Republic of China: I am a great warlord, many children, many blessings

He took a deep breath and said, "Get out, all of you, get out!"

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and instantly disappeared without a trace.

(Dede) At the same time, when Cai E learned that Tang Jirao did not give them military pay, he became extremely angry.

But there was nothing we could do.

This hasn't even started yet, and the First Army can't expand, let alone fight, because it has no pay.

What a joke.

At the same time, Shen Hao was also studying the troops in Yunnan.

"Mr. President, the military foundation of Yunnan is the Yunnan New Army (i.e. Dian Army) in the late Qing Dynasty.

Because Tang Jirao, Cai E, Li Liejun and others were all graduates of the Tokyo Army Academy in Japan.

Therefore, the Yunnan Army's training was carried out in accordance with the training procedures of the Japanese Army and experienced the baptism of the 1911 Revolution.

Although this is a relatively elite and revolutionary army, its absolute number is relatively small.

The Yunnan Army had only two divisions and one brigade, with a strength of about 20,000 people.

Moreover, they have to divide their troops into three groups.

According to intelligence, the commander-in-chief of the First Army was Cai E.

Cai E wanted to attack Sichuan.

The current governor-general of Sichuan is Chen Xi (Yi), who is also one of our men and is well-equipped.

Cai E is preparing to focus on breaking through Sichuan. As the main force of the National Protection Army marching into Sichuan, it is necessary to ensure that there are three echelons of elite main forces. "

"Echelon?" Shen Hao asked doubtfully.

492. This time we will also take down Cao Kun

Ding Wei explained: "The president is like this, the Yunnan Army in Yunnan is somewhat different from the Beiyang military system.

(A regiment is equivalent to a brigade. In the Yunnan Army's military system, when marching and fighting, a brigade is changed into a regiment, and a regiment is changed into a detachment), and each regiment has two detachments under its jurisdiction.

Hearing this, Shen Hao suddenly understood.

"One Brigade, Two Regiments"

“This is the president”

Shen Hao said: "Just say brigade, it sounds awkward to say echelon or detachment."

"Yes, President."

Ding Wei said: "If Cai E wants to attack Sichuan, he must have three elite brigades.

However, the Yunnan Dian Army had only two divisions and one brigade in total.

Tang Jirao would definitely not give so much.

One brigade is not too few.

And Li Liejun threatened to take over Guangdong and Guangxi. Humph, I don’t know where he got the confidence from.

Let alone us in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Even with Yuan Shikai's current army, they would find it difficult to contend with it.

The Beiyang elite had 12 direct army divisions with a strength of more than . The disparity in military strength between Tang Jirao and others and theirs was quite large.

However, because Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, it is estimated that half of these troops could not be commanded.

We have a total of about 800,000 troops, and we are well-equipped, with land, sea, and air forces. Li Liejun is simply throwing an egg against a rock."

Hearing this, Shen Hao nodded. Shen Hao didn't take Yunnan's strength to heart.

After all, no matter how strong you are, you can't compare to Shen Hao's strength.

Shen Hao said: "Tianfeng, what is the current situation in Yunnan? We must know ourselves and the enemy before we can fight. Intelligence must come first."

Wang Tianfeng said: "According to our intelligence, Tang Jirao, Cai E, and Li Liejun seem to have some disagreements.

Cai E's First Army, because of lack of military pay, not only could the army not move out, but even their plans to expand the army seemed to have made no progress because of lack of money."

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

They have announced that they want to oppose Yuan Shikai, but after all this time there is still no military pay.

How can we fight a war without military pay?

Shen Hao was a little surprised. Is he so poor?

Li Yunlong said: "In that case, President, let me go. Give me two divisions and I can take over Yunnan."

Ding Wei said: "It's not your turn this time, Li Yunlong, you wish for it"

Kong Jie said: "That's right, Lao Li, you are so shameless!"

Seeing everyone quarreling again, Shen Hao said, "This mission will be handed over to Ding Wei.

Don’t rush to grab it, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.”

"Yes, President," several people said in unison;

Ding Wei was very excited.

He pointed at the map and said, "Mr. President, Yuan Shikai ordered the establishment of the "Temporary Military Affairs Office for the Yunnan Expedition" to divide the troops into two groups and march south to suppress the rebellion, and appointed Cao Kun as the commander-in-chief of the two groups.

The main force of Cao Kun's troops entered Yunnan from Sichuan, and the other flank entered Guizhou from Hunan to support Yunnan Province.

Yuan Shikai ordered the president to march into Yunnan from Guangxi.

President, should we wait for them to attack Yunnan together, or should we attack on our own? "

Looking at the map, Shen Hao narrowed his eyes.

"You mean, Cao Kun's main force entered Yunnan from Sichuan?"

Ding Wei nodded and said, "Yes, President, what do you think?"

Shen Hao said: "My idea is very simple, that is to eat up Cao Kun's main force. It just so happens that I have a little grudge against him.

But I don’t hold grudges, if I have a grudge I will take it on the spot.”

Everyone was stunned, and then became excited. Cao Kun's main force was much more powerful than the Yunnan Army in Yunnan.

The equipment is also much stronger. Li Yunlong said: "President, I will go for this."

Kong Jie said: "Bullshit, I've been sitting on the bench for so long, it's my turn now"

Jiang Daya was not convinced and said: "It's my turn now. Without combat missions, my soldiers will rebel."

Li Yunlong said: "I will definitely be able to take down Cao Kun"

Zhang Yidao: "President, I can do it too. I have many old subordinates in Sichuan, and I can also contribute."

Looking at everyone's excited faces.

