Volume 2 King of the Northwest Chapter 2 Stability (II)
"The day before yesterday, Chen's troops rebelled and Xi'an fell into the hands of the bandits. Chen rebelled and threatened to establish an independent regime. I was furious when I heard about this. I led my troops to rush 600 miles in two days and contacted loyal and righteous people. Then, I recaptured Fengcheng in a bright day and night and cancelled the independence... I am sending this telegram to our President and Secretary of State for their kindness in selecting me.
I hope the central government will quickly deal with the next person. However, Lu’s Jianzhang acted perversely, causing chaos in Shaanxi first, and then privately granting Shaanxi power. I hope our central government will not make the same mistake.
Please pay attention! No. "
"This Dai Zhixiang is really quite capable. Chen Shufan had only taken Xi'an for two days when he led his troops to retake it. How could Langzhai not be able to control this guy?"
It was not yet the scorching hot season in Beijing in late May, but the fact that Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Sichuan had all sent telegrams declaring independence or severing ties with him personally had made this once strongman extremely worried and angry. For this reason, he had to swallow his pride and invite Duan Qirui to maintain the Beiyang group.
"Zhiquan, he is your man, right? You said you would leave the Shaanxi affairs to him, are you at ease?"
"It is better for Dai Jiliang to be in charge of Shaanxi affairs than for Chen Shufan, a traitorous man, to be in charge of Shaanxi affairs."
Duan Qirui blinked his triangular eyes. Although he and Xu Shuzheng had already calculated that the distance of more than 660 miles from Hanzhong to Xi'an could not be covered by air in two days, there was obviously another mystery.
However, Dai Jiliang was usually very respectful, paying appropriate tributes and writing personal letters during festivals. He also did things at his own pace, which was far more in line with his wishes than Lu Jianzhang, who was now wandering outside Tongguan and dreaming of returning to Xi'an.
Besides, the world is in chaos now, and the Beiyang government is on the verge of collapse. It is powerless to do anything about Shaanxi, which is thousands of miles away.
Under this situation, Duan Qirui had originally agreed to propose that Chen Shufan take over as Shaanxi Military Supervisor and be responsible for Shaanxi's aftermath. Now letting Dai Jiliang take over can be regarded as not letting Shaanxi escape from the control of the Beiyang government.
"Then it's up to you!"
Since May, Yuan Shikai had been running out of energy and his health was deteriorating. At this time, he would definitely not offend Duan Qirui for such a trivial matter.
"Zhiquan, I can't do it anymore. From now on, you and Huafu have to keep this business going!"
"Don't worry, President!"
Duan Qirui said this with reserve. If it weren't for the fact that this man had done him a favor, and now he was deserted by his friends and would not live long, he would never have been so polite otherwise.
"That's good, that's good!"
"Commander-in-chief, I didn't complete the mission."
Although there has been no news from Beijing since Dai Jiliang's telegram was sent up, it did not prevent his subordinates from changing the way they addressed him. Of course, Zhang Binnan, who had failed in the battle, said this to deliberately curry favor.
"I let that kid Hu Liseng escape."
Hu Jingyi was indeed a character. As soon as he learned of the changes in Xi'an, he immediately took his men and rushed to his hometown in northern Shaanxi. He even ignored Chen Shufan's old nest in southern Shaanxi. It was already very good that Zhang Binnan did not suffer any loss against such an opponent.
"It doesn't matter. Ma Kang succeeded in Fuping."
Dai Jiliang waved his hands. He was in a very good mood at the moment. As long as he had the power in his hands, there was nothing he could do if Hu Liseng ran away. He didn't have to shoot Zhang Binnan for this matter. Since Zhang Binnan couldn't be shot, then punishing him would be meaningless. Forget it. Stabilizing the situation in Shaanxi had to be done step by step.
"Congratulations on the supervisor!"
Zhang Zilii walked in, holding the telegram he had just received in his hand.
