New Warlords 1909

As far as the Chinese navy is concerned, although it does not have a fleet strength and construction capability comparable to other countries, in several naval conflicts in East Asia, the new and weak Chinese navy did not allow the Japanese navy, which is several times stronger than it, to occupy It's half as cheap.So no matter what the reason is, it is impossible to exclude China and the Chinese navy from the treaty limiting naval armaments.

In Hua Fei's personal opinion, the tonnage of the main battleship (35000 tons) and the caliber of the main gun (no more than 16 inches) are restricted, and the capital ships (battleships and battleships) of the five navies of the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy are stipulated. cruiser) gross tonnage ratio is 10:10:6:3.5:3.5.In addition, measures such as the total tonnage, standard displacement, and artillery caliber of the aircraft carrier of the contracting parties are stipulated, which have little impact on his naval development strategy.

China's current industrial technology and shipbuilding level, although it can concentrate its strength to launch large warships of tens of thousands of tons, but no one can guarantee that the warships produced can be like the aircraft of the Air Force, and absolutely do not belong to any country's war eagle.After all, the technology involved in large warships and the requirements for the industrial base are too sophisticated and extensive.

At present, the Chinese Navy's First Fleet has only six main battleships, and the two former German Derfflinger-class battleships have a displacement of no more than [-] tons.Another four Mackensen-class battleships have completed all construction and sea trial inspections at the Shanghai shipyard and have been put into active service, with a displacement of more than [-] tons.

As for the four York-class battleships launched after the issuance of the billion-dollar war bonds, both in terms of tonnage and firepower, they all greatly exceeded the limits of the Washington Conference.However, since only two warships have started construction, due to factors such as financial resources and technology, the construction of the other two warships in the plan originally waited for these two ships to be launched before starting construction.But before the two York-class battleships were launched, the Washington Conference was held.The Naval Arms Limitation Treaty group asked China to stop building two more York-class battleships and dismantle the two York-class battleships under construction.

It's not that Hua Fei is ignorant of the fact that the Washington Conference will be held in history, but he still approved the York-class start-up plan of the Navy Department.And in this way, countries can't make more comments on China's existing battlecruisers, and focus all negotiations on the York-class battleships that are under construction.

China sent a delegation to the United States with Mo Haiyu as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Yue and other staff officers as representatives, Gu Weijun, the Minister to the United States, and Shi Zhaoji, the Minister to the United Kingdom as representatives of the negotiating team.Gu Weijun and Shi Zhaoji gave full play to their talents at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, and made their own great contributions to making the final contract more beneficial to China.After the collapse of the Beiyang government, Chinese envoys to various countries basically recognized the new Nanjing Provisional Central Committee, not to mention that the friendship between Gu Weijun and others and Hua Fei was no longer an ordinary relationship.

At the meeting, with Mo Haiyu sitting in charge, and with the bottom line that Hua Fei personally told him, Mo Haiyu was confident and had nothing to worry about.In addition, Li Yue and others are at the helm behind, if you want to play tricks, you have to pass through the eyes of this sinister ancestor.Gu Weijun and others are familiar with international law and are good at dealing with foreigners.The three parties worked together, fought hard at the meeting, advanced and retreated with evidence, and fully controlled the rhythm and initiative of the negotiation.

Even if all four York-class warships are built and retained, they are actually not a great threat to all countries.Because of that, China's naval fleet will still not reach the size of the eighth or eighth fleet.However, the Japanese Navy has not only completed the construction of the [-]th Fleet, but has already proposed the idea of ​​a [-]th Fleet or even an [-]th Ocean Fleet, and a [-]th Offshore Defense Fleet.

For the United States, in the entire Pacific region, it is not China that can threaten the interests of the United States, but Japan.The United States finally agreed with the British Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, and the price Britain paid was the termination of the alliance with Japan, which was the so-called four-nation treaty.

So for the United States, it was actually standing on China's side before, in order to use China's help to check and balance Japan.However, with several naval battles between China and Japan, coupled with the gradual unification of the Chinese domestic government, and a series of tough diplomatic and military actions such as sending troops to Mongolia and Russia, the new U.S. government has become jealous. Political intimacy is no longer the Wilson period.

But even so, China's retention of ten battlecruisers poses a very limited threat to the United States. Instead, Americans focus on the Chinese Navy's submarines and naval aviation technology.However, since there is no direct conflict of interest between the United States and China, this kind of estrangement and fear is not prominent.

But Japan's performance is completely different.During this period, you let the Japanese sign a contract to limit naval armaments, how willing the Japanese are.Under the strong diplomatic pressure from various countries, the Japanese reluctantly stated that we can sign a treaty, but the Chinese must stop building the existing four battleships, and the tonnage of the Chinese navy must not exceed that of Japan.

