Volume 2 King of the Northwest Chapter 47: House Rules (Part 1)
The 14th Central Army Division did not have this number before the founding of the Republic of China. During the Revolution of 1911, the 10th Temporary Army Regiment of the Qing Dynasty in Fujian revolted. After the restoration, it was reorganized into the 14th Army Division by the Nanjing Provisional Government. Later, it was approved by the Beijing government to retain the number. This was the first time that the 14th Division appeared in China's military history. The successive division commanders were Xu Chongzhi, Du Chi, Xu Chongzhi (returned to office), and Sun Baorong.
After the Second Revolution, this division was reorganized into the 27th Mixed Brigade.
The 14th Division appeared in the Chinese Army's sequence for the second time after the victory of the National Protection Campaign. The North and the South negotiated peace. In April 1917, the 2nd Army stationed in Sichuan and Yunnan was awarded the 14th Army Division by the Ministry of the Army, and the division commander was Gu Pinzhen.
However, with the outbreak of the Protection of Constitution War, the unit was renamed the 1st Army of the National Salvation Army, and the 14th Division number was automatically cancelled.
Now Dai Jiliang's troops are the third unit to be awarded this number. It is obviously one of the bones thrown by the Duan government to powerful groups in various places before its general resignation.
Dai Jiliang received this appointment in Liuqu, Fuping. Of course, he would be the division commander concurrently. However, the Shaanxi Army now has three brigades and more than a dozen regiments. Which troops should be incorporated into this division is a big problem, and he has to weigh it carefully.
"Send a telegram to the president and the prime minister, saying that we oppose the prime minister's resignation and hope that the president will consider local opinions and reject the prime minister's resignation. Also send a private telegram to the prime minister, saying that whether the prime minister resigns or not, the ministry will still obey his orders."
In fact, the number of the Central Division did not mean much to Dai Jiliang. He could just use it to withhold 2 million yuan to pay the central government's taxes in the future. But now Dai Jiliang had already not paid a penny, so it was just icing on the cake. Of course, it was not time to part ways yet.
Therefore, even if the other party is just icing on the cake, Dai Jiliang still has to do what he should do.
However, no matter how Dai Jiliang and other provincial warlords tried to retain Duan Qirui, on November 22, Feng Guozhang still dismissed Duan from the post of Prime Minister, thus marking the second fall of Duan Qirui's cabinet.
Standing in his own yard, Dai Jiliang sighed as he looked at the newspaper in his hand. Although he no longer looked sick as he did a few days ago, the burden on him was growing heavier and heavier.
Now that the Zhi-An split is imminent, China will slide deeper and deeper into the abyss of fate along an irresistible parabola. What should we do? Of course, complaining about the world and meaningless sighing will not solve the problem. We still have to do practical things, and the first priority is to strengthen our own strength.
"Send a telegram to Director Chu."
The war in the south is now urgent, and most of the firearms from the Han Factory have been intercepted by the Hubei Army, so we can only focus on the Ning Factory and the Shanghai Factory.
"Tell him that the Central Committee has given us the name of the 14th Division. Ask him to immediately purchase a batch of artillery and machine guns from the Nanjing and Shanghai factories on the pretext of forming the 14th Division. Tell him that money is not a problem. As long as the goods can be delivered, I will sign and pay all his social expenses."
"Report, the Japanese Hirono is here."
When I felt sleepy, someone immediately brought me a pillow.
Ever since Sun Wen brought a group of people to Guangzhou to convene an extraordinary congress to elect Sun Yat-sen as the commander-in-chief of the navy and army and establish the Military Government to Protect the Constitution, Guangye has shrunk and disappeared. Now that Dai Jiliang has won a hard-fought victory, this guy has seen that the situation in Shaanxi Province has stabilized, and he has actually crawled out of his rat hole again. Dai Jiliang would feel really bad if he didn't kill him.
"Your Excellency, congratulations on your success in suppressing the rebellion in northern Shaanxi. This is truly cause for celebration!"