"A telegram came from Beijing saying that the brigade commander is now the Shaanxi post-war supervisor."
This answer was not what Dai Jiliang wanted. On the day of the telegram, he sent a private telegram to Duan Qirui, hoping to rebuild the Seventh Division, but now, it was obviously unsuccessful.
But think about it, there are only a dozen central divisions in the country, and so many people are eyeing the new numbers. This is not something that can be accomplished just by having good relationships, there are too many things involved.
Let him supervise the aftermath. At least once this telegram arrived, Lu Jianzhang, who was wandering outside Lingtong Pass, had to return home.
"Congratulations, congratulations!"
Looking at his subordinates who gathered around him to congratulate him, Dai Jiliang still forced a smile on his face.
He stood on the combat platform and announced loudly.
"I declare that the Shaanxi Army Headquarters will be established starting today."
Since you won’t give me a number, I’ll do it myself!
Establishing the Shaanxi Army Headquarters? Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes were fixed on Dai Jiliang, but Dai Jiliang had no further words after that. Those who did not dare to ask further questions had to retreat in embarrassment. Of course, it was inevitable to inquire around and seek personal gain afterwards.
"Brother Park Chu, you have to plan this matter for me."
He and Zhang Zili were the only two people left in the room, and only then did Dai Jiliang reveal his true feelings.
"I am planning to reorganize our Shaanxi Army. You need to give me a strategy..."
Since we need to reorganize, we must prepare all the soldiers and firearms.
There is no need to say much about the troops. When Dai Jiliang's Second Brigade left Hanzhong, there were nearly 4,000 people. The two regiments of Zhang Binnan and He Oucai also had nearly 3,000 people. In addition, there were nearly 3,000 core regiments rescued by Ma Kang. These tens of thousands of people can be used at the first time.
There are also more than 6,000 prisoners from the Fourth Brigade and the militia. After excluding Chen Shufan's crony and the backbone of the Kuomintang, as well as some ruffians and a few old, weak and sick people, it is possible to have 4,000 to 5,000 of them after training. In this way, the strength of Dai Ji's Shaanxi Army can be expanded to 15,000 to 16,000 people at once. On paper, it is even more powerful than a central division.
But although there were enough people, there were some problems with the guns. The core regiment was already purely unarmed soldiers, and the Fourth Brigade and the militia were not much better.
Not to mention the various models of guns in the two departments, even so, it is still impossible to guarantee that everyone has a gun.
After Dai Jiliang checked everything, he found that even if the 600 Hanyang-made rifles that He Oucai had searched through the Shaanxi arsenal before the war and sent to Baoji were included, the entire army had only more than 8,000 usable Hanyang-made rifles. In addition, there were nearly 3,000 miscellaneous rifles of various types, including Mauser Type 98 and Single-Strike One.
This is just the rifles, machine guns and artillery are even less sufficient.
In the past two years, apart from fully supporting the core regiment, Lu Jianzhang was reluctant to spend money to purchase extra firearms. Therefore, the entire Shaanxi Army currently has only 51 artillery pieces of various types, large and small, and the number of machine guns is only 31.
"Supervisor, Deng Cai found it."
Dai Jiliang was worrying when the newly conquered Guo Sinan came over. As the spy chief who had just sold himself to Dai Jiliang, his first achievement was to find out the former chief of Shaanxi Arsenal who also did not leave Shaanxi with Lu Jianzhang.
"Pry his mouth open."
If Guo Sinan is the minion of Lu Jianzhang, whom the people of Shaanxi hate the most, then Deng Cai is another person whom the Shaanxi military hates the most. In the past two years, almost one-third of the salaries of Dai Jiliang's Second Brigade have been handed over to this vampire. Now it is time to collect the interest.
"Supervisor, he has already given instructions."
Seeing Guo Bingchang, a fellow devil from the same hometown, Deng Cai felt that if he did not know the current situation, his two or three years in Shaanxi would have been in vain. Not only was he willing to pay one million yuan to buy his life, he also confessed a secret that made Dai Jiliang overjoyed.
