New Warlords 1909

Of course, in order to take care of the psychological bottom line and emotions of those gentry and aristocrats, Hua Fei also stipulated that private individuals can have armed bodyguards for their own safety.However, it is necessary to apply to the military government for the record, and only short guns are allowed to be used, and certain restrictions are imposed on the number of people.

If you need to leave Luzhou Prefecture and consider that bandits are rampant in other places, you can apply to the military government to temporarily rent a certain number of long guns to ensure safety.

P: I feel a little depressed recently, and the land issue has seriously affected the update, so I have to shrink a few comments, sorry~

48 The road ahead is long

"Hey, have you heard? Army Commander Hua of Luzhou Prefecture is implementing land reform. It is said that the land of many big landlords and local tyrants has been redeemed and bought back. I don't know if this is true!"

"Why isn't it true? It's been said in the newspapers. And my brother-in-law came over a few days ago and said that each person in their family is allocated four or five acres of land. You only need to pay tens of catties of millet per mu every year, and you don't need to worry about anything else." And when they have money, slowly pay off the ransom for the land, and the land will be their own.”

"That's right, that's right, I've heard that too. It is said that many big landlords refused to buy their land and even organized armed rebellion. Many people were killed by the Chinese army commander!"

"Good job, good job, I don't know when Commander Hua will come to us to kill people, and he will give us a few acres of land!"

Not to mention the reactions of farmers in the prefectures and counties around Luzhou Prefecture, but to say that Huafei's land reform bill was unanimously supported by ordinary farmers in the country almost as soon as it was introduced.These simple peasants don't care if you are a revolutionary or not, and they don't care how many people you have killed.They only know that everyone has benefited from the land reform bill implemented by your commander Hua.They only know that this commander of the Hua army is a good man and a good official!

Although the rich peasants and small landlords were not as enthusiastic as the landless peasants, they had nothing to lose after all.Only in this way, the price of long-term and short-term workers will be much higher.However, compared to the tragic situation of the Ma family and other aristocratic families, most small landlords and rich peasants are very fortunate and content.

While the land reform plan was being carried out slowly and orderly, Hua Fei finally had the financial resources and weapons to add to his long-planned military expansion plan due to the large amount of unexpected windfall obtained from the "fight against local tyrants".

The main new army of 3000 people in the three regiments has basically not changed. As soon as Smith's weapons arrive, they will be fully equipped and standardized.The defense forces of the four regiments have expanded to six regiments, and the original four regiments are still stationed in various states and counties to assist the localities in maintaining law and order.The two expanded regiments of defense troops, after strict training, were stationed in Hefei as a reserve mobile force.

In order to better manage the captives who did not pay bail, Hua Fei organized them into a construction corps, with a total of more than [-] people, divided into two regiments, mainly responsible for the construction and repair of roads and water conservancy in Luzhou Prefecture.The prisoners of the Construction Corps were only provided with board and lodging and a meager salary.Only those who are still willing to stay after the conservatory period is over can enjoy the salary level of the same type of work.Those with outstanding achievements may also serve as officers of the Construction Corps.

After collecting land bonds and selling the remaining land in their hands, many big local tyrants and gentry moved their families out of Luzhou Prefecture.I don't dare to stay in this place anymore, that fool Hua is too brutal and bloody, he doesn't feel safe.There are only a small number of big and famous families who are just quietly waiting for something due to the inconvenience of moving.After the implementation of the Land Reform Act, there are only a handful of people who actually invest their idle funds in industry and commerce.

To Hua Fei's surprise, many of the relocated gentry may have no confidence in the land bond, and even spontaneously started private transactions in Hefei and other places.Since most people are desperate, except for a few speculators who are willing to buy, almost no buyers are willing to pay for the so-called land bonds that are no different from waste paper.

This directly caused the value of the land bond to shrink significantly, and the price was so low that Hua Fei couldn't believe it.After hearing the news, Hua Fei immediately took action.While sending people to carefully purchase land bonds at low prices, he set up bond exchanges in Hefei and other places to centralize such transactions publicly, thereby speeding up his acquisition speed.

Just when all the changes were being implemented in an orderly and gradual manner, Mo Haiyu and Cao Yuan rushed back from Germany, and the news they brought back was not optimistic.It is said that those arsenals were very interested in Huafei's bidding at the beginning, and their attitude was very positive.Not daring to know what changes happened afterwards, although each family still maintained the superficial etiquette, the enthusiasm for participating in the bidding obviously cooled down, and even began to perfunctory Cao Yuan and the others.

"Mr. Hua, if you need guns, my family has some connections in Shanghai. I can at least get you a thousand of the latest Mauser rifles. Why are you going to Germany to build an arsenal?" Mo Hai Yu has been puzzled by this, but after seeing Hua Fei came back, he became silent and couldn't help asking.

"It seems that everything is not as simple as I imagined. The situation on Smith's side may not be optimistic!" Hua Fei sighed, the thing he was most worried about still happened.That is the foreign forces, who started to be wary of him and banned him.

