African Nationhood

Chapter 346: Great Army Expansion

During the Spring Festival of 1897, Shi Jintang's life became busy. Ye Rong and Jin Xiyue gave birth to a daughter and a son respectively.

The daughter was born first, so she was named Shi Jing after Shi Jintang, and the son was named Shi Yang.

Since Ye and Jin gave birth, Kelly and Alice took over the responsibility of taking care of a large group of children, and they became very busy.

……

After the Spring Festival, Boss Shi convened a meeting with military leaders. The content was still to expand the army. According to Boss Shi's plan, the army would continue to expand in 1895.

However, there were no changes in the surrounding forces at that time, and the riots within the company caused by the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1899 were very serious. At that time, maintaining stability was the main priority, and it was not appropriate to make big changes. This matter was postponed.

The military meeting was attended by military leaders and representatives from the military industry.

Military leaders:

Tian Liang, the brigade commander of the East African Garrison Brigade, Yan Han, the brigade deputy of the Matabeleland Garrison Brigade,

Ding He, commander of the Lunda garrison brigade, Qu Sangqian, the commander of the Orange Forest garrison brigade, and Ye Shilong, the commander of the Namib garrison brigade.

Yang Kuan of the Labor Department, Navy Battalion Commander Xue Youfu and Guard Battalion Commander Shi Ming.

Those in the military industry department include: Qi Lin, the head of the artillery regiment, and Rong Kui, the representative of the military factory.

……

Shi Jintang smoked a cigar, knocked on the table, and spoke loudly: "This meeting is not only a military expansion meeting, but also a rotation meeting of the heads of various units every five years.

We should still follow the old rules, rotate the leaders first, and then talk about expansion. "

After listening to Boss Shi's words, all the military leaders were a little disgusted.

Expanding the army, who are we going to fight?

The last time we expanded the army, we went directly to fight in Portuguese West Africa. Could it be that Mr. Shi didn't like who he liked anymore and wanted to beat him up?

Ye Shilong was the first to speak, "Mr. Shi, you don't want to fight against the Portuguese again, do you?

I heard that the Portuguese have been very cruel recently, and the natives over there and the gangsters we let go have been punished by them.

They are much more honest, and when I encourage them, they don’t dare to cause trouble with the Portuguese. "

The reason why the Portuguese suddenly became so arrogant was because their British father gave Portugal a large loan.

The wealthy Portuguese found Robin Trudeau and customized 5 new rifles. Now the Portuguese are as good as Nanhua Company in standard rifles.

Shi Jintang shook his head, "The company has immigrated more than 660 million people, and the army of more than is too small. For this military expansion, the Labor Department will also expand its troops."

Hearing that Sir Shi was increasing the number of staff in the Labor Department, Yang Kuan was secretly happy and at the same time muttered, was this really going to be a big war?

Shi Jintang flicked the ash from his cigar and nodded to Shi Ming.

Shi Ming stood up and opened the curtain behind Shi Jintang, revealing a large map of Nanhua Company.

This is a map of the guard areas of each company's legions. There is a red flag at the hot spring city in the Namib region, with Qu Sangqian's name written on it.

This shows that Qu Sangqian will be transferred to the brigade commander of the Namib Garrison Brigade.

A green flag is planted in the Harbin town in the Julin area. The name of Ye Shilong is written on the flag, which means that Ye Shilong will be transferred to the commander of the Julin garrison brigade.

Jinling City in the Matabeleland region has a yellow flag, and the name on it is Shijintang. Needless to say, this goes without saying.

There is a blue flag on the bella of the East African Administrative Office, and the name on it is Ding He, which means that Ding He will be transferred to the brigade commander of the East African Garrison Brigade.

There is a black flag on the Lusa Town of the Lunda Administrative Office. The name on it is Tian Liang, which means that Tian Liang will be transferred to the brigade commander of the Lunda Garrison Brigade.

"It's all marked on it, so you should understand where you are going."

"Understood!"

"In addition, Yang Kuan was transferred to the Matabeleland Garrison Brigade Deputy, and Yan Han was transferred to the Labor Department."

Hearing Master Shi suddenly mention him, Yang Kuan's excited heart almost stopped. A smile appeared on his face, "Thank you, Master Shi!"

Yan Han looked calm. He had known for a long time that he would be transferred to the Labor Department.

Nowadays, the number of black workers in Nanhua Company has dropped to less than 30. Basically, these black workers will be slowly used up without any effort from the Labor Department.

The functions of the Labor Department may have to be gradually changed, and according to His Majesty's wishes, it may be transformed into a military police force.

In this way, Yan Han's future will be brighter.

Hearing that Yang Kuan had moved away, Xue Youfu couldn't help but feel a little moved.

"Mr. Shi, do we want to expand our navy this time?"

Shi Jintang nodded, "But your military expansion direction is to station troops overseas, and the mainland will not increase your establishment."

"Ah, what, what does this mean?"

Shi Jintang blew out a puff of smoke and said, "The meaning is very clear, that is, the garrisons of the Sulu Sultanate, Mariana Islands and Lanfang Company will all come under the jurisdiction of your navy, but there will be no more naval quotas in the mainland."

Hearing this, Xue Youfu couldn't help being dumbfounded, "What's the use of this?"

