Late September 1924
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Imperator Pax
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Late September 1924
Allen surveyed at the troops in place along the unmarked border between 'Western' and 'Eastern' provinces. Silently contemplating what this would do to their own studies, their own population's opinions. Overhead the aircraft made themselves known with the signature of their engines, the buzz, more practically than anything else they carried up therewith them the Albatross's radios communicated with ground positions of what could be observed high above them.
There had been the surprise as Zhang had broken out into China proper observed regarding his apparently Italian... and possibly domestically manufactured copies of... copies of the French Renault. Not in firepower, but rather in its overlanding speed. The Japanese were apparently impressed, even if all Zhang the younger was doing was moving them as mobile pillboxes... which had potentially been the advice of the Italians.
The point stood that the reports filtering to them was a picture regarding the application of tanks in a fight today. ETS Companies outfitted with the latest combat cars were deployed, men waiting impatiently forward of the main line. Waiting for an enemy that would have to breakthrough into the suburbs north of Peking before they had anything to do... but that was part of the job.
That didn't make sitting here any less tedious for them. So they waited.
The Dragoons had a mix of newer finalized caliber guns, and the original iteration of the 20mm Bekker guns Xian had selected as interim replacement for the dated 1PDRs with a more accurate longer ranged weapon. :Even that had been a logistical hurdle by the Quartermasters to manage on time to pull old guns and replacement in the brigade which had still been using the old guns for training purposes over the past year.
It represented the continuous process of improvement and evaluation... more than the four years of it since the constitution had come into effect... but the constitution had changed the way army finances were structured. In the autumn of 1923 that had coalesced with the conclusion to stepladder development.
"These boys are going to be a handful next year." Cole joked looking out across the field works with a well serviced sixty power spotting scope. The suburban expanse of Baoding, and particularly the length of the rail line running north into the city prominent from the hill they stood on.
When they would actually begin pushing up the full strength Cavalry ETS formation, rather than just mechanized 'mounted' infantry. The idea had still borrowed heavily from Cullen's table of 1923, but the majority of the brigade were armed with the 1920 Rifle and the standard Lewis Gun. The cars that carried them were almost entirely open topped fitting either a belt fed Colt Browning for the more common carriers, and supplemented by Bekker SEMAG models in others. "Next year we will be able to fit them out as more than just Mounted Rifles." Which some members of 1st Regiment had already complained were what they were anyway... but they needed to be trialing and testing new units... and this was had been deemed the most effective method of preparing men for the shift over. "Right now we just need to make sure they don't go too stir crazy waiting to see if something does come across the line." There was nothing here for them to scout, so they couldn't even try and implement theoretical doctrine which left them serving as additional bodies.
The Brigade also had to contend with lighter artillery but with 10th on hand that actually made things less of a concern. It also gave them another full strength division to rely on. "Half a million men fighting is a lot to keep track of though." and even though the fighting mostly focused north east of Peking particularly around the Great Wall... there were other problems
Nearest was unrest in Peking itself; mostly students but some grumbling from the middle class professionals. Further away though was the accepted cassus belli of the whole conflict the Zhili ambitions upon the administration of Shanghai. Under the effectively defunct Anhui clique Shanghai had been more or less left alone... if Sun Chuanfang did manage to exert control and dispossess the clique that might change. It probably wouldn't, but the handwringing from the bund was raucous now at this stage.
It frankly made them look ridiculous... but it also allowed Sun's messaging to circulate both in Shanghai and up in Peking which was making the rounds, for instance in the North China Herald. "Do you think Sun could force a railway strike?"
"Force one," Cole shook his head, "no, take credit for one certainly. I don't see him actually being able to start one," But if he endorsed one that started in Shanghai then it could expand... potentially the point of stymieing the Zhili clique's ability to mobilize other troops. "But given the talks of a boycott as it is, thats going to make the bund more squirmish not less." Because it would start hitting them in the pocketbook. "Which will make them complain more."
In 1917 in order to quell the fighting ... more by intimidation than actually action...Duan had mustered a coalition of fifty thousand Beiyang troops. In 1922 when Zhang had first locked horns with Wu total troops between Fengtian and Zhili had run about a quarter of million men. Two years, roughly thirty months down the road from that fight both Zhili and Fengtian were putting that in the field.
