The reasons for the extreme backwardness of the Arsenal in the Republic of China were: First, China's industrial foundation was indeed weak at that time, and heavy industry was basically zero. Second, those in power did not pay attention to heavy industry and had a strong comprador thinking. For example, before the Anti-Japanese War, Yan Xishan took the initiative to hand over the Taiyuan Arsenal, the largest arsenal in the country, and demolished it to the central government to a safe place in the rear, but required a certain compensation (about 5 million French currency). The central government looked down on the local factories and felt that it was at a loss and was unwilling to ask for it. The two sides argued that the Japanese entered Taiyuan and had not yet resolved, so the largest arsenal was cheap. The Japanese Arsenal was in vain. , More than 5 million is equivalent to one and a half of the Central Army's division's annual funding. This arsenal produced more than 200 75mm mountain cannons in just 36-37 years, while the central arsenal did not have the ability to buy the same number of foreign cannons (of course, the quality is better) and it takes 12 million French dollars. Not to mention that during the same period, the factory also produced 20,000 rifles, nearly 10 million bullets, more than 100,000 shells, hundreds of mortars, and more than 10,000 machine guns. Third, the people in power are greedy for the big and complete, blindly admiring foreign countries, and the National Government's eyes are only staring at Germany, the United States, etc. Several countries with excellent weapons and planned to build factories, the first thing they did was to send people to foreign countries for a year and a half, and then signed contracts with foreign companies. Factory design, main machinery and equipment, and even auxiliary equipment were newly imported. Some domestic civil engineering also hired foreign engineers to supervise and guide. This extended the construction cycle and spent more money. Fourth, it was discussed but not decided, decided but not handled, and the plan was changed at will, which was a common problem. For example, the powerful fleet planned for 28 years was still on paper until the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The gun factory was planned to be built by the end of 36. In the early 1938, the machinery and equipment had not been shipped to China. The steel plant planned to be built in 1937, and the factory building was not completed in 1938, etc. In the end, the personnel struggle was very strong. At that time, the emperor was the emperor and the ministers were popular. Therefore, a large number of local ordnance experts lost their jobs after the factory was accepted by the central government (even after the factory director was replaced). For example, the most important ordnance experts in the Republic of China, such as Han Linchun, Yang Wenkai, Deng Yancun, etc., except for Han Linchun who died early, they were unemployed after the arsenal was taken over. Limited talents could not be used, which greatly restricted the development of the military industry in the Republic of China.

Wang Zhenyu was determined to change this situation. To be honest, Wang Zhenkun is actually a local bully. The one who really manages the eight future military-industrial enterprises is Han Linchun, the designer of the "Han Linchun-style" rifle dug from Beiyang. Deng Yancun, who graduated from the first phase of artillery department of Baoding, Jia Xiaohou, who is good at mechanical manufacturing and blasting (this person played bombs during the Revolution of 1911), and four senior engineers on Hou Debang. If these four people take charge, you won’t be afraid that Wang Zhenkun, an amateur, will be fooled by the underworld.

Han Linchun's position is the leader of the bullet research group and senior engineer. He is directly led by the Military Preparation Department and is awarded the title of Army Colonel.

Deng Yancun's position is the leader of the artillery research group and senior engineer. He is directly led by the Military Preparation Department and is awarded the title of Army Colonel.

Jia Xiaohou's position is the head of the Equipment and Gunpowder Research Group and a senior engineer. He is directly led by the Military Preparation Department and is awarded the title of Army Colonel.

Hou Debang's position is the head of the chemical research group and senior engineer. He has little to do with the Military Affairs Department and is not awarded military rank.

There are two main sources of technicians in the eight major factories: the first is to combine all 17 arsenals in nine southern provinces at present (for those bureaucrats who do not understand technology, they are eliminated and managers promoted from technicians, and the factory director is appointed by the head office). The second is students studying abroad. Since the second year of the Republic of China, Wang Zhenyu has sent people out to study one after another. By the end of the fifth year of the Republic of China, the scale of this government-sponsored international students reached more than 7,000, of which 4,000 were international students in the military industry. As of July next year, 2,000 people are expected to return to China and then work in military factories or research institutes.

According to the current military construction plan, by 1918, the Navy and Air Force would ignore it. At least in the army, the monthly output of the military department would be enough to meet the needs of a reorganized A-type division.

However, Wang Zhenyu has more ideas about military industry, but there is no need to take them out all at once now. He always needs to eat one bite at a time.

As for the army's future submachine guns, tanks and other weapons, they must be done. The Air Force's various aircraft and artillery are also needed. The Navy's money-burning project still needs to be done. However, the focus may be on aircraft carriers and submarines. For big guys like battleships, Wang Zhenyu's idea is that even a big man will not take it on this. If there is a world record about battleships, the Japanese Navy should create it. If the Navy members knew that Wang Zhenyu's mind was that he would not build a battleship, he would probably defect to Beiyang immediately.

Wang Zhenyu had a very clear goal for national defense construction, that is, the army surpassed Japan before 1921; at the same time, it took the step of participating in the world's hegemony around 1929.

The idea is full, but the reality is very skinny.

The biggest problem Wang Zhenyu is facing now is the problem of execution ability. In summary, it is not enough to have weapons alone, but also to have a warlike army.

Take the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 as an example. If the national strength is used alone, Japan is not enough. If the equipment is used alone, Japan is not a rival to the Qing army. However, as a result, the Qing Dynasty was doomed and Japan successfully rose.