In this way, the Chinese delegation quit.What you say sounds good, the existing naval power should be used as the basis for formulating armament restrictions, but China's sea area is so huge, how big is China's territory?What is the population?Our navy is not strong, but in our latest naval development and construction outline, we must build the strongest navy in Asia within 20 years.A copy of the Chinese Navy's construction and development plan outlook was distributed to all participants.

In this plan, the countries are horrified to find that the four York-class ships are just side dishes.The Chinese will build 20 battleships, [-] battlecruisers, [-] aircraft carriers, [-] light and heavy cruisers, [-] destroyers, [-] submarines, [-] gunboats of various types, speedboats, and minesweepers within [-] years. Mining ships and other auxiliary warships.Its plan is really ambitious, as if a large fleet has already cut through the wind and waves, galloping on the waters of China.

Such a huge shipbuilding plan, I am afraid that only the United States can afford to complete it now.But countries looked at the resolute expression of the Chinese delegation, and no one dared to question it.Even though China's capabilities are limited today, as long as they concentrate, even if they only complete half or even a third of this plan, the size and strength of such a fleet cannot be ignored.

Countries look at this confident creditor with mixed feelings.Led by the United States, the countries have held intensive bilateral talks privately with the Chinese delegation.After the coordination of various countries and the promise of various benefits, the Chinese delegation finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Considering world peace and people's aversion to war, the president of our country decided to accept the opinions of all countries and end his country's naval shipbuilding development plan indefinitely.Regarding the existing four York-class battleships, one-third of the first two ships have been built and continue to be built until they are completed, but they must be rebuilt into a battlecruiser similar to the Hindenburg with a displacement of no more than [-] tons.Then the two York-class battleships, which had been 'ready' for all work, were canceled according to the contract and rebuilt into aircraft carriers with a standard displacement of no more than [-] tons.

China's final retreat greatly facilitated the progress of the meeting.Although the Japanese are still reluctant, the Japanese are still very willing to let the Chinese cancel their plan to build a warship so that the Japanese navy can maintain an absolute advantage.After some hesitation, the Naval Arms Limitation Treaty was finally signed.

According to the provisions of the treaty, the standard displacement of a single capital ship of a contracting state shall not exceed 35000 tons, and the caliber of the main gun shall not exceed 16 inches. The age of a capital ship in service must be 20 years before each contracting state can build a replacement ship.The total tonnage of capital ships of the United States and the United Kingdom shall not exceed 52.5 tons and 15 capital ships, Japan shall not exceed 35.5 tons and 10 capital ships, China shall not exceed 26.5 tons and 8 capital ships, France and Italy shall not each More than 17.5 tons and 5 capital ships.

The standard displacement of an aircraft carrier shall not exceed 27000 tons, and the caliber of the artillery shall not exceed 8 inches.The total tonnage of the aircraft carriers of the United States and the United Kingdom shall not exceed 13.5 tons, that of Japan shall not exceed 8.1 tons, that of China shall not exceed 7 tons, and that of France and Italy shall not exceed 6 tons each. The hulls of warships are built with two aircraft carriers of more than 3 tons, and the two York-class battleships rebuilt by China are not within the limited tonnage range.

The treaty stipulates that the retained capital ships and aircraft carriers cannot be rebuilt or other large-scale modifications.In addition to the provisions of the treaty, the contracting parties shall not build warships with a displacement exceeding 1 tons, and shall not be equipped with naval guns with a caliber exceeding 8 inches.In addition, the treaty also stipulates the naval military bases and fortified areas of the United States, Britain, China and Japan in their respective territories in the Pacific Ocean.

In this way, the total tonnage ratio of warships and capital ships of various countries is about 10:10:7:5:3.5:3.5. The naval strength of the United States and Britain is unmatched, followed by Japan. However, due to China's constraints, this 70.00% Naval power does not completely constitute a real threat to the United States. For the United States, it can be described as a perfect agreement.

As far as China is concerned, this treaty does not restrict the development of the navy too much.In addition to not being able to build new battleships, the Navy's construction purchase list is still heavy.First of all, a [-]-ton aircraft carrier, based on a maximum displacement of [-] tons, can also build three [-]-ton aircraft carriers or two and a half treaty-class aircraft carriers.Although China's naval aviation has been developing for some years, and it has used merchant ships to rebuild two aircraft carriers, none of them can be regarded as aircraft carriers in the true sense. Therefore, the construction plan of these three large ships is still heavy.

