Republic of China: My great warlord, many children, many blessings.

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong was dumbfounded: "How dare you? A Mauser rifle costs at least 50 silver dollars. Six thousand of them would be 30 silver dollars."

One light machine gun costs 1,200 silver dollars, so 216 of them would cost 260,000 silver dollars.

One heavy machine gun costs 2,500 silver dollars, so 48 of them would cost 120,000 silver dollars.

These 72 mortars, even the cheapest 82mm ones, cost 3,000 silver dollars each, totaling 216,000 silver dollars.

Not even counting field guns, just take the smallest caliber 75mm field gun, the cheapest one made in Germany (Krupp) would cost at least 10,000 silver dollars, so if we calculate based on the price of 75mm, it would cost 520,000 silver dollars.

Not to mention the large-caliber field guns worth 7 yuan.

Leaving aside livestock like donkeys and horses, the equipment alone will cost at least 150 million silver dollars.

"Soldiers' pay and clothing can't be neglected, right?"

When Li Yunlong did the math, he realized it was ridiculously expensive; one million really wasn't enough.

Chu Yunfei nodded and said, "Commander, Brigade Commander Li is right. Are you sure one million silver dollars is enough for this equipment?"

Shen Hao said, "Of course it's not enough. This was the idea when the system was first established, but basically no division has been fully equipped."

With so many Beiyang Central Divisions now, the army has a pitifully small number of cannons and mortars.

There aren't many heavy machine guns; currently, the divisions don't pay enough attention to them.

Although the "Army Peacetime Organization Regulations" require each infantry regiment to have one machine gun company, this is only on the organizational chart; the actual implementation will take much longer.

Shen Hao recalled that, taking Cao Kun's Third Division as an example, in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the Ninth and Twelfth Regiments were only organized into one company of machine guns each.

In 1913, the 11th Regiment's machine gun company was formed, while the 10th Regiment's machine gun company was formed later.

If the Third Division was like this, then the other divisions probably wouldn't have arrived much earlier.

Currently, China does not place much emphasis on heavy machine guns, light machine guns, or mortars; instead, it equips itself primarily with rifles, with very few heavy machine guns.

After the outbreak of World War I, the status of machine guns rose rapidly.

Take the Fourth Division in 1916 as an example, the machine guns used by the 13th and 16th Regiments of the division.

Each regiment was equipped with four Maxim guns made in the United States and two Hotchkiss guns made in France. The 14th and 15th Regiments each used six Hotchkiss guns, while the cavalry regiment used two Hotchkiss guns.

This also reveals that the entire division no longer has 24 helicopters, but 26.

Whether these two extra helicopters are part of the official establishment or not remains a mystery.

As for the types, the main ones that flowed into China from abroad were the British Maxim, the French Hotchkiss, the American Browning, and the Japanese Type 38.

During the First Zhili-Fengtian War, mortars began to enter the country, and the first peak in production and purchases was reached due to the competition between the Zhili and Fengtian armies to expand their forces.

"However, I plan to buy him everything, but not field guns or mountain guns yet. Everything else will be the top-of-the-line model," Shen Hao said.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Can't we take it slow?" Chu Yunfei said.

Shen Hao said, "Time waits for no one."

(Okay, okay) It's always good to be prepared. We'll have to buy this equipment from the Germans.

Shen Hao did not explain the specific reason.

But he knew in his heart that in a few months the Tongmenghui and Yuan Shikai would break off their relationship.

This means that a second revolution in China is about to begin.

Once a break occurs, it will be a life-or-death battle.

Shen Hao will definitely participate in the war; how can he seize the position of the capital army if he doesn't?

Today, Chen Qimei, the military governor of Shanghai, Li Liejun, the military governor of western Jiangxi, and Hu Ningmin, the military governor of Guangdong, are all members of the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance).

After the Tongmenghui and Yuan Shikai broke off relations, Yuan Shikai would not give them any face. All three governors would definitely be removed, which means that Shen Hao's position as military governor would have to be chosen from among these three.

