Chapter 11: The Plan to Reduce Military Forces!
Disarm!
These two words instantly gave Tang Yulin a fright. He didn't even pay attention to the first half of Zhang Xuemin's sentence, which told him to sell the pearls, agates, porcelain vases, and other items in the house!
In this era of warlords, only the guns and the army in one's hands were real power!
He could guarantee his survival!
Tang Yulin had been following Zhang Zuolin from the time he was a Green Forest Horse Bandit to the time when he defected to Zhang Xun during the mutiny. After the restoration failed, he had returned to the Feng Army because of this 57th Brigade in his hands. Now that Zhang Xuemin had proposed to reduce his troops, a hint of panic flashed across his eyes!
"Commander-in-chief, the northeast is in danger now. The Japanese army is entrenched in the area around Hui City, and there are people from the principal, Feng Yuxiang, and Yan Laoxi outside Shanhaiguan.”
Xuemin patted his shoulder and comforted him."Uncle Tang, have a seat first. I've promised you that the government will definitely be able to earn back the capital within a year. If you can't, I, Zhang Xuemin, will pay for it out of my own pocket. Under such circumstances, what are you worried about? Don't make things difficult for the people.”
Tang Yulin immediately nodded slowly!
"Then let's talk about the second point, the reduction of troops!”Xuemin took a sip of water and continued,"In this day and age, having a gun in hand and an army means having the confidence to speak. I think this saying is wrong!”
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
" Only troops with combat effectiveness can be called an army. If you have soldiers but can't fight, then you can't call it an army. We can see this from the first war in the Fengzhi Kingdom. The troops led by the older generation like Zhang Zuoxiang and Zhang Jinghui were all defeated. Only the troops led by the non-commissioned officers and the officers who stayed abroad won. Therefore, the strength of an army is not only determined by the number of people, but also by its combat effectiveness. The purpose of reducing troops is to simplify the troops and improve their combat effectiveness!”
Zhang Xuemin wasn't a fool. Dongyang Country was eyeing him like a tiger, so he naturally wouldn't really reduce his troops. However, Tang Yulin, Zhang Zuoxiang, and the others led the old troops of the Feng Army, which had almost no combat ability. They were simply burdens. The most they did on a daily basis was bully the people!
After hearing his words, Tang Yulin immediately frowned, appearing somewhat hesitant!
From the bottom of his heart, he was naturally unwilling to reduce his 57th regiment!
But at the same time, they had to admit that Zhang Xuemin's words made sense. The old men led by them were not strong enough!
"How about this, I'll get Guo Songlin and Jiang Dengxuan to each transfer a regiment of elites from the 3rd and 4th legions over to have a real battle with your 57th Brigade!”Seeing Tang Yulin's hesitation, Zhang Xuemin quickly said!
"Combat? Is that necessary?"
Xuemin sighed and pretended to be helpless."During the mourning ceremony this morning, I killed seven guards of Kenjiro, the Consul General of Dongyang Country in China!”
"What is it? You killed someone from Dongyang? Aiya, nephew, why are you so impulsive?”After hearing that Zhang Xuemin had killed seven Dongyang soldiers, Tang Yulin was shocked!
He had the same thoughts as Zhang Zuoxiang and the other old guys. He just wanted to protect the people and enjoy wealth. He did not want to provoke the Dongyang people at all, let alone shoot them!
Xuemin waved his hand to stop him from continuing."We've already killed them. It's useless to say anything now. The next step is to see the reaction of the Dongyang people. Therefore, this time, the 57th Brigade and the two elite groups of the 3rd and 4th divisions are not only fighting to see who is stronger. More importantly, we want to show the Dongyang people the strength of our Fengjun!”
"This…"
"How about this, if the 57th Brigade wins in the end, we will never mention the matter of reducing the troops again, and we will forget about the matter of raising the grain price. If Guo Songlin and Jiang Dengxuan win, then the 57th Brigade will reduce the troops by a quarter.”
Tang Yulin gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice,"Alright then!"
He didn't believe that his 57th regiment couldn't defeat Guo Songlin and Jiang Dengxuan's two regiments. In the early days, the Feng army didn't have divisions or legions. The largest organization was the brigade!
The 57th Brigade had over 30 battalions, including cavalry, artillery, and many other types of troops. Their total strength was over 30,000 people!
The elite group led by Guo Songlin and Jiang Dengxuan only had about 15,000 people in total. Under the circumstances where the difference in strength was double, there was no reason that Tang Yulin could not win!
"Since we are brothers, don't use the artillery. Order the troops to change to blank ammunition to minimize accidental injuries!”Zhang Xuemin ordered. They couldn't use live ammunition in the drill. The cannons were too powerful and could easily hurt people. As for blank bullets, they were used by the Qing government in 1895, so they weren't anything special!
Tang Yulin nodded." No problem!”
He knew that without the cannons, the 57th Brigade would not lose to the two elite groups chosen by Guo Songlin and Jiang Deng!
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