In addition, the treaty restricts the tonnage of main battleships, but there is no clear restriction on the total tonnage of naval warships. The restrictions on submarines are limited to the principle of not being allowed to attack or capture merchant ships in submarine warfare.The limit of [-] tons of combat ships is not enough for the current situation of the Chinese navy, but it is completely more than enough.

Hua Fei, who is familiar with even the historical trend of the navy's development, understands that the cannon giant ship doctrine will eventually withdraw from the stage of history.With the rise of the dominance of aircraft carriers in naval warfare, the ultimate significance of the existence of other types of warships is to protect aircraft carriers.And with the advancement of science and technology, the scientific and technological content of a warship also determines the combat effectiveness of this warship to a large extent.Therefore, the pursuit of a large number of fleets is not Hua Fei's goal.

It can be said that the signing of this naval armament treaty does not have great practical significance for the current central government, and it will not change the country's naval development strategy.However, Hua Fei paid a lot of attention to the negotiation of the five-country treaty and the treaty on the possessions and territories of the Pacific islands held subsequently.

As we all know, after Germany's defeat, its three major colonies in the Pacific Ocean were divided up by the Allied Powers.Among them, the Mariana Islands belonged to Japan to take over, and the Marshall Islands and Jaroline Islands were jointly administered by China and the United States.The Marshall Islands and the Jarolim Islands are said to be jointly administered by China and the United States. In fact, China took over only the Jarolim Islands, while the United States took over the Marshall Islands.The two parties each manage one side, forming a tacit understanding without words.

But this is not the focus of Hua Fei's attention. Since it is a territory of the Pacific Islands, the two places cannot be ignored.One is Taiwan and the other is the Ryukyu Islands.The Washington Conference in history handed over these two places to Japan, which is tantamount to recognizing Japan's sovereignty over these two regions.But now, the Chinese delegation in Washington is obviously reacting extremely violently on this issue, and no matter who coordinates it, it will not work.The Chinese delegation even stated bluntly that if countries insisted on handing over Ryukyu and Taiwan to Japanese mandates, then China would withdraw from the meeting and refuse to recognize all the terms of the meeting.

Not to mention that the naval arms limitation treaty has been reached before, and now your withdrawal will make all the busy work of the United Kingdom and the United States in vain.Moreover, China's status and influence in the world today are no longer the same.Whether it is the issue of the division of the Pacific Ocean or the issue of the Russian Civil War, it is really difficult to solve the problem without China's participation and cooperation.

After a bitter diplomatic exchange, the Japanese even threatened to withdraw from the Congress.But if you, Japan, obviously have an advantage, and if you still want to be good, then all countries will directly recognize China's mandate to rule Ryukyu and Taiwan.Therefore, the best way is to remove this clause that cannot be agreed upon from the agreement and leave it to be resolved separately in the future.

This kind of choice is obviously to avoid the important and focus on the light, and to simplify the complexity.But for countries, it is also the best last resort.

Finally, regarding the issue of the Russian Civil War, some countries advocate that all countries launch a decisive battle again, and some countries advocate suspending the release so that the issue can be resolved through negotiations.The opinion of the Chinese delegation is the clearest. The Red and the White parties will cease fighting and negotiate peacefully to resolve their differences.

276 Democracy

At this point, the time has come to early 1922.At the Washington Conference, the division of interests in the navy and the Pacific Ocean was largely settled, leaving only the solution to the Russian Civil War.Nicholas II sent representatives, and all parties are actively discussing, in order to resolve this issue in a short period of time, so as to promote comprehensive peace in the world as soon as possible.

At this time, for China's nascent central government, the biggest concern is neither the Mongolian issue nor the Russian issue, nor the Washington Conference issue thousands of miles away, but the country's internal affairs and people's livelihood issues.After World War I, governments and people around the world were generally war-weary. Throughout the 20s, this trend of thought was extremely common, and the world was also in a rare post-war peace period.

World War I weakened several great empires and greatly strengthened the United States, Japan, and China.Since then, the dominance of the old capitalist empire in the colonial world has begun to weaken, and the new Chinese government can take this opportunity to slowly recover the lost sovereignty interests in the past.

For Hua Fei, this kind of consideration was even thought about as early as the period of Luzhou Mansion.Of course, he can brazenly take back all national sovereignty at this time and refuse to recognize all agreements signed by the Qing government with other countries.In that way, the core sovereignty of those countries that have lost power and humiliated the country can be recovered as quickly as possible, but it will completely stiffen or even break the relationship between China and other countries, and be excluded from the emerging world system.