Seeing his old classmate's confused look, Shi Jintang couldn't help but worry about him.

"The company's budget for the navy is limited. That's because your navy and army are merged together, so your budget can't increase.

But after assigning the military command of Lanfang Company, the Sultanate of Sulu and the Mariana Islands to your navy, will you be able to get military expenditures from the annual budgets of these three overseas regions?

Then the military expenditures in these places are all at your disposal. How do you want to spend the money? Isn't it you who has the final say? "Xue Youfu immediately became happy after being pointed out by Boss Shi, "In that case, Boss Shi has increased the proportion of our navy in disguise. Thank you, Boss Shi! "

Shi Jintang had no choice. The company's income was limited, and without the support of heavy industry, the navy would indeed not be able to develop.

Therefore, he tried to give the navy some autonomy and let them explore and develop independently.

Once the "Second Boer War" broke out, the Nanhua Company took action against the British.

By then, the navy's ships and shipping company's ships will hide directly in the Sulu Islands and Mariana Islands. Even if the British want to find them, they will have to weigh the time it takes.

Nanhua Company must clear out resettlement sites for immigrants in advance. These three overseas territories can accommodate many immigrants.

Especially Palawan Island, which was recently acquired, it is easy to place hundreds of thousands of immigrants there.

In the past two years, we must go to Palawan and the Sulu Islands in advance to store food and other supplies, otherwise we will starve when we immigrate there.

Lanfang Company must also make arrangements and be prepared for the arrival of a large number of immigrants.

These things cannot be rushed, they must be done step by step.

……

Shi Jintang threw away the cigar in his hand and announced loudly: "Now that we have finished talking about the rotation of military leaders, let's talk about military expansion."

Several military leaders present stood up straight. This military expansion was very important to them.

“The Namib Garrison Brigade was upgraded to the Namib Garrison Division, and its three regiments were increased to six regiments, with each regiment consisting of 3 people.

In addition, there is a guard regiment directly under the division commander, with a strength of 1 people. The commander of the garrison division is Qu Sangqian. "

Qu Sangqian stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

"The Orange Grove Garrison Brigade was upgraded to the Orange Grove Garrison Division, and the 4 regiments under its jurisdiction were increased to 6 regiments, each with 1500 men.

There is also a guard regiment under the direct jurisdiction of the division commander, with a strength of 1 people. The commander of the garrison division is Ye Shilong. "

Ye Shilong stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

"The Lunda garrison brigade was upgraded to the Gronda garrison division, and the 4 regiments under its jurisdiction were increased to 6 regiments, each with 1500 men.

In addition, there is a guard regiment directly under the division commander, with a strength of 1 people. The guard division commander is Tian Liang. "

Tian Liang stood up and answered loudly: "Yes!"

“The East African Garrison Brigade was upgraded to the East African Garrison Division, and the 4 regiments under its jurisdiction were increased to 6 regiments, each with 1500 men.

In addition, there is a guard regiment directly under the division commander, with a strength of 1 people. The garrison division commander is Ding He. "

Ding He stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

“The Madabeleland Garrison Brigade was upgraded to the Matabeleland Garrison Division, and the four regiments under its jurisdiction were increased to six regiments, with each regiment having 4 men.

I will be the commander of the garrison division, and Yang Kuan will be the deputy master. "

Yang Kuan stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

"The artillery regiment was directly upgraded to an artillery brigade. It has three regiments, each with 3 people. Each regiment has independent combat tasks. It is divided into a rocket unit, a light artillery team, and a mortar team. The brigade commander is Qi Lin. The brigade deputy is Rong Kui."

Qi Lin and Rong Kui stood up together and answered loudly: "Yes."

"The guard battalion was upgraded to a guard regiment with a strength of 2000 people. The regiment is headed by Shi Ming."

After hearing the order, Shi Ming suppressed the pounding of his heart, stood up and replied loudly: "Yes, thank you Sir for cultivating me!"

"The designation of the force of the Labor Department was changed to the Jinling Garrison Division. The ten battalions under its jurisdiction were integrated into 3 regiments, and 3 more regiments were added. The organization was modeled on other troops, with a total of 10000 soldiers. The commander of the garrison division was Yan Han."

Yan Han stood up straight and replied loudly: "Yes, I would like to thank Mr. Shi on behalf of all the soldiers in the Labor Department!"

Shi Jintang waved his hand, "You only have a short time to take office. Try to complete it in 10 days. The expansion of each unit should be completed within 3 months.

At that time, all troops will start training. I hope that by this time next year, your combat effectiveness will be as strong as any European army.

Next year we will launch a company-wide troop competition to see whose troop has the worst combat effectiveness.

Whoever takes the initiative will give up their seat to someone with the ability to sit! "

Shi Jintang said this very simply, and the meaning of his words was self-evident. All the military leaders who were working couldn't help but clenched their fists, striving not to be defeated at this time next year.

"Yes!"

……

The entire Nanhua Company's troops expanded to 70800, and the total number of troops in the external territories was less than 3000.

The next thing to focus on is the combat effectiveness level of the soldiers, as well as the training level of tactics and team firepower allocation, as well as the proficiency of new weapons.

Thinking of this, Shi Jintang couldn't help but have a headache.

He must also join the army. In the big competition next year, his soldiers cannot be too embarrassed.

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(End of this chapter)