Unlike last time5th and 6th Brigades were with the division they had been developed to support. They were sitting with 3rdDivision in the south at the defensive cordon based from the white mountain range headquarters probably equally bored out of their goddamned minds. "Shan suspects we will need to adjust planning. If Zhang fails here, and maintains power in Manchuria... or even if he doesn't and some one else in Manchuria steps up then a threat from the north seems plausible."
Zhang Xun had done it in 1917 after all. "Is that Ma's advice," Referring to Cullen's recently selected executive officer. "That we will continue to look at a challenge from Manchuria to impose leadership over the government in Peking?"
"I think his concern is more the inadequacy of the leadership in Peking thats the problem, allowing the colonel doesn't like Wellington," Koo, the Foreign Minister, "in the slightest." Which frankly was now a common complaint, Koo... too frequently tried to straddle a middle of the road position... it had elicited complaints north southeast and west, even when the man had a point. It was too easy to hit Woo for having been in the Beiyang government as long as he had but who didn't have the advantage of troops of his own. "I think he was angry when Koo was put in as prime minister," never mind that the instability of that office, "and giddy when they replaced him." The day when Zhang had gone to lead his troops to the front... which had mostly been a ceremonial sort of thing to begin with. "I'll give you he's impatient, but impetuousness is a family flaw I'm given to understand."
Allen snorted unscrewed his canteen and took a sip of the water, checking his wristwatch before looking over the terrain again. He shrugged, "As it sits, Zhengzhou remains a point of concern right now." Eighth Division was sitting in the south officially at Qinghai, the Ninth at Urumqi. Fifth division, and a handful of National Guard Infantry brigades sat in the southern portion of their half of Zhili to protect Zhengzhou having been called up and had their summer drill extended.
6thand 7th Divisions husbanded as a reserve were being held back with wait and see caution. "The fiscal conservatives are going to take a hit in the polls. Yan has said that Taiyuan," he actually meant the province, but since Cadre membership didn't preclude holding other offices Yan was also governor of the province in question, "could if it needed to support a hundred thousand reservists," Which was something he had said before. "And while he's fiscally conservative that detail has not escaped the folks who want a larger army..." And obviously Zhili, and Fengtian especially throwing a quarter of a million men into the field... contributing the majority of their troops to a perceived titanic, destined reshaping of the status quo required. "And lets be honest. Yuan Shikai wanted half a million men because it was a number that was manageable at a national level not because it would meet requirements to defend the country at large."
... and that was the limiting factor of ten divisions. The east west breadth that Xian's governance stretched across... from here in Western Zhili to the border with Kirghiz with Xinjiang in the far west through kansu... and with elections in just a couple of months Zhang had pushed what would have ordinarily been a second or third order issue much farther forward in the public consciousness.
Not that this would harm the Old Marshal personally, but it would shape the direction of the electorate in 1926, and then in the following elections of 1928... but that was in the future. "And the government was hemorrhaging money worse than it is now." The national debt was still a problem for China, but it was not nearly as bad as things had stood when the Old Dynasty had finally given up, and Yuan Shikai had become president, "Well regardless we should be getting back," He declared looking towards the forward observers manning other parts of the redoubt, "The Bund's fussing for the moment is taking up attention, Sun," the southern doctor, not Sun the actual General, the one in the Zhili clique, "causing a riot, boycott or strike will cause more trouble than any of the troops he can probably put into the field but I still want to know what he can put in the field."
--
Notes: Here 1st Dragoons, is still basically a Rifle Brigade. It has not converted to its Cavalry Brigade configuration as it will fight the Northern Expedition. Hence this segment reiterating Mounted Rifle Infantry...this goes to doctrine and equipment as Xian expands its build out phase ahead of Cavalry becoming its own branch. What this is is the demonstration of the trend we saw start for Xian in 1922
But also, four years after the Constitution has come into effect, Xian is running into the issue of its actual geographic breadth. Xian is by geography the largest of the three major factions, with Manchuria the smallest. Note this does not in 1924 include any of southern china, for reasons we touch with Sun's Northern Expedition of 1924, and more broadly the atomization of authority rampant across southern china most epitomized by the status Sichuan province
Allen surveyed at the troops in place along the unmarked border between 'Western' and 'Eastern' provinces. Silently contemplating what this would do to their own studies, their own population's opinions. Overhead the aircraft made themselves known with the signature of their engines, the buzz, more practically than anything else they carried up therewith them the Albatross's radios communicated with ground positions of what could be observed high above them.
