bookrebus Chapter 168: Establishing the People's Security Army
Chapter 168: Establishing the People's Security Army
On August 7, Zhang Guangjun came to talk to Zhang Chi about the future.
As a native of the country and the number one in the navy, Zhang Guangjun made no secret of his intentions and asked directly:
"Commander, after the rainy season ends and we help open up transportation lines within Qian Country, should we try to expand into northern Siam and Vientiane, Laos?"
Zhang Chi was stunned when he heard this. He knew very well that Zhang Guangjun's question was not only his own, but also the question of many Nanyang Qian people in the army and the big families behind them.
If opening up transportation lines was to help the domestic war of resistance, then invading Siam and Laos was purely for the interests of these local Nanyang factions.
"Don't worry, we will definitely expand, but not in these two directions."
On the one hand, both northern Siam and Laos are located inland. Zhang Chi remembers that in the future, these two regions actually have very low development potential because they are not near the sea and have inconvenient transportation.
On the other hand, as one of the three Indochinese countries, Laos has always been the darling of Fijian. Once it makes any rash moves, its relations with Fijian will be very tense in the future.
Having already offended the Kingdom of John by invading Pegu, Zhang Chi felt that it was unwise to provoke the Kingdom of Fa again.
What's more, the ideas of the White Eagle people also need to be taken into consideration.
Unlike the Kingdom of John, which is already tied to the White Eagle, the Vichy Kingdom is still on the market and has extremely high value in united front work.
Zhang Chi felt that if he attacked Laos, the White Eagles, who were trying to win over Laos, might tighten their aid. This was absolutely unacceptable at the beginning of the Three-Year Plan.
"They say things like gold horns, silver edges, and grass bellies. Those mountainous areas can barely feed themselves just by farming. If we expand there, what's the point, other than expanding our territory and looking good?"
Zhang Chi patted Zhang Guangjun on the shoulder and said slowly, "Practice your navy well. Our future goals are those rich coastal areas, places with oil and resources. When the time comes, we will rely on the navy to protect them."
Zhang Chi was not so arrogant as to want to monopolize those large oil fields in Southeast Asia. After all, his military strength was not enough to "take them all". But as the local tyrant closest to the area, he felt that it was okay to get a share of the profits.
Zhang Guangjun nodded and got a satisfactory answer - Zhang Chi’s goal was not limited to Pegu.
After all, including the Zhang family, many Nanyang clans still have their roots in Malay, Singapore, Java and other places. Now that Zhang Chi has promised to send navy to protect their personal safety in the future, they are willing to further contribute money, manpower and people to assist Zhang Chi.
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After seeing Zhang Guangjun off, Zhang Chi stood in front of the window, looking at the heavy rain outside and fell into deep thought.
At present, both construction and expansion are proceeding in an orderly manner. Three days ago, after several months of installation and debugging, the ironworks equipment obtained by Yu Yichun finally produced the first batch of molten iron.
The Xinwangping Steel Plant began to produce pig iron continuously by utilizing the coal and iron mines in the northern Pegu Mountains.
One day ago, the No. 1 Martin open-hearth furnace of Xinwangping Iron and Steel Plant produced the first pot of qualified molten steel.
At the same time, Nanhua Chemical not only developed a simple production method for napalm bombs, but also successfully realized the industrial production of three acids and two bases.
At this point, the first cornerstone of the industrial building has been laid. What is needed next is to continue adding bricks and tiles to expand productivity.
In terms of funding, White Eagle was not only willing to provide 10 divisions of infantry and light weapons, but also signed an additional loan of 5000 million US dollars with the newly established committee.
Including previous loans, the payment for napalm bombs purchased by White Eagle, and the bonds issued by him purchased with funds from major Nanyang families, the disposable funds he had on hand exceeded 3 million US dollars.
With sufficient funds and basic industries as support, many of Zhang Chi's ideas can finally be put into practice.
"It's time to completely reorganize the troops and say goodbye to the name of the National Army's 212th Division." Zhang Chi stared intently at the soldiers of the 3rd Construction Regiment working in the rain outside the window. "Indeed, it's time to give everyone a new identity."
As if trying to convince himself, Zhang Chi repeated: "It's time..."
In recent months, he has been thinking about the issue of status.
Now that the Pegu Anti-Japanese Committee has been established, the army naturally can no longer use the name of the 212th Division of the National Army.
Not to mention that native Nanyang people like Zhang Guangjun are gradually getting impatient.
Zhang Chi finally made up his mind.
Then just do it boldly.
Even if a tree stands out in the forest, it will be destroyed by the wind.
But now, the navy, army and air force under his command, including new recruits, have nearly 10 troops, and he is preparing to expand it to 15 in the near future.
Such a strong army is no longer a tree but a mountain.
As a towering mountain, how can it be afraid of a mere strong wind?
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On August 24, after some preparation, Zhang Chi officially announced the establishment of the Anmin Army under the Pegu Anti-Japanese Committee.
From now on, the navy, army and air force under his command will be transferred to the People's Security Army.
On the same day, Zhang Chi was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces by the Pegu Anti-Japanese Committee and was given the rank of general.
At the same time, Zhang Chi announced that all his columns would be reorganized into divisions from that day on, and three army-level units, the 1st Infantry Army, the 2nd Infantry Army, and the 9th Mechanized Army, would be established.
The three great Vajras under his command, Hao Yi, Qi Quan and Bai Minghui, were all promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and served as army commanders.
原步兵第 1 纵队和第 1 农垦团扩编为第 1 师和第 3 师，并隶属步兵第 1 军。
原步兵第 2 纵队和第 2 农垦团扩编为第 2 师和第 4 师，并隶属步兵第 2 军。
The original Rapid Column and Construction Corps were expanded into the 7th Armored Division and the 11th Motorized Brigade, and were affiliated with the 4th Armored Army.
As for the blank numbers in the middle, Zhang Chi deliberately left them blank for use by the troops to be expanded in the future.
At the same time, Zhang Chi used land and tax exemption for the first three years as an inducement to speed up the immigration process from Qian State, and launched large-scale conscription in Chuncheng, Shancheng and other places in exchange for supplies such as penicillin, rice, flour, and canned meat.
The top leaders of the White Party were surprisingly silent about Zhang Chi's blatant act of "making himself king".
On the one hand, before obtaining loans from the White Eagle and John people, the main economic income of the National Government during the War of Resistance was donations from overseas Chinese, the bulk of which came from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and the White Eagle.
Now that Zhang Chi has established the Anmin Army, the target is naturally all the Qian people in Nanyang. The White Party will naturally not stop him, otherwise they would be making things difficult for their financial sponsor.
On the other hand, Zhang Chi had already used various businesses such as oil, penicillin, weapons, and food to pull many people to his side. They even opened back doors for Zhang Chi's immigration and conscription, and naturally they were even more unwilling to stop him, otherwise they would just be making enemies with Zhang Chi, their big money bag.
Even the two veterans, Minister He and Commander Chen, breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the White Party already had enough factions. Now that Zhang Chi, the insurgent, had taken the initiative to step out, there was undoubtedly one less person who could threaten their position.
So the two tigers focused their main attention on each other and began to fight each other.
There is now a huge contradiction between the two who have been fighting for many years - although Commander Chen was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Yunnan Expeditionary Force, the 8th Army and the 71st Army under his command are Minister He's direct subordinates.
After the two armies suffered heavy losses in the attack on Songshan Fortress, they immediately complained and openly and covertly accused each other of retaliation.
The general and the commander were not in agreement, and the two took the case to the top, causing the top to consider replacing Wei Junru, who was more capable of fighting, to command the expeditionary force.