Obviously Hirono had done his homework, as he was dressed in a neat suit. Unfortunately, the small tuft of beard above his philtrum made him look particularly ugly.
"My radio, field telephone, supporting wires and cement poles have all been delivered to your army a long time ago, but I wonder when the general will sign a formal contract with our company? To be honest, we are very dissatisfied with your procrastination."
"Mr. Hirono, please be patient. I just came back from the front line!"
Dai Jiliang waved his hands.
"Guono-kun, you should know that although I hold the title of governor, I basically don't care about the provincial government. How about this, tomorrow you go straight to Secretary Wang, I will take care of him and ask him to sign for you early tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief. I will take my leave now."
The Japanese are really utilitarian. Once they get the answer they want, they want to leave immediately. Of course, Dai Jiliang will not let him go so easily.
"Wait, Hirono-kun, I have something else to ask of you."
Dai Jiliang smiled sinisterly and handed over a list he had just written.
"I think you know that the Central Government has just granted the Shaanxi Army a regular division. Unfortunately, Shaanxi's material resources are limited. Although it has a number, it is not well-equipped. So, this time I plan to order 24 Type 38 7.5mm field guns, 6,000 rounds of grenades, 6,000 rounds of shotguns, 12,000 rounds of shrapnel shells, 15 kinds of spare parts, and 30 military half-ton trucks from your foreign company. By the way, I also need to add 4,000 rounds of ammunition for the 10.5mm heavy field guns and 150 field telephones. I wonder if Hirono-kun can do it!"
Dai Jiliang's batch of goods increased the proportion of ammunition. He was afraid that the land would be blockaded and the cannons would become empty shells.
"General, this is a very generous thing. This batch of goods must be worth four or five hundred thousand dollars, right?"
Having said that, if you have the money and don’t make it, you’re a bastard, so Guangye naturally agreed.
"Okay, I wonder when it will arrive?"
Dai Jiliang was in a hurry. Once Duan Qirui's participating army officially began training, the large orders would be placed with the Japanese. In comparison, his insignificant order might become a distant dream.
"I hope the contract will specify the delivery time and related compensation for delayed delivery."
"Sure, but I hope it can be arranged after the oil mining contract."
Every failure makes one wiser. Now Guangye has learned his lesson and naturally does not dare to easily believe Dai Jiliang's promise.
“As it should be!”
Dai Jiliang smiled, served tea and saw the guest off.
"Brother Zhi, you've worked hard this time. What else do you want to bring? If it's not valuable, don't bring it. What's our relationship? If you do this again next time, I'll throw the things out the door."
Not long , E Tao arrived.
Of course he knew it was Dai Jiliang's birthday, so he had some gifts in his hands.
Dai Jiliang still felt guilty about letting E Tao be in the vortex of restoration, so he invited him in, arranged for him to sit down, and then got back to the topic.
"If you can hold on, it will be of great benefit to you and our Shaanxi Army. I won't say anything else. The old man is outside the Great Wall, right? Find a way to bring him to Shaanxi, and bring any relatives to Shaanxi. As long as I, Dai Jiliang, have something to eat, they won't starve."
"What did the Marshal say?"
E Tao shook his head.
"To be honest, I have nothing to lose by following you.
Back then, many of the bannermen from the First Town went back to see me. I was the best, a major general with a proper badge. How many bannermen can get this rank now? And it’s not about how great it is that I got this badge. I remember that you didn’t discriminate against us bannermen and treated everyone equally.
After Zhang Xuanshuai's restoration, I have come to terms with it. The world no longer belongs to us bannermen . Only by following you can we have a bright future."
"What are you talking about? Are you attracted to my daughter? I tell you, no way. Let the child deal with her own affairs in the future."
Dai Jiliang could see that E Tao was still very sad, so he made a joke.
"Okay, let's get back to work. We suffered a lot of casualties this time, and dealing with the aftermath is a big problem. And this 14th Division, I'm having a headache over how to organize it. I'm already sick from exhaustion. If you don't lend a hand, do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"
"Marshal!"