Historically, the Soviet Union encountered such a dilemma. However, the Soviet Union took advantage of the planned economy and state monopoly resources, coupled with the original industrial base and industrial workers of Tsarist Russia, to quickly restore national production and heavy industrial economy.Not long after, the Great Depression economic crisis swept the world. Because of the relatively closed economic environment, Soviet Russia was not affected much. Instead, it took the opportunity to absorb a large number of foreign scientific and technological talents and industrial technology and production technology, which laid the foundation for the Soviet Union's later hegemony. solid foundation.

However, even so, the Soviet Union never really integrated into the Western world system, and finally formed a confrontation with the other hegemony, the United States, after World War II, resulting in the world pattern of the Cold War.It can be said that the current world order is entirely based on the development of Western civilization, and the power to speak in the entire world is almost in the hands of a few powerful Western countries.Once they unite to reject China, it will be extremely detrimental to China's domestic and international security situation.

Therefore, this is not a decision Hua Fei is willing to take.In addition, it is to maintain all cooperative relations with other countries. You can have temper tantrums like the Washington meeting, but for now, don't touch the core interests of several countries.The withdrawal of consular jurisdiction and customs autonomy made countries very unhappy, but fortunately they established a good cooperative relationship in World War I, and China was their creditor country. The good world reputation gained through the Spanish flu and the The United States has a relatively good business relationship.

As we all know, the United States has proposed an open door policy in history, the purpose of which is to maintain the principle of equal business between countries in China.Although Hua Fei has withdrawn his consular jurisdiction and customs autonomy, but the principles of interests such as foreign military police and concession land have not been touched, and it has a targeted impact on the commercial interests of various countries.There are fewer restrictions on countries such as Britain, France and the United States, and the largest restrictions on countries such as Japan.It has a greater impact on light industry, and less restrictions on heavy industry led by Huafei and industries that already have competitive strength.Although the commercial interests of various countries have an impact, after all, China's industrial scale is limited, so the impact is limited, so the reaction of business groups from various countries is limited.

This result inspired Hua Fei and influenced the current central government's diplomatic style for a period of time to come.Boiling frogs in warm water is the core of Hua Fei's strategy.It is necessary for countries to complete all the privileges in China in a slow stimulus.This is not only inevitable, but also a historical trend.Therefore, Hua Fei believes that slowly withdrawing the privileges of various countries in China will not lead to the alliance of Western powers and isolate and reject China's rise.

The resolution of the Mongolian issue may seem serious, but in fact the fulcrum supporting independence is very weak.Without the support of Russia, Mongolia can only seek support from Japan.And before Japan occupies a large area of ​​northeast China, they will never rush to send troops to Mongolia to help them become independent.And as long as the central government garrisons Mongolia, as long as the central government maintains a de facto deterrent existence, the so-called independence will only be a farce in the end.

From Hua Fei's point of view, the Russian issue is a problem that needs to be intervened. However, it will take a long, long time to solve this problem.So for now, the best way is to mediate the Russian civil war, let the Belarusian sides cease fire, and achieve a de facto split in Russia.A divided Russia is definitely more beneficial to China than a unified Soviet Union or Tsarist Russia.

The Japanese issue is not only the core issue that will test the central government at present and for a period of time to come, but also concerns the fundamentals of the survival and future of these two East Asian nations.A premature break with Japan will only deprive East Asia of a peaceful external environment and curb the pace of China's construction and development.

While carrying out a series of diplomatic activities and layouts, Hua Fei did not forget about military actions.In addition to continuing to strengthen the reorganization and training of the National Defense Forces direct troops, strengthen the construction of equipment.Many veterans of the former National Defense Forces and former soldiers and officers of the Beiyang Army who surrendered and reorganized soon began to retire in large numbers and transferred to reserve service.

In times of war, this approach has both advantages and disadvantages.However, with the improvement of a series of regulations such as the National Defense Law and the Compulsory Military Service Law, the recruitment of new soldiers will become a common practice.And a large number of veterans with certain combat experience are filled with reserves, which can not only strengthen the country's war strength, but also reduce military expenditures and maintain the international public opinion of the large number of troops.In addition, taking this opportunity, the Beiyang soldiers in the army and the local army were exchanged, thereby gradually weakening the purpose of the warlords in various places.Since the veterans of the original lineage of the National Defense Forces are also on the list of returning and replacing, many veterans of the Beiyang Army have a lot of complaints, but fortunately the retirement pay is quite satisfactory, and everything is carried out according to the system, so they have no excuses to refute.

While starting to add new blood to the army in an orderly manner year by year, the transfer of the National Defense Forces is also proceeding quietly.The troops withdrawn from the Russian front did not return to the country. The troops of the Sixth Army were transferred to Vladivostok, the troops of the Seventh Army were transferred to Temple Street, and the troops of the Thirteenth Army directly captured Manchuria, so as to contain the Japanese troops in the northeast. , It can also form a deterrent to the lawless rioters in Mongolia.

