returned from Russia last year, and then led a military delegation to Britain and France to investigate, and he has not yet returned. Yuan Fang is sitting in the southwest, and he can't leave.

Lin Zhaomin is still in Lanzhou, in charge of the Northwest Xinjiang Province and part of Russia's military deployment, and he cannot be easily mobilized.

In this way, there are only two people left, Shen Gang and Ma Cheng. To be honest, there are not too many choices for the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Theater, Chen Jingyun secretly thought in his heart: "After this war in the Northeast, it seems that I have promoted a few more generals, otherwise it will not be enough!" ”

As for the candidate for general, Chen Jingyun has already predetermined it in his heart, it is nothing more than Chen Yi, Liang Xunqin and Zuo Yugang, as for whether they can really be promoted at that time, it depends on their performance in this battle.

While thinking secretly, he said: "Shen Gang, no one in the northeast can't do it, you can go to the northeast and be responsible for coordinating the war in the northeast!" ”

Regardless of the joy on Shen Gang's face, he immediately said: "Ma Cheng, you take over the post of chief of staff and arrange rear affairs!" ”

"In addition, let Xu Jingqing go to Shanghai, be responsible for coordinating the combat preparedness of the coastal provinces, and prevent the army from landing in the hinterland of our coast from the sea!" Chen Jingyun said with a face that after several appointments, the faces of the following people were different, Shen Gang was extremely happy, you must know that he has been the chief of staff for many years, and he has always wanted to lead the party outside like Li Jimin, Xu Lishan and others. Now, the opportunity has finally arrived.

After the meeting broke up, Shen Gang and Zuo Yugang took a special army train to the northeast overnight, and in order to hurry up, they did not stop along the way except to supply fuel, and went directly to Shenyang, accompanied by a large number of staff officers sent by the State Military Commission.

At this time, China was politically and militarily ready for war, waiting for the arrival of May 7.

On May 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China presented its credentials to the Chinese Embassy in China, requesting that it be returned to Lushun on time in accordance with the Luda Treaty, otherwise all the consequences would be borne by the Institute! And this is also the so-called ultimatum, the other side of the country has also issued a tough diplomatic slogan to China, demanding that the Chinese side immediately withdraw from the buffer zone in the north of Arthur, not only saying that "Ben will take its own actions to protect Ben's interests in China."

At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th, as the ultimatum arrived, the 155-mm heavy cannons under the command of the Sixth Artillery Brigade of the Chinese Army began to shell Lushun. At the same time, the spokesman of the Nanjing Republican Political Axe read out the full text of the declaration of war in front of many reporters who had been waiting all night! Thus, China declared war on it!

At 12 o'clock in the morning of the 8th, he said, "I declared war on China under the slogan of defending Kwantung Prefecture and Korea!"

On May 8, 1923, the Sino-Chinese War officially broke out!