Wang Zhenyu still remembers the summary of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 by later military scientists:

1. If national sorrow is damaged in the political system, the system will be backward and will inevitably be beaten.

On March 14, 1887, just as Empress Dowager Cixi was preparing to embezzle the special funds for naval purchases to overhaul the Summer Palace, the Japanese Emperor ordered one-tenth of the royal family's funds to be withdrawn as a subsidy for the purchase and construction of naval ships.

2. The battle is defeated by corruption. If corruption is not eliminated, you will be defeated before the battle is defeated.

From the 10 years of the seventh to the 17th year of the Guangxu period, the navy's special allocation should be 46 million taels of silver, and even if relevant factors are deducted, it will be about 36.8 million taels. In ten years, the Beiyang Navy purchased 9 warships, with a total expenditure of 11 million taels at best, and nearly 26 million taels of silver were fed.

3. A strong country must have a strong army. If a military is not strong, it is at most a rich country and can never become a strong country.

Before the war, China's economy and military strength were not worse than Japan, but the Qing government neglected national defense construction, with a country but no defense, and a military was not strong. Even if they purchased warships from Western countries, some ships had ships but no guns, and some ships had guns but no bullets. Three months before the war, Li Hongzhang planned to replace 21 new guns for the Beiyang Navy, but it was difficult to raise this money, so he had to buy 12 fast guns for Zhenyuan and Dingyuan. At this time, almost all Japanese ships had installed rapid-fire guns, which laid hidden dangers for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

Fourth, a strong army must have innovative ideas. If the concept is backward, the whole market will be lost.

In the 1890s, the "giant ship heavy gun" had been replaced by the concept of "crash ship fast gun". In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese fleet was equipped with 71 large rapid-fire guns and 154 small rapid-fire guns. The Beiyang Fleet had only 2 large rapid-fire guns and 130 small rapid-fire guns. The ammunition was launched within 10 minutes. The ratio between China and Japan was 33:185. It can be seen that although the Beiyang Fleet was not bad in the total tonnage of warships, its combat philosophy was backward, resulting in a change of advantages and disadvantages.

5. The key to strengthening the army is to shape the military spirit. An army without courage will be a piece of scattered sand.

6. A strong army must have a combination of useful, effective and sufficient weapons and equipment.

In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the number of ships between China and Japan was comparable, but China was at a disadvantage in terms of the quality of the army building. The four main guns in the first turret of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships could only be shot in a direct direction due to design defects; 8 12-inch caliber guns only had three flowering bullets for combat purposes, and the rest were solid practice bullets; other ships were rumored to have only 15 ammunition per gun. In the naval battle, the subsequent ammunition was either inconsistent with the caliber of the gun or was too poor in quality, and some became duds when firing... and so on, even if the Beiyang sailors had three heads and six arms, they were powerless to turn things around.

7. A strong army must be prepared and be prepared to be free of trouble.

Some knowledgeable people in China have a clear understanding, but the court and most politicians still have an understanding of Japan at the stage of "a small country". Japan devotes its whole country to expand its military. At the critical moment when the danger of war is approaching, the Qing government relaxes national defense construction, and has stopped purchasing warships in 1888 and stopped allocating naval equipment and ammunition funds in 1891. It was in such an unsuspecting state that China ushered in a war of destiny.

8. A strong army must have efficient command, intelligence, communication systems and a reliable logistics support system.

Therefore, Wang Zhenyu put forward several important opinions on this regarding military governance:

First, the military's anti-corruption work is put first, including establishing a team of military supervisors, staff supervisors, and political supervisors to check and balance each other; including establishing a military police headquarters and a military discipline department to strictly review the accounts within the army; also including collecting the military's personnel and financial powers and allowing soldiers to establish their own committees. This policy has effectively restricted the privileges of the officer class to a large extent, etc.

Second, field troops are required to conduct second live-fire combat training in summer and winter every year, with training cycles ranging from ten to twenty days, rather than field troops, security troops, and reserve troops, after the autumn harvest of each year, they also have to conduct live-fire training for ten to fifteen days.

Third, establish a strict military financial, equipment and material management system to minimize various loopholes.

Fourth, nationalist and patriotic education are promoted throughout the army. Soldiers without junior high school education must receive junior high school education during their service period, and soldiers without education must participate in literacy classes.

Fifth, Wang Zhenyu also attached great importance to the establishment of radio academies in the Army University, Naval University, and Air Force University to specialize in training radio talents in various systems, establish special communication regiments in the field troops and division headquarters, establish communication battalions in the brigade headquarters, establish communications battalions in the regiment headquarters, and establish communications teams in the battalion department, and establish communications teams in the battalion department, and establish a communications force as a key task.

Sixth, Wang Zhenyu once again reiterated that non-security forces must be transferred in non-wartime by a joint order from the General Office of the Military Commission and the General Staff, otherwise it will be regarded as a rebellion; the salaries of officers and soldiers of each unit are directly submitted to the bank, and the military department is directly set to the battalion level; the consumption of ammunition for training of each unit must be exchanged for the same amount of new ammunition; regiment-level officers must be transferred once every two years, battalion-level officers shall not serve more than three years in the same position, and company-level officers shall not exceed four years; all new recruits shall be recruited and trained for four to six months, and the troops will be distributed after being transferred to the army in a large area.

Wang Zhenyu has been diligent in the army, who made this his greatest capital?

And in Nanjing, the first struggle over power began,.
Chapter completed!