"Okay, Chief E, I'm ordering you to get into work mode now. Let the past go."
Dai Jiliang glared.
"Let's go to work! Oh, come over for dinner tonight. Okay, Brother Zhi, let's go!"
Finally, Dai Jiliang couldn't help but drove away the nagging E Tao with a stern face, but he still left a word at the end, which made E Tao, who had been depressed for a long time, feel better.
"Master, my brother and sister-in-law, don't you want to meet them?"
Since the Japanese and E Tao can come, naturally Qi Hua can also come to visit. Qi Xiu, who has straightened her back since giving birth to a son for Dai Jiliang, came over.
"What does Qi Hua mean? He's not going back to Beijing?"
Dai Jiliang frowned as he looked at Qi Xiu and Qi Xi who were clinging to him.
"If he doesn't go back to Beijing, what is he going to do in Shaanxi? I tell you, you are not allowed to give him money from your share. He is such a grown man, but he is so dishonest all the time. How can he support his wife and children?"
"Master, look at what you said!"
When the two sisters heard Dai Jiliang say this about their brother, they were upset. After a while of acting coquettishly, Qi Xiu finally explained.
"My brother said that although he runs a rickshaw shop in Beijing, he only deals with the lowest class of people. He is afraid that if the news gets out, you will be embarrassed."
Dai Jiliang was of course not satisfied with this explanation. Even if he was given money for free to open a shop, he was still not satisfied.
Shame? For Dai Jiliang, who had experienced this in his previous life, it didn't matter at all.
Fortunately, Qi Xiu noticed that Dai Jiliang's face looked strange and quickly added something.
"Well, when my brother was avoiding that incident, he also went to Tianjin. As luck would have it, he met some princes and beiles. They said that you were the governor of Shaanxi. This was a good opportunity. I wanted to do some business in Shaanxi, such as digging a coal mine or something. It's better than living off the land! My brother is just a pathfinder. Can it work? Please give me a word!"
"oh?"
Dai Jiliang actually tasted the flavor.
Although 90% of the bannermen were in dire straits at that time, there were still a small group of former Qing nobles who held a lot of ill-gotten gains. Not to mention that Qingji Company had hundreds of millions of deposits in foreign banks, even a poor prince had a few good things in stock. Instead of letting them give the money to the Western and Japanese devils, it would be better to let them take out part of it to invest in Shaanxi's industry and mining. Besides, there was a lack of money in the market in Shaanxi, so this was not impossible.
"Tell Qi Hua that no matter you are a Beizi, a Beile, a prince, or a eunuch, I welcome you to invest in Shaanxi.
However, it is too sensitive to use the name of the Manchus directly. Let him find Sima early tomorrow morning to discuss how to proceed. If it is done well, I will not treat him unfairly.
How about this, you tell Qi Hua that if you can attract 1 million yuan of investment to Shaanxi, I will give you a 5,000 yuan cash reward. "
"good!"
5,000 yuan for 1 million yuan. You should know that Dai Jiliang gave Qi Hua 10,000 yuan to open a rickshaw shop, and he worked very hard for only a few thousand yuan a year, and he also had to make arrangements everywhere. He was already not smiling after getting only 500 or 600 yuan. Qi Xiu was of course satisfied with this just a lip service.
"Okay, tell Qi Hua that since he's not coming back to Beijing, I'll send someone to take over his rickshaw shop."
Dai Jiliang squinted his eyes and enjoyed Qi Xi's gentle back pat. The warmth of the young woman's chest made him feel infinitely comfortable. In his drowsiness, he suddenly thought of a question: what should be done with the intelligence station in Beijing in the future? Then he shook his head and took away the thing that others had discarded.
"Master, can't you give us sisters some private money?"
Qi Xiu shook Dai Jiliang unhappily, obviously not wanting to give up this foreign money easily.
"Private money? How much is this?"
Dai Jiliang withdrew his head from Qi Xi's chest.
"Oh, by the way, there is something I need to tell all of you. Someone, go get the first and fourth wives over here. I want to set the family rules right!"