He did not place too many expectations on the German side, but only hoped that multiple options would increase the competitive pressure on the US side.If only guns were needed, how could Hua Fei spend so much trouble.Without its own arsenal, without its own weapons technology production capacity, all military power is nothing but castles in the air.After suffering a devastating blow, it is like a flash in the pan and ceases to exist.

"Report, telegram from Shanghai!"

"Read!"

"Your Excellency Hua, the munitions have been seized, and the matter of the arsenal has been put on hold for the time being. I will come to Hefei in a few days to apologize! Smith!"

Sure enough, he was afraid of what would happen. In this way, the speculation that foreigners interfered in this matter may already be true.It's just that it's still unclear which country intervened in this matter, or a group of foreigners collectively blocked Huafei. To what extent will they interfere in Anhui's internal affairs and Huafei's development?

When Hua Fei captured Anqing and Nanjing, he retreated to his hometown in Sanhe, and did not compete with the revolutionaries for the military and political power in Anhui.First, it has to do with the military power he controls. After all, although he seems to have nearly [-] military power, as long as the main new army of [-] can be fully controlled, loyalty is not a problem.The four regiments of the guards incorporated will more or less be mixed with revolutionaries. If they cannot be fully controlled, they will be like a powder keg, which may endanger Hua Fei's own safety at any time.

Second, even if Hua Fei forcibly seized the power of the governor, without the support of the revolutionaries, he would only actually control Hefei, Anqing and other cities.Whether it is the more than 1 soldiers of the Huaishang Army in Beifu, or the independent military government in southern Anhui and other places, they all have considerable military strength.If Hua Fei is forcibly incorporated, he will definitely break with the revolutionaries completely.In the absence of alliances and foreign aid, he would fall into a situation of being alone. Such a situation is definitely not what Hua Fei wants to see.

Most importantly, what Hua Fei has to pay attention to is the influence of foreigners.Although Britain's national power has declined at this time, it is an old capitalist country after all.Once Hua Fei takes office as the governor of Anhui, with his personality, he will never compromise with the excessive demands of foreigners, which will definitely put him in a more disadvantageous situation.And if the name of the Nanjing Provisional Government is on his head, some of his actions will even touch the interests of foreigners.From a procedural point of view, they can only negotiate with the Nanjing Provisional Government, thus avoiding the possibility of confrontation with foreigners in a period of weak power.

However, the problem facing Hua Fei now is that foreigners may have paid attention to him, and it is impossible to easily tolerate his continued growth and development.So where is the bottom line for foreigners?How to resolve it?This is something that Hua Fei feels extremely headache about.

"Hua Fei, since foreigners don't want to sell us guns, let me go back to Shanghai, we can buy some guns from Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, it's not a problem!" Seeing Hua Fei's frowning, Mo Haiyu couldn't help reminding Hua Fei, There is more than one path.

"Is Commander Hua worried that foreigners will reject him?"

Every sentence of Cao Yuan seems to be able to point to the point of the problem.Hua Fei raised his head upon hearing this, smiled and said, "Oh? What do you think?"

"If my expectations are correct, the foreigner's purpose of detaining the batch of arms this time is not aimed at the commander of the Hua army, but at the Nanjing Provisional Government. As for the construction of the arsenal, although it is different from the arms trade, the reason why it was stranded is very important. To a certain extent, it is also because of the Nanjing Provisional Government!"

The onlookers know, Cao Yuan's words instantly cleared up Hua Fei's entanglement.Due to too many scruples, he did not think for a while that the current Nanjing Provisional Government is not recognized by foreign countries.If the weapons were confiscated just because of this, and the arsenal plan ran aground, then everything would be simple.

How the situation is, we have to wait for Smith's arrival!

"Call back to Shanghai, looking forward to arriving!"

49 Second Entry to Anqing

"So, the temporary seizure of the weapons was all because the US government was strongly opposed by the British, French, Russian and Japanese governments?"

"You can say that!" Smith hadn't let go of the haste of the journey, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and continued, "Mr. Hua must also know that the Nanjing Provisional Government of your country is not recognized by all countries. .Especially the United Kingdom, which has a huge scope of interests in the Yangtze River Basin. The sale of such a batch of arms to the troops of the Nanjing Provisional Government is unacceptable and unbearable to the British government!"

"That is to say, this time the various countries seized arms and opposed the establishment of arsenals, mainly because of the Nanjing Provisional Government, and have nothing to do with me?"

"Mr. Hua, I'm sorry for this situation!" Smith was also annoyed by the sudden change in the business that was about to be completed, "Please believe me, give me time, I will go back to China and try to convince those politicians. Just At this price, I’m afraid it can no longer be sold at a [-]% discount!”