There had been the surprise as Zhang had broken out into China proper observed regarding his apparently Italian... and possibly domestically manufactured copies of... copies of the French Renault. Not in firepower, but rather in its overlanding speed. The Japanese were apparently impressed, even if all Zhang the younger was doing was moving them as mobile pillboxes... which had potentially been the advice of the Italians.
The point stood that the reports filtering to them was a picture regarding the application of tanks in a fight today. ETS Companies outfitted with the latest combat cars were deployed, men waiting impatiently forward of the main line. Waiting for an enemy that would have to breakthrough into the suburbs north of Peking before they had anything to do... but that was part of the job.
That didn't make sitting here any less tedious for them. So they waited.
The Dragoons had a mix of newer finalized caliber guns, and the original iteration of the 20mm Bekker guns Xian had selected as interim replacement for the dated 1PDRs with a more accurate longer ranged weapon. :Even that had been a logistical hurdle by the Quartermasters to manage on time to pull old guns and replacement in the brigade which had still been using the old guns for training purposes over the past year.
It represented the continuous process of improvement and evaluation... more than the four years of it since the constitution had come into effect... but the constitution had changed the way army finances were structured. In the autumn of 1923 that had coalesced with the conclusion to stepladder development.
"These boys are going to be a handful next year." Cole joked looking out across the field works with a well serviced sixty power spotting scope. The suburban expanse of Baoding, and particularly the length of the rail line running north into the city prominent from the hill they stood on.
When they would actually begin pushing up the full strength Cavalry ETS formation, rather than just mechanized 'mounted' infantry. The idea had still borrowed heavily from Cullen's table of 1923, but the majority of the brigade were armed with the 1920 Rifle and the standard Lewis Gun. The cars that carried them were almost entirely open topped fitting either a belt fed Colt Browning for the more common carriers, and supplemented by Bekker SEMAG models in others. "Next year we will be able to fit them out as more than just Mounted Rifles." Which some members of 1st Regiment had already complained were what they were anyway... but they needed to be trialing and testing new units... and this was had been deemed the most effective method of preparing men for the shift over. "Right now we just need to make sure they don't go too stir crazy waiting to see if something does come across the line." There was nothing here for them to scout, so they couldn't even try and implement theoretical doctrine which left them serving as additional bodies.
The Brigade also had to contend with lighter artillery but with 10th on hand that actually made things less of a concern. It also gave them another full strength division to rely on. "Half a million men fighting is a lot to keep track of though." and even though the fighting mostly focused north east of Peking particularly around the Great Wall... there were other problems
Nearest was unrest in Peking itself; mostly students but some grumbling from the middle class professionals. Further away though was the accepted cassus belli of the whole conflict the Zhili ambitions upon the administration of Shanghai. Under the effectively defunct Anhui clique Shanghai had been more or less left alone... if Sun Chuanfang did manage to exert control and dispossess the clique that might change. It probably wouldn't, but the handwringing from the bund was raucous now at this stage.
It frankly made them look ridiculous... but it also allowed Sun's messaging to circulate both in Shanghai and up in Peking which was making the rounds, for instance in the North China Herald. "Do you think Sun could force a railway strike?"
"Force one," Cole shook his head, "no, take credit for one certainly. I don't see him actually being able to start one," But if he endorsed one that started in Shanghai then it could expand... potentially the point of stymieing the Zhili clique's ability to mobilize other troops. "But given the talks of a boycott as it is, thats going to make the bund more squirmish not less." Because it would start hitting them in the pocketbook. "Which will make them complain more."
In 1917 in order to quell the fighting ... more by intimidation than actually action...Duan had mustered a coalition of fifty thousand Beiyang troops. In 1922 when Zhang had first locked horns with Wu total troops between Fengtian and Zhili had run about a quarter of million men. Two years, roughly thirty months down the road from that fight both Zhili and Fengtian were putting that in the field.