In addition, the national defense force's layout across the country is similar to a military layout that is heavy on the top and light on the left and right.Because the north wants to resist Japan's possible expansion of aggression, or to organize an invasion that may occur at any time, the National Defense Forces have deployed as many as six armies of 10,000+ troops in Zhili and Beijing, and most of them are elite troops of the National Defense Forces. Definitely second to none.

In the south, because the four provinces still have strong resistance to the central government, and the army is directly controlled by the local warlords, no matter what aspect is considered, they have to be released.Therefore, the National Defense Forces also stationed five armies in the south, but among the five armies, three armies belonged to the Seventeenth Army, Eighteenth Army, and Twentieth Army adapted from the original Beiyang Army.In the National Defense Forces, it is indeed a motley crew at present.

There are almost no special troops stationed in the east and west directions, and the troops in the provinces have no need to mobilize except for the reform of the establishment. The imaginary plan similar to the model of a large military region is still on paper.Nanjing and Anhui Province are the birthplaces of the National Defense Forces and the concentration of heavy industry, and there are also elite direct descendants stationed in several armies.

It is not difficult to solve the problems in the southern provinces. The core factor is how to minimize the impact and cost.Before there is no more suitable excuse, most of the energy of Hua Fei and the nascent central government is still focused on economic and industrial construction.The government leads the development and construction of heavy industry, and at the same time promotes the expansion of national capital in the field of light industry and its involvement in heavy industry.

In order to reduce attacks from public opinion and political opponents, Hua Fei consciously reduced capital monopoly in sensitive industries and strengthened the government's presence in some industries.The government only participates in minerals, railways, banks, transportation and other fields related to the national economy and people's livelihood in the form of shares, but the premise is that it will never hold a controlling stake and never participate in any business decisions.Any civil servant with government work experience shall not participate in any public or private company in any form after retirement or resignation.This is not only a government-owned company regulation formulated by Hua Fei himself, but also a very central principle in the civil servants' handbook.

Reducing capital monopoly in China does not mean that Hua Fei will reduce investment.Those countries are still weak in the heavy industry field, which is still the focus of Huafei's investment.And under Hua Fei's instructions, the two major investment companies and banks under his name began to slowly enter the US and other markets.Hua Fei's decision was not to hope to earn much profit in a short period of time, but to vigorously cultivate a large number of enterprise management and operation talents with the help of the good business development environment in the past few years.

It doesn't matter if a country is backward, as long as there are a large number of talents emerging one after another, revival is just around the corner.It is not scary for a company to be on the verge of bankruptcy. The only thing that is scary is that the management of this company is not connected, and faults appear.

With the expansion of Huafei's capital empire and the rapid expansion of domestic industry and commerce, an extremely important reality is where to find talents who can manage these large enterprise groups.A company with [-] to [-] employees, and a group with thousands of employees, the tests and management it faces are not at the same level at all.China's current industrial and commercial development is just around the corner. The only worry is that China still lacks a large number of people at the helm of these fast-growing groups.

Unlike Hua Fei's later China, the country's commercialization process has not been interrupted by external factors.Many merchant families have a long cultural heritage.The first and second generation capitalists in China, who grew up in the fierce competition with foreign businessmen, have quickly adapted to the world business environment by using traditional business thinking and unique Chinese philosophy, and have given birth to many of large enterprises.

For example, the well-known Rong family in Wuxi took advantage of Huafei's march into Suzhou and Shanghai and the policy of vigorously promoting business. The keen Rong brothers seized the opportunity and vigorously expanded capital and production.The warship flour under its name and the cotton yarn it produces are sold overseas, and it has become the de facto king of cotton yarn and flour in China.And at a business exchange promotion meeting held by Hua Fei, Hua Fei suggested that the Rong family could invest in downstream products, such as the production of flour products, bread, noodles, cotton cloth, and even clothes, etc., which gave the Rong brothers a great deal. inspired.With the support of the government, today's Rong's enterprises have entered a new stage of development. Naturally, their family interests are also tied to the new central government.

Another example is Fan Xudong and Liu Hongsheng. The former is also known as the king of chemical industry in China, while the latter is known as the king of matches and wool spinning.At the beginning, both of them invested in places outside the autonomous region. Later, attracted by the business promotion policies of the autonomous region government at that time, they came to Qingdao and Shanghai to invest one after another, and took advantage of the unique opportunity of World War I to grow rapidly. , becoming a well-known emerging industrialist in China today.