Shen Hao said: "Let Kong Jie take down Cao Kun.

We will take action after Cao Kun enters Yunnan from Sichuan.

However, we can’t be impatient. When the time comes, we can let Chen Xi cooperate with the outside world to deal with Cao Kun.”

Li Yunlong's eyes lit up and he immediately understood what Shen Hao meant.

"Mr. President, do you mean that after Cao Kun enters Yunnan, we should let Chen Xi announce his joining of the National Defense Army?"

Shen Hao smiled and said: "You are really smart boy"

"Since the president has said so, let me, Li, deal with Cao Kun."

"You think Li Yunlong is really a dog, he's always taking advantage of others, you're just dreaming, I won't shirk my responsibilities this time," Kong Jie said;

Li Yunlong said: "Old Kong, just give it to me."

"You are just wishful thinking (cgbc), there is no such thing in the world"

Shen Hao said: "Okay, stop arguing, just do as we agreed before.

Ding Wei was responsible for taking over Yunnan and dealing with Cao Kun, and Kong Jie was given the task. "

"Yes, President."

"Get ready immediately. Enter Yunnan from Guangxi in three days."

"Yes, President."

Due to lack of military pay, Cai E's First Army was unable to move forward.

So Cai E went everywhere to raise military funds.

Soon, the Chief of Staff of the First Army, Luo Peijin, lent the public funds of 110,000 yuan he had borrowed to the First Army as marching expenses. This was also the fund of the National Protection Bank that followed the First National Protection Army.

Then, Cai E began to order the expansion of the National Protection Army to officially begin.

It was decided to reorganize the 1st and 7th Infantry Regiments of the Yunnan Army, which had moved to the Yunnan border, into the 1st Brigade of the 1st National Protection Army, and appoint Liu Yunfeng as the brigade commander.

Deng Taizhong, the former commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment, and Yang Zhen, the former commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment, were appointed as the first and second commanders respectively.

Zhao Youxin was also appointed as the commander of the Second Brigade of the First Army, in charge of the Third and Fourth Regiments, with Dong Hongxun and He Haiqing in charge of the Third and Fourth Regiments respectively.

But because he wanted to attack Sichuan, Cai E needed at least three elite brigades.

But two brigades were already Tang Jirao's limit.

After all, Yunnan is our base camp and we must protect it.

Cai E had only two brigades and no soldiers to deploy. The third brigade could not be formed quickly, and the First Army stationed in Kunming could not set out.

The Second National Defense Army, with Li Liejun as commander-in-chief, also prepared three brigades, but there were no troops to form them.

The Yunnan Army, which had only two divisions and one brigade, was completely insufficient to meet the needs of the National Protection Army's three-pronged expedition plan and the entire National Protection War.

Tang Jirao also felt a great deal of pressure

Therefore, Tang Jirao, Cai E and Li Liejun discussed together and decided that conscription was imminent.

But there is a new problem: where is the money?

There is a huge shortage of funds to support this war. Where can they get the money? They are not as wealthy as Shen Hao.

Yunnan is located in the southwest, which is very remote, and the total income is not enough to cover the expenditure.

It is very difficult to maintain an army in extremely poor Yunnan.

In the fourth year of the Republic of China, Yunnan's total military expenditure was only about 4 million oceans. In order to wage the war, Tang Jiyao and others embezzled salt tax and other income, and also raised donations, raising a total of more than 240 million military expenses.

As the military funds were slow in coming, Tang Jiyao simply allocated 1912 million silver dollars (a total of 100 million) from the support funds of the Yunnan branch of the Bank of China (formerly the Shanghai Bank of Qing, renamed in 200).

The Yunnan Governor's Office immediately launched an intensive recruitment and expansion campaign. It set up a conscription office in Kunming, the provincial capital, and appointed Ma Weilin as the director, mobilizing a large number of conscription personnel to go to various counties in Yunnan to recruit new soldiers.

In addition to recruiting former retired officers and soldiers, they also recruited a large number of young and middle-aged farmers from the countryside;

Twenty new infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one cavalry regiment, and two guards regiments were quickly formed;

The total number of the National Protection Army reached 28 infantry regiments, 2 artillery and cavalry regiments each, and 4 guard army regiments, totaling 36 regiments and several independent companies.

A total of more than 8 people.

But only 20,000 of them were trained, and most of the others were new recruits recruited from rural areas, some of whom didn't even have guns.

Yunnan is so poor that recruiting so many people at once would be a huge financial burden.

If it drags on for two months, even without Shen Hao's fight, Tang Jirao and the others will collapse because they can't pay the military salaries.

493. Give up your position when you get old!

After the conscription was completed, Yunnan appointed Cai E as the commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief of the First Army, leading 6000 elite troops and 14000 new troops to march into Sichuan;

The First Army, with Luo Peijin as chief of staff, established its headquarters in Kunming.

It is composed of eight departments, including staff, adjutant, secretary, quartermaster, ordnance, military law, military medicine, and finance, and it directly controls the artillery battalion, guard battalion, cavalry company, gendarmerie squadron and other units.

There are eight regiments, each with two to four artillery pieces and two to four heavy machine guns. The entire army has very few artillery pieces and machine guns.

Of course, it was not just Cai E who had very few artillery and machine guns. Li Liejun's Second Army and Tang Jirao's Third Army were the same.

With Li Liejun as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, he led 4000 elite soldiers and 16000 new troops to attack Guangxi. The slogan was very loud: first take Guangxi and then attack Guangdong.

Tang Jiyao also served as the commander-in-chief of the Third Army, stationed in the rear, with 3 elite Yunnan troops and new troops to handle the defense.