Unlike last time5th and 6th Brigades were with the division they had been developed to support. They were sitting with 3rdDivision in the south at the defensive cordon based from the white mountain range headquarters probably equally bored out of their goddamned minds. "Shan suspects we will need to adjust planning. If Zhang fails here, and maintains power in Manchuria... or even if he doesn't and some one else in Manchuria steps up then a threat from the north seems plausible."
Zhang Xun had done it in 1917 after all. "Is that Ma's advice," Referring to Cullen's recently selected executive officer. "That we will continue to look at a challenge from Manchuria to impose leadership over the government in Peking?"
"I think his concern is more the inadequacy of the leadership in Peking thats the problem, allowing the colonel doesn't like Wellington," Koo, the Foreign Minister, "in the slightest." Which frankly was now a common complaint, Koo... too frequently tried to straddle a middle of the road position... it had elicited complaints north southeast and west, even when the man had a point. It was too easy to hit Woo for having been in the Beiyang government as long as he had but who didn't have the advantage of troops of his own. "I think he was angry when Koo was put in as prime minister," never mind that the instability of that office, "and giddy when they replaced him." The day when Zhang had gone to lead his troops to the front... which had mostly been a ceremonial sort of thing to begin with. "I'll give you he's impatient, but impetuousness is a family flaw I'm given to understand."
Allen snorted unscrewed his canteen and took a sip of the water, checking his wristwatch before looking over the terrain again. He shrugged, "As it sits, Zhengzhou remains a point of concern right now." Eighth Division was sitting in the south officially at Qinghai, the Ninth at Urumqi. Fifth division, and a handful of National Guard Infantry brigades sat in the southern portion of their half of Zhili to protect Zhengzhou having been called up and had their summer drill extended.
6thand 7th Divisions husbanded as a reserve were being held back with wait and see caution. "The fiscal conservatives are going to take a hit in the polls. Yan has said that Taiyuan," he actually meant the province, but since Cadre membership didn't preclude holding other offices Yan was also governor of the province in question, "could if it needed to support a hundred thousand reservists," Which was something he had said before. "And while he's fiscally conservative that detail has not escaped the folks who want a larger army..." And obviously Zhili, and Fengtian especially throwing a quarter of a million men into the field... contributing the majority of their troops to a perceived titanic, destined reshaping of the status quo required. "And lets be honest. Yuan Shikai wanted half a million men because it was a number that was manageable at a national level not because it would meet requirements to defend the country at large."
... and that was the limiting factor of ten divisions. The east west breadth that Xian's governance stretched across... from here in Western Zhili to the border with Kirghiz with Xinjiang in the far west through kansu... and with elections in just a couple of months Zhang had pushed what would have ordinarily been a second or third order issue much farther forward in the public consciousness.
Not that this would harm the Old Marshal personally, but it would shape the direction of the electorate in 1926, and then in the following elections of 1928... but that was in the future. "And the government was hemorrhaging money worse than it is now." The national debt was still a problem for China, but it was not nearly as bad as things had stood when the Old Dynasty had finally given up, and Yuan Shikai had become president, "Well regardless we should be getting back," He declared looking towards the forward observers manning other parts of the redoubt, "The Bund's fussing for the moment is taking up attention, Sun," the southern doctor, not Sun the actual General, the one in the Zhili clique, "causing a riot, boycott or strike will cause more trouble than any of the troops he can probably put into the field but I still want to know what he can put in the field."
--
Notes: Here 1st Dragoons, is still basically a Rifle Brigade. It has not converted to its Cavalry Brigade configuration as it will fight the Northern Expedition. Hence this segment reiterating Mounted Rifle Infantry...this goes to doctrine and equipment as Xian expands its build out phase ahead of Cavalry becoming its own branch. What this is is the demonstration of the trend we saw start for Xian in 1922
But also, four years after the Constitution has come into effect, Xian is running into the issue of its actual geographic breadth. Xian is by geography the largest of the three major factions, with Manchuria the smallest. Note this does not in 1924 include any of southern china, for reasons we touch with Sun's Northern Expedition of 1924, and more broadly the atomization of authority rampant across southern china most epitomized by the status Sichuan province