Hua Fei breathed a sigh of relief, thinking about it too.So far, the force that foreigners can look up to is at most the main new army of the third regiment, but there are only more than [-] people.Although such a number of soldiers can dominate Anhui for a while, it is really nothing to these old empires.

"No need!" Hua Fei shook his hand gracefully.

"No need?" Smith was a little anxious immediately, the price of those weapons was paid in full, and they were just detained at the customs.If Hua Fei revoked the contract because of their breach of contract, where would they find new buyers for these weapons?Then the loss for him and Kyle would be too great to calculate. "Mr. Hua, I know that we did not deliver the weapons on time, and we have missed the appointment. This is our responsibility, so let's forget about the discount. I just ask Mr. Hua not to cancel it for the sake of our happy cooperation many times. Order!"

"Dear Smith, you misunderstood me!" Hua Fei didn't seem to mind the other party's failure to make an appointment at all, but said with a smile, "I mean, if, if the Nanjing Provisional Government disintegrates, will these weapons still be Will it be detained at your country’s customs?”

The disintegration of the Nanjing Provisional Government?What's the meaning?Smith didn't understand Hua Fei's meaning at all for a moment.I have long heard that the commander of the Chinese army is arbitrary with an iron fist and brutal force. Is it possible that he is going to attack Nanjing again?Self-appointed president?Oh, that's crazy, it's better not to ask about things like this!

"If Your Excellency's prophecy comes true, then I believe that the opposition from Britain and other countries will not be so firm! Even if the matter of the arsenal is temporarily difficult to decide, as long as I do a little public relations for this batch of weapons that are detained in the customs, it will still be possible to ship them out." No big problem!"

"OK!" Hua Fei stood up and shook Smith's hand with a big laugh, "Smith, you and I are old friends. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to use these guns. I will store them in your country's customs for a while. What does it matter?"

"By the way, you just came from Shanghai. I don't know how our engine factory and aircraft factory are going?"

Such a result, for Smith, was completely overjoyed.Hua Fei not only didn't care about the problem of missing the appointment, but also didn't make any embarrassment.Such a friend really touched Smith.

"Oh, well, there are Mr. Feng and the technicians sent by our country to guide the project. The progress of the project is very fast. I don't think it will be long before the engine factory will be the first to put into production and operation."

"By the way, I forgot to tell you some good news. Our engine factory has not yet been put into production. A German friend of Mr. Kyle has already placed an order for one hundred 45-horsepower engines!"

"Smith, my friend, I hope you will take me to tell Mr. Kyle and Mr. Feng. All the goals of the engine factory are to serve the aircraft factory and must meet the engine supply of the aircraft factory!"

It is a good thing that the engine factory can have orders before it is put into production, but Hua Fei also understands that since many important parts must be imported, the profit of producing engines for re-export is extremely limited.He bought machines and set up an engine factory, mainly for supporting the aircraft factory.In addition, it can train engine technicians and engineers to accumulate energy for the upcoming era of internal combustion engines.

"You are the big boss, everything is up to you!" Smith shrugged and said indifferently.For these two factories, he really did not report much enthusiasm.Compared with the huge profits from the arms trade, the profits those two factories could bring him were extremely limited.

Not long after Smith left, China's political arena was once again turbulent.Although supported by Hua Fei's 100 million silver dollars, Sun Wen, the interim president of the Nanjing government, finally resigned in mid-March.Two days later, the provisional Senate elected Yuan Shikai as the provisional president, and the Nanjing provisional government existed in name only.

Smith quickly sent a telegram to Hua Fei. In the telegram, he was not stingy about the number of words, calling Hua Fei a prophet, and repeatedly promised that if Yuan Shikai became the interim president, the confiscated weapons would be lifted soon. Sent to Shanghai.

Hua Fei didn't care too much about this. After forbearance for several months, the entire Luzhou Mansion had been initially controlled by him. The guards had been reorganized and screened to replace officers. Hua Fei's control over them was no longer the same.The democratically elected interim governments of all states and counties have been formed, and the patrol bureau has also been initially established, which allows Hua Fei to shrink back the guards and increase the number of troops that can be mobilized.

The accumulated strength, the retracted fist, it's time to exert strength.And this moment, for Hua Fei, is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity.Before Yuan Shikai formally assumed the presidency, how much territory Hua Fei could control represented how much leverage he had in negotiating with Yuan Shikai.

On the second day after the Nanjing Senate elected Yuan Shikai as the interim president, Hua Fei secretly began to dispatch troops.The Second Regiment of the Defense Army was stationed in Hefei, and the First Regiment of the Revolutionary New Army was stationed in Sanhe.The remaining two regiments, the main force of the new army, and the fourth regiment's defense army, totaling more than [-] people, sailed secretly into Anqing by boat.

In the early morning of a certain day in April, the citizens of Anqing just got up and went to the street, and immediately found that the atmosphere on the street today seemed to have changed a little bit from the previous days.The street, which should have been noisy, seemed much quieter.Even those peddlers seem to walk with lighter steps.