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

Don't worry, I'll be watching over you in Beijing, no one dares to mess with you."

Shen Hao said: "Thank you so much, Brother Cao. I heard that Cao Kun is causing trouble for me?"

Cao Yuanzheng nodded and said, "You killed the Seventh Brother, so of course you will be in trouble, but President Yuan doesn't think this is a big deal.

In his eyes, Cao Ying is nothing, and his value is far less than yours.

Guangdong Province has always been the territory of the revolutionary army. Wherever you can drive a nail and gain a foothold, for President Yuan, it is equivalent to putting a nail there, which is conducive to President Yuan's control of Guangdong Province.

Besides, you and I are both Mr. Zhao's people now.

Mr. Zhao will definitely support you.

Compared with Cao Kun, President Yuan was closer to President Zhao.

You can't do anything about it openly, you can only trip them up behind their backs, so you better be careful."

Shen Hao smiled and said, "I will be careful about this."

Cao Yuanzheng said: "I like the specialty you gave me very much. I also have good news for you."

Shen Hao asked in confusion: "What news?"

Cao Yuanzheng chuckled and said, "Do you know how many divisions the Beiyang Central Army has?"

"There are 11 in total, what's wrong?" Shen Hao asked in confusion;

"Yes, 11 divisions, Lieutenant General He Zonglian of the First Army Division.

The 2nd Division is led by Wang Zhanyuan, the 3rd Division is led by your enemy Cao Kun, the 10th Army Division is led by Lu Yongxiang, the 23rd Division is led by Meng Enyuan, and so on. These are the 11 central divisions. "

Hearing this, Shen Hao nodded.

People like Zhang Zuolin, Feng Guozhang, etc. all led local miscellaneous troops and could not join the Central Army.

Cao Yuanzheng laughed and said, "President Yuan and the Kuomintang have been at odds for a while now.

They believed that there would definitely be a war between the two sides, so they prepared to expand the central army.

This time, President Yuan plans to expand the Central Army Divisions by six, for a total of 17 Central Divisions.

If you married President Yuan's daughter Yuan Fuzhen, then you would definitely have a share of this quota. We are family, and President Yuan would not be stingy.

Therefore, you must definitely defeat Yuan Fuzhen. Of course, I guess President Yuan must have favored you before choosing you as his son-in-law.

Moreover, your strength is highly recognized by President Yuan.

One man destroyed two brigades. Even Cao Kun couldn't match his fighting power.

The difference between you and Cao Kun now is the difference in status.

You are at most a brigadier general, while Cao Kun is a lieutenant general and a division commander.

But once you become a division commander, you two will be on the same level, so you don’t need to bother with him at all.”

Hearing this, Shen Hao's eyes lit up. This was really good news.

During the Beiyang period, the division commanders of the Central Army were all lieutenant generals, and the brigade commanders were all major generals.

The division commanders of the Central Army usually serve as the local top leader, or concurrently serve as the military governor, and the brigade commanders usually serve concurrently as the local garrison commander.

In other words, as long as you become a division commander, you will definitely be close to the position of military governor in the future.

After Yuan Shikai came to power this year, he announced on September 9 that the Beiyang government would change the town into a division and the commander would be called "division commander."

In other words, the position of division commander during the Beiyang period was equivalent to the general in the Qing Dynasty.

In the early days of the Republic of China, there were only 11 central army divisions in the country. At that time, the Beiyang government controlled 11 central army divisions, and each place could form a local division.

Later, Yuan Shikai split up the 11 Central Army Divisions and expanded them into divisions for his own rule. Therefore, during the peak period of the Beiyang government, there were 33 Central Army Divisions in the country. ...

Therefore, as long as you control a division, it is equivalent to controlling 1/11 of the Central Army's military power, and it is real power.

In the divisional organization, although there are corps, but, ah? Most of the corps are temporary organizations.

No real rights.

The Central Army Division during the Beiyang Period was organized as follows: the division had two infantry brigades, each infantry brigade had two infantry regiments, and the division's direct units included: artillery regiment, engineering regiment, baggage regiment, and cavalry regiment.