Of the three, Hu Ningmin was the weakest, had no military power, and was the easiest to obtain.

However, there is another veteran division commander in Guangdong Province, Long Jiguang. Yuan Shikai had previously mentioned that he had already defected to him, and it is highly likely that the position of Governor of Guangdong Province will be held by this guy.

Shen Hao's target was Li Liejun, the governor of western Jiangxi, who was Shen Hao's own governor.

134. China's largest arms dealer

Once Yuan Shikai issues the order to remove the three men from their positions as governors, the other side will definitely retaliate if they get anxious.

There is no doubt about this.

Then it will be a matter of the teams.

Shen Hao was confident that he could take down Li Liejun, the governor of western Jiangxi.

Shen Hao's equipment is also quite good.

The previously awarded mountain guns also included three close-range support FK.96n/A field guns obtained from the German old Becker.

This is the "Miss 75" that everyone talks about.

Of course, Shen Hao wouldn't say this outright.

You can't exactly say, "I have a feeling that war is about to break out."

All three were summoned by Shen Hao. Although their memories of World War II were vague, they still possessed combat experience, awareness, and theoretical knowledge.

Originally, Shen Hao planned to have Chu Yunfei train a group of talents.

But now that war is about to break out, Shen Hao felt it would be better to let Chu Yunfei lead the troops.

For cultivating theoretical knowledge, Chang Naichao is sufficient.

Based on the experiences of Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, frankly speaking, to conquer the world, the talent of a single county is enough.

A team only needs a few key, capable members.

We may lack top-tier talent, but we have enough mid-to-senior level personnel.

The key is training; talent is useless if it isn't trained.

Once the country is stable, top talents will flock to it.

Moreover, Shen Hao currently controls two cities, ensuring seamless communication with talent, and his main focus is on talent discovery.

Once Shen Hao takes over Jiangxi Province, he'll have enough talent in all areas. The drama needs theoretical talents like Chang Naichao to give lectures.

So Shen Hao said, "Continue to recruit soldiers for now, according to the standard of 30,000 men."

Chu Yunfei, 15,000; Li Yunlong, 15,000.

After I take over as governor, the division commander position will definitely be yours.

"Yes, Commander," the two replied happily.

"Chang Naichao, we'll be selecting one hundred people; you'll be in charge of giving the lectures."

"Yes"

"Alright, recruit soldiers as soon as possible, conduct intensive training for a month, using a veteran-mentoring-new-recruit model, and tell them that whoever leads the best will be promoted."

"Yes, Commander," the three saluted in unison.

After the three left, Shen Hao began preparing to buy equipment.

Shen Hao has a lot of money now. Yuan Datou gave him one million silver dollars, and Yuan Fuzhen and Leng Qingqiu each gave him one million silver dollars, which adds up to three million silver dollars.

Not to mention the 120 million silver dollars confiscated from Cao Ying's house after the last time he was killed.

His total net worth is 450 million silver dollars.

This equipment is more than enough.

However, this time they didn't rush to contact the German arms dealer Becker from last time.

Instead, he contacted a familiar arms dealer to get a feel for the market.

At the same time, Shen Hao also spread the word that he was preparing to purchase one million yuan worth of weapons.

Let those who buy weapons compete.

Competition creates room for price premiums, so of course we should save money where we can.

Sure enough, the day after Shen Hao made the announcement, countless people came to his door.

1913 1 Month 13 Day.

In Shen Hao's reception room, there was a man around forty years old, thin and with a mustache.

He immediately introduced himself.

"Commander Shen, my name is Yong Jianqiu, formerly the deputy director of the Tianjin Mint."

He later resigned and is now an arms purchasing agent for the German Jebsen & Co.

I hope Mr. Shen will accept this small gift.

After saying that, he presented his gift.

Ten sets of deer antlers, ten sets of bear paws, two tiger skins, eight leopard skins, ten wolf skin rugs, ten gold wine cups, plus two antique bottles, one a Ming Xuande porcelain piece and the other a Qianlong imperial kiln product.

It can be said that they are full of sincerity.

Yong Jianqiu?