"You see, he didn't just swallow up the money, did he?"
Guo Sinan naturally knew that he could only give suggestions. Those in a high position hate others interfering in their decision-making the most. Of course, he, who was a shrewd man, would not make this mistake.
"Tell him that you can leave him 400,000 yuan for his retirement, and you have to give me the rest."
If Deng Cai had not revealed that the Shaanxi Army had a second arsenal, and that this arsenal was filled with all kinds of arms purchased over the years from the Shaanxi Governors of the Qing Dynasty to Zhang Fenghui, the Governor-General in the early Republic of China, Dai Jiliang would never have let Deng Cai pass so easily.
"Come on, take me to see this armory."
He had made a fortune. This was the first thought that flashed through Dai Jiliang's mind when he saw this old warehouse, which was several times larger than the original provincial arsenal.
Not to mention anything else, there are more than a dozen models of rifles, from single-shot to continuous, a total of 11,000. Among them, Dai Jiliang has 5,000 Hanyang-made German-made Type 88 Mauser rifles that are available to him. Each rifle is oil-sealed like new. Together with the ones Dai Jiliang already has, it is enough for him to arm all his men.
There were nine two-pound guns, seven six-pound guns, and even four of the latest 12-pound naval howitzers and 75mm French-made guns.
However, these are not the most critical things. Without ammunition, these guns are nothing but firewood sticks. But here are 20 million bullets of various types and more than 11,000 artillery shells of various types neatly arranged, which are enough for the current Shaanxi Army to use for three to four years.
"Send someone to take ."
Dai Jiliang gave orders to his adjutant.
"Also, sort out and register all the things we don't need. This is a windfall, and we can exchange it for a lot of good things."
Indeed, in pursuit of convenience and efficiency in supply, Dai Jiliang stipulated that the weapons of the Shaanxi Army must be unified, but other armies did not have such foresight. Therefore, exchanging things they did not need with others would become the survival mode of the Shaanxi Army for a long time to come.
With guns, bullets and men, Dai Jiliang could finally complete his military reorganization plan.
On June 5, E Tao, who stayed in Hanzhong, also escorted everyone's families to Xi'an. The next morning, Dai Jiliang immediately convened a meeting of middle and senior military officers.
"The newly formed squads are small, with seven people in each squad, the squad leader is a corporal, and each squad is equipped with seven rifles."
Everyone listened to Zhang Zilii's explanation attentively. Finally, it came to the most critical moment, and no one would miss a single detail.
"Three squads make up a platoon. The platoon has a platoon leader with the rank of second lieutenant and a platoon sergeant with the rank of sergeant. The total platoon consists of 25 people."
One of the key points of this adaptation is the reduction in the number of rows, but this has little to do with everyone here, so no one has jumped out to object for the time being.
"Each company has four platoons and a messenger squad. The company headquarters has a captain, a deputy company commander with the rank of lieutenant or second lieutenant, two alternate officers with the rank of lieutenant or second lieutenant, a company sergeant with the rank of sergeant, a deputy company sergeant with the rank of sergeant, a company clerk with the rank of warrant officer, a company clerk and cultural instructor with the rank of warrant officer, two company flag bearers, and three company firemen. The company has a total of 120 people, 111 rifles, 4 automatic pistols, and a company flag."
It can be seen that such an organization clearly has traces of a hodgepodge.
"As for companies and above, the supervisor means temporarily canceling the battalion-level organization."
This is not a big problem. After all, the composition of Dai Jiliang's troops is diverse. A large number of middle and senior officers have been lost from the core regiment, the fourth brigade and the militia. Although there are junior officers from the second brigade to fill the vacancies, the shortage of numbers is still obvious.
"The regiment directly controls the company. The regular regiment controls ten companies, the newly formed regiment controls eight companies, and the temporary regiment only controls six companies."