In this era, the weight of a division commander is very important. You may not be a military governor or a provincial governor, but you cannot not be a division commander.

Warlords who served as military governors in local areas had to concurrently serve as division commanders.

The military operation system in the early years of the Republic of China was: a Central Army Division was stationed in one province, and the commander of the Central Army Division also served as the governor of the province.

The warlord can manage one central army division and one local army division.

Because the Central Army Division may be transferred to other places at any time.

Later, the positions of the governor-general and the commander of the Central Army Division had to be separated, that is, the governor-general could not serve as the commander of the Central Army Division concurrently.

Because both the military governor and the garrison commander are able to concurrently manage the local security corps, and everyone knows that there is a lot of money in the security corps, so the military governor and the garrison commander compete fiercely for these positions.

As long as the Central Army is mobilized across regions, fighting will definitely break out.

Therefore, the fundamental problem of the Beiyang warlords' infighting was still the issue of money.

The Beiyang Army's division commander 5.1 could have served as the local governor, but after the choice between the governor and the division commander was made, the governor gave up the position of division commander and let his confidant serve as division commander.

However, the newly appointed division commander also wanted to be the commander-in-chief. Although he could not turn against the old leader, he could be transferred to another place to grab someone else's position. This naturally led to a melee.

So when it comes to war, everyone assumes that everyone has their own place. If you can win, then that’s yours. If you can’t, then you deserve it.

Therefore, as long as Shen Hao gets the position of commander of the Army Central Division, the next step will be military governor.

When the time came, when the governor and the division commander separated, Shen Hao directly let Li Yunlong be the division commander, which was equivalent to his own army.

Moreover, the central government will provide the military pay and equipment for the central divisions, while the governors will be responsible for the money of the local divisions.

108. It’s worth it. I need no thanks for your kindness!

Only by becoming a military commander can you truly expand the army.

Generally, a military governor can control troops, and the number of troops ranges from 10,000 to 100,000.

Only by becoming a military governor can you generate enough tax revenue to support so many soldiers. Otherwise, it is impossible to support so many soldiers by relying on one or two cities.

Of course, now the governor is not called the governor-general but the governor-general.

Only after Yuan Shikai's death would his name be changed to Governor.

The era of military governors was also a period of warlords' infighting, and only those with an army could be good generals.

A very important factor here is to have a lot of money so that you can support the army and have good relationships.

The military governor holds the military power of a province, and the governor holds the political power. However, since political power comes from the barrel of a gun, the governor is a marginal figure and the military governor is the top leader who has the final say on everything.

However, many military commanders are just figureheads and do not have much real power.

Most warlords appear powerful on the surface, but their real abilities are like "paper tigers" and they cannot withstand a beating.

They are enemies of each other, and they use the name of maintaining troops to gain personal gain.

For example, there may be 10,000 soldiers, but in reality there are only a few thousand, and they pocket the fake salaries.

It is only about money, there is no army to speak of, let alone any might and terror.

Later, they were beaten into pieces by the Northern Expedition Army, which proved this point. However, a very small number of warlords were still able to "show their presence", not only with a large number of troops, but also with strong combat effectiveness, such as Yan Xishan in western Shanxi and Zhang Zuolin in Fengtian.

The warlords of the Republic of China appeared in front of the world with great prestige. Some of them were really impressive, while others were just showing off. Only the people involved knew the taste of it. To get ahead, you still need to rely on your strength.

Due to the influence of financial strength, the military strength of each warlord varies.

The Fengtian warlords had strong economic power and were able to command the navy, army and air force at the same time.

It has more than 200 aircraft, dozens of warships, 7 army groups, a force of more than 50, as well as a series of military-industrial enterprises and sufficient weapons. It can be said to be the strongest army.

Unfortunately, the old marshal refused to give the young marshal an inch of land and refused to fire a single shot.

During their heyday, the Yunnan warlords ruled southern Yunnan, Qianzhou provinces and parts of Sichuan, but they had only 15 troops, much less than the Fengtian warlords.

In addition, there was a big gap in the armaments of the same warlord in different periods.

For example, the Zhili warlords, at their peak, had 18 divisions, 18 independent brigades, 14 ships, and a total force of 60.

But in the later period, only 6 ships were left.

Yan Xishan is relatively stable, having sat firmly on the top position in western Shanxi for decades and no one has been able to shake him.

At this moment, Shen Hao even fantasized about becoming a military governor and making a fortune.

Cao Yuanzheng saw Shen Hao grinning and immediately said with a smile: "Brother Shen, you haven't got your wife yet, look how happy you are.

But I tell you, you also have competitors."

Shen Hao said: "Oh, who is it?"

Cao Yuanzheng said: "Yin Tiege, the son of the Manchu noble Yin Chang."

Shen Hao smiled and said, "I don't know much about Yuan Fuzhen and Yintie Pavilion, so I'd better trouble Brother Cao to tell me more inside information so that I can understand more.

That’s how you win by surprise.”

Cao Yuanzheng laughed and said, "This Yin Tiege is a playboy who often has affairs outside and lives with his new lover outside.

His father Yinchang was a minister of the Qing Dynasty and a diplomat before.

In March of the first year of the Republic of China (1912), after President Yuan Shikai took office as the President of the Republic of China, Yingchang quickly defected to President Yuan Shikai.

He is now the Chief Military Attaché to the Presidential Palace and Director-General of the Military Department, guarding the residence of President Yuan.

Although he was just a guard, he was still a close minister of the emperor. The prime minister was a seventh-rank official, let alone the president.

You said so, right?

Shen Hao nodded, feeling a little relieved.

"But you don't have to worry. The key still depends on the opinion of the President's seventh daughter, Yuan Fuzhen."

"It's really timely to have more information about Brother Cao." Shen Hao said this sincerely.

Cao Yuanzheng put his arm around Shen Hao's shoulders and said, "Why should we be so polite to each other? Of course I hope you can become President Yuan's son-in-law.

Compared to that dude, you are much better.

Another point is that you are much more important to President Yuan than that dandy boy, and even his father Yinchang cannot compare to you."

Shen Hao felt relieved when he heard Cao Yuanzheng say this.

"Don't worry, Brother Cao, from now on, if I have something to eat, you won't be left out."

"Hahaha, no problem, no problem, we're just brothers.

Maybe in the future I won’t be able to make it, and I’ll have to rely on you.”

"What are you talking about? Brother Cao will definitely be promoted step by step. I am counting on Brother Cao to help me," Shen Hao said with a smile.

"Haha, Brother Shen, you are still good at talking."

After Cao Yuanzheng finished speaking, he changed the subject and said again: "Brother Shen, although President Yuan had 17 sons, only the eldest son Yuan Keding is a direct descendant and is now in politics.

What’s the use if the other 16 are all illegitimate children?

But the eldest son, Yuan Keding, is really mediocre in ability and will not achieve anything in the future.

If you become President Yuan's son-in-law, your political career will definitely be very smooth."

Hearing this, Shen Hao nodded.

Shen Hao knew that this eldest son, Yuan Keding, was just like Li Shimin's crown prince, because he became lame after falling off a horse.

But now he doesn't seem to be lame.

Most of the time, mediocre abilities are related to the education received at home.

Yuan Datou was always busy with military and political affairs, fighting each other to the death, and had no time to educate his children.

Although Yuan Keding's biological mother, Yu, was the daughter of a wealthy landlord, she had a very low level of education and no knowledge, almost equivalent to a village woman.

Yuan Keding was a staunch advocate of the monarchy, and his purpose in doing so was of course to succeed the throne.

Fortunately, Yuan Shikai was not stupid and did not choose him at all, otherwise what would have greeted him was bullets instead of the throne.

Yuan Keding is a guy who has no special abilities, but he is arrogant and extravagant.

When he was the branch director, most of the profits from the big opium pipes in the gambling houses that Shen Hao seized went to Yuan Keding for his own expenses.